[Frameworks] Painting directly to film

[Myron Ort]

Free Radicals is certainly a brilliant film and was always a favorite of mine. All of Lye’s films are wonderful and full of joy, color, and rhythm. 

I would say that Len Lye still holds pretty much to a figure based sensibility as almost all filmmakers had done and is why even in the  early 60s, having seen a good sample of avant garde films as a student at San Francisco State (Art and Film Depts.), many of us felt there was still a wide open field to explore applying "abstract expressionist” techniques. I recall a fellow film student back then later putting some words to this notion, although in retrospect I am not sure I totally agree with some of his observations regarding the history, but he expresses what many of us felt was new territory to explore.

http://www.meansart.com/abstract1.html









> On Dec 3, 2017, at 7:43 AM, Ingo Petzke <ingo at petzke.biz> wrote:
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> Myron
> That is correct – and that’s why I sent a “disclaimer” the same minute I noticed that I hadn’t read your initial question correctly. Sorry.
> What about “Free Radicals” by Len Lye?
> Ingo
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> Von: FrameWorks [mailto:frameworks-bounces at jonasmekasfilms.com <mailto:frameworks-bounces at jonasmekasfilms.com>] Im Auftrag von Myron Ort
> Gesendet: Sonntag, 3. Dezember 2017 15:15
> An: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com <mailto:frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>>
> Betreff: Re: [Frameworks] Painting directly to film
>  
> I do not recall that Oscar Fischinger applied paint directly to film, can you cite an example of his using that technique? True he is considered an “abstract” film animator but I was hoping to make some finer distinctions even within the area of  techniques involving the appication of paint directly to the film surface. Further, within that specialized arena, I was making distinctions between filmmakers who do figurative animation painting each sequential frame accordingly and those who, borrowing “art associative” terms, paint directly onto film with an approach similar to "abstract expressionism”, not necessarily  accounting for the usual predictive movement continuity associated with animation (or live action for that matter), and in some cases would appear to even “ignore” (in  the usual sense) the frame lines.  I sense a resistance here to the making of such distinctions, as if using any terms of distinction would somehow rob the filmmaker of her soul, a fear similar to those who even feel that being photographed might somehow rob them of their very existence. Sometimes we need to invent language, terminology, or words to point to distinctions which do actually exist.
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>> On Dec 3, 2017, at 4:00 AM, Ingo Petzke <ingo at petzke.biz <mailto:ingo at petzke.biz>> wrote:
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>> Wat about some Oscar Fischinger? 
>>  
>> Cheers
>> Ingo
>>  
>> Von: FrameWorks [mailto:frameworks-bounces at jonasmekasfilms.com <mailto:frameworks-bounces at jonasmekasfilms.com>] Im Auftrag von Myron Ort
>> Gesendet: Freitag, 1. Dezember 2017 21:06
>> An: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com <mailto:frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>>
>> Betreff: [Frameworks] Painting directly to film
>>  
>> Can anyone site an example of “abstract expressionist” painting onto film prior to 1968?  (Hopefully with online viewing availability).
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>> https://vimeo.com/220986135 <https://vimeo.com/220986135>
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>> Myron Ort
>> www.zeno-okeanos,com <http://www.zeno-okeanos,com/>
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> Myron Ort
> www.zeno-okeanos,com <http://www.zeno-okeanos,com/>
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Myron Ort
www.zeno-okeanos,com




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