Experimental Filmmaking: BREAK THE MACHINE

Experimental Filmmaking emerges out of a deep and abiding love of celluloid and artisanal media practices and a personal exploration of the field of avant-garde and experimental film, animation and video produced since the beginnings of cinema. Although there have been many critical and historical books on the subject, with the exception of zines and hand-published volumes, there has never been a comprehensive instructional manual on experimental processes. This book will introduce film students and professional filmmakers alike to various methods of experimental animation, film and video production that involve material interventions into the normative process of the medium while offering brief introductions to artists and their works.

Become a master in the influential, diverse, and highly innovative field of experimental filmmaking. Harness the little-known techniques and subtle aesthetics required for this imagination-driven art form.

For the first time in a single volume, Kathryn Ramey has written a thorough, hands-on guide to the craft and processes of experimental filmmaking, showing you step-by-step the material methods that will help you begin an experimental media practice. From these lessons, following the tradition of Stan Brakhage’s A Moving Picture Giving and Taking Book and Hell Hill’s Recipes for Disaster, you’ll learn to take materials apart and put them together in new ways, use products for purposes other than those intended by their manufacturers, and free yourself from the constraints of conventional media. Experimental Filmmaking provides:

• Full-color film stills and illustrations demonstrating various experimental filmmaking techniques
• Step-by-step tutorials on hand-processing motion picture film, direct animation methods, optical printing, making your own microphones and other sound experiments, glitch art, and much more
• Explanations of the historical, theoretical, and socio-political backgrounds of various experimental filmmaking movements and styles
• Advice on how to locate experimental filmmaking communities in your region, as well as how to show and distribute your work
• Sidebar interviews with filmmakers currently working in the genre that offer context and direction for your own projects
• A companion website (www.focalpress.com/cw/ramey) featuring video examples from numerous films for inspiration and emulation

Whether you’re an aspiring experimental filmmaker or mainstream practitioner who wants to incorporate alternative techniques in your films, Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine gives you the tools you need execute your most daring cinematic endeavors!