Unknowable audiovisual results: the development of an experimental filmmaking practice and philosophy
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Date
2024
Authors
Bradstock, Arran Tenzin
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Publisher
University College Cork
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Abstract
This research poses three central questions about the practice of experimental filmmaking. The first interrogates the relationship between films’ audio and visual components; the second deals with questions of meaning and meaninglessness in art film; the third explores the idea of employing chance operations and improvisational techniques so that the filmmaker is unable to predict the final form of their film. I explore these concepts through films and writing, presenting my research as a portfolio of eleven film projects accompanied by a written commentary investigating the philosophical ideas informing my methodological approaches, aesthetic tendencies, and creative outlook. In my films, I explore these questions by experimenting with various methodologies that allow me to treat the sounds and images as equally important and independent entities, avoiding presupposing any meaning and ensuring I do not know what the final results will be in advance of the film being made. Examples of approaches I take that exemplify these ideas include making entirely separate, fully realised audio and video pieces that are only combined at the final stage of the filmmaking process, composing processes that set out how the film will be made without specifying the kinds of sounds and images that will be included, and incorporating improvisation and randomisation at all stages of the filmmaking process. In my writing, I reflect on my filmmaking philosophy through in-depth discussions of these central concepts and the way they are intrinsically linked to the way I make my films. I present detailed accounts of my experimental filmmaking methodology in my commentary, both in general and in the specific approach taken for each film project. I also discuss my work as it relates to that of other experimental artists and engage with relevant ideas from the field of philosophy.
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Keywords
Experimental film , Audiovisual art , Chance-based art , Philosophy of filmmaking
Citation
Bradstock, A. T. 2024. Unknowable audiovisual results: the development of an experimental filmmaking practice and philosophy. PhD Thesis, University College Cork.