Assessment blog 3

What is the experience for the viewer of the avant garde cinema?  For example "Ballet Mechanique".  There is no story just a series of images.  The images are of recognisable objects, people and pure shapes presented in unusual ways.  There is a lot of repetition and the scenes vary in length from sometimes overlong approaching tedium to the subliminal momentary flash.  Why does the overall compilation retain the interest of the viewer?  

My view is:

• At first curiosity is aroused.  In the opening scene of the swing, although nothing much is happening there is a sense of anticipation that something might happen.  Actually it doesn't.  
• The juxtaposition of familiar objects in unusual positions will retain interest for a period but the interspersing of short flashes of other objects helps to continue the viewer's sense of expectation and surprise.
• The shapes presented to the viewer's eye whether by the use of camera angle or the shapes themselves have some fascination.
• Again interspersing of faces, parts of faces and whole bodies again raises a sense of anticipation only for again no resolution of the scene to happen.
• The whole film stimulates the visual senses and mental processes of the viewer but had the film been any longer it would probably have become boring.
• In 1924 it would have been exciting new exploitation of a comparatively new medium.   In 2010 it is a bit of a clunky cinematic curiosity. 

How does the experience compare to viewing a modern painting such as Leger’s own abstract canvases?  Can they be compared?  The biggest difference is that a viewer of a painting can take his own time but in a film time is imposed by the film maker and if a scene is missed it is gone.  Also the film maker is generally constrained to capturing on film some kind of reality (except for animated films) and reliance must be placed on manipulation of the image to create art.  A painter is limited only by imagination and manual skills.    Probably there is much less overlap in experience than one would think at first.

Anyway these are my views for what they are worth.