Discuss some of the ways in which the film or video work you have studied for this topic requires a different kind of spectatorship from that which spectators bring to their mainstream film going?

Discuss some of the ways in which the film or video work you have studied for this topic requires a different kind of spectatorship from that which spectators bring to their mainstream film going? 

The films and video works of experimental filmmakers can often be seen as requiring their spectators to change the way they would normally view and watch a film, with the films needing to be analysed and watched multiple times for a meaning to be developed.

One of the first experimental films, Un Chien Andalou directed by Luis Bunuel lacks "any image that could have a rational meaning". The surrealist film combines two dreams Bunuel and Salvador Dali had, and created the associational film. The surrealist sensibility develops from the start, as we see a close up of an eye being cut with a razor, possibly suggesting we are blind to our subconscious, and that the film will help reveal this to us. This film requires a different type of spectatorship, as the audience has to create meaning from the irrational and dream logic of the film. This is different to mainstream films like Titanic, where they are purely narrative driven and allow for the audience to be passive in interpreting the film. Personally, i dislike Surrealism and Un Chien Andalou, as it's portrayal of dreams and the subconscious seems negative with the close ups of the severed hand, and rotting animal. Moreover, the high close up shot of the ants coming out of the hand would could be seen as a link to Freudian theory. The ants appearing out of the hand could be seen as something rotting on a subconscious level, or that something is eating away at them from within. For spectators to understand this, they would need a different attitude to than approaching a normal mainstream film. After i watch it multiple times, i figured out different meanings and researching the context and approach the filmmakers have to film helped me to understand Un Chien Andalou more and respect and appreciate it.

 Stan Brakhage's films like Stellar and the Prelude of his Dog Star Man series also require a different sort of spectatorship to mainstream films. In his 1961 film Prelude: Dog Star Man, Brakhage uses abstract forms of light and movement to create explosions of colour, with close ups of people and the earth. Moreover, he overlays images and uses film as a physical medium, scratching and tearing it. Prelude is a purely visual piece without any sound that allows the peculator to latch onto. This requires a different sort of spectatorship as it could easily be dismissed as a meaningless aesthetic. However, after watching it again and researching the film, i discovered things i didn't originally notice which helped me create a meaning. The film opens completely black and then as time progresses, light and colour flicker, getting faster and faster. This has been suggested as representing some sort of creation myth, with something appearing out of nothing, and eventually with extreme close ups of red and then of the women, life is created. This illustrates one way spectatorship changes for experimental films; the audience are left sometimes completely in the dark and are required to find out what they think the films meanings are. I like this about experimental films as it allows them to be me more personal, resulting in a spectator having more of a connection with a film.