I want to create an experimental video work because I have never before tried to use video combined with sound to express my ideas. I am eager to learn a new form of expression to expand my body of work.
What is experimental video, and how should one understand its experimental nature? In the context of video, “experimental” is a term that is very much tied to a specific time period. Many artists’ editing techniques and filming styles were considered highly experimental in their era. These innovations and experiments have driven the evolution of video. Experimentation is a comprehensive concept that encompasses not just techniques or ideas. Making an experimental film requires first establishing a clear main thread of creation and development, and then exploring different perspectives, materials, modes of expression, and creative mediums to branch out and experiment.
The French postmodernist philosopher Gilles Deleuze had this to say about the image, “The breakthrough in the value of the image lies in the direct interception of time, not plot”
The narrative of experimental video is not expressed according to a linear narrative like traditional media; it is divided into fragmented narrative and high-frequency narrative. The former refers to the use of montage, which breaks down and reorganizes the integrity of the story, ignores the correlation between shots, creates a stream of consciousness, and combines with the theory of Freudian psychology, it is more like the fragmentation of a dream, with some metaphors. The latter refers to the recurring narrative style, meaning that the footage of one thing is repeated many times, or the footage of something that appears many times appears only once, breaking the original logical narrative and favoring the director’s subjective consciousness. Both ways have obvious personal colors.
- Experimental film with a small budget, typically from the filmmakers own budget
- Typically non-linear narrative, non-traditional film, usually told by the filmmaker’s point of view without any message.
- Typically an experimental film with conscious use of medium to create eccentric, dream-like sequences.
- Respects art, culture, and politics. Poetic or lyrical
- Focus on surrealism, abstract, and impressionistic studies
Avant-garde films allow the viewers to question and challenge their thinking about what they see. There is typically no conventional point to the films. The films explore issues of time, space, dreams, fantasy, and perception. Most of the films are innovative, eccentric, unique, and some frightening. Experimental images break with traditional cinematic expression and challenge the audience.
Research from：