As a viewer, I don't see

Art Encounter Series one

Key words: abstraction, experience, My Life as a Bee


Watching handmade films of filmmaker Robert Schaller and participation in his workshop last week was a valuable experience. Schaller brought his projectors and we had a chance to listen to him after the screening. His films provide me an opportunity to appreciate the beauty of abstraction of experimental film. Also, it is pretty exciting for me that to make my own handmade motion pictures in a lab.


Before I came to Schaller’s screening, I had watched several artists’ handmade films. The most impressive things were the texture, lines and colors in the frame. But I was not able to understand why and how filmmakers would bother to create these highly abstract motion pictures. After I learned about what is a handmade film and saw the Schaller’s films, I was surprised that filmmakers produced their works in such a Do It Yourself way in this industry period. While a film camera can shoot twenty-four frames in every second and the frames can be projected continuously in a screen as to allow human eyes to see the movements, the filmmakers should produce images on a film in similar number. It certainly cost more time, but can be more creative. Now that one can imagine that making even a one-minute handmade film requires patience and skills. Otherwise, the motion pictures can not be recognizable when projected.


It is not true that after watching Schaller’s films, one would think nothing about the abstraction. Among those Schaller’s films I watched, My Life as a Bee is my favorite one. I was enjoyed the vivid scenes and the colors makes me feel warm in the first place. However, viewers can not see any realistic flowers or sky in this silent film. In this way, my attention was not distracted to problems like what kind of flowers in the screen. Instead, through the flowing of the colors, I can feel the world a bee sees when it is flying. This abstraction pushes me to clear my consciousness when I attempt to understand the feeling of this movie by identifying and processing the objects of the screen in brain. In fact, sometimes when we were walking or running, we would not notice the details of surroundings. For us, the experience and feeling of walking is too natural to describe. You can imagine that for a bee, the feeling of flying over flowers is similar. As a viewer, I was evoked unconscious feelings and emotions by the abstraction of this film. In this situation, I almost could not realize that I was watching a movie. Because that the impact of the scenes kept involving me to the bee’s world. Actually, this film is very successful in realizing its artistic value because it is able to invite the viewer to cooperate. Other films are as great as My Life as a Bee, but I mention it here because I think it is promising that artists explore other creature’s feeling in their own way.


If Not One and One is also a very shocking one for me. The color in this film can not be more suitable in producing an artistic atmosphere of this dancing in stage. Besides, projecting three screens in the same time is so creative.


In all, experience with Robert Schaller brings me fresh air in a period of industry film. I admired their enthusiasm and courage in artistic creation. What is more, the artistic works as Schaller’ films really have the ability of inspiring viewers not to see things simply, but to feel something unconsciousness.

Senses of Cinema

This journal collects discussions and critiques of films and filmmakers. Many articles provide an in-depth analysis of one or several cinemas, which offer me a chance to understand the meanings of these films in interesting aspects. Besides, the articles of directors were written by scholars and journalists in different countries, which I think would be very beneficial to read for learning the cinemas and their influence internationally.