Rhythmus 21 (Film Is Rhythm)
One of the reasons why abstract art is so fascinating, is the way it’s able to arouse deep thought without possessing any significant meaning or form. Richter embraces this idea in his experimental film, Rythmus 21. As the title infers, Richter instead tries to visualize rhythm with the complex movements of various square shapes. This restriction allows him to concentrate solely on two of the key components of film: motion and time. Because Richter breaks the form usually followed by films in the 20s, he is able to translate this portrayal of cinematic rhythm into a form of emotional expression. Through a combination of printing and animation, Richter moves these shapes in several directions, allowing us to find emotion within the relationship of each shape.
Vormittagsspuk (Ghosts Before Breakfast)
In this film, we once again see Ritcher’s abstract, experimentation with film through the use of the camera. Instead of actually animating/printing images onto the film itself, Richter decided to use the camera as the tool behind the abstract form. He uses a lot of stop motion throughout the film, furthering his examination with motion; but he also plays around with some unique in camera effects. One of these can be seen when a group of men turn around a corner and disappear behind a thin lamp post. This unrealistic portrayal of the world embodies one of the key facets of abstract filmmaking. The various jump cuts, empty juxtapositions, and awkward dutch angles are other effects/techniques Richter uses to break the popular form of 1920s cinema and to idealize the world in new ways.
Symphonie Diagonale (Diagonal Symphony)
Similar to Richter’s Rhythmus 21, Eggeling takes abstract filmmaking to a new level by advancing the use of animation/stop-motion. Instead of contrasting the movement of squared shapes, Eggeling uses lines and various shades of white to create a beautiful examination of motion and time. The inclusion of curves and other distinct anlges allows Eggeling to produce a piece quite pleasing to the eyes. I felt like I was getting lost in the movement of these lines and circles, as if it where a hypnotic tool; something I didn’t feel for in Richer’s Rythmus 21. However, like Richter’s piece, they too resembled rhythm. All in all, the film was like an abstract, hypnotic dance of shapes.
Briefly, in my response to Diagonal Symphony, I mentioned that their was a use of different shades of white throughout the film. Color is a major component to abstract art, along with shapes, and in this film, Ruttman is able to blend color with motion to create his own festival of lights. Unlike the previous filmmakers, Ruttman combines light and motion to create many interesting patterns. These patterns not only construct a unique rhythm, but they support the musical score as a tool for establishing moods/tones. Every single component of this film, from the shapes, colors, and the movements, work together just as instruments do in an orchestra. I’m not sure if the original piece was accompanied by music, but to me the film actually becomes it’s own orchestra, with each element producing it’s own colorful tune.
Unlike, Opus 1, Fischinger creates a visual language which must accompany a specific piece of music. Each movement and color matches each note in Franz Liszt’s “2nd Hungarian Rhapsody”, making the music a necessary component to the film. So in essence, the film does not create its own rhythm, which the previous films have strived for, but visually masks an already well known tune. Though the techniques used in this film are quite mesmerizing, I don’t see how influential this piece is to the history of avant-garde cinema. To me, Richter and Ruttman have contributed more to this field because they’ve relied solely on the film stock to create these abstract images.
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, J. S. Bach, from Fantasia
Going into this class, I wasn’t really familiar with many avant-garde films or it’s impact on mainstream cinema. However, out of the few I did know about, Fantasia is one of my favorites. The opening sequence with it’s use of light, color, and animated motion strengthen the emotional impact behind the musical score. The advancement in animation, with the help of Walt Disney Studios, also helps to enrich the overall impact of this abstract piece. However, just like Fischinger’s “optical poem”, the intrinsic connection between the animation and music makes this piece lack the rhythmic power that Richter and Ruttman’s films have.
