By Gary Anderson a Thesis Submitted to the University of Plymouth in Partial Fulfilment for the Degree of School of Media and Ph
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University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2008 Politicizing a film practice Anderson, Gary http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/776 University of Plymouth All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. Politicizing a Film Practice by Gary Anderson A thesis submitted to the University of Plymouth in partial fulfilment for the degreeof DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY School of Media and Photography Faculty of Arts July 2008 Gary Anderson Abstract: Politicizing a Film Practice. This is a practice-basedPh. D. in filmmaking and concerns the generation of a radical film practice. It is situated in the field of no-budget experimental film and video making and deploys a combination of deconstruction and critical perspectives of cultural production in the construction of its modus operandi. The contribution to knowledge is in two parts. First the bringing together in a film practice established and various knowledges from other areas; contemporary and historical experimental film and video, observational documentary and amateur film practices, specifically Home Movies, in connection to established but various extant modes of reading that material. The second part of the contribution to knowledge relates to the methodology underpinning this amalgamation of knowledges. This is enacted through the tri-partite positioning of the researcher as 'researcher', 'family- maker' and 'filmmaker'. From within those positional framings the submission has sought to utilize a politicization of contextualisation. The second part of the submission's contribution to knowledge can then be formulated as the advocacy of a committed contextualisation that treats the investigator's position as valid and crucial material for interrogation. The outcome is a film practice that does not rely on sporadic funding and vacillating public recognition but rather an ongoing, organic and sustainable film practice that arises from and is nourished by the contexts it seeksto critically engagein. This translates formally into two DVDs and 39,153 words. There are four chapters or 'Screenings' which are self-reflexive and imaginative interrogations of DVD I Home Movies Summer 2005 (13 mins) which take the form of fictionalised conversations. Screening 1, a conversation between the researcher and a senior academician interrogates the film practice in the context of academic, practice based research and outlines the relationship between the artefact and the written text as related objects of thinking. Screening 2, a conversation between the researcher and members of his family, investigates notions of the familial drawing on some feminist perspectives that query notions of representation. Screening 3, a conversation between the researcher and Media and Cultural Studies staff at the researcher's home institution, cross- examines the film practice in relation to a theoretical formulation of political resistance. Screening 4, a conversation between the researcher and other filmmaker colleagues, scrutinises formulations from historical and contemporary film practices and charts filmic influences upon the filmmaking itself DVD 2 (28 mins) contains five experimental Home Movies that work to illustrate the filmmaking evolution towards the principal Home Movie on DVD 1. 2 Contents: Abstract 2 ................................................................................. Introduction 8 ............................................................................ Introduction to Submission 10 ......................................................... Introduction to Written Text 25 ....................................................... Introduction to The Four Screenings 35 ............................................. Screening I 44 ........................................................................... Screening2 78 ........................................................................... Screening 3 116 ........................................................................... Screening4 150 ........................................................................... Conclusion 203 ............................................................................ Annotated Bibliography 208 ............................................................. Filmography 248 ............................................................................ DVD I Home Movies Summer 2005 256 ................................................ DVD 2 Home Movies (Selection) 257 .................................................. 3 Acknowledgments: My deepestthanks to: Chris Rodrigues Also to: Liz Wells, Katy Macleod, Malcolm Miles, David Hilton, Isabelle Rodngues, Tony Lopez, Jeff Collins, Liz Nicol, Nicola Kirkbarn, Mel Jordan and Andy Hewitt, Jane Trowell, Srdjana Cvijetic and Slaven To1j, Vladislava Fekete, Isabel and Cargo Trio, Richard Leacock, Jane Rendell, Tony Dowmunt, Robin Nelson, Stephen Ball and David Curtis at The Artists Film and Video Study Collection housed at Central St Martin's, University of The Arts, London, Steve Carroll, the USS (University Student Scholarship) University of Plymouth for three years of generousfunding and the Graduate Committee at the University of Plymouth for continued support and the Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home for continuity of integrity and purpose. Deep thanks also to all who took part in the Home Screenings. Deep thanks also to family who let me film them: Steph, Sue, Bri, Maybelle, Jimbo, Little Steph and Little Bri. For Lena, Neal, Gabriel and Sid. 4 Author's Declaration At no time during the registration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy has the author been registered for any other University award without prior agreementof the Graduate Committee. This study was financed with the aid of a studentship the USS University Scholarship Scheme,University of Plymouth. Relevant seminars and conferenceswere regularly attended at which work was often presented; external institutions were visited for consultation purposes and papers and films were presented. Peer Reviewed Publication 'The Special Relationship: The Event as Radical Immanence, 'A/v6, Winter 2007ý ISSN 1752-5624. Papers and Conferences (in chronological order) Visible Evidence XI, 16-19 December 2003, Watershed Bristol, University of Bristol and University of the West of England. Avant-Garde Cinema: An International Conference, 24-26 September, 2004, University of Edinburgh. Building Bridges: The Cinema of Jean Rouch, 5-14 October, 2004, French Institute, London, CREAM (Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media), University of Westminster. Cinema and Technology, 6-9 April, 2005, Institute for Cultural Research, University of Lancaster. (Inter-)facing. - Theory and Practice, 21-22 April 2005, University of Exeter (Film/Paper delivered). Re-MaPP ing Deleuze, 17 September 2005, Cornerhouse, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Staffordshire University. 5 Research Spaces: Materialization of Practice in Art & Architecture, 14-20 November 2005, Slade School of Fine Art and the Bartlett School of Architecture (Film/Paper delivered). Research Symposium: The Documentation of Fine Art Processes and Practices, 2 December 2005, The Lancaster Institute For The Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University. The Assessment and Examination of A VPhDs, 27-28 January 2006, Birkbeck College. Interval (2), 17 March 2006, Slade School of Fine Art. ResearchInto Practice, 7-8 July 2006, University of Hertfordshire. AVPhD 3,27-28 October 2006, Birkbeck University of London (Film/Paper delivered). Cultural Studies Now International Conference, 19-22 July 2007, University of East London (Film/Paper delivered). The Deleuzian Event, 27-28 September 2007, Manchester Metropolitan University (Film/Paper delivered). Papers and Research Events at the University of Plymouth Research Training Workshops, Sept 2003 - May 2006, Faculty of Arts. Critical Spaces,Sept 2003 - April 2006, School of Architecture and Design. ResearchEvents, Sept 2003 - March 2006, School of Media and Photography. Research in Arts Practice, Sept 2005 - July 2006, School of Art and Performance. 6 Word count: 39,153 Signed..". ' -------------------------- Date C- ------------------------------------------------------------------ Director of Studies: Chris Rodrigues Second Supervisor: Liz Wells External Examiner: Prof Jon Dovey Internal Exarnmer: Dr. Geoff Cox 7 Introduction Structure of the Introduction This introduction is in three parts: Introduction to the Submission, Introduction to the Written Text and Introduction to the Four Screenings.Each of these sets out to establish the rationale of each section of the submission. I start from the outer most point: positioning the submission, in which field and according to which methodological tools. I then move in closer to introduce the written text, its four chapters, its key terins and its key characteristics. This will include the referencing superstructure that has been deployed throughout the Four Screenings as 'Conversations' and 'Footnotes' and will closely define some of the terms used throughout this submission. The submission then moves on to the Four Screenings.