This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. Lessons in Perception This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. LESSONS IN PERCEPTION The Avant-Garde Filmmaker as Practical Psychologist S Paul Taberham berghahn N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D www.berghahnbooks.com This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. First published in 2018 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com © 2018 Paul Taberham All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Taberham, Paul author. Title: Lessons in Perception: The Avant-Garde Filmmaker as Practical Psychologist / Paul Taberham. Description: [New York, NY]: Berghahn Books, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2017058327 | ISBN 9781785336416 (hardback: alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: Experimental fi lms—History and criticism. | Motion pictures—Psychological aspects. Classifi cation: LCC PN1995.9.E96 T33 2018 | DDC 791.43/611—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017058327 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-78533-641-6 hardback ISBN 978-1-78533-642-3 open access ebook An electronic version of this book is freely available thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. KU is a collaborative initiative designed to make high quality books Open Access for the public good. More information about the ini- tiative and links to the Open Access version can be found at knowledgeunlatched.org. This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Non- commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International licence. The terms of the li- cence can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. For uses beyond those covered in the licence contact Berghahn Books. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. For Noelle, Atticus, Ezra and Bast This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. CONTENTS S List of Illustrations viii Acknowledgements x Introduction 1 PART I – COGNITION 1 The Spectre of Narrative 25 2 Ghost Films of the Avant-Garde 67 PART II – VISUAL PERCEPTION 3 Bottom-up Processing, Entoptic Vision and the Innocent Eye in the Films of Stan Brakhage 97 4 Robert Breer and the Dialectic of Eye and Camera 113 PART III – AUDIOVISUAL PERCEPTION 5 Synaesthetic Film Reconsidered 151 6 Three Dimensions of Visual Music 169 Conclusion 183 Bibliography 195 Index 208 This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. ILLUSTRATIONS S Figures 1.1–1.4. Stills from The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (1928) 36 1.5. Botticelli’s La Primavera (1481) 40 1.6–1.10. Characters in Lucifer Rising (1980) 42 1.11–1.12. The Dreamer journeys through a dinner party and jungle in At Land (1944) 50 1.13–1.15. Successive images in catalogue fi lms 57 1.16–1.19. Individual shots as photographs-in-motion in ‘meditative fi lms’ 59 2.1–2.4. Evocations of mood in Chumlum (1964) and Dream Work (2002) 85 2.5–2.6. Images that persist: Chumlum (1964) and Hamfat Asar (1965) 88 3.1–3.6. Entoptic effects and ‘bad practice’ in Stan Brakhage’s fi lms 104 3.7. Arrival of a Train at Ciotat (1896) exemplifi es the illusion of visual depth 108 4.1–4.8. Animation subjects in the fi lms of Robert Breer 115 4.9. Destabilization of visual world and visual fi eld in Swiss Army Knife with Rats and Pigeons (1980) 117 4.10. Movement of a still photograph in Bang! (1986) 121 4.11–4.12. Comparison of fl icker and phi motion 123 4.13–4.15. Strong collisions in Robert Breer’s fi lms 125 4.16–4.22. Flicker fusion in Robert Breer’s fi lms 127 4.23. Incremental, uneven movement in LMNO (1978) 128 This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. illustrations • ix 4.24–4.27. Instances of phi dis ruption 130 4.28–4.32. Phi disruption via alterations in form in Robert Breer’s fi lms 132 4.33–4.38. Explorations of the tension between fl atness and depth in Robert Breer’s fi lms 134 4.39–4.41. Necker and Kopfermann cubes 135 4.42–4.45. Fleetingly discernible perspective in Robert Breer’s fi lms 138 4.46–4.50. Ambiguities in relative size and motion parallax 139 4.51–4.53. Foreshortening in 69 (1968), Time Flies (1997) and ATOZ (2000) 141 4.54–4.62. Fuji (1974) brings together Breer’s characteristic treatments of depth and motion 143 4.63–4.64. The interaction of language and image in Robert Breer’s fi lms 147 5.1–5.3. Synaesthetic representations of sound in visual form 155 5.4. ‘Kiki’ and ‘bouba’ shapes from Wolfgang Köhler’s 1929 study 159 5.5–5.14. Amodal invariant correspondences 161 5.15. The visual accompaniment of a sound collage in Electric Sheep (2002) 166 6.1–6.3. Similarity between reported visual hallucinations and imagery in Spirals (1926) and Allures (1961). 175 6.4–6.5. T.O.U.C.H.I.N.G (1968) and Energie! (2007) explicitly seek to create a hallucinatory experience 177 6.6–6.8. Symmetrical imagery in 7362 (1967), Disorient Express (1996) and Delicacies of Molten Horror Synapse (1991) 179 7.1–7.4. Depictions of the dreaming subject 191 Tables 2.1. ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Memory: Formal Features of Conventional and Avant-Garde Film 72 2.2. ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Memory: Subjective Features of Conventional and Avant-Garde Film 73 5.1. Strong vs. Weak Synaesthesia 160 This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS S I would like to thank Murray Smith, whose insight, literacy and clarity will always be a benchmark for my own career as a scholar, Aylish Wood for her invaluable advice on structure and signposting, and Tamar Jeffers McDonald for her support. Thanks also to Malcolm Turvey, whose integrity and thoroughness pushed me to improve my own standards. Chris Chappell, Amanda Horn and everyone else at Berghahn have also been tremendously helpful, and I also thank the anonymous reviewers for their generosity both in praise and constructive criticism. All of my teachers should be thanked by name, but I will single out Alan Fair and Gareth Palmer, both of whom sparked the fl ame in me that continues to burn. I will also mention Ted Nannicelli, Lilly Husbands and Miriam Harris, whose names I am proud to be attached to as co-editors. I thank Sarah Haywood, who introduced me to Tim Smith, who introduced me to SCSMI, which changed my life’s course. Thanks to the SCSMI community as a whole, in particular Jason Gendler, Catalina Iricinschi, Diana Mirza, Andreas Lindegaard Gregersen, Joe Kickasola and William Brown. My gratitude also goes to Joseph Anderson, whose trailblazing work was pivotal in inspiring my own research. Thanks to Dominic Topp, from whom I have learned a great deal, for his friendship and many interesting conversations. Thanks to Luke Dunmall and Caleb Turner for some of the happiest evenings I had while working on this manuscript. A special mention also goes to Karen Burke, Stephen Crowe, Daniel King, Leon Waksberg, Andrew Butler, Hayley Lismore, Suzy Mangion, Sabina Sitoianu, Michael Knox, Chris Bourton, Keeley Saunders, Mike Keeling-Smith, Jamie Finn, George Conyne and Manuela Tho- mae for their longstanding friendships. Many thanks to Sumit Sarkar and Kirsty Garland for their illustrations used in this book, and to Phil Solomon for his guidance, friendship and generosity of spirit. Gratitude is also due to my colleagues at the AUB, and my students over the years at Salford University, Kent University and the Arts University Bourne- mouth, who have confi rmed to me that my chosen profession was also my true This open access library edition is supported by Knowledge Unlatched. Not for resale. acknowledgements • xi calling. My mother, father, step-parents, sister, nephew and in-laws all need to be thanked for their ongoing love, support and inspiration. To my mother – who knew those evenings spent at the Broadway Cinema in Nottingham would lead to my eventual career! Noelle, my lighthouse in the mist, continues to shine the way for me while Atticus, Ezra and Bast are the best travel companions I could hope for. Special mention also goes to Al Rees and Jason Simpkins, both of whom I had the pleasure of knowing all too briefl y while working on this manuscript. I was moved by Al’s authority on experimental fi lm paired with his informality and kindness when discussing the subject. His passing was a loss to the fi eld, as well as to those who knew him. Jason was a good friend for the fi rst two years of my research; he fought hard for what he believed in, and he loved the movies. I continue to miss him.