Experimental Film Research

I have been researching various different types of experimental film to help me come up with ideas and techniques for my own one. Two particular films that caught my eye were L'Age d'Or (1930) by Luis Buñuel, and Un Chien Andalou (1929) also by Luis Buñuel. Both these experimental films where composed in compliance with the film theory of surrealism and focused on bizarre imagery with no real narrative, which gave the films an almost 'dream' feel to them. These two films were of particular interest to me as they used the same camera and editing techniques. These mainly consisted of close ups of body parts, commonly hands, and bits of a continuous shot being cut out to give the film a 'jumpy' feel. In L'Age d'Or, text is cut in, inside a shot which breaks up the film and makes the film have no rhythm at all which satisfies the surrealist films codes and conventions. It also uses a composed soundtrack in the background with no diegetic sound throughout. This means the audience cannot relate with the characters or get to know them which alters the focus to the mise en scene of the shots and also the connotations that they hold.

Un Chien Andalou also uses similar techniques such as the non-diegetic sound, quick cutting between shots and the focus on body parts with uses of close ups, however, it also uses lighting a lot more effectively to give a focused effect to the thing in the shot. For example the opening shot in this scene is of a woman staring at her hand and most of the background behind her is dark and flickering so we cannot see where this scene is. This technique of spot lighting one thing is very in surrealist films but also in every form of film as in almost forces the audience to focus on one thing and nothing else.

This film also uses one or two cross-fade transitions between shots which connotes the blur in reality and connection between them.

I preferred Un Chien Andalou out of the two as it uses more complex techniques that L'Age d'Or in terms of lighting and editing techniques, but I will attempt to incorporate both films techniques in my own film.