Discussion:

Watch Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren, 1943)

and "The Ritual in Disfigured Time"

Choose one of the films for your analysis:

1. Choose one most striking cinematic image from the film and describe it.

Then analyze it:

a) what is the source/origin of this image-sing, using Pasolini's classification (environment, gestures, memories, dreams - a mix of several sources?

b) Does the image involve conflict/juxtaposition of two (or more elements)? Is it dynamic? Does it have a duration? Does it appear objective or subjective - and why?

c) what's the role of the instrument (camera, editing, sound, etc) in the formation of this image?

d) what makes this image striking or powerful - what makes it a poetic image? Does it have a meaning? Does it mean more than one thing? Does it have a vertical structure? Describe what meanings(s) it projects on the viewer

2. Describe and analyze the form of the entire film. Break it into sequences/scenes (units of meaning) and describe it sequence after sequence. Is there a story behind it? A movement of emotion, a process of life that has a specific shape? Something else that gives a form to this film? Find the connection between a single image you analyzed (a cell) and the film's form as a whole.

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