DIRECT FILM

Maureen Furniss

At the intersection of painting, engraving, collage, animation, found film, and numerous other art forms lays the realm of direct filmmaking. Though its practitioners are many and direct film is an extensive field, discussion of it has been almost completely limited to a few individual artists-the best-known being Stan Brakhage, Len Lye, and Norman McLaren-and even their work has not been thoroughly contextualized as part of a larger practice. However, when the work of these and other filmmakers is considered as a whole, one finds that direct filmmaking unfolds as a multifaceted, complex realm.

Within the varied contexts of direct filmmaking, one often finds common factors. These include a desire to control the production process at the must fundamental levels, a characteristic that is not medium-specific (that is, limited to the celluloid film base) but rather finds manifestations in various related practices. Secondly, direct filmmaking is, for its practitioners, often ritualistic and transformative, providing a new way of viewing and commenting upon the world. Some direct films aim to tell stories and others function as visual music; some direct work allows creators and audiences alike the promise of transcendence from mundane existence, moving past ideology and convention to a realm of pure experience. Most forms accentuate the virtuosity of the artist, working at miniature scale, typically on thousands of frames. These themes are explored in this presentation, which demonstrates the widely ranging practices of direct film production.

Maureen Furniss, PhD is the founding editor of Animation Journal and the author of the books Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics and The Animation Bible. She is on the animation faculty at California Institute of the Arts, where she teaches courses in animation history, research techniques, and the aesthetics of direct filmmaking. Maureen is past president of the Society for Animation Studies, and currently its Chairman of the Board. She has lectured and written extensively, curated screenings worldwide, and served on various festival juries and selection committees. She also holds a doctorate in Critical Studies from the University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television. Her home is in Santa Clarita, California.