Appropriation videos

Here are some general examples of films using appropriated footage that concentrate on form within the frame. Or they incorporate formal strategies or rules in their construction.

These films have an array of approaches. I encourage you to shoot your own footage if you are able to and think about how you could combine fresh video with old material to create a dialogue.
Keep checking back on this site for more inspirations.

Here is the TIME TRAVELING assignment again linked HERE 

HERE is a site with more about appropriation and fair use law.



Science Friction by Stan Vanderbeek

Mirror World by Abigail Child
Mirror World (follow the link) uses all appropriated footage, combined through layering and mirroring, as the title suggests.


Student work: RTD 365A: This meditation on place combines fresh and found footage


Golden Digest by Animal Charm combines several different sources of video into a strange portrait of an animal.



Student of RTD 365A Found Footage project on the theme of work


Student of RTD 365A Found Footage project on the theme of work


Student of RTD 365A Found Footage project on the theme of the future


Student of RTD 365A New Footage montage/story on the theme of self and place



(George Bush) Don't Like Black People, Franklin Lopez
taking off from Kanye West's statement on television


Student work rtd 365a -Experimental, expressionistic short story about suicide intervention

Student work rtd 365a expressionistic short story shot in mostly closeups. Acceptable first project interpretation



Wonder Woman by Dara Birnbaum



awesomely weird film!! follow the link!
Bagger 288- an enormous killing machine by Rather Good (linked)


Student of RTD 365A This project experiments with light and dark scenes to communicate the producer's passion for rugby



This film used footage from the news and science fiction movies to tell another story about the Iraq War. Who tells the story about the past? How would you remake it?
Phil Patiris Iraq Campaign



Here is an experimental film that concentrates on shape vectors.

Ballet Mechanique by Ferdinand Leger, 1924

To Hug you and Squeeze you is by Wago Kreider 
by Wago Kreider (02:21)

Woody Allen's Zelig
This uses documentary style - combining new interviews that supposedly construct a story out of found footage.




Fallout from Paul Turano on Vimeo.
These are more creative in their choices of "footage" Yes You may use still images...

The Body Besieged, 2009  by Kelly Sears
This uses still shots like the other work below of Fichter, but gives nice ideas for dividing and using the space inside the frame.
Follow the link to The Body Besieged, 2009 from Kelly Sears on Vimeo.


Walking on Water from celeste fichter on Vimeo.

Here is an impressionistic study of PLACE personalized that incorporates different kinds of footage and uses homemade music.

Jem Cohen: We Have An Anchor from EMPAC @ Rensselaer on Vimeo.

This film plays simply with the shape vector - matching the location of the circles in this old art film with the form of a circus performer. 

hole or space from Caroline Koebel on Vimeo.
Hole or Space by Caroline Koebel

Appropriation films:
Leos Carax, Sans Titre

oops from Chris Beckman on Vimeo.

SONGS FOR EARTH AND FOLK from Cauleen Smith on Vimeo.


The Abolition of Work by Naoki Izumo

Abolition of Work from Naoki Izumo on Vimeo.

  Achoo Mr Krooshev by Stan Vanderbeek 00:38

Rhythm, Graphic Vectors, Motion Vectors

Graphic Vectors: (Give me the Food music video by Miss Platnum)

 

 

Close-ups in Rhythm

a video made by a collaboration between americans and indonesians about their common ground

More appropriation films - incorporating new ideas with old footage

https://vimeo.com/163328710
tell me a story

Phil Hoffman
https://vimeo.com/channels/320131/page:3


Woody Allen's What's Up Tiger Lily



Found footage compilations - many examples




From the Sea to the Land Beyond
British Sea Power provide the stirring soundtrack to director Penny Woolcock's mesmeric and uplifting film, consisting of clips of the British seaside and coast taken from the BFI National Film Archive.



another clip:
What does the past represent? Who remembers it and how?

PROJECT 1: TIME TRAVELER: STORY/PORTRAIT

REVISED

PROJECT 1: Experiments with frame and form

THEMES: Time traveling or Inhabiting

Create a 2-3 minute experimental portrait or story.
Think of all constructions from video as a kind of time traveling. At a minimum, by recording, one is saving something that happened in one time and watching it in another. 

The goal of Project 1 is to complete a short film that allows latitude in its telling about another time while offering a refresher in editing and maybe shooting. 
You can tell an ordinary story or do something non-linear and experimental. 
Do think about meaning, but remember that meaning is made in the mind of the observer- as an artist, think about how the colors, shapes and forms create associations and meanings. 

Your project can use appropriated (found) footage and/or newly shot footage from any device including your iphone.

For this piece, I want you to really think about how each frame – or shot - relates to the overall progression of your montage.  In other words, how does the composition of the frame change throughout the piece. This can be experimental. It does not need to be an ordinary story with character and plot. 

Try to use as many close-ups as possible to make the video exciting and telegraphic.

Choose one of the following meditations on personhood, time and place:

A Story from the Future. This can be imagined as a letter from the future or a portrait of yourself as a real or fictional character in the future. Some questions to start with: How do the events of today, such as politics, industry and family impact or look like in a future, real or imaginary? How do films of the past/today portray the future?

Remembering or re-editing the Past. This can take the approach of a memoir in which you recall or tell a story from the past- from your life or longer ago. Or you can re-edit the past, changing the course of the present. Or insert yourself into the past.

Self in Place. For this option, you can make a self-portrait of yourself and a place or places you inhabit- as a real or fictitious character (unreliable narrator). The place can be real or imaginary/surreal. You can imagine “yourself” as you really are or as a fiction/animal/inanimate object.

For all projects

• Try to experiment with how the story is told, thinking about the form within your images as much as possible.

• You may use effects such as changing duration or layering footage.

• Use cross cutting between perspectives (first, second person, omniscient viewer, seeing what protagonist sees, observing protagonist). Use these changes of perspective to create a dialogue between different kinds of footage (new footage versus appropriated footage).

Your video should employ the fundamental “cast” of visual components: SPACE, LINE, SHAPE are most important here.  TONE, COLOR and MOVEMENT can also be used.

Rhythm and repetition: You can repeat shots. Think about how the speed of your montage might change and vary, and what that means. 

Affinity and Contrast: Contrast can come from intensity in line, shape, color, tone and space. Affinity means similarity- it expresses the opposite of intensity in a frame- it can be seen in reduced tone, harmonious colors,

FOOTAGE can come from movies, advertising or television as well as you archival sources that offer a look into the past such as ARCHIVE.ORG: https://archive.org/. Use Youtube, Vimeo and any other places where footage is archived on the internet. You can also crack and use DVDS. Get the highest resolution footage you can. 

To down load and CONVERT; DIRPY.COM is  effective online.

For Firefox browsers, Video downloadhelper can be downloaded and used.

Pay attention to copyright restrictions that constrain your use 

- in terms of duration-                                     

- in terms of meaning and results

OTHER GUIDELINES

• Do not use one source of sound or musical performance through the whole film unless it is your own musical performance or you have permission to use it.

• EFFECTS: Be judicious in use of effects, using them if they contribute to the meaning. You should be prepared to defend your use of them; ask what they bring to the piece.

• Concentrate on closeups.  Use WS or MWS for establishing scenes, ideas, settings or a crucial part of the story.

• Convey emotion. It can change over the time of the film. You do not need to show people to convey an emotion. Use color, shape, expression and speed to convey emotion. 

•   Pay attention especially to how you fill the frame and use empty and filled spaces. 

Record keeping: WRITE DOWN where you got your footage as you go forward. 

Cite:  film name, producer/director (if available),  year, if available, website name,

 eg About Bananas. Castle Films, 1935. Archive.org

Credit these sources in the credits of your film. 

DUE DATES FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT

Jan 26: 2-3 sentence description of project and rough storyboard.

 You should have started acquiring footage.

Feb 2: Rough cut for sharing in class

Feb : 9 Final project

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Final project will be compressed and loaded onto server – we will cover that in class.

Track and Field

Student work from the University of Chicago School of Visual Arts. This is an experimental documentary that relies on many different kinds of shots, rhythmic editing and music to tell an alternative kind of story.

Experimental Film examples: STructuralist films

Zorn's Lemma and Hug you and Squeeze you.
The filmmaker is Hollis Frampton and the film was made in 1970. It is an example of what is called an experimental structural film- in that there is a structure or systematic framework that guides the filmmakers decision making process.  60 minutes long.
Zorn's Lemma- experimental film A-Z

To Hug you and Squeeze you is by Wago Kreider by Wago Kreider

Jump cuts from 1900

What is a jump cut? It is an edit made in film or video that is discontinuous from the action. With a jump cut, a jump in time is made from one frame to another without trying to hide it. Jump cuts are often used in interviews, for some films.

student graphic match videos

 

by Alex Froelich

Abolition of Work from Naoki Izumo on Vimeo.

The Abolition of Work by Naoki Izumo