Introduction
Introduction, by Éric Thouvenel
Many preconceptions, arising from an entire mythology of cinematic experimentation as an activity of dilettantes, have solidly implanted the idea that experimental filmmakers were devoted to working with material of poor quality or intended for amateur use. While it is true that some filmmakers, like Stan Brakhage,[1] praised 8 mm cameras, frugality and a certain arte povera aesthetic in film, other projects arose out of fruitful collaborations with engineers who made their know-how available to films requiring in-depth reflection on technology.
In this way, in experimental cinema the bricolage or engineering of film cameras takes many forms. First of all, it can consist in inventing machines never before conceived and yet necessary to executing a unique aesthetic project. This is the case with the wind-powered Zéphirama camera, developed by Christophe Goulard and Nicolas Rey for the latter’s film Autrement, la Molussie (2012), or, more famously, with the complex and impressive articulated arm, designed by an engineer at the National Film Board of Canada, Pierre Abeloos, which was indispensable to shooting Michael Snow’s film La région centrale (1971).
Before the era of the digital camera, oftentimes conceived and manufactured as a black box,[2] we must keep in mind that the mechanics of photochemical film cameras were relatively accessible and that their conception was fairly simple to understand, including for the artists who wanted to use them. Because they could be opened and altered or simply in principle understood, mechanical cameras could be made to go as far as their technical features would allow. This was the case with the emblematic Bolex H16, developed by a company which had initially built up its know-how in the field of clock making and precision mechanics.[3] This camera became the standard for an entire generation of experimental filmmakers keen to explore the formal properties of the photogram by subverting the classical continuous film shot.
Some filmmakers were also able to make profitable use of the range of accessories intended to establish amateur film cameras, such as the work undertaken by Christian Lebrat beginning in the 1970s to develop modes of sequencing images using perforated filters, initially intended to modulate the amount of light entering the camera lens.
Between the creative inflection of the functions for which these cameras were designed within the film industry and the ad hoc fabrication of recording systems for unique projects, the history of experimental film navigates between bricolage and engineering and in its own way illustrates the diversity of forms that technical and aesthetic inventiveness can take.
