Movement as Meaning in Experimental Cinema

Daniel Barnett has taught at multiple universities and art schools (SUNY Binghamton, Mass College of Art, UMASS, Boston, School of the Art Institute of Chicago & San Francisco Art Institute, USA) and a professional filmmaker (Executive Producer, bePictures) for over 45 years. His films have been shown all over the world.

Dan Barnett’s book is the finest and most crystalline unpacking of experimental, non-narrative cinema I have read in decades. Since experimental cinema is itself a rigorous exploration of form, duration, montage, perception and the music of time, his book is written in dialogue with these experiments. Barnett is a natural born philosopher who brings a wide range of reference (from cognitive science and the theory of perception, language and its philosophy, music, painting and more) to the dialogue, and equally important, the perspective of an artist who has lived within the subtle complexities of experimental film for a lifetime. What emerges is both a wonderful study of filmmakers, and a vivid rethinking of what film is.

• Foreword: Where does this book belong?Preface: Arriving at the sceneIntroduction: Two pictures of a rose in the darkPart I: Modes of Perception and Modes of Expression1. First ideas in a new medium: the cinematic suspension of disbelief2. One description of how the mind may move toward understandings3. New paradigms and new expressions4. Theories of meaning – media, messages and how the mind moves5. The relevance of the mechanism – lessons to carry forward from an already obsolete medium6. Frames vs. shots, surface vs. window7. What the surface of the screen can tell us about language8. Language integrates our perceptions as surely as the nervous system integrates our sense data – hallucination or metadata? 9. Letting the mind surround an idea: an introduction to Wittgenstein10. Ascertaining understanding: What one language must evoke, another may stipulate (and vice versa). 11. Dynamic and static theories of meaning12. Color, types of reference and the inveterate narrative13. The polyvalence of the picture14. Meaning and mutual experience – kinds of reference re-described15. What has art got to do with it?16. A whole new way of reading – the surface of the screen and the modulation of self-consciousness17. The anteroom of meaning and our conception of space18. Meaning and mental habits19. Assumed and earned meaning20. The spectrum of shared reference21. The story sequence and the montage – prologue22. When the editor learns about meaning23. Montage and metaphor. 24. The imitation of perceptionPart II: Dynamic and Syntactic Universals25. Non-Verbal Universals26. The polyvalence of the picture and the omnivalence of the movie27. The description of omnivalence as a floating target28. Dynamic universals: beginning, middle and end –a prologue29. Language and the momentum of the body30. Syntactic universals: interval, context and repetition31. The synergy of symmetry32. Sidebar – another parallel model and another speculative future33. Formal references in music and cinema34. The developmental leap – keeping the referent a mystery35. Resemblance and resonance36. The subliminal pull of the flicker37. Aural and visual cadence38. The frame of the experience39. Resonance among frames40. Ancient history – the medium as the model41. Illustration, induction and repetition42. The material and the medium43. Sonics and seamlessness44. The private language machine and the evolution of a medium45. Illusions and ontological linchpins46. Delimiting an audience47. Summarizing the singular window enroute to the panoramic viewPart III: Considering Description48. The world of description49. Recapitulation and prospectus50. Shades of meaning – another perspective on perspective51. Yet another perspective on perspective: metaphors, images and pictures: the linguistic hall of mirrors52. Metaphor, image and brain53. Words are generated; image streams are wrought54. The metrics of vectors and resonances55. Two pictures of a nose in the dark56. An Obligatory sidebar on Eisenstein meets a structural allegory57. Hearing the image and the inherent omnivalence of music58. The organization of space in a model built for sound59. The category across modalities60. Similar to vs. same as – periodicity and category61. Description, Allegory, the Heuristic Dialectic and a short bridge to the future.Part IV: The Moving Target62. Digital ubiquity – the memosphere & the mediasphere63. Compression and consciousness64. What Medium?65. Indeterminacy of translation revisited and context reconsidered66. The reconfigured attention span67. The synergy of the media sphere68. The search engine, the barker and the editor-in-chief69. A sidebar on consciousness70. So, where is the screen?71. The moving meaning metaphor72. Working the method73. From the grain to the pixel74. beyond the pixel – an overview75. A fond adieuAPPENDIX A:The Paillard Bolex Movie Camera and the J-K optical printerAcknowledgementsBibliographyFilmographyIndex