Structural film is a kind of experimental cinema that
challenges the norms and the ideas of what the frame should contain inside
it. In a sense, it challenges the form
and the narrative structure like most video art and creates a rhythmic ,
well-structured juxtaposition of images that are mainly concentrated on the
visual aspect. In all the examples that were studied in the text, as well as
Zorn’s Lemma and Serene Velocity the visual aspects of the film are following a
set of rules and the shots are montaged together ignoring narrative or visual pleasure
to create a new meaning. What is allowed inside the frame and in who defines
the rules ? What kind of intense emotions can images that seem unlikely or
irrelevant produce to the audience when combined through a rhythmic montage? I
feel that this is the question that structural films are tryng to respond too.
Serene Velocity puts together a perspective of a dark lit
corridor in different level of zoom,
creating an intense dazzling effect and a disorienting feeling for the
spectator. As the perspectives change faster and faster the mind starts playing
games initiating movement. As an audience although I watched it in my laptop at
home I felt dazzled, disoriented and confused like I was walking back and forth
in a scary psychedelic corridor. The film doesn’t create a narrative but a
structure of images that lives on its own and it is its own art form , capable
of creating intense emotions and experiences.
