James Whitney

(1957) (1966)

Lindsey Castillo

Wojciech Bruszewski

Jan Svankmajer

From Youtube, Jan Švankmajer (born 4 September 1934 in Prague) is a Czech surrealist artist. His work spans several media. He is known for his surreal animations and features, which have greatly influenced other artists such as Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay and many others...Švankmajer has gained a reputation over several decades for his distinctive use of stop-motion technique, and his ability to make surreal, nightmarish and yet somehow funny pictures...Švankmajer's trademarks include very exaggerated sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes. He often uses very sped-up sequences when people walk and interact. His movies often involve inanimate objects coming alive and being brought to life through stop-motion. Food is a favourite subject and medium. Stop-motion features in most of his work, though his feature films also include live action to varying degrees.

Mieczyslaw Waskowski's 'Somnambulicy'

A clip from Mieczyslaw Waskowski's 'Somnambulicy' (1954) which we watched last week in relation to filters and experimental animation techniques.

Fluxus Film

Fluxus Film was a continuation of the Fluxus movement into film work which was heavily influenced by the 1920s movements of Dada. Often playful, non-linear, confusing and unpredictable. These films were accompanied with live performances including music and theatre of a similar nature with heavy reliance on audience participation.

Bill Morrison

A contemporary experimental film maker who has worked with found footage and degradation techniques. His most praised piece, Decasia (2002), was made from found footage from public access archives and libraries which had been damaged through poor storage methods and were damaged through lyrical nitrate.


The soundtrack was composed with similar ideas in relation to the feeling of damage, uncertainty of time and a confusion of narrative achieved through out of tune pianos, damaged instruments and a undefined pulse and fleeting rhythmic patterns.





Decasia is an artful collage of found archival footage, all of it shot pre-1950 on a cellulose nitrate base and most of it in advanced stages of decay. The footage is slowed to allow a greater appreciation of the effect and character of the visual damage to the original materials, which include everything from fragments of silent melodramas to ethnographic studies, travelogues, newsreel footage and wildlife documentaries. The material is edited to a modernist symphonic score by Michael Gordon; the aural dissonance complements the visual decay. British Film Institute (BFI)

Light is Calling follows similar techniques but it is a re-edited copy of James Young's 'The Bells' (1926).