Videoart and Experimental Film with Rodrigo Courtney - June 20, 21, 22

Dates: June 20, 21, 22
Times: Fri, Sat, Sun  1pm - 7pm    
Levels: All Levels
Membership Price: $500 Use code MEMBERS10 to apply discount

Our objective is to improve our understanding of our own creative process.

- Take steps to find our own voice in audiovisual creation.
- Learn about the history and creative processes of different figures in experimental cinema and video art.
- Explore, analyze, and deconstruct our influences.
- Create a collaborative piece of video art and/or experimental cinema.

About the Instructor:
Rodrigo Courtney, also known as Fangs, is a Mexican experimental filmmaker and video artist from Guadalajara. He began his career as a documentary filmmaker, developing an unconventional directing style influenced by Gonzo journalism. Over time, he transitioned into experimental film and video art, using these mediums to express and share his unique perspective on life in this beautiful yet chaotic world.

Many of his audiovisual works include strong references to his personal life and his own healing processes. Social justice, addiction, dreams, human virtue, art, spirituality and mysticism are often topics of his works. Much of his work is informed by his own experiences and visions from the use of sacred plants such as peyote, ayahuasca, and psilocybin.

Rodrigo is currently researching alchemy, the exploration of the subconscious mind, and mythology and myth creation, to create otherworldly audiovisual pieces. For the last 3 years, together with his partner, performer, jeweler and multidisciplinary artist Hanna-Katarina, they’ve been creating video art and experimental audiovisual pieces that dive into dreams, myths, memories, visions, and our perceptions of reality.

Workshop Description:

Download Videoart Workshop Overview PDF

SESSION 1:

Introduction

Synchronicity brought you here (on Jung)

Finding Our Own Voice

Your relationship with cinema as a child

Do you remember a moment when cinema changed you?
Do you believe you are passionate about cinema and/or video?

Cinema is just a language to amplify your voice
What would you like to say?
Do you know what your voice is?
Does finding your own voice involve listening to yourself?

We are all documentarians
Listening to oneself
Art and activism

Is there a mission? What is your mission?

Understanding Experimental Cinema

Avant-Garde / Dadaism / Surrealism and Experimental Cinema
On questioning the system
Surrealist and Dada influences
Who buys experimental cinema?
Maya Deren and Amateurism (Non-commercial cinema)
DIY Cinema (Jonas Mekas)

Experimental

Based on experience, or something known and understood through it. (e.g., Physics, experimental knowledge).
Serving as an experiment, with a view to possible improvements, applications, and dissemination.
Aiming at the search for new aesthetic forms and innovative expressive techniques.

Translating Personal Experiences and Beliefs into Images

*Exercise to translate experiences or beliefs into images:

1. Identifying a belief or personal experience you'd like to express through video.
2. Once identified, it is shared with the group to then explore different ways to approach it as an image.
3. Deliver a video piece no longer than 1 minute in the following session.
4. Attempt to identify the parts of the creative process activated during this activity.

Technical Aspects vs. Intuition

What do you know you don’t know about cinema?
What do you know about cinema?
It doesn’t matter what you know or don’t know about cinema!
Start with what you know
Find motivation in what you don’t know
Experiment and practice
Intuition and Intention
Improvisation requires years of practice

SESSION 2 

Putting Ideas into Practice

The importance of understanding our creative process and how it evolves over the years.
Breakdown of your creative process.
Cycles within your creative process.

Shooting collaborative piece

Production plan / Project / Outlines / Shooting List / Script
Select your camera / crew / team / characters / locations
Decide whether the project will be solo or collaborative

Understanding Video Art

Case Studies: Nam June Paik / Pipilotti Rist
Video Postcards
Videodance
Videoperformance
Documentation vs. Video Art
Video Installation as a genre
Music Video / Music Video Clips

Art as a Healing Process

Art is not a struggle (Case study: David Lynch)
Cinema as a healing act (Case studies: Alejandro Jodorowsky and Sergei Parajanov)
Case study proposed by participants
Art is a struggle (Case studies: Werner Herzog / Jane Campion/Kaurismaki)

Influences from other Arts and Direction

Case Study: Hieronymus Bosch / Leonora Carrington (influence of other arts on cinema)
Influences in direction are a personal and evolving process
Richard Linklater / Aki Kaurismaki / Kieslowski / Maya Deren / Terry Gilliam / Parajanov / Storm de Hirsch

Videoart influences

Destroying our influences

Sacred Geometry in Cinema

Framing and composition
Handheld Camera and Intuition
How important is framing and composition to you?
Choosing your primary medium
Cinematography basics

SESSION 3

On Inspiration and the muses
Conflict as creative inspiration
When work is not work
When to collaborate and when not to collaborate
Who to collaborate with

On Limited Resources and Budget

Know your limitations (if any)
Red Dragon vs. Mobile Phone and selecting your camera
Types of limitations (technical, creative, or budgetary)

Production Fundamentals

Socio-emotional approach in projects
How long do film projects take?
Proper selection of your camera and lenses
Budget
Scriptwriting
Locations
Choosing the right crew

HANDS ON

Required Materials list:

Students should bring any type of video camera (can be your phone), a notebook for notes, a laptop computer is optional.

Optional Materials list:

Bring any sound equipment, film equipment, lenses, or audiovisual gear you may want to explore with.