What Is Experimental Film

Experimental cinema, also known as Avant Garde or Underground film is a type of filmmaking that contrasts with mainstream and commercial ways of filmmaking. Experimental films are characterised by often being quite abstract in how they're filmed and also lacking a linear narrative, which would normally be the norm.
Experimental film is often started by novice filmmakers, and is generally done through low budgets, sometimes being self financed.

Bill Viola is an experimental filmmaker. Through his work, he tries to illuminate some of the fundamental human experiences such as birth, death, anger, love, fear. He draws on his experiences as a child, often using elements such as water and fire to express things.

'One of the most important artists in the world today'

Adelaide Festival Director David Sefton on Bill Viola

A piece I found of his that I found very compelling was 'Martyrs'. 'Martyrs' was an installation in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. In some senses, for a piece of experimental film this is actually quite a traditional piece in comparison to some experimental films, in that it's done in a film studio and is set up like a multi-panel painting that you'd find in a church.

Ghent Alterpiece by Jan Van Eyke, 1432

'Martyrs' is made up of three men and one woman, each in their own frame and each represent one of the four elements - earth, air, fire and water. It's one of the most captivating things I've seen, with Viola aligning them alongside each other, and with parallels to the others 'stories'. 

It is simultaneously disturbing and fascinating to observe, and is very different to other works around. The two characters who end up hanging from the ceiling are the ones I find hardest to watch, simply because I think about just how uncomfortable the positions they're in are, especially under duress from the elements. Viola began his film with a certain stillness, and after a moment each individual is interrupted by one of the four elements - their torment begins. 

"As the work opens, four individuals are shown in stasis, a pause from their suffering. Gradually there is movement in each scene as an element of nature begins to disturb their stillness. Flames rain down, winds begin to lash, water cascades, and earth flies up. As the elements rage, each martyr’s resolve remains unchanged. In their most violent assault, the elements represent the darkest hour of the martyr’s passage through death into the light."

-Bill Viola

I was instantly drawn to Viola's work, as I feel he has captured something in his videos in his use of lighting and sound - or lack there of. He is called a 'pioneer of experimental film' and when you look into his work it is clear why. He uses his own life experiences to create a film people are inexplicably drawn to. The way he uses the light to silhouette a single figure in the centre frame, results in the focus being purely on them, and allowing the viewer to engage fully with the individual on the screen. I also think it's clever in the 'earth' frame, how he used a technique as simple as reversing earth being poured onto a man to create such an off putting scene, as though they are rising from the dead.

Not using sound in most of his films is an unusual thing, and creates an atmosphere of almost being underwater, or immersed in the world.
I would say that sound is one of the most important aspects in a film, and that remains true in Viola's work. I would say that in these films, 'silence' itself is a form of sound, and in this piece it definitely works very well.


Sources

Moura, G. (n/a). Experimental Film. Available: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/film_form/experimental-film.html. Last accessed 6th January 2016.

n/a. (2015). 'Rembrandt of the Video Age:' Bill Viola Explores the Elemental Wonder of his Childhood. Available: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/bill-viola/6261696. Last accessed 6th January 2016.

Fire Woman Teaser. (2014). Bill Viola au Grand Palais, Fire Woman. [Online Video]. 20 February. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0SlwUozc9o. [Accessed: 06 January 2016].

Cumming, L. (2014). Bill Viola, Martyrs Review - Let the Unbelievers Come. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/25/bill-viola-martyrs-review-let-the-unbelievers-come. Last accessed 7th January.

n/a. (2015). Bill Viola - Martyrs. Available: https://www.stpauls.co.uk/history-collections/history/bill-viola. Last accessed 7th January 2016.