Handmade Film: Chaos, Field and Chance

Abstract

This thesis comprises both a body of creative work and a written dissertation (of 68,000 words). The written component explores a set of philosophical and theoretical contexts and constructs which, together, provide frameworks for understanding the practices and processes associated with the production of handmade film. The dissertation posits handmade film as an article disposed to chance operations in the phases of its production. It is argued that these operations are more consequential to the handmade film production than those informed by the exercise of conscious thought, or choice.

In the dissertation, handmade film is examined in the context of history; as practice; and its term as pre-eminent source of the abstract image object. Three pillar elements are identified as attaching to handmade film production. The first is the “Field” which draws on the philosopher Plato’s notion of the ‘receptacle’ and Deleuze and Guattari’s ‘body without organs’ as providing a scaffolding for an exploration of that which occurs in the initial, inceptive stage of the production of the art object. Here, The Field represents as a matrix upon which an object imprints and as a surface of circulating forces; one conforming to a force-material model as opposed to a form-matter model.

The second of the pillars is “Chaos”, it being a foregrounding condition requiring negotiation by the artist engaged in the assembly of materials. The philosopher Lucretius offers views on the nature of chaos which offer a framework for its positioning in terms of handmade film practices.

The third pillar is “Chance”. In negotiating systems of chaos potential for encounter with chance operations is assumed. The question of chance versus choice acts as the animating principle subtending all aspects of the handmade film practice. Together these elements are deployed to chart the course of a handmade film production in terms of the processes particular to the medium.