Five Film Excercises

The Whitney’s Five Film Exercises (1943/4) are an early example of the creation of images with synthetic sounds. Analytically, it is entirely possible to ask students to consider the relationships between sounds and images, reflecting on their daily experiences of these through MTV, and the screens of their computers, mobile phones (etc.). To what extent have we pursued the obvious possibilities of Abstract images and sounds and to what extent has commerce and consumption driven even sound images towards the literary and psychological? Practically, they might be asked to choose a predominantly instrumental piece of music (non-vocal) and design (storyboard) an appropriate ‘Abstract’ treatment for it.’ [1]

Film 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuZbgM8yxtY

Film 2 & 3: hhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdCjwS1OxBU

Film 4 (see example above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTEABxz1e_k

[1] http://prism.palatine.ac.uk/resources/view/81