Undulating water patterns; designs etched or painted directly onto clear or black film leader; computer-generated, pulsating, multihued light tapestries—the visual images that often constitute experimental motion pictures are unlike anything found in either fictive narratives or documentary works. Direct Theory provides a historical and theoretical survey of this overlooked and misunderstood category of international film and video referred to as avant garde. In a radical revision of film theory that incorporates a semiotic system, Small and Johnson argue that experimental motion pictures constitute a special mode of theory that bypasses written and spoken words. The book looks at the historical development of experimental film from its beginning in the European avant-garde movement of the 1920s and highlights eight defining technical and structural characteristics of the genre.

This second edition includes a new preface and an added chapter discussing digital experimental film in the twenty-first century and its future. A deft historical interweaving of experimental production and scholarly discourse, this thought-provoking work firmly establishes the importance of experimental motion pictures in the discipline of film studies and production.

Book Information
ISBN 9780809332137
Author Edward S. Small
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Southern Illinois University Press
Publisher Southern Illinois University Press
Weight(grams) 230g