Week Five (Monday 2-25-08)

Between last week's topic (Thauberger) and this week, it seems that authorship was a running theme. All of the films that we saw and pieces that we heard this week I think were very much about authorship. More specifically, I felt that Chris Welsby's "Tree" was actually the best example of authorship (or perhaps lackthereof - I'll explain later). The concept behind "Tree" is very simple; it's just nature capturing nature by means of a camera. Welsby attaches his camera to a tree branch so it's facing tall grass and other trees. Beyond that, though, the rest of the control in the film is held by the tree itself. I saw that there is a lack of authorship in this film because of the fact that the tree seems to be the true author of this film. This is not a bad thing at all - in fact, I think that this makes "Tree" more interesting. I like the fact that the filmmaking is putting the direction and control of his film in the hands (or branches) of a natural object. The only real authoring that Welsby does is choosing where he will place his camera and what direction it will face. As far as what the camera sees and how it moves, that is all up to the tree and the wind. The film might seem tedious and boring at times because it really doesn't show much. But I think it becomes more interesting when you really think about the circumstances. It's essentially a silent nature film that is being filmed and controlled entirely by nature (the tree and the wind). In my opinion, this is the most compelling aspect of the film. I do think that Welsby does retain some authorship of this film, but the majority of it goes to the tree. The filmmaker is not sacrificing control as much as he is giving it to the tree willingly. He wants the tree to be in control. Also, this is interesting considering the title of the film. It's called "Tree" and that could refer to two things. It could be a reference to the fact that the camera is being held by a tree or it could be that the camera is capturing other trees. Overall, I found the film to be quite peaceful and serene. Although, I think it could have benefited from some kind of soundtrack. It could have been ambient sounds or a ambient, downbeat musical accompaniment. But who knows, that may have completely changed the filmmaker's intentions.