Page 37 - Studio International - November December 1975

THEORY & DEFINITION

OF STRUCTURAL/

MATERIALIST FILM

Peter Gidal

For K.V. mitigates against dominant (narrative) cinema. Thus
Structural/ Materialist Film viewing such a film is at once viewing a film and viewing
Structural/materialist film attempts to be non-illusionist. the 'coming into presence' of the film, ie the system of
The process of the film's making deals with devices that consciousness that produces the work, that is produced
result in demystification or attempted demystification of by, and in, it.
the film process. But by 'deals with' I do not mean
'represents'. In other words, such films do not document Represented 'Content'
various film procedures, which would place them in the Any represented content exists beneath the structure (or
same category as films which transparently document a above it). There is this representational 'reality' one is
narrative, a set of actions, etc. Documentation, through aiming the camera at. This remains true even if for
usage of the film medium as transparent, invisible, is example the representational content is pared down to
exactly the same when the object being documented is the filmstrip itself being pulled through the printer. That in
some 'real event', some 'film procedural event', some fact isn't necessarily a paring down at all. The
'story', etc. An avant-garde film defined by its structural/materialist film must minimize the content in its
development towards increased materialism and overpowering, imagistically seductive sense, in an
materialist function does not represent, or document, attempt to get through this miasmic area of 'experiende'
anything. The film produces certain relations between and proceed with film as film. Devices such as loops or
segments, between what the camera is aimed at and the seeming loops, as well as a whole series of technical
way that 'image' is presented. The dialectic of the film is possibilities, can, carefully constructed to operate in the
established in that space of tension between materialist correct manner, serve to veer the point of contact with the
flatness, grain, light, movement, and the supposed real film past internal content. The content thus serves as a
reality that is represented. Thus a consequent attempted function upon which, time and time again, a film-maker
destruction of the illusion is a constant necessity. works to bring forth the filmic event.2
In structural/materialist film, the in/film (not in/frame) The usage of the word content so far has been within
and film/viewer material relations, and the relations of the common usage, ie representational content. In fact,
structure of the film are primary to any representational the real content is the form, form become content. Form is
content. The structuring aspects and the attempt to meant as : formal operation, not as composition. Also,
decipher the structure and anticipate/recorrect it, to form must be distinguished from style, otherwise it
clarify and analyse the production-process of the given serves merely in its reactionary sense to mean
(that is, the specific image at any specific moment), is the formalism, such as : this formal usage (eg Welles) versus
root concern of structural/materialist film. The specific that (eg Sternberg).
construct of each specific film is not the relevant point;
one must beware not to let the construct, the shape take Film as Material
the place of the 'story' in narrative film. Then one would The assertion of film as material is, in fact, predicated
merely be substituting one hierarchy for another within upon representation, inasmuch as 'pure' empty acetate
the same system, a formalism for what is traditionally running through the projector gate without image (for
called content. This is an absolutely crucial point.' example) merely sets off another level of abstract (or not)
associations. Those associations, when instigated by
Devices such a device, are no more materialist or non-illusionist
Through usage of specific filmic devices such as than any other associations. Thus the film event is by no
repetition within duration one is forced to attempt to means, through such a usage, necessarily demystified.
decipher the film's material and construct, and to 'Empty screen' is no less significatory than 'carefree happy
decipher the precise transformations that each smile.' 3 There are myriad possibilities for co/optation
co/incide/nce of cinematic techniques produces. The and integration of filmic procedures into the repertoire of
attempt is primary to any specific shape, otherwise the meaning.
discovery of shape (fetishizing shape or system) may
become the theme, in fact, the narrative of the film. This is The Viewer
a crucial distinction for a dialectically materialist The mental activation of the viewer is necessary for the
definition of structural film. That is why Structural/ procedure of the film's existence. Each film is not only
Materialist film in fact demands an orientation of structural but also structuring. This is extremely
definition completely in opposition to the generally used important as each moment of film reality is not an
vague notions of 'Structural Film.' atomistic, separate entity but rather a moment in a
relativistic generative system wherein one can't simply
Production break down the experience into elements. The viewer is
Each film is a record (not a representation, not a forming an equal and possibly more or less opposite 'film'
reproduction) of its own making. Production of relations in her/his head, constantly anticipating, correcting,
(shot to shot, shot to image, grain to image, image re-correcting ... constantly intervening in the arena of
dissolution to grain, etc) is a basic function which is in confrontation with the given reality, ie the isolated
direct opposition to reproduction of relations. Elsewhere chosen area of each film's work, of each film's production.
in this essay I shall try to further elucidate this
problematic of production versus reproduction. Suffice Dominant Cinema
to say here that it is the core of meaning which In dominant cinema, a film sets up (cardboard)
differentiates illusionist from anti-illusionist film. When characters (however deep their melodramas) and through
one states that each film is a record of its own making, identification and various reversals, climaxes,
this refers to shooting, editing, printing stages, or complications (usually in that order) one aligns
separations of these, dealt with specifically. Such film oneself unconsciously with one or another or both or
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