Stills from any film give a very incomplete picture of what the actual viewing experience, and this is particularly true of Brakhage films. The perceived imagery in Brakhage's work depends very much on movement and montage, to the extent that some things a viewer is convinced are contained in a single image are in fact only the product of movements within a shot, or/and of juxtapositions from shot to shot. Still, I've attempted to select strips and individual frames that suggest the aesthetic of each film.
Where a still image makes sense I use that; for handpainted films I've tried to use strips, and I've included some strips from photographed films to show movement and editing patterns. Above some of the strips are selected frames from those strips that I chose as particularly representative. The larger versions of these frames are not quite the highest resolution I can get. Also, unlike frames within the strip, these are cropped to reflect the cropping that 16mm projectors produce according to the current SMPTE standard. Projectors do not show the entire frame, and while Brakhage views the whole strip while painting on it, he also views the films projected before completion, and what appears on the screen is the intended final result. Similar care has been used in writing the titles of each film, which appear in italics. I have used the form of the title exactly as it appears on the film itself, which Brakhage confirms is his preferred form. Thus the title of "existence is song" includes quote marks, to take one example.
Except for Creation, the left-to-right order of these strips follows the order in which they occur in the film. Fred Camper
Descriptions of these and other Brakhage films, provided by Brakhage himself, can be found in the Brakhage section of the on-line catalog of Canyon Cinema as well as in the "B" section" of the on-line catalog of the Filmmakers Cooperative. More information on Brakhage can also be found on my Brakhage links page.
Click on each small image or strip to see a larger version. If you don't see a larger version, please adjust your browser.
From "..." Reel 2 (1998)
Note: Because of the unusual typography of the title of this film, Brakhage also permits that, if the correct rendition of the title is not possible, it can be referred to as Ellipses Reel 2.
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film "..." Reel 2, also known as Ellipses Reel 2
From "..." Reel 3 (1998)
Note: Because of the unusual typography of the title of this film, Brakhage also permits that, if the correct rendition of the title is not possible, it can be referred to as Ellipses Reel 3.
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film "..." Reel 3, also known as Ellipses Reel 3
From …Prelude 1 (1996)
Please note: This film is not the more famous Dog Star Man: Prelude, made over three decades earlier, but a completely different work.
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film …Prelude 1
From Anticipation of the Night (1958)
The image at right below shows the Shadow Man hanging himself in the famous final scene.
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film Anticipation of the Night
From Chartres Series (1994)
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film Chartres Series
From A Child's Garden and the Serious Sea (1991),
the first of the "Vancouver Island films."
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film A Child's Garden and the Serious Sea
From Chinese Series (2003)
The firs strip on the left is the very beginning of the film; the last strip, on the right, is the very end. The film was printed in two parts, after Brakhage's death but according to his instructions: the material that he scratched on black film was first printed with each frame repeated twice, and then printed with each frame repeated only once. The first three strips below are from the first section, and the last three from the second. Here's my brief description of Chinese Series from the Chicago Reader, September 12, 2003: "Stan Brakhage had been planning a film inspired by Chinese ideograms for years; he made his unfinished Chinese Series in his dying months, scratching its marks on black 35-mm film. In its two haunting minutes, exploding lines flirt with the depiction of recognizable objects."
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film Chinese Series
From Creation (1979)
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film Creation
From Coupling (1999)
The last strip (on the right hand side) is from the very end of the film.
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film Coupling
The Dante Quartet:
From Hell Itself (1987)
From "existence is song" (1987)
(the first of the four sections of The Dante Quartet)
The two images on the left are the very first two images of the film, each of which lasts four frames.
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film Hell Itself
From Purgation (1987)
(the third of four sections of The Dante Quartet)
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film Purgation
(the last of four sections of The Dante Quartet)
The strip on the left is the very opening of the film, and the strip on the right is the very end.
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film "existence is song"
From The Dead (1960)
I include several strips below to demonstrate the very rapid montage of The Dead:
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film The Dead
From The Mammals of Victoria (1994),
the second of the "Vancouver Island films."
Frame enlargements from Stan Brakhage's film The Mammals of Victoria
From Mothlight (1963)
These images are a bit yellower than images found on some other prints; my print is yellower than most. All prints should have some yellow, reflecting the tape on which the objects were placed.
