I had the refresh myself with the FilmScratchJunkies by looking at some YouTube clips of their work to get into proper context for writing a second response. The weakness of experimental, or perhaps simply in my greenhorn approach of it, is that after awhile, any one artists work begins to meld into one another. I searched through a number of different videos, never really sure if I was watching the very same we did in class, or something completely different. I remember a few scratched films of city life, a firefighter in particular, but nothing else stuck out.
After completing some of the camera-less projects for 6x1 I begin to realize why this might be true. Though there are a number of approaches to camera-less filmmaking (which to be fair is only one small subset of experimental) most film paintings are almost immediately identified as such, and the speed at which they progress doesn't allow for an ambitious film painter to create a masterpiece, more importance seems to be given to the creators whose work is prolific enough to be given notice. Similarly, though to a lesser degree, magazine transfer and film scratching start losing any clarity and quickly become a series of abstract paintings flying across the screen.
My tone thus far has probably seemed extremely condemning of this section of experimental film. I don't intend to tout my personal preferences as a definitive definition of what makes something art, only my personal preferences. Indeed, I truly have enjoyed creating my own films in the style, and to be fair, they have been obviously a lesser quality than the other films showcased in the class. I haven't been particularly disappointed by this because I don't seen myself doing something like this as my primary medium. I find it very interesting and will continue working on different aspects of it outside of class, but never with intentions of festival showcasing. Rather, I will continue to do so simply for the love of creating film and the desire to have explored all corners of it.
