TECHNES Encyclopedia Database

Another form of “inappropriate” work on the filmic material is that of etching the film stock. This art, which consists in deliberately scratching the layer of emulsion on the film stock, is a branch of animated film in its own right (in the work of Len Lye, Norman McLaren and Pierre Hébert). We also find this technique in the work of Stan Brakhage, who wrote his name and the titles of his films directly onto the film stock, frame by frame. He also scratched the images of certain shots in his earliest films as a metaphor for ways of seeing (Reflections on Black, 1955) or, beginning with Dog Star Man (1961-64), to represent his visions in hypnagogic states. Whereas in a collection of films a scratch on a 16 or 35 mm print is synonymous with ruin, here, on the contrary, a scratch is a form of expression in its own right, one which uses a variety of tools and explores an infinite number of modalities.