Week 2: Maya Deren "At Land"

This video was extremley captivating and curious at the same time. More often than not my mind tends to wander during silent films based purely on the fact that an essential element is absent and they tend to loose my attention rather quickly. With the quirky and unexpected situations Deren presented herself in, from being washed up on a beach, to climbing up rocks on to a dinner table and the attractive editing i was enthralled thoughout the entirety of the film. The main motive behind this piece was to play with the conventions of time and space, as quoted from Deren's essay; "The fact that a camera can be moved from one location to another, and that the various shots can follow each other immediately, in the process of editing, is also a capacity unique to motion pictures" (135). One particular scene that stands out to me and that best puts this quote in to context is when the woman moves over a hill but then disappears only to reappear somewhere in the distance. Editing tricks like this kept me on my toes and curious as to how they were achieved. Perhaps she used matting or double exposure seeing as this piece was filmed on a 16mm camera? Thus proving that it is not always the equipment you have but how you utilize it.