1) Though Melville Webber and J.S. Watson's editing techniques in The Fall of the House of Usher are extremely bold and kaleidoscopic in a way that is impressive not only for its time, but also were unlike anything else I've ever seen--save a few other films we watched during this screening--I was actually most impressed by the camera work in the film. I am amazed by the shots that comprise hallucinogen-like compositions, and even just the framing in some of the more static shots at the beginning. The canted angles and eerily endless motion on more abstracted shots really impressed me, even if the overall effect sometimes felt like too much.
2) I wasn't aware of the short story that this film was based off of, so I didn't pick up on the potentially really frightening narrative, and simultaneously felt distracted by not understanding who people are or being able to tell them apart once things got more distorted. Now knowing a little bit about what the narrative is based off of, the gradual increase of abstraction, superimposition and expressionist-like text as death asserts its presence in the house is really fascinating.
3) Although this film is in no way a depiction of dance and it's animation is limited to the text, Horak's analysis of Danse Macabre helped me get a grip on Webber and Watson's film. Horak spoke a lot of the presence of the masculine experience and of nature in both this film and American avant-garde at large; while that didn't resonate with me at all in any of the films we watched during this screening, other technical and thematic elements of Danse Macabre rang familiar: a simple set that brings out the abstract elements that it chases, while simultaneously attempting to bring across a complex melodramatic narrative. The expressionist-like animation, formal innovations, and layered exposures brings a narrative into something much different, but also different from other breeds of avant-garde we've examined, like nonrepresentational and surrealist films.
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