Meshes Of The Afternoon

1) How did Maya Darren use experimental techniques to explore concepts in Meshes in The Afternoon. Describe the various themes and concepts she explores in the film.


It is difficult to generalize how Maya Darren used her experimental techniques to explore specific concepts in her film, Meshes In The Afternoon; However, with no stretch of the imagination, it can be said that she uses a unique mixture of odd shot compositions, strange costumes and innovative post production techniques to create emotion evoking images on screen. In other words, the "experimental" techniques all function to create a visual experience that forces certain emotions on the viewer. This is to contrast the piece with narrative films that use story telling to drive emotional response.

One of the primary concepts of this film is the squashing of space. In any given scene, it is hard to tell exactly how large setting is. To do this, the camera is often jerked across a distance in a fast pan, causing the audience to find it difficult to gauge the distance traveled.

One of the primary themes of this film is the existence in multiple dimensions of sentience. The film takes place in what appears to be a dream-like sequence and thus the main character seeing herself over and over in an increasing number of manifestations. This appears like a venture into an ever deeper dream, much like the dream sequences in "Inception", but without the strong narrative. Also, at times a man appears. The technical procedure would simply include camera hand offs in which Maya Daren became the camera operator.

Another interesting concept is the changing of objects. Dreams are self correcting and self sustaining. In order to keep the body going through rem cycles, odd developments in the brain that cause internal logic issues are typically corrected. In a personal example, I once had a dream that my tooth fell out. To check whether it was a dream or not, I moved my hand up to my face to see if I could see it; it was missing. I decided it must be a dream, but decided to check my hand again one more time to be certain. My hand was present and visible.
As such, objects such as her key change, and at times becomes impossible to pick up. There is a scene in which the key turns into a knife. There is also a scene where Maya Daren (several of her) attempts to pick up the key off the table, but is unable to as it keeps teleporting back to the table. This is performed by simple shutting off the camera, holding it still, moving the object and resuming filming.










2) Describe in great detail the structure of meshes in the afternoon
-how is it organized and shot?
-how did the experimental techniques, concepts, transitions, camera work, and sound play a roll in the structure?


The structure of Meshes In The Afternoon is as such:
First, a girl walks home, only her shadow is seen and minor details such as her foot as to avoid immediately giving away what her character may be like (based on appearance). The music at the time is a koto playing a minor (modified chromatic) scale. The music is designed to evoke a sense of discomfort, as if the seemingly natural events were somehow unusual and strange. She then sees a strange, cloaked man holding a flower. In an attempt to follow him the woman ends up back in her own home to realize that she is a new incarnation of herself. Over several strange events, she incarnates several times, leading to scene in which there are many incarnations of the woman at once. In an attempt to kill her sleeping body (perhaps to wake herself up?) she turns into a man who is then struck and a dimensional portal opens, showing an open sea. After this, the man (possibly in another incarnation) enters the woman's house, only to find her dead in the chair that she was sleeping in.

It is organized in a linear order, as the events do follow time in chronological order rather than jump forwards and backwards. There is a clear cut beginning, and a clear cut ending. The film itself is shot with various experimental angles and post production techniques including moving dutch angles (the stairway scene) and blended frames (the "dimensional mirror" that cracks, revealing another area).

The experimental techniques allowed for strange effects to be created and conveyed. For example, the stopping and starting of the recording allowed for items to "teleport" (ie. The keys). The transitions from scene to scene helped to crush the awareness of the audience by making it difficult to discern and gauge movement. Often, the rapid, fast pans that function as transitions allow for two completely different locations to appear to be near each other by obfuscating the true distance between two shooting locations. The odd camera work is incredibly important to the overall feel of the film, as the handheld effects of shaking and "pacing" (The natural bobbing of follow and walking, hand held, shots) help make the dreamlike effect. (It is akin to the natural progression of dreams, in which specific details stand out, but the entire world is hard to see due to the nature of creating and perceiving at the same time.)