Immanent Practice: Accounts of Optical Sound Filmmaking

Jasmine Butt; Benedict Gaster; Nathan Renney; Tom Mitchell

Image credit: Jasmine Butt; Benedict Gaster; Nathan Renney; Tom Mitchell

• oral
• Paper PDF link
• Presence: in person
• Duration: 16
• Type: long
• Session: Crossculture Collaborations

Abstract:

This paper offers an account of optical sound filmmaking practices; involving a form of photochemical synthesis where light and matter are used to create sound and image. Diffractively analysing interviews with optical sound filmmakers, we reflect on the concept of an immanent practice', which pays close attention to what the apparatus does, not what it is for. An engagement with film's chemical nature, the philosophical history of the medium, and the repurposed nature of the equipment used, firmly roots this work in materialist thinking. These practices are co-constituted with their material surroundings, where microscopic material behaviour has a profound effect on wider patterns in the making process, and vice-versa. We believe insights from our analysis offer an understanding of how immanent practice’ can unfold within a system, allowing for a plurality of approaches as well as a deep understanding of, and care for, material assemblages.