''Schwechater'' is a 1958

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

short film by Austrian filmmaker

Peter Kubelka Peter Kubelka (born 23 March 1934) is an Austrian filmmaker, architect, musician, curator and lecturer. His films, few in number, are known to be carefully edited and extremely brief. He is known for his 1966 ''Unsere Afrikareise'' (Our Trip to A ...

. It is the second entry in his trilogy of metrical films, between '' Adebar'' and ''

Arnulf Rainer Arnulf Rainer (born 8 December 1929) is an Austrian painter noted for his abstract informal art. Rainer was born in Baden, Austria. During his early years, Rainer was influenced by Surrealism. In 1950, he founded the ''Hundsgruppe'' (''dog grou ...

''. Originally commissioned to make an advertisement for , Kubelka edited footage from the shoot based on a complex set of rules, producing a rapid procession of images. Although the company was displeased with the commercial, ''Schwechater'' found favour as a work of avant-garde cinema.

Description

''Schwechater'' contains 1,440

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

s, making it exactly one minute long when projected at the standard rate of 24

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

. The film has no narrative, and it cuts between images quickly enough that they form flickering patterns.Sitney 1974, pp. 286–287. Four different moving images appear throughout the film. One shows a woman sitting at a table as beer is poured into her glass, and another shows her drinking the beer. There is also footage of a

champagne glass A champagne glass is stemware designed for champagne and other sparkling wines. The two most common forms are the flute and coupe, both stemmed; holding the glass by the stem prevents warming the drink. Champagne can also be drunk from a normal ...

filled with beer as well as a group of people in a restaurant.

Production

Photography

The Schwechater Bier brewery commissioned Kubelka to make an advertisement for its beer. Kubelka shot using an old, hand-operated 35 mm scientific camera. The camera had no viewfinder, and Kubelka largely ignored the

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

of the images. Once the film stock was used up, Kubelka humored the art director for Schwechater Bier and cranked the empty camera, pretending to continue filming.

Editing

Kubelka used four shots spanning 16, 30, 90, and 1,440 frames as the material for ''Schwechater''. He produced high-contrast positive and negative prints, copied so that each shot looped for exactly 1,440 frames.Tscherkassky 2012, pp. 68–69. After getting the developed film from the laboratory, Kubelka let it sit for six weeks until executives from Schwechater Bier began asking about the commercial. The editing process for ''Schwechater'' lasted six months. Kubelka produced a score for the film with a complex system of overlapping structures to determine how to combine the eight film strips. One such structure specifies outlines the gradual permeation of the colour red in ''Schwechater''. The film starts alternates between black-and-white sequences and red sequences; the black and white sequences decrease in duration from 110 frames down to 10 frames as the red sequences remain are all roughly 30 frames. As such, the film becomes increasingly red over the course of its runtime. Another structure specifies which frames do and do not contain images. Each sequence of frames with images is immediately followed by a sequence of the same length containing frames showing a solid color—either black or red. The frame count of these sequences traverses the

powers of two A power of two is a number of the form where is an integer, that is, the result of exponentiation with number two as the base and integer as the exponent. In a context where only integers are considered, is restricted to non-negative ...

, from 1 up to 32 and back down.

Soundtrack

For the film's soundtrack, Kubelka created a score of rasping sounds and beeps. The intermittent periods of sound happen parallel to the red-tinted sequences, with a low hum and one to three sine tones. When the Schwechater logo appears at the end of the film, Kubelka used a sustained, high-pitched sine tone.

Release

After Kubelka delivered the finished version to Schwechater, they stopped payment to him, ended their relation with him, and destroyed the company's print of the film. Initial reaction to ''Schwechater'' was very negative. The company sued Kubelka, and the film lab, which had Schwechater as a client, stopped making prints for him. His decision to leave Austria was in part because of the response to ''Schwechater''. The film found success on the European film festival circuit. After several years, Schwechater Bier requested another print of it. ''Schwechater'' is now part of Anthology Film Archives' Essential Cinema Repertory collection.

References

Bibliography

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External links

* {{Peter Kubelka 1950s avant-garde and experimental films 1958 short films 1958 films Advertisements Austrian avant-garde and experimental films Austrian short films Films about beer Films directed by Peter Kubelka Films without speech Non-narrative films