George Lucas is at heart an Abstract Filmmaker
Current mood: cheerful

One of my favorite abstract filmmakers is actually George Lucas. i love a bunch of his obscure pure cinema(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_cinema) 16mm films from the 1960s(yep, back when he was working with the form i truly love: photo-chemical film!) He did a bunch of great abstract visual films and very cinematic "cinema verite" pieces such as Look At Life, Herbie, 1:42.08, The Emperor, Anyone Lived in a Pretty (how) Town, filmmaker, THX 1138:4EB and 6-18-67.  He did most these at usc film school(http://cinema-tv.usc.edu/Archives/lucas/lucas.html) and I love virtually all of them! Especially when he was working with celluloid(I wish more than anything he still were!) he was such a naturally talented editor and cameraman and most of his films made great use of the soundtrack as well. 

Inhis late teens, he fell madly in love with making pure cinema, he hated storytelling and character and plot, and he was incredibley prolific and resourceful at using what little he had in order to make some knockout films with virtuoso editing and camerawork and graphics. He even applied his abstract aesthetic and style to his features, not just his first one, the abstract non-narrative feature film "THX 1138", but also his more commercial pics, Americna graffitti and the star wars series. 

I saw all of his early abstract and cinema verite 16mm shorts when i visited the USC moving image archive, back when I was living in los angeles, and I was blown away! It was one of the most powerful experiences in my life. His amazing montage and camera shots and sound designs are so exciting and inspirational. exactly the kind of Pure Cinema that I love. 

I have a personal dream that he had never continued to make features after American Graffitti had become a big hit, giving him financial independence, and that instead he had just continued to make his true love: 16mm visual tone poems and visual cinema verite documentaries. Personal independent films that he shoots and cuts by himself just for his own exploration, to see if he could combine images in a certain way. That would have been so awesome!     

Currently watching : Reel Talent: First Films by Legendary Directors Release date: 21 August, 2007

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