An algorithmic mindset for filmmaking
Algorithms exist not only inside computers. They can be found in almost every human creation, even in films. But in order to see them, we need the right mindset. An algorithmic mindset.
What does an algorithmic mindset consist of? Before diving deeper in this idea, better start with a simpler question that often we tend to undermine: What is an algorithm?
Algorithms and their mindset
The word algorithm comes from 9th-century Persian polymath Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, or as he was known in Latin, Algoritmi. In one of his major contributions to human knowledge, a book that introduced the principles of algebra, he gave step-by-step instructions on how to solve mathematical problems. These instructions include how to multiply or divide large numbers, and how to solve equations, amongst others. The procedures, even though essential to algebra, didn’t have a specific name. Scholars ended up referring to them as the work of Algoritmi, which eventually led to the term algorithm.
Even though algorithms were first employed in the context of medieval mathematics, one could argue that, on a more abstract level, their actual use can be traced back to the very beginnings of human civilization. As Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths claim in their book Algorithms to Live by, “an algorithm is just a finite sequence of steps used to solve a problem.” When someone cooks dinner, or knits a sweater, or puts “a sharp edge on a piece of flint by executing a precise sequence of strikes with the end of an antler,” (a key development for the manufacture of tools during the stone age) in other words, when someone does anything that requires following a pre-established series of actions aimed at a specific goal, that someone is following an algorithm.
Following this definition, we can say that human culture consists of millions of interconnected algorithms that help us communicate, share knowledge and believe in the existence of a stable and somewhat predictable reality. In this scenario, all kinds of activities are involved, from the execution of menial work, such as tying shoelaces, to highly complex activities, like eye surgery; from the very sensual, like wine tasting, to the highly intellectual, like writing a book. For each of these situations, algorithms provide an actionable blueprint for our individual experiences. They suggest what to do, when and how to react in order to reach the intended goal and share the knowledge that comes from such experiences. Even highly spiritual activities, such as praying, meditating, or making love are shaped by social algorithms that help us confirm our experiences with others, empathize and feel connected.
Contemplating the world in the manner described above is what we call an algorithmic mindset.
Algorithmic mindset in film
Through the lens of this mindset, we can see that the tradition of filmmaking and film watching is rich in algorithmic diversity. Just as there is an algorithm for a successful visit to the cinema–entering a cinema, buying tickets, matching the theater number with the number printed on the ticket, etc.–there is also a panoply of storytelling algorithms that have proven to be effective in tapping human emotions and reaffirming the narratives on which our culture is based.
When it comes to the kind of stories that populate cinema, one of the most famous algorithms is the so-called Hero’s Journey, or monomyth. This algorithm is centered on a main character, called the hero, who proceeds through a sequence of life-changing adventures wherein he confronts his deepest inner fears, eventually returning home as a stronger and wiser person.
The monomyth is based on the work of mythologist Joseph Campbell, who identified this algorithm in stories that were at the core of many cultures, like Jesus in Christianity, Moses in Judaism, and Buddha in Buddhism. This is probably the reason why characters who play the hero’s role, such as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, or Harry Potter, end up being so empathetic for most spectators. It is not about who they are, but the deeply rooted cultural values that their experiences affirm.
Algorithmic films
Apart from the mainstream film industry, there is a smaller subset of the cinema tradition that explores the aesthetic dimension brought by the algorithmic mindset. These films do not focus on replicating previously existing algorithms as much as they are devoted to the composition of new ones. For these films, algorithms are like camera lenses through which we can see the world with new eyes and frame aspects of reality that are often too subtle or too abstract to see.
Arnulf Rainer
Peter Kubelka’s Arnulf Rainer (1960) is an early example of this kind of cinema. It makes use of an algorithm to orchestrate an audiovisual symphony composed of black frames, white frames, noise and silence. For Kubelka, these four elements contain the material essence of cinema: light, darkness, sound and silence.
Arnulf Rainer is composed with metric precision and artistic intuition. The film consists of 16 sections, each one lasting precisely 24 seconds (576 frames). Each section is composed of “phrases” or small units that span 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 16, 18, 24, 36, 48, 72, 96, 144, 192, or 288 frames. In each of these phrases, Kubelka experiments with different combinations of the basic elements. If a phrase is made of two frames, for instance, he chooses one of the sixteen possible combinations between black, white, noise and silence. The same with four frame phrases, and so on. The result is a provocative audiovisual piece that translates the abstract notion of algorithm to an audiovisual experience designed to be watched on a film screen.
The Flicker
Another example of an algorithmic film is Tony Conrad’s The Flicker (1966). Physically similar to Kubelka’s work, The Flicker consists of sequences of black and empty frames projected at high speed. As the film progresses, the fast combination of blacks and whites start to cause optic impressions which simulate colors and forms. While this happens, the film is said to produce hallucinatory effects that are triggered not by the senses, but directly inside the brain.
Conrad, who took courses on neurology during his studies at Harvard, was aware that the flickering effect could produce the impression of parallel frequencies of light in a similar way as musical overtones are created inside the brain. His intention with The Flicker was to find the right algorithmic composition that, making use of the most basic elements of cinema, would trigger these visions in the spectator.
Critical Mass
As a final example of algorithmic filmmaking, I want to mention Hollis Frampton's Critical Mass (1971). In the film we see a couple arguing while the scene is constantly intervened by abrupt cuts that slightly jump cut to previous moments of the same scene, giving a sense of being trapped in a perpetual state. This idea is emphasized by Frampton's separate treatment of sound and images, which causes the dialog to gradually lose sync with the characters’ performances.
Critical Mass introduces an algorithm that deconstructs the drama between two characters in order to illustrate how in these sort of quarrels we lose ourselves in our own monologues. We could think of this algorithm literally as a film strip moving back and forth through a projector. That said, the question of when the film will go forward or backward seems to be a more complex determination.
The artist Barbara Lattanzi must have recognized this algorithm, for she reverse-engineered the mechanism at work in this film and created her own HF Critical mass software, which she has used for a series of experimental films.
Embracing the algorithmic mindset
Gaining awareness of the algorithmic mindset that exists outside of the domain of computers can help us demystify the idea of algorithms as we tend to see them today: machine entities that manage data in ways so complex that they become ungraspable. Every algorithm, digital or imaginary, is the result of human ingenuity. Some of them may have been created and others discovered, but they all respond to the ultimate need of humans to make sense of the world.
An algorithmic mindset provides us with problem-solving structures that reveal more efficient ways to achieve specific goals, or to understand things we were not capable of understanding before. It is no surprise then that algorithms are essential to storytelling, both traditional and avant-garde. So we continue to explore their potential just as experimental filmmakers have been doing for the last decades: that is, the potential to create new experiences, expanding the forms by which we grasp the apparent chaos of reality, and highlighting our capacity as humans to force our imagination to discover new paths of sense-making.
