For week ten I chose to watch films by Maya Deren. Now, I am not a film student, nor did I have any prior experience with her work. And perhaps I have a biased due to my own field of study, but I believe most everything made can have a "personal style" implemented. We know that there are, of course, big organizations that are known for producing a certain "style" and that is what they in turn sell (much like Disney). But, on a smaller scale, for instance, with any independent films, artists are not running on the bill of large corporations. They have a message to tell and no one to tell them how to make it. Why would they waste an opportunity to be unique unless mimicry in some way conveyed their story?
I have no knowledge of any particular film artists similar to Maya Deren. I watched her pieces "Meshes of the Afternoon", "Witch's Cradle", and "The Private Life of a Cat", and again, if you ask me I would insist that she has a very distinctive style. Even for "The Private Life of a Cat", consisting of a rather different message from the other two, I believe her fingerprint is present. The way the cats are documented to me is very dreamlike. There is no sound, only your mind to interpret whatever words flash on the screen, or any bit of imagery. There is a certain element in her message therefore that only she could understand and reproduce to the "Maya Deren" style. And that style, I believe is her message and its presentation. Both "Witch's Cradle" and "Meshes of the Afternoon" have a very surreal atmosphere that have an obvious and deep context. Once again, it's all about the imagery and symbolism hidden in the composition that Maya Deren uses to relay her intentions.
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