Traces of the Wild: The Films of Robert Schaller

Robert Schaller’s Traces of the Wild was my first experimental cinema experience. I have watched experimental films online and on my television, but never on the big screen. I should clarify my first experimental cinema experience outside of the classroom. I was a little excited, but nervous too. There have been many times I have fallen asleep in class while watching experimental films. But not this time, I was mesmerized. I was stunned by the unique beauty of these hand-made films, particularly the films that involved the use of three projectors running simultaneously. The immersion I experienced worked perfectly with the short attention span I have developed over the past twenty-eight years of television viewing. Each projection forced my eyes to move back and forth to try to keep up with Schaller’s imagery. Trying to find a pattern among the abstract images and how they worked with the other two projections kept me on my toes. Usually I get bogged down by analyzing the processes to create the imagery, seeing if I could replicate those images at home. But I was entranced by the organic quality of Schaller’s films. Most of the imagery was a kind of static with purple triangles, and white sunspots. The kaleidoscopic quality of these geometric shapes dancing across the screen would only retain my attention for a few moments, but a ghostly figure would manifest itself from this static. Like a wraith, it moved about without form until the wraith moved to one of the other screens. Now it had the recognizable form of a woman dancing. As the dancer moved from screen to screen, I noticed that there was some kind of a pattern, or a loop between the three projectors. Though I was not able to find a clear beginning, it was enjoyable to try. It was as though my eyes were dancing with the film. I had a similar reaction to Stan Brakhage’s Mothlight, the swirling images of wings and flowers took the lead as my eyes tried to follow. I had later found out that Schaller had Stan Brakhage as an instructor years ago. Brakhage’s Mothlight seemed to have a purpose, to replicate the experience of a moth in flight. As for Robert Schaller I can only speculate that his purpose with his films is to invite the viewer to dance with his images.