Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Deren’s 1943 short film “Meshes of the Afternoon” is to this day, my favorite example of multi perspective media. This experimental movie uses different camera angles and crude editing to give the illusion of an area being larger than it actually is. The film also uses similar techniques to create new dimensions to a room. The plot follows a woman who is dreaming. Over the course of the dream she follows a hooded animus figure with a mirror for a face but can never seem to catch it. The woman treks through several different disorientatingly surreal rooms only to eventually find the hooded figure putting a knife under her pillow. The representation of an internal struggle existing only in the subconscious could also be considered a different perspective. Not only does this film use backdrops that are multi perspective illustrations but it also adds a second way to view reality in the movie.