View source for Dog Star Man

{{Short description|Series of short American experimental films}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Distinguish|Dog Man Star{{!}}''Dog Man Star''}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Dog Star Man
| image          = Dog Star Man (intertitle).png
| alt            = The words "Dog Star Man" in white against a black background
| caption        = Title card, hand-lettered by [[Renaldo Kuhler]]
| director       = [[Stan Brakhage]]
| starring       = Stan Brakhage<br/ > [[Jane Wodening|Jane Brakhage]]
| cinematography = Stan Brakhage
| editing        = Stan Brakhage
| released       = {{Film date|1965|02|22|New York}}{{efn|Combined as a 78 minute film<ref name="AFI">{{cite web |author=<!--not stated--> |date=<!--not stated--> |title=Dog Star Man § Details |url=https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/20547 |website=[[AFI Catalog]] |publisher=[[The American Film Institute]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250309224102/https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/20547 |archive-date=2025-03-09 |access-date=2025-03-09}}</ref>}}
| runtime        = 78 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = [[Silent film]]
}}

'''''Dog Star Man''''' is a series of short [[experimental film]]s, all directed by [[Stan Brakhage]], featuring [[Jane Wodening]]. It was released in installments between 1961 and 1964 and comprises a prelude and four parts. In 1992,  ''Dog Star Man'' was included in its entirety in the annual selection of 25 motion pictures added to the [[National Film Registry]] of the [[Library of Congress]], being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and recommended for preservation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Complete National Film Registry Listing |url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|access-date=2020-09-29|website=Library of Congress}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Wharton|first1=Andy Marx, Dennis|last2=Marx|first2=Andy|last3=Wharton|first3=Dennis|date=1992-12-04|title=Diverse pix mix picked|url=https://variety.com/1992/film/news/diverse-pix-mix-picked-101808/|access-date=2020-09-29|website=Variety|language=en}}</ref>

Described as a "cosmological epic" and "creation myth" (particularly the ''Prelude''), ''Dog Star Man'' illustrates the odyssey of a bearded woodsman (Brakhage) climbing through a snow-covered mountain with his dog to chop down a tree. While doing so, he witnesses various mystical visions with various recurring imagery such as a woman, child, nature, and the cosmos while making his ascent.

The five short films all form one larger film, and they are almost always shown together as one film. In 1965, Brakhage used the same footage from ''Dog Star Man'' and re-edited it into a much longer film, ''[[The Art of Vision]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Article on Stan Brakhage's "The Art of Vision," by Fred Camper |url=http://www.fredcamper.com/Film/Brakhage7.html |access-date=2023-06-10 |website=www.fredcamper.com}}</ref> Both are generally considered the greatest works of his first mature period.

== Background ==
After editing and completing [[Cat's Cradle (film)|''Cat's Cradle,'']] Brakhage began filming ''Dog Star Man.'' At the time when he began work on the project, Brakhage had not set on any particular idea on what the project would be about.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Metaphors on Vision|last=Brakhage|first=Stan|publisher=Anthology Film Archives|year=1963|isbn=978-0317559569|location=New York, New York|pages=14|quote=The next film that I edited was the CAT'S CRADLE. We moved from Princeton back into the mountains of Boulder, Colorado where I began working on CAT'S CRADLE. We lived in Silver Spruce, then, the same place that we lived during the whole shooting of DOG STAR MAN. Right before I started shooting DOG STAR MAN, I edited CAT'S CRADLE.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Metaphors on Vision|last=Brakhage|first=Stan|publisher=Anthology Film Archives|year=1963|isbn=978-0317559569|location=New York, New York|pages=14|quote="Did you have any idea of what DOG STAR MAN would be?" No. At least all the ideas I had subsequently proved to be irrelevant.|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In addition to this, he had also faced different sets of crisis including the questioning of his distant relationship with his wife Jane at the time, experiencing visions, and contemplations of death and decay.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Metaphors on Vision|last=Brakhage|first=Stan|publisher=Anthology Film Archives|year=1963|isbn=978-0317559569|location=New York, New York|pages=16–17}}</ref> The filming of ''Dog Star Man'' took on gradually as Brakhage also worked on ''The Dead.''

== Structure ==
Ever since he formed the idea of the project, Brakhage had already had a prelude and four parts in mind.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Metaphors on Vision|last=Brakhage|first=Stan|publisher=Anthology Film Archives|year=1963|isbn=978-0317559569|location=New York, New York|pages=22}}</ref> ''Dog Star Man,'' like Brakhage's other works, is characterized and known for their abstract imagery and techniques such as scratching and punching holes into the film. While the work is considered difficult and unorthodox by many,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/Films-De-Dr/Dog-Star-Man.html|title=Dog Star Man - Film (Movie) Plot and Review|last=C. Wees|first=William|website=Film Reference|publisher=Advameg, Inc.|access-date=13 December 2016}}</ref> there is a general structure to the narrative of the film cycle that comprises the prelude and four parts. 
[[File:A mushroom-like explosion erupts over a star.jpg|thumb|The star, possibly the 'star' in ''Dog Star Man.'' One of the most prominent images in the film, it is seen at various times throughout the film, including ''Prelude'' and ''Part I.'']]

=== Prelude ===
The opening of ''Dog Star Man'' is entitled ''Prelude'' and runs at around 26 minutes, making it one of the longer parts of the film cycle. Brakhage described the ''Prelude'' as a "created dream" for the film as opposed to [[Surrealism]] in which the work itself is inspired by the dream of the artist.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Metaphors on Vision|last=Brakhage|first=Stan|publisher=Anthology film Archives|year=1963|isbn=978-0317559569|location=New York, New York|pages=22|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> In it, the ''Prelude'' contains many of the images that recur throughout the rest of the film series, creating a visual [[leitmotif]] of the many symbols and concepts of the series of films. There are also many instances to what Brakhage calls "close-eyed vision".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Metaphors on Vision|last=Brakhage|first=Stan|publisher=Anthology Film Archives|year=1963|isbn=978-0317559569|location=New York, New York|pages=23}}</ref> Broadly, the ''Prelude'' exemplifies, among other things, the creation of the universe.

=== Part I ===
The longest of the film cycle, running at about 30 minutes, ''Part I'' comprises most of the narrative of the film cycle in which the woodsman struggles with his journey up the mountain along with his dog.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fredcamper.com/Film/Brakhage7.html|title=The Art of Vision, a film by Stan Brakhage|last=Camper|first=Fred|date=May 1966|website=www.fredcamper.com|publisher=Film Culture|others=Originally written in May 1966 for a showing in the MIT Film Society in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Camper's essay was first published in Jonas Mekas' "Film Culture", Issue no. 46, in Autumn 1967.|access-date=January 17, 2017}}</ref> Unlike the ''Prelude,'' where there are many instances of superimposed images that are more abstract to the eye, ''Part I'' is more impressionistic. Major parts of the film are in slow-motion; others, in time-lapse photography, speeding up motion. One of the most important images in ''Part I'' is the mountain that Brakhage attempts to climb.

=== Part II ===
In contrast to the lengthy running times of the earlier films, ''Part II'' begins a series of shorter segments that run from around 5–7 minutes. Its central focus is on the birth of a child which was filmed on [[Black and white|black and white film stock]] as a part of Brakhage's home movies that he shot during the time; stylistically, the filming of childbirth in an almost documentary-like way is quite similar to ''[[Window Water Baby Moving]]''. Two layers of imagery are imposed over one another, suggesting that the woodsman's life is passing right before his eyes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://internationalcinemareview.blogspot.com/2015/10/stan-brakhage-dog-star-man.html|title=A Voyage Into Nature|last=Messerli|first=Douglas|date=October 15, 2015|website=World Cinema Review|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171226204142/http://internationalcinemareview.blogspot.com/2015/10/stan-brakhage-dog-star-man.html|archive-date=December 26, 2017|access-date=December 26, 2017}}</ref>

==Legacy==
The entire film (Prelude and Parts 1 through 4) was named to the National Film Registry in 1992.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/complete-national-film-registry-listing/|title = Complete National Film Registry Listing |website = [[Library of Congress]] }}</ref>

Below are the individual films of the series and their release dates:
* ''Prelude: Dog Star Man'' ([[1961 in film|1961]]) 
* ''Dog Star Man: Part I'' ([[1962 in film|1962]]) 
* ''Dog Star Man: Part II'' ([[1963 in film|1963]]) 
* ''Dog Star Man: Part III'' ([[1964 in film|1964]]) 
* ''Dog Star Man: Part IV'' (1964)

The film is part of the [[by Brakhage: an Anthology]] collection DVD from [[The Criterion Collection]].<ref>[https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/722-by-brakhage-an-anthology-volumes-one-and-two By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One and Two|The Criterion Collection]</ref><ref>[https://www.criterion.com/films/731-by-brakhage-an-anthology-volume-one By Brakhage: An Anthology, Volume One ()|The Criterion Collection]</ref>

The film has received a 100% rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]] based on 9 reviews including praise from film critics like [[J. Hoberman]] and [[Jonathan Rosenbaum]].<ref>[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/prelude_dog_star_man Rotten Tomatoes]</ref>

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20020818013409/http://www.colorado.edu/ATLAS/millennium/brakhage.html Description of Brakhage's work].
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q120906843|title=Prelude: Dog Star Man}}
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q123536955|title=Dog Star Man: Part I}}
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q123536957|title=Dog Star Man: Part II}}
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q123536959|title=Dog Star Man: Part III}}
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q123536961|title=Dog Star Man: Part IV}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC ''Dog Star Man'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry], A&C Black, 2010 {{ISBN|0826429777}}, pages 606-607
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160811122347/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a90aec4 BFI]

{{Stan Brakhage}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1965 American films]]
[[Category:1960s avant-garde and experimental films]]
[[Category:1965 films]]
[[Category:Avant-garde and experimental film series]]
[[Category:Films directed by Stan Brakhage]]
[[Category:Films without speech]]
[[Category:Non-narrative films]]
[[Category:United States National Film Registry films]]