ABSTRACT
This chapter considers briefly the nature of Michael Finnissy’s acknowledged cinematic influences. It examines how early Finnissy works relate to American experimental cinema, especially the work of Stan Brakhage. The chapter describes which works of Finnissy can be said to employ different types of para-cinematic montage as theorised by Eisenstein and others. It examines how The History of Photography in Sound relates to some of its explicitly-mentioned cinematic and televisual influences, in particular the work of Dennis Potter, as well as Jean-Luc Godard’s Histoire du cinema. The chapter precludes presentation of a comprehensive cinematic model for analysing Finnissy’s music and its composition, not least because one should also consider wider influences from the visual arts, literature, theatre, dance, structural anthropology and elsewhere. It suggests some new perspectives and analytic approaches, and expands some existing ones which can nuance future writing on the music of Finnissy and other composers.
