Hollis Frampton is not one of the more well-known experimental filmmakers on IMDb, but a very influential character in the progression of experimental filmmaking. Some say his work was 'avant-garde', but this tends to be a term leaning more towards the dreamlike narratives of Luis Bunuel and Maya Deren. Unlike they, Frampton would do anything with filmstock to create a movie: cut shapes in the film leader, mess with the developing chemicals, anything...and he came up with some bizarre works.
I plan to watch all the available films of his that I can find, and "Information" is the first I've seen. It is his earliest surviving work (his first movies being destroyed or lost) and consists of a series of repetitive abstractions created by apparently taking pictures of a light bulb glowing in darkness, messing with the placement, and using double-exposures, so that when put together and animated they create the look of fireflies. Certainly different, and for four minutes it didn't wear out its welcome which is a surprise considering the overly repetitive quality it has. Sometimes I could swear I saw other photographed images of buildings flashing--for a quarter second each--on the screen, although I probably imagined them due to how looking at such visuals for four minutes did something to my brain. Interesting although definitely only an experiment.
I plan to watch all the available films of his that I can find, and "Information" is the first I've seen. It is his earliest surviving work (his first movies being destroyed or lost) and consists of a series of repetitive abstractions created by apparently taking pictures of a light bulb glowing in darkness, messing with the placement, and using double-exposures, so that when put together and animated they create the look of fireflies. Certainly different, and for four minutes it didn't wear out its welcome which is a surprise considering the overly repetitive quality it has. Sometimes I could swear I saw other photographed images of buildings flashing--for a quarter second each--on the screen, although I probably imagined them due to how looking at such visuals for four minutes did something to my brain. Interesting although definitely only an experiment.
