Variations on a Cellophane Wrapper
- David Rimmer |
- 1970 |
- 8 minutes |
- COLOR |
- OPT
Rental Format(s): 16mm film
Sound: Don Druick
"The most exciting non-narrative film I've ever seen. The basic image is a female factory worker unrolling a large sheet of cellophane. The woman waves it out in front of her a few times. The cellophane grows darker each time it is shaken, and as it passes between her face and the camera, it veils her features momentarily. Rimmer begins the film by introducing the eight-second shot as he originally found it; then he starts his variations. First he increases the contrast, reducing the three-dimensional forms to simpler black and white patterns. Then he introduces negative images, a further abstraction away from the original design. As the sound intensifies, he introduces a flicker to heighten the visual excitement. Then he gradually adds color - blue and green at first, building up to a climax with bright flashes of yellow and red. Gongs ring to announce the final sequence in which the images become polarized into grainy outlines, like drawings in white or colored chalk which gradually disintegrate and disappear. The film resembles a painting floating through time, its subject disappearing and re-emerging in various degrees of abstraction." - Kristina Nordstrom, The Village Voice