Cine-MatrixCine-Matrix
Paper FilmsPaper Films
SpliceSplice
WorkprintWorkprint
Central AvenueCentral Avenue

City Film StripsCity Film Strips
B&W to ColorB&W to Color
Presistence of VisionPresistence of Vision
Parts & LaborParts & Labor

Intersection

Production Notes

1978

Single Face Corrugated Corrugated Cardboard (52’ X 3”)
4 Kinds of Tape: ¾” black, ½” white, ½” masking & ½” strapping
2 Found Cardboard Reels (15” diameter)
Wood

A paper film – 52 feet long -- constructed of single face corrugated cardboard and four types of tape, is threaded through a framed “viewer” (made of wood), and stretched between two cardboard reels – one a “feed” reel and the other a “take-up” reel. (“Pioneers in Plastic Technology” is printed on the reels.)

By making a frame-line every ten corrugations, I divided the entire long strip of cardboard into 156 frames. I then composed a graphically “animated” sequence, using four different types of tape – black ¾”, white ½”, masking 1/2/” and strapping ½”. The order of their placement is implicit in the work -- white is always over black, masking tape is always over white and/or black (it is translucent), and strapping tape is always over any or all of the three other tapes.

  • Every frame has a black arc.
  • Every second frame has either part of a sine wave crest-like arc.
  • Every third frame has one of three parts of a long sine wave crest-like arc with a straight line connecting the two outer arcs at the crest.
  • Every fourth frame has one of four parts of a complete sine wave shape – crest and trough.

These sequences repeat themselves so that their intersection provides for all the possible combinations of consonant and dissonant orientations of the overlapping tape sequence. In addition, the procedural act of layering the tapes in order – black, white, masking and then striped), is belied by its apparent randomness.

One of the reasons I titled it INTERSECTION is because it serves as a clear point of connection between my experience as a filmmaker and my para-cinema work in other media.


Cinema Expanded: Avant-Garde Film in the Age of Intermedia
by Jonathan Walley
Oxford University Press, 2020
pages 510 to 521