Picture and Sound Rushes

PICTURE AND SOUND RUSHES: In a dry tone akin to a lecture, Fisher presents the three ‘cases’, which refer to the  possible combinations of image and sound: synch (image and sound recorded in real time), MOS (without sound) and wild sound (the sonic elements of a scene). Ironically, P.S. forms Fisher’s own, fourth variant, the ‘zero case’ for which neither sound nor image is recorded. “A polemical film that makes the case for sound as the main prerequisite of sound film. Silent films are an aberration; asynchronous films are unspeakable. PICTURE AND SOUND RUSHES is a film in which that overused device, the clapperboard, is a technical necessity.” (Morgan Fisher)

WAVELENGTH: This medium-length film by the Canadian filmmaker, artist and composer blurs, erases and reflects on the boundaries between image and sound. In a manner as hypnotic as it is unsettling, Snow combines a rising sine wave (together with other sounds) with a zoom onto a wall of windows. Snow describes this process as an all-encompassing “play on words” “that ranges from the zoom across the length of the room onto a photograph of waves all the way to light waves and sound waves”. (mg)

Films:
The Director and His Actor Look at Footage Showing Preparations for an Unmade Film Morgan Fisher USA 1968 16 mm English OV 15 min.
Picture and Sound Rushes Morgan Fisher USA 1973 16 mm English OV 11 min.
Wavelength Michael Snow USA 1967 16 mm no dialogue 45 min.