About

A selection of lyrical works by pioneer collaborative team Arthur Cantrill AM and Corinne Cantrill AM, known for their ‘camera calligraphy’ films and animations, alongside fellow experimental filmmaker, animator and scholar Dirk de Bruyn.

This strand contains flashing images.

Articulated Image 1996 dir. Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (3.22 mins)

“This is one of a series of films investigating single-frame possibilities, and the challenge they offer to reading the film image (beginning with 4000 Frames - An Eye Opener in 1970 and continuing with Bouddi). These films demand of the viewer a total attentiveness if they are to be fully registered. In this film focuses on a set subject: a still life of a banana palm on the window sill of a large window on a stairway. The images are filmed in a sequence of two frames of image, then two frames black, with the black frames giving the 'articulation' to the image, rather than a continuous flow of images superimposing on the retina of the eye. The images are clustered in groups of two or three alternating details of the subject, moving on to another set of two or three alternating details. Further into the film the frame pattern changes to one frame image, one frame black.” The National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra

4000 Frames, An Eye-Opener Film 1970 dir. Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (3 mins)

“Four thousand single frame images build up on the retina to create graphic superimposition.” The National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra

Bouddi 1970 dir. Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (8 mins)

“Described by the filmmakers as 'a camera calligraphy of the coastal bush near Bouddi, NSW'. The single frame stream of imagery - bark, insects, flowers, rock forms - and accompanying Aboriginal dance music can be seen as a metaphor for growth, summer, and the intensity of light.” The National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra

Experiments 1981 dir. Dirk de Bruyn (54 mins)

“de Bruyn uses animation, optical illusions, time lapse, solarization, hand tinting, flash frames, refilming and flicker effects, accompanied by a dense atmosphere of word puns, dialogue, primal screams, music and even recycled and letraseted soundtracks. By setting experiments entirely within his Moonee Ponds house, de Bruyn creates such a complex sense of claustrophobia, the spectator, while recognising the staid, conservative trappings of urban Melbourne, is present with the sort of art neurosis more commonly found in megacities like New York. The principal actor in Experiments is the narrator, whose anarchistic mind ruminates, struggles and screams from relief from the ravages of suburban Moonee Ponds, and the psychological suburbia of his mind… Experiments, its cacophony of images flickering on two screens, throws up everything from schizophrenic madness to baby nappies, inviting you to participate in the cathartic recesses of a personal nightmare.” Steven McIntyre

Articulated Image 1996 dir. Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (3.22 mins) “This is one of a series of films investigating single-frame possibilities, and the challenge they offer to reading the film image (beginning with 4000 Frames - An Eye Opener in 1970 and continuing with Bouddi). These films demand of the viewer a total attentiveness if they are to be fully registered. In this film focuses on a set subject: a still life of a banana palm on the window sill of a large window on a stairway. The images are filmed in a sequence of two frames of image, then two frames black, with the black frames giving the 'articulation' to the image, rather than a continuous flow of images superimposing on the retina of the eye. The images are clustered in groups of two or three alternating details of the subject, moving on to another set of two or three alternating details. Further into the film the frame pattern changes to one frame image, one frame black.” The National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra 4000 Frames, An Eye-Opener Film 1970 dir. Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (3 mins) “Four thousand single frame images build up on the retina to create graphic superimposition.” The National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra Bouddi 1970 dir. Arthur and Corinne Cantrill (8 mins) “Described by the filmmakers as 'a camera calligraphy of the coastal bush near Bouddi, NSW'. The single frame stream of imagery - bark, insects, flowers, rock forms - and accompanying Aboriginal dance music can be seen as a metaphor for growth, summer, and the intensity of light.” The National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra Experiments 1981 dir. Dirk de Bruyn (54 mins) “de Bruyn uses animation, optical illusions, time lapse, solarization, hand tinting, flash frames, refilming and flicker effects, accompanied by a dense atmosphere of word puns, dialogue, primal screams, music and even recycled and letraseted soundtracks. By setting experiments entirely within his Moonee Ponds house, de Bruyn creates such a complex sense of claustrophobia, the spectator, while recognising the staid, conservative trappings of urban Melbourne, is present with the sort of art neurosis more commonly found in megacities like New York. The principal actor in Experiments is the narrator, whose anarchistic mind ruminates, struggles and screams from relief from the ravages of suburban Moonee Ponds, and the psychological suburbia of his mind… Experiments, its cacophony of images flickering on two screens, throws up everything from schizophrenic madness to baby nappies, inviting you to participate in the cathartic recesses of a personal nightmare.” Steven McIntyre