Motion(less) pictures: the cinema of stasis

Abstract

THE FILMIC"[T]he more we consume moving images, the more the single still image rises above the rest, substituting itself for our reality."-Gisèle Freund 1 "There is nothing in the structural logic of the cinema filmstrip that precludes sequestering any single image.A still photograph is simply an isolated frame taken out of the infinite cinema."-Hollis Frampton 2 Larry Gottheim's film Fog Line (1970) begins with a still shot of a landscape covered in dense fog.All that can be seen through the fog are the outlines of a few trees intersected by four high-tension wires.The setting is subtly beautiful, and the complete lack of sound creates a space for meditation.Minutes pass.Apart from some slight shaking, the camera does not move, nor do any elements within the mise-en-scène.The trees and telephone wires become easier to make out as the fog lifts, although the fog's retreat is so gradual, its movement is not perceived by the viewer.After 11 minutes of the same motionless shot, the film abruptly ends (see Figure 1).During my first viewing, I found Fog Line simultaneously boring and absorbing.I was bored because, on a superficial level, nothing happened.Yet I was fascinated because I had never encountered a film like this before.It was so still, so uneventful, I felt like I was staring at a photograph or a painting for several minutes rather than watching a movie.

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