The current migration from analogue to digital film projection in cinemas across the globe is slowly rendering the medium of 35mm motion picture film obsolete, along with the technical equipment used to produce and screen such films.
In Moving Picture Show, a scenario of animated drawing and text production is created by reappropriating a process normally used by the film industry to etch subtitles into the emulsion layer of 35mm film using a high-powered precision laser. By etching away the emulsion, only the clear base of the film remains. Projected onto the screen, the lines appear bright and clear.
Changing the working range of the laser and replacing the software interface for such a machine leads to new possibilities: animations and full-frame drawings can be realised on top of film. The film can either consist of existing material, film created purely for this purpose, or black, non-developed film.
During the 23rd International Poster and Graphic Design Festival in Chaumont, the Jesuit chapel was transformed into a workshop, a scenario of conception, production and projection of a series of short films produced in this way.
Several contributing designers have been invited to engage with the production facility and collaborate on the contents of the show, producing films that were projected repeatedly during the festival. Meanwhile the laser machine, also present in the chapel, is slowly producing new films for future screenings.
With contributions by:
James Goggin (US), Maximage (CH), Karl Nawrot (NL), Jonathan Puckey / Moniker (NL), David Reinfurt (US)
