Monday 12 November:

John Smith’s Wurst Case Scenario employed two techniques not often associated with expertimental filmmaking: patience and a droll wit. Using only stills, Smith recreated a beautiful and vibrant world of black and white. Displaying an image dense with power-lines, trolley tracks, roadways and crosswalks leading the eye in every direction, a human figure waiting for the train or to cross the street stands calmly among the utilitarian art of the urbane he will swap out the photo for another that suggests a single frame animation. The human subject checks his or her watch, drags on a cigarette, hails a taxi, or kisses a girl, this is the only change with in a frame. The composition of each shot is so beautiful that even a single variation can seem overwhelming and rushed in the glacial beauty of the piece. Many of the shorter pieces we watched, such as Porter Springs 3 by Harry Hills, felt as though they were longer, stretched out beyond their logical threshold of interest. At 18 minutes, Smith commanded time to compress and expand as he wanted, not only manipulating the images but crafting a rich audio mix that alternated between the street and apartment, between sync and rhythmic.

Smith also used audience expectations of cinematic conventions to create humor with in the piece. By trapping pedestrians in the crosswalk, he would switch the signs from walk to don’t, sound a trolley bell, and swap the photo to one where the trolley is passing directly through the crosswalk. The next image is of the same pedestrians continuing their journey across the street. In a normal film that doesn’t make extensive use of CGI, editing such as this would imply to the viewer that those pedestrians had been hit by the trolley. This image sequence is startling. By drawing our attention to these conventions and manipulating them for his own purposes, Smith highlights the viewer’s gullibility and belief in the narrative cinema, reminding us that the images are only images as those apparently hit by the trolley are unharmed.