Celery Stalks at Midnight
1952
Dir. John Whitney, 16mm Color Sound 00:04:00
Page Contents
Description
A whimsical abstract film conceived and actually performed more or less spontaneously in the spirit of music. The film represents a step towards action painting in motion, as no stop motion is used, merely an accumulative procedure of multiple exposure performed to the music score.
Throughout his career John Whitney was searching for ways to compose images and relate them to sounds, ultimately in real-time. In this film one of the techniques he uses is the technique of oil-wipe animation, which allows for hand gestures to be turned into an animation of abstract lines.
[Source: Creative Film Society Catalog, 1975]
[Source: Mubi]