An experimental short film from the Pan series made by Hollis Frampton.An experimental short film from the Pan series made by Hollis Frampton.An experimental short film from the Pan series made by Hollis Frampton.
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Pan 9 of 9
The "Pan" films, presumably not titled as such originally, was a series of nine different one-minute short films created by experimental filmmaker Hollis Frampton for his enormous thirty-six hour film cycle "Magellan". As such, they were never released as individual works or given title cards because of being an intended part of this greater context, and in the end never actually used due to the project being cut short by the filmmaker's death in 1984. Reportedly, Frampton had originally hoped to complete seven-hundred and twenty "Pan" films in all, although for whatever reason only nos. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 697, 698, 699, and 700 are available now. One would think that because of the large gap in numbering there were more shot remaining unavailable; but due to a lack of evidence supporting this, the series is generally known as containing only nine.
"Pan 700" is what could be considered as the last movie in the series, although if Frampton had made more intending to be shown after it that are unavailable now, this would be incorrect. Like "Pan 4" before it, this last film is a simple scene turned experimental by a double-exposure causing the uninteresting shot it consists of to become surrealistic in what it presents. "Pan 700" features a typical street scene shot presumably from somebody's back yard, showing a series of cars and vehicles passing by the camera. The gimmick here is that instead of straightforwardly presenting the documentation, which would no doubt be boring to many people, Frampton uses a superimposed shot in such a remarkably seamless fashion that the vehicles appear transparent--causing it to be very unique indeed despite how simple it is. Doubtless he had filmed the cars elsewhere and superimposed the shot onto the outside location, then sandwiched the car shot by superimposing the fence closest to the camera over all of it to make the effect. As always hard to judge because of its intended participation in "Magellan", but creditable for how seamlessly executed the effect looks when viewed now.
"Pan 700" is what could be considered as the last movie in the series, although if Frampton had made more intending to be shown after it that are unavailable now, this would be incorrect. Like "Pan 4" before it, this last film is a simple scene turned experimental by a double-exposure causing the uninteresting shot it consists of to become surrealistic in what it presents. "Pan 700" features a typical street scene shot presumably from somebody's back yard, showing a series of cars and vehicles passing by the camera. The gimmick here is that instead of straightforwardly presenting the documentation, which would no doubt be boring to many people, Frampton uses a superimposed shot in such a remarkably seamless fashion that the vehicles appear transparent--causing it to be very unique indeed despite how simple it is. Doubtless he had filmed the cars elsewhere and superimposed the shot onto the outside location, then sandwiched the car shot by superimposing the fence closest to the camera over all of it to make the effect. As always hard to judge because of its intended participation in "Magellan", but creditable for how seamlessly executed the effect looks when viewed now.
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- Tornado_Sam
- Aug 6, 2019
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