Quote:
“Epileptic Seizure Comparison is an attempt to orchestrate sound and light rhythms in an intimate and proportional space, an ongoing location wherein non-epileptic persons may begin to experience, under ‘controlled conditions’ the majestic potentials of convulsive seizure.”

Produced with the aid of a CAPS Award (1978). Sound portion made possible by the facilities of the Computer Science Center at Carnegie Mellon University and ZBS Foundation (through funding by the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts).

The films are of two patients, extracted from a medical film study of brain wave activity during seizures. Of course, the patients volunteered for these tests. The black and white footage of each patient entering convulsive stages was temporally and tonally articulated on an optical printer and rhythmic pure color frames were added to these images. Everything was done to allow the viewer to move beyond mere voyeurism and actually enter into the convulsive state, to allow a deeper empathy for the condition and to also, hopefully, experience the ecstatic aspect of such paroxysm.

Paul Sharits - 1976 - Epileptic Seizure Comparison [WEB 576p].mkv

General
Container:  	Matroska
Runtime: 	33 min 54 s
Size: 	675 MiB
Video
Codec: 	x264
Resolution: 	790x576 
Aspect ratio:  	1.372
Frame rate: 	24.000 fps
Bit rate: 	2 654 kb/s
BPP: 	0.243
Audio
#1:  	2.0ch AAC LC @ 126 kb/s

https://nitro.download/view/DF022AD7F931137/Paul_Sharits_-_1976_-_Epileptic_Seizure_Comparison__WEB_576p_.mkv

Language(s):None
Subtitles:None

The post Paul Sharits – Epileptic Seizure Comparison (1976) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

An experimental short film primarily consisting of flickering color screens with the occasional image of a light bulb or chair displayed.

Quote:
N:O:T:H:I:N:G

Based, in part, on the Tibetan Mandala of the Five Dhyani Buddhas / a journey toward the center of pure consciousness (Dharma-Dhatu Wisdom) / space and motion generated rather than illustrated / time-color energy create virtual shape / in negative time, growth is inverse decay.

“The screen, illuminated by Paul Sharits’ N:O:T:H:I:N:G, seems to assume a spherical shape, at times – due, I think, to a pearl-like quality of light his flash-frames create … a baroque pearl, one might say – wondrous! … One of the most beautiful films I’ve seen.” – Stan Brakhage

“You are pulled into the world of color, your color senses are expanded, enriched. You become aware of changes, of tones around your own daily reality. Your vision is changed. You begin to see light on objects around you. … Your experience range is expanded. You have gained a new insight. You have become a richer human being.” – Jonas Mekas

“In essence there are only three flicker films of importance, ARNULF RAINER, THE FLICKER, and N:O:T:H:I:N:G. … In terms of the subject we have discussed here, it is Sharits’ N:O:T:H:I:N:G that opens the field for the structural film with a flicker base.” – P. Adams Sitney

1.00GB | 35m 38s | 678×538 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/7B10362F4988219/N-O-T-H-I-N-G.1968.DVD.AAC.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv

https://ddownload.com/zd2hr7wafzl0/N-O-T-H-I-N-G.1968.DVD.AAC.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv

Language:No linguistic content
Subtitles:None

The post Paul Sharits – N:O:T:H:I:N:G (1968) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G uses flickering frames of solid color juxtaposed with positive and negative still images of a man—sometimes cutting off his own tongue with glitter-covered scissors, sometimes suffering a series of glitter-stained fingernail scratches across the face. Other rapidly alternating still images of eye surgery and a couple in the midst of intercourse. The soundtrack is a continuous looped recording of the word “destroy” over the entire length of the film.

375MB | 11m 51s | 678×538 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/8E05955E0388D33/T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G.1968.DVD.AAC.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv

Language:English
Subtitles:None

The post Paul Sharits – T,O,U,C,H,I,N,G (1969) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

Synopsis
Single frame exposures of words, color.(imdb)

Cinema of the signifier
When we watch films we see and hear representations of things, sights and sounds not present at the moment of viewing. However, we choose to take part in the illusion of cinema limited by its rules and technical deficiencies. Word Movie is just a little joke of a film that makes us aware of this.

On the screen you see words, another type of signifier, flashing and on the soundtrack you hear those same words read out loud. The only point this film makes is that there really is no difference between the photographic signifier, or in other words the image on the screen, and words flashing.(imdb)

23.6MB | 3m 52s | 600×480 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/9BD4F28D66D2507/Word_Movie_(Paul_Sharits,_1966).mkv
or
https://tezfiles.com/file/84343b86a2531/Word_Movie_%28Paul_Sharits%2C_1966%29.mp4

Language(s):No dialogue
Subtitles:None

The post Paul Sharits – Word Movie (1966) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

16mm, color, silent, 6 minutes, print from Anthology Film Archives Preserved by Anthology Film Archives

“Film is a fragile medium, and some artists push its fragility to the breaking point. Paul Sharits (1943–93) was a pusher.‘I think of [film] as a sort of a primitive, vulnerable medium,’ said Sharits. ‘I know it’s going to disappear, and I almost look upon it with a certain empathy.’ He moved his films out of the theater and into the gallery, creating multiscreen environments that exploited the qualities that made film different from the other visual arts. The projectors, with their clatter and flickering light, became protagonists, and the strips of celluloid, agents of ephemeral beauty.

“Sharits explores these dynamics in the three-screen installation 3rd Degree(1982). The work grew from a close-up of a burning match waved threateningly across a woman’s face; the action escalates into the burning of the film itself. Sharits rephotographed the resulting footage and photographed it again. He then projected all three generations, each on its own loop, side by side. Wrote Sharits, ‘The film is “about” the fragility of the film medium and human vulnerability. Both the filmic and the human images resist threat/intimidation/mutilation: The victim is defiant and the film strip also struggles on, both “under fire.”

“Bad Burns developed from the outtakes. Sharits explained that the second-generation film ‘was loaded in camera improperly, …creating some rather amusing and mysterious imagery.’ While most filmmakers might discard such material, Sharits delighted in the creation, calling the new work ‘a made “found” object.’ In the chance happening of his mis-take, he found something beautiful.”

— NFPF.

163MB | 5 min 37 s | 710×532 | mkv

https://nitroflare.com/view/B88B4264464D5A7/Bad.Burns.1982.DVDRip.x264-LAA.mkv

Language(s):No audio track
Subtitles:not needed

The post Paul Sharits – Bad Burns (1982) first appeared on Cinema of the World.