Flicker film
Films built from rapid changes between single frames, often of plain black, white or colour, that work directly on the eye.
Peter Kubelka's Arnulf Rainer (1960) is made only of black and clear frames and bursts of white noise and silence. Tony Conrad's The Flicker (1966) took the idea to thirty minutes, and Paul Sharits followed with colour flicker films such as Ray Gun Virus (1966).
At certain rates, flashing light makes the eye see things that aren't on the screen: colours, patterns, a sense of movement. Flicker films use that as their material. Because fast flashing can trigger seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy, screenings often carry a warning.
Films to start with
In the order they were made. Runtimes are approximate.
Still from Ray Gun Virus to come. Ray Gun Virus
Single frames of solid colour flicker for fourteen minutes, and no image ever appears. It was his first colour flicker film, and in his own notes Sharits cast the projector as a pistol.
Still from The Flicker to come. The Flicker
Thirty minutes of solid black and white frames in shifting patterns, over a pulsing electronic score. It opens with a warning that it may cause seizures and that a physician should be in attendance.
Still from Straight and Narrow to come. Straight and Narrow
Made with Beverly Grant. Striped images alternate on a flickering schedule. It is printed in black and white, but Conrad timed it so viewers see colours.
Nearby
Movements, forms and techniques that share filmmakers or methods with this one.