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Tony Conrad - The Flicker (Excerpts)

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Youtube Comments (18)

animationcinema Says:

May 5, 2012 - Norman Mc Laren made a film called "The Flicker Film" in 1961. To be found on his DVD-Box published by NFB.

s90210h Says:

Apr 26, 2012 - Film Feedback

Endimione17 Says:

Feb 23, 2012 - No, I think this is not true. The Conrad's statements, research and poetics are bound to explore the alpha waves by flickering metrics. Kubelka was interested in light-dark and time raw materials entangled in film rolls and the mechanics of projection. Sure Arnulf rainer and The Flicker are quiet similar in apparent structure

vincentkoreman Says:

Feb 23, 2012 - Tony Conrad totally ripped off peter kubelka's ARNULF RAINER, which was earlier and... better!

Spankky666 Says:

Feb 11, 2012 - Anybody know what the name is of the film where they like shot a screen then fed the exposed film to another room to be processed at the same time then projected back on the screen so that the image that was just shot was filmed again...or something like that...?

MonsieurRondu Says:

Jan 15, 2012 - The coolest part was 14:08.

ffaustt Says:

Dec 1, 2011 - nothing should be out of youtube

viksam009 Says:

Oct 27, 2011 - I will wait for the director's cut blu ray edition.

Endimione17 Says:

Sep 28, 2011 - Maybe it's on the tube, isn't it? I guess art is going to be shown. If u don't like, anyone restraints u from clicking elsewhere. Your comment is so fuckin' snob, sorry...

SpaceyBlurr Says:

Sep 27, 2011 - If you actually saw it on 16 mm on a big screen you'd understand. The awful quality (240p!) and video compression really fucks up the film and the framerate, this really shouldn't be on YouTube; it's a real injustice to the film.

NotMuchOfANickName Says:

Sep 8, 2011 - seriously why? Is it like 'someone had to do it'?

tpmableful Says:

Apr 4, 2011 - Why is this great? What's so great about it?

AMPFEAST Says:

Mar 24, 2011 - where can i find the full version?

wahidgomez Says:

Mar 23, 2011 - master piece. i love it!! "tony conrad - the flicker"

alecarlota Says:

Feb 25, 2011 - do you have any barry spinello 16mm films?

Endimione17 Says:

Feb 15, 2011 - For sure... I posted the video just on yesterday... It's one of my favorite too

nakedsurfingbud Says:

Feb 14, 2011 - I have been checking you tube for the past 3 years looking for this film!!!! It is my favorite structural film of all time.

Video Details

Tony Conrad - The Flicker 'The Flicker' is a structural film by Tony Conrad. This motion picture is next to the pure physical presence of the film itself, because it features the isolation of the light through the film projection. The alternating of light and darkness is one of the basics of Cinema grammar, but here the pulsation of white and black frames becomes the form itself of the film. In scientific terms the film illustrates the overtones relationship visuals: there's a way to apply the rules of overtones musical series to light and that is to vary the intensity of light in relation of the passing time. The result is a pattern of 47 different metric clusters based on standard gamut of 24fps. The film patterns are structured to accelerate and then decelerate the density of flickering. The creation of a (ex)static atmosphere erases any reference and the composition is interweaved only by no-images of light and black, pulsating around 8-16 cycles per second (the neurological 'alfa-rhythms' rating). A sort of 'neuro-film'. Describing the technique and the metaphysics of 'The Flicker', Conrad said: "The rate of perception of strobo light flickering is about a frequency of 70 flashes per second (40fps); above of this one the light is seen as a 'continuum'. Under 4fps the effect is that of a light turning on and off. But in the rate from 6 to 18 fps, weird things are going to happen. 'The Flicker' edits clusters of frames from 24 up to 4 per second and backward, along the gamut of flickering". This movie without photographic images produces an 'after-image' effect: light over dark or dark over light, hallucinatory and mesmerizing, provoking any kind of perceptual experience: from colouring (althought the film is in b/w) to illusions of representational images, up to trance or sleeping or even boredom, depending on the spectator. The soundtrack presents, in combination with the imagery, an architecture linked to image metrics, consisting in a sound like a cine-projector drive propelling. The whole structure becomes a sort of revelation and display of 'lightful time', testifying the eeriness of cinematography movement-projection. Less