OffOn by Scott Bartlett

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Another gem of experimental filmmaking, Scott Bartlett’s short from 1967 hits all the buttons of psychedelic imagery: disembodied eyes, moiré patterns, solarisation, dancing figures, naked women, oil effects, oversatured hues, and superimposition. The difference between this film and others of the period is that OffOn is largely a product of video techniques, some of which—video feedback, for example—are unique to the medium. As a bonus there’s that standard feature of so much experimental film from the period, the electronic score. The soundtrack for OffOn is by Manny Meyer, and sounds in places like a precursor to Gil Mellé’s buzzing and shrieking music for The Andromeda Strain (1971).

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