As should be evident from the stills, OM I is yet another example of psychedelic cinema, and a very good one at that. Myron Ort’s 20-minute silent film (add your own soundtrack) originates with experiments the director made in the late 60s and early 70s using hand-painted stock combined with optical printing.
The film isn’t wholly abstract—the raw material includes shots of people and animals, together with heavily processed military footage—but the processing creates a kaleidoscopic feel by mirroring many of the shots, one of those simple tricks that’s always effective. (For a more recent example of mirrored psychedelia, see the monochrome mushroom freakout in A Field in England.) There’s a lot more like this at Myron Ort’s Vimeo page including two sequels to OM I, and a related film Ommo, which runs hand-painted raw material through the optical printer to delirious effect.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The abstract cinema archive
Thanks a lot for sharing this. I missed some examples of experimental shorts using animation or paint, here are some.
Thanks again for highlighting something I had no idea existed.
Thanks, Claire.
Graeme: I was surprised he’s managed to stay off my radar for so long, but better late than never.