Optic Nerve 14: Wall Portals, Eerie Puppets, and Winning Hound Dogs

Lee Hunter, Last Night (Film Still)

A couple of personal favorites appeared early on, including Lee Hunter's perceived mystery "Last Night," only composed of a distant shot outside a row of apartments at night. A creepy factor is added as the outdoor lights flicker to strobe-like effect, giving the viewer an anxiety-filled look as light tries to penetrate the dark. At one point a figure opens a door, stands for a moment and goes back inside. The shot is from such a distance that the viewer is not sure what just happened. The 1:14 film oozes atmosphere and mystery in the most minimal way.

Bill Fontana, "Acoustical Visions of the Golden Gate Bridge" (Film Still)

"Acoustical Visions of the Golden Gate Bridge" by Bill Fontana followed. With a stationary camera placed somewhere below the bridge, looking at only the bridge's expansion joints, sound and light become the star of this piece. The only dynamic images are the shadows that flicker from the unseen activity above. The whoosh, hums and clangs of the bridge's response to vehicle using it, coupled with the regular honks of what sound like passing ships, create an industrial symphony of found sounds. It recalls what John Cage said of the random music one can hear by pausing to listen out one's window.

Carmen Tiffany, The Accident (Film Still)

Carmen Tiffany of Hollywood, Florida, offered the busy short "the Accident," an overwhelmingly grotesque selection with ugly puppets and toys painted in garish colors, all arguing about who's at fault in a car accident while standing against an unkempt wooded area. There were cutaways to laugh tracks and twirling plastic animals against a TV screen covered in static, between the arguments. The punch lines were unclear or too buried for much of a message to resonate. Also, the misshapen images and puppets probably distracted from any substance in the dialog.

There were several other films where the grotesque seemed to overwhelm the message, like Deidra Sargent's lo-fi critique of human interaction facilitated by technology. Liz Rodda's "Cut" followed with primitive computer-generated animations of women who blow up to muscle-bound freaks, as a constantly rotating diamond twirled in a split screen while a synthesized version of what sounded like a Pink Floyd jam session provided a soundtrack. It felt oddly fetishistic. Still, the degree of abstraction on display by these films, not to mention the brief run times below five minutes, kept things interesting.