Panorama Ephemera

From the archive

PANORAMA EPHEMERA (2004, 89:35 min., color and black and white) is a collage of sequences drawn from a wide variety of ephemeral (industrial, advertising, educational and amateur) films, touring the conflicted landscapes of twentieth-century America. The films' often-skewed visions construct an American history filled with horror and hope, unreeling in familiar and unexpected ways. PANORAMA EPHEMERA focuses on familiar and mythical activities and images in America (1626-1978). Many creatures and substances that we hardly notice because we feel so used to them take center stage, including pigs, corn, water, telephones, fire, and rice. At first resembling a compilation, it soon reveals itself as a journey through the American landscape over time, and the story begins to emerge between the sequences. The film consists of 64 self-contained film sequences ranging from 5 seconds to 4 minutes in length arranged into a narrative. Unlike many films made using archival footage, it's primarily a combination of sequences rather than a collage of individual shots. PANORAMA EPHEMERA is populated by American children, animals, farmers, industrial workers, superheroes, pioneers heading West, crash test dummies, and many others. PANORAMA EPHEMERA is released under a Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial" license, and may be freely shown, copied, or distributed according to the terms of this license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/). NEW: If anyone wants to do a serious remix of this movie, here's a copy of my Final Cut Pro project (less the movie files, which you'll have to load yourself): http://www.prelinger.com/PanoramaDV20040512 BitTorrent download here (thanks, Simon!): http://www.legaltorrents.com/index.php?fuse=42 NOTE ADDED May 21, 2021: This was my first real film. Since then I have made many more, but this is my best.