Directed by Cooper D. (Roger) Wilson

Logline: "Experiment # 1" was a test on the vitality of silver halide crystals on film emulsion.

Synopsis: "Experiment # 1" was a test on the vitality of silver halide crystals on film emulsion. The goal of this experiment was to take unexposed 16mm film and bury it in soil for the period of one year, dig it up, load it into a 16mm film camera and photograph images onto the film's emulsion.

Distribution Contact: WFG

More Details

RUNTIME: 3 Minutes
GENRE: Experimental, Animation
PRODUCTION FORMAT: 16mm
LANGUAGE: English
LOCATION: Ontario
TECHNIQUES: Optically Printed

Director's Statement: For Experiment # 1 I buried in the soil 100' of black and white 16mm film. The burying and the excavation of the film were both carried out in complete darkness so that the film would not be exposed to light. At the end of one year I took the film out of the soil and rinsed it off with water. After drying I loaded the film into my Kodak k100 16mm camera and tried to photograph an image. Unfortunately I was not able to capture an image, I discovered that silver halide crystals are not able to maintain their ability to produce an image when placed in an environment where decomposition takes place over such a long period. However I did discover with this experimentation that as the film decomposed it started to switch from its original grey colour to a more bluish tone. I also noticed from closer inspecting the film's emulsion that the decomposed film had a very unique texture to it so I decided to create a film around these results. With the use of a JK optical printer I re-photographed the decomposed black and white film onto 16mm colour print film. Though this experiment did not give me the results I had hoped for I have since re-tested this technique by placing a roll of 16mm black and white film into a leaf and soil compost for a period of one month and this time I was successful in photographing an image. A new film using this technique will be released soon