Wavelength By Michael Snow: Film Analysis

In Wavelength, an experimental 1967 film created by artist Michael Snow, the camera is utilized to investigate the differences between illusion and reality. It posits that the truth of cinema is largely imagined by viewers, to the extent that upon first viewing, many viewers believe this film consists of a constant 45-minute zoom. The camera is set on one side of an 80-foot loft, across from a wall with four large windows and three photos. Throughout the duration of the film the field of view is continually limited, little by little, until a picture on the wall is the only thing that fills the shot. A tracking shot could have instead been used to approach the photograph but this would not have led to the same investigation of the differences between the human and camera ways of seeing. Having the camera physically approach its target would mimic more of a human field of vision whereas Zooming removes the deception of a three dimensional space. Since the viewer is actually experiencing the film on a flat surface everything depicted is physically the same spatial distance away from them. Dimension is merely a trick of the camera that causes veiwers see depth that is not actually present, identifying objects as being closer or further away because that is the way they

Though some edits are made with special effects such as flashes, bursts of color, and superimpositions, Snow does not really attempt to conceal that his “continuous zoom” is actually a sequence of edited segments. He includes jump cuts and time lapse photography which act as huge hints in revealing the manipulated time frame and, most tellingly, incorporates footage from both day and night. Filters, layering, flickers, gel reflections, and colored frames all call attention to the lie of the zoom being constant, and, more notably, change viewing experience and perception of the apartment. Combined with the thwarting of beliefs about film