''Fog Line'' is a 1970 short

silent Silent may mean any of the following: People with the name * Silent George, George Stone (outfielder) (1876–1945), American Major League Baseball outfielder and batting champion * Brandon Silent (born 1973), South African former footballer * C ...

experimental film Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, parti ...

directed by

Larry Gottheim Larry Gottheim (born 1936) is an American avant-garde filmmaker. Early life Gottheim was born December 3, 1936. He attended a high school for music and the arts. Gottheim went to Oberlin College for undergraduate studies, where he became intere ...

. It shows a rural landscape with slowly dissipating fog.

Description

''Fog Line'' is a single, static 11-minute shot of a rural landscape. At the beginning of the film, heavy fog obscures the view. Two sets of telephone lines run across the

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction * Framing (co ...

, roughly trisecting the image (thus the title). Over the course of the film, the fog gradually clears, revealing various figures in the field. Several trees are scattered through the area. Two horses enter the frame and graze across the bottom of the image, and a bird flies across the field.

Production

After completing his PhD at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, Gottheim moved up to

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public research university with campuses in Binghamton, Vestal, and Johnson City, New York. It is one of the four university centers in the State ...

in New York. He shot ''Fog Line'' near his home there. He chose to film a section of the countryside through which horses passed in the morning. He studied the area for months and filmed it multiple times. Gottheim used a

telephoto lens A telephoto lens, in photography and cinematography, is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a ''telephoto ...

to shoot the film.

Release

''Fog Line'' screened at the

New York Film Festival The New York Film Festival (NYFF) is a film festival held every fall in New York City, presented by Film at Lincoln Center (FLC). Founded in 1963 by Richard Roud and Amos Vogel with the support of Lincoln Center president William Schuman, it ...

in 2005. A digital transfer was made for its inclusion in the 2008 DVD collection '' Treasures IV: American Avant-Garde Film, 1947-1986''.

Reception

Critic

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...

called ''Fog Line'' "one of the most hauntingly beautiful of all avant-garde films". In his column for '' Take One'', Bob Cowan praised it as among the best

minimalist film Minimalist cinema is related to the art and philosophy of minimalism. Notable filmmakers This type of film includes the works of directors like: *Robert Bresson *Chloe Zhao *Kelly Reichardt * Yasujiro Ozu * Gus van Sant *Andy Warhol *Morgan ...

s he had seen, commenting, "It has a sense of the mysterious; one never knows the precise point at which the transformations take place." Director

Paul Schrader Paul Joseph Schrader (; born July 22, 1946) is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. He first received widespread recognition through his screenplay for Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' (1976). He later continued his collabo ...

remarked that it "demonstrates how magical waiting can be."

References

External links

''Fog Line''
at

the Film-Makers' Cooperative The Film-Makers' Cooperative a.k.a. legal name The New American Cinema Group, Inc. is an artist-run, non-profit organization incorporated in July 1961 in New York City by Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Stan Brakhage, Lionel Rogosin, Gregory Mark ...