Response: A and B in Ontario

After viewing this work by Hollis Frampton and Joyce Wieland, it almost opened a door into the world of filmmaking that one does not always view as "entertaining" or "playful." The first few shots are accompanied by a loud, almost exaggerated, sound of a camera being wound. Then, the game begins. Where the "game" is a gunfight, the sound of winding reel is a gunshot and the sound of a winding camera are chances to reload. The continuum of shots that follow are almost all the same in content, but each one has a unique composition and flow. This flow almost makes the film seem to be made by chance. One filmmaker took a secret snapshot of the other, and the following scenes are what followed. However, the progession of locations show that some consideration was taken into production. The shots taken through a car or of a passerby citizen show the filmmakers becoming involved with their environment, instead of merely using it as a background. Except for a few odd glances and expressions of confusion, the filmmakers do not intervene into the lives of non-camera holding citizens.

Personally, the film reminded me of a game one only has with a loved one. The concept of the gunfight turned camera-fight is more brother and sister than lawman and outlaw. Possibly a tickle match, staring contest, or even a verbally violent debate on an issue which is either meaningless, such as where to dine, or a debate on some personal topic. In this case, the debate could be who is the best cinematographer, or something as silly as who can look the stupidest with a camera in public. Could this film be so personal to the makers that to another viewer, it could be completely reinterpreted per individual viewer?

The end of the film is completely non-conclusive, but obviously the character's stories are not complete. The conclusion of the film leaves the viewer with a sense of voyeurism. We, the audience, saw into the camera of a character in which we also viewed in the lens of the camera we are viewing. Although the premise sounds complicated, it invokes the most simple relationship to film.