Swinging (1981)

Overview

We see John swinging on a swing he built in his studio. He shot the film by himself with the camera placed many feet away, so that while swinging, he continuously made the camera work one frame at a time, holding a remote control using a long cable. This enabled him to record each individual frame at the precise second that he passed by on the swing at a certain position within the arc of the swinging motion, thereby creating the illusion that he was frozen in the air, or flying in circles. In doing so dressed in white against a black background while using one-second exposures in each frame, he created the visual effect by which one perceives him as a series of brushstrokes. This film is a single shot, filmed continuously over one hour.