Plumb Line

Plumb Line was beautiful, it seemed to be laying everything open, even more than Fuses – a very private film, and as clear as crystal.’ – David Curtis.

Plumb Line: Plump line full rounded plumbs drop or descent abounding in, plume abrupt plunge, testing vertically/perpendicularity of wall, sounding (downright), level, true, ecactly, (U.S. slang) utterly crazy, measure, depth, make vertical. Pendulum (Carpentry), Plumber, lead ball, join, joint.)
Plumb Line is made from scrap. Footage shot in 8mm and 16mm ’68-69, a film diary of daily movements-the couple. Sounds of my cat singing, repeated cries of ‘no’, sirens screaming, my voice describing food from the maze of a breakdown, his voice ‘tell me a story…I’ve got a truck you know’. Moving footage into freeze frames, stills animated, 8mm mirror printed as 16mm, images in 16mm reshot in 8. A portrait of a man and the dissolution of a relationship and of the film itself. The accumulation patterns of imagery are finally set on fire. Sound and images edited during ’70-72. – C.S.