Clouds

Clouds 1969 by the British filmmaker Peter Gidal is a film comprised of ten minutes of looped footage of the sky, shot with a handheld camera using a zoom to achieve close-up images. Aside from the amorphous shapes of the clouds, the only forms to appear in the film are an aeroplane flying overhead and the side of a building, and these only as fleeting glimpses. The formless image of the sky and the repetition of the footage on a loop prevent any clear narrative development within the film. The minimal soundtrack consists of a sustained oscillating sine wave, consistently audible throughout the film without progression or climax. The work is shown as a projection and was not produced in an edition. The subject of the film can be said to be the material qualities of film itself: the grain, the light, the shadow and inconsistencies in the print.

• Peter GidalDirector

Release date

December 19, 1969

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

10m

Genres

Documentary

• Dive to Bermuda Triangle

  2004

• 

  The History of the Hands

  2016

• The Red Bank. James Joyce: His Greek Notebooks

  2013

• 

  Private Chronicles: Monologue

  1999

• 

  On the Heights All Is Peace

  1998

• 

  The Displaced View

  1988

• 

  Impressions from the Upper Atmosphere

  1989

• 

  Film-Tract n° 1968

  1968

• Roman Chariot

  2004

• 

  Chinese Ping-Pong

  1972

• 

  Refrains Happen Like Revolutions in a Song

  2010

• 

  Running Shadow I

  1971