Like many structuralist films, "Tails" by experimental filmmaker Paul Sharits is based upon a single concept that in this case becomes self-reflective through the way it is handled. The short is neither profound nor exceptional, yet regardless interesting through how it handles the idea - although the casual viewer has a lot to desire in terms of any sort of narrative. But narrative filmmaking was not what structuralist filmmakers were after: they sought a different level of communication in the viewer, a different sense of understanding entirely.
"Tails" might remind one of Owen Land's 1966 early structuralist film "Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc." in the sense that both show a 16mm filmstrip and use this device of showing the film itself as an attempt at self-reflective goals. However, it is in no way a complete remake of that film: Land's short had to do with focusing the viewer's attention on the unseen things of a filmstrip, including the edge lettering and sprocket holes (which are never projected) and making them the central aspect while making the images themselves the marginal. Sharts's three-minute film is self-reflective similarly by showing a series of film tails running quickly over the screen. Simple, yet had there been no sprocket holes shown in the film, the self-reflective aspect would have ceased to exist. It is the awareness Sharits brings to the viewer that we are watching a filmstrip that makes us see that he is referencing film itself. Unlike conventional cinema, this film does not catch itself up in the illusions all films seek to create, but outright admits them. An interesting idea and worthwhile enough for a three-minute film.
"Tails" might remind one of Owen Land's 1966 early structuralist film "Film in Which There Appear Edge Lettering, Sprocket Holes, Dirt Particles, Etc." in the sense that both show a 16mm filmstrip and use this device of showing the film itself as an attempt at self-reflective goals. However, it is in no way a complete remake of that film: Land's short had to do with focusing the viewer's attention on the unseen things of a filmstrip, including the edge lettering and sprocket holes (which are never projected) and making them the central aspect while making the images themselves the marginal. Sharts's three-minute film is self-reflective similarly by showing a series of film tails running quickly over the screen. Simple, yet had there been no sprocket holes shown in the film, the self-reflective aspect would have ceased to exist. It is the awareness Sharits brings to the viewer that we are watching a filmstrip that makes us see that he is referencing film itself. Unlike conventional cinema, this film does not catch itself up in the illusions all films seek to create, but outright admits them. An interesting idea and worthwhile enough for a three-minute film.
