Trailer, 30 seconds
Phonetic Philmmaking, 20 minutes, Super 8 to 4K, stereo, 2025
For as long as I can remember, it has been difficult and uncomfortable to express myself when speaking aloud or when writing. I would often silence myself to avoid the feeling that I was making a mistake, a word out of place or mispronounced, to avoid the embarrassment of repeating and having to clarify my thoughts. I have always lived with the disruption of language intertwined with my experience of living with a learning disability. Phonetic Philmmaking, a 20 minute experimental Super 8 film, satirizes normative language conventions and transforms them into a new visual vernacular linking metaphorical and literal meanings within the verbs, nouns and pictures. This film explains my world – if only I can find the right word.
The film was shot over a year in Toronto and New York City, capturing a variety of words through chalkboards, electronic signs, flyers, neon signs, posters, porcelain tiles, sewer grates, stained glass and storefront graphics. This abundance of text is offset by images of bunting, cats, eyes, fence posts, flowers, garbage, locks, and newspapers. Featuring an original soundtrack by Daniel Brlas, Phonetic Philmmaking is shot entirely on Super 8 film. This format, now in its 60th year, evokes the amateur home movie aesthetics of the past while renewing its relevance in the present. With the help of Cullen Ritchie, elements of the footage were purposely distressed to emphasize textual illegibility. This material destruction mimics my own relationship to syntax and the film serves as a visual deconstruction of language rules.
Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for funding this project. And to the8fest Small Gauge Film Festival and Tangled Art + Disability for sponsorship.
For as long as I can remember, it has been difficult and uncomfortable to express myself when speaking aloud or when writing. I would often silence myself to avoid the feeling that I was making a mistake, a word out of place or mispronounced, to avoid the embarrassment of repeating and having to clarify my thoughts. I have always lived with the disruption of language intertwined with my experience of living with a learning disability. Phonetic Philmmaking, a 20 minute experimental Super 8 film, satirizes normative language conventions and transforms them into a new visual vernacular linking metaphorical and literal meanings within the verbs, nouns and pictures. This film explains my world – if only I can find the right word.
The film was shot over a year in Toronto and New York City, capturing a variety of words through chalkboards, electronic signs, flyers, neon signs, posters, porcelain tiles, sewer grates, stained glass and storefront graphics. This abundance of text is offset by images of bunting, cats, eyes, fence posts, flowers, garbage, locks, and newspapers. Featuring an original soundtrack by Daniel Brlas, Phonetic Philmmaking is shot entirely on Super 8 film. This format, now in its 60th year, evokes the amateur home movie aesthetics of the past while renewing its relevance in the present. With the help of Cullen Ritchie, elements of the footage were purposely distressed to emphasize textual illegibility. This material destruction mimics my own relationship to syntax and the film serves as a visual deconstruction of language rules.
Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for funding this project. And to the8fest Small Gauge Film Festival and Tangled Art + Disability for sponsorship.
The film was shot over a year in Toronto and New York City, capturing a variety of words through chalkboards, electronic signs, flyers, neon signs, posters, porcelain tiles, sewer grates, stained glass and storefront graphics. This abundance of text is offset by images of bunting, cats, eyes, fence posts, flowers, garbage, locks, and newspapers. Featuring an original soundtrack by Daniel Brlas, Phonetic Philmmaking is shot entirely on Super 8 film. This format, now in its 60th year, evokes the amateur home movie aesthetics of the past while renewing its relevance in the present. With the help of Cullen Ritchie, elements of the footage were purposely distressed to emphasize textual illegibility. This material destruction mimics my own relationship to syntax and the film serves as a visual deconstruction of language rules.
Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for funding this project. And to the8fest Small Gauge Film Festival and Tangled Art + Disability for sponsorship.
Screenings
2025 (upcoming) Tangled Art + Disability, Toronto, ON
2025 (upcoming) Premiere, CineCycle, Toronto, ON
Reviews
“Control with a twist, Phonetic Philmmaking resonates with strategies of peeling back the layers of covert narratives while building on the beauty of Super 8.” – Milada Kovacova
“These words without a sentence, these wilfully distressed and texturized stocks deliberately defy the viewer's restless effort to construct meaning on the fly.” – Mark Loeser
“Rennie Taylor represents a young, digital generation that has been discovering, exploring and embracing super 8 film and other analog media within the last 20 years” – John Porter
“Like speaking with contractions, chaos reigns. There is an inherent breakdown in linearity when the signs separate from their signifiers even though, as they’re lost, the signs never lose meaning.” – Daniel Brlas
“These words without a sentence, these wilfully distressed and texturized stocks deliberately defy the viewer's restless effort to construct meaning on the fly.” – Mark Loeser
“Rennie Taylor represents a young, digital generation that has been discovering, exploring and embracing super 8 film and other analog media within the last 20 years” – John Porter
“Like speaking with contractions, chaos reigns. There is an inherent breakdown in linearity when the signs separate from their signifiers even though, as they’re lost, the signs never lose meaning.” – Daniel Brlas
Film Stills
Book
5" x 8", 32 pages
2 colour risograph, 50 copies
2 colour risograph, 50 copies
This anthology accompanies the film and features five essays about experimental film, the history of small gauge and perspectives on Phonetic Philmmaking. Canadian artists and the advisors on the project, Milada Kovacova, Mark Loeser and John Porter, as well as the sound designer, Daniel Brlas contribute writing.
Poster
Poster
