Perceiving time through the ‘frame gap’ in experimental cinema

This study proposes the ‘frame gap’ as a new concept in artists’ moving image practices and explores how it can elucidate the temporal experience of cinema. Through experiments in light and film, this study begins by an intermediary reflection on both film and light. The concept of the ‘frame gap’, which is developed in this thesis, draws on the technique from animation practice and refers to a specific physical property of digital media, which is attributed to the unique language and frame mechanism of film, as reflected in structural film and experimental animation. This study develops by investigating time as a perceptual element of structural film and ‘expanded cinema’ before exploring the active time perception facilitated by the ‘frame gap’, particularly drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Edmund Husserl’s phenomenological concept of ‘temporality’. The study also responds to Vivian Sobchack’s concept of ‘embodiment’ and Laura Marks and Jennifer Barker’s discussion of ‘tactile sensation’, which is reciprocal, contributing to my theorisation of the frame gap as a device that enables the perception of time as an expression of film through embodiment. The study compares the concept of the ‘frame gap’ with another important concept – frame rate – within temporal experience while also reflecting on key theories, including Henri Bergson’s concept of ‘duration’, Gilles Deleuze’s ‘movement-image’ and ‘time-image’, and Henri Lefebvre’s ‘arrhythmia’. In conclusion, this practice-based study proposes a practical new concept of ‘frame gap’. By practicing the ‘frame gap’ in the experimental films, LIGHT (2023), Time or Motion (2024) and One Day in One Minute (2024), this study is an exploration of the cinematic phenomena of the ‘frame gap’ by engaging with viewers’ perception of time.