William Greaves
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm (1968) was filmed in Central Park, New York City and directed by William Greaves. Focused upon a scripted break-up scene with hired actors to be husband and wife, Greaves’ decision to continuously roll the camera on and off the script transformed the film into a documentary by nature. As the audience, we witness how manufactured the roles are played by every participant of the film as the camera rolls on and off script. A hybrid of the fiction and non-fiction genres is then created, and as the audience we witness the evident illusion of caricature that takes place in the role of the actors, the film crew and meandering outsiders.
Greave’s strategy behind ‘Symbiopsychotaxiplasm’ was to film with no set agenda. As we are then presented with a film of a film, the crossed genre of fiction to non-fiction on and off script allows the viewers to see the blurred lines of reality verses scripted.
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
director WILLIAM GREAVES
year 1968
director of photography STEVAN LARNER and TERENCE MACARTNEY-FILGATE
cast PATRICIA REE GILBERT, DON FELLOWS, BOB ROSEN and WILLIAM GREAVES
text ELLEN GRACE
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