Telephones
While studying painting in
In his videos, he mines readily identifiable films that are part of a shared cultural history. Telephones is made up of movie clips from the 1930s to the 1990s. It begins with a lengthy series of very short snippets of people dialing phones, followed by sequences of phones ringing, being answered, and then hung up. Through the clips he has chosen and the editing process, Marclay produced a video that builds tension and then offers some release within each of those sections. It is an evocative and accessible example of the effectiveness and power of editing. Telephones is also visually engaging, funny, and quirky. Featuring a wide array of actors, such as Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Stanwyck, Sean Connery, Heather Locklear, and Humphrey Bogart, starring in films ranging from The Birds to Sleepless in Seattle, the video captivates viewers through moments of humor and loosely constructed narrative.