← A. Inventions, No. 43
Clarence O. Pierce (?1876–1953)
Film Transition Machines
1905
Pierce Cine Optical Mfg. Co., est. 1902, Torrance, California. Epoxy-coated steel, celluloid keys, blued steel hardware. 14⅝ × 9 × 18¼". Collection of the author.
From the Golden Age of Hollywood, a series of specialty splicing machines for achieving different kinds of transitions between edits.
Below: (fig. 1) A Pierce Titler, used to create the kinds of interstitial title cards used in silent movies. (fig. 2) A three track cross-dissolve unit by United Cine. (fig. 3) A match cut editor by Cotollper. (fig. 4) A multiplexing rotary fader. (fig. 5) A defocus transitioner. (fig. 6) A fade-to-black/dip-to-white machine. (fig. 7) A Bates & Brossey machine for creating wipes, pushes, and ‘barn door’ effects. (fig. 8) A switchable iris machine (with original irises!) for creating clock-, star-, and heart-shaped iris effects.
Published January 22, 2023. Copyright © 2023 Jonathan Hoefler.
About
The objects in the Apocryphal Inventions series are technical chimeras, intentional misdirections coaxed from the generative AI platform Midjourney. Instead of iterating on the system’s early drafts to create ever more accurate renderings of real-world objects, creator Jonathan Hoefler subverted the system to refine and intensify its most intriguing misunderstandings, pushing the software to create beguiling, aestheticized nonsense. Some images have been retouched to make them more plausible; others have been left intact, appearing exactly as generated by the software. The accompanying descriptions, written by the author, offer fictitious backstories rooted in historical fact, which suggest how each of these inventions might have come to be.
These images represent some of AI’s most intriguing answers to confounding questions, an inversion of the more pressing debate in which it is humanity that must confront the difficult and existential questions posed by artificial intelligence.
Previously:
No. 42. Clavichordium Circularis
Next:
No. 44. Precision Coffee Scales
