Countdown to Collision

Countdown to Collision is a lyrical, symphonic short that encapsulates the countercultural environmentalist rhetoric of 1970s USA. The film begins in fast motion, showing a field being razed to make way for the foundation of a new building. Concrete is poured over the ground and smoothed over. A worker takes a lunch break, reaching for an apple from his lunchbox. The camera pans out, and the worker is revealed to be Uncle Sam himself.

The centre of the film is a 10-minute long musical montage, which traverses from factory production lines, to construction sites, agriculture, and everyday scenes of suburbia and the city. The narrator tells viewers that the gross national product of America is waste, draining into our rivers, airs and oceans. The film is an indictment of progression and what is called ‘electronic bad-taste’ in an age of affluence and anxiety.