Snorkel

When a film camera is introduced into an unexpected setting it acts as a catalyst for spontaneous performance. “Snorkel,” which was shot in Super 8 and transferred to 16mm film, shows a group of friends gathered for a social evening. They put on various acts, including the garbled telling of some sci-fi movie’s plot, and snorkelling in a pail of water. McLaren’s camera is by no means an innocent bystander – it intrudes upon the scene, picks out particular activities, withdraws, and generally impels the action as mediator between event and document.