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Paint Drying

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This article is about the protest film. For the English-language idiom, see Watching paint dry.
Paint Drying
Promotional still for the film
Directed byCharlie Shackleton
Produced byCharlie Shackleton
CinematographyCharlie Shackleton
Edited byCharlie Shackleton
Release date
  • 10 November 2023 (2023-11-10) (QAGOMA)
Running time
607 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom[1]
Budget£5,936 (Kickstarter)

Paint Drying is a 2023 British experimental protest film that was produced, directed and shot by Charlie Shackleton. He created the film in 2016 to protest against film censorship in the United Kingdom and the sometimes-prohibitive cost to independent filmmakers which the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) classification requirement imposes. The film consists of 607 minutes (10 hours and 7 minutes) of a static view of white paint drying on a brick wall. Shackleton made the film to force the BBFC to watch all ten hours to give the film an age rating classification. He initially shot 14 hours' worth of footage of paint drying in 4K resolution and opened a Kickstarter campaign to pay the BBFC's per-minute rate for a film as long as possible. It raised £5,936 from 686 backers. After reviewing the film, the BBFC rated it 'U' for 'Universal', indicating "no material likely to offend or harm".[2] Paint Drying had its first public screening at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia, between 10–29 November 2023 as part of the Cinema Obstructed film exhibition—for which Shackleton was co-curator.

Synopsis

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A non-narrative film, Paint Drying consists of 607 minutes (10 hours and 7 minutes) of a static view of white paint drying on a brick wall. The entire film is a single continuous shot, and there is no audio.[3][4] It receives its title from the expression "like watching paint dry",[5] which refers to something very tedious or boring.[6]

Production

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Background and conception

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A black and white portrait of a young Shackleton; wearing glasses
Shackleton in 2022

Charlie Shackleton (known as Charlie Lyne until 2019)[7] is a British independent filmmaker. He has written, directed and produced several independent films, such as his essay-style documentary films Beyond Clueless (2014)—his directorial debut—and Fear Itself (2015).[4][8] The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is the authority responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited at cinemas and video works released on physical media within the United Kingdom. All filmmakers wishing to release a film in British cinemas are required to receive a rating from the BBFC or exemption from the local authority.[8][9] In 2015, it cost £101.50 plus £7.09 per minute of runtime to have a film reviewed by the BBFC.[10][11]

Paint Drying is a protest against both film censorship in the UK, and the unfair cost to independent filmmakers imposed by the BBFC's mandatory classification requirement.[5][10] According to Shackleton, "this project [Paint Drying] is the culmination of a decade spent aimlessly railing against the BBFC—a decade that began when I was 13 years old".[12] Shackleton states that his distaste for the BBFC began when he was reading the trivia section on IMDb for the 1999 film Fight Club, and realised that the version he had seen was censored by the BBFC by having six seconds cut to "reduce the sense of sadistic pleasure in inflicting violence".[12] Shackleton was dismayed, stating "if we censor art on the basis that someone somewhere might be hurt by it, we'll be left with no art at all. Should the 'White Album' be banned because Charlie Manson used 'Helter Skelter' to justify murder?"[12]

In protest against the BBFC's per-minute rate for film classifications, Shackleton stated that the average cost of an age classification for independent filmmakers could exceed £1,000, which would prove to be a heavy financial burden on most independent filmmakers.[8] According to Shackleton, the BBFC certificate for his debut self-distributed film, Beyond Clueless, cost £867.60, which was roughly fifty per cent of its distribution budget. Shackleton stated that he knew of several planned cinematic releases from independent filmmakers that had to be abandoned because the cost was too high, which he added was "terrible for British film culture".[10] He conceived the idea to make a film about paint drying while at a filmmaker's event at the BBFC in 2015.[13] He had expected to see conflict between the BBFC examiners and the visiting filmmakers, but was surprised that there was no such disagreement; Shackleton added that, on the contrary, many of the attending filmmakers seemed to be supportive of the BBFC.[14] He also disapproved of the examiners who were discussing the censorship of certain films and the rationale behind such action.[13]

Filming, editing and Kickstarter campaign

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"bbfc" written in lowercase letters in black
Paint Drying was made to force the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to watch all ten hours in order to give the film an age rating classification.

Shackleton initially shot 14 hours' worth of footage of white paint drying in 4K resolution.[15] He chose the colour white because of its "certain Tom Sawyer charm".[16] The location of the wall that was painted has not been disclosed.[13] On 16 November 2015, Shackleton opened a Kickstarter campaign to make the film's released length as long as possible.[17] The funds raised would be put towards the cost of the age classification, the final length of the film being resolute with how much money was raised from the campaign.[8] It had raised £961—worth 2 hours and 1 minute of footage—by 18 November, and an individual unaffiliated with the campaign created a website that tracked in real time how long Paint Drying would be.[18] By 20 November, the film had raised £3,147, which equated to more than seven hours of footage.[8] By 23 November, Paint Drying hit £4,000.[15] Shackleton stated that he would shoot more footage if the Kickstarter campaign raised more than £6,057 (meaning 14 hours' worth of footage), although ultimately this did not happen.[10][15]

Shackleton told The Daily Telegraph that he hoped that crowdfunding a BBFC classification for the film would demonstrate how many people are concerned about film censorship in the UK, adding that the prospect of making the BBFC examiners watch paint dry was humorous.[8] Shackleton acknowledged that Paint Drying would likely not have a large impact on film censorship within the UK, but nevertheless hoped that it would encourage people to debate the practices of the BBFC.[19] He further stated that people accepted the BBFC solely because of its age, claiming that if a similar organisation were to be founded today to censor literature or music, there would be public outrage.[20] The Kickstarter campaign ended on 31 December 2015, having raised £5,936 from 686 backers—equating to 731 minutes (12 hours and 11 minutes) of footage, which was shortened to 10 hours and 7 minutes after Kickstarter's fees and value-added tax.[4][21]

The campaign also received donations from people outside of the UK, which surprised Shackleton as he thought that non-British individuals would be confused about the BBFC's authority. He concluded that censorship was unfortunately a "pretty universal concept".[22] Shackleton also stated that filmmakers from around the world, particularly Australia and India, were supportive of Paint Drying.[10] Despite suggestions from backers for Shackleton to secretly insert a penis into a single frame of Paint Drying, he ultimately decided against it as he believed it would have detracted from the point of the film.[13]

Classification

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The Digital Cinema Package that Shackleton submitted to the BBFC for classification was 310 gigabytes in size.[23] Due to the length of the film, BBFC examiners split their viewing into two sessions over two consecutive days, the majority being viewed on 25 January.[24] To coincide with the examination, Shackleton held an 'Ask Me Anything' (AMA) question and answer session on the subreddit r/IAmA, during which he stated that he did not himself watch the film in its entirety.[21] Shackleton's post received hundreds of comments within a day and became top post on the subreddit on that day.[25] On 26 January, upon reviewing the film, the BBFC rated it 'U' for 'Universal,' indicating "no material likely to offend or harm".[2][4][26] After receiving a digital copy of the certificate, Shackleton tweeted that it was "£5,936 well spent".[27]

In response to the protest, the BBFC said it would classify the film as it would any other submission. It added that "The BBFC is a non-profit organisation that works to protect children, from content which might raise harm risks and to empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices. It implements Classification Guidelines that reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research."[4] The BBFC also noted that its only source of income is the charges for its services.[4][28] Paint Drying is not the longest film to have been rated by the BBFC—the French film Out 1 (1971) is 773 minutes (12 hours, 55 minutes) long, and was classified by the BBFC in 2015. They rated it 15 for "very strong language".[4][29]

Reception

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Although the film likely did not have any influence on the BBFC's governing, the novel idea of the film and arguments raised by Shackleton have since been frequently discussed in the context of film censorship and classification.[30][31] After the film was first classified by the BBFC, the A.V. Club said that a "14-hour director's cut is presumably forthcoming",[32] and Gizmodo AU stated that uploading the film onto YouTube would be an ideal place for its "cinematic brilliance" to be permanently available for anyone to view.[23] British magazine Dazed said that if Shackleton had allowed Paint Drying to be shown in cinemas, it would have been a great way to prank one's significant other on Valentine's Day.[13] In the September 2016 issue of Alive, D.P. Sabharwal called the film "a novel and innovative protest".[33] In an April 2017 opinion piece by National Post praising Shackleton's work, Calum Marsh declared Paint Drying a comedy and praised Shackleton's dedication to creating the film. Marsh stated that he was unsure about its merit as a film, but stated that as a comedy, "it's very, very good".[34]

On 1 March 2016, Paint Drying was the subject of a video essay by the French series Blow Up [fr], broadcast by Arte. In it, presenter Luc Lagier positively compares the film to Wavelength (1967), a structural film that consists of a gradually zooming-in shot of a room.[35] Shackleton reflected on Paint Drying in an article he wrote for Vice in April 2017, in which he stated that the BBFC remained unchanged since his protest, and "continues to ban films outright".[36] On 15 October 2018, Paint Drying was featured in an episode of series P of the British panel show QI.[37] In 2022, academic Arina Pismenny referred to Paint Drying as an example of art that was objectively boring yet interesting given its context.[38]

On the social film cataloging website Letterboxd, there are several thousand user reviews for Paint Drying which consist solely of users sharing personal information unrelated to the film, such as traumatic experiences, personal events and life updates. A trend started by a July 2020 review from a pseudonymous user, Shackleton was made aware of the reviews by a friend and stated that he is very fond of it, calling it an "unlikely second act" to Paint Drying.[39][40]

Release

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Although Shackleton had no plans for a wide theatrical release, he stated on 25 January 2016 that he was in talks with a cinema in London about possibly showing the film.[23][25] Shackleton planned for it to be followed by a public debate regarding film censorship.[41] He later added that "it would take some working out, [in terms of] how to show it. I can't imagine that many people would make it through the entire duration", stating that it would have to be shown in a setting that could allow for people to walk in and out of the theatre.[42] Ultimately, nothing came of these talks, and Paint Drying had its first public screening at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia, between 10–29 November 2023.[43][44][45] It screened at the Gallery of Modern Art & Cinema building as part of the Cinema Obstructed artistic film exhibition, for which Shackleton was a co-curator alongside Australian-native Robert Hughes.[45] As of February 2024, the film has not been released theatrically nor made publicly available online.[39]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^ "Paint Drying". British Film Institute. n.d. Archived from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Paint Drying". British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). n.d. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  3. ^ Iversen et al. 2019, pp. 171, 194
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Loughrey, Clarisse (26 January 2016). "BBFC rates Paint Drying film 'U', after sitting through all 607 minutes". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  5. ^ a b Reynolds, Emily (20 January 2016). "Watching paint dry: how artists have challenged censorship". Wired UK. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  6. ^ "something is like watching paint dry". Collins English Dictionary (Online). HarperCollins Publishers. n.d. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
  7. ^ Shackleton, Charlie [@charlieshack] (9 October 2019). "For a long time now, I've regretted a decision I made about 15 years ago, when—in a fit of teenage reinvention—I stopped using my mum's surname, Shackleton, and started using my dad's, Lyne. (My mum raised me after my dad left us when I was a baby.)" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 12 November 2021. Retrieved 6 March 2023 – via Twitter. …so I'm changing my name back to Charlie Shackleton.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Boult, Adam (20 November 2015). "Film-maker plots to force the British Board of Film Classification to watch 14 hours of paint drying". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  9. ^ Holub, Christian (27 January 2016). "This 10-hour documentary is really like watching paint dry". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 29 March 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d e Ohlheiser, Abby (26 January 2016) [Originally published 19 November 2015]. "A filmmaker trolled the British film board with an unbelievably long movie of paint drying". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 October 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  11. ^ Butcher, Anne (May 2016). "Epic prank forces film censors to watch paint dry for 10 hours". Reason. Vol. 48, no. 1. p. 72. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022 – via Reason.com.
  12. ^ a b c Miller, Nick (27 January 2016). "Filmmaker forces UK censorship board to sit through 607-minute film of paint drying". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  13. ^ a b c d e Kale, Sirin (26 January 2016). "Why would anyone film or watch paint drying for ten hours?". Dazed Digital. Archived from the original on 17 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  14. ^ McCormick, Joseph (26 January 2016). "British film censors have been made to watch 10 hours of paint drying". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 17 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  15. ^ a b c Haines, Lester (23 November 2015). "Brit filmmaker plans 10hr+ Paint Drying epic". The Register. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  16. ^ Sandwell, Ian (25 January 2016). "Right now, two experts are sat in a room for ten hours watching a film of paint drying. But why?". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  17. ^ Iversen et al. 2019, p. 195
  18. ^ Ohlheiser, Abby (21 November 2016). "Filmmaker trolls British film board with 14-hour movie of white paint drying". Stuff. Archived from the original on 17 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  19. ^ Miller, Nick (28 January 2016). "Watching paint dry no chore for a censor". The Age. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022 – via Gale Academic OneFile.
  20. ^ Leszkiewicz, Anna (24 November 2015). "The filmmaker forcing the British Board of Film Classification to watch Paint Drying for hours on end". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  21. ^ a b Purtill, Corinne (27 January 2016). "Here's how UK film censors rated a 10-hour film of paint drying". Quartz. Archived from the original on 6 December 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  22. ^ "Com 7 mil euros obrigou censores a assistir a 10 horas de tinta a secar" [With 7 thousand euros, he forced censors to watch 10 hours of paint drying]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 26 January 2016. Archived from the original on 24 January 2023. Retrieved 24 January 2023.
  23. ^ a b c Simpson, Campbell (27 January 2016). "A 10-Hour Film About Paint Drying Is A Film For Everyone". Gizmodo AU. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  24. ^ Vincent, Alice (26 January 2016). "Why the BBFC watched paint dry for 10 Hours: filmmaker Charlie Lyne explains". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  25. ^ a b Haysom, Sam (26 January 2016). "Man forces UK film censors to watch 10 hours of paint drying". Mashable. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  26. ^ "UK film censors forced to watch a 10 hour long movie of paint drying". Radio Times. 27 January 2016. Archived from the original on 14 December 2022. Retrieved 14 December 2022. The poor censor at the BBFC wasn't so lucky, spending two days making notes before finally making their judgement: U. Suitable for all ages.
  27. ^ "Ten-hour film about paint drying approved by censors". New Zealand Herald. 26 January 2016. Archived from the original on 17 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022.
  28. ^ Dwyer, Genevieve (28 January 2016). "UK Filmmaker forces censors to sit through two days of literally watching paint dry". Special Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  29. ^ "Out 1". British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). n.d. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  30. ^ Segura, John (18 November 2023). "How a 10-Hour Movie Protested Censorship in 2016". CBR. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  31. ^ Leigh, Danny (30 July 2021). "'Mary Whitehouse is living in my head': how the video nasty scandal inspired a hot new film". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 January 2024.
  32. ^ Rife, Katie (26 January 2016). "British censors deem 10-hour movie of paint drying appropriate for all ages". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  33. ^ Sabharwal, D. P. (September 2016). "Sweet intelligent revenge". Alive. No. 407. p. 65 – via EBSCO Information Services.
  34. ^ Calum, Marsh (28 April 2017). "Is any documentarian as funny as Charlie Lyne, a man with the rare gift of knowing how to make an audience laugh?". National Post. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  35. ^ Lagier, Luc (narrator) (1 March 2016). Vous connaissez "Paint Drying" de Charlie Lyne ? [Do You Know "Paint Drying" by Charlie Lyne?]. Camera Lucida Productions (Episode). Blow Up [fr] (in French). Arte. Season 3, episode 7. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 22 December 2022 – via BetaSeries.
  36. ^ Shackleton, Charlie (24 April 2017). "I Went to Extraordinary Lengths to Sidestep Britain's Film Censors". Vice. Archived from the original on 25 January 2023. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  37. ^ "Series P, Episode 6 – Pictures". British Comedy Guide. n.d. Archived from the original on 23 January 2023. Retrieved 23 January 2023.
  38. ^ Pismenny, Arina (18 January 2022). "Boredom and Its Values". Journal of Philosophy of Emotion. 2 (3): 32. doi:10.33497/2022.winter.4. Archived from the original on 23 December 2022. Retrieved 17 December 2022 – via PhilArchive.
  39. ^ a b Bell, Josh (20 February 2024). "The Letterboxd Page That Became Something Much More". IndieWire. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  40. ^ Padilla, Greta (27 February 2024). "'Paint Drying', la película de 10 horas que triunfó entre las reseñas de Letterboxd" ['Paint Drying', the 10-hour film that triumphs among Letterboxd reviews]. Sopitas (in Spanish). Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  41. ^ Macnab, Geoffrey (1 February 2016). "'Paint Drying' director in talks to screen protest film". Screen Daily. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  42. ^ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (27 January 2016). "We talked to the man who forced the U.K. film board to watch 10 hours of paint drying". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
  43. ^ Leatham, Tom (21 March 2024). "'Paint Drying': the movie created in protest against film classification and censorship". Far Out. Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  44. ^ Zsolt, Hanula (9 November 2023). "Az ember, aki forgatott egy 10 órás filmet a festék száradásáról, csak hogy a korhatárbizottságot kínozza vele" [The man who made a 10-hour long film of paint drying just to torture the age rating board]. Telex.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 22 December 2024.
  45. ^ a b Shackleton, Charlie; Robert, Hughes (n.d.). "Paint Drying – Cinema Obstructed". Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art. Retrieved 12 January 2024.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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