Toy Catalog 3

John documents some of his vast collection of tiny, cheap, plastic toys by dumping them out of sorted baggies onto a table under the camera, spreading them out into colour and texture compositions, and paying special attention to specific toys among the masses. Shot at normal speed and edited in-camera, the pace is fast and the toys pile up, but John just wipes them to the side, quickly making room for more at the centre. He narrates each scene, telling toy stories and creating ‘foley’ plastic sounds. An expanding series of sync-sound or live-narration films begun in 1981.