ABOUT JOHN: Upcoming Shows - New Films - 300 Films - "Top 25"/Sample Show - Biography

John's super 8 film (photos)

- Toy Catalogue -

Europe Tour Show: Next & Previous Films | "Top 25": Previous Film

An expanding series of sound or live-narration films begun in 1981.

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.

Recorded on the sound film after shooting, or narrating live, he describes each scene and tells toy stories, and sometimes creates "foley" plastic sounds.

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Toy Catalogue 2010 (2010, super 8, 40 minutes, sound on film)
Shot on John's last rolls of Kodachrome sound film!
Premiered in part at the 8 fest in Toronto, January 30, 2011, all-ages matinee!

Toy Catalogue 2005 (2005, super 8, colour, 3.5 minutes, live narration)
Commissioned by the University of Toronto Film & Video Festival for its annual
Super 8 Circus programme with musical accompaniment by a live jazz band.

Toy Catalogue: Money (2003, super 8, colour, 3.5 minutes, live narration)
Commissioned by Toronto's Splice This! Super 8 Festival for its Money theme programme.

Toy Catalogue 4 (1998, super 8, colour, 10 minutes, sound on film)

Toy Catalogue 3 (1996, super 8, colour, 60 minutes, sound on film)
On three, self-contained reels, John projected them on demand (any reel, any order),
daily for a month in 1996, at YYZ Artists' Outlet, Toronto.

Toy Catalogue 2 (1987/89, super 8, Kodachrome, 15 minutes, sound on film)

Toy Catalogue 1 (1981, super 8, colour, 5 minutes, sound on film)
Starring Edie (Julie War) Steiner demonstrating the toys.
The original was lost in a theft from The Funnel Experimental Film Theatre,
and all that remains is a video copy and super 8 out-takes.

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Toy Catalogue 3 - Reel 1 (1996)

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John Porter's toy wall for his film Toy Catalogue, 1996. (photo by Edie Steiner)

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John Porter's Toy Catalogue 3, shown on demand April 17 - May 18, 1996,
at YYZ Gallery, 1087 Queen St. W., Toronto.

see John's Upcoming Shows - New Films - 300 Films - "Top 25"/Sample Show - Biography
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