time-lapse documentary illustrates Portsmouth’s shifting character

The immense changes that Portsmouth has undergone over the last several years are difficult to put into perspective. New buildings have crept into the city’s infrastructure, while others have rapidly vanished from the horizon. A new documentary from local filmmaker Thomas Clark provides a rapid-fire pictorial timeline of the city’s evolving personality.

Clark began shooting images for “Drop-Frame” in fall 2004 and continued photographing various city happenings on a near daily basis until late in 2007. Using a handheld digital camera, he took thousands of photos around the city, returning to particular sites day after day to capture the most minute of changes. Much of his work focused on major construction and deconstruction projects, many of which were happening concurrently throughout the three-plus years of shooting. He edited as he went along, stringing together sequences of time-lapse photos that vividly illustrate the incremental changes he witnessed.
The film includes footage of Hilton Garden Inn and Harbour Hill Condominiums rising up on Hanover Street, Eagle Photo being ripped to pieces and replaced with Popovers on the Square on Congress Street, Portsmouth Public Library taking shape on Parrot Avenue and Yoken’s Restaurant tumbling down on Lafayette Road. There is also a fast-forward sequence of Peavey’s Hardware shutting down and being replaced by Goody Two Shoes on Market Street, and Clark personally lays out a stack of hard photos of the North Church steeple renovations in Market Square. 

The 29-year-old director, who recently moved to Dover but lived in Portsmouth for many years, said he was inspired to create the film after watching many of his favorite Port City buildings get dashed to rubble.

“There were some buildings in town that had been torn down that I liked the look of, and they had been there my whole life,” Clark said. “I felt as though I wished I had taken pictures of them before they were gone. And then I heard about how Yoken’s was gonna be coming down, and Eagle Photo was gonna be torn down and I said, ‘I need to do something to really capture them.’”

Much like Godfrey Reggio’s films in the “The Qatsi Trilogy” (“Koyaanisqatsi,” “Powaqqatsi” and “Naqoyqatsi”), which feature music by classical composer Philip Glass, “Drop-Frame” is completely devoid of narration. It is instead accompanied by original synthesized music that Clark composed while in college. He adapted the images in his film to fit with the tone and pace of the music (which he describes as bizarre, novelty concept music), sometimes creating new tunes to fill in the gaps. By keeping his own voice out of the film, Clark leaves it up to viewers to interpret what they see and formulate opinions about Portsmouth’s changing landscape.

“If I was to use narrative, than I would be making my opinions on some things,” Clark said. “But I don’t want to do that. I want it to be very open-ended … So I was trying to keep all opinions out of it and totally leave it up to the viewer.”

In addition to photographing construction sites, Clark sought to capture snippets of daily life in the Port City. Traffic shoots along the highway as the sun goes down and night sets in. The Memorial Bridge rises to let a ship pass. Cranes load sand onto a ship docked at the Port of New Hampshire. Shadows spread across the city as the sun rises and descends. A segment titled “Events” illustrates the bustling activity that surrounds Market Square Day, fireworks on Independence Day, a windstorm during the North Church restoration, the Halloween and Vintage Christmas parades, the Farmer’s Market and other festivities. Another segment, labeled “Commerce,” includes time-lapse pictures depicting foot traffic within the third floor club at the Gas Light Co., the Friendly Toast, Old Ferry Landing, Me & Ollie’s Café, the Water Monkey and other local businesses.

“I felt (the film) needed a lot more than just those buildings and other construction,” Clark said. “I would go around and just get footage of scenery around town, as the shadows move by or traffic going by, just to show life happening in the city.”
A particularly dazzling series takes place in one of the gardens that skirts Prescott Park. Clark took pictures throughout the year, allowing viewers to see the plants and flowers grow and blossom through the spring and summer. Later, in a couple of quick frames, the trees suddenly lose their leaves and the plants wilt away. The scene ends with snowflakes falling and covering the ground.

Bringing all these scenes together was a long and tedious project for Clark, who took pictures almost every day for three-plus years. Each day, he walked a set route around the city, photographing various developments from multiple angles.
“A lot of the things that you see in the video were all happening at the same time, so it totally made sense to go downtown and just do a walk-around,” he said. “Even if nothing had changed, I would still do this every single day.”

In order to capture people in their natural environments, Clark used some nifty camera tricks. He did not want pedestrians to alter their behavior because of the presence of his camera. For many downtown shots, he placed the camera on a tripod and affixed a cable to its shutter so that he could snap shots while standing several feet away and facing in another direction. His inconspicuous methods enabled him to capture daily life unadulterated.

“Drop-Frame” represents the first official release for Clark, who majored in film production at Keene State College and works as an illustrator for Goss International in Durham. He’s not sure what he’ll do next in his film career, but he’s open to just about any idea. After spending an almost incalculable number of hours on his latest project, he might take a little break first.
“I might be afraid to find out how many hours (I spent),” he said.

Produced by Clark’s own TCPictures, the 32-minute film is available at the Water Monkey in Vaughan Mall or by visiting www.drop-frame.net. Clips from the film can also be viewed at the Web site.