Exploring the Spectrum [Parts I & II]
Identifier
F.2022-09-0317
Date Of Production
1975
Abstract
A documentary in three parts produced by John Nash Ott which investigates the effects of natural and artificial light on fundamental biological processes and health. This film contains parts one and two.
Description
The film begins in host John Nash Ott’s tool shed and studio in Winnetka, Illinois, where he greets the audience and prepares to introduce the day’s topic, but is quickly distracted by the sound of an offscreen musical instrument. His neighbor Jim Cunningham enters the tool shed clutching a trumpet and questions if Ott has been playing “the right type of music” for his flowers. When Ott asks him if he can help with that endeavor, Cunningham promptly summons the rest of his seven-piece band into the shed who immediately begin rearranging the furnishings to make room for their piano, guitar, trombone, clarinet, drums and upright bass, much to Ott’s consternation and amusement. In the remainder of the excerpt, they play several traditional jazz songs, including “Sweet Georgia Brown” and “Tiger Rag.” The band’s music synchronizes with a time-lapse photography sequence of flowers blooming which include a chrysanthemum, as well as several orchids and tiger lilies.
As the band finishes, the scene shifts to an “Exploring the Spectrum” title card, followed by a shot of Ott’s book, Health & Light: The Effects of Natural & Artificial Light on Man & Other Living Things. The final title card indicates that the film was made on behalf of the non-profit organization Ott established in Sarasota, Florida, the Environmental Health and Light Research Institute. A dancing primrose excerpt appears, likely familiar to Ott’s regular audience as the regular introductory sequence for his television series, How Does Your Garden Grow?, and Ott’s narration identifies the plant’s waltz as an overarching theme of the film: “This primrose plant appears to be dancing as a result of controlling the light, temperature and moisture, and synchronizing the resulting growth responses to prerecorded music.”
Ott then introduces himself to the audience, indicates he would like to show his time-lapse greenhouse where he creates time-lapse photography, and then promptly launches into a detailed description of his greenhouse’s facilities. This is followed by a time-lapse sequence featuring an iris, hibiscus, camellia, azalea, cactus, water lily, passion flower and orchid, and Ott narrates the ideal conditions for each flower’s successful growth.
The scene shifts to a time-lapse photography sequence of a pumpkin’s growth which Ott originally shot for inclusion in Walt Disney’s production, Secrets of Life (1956). Ott recounts his realization that altering the kinds of light used would drastically affect the growth response: “I found I could obtain 100% staminate or pistillate blossoms on a pumpkin vine by simply supplementing the restricted daylight with either cool white or daylight white fluorescent.” Ott then recollects a similar time-lapse shoot in which he found he could elicit the desired growth response from morning glories by adjusting the surrounding color temperature, and then by offsetting the filmstock’s tint by introducing color filters while shooting.
Although Ott acknowledges differing conditions needed for any particular plant to successfully bloom, his narration throughout the film recurrently emphasizes the regular importance of the availability of full-spectrum lighting for the successful growth and lasting health of cellular life, plants, animals and humans alike. Conversely, Ott emphasizes that reduced spectrum lighting causes failure in a blossom’s growth, and is attributable to illness, viral and tumor growth, sterility, cannibalism and reduced life expectancy in animals, including mice, minks and shrimp. In a human study, Ott investigates the elevated incidence of leukemia at St. John Brebeuf School in Niles, Illinois. He attributes cases of leukemia to a lack of full-spectrum lighting in the classrooms and a total dependence on limited-spectrum fluorescent lighting.
Near the end of the film, Ott alleges there is a causal relationship between a learning disability and the inability to concentrate with inappropriate classroom lighting, and he describes an affliction under such lighting circumstances with a term coined by Ott himself: “mal-illumination.” The film ends with a time-lapse sequence of student hyperactivity taken from the corner of a first grade classroom, and Ott concludes: “The implications of the biological effects of light and radiation as observed through time-lapse photography are obvious. I sincerely hope that what started strictly as a hobby and intended only for entertainment purposes may help stimulate further greatly needed scientific studies in this very important area of research.”
As the band finishes, the scene shifts to an “Exploring the Spectrum” title card, followed by a shot of Ott’s book, Health & Light: The Effects of Natural & Artificial Light on Man & Other Living Things. The final title card indicates that the film was made on behalf of the non-profit organization Ott established in Sarasota, Florida, the Environmental Health and Light Research Institute. A dancing primrose excerpt appears, likely familiar to Ott’s regular audience as the regular introductory sequence for his television series, How Does Your Garden Grow?, and Ott’s narration identifies the plant’s waltz as an overarching theme of the film: “This primrose plant appears to be dancing as a result of controlling the light, temperature and moisture, and synchronizing the resulting growth responses to prerecorded music.”
Ott then introduces himself to the audience, indicates he would like to show his time-lapse greenhouse where he creates time-lapse photography, and then promptly launches into a detailed description of his greenhouse’s facilities. This is followed by a time-lapse sequence featuring an iris, hibiscus, camellia, azalea, cactus, water lily, passion flower and orchid, and Ott narrates the ideal conditions for each flower’s successful growth.
The scene shifts to a time-lapse photography sequence of a pumpkin’s growth which Ott originally shot for inclusion in Walt Disney’s production, Secrets of Life (1956). Ott recounts his realization that altering the kinds of light used would drastically affect the growth response: “I found I could obtain 100% staminate or pistillate blossoms on a pumpkin vine by simply supplementing the restricted daylight with either cool white or daylight white fluorescent.” Ott then recollects a similar time-lapse shoot in which he found he could elicit the desired growth response from morning glories by adjusting the surrounding color temperature, and then by offsetting the filmstock’s tint by introducing color filters while shooting.
Although Ott acknowledges differing conditions needed for any particular plant to successfully bloom, his narration throughout the film recurrently emphasizes the regular importance of the availability of full-spectrum lighting for the successful growth and lasting health of cellular life, plants, animals and humans alike. Conversely, Ott emphasizes that reduced spectrum lighting causes failure in a blossom’s growth, and is attributable to illness, viral and tumor growth, sterility, cannibalism and reduced life expectancy in animals, including mice, minks and shrimp. In a human study, Ott investigates the elevated incidence of leukemia at St. John Brebeuf School in Niles, Illinois. He attributes cases of leukemia to a lack of full-spectrum lighting in the classrooms and a total dependence on limited-spectrum fluorescent lighting.
Near the end of the film, Ott alleges there is a causal relationship between a learning disability and the inability to concentrate with inappropriate classroom lighting, and he describes an affliction under such lighting circumstances with a term coined by Ott himself: “mal-illumination.” The film ends with a time-lapse sequence of student hyperactivity taken from the corner of a first grade classroom, and Ott concludes: “The implications of the biological effects of light and radiation as observed through time-lapse photography are obvious. I sincerely hope that what started strictly as a hobby and intended only for entertainment purposes may help stimulate further greatly needed scientific studies in this very important area of research.”
Run Time
50 min 18 sec
Format
16mm
Extent
1,700 feet
Color
Color
Sound
Optical
Reel/Tape Number
1/1
Has Been Digitized?
Yes
Language Of Materials
English
Element
Print
Genre
Subject
Related Collections
Related Places
Sponsor/client
Main Credits
John Ott Pictures, Inc. (is production company)
Henry Ott Films (is production company)
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