# animate! › Films › Ferment by Tim Macmillan › synopses

Canonical: https://animate.org.uk/films/ferment/synopses

Discovery terms: 1990s animation, time-slice photography, urban life, mortality, time, experimental short film, filmmaker, artist

The following is the archived page text; discovery terms above are separately sourced metadata.

Archive status: restored in 2026; historical calls, deadlines and services are closed.

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**Ferment** a film by Tim Macmillan

1999, 5 min

### animate! synopsis

A momentary lapse of motion as Macmillan cuts a cross-section through the city’s day. Mobile photography or freeze film? Small epiphanies and the human trace whatever the terms.

### long synopsis

In a quiet city square an old man clutches his chest and falls to the ground, and time stands still. We travel from the square, down streets, through buildings – the human condition unfolds in glimpses of frozen moments.

Tim Macmillan pioneered ‘time-slice’ techniques as a student at Bath Academy of Art and the Slade School. He has used it in a diverse range of works, including gallery installation, natural history, commercials and feature films.

**Ferment** film, stills and other materials © Tim Macmillan 1999