From: Freya (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Sep 10 2006 - 01:11:20 PDT
I made a little film a few months back that also
features loads of black leader and just occasional
images. I think that the black can be as important as
the images, it's like in music where the silences and
pauses can be as important as the actual playing. If
we removed all the gaps then a lot of music might not
even make any sense at all.
Also I refered indirectly to Sans Soliel (in a recent
post where I had just seen it) where it even says in
the voice over how Chris is putting in the black
leader there and how important it is, So it's clearly
not just me. The black can be really important in what
it expresses and how it makes the other bits seem.
That bit was actually my favourite bit of sans soliel,
although I liked the cat temple an awful lot too, and
also the Tomita stuff (although it seemed like it
should have been Wendy with all the cats in the film!)
Of course the film I made was just a little reel so
it's not 20 minutes long! I worry about boring the
audience with my work too! However if we worry about
it too much then nobody will ever make any interesting
films. As it is I needent have worried and could have
been as radical as I liked as it has never been
projected and will probably just sit in a box and get
forgotten about. *giggle*
Also Stans film has music and the use of sound can add
a lot to the darness in these cases. I always had in
mind that my own film would have a soundtrack, even if
it was a live improvised one.
The one thing I would say about this is that it sounds
to me like the film is quite dark and thus probably
needs to be projected in TOTAL darkness to make sense
properly. Check out your venue before you get there
and when you arrive get there early and try and darken
it up a bit more. I notice more and more people
projecting with far too much light in the venue. I
think it is the whole culture of watching t.v. or
powerpoint presentations and stuff that have made
people used to watching stuff with the lights on. For
it to be cinema, you need the darkness.
It's very quiet where I am right now and I love the
silence. I know there will be lots of noise again
later and then it will get quiet again and there will
be beautiful darkness. I'm really looking forward to
the darkness.
love
Freya
--- "J. Mabe" <email suppressed> wrote:
> Now I'm definitely keeping it on the schedule...
> This
> film has long been on my mind as something I badly
> wanted to see. I guess I was worried my selfish
> programming choices would alienate a potential
> audience but I really shouldn't worry about that -
> It'll find the right audience, I'm sure.
>
> --- Marilyn Brakhage <email suppressed> wrote:
>
> > Josh,
> >
> > I'm not sure of the exact ratio of image to leader
> > (and Stan was
> > sometimes less than accurate with numbers).
> > However, it is a film
> > consisting of brief flashes of imagery with a lot
> of
> > black in between
> > -- and with a great sound track (music by Philip
> > Corner, "Through the
> > Mysterious Barricade, Lumen 1 (After F.
> Couperin)".)
> > The end result is
> > truly remarkable. It is one of Stan's greatest
> > works. . . . I watched
> > him working on it, editing for hours in his
> cramped
> > little office space
> > with a set of rewinds and an old squawk box. When
> > it was finished and
> > he brought it home and showed it to me, I was
> > completely amazed. All I
> > could say was, "Now I know your angels are real."
> >
> > Marilyn
> >
> > On Saturday, September 9, 2006, at 04:24 PM, J.
> Mabe
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Hello list.
> > >
> > > I’m starting a monthly screening series in
> > Columbia,
> > > SC - just a short self financed program of films
> > > (maybe with some supplements from the USC’s
> > library
> > > and from local makers). I’m keeping the
> > screenings
> > > free and I’m jumping around from venue to venue
> –
> > > wherever will have me at the moment. Here’s the
> > thing
> > > – the first film I’m showing September 24 is
> > > Brakhage’s “Passage Through: A Ritual.” Now I
> had
> > a
> > > couple of hours to blow this afternoon so I
> > stopped by
> > > the university library and sat down with some
> old
> > back
> > > issues of Film Culture. In some interview from
> > around
> > > Mr. Brakhage’s 60th birthday, he speaks about
> this
> > > film and says that when he was creating it he
> > looked
> > > back through the footage he had shot and found
> > about
> > > 50 feet of useable film (his estimation). The
> > > interviewer implied that a large part of the
> film
> > was
> > > black leader. Now I’ve never seen this film,
> and
> > I
> > > wanted to start my film series off with a
> > challenging
> > > film – but no so challenging that it’s 1.5 mins
> of
> > > images and 48.8 mins of black leader. So, was
> > this
> > > just hyperbole from Mr. Brakhage and
> interviewer?
> > Is
> > > this too esoteric a choice for the first film (I
> > think
> > > I have enough time to change the selection with
> > the
> > > FMC if so)? I fully expect to “fail” many many
> > times
> > > with this series, but I don’t want to alienate a
> > big
> > > part of the audience right off the bat.
> Thoughts?
> > >
> > > Thanks!
> > > Josh Mabe
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Names I came up with for the series:
> > >
> > > Shadow Qualia (No - too pretentious)
> > > Robert Beck Memorial Cinema Memorial Cinema (No
> –
> > > kinda dumb, made me giggle tho)
> > > Regular Paycheck Cinema (No – too on the nose)
> > >
> > > Still thinking...
> > >
> > >
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> >
>
__________________________________________________________________
> > > For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
> > <email suppressed>.
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
__________________________________________________________________
> > For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
> > <email suppressed>.
> >
>
>
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