From: Tony Conrad (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jun 08 2008 - 17:36:43 PDT
Perhaps these remarks will be useful....
The first flicker experiments that i conducted with Jack Smith used a projector that did not have either film or a lens, though it did have a shutter.
"The Flicker," at its conception, was organized with reference to a constant flicker at 24 fps. At that time I had no awareness that projectors interrupt each frame once or twice,
with the specific intention of defeating flicker at 24 fps. It was a disheartening discovery for me that "The Flicker" would forever be screened with an effective flicker rate of 48
or 72 fps, substantially beyond the critical flicker frequency (CFF) at which illumination normally appears continuous.
Several times, when opportunity afforded, I was able to modify projectors by blocking one or two shutter openings, so that the actual flicker projection rate was reduced to 24
fps. This was in effect the opposite of removing the shutter, but is perhaps relevant for that reason.
In the mid-70s I devised a way to trigger a strobe from a motorized synchronizer, making it possible to shoot a roll of film as it rolled continuously through the synchronizer,
which was of course fitted with a lens. This arrangement also is the opposite of removing a projector shutter, but in a different respect. Of course, some high speed cameras
operate in a similar way to this.
------t0ny
On Sun Jun 8 18:59 , Jonathan Walley <email suppressed> sent:
>Dear Frameworkers,
>
>I'm curious if anyone has heard of an experimental film from the 60s -
>70s that was intended to be projected with the shutter from the
>projector removed. I know Sharits made references to doing this in one
>of his essays (in the Film Culture devoted to him from 1976, or was it
>78?), but it wasn't clear if he did this publicly or "in this studio,"
>so to speak, just as an experiment. But I seem to recall that there was
>someone else who made a film specifically for a modified projector sans
>shutter. Any ideas? And, if this is something that is being done now by
>anyone, I'd love to hear about that, too.
>
>Thanks in advance!
>
>Best,
>
>Jonathan
>
>Jonathan Walley
>Assistant Professor, Cinema Department
>Denison University
>Granville, Ohio 43023
>http://www.denison.edu/academics/departments/cinema/jwalley.html
>
>
>__________________________________________________________________
>For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at email suppressed>.
>
>
Tony Conrad 716-400-8738
Department of Media Study, Center for the Arts 231, University at Buffalo 14260
190 Bedford Av, Ste 126
Brklyn NY 11211
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.