From: John Matturri (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Oct 18 2010 - 12:55:08 PDT
That would be great, though wouldn't work for commuter schools where
students often have complicated schedules. Also would work best for film
majors. Others might be less apt to take the course or come to the
sessions.
j
On 10/18/10 2:40 PM, Anna Biller wrote:
> Some universities do this already, and the results when I've seen them
> have been great.
>
>
> On Oct 18, 2010, at 9:38 AM, mat fleming wrote:
>
>> I still think my Idea of showing the films in an existing screening
>> room/cinema rocks. It significantly contributes to solving the 3
>> barriers you identify with much less hassle and expense.
>>
>> 1. the cost of rentals is shared with the - admittedly small but not
>> insignificant and growing - public who are happy come to the cinema
>> and pay to see something far out and interesting.
>> 2. The cinema has projection equipment, expertise and routines for
>> recieving and dispatching prints.
>> 3. As far as needing a digi copy to go through a film in detail I
>> think that's fine for academic scrutiny (and screeners aren't usually
>> difficult to get hold of) but I think it's also healthy to give
>> time for a emotional responce in the cinema first.
>>
>> To make it happen teachers need only go to their local independent
>> cinema and say "I'll give you what I can afford and bring a class of
>> students in on a quiet weeknight. I'll help you promote the screening
>> with a bit of photocopying and campus wallspace. Can we come to an
>> arrangement for a monthly experimental show?" I'm ready to bet you'd
>> get a really positive responce.
>>
>> I'd be interested to hear from teachers what the difficulty in this
>> solution is. In the UK universities are given bonus points for having
>> an impact outside of the campus but i havn't managed to make an
>> arrangement like this yet.
>>
>> I did a film module on an otherwsie unrelated course at uni and it
>> baffles me now when I think I was seeing all these films on vhs
>> wearing headphones in a basement on a a sunny afternoon. I remember
>> few of those films but the films I saw at the student film society
>> and in cinemas in town at that time form what I now consider my film
>> education.
>>
>> Mat
>>
>> On Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 1:01 PM, David Tetzlaff <email suppressed
>> <mailto:email suppressed>> wrote:
>>
>> OK, let's say we all agree it would be great if college and
>> university
>> classes could screen more experimental film from actual film prints.
>> Then let us ask what it would take for that to happen. Three problems
>> I've identified and others have confirmed would need to be addressed.
>>
>> 1. The cost of print rentals is too high for current academic
>> budgets.
>> 2. There is no support for 16mm projection.
>> 3. Print rental is not an effective means of facilitating scholarly
>> engagement.
>>
>> How might we change these things.
>>
>> 1. Fees. The distribution would have to be subsidized by governmental
>> arts agencies, private foundations, etc.
>> 2. The distributors could no longer see their role as merely
>> supplying
>> prints, but would need to offer a complete 16mm projection service.
>> They would need to maintain an inventory of quality 16mm projectors
>> and a wide selection of lenses, employ projector technicians, and
>> develop programs to train new people in that craft.
>> 3. Print rental would need to be accompanied /supplemented by digital
>> copies that can be studied in a library or on an Blackboard-type
>> system.
>>
>> That is, whenever a school wished to offer an experimental film class
>> with 'real film', they would pay one modest comprehensive fee for
>> which they would receive a.) a package of rental prints, b.)
>> rental of
>> a freshly serviced 16mm projector or two for the term, fitted
>> with the
>> proper lenses for the screen size and throw of the screening room to
>> be used. c.) rental for the term of a tape splicer and tape to repair
>> damaged prints d.) some sort of video training course in the
>> operation
>> of the equipment, care of the prints, and use of the splicer to
>> repair
>> broken films. e.) rental, again for the term, of digital copies for
>> study after the prints have been screened (to be returned/deleted at
>> the end of the course).
>>
>> I am well aware that the coops as now constituted have nowhere near
>> the resources available to do something like that. What would be
>> required, it seems to me, is for Canyon, FMC and MoMo to combine
>> operations into some Center For The Personal Film, so there would
>> be a
>> single source for all the schools to deal with, a single target for
>> all fund-raising and support, a stronger focus point of advocacy.
>> Yes,
>> this would be a total change from the independence the coops have
>> now,
>> and would not come without certain losses.
>>
>> But the reality is that the market for conventional 16mm rental is
>> going away, and is already functionally dead in most corners of
>> academia. And the only alternative I can think of for the distributor
>> is some form of patronage or subsidy. One would start, I suppose by
>> getting George Lucas to put up or shut up about his love for Lipsett
>> and his self-identification as an experimental filmmaker (and to
>> begin
>> to atone for his cinematic sins). If the new organization was called
>> the George Lucas Center For Experimental Film, I'd grimace every time
>> I encountered the title, but I'd live with it. Scorcese, Coppola,
>> DePalma and others are known to appreciate experimental work, and
>> while they may not have Lucas's money, they have influence. If
>> all the
>> little stakes-holders in 16mm and experimental joined hands and
>> worked
>> together, they might be able to accomplish something. Continuing to
>> operate in the fragmented manner they do now offers little hope for
>> the future. Franklin: "We must all hang together, or surely we will
>> all hang separately." Dylan: "Your sons and your daughters are beyond
>> your command / Your old road is rapidly agin'/
>> Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand / For the
>> times they are a-changin'."
>>
>> Is there an organizer in the house?
>>
>> (Before you lay smack negativity of my little plan, realize that I've
>> anticipated a lot of it, and think it through OK? Try to make a
>> better
>> scheme, not just trash this'un.)
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