To Decasia and Back: Film Preservation Studies

Short documentary by Louise Lambert (2005) about Bill Morrison's experimental collage film Decasia (2002). You can also read David Cairn's great entry on this film for the Film Preservation Blogathon here. Further articles on this film are listed below.

Film Studies For Free is very honoured to contribute an entry to the "For the Love of Film! Film Preservation Blogathon". As FSFF readers will already know, this highly worthwhile event has been organised by greatly esteemed bloggers Self-Styled Siren and Marilyn Ferdinand (the latter of the wonderful Ferdy on Film). 

Below are embedded some entertaining and informative online videos about film preservation, and below those are some links to further, openly accessible, scholarly material about this essential but expensive art and science.

If you would like to make a donation to the Blogathon's chosen charitable recipient, the National Film Preservation Foundation (U.S.A), one of the most active and important preservers of film anywhere in the world,  please click here.

The National Film Preservation Foundation is the independent, nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America’s film heritage. They work directly with archives to rescue endangered films that will not survive without public support. The NFPF will give away 4 DVD sets as thank-you gifts to blogathon donors chosen in a random drawing: Treasures III: Social Issues in American Film, 1900-1934 and Treasures IV: American Avant Garde Film, 1947-1986.

So you can see for yourselves the important work that the NFPF does, here's the list of films it has helped to preserve so far.

If you would like to contribute to the cause of film preservation in a country other than the U.S. you can find details of all national affiliates to the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) via FIAF's online directory here.

To access a list of all entries to the "For the Love of Film" Blogathon to date please click here. If you need further inspiration to donate or otherwise get involved in this cause, do watch Greg Ferrara's wonderful video commercial for the Blogathon at his website Cinema Styles.

A great introduction to the practicalities of film preservation (with a terrifically entertaining voiceover). It looks at the preservation of Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAllister's 1942 film Listen to Britain at the British Film Institute archive.

 
Treasures of the Academy/"Guardians of History" Documentary Channel/Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences produce an in-depth look at the importance of film preservation. John Huston's World War 2 documentaries, "Battle of San Pietro" and "Let There Be Light," which have been preserved by DOC and AMPAS, are highlighted as examples of film as living history. Featuring interviews with John Huston's son, Tony, and top directors and historians who shed considerable light on this important, exciting subject. Parts 2 & 3 below.
 
Part 2

Part 3

 
Francis Ford Coppola on Film Preservation and Technology



A sad reminder of the extreme end of celluloid's ephemerality through neglect: "Spectacular footage of 1937 Fox Film storage facility fire in Little Ferry, NJ - Digital/upload by F. Fuchs Filmed by W. Zabransky. Theda Bara and other FOX films/negatives were destroyed."

• International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) The "Journal of Film Preservation" is the Federation's main periodical publication in paper format. It offers a forum for both general and specialised discussion on all theoretical and technical aspects of moving image archival activities. Published twice a year by FIAF Brussels, each issue in paper format will be published one year later on the website. Here's the complete table of contents for the Journal between 1995 and 2008 (in other words, an index to hundreds of online and Open Access articles on this topic!) 
• Matthew Bernstein, 'Exhibition, The Film Reader (review) by Ina Rae Hark', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Eileen Bowser and Ronald S. Magliozzi, Ronald S., 'Film Archiving as a Profession: An Interview with Eileen Bowser', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Caroline Frick, an expert of film conservation, is founder and executive director of the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI) and assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. In this [ten minute long video] interview, hosted by Luis Figueroa, she emphasizes the importance of film preservation and mentions how the growth of the film media has had a positive influence in the development of this art of conservation. 
• André Gaudreault, Jean-Marc Lamotte, Tim Barnard tr., 'Fragmentation and Segmentation in the Lumière "Animated Views"', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Karen F. Gracy, 'Documenting the process of film preservation', The Moving Image, 3.1 (2003) x, 1-41
• André Habib, 'Thinking in the Ruins: Around the Films of Bill Morrison', Offscreen Journal, November 30, 2004  
• André Habib, 'Cinema from the Ruins of the Archives: Matter and Memory: A Conversation with Bill Morrison', Offscreen Journal, November 30, 2004
• Jan-Christopher Horak, 'Film history and film preservation: reconstructing the text of The joyless street (1925)', Screening the Past, November 1998
• Jan-Christopher Horak, 'Cinema 16: Documents toward a History of the Film Society (review) by Scott MacDonald and Amos Vogel', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Mary Ide and Leah Weisse, 'Developing Preservation Appraisal Criteria for a Public Broadcasting Station', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Priya Jaikumar, 'More Than Morality: The Indian Cinematograph Committee Interviews (1927)', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Claudy op den Kemp, 'Decasia: Plus belle que la beauté est la ruine de la beauté', Offscreen Journal, November 30, 2004
• Jennie Saxena with contributions from Ken Weissman and James Cozart, 'Preserving African-American Cinema:The Case of The Emperor Jones (1933)', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Christel Schmidt, 'Preserving Pickford: The Mary Pickford Collection and the Library of Congress', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Donato Totaro, 'Review of This Film is Dangerous: A Celebration of Nitrate Film ed. Roger Smither, Associate editor Catherine A Surowiec. FIAF (Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film), London: United Kingdom, 2002', Offscreen Journal, November 30, 2004
• Donato Totaro, 'The Old Made New: the Cinematic Poetry of Bill Morrison', Offscreen Journal, November 30, 2004
• Donato Totaro, 'AMIA: The Moving Image Journal: The Association of Moving Image Archivists', Offscreen Journal, April 30, 2003
• Alison Trope, 'Review of Paolo Cherchi Usai's Death of cinema: history, cultural memory, and the digital dark age', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-58
• Patricia Rodden Zimmermann, 'Moviegoing in America (review) by Gregory A. Waller', The Moving Image 3.1 (2003) 42-5
  

'Total realism'? On depth of focus and field in cinematography, mise-en-scène, and sound design

Short documentary on the work of cinematographer Gregg Toland, one of the greatest Directors of Photography of all time. Also, read his article for the September 1941 issue of Theater Arts magazine The Motion Picture Cameraman.

Film Studies For Free was so inspired by Jim Emerson's excellent essay 'Avatar, the French New Wave and the morality of deep-focus (in 3-D)' at his blog Scanners, that it decided to speed up production and publication of its long-in-preparation list of links to openly-accessible scholarly material of note on cinematographic depth of field, focus, and related matters of sound design and staging. Thanks Jim!

Readers might also like to (re)visit FSFF's posts on 3D Studies, phenomenological film studies, film music and sound, Orson Welles  and Avatar.

• Richard Abel, 'Collapsing Columns: Mise-en-scene in Boudu', from Jump Cut, no. 5, 1975, pp. 20-22

• Michael J. Anderson, 'The Mortal Storm: 1940 and After', Senses of Cinema, Issue 52, 2009

• Fran Apprich, 'Born into Sound', quest, Issue 2, Autumn 2006

• Terri Meyer Boake, 'Architecture And Film: Experiential Realities And Dystopic Futures', Architecture and Film, University of Waterloo

• David Bordwell, 'Do filmmakers deserve the last word?', Observations on Film Art, October 10, 2007

• David Bordwell, 'Widescreen Aesthetics and Mise-en-Scène Criticism', The Velvet Light Trap no. 21 (Summer 1985):118–25

• David Bordwell, 'La Nouvelle Mission de Feuillade; or, What Was Mise-en-Scène?', The Velvet Light Trap no. 37 (Spring 1996): 10–29

• Stephen Boyd Davis, 'Interacting with pictures: film, narrative and interaction', Digital Creativity 2002, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 71–82

• Carlos Calderon, Karl Nyman and Nicholas Worley, 'The Architectural Cinematographer: creating architectural experiences in 3D real-time environments', International Journal of Architectural Computing, 2006

• Ian Conrich and Estella Tincknell, 'Film Purity, the Neo-Bazinian Ideal, and Humanism in Dogma 95', P:O.V. No.10, 2005

• Sarah Cooper, 'Montage, Militancy, Metaphysics: Chris Marker and André Bazin', Image [&] Narrative, 2010

• Clementine Douglas Cummer, 'Seeing Things, Making Sense of Life', BFA Thesis, Fibers, Massachusetts College of Arts, 1999

• Jessica Durgan, 'Framing Heritage: The Role of Cinematography in Pride & Prejudice', Persuasions On-Line, V.27, No.2 (Summer 2007)

• Jim Emerson, 'Avatar, the French New Wave and the morality of deep-focus (in 3-D)', Scanners, February 10, 2010

• Kevin L. Ferguson, 'Covering the Cinema: On Wallpaper in Some Films', Bright Lights Film Journal, Issue 58, November 2007

• Rosalind Galt, “It’s so cold in Alaska”: Evoking Exploration Between Bazin and The Forbidden Quest', Discourse, 28.1, (Winter, 2006), pp. 53–71

• Peder Grøngaard , 'Hitchcock's cinematic style: a study of Marion Crane's metaphorical journey into darkness', P:O.V. No.4, 1997

• Lennard Højbjerg, 'Some Aspects of Style and Space', P:O.V. No.4, 1997

• Bruce Isaacs, 'The Cinematic Real: Aesthetics and Spectacle', Sydney Studies in English, 2007

• Bruce Isaacs, 'Film Cool: Towards a New Film Aesthetic', PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, 2006

• Søren Kolstrup, 'Camera Movement and Narration: The camera as narrator in the documentaries of Lars Engels', P:O.V. No.4, 1997

• Mark Le Fanu, 'Metaphysics of the "long take": some post-Bazinian reflections', P:O.V. No.4 - On camera movement and filmic space, 1997

• Julia Lesage, 'Blue collar filmography' from Jump Cut, no. 2, 1974, pp. 15-17

• Daniel T. Levin, 'Perceiving Stability in a Changing World: Combining Shots and Integrating Views in Motion Pictures and the Real World', Media Psychology, 2, 2000

• Jonathan McAlmont, 'Cinematic Vocabulary – Opening Scene of Touch of Evil (1958)',Ruthless Culture, March 9, 2009

• Lars Morell, 'Installations in Space and Architectonic Scenery', P:O.V. No.4, 1997

• Tim Palmer, 'Style and Sensation in the Contemporary French Cinema of the Body', Journal of Film and Video 58.3 / Fall 2006

• Stephen Prince, 'The Emergence of Filmic Artifacts: Cinema and Cinematography in the Digital Era', Film Quarterly, Vol. no. 57, Issue no. 3, pages 24-33

• Richard Raskin, 'Camera Movement in Wings of Desire', P:O.V. No.4, 1997

• Michael C. Riedlinger, 'Orson Welles – Painter', Senses of Cinema, Issue 53, 2009

• Jacques Rivette, 'On abjection', Order of the Exile/Jacques-Rivette.com, Originally appeared in Cahiers du cinema 120 (June 1961): p. 54-55. Translated by David Phelps with the assistance of Jeremi Szaniawski

• Henry M. Taylor, 'Frames, Cons, and Double-Crosses The Theatrical Cinema of David Mamet', Cinetext, July 2009

• Peter Thomas, 'Anywhere But the Home: The Promiscuous Afterlife of Super 8', M/C Journal, Vol. 12, No. 3 (2009)

• Ben Turner, 'Acoustic Ambience in Cinematography: An Exploration of the Descriptive and Emotive Impact of the Aural Environment', Dissertaton for Masters of Music in Composition, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, September 2005

• Billy Budd Vermillion, 'The "Wondrous Truth" of Microcosmos', 16:9, Vol. 5, No. 21, 2007

• Daniel Yacavone, 'Jean-Luc Godard and Roy Lichtenstein: Originality, Reflexivity, and the Re-Presented Image', Forum, Issue 1, Autumn 2005

For the Love of Film

Some of Film Studies For Free's favourite bloggers, the Self-Styled Siren of the eponymous blog and Marilyn Ferdinand of the wonderful Ferdy on Film (along with Greg Ferrara of the ever so stylish Cinema Styles) have been involved in launching and whipping up deserved support for a Film Preservation Blogathon' aptly titled 'For the Love of Film'.

It will begin next Sunday, on Valentine's Day appropriately. And the idea is for as many people as possible to join in, either with relevant posts on their blogs and/or by reading said posts and contributing financially to the cause of film preservation.

Here's what the Siren has to say:

The fine folks at the National Film Preservation Foundation have really gotten into the spirit, lending us photos and clips from films that their efforts have saved. Do have a look. And they have also arranged for a DVD giveaway, to be distributed after the blogathon via a drawing from those who have contributed to the fund.
     Because of course, the important part is to contribute to the NFPF. Film preservation is an extremely expensive process, and our goal this Valentine's Week is to help along their good work with as much money as we can give. The link to their donation page is right here.
     If everyone who visits these blogs the week of February 14th kicks something, anything, into the kitty, we could be responsible for saving even more films. And wouldn't that be much, much better than the usual run of sad bonbons and wilted bouquets this time of year?

Now FSFF appreciates sad bonbons and wilted bouquets as much as the next sappy blog, but this is a worthy cause indeed! Do visit the Siren's website to see which topics have been proposed so far (including one by the very blog you are currently reading...). Those of you on Facebook can check out the Blogathon's activities there, too.

The New 'Cinema of Attractions'? Andrew Clay on Web Cinema

'Web cinema: Mind the Gap!' by Andrew Clay

Film Studies For Free was extremely impressed by the quality of the above presentation, one of a number of excellent papers (all now online) given at the latest Video Vortex conference in Brussels.

[In t]he past two years, the [Video Vortex] conference series - which focuses on the status and potential of the moving image on the Internet - has visited Amsterdam, Ankara and Split, growing out into an organized network of organizations and individuals. Time for an interim report, perhaps. [VV] asked some participants of the first Video Vortex editions and publication, as well as new ones, to reflect on recent developments in online video culture.

Over the past years the place of the moving image on the Internet has become increasingly prominent. With a wide range of technologies and web applications within anyone’s reach, the potential of video as a personal means of expression has reached a totally new dimension. How is this potential being used? How do artists and other political and social actors react to the popularity of YouTube and other ‘user-generated-content’ websites? What does YouTube tell us about the state of contemporary visual culture? And how can the participation culture of video-sharing and vlogging reach some degree of autonomy and diversity, escaping the laws of the mass media and the strong grip of media conglomerates?

In the videoed paper embedded above, as in his wonderful essay 'BMW Films and the Star Wars Kid: 'Early Web Cinema' and Technology' in the 2008 collection Cinema and Technology, Andrew Clay takes an in-depth look at the current state of online cinema. He asks what will happen to web cinema as we shift from learning to see and how to feel to learning how to participate in this new electronic space of modernity?

In the talk, Clay examines many important 'participatory media' issues such as the phenomenon of cinematic 'prosumption' and the rise of the digital 'caméra-stylo'. His talk is wonderfully illustrated with clips. You can also read some of his brilliant work on these issues in the article linked to below:

• Andrew Clay, 'Cinema 2.0: A Swarm of Angels', The Art Book, Volume 17, Issue 1, 2010 (p 72-73) pdf

FSFF thinks that it is well worth keeping an eye on Andrew Clay's work: he is currently Senior Lecturer in Critical Technical Practices at De Montfort University, Leicester and programme leader of BSc (Hons) Media Technology in the Faculty of Computing Sciences and Engineering.

William Friedkin in conversation

A quick post, today, to give Film Studies For Free's readers something good to watch while this blog undergoes some layout changes.

The above video presents a highly entertaining, and very informative, hour-long Q & A session with film director William Friedkin. The event, facilitated by Joseph Pascal, took place on February 24, 2009 at the Hudson Union Society, New York City, and was made available online thanks to the wonderful people from FORA.tv.

Friedkin, director of The Exorcist and The French Connection, discusses his legendary film career. He describes his on-set experiences, and explores the past, present, and future of the film industry.

Back from the brink...

As some readers will know, Film Studies For Free had a recent brush with digital oblivion as Google fleetingly tarnished its (avowedly) sterling reputation with an access warning to those clicking on links to this site over the last two days.

A link or two in its sidebar blogrolls to legitimate websites recently affected by malware turned out to be at fault. In the meantime, FSFF practised a slash and burn technique, and became the lean-mean-blogging machine that you see before you today, that is if you glance to the right and wonder where all its links went...

The radical approach worked and, this morning, this tired and tremulous blog awoke to the good news that the very venerable Google (e-Zeus, as FSFF sometimes dares to call it) no longer considers it to be a plague house.

We live to blog another day. Phew. Thanks so much to all of you who sent supportive messages - they were very much appreciated, and will be treasured long after recent, nasty, memories have faded.

There are gonna be some changes around here, however.... So, please consider this site to be 'under (re)construction' for the next little while, as a relieved and grateful FSFF considers some layout changes, along with re-installs of and updates to its lists of permanently viewable links.

If you get tired of waiting, in the meantime, for news of fabulous, openly accessible, online film and media studies resources, just follow (or visit) FSFF's micro-blogging little sister filmstudiesff on Twitter.

Hasta la vista and thanks for your patience!

From Catherine Grant

As of late on February 5th, all of the situation set out below has been resolved: Film Studies For Free has been given the all-clear.

Dear Readers (subscribers and followers) of Film Studies For Free,

Unfortunately, Google has reported that 'Part of this site [Film Studies For Free] was listed for suspicious activity 2 time(s) over the past 90 days'. If you have tried to click on a link to my website in the last two days, you will most likely have come across the same warning. This has not happened before on this blog, thankfully. But it has happened now and I have acted quickly to address the problem.

I believe that this situation has arisen because several of the links in my sidebar blogrolls were to sites recently 'taken over' by malware/'badware'. I have thus deleted all relevant sidebar elements (apologies if my link to your website has disappeared as a result).

I am now applying to Google to get the 'all clear', and if this happens smoothly, I will start to reconstruct what I have removed, bit by bit, on the basis of secure linking.

If this does not immediately solve the problem, I will have to reconsider the future of this blog. In the meantime, all of the resources I have gathered together in the last 19 months are safe and seemingly 'uncontaminated' by malware.

In either case, I will publish another blogpost as soon as I can in order that those hundreds of you who subscribe to this blog in a reader can at least know what's happening without actually having to visit the blog properly - and thus risk the wrath of the warning message. I will not delete the blog without further warning.

In addition, you can keep in touch with Film Studies For Free's ongoing work of sharing links to openly-accessible film studies resources by following the FSFF 'microblog' on Twitter. You can also email me directly using this link.

My sincere apologies for any alarm caused by this situation, and thanks very much in advance for your patience.

Catherine Grant