collisionwork | Entries tagged with ben model

Ben Model gave a terrific talk yesterday at The Brick on the use of undercranking in silent film, especially silent comedy - pretty much all silent films were not shot at any standard frame-per-second speed, and most were shot at lower frame rates so they'd feel "punchier" when projected (as well as filmmakers getting around exhibitors who were speeding up projectors to fit in an extra screening every day).

So Ben showed examples from films by Chaplin, Lloyd, and Keaton, both at the speed they were supposed to be projected at, and also at the speed at which they were shot, which was fascinating (at least for a film tech-head like me, who's actually shot some hand-cranked/undercranked 16mm film myself on a Bolex for my NYU senior film, Deep Night). You could really see, slowed down, the care and craft (and safety measures) that went into the slapstick.

And that was yesterday at The Brick. Today, B & I have nothing except an afternoon backyard BBQ with Theatre friends, and a late night tech run of Penny Dreadful episode #6.5 after the last show at the space - unfortunately, as of last night at least, the show that we'll be following is running about 15 minutes over, so we'll get an even later start. Tomorrow is the Penny Dreadful fundraiser, where we'll do the mini-episode and have a nice party.

Meanwhile, I've finally seen and grabbed the mens' magazine cover that inspired the title (and final cover image) of Frank Zappa's album Weasels Ripped My Flesh. I wasn't sure that anything could be more silly and funny in a disturbing way than the final cover art by Neon Park, but despite Zappa showing him this original cover and apparently saying, "what can you do that's worse than this?", I think Park didn't quite live up to the glory of the original image:

And finally, for those who may have ever wondered what it looks like on my end while I'm blogging, here it is:

Yep, most of the time, I'm trying to do this one-handed, while dealing with a kitty who demands to be held or he'll wander around the apartment, yowling, and then start knocking things over or climbing where he's not supposed to until he gets the hugs he wants. Little lovey bastard (at least he's asleep on the sofa right now so I don't have to deal with this).

While checking out the "Photo Booth" program on the iMac so I could take that picture, I found one of my favorite shots of B & I, taken right after the computer was delivered and we hooked it up and had it take us through the setup process, which included taking a shot of its owners: