The film was like the fluxus films in that, these screen test was a film that anyone could do, and also the subject matter was really the same. These two types of films seem very relevant to each other. Watching a close up of Ann Buchanan for three minutes straight while she is trying no to blink or changing any facial expression at all, wasnt hard because she was quite beautiful but it made me feel uncomfortable for her seeing her eyes tear up and you could also see her swallow at that moment like she had a lump in her throat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhYfCWd5XQ0 (I would advise muting the recently added music track).
You might find this blog post by JJ Murphy (my advisor back in Madison) interesting and/or helpful
http://www.jjmurphyfilm.com/blog/?p=82
J. Hoberman, Jonathan Rosenbaum, The Underground
1. What were some of the venues associated with the early underground film movement in New York City? What were some of the unique characteristics of the Charles Theater and its programming?
Some of the venues include the Living Theater(where Cinema 16 had already programmed experimental films),the Charles, the Thalia,,the New Yorker, and the Bleeker Street Cinema. Some unique characteristics of the Charles offered an eclectic program. Astaire-Rogers musicals alternated with Italian Neorislitic dramas.
2. Which filmmakers did Jonas Mekas associate with the “Baudelairean Cinema”? Why did Mekas use that term, and what were the distinguishing characteristics of the films?
Mekas included Ron Rice, Jack Smith and Ken Jacobs. In the article Mekas says in regards to Balderian Cinema, "there is now a cinema for the few too terrible and too decadent for an average man in any organized culture." These films were treading on the verge of perversity.
3. Why did underground films run into legal trouble in New York City in 1964? What film encountered legal problems in Los Angeles almost on the same day as Mekas’s second arrest in New York City?
The Pocket Theater and Grammercy Arts were shut down. The same day as the second arrest of Mekas, Scorpio Rising was shut down because of breif moment of male frontal nudity.Getz was convicted by an all woman jury.
4. What were some of the defining characteristics of Andy Warhol’s collaboration with Ronald Tavel?
What were some of the unique characteristics of Vinyl? How does Edie Sedgewick end up "stealing" the scene in Vinyl? (You may choose to add your own observations of the film based on our screening.)
Some defining characteristics of the Tavel /Warhol collaboration include long takes with few camera angles. Edie Sedgwick stole the show for me because she was a beautiful woman in the foreground of the film. She was also the only female in the film, brilliant of Warhol and Tavis to put her in the film in the front right. otherwise there was an overkill of testosterone in a really long scene.
5. In what ways did the underground film begin to "crossover" into the mainstream in 1965-1966? What films and venues were associated with the crossover? How were the films received by the mainstream New York press?
The films began being shown at different festival's many of which involved hallucinogens and such. Every magazine in the country was doing articles on the films, and the stars of the movement. There was a huge word of mouth buzz also. All of these things contributed to the crossover.One of the biggest and most highly praised (by critics) films was Warhol's Chelsea Girls, but there also naysayers such as Bosley Crowther who adamantly insists Warhol is pushing things too far.
6. Why was Mike Getz an important figure in the crossover of the underground?
Getz was the guy found guilty on obscenity charges for showing Scorpio Rising, he managed the Cinema a 500 seat movie house in Hollywood.
He helped helped by showing that these films could be money makers, by distributing underground films as packages to more prestigious theaters, the idea was an instant success.
7. How do Hoberman and Rosenbaum characterize Warhol’s post-1967 films?
Hoberman and Rosenbaum characterize Warhol's post '67 films as being mostly "flesh films" this was a big trend in this period. Nudity usually brought in more money and created more of a buzz about the film and filmmaker.
Robert Pike, “Pros and Cons of Theatrical Bookings”
[in folder: notes_from_the_creative_film_society_pros_and_cons_of_theatrical_booking]
8. What were some of the advantages and disadvantages to the move from non-theatrical to theatrical bookings for experimental films?
Pike Says, the advantages are money...for the first time a filmmaker can not not only recoup his out of pocket production costs, especially the ones with female nudes in them.Another advantage prestige a filmmaker can rise from nothing to something in a matter of months" and"the disadvantages are: wear and tear on the prints...a one week booking at a theater can do more damage to a print than a dozen normal nontheatrical single screening bookings, partly because most often 16mm theater size projectors are poorly designed and scorch, scratch, and rip films in a way that almost negates the monetary advantage of the longer play date;(2) lack of respect by the exhibitors---and projectionists---for the physical prints and the subject matter, which adds to the sloppy handling of the films, as well as the psychological linking of New American Cinema with sexploitation."
9. What issues developed concerning non-exclusive and exclusive representation by distributors?
Non-exclusive means that the distribution of the film may be through many distributors and leads to loyalty of the customers. Exclusive means that the one distributor will be able to show the film therefore having a monopoly on it and raising viewing rates to a price that they choose.
10. What problems did the Creative Film Society run into with devious theater owners?
Rivoli Theaters was using false advertising to get people in their doors. They advertised films that were being played at the Uptown Theater but were really showing "beaver" films.
Good.
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