17 September, 2006

reet ponce:

I can be a reet ponce sometimes.
Here is a letter I wrote to a bloke who runs an independent cinema in Toronto.
It looks like I'm trying to kiss his ass so that he'll like me. I'm not. It's just, every now and now and then I really want people to think I'm clever...


Dear _____,
I'm writing becuase I really enjoyed coming to the cineforum today to
watch 'Truimph of the Will'.
I think that what you are doing at the forum is a great thing that
should be done a lot more in cities the world over. I know that there
is nothing like it in London, where I am from (or maybe there is - if
you know anything, please let me know). But, hey...you've heard all
this before....
Rearding your talk before the film;
I wonder if you have seen the new 'Superman Returns' movie. I don't
imagine that it is particularly up your street but when you spoke
about the christian imagery in Riefenstahl's film I remembered the
last 30 minutes of Singer's - it's basically the Easter story but with
a flying Jesus wrapped in the american flag. You've got everything -
the ascension (however it's spelled), the empty tomb...he even assumes
a crucifix pose several times while he's flying about the place...hmm.
While watching 'Truimph of the Will' I was struck by how familiar a
lot of the footage was. The footage, not the imagery. I felt a bit
cheated by every documentary film I have seen about the Nazis and the
war. None of their creators had, it seemed, gone very far outside of
this film to find any evidence of 'how silly those crazy Germans
were'.
As I mentioned above, I really enjoyed my afternoon at the forum
but I would like to make two suggestions to you about showing black
and white films in the space that you have.
I strongly urge you to try watching 'Triumph of the Will' with the
colour disabled on your projector or dvd machine. I find that when
watching black and white dvds projected on to a large screen the
colour articles that are present, particularly in fast moving
action sequences, become much more evident and can be distracting to
the eye, leaving you with blue and green edges on the moving white
sections. Of course, disabling the colour altogether does mean that you
lose some of the warming brown tones that come through from the reds
in the video, but I do think that 'Truimph of the Will' would benefit
from being 'crisped up' a bit. It comes down to personal
preference...give it a go though.
Also, I think that lowering the mid range or boosting the bass and
treble frequencies in the sound would help to deal with the frequently
pushed and sibilant sound that is found on older films. On modern
equipment this sound can be very harsh to the ear and lead to 'aural
fatigue' but is quickly checked with a little knob twiddling.
I know that 'Triumph of the Will' is not meant to be an easy ride. I'm
not trying to get you to create a multiplex feel in your forum. I hope
these suggestions are helpful.

Thanks again for a great afternoon. I wish I had more time in Tronnow
so I could visit you more - I wonder if you will be showing any of your
apparently complete collection of early 'Superman' animations soon.
Someone's gotta put that Singer kid right.

Best wishes,

mrtat.


...blimey; Superman and Riefenstahl...colour articles and aural fatigue...
I can be a reet ponce sometimes...

No comments: