Tom, Bryan, Roger Thank you so much! The examples - of which I knew only one: "Blazing Saddles" - sound very interesting and relevant. I will check them all out and share any further information.
Ittai On Wed, Jan 23, 2013 at 10:13 AM, Beebe, Roger <[email protected]> wrote: > Just to piggyback on/unpack Tom's mention of "Hapax Legomena"--it's > actually 7 films (that can be considered as one larger unit). The title > refers to words that only appear once in the written record, in an author's > work, etc. (In ancient texts, this makes them especially difficult to > decipher, as you might imagine.) So the title itself refers to > singularity--you'll have to take a look at the films, three of which are on > the Frampton Criterion set, to see if the films seem to speak to/embody > that concept. > > ... > Roger > > On Jan 23, 2013, at 10:22 AM, Tom Whiteside wrote: > > This is interesting – thanks for asking a fresh question. As a “film > person” who started out in music decades ago, I have always envied and > admired the breadth and depth of musicology. Film studies is such a young > field – we are centuries behind.**** > ** ** > Filmmaker Hollis Frampton made a film titled “Hapax Legomena” which > immediately comes to mind.**** > ** ** > And although Mel Brooks doesn’t make this list too often, he’s going to > hit it twice right away. A good example of your singular event would be in > his Western film “Blazing Saddles,” the cowboys are galloping across the > plains and the movie music is playing on the soundtrack, sounds like Count > Basie and His Orchestra – well my goodness, it IS Count Basie and His > Orchestra and the cowboys just rode right past them, out there on the > plains. It’s a simple thing, played for laughs – the previously unseen > soundtrack orchestra revealed – but it is quite a singular moment. And for > many people it probably changed, at least a little bit, the way they think > about “movie music.”**** > ** ** > There is the moment in Jem Cohen’s “Lost Book Found” when the > conventional “unseen narrator” voice slowly fades out and is replaced by a > different, unexpected voice, delivering a more cryptic message. It is a > pivotal moment in that film. Similarly, in Raul Ruiz’s “Hypothesis of the > Stolen Painting” a guy is sitting in a chair talking in rather flat tones, > it becomes increasingly boring, he slows down…. and he falls asleep. On > camera, the narration just goes to sleep. I only saw that film once and am > probably not remembering this correctly, but I do remember the singularity > of my experience sitting there, listening to this guy, trying to make sense > of it, getting a bit bored, then watching him nod off. That woke me up!*** > * > ** ** > Tom Durham Cinematheque**** > ** ** > *From:* [email protected] [mailto: > [email protected]] *On Behalf Of *Ittai Rosenbaum > *Sent:* Wednesday, January 23, 2013 2:37 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* [Frameworks] Singularity and intentional incoherence**** > ** ** > > Hi**** > My name is Ittai Rosenbaum, I am a doctoral student at the music > composition department at UCSC and in the process of defining my > Qualification Exams topics. I wondered if anyone could perhaps have > interesting knowledge or insights about a subject in film theory that might > parallel one of my topics. > > I am interested in singular events in composition: events that occur only > once, contrasted and incoherent to the main musical language of the work, > yet deliberately conceived and intentionally inserted in the composition, > contributing, by way of distraction and surprise, to the conception of the > piece. > > Coherence seems to constitute a compulsory element in composition, and > even incoherence (surprise, collage etc.) as it happens in the music of, > say, Charles Ives, George Crumb or John Zorn, becomes coherent and even > homogenous once it recurs. I suspect that *singular*, incoherent events > may have a genuine effect, different than that. > > I am interested in parallel or similar phenomena in film, as my own > compositions are more than often related to the visual, verbal, social and > other elements usually inherent in film. > Far from an expert in films, I do recall several instances where I felt I > have viewed such singular events in film: the awakening in Chris Marker’s > La jetée – a single moment of two seconds of movement in a film made > entirely of stills, some moments that I can't recall now in Fellini's films > (although usually there is a certain "homogeneity of singularity" in the > ones I saw), and a comic one, in Mel Brooks’s *Silent Movie*, when the > famous pantomime Marcel Marceau utters the only single word in the film: > “no!” > > I would be very interested to know if this is something that has been > written about and generally what your experience and opinion is.**** > > thank you > > > --**** > Ittai Rosenbaum > www.ittairosenbaum.com > > (650) 704-6566 > > PRÆSENTEM > > http://earbits.com/**** > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks > > > > _______________________________________________ > FrameWorks mailing list > [email protected] > https://mailman-mail5.webfaction.com/listinfo/frameworks > > -- Ittai Rosenbaum www.ittairosenbaum.com (650) 704-6566 PRÆSENTEM http://earbits.com/
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