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Mates,I enjoyed very much "Lumiere et compagnie" of 1995 in which 40*** directors commemorated a century of film by making 50 second films- that was the capacity of the camera- without synchonized sound, and three takes only, using the 1895 camera. Though an academic exercize in some ways, the inventiveness given to this camera that did not have interchangable lenses and (I think) did not pan- was amazing. I liked the sense that the restrictions of the machine required this inventiveness- or rather re-inspired it as the Lumieres were doing it for the first time.
Recently, I came into access to a pile of old camera lenses (about 300)- 35mm, 4X5, and enlarger lenses, am wondering if I could use one in making a replica of an early camera? A friend owns the machine shop that makes the chassis and other parts for Panavision cameras (as well as the chassis of the Mars Sojouner) and he can whittle stuff straight from AutoCad drawings. The camera can not be too complicated- the sprocket/drive synchronized to the shutter must be the fussiest parts. A cinematographer friend can get B&W 35mm film stock for pennies a serving. The original established the use of 35mm film and only had round instead of square sprocket holes.
Do anyone know where I could get plans and construction details of the original Lumiere cinematographe?
Then all I'll need is a nice old shellac cutting lathe for the sound.. My holiday films will take on a new character. Does anyone here know the films of Joseph Cornell?
I am already quite tired of digital photography..
Cheers,Bambi B
*** Merzak Allouache Theo Angelopoulos Vicente Aranda Gabriel Axel J.J. Bigas Luna (as Bigas Luna) John Boorman Youssef Chahine Alain Corneau Costa-Gavras Raymond Depardon Francis Girod Peter Greenaway Lasse Hallström Michael Haneke Hugh Hudson James Ivory Gaston Kaboré Abbas Kiarostami Cédric Klapisch Andrei Konchalovsky Spike Lee Claude Lelouch David Lynch Ismail Merchant Claude Miller Sarah Moon Idrissa Ouedraogo Arthur Penn Lucian Pintilie Jacques Rivette Helma Sanders-Brahms Jerry Schatzberg Nadine Trintignant Fernando Trueba Liv Ullmann Régis Wargnier Wim Wenders Yoshishige Yoshida (as Kiju Yoshida) Yimou Zhang Jaco van Dormael
Follow Ups:
Hi Bam,The Lumiere is one of my long time fun films - love it. The Konchalovsky segment there was mesmerizing, and most were incredibly interesting - as raw as it gets, balls to the wall, so to speak.
I think you might be best off simply buying the old cam - might turn out cheaper than making it. I have seen them on ebay, don't recall the prices, but believe they were in the $$ hundreds.
Best of luck!
Victor,Yes, I loved the kind of purity of vision that the exercise inspired. And the simplicity of the camera was part of this too. I live near Panavasion, see those cameras being made and tested sometimes, and in use, and with the rigours of lighting, sound, CG effects, etc., there are so many people involved that all sensation of intimacy is drained from film by the technical layers. The financiers strip away the rest.
I often see movies that I wouldn't ordinarily, as friends have either, written, directed, shot, or edited them. I recently saw, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider" as a friend worked on the busiess side, and while I can admire it as a highly crafted object, it had a sense of being completely dead, robotic. Ironically, "Shrek"- which is completely artificial- had infinitely more life to it.
Lumiere again: There were sequences that in different ways really penetrated the problem of turning the technical restriction and lack of synchronized sound into assets- iow, understanding of the subtleties of the medium. Some were not so interesting visually but still had conceptual strength- there was the recreation of the original Lumiere film of the train arriving at the station. This did not initially seem so powerful- kind of an obvious "one liner", but then the sense of time and a rush of recognition of what became of the film medium in 100 years made it very strong.
I am not a universal fan of Warhol, but he was effective by using intentionally low-tech solutions and poor cinematography to obviate the nature of the medium. Too, there are the rarely seen films of Joseph Cornell, which I think are some of the most haunting ever, and would love to try and recapture that directness and have the technical imperfection remind me of medium. The Indonesian shadow theatre uses the flickering oil lmap behind the veil to reiterate that we are looking through to only an impression of another world. I often thought that Television should be required to be only in B&W so as not to confuse anything shown woith reality.
Certainly, you're correct that it would be simpler to buy an early camera, but I would want something that was not too refined, and I like the idea of making tools. I spent a lot of time in the world of early instrument making and I know a harpsichord maker that makes his own planes and saws, even vices and calipers. The making of the tools provides another insight into the eventual product.
Cheers,Bam
I understand about the desire to make it - I make and have made many things myself. How about - still buying an old one to see how exactly it is made, taking it apart a few times, then designing your own? That might be more interesting and challenging than taking someone's blueprints.Just tossing random thought on computer screen...
I have the Lumiere, and it is probably the time for us to view it again.
Victor,Yes, probably a bit ambitious, but I assume doing quite a lot of research. I spent time in the British Museum studying a very elegant clock (Ward, 1802) that had a gear train of only six gears that still included a power maintainer, but reproducing it would have taken years. I have built harpsichords, have access to strange things like an early 19th Century hand gear cutting engine, and am around precision fabrication, but seeing how others solved problems does save piles of time.
I was prompted by this pile of 30s-70s Zeiss, Schneider, Rodenstock, and Nikon/Pentax/Canon lenses- I hate good old stuff going to waste.
Have you seen the recent Discovery Channel documentary on the project to make an authentic reproduction of the first Wright plane? The approach to problem solving as industrial archeology is worth seeing.
Still, I'd love to see drawings or close up photos of the cinematographe and learn the sequence of it's development.
Isn't "cinematographe" a lovely old word?
Cheers,
Bambi B
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