Recomposing Hitchcock Soundtracks
posted July 28, 2011
Bernard Hermann did Hitchcock proud, when it came to musical soundtracks for many of his movies. But several British composers have been entrusted with creating new orchestral scores for rarely seen, silent Hitchcock films that the British Film Institute is restoring for exhibition at the London 2012 Festival. Among the composers is Nitin Sawhney, a
Nazis as Movie Villains – Wherefore?
posted July 28, 2011
The Atlantic monthly asks – perhaps superfluously – why the Nazi became the clichéd movie villain, rarely as compellingly as in The Three Stooges You Nazty Spy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMdnJNl3tBA
Your Saddest Movie?
posted July 28, 2011
Turns out that behavioral scientists have spent a good deal of time researching the question: What is the saddest movie of all time. And they’re quite interested in disgusting ones, too. Why? Read all about it in this fascinating article from Smithsonian magazine. And do tell!
New Books, and More New Books
posted July 26, 2011
Descriptions of new books relating to moving images go up on the Books pages all the time. Today, for instance, new July 2011 books are summarized that deal with film and Canadian national identity, animation and comedy in Hollywood, and images of black masculinity in television. Some of the additions to the pages are for
Digital Asset Management Symposium
posted July 23, 2011
AMIA, the world’s largest association of moving image archivists, also is offering, September 30 2011, its Digital Asset Management in the Real World symposium. It takes place in September, also in Los Angeles. The symposium covers emerging technologies related to the life cycle of digital audiovisual assets. It includes case studies from the worlds of
The Reel Thing: Register Early Now
posted July 23, 2011
Early bird registration ends Monday July 25 2011 for The Reel Thing, the Association of Moving Image’s annual showcase of the latest technologies in audiovisual restoration and preservation. This year’s event takes place August 18-20 at the Linwood Dunn Theatre in Hollywood, California. Each year at the event, laboratory technicians, archivists, new media technologists, and
A British Documentarian Gone Missing
posted July 8, 2011
Paul Rotha was a leading documentarian of the 1930s who subsequently slid from public view. Some film historians are assessing his legacy.
Paul Rotha’s Missing Legacy
posted July 8, 2011
Even a minute of Paul Rotha’s 1936 documentary, Shipyard, provides proof of the English filmmaker’s extraordinary accomplishment. A conference at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, 8-10 September 2011 considers Rotha's legacy.
Bernard Herrmann Hits 100
posted July 8, 2011
“Herrmann‘s stock in this centenary year is high, celebrated around the world in performances of rarities like his 1951 opera, Wuthering Heights, and suites of his familiar film scores. Yet scholarly work seems oddly scant,” writes Jack Sullivan, the director of American studies at Rider University. Meanwhile, NPR’s Tom Huizenga sings Hermann’s praises. And, more