Re: 16mm professionalism

From: 40 Frames (email suppressed)
Date: Wed Jan 24 2007 - 13:28:20 PST


> In addition to the broader view, people interested in experimental film
> are probably also interested in exceptions to the rule. One significant
> exception would be the case of itinerant filmmaker H. Lee Waters of
> Lexington, North Carolina, who shot more than 250 shows of "Movies of
> Local People" from 1936 to 1942. Shooting 16mm reversal (both B&W and
> Kodachrome) with a Cine Kodak Special, Waters exhibited his silent films
> in theaters as an added attraction. He filmed in 118 towns (visiting some
> of them several times) and developed a lively and unique style, including
> "camera tricks" reminiscient of City Symphonies. The best stuff is
> portraits - individuals and groups, candid and posed, thousands and
> thousands of people from all walks of life. If you consider his work as
> one big movie, as I am tempted to do, the running time is more than 100
> hours.
>
> Waters ran a photography studio in Lexington from 1926 to 1990 (his wife
> kept the studio going when he was on the road) but for those six years he
> was a professional 16mm filmmaker. His 1941 reels of Kannapolis, NC were
> added to the National Film Registry in 2005. Duke University is collecting
> and preserving his films. I made a documentary about him in 1989, "The
> Cameraman Has Visited Our Town." It is streaming at
> http://www.folkstreams.net.
>
> - Whiteside Durham, North Carolina
>

Thanks Tom, Jeff, Rick, James, and others for providing the examples you
have of early 16mm production and technology.

-Alain

================
40 FRAMES
Alain LeTourneau
Pamela Minty
425 SE 3rd, #400
Portland, OR 97214
United States

+1 503 231 6548
Skype ID: frames40
email suppressed
http://www.40frames.org

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