6)The Sound of No Hands Clapping

TITLE: The Sound of No Hands Clapping
STATUS/DATE: 2005
GENRE: silent montage shot with 16 mm black and white on a Bolex Camera
APPROX LENGTH:  Approx 6 min
LOCATION: Filmed and Produced in Columbia South Carolina and surrounding areas

WHAT IS:
A short silent film shot with a Bolex camera (which is hand cranked mind you) on black and white 16mm film. A montage of shots that provide an interesting look in to the art and management of celluloid (almost a dead art at present but I feel I'm incredibly lucky to have experienced). Exercise was useful in learning how to use different degrees of light and motion to be manipulated with different shutter speeds and lenses.

PRODUCTION:
Film was edited by hand (cut and taped) on both a Steinbeck and a hand cranked reel to reel with illuminated viewfinder.  On a bolex you can click one shot at a time and we used this to walk a distance through different settings snapping one frame at a time (stop motion movement) as well as getting environmental scenes from on top of one of the tallest buildings in Columbia, SC.  Various other tricks were implemented with various shutter speeds. We used surreal motion tricks with the shutter speeds and editing with footage from riding on an outdoor elevator. Many hours were involved in making minuscule cuts and experimenting with various editing tricks. Many of the cuts were so small in fact that there was a mere frame or two back to back for about 6-10 feet of the reel. This meant that the cuts and the tape had to be perfect. If in fact if any of those small cuts were off by the slightest bit (and I cannot stress enough how small, small actually was) upon playing it would get caught in the cogs of the projector.  I enjoyed the hands on part about physically editing film. I remember spending so much time in there I saw many people come and go in various stages of production for their own projects, many of whom were having a fit with the Steinbeck getting film tangled, putting it in backwards, not knowing how to line it up etc. I had gotten used to it so much by that time that it was almost like second nature. I would show dozens of students the way to work different cuts and how to use most of the equipment. Nothing really beats hands on starting out. I find that that you may not want to make unnecessary cuts, because its a real pain and you may ruin the film, so you have this way of calculating and really appreciating the art form of putting it all together and tend to take it more seriously than a digital cut that you can simply undo with a series of clicks.

*The name of the Film "The Sound of No Hands Clapping" was a kind of underhanded stab at the over-pretentiousness of the art collage students.  Most of the time I was trying to experiment to push limits or just understand bounds. Most my other peers at the time were just tailoring their projects to what they knew would aesthetically please the professor to get the grade the quickest with as little work as possible so they could go out and get drunk. I proudly wanted to call it "The Sound of  No Hands Clapping" because many students at the time would not collaborate or even give me the time of day, nor give me recognition for taking a different path or attempting to break new ground even though I practically lived in the editing room during this assignment, and helped them complete may of their projects because they didn't know how. I kind of had a chip on my shoulder during this period and I was almost saying " you don't have to clap because I know your not going to, or go ahead clap i dare you you'll look like an idiot." Still love the title.

 

Splicing Table	Veiw Box	Steinbeck Monitor	Steinbeck
Close Up of The Steinbeck	Splice Table Close-up	Splicer	Film Bin