Montage

 I filmed this one a couple of years ago and I just love the background noise that works beautifully with the lights.  

 There is a period in film history sandwiched between the Lumiere Brothers and the beginning of the studio era that the film theorist Tom Gunning calls an era of the ‘cinema of attractions’.  This is a theory used to describe films that are not narrative driven, but rather are driven by the need to amaze, a need to exhibit, a need to acknowledge their audience. This essay will examine the technology behind film, the desideratum for these films to exhibit, as well as the cultural context of film during this period and it will consider the theory behind ‘cinema of attractions’. In the mid-eighteenth century shadow theatre had arrived in Europe and was at once very popular with audiences (Robinson 1981, p. 2). Magic lanterns go back to the seventeenth century when exhibitors would tour cities and towns (Robinson 1981, p. 9).  Whilst invention after invention came and went, it could be argued that it was the invention of photography in 1826 that is the true basis of film as w...

Today I paid my first visit to the Archives of South Australia.   If you are interested, I am researching picture theatres of South Australia as part of another blog I have  -  History of South Australian Picture Theatres – History, South Australia, Picture Theatres (wordpress.com) .  I love this blog I have been adding to it slowly and yes I admit, at times very slowly, over some years.   Most of my research has been through Trove, some books that I own copies of, and the odd interviews that I have done. Also, as I am a member of  CATHS (Cinema and Theatre Historical Society), I can access their archives too - which is incredibly helpful - if you are interested at all in Cinema and the preservation of the history of cinema I highly recommend you join.   Anyway, today I visited the State Records of South Australia and was able to look at some records which are held there.  What I find really fascinating is that by looking at records...