There is a notion that silent films should be shown at what is often referred to as “silent speed”, or 18 frames per second. In the silent era, motion picture projectors were hand-cranked and, later, motorized but with rheostats. A… Read More »“Silent Speed” and 16mm Projectors
When I was in graduate film school, different film directors or industry professionals would come to the school to screen a new film and talk about it. I got an answer to something that’s helped me many times with projects… Read More »Story Structure, John Badham and Lajos Egri
I’ve recorded a lot of scores for DVD releases, and it’s always interesting to me which ones stick in my mind, and which ones don’t…and everything in between. Creating is such a subjective process and it’s almost impossible to foretell… Read More »Colleen Moore’s Earliest Surviving Feature
Accompanying Keaton’s Our Hospitality this past weekend reminded me of a silent comedy trope I’ve become aware of. It’s one that may have hit my radar because of how it’s handled in the language of silent film, and because of… Read More »Cut To The Horse
Keaton’s Our Hospitality is one of my favorites of his feature films, and for the same reason One Week is one of my top picks for the shorts. It’s not just about the smartness of the gags or the overall… Read More »Keaton’s Leap to Features
There’s a moment in Vidor’s The Crowd that I handle in a similar way to a moment toward the end of Hands Up! with Raymond Griffith. The effect I like to think what I’ve done on the Vidor had is… Read More »Straddling Cutaways
I’ve floated a couple trial balloons as projects to test the waters on another one I wanted to do. My first DVD release was not Accidentally Preserved, actually. You may not know about it because I didn’t send out a… Read More »Trial Balloons and Pickles
The Mack Sennett films released through Paramount in the late ‘teens give you the impression that an effort was underway to take the Keystone format up a level. That is, if you can see one of the Paramounts. Despite who… Read More »Finding a Chestnut in a Haystack
Every once in a while I question something I’ve been saying about the way people react to silent films. It’s usually when one of these responses hasn’t happened for a couple or few years. And then it happens again, and… Read More »Silent Comedy Laughs
Over the last couple years, I’ve had conversations with people who’ve told me how much they like the Accidentally Preserved DVDs I’ve released. Which is really gratifying. What started out as a one-off turned into a short series that wound… Read More »16mm Film Collecting on DVDs