Getting to accompany silent films for MoMA’s Modern Matinees series Iris Barry’s History of Film gives me two ways to grow. Neither of which were part of the plan, of course. One is something regular attendees may experience, at a… Read More »Getting Better All The Time: Fall-Winter 2019 Edition
Wait…don’t I have a print of a March of Time episode about the opening of MoMA’s new building and film library from 1939? Ah, yes. Here it is…The March of the Movies, in 16mm. Turns out there were two episodes… Read More »The March of the Movies – and MoMA
When I was in college, I played for a silent film course taught by MoMA’s Charles Silver. Charles loaned me a few LPs to listen to, since I was new to this. One of the records was Musical Moods from… Read More »MoMA’s Arthur Kleiner – Moods on Vinyl
This summer, I read two books, inspired by my being booked for a film series that will run at MoMA from October 21 through the end of the year. I wanted to get inside the point of series, and not… Read More »Reading Up on Iris Barry and MoMA Film’s Beginnings
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