Ben Model’s blog
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In my last post I mentioned some of the basic technological differences between pressed and burned product, replicated and duplicated. With DVDs the choice between the two isn’t as large a financial outlay as it is with Blu-ray. But the cost and the order fulfillment hassle with pressed, for an…
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Pressed DVDs vs. Burned
In my previous post about my 3-year journey with a Blu-ray release, I mentioned two kinds of discs — pressed and burned. You may not be aware of these two kinds of discs and may not even know whether you’re watching one or the other. The difference is hard to…
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Why Isn’t This on Blu-ray? – a blog series
I get asked “are you going to release that on Blu-ray?” every time I do a Kickstarter. For the fan and consumer, the difference between DVD and Blu-ray is very simple: a few dollars more at the pump (if that) and the image quality is better. For the independent producer-distributor…
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Battling the Elements at 16 Frames Per Second
Buster Keaton had an astounding grasp of what works at what cranking speed and how best to compensate for these frame rates physically. It’s part of his comedic toolbox and was part of his filmic style. This is what makes the second reel of The Boat (1921) something of an…
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ep. 38: scoring for scenes that suggest or specify a piece of music, and scoring a film from 1948
On this episode Ben talks about meeting an audience’s expectations of a score when a certain piece of music or style is indicated onscreen, and in a rare case of a non-narrative film made after the silent era. Also covered are silent era mood cues and cue sheets, Marion Davies…
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ep. 37: Mostly Lost, Keaton’s The Cameraman and The General, an electric organ and Laurel & Hardy
On this episode Ben talks about: the annual Mostly Lost film identification workshop at the Library of Congress, currently postponed until 2021; underscoring a key scene in Keaton’s “The Cameraman” and noticing a parallel with “Singin’ In The Rain”, playing for “Spite Marriage”, the challenge of introducing and presenting “The…
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ep. 36: scoring Robin Hood and a 1927 Carmen, using the orchestral and cartoony sounds of a theatre organ, more live-streaming
On this episode Ben talks about: using music an audience may or may not expect to hear during a film in preparing scores for shows of Fairbanks’ “Robin Hood” and Raoul Walsh’s “Loves of Carmen”; using underscore to help smooth over missing footage; playing the theatre organ like it’s an…
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ep. 35: Pottery at the Met, Behind the Door in Nebraska, Eisenstein in Bklyn, Clair on Long Island, plus FAQ
On this episode, Ben Model talks with co-host Kerr Lockhart talk about a cancelled gig at the Metropolitan Museum of Art turning into an online one, Gage County Nebraska and Hollywood, accompanying Russian silent films, scoring a French film for an audience with live-translated intertitles. Plus: using leitmotifs, finding a…
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ep. 34: the Silent Comedy Watch Party, scoring Hitchcock, “Intrigue” and Nell Shipman, plus FAQ
On this episode of the podcast, Ben Model discusses the creation of the Silent Comedy Watch Party and the response so far; talks about teaching his silent film course at Wesleyan using Zoom; shares an excerpt from his score for Alfred Hitchcock’s Champagne for the Hitchcock British International Pictures Collection…
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Live Accompaniment and Air Conditioning
There are two things I often have to ask a theatre to adjust when I arrive at a new venue. One is that the piano be turned around so it’s not facing the audience, and the other is to turn down the amount of light on me and the piano.…