Film Lost and Found: The Experience of Pre- and Silent Cinema

Overview

ESM students accompany short films at the Dryden theater, playing music composed by a fellow student.

Three days of public events (one at each of the three collaborating institutions) will include: two guest lectures; two film programs at the George Eastman House Dryden Theater, one each from the silent (with live musical accompaniment) and early sound periods; and a magic lantern event showcasing pre-cinema viewing practices and material culture of the nineteenth century. Supporting events include a panel discussion and workshop by members of the Motion Picture Department of GEH on nitrate film, film handling and conservation, and collection cataloging and access; and a tour and demonstration of the GEH Technology Collection.

At River Campus, David Francis will demonstrate how the concerns and interests of the second half of the nineteenth century influenced magic lantern slide images (projected glass-plate images), a precursor to cinema. Francis is a leading figure in the archiving and preservation of international collections of moving images, and the event features items from his personal collection.

At the Eastman School of Music, ESM conductor emeritus Donald Hunsberger serves as respondent for prominent musicologist Rick Altman. A recreation of a typical film program of the silent era follows at the Dryden Theater. The Flower City Society Orchestra will accompany the feature film, conducted by local musicologist Phil Carli, a familiar presence on the international silent cinema circuit. This recreation of a historical film program begins with pre-program shorts (commercials, actualities, newsreels, animations). Composition students from both UR campuses will score these, with an Eastman chamber ensemble performing the new scores.

The final day of events showcases the pioneering efforts to preserve our moving picture heritage by the Motion Picture Department of the George Eastman House, which has been responsible for many of the film restorations that have radically reconfigured previous conceptions of film history. After the workshop and other events mentioned above, the evening culminates in a recreation of Warner Bros’ third Vitaphone Program: the feature When a Man Loves, preceded by the same three Vitaphone shorts shown on the program’s opening night, 2 February 1927.

The project complements six courses at River Campus and Eastman School of Music. It has the potential for a multi-year format, with the possibility of a second year of events focusing on Technology.