not so Zoe

[cathy steblyk]

this developing thread has been generative. It helped me recall early 
film vocabulary, like the vitascope and kinetoscope (eventually 
replaced by cinematographe) because of the active life association. But 
biograph stands out singularly, connected with the "actuality" films of 
a century ago, because there seems an interface between kinetic images 
and bodies here that is the inverse, also, in relation of the zoetrope, 
I think, that was a rotating drum that one watched but without moving 
oneself, right? Travelers are inserted here. Conversely, the biograph 
brought travel, exotic locations, history, wars, to the audience, but 
the "bio" is what strikes me, as the human interfacing with time to an 
ad in the present.
Cathy


On 12 10 2004, at 8:26, Mark Nornes wrote:

>
> On Dec 10, 2004, at 2:13 AM, Thomas Lamarre wrote:
>
>> The animation-by-train makes visible an intersection of 'new'
>> media and urban spaces that leads to questions about contemporary
>> transformations in spectatorship and urban experience (among other 
>> things).
>
>
> This is a perfect description of the early film tour of the New York 
> subway system. (Sorry, I can't remember the name, which is long but 
> descriptive.)  It's one of the most beautiful films of the early 
> cinema. They mounted a bank of strong lights on one train and shot 
> from the other, with all those pillars between them. The shadows of 
> the pillars sweep across the frame while the trains move smoothly 
> through the underground tunnels. A must see film.
>
> I thought about this early film when I first saw the Ginza zoetrope 
> (maybe its linearity makes it more like the Kinematoscope and links it 
> with cinema in stronger ways), and I couldn't help but be struck by 
> this new=old imagery that offered a new experience of the underground 
> city and half the train's who missed the show because they were 
> absorbed in their keitai.
>
> Markus
>
>