News
Issue 4 of Film and Television Studies Newsletter
Issue 4 of the Department of Film and Television Studies' regular newsletter is now available for download.
Michael Pigott speaks about sound, cinema and field recording at University of York
Sounds of the Projection Box: Liner Notes for a Phonographic Method.
Abstract: In order to investigate, document and analyse the soundscape of the analogue projection box, before it passes into history, a series of audio recordings was made within functioning boxes, a selection of which will be released as an ‘album’ on the Gruenrekorder label in 2018. The recordings, made in UK boxes that maintain both 35mm film projection and digital projection, also capture the shifting sonic texture of this environment as it changes from primarily analogue to primarily digital operation. This paper will explore the role of phonographic field recording as a practical methodology within a film historical research project (the UK AHRC funded Projection Project), which investigates the role of the film projectionist and cinematic projection throughout the history of cinema exhibition in the UK. Through an analysis of both the recordings themselves, and the experience of making the recordings, it will extract some observations regarding the character, history and culture of the projection box as a lived environment and workplace. Just as cinema-goers seldom get to see inside this hidden room at the back of the auditorium, these sound recordings also reveal it to be a sound-proofed box, a noisy environment in which the interface between operator and machine takes audible form, in which noise of one sort indicates smooth operation, while another sort indicates faults that need to be addressed. It will consider the legibility of noise and propose that the relationship between projectionist and machine is significantly aural as well as visual and tactile.
The Projection Project at Flatpack Film Festival 2017 - 'Is That A Woman In The Box?' on Apr 9
From the ‘projectionettes’ of the two world wars right up to the present day, this audio-visual talk by Dr Rebecca Harrison (University of Glasgow) and Dr Richard Wallace (University of Warwick) will reveal the hidden history of the women who have worked in this typically masculine space.
When we think of cinema projectionists our mind might conjure up images of Buster Keaton wrapped in celluloid, or Alfredo chopping out kisses in Cinema Paradiso. Very rarely do we imagine that the person working away in the box behind us might be a woman, and yet there have been female projectionists throughout the history of British cinema.
On Sunday April 9th, The Projection Project will present this talk as part of Flatpack Film Festival 2017. Taking place in the Flatpack Hub (97 Smallbrook Queensway, + Google Map ) from 2.00pm to 3.30pm.
Find out more and book your tickets here: http://flatpackfestival.org.uk/event/is-that-a-woman-in-the-box/
Claire Jesson and Richard Wallace give Film Talk at Warwick Arts Centre on Sat 7 May
Current PhD student Claire Jesson and research Fellow Dr. Richard Wallace (both part of The Projection Project) will give a film talk about one of th unsung heroes of cinema at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday 7 May, 11am - 3pm.
The projectionist was the technical wizard who brought the screen to life, making audiences laugh, cry and even scream. An illustrated talk by the Projection Project’s Claire Jesson looks at how the movies imagine this mysterious figure, and Dr Richard Wallace has recorded projectionists’ memories spanning over 50 years of cinema history and the transformation from celluloid to digital exhibition. Includes a screening of Oscar-winning film, Cinema Paradiso, and a chance to glimpse inside Warwick Arts Centre’s own projection box.
Inside the projection box, plus screening of Cinema Paradiso
Lifting the veil on cinema’s secrets
Warwick Arts Centre Cinema
Saturday 7 May, 11am-3pm
Tickets £12 (£9)
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