[joe-frank-list] Memories by Joe Frank (film vs radio)

[bewareofdog at mac.com]

Agreed.  Very well done.  Kudos.


On Apr 7, 2006, at 5:29 PM, David Smith wrote:

> well done ben!
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "ben" <rocheb at colorado.edu>
> To: "Joe Frank Mailing List" <joe-frank-list at armory.com>
> Sent: Friday, April 07, 2006 2:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [joe-frank-list] Memories by Joe Frank (film vs radio)
>
>
>> Hi
>> Here is a short film I made in a school a few years ago using Joe   
>> Frank's Eye in the Sky program.  I got his permission to use it,  
>> and  it has won several awards at film festivals.
>> http://homepage.mac.com/rocheb/iMovieTheater2.html
>> On Apr 4, 2006, at 11:08 PM, B T wrote:
>>> (where are you all Frankophiles?)
>>>
>>> I just recently re-signed up to joefrank.com and listened/ 
>>> watched  that rare
>>> film, "Memories" by Joe Frank.
>>>
>>> Though I've enjoy(ed) Joe on the radio with his voice and  
>>> ambient  music in the
>>> background all these years, these films have really opened the   
>>> possibilities of
>>> putting Joe's stories/thoughts on film.
>>>
>>> In one extreme, you have a film such as "After Hours" which has  
>>> a  scene or two
>>> directly from Joe's work.  But while watching it, you don't get   
>>> that Joe Frank
>>> feel--that dark milieu--mostly his raspy voice, the droning  
>>> beats  that's all
>>> part of what we know as the Joe Frank experience.  Sure, some  
>>> may  argue that
>>> his programs do have parts with non-Joe characters interacting  
>>> with  other
>>> characters without background music, and still you feel that it's  
>>> a  Joe
>>> program.  But there's something lacking in the above film.
>>>
>>> Films that work for Joe's programs have several nuances.  First,   
>>> they're black
>>> and white.  It brings you back to days long gone when color was   
>>> only in the
>>> imaginations.  Perhaps it is like this very discussion of film  
>>> vs  radio where
>>> radio was what existed before television. It's not too new as to   
>>> lose it's
>>> original appeal.
>>>
>>> Second, there are dream like sequences to them. Not only in   
>>> content, but in how
>>> we are shown what is going on. In "Memories," some shots are  
>>> done  very smoothly
>>> by a talented steady cam operator moving from place to place as  
>>> if  we were
>>> hovering. It relates to some of Joe's programs where the  
>>> listener  is really
>>> just hovering above listening in on a conversation or more   
>>> compelling, the
>>> inner thoughts of a character or Joe himself.
>>>
>>> Thirdly, the use of blurring. Characters are at times left   
>>> unfocused. This
>>> works wonderfully to enhance what is being said by the narrator,   
>>> mostly Joe.
>>> You aren't so much observing what they are wearing or how they  
>>> look  but
>>> listening in on their thoughts.  It allows us to watch the film  
>>> and  yet, still
>>> have the priority be on what you hear.
>>>
>>> Forthly, the pace. It's slow compared to hollywood's 21 min  
>>> weekly  half hour
>>> shows where they try to cram in as much information to have a   
>>> resolution to
>>> their story. The slowness allows you to take in what you're   
>>> listening. It's
>>> like when Joe finishes a part of his monologue, and the music   
>>> continues so as
>>> to indirectly say, 'there, now ponder over it.'
>>>
>>> Fifthly, and most important, the film MUST have Joe's voice and  
>>> music
>>> interspersed within it.
>>>
>>> B
>>>
>>>
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