Some Thoughts on the Muse of Cinema
A Series for Projector Performance by Kerry Laitala

Muse of Cinema began with a flea market find of a binder of slides. These were made of magic lantern images probably dating from between 1905-1928, and were meant to directly address the audience in a variety of ways. Some of them referred to problems that were evidently common at the time. It seemed that wearing hats that obstructed views, spitting on the floor, loud talking, and raucous behavior much annoyed theatre patrons. So, the lantern slides were used to keep the audience in line. Some lantern slides would serve to waylay an audience while the projectionist surmounted a technical disaster in the projection booth, while others announced upcoming amateur acts and films to be screened. The lantern slides were reduced to the 35mm format by the Blackhawk Company probably sometime in the 1940’s. Blackhawk and Castle Films released many digest prints on 16mm and 8mm concerning various topics that they would sell to those wanting to put on film shows at home or with their local cinema club. I had these slides for about two years before I finally decided to work with them on 35mm motion picture film by reformatting them on a 35mm slide duplicator. At my place of work (a dental school), I would duplicate slides of intra-oral photography and anatomy slides from instructors’ classes. With free access to this equipment and an amicable, supportive supervisor who allowed me to use the duplicator on the weekend, I was able to reformat the 35mm slide images to the 35mm motion picture format.

In 2001, I managed to pick up a large box of 35mm movie film that was intended to be used in an x-ray camera. This film is "orthochromatic", which means that it is "Red Blind"; not sensitive to the red spectrum of light. I've been experimenting with this material and contact printing everything in sight from a broken windshield found by the side of the road in the "Loin," to the hairball from the bottom of my bathtub drain. With the help of my dad and his friend we constructed a registration board to contact print the raw stock with the negative of these images, plus more abstract material that I printed Ray-O-Gram style as well as through other means. The "red blind" film was great for using in my living room with only the permanently affixed red X-Mas lights on that run the perimeter of the room. As my apartment is like a cave with no light, it is quite easy to work. Only one window needs a black cardboard panel to block the white light, and I post signs for my roommate on the outside door of the apartment so that he doesn’t fog the film. I experimented with a variety of lights to expose the film, but most often used a flashlight. Then I acquired a 35mm sync block and contact printer which has enabled me to print faster and with more accuracy, although the registration board works best for multiple strips of film. I hand processed this film material at the San Francisco Art Institute using a hand crank processing tank which allowed me to process up to 100ft. of film at a time. I set up a clothesline from the ceiling that would allow the film to dry, and which created a maze of film images running throughout Studio 8 in the basement of the Art Institute.

The other aspect of the Muse series that I started over a year ago is the projector component. I decided that "Muse Series" should remain the 35mm format and so I managed to locate an old Acme hand crank 35mm projector from 1928 that I am having modified so that it can be used for this and other 35mm films in the Muse series. After making several phone calls to people from the underground film scene, I got the number of a master fabricator; repair engineer technical genius named Adolph Esposito who has a fully equipped machine shop and can make magic happen with any mechanical device. He has fully overhauled the whole apparatus and at present we are installing a new fixture for the lamp housing that will make it brighter and use less wattage.The Muse of Cinema directly relates to the interaction between the projectionist and the audience. In this way, although it refers to early cinema reception, it is different in that there will be a live personal intervention on the part of the maker. This is the predominant driving force in all my work, but "Muse of Cinema" will vacillate between associative relationships to the group as a whole, then delve into an internalized realm that addresses the individual directly. Although, the strategy of the slide show that proceeds the feature narrative film used today still has reminders not to talk loudly and prohibiting smoking etc., the slides mostly consist of advertising for other films, production companies and concessions.

"The Muse of Cinem"a series will be presented as interactive projector performances that emphasize the mechanical nature of the apparatus. The series will call attention to the operator’s role in bringing these images to the audience. During the projection, I will emphasize key parts of the film that I want to highlight. As many experimental filmmakers today, especially Ernie Gehr, Zoe Beloff and Ken Jacobs, directly reference early cinema, and this active relationship of the spectator to projected image, "Muse" seeks to re-establish and re-affirm the inspirational force of early cinema. As the magic lantern is often considered the grandfather of cinematic technology, magic lantern slides were instrumental in giving filmmakers ways to deal with the temporal aspect of cinema. Lantern slides brought about an understanding of how to use time to allow the story to unfold and reveal a time/concept continuum. Both the magic lanternist and early cinema projectionist were itinerant, going from town to town and performing in the local theater, public hall, university or church. When the projectionist would arrive with hand crank projector in tow, often there would be recommended speeds for the hand crank mechanism. Some projectionists developed reputations from their skill in achieving the desired film speed. As a projectionist I will intervene with the image being projected in a variety of ways: film speed, focus, frame and other surprises will create a spontaneous atmosphere. In the Muse of Cinema, the photochemical properties of the filmic medium have also been cultivated through hand processing and toning to further meditate on the essential properties of film as a medium of alchemy and magic. There will be a sound accompaniment to the Muse of Cinema, which will also incorporate a live component. Several audience members will be given bird calls to sound during parts of the film. I have been collaborating on the sound with Robert Fox, a local film and video maker and friend who makes exquisite and complex sound/image collage works using both film and digital technologies. We are incorporating an array of found recordings from the vaudeville days including "Tin Pan Alley" music, as well as other recordings that we are in the process of making in his studio. This sound collage will further enhance the whimsical atmosphere creating a dimensional quality that encompasses the viewer.

"Black Bile"
16mm, color, silent, W.I.P.

Black Bile

A splenetic substance escapes from the recesses of decay; melancholia and its effects find their way into the masses of 20th century victims in this mechanized society. Loss is a guarded fiend possessing a divine thirst for souls in this inescapable reverie of chromatic reverberations.

"Grimm Enchantment"
16mm color, sound, W.I.P.

Journey Into The Unknown
16mm, color,sound, 5 minutes

Journey Into the Unknown

A noir cinematic tale of cinematic revenge by technicolor China Girls, who use their siren song to lure an unspecting voyeur into the depths of a haunted movie palace