I received this DVD from facets, and although I never requested it, I thought it was worthwhile. It consists, and this is the summary from facets.org of "extraordinary short films from around the world. This volume is loosely structured around the theme of "ecstasy." Films include Hate: A Comedy (Drew Daywalt/David Schneider, USA, 1999), Mister Smile (Fran Krause, USA, 2000), The Closet (Shawn Schepps, USA, 2000), Smash (Kirsten Winter, Germany, 1997), and Bass on Titles (USA, 1977), an in-depth analysis of his own work by the great graphic designer Saul Bass. Alternate audio and video tracks, storyboards, commentaries, outtakes and interviews connected to some of the films are also included."
The best, in my opinion was a B and W montage "Moods of the Sea" (1941) created by Slavko Vorkapich and John Hoffman, to Mendelsohn, and the cinematography was beautiful. I ran across some more information about Vorkapich in "The Movie Buff's Book" edited by Ted Sennett (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, NY, 1975)", in the chapter entitled "The Barroom Brawl: Notes on visual clichés in the movies", by Robert F. Moss, page 82. "Vorkapich is an original film theorist whose special skills at developing montage sequences have obscured his reputation as a scholar"..."He is famous for the 'Vorkapich effect', usually a form of montage that telescopes some momentous event which is crucial to the story"..."His innovative techniques (include)...pages flying off a calendar to signify passage of time, interlocked snatches of song to capsulize a musical career, and churning train wheels to indicate a character's movement from one city to another". He "has even seen his name converted to a verb - by humorist S.J. Perelman in mock camera direction: 'Vorkapich around the room' ".
I also liked the piece on Saul Bass, and the interview with Jazz organist Jimmy McGriff. Hate - a comedy and Closet were funny, and I liked "Scrub" to the Mondo Combo music, and the "Agony" and "Ecstasy" skateboard documentary was interesting (guess which one is the crashes). I found the classical piece "House" to be a bit tedious, it consisted visually of a slide show of a house and an interesting international knick-knack collection (which included Kachina dolls). The short of five guys chillin' and talking to each other on the phone, which either became or was inspired by a TV commercial, was truly horrible and made my skin crawl. In a novel and interesting approach to a commentary for Shawn Schepps the Closet, Shawn and two of her colleagues insulted each other to the accompaniment of the movie.
The best, in my opinion was a B and W montage "Moods of the Sea" (1941) created by Slavko Vorkapich and John Hoffman, to Mendelsohn, and the cinematography was beautiful. I ran across some more information about Vorkapich in "The Movie Buff's Book" edited by Ted Sennett (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, NY, 1975)", in the chapter entitled "The Barroom Brawl: Notes on visual clichés in the movies", by Robert F. Moss, page 82. "Vorkapich is an original film theorist whose special skills at developing montage sequences have obscured his reputation as a scholar"..."He is famous for the 'Vorkapich effect', usually a form of montage that telescopes some momentous event which is crucial to the story"..."His innovative techniques (include)...pages flying off a calendar to signify passage of time, interlocked snatches of song to capsulize a musical career, and churning train wheels to indicate a character's movement from one city to another". He "has even seen his name converted to a verb - by humorist S.J. Perelman in mock camera direction: 'Vorkapich around the room' ".
I also liked the piece on Saul Bass, and the interview with Jazz organist Jimmy McGriff. Hate - a comedy and Closet were funny, and I liked "Scrub" to the Mondo Combo music, and the "Agony" and "Ecstasy" skateboard documentary was interesting (guess which one is the crashes). I found the classical piece "House" to be a bit tedious, it consisted visually of a slide show of a house and an interesting international knick-knack collection (which included Kachina dolls). The short of five guys chillin' and talking to each other on the phone, which either became or was inspired by a TV commercial, was truly horrible and made my skin crawl. In a novel and interesting approach to a commentary for Shawn Schepps the Closet, Shawn and two of her colleagues insulted each other to the accompaniment of the movie.