plato's cave forty six (being a film journal) it is happening again

Mark Frost and David Lynch - Twin Peaks: The Return - 2017

Drones and sound design in Part One

Pulsing flashlight (“my flashlights broke”) illuminates a dark car trunk, to heavy drone with electrical flickering. Image goes from the pulsing trunk (a piece of flesh is found, not dissimilar to Blue Velvet), Cut to The Fireman, then to the phonograph record with end credits.

plato's cave forty two (being a film journal) it is happening again

Mark Frost and David Lynch - Twin Peaks: The Return - 2017

From Part One

Coitus interruptus sound design by David Lynch. Backwards droning movement of sound.
A brief moment of time anticipating Tracey and Sam Colby's destruction by
the quite lovely glass box entity.

Sound supervisor/re-recording mixer : Ron Eng & Dean Hurley
Sound mixer : Douglas Axtell
Sound editor : Luke Gibleon
Sound effects editor/supervising foley editor : Willard Overstreet

plato's cave twenty four (being a film journal)

simon donald - fortitude season one - 2015

my wife and i have just started taking care of a puppy. his name is leviathan, and he lives up to his name. he is trouble.

have not watched as many movies the last few weeks due to that and a cold. have watched some television. specifically bosch, goliath and recently fortitude. the first two, despite some good actorshippe (from the wire etc. and billy bob thornton) were basically rubbish. fortitude was a little better, with its lush landscape and alcoholic disorientation and depression, but also not stellar. one thing making it stand apart was the ben frost soundtrack. mr. frost started with a bang with steel wound, theory of machines, and by the throat, then somehow lost me. but who the hell cares about my opinions, i am ashamed to even have them. if anything, perhaps mr. frost got carried away with the intense volume and machismo of live music which is all the rage. mr. frost surely did add some bass-oriented heavy atmosphere to fortitude, that was often times wonderful, but it gets lost in the sound design (or something....), and the moments of mediocre television.  still basically glad i watched it.

from the stills, it is clear the photography by wojciech szepel, john conroy, david luther, gary shaw, and christopher ross is very nice. the relationship to john carpenter's the thing is apparent. in terms of actorshippe, richard dormer is pretty amazing!

plato's cave sixteen (being a film journal) mike leigh

mike leigh - meantime - 1984

the films of mike leigh part one

meantime, mike leigh's tv film from 1984 focusing on a little over a dozen working class characters in london's east end.

thinking of mike leigh as being in a long tradition of great artists that use an ensemble of actors throughout their work (from william shakespeare to john ford), i wanted to watch each of his films with an eye for the actor's involvement with mr. leigh, and also the involvement of the cinematographers and composers. the key elements of mr. leigh's films for myself have always been the contributions of the actors, the way the films look, and the music that at once announces that you are watching a mike leigh film (the music heard in the beginning of naked while johnny drives to london). bringing these elements together is obviously his direction in the films, which includes him as one of the best.

the first time i saw a mike leigh film was my last year of high school in 1993. my father and i went to the local art house cinema in wilton new hampshire (wilton town hall theatre) to see the most recent of his films naked. it hit me like a ton of bricks.

i started seriously watching mr. leigh's work in film school a couple of years later.  at the time, i was heavily obsessed with the work of john cassavetes. i was working at a movie theater in cambridge mass, and one of my coworkers was studying under ray carney. he said to me; if i was interested in how improvisation plays a major role cassavetes' work, i should spend some more time with mike leigh. i had only seen naked at that point, and quickly delved as deep as i could into the work. the improvisations that shape the scripts make these films so wonderful to watch and unique in film history. david thewlis' "johnny" in naked is the most appropriate example of the improvisational process between actors and director in mike leigh films, and the results of this process that make up the final film. yet leigh's entire oeuvre is full of such moments of wonder.

i must admit that i have never read a book on mike leigh (although i should), and these observations are based on my viewings. any errors i have made, i would be interested in knowing.

tim roth
his only film with mike leigh. another essential film with mr. roth from this time period is alan clarke's made in britain from 1982

gary oldman
his only film with mike leigh. another essential film from the time period is alan clarke's the firm from 1989

phil daniels
his only film with mike leigh. another alan clarke connection is the films scum from 1977 and 1979 with mr. daniels. his actorshippe was quite heavy in meantime

jeffrey robert
his only film with mike leigh, surprising as he has such a strong presence in the film

marion bailey, mike leigh's partner
other mike leigh films :
- all or nothing - 2002
- vera drake - 2004
- mr. turner - 2014, as mr. turner's lover sophia booth

pam ferris
her only mike leigh film. also notable in childen of men as the midwife, and the harry potter films as the nasty aunt marge

peter wight
other mike leigh films :
- naked - 1993, as brian the "insecurity" guard
- secrets & lies - 1996
- vera drake - 2004
- another year - 2010, as the memorable drunken depressive friend ken
- mr. turner - 2014

alfred molina
his only mike leigh film. also notable from the time period is stephen frears' film prick up your ears with gary oldman, from 1987

leila bertrand
her only mike leigh film. her part is quite minimal but leaves an impression

hepburn graham
his only mike leigh film, his minimal part also leaves quite an impression

tilly vosburgh
other mike leigh films :
- vera drake - 2004

eileen davies
other mike leigh films :
- vera drake - 2004
- another year - 2010
- mr. turner - 2014

cinematography - roger pratt
other mike leigh films :
- bleak moments - 1971 as assistant camera-man
- high hopes - 1988
- the short & curlies - 1988

music - andrew dickson. composer for many of mike leigh's key films including naked
other mike leigh films :
- high hopes - 1988
- naked - 1993, one of the best film scores ever!
- secrets & lies - 1996
- all or nothing - 2002
- vera drake - 2004

plato's cave twelve (being a film journal)

kon ichikawa - fires on the plain (nobi) - 1959

 classic drone series & film journal series

sound, sound design, music in film

cinematography by setsuo kobayashi

music by yasushi akutagawa

sound design by ken'ichi nishii

the film was shot entirely in japan in gotenba, izu and hakone
visually not unlike the work of thomas joshua cooper

 water and birds
soldier discovers water at a church before finding dead comrades

song of the unvanquished

~ from framework radio ~

http://www.frameworkradio.net/2017/01/581-2017-01-15/

this edition, entitled song of the unvanquished, is the second of two produced in the united states by matthew swiezynski, featuring the sound design of the satyajit ray films in the apu trilogy. this edition focuses on the films aparajito from 1956 and andapur sansar from 1959. for more information on matthew’s work, see the artists page at http://www.invisiblebirds.org.
producer’s notes:

song of the unvanquished
second reinterpretation of the sound-design in satyajit ray’s apu trilogy, focusing on the films aparajito (the unvanquished) (1956) & andapur sansar (the world of apu) (1959), with music by ravi shankar and sound by durgadas mitra, bishnu paridha, ranajit singha roy, satyen chatterjee, kali das, and robin sengupta. remixed and reimagined by matthew swiezynski.
the transfer/conveyance, mixing, and layering of the soundtrack was guided along the pathways of the sky with attention to these simple ideas :
– reoccurring moments of sound/music
– structural patterns, both simple and complex, broken and unbroken
– repetition used in noticeable ways and invisible ways
– errors or imperfections in editing highlighted and often times exaggerated
– creating trance moments to get lost in, and heighten awareness to what proceeds and follows
– attention to fuzz, scratches and other virtues of 35mm film
– removal of dialogue except for tiny moments that are more musical than narrative

impressions en haute atmosphere

josé antonio sistiaga impressions en haute atmosphere - 1989

classic drone series

sound, sound design, music in film

music - waslaw s. beklemicheff

third time seeing the phenomenal film impressions from the upper atmosphere by the basque filmmaker and painter josé antonio sistiaga.

first at harvard film archives in the mid ninities, seen in the articulated light: the emergence of abstract film in america series, curated by bruce posner and introduced by stan brackage.

second in san francisco at the sf cinematheque, although the films were shown with music by savage republic.

third time the other night at the moma, in the from doodles to pixels: over a hundred years of spanish animation series. 

here is an excerpt of the soundtrack. i couldn't find out anything really about waslaw s. beklemicheff. he seems to be to be an unknown master. his work reminds me very much of thomas köner.  if any readers of this site have info on him, i would be much appreciative. here is the full film.

the dragon rampant (surgical addiction)

michael mann manhunter - 1986

classic drone series

sound, sound design, music in film

will graham visits with hannibal lecter "to get the old scent back again". having left, he has trouble breathing and the grass goes out of focus, then focus regains with breathing.  freddie lounds photographs graham for tattler

taking freddie lounds

trembling in awe of tom noonan's voice

classic michael mann ending with violence, ellipses in editing, non-natural motion (raging bull), and extreme disorientation set to iron butterfly's in-a-gadda-da-vida, with a right channel guitar abstractions that starts with a roar appropriate to the red dragon

sound mixer - john w. mitchell
re-recording mixer - don digirolamo, robert glass, robert knudson
sound - jim bridges
supervising sound editor - robert r. rutledge
sound editors - george h. anderson, david a. arnold, michael j. benavente, steve borne, ed callahan, susan dudeck, scott hecker, john a. larsen, bob newlan, frank serafine, charles ewing smith, jay wilkinson
looping editor - j. paul huntsman
stereo sound consultant - jim fitzpatrick
music - michel rubini, the reds

jonathan demme the silence of the lambs - 1991

clarice starling descents to speak with hannibal lecter. this drone sound plays again when starling returns to see lecter and a little more minimally the third time she visits

buffalo bill / jame gumb regards catherine baker martin with infrared goggles

billy in his lair with colin newman's alone (later covered by this mortal coil) playing softly under the sounds of the dog, sewing and baker martin.

tape of glenn gould's js bach's goldberg variations playing during lecter's slaughtering of sergeants pembry and boyle

music box with semi-lewd images to cat to birds. music box pitch modified/interrupted by discovery of said photos

ted levine doing his business to q lazzarus' goodbye horses. levine is one great actor. other notable rolls include heat, birth, shutter island, american gangster, and ray donovan. apparently malkovich turned down the jame gumb roll (thankfully).

sound designer - skip lievsay
re-recording mixer - tom fleischman
re-recordist - douglas murray, sean squires
production sound mixer - christopher newman
foley artist - marko a. costanzo, jörg klinkenberg
foley editor - frank kern, steven visscher
sound recordist - john fundus
dolby stereo consultant - robert f. warren
music - howard shore

having just read thomas harris' first two hannibal lecter novels red dragon (1981) & the silence of the lambs (1988), re-watching manhunter and the silence of the lambs seemed appropriate. presented are some moments of sound and music from the films. following are blake's great red dragon paintings. living now near the brooklyn museum, i was interested to read in the red dragon when francis dolarhyde visits and wreaks havoc at the museum to see the great red dragon and the woman clothed with the sun. (ps - i'm not much taken by bill blake's visual work, but these are quite interesting to me, at least for the subject matter)

1. the great red dragon and the woman clothed with the sun (also titled ...clothed in sun) in brooklyn
2. the great red dragon and the beast from the sea
3. the great red dragon and the woman clothed with the sun
4. the number of the beast is 666

entry titled from manhunter, when the red dragon talks with freddie lounds and the rather funny title of lecter's preoccupation while incarcerated