Close Up (Mar-Dec 1933)

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Mar-Dec 1933
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000374
Language:
English
Subjects:
motion pictures, Motion pictures -- Periodicals
Collection:
Switzerland, Early Cinema, and Global Cinema
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
Library of Congress, MBRS, Moving Image Section
Sponsor:
Library of Congress, Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
As an active film magazine, CLOSE UP lasted only a short time, from 1927 to 1933. Yet the legacy of this English-language periodical, which was published in Switzerland, continues to matter. Edited by Bryher and her husband Kenneth Macpherson, CLOSE UP became THE magazine for energetic debates about the nature of cinema and manifestos imagining new forms of filmmaking and spectatorship. The magazine published articles by filmmakers, such as Sergei Eisenstein, and female literary modernists, such as H.D. and Gertrude Stein. As film scholar Anne Friedberg explains in the anthology CLOSE-UP, 1927-1933: CINEMA & MODERNISM, 'CLOSE UP became the model for a certain type of writing about film -- writing that was theoretically astute, politically incisive, critical of films that were simply 'entertainment.' For six and a half years, CLOSE UP maintained a forum for a broad variety of ideas about the cinema; it never advocated a single direction of development, but rather posed alternatives to existing modes of production, consumption, and film style.' Like Friedberg's own writing, CLOSE UP continues to be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of film and media theory. -- Eric Hoyt, 2014
Date Added:
November 07, 2023
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350 CLOSE UP Wagnerian music, via microphone, was played with whispering pianissimos and thunderous crescendos hitherto unheard by human ears. By the turn of a control knob, Stokowski could subdue to a mere trickle of sound the music emanating from his orchestra isolated in another part of the theatre, or he could build it up to the volume of two thousand performers at peak output. Brtinnehilde, sung by a concert artiste in selections from Die Walkure, became an electrical supervocalist, soaring above the tumultuous accompaniment and manifesting in very truth her superhuman character as a warrior daughter of the gods. In short, the performance throughout was a revelation of musical coloring and expression such as would have been beyond the most daring conception of Wagner himself. This merging of music and radio-telephonic science introduces jointly three novel factors in the electrical reproduction of vocal and orchestral music, as well as all other forms of sound — auditory perspective, tone and overtone control, and volume control. The first is obtained by the use of three loud-speakers placed at the right, centre and left of the stage, each connected with a similarly placed microphone on the remote stage of the performers. The second, by the use of all frequencies from 35 to 16,000 cycles per second, a number roughly nine times that utilized in the most perfect radio transmission and embracing a wide range of nine octaves, from three below middle C to nearly six above ; while the volume (the third of the factors) can be varied from an output equivalent to a millionth of a watt up to a sustained hundred watts and even to a kilowatt at momentary peaks, without distortion. Thus, in the demonstration alluded to, the sound of the rustle of leaves, barely audible to the unaided ear, was raised to beyond that of the roar of an airplane engine. The application to the cinema of these accomplishments is but a matter of time, and it requires no labor of the imagination to apprehend its significance as an added, puissant means of lifting the phonofilm out of its present crudities and inadequacies and converting it into an instrument of expression worthy of the highest artistic genius. An Independent Film-Makers Association has been formed to bring together and assist those who are interested in the production of Documentary, Experimental and Educational films. It is hoped that the Association may put members in touch with one another for the purpose of making a joint film. It will also give expert advice, compile a catalogue of films made by members, endeavour to find a market for such pictures and hold a summer school and from time to time, demonstrations of apparatus and exhibitions of films. Application for membership should be made to J. C. H. Dunlop, Hon. Treasurer, 4a, St. Andrew Square, Edinburgh,2. The subscription is 10/6.