Close Up (Jul-Dec 1928)

Page scan 000278 from Close Up

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Dec 1928
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000278
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:
July 25, 2024
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CLOSE UP open to anyone with imagination and picture sense coupled with a bit of Hterary talent. Schools for the teaching of it sprang up throughout the country, and two or three of the leading Universities included scenario writing in their curricula. The studios welcomed contributions and encouraged the efforts of promising writers. But these conditions have come definitely to an end. Scenario writing as such is now confined to a few recognized specialists, men and women living in Hollywood and directly in touch with the studios. The majority of them are on salary, while the few free lances enjoy an entree to the studios and are kept informed of the current production needs. The outlander is virtually taboo. His chance of selling an original cinema story is on a par with his chance of becoming President of the United States. The present situation is a natural development. It is not the result of a sudden or arbitrary dictum on the part of the movie overlords. As photogramas developed in character, as well as in technic and cost of production, the ordinary outside writer lost step and fell by the wayside. In Hollywood parlance, he could no longer deliver the goods. The more highly developed demands of the screen w^ere beyond his resources. As for the capable wTiter, he too lost out in time, unless in the meanwhile he took up his abode in Hollywood and became associated with the studios. Otherwise, it was impossible for him to keep in touch with the developing technicalities and intricacies of picture making and its constantly fluctuating conditions and requirements. In short, long-distance writing for the movies became vir 34