Close Up (Jul-Dec 1928)

Record Details:

Title:
Close Up
Date:
Jul-Dec 1928
Publisher:
[London, etc., Pool]
Volume:
Close up ... devoted to the art of films
Leaf #:
000391
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 Bruisers (a parody of a boxing film), The Blunderland of Big Game (a wild animal film without any wild animals), So This Is Jollywood (a peep behind the scenes). Cut It Out (fun with the Censor) and A Typical Budget (a sequel to The Pathetic Gazette). The interiors for these burlesques were made in a real studio, hired for one day for each subject. My expenses for the day averaged about £80 and included sets, furniture, costumes, props, negative, artists, cameraman, etc., though this cost was always more than doubled before completion. Battling Bruisers had no exteriors and we did the 67 scenes in one day ! This was achieved by having one camera fixed for ill long shots, while a second camera was mobile for changes of angles and closer shots. (The real studio " referred to was 45 ft. long and 30 ft. wide, the one which Sir Herbert von Herkomer built at Bushey.) Two of the films were all exterior, which was just as costly as working in the studio, for we lived on location for eight days, my cast and staff including Edwin Greenwood, John Orton, Lionel Rich and Mrs. Miles Mander. Apart from these, I made one other short film for C. M. Woolf, entitled Money for Nothing, This cost £65 and was made for the first anniversary of the Shepherds Bush Pavilion, when Harold Lloyd's Hot Water was first shown in England. The film was all about the cut-throat methods of the film trade and the new Harold Lloyd film — about Hot Wardour Street, in fact. Michael Balcon, C. M. Woolf and many prominent exhibitors appeared in the picture. The film was not intended for public exhibition, but has been worn 45