Why Bazin?
And since he was brought up, what did he have to say about Hiroshima Mon Amour and Paths of Glory (which might give some indication as to what he may have thought of this 70’s invention)?
On Halloween they used the Panaglide sled from Panavision.
See this URL and goto Page 111 for a wonderful interview with John Carpenter
http://books.google.com/books?id=One9JrvzxroC&pg=PA111&lpg=PA111&dq=carpenter+steadicam+halloween&source=bl&ots=riieefc6ep&sig=JuGP2-wWVJ2pG2Ecj9mY2cUyF3g#PPA113,M1
He also makes comment on what he says is two basic forms of Cinema; German Expressionsim and Russian Montage.
Bazin championed the Neo-Realists limited editing and film keeping it real Bazin was against editing the fragmentation of the image-Kubrick’s steadycam with its long takes and limited editing I would argue would have appealed to Bazin for its reality effect-affect
Resnais the Left bank filmmaker thematically in his films used memory eg-Marienbad—a difficult filmmaker in which the narrative hard to digest does get constructed by the spectator themselves. Bazin might have had a problem with Resnais and his complexity (memory flashbacks etc) as opposed to the Neorealists-keeping it real and easy to understand.
I was taught in a Horror course that Carpenter used the steadycam-looks like my Prof. was wrong!
Let me know if I’m wrong!
Dave,
I agree with you re: Bazin. Also, the panaglide is a steadicam built by Panavision specifically for use with anamorphic lens (which are a good deal heavier than spherical lenses.
on semiotics, no, i dont think a long take is like a paragraph in a book. it would be more like a long sentence.
I was gonna try and dispute what you said Bobby and say that long takes are like paragraphs but the more I thought of my favourite long takes in films I realized that you’re right, long takes are long sentences with a lot of “and then….and then….and then…” in between the actions.
From Bela Tarr, a jaw-dropping, nine minute Steadycam pirouette. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sq6hTvyndg
Specifically, the Steadicam was invented by Garrett Brown in 1972, and first used on Rocky in 1976.
Dave Britnell
The steadycam was first introduced in the 70’s and used by different filmmakers such as Kubrick, Carpenter, Scorsese (Raging Bull) etc
I love the use of the steadycam in Full Metal Jacket, The Shining, etc and Carpenter’s Halloween. Moreover, the steadycam represented ‘flotation’ in such that the flotation of the camera represented the demon, ghoul etc or in the case of Halloween, Michael as it pursues through the landscape its unsuspecting victims.
Now, with the introduction of semiotics to cinema in the 60’s by Metz, can we observe the steadycam shots of Kubrick et al (long takes limtied editing) within the parameters of linguistics? . Is the long take- steadycam just like a paragraph in a book? How would you think Andre Bazin if he were alive in the 70’s would have thought of the steadycam?