Amateur Movie Making : Aesthetics of the Everyday in New England Film, 1915–1960

"This remarkable collection of essays both documents and brings to life the contributions of amateur filmmakers in the Northeast region." —Anne Goodyear, Co-Director, Bowdoin College Museum of Art A compelling regional and historical study that transforms our understanding of film history, Amateur Movie Making demonstrates how amateur films and home movies stand as testaments to the creative lives of ordinary people, enriching our experience of art and the everyday. Here we encounter the lyrical and visually expressive qualities of films produced in New England between 1915 and 1960 and held in the collections of Northeast Historic Film, a moving image repository and study center that was established to collect, preserve, and interpret the audiovisual record of northern New England. Contributors from diverse backgrounds examine the visual aesthetics of these films while placing them in their social, political, and historical contexts. Each discussion is enhanced by technical notes and the analyses are also juxtaposed with personal reflections by artists who have close connections to particular amateur filmmakers. These reflections reanimate the original private contexts of the home movies before they were recast as objects of study and artifacts of public history. Cover -- AMATEUR MOVIE MAKING -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Accessing Moving Images -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I Locating Contexts: Archive, Material, History, Place -- 1 A Place for Moving Images: Thirty Years of Northeast Historic Film -- 2 The Technologies of Home Movies and Amateur Film -- 3 A Region Apart: Representations of Maine and Northern New England in Personal Film, 1920-1940 -- 4 A Strange Familiarity: Alexander Forbes and the Aesthetics of Amateur Film -- Part II Creative Choices: Recovering Value in Amateur Film -- Reflection 1: The Task at Hand: The Films of Ernest Stillman -- 5 Midway between Secular and Sacred: Consecrating the Home Movie as a Cultural Heritage Object -- 6 "All the Wonderful Possibilities of Motion Pictures": Hiram Percy Maxim and the Aesthetics of Amateur Filmmaking -- 7 Comedic Counterpoise: Landscape and Laughs in the Films of Sidney N. Shurcliff -- Part III Everyday Lives: Home and Work in Amateur Film -- Reflection 2: Perspectives on the Home Movies of Charles Norman Shay, Penobscot Elder -- 8 Not-at-Home Movies -- 9 The Boss's Film: Expert Amateurs and Industrial Culture -- Part IV Families: Private and Public -- Reflection 3: "The Ring of Time" in the E.B. White Home Movies -- 10 Opening the Can: Home Movies in the Public Sphere -- 11 Layers of Vision in Amateur Film -- Selected Bibliography -- Index Cover AMATEUR MOVIE MAKING Title Copyright Contents Accessing Moving Images Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction Part I Locating Contexts: Archive, Material, History, Place 1 A Place for Moving Images: Thirty Years of Northeast Historic Film 2 The Technologies of Home Movies and Amateur Film 3 A Region Apart: Representations of Maine and Northern New England in Personal Film, 1920–1940 4 A Strange Familiarity: Alexander Forbes and the Aesthetics of Amateur Film Part II Creative Choices: Recovering Value in Amateur Film Reflection 1: The Task at Hand: The Films of Ernest Stillman 5 Midway between Secular and Sacred: Consecrating the Home Movie as a Cultural Heritage Object 6 “All the Wonderful Possibilities of Motion Pictures”: Hiram Percy Maxim and the Aesthetics of Amateur Filmmaking 7 Comedic Counterpoise: Landscape and Laughs in the Films of Sidney N. Shurcliff Part III Everyday Lives: Home and Work in Amateur Film Reflection 2: Perspectives on the Home Movies of Charles Norman Shay, Penobscot Elder 8 Not-at-Home Movies 9 The Boss’s Film: Expert Amateurs and Industrial Culture Part IV Families: Private and Public Reflection 3: “The Ring of Time” in the E. B. White Home Movies 10 Opening the Can: Home Movies in the Public Sphere 11 Layers of Vision in Amateur Film Selected Bibliography Index "A compelling regional and historical study that transforms our understanding of film history, 'Amateur Movie Making' demonstrates how amateur films and home movies stand as testaments to the creative lives of ordinary people, enriching our experience of art and the everyday. Here we encounter the lyrical and visually expressive qualities of films produced in New England between 1915 and 1960 and held in the collections of Northeast Historic Film, a moving image repository and study center that was established to collect, preserve, and interpret the audiovisual record of northern New England. Contributors from diverse backgrounds examine the visual aesthetics of these films while placing them in their social, political, and historical contexts. Each discussion is enhanced by technical notes and the analyses are also juxtaposed with personal reflections by artists who have close connections to particular amateur filmmakers. These reflections reanimate the original private contexts of the home movies before they were recast as objects of study and artifacts of public history."--Page 4 de la couverture