A Little Background :
I first noticed that some movies were actually “films” back around 1960 when I saw Seven Samurai (in the then popular truncated version), Forbidden Games, La Strada and The Third Man for the first time. It took me a while to include American movies in what early on I snobbishly felt was a rarefied club, but soon I came to see the art in such popular films as Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon and Gone With the Wind. What did I know – I was just a kid!
Perhaps the most influential of my academic experiences were the courses I took with Alexander Sesonske at U.C.S.B. (He supplied the recent notes for Criterion’s issue of Fellini’s 8 1/2) Sesonske encouraged the comparison of unlike objects, which opened my mind to the study of art, rather than of technique – in so doing, I discovered a greater understanding of how technique is applied in order to manifest the aesthetic experience. Eventually, I began to apply similar criteria to all movies, regardless of their target market. Funnily enough, instead of creating a sure-fire mechanism for disappointment, such a broad application helped me to find something to appreciate even amongst the lamest of offerings.
While the practice of psychotherapy and photography (weddings and portraits) pay the bills, music and film have enriched my spirit for decades. I once composed concert music and got public performances back in the 60s. Since then I have written about music and audio and have published articles in print and on-line.
My take on video, or audio for that matter – about which I feel more competent – is not particularly technical. Rather it is aesthetic, perceptual and strongly influenced by temporal considerations in much the same way as music. I expect to focus not only on the image in absolute terms and relative to the SD edition it "replaces," but how effectively it supports the drama. I hope you will find my musings entertaining and informative, fun, interactive and very much a work in progress.
Leonard Norwitz
LensViews
October 1, 2007
Contact Information:
I live and work in San Jose, California and can be reached by e-mail at: lensviews AT mac DOT com
(Sorry for the indirect address spelling, but we must do what we can to prevent spamming.)
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