Silly Billy
Title
Silly Billy
Description
This is my experimental 1995 film "Silly Billy" starring my infant son, fireworks and various musicians including Grant Buffett, Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet and various bicycle courier bands.
Creator
Nicholas Kovats
Source
Nicholas Kovats
https://vimeo.com/25466819
https://vimeo.com/25466819
Date
1993-1994
Contributor
Nicholas Kovats
Rights
Terminal Beach Productions - Nicholas Kovats
Format
MP4
Type
film
Coverage
Ontario Place, Sneaky Dee's
Context
The footage was shot around Toronto between 1991-1993. I have retained the original 1995 edit reflecting my then obsessions with film grain, macro body parts, explosive color and time exposure. My 2010 edit involved a switch of two musical pieces.
I believe that's Sparky providing vocals wearing his then famous long-johns with either Lindsay or Gar on drums. I actually projected this one evening live at Bread Spreads long ago to a "slightly" inebriated crowd. Quite surreal.
Technical:
I utilized the German Leicina (Leica) Special Super 8 camera with the superb optics of the Schnieder 10mm Cinegon Macro.
The combination of manual time exposure ( 3 seconds per frame) in conjunction with interval of 0.5 seconds between frames produced what I called the Francis Bacon Screaming Pope effect. I shot close to 300-500 frames that evening of various musicians at Sneaky Dee's long ago. The organic "fluid-ness" was produced by the long exposures which froze people in approximately three positions interconnected my "streaks" in each frame. The same technique was utilized regarding the fireworks but in glorious Kodachrome. My infant son was a labour of love captured by handheld macro shots.
The slow motion effect was achieved by setting the transfer playback at approximately 5 frames per second in the film/digital transfer bay.
I believe that's Sparky providing vocals wearing his then famous long-johns with either Lindsay or Gar on drums. I actually projected this one evening live at Bread Spreads long ago to a "slightly" inebriated crowd. Quite surreal.
Technical:
I utilized the German Leicina (Leica) Special Super 8 camera with the superb optics of the Schnieder 10mm Cinegon Macro.
The combination of manual time exposure ( 3 seconds per frame) in conjunction with interval of 0.5 seconds between frames produced what I called the Francis Bacon Screaming Pope effect. I shot close to 300-500 frames that evening of various musicians at Sneaky Dee's long ago. The organic "fluid-ness" was produced by the long exposures which froze people in approximately three positions interconnected my "streaks" in each frame. The same technique was utilized regarding the fireworks but in glorious Kodachrome. My infant son was a labour of love captured by handheld macro shots.
The slow motion effect was achieved by setting the transfer playback at approximately 5 frames per second in the film/digital transfer bay.
Original Format
Super 8 film; Plus-X, Tri-X, Kodachrome 40
Duration
4:08
Player
Files
Citation
Nicholas Kovats, “Silly Billy,” Alternative Toronto, accessed December 22, 2024, https://www.alternativetoronto.ca/archive/items/show/82.