Docents give Tours in English at LUMU

I recently went to the Ludwig Museum to see the latest group of graduating docents (that is a knowledgeable tour guide) who had just finished a year's training. They gave a wonderful little tour (their first!) to a small group of visitors. I like to support them because I think this service is just wonderful. Linda Kondor is the head of the docent programme and she has dedicated herself to making this thing happen.

But I am very surprised that more people don't make the best of this. According to Linda, there are so few visitors who take advantage of this incredible opportunity. Not only is it an opportunity to see the permanent collection of contemporary art (fantastic!) but also, gain some insight into the pieces. Contemporary art is difficult to understand anyway, and this is a great way to see the art in a context -- led by an expert. And of the thousands of native English speakers and 10s of thousands of English speaking Hungarians, I would think that Linda would have to turn away the crowds.

So, in an effort to begin a grass roots campaign, I suggest to you... take the LUMU docent tour. It is free. The tours take place on Wednesdays evenings at 6pm. Tell your friends about it. Tell a tourist about it. They will not regret it! The collection is great and fun. The personal tour is informative and interactive. You cannot go wrong.

Chaplin as a Director

I just finished watching a video about Charlie Chaplin and the background efforts of the great director. The relatively old video from Thames video show only archival footage with the focus (if not the hypothosis!) of the 5 part series was to see how creative Chaplin was on the set... always funny, never angry and really an 'out of the box' thinker. This is especially evident in the first part of the series where he worked 6 films in 3 years for Mutual Pictures. He was given a large sum of money (over 750,000USD in 1916) to make these pictures. An incredible amount of money and some incredible work.

However, the reason I bring this up on the blog is the fact that he didn't work from a script. He allowed an initial premise to guide his thoughts and then moved through hundreds of 'slates' to create his narrative. NO SCRIPT seemed like it took film to a process which was more like a painter experimenting with a canvas. A shape turns to a flower, which ends up a figure....

In our class we spend some time noting the differences between the film director and the painter... and process usually was gone by a group of people, utilized machines, elongated the narrative, etc. But perhaps this was a time when they were the most similar. This was the time when process was sheer creativity. Making it up as he went along.

Today's' film doesn't have this luxury.

But why don't film makers return to this idea.. now that Video is Cheap... and friends can act... and you don't need too many lights. Think about this... and let me know. Is this process happening? Can you give examples of this process taking place today? Should we use this process in the creation of films? Perhaps Central Europe can start a new PROCESS movement for film making.... perhaps they already have.