RR film | |
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Directed by | James Benning |
Produced by | James Benning |
Starring | RoadRailer [1] |
Cinematography | James Benning |
Edited by | James Benning |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 min |
Countries |
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Language | English |
RR (a.k.a. Railroad) is a 2007 American experimental documentary feature by James Benning. [2]
Shot in 16 mm film, as most of Benning's films are, RR is another in Benning's series of American experimental landscape films; this one focusing on trains and their surroundings. [3] In Railroad, Benning explores themes of American consumerism and overconsumption in what Benning calls a "collaboration" with the trains themselves. [4]
The film is an exercise in minimalist restraint for it is basically a series of static shots of trains. [5] There is an empty frame, the train enters, then it passes and leaves. The obsessive gaze of Benning's fixed static frame causes the viewer to wait and watch, obsessing, like train fanatic Benning does, on the imagery of the locomotive and the exploration of the random colors of its cars, the machinery and the various American landscapes the trains are surrounded by. [4]
In photography, filmmaking and video production, a wide shot is a shot that typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. These are typically shot now using wide-angle lenses. However, due to sheer distance, establishing shots and extremely wide shots can use almost any camera type.
The Great Train Robbery is a 1903 American silent film made by Edwin S. Porter for the Edison Manufacturing Company. It follows a gang of outlaws who hold up and rob a steam locomotive at a station in the American West, flee across mountainous terrain, and are finally defeated by a posse of locals. The short film draws on many sources, including a robust existing tradition of Western films, recent European innovations in film technique, the play of the same name by Scott Marble, the popularity of train-themed films, and possibly real-life incidents involving outlaws such as Butch Cassidy.
How the West Was Won is a 1962 American epic Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, John Ford and George Marshall, produced by Bernard Smith, written by James R. Webb, and narrated by Spencer Tracy. Originally filmed in true three-lens Cinerama with the according three-panel panorama projected onto an enormous curved screen, the film features an ensemble cast formed by many cinema icons and newcomers, including Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb, Henry Fonda, Carolyn Jones, Karl Malden, Gregory Peck, George Peppard, Robert Preston, Debbie Reynolds, James Stewart, Eli Wallach, John Wayne and Richard Widmark. The supporting cast features Brigid Bazlen, Walter Brennan, David Brian, Ken Curtis, Andy Devine, Jack Lambert, Raymond Massey as Abraham Lincoln, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Morgan as Ulysses S. Grant, Thelma Ritter, Mickey Shaughnessy, Harry Dean Stanton, Russ Tamblyn and Lee Van Cleef.
Trainspotting is a 1996 British black comedy-drama film directed by Danny Boyle and starring Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Robert Carlyle, and Kelly Macdonald in her film debut. Based on the 1993 novel of the same title by Irvine Welsh, the film was released in the United Kingdom on 23 February 1996.
Daniel Francis Boyle is an English director and producer. He is known for his work on films including Shallow Grave, Trainspotting and its sequel T2 Trainspotting, The Beach, 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Steve Jobs, and Yesterday.
RR, Rr or rr may refer to:
James Benning is an American independent filmmaker and educator. Over the course of his 40-year career Benning has made over twenty-five feature-length films that have shown in many different venues across the world. Since 1987, he has taught at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). He is known as a minimalist filmmaker.
A railfan, rail buff or train buff, railway enthusiast,railway buff or trainspotter, or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems.
Experimental film or avant-garde cinema is a mode of filmmaking that rigorously re-evaluates cinematic conventions and explores non-narrative forms or alternatives to traditional narratives or methods of working. Many experimental films, particularly early ones, relate to arts in other disciplines: painting, dance, literature and poetry, or arise from research and development of new technical resources.
In filmmaking and photography, the Dutch angle, also known as Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle, is a type of camera shot which involves setting the camera at an angle so that the shot is composed with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame, or so that the horizon line of the shot is not parallel with the bottom of the frame. This produces a viewpoint akin to tilting one's head to the side. In cinematography, the Dutch angle is one of many cinematic techniques often used to portray psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. The Dutch angle is strongly associated with German expressionist cinema, which employed it extensively.
Sabri Kaliç is a Turkish film director, experimental filmmaker, writer and translator.
In film and video, a freeze frame is when a single frame of content shows repeatedly on the screen—"freezing" the action. This can be done in the content itself, by printing or recording multiple copies of the same source frame. This produces a static shot that resembles a still photograph.
*Corpus Callosum is a 2002 experimental Canadian film directed by Michael Snow. The title is a reference to the part of the brain which was once thought to have been home to the human soul, and which scientifically passes messages between the two hemispheres. The Corpus Callosum of the film refers to the mysterious space between illusion and reality. It won the Independent/Experimental Film and Video Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. Corpus Callosum is said to be a "digital self-appraisal of [Snow's] work", showcasing his passion for visual manipulations through editing. Throughout the film, Snow's voice can be heard as he directs the film, adding to the break in the fourth wall which the film attempts to create.
Scotland has produced many films, directors and actors.
Extreme Trains is a television program on The History Channel that describes the daily operations of the railroads in the United States of America, from coal trains to passenger trains and famous routes. It is hosted by Matt Bown, a train conductor for Pan Am Railways in Maine, whose interest is railways and the technology of them. In the show Matt is living his lifelong dream.
Slow cinema is a genre of art cinema characterised by a style that is minimalist, observational, and with little or no narrative, and which typically emphasizes long takes. It is sometimes called "contemplative cinema".
T2 Trainspotting is a 2017 British black comedy drama film, directed by Danny Boyle and written by John Hodge. Set in and around Edinburgh, Scotland, it is based on characters created by Irvine Welsh in his 1993 novel Trainspotting and its 2002 follow-up Porno. A sequel to Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, T2 stars the original ensemble cast, including leads Ewan McGregor, Ewen Bremner, Jonny Lee Miller, and Robert Carlyle, with Shirley Henderson, James Cosmo, and Kelly Macdonald. The film features a new character, Veronika, played by Anjela Nedyalkova, and includes clips, music, and archive sound from the first film.
13 Lakes is a 2004 American independent non-narrative experimental film by independent filmmaker James Benning. Consisting of 13 ten-minute-long static shots of different lakes in the United States, 13 Lakes is an instance of slow cinema, placing emphasis on introspection and contemplation. Shot on 16 mm film, 13 Lakes had its world premiere at the Vienna International Film Festival on October 20, 2004. Due to the experimental nature of the film, it did not receive a theatrical release, but has been distributed online by Canyon Cinema. 13 Lakes received positive reviews, with particular praise directed towards its ambience, cinematography and Benning's direction. In 2014, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
Fog Line is a 1970 short silent experimental film directed by Larry Gottheim. It shows a rural landscape with slowly dissipating fog.
Deseret is a 1995 experimental documentary film written and directed by James Benning and narrated by Fred Gardner. It chronicles the history of Utah from 1852 to 1992 by having the narrator read 93 news stories from The New York Times in chronological order over static shots of Utah. The title refers to the original proposed name for the state of Utah, the Jaredite word for "honeybee" in the Book of Mormon. The film was shown at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, receiving critical acclaim.