Sleep (1964 film)

Last updated
Sleep
Directed by Andy Warhol
Produced byAndy Warhol
Starring John Giorno
CinematographyAndy Warhol
Edited byAndy Warhol
Release date
  • January 17, 1964 (1964-01-17)
Running time
321 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageSilent

Sleep is a 1964 American avant-garde film by Andy Warhol. Lasting five hours and 21 minutes, it consists of looped footage of John Giorno, Warhol's lover at the time, sleeping. [1]

Contents

The film was one of Warhol's first experiments with filmmaking, and was created as an "anti-film". Warhol would later extend this technique to his eight-hour-long film Empire . [2]

Description

John Giorno shown in extreme close-up in Sleep Andy Warhol - Sleep (1964).jpg
John Giorno shown in extreme close-up in Sleep

Sleep is a silent black-and-white film showing Giorno asleep. It is over five hours long, divided across five reels. Although the lack of action gives the illusion of continuity, the film is spliced together from many shorter shots.

The film's opening shot lasts only four-and-a-half minutes, but it is repeated six times. The rest of the reel uses six unique shots, first shown sequentially, then alternating between the first two, then looping the last four. The second reel uses three repeated shots of Giorno's buttocks and one repeated shot of his head. The third reel of Sleep uses only a single four-and-a-half minute shot of Giorno sleeping on his back, looped for an hour and a half. The fourth reel uses a single four-and-a-half minute close-up of Giorno's head looped for 86 minutes. The final reel has the most variation, with nine unique shots over 49 minutes. It is the only reel in which Warhol uses a fragment of a shot instead of including the shot in its entirety. [3]

Production

Warhol in 1967 Andy Warhol-cropped.jpg
Warhol in 1967

Photography

Throughout mid-1963 Warhol spent weekends at a farmhouse at the Mallett Estate in Lyme, Connecticut, the summer home of gallery owner Eleanor Ward. There, he began shooting footage for Sleep. [4] He used a Bolex 16 mm camera. [5] This limited him to 100-foot (30 m) reels that each lasted three minutes. [6] He spent months trying to learn how to operate the camera effectively. [7] Warhol ultimately shot four hours of footage, although Sleep only uses around 30 minutes of it. [8]

Post-production

Warhol took some of the shots and flipped the film stock such that light from the projector hit the base before the emulsion. [4] Sarah Dalton, who had worked with Warhol on some of his silkscreens, edited the film. [6] He instructed her to omit footage that contained too much motion and "try and make it more the same." To structure the shots in Sleep, Dalton put together storyboards of Giorno's figure. She repeated some of the shots for extended periods of time and assembled the footage. [9] Although the film was shot at 24 frames per second, the standard speed for sound films, it is projected at the slower rate of 16 fps, an older standard for silent films. [10] Warhol put together an ad hoc soundtrack by having a radio play softly from a cinema balcony. However, he discontinued this practice after the first few screenings. [11]

In 1964, La Monte Young provided a loud minimalist drone soundtrack to Sleep when shown as small TV-sized projections at the entrance lobby to the third New York Film Festival held at Lincoln Center. [12]

Release

Sleep premiered on January 17, 1964, presented by film critic Jonas Mekas, at the Gramercy Arts Theater in New York City as a fundraiser for the Film-Makers' Cooperative. Of the nine people who attended the premiere, two left during the first hour. Mekas and fellow critic Archer Winsten were in the audience, as well as Paul Morrissey, a friend of the projectionist Ken Jacobs; Morrissey later became a frequent collaborator with Warhol. [9] When the Cinema Theatre in Los Angeles held a surprise screening of Sleep later in the year, audience members shouted at the screen and threatened to riot. [13]

Images from the film appear in later artworks by Warhol. His 1965 sculpture Large Sleep uses two successive frames from the film, arranged vertically on a sheet of plexiglass. Another plexiglass sculpture uses three successive frames of Sleep, silkscreened in black ink, with a red image silkscreened on the other side. This work is now lost. [14]

Reception

Film Culture voted to award Warhol its Independent Film Award for Sleep, Haircut, Eat , Kiss , and Empire . [15]

Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Warhol's Sleep, Finnish filmmaker Juha Lilja created a remake of the film. [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Warhol</span> American artist, film director, and producer (1928–1987)

Andy Warhol was an American visual artist, film director, producer, and leading figure in the pop art movement. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, advertising, and celebrity culture that flourished by the 1960s, and span a variety of media, including painting, silkscreening, photography, film, and sculpture. Some of his best-known works include the silkscreen paintings Campbell's Soup Cans (1962) and Marilyn Diptych (1962), the experimental films Empire (1964) and Chelsea Girls (1966), and the multimedia events known as the Exploding Plastic Inevitable (1966–67).

Serene Velocity is a 1970 American experimental short film directed by Ernie Gehr. Gehr filmed it in the basement hallway of a Binghamton University academic building, using a static camera position and changing only the focal length of the camera. It is recognized as a key work of structural filmmaking and has been inducted into the U.S. National Film Registry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Morrissey</span> American film director (born 1938)

Paul Morrissey is an American film director, best known for his association with Andy Warhol. He was also director of the first film in which a transgender actress, Holly Woodlawn, starred as a girlfriend of the main character played by Joe Dallesandro in Trash (1970).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonas Mekas</span> Lithuanian-American filmmaker (1922–2019)

Jonas Mekas was a Lithuanian-American filmmaker, poet, and artist who has been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema". Mekas' work has been exhibited in museums and at festivals worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Factory</span> Andy Warhols New York City studio

The Factory was Andy Warhol's studio in New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famed for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities and Warhol's superstars. The original Factory was often referred to as the Silver Factory. In the studio, Warhol's workers would make silkscreens and lithographs under his direction.

<i>Empire</i> (1965 film) 1965 American black-and-white silent art film by Andy Warhol

Empire is a 1965 American black-and-white silent art film by Andy Warhol. When projected according to Warhol's specifications, it consists of eight hours and five minutes of slow motion footage of an unchanging view of New York City's Empire State Building. The film does not have conventional narrative or characters, and largely reduces the experience of cinema to the passing of time. Warhol stated that the purpose of the film was "to see time go by."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Giorno</span> American poet and performance artist (1936–2019)

John Giorno was an American poet and performance artist. He founded the not-for-profit production company Giorno Poetry Systems and organized a number of early multimedia poetry experiments and events. Giorno's creative journey was marked by collaborations, groundbreaking initiatives, and a deep exploration of diverse art forms. He gained prominence through his association with pop art luminary Andy Warhol, sparking a creative partnership that propelled his career to new heights.

Blow Job is a silent film directed by Andy Warhol. It depicts the face of an uncredited DeVeren Bookwalter as he apparently receives fellatio from an unseen partner. While shot at 24 frames per second, Warhol specified that it should be projected at 16 frames per second, slowing it down by a third.

<i>Flesh</i> (1968 film) 1968 film by Paul Morrissey

Flesh is a 1968 American film directed by Paul Morrissey and starring Joe Dallesandro as a hustler working on the streets of New York City. It highlights various Warhol superstars, in addition to being the film debuts of both Jackie Curtis and Candy Darling. Also appearing are Geraldine Smith as Joe's wife and Patti D'Arbanville as her lover.

<i>Blue Movie</i> 1969 film by Andy Warhol

Blue Movie is a 1969 American erotic film written, produced and directed by Andy Warhol. It is the first adult erotic film depicting explicit sex to receive wide theatrical release in the United States, and is regarded as a seminal film in the Golden Age of Porn (1969-1984), which, before the legalization of pornography in Denmark on July 1, 1969, started on June 12, 1969 with the release of Blue Movie at the Elgin Theater, and later, the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre, in New York City. Blue Movie helped inaugurate the "porno chic" phenomenon, in which porn was publicly discussed by celebrities and taken seriously by film critics, in modern American culture, and shortly thereafter, in many other countries throughout the world. According to Warhol, Blue Movie was a major influence in the making of Last Tango in Paris, an internationally controversial erotic drama film starring Marlon Brando and released a few years after Blue Movie was made. Viva and Louis Waldon, playing themselves, starred in Blue Movie.

<i>Lonesome Cowboys</i> 1968 film

Lonesome Cowboys is a 1968 American Western film directed by Andy Warhol and written and produced by Paul Morrissey. The film is a satire of Hollywood Westerns, and was initially screened in November 1968 at the San Francisco International Film Festival, where it won the Best Film Award. On May 5, 1969, it was shown for initial viewings at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre in New York City.

Eat (1964) is a 45-minute underground film created by Andy Warhol and featuring painter Robert Indiana, filmed on Sunday, February 2, 1964, in Indiana's studio. The film was first shown by Jonas Mekas on July 16, 1964, at the Washington Square Gallery at 530 West Broadway.

<i>Chelsea Girls</i> 1965 film by Paul Morrissey, Andy Warhol

Chelsea Girls is a 1966 American experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhol's first major commercial success after a long line of avant-garde art films. It was shot at the Hotel Chelsea and other locations in New York City, and follows the lives of several of the young women living there, and stars many of Warhol's superstars. The film is presented in a split screen, accompanied by alternating soundtracks attached to each scene and an alternation between black-and-white and color photography. The original cut runs at just over three hours long.

<i>Screen Tests</i>

The Screen Tests are a series of short, silent, black-and-white film portraits by Andy Warhol, made between 1964 and 1966, generally showing their subjects from the neck up against plain backdrops. The Screen Tests, of which 472 survive, depict a wide range of figures, many of them part of the mid-1960s downtown New York cultural scene. Under Warhol’s direction, subjects of the Screen Tests attempted to sit motionless for around three minutes while being filmed, with the resulting movies projected in slow motion. The films represent a new kind of portraiture—a slowly moving, nearly still image of a person. Warhol's Screen Tests connect on one hand with the artist's other work in film, which emphasized stillness and duration (for example, Sleep and Empire, and on the other hand with his focus after the mid-1960s on documenting his celebrity milieu in paintings and other works.

<i>Flaming Creatures</i> 1963 American experimental film directed by Jack Smith

Flaming Creatures is a 1963 American experimental film directed by Jack Smith. The film shows performers dressed in elaborate drag for several disconnected scenes, including a lipstick commercial, an orgy, and an earthquake. It premiered April 29, 1963 at the Bleecker Street Cinema in New York City.

Taylor Mead's Ass is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead, consisting entirely of a shot of Mead's buttocks, and filmed at The Factory in 1964.

Four Stars is a 1967 avant-garde film by Andy Warhol, consisting of 25 hours of film. In typical Warhol fashion of the period, each reel of the film is 35 minutes long, or 1200 ft. in length, and is shot in sync-sound.

Imitation of Christ is a film shot and directed by Andy Warhol in 1967.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Rubin</span> American filmmaker

Barbara Rubin (1945–1980) was an American filmmaker and performance artist. She is best known for her landmark 1963 underground film Christmas on Earth.

Normal Love is an experimental film project by American director Jack Smith. It shows the adventures of an ensemble of glamorously dressed monsters. Smith filmed the project in 1963 and began screening the work in pieces in 1964.

References

  1. ↑ Sandra Brennan (2013). "The New York Times". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on 2013-11-17. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  2. ↑ WarholStars entry on Sleep
  3. ↑ Joseph, Branden W. (2005). "The Play of Repetition: Andy Warhol's Sleep". Grey Room . 19: 29–33. doi:10.1162/grey.2005.1.19.22. S2CID   57566636.
  4. 1 2 Angell, Callie (2014). "Batman and Dracula: The Collaborations of Jack Smith and Andy Warhol". Criticism. Wayne State University Press. 56 (2): 159–86. doi:10.13110/criticism.56.2.0159.
  5. ↑ Suárez, Juan A. (2014). "Warhol's 1960s' Films, Amphetamine, and Queer Materiality". Criticism. Wayne State University Press. 56 (3): 627.
  6. 1 2 Schwartz, David (April 10, 2019). "Sleep". Reverse Shot. Museum of the Moving Image . Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  7. ↑ "Andy made me famous". Evening Standard . May 25, 2007. p. 1. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  8. ↑ Ramanathan, Lavanya (April 3, 2008). "'Sleep': Warhol's 5-Hour Fever Dream". The Washington Post . p. C13.
  9. 1 2 Watson, Steven (2003). Factory Made: Warhol and the Sixties. Pantheon Books. pp. 133–134. ISBN   978-0-679-42372-0.
  10. ↑ Camper, Fred (April 27, 2000). "The Lover's Gaze". The Chicago Reader . Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  11. ↑ Reynolds, Ann (2014). "A History of Failure". Criticism. 56 (2): 196. doi:10.13110/criticism.56.2.0187.
  12. ↑ Blake Gopnik, Warhol:  A Life as Art London: Allen Lane. March 5, 2020.  ISBN   978-0-241-00338-1 p. 415
  13. ↑ Mekas, Jonas (July 2, 1964). "Movie Journal". The Village Voice . p. 13.
  14. ↑ "Andy Warhol's rare print, Sleep, on view for the first time at the National Gallery of Canada". ArtDaily. February 27, 2013. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Sixth Independent Film Award". Film Culture . Vol. 33. 1964. p. 1.
  16. ↑ Koska, Paula (January 15, 2015). "Suomalaismiehen alastonvideo valittiin elokuvafestareille" [This Finnish man's nude video was chosen for film festivals]. Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved November 26, 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.