SONATA was made without camera or tape recorder by handpainting thousands of images onto 16mm clear leader. I had been a painter and musician up to this time. I found the size of my paintings becoming smaller and smaller .... It was a logical and natural step for me to proceed to drawing images directly onto 16mm clear leader. ... It wasn't long before I learned McLaren's method of painting sounds directly on the soundtrack. ... I worked on SONATA like a man possessed, determined to make a film, and a sound film, with no funds to do so. SONATA was made for three dollars worth of clear movie film and five bottles of ink, for a total production cost of nine dollars, plus seven months of my life: fifty hours per week for seven months - sixteen thousand individual frames, each one painted with love and care. ... My overall aesthetic purpose was to shape and compress the tremendous kinetic energy of the handpainted image into a harmonious unit, which could be enjoyed on many levels and with many screenings.
Collection: Museum of Modern Art, NY
1968, 16mm, hand-painted color/so, 11m, $30
Black and white with some color hand-applied to each print, hand-painted image, hand-painted sound.
I think every student of film should, early in his studies, make a film such as SOUNDTRACK; namely, a film in which sound and image are conceived together as a unit and painted one frame at a time. The advantages for students of handpainting sound and image are threefold: 1. the expense involved is minimal. 2. there is no time lag between the conception of an idea and its realization and screening (no lab wait, etc.) 3. ideas can be expanded, modified and changed immediately and directly after viewing. A basic feel for audio-visual space-timing and the grammar of the frame can be learned in this way. ... Articles and illustrations which describe the tools and techniques used in making SOUNDTRACK can be found in Source magazine (issue no.7) and Film Culture magazine (issue no. 48-49).
Awards: Monterey Film Festival, 1969; Fourth Annual Independent Filmmakers' Competition, 1969.
Collection: Museum of Modern Art, NY
1969, 16mm, b&w/color/so, $25
Handmade sound and image; light, colorful, humorous.
Collection: Museum of Modern Art, NY
1970, 16mm, color/so, 4.5m, $20
In SIX LOOP-PAINTINGS, as in SOUNDTRACK, sound and image are hand applied directly on to 16mm clear leader. The image at a given instant is repeated both on the image track and soundtrack, so that the viewer is visualizing the image he is hearing. However, unlike SOUNDTRACK, the images and sounds in SIX LOOP-PAINTINGS are not painted; they are made by cutting to size and pasting acetate self-adhesive patterns (Micotape and Zipatone) directly onto the clear film. Each pattern yields a distinct sound. Patterns of lines yield square wave sounds; patterns of dots yield sine wave sounds; patterns of diamonds yield sawtooth wave sounds, etc. The finer the pattern, the higher pitched the tone. The further spaced the pattern, the deeper the tone .... I especially recommend SIX LOOP-PAINTINGS to those interested in the texture of sound and image, and in the ways sound and image can relate to each other.
Exhibition: KING-TV, Seattle; on tour with the American Institute of the Arts' New American Filmmakers Series.
1970, 16mm, color/so, 11m, $35
The "theme," a seven-second loop-painting (actually closer to eight), is repeated seven times in succession before the title appears. Then, using an optical printer, the variations start. After each variation the original theme is repeated once. The variations involve step-printing, repetitions and optical manipulations. They very closely follow the original theme.
1970, 16mm, b&w/si, 6m, $20
Note: All of the above films may be rented for $110.
This film is my bridge from filmpainting to live-action filmmaking. A grant from a former teacher, through the National Counsel of Churches, enabled me to purchase camera, tape recorder, and editing equipment. DAYLIGHT combines filmpainting and live-action techniques. It took two years to make and starts with the words: "And so the journey ends." Although some people at the time called it a very moving film, I haven't looked at it in 20 years.
1972, 16mm, color/so, 22m, $65
A "didactic" and "educational film" (distributed by Grove Press until they went out of the film business), FILM GRAPHICS uses clips from Buñuel and Eisenstein, along with animated overlay, to illustrate basic principles of classic film editing. Good for film editing and film study classes. Made with Paul Aratow, who went on to produce Sheena Queen of the Jungle.
Award: CINE Golden Eagle
1972, 16mm, color/so, 15m, $45
"In BROKEN SOLDIERS Spinello tells the story of a young boy who receives a toy soldier from his brother, just returning home from the battlefield in World War II. When the toy breaks, the boy puts it into a paper boat and floats it down the river. The boat docks, and as the soldier leaves the boat to meet a company of compatriots the fantasy begins: a battle with rough, tough, icky garden snails. The soldiers are beautiful: a bugler, a messenger, a gunner cleaning his weapon, a cook with his hand in a pot. The snails mount an offensive on the fort. It's a scene you may have missed in Patton, but can see tonight on PBS." - David Kleinberg, San Francisco Examiner and Chronicle
1973, 16mm, color/so, 22m, $65
Made with Shanti Project of San Francisco, with a grant from the US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
An in-depth sharing of the counselling process between psychologist Dr. Charles Garfield and three women who are dying of cancer.
"Beautifully and sensitively done. Very beneficial to our training program." - Barb Taruscio,
Bon Secours Hospital, Grosse Point, Michigan
1976, 16mm, color/so, 52m, $135
Neil (Barry Spinello) turns to the camera and says: "Film everything for the next 24 hours, 'cause I've come to a strong, positive decision - namely, to commit suicide." We then see the last 24 hours of Neil's life: his mother rushed in from NY; an ex-girlfriend; a current girlfriend; a former film professor. We see Neil direct the film from inside the film, and only learn that it is a total fiction as the final credits roll.
"For all its excesses ... the film works. It keeps you not only enthralled for an hour, but also entirely involved. Appalled, fearful, saddened, horrified, one finds it impossible not to want to intervene, to interject one's own sensitivity and humanity into the process and guide it to a different finale. RUSHES is an excellent film for a preliminary to a discussion on suicide." - Ruth Backes, "The Filmshelf," New England Journal of Human Services
"RUSHES is the first film that I've seen that incorporates natural, non-manipulated discourse with exposure of its own means ... which force us to believe in it .... [It is] not only aesthetically pleasing, but eminently useful for students of film." - Professor Jeanne Dillon, Brown University
1979, 16mm, b&w/so, 55m, $135
Executive Producer: Nickolai Tehin
"Makes Testament look like Singing in the Rain." - Tom Luddy
The documented story of an American family in tragedy. Extremely sad, vulnerable, and moving - maybe more so than a film should be.
Awards: Academy Award Nominating Committee Certificate of Special Merit; Blue Ribbon, American Film Festival; CINE Golden Eagle.
Exhibition: Telluride Film Festival; portions screened on CBS National News.
1983, 16mm, color/so, 44m, $130