Panomorphia in Super 8

Two years ago, while going through some boxes I had in storage, I came across an unfinished film I had made in the late 70s called The Fair. It was a project I had started during my summer break from film school, and ended up being some of the last footage I ever shot in Super 8. It was filmed at The Fair in The Square, a community summer event in University City, where I grew up. I transferred the film to video and uploaded it to Youtube in 2010. As I wrote in my original blog post, I was in full experimental film student mode when I made the movie, shooting all the footage in extreme closeup. What comes across, at best, is a mood piece for a dreamy summer day. In 2010 the music I chose for The Fair was a track I was working on called, “Panomorphia”, which has since become the title cut of my new CD. I’ve remastered and reposted the film here, with the updated CD soundtrack, which now includes Michael Manring on bass and Celso Alberti on drums. Enjoy the dream, --CW

University City High School Arts | 1975 Super 8 Film

They say you can never go home again.  That’s unless you book a round trip ticket.  It took me almost three decades to look back at the films I did during the 10 years between junior high and through college.  So, recently, inspired by the renewed interest of the Super 8 format, I opened the old boxes and began transferring my Super 8 films to DVD.  One of movies was this one, “The High School of The Arts” which I made at University City High School in St. Louis 1975.  This film was my first attempt at a documentary.  Three art teachers were profiled including, Tom Lawless (sculpture), Carol Ray (ceramics) and Sherry Londe (modern dance).  All three were very popular and highly regarded educators, as I’m sure my classmates would agree.  They were also among my first creative mentors, who encouraged me and my high school movie geek aspirations.

I recorded interviews with each teacher for the film, asking about their work and careers.  Their comments were edited and mixed over the classroom footage I shot.  Sorry to say, much of the soundtrack has crumbled away in storage.  The first interview, featuring the late-great Tom Lawless sounds clear (Who could forget THAT voice!), but unfortunately much of the audio for Carol Ray and Sherry Londe didn’t survive.  I may have the source interview tape in storage somewhere, and if I come across it, I’ll post it.  In any case, I thought my homies would like to see this.