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PROTECTNG, SHARING OLD FILMS IS BROOKSIDE RESIDENT
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Sondi Sepenuk
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ONE OF Randy Haberkamp’s favorite movies stars Mary Pickford in
The Trick that Failed. It was one of her first films from 1909
If you live in Los Angeles, there’s a good chance that you love film. And if you love film, there’s also a good chance that you love silent and old black and white films. One Los Angeles resident in particular doesn’t just love these old films, it’s his mission to protect, preserve and share them with the world. They are his passion, his hobby and (lucky for him) his career.
His name is Randy Haberkamp and he’s one of your neighbors—a longtime Brookside resident. He is currently the director of educational programs and special projects at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the director of The Silent Society, which is part of Hollywood Heritage, Inc. According to its website, The Silent Society is “dedicated to preserving and presenting the heritage of Hollywood’s silent film past.”
“I love that period of raw discovery in filmmaking—the 1920s, the style, culture, imagery, the art deco look—really wonderful things,” smiles Randy.
Due to a troubling lack of venues and organized events to view these old treasures, Randy established The Silent Society back in 1986 when he was fresh out of UCLA Film School.
“With proper equipment, proper musical accompaniment and a proper live audience, there’s so much more power when these films are viewed as they were meant to be seen… there’s a sense of community in the reaction…. If you really study the films, you will see that they are specifically timed for a live audience reaction… I’m trying to respect that art,” states Randy.
Randy grew up in Knoxville, Ohio and gained an early love for film. His father was confined to a wheelchair, so his family would pack up the car and head over to the drive-in theatre. Those larger-than-life screens gave Randy his first glimpse of the passion that would guide his life. Over the years, his attention narrowed to the silent films he would view at film festivals and on PBS. As a child, Randy used an 8mm film projector to show silent films to neighborhood friends in a basement theatre he created, complete with a five-cent entry fee and popcorn.
He finds that the younger generation is more often open to the old films. “Younger kids are really tuned into behavior. They love the falling down, slapstick stuff. They don’t need words all the time to communicate, because most of their communication is non-verbal, too.”
Randy believes that for anyone studying film, it’s imperative that they learn from these older films. “In film school, the way to learn to make a film is to know how silent films work—the more you can communicate visually, the better the film will be.” Through his own work with AMPAS and The Silent Society, Randy has been able to watch the evolution of the film industry’s use of close-ups, animation, camera techniques, copyright laws and distribution change through the years.
“In the beginning, if you showed someone climbing through a window from outside and then cut to the interior, you would see him climb through the window again. [The film makers] didn’t trust the audience to understand that the same person had just climbed inside. Now, of course, they don’t do that. That type of film evolution is one of my favorite things.”
One of the most fascinating aspects of these old films is how relevant they still are today. “There are many films made during the Depression that said the same things then that we are now saying today. I find it comforting and reassuring that they were going through the same things and they survived, so we will, too.”
On Mon., Nov. 30 and Tues., Dec. 1, AMPAS will be holding its annual “A Century Ago” film event at the Linwood Dunn Theater, 1313 N. Vine St., featuring films of 1909, including those of Mary Pickford.
Visit www.oscars.org/events//thalberg.html. For information on The Silent Society film screenings throughout the year, visit Hollywoodheritage.org.
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