> This is off-topic is a little off topic, but only a little.
>
> In "Experimental Cinema", by David Curtis, I found out that Man Ray
> made animated "Rayographs".
>
>
> Rather than filming anything, as in a photogram, he placed objects
> directly on the film itself, exposed it to light, and then HAND
> developed it. But since he did this with film, he could play a
> photogram movie.
>
> In the films "Le Retour a la Raison" and "Emak Bakia", Man Ray uses, in
> part, this method.
>
>
> Questions:
>
>
> Also, does anyone know WHAT move film I would need and HOW I could go
> about hand developing it? Does anyone know where I might find such film?
>
> If not, does anyone know of a source of information (book, website,
> e-list) where I might find this technical information?
>
> Feel free to contact me off list if you like.
>
Man Ray worked with 35mm film in some of his photograms on photographic
paper (there is a little about this in my Man Ray feature on
http://photography.about.com .) If Kodak Fine Grain release is still
available this would be a suitable if you wanted to try working with film.
It is(or was) a fairly slow blue-sensitive black and white film on a clear
base designed for contact printing a negative film to make copies for
projection.
Movie format is 'half-frame' about 24x18mm. Normal 35mm dev tanks will
only take a length of film with about 80 frames on it - enough for only
about 3 seconds. However as it is blue sensitive you could actually
develop longer strips with the film not on a spiral in a bucket of
developer using a red safelight.
Exposing the film would actually be tricker, as you would probably want to
get fairly similar. Most of the experimental stuff I've seen has actually
been drawn or scratched onto clear (or fogged) fixed film - we used to get
students to do this years ago on free scrap material from the studios.
Peter Marshall
Photography guide at About.com http://photography.about.com/
email: photography.guide@about.com
_________________________________________________________________
London's Industrial Heritage: http://www.cix.co.uk/~petermarshall/
The Buildings of London etc: http://www.spelthorne.ac.uk/pm/default.htm
Also on Fixing Shadows: http://www.people.virginia.edu/~ds8s
and elsewhere......
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