Page 34 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #1

34 FILMMAKER: HILARY HARRIS (1929-1999)

him to construct a frame rate control, Harris all clanking and groaning in one symphonic
created a programmable tripod head for tilt masterpiece.
and panning, then devised a programmable
zoom mechanism. This, well before comput- The challenge Harris saw in documentary
ers or the time controls now built into our filmmaking is the “problem of filmic struc-
current video/film technology. The innovative ture—finding the form, which naturally grows
engineering, though brilliant, was in service out of visual material.” He felt that the story
to his artistic journey to the soul of the city. could not be scripted, for it emerges in the ed-
iting room from the hours of footage collected.
ARRIS ALSO SCREENED SEAWARDS
the Great Ships (an Academy Award Harris’s 1958 film, Highway, offers viewers
H winner in 1962) at West Nyack using the exuberance and thrill of the open road:
the same technique of “quick juxtaposition the sheer vitality of living behind the wheel
in time and space.” Documenting the ship- of a car. In experiencing 9 Variations on a
building industry on the River Clyde in Dance Theme (1966), we are privileged to get
Scotland, Harris moved from the grand, close to a dancer who is contemplatively alone
massive scale of ship hulls launching from in a studio, and we marvel at the grace and
dry dock into soaring waves to intimate, suppleness of her movements.
close shots of the craftsmanship of single
laborers in close quarters. N LOCATION, THE DOCUMENTARY
filmmaker needs to be open to the mo-
Seawards the Great Ships is a thrilling evoca- O ment—to follow the emotional leads
tion of human design and immense organiza- with the camera and not to over-analyze.
tional magnitude while beautifully balancing In the editing room, the filmmaker needs Don’t miss it fumbling for your gear.
the dignity and art of the individual work- to repeat this process through emersion in
ers whose accumulated efforts produced the the footage, and then weave the emotional
huge vessels. The film is a ballet of cranes, threads into a whole: A lyrical tapestry, the
rigging, chains, plates, and welder’s torches visual poetry we call film.

Experience the Films of Hilary Harris

Available on DVD, The Films of Hilary Harris (2007) contains an interview

with Harris, plus several of his visionary works including Longhorn (1951),
Highway (1958), 9 Variations (1966), and Organism (1975). Spanning
three decades of the innovative Oscar-winning filmmaker’s career, this col-

lection of fully-restored films offers a unique and intimate view of the world
by challenging the viewer to shift their perception and see the ethereal in the
landscape of everyday life that surrounds us.

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