i thought i would try and i tried for a while but i got nowhereand summoning the will to try again from there was not appealingso i just went back for more 118 green street
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 June 2013 14:11 (eleven years ago) link
i wonder what kind of condition something like that would be in. would the people at cpl (for instance) even know what to do with them?
― clouds, Thursday, 6 June 2013 14:21 (eleven years ago) link
yeah i dunno?! for some reason, i imagine that most of this is sitting in someone's basement somewhere because they went to a library book sale the precise year that the library got rid of all of the filmstrips. because it seemed like they might be interesting to watch someday, they went home and then no one ever saw them again.
i hope that's not the case, but it's the fate i've dreamt up for poor ken middleham's legacy based on the general lack of interest (with internet evidence, at least) in preserving his work thus illustrated itt. i wonder if maybe his family also has copies. i bet they do.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 June 2013 14:32 (eleven years ago) link
i hope so, at least.
― free your spirit pig (La Lechera), Thursday, 6 June 2013 14:33 (eleven years ago) link
I could not summon any more energy to find any more of Ken Middleham's work than the stuff I've already compiled here, but I still think about it and wish I could see it. Maybe someday.
― no fomo (La Lechera), Wednesday, 4 September 2013 13:43 (eleven years ago) link
Excellent compilation thread, thank you. Is there a good early photo of him that might be included? there is a small one in the San Bernadino County Sun from 1951 describing his success in the Popular Photography magazine prizes for that year, but you can only view it once and then they seem to require subscribing.
― robh, Friday, 28 February 2014 20:04 (ten years ago) link
this is the only one i could find short of subscribing to a magazine!
http://exilimlab.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/pixel4_4/blog/portadas/filmando_lo_invisible_1_1.jpg
i'm glad you enjoyed this thread! i've been waiting for someone to find it because there's so little info about him and his work is so awesome.
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Saturday, 1 March 2014 00:04 (ten years ago) link
thanks for the portrait suggestion.My particular interest is his 1960 film on the natural history of the black widow: i'm preparing a book on common California spiders with a chapter on the history of illustration, and want to include a paragraph on Ken Middleham and a photo(s). Music sound track aside, his film is easily the equal of modern spider natural history films, so it seems to have been well ahead of its time. Disney's1953 Living Desert has some quite good tarantula spider/wasp footage, not as good but part of the evolution to Mr. Middleham's work. Award winning Microcosmos 1996 has some of the same footage as KM, made much later and no better imo.Do you know if there were other time lapse cinematographers at that time, or was his work there also new?I will keep looking for a good earlier photo portrait and let you know if i find anything. Have you thought of transferring your work to Wikipedia for more hits and maybe more feedback?
― robh, Saturday, 1 March 2014 17:01 (ten years ago) link
i found the film score for phase iv a few months ago on a blog. It's by Brian Gascoigne who would later be Scott Walker's musical partner in crime for his brain-frying Tilt etc phase. Gascoigne apparently intended to release a Phase iv OST LP but it never happened.
So yeah, the long-awaited Scott Walker-Middleham-Saul Bass connection...
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 1 March 2014 17:15 (ten years ago) link
And you didn't tell me?! I'm appalled! The music in that movie was v good iirc. Crazy connection too!!
robh - Oh wow, that's great! I love the black widow film so much. I've dreamt of projecting it on a wall while making music of some kind, but this thread is as far as I've gotten with that. His work was definitely ahead of its time. One of the reasons I think it's appealing is that we have seen his footage in so many different places -- in the cinema, in the classroom, on tv -- and it's familiar but difficult to place. And no one seems to know the name of Ken Middleham, so it really does please me that someone (you) must have googled and found this thread! If you can get your hands on any of the educational films that I couldn't find, I would love to see them!!
I've never made a wikipedia entry for anyone successfully (tried to make one for a published author/filmmaker and was rejected!) but I agree that he deserves his own entry. As for this Do you know if there were other time lapse cinematographers at that time, or was his work there also new? I have no idea -- I think I started this thread after seeing Phase IV and was like WHO IS THIS GUY and pursued it for as long as I could before it got in the way of other things I had to do. If there are others, I'd sure like to know about them!
Your book sounds great too! Is this something you're doing for work or art or ?
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Saturday, 1 March 2014 17:19 (ten years ago) link
that's how out of touch I've been-- I told you it was bad!
have made amends just now -- check yr inbox...
― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Saturday, 1 March 2014 17:34 (ten years ago) link
haha, ok :)
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Saturday, 1 March 2014 17:39 (ten years ago) link
LL - book: preparing it in my own time and will probably self publish, though it will be a year or 2 yet.Sent an email to The Nature Box who host the widow film to ask if they can access some of the KM's other nature films at Library of congress, will post if anything new turns up.
― robh, Monday, 3 March 2014 01:58 (ten years ago) link
Is this insect metamorphosis footage from an old filmstrip? I wonder if it's KM's?! http://www.dnatube.com/video/6099/All-About-Insect-Metamorphosis
― we slowly invented brains (La Lechera), Friday, 21 March 2014 16:03 (ten years ago) link
my google alert for KM produced fruit today, but this was it :(
It looks like we don't have any Biography for Ken Middleham yet.
Be the first to contribute! Just click the "Edit page" button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the Biography submission guide .
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0585453/bio?ref_=nmbio_ql_1
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Wednesday, 20 August 2014 13:52 (ten years ago) link
Goddammit. I want my toad action
― before you die you see the rink (Jon Lewis), Wednesday, 20 August 2014 18:26 (ten years ago) link
google alert has produced fruit
:-/
http://parallax-view.org/2014/09/28/review-bug/
The insect sequences are the work of Ken Middleham, since The Hellstrom Chronicle the dean of insect cinematography; but Bug does not do him proud. In fact, Bug is about the only film I can recall seeing that was not redeemed by a single interesting shot, cut, line, or idea.[
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 23:12 (nine years ago) link
WE LIVE
― Milton Parker, Wednesday, 1 October 2014 05:59 (nine years ago) link
I thought it was cool when the cockroaches spelled out Parmiter. Some credit for that pls!
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Wednesday, 1 October 2014 13:26 (nine years ago) link
heard an interview with Steven Kutcher, "Hollywood bug wrangler" and there was no mention of Ken Middleham or his work :(they even talked about ants
― cross over the mushroom circle (La Lechera), Saturday, 18 October 2014 13:34 (nine years ago) link
GOOGLE ALERT NEWS:
Ken Middleham's grandkid has been going through his stuff! And s/he found a bunch of cooooooool old movie posters!! http://imgur.com/a/G09FVhttps://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/3dfp4v/my_grandfather_ken_middleham_was_a/
Wow. I'm wondering what else is in Ken Middleham's old stuff.
― La Lechera, Thursday, 16 July 2015 13:21 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/TD47DRg.jpg
― La Lechera, Thursday, 16 July 2015 13:31 (nine years ago) link
http://i.imgur.com/M59Y0O1.jpg
― La Lechera, Thursday, 16 July 2015 13:32 (nine years ago) link
1. Check your car2. Check your neck3. Check your hair4. Check your bed
― La Lechera, Thursday, 16 July 2015 13:33 (nine years ago) link
Is that damnation alley? Cool!
Btw, LaLaLand let it slip that they will be releasing a CD of the Phase IV film score. I was bummed that the reissue from waxworks was vinyl only so yay
― demonic mnevice (Jon Lewis), Thursday, 16 July 2015 16:01 (nine years ago) link
Yeah i forgot to label themthere was one for Phase IV too but it was the same one i think i already posted
― La Lechera, Thursday, 16 July 2015 16:04 (nine years ago) link
Time lapse nature photography and/or mycology enthusiasts should definitely seek out The Creeping Garden, a documentary about the artistic, scientific, computing, and social sides of slime mo(u)ld. I saw it last night and it was GREEEEAT
trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyQqRBJngkY
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Friday, 4 December 2015 15:08 (eight years ago) link
soundtrack by Jim O'Rourke!
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Friday, 4 December 2015 15:16 (eight years ago) link
That looks neato but the soundtrack would make me claw my ears off.
― If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Friday, 4 December 2015 15:36 (eight years ago) link
So much creepy tension! So much that I would be unbearably agitated. Cool topic though!
― If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Friday, 4 December 2015 15:37 (eight years ago) link
Oh man I loooooooved itThe whole experience was extremely soothing
Some people hate cilantro, to each her own :)
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Friday, 4 December 2015 15:41 (eight years ago) link
The idea of biological computational intelligence--SO FAR OUT, SO NOT THAT FAR AWAY!!! We are living in the science fiction and I want to know more!
― If authoritarianism is Romania's ironing board, then (in orbit), Friday, 4 December 2015 16:31 (eight years ago) link
So ancient. The cinematography was exceptional as well.
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Friday, 4 December 2015 16:34 (eight years ago) link
OMG I want to see this NAOW!!!
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Friday, 4 December 2015 17:16 (eight years ago) link
yeah you will enjoy it. i haven't tried to track down the soundtrack yet but it's at least as effective as A Field in England (although the movie is more traditional in structure)
the people they interview are fascinating, and i also enjoyed the healthy respect for amateur scientists of today and yesterday.
look up the work of heather barnett if you want the art side, and check out the fungarium if you like hidden corners of archives etc http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/collections/fungariumi also learned about the films of percy smith but there doesn't seem to be much of his stuff online and his end was tragic like david munrow :( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._Percy_Smith
in the meantime, the acrobatic fly! (from 1910!)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hlocZhNc0M
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Friday, 4 December 2015 18:32 (eight years ago) link
I got one Christmas present and it was a Hellstrom Chronicle dvd!
― La Lechuza (La Lechera), Sunday, 27 December 2015 15:24 (eight years ago) link
Cool!
Awesome avant garde score by lalo schifrin on that.
Bugs they plot to destroy us all
― banned on ixlor (Jon not Jon), Sunday, 27 December 2015 16:54 (eight years ago) link
Black Widow is on youtube now! THE BLACK WIDOW IS A MENACE ON FIVE CONTINENTS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur3RE04R2ks
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 31 July 2017 14:45 (seven years ago) link
https://youtu.be/TmqGXTl2fzQ
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 31 July 2017 14:58 (seven years ago) link
oops apparently this is 10 sec of volvoxeshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmqGXTl2fzQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThtggIPomoQ
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 31 July 2017 14:59 (seven years ago) link
thymol crystalshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYTVR9owuAk
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 31 July 2017 15:00 (seven years ago) link
BHT crystals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9aI3goikr4
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 31 July 2017 15:01 (seven years ago) link
will conclude with this one, obviously the best. snow melts and mushrooms growhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrQKm9uH7hQ
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 31 July 2017 15:02 (seven years ago) link
still no wikipedia entry for him in english afaictthis thread continues to pop up as a top search result :-/
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Monday, 31 July 2017 15:17 (seven years ago) link
Am in zing so cannot see all YouTube titles yet-- is mr toad one of the above???
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Monday, 31 July 2017 22:42 (seven years ago) link
nope, sorry :(
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 00:27 (seven years ago) link
aw that's ok i will watch all these
― or at night (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 00:28 (seven years ago) link
most are super short, like 10 sec
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 00:30 (seven years ago) link
i recently went on a trip to visit behind the scenes at the field museum. one of the places i got to see was the room where zillions of beetles clean the bones of birds whose skeletons are getting prepped to be sorted and go into the collection. it was amazing and reminded me of ken middleham.
i don't see that he has gotten any more well known since last i checked but someday i hope to 1) track down his educational films before it is too late if it is not already too late and 2) get some video art assistance and perform some music in front of projections of ken middleham imagery. <--- there it is, if you can help me make it happen lmk! manifest your dreams!
also 4 years ago ilx user "robh" was writing a book -- any updates on that, robh?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDElLm1hfSQ
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, 25 January 2019 17:34 (five years ago) link