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| Festival Year |
Festival Section |
| 2004 |
21ST CENTURY SILENTS |
| Film Title |
THE MAGIC TREE |
| Alternative Title 1 |
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| Alternative Title 2 |
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| Alternative Title 3 |
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| Country |
USA |
| Release Date |
2003 |
| Production Co. |
Wisconsin Bioscope |
| Director |
Kat Nichols (also sc) |
| Format |
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Speed (fps) |
| 35mm |
|
16 |
| |
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| Footage |
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Time |
| 265 ft. |
|
4' |
| Archive Source |
Communication Arts Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison. |
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| Print Notes |
Didascalie in inglese / English intertitles. |
| Cast |
| Kevin French, Max Fuller, Lynne Wisnefski |
| |
| Other Credits |
| prod: Dan Fuller; ph: Gabe Gronli |
| |
| Program Notes |
To prepare for their work, the university students who compose the Wisconsin Bioscope Company watch competitors’ films (Edison, Vitagraph, Pathé, Biograph, Kalem, Essanay, Hepworth, Maddin) and read 200 pages of instruction in film technique by experts, including Billy Bitzer, William C. de Mille, King Vidor, Henry King, Karl Brown, Joseph Walker, Lillian Gish, Colleen Moore, Mae Marsh, Lon Chaney, and Anita Loos, as well as the lesser-known Carl Lewis Gregory and Helen and Inez Klumph. They learn to operate the firm’s two cameras (a 1907 Urban Bioscope Model D and a 1924 Universal), the 1918 Stineman printer, and to shoot titles and develop film. Except for the film stock, bought from Mr. Eastman’s company, Wisconsin Bioscope is self-sufficient in its technical operations. Its 15 workers also make it self-sufficient artistically, as they write, direct, and act in the films they produce. With so few workers, Wisconsin Bioscope’s approach to filmmaking is artisanal, not industrial. Each member of the company must be willing to try any job. Thus the female lead of Cadtastrophe, Kat Nichols, became the writer and director of the next production, The Magic Tree.
The scenario for The Magic Tree was revised several times, eliminating a fourth character and many props. Special effects like lap-dissolves and stopping and starting the camera during the shot were considered before a simpler method of achieving a mysterious entrance and exit was chosen. Also, the titles for the film were rewritten many times before the company settled on a rhyme reminiscent of a fairy tale: What you have loved / What you have lost / This tree returns / At a great cost. – Dan Fuller
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