Two pound notes must copulate - Bath Festival of Blues and Progressive Music '70

'TWO POUND NOTES MUST COPULATE'

'My belief is that it will cease to be an industry at all, in the sense that it is now... that it'll be more like the writing of novels. Film-making should be so easy and simple technically, that it'll merely be a matter of creativity and the talent. You will no longer need two hundred thousand dollars to make a movie.'

'There will be no such thing as a cameraman; there'll be film-makers.... There'll be no such thing as editors; there'll be film-makers... It'll become an integrated process.'
(Richard Leacock, in 'Movie' 1963)


'THERE WILL BE NO SUCH THING AS CAMERAMEN'

Ricky Slade just happened to glance at a dirty piece of paper lying in the street. He just happened to pick it up and read it...
'Anyone interested in working in or being in a film...'

'A film is a process over time involving a number of people in - dare I use the word? - a dialectical relationship with each other and the content of reality or view of life which they are trying to synthesise.'
(Tony Garnett in 'After-image 1970')

Hugh Berger had decided to form a group of people to make films. They had to be the right people, and some of the people who replied to his advertisement were rejected. Some were too straight and smug; some were simply starstruck. Others were alright, and 'Gentle Ghost" was formed. There are about 50 members.

Hugh felt that most people in the film industry stuck to pre-conceived ideas, they used only the vocabulary they already knew. It was important that everyone in the group (which does include members of the 'industry') is sufficiently flexible to allow themselves to continue 'discovering'.

This was an item on their agenda -

CONTROL AND DIRECTION WITHIN GENTLE GHOST: DISCUSS...
The process of making the film must be a process of discovery by all involved, only then can it hope to reveal something and gain the audience's participation. The essence of discovery is not unification of purpose but the pursuit of the individual in relation to what is around him.

THE GROUP IS INDIVIDUALS

Ricky Slade, who happened to glance at a piece of paper in the street, was accepted. This was the first time he had ever been accepted by anything. It is said he comes from Atlantis, so this may be the reason.

THE INDIVIDUAL IS A GROUP

Hugh doesn't really like films. 'Film is a voyeuristic and corrupt medium, but its a good way of communication with lots of people all over the world with vision and sound'.

Even film directors go to the cinema.

'There is a new enthusiasm for film which I recognise, and I spend a lot of time going round the cinema clubs because I think the new audiences are terribly important to what people can eventually do with films. There are new cinema clubs all over the world and these new audiences are important and their interest must be met. Its the only counter weapon against the monopoly of the big distributors, which has left the film medium largely unexplored... and which forces people like myself into spending three quarters of our lives fighting to get a picture on and protecting it afterwards, instead of making films, which is my job.
(Joe Losey, Unit, June 1967)

Gentle Ghost's first project is under way; they are negotiating to film the Bath Festival.

'Gentle Ghost has been formed with the intention of showing that events like the Festival are representative of an important and sincere attempt at a more humane life-style than modern society offers.'

The planning is complete, but they are waiting for the right signatures on a number of pieces of paper before they can be completely sure that the film will happen. The tension they are feeling is something that Joe Losey would understand.

'I have had innumerable projects that I have tried to set up, but other directors have got hold of and set up, and usually made a mess of, for the simple reason that their reason for wanting to do a subject was quite different from mine. They catered for certain elements that appealed to the money'.

THE COLOUR OF MONEY

'We are trying to make films in circumstances where films are seen as commodities. The reason for films - and its as strong as this - the reason for films in our society is to make profit for shareholders and to get returns on capital investment'.
(Tony Garnett)

If Gentle Ghost don't get to make their film it will probably be the fault of those 'shareholders' in 'events like the Festival' who care less about 'humane lifestyles' than they do about 'profit'.

In one way Gentle Ghost have benefited from the fact that films are commodities. 'Woodstock' has become a very profitable one, and sponsors love to jump on bandwagons. But it is probably Woodstock's success that has put them in the position of having to make either a much bigger scale film than they intended, or nothing Gentle Ghost wanted to make a film for about £2,000 and soon realised it would be impossible. They had competition for the rights to film from other well established companies. There was no question of simply walking into a festival and filming whoever they felt like. Just like everywhere else in wicked modern society.

'The whole thing got blown up and blown up out of all proportion. The amount we needed shot up to £30,000, and only a third of this was directly for the film itself.'

No-one in Gentle Ghost would get more than expenses, only the extra technicians they plan to hire and David Cammell, who they hope will be over-all director, would be paid. Led Zeppelin and The Moody Blues insisted on the kind of deal which would make it impossible to include them.

'We are trying to make films in circumstances where films are seen as commodities'

It is harder to accept that musicians are content to make music in circumstances where both they and their music are commodities, when they seem to be so much part of 'Us'. It is hard to accept that the system has such a devious grip on those we identify with.

THE GROUP IS NOT THE INDIVIDUAL

The following words were written In 'Rolling Stone'.

They knew what kind of movie they were after/before they started. They wanted it groovy. Good vibes. One big happy party. Even on Saturday, after it obviously was not that kind of a trip. David Maysles, one of the Maysles Brothers that's doing the movie, noticed one of his cameramen shooting footage of a naked, porcine young lady who was freaking out backstage. A fairly typical scene... Maysles tapped the cameraman on the shoulder and said: 'Don't shoot that. That's ugly. We only want beautiful things'. This happened at Altamont.

THE GROUP IS THE GROUP

An item on a Gentle Ghost Agenda -
REASON FOR MAKING FILM AND INTENTIONS: DISCUSS.........TO BE THE FESTIVAL AS SEEN FROM THE PEOPLE THERE. To show their motivations and our motivation. Everything must be shown whether we like it or not. We must avoid preconceived ideas of what the concert should be like. It is possible with a documentary to make anything happen we choose; but what we want is honesty and reality, there is no fear in these and we have nothing to hide.'

The following words were written in 'Rolling Stone'.

'The Maysles Brothers, the film company which shot the whole Stones' tour, complete with its violent climax at Altamont, had gotten some remarkable footage of Hunter's killing. No less than three cameras caught the action, and one of them had the entire sequence from the time Hunter was knifed and down and surrounded by Angels......... Which makes it the hottest film property of 1970. Universal Picture has already weighed in with the highest bid.......'

'WE WANT ONLY BEAUTIFUL THINGS'

Somebody certainly spotted the box office potential of the Woodstock Festival film. They also spotted the gullibility of this 'alternative' consumer society. The popularity of 'Woodstock' was due to the inability of this peaceful rebel nation to see the joke, or even to notice the propaganda. They gave their support like so many sheep to the notion that something had actually been achieved. The Mafia did very well out of it, three days of solid pushing with nearly half a million customers. Warner Brothers won't do badly either. Etc, Etc. That's not to say it wasn't enjoyable for those who were there; that's not to say it wasn't a well made film. We are all free to choose the market we go to, we are free to buy the goods we choose. But we mustn't let ourselves be brainwashed into believing that wo were part of a different system for those three days of 'peace music and love'.

The film didn't have the guts to reveal that there was as much exploitation and manipulation behind the scenes as there is in any clip joint. The beautiful people were too busy consuming to notice that they were supporting the same old shit.

Presumably we won't so easily identify with Altamont. We'll still go and see it - and it'll be a hit. We will condemn it, disassociate ourselves - and it'll be a hit.

POUND NOTES MUST COPULATE

"We are doing this to show what the alternative society is about, not to show the gloss on the surface of a pop concert'.
(Gentle Ghost)

Repeat of item on Agenda: -:...
'... The process of making the film must be the process of discovery by all involved, only then can it hope to reveal something and gain the audience's participation. The essence of discovery is not unification of purpose but the pursuit of the individual in relation to what is around him.'

Woodstock proved that audience participation can be got by concealing. Perhaps if the day comes when there are no such things as cameramen, the individual will himself bother to 'discover' his relationship to what is around him. If Gentle Ghost are concerned to 'show what the alternative society is about', I hope they will admit it if they discover that they can't find it. It may be only the same old society in disguise, in which case it may be the deciding factor whether or not they make this film at all.

In a capitalist society capital has to be returned — money earns money and two pound notes must copulate.........
(Tony Garnett)