Episode #96 - Laura Major (Heaven Can Wait)

Click here to listen to the episode

"Our aim for a lot of preservation—the standard goal—is to make it look

how it was seen before."

If more and more people are interested in shooting on film and projecting on film, there's one crucial step in between: how does film get from camera to screen? Through a lab obviously. But what does the lab do? Laura Major has been a staple at the Maryland based Colorlab for a number of years, helping the studio produce new 35mm negatives and positives of documentaries, experimental films, archival orphans, and more. Today, she sits down with Peter to trace out her own history from South Carolina to experimental film lover to a technician. They discuss the ins and outs of film processing and how Colorlab has integrated itself as a critical player in the future of celluloid. Finally, they dive into the Warren Beatty directed, Elaine May co-written Heaven Can Wait, a comedy built around a number of great performances and the strange odyssey that is the (now once again) Los Angeles Rams.

0:00-3:07 Opening
4:12-12:24 Establish Shots — Frederick Wiseman's Ex Libris
13:10-48:50 Deep Focus — Laua Major
50:34-53:18 Sponsorship Section
54:48-1:10:57 Double Exposure — Heaven Can Wait (Warren Beatty)

1:11:20-1:14:09 Close / Outtake

Notes and Links from the Conversation

—Check out Colorlab and Follow Laura on Twitter
—Read an Interview with Laura on Indiewire, and read a history of Colorlab done by the Washington Post
Watch a conversation between Frederick Wiseman and Danny Kasman on MUBI
—Dan Streible
—The Orphans Film Symposium 
—The Robert Flaherty Film Seminar
—Read a new book about the history of the seminar
—Learn about USC's Moving Image Research Collection
—Learn about the Telecine process
—Moving Images at the National Archives and Records Administration
—Learn about the National Film Preservation Board
—Glossaries for Audiovisual
—Keanu Reeves's Side By Side
—Laura on restoring Jack Smith
—Colorlab's Kodak Seminar
—Watch the Archer episode that parodies Heaven Can Wait

Theme Music: “Forward” by Northbound

The Cinephiliacs on Facebook

The Cinephiliacs on Twitter