GRAND CENTRAL

Film by Jeff Scher, Music by Shay Lynch.
In 1989 the East window of Grand Central Terminal in New York City was
re-opened after being sealed off from view for over 40 years. The light
that flooded in was glorious. The sun lined up with the canyon of buildings
in front of the window for about a half hour a day in the early spring. I
was teaching upstate at the time and would pass through the station twice a
week. The film was shot on the way to the train. It was filmed with one of
the first 16mm cameras ever made, a Bell and Howell Filmo 75 and also a
Beauleau R16. It was shot on sound recording film and a bit of tri-x and
then printed onto sound recording film. This film, the nature of the light
and some of the un-coated antique lenses I used give the film it's "period"
look. Filming the light, and regarding people and archecture as "light
modulators" was my point of inspiration. I tried to capture the spontanious
choreography of the hustling crowds in a sort of Balletic way. The film is
a city ballet (as oppossed to a city symphony).