13 Most Beautiful...Songs for Andy Warhol Screen Tests

"I've never met a person I couldn’t call a beauty . . . I always hear myself saying, She’s a beauty! or He’s a beauty! or What a beauty! But . . . if everybody’s not a beauty, then nobody is."

—Andy Warhol quoted in The Philosophy of Andy Warhol: (From A to B and Back Again), 1975

We started watching this last night and made it through the first five. We will probably watch the rest one or two at a time. It is not so much a "film" as 13 of the over 500 "screen tests" Andy Warhol shot between 1964 and 1966:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_Tests_(films)

Andy Warhol's
Screen Tests are a series of silent film portraits consisting of several-minute unbroken shots of Factory regulars, Warhol superstars, celebrities, guests, friends, or anyone he thought had "star potential".

The films were made between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's Factory studio in New York City. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong key light, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film at 24 frames per second. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in 'slow motion' at 16 frames per second.

Many of the Screen Tests were arranged in different compilations such as 13 Most Beautiful Women, 13 Most Beautiful Boys, and 50 Fantastics and 50 Personalities. This was done with the intention of pleasing certain audiences who Warhol was exhibiting his art to.

Over 500 screen tests were made, but not all kept.

http://www.plexifilm.com/title.php?id=36

Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot nearly 500Screen Tests, beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, from the famous to the anonymous, all visitors to his studio, the Factory. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in slow motion, resulting in a fascinating collection of four-minute masterpieces that startle and entrance, mesmerizing in the purest sense of the word.

The music in the film is supplied by Dean and Britta (Dean Wareham of Galaxie 500 and Luna and his wife Britta Phillips). They did the project in collaboration with the Andy Warhol Museum and apparently have done live shows playing with the films.

Here is the screen test listing in order (watch/listen to the screen tests in highest resolution you can - lower right of YouTube screen):

Ann Buchanan - screen test (the best so far - supposedly Warhol's favorite)
Paul America - screen test
Edie Sedgwick - screen test (followed by Billy Name)
Billy Name
Susan Bottomly - screen test
Dennis Hopper - screen test
Mary Woronov - screen test
Nico - screen test (for both Nico followed by Herko)
Freddy Herko
Richard Rheem - screen tests (for Rheem, Ingrid Superstar and Lou Reed)
Ingrid Superstar
Lou Reed
Jane Holzer - screen test

I would recommend watching them one at a time, and when you have time to just sit and watch for four minutes.

The Dean and Britta soundtrack fits, especially given the influence of the Velvet Underground on Wareham:

“I probably came to Warhol via the Velvet Underground, he has had a huge influence on the history of rock music. You could make a case that he was one of the first punks, in two ways. 1) He suggested that anyone could be an artist, and that an artist could try his hand at anything. 2) Punk rock celebrates the commonplace and the ugly, and elevates it, and I think Warhol did the same.”

—Dean Wareham

Since I am a fan of Galaxie 500 and Luna, I like the music, especially because of its V.U. overtones (and outright cover for Lou Reed):

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/13-most-beautifulsongs-for-andy-warholrsquos-screen-tests-the-barbican-london-2053384.html

Dean and Britta's hazy, dreamy songs are the perfect soundtrack to the soft black-and-white films of the narcotic-addled subjects. Sometimes, what might have been background instrumentals become instantly poignant and captivating, with the film as a backdrop. The dreamy "Ann Buchanan Theme" takes on more emotional depth and intensity against the film of the crying girl, especially at the point of Wareham's guitar solo, tonight timed meticulously with the tear falling from her chin. The show is given a further layer of emotion with Dean and Britta's brief between-song explanations of the tragic early fates that met many of these characters.

"Teenage Lightning and Lonely Highways" and its themes of pills and casual sex is suitably paired with the test of the devastatingly handsome speed-taking Paul America, but its gentle rendering presents an affectionate, tender portrayal of the self-conscious subject, while Lou Reed is the epitome of cool in his shades and refusal to look into the camera as the band rock out to their version of his "I'm Not a Young Man Anymore". If there is anything that jars in the otherwise cohesive set, it is in the heavier of the numbers when the viewer's focus is distracted between the film and the band.