A music film by Ewan Golder & Kate Beaugié
Featuring the SACCONI QUARTET
Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet no. 14 in C♯ minor, Opus 131 | Movement 1: Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo
Sound recorded and mixed by Andy Thomas-Emans
16mm filming and hand developing by Kate Beaugié
Film edited by Ewan Golder
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Filmed in 2021, using 16mm film on Sunny Sands beach, Folkestone, Kent, UK, during Kate Beaugié’s artist’s residency with the Sacconi Quartet.
Kate’s artist’s residency manifested in two events; the event BEETHOVEN ON THE BEACH on Sunny Sands in October 2021 and BEETHOVEN ON THE BEACH | Revisited @ The Grand in May 2022, where the film was shown as an art installation on the stage in The Ballroom.
Notes on the film by Kate Beaugié:
The subject of time is crucial in music; time is broken up into notes, with varying lengths of time, played at varying speeds, working with the meter of our hearts to slow us down or to speed us up. Speed can also influence the feeling of the music and our resulting emotion.
The movement used in our film, Movement no 1: ‘Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo’ means slowly, but not too slowly, with much expression.
I also found that arranging a concert on the beach, the time of the tides and the sun’s arc was also very important. It made me realise our perception of time varies and is not strict and rigid, like the Roman’s would have us believe. My time is sculpted by the sun and the moon and my experience of living. So I decided to make a time-based artwork in the form of a 16mm film.
16mm film was invented in 1923 and was an evolution of the film 35mm seen on the ‘Silver Screen’ or at ‘The Flicks’. Halving the width of the film made it more affordable/ accessible to experimental film makers and amateurs.
There are 24 frames (stills) per second in film, but we can speed it up or slow down time by adjusting that number of frames. In my filming, I made a number of time-lapses where I would click one frame at calculated intervals. In the time-lapse of the shadow of the arches moving down, I pressed the shutter once, every 5 seconds, for 1 hour which achieved 30 seconds of footage.
I changed our perception of time.
The first time I projected my film in my studio, it was so exciting. It must of felt like magic back in the early 20th century when photographic stills started to move at that speed and our minds were tricked into thinking we were watching a memory brought back from the past. I took 4 x 3 minute films (which is 400ft or footage) and developed them myself in the darkroom, with remote help from Nicky Hamlyn. I gave Ewan about 9 minutes of usable footage to make a 7 minute film from…
Working with Ewan is a fun experience; he seems to disrupt my desired perfection and causes havoc with my expectations, so we find an interesting balance between order and chaos.
© Ewan Golder & Kate Beaugié 2022
Many thanks to Andy Thomas-Emans from Olby’s for the sound recording, to the incredible SACCONI QUARTET and their managers Rhian Hancox & Matt Shipton and all at Sounds Folkestone
Kate Beaugié | blog 