Vertigoed – Press Play Video Blog

EDITOR'S NOTE: You may have heard that Kim Novak, costar of Vertigo, took out an ad in Variety protesting the use of Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo score in Michel Hazanavicius’s modern silent film The Artist. "I WANT TO REPORT A RAPE," the headline blared. "I FEEL AS IF MY BODY—OR, AT LEAST MY BODY OF WORK—HAS BEEN VIOLATED BY THE MOVIE, “THE ARTIST," Novak wrote, and went on to decry the “USE AND ABUSE [OF] FAMOUS PIECES OF WORK TO GAIN ATTENTION AND APPLAUSE FOR OTHER THAN WHAT THEY WERE INTENDED.” Novak's word choice was unfortunate — more than one person, including yours truly, said that was akin to somebody sitting through the Star Wars prequels and witlessly declaring, "George Lucas raped my childhood."

Press Play contributor and film editor Kevin Lee followed this Novak/Lucas line of thought to its logical — or illogical — end. Just for the hell of it, he matched the Vertigo cue used in The Artist with the last three minutes of the Death Star battle in Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, uploaded it, and sent the link to several Press Play contributors to get their reactions.

And it's here that things got interesting: rather than generate cheap laughs at the expense of Novak, Lucas, The Artist or Star Wars, the mash-up inspired delight. Simply put: Kevin's experiment confirmed that Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo score is so passionate and powerful that it can elevate an already good scene — and a familiar one at that — to a higher plane of expression. Score one for the master of film scoring!

We encouraged Kevin to put the same piece of music under a bit from Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace and the training sequences from Rocky and Rocky IV. Same result: The scenes seemed deeper, subtler and more haunting, solely because of Herrmann's music.

Kevin joked that these clips had been "Vertigoed" — a reference to the low-budget "Swedeing" of Hollywood movies in the cult classic Be Kind, Rewind. The term stuck, and inspired us to declare a Press Play "Vertigoed" contest.

THE RULES:

1. Take the same Herrmann cue — "Scene D'Amour," used in this memorable moment from Vertigo — and match it with a clip from any film. (You can nick the three-minute section from one of Kevin's mash-ups if it makes things easier.) Is there any clip, no matter how silly, nonsensical, goofy or foul, that the score to Vertigo can't ennoble? Let's find out!

2. Although you can use any portion of "Scene D'Amour" as your soundtrack, the movie clip that you pair it with cannot have ANY edits; it must play straight through over the Herrmann music. This is an exercise in juxtaposition and timing. If you slice and dice the film clip to make things "work," it's cheating. MONTAGES WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.

3. Upload the result to YouTube, Vimeo, blipTV or wherever, email the link to pressplayvideoblog@gmail.com along with your name, and we'll add your mash-up to this Index page.

The Press Play Vertigoed contest ends at 5 PM Eastern time on FRIDAY, JANUARY 20. No mash-ups posted after that time will be considered. Press Play staff will choose a winner over the weekend and award a $50 Amazon gift certificate. The pairing that our judges decide is most imaginative and altogether satisfying will win the prize. The victor will be announced Monday, January 23.

Now get Verti-going!

–Matt Zoller Seitz

1. STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE by Kevin B. Lee

2. ROCKY by Kevin B. Lee

3. ROCKY 4 by Kevin B. Lee

4. THE GREAT DICTATOR by Jonathan Amerikaner

5. A LIEN by William D'Annucci

6. BONNIE AND CLYDE by James Grebmops

7. STRAW DOGS by James Grebmops

8. AKIRA by Greg Stevens

9. VAMPIRE'S KISS by Jake Isgar

10. THEY LIV E by Chris Mastellone