Filming with the Bolex H - Text 8
The Bolex H16 emits a singular operating noise.[2] By default, the mechanism makes a click every eight feet, or about once a second at 24 frames per second, or every second and a half at 16 frames per second. This clicking, intended to provide operators with a clock or film counter without having to remove their eye from the eyepiece, can be disengaged. In addition, when the camera is stopped by releasing the trigger, it lets the violence of the stoppage of the film stock be heard and, through vibration, felt. For a few specific users, this abrupt stop is a noteworthy advantage of the Bolex over its competitors: it avoids the time of the motor’s deceleration, which clouds the final photograms of each shot. This saves film stock, but also and especially makes it possible to create effects which are shot and edited “clean,” without blank or overexposed images in the transitions. It was thanks to this mechanical affectation on the part of Paillard in particular that films as complex as Jonas Mekas’ Notes on the Circus (1966) could be shot.
