Screen Tests
Encyclopedia
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".
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.
In October 2008, the pop music group Dean and Britta
in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Museum
created 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, a project where they performed self-written songs and covers while projecting thirteen of Warhol's most Famous Screen Tests overhead.
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
Screen Tests are a series of silent film portraits consisting of several-minute unbroken shots of Factory
The Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
regulars, Warhol superstars, celebrities, guests, friends, or anyone he thought had "star potential".
Production background
The films were made between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's FactoryThe Factory
The Factory was Andy Warhol's original New York City studio from 1962 to 1968, although his later studios were known as The Factory as well. The Factory was located on the fifth floor at 231 East 47th Street, in Midtown Manhattan. The rent was "only about one hundred dollars a year"...
studio in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong key light, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex
Bolex
Bolex is a Swiss company that manufactures motion picture cameras and lenses, the most notable products of which are in the 16 mm and Super 16 mm formats. The Bolex company was initially founded by Jacques Bogopolsky in 1927. Bolex is derived from his name. He had previously designed cameras for...
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
Slow motion
Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger....
' 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.
Notable subjects
- John AshberyJohn AshberyJohn Lawrence Ashbery is an American poet. He has published more than twenty volumes of poetry and won nearly every major American award for poetry, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his collection Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror. But Ashbery's work still proves controversial...
- Benedetta BarziniBenedetta BarziniBenedetta Barzini is an Italian actress and model, daughter of Italian journalist and author Luigi Barzini, Jr. and his second wife, heiress Paola Gadola Feltrinelli...
- Marisa BerensonMarisa BerensonVittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson is an American actress and model.-Early life:She is the elder daughter of Robert L. Berenson, an American diplomat turned shipping executive, who was of Lithuanian Jewish descent; his family's original surname was Valvrojenski...
- Brigid BerlinBrigid BerlinBrigid Berlin is an American artist and former Warhol superstar.-Early years:Berlin was the eldest of three daughters born to socialite parents, Muriel Johnson "Honey" Berlin and Richard E. Berlin, into a world of Manhattan privilege. Her father was chairman of the Hearst media empire for 32 years...
- International VelvetSusan BottomlySusan Bottomly , also known as International Velvet, is a former American model and actress. She is known for her appearances in several of Andy Warhol's underground films.-Early life and career:...
- Ted BerriganTed Berrigan-Early life:Berrigan was born in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 1934. After high school, he spent a year at Providence College before joining the U.S. Army in 1954 to serve in the Korean War. After three years in the Army, he finished his college studies at the University of Tulsa in...
- Ann Buchanan
- Salvador DalíSalvador DalíSalvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
- DonovanDonovanDonovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
- Marcel DuchampMarcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
- Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
- Cass Elliott
- Giangiacomo FeltrinelliGiangiacomo FeltrinelliGiangiacomo Feltrinelli was an Italian publisher and left-wing political activist. He founded the publishing house Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore in 1954. He was also a communist and founded the GAP militant grouping in 1970...
- Danny FieldsDanny FieldsDanny Fields is an American journalist and author. As a music-industry executive in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, he was one of the most influential figures in the underground and punk rock scenes.- Early life :...
- Charles Henri FordCharles Henri FordCharles Henri Ford was an American poet, novelist, filmmaker, photographer, and collage artist best known for his editorship of the Surrealist magazine View in New York City, and as the partner of the artist Pavel Tchelitchew...
- Allen GinsbergAllen GinsbergIrwin Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of the Beat Generation in the 1950s. He vigorously opposed militarism, materialism and sexual repression...
- Bibbe HansenBibbe HansenBibbe Hansen is a performance artist, musician, and former actress best known as the mother of Grammy award winning musician Beck.-Family:...
- HelmutCinema 16: American Short FilmsCinema16: American Short Films is a DVD featuring American short films from directors such as Tim Burton, Alexander Payne, and George Lucas, as well as less well known names...
- Freddy Herko
- Baby Jane Holzer
- Dennis HopperDennis HopperDennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
- Sally KirklandSally KirklandSally Kirkland is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Kirkland was named after her mother, fashion editor Sally Kirkland, who was a fashion editor at Vogue and LIFE magazines, and was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, Frederic McMichael Kirkland, worked in the scrap...
- Kenneth Jay LaneKenneth Jay LaneKenneth Jay Lane is an American costume jewelry designer.- Biography :Born in Detroit, Michigan he is an alumnus of Detroit Central High School, the University of Michigan and the Rhode Island School of Design....
- Naomi LevineNaomi LevineNaomi Levine was an actress, artist and filmmaker. She was a friend of Jack Smith and pop artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol. In 1964 she directed a film entitled Yes.-Filmography:* Jack Smith, Normal Love...
- Willard MaasWillard MaasWillard Maas was an American experimental filmmaker and poet.-Personal life and career:He was the husband of filmmaker Marie Menken...
- Gerard MalangaGerard MalangaGerard Joseph Malanga is an American poet, photographer, filmmaker, curator and archivist.-Early life:Born in the Bronx, New York, Malanga graduated from the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan and attended Wagner College on Staten Island...
- Jonas MekasJonas MekasJonas Mekas is a Lithuanian-born American filmmaker, writer, and curator who has often been called "the godfather of American avant-garde cinema." His work has been exhibited in museums and festivals across Europe and America.-Biography:...
- Marie MenkenMarie MenkenMarie Menkevicius was an American experimental filmmaker and socialite.-Early life:The daughter of Catholic-Lithuanian immigrants, she grew up in Brooklyn.-Personal life:...
- Allen Midgette
- Billy NameBilly NameBilly Name, , is an American photographer, filmmaker and lighting designer. He was the archivist of the Warhol Factory, from 1964 to 1970. His brief romance and subsequent friendship with Andy Warhol led to substantial collaboration on Warhol's work, including his films, paintings and sculpture...
- Ivy Nicholson
- NicoNicoNico was a German singer, lyricist, composer, musician, fashion model, and actress, who initially rose to fame as a Warhol Superstar in the 1960s...
- OndineOndine (actor)Robert Olivo aka Ondine was an American actor. He is best known for appearing in a series of films in the mid-1960s by Andy Warhol, whom he claimed to have met in 1961 at an orgy....
- Yoko OnoYoko Onois a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
- Lou ReedLou ReedLewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
- René RicardRené RicardRené Ricard is an American poet, art critic and painter.Ricard grew up in Acushnet, Massachusetts. As a young teenager he ran away to Boston and assimilated into the literary scene of the city. By age eighteen he’d moved to New York City, where he became a protege of Andy Warhol...
- Barbara Rubin
- Phoebe Russell
- Francesco ScavulloFrancesco ScavulloFrancesco Scavullo was an American fashion photographer best known for his work on the covers of Cosmopolitan and his celebrity portraits.-Biography:...
- Edie SedgwickEdie SedgwickEdith Minturn "Edie" Sedgwick was an American actress, socialite, model and heiress. She is best known for being one of Andy Warhol's superstars. Sedgwick became known as "The Girl of the Year" in 1965 after starring in several of Warhol's short films in the 1960s...
- Susan SontagSusan SontagSusan Sontag was an American author, literary theorist, feminist and political activist whose works include On Photography and Against Interpretation.-Life:...
- Bima StaggBima StaggBima Stagg is a PEN award winning American writer and filmmaker living in Los Angeles, California.-Writer:* Soul Patrol ... aka Death of a Snowman , Black Trash * Survivor...
- Ingrid Superstar
- Ultra VioletUltra Violet (Isabelle Collin Dufresne)Isabelle Collin Dufresne is a French artist, author and former colleague and superstar of Andy Warhol.-Early life:...
- VivaViva (Warhol superstar)Viva is an American actress, writer and a former Warhol superstar.-Career:She was born Janet Susan Mary Hoffmann in Syracuse, New York. She was given the name Viva by Andy Warhol before the release of her first film but later used her married last name . She appeared in several of Warhol's films...
- John WienersJohn WienersJohn Joseph Wieners was an American lyric poet.-Biography:Born in Milton, Massachusetts, Wieners attended St. Gregory Elementary School in Dorchester, Massachusetts and Boston College High School. From 1950 to 1954, he studied at Boston College, where he earned his A.B...
- Mary WoronovMary WoronovMary Woronov is an American actress and writer. She is primarily known for her roles in independent and cult films. Woronov has appeared in over 80 movies, as well as numerous appearances in mainstream television series, such as Charlie's Angels and Knight Rider.-Early life:Woronov was born in the...
Reception and legacy
Film critic Philip Dodd listed the Screen Tests among his favorite films in 2002 when he voted for the Sight and Sound poll.In October 2008, the pop music group Dean and Britta
Dean and Britta
Dean & Britta is a musical duo consisting of Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, both former members of Luna. Wareham had formed Luna in 1991 after leaving his first band, Galaxie 500. Phillips joined Luna in 2000, replacing bassist Justin Harwood.-History:...
in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Museum
The Andy Warhol Museum
The Andy Warhol Museum, located on the North Shore of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist...
created 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests, a project where they performed self-written songs and covers while projecting thirteen of Warhol's most Famous Screen Tests overhead.