Who needs a Director?

There have been some truly wonderful pieces of cinema which have been created on the spot in that moment in time. This I think is almost completely down to the actor having totally amerced themselves into the role. The only part the Director has to play is not to yell cut.

This is one example of an improvised moment on the big screen. It is from a wonderful film called Midnight Cowboy. This film had fantastic music, a great story but most importantly great acting. If you think of this film this is one of the moments you will properly remember and you would never have thought that it was improvised.



Another one of my favourite scenes from a film is a scene from On The Waterfront. Marlin Brando is walking through the park with Eva Marie Saint and she drops her glove by mistake. So naturally he picks it up but he decides to play with it and put it on his hand. This scene would have been completely different if he had just left it. By putting it on and playing with it in a way changes the point of the scene. It enhances the connection between the two actors and shows that he likes her. You would think that this would have been the direction the director had given.



The last scene I want to talk about is from Dr Zhivago. Hans Matheson has just come back from the war and Keira Knightley is bathing him. In the script she was just meant to bath him but she decides on the spot to climb into the bath. This is just another great example of how actors have the drive to do what is right for their character and the film. I could not find this clip on youtube but I have found a clip of Hans Matheson talking about the scene.



It is important to have great acting in a film and it is what separates the good films from the fantastic films. However you do need the good actor but you need a good character for that actor to play. If you think to Righteous Kill with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino it is pretty awful. You can not say that they are bad actors but you can say that their performances where not good. The reason there performances are not good is down to them not being able to challenges themselves within a role.

So to make your film fantastic you do need your great actors but they are just tools you need to let them work by giving them a part they can lose themselves in and then you will end up with wonderfully improvised scenes and powerful performances.

M*A*S*H

This film was just a bit odd. One of its major problems was that it did not have a point or plot. During this film I looked at my watch a lot which is a very bad sign. After about 45 minuets I just accepted the fact that this film was not going to have a central plot or point. It was really annoying to start to invest in a story line to have then just dropped and pick up some other line. I think this is why it worked very well as a TV show because you could just deal with one story and that was it. The film just felt like 4 episodes joined together but not very well.

Another thing that annoyed me was how dark all of the scenes were. Any of the scenes inside a tent were so dark you could only see one persons face and that was it. I do not like the fact that the film maker is telling me that I must watch this part of the frame. I want to let my eyes wonder and explore the depth.

Also I did not get the sense humour in this film. I will admit that I did laugh at a couple of bits but overall this is meant to be a dark comedy but it just was not. Again this proves that there is not point to this film it does not even make me laugh, it didn't really teach me anything about the war and just left me a bit annoyed.

I would not say that this was a not very good film to represent the 70s, it was the first film of the 70s but I would not think it in my mind one of the great 70s movies. It is so different to some of the other classics.

I do wonder why this film is on such a high pedestal. People do rate this film as being one of the great movies of all time. Could it be that I am just too young? I don't know but I can aspirate other films like Shampoo and the parallax view. The only thing that I can aspirate from this film though is the gore. I know that this was one of the first times you saw gore like this on the big screen.

So overall I would not recommend this film unless you want to see it just so you can tick it of your list of films to see.

Simpsons

I have watched the Simpsons since I can remember. I would say that this is one of the only TV shows that I have grown up with. I did watch shows like saved by the bell and other shows on Nickelodeon and Disney but this show has stayed with me right through all of them and I still enjoy watching old and new ones. I think that now when I watch old ones I get something different out of them than when I did when I was younger. There are loads of jokes that went right over my head when I was younger.

Another reason that I liked this show so much was because my Dad and brother both really liked it. It was something that we could all watch together and still do when we can. When I was younger I thought that this must be a cool show if my Dad enjoys it and now I know that he liked it for different reasons.

However I watched one of the latest episodes the other day and was unfortunately disappointed. It was just a bit flat, had nothing that special about it and I didn't laugh out once. I thought that maybe I had finally out grown this show and after so many years maybe they had just ran out of jokes but still being a big fan I did watch the next new episode. I am so glad that I am able to say that I loved it. It was still as good and funny as it had ever been and if not better. I love the Simpsons even more now because I get all of the 'Grown up' jokes and it relates current events in the news now.

The Street

I loved this TV show as soon as I watched it in class as did everyone. I have started to watch other episodes on TV. My sky planner is now filled with episodes waiting to be watched. I have never watched a TV show like this. I think the thing that makes this so different to any other show is that the story is so good. All of them are so clever and really make you think and put you right into the story.

My favourite episode so far has not been the one we saw in class but the one with the school teacher. The male teacher and family man goes for a jog in the park before his dinner. He goes into the bushes to relieve himself. A five year old girl is playing frisbee with her dad. She follows her frisbee into the bushes and sees the teacher. She screams and her dad runs over. The man assumes that he must be a flasher and the teachers life starts to fall apart around him. Nobody believes that he was just going to the toilet.

This episode was so horrible because we as an audience know that he is innocent and feel so sorry for him as his life crumbles. I don't want to give too much away and I think that you should definitely see this one. I really hope that there is another one as good as this one and hopefully better. Don't get me wrong other episodes are still very good. I can't wait to work my way through the rest.

Trainspotting

I totally loved this film witch I did not want to. Everyone always goes on about this film and how amazing it is. I thought that they were just people who thought that they knew about films and were just saying it to follow the crowd. However I was very impressed with this film. It did have some flaws such as the pase was a bit off during the middle but I was able to forget about them and totally immerse myself in this film. It had beautiful scenes and very clever camera work. The acting in it was superb. I love Robert Carlyle in anything I have seen him in and Ewan McGregor was also fantastic. McGregor was able to make us care about him and feel for him. It is easy to feel sorry for a junky to but really feel emotionally attached to one is very strange. There is a part in the film when Robert Carlyles character comes down to London to live with McGregors character Renton. This is just horrible and I felt my heart drop when it happened. You see Renton had got clean and moved down to London, got a job and was slowly making his way back into society but Begbie comes down and starts to reck this. I loved the way I could feel so many different emotions in this film. At the start I was disgusted and felt to be honest quite ill at some bits. Then suddenly I was thrown to feel something else like humour, hatred, sadness, horror, pity or happiness.

There is one moment when Renton has just emptied his bowls in a disgusting toilet and then has to fish through it to find some pills. This was just horrible but then he climbs into the toilet and disappears into it. This threw me completely. You go from saying that is so disgusting and wanting to be sick to saying wow that’s amazing I wonder how they did that. This really made me think about how films are meant to be like rollercoasters. The viewer wants to be taken on a ride and you should have different emotions thrown at them.

Watch this with the sound turned off. It is gross by the way.



Another thing that I thoroughly enjoyed about this film was the way that they spoke. I was not in any was junkie langue it was beautiful at some bits. I now understand why everyone has that chose life poster.

This was made on a low budget with people who had not really made a name for themselves yet. After watching it I thought that I could make a film like that would have the success that this did. We have talked about how the 'Keys to the Kingdom' were given to the likes of Scorsese and then just handed right back. Well I think that this film here proves that we can still make films now that have low budgets and make millions. This was made about fourteen years ago which is not that long ago but I now think it is about time that this was done again.

Shampoo

This film will be interesting to discuss as it has many points and underlying themes that we have talked about in class. One obvious discussion point was the way that women were represented. It was very interesting that there were four women in the film, all very strong. I can't think of a film that has come out recently that has any strong women in it. You could say that today Angelina Jolie is a strong women in wanted but she is just a male sexual fantasy. Perhaps in 1975 men thought powerful, strong women to be sexy.

This film came out in 1975, just after the watergate scandal, however it was set in 1968, as Nixon is getting into power. They could have played on this a lot more and been more ironic at times. This was obviously a big aspect of the film but I would not say it was the main point. It is clear that the fact everyone was sleeping with each other was more important in two ways. One was to drive the story and the other was to try and remember the 60s again. The casual sex made me think. I think of sex being a very new and young thing like in skins. We as a society now don't really think twice about sex so it was weird and interesting to see how casual it was back then. I suppose that does say a lot for the time. It was totally down to my naivety that I was not shocked but surprised how casual and how much sex there was in a film back then.

Lost Ending (Spoiler)

On reflection I would say that I suppose I am sort of happy with this ending. That is not what I thought at the time. Having watched Lost since 2005 and followed every little detail I was wanted every little end to be tied up and for all of the cast to come to some sort of end that was out of the box but still satisfying. This  I think would have been impossible. I wish it wasn't but there could never have been an ending that would leave the viewer total fulfilled.

I remember at the start of Lost people said I bet they are all dead and us true Lost fans said of course they are not there is something much more clever going on. Well I hang my head in shame, yes they were all dead and they all walked into the white light at the end.

However at the time I did put my head in my hands and think that I wanted more but looking back on it I have been able to think of all them good times this show has brought me. There was the time when Charlie died which was so huge at the time. Everyone was talking about it, even those who were not fans sort of knew what had happened. I certainly was talking about it to everyone and felt a little teary when he went.

Then there is the fact that this TV show has been able to grip me for so long and keep me entertained. I was not just watching it just so I could find out what happened in the end I was generally intrigued by everything. I felt for the characters. I suppose it is hard not to when you have followed them for so long.

So I would like to say thank you to lost for keeping me glued to the TV for what feels like a life time. I was glad that I could go out on a bang and did not just filter out. I wold also suggested that this would be a very good box set to buy as you will find yourself saying just one more about one hundred times.

Work Work Work

Other people always say that our course is just watching films and talking about them. They say this because they have loads of very stressing exams. However recently we have been working quite a lot more than we usually do and I have enjoyed it. I have had to over the last few days write outlines, a script, make a poster, blog, watch Stadgecaoch, blog again and moodle. I liked having a bit of stress pushing me along. I think the worst part was just before I started a bit of work. I would do almost anything else but when I final made my self sit down and do it I found myself getting really into it. I was remembering how I used to find my scripting class one of the best things about the week. Also there is no felling better than when you get all of your work load off from your shoulders. 

I think I have done a good job with my scripting work but I am sure that I will not be saying that in a few days after Richard has asked me what was I thinking. I also wonder how long it will be until he says his famous words "Is it?" No I know it is not now so just tell me why! We love it really. Although I can't take full credit for my poster. I did draw it but I was in stick men form with done with a biro so thankfully Jessica drew mine for me and colored it in. I did find the pencils and she worked from my original sketch. 

When I was working away at my outlines I got stuck but I was then able to sort of lift myself out of it and look at it from I different angle. I just couldn't think of where to go and it was taking me ages. I then thought it is my world so I am going to do what I want. I was able to create a whole other world and this wonderful. I know I properly sound a bit  artistry and but it was not so much the creating I loved it was more the fact that I could create. I think that in other course you have to learn your world that you want to work in but in our course you in a way create the world you are working in. I hope this makes sense and does not make me sound to up in the clouds. Basically our course is making stuff up. I am really lucky that I have found a job that I really want to persue and think that I will enjoy it. 

How TV has had an effect on my political views.

Well I would say that may choice of who I will be voting for in the election is almost 100% through the television. I don't really follow politics that much but it is hard to miss as it is all over the news. I watch the news every day or so, so I have a rough idea of what is going on. Also everyone was talking about the live debates so I didn't want to miss out on that and I thought it might help me make my mind up.

I would say that it has influenced me and swayed my opinion or sort of put me off people more than put me on them. I don't to make this about my political views but I think that david Cameron has not come across very well on TV. He always seams to me being ripped apart by people, weather that is a journalist or a member of the public.

Then it also makes me think how bias the TV is. I am a little c of how much I should believe when watching the news and I do try not to let it influence me to much. I liked the TV debate because it was just what it was. After the debate I felt that the TV channels were favoring people even if they did not mean to. Even by saying that the polls say that somebody has won the debate it makes you think that you should follow the crowd.

Puppy nightmare.

This blog can be found at http://morethanreflection.blogspot.com/


:)

Stagecoach

Well first of all I am going to say I was surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did. I think this has become so clichéd in our class. Everyone seams to say this. I said it about silent movies and now I am saying it about westerns. It took me ages to finally get round to watching this. I had the dvd but I still could not motivate myself to watch it. Espealiy since Serpico and Casino have been staring at me since christmas. So I thought I would watch the trailer on youtube to get some motivation and ended up clicking on Stagecoach part one. So I started to watch it in the back ground with facebook open and Road Wars on the TV. Within about 5 minuets I was hooked and my dvd player was warming up. I am still not sure how it happened. It was not that exiting a beginning. I think it might be because I knew it was building up to some thing. The scene was set very quickly and you knew who everyone was in the first five minutes.  I now cared about these people and wanted to know what was going to happen to them.


I did enjoy what happened to them. I thought that the film had a good pace about it. It flowed well from scene to scene and always kept your focus. It was tense and they did this well. It was not just what I thought it would be which was cowboys shooting Indians. They didn't show us the Indians until almost the end. I was tense because of the unknown. I had no idea how the indians would attack or how evil they were. I liked this. It was nice to see a film not show you the danger just hear about it from others. The first sign we see is only smoke and it gets your heart pumping a little bit. 

Overall I would say once again that I surprised myself by enjoying it as much as I did. It was sort of what i expected in the way it looked but not at all in the way the story was told. Having said this to my dad he will now be thrusting dvds and names of better westerns in my face. He allready has mentioned a few I should watch. So those of you who have been putting this off I say go for it. You might find that a whole new library of films will be opened up to you.

An in depth study of buttons.

This blog can be found at http://morethanreflection.blogspot.com/

A Movie Quiz.

I was at a pub quiz last year. For one of the rounds we were given a piece of paper with alternative movie title on it. For example celeirty hostilitys = Star Wars. 

So I thought I would would post them up here and see if anybody could work them all out. We did get a few but some of them were quite hard. So here they are.

The Resonance Of Melody =

Unmitigated Reminiscence =

The Environment  =

Straightforward Stipulation = 

Souvenir =

The Sovereign of Jesting =

Succinct incisions = 

Accident =

Daylight Maintenance =

Fasten =

If you think you know any of them then comment below. :-)

I miss Civello, Bickle, Vronsky, LaMotta, Cady and Noodles.

Where is Travis Bickle? What  I mean is when did the leading actor in Hollywood become the leading actor in Hollywood because of his looks. When Robert De Diro was at the top of his game he was there because he blow away the audience in every film he made. For instance if you look at Mean Streets.


As soon as he walks into a scene you know it is going to change. Your enjoyment of it doubles. Now that is partly because of the way Harvey Keitel and De Niro bounce off of each other but it is mostly to do with De Niro. He was able to bring something so special to the screen. He was able to steal every scene but still be able to be true to his character who is a bit of a bumbling idot. 

One of my favorite things about Taxi Driver is the way it tells the story thorough De Niro's warped eyes. Most actors want to stay likable by the audience so hold back a bit. They do not want to cross the line and become something that the audience can not sympathies with and follow. De Niro pushed the boat out in this film. He was able to go all the way and completely cross the line but keep the audience engaged with him. This worked because he did not care that he was crossing the line. He played true to his character and just wanted to be this best he could be. When you are watching this you end up thinking things you would not usually think. You find yourself hating certain types of people just because Travis Bickle despises them. This is another good thing about the film. At the end of it your are shocked at yourself for thinking those things.


So where did this all go. Why did De Niro fall off his pedestal and not care about the films he makes. In the 70s everyone wanted to work with him. He worked with the leading people in the film industry. The people who were at the forefront of the making films but then he started to make sometimes three films a year. There are rumors that he wanted an influx of cash to pay for a number of things and this is a shame. It is a shame because we will never get another great De Niro film. At least nothing compared to what he his capable of. I don't know if this is because he can't or won't. Maybe he has not had the right film to push him to his limits because the only people who can afford him are the big multi million dollar films. You could say that he would not try and go back to what he is great at because there could be too much of a fall if he gets it wrong but he all ready has fallen so low. All he can do is climb right back to the top and nock Mr RP back down. So lets hope someone does right a truly great script with a wonderful character and maybe De Niro will decide to do it. So here is hoping.


However at first I did think it was a shame that we I never see him again as on from as he used to be but if I do want to see that all I have to do is stick one of his dvds on. Whilst writing this blog and thinking about all the wonderful moments that he has brought to our screens I really want to watch films such as Mean Streets, The Dear Hunter, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver or Once Upon A Time In America again. Or maybe there is an old De Niro film out there that I have still not seen.


I want to leave you with a scene from one of his films. I took me ages to finally pick a clip to put in here. I didn't think it would be so hard to pick a moment but I decided to go with a scene from Cape Fear. In this he is playing a slightly different role than he usually does and it just backs up what I am trying to say bout him being a wonderfully talented actor

A step on from Kuleshov.

I was having a thin about the kuloshov experement. As we know it is the same image of a man cut two diffrent images. 

So this proved that the audience could understand that by putting two images together they where linked. This all seemed so obvious when we were told this. I was thinking of how silly of the people back then to not get this right away and have to take a few years to adjust to the idea of film editing. So then I stared to think about music and how music is used in sort of the same way. If you see a man walking with 'scary' music playing you know that something bad is going to happen. In the same way if 'happy' music is playing you know that everything is fine. You are able to get a feel for the tone of the scene and it can change you whole perspective of a scene. You could have the same image with different music over it and get something completely different. 

It feels quite weird almost taking a step back and looking at how films trick us in to believing the world they have tried to create for us. I suppose I was always aware that by cutting music to an image it was influencing me just like an image cut to another image influences me I just have never really thought about it. 

What is the point in complaining of being offended?

A while back we where talking in class about being offended by TV. A few people said what did offend them but I said that I have never seen anything on TV that has offended me. I saw this comedian that summed up what I was trying to say that day. What does it it mean to be offended. Nothing happens. When people say that they where outraged by a TV program it annoys me. So what if you were, why do do you feel the need to complain. Just don't watch the show that you don't like. There are loads of people who do like the show that you are complaining about so let them watch their show and you can watch the show that are aimed for you. There is something for everyone on TV so people should watch what they like and if you start to watch a show and you are offended just turn over the channel. For example the whole Saxgate saga really annoyed me. There was just no need whatsoever for anyone to complain. What it the point of it. All you are doing is ruining something that loads of people do enjoy. When I say you I don't mean anyone in the class I mean the general public. So anyway rant over and  here is this comedian who I completly agree with and says what I am trying to say.

Who gives a crap about continuity?

I would just like to talk a bit about what we were talking about today in regard to continuity. In some case's it is so obvious and it does take you right out of the movie. You suddenly become aware that you are watching a film and it then takes a while to get back into. I know that you did agree with Andy, it was you after all who raised that point today. I did agree with you but after going home and trying to find the scene in the godfather with the mistake I came across a video which showed about twenty different continuity errors and they are all quite big. So it got me thinking that maybe a mistake can bring you out of the film but if the film is good enough and truly does have you griped then a mistake will not bring you out of the film. I loved the godfather and was engrossed from start to finish without being aware that I was watching a film.

So I would still say that a mistake can bring you out of a film but if it can that must mean that the film does not have you as griped as it should be. So even though the godfather has so many of them it does not matter. If anything it shows how good a film it is if these glaring errors do not distract you.

CAMERA EVALUATION

I turned up early for my assessment which left me plenty of time to get ready and compose myself. This turned out to be very good idea as Ray mentioned it in my tutorial. He said that you are not only judged on what you can do technically but you as a person. So I was off to a good start. I put the tripod up with no difficultly and balanced the camera. I did not encounter any problems here and I remembered to bring a two pence coin with me to tighten the screws on the shoe.


I then referred to my notes when setting up the view finder. I was quite confident that I knew what I was doing but I thought I may as well check it as it was an assessment. Ray said that the contrast was just a little bit too high. He showed me what it should look like so hopefully next time I will get it spot on. I did the same with the monitor when celebrating it. I looked at my notes to be on the safe side and I was able to calibrate it fine.

Time code was simple as was recording the bars. I did not get it exactly on 30sec I was a few frames out but one day it will be spot on. Then it was time to set the back focus. I did not get it quite right in our last assessment and the same thing happened again. I was just a bit out. After speaking to Ray in my tutorial and think I know what I was doing wrong. I was turning the peaking up to the top and setting it. When it looked good I just left it. What I then should have done was turn the peaking off and check it again. What also could have happened is that when I was tightening the screw I could have knocked it.

I am quite confident in lighting so I picked my lights and set them up with not that much difficulty apart from the power pack on the Dedo kit. I picked the broken one and put that one on. I then changed it for a working one and I had not turned it on. This cost me a bit of time and Ray had to come over and switch it on. At least it was a basic error and I did have my lights in the right place.

Overall I thought it when well. I finished with a few minutes to spare which in a way was good but it could have been a lot quicker. In the real world I would have had a lot less time to set it all up and de rig. Ray said that there was no pace about me. I need to look like I am rushing and working hard. If someone is paying me to do a job then I need to look as if I am worth the money. So things to improve on are back focus and being generally faster at everything.

Lovely Bones.

First of all I would like to say that if I ever hear the words my name is Salmon like the fish I will have to hit something. I have been hearing that in the Lovely bones trailers since last year and now I see the film and I hear it again for what feels like 100 times. Just had to get that out, the first thing wrong with this film.

The second thing wrong must be the structure. We know she dies because it is one the first things it tells us in the film so show us it already. Again what feels about 30 minutes in, she finally dies. This might seem a horrible thing to say. "Hurry up and show us the dead girl." But what you have to understand is that for about half a year I have been told this film is about a girl who dies and is stuck in the in between world. So why show us meaningless crap that has nothing to do with the story for the start of the film. This was not even in the book. I do not care about her little brother I want to taken along the story not dragged through the mud for half an hour. Then she does die and it is quite horrible. The tension builds and you have been waiting for it for ages so that bit of the film is good. However you would think that she would die, is stuck in the in between world then try and help her family from the beyond as her killer is still living next door. But no she fannies around in an annoying pointless cgi world for an hour. I hated this about Dr Parnassus and my feelings are the same with this. I want to be moved not watch massive bottles crash into each other on a beach, what is the point in that. Or see her running in front of a green screen with nauseating images projected behind her. Just get on with it!

Putting the general lack of story behind you, you do have one thing that is good. Susan Sarandon but they gave most of her lines to the monotone voice over which is the "Salmon Girl". What is the point of this? Film is a visual medium so show us don't over describe it in a V.O. If you have to say it then let Sarandon say it. She is so much better at delivering lines than the wee girl. When she was allowed to speak she was hilarious and brought some light to the screen unlike Mark Walberg who showed about as much emotion as a tea pot.

Oh and then there was the killer. If anyone was going to cast this film then they would surly pick an evil, hair tingling man. Someone that could scare you with a single glance and that you would be afraid of if you were to even look at them. Again this film lets us down. They cast a totally stereotypical pedo. Nerd, glasses, skinny and disgusting. This is ok and you can total believe that he could be one but I would have rather seen a killer that looks like he would actually have the bottle to kill somebody. This nerd looks like he could just be pushed over and that would be the end of him. He did not have an evil presence about him like Robert De Niro had in Cape Fear.

So this film drags on for an hour after she dies then they final start to click about the killer next door. You then get to see one of the only good scenes in the whole film. The little girl’s sister breaks in to the house next door to try and find evidence to prove that he killed his sister. This part did keep me on the edge of my seat as she rummaged around his house. If you think about it this has been done a thousand times and better. It is just because it is placed in such a god awful film that it seems good. Once you leave and think about it you realise that it was actually it was a mediocre scene. However it was a ray of sunshine in this.

Overall I was very disappointed. I don't know why this film has made me write such a lengthy blog slagging it off. It could be because I have not blogged in so long so feel I should make up for it or it could be that this is film is just that bad. I would strongly recommend you do not see this film unless you want to watch Peter Jackson try and impersonate Tim Burton.

Reflective statement.

At the start of the module I did not fully understand what TV was. I thought that it was merely a box that showed us TV shows. If you had asked me to have a conversation about TV then I could only have talked about a few shows that I watched. After only a few weeks I realised that I there was so much more to TV than what I had thought. Not only did I start to learn about the programs and where they came from more importantly I learned what TV meant to people and how it influenced them. I was able to understand that TV played a massive part in shaping this country to the way it is now.


TV played in a massive part in people's lives. So much more that it does now. It was new and able to teach people in a way they had never been able to before. I also learned how it impacted the cinema. Before TV came along the only place you could see moving pictures was the cinema. Now that had all changed. TV did not just shape the people but also the way in which cinema was made. It was because of TV that the cinemas started to have to sell a cinema experience rather than just a film.


During this class I have also been able to watch some fantastic TV shows. We watched all sorts of TV and it was very interesting to look at what generations before me used to watch.


Overall I have surprised myself in this module. I would never have thought I could learn so much about something. I know now that I still have more to learn. What I am going to take away from this module is that in future I will look at something that I think I understand and challenge myself to think I might not know as much as I could, i.e. dig a little deeper and you will be surprised and what you can find.

Moodle Me Silly

So we have all been moodling crazy over the last week in order to try and prepare for the big debate. This turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. It seemed like we were fighting a lost cause but I did try my best to convey our argument that TV is basically rubbish.

I first thought that we could just come up with a few solid arguments and that would be it. Simple. However I then found out that we had to research our argument and base our argument on facts. So I suggested some topics that we could look into. Everyone then put in their own thoughts and we quickly all had some sort of area that we could look into. I thought I could look into ratings decline and desensitisation towards certain aspects of TV. I then discovered that is was very hard to prove that because there are less people watching a show at one time it must mean that TV is not as good. There as so many more channels now so there is a bigger audience just spread over a mass amount of channels. I also struggled to prove that shows could not shock people and that now it is the norm to see someone be killed on TV but back in 1980 it would have been a big deal. I did the best I could and thought that I would be able to play a better part in the debate when it was our turn to challenge the other group.

I took down notes of things that I thought I could pick up on as the group was talking. We did challenge them in some of their points but they were able to tear us apart a lot more than we could do to them. I think that we still did a good job and put across our point the best way we could. Everyone in my group researched very well and were all committed to try their best.

Overall I would say that we lost the debate but that is not what I will take away from this. I would never have thought that we could have talked about TV in the way we did at the start of the course. I did not realise how much I had learned until Andy pointed it out at the end of our debate. At the start of the course we were all asked what we thought TV was and I remember answering something along the lines of it is box that shows TV shows and films. This sort of revelation was able to make myself not feel defeated that we had not won and destroyed the other group like we had in Richards’s class. Maybe if I had bought some wine gums for Andy he would have been able to make us win.

City Lights And The End Of An Era.

This was the last silent film we will be watching for a long time in Andy's class's. It was a good one to finish with because talkies had been around for four years and this film shows that words are not important to a story. You could have had dialogue in City Lights but like Sunrise it would have ruined it. This film was to all about looks and little moments. Chaplin thought that he didn't need sound for his films (he was right) and was the last person to make a "good" silent film. I thought that this was his best work out of all of the films I have seen of his. This is because he been making films for quite a few years and has mastered his art. This film was less silly. The jokes where not as slapstick as they have been in some of his older films. I found myself laughing at the situation as a whole rather than him just falling over with style. 

I think that most of the class found this the funniest or maybe it was only Julia's laugh that I could hear as I was sitting beside her. Also we are all now used to watching silent film and can understand them more and what they meant. When I compare it to Battle Ship or Birth of a Nation it is far more enjoyable and much easer to watch. 

I am glad we have watched all the silent films we have. I think it is important to know how it all starred if I am wanting to make a film. I have also learned that you can make a wonderful story with no words and in black and white. I am glad that we will start watching talkies but grateful that I have seen where it all began. 

Precious. A true cinema moment.

I first heard of this film when we were standing in the cinema looking at the screen and it was the only thing on. I had no idea what it was about and Meg said it was about a fat black girl who gets pregnant. I thought this sounded pretty rubbish and decided to go home and make cheesy pasta. I then started to hear so much about it. A couple of days later everyone was talking about it. It was nominated for a few oscars, it was on the news and I was a bit gutted that I had made cheesy pasty instead of going to see it.

So Sam and I bought our tickets and went to the chippy to get some dinner before it started. We were cutting it fine but as you will know if you have ever been to the cinema with Sam you will never go in on time. He says that there are always twenty minutes of trailers and that there is no point watching all the adverts. So we smuggle are chippy in just as it starts.

This screen was packed. I mean sooooo busy we couldn't even see one seat. So still a bit out of breath walked up the stairs and peered into the mass of people looking for some seats. We spotted some at the very back and got a couple to move along so that we can sit together (so i can give sam his pizza crunch and chips). We finally sit down and take our many layers off as it was snowing outside. Then we got out our food. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. We were the people everyone hates in the cinema. Comes in late, makes a fuss about their seats then whips out a sinking chippy wrapped in noisy paper. This was not a loud action film, every bite echoed thoughout the whole screen.


Putting the palaver aside what I thought of the film.

For me I had what Andy has been going on about for ages, a true cinema moment. It was about thirty minutes in and I was engrossed. The whole cinema was silent and then everybody gasped in horror at the same time. I found myself sitting bolt upright and saying "Noooo". I don' t want to ruin what happened because you need to see it for your self. I felt like I was apart of something. Everyone was thinking the same thing at the same time. You could hear a pin drop after it happened. My mum says that she can remember seeing Schindler's List in the cinema and at the end not one person got up out of their seats. I now finaly have a moment of my own.

The rest of the film was great as well. It had a good strong story and plot filled with loads of lows and highs that kept me glued to my seat as it took me on a roller coaster of emotions. I think that this film deserves all the hype it has and if it is not too late then you should see this in the cinema before it leaves.

Peep Show

How funny is Peep Show? I was given the box set for my Birthday and watched all five seasons in the space of a couple of weeks. I loved it. It made me cry with laughter at some bits. It is a bit like the office in some bits. I mean the humor is the same. It is that moment when you can feel that the character wants to crawl into a hole and stay there forever.

I know a lot of people do not like this for a few reasons. They think the camera work is annoying or that they just don't want to watch two guys complain about their life. I think that the camera work is what helped draw me in. I was saying to my self just one more episode, then just one more and so on and so on. They then aired the sixth season and I missed it. I was to busy with RSAMD stuff and other box sets and DVDs that I got. I just started to watch the new season last week and finished it last night. I was able to get it on four on demand.

It started off a bit slow but was still good. It was not until the last episode were it got amazing. I had tears rolling down my face and could hardly breath for laughing. When I think about it I still find my self smiling if not chuckling a wee bit. I can't wait for the next season and will definitely be watching it when it airs this time.

If any one has not seen peep show or is not a big fan I suggest that you try the sixth season online. It is only six episodes and I have not laughed like I did in a long time.

A Song of Two Humans

This silent film was different. In the other silent films we have watched I have thought that having dialogue would have helped them. However in this film Sunrise, it would have ruined it. There was no need at all for it. Everything that anybody would have said was conveyed with a single look or moment. There were hardly any title cards which makes me think that I am wright. This is the only silent film that I have seen so far that has moved me. The kid I thought was a bit silly and did not feel upset. In sunrise I could totally feel what the man and woman felt. I wanted them to get back together and was nervous and sad when I thought that she had drowned at the end. Nosferatu scared me a bit but Sunrise moved me on   more levels.

Also every point in the film was there for a reason. There was not one scene which was out of place and did not mean anything. Each moment was there to drive the story along and make you feel something. A lot of the time in a Chaplin film the moment will be there simple to get a laugh.

It is not totally fair to compare Sunrise to most other silent films as Sunrise was made in 1927 and had had thirty years to perfect the art of film making. Also it did not have a budget. Murnau was given anything he wanted and it shows. The sets are huge and absolutely stunning. This money was definitely given to the right man. He knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. He was able to use light in ways which other people had no idea how to. He first proved this in creating the shadow of Orlok. In sunrise he lit every scene with a purpose. He created a sort of film noir feel.

If you think that silent movies are not for you then watch this one and I promise you that you will change your mind. This is now one of my favorite films of all time and is the last nail in the coffin to convince me that I was totally wrong about silent movies. They can certainly move you, they can scare you, they can impress you with special effects, they can make you laugh and they most importantly they can tell a story well.

FML Again

I had just finished work and got into my car and it would not start. My car is 15 years old so I was not to surprised but was gutted. I have no idea about cars so I went back into work to get Mo who is a mechanic. My lights would turn on but the engine would not start. He said that my battery had died because my lights were very dim. So I started on a quest to find some jump leads. I asked everyone in work then started to ask the public in the car park. I went to every car and asked and nobody had any. I then walked over to the garage and they didn't have any either. I then phoned my dad to see if he could help me. Sure enough with in two minutes of him getting there my car was working. The problem was not the battery. I had not put it into neutral. As it is an automatic it will not start unless it is in neutral. I have been driving this car since September so there was no excuse for me not knowing. I was so embarrassed! But I could not simply turn my engine on and drive away. I made my dad look under my bonnet and pretend to turn things so that all the people in the car park didn't think that I was a complete tool. I would never see them again but I couldn't face the shame as I drove past them. So after 10 minutes of pretending I was finally able to drive away.

FML

Pure Poetry.

This blog is about the film Ada got me for secret santa, I know not so secret but I had to blog about it. The film is Natural Born Killers. I have just finished watching it and I want to talk about while it is still buzzing around in my head. This is without a doubt the most violent film I have ever watched, it was grouse and hard to watch at some bits. Like when a daughter burned her mum alive. So why did I like this film so much.


I think it was because the way it was portrayed. The basic story is of a couple as they go on a killing spree but it is intercut with flashes from inside their head. This is cool and arty but also the normal scenes are all at odd angles. I think this is to show how crazy they are in their head. They also light the scenes in interesting ways. Sometimes they will make a scene green when the main guy is thinking to show how sick he is in the head. They also use a lot of black and white and other effects during normal shots. This film is very fast and keeps you involved. This could be because their are almost 3,000 cuts in the film. Normally a film has about 600 to 700 cuts.


The acting in the film was incredible with a cast including Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey Jr. and Tommy Lee Jones is was bound to be good. I have never seen Tommy Lee Jones like he is in this film. 
Also the way the characters speak is great. They speak with such poetry. The words seam to fly out of their mouths and don't bring you out of the film for one moment.  


"I see angels, Mickey. They're comin' down for us from heaven. And I see you ridin' a big red horse, and you're driving them horses, whippin' 'em, and the're spitting and frothing all 'long the mouth, and the're coming right at us. And I see the future, and there's no death, 'cause you and I, we're angels."


When I was listening to her say this I was engrossed by her words but I did not fully understand them. I think that a lot of themes and underlying messages went right over my head. I think that some of the images that you see which are meant to be inside their head represent something or mean something more than just random good looking images. However I was still able to enjoy this film follow the story line. 


I very much recommend you watch this film. If you liked Requiem for a Dream then I think you will like this film. Here is the opening scene to give you a flavour of the style of the film. Enjoy. 

N 64

My friend left his N 64 at my house last week and I have been playing it almost everyday. I has brought back so many memories and happy times. I am also quite proud that I can still beat my brother and remember all the buttons. For those of you who do not know what an N 64 is and what it means it is a games console. But not just any games console. This was the first console I ever bought and i can still remember going to the shop with my mum and brother and handing over £70 for it. This was a lot of money for a primary 2. Me and my friends played games like Goldeneye and Pokomon for hours on end. I continued to  play these games even when my friends started to get Playstation one's. I was a true Nintendo kid. I have become glued to my TV and will be sad to give it back. I would have played my one but my dad gave it to the charity shop alone with all the games for it. I will still be bringing that up in years to come. But like anything I imagine I will get bored of it in time and be happy to shove it to the side. But right now the horrible graphics and clunky controller seam like the best thing since sliced bread.

Here is a video to show you what it means to the right person.

Eine Symphonie Des Grauens

This has been my favorite silent movie so far. This was because out of all the ones we have seen this has had the best narrative. You could easily follow the story without your mind drifting. I felt like I was in the movie more than any of the others. I also loved the way it was made. The using of his shadow was brilliant and the vampire Count Orlok was superb. So was the guy that brought Hutter up the path to the castle. He and Orlok where so much more scary the Dr Caligari's Somnambulist. It was their faces that made them so scary. The had the look of evil and if I had seen them in a film today I would totally accept them as the bady. Overall I was impressed with this film. I enjoyed it throughout and thought it was even quite clever at some points.

Elvis, Orks, Wizards and Ents.

After playing Lord of The Rings risk I really wanted to watch the films again. It had been ages since I had seen them and my extended edition box sets had been starting at me for some time now. So today I picked up the Two Towers and put it on. I forgot how beautiful this film was in some bits. It is not just people running around waving swords it is filled with wonderful cinematography. Although most of it is helicopter shots of New Zealand you are able to forget that and believe that it is a far away land. I found myself totally lost in this film and spent a good three hours watching it on my sofa. One of the great things about this film is that if you start to get bored of a story line it changes and you start to follow a different group of people. Then there is the spectacular battle scenes. I could watch Helms Deep be attacked all day and now I have to look forward to the battle at the Black Gate and Minas Tirith.  I am going to save The Return of the King for the next day we have off.

Lighting Class.

We started off doing lighting last week with Ray. I have enjoyed his lighting classes more than I did the camera classes. That is not because the other one is dull I just am quite interested in lights. At first I thought I knew quite a bit about lights but as it turned out that was not the case. I had never seen a kino light before. It’s a bit odd to say but now I think that that is my favourite light. It gave a nice soft look and was very easy to set up. It also does not get hot and is very light to carry around. I will hopefully get to play with it this weekend but I think I handed in my booking form too late. Maybe next week :). Also I learned a lot of terminology that I did not learn at Cardonald. Like the ARI 150's are called peppers. It is stuff like that which will be very useful if I am on a set as a runner. I also learned about Jumper leads which are 16amp to 13amp cables. We had none of that at Cardonald. Everything we played with had a plug. This looks much more professional and will be what the industry will be using. The most important thing I have learned is to not go into a situation and think you know everything. There is always something you can learn from any situation. I have learned a lot from Ray and I look forward to learning a lot more from him. I like his teaching style now all I have to do is put what he has taught us into a practical scenario. 

Thanks for reading. 

Inspiration.

I have not seen the whole of this film. My dad was watching it and called me in so he could show me a couple of scenes from it. I was so glad he did. These two moments in this film where incredible from an artistic point of view but also a technical. The first one which is my favourite is a man sanding in front of a mirror shaving. Then the camera moves in front of him so that it is facing the mirror and we can see his reflection.

What I think they must have done is cut a whole out from the wall and put the actor behind it. So the man we see at first is a body double as we only see his back. This is cleaver but just to be able to come up with that I think is amazing. To take a perfectly normal scene then to make it something just a little bit more special. It only lasts for 30 seconds and the time and energy that must have gone into it would have been huge.

The other one starts of with a guy playing with decks in his room. The camera then films him from out side the window and pans down to the street. So you are thinking ok it must just be some sort of jib. But then it moves off across a court yard and gets even higher. So maybe it was a helicopter but then is passes very close to a building.

The cool camera scene starts about one minute in.


I have no idea how this did this one. Maybe it was a helicopter. I just wanted to share these moments with you. Maybe it will inspire you to think outside of the box when you come to shooting a scene. I certainly will.

Thanks for reading.

Up In The Air. Whats the fuss?

So Up in the Air. Oh how I wanted that to be brillint and oh how it wasn't. It was nice but not great. I was hoping to see another Lost in Translation but if I had wanted that I should have just watched it becuase I was not going to get it by watching Mr Clooney. Don't get me wrong I did like this film it just did not deserve the praise it is getting from the media. Overall it is funning in places, the acting is good and there are some nice scenes. But it is depresssing.

SPOLIERS. At the end of the film you do not feel satisfied. You are left feeling depressed which I do not think is a good thing. Shindlers List left you sad but in away kind of uplifted. This just makes you think well whats the point. He started off happy then realised he was wasting his life. The one girl he liked did not work out. So you are expecting some sort of arc but it does not come. He contiunes being miserable and un happy with his life. He was far better off at the start of the film.

Now the good bits. Well like I said there where some funny points to this film and some of them where very funny. I found my self laughing outloud at quite a few bits. Even though you feel a bit cheated at the end I think that that is kind of good. It is fresh. A film without a happy ending is not the end of the world. It makes it more true and you feel very sorry for George Clooney. This is very good I found myself really connecting with him at the end of the film. I could feel what he was thinking and he did not have to say a word.

I recommend you go see this film. Everyone is talking about it and you could go see alot worse. Just don't build your hopes up too much like I did and you won't be disappointed.

FML

So yesterday I left my house to get in for 9:30. I drove my car to Partick train station. I was about to get onto a tube and I realised I had left my phone at home. I know the worst had happened. Like Andy said we don't carry a phone we wear it. I felt naked but knew that I could not be late for Rays class. I would just have to turn up naked. Then I finished all my classes at about 1:30 and was meeting Jessica at 5:00. The original plan was to get birth of a nation from the libary and watch it in the libary then go meet her. But now I had to go home to get my phone. I had no idea how to function without it. So off I went on a bus to go home. It worked out quite well I watched two eppisodes of Glee to see what the fuss was all about. I was not that moved my annoying people singing at me but I was cosy on my sofa. Then back in to town I went and met Jessica. ( I had also left richards book in R1 which had the spacing dimensions I needed to write my script which was due in the next day. Just another wee problem to add to the list.) The rest of my night was good, I watched half of birth of a nation then headed in to town for Andys class for 9:30 the next day.

So I was walking out of class and I didn't have my keys. I thought I had left them at Jessica's flat and she was in exams all day. This meant that I could not go pick up my car or get into my house. So I got a train to Hyndland  where I went to my old school to track down my brother and steal his keys. I then got a bus and walked a bit to my house. As I was putting Elliots keys in the lock my dad opened the door. I did not even think to phone home to see if he was in. This was anoying but what was even more anoying was that when I went to hang Elliots keys up I saw mine. I had come home yesterday to pick up my phone but left my keys. ggggrrr how irritating and what a waste of time and money.

All of this would have not happend if I had just picked up my phone yesterday morning. I would have saved my self three bus rides and a train ride and I would not have had to try and convice a school I was not a paedo and make them give me a pupils keys to their house. 

"Enjoy your dinner."

A line that sends shivers up my spine every time I hear it.  “But you are Blanche, you are in that chair!” is a line from the film What Ever happened to Baby Jane. WEHTBJ is an old thriller form 1962. It is about two sisters who used to be famous. One of them is now keeping the other sister hostage in their house. Blanche is in a wheel chair so can not escape. Jane thinks that it is Blanches fault that she is not still a star and blames Blanche for her not having any friends. This film makes you think how horrible it would be to be in Blanches situation. Imagine being imprisoned in your own home and being fed dead rats. At one point in the film Blanche tries to get down stairs and call for help. The tension builds and builds as Jane is on her way home and Blanche is still down stairs. This is a great peace of cinema and I strongly recommend it. Not only is a scary but the acting in it is superb. Bette Davis plays Jane in such a way that you feel sorry for her but also hate her. This film is filled with powerfully acted scenes between the two sisters. Here is one of my favourite scenes from WEHTBJ.

Enjoy

I can't hear you.

I was never drawn to silent movies before I came to the Academy. I always thought that they would just be silly. I thought that Charlie Chaplin was just a man who fell over a lot. And I still think that he is silly but now I can understand and appreciate the importance of what he was doing. I now know more about the silent era of film which makes me enjoy them more. I find the information behind the movies interesting but the movie its self not so much. For example the kid I was told was going to make me cry and it didn't. Now maybe that was because it was built up to much I am not sure. One of the other reasons why I did not like that film was because I found my self getting annoyed at Chaplin. I grew bored very quickly of his falling over and silly faces. The thing about him that I do like is what he did. He was able to bring happiness to millions of people and that it pretty cool. He help shaped cinema as we know it today so for that I do like him. I think that that era was right for the market at the time but I can not get the same enjoyment out of it now. I enjoyed the film Chaplin more that any of his films I have watched.

Then there was Buster Keaton. One of the reasons I prefer Keaton is that he does not pull any stupid faces. The other is thing I liked about him was his stunts. He fell over in style. His special effects were outstanding in his films for when they where made. It was when I was watching his film that I thought to my self that I should not pre judge things. Like the Chaplin movies I thought that they would be silly but they were but they had something so much more to give. 

It is the same story with The Battleship Potyomkin. I did not enjoy it but thought it was cool to watch because it was what started so much. It was really interesting to see where editing first came about and when I talk about silent movies I will now be able to mention that TBP was a stepping stone to what we watch on our screens today. In the film was the famous scene which has been used so many times. The Untouchables, The Witches, Crunchy Nut, Alvin and Chipmunks and the Simpsons are but to name a few. It is cool to be able to say yeh I saw the first one of that. 

Here is a video of the start of naked gun which has four pram's and a lawnmwer falling down some stairs. You might want to skip to one minute.

Then there was Caligari. German impressionism. Like Andy said you can see how this film influenced films like Batman and Edward Scissor hands. My feelings are the same with this film I did not enjoy it but I was glad to see and find out about where these film making practices came about from. 

I have not finished watching The Birth of a Nation as it is over three hours long but what I have seen so far as been interesting. There are huge battle scenes which I can see audiences shouting and screaming at back in 1915. There are also white people playing black people which just about sums up the tone of this film. What was really interesting about this film is its lenth. The films was have seen in class around 1902ish have been three minutes then there was Chaplin who Film the kid was 68 min in 1961. So what was a 190 min film doing in 1915? 

So what I have been trying to say in my rambling is basically I will not judge a book by its cover. I should watch things even if they look rubbish because I will always be able to take something from it. From silent movies I have taken an appreciation for the film makers who shaped our cinema and did wonders with the equipment they had to use. Also I was able to learn what the people wanted from there films in the early days and how their attitude changed quite quickly.

What I watched over the Holiday

 I have not really blogged over the holiday because I did not think that I had seen anything worth blogging about. However knowing that I had to do I blog I started to think and I have actually seen quite a few very good films both old and new. For instence I cought Whatever Happened to Baby Jane on Sky Movies the other night and I stayed up till 3 in the morning watching it. This is with out a doubt a fantastic film and truly deserves a blog dedicated to it so I will not say that much about it now other than I watched it in my holiday break and was blown away by it.


 I also went to see Nowhere Boy which was brilliant. It was very believable. What I mean by that is I suppose is that the acting in it was good along with the script. I could believe the words each character was saying and they way they said it. It was a sad film that pulled on many of my emotions so I would recommend  that you catch this beauty before it leaves our cinema. 



I also whatched On the Waterfront again which has one of my fravoutice cinema moments in it. It was great to hear those famous words again. 


"You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley. "

Most people have heard that saying even if they have not seen the film. This film is filled with beautiful little moments that make me want to make films. One thing that this film does is show how important your actors are to making your film come alive. If this film did not have an actor as good as Marlin Brando then it would have been nowhere as good as what it was.

Then there was also David Tennant leaving Doctor Who. I won't be able to talk about that in as much detail as Filk but I can say that I thought it was moving. I have watched all of his episodes and was sad to see him go. I thought that they did it well and it was nice to see that Russell T Davies was able to say goodbye to all of his characters that might not make an appearance again under Moffat's rule. 

And then there was the Harry Potter marathon. Nothing can really make me happier than letting my mind go numb and watching Harry and the gang. Oh what I would give to be in Harry Potter! That would be the film I would like to be transported into. I could see my self fighting off dark wizards with Hermione by my side. Also disappearing would be so cool. 

So all in all a good run of catching up on films and TV. Although here I have mentioned the ones I enjoyed. I did watch a lot of Road Wars and and other rubbish day time TV. 


Thanks for reading :-)