Where the Wild Things Are

So a drive down to the far far away Cineworld down in that unpleasant looking place of town to see 'Where the Wild Things Are' I've only seen the trailer a few times and have never read the book or knew there was a book until recently so I really didn't have any real perception of what the film was going to be like, apart from everything filmed through a orange tinted filter of course.

A film directer by Spike Jonze and starring Max Records as the little boy Max

The film kicked off and it was fairly certain that it wasn't going to be a children's film in the slightest. It definitely had dark undertones from the off-set. It never really did anything to relieve this in anyway, it kept spiralling down and down this dark path. This is where I would write what the film is about...but from walking away from the film just a short time ago, I'm still fairly unsure what it was about.
There's a boy who is obviously an outcast and feels alienated in his life, he see's his mother as his only friend and person he feels safe around and who will always be there for him, and when someone comes into her life he feels pushed out and lashes out and retreats into a 'magical' land made up of really big hairy ... urmm things. They are too unhappy in life and turn to this young boy to fix everything and make them happy once more.

This might sound like I've contradicted myself and have explained the film. But no, not really. This is a really small part of the film, its established and pushed out the way in a very small amount of time. Its too quickly pushed away, you don't really get a sense of who this kid is, what are his flaws and why he is the way he is.

We are then rushed into a land made up of these cute 'monsters' that are equally as fractured in their lives. From here on out we are presented with a metaphor rapped in another metaphor. This is where it all gets really confusing, I did feel like it was trying to say something about the boy and his life. It was definitely trying to say something about everything, but I was sat their just really confused on what flaws the film was pointing out in whom or what?

These ... okay I'm going to call them ... 'fluff balls' turn to this young boy to fix their way of life and make them all happy. Was this him working out what his flaws are, is this a metaphor for him playing out what makes him unhappy? and how he can fix things? I'm not too sure, we are bombarded with these metaphors one after another that all just becomes too much. The film soon becomes heavy and sluggish from there onwards.

The only way I can really describe it is, a ball of tweed. It never really establishes a clear moving straight line in which to follow. The film seems to stray around in circles for moments then to throw a metaphor at you then to try and provoke some kind of emotion from a character being unhappy/hurt.

Your sat their not really knowing what to think about what is going on, this is what I kind of took from it. The kid who is so far retreated into his own little word, who still thinks he can solve things the children's way. By having play fights and getting together to build a fort - the metaphor being they will all be happy if they work together to build a magical place where anything can happen. But the kid is soon presented with the harsh reality of life, that things can't be sorted out this way and you can't just build a magical place and everything will automatically be okay.



Yes...no? Still not sure, another thing to point out is just the relentless heavy emotional downturns the audience is presented with. Its just too much to watch sometimes, you are sat their eventually just waiting for things to go wrong...and they always do. For the plot to become this predictable combined with the sucker punches of heavy emotional downturns just becomes a little over powering.

I just felt the characters were lost on me, the film never delves to much into there characters and what makes them, them. So I never felt empathy or felt attached to anyone in the film at all. We as an audience are well, taken a little for gradated. We are left with to many blank spots to fill in for ourselves in the end, which really does ask far too much of the audience.

I feel its even confused on who its audience were, its definitely not a children's film, nor an adult film. Somewhere in-between? I'd still argue not really. Its more a film aimed at style, what style of film you are into really depends on wether you will like this film or not. If you were brought up reading fairy tales and lots of adventure stories then you will 'get' this film, for all the rest of us its just something we just won't understand. Almost like buying your granddad an i-Pod, ah see another metaphor.

But even saying this, I really liked the film 'The Fall' which is a sweeping epic set in a child's imaginations, and I totally bought into it because it didn't leave you behind at any point. It would give clear markers to where we were and what the metaphor was.

Over all, nice looking colourful film let down by a lack of a forward moving clear narrative which just confuses itself and the audience in the end. 'Sorry what?...can you speak a little louder I didn't quite catch what you are saying?' Simply the film needed to speak a little louder and clearer. I walked away from this film not really feeling any closure from anything it was trying to say or from the characters introduced. The film didn't resolve anything really in the end, which felt really disappointing as a member of the audience. In the end it almost is a children's film, in the sense it starts things but never really finishes them.

I think the fact I've edited this post about 10 times shows how unsure I still feel about this film

400 Blows

Having seen a lot of 'classical' films recently, I didn't really feel this would raise the bar all too much. All I can say is yes Andy it really is a masterpiece.

It first occurred to me almost half way through the movie how much I was enjoying it because it had taken me that long to come out of it. I was so submerged in the movie the genre and the style of it that it totally captivated me. Its that principle of you know you have a good movie when the audience aren't aware they are watching one.

I'll explain what took me out of the movie later on in the post. But for now I'll explain what I liked about this film.

From watching so many 'dull' and 'tedious' black & White and classical movies recently, I really did have something to compare this movie to. Yes it wouldn't stand up to modern standards as it does loose its drive somewhat during the movie but placing it in its time it really is an astounding piece of film.

What stood out was its cinematography, it never felt flat like a lot of other old movies we have watched recently. The hand held camera work really did help this movie set a new bench mark for movies. It all felt so smooth in the way it handled itself, shots felt fluid and all connected well with one another. I was never taken out the movie by cutting the extreme close ups like the Russian Revolution films seemed to all so adore.

Most importantly the main character was likeable for the most part, he really did feel like a real living person and delivered this through an amazing performance from start to finish. I did feel at points that the movie was stretching itself on how it could more develop and build on this character from showing us his day to day life. This is where I first sat back and realised I was watching a movie again. This is from having been brought up with modern film cuts, It wasn't a bad thing it was just a thought that occurred to me that took me out of the movie itself.

The character I feel can be compared to 'Into the Wild' in the sense that you do feel sympathy for the parents as they aren't really do all to much wrong to deserve what their child does in return. This is another fault I could pick at, but you know. I don't want to, its such a lovely charming movie that really does pull you into this young boys life that I can accept this small fact that occurred to me.

The film was essentially a snap shot of this boys life, its a strand that follows him during a short period of his life. It's not like most other films as it doesn't really to seem to have an active goal or an obvious inciting incident. It's more a story of this boys life, we are almost following him from day to day. This is were it does loose some drive as I think from a modern audience prospective we are constantly expecting something to happen, like one of his parents to get run over and for him to relise what he has. This never happens or something similar, so you can say it does loose drive from this.

If you look at the film for what it is at heart, you see that it would have lost its charm if something like this was to happen. Its about this boy and his life, his faults and his misgivings. This is all we are interested in.

I really did enjoy watching this movie and hope what we watch next can follow its standard, as it really did set the standards in the first place.

So what REALLY scares us?

This is a thought that I have been thinking a lot about recently when thinking of ideas and directions to take my script in. What really makes us sit on the edge of our seats? what makes us jump out of them? The more I thought about it the more it became apparent that its sound design. With out it, we would be looking blankly at the screen not really all to bothered as to who is being mutilated or who is being chased.

From looking at a number of scary films recently as research I found that the tension was always built by this ticking clock Zam referred too. It's that dripping of tap water in a darkened room combined with the unsettling score that makes us feel so uneasy. Its that moment during the night when you hear a door creak open that terrifies us, we suddenly start thinking what was that? What caused that? its the not knowing that really gets to us.

I looked back on a number of films on how they created tension, and I undoubtably looked at 'Saving Private Ryan' That stair well scene were the two soldiers are fighting it away up the stairs and we cut to the lone scared soldier which is his only salvation too scared to move. A lot of different things makes this scene unsettling to watch, but when I looked closer what made it unsettling when we cut to the stair well was again sound. It was hearing them scuffling about up the stairs, those raw human sounds of distress. Again it occurred to me, it's what we were hearing that was making us as an audience sit on the edge of our seats.

It has never until now that I have looked back on horror movies that it doesn't really matter if its a bunch of 'cute aliens' such as in 'Encounters from a Third Kind' You can make almost anything terrifying if you just get the eery sound design and not show the audience for aslong as possible what is lurking in the dark. Its this making the audience suffer for aslong as possible that really does make classic horror pieces.

To look at a more modern example, we must only look as far as the cinema. Paranormal Activity which is sitting at number one in the box office in America. Something that clearly scares the vast amount of people who go an watch it, I know this more than any as I see it from working in the cinema. It was really interesting to sit back and watch the audience and see what scared them. It was clear that it was the unbearable tension of waiting for something to happen, that making the audience suffer for aslong as possible then suddenly throw in that bang. This is what scared people, a slamming door isn't scary in the slightest. Yet because they were forced to wait for it, because they knew something was coming, because it made them wait for aslong as possible this is what scared them.

As essentially this film is just made up of sound design we never see the monster. Every director and screenwriter should take notes from this film, as soon as you show the audience what they are supposed to me afraid of you instantly loose the vast amount of tension you can build.

As until recently I have really shunned sound as a profession, I still don't want to do it...ever. But I have gained so much respect for sound design recently. By sitting back and really thinking why something scares me in a movie, 95% of the time it was that principle of waiting for something to happen combined with the sound design that did it at the end.

This is why I feel horror sequels just don't work, we have been shown what we are supposed to be afraid off, and as soon as we can sit back and say 'I know whats in the dark' it suddenly looses its edge. This is why Aliens and the like of 'The Decent part two' just don't work as horror pieces.

From all this I will really sit back and take heed of sound and tension whilst writing my script for Richard. It's not so much the dark that scares us, as I assume we all sleep in the dark. It's those little sounds during the blanket of night time that terrifies us in the end.

And again

So this week so far has flown past with amazing speed, only one left to go until father christmas makes his yearly trip!

Well Monday I was off so it consisted off me sleeping intill a ridiculous time in the afternoon, sleep always seems to win over anything else. That oh I'll just have another 10 minutes, that false belief soon turns in too an hour...two hours. Oh wells enough ramblings from me about my screwed up sleeping patterns.

Tuesday we came in to watch a screening of 'Not Yet Rated' and documentary by Kirby Dick. He sets out to expose the American Ratings Board. He sets out to try and see what this secretive board is made up off, and what its real goals and morals are that they are stamping these films with.

A large chunk of the film is following him with two lesbian detectives to try and track down these mythical board raters, with the goal of seeing who they really were. To see if they are these so called parents with children aged 5-17 like they so often boast about. I would like to say from the get-go during this investigation, I felt a little curious as to why he had chosen lesbian detectives. I felt like it was trying to push my view in a way that the MPAA were an anti-homosexual organisation. It does later confront this question by putting that very same question to some ex-board members. It is never really answered, but from what I gathered they turned up watched the movie had a discussion and left. How anyone could really get to know someone enough to make an informed judgement on wether someone is gay during that would be impossible.

I just felt like this was straying from the point Kirby was trying to make, It felt like a cheap swipe at the MPAA. I felt he could have addressed this question better by putting the question to the audience that the MPAA openly say they hire ordinary 'parents' to rate movies. This instantly to me says no homosexuals are chosen. That would be a question I would put to someone who worked their, or well to some sort of equality group to question the MPAA on.

We are also shown a number of interviews with his fellow directors who have been subject to the NC-17 stamp of the MPAA. All the films in question were given this stamp due to some sort of intimate sex scene. Here I felt like the MPAA were using their powers just a little too much, I did agree that some of the material may have been to much to not be given a NC-17. But a lot of the time it seemed like even holding the camera on their faces was unacceptable, this seemed like they were taking their jobs too seriously. They seem to have appointed themselves the moral guardians of the nation and in doing so are stopping a lot of provoking films getting through to the audiences.

Films that might change someones view on a certain subject matter, just because a group of parents don't feel and ease with is shouldn't be the only judge and jury on the matter. As soon as the MPAA started gloating that its parents judging these movies, this felt odd. Aren't parents the last people you should actively seek, yes they should have some sort of say on what their children see. But at the same time because they are parents they are going to be out of touch with what these films are saying about the culture they live in present day? It feels all a little demeaning for a group of parents to tell the nation as a whole what they can and cannot see. They are of course going to try and block their children seeing material 'they' wouldn't want their children to see. But to say no you can't have your film as an R because I wouldn't want my children seeing that, but your 'children should be young adults by that time and should be able to choose for themselves.

This is what the documentary is essentially made up from, interviews combined with the investigation to expose the raters. It did do a good job of keeping the documentary feeling like it was progressing and not becoming stale at any point. It definitely is a documentary you have to look at with your on head. It does become very one sided and times, with one point sticking out to me. When they espose the raters they made a point of showing what Political Party they belonged to. This brought back memories of Andy's class and the Nazi teacher with the sex offender husband. It really didn't need to show us that piece of information as it had nothing to do with the subject matter in hand.

Over all I think it was a good watch in the end. It did do what it set out to do and show that the MPAA is still really living in the past and is way overdue a shake up in the way it runs itself. It really does need to stop looking inwards and start looking out wards at the times they are living in. I feel its unfair to slap a NC-17 on someone and not explain why, not telling them what to cut or how to get around it. It just seems all so self defeating in the end. I do think it does loose track on keeping check of giving an evenly sided look at the MPAA. Although it would have been hard to do this as the MPAA would have no doubt turned down any interview.

So yes a good informative watch even if you do have to keep challenging for yourself what is being shown to you.


ZAM is Back!

So Zam is back in the ranks of RSAMD once again to pass on his knowledge of directing.

His first class consisted of looking at comedy as a genre. The question that was presented is what is funny? but more importantly how to make something funny. Zam showed us a number of clips from a broad range of comedy to look at and examine. He played the clip over and over again to show us what made up that clip and why is was funny. It all came down to timing in the end, that extra frame can mean the difference of something being funny and not.

The class were shown a broad range of different comedy genres, such as black comedy to dead-pan comedy, to look at what made each one uniquely funny. Zam did openly admit that comedy was an area that he was entirely comfortable with, and this did show as he didn't seem as excited about what he was talking about. This being said he did deliver the class in a very good manner and did get a lot of good pointers across such as timing. Something that wouldn't have instantly occurred to me if I was to think about comedy.

His next class was a class I don't think I have ever taken so many notes from. He again played clips from a number of movies covering mostly how to build tension, that ticking clock as he put it. The class showed us that in most scenes were tension is built it always almost has its ticking clock. From the Untouchables pram being pushed up the stairs combined with the clock to Aliens and the radar gun clicking away.

As the script I am writing fro Richard is a horror piece which I hope to build a lot of tension into, this was golden material for me. I found myself writing down ideas for my script as new ideas just kept rushing into my head. It has put the question to me, what is my ticking clock going to be? and also it showed me something I already knew a little about but didn't know why I knew it. If that makes any sense, and that is of course not showing for the longest time possible what is chasing them. Whats in someones head is always going to be more scarier to themselves and an individual. We all have our own fears and to give that canvas to the audience to project what they are scared of onto is something else I need to think about.

The class also showed me that its not the bang that is scary, its waiting for the bang that is scary. At some point during my script I am going to be presented with this, how long can I make the audience suffer for. How long can I feasibly hold onto that moment were something is going to happen and how long I can make them wait for it.

It was just an excellent class, one of the best this year for me personally I think.

Friday was time for the screening's, as me and Charlotte had spent so much time in the previous week editing away at it I was most anxious to see how it turned out. As we had spent so much time on so many little details I was afraid that we had become in some sort of way blinded by the littlest of details that we would have missed a bigger one. I was just scared that half way through we would hear 'And Cut!' or something similar.

This didn't happen so I could pull my t-shirt away from my face in anticipation of something going wrong.

From the screening it was clear to everyone I hope the level in which we have progressed from the first set of films to the film 'Little Clown' I think being sat down and watching them back to back was they only way of showing this too us. You can preach it all day long but to actually see it for ourselves in this medium was real shock to me. It was really night and day watching the difference between them.

It was also good to see the third year films as I have only seen them being cut. For all the films being really good in their own right, it did put that thought of 'We could do better' something which I have no doubt that the first years were thinking as well. This will all drive us to make better films in the future, a little competition is good. As with out it, we would get no where in life.

*rests fingers*

Star power

In the past number of weeks we have been talking alot about what is a movie star and what is an actor in Andy's classes. This on its own raw form, seems like a very easy question to be able to ask anyone and get a very simple answer to. But as soon as you begin to answer this seemingly simple question you can feel yourself tripping up in trying form one.

We live in an age were anyone can get famous by doing very little and with having very little or no visible talent, Jade Goody? This really does make you feel slightly wrong that we as a nation have become obsessed with these talentless people who can make millions of our obsession with them. It all seems rather ludicrous, I can think of half a dozen 'simple' minded blonds that have very little talent other than talking.

Why are we not more inclined to seek out actual real talent? We have shows such as X-Factor and Britain has talent, both shows that claim to do this. But I feel in the end what it really is in its rawest form is a glamourised circus being broadcasted to millions. As the only real reason we watch these shows are for the idiots of are so far in their own worlds they can't see or accept that they have no talent, no matter how bad they are.

You only have to look at the Jedward twins this year on X-Factor, the nation was keeping these vocally talentless 'things' in the show purely because they were funny to watch and annoyed Simon. As people I feel we are exposing ourselves to the kind of creatures we are. We are always looking to make ourselves feel better by watching at 'lesser' people than us. It gives us that feeling of its okay I'm not doing anything real with my life, at least I'm not like them.

This has gotten to the point that actors themselves have been able to get past year in year out with-out actually being in films. We have gotten to a stage that we are more interested in what actors do off screen that on screen, and I bet they make more money of this than actually working.

They mustn't believe their luck, its the dream for everyone. 'Your saying I can get paid with out working?' Point me in the direction of someone who would turn that down. This is all very sad to think about in the end, actors not having to put in good performances and talentless no bodies making millions of our obsession to want to know what people are up to. I suppose in a way it should really be forcing us to look at ourselves in the mirror, but I think in some strange way it does the opposite it gives us the opportunity not to look at ourselves as a whole.

Anyways to the point actors and stars! ... Well this is like a question, how big is the universe. You are going to get alot of different opinions and takes on what they are, with out ever reaching a clear cut answer. For me I think stars are a strange hybrid of once upon a time actors realising and being smart enough to see that they can make more money of selling their lives to the media that actually working, other than putting themselves on the fable career line that is acting. As one day you can be somebody and the other a nobody. I feel this is the fear that has struck a number of actors who know they aren't always going to be the new kid on the block and the actor every studio must have.

Its also been a huge safety net for actors who well ... can't act. They call themselves actors and we take them as actors when we read about them, but try to pin point a recent performance they have done is harder, and harder still a good performance they have done.

Stars are born out of our imaginations, they are the canvas we as a species can project our perfect ideal's on. We can pretend to be like them, buy the same clothes and cars and feel better for it. As its safer and easier than to actually be your own person and expose yourself to judgement.

I would love to say we will get sick of all this in the end, but I can't really say that whilst making eye contact. It would be nice to think that it will swing back around to demanding actual raw real talent. But this in its very nature is a rare commodity and it will always be easier to fish out the talentless than the talented, and in the end it brings just as much entertainment and comfort than real talent for most people.

Twitter-itter

I really need to watch a movie to blog about me thinks. Cinema this weekend definitely.

New Post Alert

The Island Tapes.

So I really didn't know what to aspect going into this, I really had only a very vague idea as to what it really was. So me and the rest of DFTV 2 ventured into the dark side, the music school. The first thing we did was all sit beside each other and not where the ticket had split us up to. Yeah take that establishment!

We waited around for a little bit then a small group of musicians walked in one after the other, took their seats and introduced themselves. The guy who organised it all gave a small introduction before punching a few buttons on his laptop and the show began.

I have to say after around five minutes into it I was well and truly captivated. We as a class have watched a number of black and white movies and I have always liked the music that goes with them, but to actually see the music playing live in front of you with the movie in the background just added an extra dimension to the show. It just seemed to go hand in hand with what was being shown in the background.

It made what we were watching feel all the more meaningful in the end. I did find myself watching the musicians more than the actual tape being shown in the background from time to time, but I think that was natural. I really liked the show and felt it offered a very powerful look into our past as a nation in a very engaging way.

I didn't know till afterwards that we had watched this show because in fact we are going to be filming something similar very soon. Now if you had explained to me before hand that we would be going out to film seemingly random pieces of footage as a kind of social time piece. I would have been a bit sceptical on its value and merit. But having watched this and seen how powerful it can be. For us to be able to look back at unedited pieces of footage that have captured a moment in time has really made me think that what we will be doing will have value and merit, and will hopefully offer our children's children a look into how we lived in as powerful way as we watched this.

Overall a very nicely put together show that offered a very rare insight into our past that I don't think could have been delivered as good in any other medium other than what it was.



Adams Tutorial


I always like Adams tutorials because he has a very good way of putting ideas on the table that will improve your idea and making it seem like your ideas. Well they are your ideas but just from a different angle, I always walk away with fresh interest in my idea and raring to develop it further.

I put three ideas on the table, the third being their for good measure, I knew the third was a terrible one and so did Adam. It was never really spoken of in the tutorial. The other two on the other hand Adam seemed to really like and wanted to know alot more about and asked questions about them that I would have never have thought to asked myself. I found myself coming up with new ideas for the show on the spot and thinking of new ways I could take them.

I felt Adam was really engaged with the two idea I had put on the table, and I walked away knowing alot more where to take these ideas and how to properly develop them further.

Richards Class


So in Richards class we talked about writing scenes, which in the run up to writing our scripts was a big help. He sat us down and showed us a large number of scenes on the TV. This was a really good sessions as I think it gave us all the point that even a small very well written scene that ramps up the tensions can make or break a film. Richard explained that every film should have one of these scenes, a scene were the stakes are constantly ramped up and giving him/her further to fall. A scene that ramps up the tension so far that the audience can't look away from the screen.

I think before even starting to write my script I am definitely going to sit down and plan out and construct such a scene and how it is going to run up to that. This is something I don't think I would have done before, yes I would have planned my script out but to sit and focus on one particular piece of it in such detail is another thing. I am still unsure what this scene will be in my script, but I think I am closing in on it as I develop my idea further and further. I feel its only a matter of time before I find it.

Overall a very good practical class in showing us that yes the smallest details do matter, those moments we love in films are the moments we walk away thinking waw, that was a really good movie. Just that small piece of film magic in a well timed and well written scene can make your movie and okay one to one to remember.

Richard also mentioned that not to over do this, as I think that if every scene in your movie was trying to push too much emotion and tension at one go it would get a little much for the audience to watch. But still EVERY scene should have its purpose in what its trying to do and to help push your film forward.

Scenes

We have been talking about filming these scenes for a long time now, and now that its over I'm a little sad. I had such a good fun time on set filming them. It was night and day from any location filming I have done in the past. It was all very relaxed and I felt I learned alot more from it than from any other filming I have done.

Me being the gaffer and Luke being the best boy, we were essentially Phillips handy men. We broke up all the lighting kit and dismantled them all through out the day. Me not being the most handy person with lighting kit before hand, I felt this was a very good learning exercise for me. As in class having a whole class jumping around the lighting kit when Ray took them out, I don't think I have had enough one on one practical time with them.

But as soon as the day started I could just feel that I was learning so much, I know the scenes was all about getting a performance, but the fact I have taken two things from the experience can't be a bad thing. I feel alot more confident with the lighting kit in general and just learned what the full capabilities of them are.

Performance wise I also feel like I have taken a lot away from the day with. From thinking back to all the films we have shot so far I can't remember anyone sitting the actors down and being like, your in this state of mind. This is why you are here and this is why you are doing this. Maybe not as blunt as that but thrashing it all in metaphors, such as Andy said in first year don't tell them to run, tell them to act like the other end of the room is on fire.

This I think squeezes alot more out of the actors in the end, they are not just pieces of kit you can switch on and off. You have to be able to put them in that place of mind in their heads. They have to believe what they are doing is true, they have to feel the emotions and tension of the scene as if it was their own.

Just watching all this through out the day was highly educational for all of us I think. Just watching how to deal with actors and how to get a performance out of them has given me fresh fire in my stomach to want to go out and film something.

I feel Andy's and Adams point has been made, we have been forced to look at the performance side of filming a movie. Just having a full day on this has really made me think alot more about actual performance other than just how it looks technically. Through-out the day I think we have all picked up alot of knowledge on how to properly deal with actors. Just little things like talking to them as actual human beings, not just do this do that. Its the small things like giving them a green room to put themselves in that place of mind they need to be in to give the best performance they can.

Even with time on location being really incredibly strict, I would like if I was ever given the opportunity to film a movie is to let the actors improvise. Let them bring something new to the table in how they interpret the scene. Letting them completely turn the scene on its head can just be what that scene needs, and to be able to capture such raw performance can let you capture that piece of magic the scene needs.

I could sit here all day and explain what I feel I have learned, but for now I just really want to put into practice what I have learned. It really has put fresh drive in me as a film student.

I felt like we all worked really well as a group as a whole, we all took on board each others advice and I think we couldn't have worked better as a team. When I heard Ray and Gavin were going to be on set, this worried me as I felt like I was going to be evaluated in some way in everything I done. But this wasn't the case, all that it really was, was Ray equationally saying it would be nice if you did that with the light I think. Just small little pieces of advice he felt would improve the lighting, this really did help me and Luke as it made us look at the frame and think how can this look better lighting wise. Phil of course was a very good DOP and was always ready to take on board suggestions and would frequently asked me what I thought of the lighting.


Overall I really really enjoyed the day, from thinking back to other shoots and the stress that goes with it, I have to say I was a little worried that the day was going to be like that. But I have walked away having really enjoyed myself and feeling like I have learned alot from it. Something that I don't think a hundred of Rays class could have tought us. In no way saying that Ray's classes aren't educational but just being in those smaller groups and getting hands on experience has been really valuable to all of us.

So..

So this week we had Richard's class on Monday when we had to pitch our idea to Richard and the class as a whole. This was a really good experience for us all I think. I was really nervous about public speaking, i know its not really public speaking and just the class but still had the same effect. I don't even think the huge amount of donuts and such helped me relax. When I went up to pitch my idea I don't think I looked up once to the class and just kept my head down and read what I had written down.

I didn't think people even heard a word I said never mind understand the idea, but when it got put to questions I was surprised that everyone seemed to like it and be interested in the concept of the idea. This has put alot of confidence in me for my idea and can't wait to start writing a script for it, I think I can take it alot of different directions and make alot of interesting points in it.

I walked away from the class feeling alot more confident about the idea as a whole and understood why Richard made us do it. Getting the idea straight in my head so I could pitch it was a really good thing for me. It forced me to reflect on my idea and go through every detail so it was as strong as it could be. I got alot of good points on where to take it from the class, even such as things for the name for the movie.

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Andy's class on who are movie stars and actors or both was an interesting lesson to make us think about. I was really shocked to find out that those big calibre actors bring so very little money back to the movie, and such weak actors I wouldn't even called an actor or a star bring back double or triple this.

I still think that their are a few actors/stars out their that can make me go see a movie purely because they are in it. Its not a huge list of actors but their still is a few. I would still go see a Will Smith movie over any independent movie if I had a gun put to my head. I can understand that just a few years ago this list would have been as long as my arm and now its just a few names but their still is a few there fighting their corner.

A lot of actors who would have been stars a few years ago have almost become side orders, for example a side dish. Something that sweetens the deal. I have never really thought of it in this way, its something that has never really occurred to me before. But coming to think of it I was never really excited by de capriccio in shutter island, I'm sure if its been out or just around the corner, the fact I have no interest in going to see it was something to think about.

Even Will Smith in Seven Pounds is a movie I never have an intention to go and see, It's the movie actors do to pay for that new yacht or such as we have learned. I haven't held anything against him for it, but I think if he does another few movies such as this his name in my book will begin to slide.

Over all and interesting class bringing up a lot of points that I have never or would never have thought about. Further that animations actors are becoming bigger than actual people is something that well 'blew my mind'

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Today we had a full day of editing, it was really another class of just getting to the grass routs about what Avid is and how to fly it. It definitely seems like there is alot more going on in Avid that their ever was in Final Cut. The fact that Final cut took us just a few lessons to be able to fly it but Avid is taking a lot more time to get to grasps with. I feel Avid feels a lot more thought out and offers a lot more features, just little features that make the editing package just that more rounded to use.

Little things such as being able to customise the interface colours sounds like a little thing but being able to darken the colours to make it easier on the eyes, is a huge thing for an editor. It makes it a lot more less straining on the eyes to use for a full day, as we did today.

It's just little things that make it easier to use and that make it more reliable piece of kit to use. I am definitely an Avid man now that Final Cut. I would go as far to say I will never use Final Cut over Avid in the future, their doesn't seem to be anything Final Cut can do that Avid can't do better and faster.

We also learned how to import footage, the fact we didn't have to tell final cut every two seconds where to store the media. For me being forgetful this is a huge thing not having to remember five different default locations to tell Final Cut where to put media. If you mess one up your project goes out the window.

Overall another productive day in a field I have much interest it, I really like the progress we are making in editing which was an over looked field in first year I feel.

Glitz and Glamour of a Premiere = Cleaning

So last week in Adams class we continued down the path of taking apart TV shows to try and figure out which formula seems to work with them, even if they seem at opposite ends of the spectrum its interesting to see that most have the same framework at the core of them.

As a class we went on from listing themes to actually seeing what were themes and which were devices with-in themes. This was a good exercise too which we were shown the difference between the two and how they work together in unison. One example would be the theme of the 70's, the devices with-in this theme would be visual style, contrast then-now, stereotype, nostalgic, music and cultural social style. For me at the moment it still is easy to get the two mixed up but I'm sure in time it will come, its not so much I have no idea between the two. I understand how they work in TV programmes but actually pointing out a Theme from a Device is still a tad tricky, nothing I'm sure won't come in time.

The Battle of Algiers

The battle of Algiers is a classic film depicting the urban guerilla warfare the Algerian people waged against the French during their occupation of Algerian colony. The film depicts the desperate measures opposing forces will go to, to knock the other one out of the fight. The movie examines this war in a documentary style film which shows that their were no greater good side to the forces.

This for me was a movie I have very mixed feelings on, from watching it, its obviously a fantastically directed piece that brought to light a lot of the atrocities that happened back in Algiers when the French were still desperately clinging on to the piece of land. Saying this though, I can't help but think maybe the director lost his scope somewhere along the line.

After getting unlimited backing from the Algiers government to do what ever he wished I can't help but feel he lost of his scope of what were the most important pieces he should include in the film to get the maximum impact across as to what happened their. With no movie studio to report back to I feel that maybe the film was allowed to stray a little bit in terms of what should have been covered and what shouldn't have been.

Not in terms of censorship but in terms of how long the movie should have ran for, I felt the movie could have had alot mor impact if it was just that little bit shorter. I felt myself losing interest in what was happening after awhile, I stopped caring to put it bluntly. My mind started wondering onto things like 'What am I going to do tonight?' and various other things. Which is a real shame as I did think that if they had been given more re-straights on the movie that maybe a leaner fitter one would have emerged.

My thoughts on this movie are one of admiration on how well they covered the event and how well it was pieced together. At no point does this movie loss any of its impact but there comes a point were too much is just that bit too much.

I felt the style of the movie was just fantastic, how they achieved to make this movie look like it was pieced together from actual footage and such was just sheer brilliance. I felt every actor and device in this movie just worked perfectly with one another to really make a classic film that does pack a punch.

The characters all felt real and could have been the real deal for as far as I knew, they researched this aspect really well in my view, each character felt gritty and real. One bad point I would like to make is that it did feel like it stray into the realm of the old Russian Revolution films in terms of no one main central character for the audience to really attach to. I don't know how they could have done it any differently though, as they were covering both sides of opposing forces.

Over-all for all its bad points I did enjoy the film and felt it did do what it set out to do, and just everything slid into place after that.


The Law Abiding Citizen Premiere

So I was one of the floor staff at Cineworld hand picked to be on for the Premiere of the Law Abiding Citizen, were Gerald Butler would be gracing us with his presence.

I turned up early in the afternoon to see all but four rather sad crazy looking women camped outside Cineworld with their Gerald Butler banners behind the barrier. All I could think was how silly its all going to look when Gerald turns up and thats all who's their. Oh how I was wrong, I'll get into that later though.

My shift started of with a briefing from the managers in the Cafe Bar as to what was going to happen and when, it was going to be a military operation as it turned out. It all felt rather exciting even if it was only Gerald Butler. How the image in my head of doing a special role during the day was shattered as soon as the supervisors got a hold of us. It was to be 4 hours of non-stop cleaning to get level three into shape. Everything from the skirting to the poster frames were to be spotless.

I found myself suddenly doing more work in four hours than I've done in my entire time at Cineworld! We all became rather sweaty and disgusting looking after this. Luckily we were not going to greet the 'famous' people like this, down to the stock room for new shirts that actually fit! and a meal before it all kicked off.

We headed across the road to the pub, burger and chips filled me right up and a pint of lemonade to quench my thirst! Luck was on our side, they accidentally served us an extra portion of burger and chips for free! For a table full of starving workers who've cleaned every door knob and piece of skirting on level three, well it didn't sit their too long.

We walked back across the street to see the barrier was now surging with people eagerly waiting for the man himself, the red carpet was out and the security guards were lining the street. I was rather taken back to say the least, although we weren't even allowed in the main entrance, we were forced to go in the back door! So much for working the premiere!

Well the night wasn't quite what I hoped it was going to be, I stood and greeted the premiere customers having no idea who any of them were at-all. The only person I recognised was my managers. Gerald eventually made his way up to level three with his entourage, he strolled right passed all of us not even giving us a smile or a hiya. Nope the most we got was his producer David Segal referring to us as the cleaner people. Yes fair enough thats what essentially we are, but the cheek of the man.

My next task was to seat screen four, the loony tunes screen set aside for the public. AKA the mad old women who had been camped outside all day. Each one terrified when I took their ticked to see where they were sitting that I was not going to give it back.

The rest was just standing around waiting for the film to come out and say 'Good Bye' to the 'Famous' people. Was better than a normal shift I suppose, as it had burger and chips involved!


Richards Class

Not really much to say on this front, we are just going over past points in the run up to writing our scripts to make sure we are okay with everything we have learned so far. This is good for me as I had forgotten a few key points on screen writing and such, just silly little things that would have tripped me up when it actually came to writing a script.

We are next week pitching our idea's to the class which I feel will be good, because it will force us to get our head around our idea and make sure we know it inside out.

Andy's Class

Eviction is a documentary that followed a number of homeless families with young children, it brought to light mis-givings about the homeless and the state that has failed them on every level. It changes your perception of the word homeless from drunken old men in the streets to one of a families fight to have a roof over their head and a place to call home.

Eviction was a really compelling documentary, one of the best I have seen in awhile to be frank. It really did tick all the boxes of drawing the audience into this just dire situation these people are in and actually making you care about it. This is nothing achieved easily and the fact they did it so well was just excellence on their part.

Just the injustice I felt all the way through was really getting to me, so much so that it the british sense I felt like writing a letter to someone to get it sorted out for these families. They did do a good job in the cut to make you connect with these people on an emotional level, how the crew could stand their and film it all is just beyond me. I would be going down to the bank to give them what little money I have, this wouldn't solve anything for them but it got to me that much.

It really is the modern day 'Kathy come home' after having watched that I remember thinking, god I'm glad thats all over with and we live in better times were things like that don't happen anymore. How wrong I was, yes its not on the same scale as it was. But the same hopeless government departments and the same hideous bureaucracy remains that eats away at the core of a failed system. It gave me the same feeling of anger at how this can happen that 'Kathy Come Home' did.

The fact we live in time were this documentary was just pushed to the side only further fuels that anger.

Zombieland

I have been looking forward to seeing this film for some time now, but never had the time, I just caught it as it was on level 6 in Cineworld which only means its ready to be kicked out.

I have to say with-in the first five minutes of this movie I knew it was going to be good fun to watch, I just knew it was a movie that wasn't going to take it self to seriously. It's definitely a generation film, I can only see my generation enjoying this film to its full extent. From start to finish it is full of spoof's innuendo's from a number of recent zombie film's and console computer games. I really wouldn't blame anyone in the age bracket of 35+ not understanding the comical element this film went for.

Yeah this film clearly lost itself in places on where it was going or what it was trying to say, or even who are main characters really were. Yeah this is a valid point, but for me it really didn't matter that it didn't really have any direction to it, again this film was just all about good fun. It had enough substance to keep the comical slant fresh and appealing at every sticky situation our group of survivors found themselves in.

Jessie Eisenberg 'Columbus' really did make this film, I found his comical style ... well funny. I would be hard pressed to think of anyone else who could have brought that unique innocence of his character to his role. He really did portray his role of a 'run away' at anything that resembles danger to the letter.

The fact that this movie was clearly the xbox game Dead Rising wasn't a bad thing, the game was utterly relentless in zombie killing as the movie. Some would think this wouldn't translate that well as a narrative format to well. That again would be a valid point but, to reiterate the point that the movie didn't take itself seriously and was short enough to get away with its ridiculous setting that it chose to tell the story in.

I just found this movie good fun from start to finish, I found Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg made the perfect comical duo. They had me laughing at every satire corner, they really did come over as just over grown children just out for abit of fun and not really taking the context of the situation all that seriously.

At the end of a day isn't a movie made to entertain and make you laugh? This may sound and look like a silly movie but its the best silly movie I've seen in quite some time!

Documenting

After another class in factual film making, I thought I'd make the effort and watch one myself as it has been awhile.
I wasn't intending on watching one tonight per say, but as I got back from work I flicked through the channels and landed on BBC One. The documentary in question was ' Why a mothers love is not enough' it had already started so I just caught the last half an hour of it.

Although it had already started I don't think it lost any of its value or impact that was intended by the piece of film. The film was examining the situation mothers/parents find themselves in when they have disabled children and the impact it has on their life.

The film did everything a documentary should do, it drew me right into the subject matter, even though I have no knowledge of it what so ever. It's something that has never impacted on my life as of yet. The film got right to the emotional core of the subject matter whilst keeping all its value and substance. The second thing it did was completely change my view on one of the talking points of the film, what drives a mother to kill her child.

This has been something that has popped up in the news in the past few year, before I would have completely condemned the mother for doing such a thing. This is obviously a horrifying thing to happen and still isn't a right thing to do, but what the film did was shed enough light on what can drive someone to do such a thing. It changed my point of view of the mothers side, that in some cases it was the lack of support from the out-of touch state's lack of support for them that has left them isolated and alone.

The film set out what I think it was intended for, it got me as a viewer who has little understanding on this matter as a whole but made me sympathetic and also angry at the serious failings of the state that has driven these people to isolation and depression. It made me as a viewer want to do something to change this situation, it installed this feeling through just 30 minutes of fantastic film making. It really has set me a bench mark for documentary making.

I found this to be a fantastic documentary that really got to the core of what it was trying to do, shed light on something that most people would rather ignore than deal with. The presenter really did convey understanding and objective in what she was doing from start to finish, this really did make the documentary.

The Searchers

Better Late than never.

I Have to say I am never really a fan of westerns, they are always just a tad slow paced for me to keep my attention focused on it for longer than an hour.

I found the searchers entertaining in alot of ways, but equally bland in others. I found the storyline to be the typical western of fighting the bad indian people. This to me just rang of every other western I have seen, I was just about to throw in the towel when I realised I was actually enjoying the film.

Maybe this is down to the calibre of actor involved in this one, or maybe its down to John Fords style of the movie. But something made this stick out alot from the crowd of bland westerns I have seen in the past. I felt that the Searchers had alot more obvious beets to the film than most other westerns, It felt like it was actually going somewhere other than shooting those pesky indians.

This is undoubtedly down to the premise of them searching for someone, it gave the plot alot of drive and gave the story somewhere to go and to ultimately resolve itself. This kept my attention more focused on what was going on and if they would ever find the little girl.

It didn't hurt that visually the film was brilliant, every shot seemed way ahead of its time, and for parts you could have showed me and told me its a film being released next year. After all the desert is a bland and boring place to be, to make the place look visually nice to look at was a triumph.

As with Andy's classes surrounding framing, deep focus and subtle hidden visual messages, I loved how that in the searchers each shot was well though out in terms of framing and what was being shown. Every inch of very shot had its purpose and convade in some form more story and depth to what was happening.

At times it did feel like it was settling back into the traditional cowboy film and slowing down to a near stop, this happened from time to time through-out the movie. But not nearly enough to distract from all the other good points the film was doing.

As with the point Murdo made on his blog, the ending did seem a tad off. The little girl going from the loyal indian to suddenly releasing she in-fact wants saved seemed to be out of place, it took me out of the movie for a moment. I'm not sure what quite was the point in that, maybe there was a hidden under-tone which I didn't quite pick up on.

Over-all a good watch I felt, interesting and actually got some thought provoking points across. Kept me interested from start to finish which no other cowboy western film has managed to do with me as of yet.

Really Really Really Old Books!

When I heard we were going to the Mitchell Library, it was hard not to retract back to primary school days of thinking 'Boring!' when a word such as library is brought up. I haven't visited one in year to be frank, not from a dislike of them, but through never having had the time or needing to.

When we arrived at the library I was shocked, it looked very modern and a cool relaxed place to sit and study, the open lobby with the cafe was very modern and had a very good atmosphere to it. We then proceeded to walk back in time when we visited the upper archive level, the carpet I think is as old as the books they have.

This is not a bad thing, its character. Who would want to sit reading an archive book under spotlights and a freshly buffed shinny floor? It was cosy to say the least. The librarian already had a table set aside with a number of archive books from their collection for us to see. I was shocked by the fact that we can just go in and request to see these books and actually read them. It was like a museum with out the glass boxes.

I still feel I would be far to scared to request to see a really old book of fear of damaging it in some way. The story of the woman drinking Irn-Bru just rang of something that I'd do without thinking about it. But all the same was a fascinating look into our past, they all looked like props from a period drama or something.

The police photo book was just plain creepy though, the whole thing of holding their hands up was unsettling, to think these were actual people with an actual story was mind-blowing.

Overall a really interesting look at the stuff we can get access to for any future projects and also just to know the shear scale and wealth of information that they have stored away. It did make the internet look like a child's play toy.

Blah Blah

Zams storyboarding class on friday was another very useful class from Zam. The topic of the day was storyboarding and how useful they are in crafting a film together and also how to properly construct one.

The main points brought up through his experiment of showing us a scene from North by North West, was that you should only pick out the very important bits from a scene to storyboard and not to just storyboard every little thing that happens, as you soon run on 5 pages for about a twenty second clip.
This seems obvious but before hand I had though you would have to storyboard every little detail, so this was a good point to pick up on.

I will definitely put alot more effort into a storyboard in the future as effectively it is the only way of visualising to someone else what is going on in your head.

Also that a good storyboard can make the difference between your film being picked up or not and even effect the budget, as Alien's budget was doubled after they saw Riddley Scots storyboard for it.

We then went onto storyboard a short story given to us by Zam, this was a fun little exercise as it put into action what we had just learned before hand. Although time was very strict, and theres nothing I hate more than drawing under pressure, feels like my head will explode.

Theres not really much else to say from the class, but I did enjoy it and took away a good few points from it. I look forward to building on what we learned.

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This week in Andy's class we went back on what we built on last year about genre and iconography. This was all about how when a audience member sits down to watch a film, they know exactly what to expect from the movie. As when you see the Legally Blond 2 poster for instance, and how you can't compare how good this film is to a film of a different genre as its a different playing field.

I feel we did pick on a number of good points during the class and that its interesting how genre can hide itself rather cleverly inside other genres, such as Die hard and a wester movie. I'm not sure the same can be applied to any Michael Bay's films though. I did see pars with this class and one of Richards classes about how the audience know what to aspect from the genre of movie they are sitting down to watch and how you don't meddle to much with that formula.

We have also been picking up on a number of points relating to framing of a shot and how the framing can add alot of depth and relay alot of information about what story you are trying to tell. Just by planning out where you want your audiences eyes to look at in a particular shot. Its interesting to pick up on all of this as I don't think I would have done this as much before, although as Andy said doing this for every shot is not necessary and can be the flaw of your film. If it comes naturally then throw it in their.
In any future film I am involved with I think I will defiantly think twice about the framing and how more can be added to it, rather than it being a flat two dimensional shot. It always interesting when something is pointed out that you never notice before, like the Citizen Kane shot of him playing in the snow, I would have picked up on it un-continuously but would have never thought about it.


We then went onto watch a documentary about Film Nwaaaaaa erihgerg

This was picking up on the factual research aspect we have been learning recently. Personally I didn't enjoy the documentary too much as I feel it did begin to go round in circles as it became a tad stale after you heard the forth persons view on it. Maybe it was just not the thing to watch on a Monday morning/afternoon. Or maybe because I'm not a fan of film nwajhsgf, just a tad too depressing for me. I can see the classics are very good films in their own right but still nothing I'd choose to sit down and watch.

Overall a good class to start building on top of what we learned about last year and a gradual step to making us all 'freaking awesome directors'

Captains Log Star Date: 3003

So we are seeing Adam alot more than I thought we would this year, after the first meeting were it was stated we would be seeing less of him this year, I could only think well we barely saw him last year so we won't have any classes this year. Well I think this was a exaggeration on some level.

Adam's classes are always fun and relaxed but at the same time still engaging and interesting. Fridays class consisted of watching an episode of life on mars which I really enjoyed. I had never seen the first episode before, only small glimpses when my parents were watching it back home. I never took much interest in the show. Although after watching a full episode on friday, its definitely on the box set order list [/Amazon]

After the show had ended we then went to analyse themes from Teachers and the Shameless Tv show, which we had completed a number of de-constructive sheets about what the shows key points were, such as themes. It was interesting to actually take a step back and do this to a TV show as we have only ever done it for films. The point from this was to allow Adam to show us what key themes are present on most successful TV shows so we can see which formula works, and which ones not so well.

I felt this was an obvious step to take, but one I would have never of thought of doing by myself. To sit back and see what themes make a good engaging TV show that the public can connect with. I will be applying this to any TV show package I think up of in the future.

Over all a brisk and fun class I felt, I took away a number of new key steps I will be applying to my ideas and feel I would be better prepared pitching an idea to commissioners as Adam put it, you just want to be able to give them the key points/themes of your show.


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Andy's class on Tuesday was a Factual Research Class.

I find myself warming more and more to these classes, I find myself understanding more and more on how to approach situations that arise in documentary making, and well I'm sure one day I will find myself working on one in some area or another. These skills such as moral and ethical decision making I find most interesting, as we all think we can make the right decision when a difficult one arises. But when you sit down and actually think about it more, its interesting to see that the decision you thought was right may not be the right moral or ethical decision given the circumstances.

I think these classes are arming us with the necessary tools in which to deal with those grey moral zones that pop up from time to time. Although I'm sure I will never encounter a BNP disabled children teacher with a sex offender husband in my life time, although at least I know how to deal with that if it ever arrises *RUN!*

I do like these classes as it does tell us stage by stage about the different aspects of factual film making and how to approach each area, which in the long run will make us better film makers. I am never going to be a person who can interview someone, its just not who I am, I could never push anyone to reveal anything they didn't want to. But this is just one aspect of this medium, I am definitely more interested in factual film making now than what I was at the start of the Academy year.

12 Very Angry Men

I won't be complaining about this film Andy you will be glad to hear!

This film is set around 12 jurors sent to deliberate the decision on wether or not to send an 18 year old kid to death over the murder of his father. What seems like a very one sided open and shut case soon turns into a full scale fight between rival opinions.

I found last fridays film '12 Angry Men' a very intelligent perfectly pieced together film I have seen in a long time. It was almost as if we were watching a stage play, but with-out having to go to the theatre and sit beside very old men.

The film centred around one locked room in a court on the surface sounds incredibly dull, I thought this when I first heard what the film was set around. I thought to myself, just how can anyone make a good interesting film set in the one small location? Impossible I thought to myself. I have never seen nor think I will see a film again that would dare to do this, any modern director would have us flashing back and forwards from the crime to the jury room to keep a pace to it.

All credit is due to the director on this account for not doing that, its not important for us seeing the actual crime, all we need to see and hear are these men deliberating over it. Again sounds very bland, but it never once got dull nor boring at any point I feel. It had me hooked from the get-go, the incredible acting combined with the stage design and camera set ups made this one film you're not going to forget in a hurry.

I felt the characters all had so much depth and character to them, each one felt like an individual with his own story. Again the acting had me pulled right into the movie, the protagonists of the jury were so good at what they did that I felt like bursting into the room and shaking them back and forth to knock some sense into them. They felt like real people is what I'm trying to say.

Henry Fonda's character in particular with E.G Marshall were the two most captivating jurors, the two intelligent men battling their views backwards and forth really did make this movie something special. They had me hooked so much that I was changing my opinion on what really happened much like the jury themselves.

I love how the table seemed to work like a game of duck duck goose, with each character getting up and having his say about the situation as one would move to the window and be removed from the equation so we can concentrate more on him. All very stage play-ish, but I feel it worked very well. It could have gotten very repetitive if this was given to the wrong person. The fact each character were all contrasting from the person they were sat beside kept it fresh and engaging.

The film had so many twists and turns sewn into the narrative which kept each minute new and engaging, I felt like a juror in the very same room, swinging my vote backwards and forth as the men were doing.

The stage design was excellent in every way, the way the bland room had so much life to it. It expanded and enclosed itself many times as the battle waged backwards and forth. I also felt like going for a cold shower after watching the film as I felt I had been in that very same humid sweaty room for hours on end. For a movie to actually grab me that much with my attention span has my extended praise.

Over all I feel this film is one I will be buying on DVD to own as I still feel I can watch it again and take something completely new from it, this movie can teach alot to modern films.

The Godfather

The Godfather returns from the homeland

So editing once again, oh how I have missed you DTU you're arctic weather mixed in with sahara heat waves. All kidding aside it was good to be back doing what I hope to become one day. We have moved away from the Apple's flagship editing software Final Cut Studio and around to the more hands on Avid.

To begin with I was dreading using Avid, I had used it at college a number of years ago, wasn't a happy time in my life!. Avid constantly freaking out because the college was trying to run it on the windows platform with hardware that could barely run MS Word. This left me with a bad taste in my mouth with Avid, we departed not on good terms at all. Well we were never really taught how to use the software all to well anyways. Every bug was fixed by 'Just restart the machine' Not Gavin's crazy diving into sub folders and into the framework to actually sort the problem.

After ten minutes Gavin had worn me down over Avid, I felt more and more aware what the kit was able to do and how it doesn't act like an old man constantly forgetting where he put his shoes like Final Cut can be. It seemed to be more thought out and comfortable about what it was and what it can do, it wasn't pushing for any interface design awards such as FinalCut. The problems I had previously with Avid were in-fact just the kit telling you whats best and assuming you know what your doing.

The class seemed to fly passed, I really enjoyed it. I didn't find myself taking to many notes as I already had a grasp of Avid and just took the time to familiarise myself with it again. I do feel I would use Avid more now over Final Cut given the chance, but I still have a few problems with the kit.

First of all I'm not a fan of having bins pop up in separate windows, this does cause clutter and confuse me as to where things are and are going to be.

Not a fan of having to export then re-import titles just to add them

I could go on but its fairly small things I think I can learn to deal with. Overall I feel I have been pushed more to liking the way Avid deals with media than FinalCut.

Overall and enjoyable day, but still need to work on editing fast, just assembling a timeline then adjusting. I'm too much trying to tweak small details all the time.

It's all in the idea

I should just cut and paste this saying, another week! so fast!

This week has brought us a rather strange class with Richard and okward knock knock jokes that seemed to baffle everyone in our class, and cause somewhat alot of confusion. If it wasn't for Murdo wadding in with his optimistic replies I think the strangeness of the situation may have caused my head to implode. I was sitting their convinced I had been drugged, it was all playing on a loop. First time I think I've ever seen a knock knock joke silence an entire class.

I did see the point Richard was making in that you have an understanding of what you are going to get from a knock knock joke, and that if you change the formula you either create something that travels the world or just leaves people sitting rather confused and wondering what just happened. Was a clever antidote even if it was somewhat lost on a few of us to begin with.

I still feel myself struggling to come up with any ideas for short films, I think oh yes now theres an idea. Then on further reflection it occurs to me that its more suited to mediums such a TV. So I feel myself more and more leaning towards writing for TV rather than films and such. I love having more space to play with story arcs instead of getting it all over in the space of 7 minutes, which I feel I struggle with.

Tuesday saw us with Andy and more factual content, these classes always hold interested points and discussions that I can walk away having taken something from the class. I do feel I find it a little harder to engage in these classes as it at its core is about research and getting information from people, thus less creativity involved. Which is no bad thing, but I just feel myself having to push myself that little more to stay engaged. Its all relevant information I will definitely have to use at some point in my future career.

Wednesday saw me being woke up by fire alarms going off and on every two minutes for an hour! *Sigh*

The Sound

This weeks lesson with our new Sound lecturer was really a breath of fresh air, all credit to Simon he knows his stuff obviously. But you can either teach or not, theres no in-between.
Our new lecturer did exactly what we all needed, a sit down with the equipment with him talking through what everything does, a down to the line 'techy' talk for a few hours. We were able to take notes and absorb everything in, we don't need to be picking up the equipment every second to be able to understand what everything does.

I got many notes from the class, notes I can look back over if needs be. Something I couldn't do last year. I found him really down to earth, he knew his stuff but he didn't get into the physics of it straight away which would just lead to confusion. He only talked about the simple things during our first lesson, the basics to be more precise. Just to let things sink in first, you need to be able to walk before you can run.

I'm still no nearer to wanting to do sound in anyway, but I feel I have grasp the concept of it alot better and have a better understanding of whats involved in it. I think he knew sound bored us all so he kept it all very light, nothing to heavy to begin with which would have just shut us all off.

I don't feel too bad about going back to another sound lecture, last year you would have to push my every step of the way to the classroom.

Overall a good class, very down to earth tutor who has a very good way of teaching and well I'm not going to lie and say I'm looking forward to our next class but it doesn't 'bother' me as much now *Thumbs Up*

The Conversation

Another Friday another movie.

The Conversation starring Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford and John Cazale. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

This was just the type of movie that doesn't agree with me at all, I would say I am rather impatient at the best of times. So this movie was never going to be my cup of tea. The long zoom shot at the start just had my insides tying themselves in knots. All I could think about was pushing the camera mans finger down on the zoom button. It was for me a thrust-rating watch from start to finish.

It's definitely a movie you need to be paying 100% attention all the time, drift of for a second and the movie has left you by the side of road with no money for the bus. I found it difficult to interpret what each scene was about and how it was moving the story forward in anyway. I did understand some key plot points and times, but failed to see how most of the movie was driving this forward. I'm never usually a fan of movies that confuse you from the start as to what is going on, then leave all the answers until the end for the big climax.

I find these movies difficult to engage with, I found the lack of drive and tediously long scenes unutterable. I'm sure for the right sort of person they would love this movie, I'm sure its a very smart and complex movie that for the right audience it would be a fantastic watch. But for me I found all the characters boring and dull, I didn't feel connected at any point to any of them or what their story was. I think they spent to long trying to establish this guy as a surveillance expert and that well he has dull life, but forgot that we also have to like him.

There was no moment were I thought theres more to this guy than what were seeing, it was just relentless in the fact of pushing the audience to the extreme end of one part of character depth. I just felt we needed more from our main character to engage with.

The story just failed to grab me in any way, I just don't feel for me personally it just wasn't interesting enough. It was never going get my unwavering attention, it did this in a matter of minutes of the opening scene. From this I had to force myself to watch it, which you don't have to be a movie critic to know that this isn't a good thing. The scenes were just to long and a number of them I felt could have been cut out of the film.

Gene Hackmans character in many ways was a brilliantly crafted character, I could be made to believe that he was in actual fact a real character as they did really nail it on the head. He acted it out perfectly, but for me this was its stumbling fault. It was so well written and it was so well acted out that it just all became to much to watch. His character was a dull old man who's in the surveillance business. It all lacked any life to it, or well just any real drive. For me I felt like the film was driving around in circles, It didn't seem to be going anywhere and I just held no interest in it after about the first act.

Maybe I am letting modern cinema effect me too much as for as much as it shames me to say it, I miss my short to the point scenes and clear cuts.

Overall not a movie I would dare to watch again, I am still trying to get the films score out my head. Its driving me insane.

Pandorum

This newly released under-rated film staring Dennis Quaid as Payton and Ben Fosters as Bower the ships technical officer. After waking up from a pre-longed hyper sleep with their memory not all that in-tacked, they soon realise there is something not right about the ship. The deserted cavernous corridors all lie empty and eerily quiet. Bower and our man Payton manage to bump into each other after a small scour around the huge ship.
They try and piece together what has happened and what there mission was in the first place, but there isn't much room for talking as they soon discover what has went wrong when Bower is chased by blood thirsty monsters after his insides.

The movie was a good watch, alot better than I had ever expected. I really did think it was going to be a cheap thrills sci-fi movie with gore chucked in for good measure. I didn't really expect it to have any real underbelly of story to it. I am glad to say that after watching a short portion of the movie I was surprised at the level of acting and actual real well thought out plot-points. Not to say that some of it was rather predictable, but what movie isn't at some point. It didn't go for cheap thrills that it could have went for, it took its time establishing the characters and the setting they were in before doing any real action/gore

The director knew the value of letting the audience connect with the characters before throwing them in harms way. Although it did feel rather like a computer game with Payton talking to Bower over a walkie talkie. Not to say this is a bad thing, but I did see plenty of computer game influence in this movie.

I was shockingly taken by this movie from the get-go, the whole feel of the movie felt raw and real. I was genuinely captivated by the high level of acting by Dennis and Ben Fosters, I haven't seen Fosters in too many movies before but he is an underrated actor who really knows his stuff, would like to see him in more movies in the future. As for Dennin Quaid he wasn't a typical american actor in this one, like he is in every other movie I've seen him in. He didn't have any of those American quotes they seem to throw him at such as 'Mission is a Go!' It did seem like he actually or someone down the line and put some effort into this character.

The movie which was obviously pitched as Aliens/Event Horizon was a dam good rip-off, it seemed to do what it set out to do. It didn't get carried away with itself at any point, I didn't feel disconnected from what was going on at any stage through-out the movie. It was a nice good packaged movie that had enough twist and turns in it to keep you interested through-out. The storyline surprised me at many points, the writer and director knew how to mislead the audience on what was going on, in a good way. The movie didn't trip itself up on being to complicated, it had twists and turns yes, but I didn't ever need to think what was happening on screen. Although the film geography as Paul pointed out was not the best I've ever seen, this could have been solved with just one scene of them looking at the ships map to see where they are going. This wasn't enough to trip it up, it didn't really disrupt the movie and wasn't all that essential to the plot.

Over all a pleasant surprise from a movie I had to high expectations for. I will go as far to say I will be buying this when it comes out on DVD

Direction

Another week seems to have all but passed us again, I swear I wake up Monday and then its Friday the next day. Well must be having fun if its going passed so fast I guess :)
This week hasn't really had anything interesting happen in it, no-ones been shot by terrorists or kidnapped by aliens yet. Although we did have a full day of Zam directing class, which as always was really good. He manages to get points across really easily with-out it seeming like he is actually teaching us. Which for me is good as my brain tends to try shut down when it realises someones trying to teach it something.
On a side not though, I have went from watching one of the famous Godfathers scene which everyone loves to thinking it looks all rather student like. Extra's not knowing where to go and a woman who just seems to casually get up and stroll out, that combined with the camera shake! Happy accident as Zam put it, and one it is. I had never noticed it all before until pointed out to me. It has taught me as an hopeful editor that all these small things I pain over in the edit suite to get rid of, sure that its all very noticeable. Its shown me that it all sticks out like a sore thumb to me as thats what I'm trained to look for, but the average Joe won't always notice small technical faults. Not in anyway saying I will think its OK to leave these things in, but will have less heart-attacks when I see the pen disappears from the table for example.

Richard story hunting isn't going well, no sir-e. I just can't seem to think up a small doable idea that floats his boat. I can visualise ideas and shots in my head, and I think I can get them across to people with images and such. But actually coming up with a story its becoming really hard for me. I really need to go to Starbucks as thats where screenwriters seem to be able to come up with ideas. Something in the Coffee? ... I think so!

DFTV Night-Out

What a night, well what I can remember. Charlottes and Gavin's Greek palace they live in, with their balcony which is easily the size of my entire flat! Yeah its not that big of a flat Charlotte...Its MASSIVE! The greek waterfall in the bathroom I thought was abit much though, just plain showing off and the gold plated T.V. don't get me started!
We somehow ended up playing some sort of Harry Potter quiz game, which I was in Johns team. For someone who hasn't read the books and saw the first film about a decade ago, I wasn't that much of a good team mate to say the least. Not that it would have mattered as Murdo seems to have played this game before and answered the question before it was asked! Needless to say our marker didn't move all to far down the board.
Asides from this Charlotte seemed to want to poison me and John with her crazy cocktails, I swear she was trying to drug us. One seemed to be a mix of really thick latte mixed with half a bottle of vodka. Hmm I wonder how I could have ended up so drunk, its a thinker.

A way to the Garage we went, well thats where my memory of the night ends I'm afraid. There are lots of images in my head of being there, just none that really connect together all to well. How did I spend £20 people, it was £1 a drink and theres no way I bought twenty.

Well these are my rambles for the week that is nearly coming to a close again. Sound tomorrow, will be interesting to meet the new tutor and see if he can explain the mixer with out the analogy of water flowing? Still don't really understand that.

Around and Around

How the weeks seem to be flying past already, feels like we have just got back and already its week 2. Have I been in a coma somewhere, I think its due to us not being in from 9:30 till 4 every day like last year. I love the course don't get me wrong but it did wear me out towards the end of the year. And I don't want to come to recent the academy. I feel this timetable is far better, feels more relaxed and more time to get work done! Thats always a plus.
I especially like our knew class of directing, Zam just is the man. Down to earth and teaches without just talking to you. He has a way of making it all very exciting and interesting. I feel having his class will definitely help with performances in any new films we make in the future. The experiment he done where by we showed our favourite scene was a brilliant class, I thought I knew why I liked the scene but he opened up so many other doors of why the scene has been made so well that I just didn't think of. Not that I just chose the Saving Private Ryan scene from the stairwell just to make everyone want to go into a corner and rock back and forth :)



I just how no matter how many times I watch this movie, this scene still gets me every time. As john put it, I could have quite happily of gone another year without seeing that again. Its just so suspenseful, and the tension it creates has everyone shouting at the screen "Get up those stairs!" I sometimes turn it off just before that scene, as when that knife slowly goes in...it just makes me feel so distraught.

I am feeling the work beginning to pile up though, got alot to do already and so little time. I just can't seem to find time to sit down and think of ideas for Richard at all. My mind just goes blank every time, I've been squeezed dry of ideas for the moment, but will need to get the gears moving a.s.a.p.

Andy's research classes have been interesting also, yeah I'm not actually just saying that. I like this kinda thing, I can sit on wikipedia for hours just reading about things I would have never otherwise have read about. For example battles from WW2 that I just never knew happened. All these facts in the one place is just a dream for sad little people such as myself.
The field trip to the library sounds equally as exciting for me, just to be able to pull of books and documents about the most random of things that I would have never otherwise have read, just sounds like the best place in the world. I would also happily spend the rest of my life in a place such as this.

Technical with Ray was a tad embarrassing when we had our quiz and I got 6/15 in the first one. Most of the answers I got wrong involved things such as lenses and focal length, which I have never really been able to pick up. I did read over my notes yesterday but obviously my notes are all that detailed. Will need to pull some notes of moodle at some point and get revising!

The second quiz was alot easier as it wasn't multiple choice so I couldn't confuse myself as in, oh its that one...no wait that one sounds better? The second one I just wrote what I thought was right and I hope it all was...here's hoping. I don't think he was expecting us to remember it all in detail so not too worried. I did the best that I could do, hopes thats enough.

Anyways what a fast week its been! Just seems to be flying past, but on a side note! I'm not a fan of 'that' woman at the cafe bar who seems to hate me for some reason, throwing the packet of crisps at me like I was something she stood one. I wasn't impressed, I really wasn't.

Gone Baby Gone

I have been wavering past and forth this DVD in HMV for a good couple of months now, not really knowing wether to buy it or not. There has always been better DVD's to make up the 4 for 20 deal. But last week I finally pushed myself to buy it. Staring Casey Afflect in the main role, well from what I could tell was the main role, I'll get into that later though. It also co-stars Morgan Freeman, the man who is in every film ever made. Also Michelle Monaghan and Ed Harris.

Theres nothing really to shout about here star wise, yes Casey Afflects dry acting and a mumbling speaking tone suited him very well in 'The assassination of Jessie James' as a shy boy trying to be noticed. But in this film as a private detective who seemingly narratively wise was supposed to be a go-getter and someone who doesn't take any 'jip' of anyone. His acting style just counter acted it the whole way through, it just seemed really out of place. Apart from struggling to hear what the guy was saying half the time, I'm sorry but speak up! I'm not a fan of subtitles. His inability to make eye contact just made him appear shy and a loner.

The film started of relatively good, seemed like it was going to be a unique heart touching story from the outset. It all felt really warm and well just by the way it opened up felt like it was a tragedy story. Which of-course it was, but didn't do very well at.

A drug addicts mothers child is kidnapped and not to hopeful the police are doing there best, her brother or uncle? it never made all that clear, hires in a private detective duo - Casey Affleck and Michelle Monaghan as his girlfriend/assistant.
They imminently start their investigation talking to local neighbours and friends and such, which otherwise ends them up teaming up with police officer Ed Harris. Which turns into the most typical good cop bad cop routine I've ever seen in any film.

The characters from here just all feel loosely written and plotted out, there doesn't seem to have been any rhythm to the story.
I'm not sure the director had actually read the book it was based on, there was no emotion anywhere to be seen here. Apart from the odd sobbing from Michelle Monaghan, it just felt fake to the core. The sub-plots seemed to take hold more than any real strong central plot-line. I forgot at one point they were looking for a little girl, as they were too busy arguing with one another ALL the time. As well as this no-one really seemed to take the lead in anyway, everyone seemed to have an equal role in the film. Which let it down as every movie needs there lead actor to drive forward the film, someone to connect with, I just didn't think it spent enough time with anyone character to connect with them, thus lost interest in the film, no-depth!

I feel there is a really interesting story here somewhere, the book wouldn't have been a best seller if there wasn't. But the movie adaptation just failed to get to core of it at any point, characters fighting for screen time and no ryphm just let it down sorely.
I was just all over the place, I kept aspecting it to get better but it never did.
It just didn't go anywhere with me at all, and it let it self down, what could have been a great movie has let itself down.

Work far better under pressure

This week I have been working on ideas and such for Richard's Mondays class, after a full week of trying to come up with ideas, I love the fact I seem to come up with better ideas at the last possible moment. I have been reading the book 'Save the Cat' the how to write a screenplay book. Its an interesting read, but most of it seems to be common sense, such as your premis has to be clear and concise so people know what the movie is about. Duh? comes to mind.

I'm looking forward to going back to Richard's class tomorrow and hope he likes me idea's, theres not alot but its not about quantity but quality. Well at-least thats what I keep telling myself, I hope its true in this case. I have been going in circles as I come up with what I think is a good idea then realise its already been done ten times over. I have been trying my best to incorporate zombies into my ideas, just because I want to make a movie with zombies in them but they just don't ever seem to fit. I will just include a random zombie at some point in the background having a cup of tea or something!

Surrogates

I seen it yes, I get in for free!

Well I might as well just look at a review for iRobot as these are just the same movie with a few tweaks, the shameless copy of even using the same actor as the 'godfather' of the robots was well...shameless. It was blatantly just trying to appeal way to much to fans of iRobot. That Hollywood idea of that if they liked that they will come to see this one.

The movie didn't start of to bad, was not a terribly intriguing plot line to say the least, but it was an 'OK' first twenty minutes, then it just went from OK to dull then tedious at points. It got a little confusing at times as well with people using different 'Surrogates' so was sat there thinking ok so who is this person now? It wasn't really explained all to well what was happening.
The plot-line failed to pick up any real momentum at any stage, it was just dull to say the least. I could just see where someone has read a 'how to write a screen play in 10 days' book. It was just all abit to neat and tidy, I knew exactly what was going to happen, it was obvious. It never really dared to try anything new, it was just a re-packed movie from the £1 movie bucket.

Well after saying all that theres not really much I can say about character depths or narrative without using the same words 'dull, tedious' have I used the word boring? Well to go a tad further they were paper thin, the narrative failed to give them any real depth what so ever, they were box characters again just recycled material.

This movie will be forgotten the day after people watch it, it doesn't say anything of any real importance. The theme was dull and well all a tad 'seen it all before'. Its nothing new and not even really worth thinking about in any real depth. This was Bruce just paying for his new house in the Swiss alps. You can see in his acting he just really didn't care about this movie and didn't really put any real raw emotion into it.

Boring Dull, Average. Seen it all before, This is money that could have been better spent. Its a movie from a skint Hollywood producing something from the pre-aprroved list of movie genre's.