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.
__
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'
___
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.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, 12 November 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, 5 November 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
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.
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.
__
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'
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.
__
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'
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