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.
___
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.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Sunday, 25 October 2009
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.
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.
Thursday, 22 October 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
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*
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*
Sunday, 18 October 2009
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*
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.
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
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
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