NEW BRIEF. Thoughts and feelings

So, I tried starting a new blog for this final year. However, on publishing my second blog about research Tumblr crashed whilst uploading and I lost my post. Very, very, unbelievably annoying. I started that day just wanting to catch up on blogging, since moving house we have been without the net for 2 months, hence why there hasn't been any posts. But, after Tumblr failed it demotivated me and I couldn't get myself back in the mood to write.

Back to Blogger, my trusty friend. There are aspect of blogger that really annoy me, images don't upload where you left the cursor, they load at the top of the post and if you have a long post its not the easiest to drag it where it should go. And, if your wanting more than one image, your fucked.

Back to the College project (sort of), they idea in a nutshell, the usual three (Graeme, Mark and I) are planning on making three short sequences to develop our filmmaking techniques. On the 2nd year FMP we did really well with casting, locations, script, using the camera and equipment available. We far exceeded our expectations, and I think maybe our peers and tutors too. It was a massive project for 2nd year students, But thats who I am, If it comes easy its not worth doing, I aim big, but I don't mind failing big. That frame of mind might change once I'm in the industry and nobody wants to fund my big ambitions.

This is a big nutshell by the way.

The final outcome of the three sequences should be film quality, thats the aim. Getting that is a bonus, the real project is in the preparation. We did so many good things on the 2nd year FMP, but we also did many things wrong. The art direction was next to none, we mostly tried to find locations to fit the scene, and as we grew closer to the shoot we had to use what came available (office scene), I don't think we purposely brought anything to the shoot to improve the shot. We did a little bit of rehearsing, but without storyboards or a shot list it made matters difficult on set. We had a few crew members helping us with sound, but between the three of us we had 40 crew members jobs, which personally made directing a nightmare, on reflection I didn't think I even directed the cast very well, just told them there markers. It was lucky we did a day of rehearsing were we got the actors into character and they did the rest themselves.

From that paragraph you can see we didn't really prepare for the shoot technically, some of the camera work and compositions are terrible. Thats not to blame one person, its the fact we didn't have time to set lights up correctly, reset the white balance, find the best composition. Due to all this it made the shoot feel long and stressful. I should add I enjoyed it thoroughly and it was vital experience.

So yeah, in a nutshell, where just practicing.

This will be essential to the FMP, there are a few other techniques and sequences I want to tryout before the FMP. I haven't told the other two yet, it will be a nice surprise, I have however put them in the calendar.

I have a lot of back paddling with blogging. We are already into the fifth week and we have done so much, it'll be hard documenting it all correctly but i'll do my best. I really wanted to video blog it all, I tried it on the 2nd year FMP but it got too much to edit and export it whilst working on the project. Video blogging is something I want to get in the habit of, I think it is a great why to document and can make for interesting viewing. I had the idea of recording 20 seconds a day and then collating the footage at the end of the week, like a diary, or a miniature making of. 20 seconds isn't a lot, it shouldn't take up much of my time or effort. But starting it seems really hard, Am I just being lazy? I can't decide whether to use my isight cam for connivence or my DV cam, but then you have to capture the footage and buy a new tape. This could be a great opportunity to use OnLocation, this is a piece of software that came with the adobe production suite. I've never opened it, but what I've read about it sounds good, basically you can use it as a hard drive, but you can also manage the sound, colour and other various key components when shooting. The down side is that you can only use it with other adobe software. I have premiere, but prefer Final Cut. Might be worth looking into though.

So that the brief and a little more...

I Love You, Man.

I Love you, Man.

I watched this with little expectation, If my memory serves me correct I don't think it had a good cinema run. It stars Paul Rudd who has done well in supports such as Anchor Man, 40 Year Old Virgin and probably most regonisable from TV show Friends. Along side Rudd is Jason Segel, known for support in Knocked Up and lead star of Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Now the introductions are out of the way we shall begin.

After the first 20-30 minutes I really wasn't enjoying the movie, it was a little awkward and uncomfortable to watch. Until Jason Segel's character arrived, the story really opened up. Watching the two characters bond made me really start to care about them.
Once we had this connection I really started to get into the film. The characters were really well written and acted. Even though the film started off slow it soon redeemed it self and was very entertaining.

It was your typical love story, with the twist that it was a buddy friendship, rather than a couple falling in love. But we know how it plays out, they get together, have a fall out, then realise that life is better together than apart. Sometimes they throw in the twist that it appears one of them has already moved on, but they haven't. I love you, man didn't do that, thank god.

So, yeah, you've seen it a thousand times before in all different situation, its a tale that never gets old. Its like that old saying it doesn't matter how many times you've heard the joke, its how its told... Or something like that.

In the case of I love You, Man its told well. It's not got amazing cinematography or a beautiful score, but as far has comedies go its entertaining.

Anyway don't take my word for it, go on the official website (<<

Finally, I Watched Switchblade Romance the other night, French Slasher Horror flick. Thought it was alright, bit of a strange ending. Think they wanted it to be a big twist, or make it clever, but should have left it has a straight out man killing rampage. The colour was really nice, had a subtle green tone. Made the whole picture look expensive and stylised, but didn't distract from the story. The biggest shock of the film was, coming up to the final third, the revenge section, the protagonist goes after the killer in a stolen sports car, the track NEW BORN by Muse plays. So far the film had been scored, the was the odd track playing from the radio, but this was the only placed track, which I found really obvious. It stuck out, I actually really liked that song and it worked with the visuals. But surely opt for a whole artist soundtrack, rather than just having the one song. Dunno, maybe its just me.

Anyway, I've written the script for another Video Review, Mega Shark Vs Giant Octopus. Should record the vocal within the next week or so. Before then there will be a few more blogs. Next film I'm rambling about will probably be Chocolate, Thai Kung Fu film, which was visually stunning. Will most likely go see the big releases at the cinema this weekend, I. Basterds, District 9 and Funny People, which I'll be reporting on in some form of media.

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Let the Right One In.

Let the Right One In.

I've been deciding whether to make a video review for this film, no trailer on Itunes though, which means I'd have to make my own. Choosing the right bits could be hard.

But anyway, my initial thoughts. First Swedish film I've seen and if this is anything to go by then I'll definitely be watching more, I know you can't judge a whole nations cinema on one movie, Imagine if I judged America's of Michael Bay films. Oh Dear.

Onwards,

I don't want to spoil this for anybody that wants to see it, so if you are going to watch it don't read this and come back once you've seen it.

I enjoyed it so much because I was completely unaware of what the film was about. It is so rare these days, with the web and mass advertising to have a complete open mind when watching a film. It's like the first time you ever saw From Dusk Till Dawn, it starts out has a ace road thriller and half way through BAM! loads of vampires and shit.

Let The Right One In isn't quite as BAM! has From Dusk Till Dawn, but it is unlike any other vampire movie I have ever seen. The film concentrates more on the relationship between the boy and the girl, it's just unfortunate that she is a vampire. Its a bit like a non-cheesy, non-buffy-like, serious Twilight. Thats not the best comparison, but the main story is similar.

The look of the film is very cold, shot beautifully in snowy Sweden. Its very dark, and like many european films at the moment the story line focuses on child bullying. There is great satisfaction when the vampire girl rips apart the the bullies, this is shot in such a subtle way that if your not paying attention you may miss it, and may be confused when the scene opens up to reveal the decapitated bodies. Now that sounds morbid, but when you see it you'll know what I mean.

There are many layers to this movie and I don't want to ramble too much, but what I've cover isn't even half of it.

The film ends open, I can't decide whether I'm happy or sad for the boy, let me know your thoughts.

In other news I've uploaded a new Video Review (bottom of blog), I'm members of Blip TV and Daily Motion, please add or follow or subscribe. I'm working on a Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus V.review. There will be blogs on both Thai Kung Fu film Chocolate and comedy I Love You, Man.

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