John Hughes Teen Movie extraordinaire.

This is a short blog about John Hughes Teen Movie extraordinaire.

Today I'm paying my respect to 80's Writer, Producer and Directing maestro John Hughes, creator of the "Brat Pack"

I've just finished watching Sixteen Candles, it's a simple film, but fun on so many levels.

When I was younger, from the tender age of 4 onwards I can remember enjoying JH films. Weird Science, The Great Outdoors, Uncle Buck and Home Alone were amongst my favorites. And even now has an adult I still love those movies and as I've grown up I've gone back to his other classics, Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller, Planes Trains and Automobiles and loads more.



JH tapped into a creative output that was acceptable for all the family, kids, teens and adults and thats very rare, the only other thing that springs to mind that also does this is The Simpsons.

JH made several teen movies, and these are my favorite JH films, the best being Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He managed to make these movies funny and cool without being rude and crude, like the teen movies of today. His choice of cast are perfect for their parts, and he probably saved Anthony Michael Hall from a lot of bullying. I actually think Anthony Michael Hall is cool from JH films, and that saying something, because Anthony Michael Hall is the biggest looking geek on the planet.



JH must be a big influence on many directors/producers working now, two that spring to mind are Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith. You can clearly see JH style rubbed off into their films. JH also influenced the famously known "Frat Pack" including Owen Wilson, Ben Stiler, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell and the rest.

I have a lot to thank JH, he caught my love of films at a early age and his clever filmmaking has brought me laughter as adult. For this I salute JOHN HUGHES!

It's a real shame that after the 80's his career went to shit. However John, you still made the 80's look cool and not many people could do that.













JOHN HUGHES IMdb LINK
My images found on GOOGLE

This blog has inspired me to do a series of video blogs on 80's cinema. Also I recently did a Video Review of Public Enemies, youtube LINK

Surprisingly Marley & Me was good...

Surprisingly Marley & Me was good...

It was shot really well, Now, I know you expect a big studio movie like Marley & Me to be able to make a film look pretty...

I watched Gran Torino recently and thought the cinematography on that was excellent and I didn't think I'd see a picture that good for awhile, but to my surprise Marley & Me was shot really good. I think I've stressed that point now, but it's a aspect of film that people ignore, you notices the effects, costumes, acting and so on, but the cinematographer or DOP doesn't get enough recognition.

Usually the praise goes to the Actors and then the Director and thats about where it stops, as far as the average movie buff/goer notices. I'm not saying I can reel off loads of great DOP's, because I can't, but I like to give credit when due. Because a Actor or Director even the film would be nothing without these guys. The Actors can act and the Director can direct, but that would be nothing if there wasn't somebody setting up the shot, pulling the lighting together and composing it all.

Tim Burton always gets lots of credit for how good his films look. He has these fantastic looking sets and costumes, and the lighting and colours are always great, but wait, that isn't Tim Burtons job, granted it may be his vision, but it isn't just him that makes his film look the way they do. Filmmaking is a team effort. And that shouldn't be forgotten.


Right, back to Marley & Me.

So I've pointed out it looked very nice. And then maybe went of track a little.
I can't say Marley & Me was on top of the list of films I have to watch, but I rented it out to cheer up my girlfriend, I also watched Confessions of a Shopaholic in the same day. Ha, and Bruno, but that one was for me. And it was exceptionally funny, I haven't laughed like that at a film in a long, long time. I actually thought it was better than Borat, and I really enjoyed Borat, so that saying something.

Anyway, kinda going of track again (**stay focus James**). So, I wasn't really looking forward to watching Marley & Me, and we watched it quite late that night, which meant we had to have the TV really quiet so that we didn't wake anybody up. Which really pisses me off, because I like to watch my movies nice and loud, even if it is only Marley & Me, when that dog barks I want it to sound like its on my lap. Usually I wait till everybody is asleep then plug my headphones in! Thats a little tip for you. But it does mean you have to wait awhile to watch what you want and can create a rather strange sleeping habit. It's the price to pay for good sound though.

So, I can't comment on the sound quality and if you read my last blog you'll understand how much the sound means to me. What I will comment on is the story and acting. I wasn't looking forward to watching Marley & Me, but everyone kept saying it'll make you cry, so I was a little intrigued, but if someone says it'll make you cry and it has a dog in it they've kind of given the story away. Dogs in films don't have a good record, but a dying dog makes a good flick, Turner and Hooch for example. K9, is another.

What I did find good was the onscreen relationship between Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. I have a soft spot for both these actors and I don't know why. I think I like Owen Wilson because everything he says sound like he telling you a secret, a little whisper. And I grow up on a TV diet of Friends, so much of my Teen life was spent with Rachel and the gang.

Wilson and Aniston worked really well together, you expect a relationship like theirs to have grown over time, and it's shocking to realise that this is there first film together.

Aniston is a actor I think is underrated. Being part of a popular TV show is always going to be hard to escape, especially hard to escape the character they played. I think all the cast of Friends have been typecast since the death of the show, but Aniston I felt was the only one that had talent to make it into the movies. But as I say she has played similar parts in most of her films. However, Maybe its not just her, but also the audience, seeing her as one character for 10 years (probably more with the amounts of repeats) its hard imagining her as anybody else.

Over all I thought Marley & Me was a decent enough film, Although predictable I got to know the three lead characters (including the dog) enough to want to find out what happened next. Thats all I'm asking for with a film of this type, the well acted parts, a great supporting role from Alan Arkin, the beautiful cinematography and some comedic moments were all added extras.

The film was about 20 minutes longer than it should have been, The actual running time was 2 hours, which is probably standard nowadays, but I prefer my comedy dramas to be a hour and half to a hour and forty five mins tops. There were definitely 15 minutes that could have been cut here and there, and that would have made the film smoother and even more enjoyable.

I think another reason why I tolerated the film was because Owen Wilson's character took up a columnist job at the newspaper he worked at and his funny, but realistic take on life became very popular amongst the readers. When I finished my A-levels I really fancied doing my own column in a student magazine about life as a student, and I sent a sample column to many magazines. I think all of them came back saying "you have a talent for this style writing, but most people only want to read about what celebrities are getting up to, not somebody they don't know" Which is fair enough. However, that connection I had with OW's character made it more compelling for me.

This made me think about my own writing, if you feel closer to characters you can emotionally connect with does this make a better film? Is that why when stand up comedians poke fun at life we all find it hilarious. Because we connected with it, we are imagining our selfs doing what they are saying, or remembering when we may have already done it.

Many questions being asked, all growing from a late night viewing of Marley & Me, strange how things can effect you. I wonder if the book is any better?

Sound Tracks.

Why do I start many blogs of with this phrase.

"Haven't blogged in awhile"

So I'll say sorry Graeme, I bet it's hard getting through the week with out reading one of these bad boy blogs.


Righto, Sound Tracks.

I've been buying soundtracks recently, mainly ones that have been scored / composed for the film.
I'm a great believer in music in film, I truly think it's the difference between a good film and a great one. If you put a superb soundtrack to a terrible movie, it would probably make it look good. However, if it was the other way round horrid sound to beautiful pictures, the film would be poor.

Take Star Wars, The theme music by John Williams (he also did the whole film, but just think about the theme) , It is incredible, sounds massive, exciting, inspiring and your only watching some yellow text scroll up a starry nights sky. It sets the tone for the entire film. Without that music would Star Wars be this big? Well, I can't answer that, but when you ask someone about Star Wars they usually hum the Darth Vader Theme.

John Williams also did Jaws, now is Jaws that good? or is it that the Theme music is genius!

I listen to the Edward Scissorhands soundtrack earlier by Danny Elfman, It was amazing. I always new it was great and have been banging on about it for years. But listening to it by itself made me appreciate even more. I felt every mood and feeling of the film, it made my hairs stand on end and without sounding like a sissy it even moved me (close to tears).


I've decided to by a classical album, one with various well known pieces on. A fan of classical music would probably laugh at it, like I do when somebody tell me they like Nirvana and start singing "smell like teen spirit", not really a fan, just like the well known stuff.

But with a lot of film scores being big bang classical music I thought I'd open up to the whole genre, start with the popular pieces and if I like it then delve further in.


I'm hoping it will make me think about my own filmmaking. The final song on THE PAYOFF, (short film I recently made) is a piece of music by a good friend of mine. He didn't actually write it for the film, he was just writing it at the time I asked him. The piece actually worked better than I could ever imagine. It even think it made me understand the scene better, I don't know why that is because I wrote the dam think. But as Brandy is walking out and Billy is considering his options, I can see and hear and feel the pain they are both going through.

Strange.

I think i'll leave that one there for now.

I recently did a video review of Public Enemies on my YouTube page. I'll post it up on here once this blog as had time to digest.

...and a jeep!

I've been in contact with Gio, he runs and organises the G.I Joe animation festival. I've told him that I am going to submit a short this year, but couldn't find some cheap Joe's. Gio has kindly enough offered to send me some, along with some props and a jeep.

This really adds the pressure to make something good!

Looking forward to the challenge. 

I didn't think it was as good as BENJAMIN BUTTON.

I went to go see the WATCHMEN last night...



It was better than I thought, but I wasn't expecting much!

It did have it's problems, I've never read the graphic novels/comic books, so I didn't have anything to compare it too. At a wild guess, I bet the comic books are complex, because the film definitely was for it's running time. They should have split it into two films. As I was sat at home it felt like my head was spinning trying to think about film, Trying to remember characters names and what it was actually about.

The Watchmen story kind of got summed up in the title sequence with a few picture (maybe a bit more, can't remember). They should have explained Who are the Watchmen a little more. It was definitely a film for the fans and a commercial cinema goer will not understand it.

However, The effects are good enough to keep you wowing at the screen and the sound track is very good.



I didn't think it was as good as BENJAMIN BUTTON, which i saw last week.

Guns, blood and death...

Mat (animation) told me about this, It's The THING (movie) but made with G.I Joe's.

The tiny sets are amazing!

I've had a little look at a few G.I Joe animations as research for the G.I.J festival, there all very similar. In which I mean guns, blood and death... many having zombie's in them. I can see why zombie's are cool, and if it hadn't been done i'd do it too.

I think i'll try taking a different approach, not sure how yet...

Exactly one minute short film.

I found out about www.theoneminutes.org competition. The idea behind it is you have exactly one minute duration for your short. The website is pretty strange to navigate around and there are different competition you can enter, but it doesn't tell you what each competition is...

I am definitely going to enter it.

There are loads of shorts to watch, but here are two I found interesting.

SNOOZE.

BEACH.

Just need some G.I Joe's.

I'd really like to enter this G.I Joe festival, each year they hold a film festival with shorts created with... yeah, G.I Joe's! I have a friend that has entered it for the last few years. It's another reason to to get story boarding!

Here is the LINK.

It looks pretty funny, well worth doing. Just need some G.I Joe's and a Idea!
Anybody wanting to calibrate give me a shout.

Have a look round the website there is some great little short, but you have to find the links.
Also YouTube G.I Joe animation and you'll find loads.

RatherGood.com

I've been following rathergood.com for good few years. I first spotted them on channel 4 around 2003. After seeing them i researched into how they created their animations and it turned out it was Flash. I taught myself Flash for a few years before taking a course.

Anyway

Not checked their page out for awhile, and when Graeme sent me that Wanky Shit Demon animation i've gone back and looked through their archive.

I've also emailed the creator Joel for advice on how they started and how they got their own paying work.

He has been nice enough to take sometime out and sent me some emails back.

I'll keep pursuing other influences for tricks of the trade.

WANTED.

Wanted.

An over the top cheesy action film, with a god awful plot, but i liked it.

It was like the Matrix, but with better actors and a different plot... well there was just the slow down, time lapse fighting that made it like the Matrix.

If your big on special effects and violence then this is the perfect movie for you. And, it as Angelina Jolie in it, although i thought she looked a bit like a crack whore.

You don't really see special effects like these anymore, where they actually blow up things, its all CGI... don't get me wrong there were a lot of CGI in this... i mean they even CGI'd the rats! But there was a nice balance between the two styles.

I'd definitely recommend people to rent it out, but not buy it, unless you can get it for under a fiver.

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

This has been one of those films that i've bought, put with my DVD collection and forgot about... what a silly mistake!

You should watch this film just for Tommy Lee Jones' performance and the beautiful cinematography of the landscapes.

The story is alright, but T L Jones really pulls out a performance, but he did direct it! Again i cannot stress the cinematography, very, very good.

If you get a chance give it a watch.

Speed Racer.

I'm not sure why I watched this one... possibly because i get free rentals and i was house sitting and there were a blockbuster near by... And when a film gets shot to dead by the reviewers I like to see if they were correct...

In this case i think they were a little harsh, the concept is dire, some of the acting is weak and it all looks a bit bright and colourful, but lets not forget this is a kids film.

The special effects are pretty good. I don't like the style, but what they have done is proper good. But what do you expect from the guys that made the Matrix (first one, the other two are laughable). There are little bits of design that float around in the background that you know the CGI guys slaved over, and your average weekend film renter will not even notice. The camera work is very impressive and to say most of it would have been green screened, the actors and directors will have had to really think about what they were doing on set. I enjoyed the layering of footage, especially on the transitions. In the races they used the commentators as screen wipes.

I'm a massive Emile Hirsch fan, so it was hard for me not to like this. However, it wasn't a great film, not even a great kids film... probably 5 or 6 out of 10, but it was entertaining. 

Howard the Duck.

Howard the Duck. (1986)

This month saw the realise of a childhood classic that had been lost in my memory.

One day last week at work i opened a box of deliveries and there it was the DVD of Howard the Duck. I couldn't believe my eyes, the memories came flooding back.

I bought a copy right away for the bargain price of £3.20 (blockbuster discount). When i watched it I was shocked to see that it still looked good! Howard was made in 1986 (the year i was born). So, obviously i wasn't there for the release, but i caught it on TV.

Produced by the KING of Sci-Fi films George Lucas, but not even that saved Howard from bombing at the box office. Hopefully now it can get its glory on DVD.

Howard the Duck is a strange story about a parallel world, with the dominant species being DUCKS. When a scientific experiment goes wrong in our world, Howard gets sucked from his to ours. He lands outside a nightclub where he meets struggling rock singer Beverly. Beverly helps him find away back home through two scientists. But, when they try to send Howard back they accidently suck down the Dark Overload of the Universe. Then its Howard's task to save the world.

You can see how this film failed.

For 1986 the final Dark Overlord effects are great, just as good as The Terminator (2 years before it.) The stop motion is smooth and looks like it was there on set, but obviously it would have been green screened, or black screened, or whatever they used back then.

It also features a young Tim Robbins and a great comic performance by Jeffery Jones.

I'm not saying you should rush out and buy a copy, but if you do come across a cheap one, don't hesitate just buy it. This cult classic will look cool in your collection.

The Constant Gardner

Constant Gardner.
Written by James Wall.

Constant Gardner was a powerful movie about corruption, politics and miss-use of a third world country.

The first fantastic point I’d like to mention about the Constant Gardner is its narrative, the story is told in an unusual way. Once we get past the introduction of the characters the film shows us an important incident. Then the story splits into two timelines. The two timelines start at different points, one being of how the incident happened and the other being how the incident is investigated. The film switches between the two as we learn more. I believe this helps to portray how unexpected the incident is to the main character (Ralph Fiennes) and also shows us how scattered and confused this mind is.

This dual timeline doesn’t last the whole film and the two meet about halfway through, which makes the story back to a linier timeline. I personally would have liked that style of story telling to have lasted longer. It made what could have been a long drawn out drama very interesting. I also felt it made me (the audience) feel closer to the film, as if I was investigating the mystery with him.

I thought the use of camerawork was good. In certain scenes the camera wasn’t traditionally set straight on a tripod. It was wobbly, handheld, like it was in first person view. Again this made me feel apart of the action.

The acting was ok, but nothing better than I have already seen. The stand out performance for me was from Pete Postlethwaite. He wasn’t in the film long, which was a shame. But, if I had never seen Poslethwaite before I wouldn’t have realised he was putting on an accent. Ralph Fiennes was good, but I have seen him playing the “English gent” too many times. It was refreshing seeing him earlier in the year completely out of character in “In Bruges,” were he played a-double-hard-cockney-bastard and he blew me away.

The use of colour and scenery was really nice, helping with the story. The use of de-saturating the scene leading up to the incident helped the viewer realise these scenes were in the past. The long shots of the deserts showed us how isolated and alone Fiennes was. Nobody seemed to want to help him without a push.

I did feel there was an over use of showing starving African children. Sometimes it felt like a red nose day commercial. It seemed like a cheap shot to make the movie more hard hitting and it didn’t need it.

I give The Constant Gardner a James Wall rating of 8/10.

Evaluation. Ident

Evaluation.
James Wall
FEAR Ident.

I thought this was a good project to start the new year off with, a short interesting piece. When given the brief I was immediately drawn to the “Fear” option, although I did consider and have a good think about the other three. I wouldn’t say that horror/thriller is my comfort zone, but I do think at this stage horror is easier to create and make look good.
I dived straight into this brief and started planning and creating off the mark. After the short horror film we did at the end of last year I had a much better idea of time keeping. This year I have bought myself a pocket diary and so far I am keeping to it well. I think there is still room for improving in time keeping, by the middle of the project I started to stray, but pulled it together by the end.

Learning After Effects as been a massive plus. Never used it before the brief and I feel it came natural and I can open the software positively and know my way round it. I believe the most impressive after effecting section of my ident is the person appearing around the strange steps. I think this because I had to mask the person onto the steps and then I masked a static TV signal in the same shape to make it look like the person were tuning in and out, much like on the Ring.

I also think my Final Cut editing skills are getting loads better. I seemed to be-able to edit quickly and have learnt the key board short cuts. However, I am still have great difficulty getting my exporting right. At the moment I like to export a quick time reference movie out of Final Cut then export it again through After Effects.

Looking back over my work I would have liked my presentation to be more professional. I do think my presentations are becoming more confident and I’m starting believe in myself, that I do have something to provide and be proud of. And, I think that is the key to a good professional presentation, if you believe in yourself than others will too. I know I have the ambition to want to do well, but now I have to convert that ambition into confidence.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of this brief. In the way I have worked as an individual and known when to ask others for help. For example when filming I knew I couldn’t do it by myself, so I made sure I planned time with another student to get it done. This was probably the first brief I felt completely comfortable that I was going to get all the work done on time, (besides this evaluation).

Now I am looking forward to tackling the next brief, knowing that I am not worrying and I am pleased with this ident brief.

DONE! FINISHED! POW!

YEY! I've finished the editing on my ident. I have to say i am very pleased with the out come.

Please follow the link, and watch it in full high quality youtube fun. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FSTbV3RkdTg .

Cheers

MOOD BOARD

This is my mood board, i have been adding to it over the past few weeks as and when new pieces have inspired me.
When you click the image you can see a larger scaled one.

Films i've watched recently...

For the people that don't know me that well yet...i love films, i spend most of my time watching them and believe i have a good judgement on what makes a good flick. I watch all sorts of films from comedy to world cinema and action to drama, anything.
Here is a couple of films that i have watched over the past week or two that have stuck out.
I've watched or re watched a lot of horror films, for research for my college brief.

MONGOL. The story of Genghis Khan.Mongol was visually great. The long shots of landscapes in all types of whether looked awesome. The film was so detailed. The battle scenes were very well created and the CGI is subtle, It wasn't like your Hollywood epic battle film. You don't realise that the blood has been CGI'd until you take a closer loook. I would recommend this to anyone, and the rumour on the net is that this is the first of three films.
My only problem with the film was the subtitles, they were difficult to read in parts the lighter parts of the film.

THE HOST.
This was a good, a Korean film. Reminded me of the old B-movie films, i didn't know whether to laugh in parts or be scared. Again the visuals were excellant, i've always said that the orients have better use of cinematography and colour balance.
The only thing i could pick at is the sea monster, the interactivity with the monster is very good, but close ups of the monster didn't look as good. I think this is down to the textures, it was very smooth looking. I reckon a bit of texture would have made it a whole lot more believable.
You can see this was inspiration for the recent Cloverfield.

BRAINDEAD.
Pete Jackson's finest two hours...only kidding. I re-watched BrainDead having not seen it in a few years. It is quite ridiculous, but thats what makes it good. I don't know where in Peter Jackson's head he thought of a RAT MONKEY! Not only a rat monkey, but one that bites people and turns them into zombies would work... The stupidest ideas truely are the best.
I don't think i've seen a film with this much blood!
I think it was made on a small budget (around 1.5million) and to say that...the SFX are good, their not remarkable or groundbreaking, but for the style of film it works.

OTHER FILMS I'VE WATCHED
The SHINING
What i love about the Shining is the sound, it's not like most horror. It's nice classical music, but every now and then it hits a de-tuned note. It's like John Williams doing horror.

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN
The Incredible shrinking man is remarkable for its time, its a most see film for people interested in visual effects. They were doing things well ahead of there time.
You won't see a film like this now-a-days, because studios will always opt for CGI. The massive sets are really impressive.

I loved every second of this film.

MAX PAYNE

The new action film Max Payne as we all know is an adaptation of a video game. I don't think there as ever been a good video game film! FACT!
Here is the trailer.


The one Thing i have read, which is pretty cool is that the makers have used a new type of camera the records at 1000 frames per second. This means they can get that super slow motion effect like in the video game. You can see this effect in the trailer.

From the one and half minutes i've seen it looks rather like a story from Sin City, the sound, visuals and style.

I suppose we'll have to wait and see...

after effects

Never used after effects before this week, i've had a understanding about it, how it works and what it does. And, a couple of times i've even opened it clicked a few buttons and closed it down. After effect is a program i have been wanting to learn and i have relished this oppurtunity to learn.

With the few skills i learn't i my first class i made these channel four "fear" title screens.

This is my first attempt

Basically it is a photoshop file and i have layered the layers on top of each other in the correct order and animated them. This technique can work to good effect, used in the right way. I have also used a spot light, to give it a feathered edge.

SECOND ATTEMPT

This attempt is better. I've used the spot light more effectively, animating it, using it to help create an atmosphere. I have also animated a blur on the text.

THIRD ATTEMPT

On this one i have used a mask on the text so that when the spot light intensity gets higher the mask fades in. I believe this works well.

FOURTH ATTEMPT

This is similar to the third one, but this time i've used a camera. The cameras in after effect are a great tool, thay enable you to create a 3D style look.

After combining all my skills i have created this ident.

I think that this is pretty close to professional. I've used many skills, Cameras, lights, key frame animation, compositions inside compositions, the lot. I'm really pleased with this effort.