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.

Patrick Bolvin is a bit special.

I love creative work like this...



It so much more fresh than your standard music video. I recently blogged about two videos I saw on vimeo, those were excellant creative videos. I think its heavily influenced by the success of Michel Gondry.

Patrick Bolvin is a stop motion genius, check out his youtube page >>> LINK!

There is a making of video on his youtube page which is mind blowingly good.

Check this shit out. Iron Man VS Bruce Lee



He get his lighting extremely well and he makes them all on green screen, which helps him create that cinematic look. Please, please, please check out the rest of his videos because he deserves the recognition for his hard work.


This sort of art and crafts video making is something i'm really interested in and maybe I should think about a career in that direction.

Every passing minute is a chance to turn it all around

I'LL SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE WERE WE"LL BOTH BE CATS.

I've just re-watched Vanilla Sky on TV, it is really underrated. Tom Cruise is sensational.

Its clever, emotional, a little scary, funny, its everything. And I thought the choice of music was great. It had a commercial soundtrack, but utilised well and placed perfectly.

The music played a big part in the story. The lyrics could tell you more about a characters feeling than the visuals. The songs weren't always the obvious choice, but made the film more interesting.

It's well worth a re-visit if you haven't seen it in awhile.

COLIN... Strange name for a Zombie film.

This morning I heard about a film called COLIN, its a zombie film, but with a difference. This film is from the side of a zombie called...wait for it...yeah, Colin!

The idea sounds really good and original, but its the idea that I think most of us have had but never thought it would work...

Anyhoo...
Marc Price the director made Colin for a mere £45 and went to Cannes film festival! He even picked up a distribution deal.

It sounds crazy and before this Robert Rodriguez's $7,000 El Mariachi sounded like a miracle. Put that to shame, although Marc Price said he shot on mini DV so it could look poor.

Still £45! Excellant... keeps the dream alive.

Surfing Vimeo!

Over the past month or so I've found some interesting videos on Vimeo, So I thought I'd be kind and share them with you.

Oi Va Voi "Everytime" from Katarzyna Kijek on Vimeo.

Mountain Goats - Woke Up New (Directed by Rian Johnson) from rcjohnso on Vimeo.

They are my two favs.

Hope enjoyed them.

Asked a question to the guy thats produced the latest Bond movie.

I attend the Industry weekend at Bradford film festival. I found most of the talks helpful, and some of them seemed like the speakers of the panels just wanted to give themselves a pat on the back.

The talks confirmed a lot of what i've been thinking for the last year. Don't wait around for somebody to tell you to make a film, pick up a camera and just go make one.

Overall, good weekend, got to meet some interesting people, the writer of Donkey Punch, asked a question to Jim Clark, a question to the guy thats produced the latest Bond movie and is one of the heads at Eon. 

Plus got to hear some good tips!

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.

I've tried adding myself.

I've signed up for IMdbPRO, which is pretty special.

It's got all the contacts for film companies, agents, distributors, producers, anything related to film. Can't say if there all correct, but there are email addresses and I will be contacting a few UK channels.

Also when your a Pro user you can add details to the site. I've tried adding myself and Fallout. It takes 2-4 weeks for IMdb to verify the information. So, you never know I may have my own IMdb page next month.

I think that will really spur me on to get making more shorts and features. Getting my name out there, getting credits on IMdb. I've had to credit myself as James G. Wall, because there was loads of James Wall's and I'd have been James Wall IV, but there were no James G. Wall's. Doesn't bother me, I like my middle name.

At the moment I have a free trial, but it cost about £10 a month. Not sure if it's worth that yet.

Confessions of an Online Stalker.

It's come to my attention that I live in a generation 

of people that stalk each other online.

A lot of the time people know what I'm doing before even I know what I'm doing. Which, is probably a lie. However, more images of myself are uploaded by other people (friends). I think I should have the right to decide what pictures are uploaded for my friends and family to see. There is the occasional night I like to get unbelievably drunk, usually with friends. This means I don't want my Nan viewing pictures on Facebook of me doing things I'm ashamed of the next day.

Anyway... I can't help stalking myself, there are a view blogs I follow and Youtube pages I've subscribed to. One guy I find massively influential is CRAIG THOMPSON. I've been watching his blog for a little while and think he posts some really nice stuff. LINK. He posts unfinished work, which I feel is a great help. It helps you understand if he is working in the same style to you or give you tips on how to work.

Craig Thompson's BLANKETS (graphic novel) really touch me and I'd love to adapt it for screen. Maybe I will one day.

Business Cards.

I've sent a business card to the print today.

I figured with me paying a ticket for the industry weekend at Bradford film festival it might be a good opportunity to hand some out.

The actual one will say my tel and email, but wasn't comfortable updating that to the net.

I know it's not very fancy, but i didn't want something too over powering. It's simple, straight to the point and cheap, so if they end up on the floor i won't be crying.

Northern Laughs 2009

North Laughs 2009 are selecting 3 comedy scripts to develop for the BBC. LINK.

This looks like a great opportunity, and I wrote down a sitcom idea. However, it does say in the guidelines that you cannot be in full time education. DAM YOU!

I'm not sure whether to enter it anyway... to see if my idea would be chosen. Surely if they think its good enough they'd let it slide I'm in college. Although i'd probably miss lots of college because there are 6 months of important dates... probably not a good idea.

The page has shown me two new networking film sites. www.visionandmedia.co.uk and http://www.northernmedia.org These aren't for our region but still good to see what close neighbors are creating. Plus it's also good to find locations.

UV FILMS

I recently emailed Neil Scholes of UV Films. The talent filmmaker has worked for the BBC, Shane Ward, Coca Cola and Vodafone, plus many other.

I asked Neil for advice on how he started out.

He has emailed me a great response. He recommended some areas I might be interested in and where he started out.

He ended the email saying "But most importantly don't give up - because plenty of people will reject you or turn you down or just say no - keep plugging away and don't limit your horizons to just this country - Nowadays China, India, USA etc anywhere making films is open to you." 

I think thats great, recently a lot of people have doubted me and you need people to have faith and it helps make me believe that you can reach your dreams.

Bought My tickets.

I've bought my tickets for the Industry Weekend at Bradford film festival. Can't wait.

Getting on the ladder @ Bradford International Film Festival.

At this years Film festival (BRADFORD) there is going to be a industry weekend. LINK .

There is going to be talks on Getting into film, earning a living, relationships between Writers, directors and producers, a talk with JIM CLARK a great editor, whose won an Oscar and edited some classic Brit flicks.

Should be great, a chance to learn from people that have been there and done that, plus a super chance to make some contacts and make a good impression on people in the industry.

Not sure if it costs anything, i have emailed to ask.

There are also a lot of good film showing, but it isn't cheap!

Digital Shorts 2009.

Screen Yorkshire are holding a competition for a short film, winner gets around £16,000. You also get consultants with script writers and producers to help you develop your idea.

You can enter as many ideas as you like!

http://www.screenyorkshire.co.uk/training/new-talent/digital-shorts-0809

I am currently working on a script, which is going well. The deadline is March 31st and i wanted to have a few ideas to enter, but finding time is getting hard, between projects, work, research and sleeping it seems time to work on personal projects are slim jim.

I have had a few bands enquired about music videos, but bands have a tendency to cancel. I did find out that the band iLiKETRiANS who i was suppose to be working with last summer, but it turned out their project was too big for there budget. However, their song got used on The Wrestler trailer. That was a real kick in the balls.

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.