Welllllllllllllllllll, I don't have a whole lot to tell that's new. This week was just another lecture class. A film/honors student came to class and showed us his film. He's been working on it for three semesters and finished two days ago. Maybe I'm just a rough and tough film critic, but I really wasn't very impressed. It was slow and so poorly lit that I couldn't tell what was going on. Maybe that was what he was going for? I admired the autobiographical efforts, but in my opinion....it just didn't quite cut it.
His results make me nervous... If he's been working on that for a year and a half, what the heck will I end up with after half of a semester? Call me a pessimist, but I think I'll just start hoping for a little better than the worst.
Last weekend I went home for the first time this semester. I talked with my brother, an elite member of Har-Ber High School's film program, about our projects. He started asking me all these questions about "plot point one" and character development and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. I just had to respond to him with a blank stare. He laughed condescendingly and proceeded to tell me how one of his films that he recently finished for the governor has been aired locally and entered in some sort of statewide competition. I can't lie, I'm impressed. Now if I could only get him to make my movie....
I also mentioned to him that my specific role was sound editing. At this, he turned up his nose and said, "Dang. That sucks. Sound is, no joke, the hardest part." My immediate response was, "Dang. That sucks. I shouldn't have been the nice guy and taken last pick." Oh, well.
We got in groups again and talked over our plans for our films. Here are my honest feelings in black and white about what we've got planned (sorry group, nothing against you). I don't like them. I think we've made everything much too complicated. I pictured a movie with very few cuts and very little sound-if any at all. I pictured a very dramatic, but boring movie with a bang at the end. I want simple, but powerful. That's not the way things are looking now. And it's killing me.
Conclusion: Movies are for watching, not making.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, March 15, 2010
Entertain Me, Please
Last Thursday we watched The Player. It was... interesting. It's about a big wig in a movie production company, Griffin. He's potentially losing his job as the movie begins and we soon find out that he's being blackmailed by a rejected writer as well. There were a plethora of things that I found interesting and creative and well done in this movie, but overall I didn't care for it. And the redeeming qualities were:
1) The nine minute introductory scene- A long, sweeping scene without any cuts is one of the elements that I had entertained putting in the film that we are working on. It was enlightening to see a well made, and interesting example of such a thing. I loved the way the scene didn't focus on only a few characters. It showed so many different situations from so many different angles that I didn't even realize there had been no cuts. The overlapping sounds also affected my perception of this scene, which leads me to...
2) The director used some sort of new sound technology, an eight track something or other, that could lay sound on top of sound on top of sound. As a result, multiple lines of dialogue as well as sound effects could be distinguishably heard-with a little concentration-by the viewer. The sound made the movie realistic. I felt as if I were eavesdropping on people around me, all the while still emersed in the conversation at hand.
3) An affective use of symbolism- There are only three that I can think of off the top of my mind, but I kept seeing them over and over again throughout. The first was when our bad good guy drowned the writer in the puddle. Red neon light was cast onto the puddle from a sign above, making the situation a little creepier and more dramatically murderous. The second and third were the wardrobe choices for the man character and his love interest. As the movie progressed, the Griffin began wearing more and more black and taking less and less time to do his greasy, dissheveled hair. His lover, on the other hand, spent the entire film in all white and very little, if any, make-up. Griffin's wardrobe represented the progress of his "blackening heart" and her's represented natural purity.
4) Someone noted before the movie that there were very few big stars in this film. I'm not sure what the heck said person was talking about, because The Player seemed to be second to the Academy Awards as far as big star content was concerned. I saw Anjelica Huston, Burt Reynolds, John Cusack, Whoopi, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, CHER, Julia Roberts... and the list goes on. I've always loved movies that incorporate real life nouns, it makes things so much more interesting.
Things I didn't like? I didn't like the plot. I didn't like the raunchy sex scene. I didn't like not finding out who the blackmailer was. I didn't like that Griffin reproduced. I didn't like the pace of the movie. It was slow, and I was bored.
I'm ready to be entertained.
1) The nine minute introductory scene- A long, sweeping scene without any cuts is one of the elements that I had entertained putting in the film that we are working on. It was enlightening to see a well made, and interesting example of such a thing. I loved the way the scene didn't focus on only a few characters. It showed so many different situations from so many different angles that I didn't even realize there had been no cuts. The overlapping sounds also affected my perception of this scene, which leads me to...
2) The director used some sort of new sound technology, an eight track something or other, that could lay sound on top of sound on top of sound. As a result, multiple lines of dialogue as well as sound effects could be distinguishably heard-with a little concentration-by the viewer. The sound made the movie realistic. I felt as if I were eavesdropping on people around me, all the while still emersed in the conversation at hand.
3) An affective use of symbolism- There are only three that I can think of off the top of my mind, but I kept seeing them over and over again throughout. The first was when our bad good guy drowned the writer in the puddle. Red neon light was cast onto the puddle from a sign above, making the situation a little creepier and more dramatically murderous. The second and third were the wardrobe choices for the man character and his love interest. As the movie progressed, the Griffin began wearing more and more black and taking less and less time to do his greasy, dissheveled hair. His lover, on the other hand, spent the entire film in all white and very little, if any, make-up. Griffin's wardrobe represented the progress of his "blackening heart" and her's represented natural purity.
4) Someone noted before the movie that there were very few big stars in this film. I'm not sure what the heck said person was talking about, because The Player seemed to be second to the Academy Awards as far as big star content was concerned. I saw Anjelica Huston, Burt Reynolds, John Cusack, Whoopi, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Busey, CHER, Julia Roberts... and the list goes on. I've always loved movies that incorporate real life nouns, it makes things so much more interesting.
Things I didn't like? I didn't like the plot. I didn't like the raunchy sex scene. I didn't like not finding out who the blackmailer was. I didn't like that Griffin reproduced. I didn't like the pace of the movie. It was slow, and I was bored.
I'm ready to be entertained.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
And the Award Goes To
Our script is written. Our actors are chosen. Our sets have been mapped out. I'm not sure I'm happy with our decisions. I'm a control freak. I've had a difficult time only playing the role of sound techy for this project. I have found it extremely frustrating to pour my ideas into our movie- ideas that I, naturally, think are totally brilliant and experimental and would BLOW the audience's mind- and then have them shot down by the "higher" powers. Or, even more frustrating, have them stolen straight from my brain and rearranged into terrible semblances of what they originally were. I really would kind of like to be able to sit back and let those in charge figure out what they want to do and then let me know so I can just do my job. Oh the life of a writer must be so sad and terrible. It's funny to look around and see the other muffled control freaks. I feel relieved that I'm not alone. Don't get me wrong, my group is great.
I learned that the only sound I record while we're filming is dialogue. This is cool and uncool. Cool because it means that I can do whatever the heck I want with sound. If I want no sound, I can do it. If I want an overload of sound, I can do that too. I'm still confused about what my exact role is, though. It seems that the editor kind of does the same sort of stuff. I'm not sure if my job comes before or after the editing. Or inbetween? I'm really banking on one of Eric's sessions to cover this.
Gosh. What else is there to tell? I don't want to give away any plot details, so there's nothing more to tell on the movie front. I'm not sure what movie we're watching this week. It has to be better than the last, though.... The Academy Awards are on. I'm loving them. Sometimes I feel disillusioned by movies. I love it when award season rolls around and recreates the magic. It's so refreshing.
I learned that the only sound I record while we're filming is dialogue. This is cool and uncool. Cool because it means that I can do whatever the heck I want with sound. If I want no sound, I can do it. If I want an overload of sound, I can do that too. I'm still confused about what my exact role is, though. It seems that the editor kind of does the same sort of stuff. I'm not sure if my job comes before or after the editing. Or inbetween? I'm really banking on one of Eric's sessions to cover this.
Gosh. What else is there to tell? I don't want to give away any plot details, so there's nothing more to tell on the movie front. I'm not sure what movie we're watching this week. It has to be better than the last, though.... The Academy Awards are on. I'm loving them. Sometimes I feel disillusioned by movies. I love it when award season rolls around and recreates the magic. It's so refreshing.
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