The Pixar Story, directed by Leslie Iwerks follows the amazing origins of the Pixar studio. When I saw TPS I was instantly hooked. The story flows like David and Goliath as you watch a small studio struggle to survive in Hollywood. More than the suspense the film gives insight into the unique film process that makes Pixar what it is. Instead of starting with a script and starting animation the entire company spitballs ideas through emails, storyboards, and meetings. From here the projects snowballs in the most cartoonish of fashions. Every day the film is picked apart and reviewed by everyone in storyboards. This process will go on until it feels perfect. It is an amazing process to watch a film develop in this erratic yet successful way.
On the technical side of things TPS is also about a revolution in 3D imaging software. Even Steve jobs is a part of the story at Pixar which is an intriguing vane of the story that is Pixar. Anyone interested in film or animation absolutely need to watch The Pixar Story. If you have a Netflix account it is only a few clicks away.
This South Park inspired apple cop comedy was pretty funny. There were a few shots that were a bit out of focus, but other than that the film was very solid. The story follows Mac, a street wise apple who is out to catch a serial killer. Even though his boss, Chief Fuji, doesn’t believe him he still peruses the criminal mastermind.
What I enjoyed most about this movie was the characters; their voices were funny and fit the cheesy nature of the plot to a tee. From the moment the film starts with the two apples at make out point the characters fill in their rolls creating a funny apple fueled satire on every cop show and horror movie ever made. The evil apple even has a bad, but subtle English accent even though they specifically say that he is an American. This was a fun animation and is not to be taken seriously. The dialogue’s humor is low brow, but sometimes that is all you need out of a film’s characters.
Most of the humor derives from the low budget look. The sets are all made out of construction paper, and the characters are all apples. The characters all move about in a jerky fashion, this is not a smooth animation, that can’t help but inspire a few giggles. This low budget is what makes the humor pop. If this was shot with real actors in a professional setting the affect would be lost. This filmmaker knew what they were doing.
The movie, although intentionally low budget looking, had good sound quality. This is a necessity even for joke films such as this because it is impossible to enjoy a film with bad audio. The lines are crisp, there is no popping, or spiking, except for one that was intentional at the very end of the film, and to top it off the dialogue matches up with the mouths/mustaches clumsily jumbling around. The music selection were also appropriate and helped move the story along. Anyone looking for a quick laugh and some quirky apple fun need look no further then ‘Bad Apple.’
The biggest difference I have noticed is in the editing room. Although editing has always been my strongest point as a filmmaker my skills have never been sharper. The more in-depth projects that were a part of this class pushed me into refining my editing skills. I have noticed it takes me less time to put together an entire project. I have also been apple to take what would have used to be unusable footage and fix it using the advanced software that is available. Things like key framing and using motion are not as complicated and I can use these tools much better than I have been able to ever before.
My organizational skills have also improved this semester. A good filmmaker has to be organized because so much depends on it in the film world. Getting together a time line on shooting days, writing the script, finding actors, story boarding, etc. All of these steps need to be taken in order to make sure that the final product comes together on time. This is the most important skill t0 take out of the classroom because time is money, and real films sets run like clock work. I now make storyboards before I do anything else, something I never used to do, and I also create shooting itineraries so I know what needs to get done and when.
I know I still need to work on my lighting skills and framing. These are the things that separates ammeter filmmakers from the professionals. I know I still have much to learn and in reality I will never stop being a student to this craft, but I feel more confident in my abilities than ever before, and can see how much I have Improved not just this semester but since I first came to Elon.
This was a movie that I had no intention of seeing. I loved Michael Cera in arrested development and after that things go down hill for me. After being pestered to watch the movie I agreed and was blown away. Scott Pilgrims is a refreshing love story with stunning visuals and fast passed comical dialogue.
There were many fun parts to this film. The editing was fast and scenes transitioned instantaneously. There were numerous scenes w
Mega Piranha is a cheesy sci-fi about an CIA agent trying to get to the bottom of a US Official’s death that occurs in the Amazon river.
Bad sci-fi is one of my dirty pleasures, something about poorly delivered lines, and low budget special affects just makes me laugh. These films also serve as a great guide of what not to do when making a film, Mega Piranha being no exception.
Through out the film cuts between scenes were almost always followed by a speed up and slow-motion of the next scene. This was both hilliarious and over the top. Only once possibly twice should this transition be used in a film and this occured between nearly every scene.
The scenes of Mega Pirhana in the water was the same 3 sequences played over and over again. It reminded me of the dog fights in the original Battlestar Galatica, another one of my favorites. In any normal film this would be a big no no, but of course in this film it was perfect and had me rolling on the floor.
The acting is at the extreme amateur level, characters awkwardly get through their lines. The antagonist is of course a diabolical general who is power hungry. His accent authentic because he is south american, but he menacing nature was extremely comical and over the top. The scientists in the film use strings of long complicated terms that do not belong next to each other. The actors barely getting the pronunciations out in a normal manner.
My all time favorite part of this film was when the piranha mutate to there largest size, varying between large dog to tank sized, and leap onto land exploding on contact. Of course flying exploding fish isnt over the top enough so we also have our protagonist have a kung fu fight scene with a school of younger fish while their older brethren leap overhead taking out large buildings and military outposts.
This is a film only for those who can laugh at something that is put together on a shoestring budget with little talent. This is by all means a train-wreck of a film, but sometimes its just too hard to look away.
I had originally cast more seasoned actors, but had to recast when something had come up with my original pair. Working with two people new to acting was a challenge. There were times that I would have to remind them to not read their lines, but ‘act’ them out. It was also a challenge to keep them from looking at the camera when they were not supposed to.
Considering this I was proud of what I got out of my actors. I was able to guide them to around where I needed them to be. In the bathroom scene Alex’s character was waking up to a series of pranks. I needed him to be disgruntled, hit specific marks, and avoid looking at the camera. He would nail some portions, but not others so I had to coach him through it a bit, but I got the best out of him in the bathroom when He got nailed on the head. His reaction was good and seemed natural.
Alex struggle a lot with the final shot. He had to look crazy and mechanical in his movements. This did not come across in the final scene like I envisioned it. I wasn’t able to guide him here so the reveal of finding out the protagonist was pranking himself was not as strong as it should have been. To improve this in the future I should have first showed Alex how I would have done it. Then I would have him do it and play it back for him. At the time I did not consider a playback and as it was we were pressed, but I know now to make time for things like this so I cant get the best out of my actors.
Trevor’s role was much smaller and easier than Alex’s so I had a less eventful time with him. He also had a bit of experience so there was less that I would have to do with him. The biggest problem I had with Trevor was getting him to speak at a consistent level. Even though he was wearing a LAV mic he ept changing the volume of his voice which made things difficult.
Working with actors is interesting. I understand that my job as the writer/director was to make my actors see what I saw and then help them recreate it with me. This was a fun assignment because it taught me a lesson about the perspective of different roles on set.
This week I decided to go old school with a Marlon Brando flick I have never seen. On the Waterfront is a mash-up of true stories. The film follows Terry Mallow (Marlon Brando) a washed up boxer who brings down the mob controlling the New York City waterfront.
This movie had some brilliant scenes. What I enjoyed most about this film was the brilliant dialogue and how the scenes were set up. The most iconic and memorable was when Terry and hi brother argue in the car about who is right. The two characters come head to head and both actor deliver a brilliant performance. The most brilliant part of the scene was how it was set up. Although they are talking in a car the rear window is blocked by a shade so the audience can’t see out of the back and the camera is zoomed in enough so the side windows can not be seen. This puts all of the audiences focus on the characters and the dialogue delivers even more of a punch. The film is also face paced with many things going on in scenes so this halt to eye candy is jarring and really makes the audience focus.
My other favorite scene occurs when Terry is on the roof in a pigeon coop made of chicken wire. His love interest enters the scene and she stands behind the wiring. Throughout the conversation Terry and his love interest remain separated by the chicken wire. The girl is reluctant to be around Terry, but she is interested. After a good amount of flirting and banter Terry convinces her to go out with him. From then on the two are almost always touching or very close in every scene. I found this to be brilliant and subtle enough that it could have been missed.
Although I did enjoy this film a lot I had one big complaint. In many scene the camera get jarred around or doesn’t pan smoothly and this is not on purpose. This took me out of the experience during crucial scenes. The worst of this is in the final sequence where Terry is standing up to the mob. When there is a ling shot of him walking and the other dock workers are following the pan is very jerky and ruins the shot. THe shot itself is beautiful which makes the crime even worse.
For anyone who is afraid of black and white films this is a great jumping off point. The plot is simple to follow and the characters are interesting to listen to. For the time many of the shots are cutting edge and fast paced.
To start let me say this was a terrible movie. If you are even considering going do not bother this is a complete waste of time. Saw 3D continues the series following the surviving victims of Jigsaw. The usual guts and gore are of corse present and accounted for and that is about it.
My disappointment was with the 3D aspect of the film. Having to wear glasses over my glasses is already annoying enough, but having to wear 3D glasses for a movie where barely any of it is in 3D is infuriating. Saw 3D barley uses the third dimension at all. There are numerous scenes in which limbs, blood ,and gore go flying and yet no 3D. The breif encounters in which 3D is used it looks awful. The effect looks very cheesy and actually makes what is happening comical instead of terrifying. I have no problem with the idea of 3D, but so far its execution has been beyond terrible, and almost always takes away from a movie. Wearing those stupid glasses made me even more aware that I was sitting in a theatre watching a movie I wasn’t enjoying.
Beyond the poor effects the movie attempts to have a twist ending that is ridiculously obvious. Without ruining the ending all I will say is that the only way that the director/writer could have pointed out the twist any more would be if they did a Star Wars type intro explaining what would happen at the end of the film.
If you enjoy torture movies or the Saw series this film may appeal to you, but expect to see a large amount of rehashing from the earlier films. This means similar or exactly the same torture devices as well as characters. This movie easily could have been condensed into a 20 minute ending for the previous film.
At first I was annoyed when I found out had to work with truth because what I enjoy about film is creating something new and exciting. I was not prepared for what was going to happen during the course of making this documentary. My subject Scott is one of the strangest and most interesting people I have met. The biggest problem we ran into as a group was trying to decide what to put into our documentary because there were so many interesting and hilarious things. Scott was providing far too much material for a 2 to 3 minute documentary.
The benefit to working with truth here was that there was nothing that had to be created which saved a ton of time on the front end of the project. There was no script to write, story boarding to do, or casting for characters; that saved me what would usually take up half of the time when working on a project. Also it was fun to find out that the truth could be just as funny and strange as the other projects that I often create. Editing was also easier to do because there were no complicated shots and cutaways are the only things that had to be filmed besides the interview for this project.
Even though this was a very positive experience I still enjoy narrative cinema more than a documentary, but I have a newfound appreciation for those documentarians who find something truly worthy of being captured on film.
Working with a real person instead of an actor did bring up new challenges. Often after asking a question Scott would ramble on for a while or stop talking all together for an unusually long pause. This wasnt surprising considering who it was but it did make some of the filming for the documentary more difficult than something that would have been previously worked out with an actor.
The poem by T.S. Eliot “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” is a bit long so I will put it at the end of this post. To me this poem speaks of a man who is isolated and alone in his society. He struggles with his isolation greatly. I used only one actor, and to emphasize the isolation and loneliness, I also used very dark shots. To stylizes the lighting I decided to used only candles as my light sources excluding the one scene with the television. The candles gave my actor a haunted look which is what I feel the poem represents a man who is haunted by his loneliness.
I also have the actor dressed in blue to bring enforce that he is depressed also when a candle is seen it is always blue. The TV scene also emits a blue light that casts interesting shadows as the actor drinks alone in a dark room.
The poem is ambiguous in the end I do not know if the depression of this man drove him to suicide, but he does mention drowning. I made the actor in my film drown in his nightmares, and I think either way it is fitting to the poem because when he is in society he feels as if he is drowning when around people because he is not a part of their world.
To give the film a sense of confusion that the poem seemed to drive home I put the gain up as high as possible. I thought of also adding additional noise in post, but was disappointed with the results and stuck with what the camera gave me.
I am very happy with how this came out. At first I was afraid that the candle light would not give me the desired effects that I wanted, but was surprised to find that it often added in more ways than I had originally thought. If given more time I may have added a sequence where the actor first runs through a crowded area hysterically. This also would have been hard to shoot because I would want to crowd to not react to a hysterical actor, and for me it would have to be a large crown not a handful of people because the poem is dealing with society not a specific group.
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized (2) upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust (3) restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question . . .
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.
The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.
And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair–
[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin–
[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all:–
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?
And I have known the eyes already, known them all–
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?
And how should I presume?
And I have known the arms already, known them all–
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
[But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!]
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.
And should I then presume?
And how should I begin?
. . . . .
Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? . . .
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.
. . . . .
And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep . . . tired . . . or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices, (5)
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head [grown slightly bald] brought in upon a platter, (6)
I am no prophet–and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.
And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it toward some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus, (7) come from the dead
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”–
If one, settling a pillow by her head,
Should say: “That is not what I meant at all.
That is not it, at all.”
And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the
floor–
And this, and so much more?–
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern (8) threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:
“That is not it at all,
That is not what I meant, at all.”
. . . . .
No! I am not Prince Hamlet, (9) nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous–
Almost, at times, the Fool.
I grow old . . .I grow old . . .
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.
Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.
I do not think that they will sing to me.
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown..
