World Cup Fever!

The excitement level over soccer for the general American public is quite low. Especially when compared to the rest of the world. I for one, have the fever! I need to find a pub...

In the bag

-Latest draft of Filmic...Check
-Latest draft of Sin of the Opiate...Check
-Copy of The Madcap Armament...Check
-Notes for the above works...Check
-Flashdrive holding copies of everything above...Check
-iPod...Check

I'm off!

I'll be out of town until Saturday. Where shall I be? I'll be spending my time in Cali, which I'm actually not looking forward to since I'll be in San Diego a few weeks later shooting Wildlifeless. But, oh well, no biggie. Here's to getting plenty of work done.

I'm gonna hurt her...

Mission Impossible III Review

(Josh's post at TA reminded me to write this.)

If there has been anything blatantly ostracized in the last two Mission Impossible films, it has been their examples of villainy. I point you to Exhibit A: Jon Voight. Aside from being completely non-existent in the first film, he is barely threatening when finally revealed. Worse, the film never establishes a leering threat or sense of danger in lieu of Voight. This isn’t nearly as bad as the second film, when there was an onscreen villain: Dougray Scott. In establishing his villainy, John Woo and the film’s writers made the bold choice of using every bad-guy trademark in the book. Of course, it didn’t help that Scott appeared completely non-threatening and disinterested in his performance.
Sadly, there was never any doubt that Cruise’s character, Ethan Hunt, would prevail over these largely unintelligent, boorish representations of espionage villainy.

Now, we cut to Exhibit C, the intro of Mission Impossible III:

No immediate title sequence, no TOM CRUISE in big bold letters (immediately)…And no operatic music. It opens on Hunt strapped to a chair. Beaten, bleeding…with tears in his eyes. In front of him sits his wife, also tied to a chair. Duct tape muffles her sobs of distress. Standing over her with a gun…is Philip Seymour Hoffman.
“You have 10 seconds to give me the Rabbit’s Foot, or I shoot her.”
For the record, bad guys count to ten all the time. But they never shoot the girl. In fact, they hardly ever finish counting to ten. What’s more, the previous two films established bad guys in this series as being threatening, but never really serious. Hoffman’s character, Owen Davian? He is serious. He does get to ten.

And then he shoots her.

This is an incredible contrast to the opening of the previous two films. It is also a commentary on the talent behind this installment, J.J. Abrams. Instead of opening with an edgy rock-climbing sequence or a flashy sting-operation, Abrams decides to open the film in close-quarters with a heated interplay between the good-guy and the bad-guy. Despite the lack of stunts or loud atmosphere, this opening is a thousand times more enthralling than the introductory sequences of the previous two. And this is a standard of Abrams’ that stands true throughout most of the film in fact.
Abrams, noted for his work on the television series Lost, understands what draws an audience in. He knows that you simply cannot pack on mindless action sequence after mindless action sequence; an audience demands well-written, well-performed characters. Abrams used this to his advantage on Lost, and in Mission Impossible III he shows that he still uses character as his strong suit.
Now, that isn’t to say that in choosing character over action, Abrams completely nullifies the thrills demanded of a big-budget action flick. On the contrary - In choosing character, he amplifies these thrills. Surprisingly, Abrams action sequences are largely the same as those featured in the previous two films (I’ll even say that some of them are not as distinctive or iconic as the last two’s). But they are far more effective because they involve characters we care for. The end result is all the more crushing, all the more harrowing, impressive CGI or not. This movie underscores Abrams’ value in character.
And Hoffman’s Davian and Cruise’s Hunt are simply the prime examples of Abrams’ interest in character.

An example: Hunt, in the last two films, was a jet set, standoffish super-spy who loved the thrill of his work. So, you know…he was basically Tom Cruise. Abrams’ Hunt however, has settled down. He can still take on the world and then-some, but he’d much rather grab a bag of ice, put on a record and spend the rest of the evening at home with his girl (Notice the singular on girl, not the plural.)
Beyond that, Abrams allows Cruise’s performance a sense of weary acceptance at the impossible stunts unfolding before him. Woo’s Hunt treated the stunts and near death experiences as an extreme sport. Abrams’ Hunt, on the other hand, approaches the whole ordeal with a rushed sigh.
Regarding Davian, Hoffman plays the character minus the quiet intensity and hollow threats of his predecessors. He is not in control of his emotions, he doesn’t like being put on the defensive, and he has absolutely no qualms about hunting people down (brutally) to get what he wants. And that is what is so delightful about his character – he has something he wants. And since he has a need that stands in stark contrast to Hunt’s, the movie has plenty of time to unfold some fun sequences around their rivalry (a rivalry that Davian beautifully takes straight into Hunt’s personal life).

With two tightly written characters, it’s even more of a treat to be able to say that the whole film is pretty tight. There’s nothing extraneous about the whole ordeal, nothing breathless. It moves quickly, with razor precision, but also takes time to connect us to the protagonist. It’s beautiful to look at, never takes itself too seriously, and rarely spoon-feeds itself to the audience. Sure, it’s not brain-food, but the creative team understands that it doesn’t have to be. Abrams even manages to sneak a MacGuffin into the film…a true tip of the hat to the grand master.

One of my minor quibbles about the film is something I heard in another review: it’s a shame this is the third one and not the first.

12:10

Dang.

Aloha!

This band is 5x better live than on record! Every band should be, but alas, sometimes it's the contrary. If you have the chance to see them, go! I doubt they'll disappoint.

Brock and I traversed to Modified Arts, to gain entry rights, as we've had the previous misfortunes of sellouts. I researched the opening bands, Peachcake, and Foreign Born, beforehand. After determining from their MySpace page that Peachcake's core fanbase consists of 17-year olds who love to bounce to their jumpy, synth-pop, we decided to skip out and patronize Carly's, which resides in the spot previously occupied by The Paisley Violin. There we partook of some tasty, exotic beers.

Feeling a new sense of air, we headed back in time to catch Foreign Born. They were described as having a 70s guitar sound. I only caught a hint of that, but they were pretty fresh and interesting to listen too.

Then, there was Aloha. I already had an expectation of greatness from word of mouth, and their performance on the Michigan Fest DVD that I own. They exceeded that expectation. They're a four-piece and aside from the usual guitar, bass, and drums, they had two keyboards, a vibraphone (the iconic piece of Aloha), and an additional floor tom located near the vibraphonist.

They have a few songs where the drummer becomes the focus, pounding out fast, tight and alternating rhythms. He was often accompanied by a relentless beating of the floor tom with mallets (or whatever you call the drumsticks with big, fuzzy ends). Some songs had no guitar, with both keyboards dueting. The bass was melodic, in synch with some drum highlights. It was contagiously energetic.

Earning the Right

Tuesday afternoon: a post-war haze of boredom that I must live through now that school is over. Yesterday, at 9:30 A.M., I effectively put the last bullet in the Spring Semester by completing a finals test for Radio and TV. Sure, I still have two more classes tomorrow – screenwriting and portfolio editing, but by now, the teeth are gone…with my final trailer complete and the first act of Sin of the Opiate printed, the cat has effectively been de-clawed.
So what now? To be honest, I’m not perfectly sure. A couple of things flitter around my brain (a mind that has since lost everything through a drain opened after that test). These flitters include the need to rehearse the cast of Wildlifeless, make sure all of that SAG stuff is squared away, the writing of a pre-production and budget plan for Filmic, and the second and third acts of my aforementioned screenplay.
These are all things that must be done…but I highly doubt that I’m going to get around to doing them before Thursday.

Why?

Because at this point, I’m out of the scope. The hurricane has passed. And I survived. I mean really, literally, survived. I spent classes this semester with honors students who insisted that they were “rock stars” who “kicked major butt” and could fly grades higher then any Japanese Zero to blast off from the face of this earth. And just days before the end, I sat next to these honors students in class as their façade melted and their final projects burned out like defective firecrackers. Kids asked for incompletes. Kids seven years older then me. And I walked away from that firebomb.
Last semester, in making The Subject, I weathered a storm of bad production and unfortunate mishaps. This semester, all that was bad and that happened to me, reversed and sunk its teeth into the students of every class I attended. And I walked away unfazed. I don’t believe in cosmic switches or rubber-band effects, but I do believe in escaping the lion’s den. And that’s that.

Now, boredom creeps through this house, hanging like that sweaty thickness of air that has also descended upon the valley as of late. It’s going to be poignant this year. It’s going to be thick. But at the same time, I kind of welcome this boredom. Sure, there are things I will have to do. A couple of movies have to be made. But I feel that I have earned the right to be bored. A novel concept I struggle with is that I feel the need to constantly be doing something. Progress must be made, in school or in an MOC project or in some aspect of my life. For now, I feel like I have earned the ability to sit around, with nothing to do. A screen is in front of my face, and a keyboard at my hands. School has ended, and now I have the right to be here, blogging about useless nonsense and pet-projects, Jackie Carol running in the background. I have the right to collect meaningless bits of information, conundrums, and post them for what they’re worth.

That being said, here’s to nonsensical stream of consciousness at 1:53 on a Phoenix afternoon. The valley is silent minus Josh and Angie. The house molasses.

Minor notes before this rambling ends:

1. I anxiously await this new album…and let me comment that the art is just fantastic.

2. Shutter-ghosting – a new effect I’ve learned about by reading the cinematography forums, as suggested by Joshua J. Provost. In learning about various cinematography techniques for Filmic, I’ve come across some fascinating stuff. Here’s the general summary of Saving Private Ryan: They shot at 24 fps (normal speed) but with a 45 degree shutter angle, making the motion very crisp and jerky. The prints used a 100 IR level of ENR silver retention processing (Josh, you told me this one). The negative was sometimes flashed; the lenses had their anti-reflection coatings removed for more flaring, and some shots were made with a camera with an out-of-sync shutter so that bright highlights were streaking vertically in the frame. The tungsten-balanced film (EXR 200T) was push-processed and instead of a normal 85 filter, they used a half-correction (81EF) for a cooler look.

3. Scottsdale students should check out a new issue of The Vortex for an essay entitled “Murphy Strikes Back”, consequently about the very same thing that plagued my pathetic student body, as well as a short story entitled “The Great American War Flick”. I’d post both of these items on “Leonard Hughes”, but that would be inappropriate and unfair. Just get the magazine (I think its free for crying out loud), because there are lots of other great stories and works in there as well.

4. I promise Gabe that I will post more about this band before the week is out.

That’s all, until the next wave.

R.I.P. Johnny Boscow

I thought I'd take a little nostalgia trip tonight and glance over Last Rights with Johnny Boscow, technically the first screenplay I ever wrote from start to finish.

As I dug through my computer though, I couldn't locate it. The search continues, but I think it's gone. All of my character notes and research info for that is gone as well. All I really have left to remember it by is this scene on Leonard Hughes.

Wow...

Sad tidings...for me anyway. Here's to you Last Rights. In retrospect, not a brilliant screenplay, not even a good one, and I may very well have been the only person who ever read it...but it was mine.

2004 - 2006

My Life

Let’s be honest, I’ve never been a terrible fan of credit card promotion. Aside from the annoying letters and pre-approved cards I endlessly receive in the mail, my primary annoyance is witty credit card commercials. Ah yes…There have been several attempts by various card companies to make a remarkable credit card commercial. Along that path, over the past few years we have seen notable attempts involving everything from Robert DeNiro to the Patriots.
While these attempts have been steadily better, I’ve never been outright amused by a credit card commercial…and certainly not enticed to sign up.
Maybe this can be traced back to my parents and their employment at American Express. American Express isn’t a bad company. They put food on the table. But I never really took pleasure in the idea that my parents worked for a corporate beast…and that they wanted to see this beast grow. I simply couldn’t wrap my mind around devoting oneself to a corporate institution like that. Not that they were obsessed mind you…simply supportive. I believe that as a result, I cannot stand credit card advertisement.
Over the last couple of months however, American Express has called a truce.
Yes, they reached a loving hand out through a new series of commercials and said, “We’ll meet you halfway Brock”. Not literally…but their latest set of filmmaker focused advertisements couldn’t amuse me more.
It all started with ads featuring name actors like DeNiro and Kate Winslet. As they walked through some urban environment or backlot, voice over would ramp in, narrating for us their “daily life”.
Clever?
I’ll admit.
Amusing?
Nope.
But then, these “My Life” commercials moved into odd territory with an M. Night Shyamalan inspired commercial. The difference herein is that American Express gave free reign to Shyamalan, letting him direct the commercial and, in effect, make a two-minute short. The ad unfolds around Shyamalan sitting (uncomfortably) in a restaurant, taking note of all the strange events happening around him. There’s even a little “familiar” moment when a girl drops some wine glasses, only to have them shatter to the ground below.
It’s not the best cinematic experience since Signs, but it’s strangely funny. I had to give it to American Express; they made a commercial with one of my favorite filmmakers…and, ingeniously, let him direct it.
So, there was a sort of compromise.

But tonight, I saw their latest ad. A commercial for Wes Anderson.

Genius. When a commercial opens with Jason Schwartzman and a Sikh(?) blowing up a car with a ballpoint pen detonator, rest assured that you’ve won me over.
The rest of the commercial unfolds as Anderson walks through a film set, acting very “director-like”, in one of his trademark, ridiculously lengthy tracking shots. “Can you do a .357 with a bayonet?” Anderson asks his prop-master. A shrug. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.” It’s a funny piece that is largely unexpected. I mean, I can understand the Shyamalan commercial; he’s emerged as a filmmaker that Joe Everyman equates with the word “director”. But Wes Anderson? I thought his influence rarely extended beyond film school and New Yorker subscribers.
And yet, I have to kind of applaud American Express for making commercials with quirky, fresh new directors as opposed to picking familiar hats like Spielberg or Lucas. Not only that, but these commercials completely embrace what these directors are about. They’re not just cookie-cutter pieces with Anderson or Shyamalan standing in front of a white backdrop, waxing useless on the importance of owning an Amex card. They are completely in the style of said filmmaker.

Let us mark it: the first time I’ve enjoyed a credit card commercial…ever.

My next wish is that they keep up with the director-centric commercials and make one with a music video giant: Spike Jonze or Michel Gondry.

Post in transit

Over the course of yesterday and today, I rewrote the "problem" spots of Madcap, in addition to some Opium pages. I'm bushed. There's still some stuff to finish up though. Gotta just polish a few scenes in Act III of Madcap, and there are 10 more pages in Opium before the act break.

After that...well who knows. Maybe I can finish Opium before the end of may. Ambitious, but I'm optimistic. It would be nice to have it done and off my mind before Wildlifeless though. Very nice.

Snakes!!!

Snakes on a Plane! Yee-hawww! The title alone evokes visions of pure hilarity. You know, the only kind of hilarity there would be when you get a plane full of venomous snakes. How many snakes? A crate full!

I had to comment on this movie when I saw this post. Before that, I hadn’t even heard of it. Apparently there are some that question whether this movie will actually be serious, or some kind of spoof. It's become an Internet phenomenon. Check for yourself.

I, for one, can’t wait to see it. But, not until it’s on DVD. I anticipate it as the kind of movie that will bring forth many laughs, though, that not being the intent. Perhaps it’ll replace Anaconda as one of my favorite “comedies.”

Art of the Rewrite

One of the things I've never been terribly good at as a screenwriter is the rewrite. Don’t get me wrong…I always rewrite, and I do find it to be a valuable tool. But it hardly seems that I completely fix all of the problems in a screenplay when I do the rewrite. There always seems to be a few scenes or part of an act that just doesn't seem to work. And the entire work suffers because of it. As nearly any screenwriter will tell you, pro or beginner, those scenes stick out like a sliver in your brain.
Just recently, I planned on handing over one of my screenplays, "The Madcap Armament", to Rebekah so she could proofread it. I've left that screenplay sitting around for so long that I figured it was time to make sure it was as good as it could possibly be before I let it be covered by time and other stories.
One major problem with the screenplay however, was that it had been written in as a word document. You see…I now realize, with the aid of Final Draft, how poor some of my formatting attempts were. It's not a pretty looking script. So, I decided to transcribe the whole thing over to Final Draft and fix a few minor issues before I sent it off to Rebekah.
Upon re-reading it however, I came across a series of scenes in the second half of Act II that left me with a nagging feeling. Like a dull ache, those scenes stuck out in my mind as being off-key, out of place...just all-together bad. I couldn't place my finger on the reason why they felt that way; they just nagged at me. I decided to wait on sending the screenplay, at least until I could puzzle out the reason why that section of the story felt wrong. In fact, it is a weird thing when something feels off in a screenplay. It doesn't just feel wrong...it feels fuzzy.
Act II, Part II of "The Madcap Armament" felt fuzzy. As a result, I started to let the act simmer in my mind. I even read that portion of Act II over and over again, trying to pinpoint the exact spot in which things started to feel fuzzy. After some careful reading, I found it. The second I located the point at which everything began to fall apart, I realized what my problem was.

The main character disappeared.

Almost literally. There is a point in the second act where the main character, Leonard Chaplin, disappears off the page, only to be replaced by secondary characters that are more lively and unique then he is. And then, when the second act ends, the story begins to pick up again. Why? Because Leonard reappears and starts making drastic decisions about how he is going to end all of the problems facing him. Leonard begins to be the protagonist again.
Once I realized this, I was blown away. It was a pretty dramatic problem, one that gradually got worse as the screenplay moved along. And the funny thing is that the second half of Act II doesn't read badly...it doesn't move slowly...it just feels terrible. Just to be sure however, I began to read a book that I had purchased and left sitting on my shelf for months. That is Syd Field's book on Rewriting.
All I can say is that I should have read this book sooner. Already I've begun to appreciate the fine art of rewriting. Not only that, I've realized why my approach to rewriting constantly fails, why problems like the Leonard Disappearance continually crop up in my screenplays. I simply do not know how to rewrite. But I am changing that.
After reading the first 4 or 5 chapters in the book (and jumping around through several others), I learned that my problem definitely stemmed from the disappearance of Leonard. The protagonist had in essence lost control of the story. He ceased to take action and now only knew how to react. And I pinpointed the exact spot in which the seed of this problem was planted. It took several scenes before the problem began to show however.
That is the diagnosis. The cure? A complete rewrite of the second half of Act II. Old scenes will be dropped. New ones will be written with Leonard as the focus. The remaining scenes will be crafted to fit to his character arc. It will take at least a couple of days, but when it is complete, I will be able to rest easy when I send the screenplay off to be proofread.

I might add that my foray into this untouched arena of screenwriting couldn't have come at a better time - the rewrites for our screenplays are due in Screenwriting III. I spent the majority of my afternoon today working on the first act of "Sin of the Opiate". Unlike Madcap however, I have an entire class of screenwriters to point out mistakes and help me rewrite. After collecting their notes together in addition to my own qualms, I began to refashion Sin of the Opiate. While I still have a plethora of tasks to complete before I can turn in a polished draft, I can at least say that the screenplay is beginning to take some kind of shape.

Here's a new download for you of 6 rewritten pages from the screenplay. I never posted the originals, but I didn't want to post something that you had already read. Enjoy.

Festival Madness

Tomorrow, Gabe, Rebekah/Zoe (I presume), Josh, Angie and myself will be heading down to Tucson to check out the TucsonFilm.com Short Fest, 06. As you’ve probably read on Try Avoidance, we’ve got two short films in the main festival this year plus three others in the online segment of the festival. As you can imagine, this is a real treat for us. Plus, we get to hang with our local film buds, Bruce and Max and watch their film “The Intervention of Brad”. Everything is shaping up for a good weekend.

Shifting gears for a moment here, I cannot wait to get out of school. I mean it; things are really starting to drag. I have all of these projects I’m working on, but there simply isn’t enough time to do everything properly. And so, everything I want to do gets put on hold while I take care of everything I have to do. The second school ends however it’s anyone’s game. I don’t know if that makes sense, but whatever.

Wildlifeless update

A very exciting development has been the lockdown of the cast for Wildlifeless. I gotta tell you…this project is shaping up to be amazing. Why? Well, these actors…and I won’t drop names for the moment…but these actors are phenomenal. Probably some of the finest actors we’ve ever had onboard. They really “get” it. There were so many different, interesting slants to the character that the other potentials tried to cover…and I was delighted by the variety, but the ultimate selections knew what made these characters tick. There is a comment in a book I have on directing, entitled Friendly Enemies (a book I have been referencing continually over the last few weeks) which basically says: always keep your character in mind during the audition. Understand who your character is. Once you know that, casting the role is incredibly simple. It’s simply matching up the actor with what you envision for the personality.

And believe me, I did not believe the book until the audition. Now, I absolutely hold faith in that publication. If the director knows the characters and knows the story, then the actual selection of roles is incredibly easy. The hard work is about to begin though…the actual directing of the actors. I must say that I am a little frightened. This is the first time I’ve directed a kid. I’m confident that I can pull it off, but it’s going to be an interesting and probably harrowing journey before I arrive at that next level. The actors are putting themselves through a plethora of hoops to pull these characterizations off though, so I believe that it is my duty to go on this journey with them and see what comes our way.

Cinematography wise, I’m not worried. As long as we practice the shots, I’m confident we’ll be able to pull it off. I mean come on…this is Josh we’re talking about here. He knew the score about this film before he even took on the role of DP. The visual aesthetic is as much his baby as it is mine.

So that’s that.

First of all

Congrats to Kirby Sodderberg for his involvement with Pantomiming and the subsequent nomination for Tuscon Fest. Hurrah, eh? Secondly, congrats to my friend and partner in crime for Leonardo, Joshua J. Provost. Leonardo is paying off my friend, so let's enjoy it, eh?

In honor of Pantomiming's first ever festival selection, I feel the need to hold some kind of a contest - something to reward the legions of fans clamoring for some sweet Kirby action. Ahem.

1st Prize - A Pantomiming DVD, signed by Kirby and Brock
2nd Prize - A Pantomiming DVD signed by Chad Einwalter
3rd Prize - A Pantomiming slip case
4th prize - A screenplay for White Bread, the upcomming Matter of Chance film
5th Prize - a contenental lunch on the Disney Jungle Cruise with Brock H. Brown and the cast of Wildlifeless

Other prizes to be announced soon.

Get Off Your Fat Surplus

...the elaborate structure of networks, advertising agencies and sponsors will not be shaken or altered. It is my desire, if not my duty, to try to talk to you journeymen with some candor about what is happening to radio and television...I am seized with an abiding fear regarding what these two instruments are doing to our society, our culture and our heritage...during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, PAY LATER...Editorials would not be profitable; if they had a cutting edge, they might even offend. It is much easier, much less troublesome, to use the money-making machine of television and radio merely as a conduit through which to channel anything that is not libelous, obscene or defamatory. In that way one has the illusion of power without responsibility...One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news...and when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles...Sometimes there is a clash between the public interest and the corporate interest. A telephone call or a letter from the proper quarter in Washington is treated rather more seriously than a communication from an irate but not politically potent viewer. It is tempting enough to give away a little air time for frequently irresponsible and unwarranted utterances in an effort to temper the wind of criticism...I am frightened by the imbalance, the constant striving to reach the largest possible audience for everything; by the absence of a sustained study of the state of the nation. Heywood Broun once said, "No body politic is healthy until it begins to itch." I would like television to produce some itching pills rather than this endless outpouring of tranquilizers...But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.

-Edward R. Murrow, October 15, 1958

How so much more true today. Kudos to George Clooney and Grant Heslov for bringing back to light what Mr. Murrow heralded in regards to news and television. You can read his entire speech to the RTNDA Convention here: http://www.rtnda.org/resources/speeches/murrow.shtml

See picture

You're telling me these guys didn't get the audition notice?!

Attention Deficit

"I don't get it!"

The previews for the movie Stay Alive just utterly disturb me. No, not the imagery, but the marketing tactic. "Hey, dumb people, watch this movie. Here's what it's about. In case you didn't get it the first time, here it is again." How many times in the preview was it mentioned that if you die in the game, you die in real life? At least a couple.

Happy belated anniversary to this blog. Three years last month. I wanted to do a celebratory post with Brock, but time passes by like the wind. We've gone from two readers (ourselves), to something like, five to seven! Amazing. Maybe if we could have some consistent, engaging material... Hey, we don't have time for that.

Turban-O-Matic

Amazing new technology teaches lazy Sikh kids to tie turbans correctly.

Bout time.

The Best of 2005 - Visual Effects

War of the Worlds

David Blitstein, Gintar Repecka, Alan Scott and Daniel Sudick

War of the Worlds was a terrible movie. It was absolutely horrible, poorly conceived and terribly executed.

With regards to story.

Visually, it was a real treat. If there’s one thing the film succeeded in doing, it was in conveying the enormity and reality of these alien tripods in relation to their human prey. While I would have liked to have given this award to Star Wars, the fact of the matter is that War of the Worlds succeeded in conveying computer imagery that appeared realistic, threatening and plausible. One brilliant stroke has to be their keeping the alien craft enshrouded in fog, darkness and trees for most of the film. As a result, the inadequacy of the computer imagery was negligible…instead, one couldn’t help but be overwhelmed and frightened by the very big, very real machines stalking our heroes through the night.
What’s also interesting is Spielberg’s use of these effects and computer visuals in relation to his ornate and fluid camera movements. Instead of being burdened by them, he allows them to free up his camerawork even further. One fancy shot had Spielberg looking at a horrific scene of violence through the viewfinder of a consumer digital camera. Other shots had him spinning and panning around a moving van in a fashion that would be either extremely expensive or near impossible to achieve with a camera car.
Letting his digital creations slip into the night, he presented imagery that seemed solid, concrete, real. And because of that, it was much more frightening. You may not feel the emotion between Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning. But when that tripod set its foot down right in front of her, my heart skipped a beat. I wasn’t thinking of how great the digital effects looked. I wasn’t awestruck by the visuals. I was terrified. And that’s when I knew the effects worked.

The Best of 2005 - Makeup

Revenge of the Sith

Nikki Gooley, Charmaine Fuller and Colin Ware

If there is one nomination I completely understood at the Academy Awards, it was Star Wars Episode III, Revenge of the Sith’s nomination for makeup. Did it deserve more nominations? I tend to think that’s up to you personally to decide. Did it deserve the makeup nomination? Absolutely.
The makeup in Revenge of the Sith was outlandish and unrealistic. And that’s why it was so great. Palpatine’s utterly melted, reptilian appearance post lighting must have taken a tremendous amount of time to apply. And it looks utterly repulsive, right down to the little details such as the crevices in his face, or the pallid skin-tone. The tremendous bags under his eyes might as well be canyons, and the fine wisps of hair on his head practically seem to go transparent against his wrinkled scalp. It’s a stunning and unappealing visual.
On the flip side we have Anakin, who ends up looking very dark and disturbed when he finally turns to the dark side. His eyes don’t quite have the bags that Palpatine’s does, but they do appear deeply set. You could argue that Hayden Christensen’s acting fails to convey the troubled emotion Anakin is experiencing at this point in his life. But I found myself hard-pressed to understand why he failed to relate those emotions…the makeup makes him look so troubled that the rest should have come naturally. Even the tiny scars on his face hint at battles he’s been through but that we haven’t been privy to see.
The extreme on Sith’s fantastic makeup is of course Anakin’s final transformation: a charred corpse. It is said that this contributed to the film’s PG-13 rating. I find that easy to see, as he looks absolutely horrid, like burnt chicken on the barbecue. And that’s a beautiful thing.

Hail to the Hoff

When I saw Brock's post title, I thought he was going to write about the importance of make-up in a movie. Speaking of not posting in a while... Hello! Where have I been???

Philip Seymour Hoffman, greatest actor of our time? Quite possibly, and I've been a fan of his for a long time. Congratulations to him!

So, I actually watched the Oscars from beggining to end. I think I've only done that once before. That time being when I was in Hollywood, not too far from the Kodak Theatre. Jon Stewart received mixed reviews, but I thought he was great, and was probably the factor that kept me watching. The skits were well done too.

I have about five pages for a mocku-docu-mentary on a local, inspirational short film. Mocku, because part of it is made up, and Docu, because it centers around a real film. But if the filmmaker of this short is not down with it, it becomes all for fun. I plan on approaching him soon about it.