Don't talk at the movies!

Check out this article I came across. Don't talk in the movie theater otherwise your going to get shot!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/12/27/movie.shooting/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

"The Spirit" disappoints

Today I went and saw "The Spirit" with my family. We went into it with the same expectations as everyone else that went and saw it. After "Sin City" you can see that Frank Miller has talent with graphic novel films. This one, however, was unimpressive. The issues I have with the film are these: the story, the editing, and the intensity.


The story was not very interesting. It became a romance by the end and bored the audience. There are some good action sequences and lots of quirky jokes but they come no where near "Sin City." I know these are two completely different films, however, you think there would be some defiant similarities when it comes to the writing style and direction. I saw none of it.



The editing was all over the place. Part of this comes from the writing because you can't edit something together unless there is something to edit. Parts of the film became so jumpy I had no idea what was going on. There were snippets of scenes that felt more like a preview or an overview of the actual sequence. I really wanted to get into the film and be pulling into the crazy reality of the world created; that wasn't happening. As soon as I felt the scene start to go somewhere it would cut to a whole different time or place.

Both these factors contribute to the intensity of the story. This could have been a compelling story even if it became a romance by the end. Most good stories do come from tragedy anyways. "The Spirit" unfolds as a strange diversion of what is to be expected, but not in a good way.


On the positive side it looked amazing. This style of filming is very cool to watch. The film noir stereotypes mixed in with comic book layouts. It's definatly amazing what they were able to do with color and framing. Out of all the comments I heard coming out of the theater, the most that were positive focused on the filming aspects of this movie. It looks really cool. I spend lots of time behind a camera and it is quite a feat to be able to create this style. Trying to visualize what they will be doing in post is hard espeically when most of the film is just actors in front of a green screen. I hear people saying that it's easy to film cause they can do what ever they want with the footage. This is true to an extent. If your not able to light someting right then in post you will never be able to match it up to the special effects. The same goes for framing. You have to know what the final product will look like in your head while shooting otherwise this type of film can never be created.


Overall I was entertained. It's not the worst film out there. I was just hoping for something new and fresh; a film to break from the current trend the industry is in. "The Spirit" is worth watching but will not astound or shock audiences.

(Movie Website)

Synopsis: Down these mean streets a man must come. A hero born, murdered, and born again. When a Rookie cop named Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces from the shadows of Central City. The Octopus who kills anyone unfortunate enough to see his face who has other plans. He's going to wipe out the entire city. The Spirit tracks this cold hearted killer from the city's rundown warehouses, to the damp catacombs, to the windswept waterfront all the while facing a bevy of beautiful women who either want to seduce, love or kill the masked crusader.

Trailer:

Merry Christmas!

Here is a short little video from an amazing film that's perfect for Christmas.



If you have never seen this film, then go rent it. Tim Burton never disappoints when he makes a film. All are unique and bring something to the screen that hasn't been done before.

The Nightmare before Christmas was rereleased onto dvd. Good film for both Halloween and Christmas.

My Bloody Valentine ... 3D!

I'm so excited to see the new film "My Bloody Valentine." It's been a while since a horror 3D film had a wide release. I'm not sure if I have ever seen one personally. The only thing that comes close is watching old movies like "The Swamp Thing," or "Night of the Living Dead" in 3D. My Bloody Valentine is a remake of a 1981 independent film. I think I will wait to see that version until after the remake. Usually I like to watch the original first, however, the issue with doing this is that you know exactly what to expect in the remake, story wise. I enjoy going to a movie with no idea whats coming.


Here is a synopsis for the movie:
After surviving a fatal accident that claimed the lives of five of men in a mine shaft, Harry Warden performed an horrific killing spree on Valentines night in the town of Harmony, killing 22 people before he was shot to death. Many years later, Tom (the man responsible for the accident) returns to his old town, only to find that the murders have started again. What follows is an adrenaline pumping thrill ride, as Tom, his old flame Sarah and a group of townspeople try to survive the night of slaughter. My Bloody Valentine is presented in stunning 3D, making blood, brains and various other limbs fly at you in a holy grail of gore.

(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179891/)


Might not be the most stunning of stories, but hopefully it is going to be a terrifying thrill ride. I haven't seen a film that has scared me in a while and I'm hoping that the 3D takes the horror to a whole different level.


My Bloody Valentine is a completely 3D film, using new Real D 3D technology, as seen in films such as Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Here is an Explanation of what Read D 3D technology is:

The RealD 3-D system is based on the push-pull electro-optical modulator called the ZScreen invented by Lenny Lipton, an American inventor.

The technique that RealD uses is comparable to the traditional method of 3-D imaging which uses linearly polarized glasses. The traditional method works by projecting two differently linearly polarized images onto the same screen, polarized at +45° and -45° from the horizontal, which are then filtered by linearly polarized glasses worn by the audience. This type of 3-D imaging requires two projectors, and suffers from visible double-imaging if the head is tilted to the side which places the glasses at an inappropriate angle.

RealD however uses a single projector that alternately projects the right-eye frame and left-eye frame, and circularly polarizes these frames, clockwise for the right-eye and counterclockwise for the left-eye, using a liquid-crystal screen placed in front of the projector lens. Circularly polarized glasses make sure each eye sees only "its own" picture, even if the head is tilted. The very high framerate, which is 72 frames per second per eye, makes sure the image looks continuous. In RealD Cinema, each frame is projected three times to reduce flicker, as the source video is usually 24 frames per second. The result is a seamless 3-D picture that seems to extend behind and in front of the screen itself.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_D_Cinema)

Quarantine - A suprisingly good film

Today I went and saw Quarantine in the 2 dollar theater near my house. It's a cool little theater that plays older movies for super cheap. It is pretty funny to see previews for films that came out in September.

Quarantine Website

This film was really good despite what I heard. I had no idea that it was going to be a zombie film. I saw the preview months ago and it didn't look like anything special. I talked to a friend yesterday and she said it was amazing so I thought I would go check it out.


Quarantine is shot like the Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield. Almost the entire film takes place in an apartment building where the fire department was called in because an elderly lady was screaming unbelievably. The film is shot from the perspective of a news crew that was following shadowing a los angeles fire crew for the night. Once they enter the apartment building all hell breaks loose.

Logline: On March 11 2008, the government sealed off an apartment complex in Los Angeles. The residents were never seen again. No details. No witnesses. No evidence. Until now.


I think this film was done really well. The style is one that has not been explored too much. There are more and more films being done this way however out of these films there are very few that stand out. Most become to shakey and loose the focus of the action. Cloverfield was the first big budget film to take on this challenge yet it was done in a way that lost the intrest of the viewer. Why? was the big question when watching Cloverfield. Quarantine, I think, gets rid of that question. The auience is not wondering why they are filming this becuase they are a news crew. They want to get as much footage as possible to show what really happened inside. This idea is solidified when they see the news on the TV telling the general public that everyone in the building has been evacuaded.


With reguards to lighting I think it was beliveable. Most of the film is super dark except for when the camera light is turned on creating the deer in the headlights effect. The end of the film has a sequence that is in nightvision. This was my one issue with the way they were filming. A news camera would not have nightvision on it. Any camera that is anything mroe than a consumer camera does not have nightvision unless a special lense is attached onto the front.

I really don't like the preview that was released for this film. The last 10 minutes are the only parts that have nightvision in it yet most of the trailer is derived from this part of the film. Even the last shot of the trailer is the last shot of the film which is really disapointing because the entire film is given away in the trailer. The main zombie is shown which is the big payoff in the film.



After doing a little research I found out that Quarantine is a remake of a spanish film called Rec. I hear that the original is better than the remake. I'm hoping to get my hand on a copy of the film when it comes out and compare the two. Bellow is a trailer for the film Rec


Below is selected text from a review about the difference between Quarantine and Rec. After reading this I really would like to see the original:

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf

Original Website

Most audience members stumbling into "Quarantine" will have no idea it's a remake of a 2007 Spanish horror film titled "Rec." "Rec" was a beautiful chiller, constructed with resourcefulness and genre filmmaking wizardry that instilled a modest concept with the right amount of armrest-ripping content to fuel nightmares for weeks. "Quarantine" is the unavoidable American replica, only this version has ingested a bottle of idiot pills and washed it all down with a full glass of directorial incompetence.

There's nothing broad to be found in "Quarantine" that directly separates it from "Rec." Director John Erick Dowdle (of the unreleasable "The Poughkeepsie Tapes") crafts a straightforward copy of the Spanish film, preserving the same plot and scare beats, but altering the corners of the writing to put his fat stamp on the picture. To Americanize "Rec," "Quarantine" introduces crude sexual tension between Angela and the firemen, and turns our camera-ready hostess from a frustrated lifestyle reporter to a veritable sorority pledge, with Dowdle encouraging Carpenter to play daft instead of confident, ultimately reducing Angela's role in the overall scheme of things.

The original film spent some time with the characters, "Quarantine" quickly sets up the humans as zombie food. Also, while "Rec" didn't win any awards for steady cinematography, director Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza composed carefully for maximum suspense and exposition. Dowdle just throws his camera around arbitrarily, with huge sections of the film lost to inane handheld blur and iffy technical believability.

Reviewing "Quarantine" on its own merits is a difficult challenge, since "Rec" is as close to perfection as fright films get these days.

--- D plus

Waltz with Bashir - New film in theaters

There is a new film coming out in theaters next week. It is called "Waltz with Bashir." This film deals with the 1982 Lebanon War from the perspective of a soldier in the Israeli army. I think the director, Ari Folman, made a really interesting choice of using animation to tell this tale. This film is a fictional documentary recounting his own life. He explains in an interview that this form (animation) is completely free. He is able to make any choice he wishes when it comes to telling his story. In parts of the film he includes material from the actual war itself. This break in the aesthetic is a bold choice however it has a purpose. Ari would like people to come out of the theaters not just thinking it was a cool film that looked good. He wants people to realize the pain and horror of war. It's not all comradely and honor like the media makes us think.

Below is the complete interview:



Synopsis for the film:
One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there's a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can't remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.

Film Preview:



Here is what people around the world are saying about "Waltz with Bashir"

"Could easily turn out to be one of the most powerful statements of this Cannes and will leave its mark forever on the ethics of war films in general,"
Dan Fainaru, Screen Daily.

"Waltz With Bashir is an extraordinary, harrowing, provocative picture. We staggered out of the screening in a daze." Xan Brooks, The Guardian

"something special, strange and peculiarly potent" Leslie Felperin, Variety

"The message of the futility of war has rarely been painted with
such bold strokes." Mary Corliss, Time

"Folman unleashes a pastiche of incredible cinematic scenes that are as innovative as they are devastating." Sheigh Crabtree, LA Times

"The artistic choice made by Folman (animation) brings an apocalyptic and surrealistic dimension to this universal and moving film."
Barbara Theate, Le Journal du Dimanche

"An intense, moving animation film as we've never seen before. A masterpiece"
Julien Welter, l'Express

"Ari Folman has definitively moved the frontier berween fiction
and documentary". Philippe Azoury, Liberation

"A clever work of (and about) memory, a powerful, beautiful and usefull film."
Serge Kaganski, Les Inrockuptibles

"It's a shattering war film, full of guilt and shock, and finding a new medium for expressing and exploring familiar themes," Jason Solomons, the Observer

"Folman has made a beautiful, disturbing and deeply compelling film"
Kim Voynar, Cinematical


Personally I am really excited to see this film. It looks pretty amazing and it deals with war in a different way then films like "Saving Private Ryan," where live action is used to bring you into the film. This film is only having a limited release so make sure to look and see if it's playing near you.

Lord of the Dead - George A. Romero

"Horror god George A. Romero looks back on four decades of fright."

In the latest issue of Maxium, George A. Romero has a two page story by Chris Norris. In it Romero criticizes current horror film making and explains how this genre has been twisted to glorify gore and terror. "These days audiences are more likely to get their frights from torture-porn creepfests like Saw or Hostel than Romero's nuanced, socially conscious offering." It's true, when you look at most films in theaters or on dvd you notice that most have lots of gore and no story. I finished watching The Strangers this past weekend and I can't believe I actually sat through it. Yes this doesnt have the level of gore as say Hostel but the film follows the general path horror has been going in. People are stalked, played with, then killed for no reason. We don't get insite into anything and watch from affar as directors attempt to use cutting egde special effects to dazzle audiences rather than a scary story.

"When I ask Romero to pitch one of the contemporary box office hits, he pauses for a moment. 'I think it would be Guy With Torture Implement,' he says." Romero has a point. Rather than being a film that deals with a big issue such as terrorism, films follow the same few ideas. What makes horror films terrifing is when they are based in reality commenting on current world affairs or situations in life. "Romero's demons are, as ever, current events... 'I don't have any supernatural hobgoblins that I worry about,' says the master of fear. 'What scares me is life." In the article Chris Norris sums up Romero's intentions when making each of his films. "...to Romero the undead aren't monsters but a metier. He himself reanimated teh concept several times after Night - once to critique mindless consumerism ('78 Dawn of the Dead), once again to explore military groupthink ('85 Day of the Dead), and later to take on class warfare ('05 Land of the Dead). 'I end up coming back to this franchise whenever I want to make a comment or take a snapshot of the time,' says Romero."


40 years ago Romero made is first cult hit, Night of the Living Dead. It's an awsome concept of the dead coming back to life and very scary when they are slow but unstoppable. However, should we loose the backend of this style of filmmaking? Films are a visual experince and I do believe that we should put a good deal of effort into the look of the film but without a story where are we left? Filmmaking is the art of visual narrative, this means that it is two parts, one part visual and one part story, both equaly important. "In one crowning irony, the revolution Romero launched has since ossified into a Hollywood gore factory that's a nearly perfect inversion of the movement that made it possible: an army of film school dweebs with black dye jobs and studio budgets who crank out hit horror movies with none of the wit, invention, or social resonance that made the '70s classics cool in the first place."

If you get a chance, pick up the latest issue of Maxim and check out the entire article.

Wisdom from David Linstrom

I read an article about David Linstrom. He is a cinematographer who has worked for ABC, HBO, NBC, and National Geographic.

Here is a small word of advice to cinematographers out there. I don't know how many times I've looked over footage with people and hear the wildest excuses for why the image isn't perfect.

"Always keep in mind that no one cares to hear about the anecdotes or reasons about why you didn't get the shot," says Linstrom, "if the sun didn't rise, there's nothing you can do about that and no one is interested in excuses."

If you didn't get the shot, then you didn't get the shot. It happens to all of us. There's nothing we can do about and we need to use it as a guidance rather than a hindering factor in improving our skill as a cinematographer.

Another interesting point David pulls out is this.

"I use a polarized filter almost always when outside."

This is a very good point. It's amazing how much a polarizer will help an image. You could have the nicest camera out there yet if you don't know how to control or work with light then you can never get a good image.

http://www.davidlinstrom.com/

The Money Shot - Production Finished

I just finished working on set of "The Money Shot." This film follows one filmmaker as he attempts to finance his dream film. He tricks a group of people into believing he is filming an art house film yet in reality he is filming a porno.


Today was our last day of filming. It went really well besides a few issues with people showing up on time. Otherwise we didn't have any major issues.

The film will be edited next semester by Cindy Tang. I was shooting for her senior thesis project which will be screened in April with all the other seniors.

All the pictures I have included in this post are screen shots from the footage. I think the film looks really good. I'm excited to see it edited.

The Moral Life - Online

The Moral Life is completely finished. My showing went well in class last night. I was expecting to have the film torn apart, instead after the last shot everyone just sat back with their mouths wide open, which is amazing, because that was the reaction I was going for. Everyone that has watched this film has only had good things to say. From those that are looking at it from a Nietzschen perspective to those who know nothing about Nietzsche, everyone is able to draw something out of this film. I did not intend to be an "intellectual" and make a film completely about a philosophical notion that not many know about, rather, I wanted to take this opportunity to make a film that does have those ideas yet is done in a way that it is accessible by anyone if they have an open mind.

Also, I have uploaded my audio commentary on the film. The audio commentary takes you through all the philosophy I injected into the film. It's a great way to get a better understanding of the Eternal Return and Nietzsche's metaphysics.

If your interested to see any of the photos from the shoot, I have uploaded them on my myspace. www.myspace.com/Jeven_productions

I am looking for feedback and criticism. Please if you have any reactions please let me know. I am looking for feedback on either the film aesthetics/look or the content presented in the film.


Part 1



Part 2

Update on "The Moral Life"

The past three days have been insane. I have been working non-stop trying to get this film done. Sunday I worked from 8am to 11pm, the film was finished by that point however I have been doing some minor touch ups on a few of the scenes. The past two days I have been working on the audio commentary. Monday was spent writing for about 5 hours and yesterday I had another lovely 9am to 12pm day. However, the film is now completely finished. I need to go get my photos from my on set photographer so that I can have my graphic artist build out the dvd covers and posters. I am working on the DVD menu right now and the first screening of the film will be tonight in my Nietzsche class.

The DVD will have the 13 min film, the 15 min audio commentary, a couple versions of the script, and the production photos.

It's a fun short film and if your interested in philosophy or religion it is a good mind blower if you take Nietzsche's concepts seriously.

I will have it posted on youtube and my website either late tonight or sometime tomorrow. Both portions of the film are going to go up.

The Moral Life - Finished

I finished editing "The Moral Life." It's been a very crazy project from the start of the shoot till now. I edited for upwards of 12 hours yesterday trying to get it finished.

Right now the only things I have left to completely finish the project are, to do the Audio Commentary on the philosophy behind the film, finished the dvd covers and finish the posters.

The film will be up online by the end of the week.


(This is a photo I took last week while in Palm Springs. It is from Noah Purifoy's outdoor desert museum.)