Research on film makers (BDM 311).

Critique on the Hotel Budapest ( 2014 ) Wes Anderson.

The beginning sets the story with an explanation.

Tracking shots and side way shots (wide).

Anderson also includes tilting the camera to focus on a certain object.

Usage no CGI and the look of cardboard sets giving its own charm.

Again production values simple but effective. The voice over is great. Bath house set is amazing, again travelling camera. 

My impression with Wes Anderson is that he wants his audience to work. My eyes go all over the screen and his composing of images gets you too look. The story takes a twist with a character telling the real story of the Hotel. 

Interesting shot and a lot of movement all around exchanged wilt scenes that are smaller and intimate. Use of framing the screen is …….. different. 

From Wide

 To "blocked"

The production design is just staggeringly beautiful does he work with someone in particular? Reminds me a lot of the French film makers Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Same colour pallet and eye for detail.Like a painting from Bruegel (the colour pallet).

When he is in prison he does a sermon like he does in the hotel. Featuring a great shot (framing) with the other prisoners next to him. People are always the centre of focus, mid framing.

Again great framing.

More framing examples

The Carousel scene is great as you only see the framing of the Carousel. But the production design might only be just the framing.

The framing of the images is also great with dead space to the left (3) and depth of field (2). One scene starts with a wide shot (1) and then moves to the individual characters (2 & 3) in the shot. 

With the open door as a depth of field reference, I love this way of visual storytelling.  I was wondering do these shots move in this order on occasions?? 

The death of one of the characters is a visual reference to Carl Dryer's Vampyr (1932) ?? The lighting and set up ?!

The chase is Alfred Hitchcock inspired and one shot reminded me of one of is earlier silent films The Lodger (1927). The chase ends with a couple of fingers being cut off which add some Grand Guignol. 

 

 Note: Framing.

Note: Reflection of the glasses

Framing and so many images are incredibly well executed.

The film is in parts and the announcement each for another part is greatly executed. Most original and reminds me a lot of the silents film era. Anderson does this in most of his films.

The actors are all excellent but Ralph Fiennes really shines in the title role. The film is a great visual feast but the characters are the power !!

The viewing of this film and "The Darjeeling Limited (2007) it opened my eyes towards Wes Anderson and the acknowledgement as an author. Highly original but maybe not for everyone. It has a great aesthetic and charm of the older Hollywood movies. Screwball comes to mind and some of the French caper and Fanthomas films. The music accompanies it greatly and got an (deserved) Oscar for it. 

Would I use any references from what Anderson shows in my own film (short). The framing does speak to me but the way of story telling is too quick for my taste.  

Blog out.

BDM 311 (3 year project).

Progress on the Third year project is slowly gaining more steam, momentum. We have (as a group) decided which script we are going to develop and the gears are turning. Crashland is the working title and Kim has further developed the script from ideas that the scriptwriting team developed. Me and Kim are still working out the script and that takes a bit of time but bit by bit we are getting there. I have learned to not over work the script and slowly chisel away at it.


I have also been looking through the casting call footage and quit a few are great for one of the parts (working title Mia). We are still on the look out for the male part (working title Thai). I've met with the art team and I can find myself perfectly in the designs and the drawings they have presented me.With every new piece that they show me I get more excited and the vision of the finished product will be great. A minor incident got worked out very well by one of the crew members and it goes to show that a lot of people are committed to the project. The props master and art department work really well together and that is always a bonus. Story board team are eager to go and so are many other teams.
The meetings are going good and everybody attends and concerns are being handled on a very diplomatic level. I am also approaching other people for help and they are eager to come on the project, pending permission from their individual teacher(s).The main solution for this is communication and that goes smoothly. Next week we'll be hanging the green screen and scout a few locations. With also an added casting call as some people missed out last week. Might be a good opportunity to look for our last missing cast. The main cast is only 2 people but I want to get the right actors for that. And it also gives me time to do rehearsals. As I found out last year with my own short that it is a good preparation to do so. I have to find the right scale of not getting involved with too many things and let people be individuals. Being their own HOD and I only can talk to them about their department. But it is all a learning process. 

BDM 311 Casting Call.

Casting Call was held once more for our joint project and then also for our individual projects. Great to have a data base of people that might be suited for some acting, voice over, extras rolls. Even SIT productions showed an interest in the data base. I want to mention that also voice characters are been sourced not only actors. It went quit smoothly and that was down to one person Lana Black. Don't get me wrong there was a whole team on board to help out, myself included, but the basic foundations where managed my Lana. We had 3 rooms for people to audition and give the best of themselves. With a reader, Director and another observer. Saturday was steady but Sunday got of to a quit start except for the afternoon when a lot of younger kids came in. We had an issue with one of the rooms being taken over but Lana managed that problem in a professional way. My task was Director and I tried a mix of listening watching how confident the people were. Listening was mostly for the quality of their voice, animation probability. Improve was a bit harder as some people are quit nervous and they did not expect it to be this formal. Camera (Kim) and then 3 other people behind a table is quit intimidating I reckon. Me and Callum applied the technique that Duncan showed us but again improvising is not that easy for some people. With our ,joined, third year project in mind I tried to look for talented people in a certain age range. And with ideas fro my own short at the end of the year. A certain gentleman who used to live in England had a great voice. This got me dreaming on a certain voice-over or narration of the main character, beginning and end. But it was a good team effort and that goes towards what we will be doing in the next few weeks and month's.
Blog out.   

BDM311 (3 year project).

The joint project with the animation students is going well. Meetings are held regularly and everybody turns up. We came up with a company name "Small Colossus" which is a nice reference to our group. Small, but great on ambitions. The rolls are all divided amongst the students and the first ideas are rolling on the table. A script was presented last Friday and we will go from there on. Today there is another meeting with the script team for further fleshing out ideas and script options. We have made it a goal to have a finished script by next week on Friday. Pledge Me got mentioned also and I am not against it as that will be a back up towards some extra cost. As the Producer also mentioned the animators will be in doors a lot and food will be Pizza. So any extra $ can be used to give them a better feed. Another positive remark on Pledge Me is that the whole group will be presenting their project, which is always positive as a get together out of the class room !! There are still some growing pains in place but they will be talked about today and on the next meeting. The main theme is Science Fiction and scientists and bounty hunters have been mentioned. Also there would be a monster involved. In the first spec our main hero would be falling through a cave/hole and into the water but that was not realisable. Good ideas are presented but it needs to be thought out and achievable. Lana and Brogan have organised a casting call which will be a good place to start to look for talent. So me and the producer hope to have a rough character basis for the script this Friday. Then we can look at the people that are coming this Sat and Sunday. I had talks with the art department and the initial designers have put a monster on the common Facebook page. And through talks they have also informed me what is possible and what is not possible. Showing a keen interest in the project.

Blog out D.   

BDM 311 Research into film makers.

Yesterday I went to the showing of Blue Jasmine (2013) Woody Allen presented by the Invercargill film Society. I found it a very uninspired film by a once great film maker maybe he had a bad day who knows. Presented by the chairmen of the society as a return to Woody Allen in his prime I was disappointing. The main character Jasmine, played by Cate Blanchett, is the main protagonist. A very wealthy woman who is left with nothing after her husband goes to jail for business fraud. Leaving her with an enormous debt and shame. We as (well I) the viewer don't have any real connection to either Jasmine or her husband (Alec Baldwin). Jasmin moves in with her half sister who in the past invested money with Jasmin's husband and lost it all. The sister is represented as the Italian American cliche. Think Ray Romano or John Travolta in Grease or Lavern and Shirley. The bantering could be fun in a sitcom situation for about 30 minutes but at the running time of 1:39 it gets a bit tired. The excellent use of Jazz and Blues was my highlight of this tiresome film. Yes as usual Cate Blanchett gives a good performance but I did not feel connected to her or the other characters.     

BDM 311 Personal short film.

At this moment nothing Is set in stone but here are my general ideas that I have visually in my mind.

 

4 guys running down the street smartly dressed. suit and tie. Introducing them as the gay guy, the bearded guy, the dead guy and the one who lives (?). All individually in mid close up maybe even use a go pro and I want the camera to be shaky, rushed. What are they running from or from whom we do not know yet.

 





 

This is an example from Trainspotting that I want to use in my film freeze frame and then the name.

Another idea I have is a man in a char tied up and then the camera slowly, on a dolly, moving in. The victims head is down but the narration is that of the person we are seeing. Or is it ??
Inspiration for this comes from Reservoir Dogs and 44 Inch Chest. Throughout the scenes we go back to the narration and our victim slowly lifts up his head

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 I also want to bring in the sound design that is quit clearly heard in Quentin Tarantino films and the quick cuts in a Guy Ritchie film.

 Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is very much a visual reference. And I want to add my own visual reference, identity on that.

 

At the end of the short I want a tight close up of the victim in the chair and have him smiling. I don't know if I should have some gaff tape over his mouth . So the expression in his eyes tells us more. And the narration is of him but then he cannot speak the expression on face would be the guide. 

 

 

 





BDM 311 (3 year project).

I ave worked a bit more on a further synopsis for our third year project. My idea is he more we bring it to the table the more ideas will get juggled and keep the project going.

The idea of the bounty hunter still appeals to me and I have worked around that. Maybe have the bounty hunter chained to the alien (or cross breed/human). And the bounty hunter is poisoned by some exotic plant. The criminal knows the antidote but will not jeopardise his freedom by helping the bounty hunter. So there will be a lot of hurdles to over come and they will have to work together to overcome the odds.There might be a third party involved that is eagerly on their heels. Other bounty hunters or other alien maybe ?? The third party character would be mysterious and we don't see the it fully on screen. Keep its presence felt throughout the 2 minutes.

My point of only using a few people is that it is short quick and focuses on those two.

The bounty hunter I see him as a Indiana Jones/Star Lord type. Brave but also clumsy, and sarcasm is his second nature.

The alien is more a Adam Sandler type does not give much of a shit and hopes the bounty hunter starts to die soon.

Another twist might be that it might not be a bounty hunter but another character. But in the end they have to be both be the opposite of each other. So they have to overcome the odds. Ideally I want it to end in a cliffhanger.