THOUGHTS…

It looks like we’re at the end of 2008.

Studio Tacitus and I are still a bit of a secret entity...though, not secret on the internet. But as for a more real world sort of a launch...maybe there can be one in 2009...but, there has to be a right timing on a more, braver, stepping out there with my work type of scenario. I have to be happy...or happy-ish with what goes out there. Of course some directors / painters / writers / composers / podcasters are probably never really happy with what they have...this is why a release is called a release as Mr Og told me. you are releasing / letting go of your film...it's like a baby in a basket going down a river.

I'm sadly one of these people who is rarely happy with the final thing, it's almost like I want to put up a sign at the start of the film saying..."yeah well, this is honestly nothing like what I really want, but I tortured myself making it...I feel it has a vibe of sorts, but I want it made on 70mm with miniatures"

MORE REMAKES COMING?

Is this really true?...are they really going to remake Forbidden Planet, When Worlds Colide and This Island Earth?

My dad and I have always loved Forbidden Planet and This Island Earth...or you know, I’ve been fortunate enough to be introduced to these old films by him, because he has a love for Sci-Fi. He's often mentioned how Forbidden Planet could or should be remade as the gap is quite big now.

MORE DETAIL TO THE SAME THREE SHOTS...

Ah yes, two versions each with their own merits...I cant help but feel that the accordion style thing I’ve added has screwed up the composition a bit on the first shot here, but I really want more detail going on in these shots...

A LITTLE CLIP FROM MY NEW FILM

Another little bit done, but third shot isn't completed. First and second shot are completed-ish.

THE TWO HOLLYWOOD SALOON PODCAST GUYS GO THEIR SEPARATE WAYS?

Only just found this out, but it appears on 10th December 2008 Andy Siems decided to call it a day...or, begin to wrap up a gradual shutdown of it.

It's sad, because they were/are really great to listen to together because they're both different people, and that’s what makes a great conversation interesting to listen to. The enthusiasm was wonderful and love hearing people who are passionate about the thing they’re talking about.

I always like to say never say never...it could come back, of course it could...Indiana Jones IV was made with a ninteen year gap, Rambo IV was made with a twenty year gap...Terrence Malick took a twenty year gap in-between Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line.

Also, there’s more shows on the way from The Hollywood Saloon, so it's by no means over completely.

I wish the two of them the very best of luck with the future.


FAVOURITE EPISODES:

Hollywood Saloon
Episode 36 - EARLY WORKS [click here]

Hollywood Saloon
Episode 32 - STYLE: Film Grammar at the Movies [click here]

Hollywood Saloon
Episode 25 - LITTLE FAT GIRL [click here]

Hollywood Saloon
Episode 16 - PAPER CINEMA [click here]

Hollywood Saloon
Episode 17 - LEGACY: What Will Endure? [click here]



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RUSTBOY, WHERE ART THOU?

Now it crops up every now and again this one. The question that was asked to me the other day was...“anything on Rustboy?" which is the question everybody wants answered and the information out there is scarce.

I found a exciting scrap of info on wikipedia saying that it might come out in 2014 / 2015 If you click here and scroll down that about 89%...it seems to be mentioned there but has the word tentative written next to it, and also USA, don’t know if that’s him or not, but it has to be I think?

Another tiny, tiny ickle little bit of scrap of information also here that Damian Collier a producer, entrepreneur and business consultant for film, TV, music and stage is working on it...

"Damian has also been developing another major brand - Rustboy, www.rustboy.com, which he has signed a deal to produce as a feature film, in conjunction with one of the major Studios in Los Angeles."

There's actually no wikipedia page for Rustboy itself in existence just yet, but hopefully that will happen at some point in the future.

I can remember very clearly as a younger man at art college being quite taken and inspired by what he did, and I’m certain that all those years ago it went towards me wanting to make animations. I had to decide at college what It was I wanted to do and I love the challenge of filmmaking and still do.

You can stop by the site for it though here

OLIVER POSTGATE HAS PASSED AWAY

Oliver Postgate 12 April 1925 - 8 December 2008

It’s odd timing on this one again for me, because I had not all that long ago...well, my dad had rented Bagpuss, and then I made the connection that it was indeed made by Smallfilms...I only really knew of Clangers and had also seen Ivor the Engine a very long time ago, but, didn’t know it was all by the same people until i recognised the voiceover of Postgate on Bagpuss.

The staggering part here is...that the company was only two men...Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin, however, the two men often collaborated with Vernon Elliott who was a british bassoonist, conductor and composer.

“We would go to the BBC once a year, show them the films we'd made, and they would say: Yes, lovely, now what are you going to do next? We would tell them, and they would say: That sounds fine, we'll mark it in for eighteen months from now, and we would be given praise and encouragement and some money in advance, and we'd just go away and do it.”

It’s a tremulously inspirational story for me, and possibly the most inspirational story I know of. And I think about it every time I see a Smallfilms short.

Below is the first episode of Ivor The Engine.

THE RED DWARF SERIES ONE INTRO SEQUENCE PART 2 OF 2

This piece of information nicked from wikipedia...

"For the opening credits and exterior shots a Red Dwarf model ship had to be built from scratch. Peter Wragg was the Visual Effects Designer of Red Dwarf; Wragg also had a large part in set building and was the chief model maker. Wragg had previously filled a similar role in British television series; such as Thunderbirds Are GO, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons and Doctor Who. The opening effects shot features a dissolve from Lister painting the ship to a full model shot of the city-sized vessel traveling through space. Originally it was supposed to be one long take but it proved too difficult to mesh together with a small budget and lowly special effects of the day. The model of Red Dwarf itself measured about eight foot long from scoop to engine"

THE RED DWARF SERIES ONE INTRO SEQUENCE PART 1 OF 2

I’ve been watching the first series of Red Dwarf again in the small hours of the morning, its been a while since I did that...

NOTE: I didn’t realise that I was in urgent need of some good solid comedy to cheer me up until I sat in front of this. Not that I was particularly down though, its important to add here that I wasn't down...or was I?...but funny things are funny things...and clever comedy that’s well written is always welcome.

...but I’m amazed at how incredibly good the intro sequence is. Had forgotten really...

It’s simply wonderful...for many reasons, the fact that we pull back from a close up of paint on a panel...beautiful, beautiful miniature work...who designed this i dont know exactly...but theres some names here, Alexander Gunn special effects senior technician - Peter Wragg, visual effects designer and Angus Bickerton motion control.

Add to this, that truly great theme tune composed by Howard Goodall.

OLD FLOOD CLIP I SHOT

Found this and wanted to post it, it's a odd bit of footage, basically the road ahead is flooded quite badly...was quite a thing to see.

MY CONVERSATIONS WITH ANDY SIEMS PART 1 OF 2

This is a hard one to talk about but I want get this out of my system...what happened there with Andy Siems was I spoke to him a couple of times in a chat room...and I think it was me that said... “can I add you to messenger?”...and then well, I added him to messenger.

What then transpired was a very bad case of me being star struck, but also ontop of that, which was possibly even worse...the self fulfilling prophecy thing happened...it's not good, no it's not good.

NOTE: Andy Siems and John Jansen do The Hollywood Saloon Podcast.

These guys I just really love listening to and over the years you get so that you know what they love and what they don’t love...sort of. But, I do know one thing for certain, and that’s that Andy Siems really loves science fiction...but what I’m talking about here is a real love for a lot of different types of science fiction...and a particular love for what I call pure science fiction stuff, that’s the very optimistic stuff, like the Gene Roddenberry universe. That basically means space ships, alien worlds and ray guns. Now I don’t come across many people who like that stuff, in fact I only know two or three. But it’s very clear in those three cases that they are very similar to me in the views that they have about present day mankind, we share a dream of all probably wanting to live in Gene Roddenberry universe.

I know that he loves my films a lot, and so entirely possible that, maybe he was star struck around me?...I only say this because on the brief encounters I’ve had with him he’s often said how much he loves my films...

NOTE: When somebody says they love my stuff I never know how to really respond to it. You see, I see nothing but faults in my work...I want the work to be so much better than it is...but to come clean here, I see great potential in my ideas, if I can ever get them properly realised...to me, they still aren’t really realised. Maybe the concepts are, but I’m a long way off from that 70mm camera and large miniatures...and that frustrates the hell out of me.

NOTE: At the same time I’m proud of most of what I’ve done because it exists as something, and that’s better than not having anything at all to show. And don’t get me wrong, I’m really happy with some of the shots I’ve done, and love the actual making the films.

That somebody was star struck around me is a very difficult concept for me to grasp, that people would be star struck around me...me????..*laughs* and I definitely think he would find it hard to grasp that somebody was star struck around him too...but the simple fact of the matter is, I was.

Butis there a misunderstanding though?...Am I one of these people who assumes the worse?

A TRIP OUT ACROSS SOUTH WEST SCOTLAND AT NIGHT PART 1

I have to say to check out this mans podcast here

Kens podcast is a really important one, and it does identify and bring to light / remind us...of the whole thing of, lots of stuff in our lives that we sit around and whinge about, that they are indeed mundane. I’m guilty of doing this a lot.

I also didn’t know that Ken is really into the film Alive. I can remember seeing that film a long, long time ago and being utterly blown away by the plane crash scene of how realistic it was...and how we got to see the seats being ripped out and disappearing out into the mountains...and this gets me onto a related story in the next paragraph.

This gets me onto yesterday where I sat in the back of a car being taken to a concert. On the hour and a half / two hour car journey we went past Lockerbie...and like the last time I went to this same concert (a year ago)...as we’re going up the hill you get a really good night-time view of Lockerbie...

NOTE: It’s one of these views where buildings are really quite visibly close to you, a very steep bit of road that goes really high, elevating you up so you see a lot of stuff.

...and you cant help, or at least for me at any rate...I always think of Pan Am Flight 103 and this one horrendous thing (well the whole thing is horendous) that happened where apparently some seats went through somebody's sitting room...but we have very little information on it. My dad says that the people were in their sitting room when it happened, and wikipedia says that Eleven people in Lockerbie, southern Scotland, were killed as large sections of the plane's fuselage fell in and around the town, bringing total fatalities to 270. It always leaves me in total silence.

AND THE OTHER THING I REALLY LOVE ABOUT SCIENCE FICTION IS...

...that there's somthing inherently pretty about spaceships / space stations with lots of little lights on them...it's a bit like how people react to Christmas decoration lights I think.

A OUT OF THE BLUE PHONE CALL

A very close dear friend of mine phoned up today (who I’ve not spoken to in over five years now) and I was really quite shakey / shaken for a while / really hyped up after the phone conversation...it really did shake me to the core, and I’m still right now, right this minute, very restless and cant stop thinking...was very nervous on the phone which means I go very quiet...

NOTE: It reminds me instantly of radio, if somebody stops talking the silences are very, very long...allthough I did notice it in a Charlie Kaufman podcast interview and it didn;t bother me there, but I think that was down to the fact that there was background sound of the cafe they were in...but also because you knew they were actually sitting at a table talking to each other face to face.

...I think there was a lot of confusion on the telephone, although it's impossible to say for sure...I tend to fall apart on the phone, but wish I wouldn't in retrospect, because it is one of the most wonderful inventions ever made to man. I wish I could make it work for me though, and I think if done more often I would get better at it perhaps...everything gets back round to confidence.

NOTE: I don’t want this to be taken the wrong way...I loved the phone conversation and how it really hit me like a ton of bricks...because it opens up my problems...I become aware of them again (I know the problems...but, I forget about them...and they have a way of getting worse without me knowing about it...but better after things like this) when people make me think and remind me of my problems I have nothing but respect for them...and feel very lucky to be part of knowing such great people.

The conversation reminded me of my past, of how independent I was in my flat...and made me aware of my current situation (living at home with parents) and how your independence isn’t too good in this situation, but you get use to it, you get completely use to it, because people being the amazing things that they are, adapt.

Also, I don’t go outside into the world very often...I use to, but you get use to not doing it...it's interesting, but you get a shock when somebody who’s enjoyed life and who's made a huge impression on you all your life appears again, because you suddenly realise in a shock moment that you’ve been wasting yours.

There's much more to life than just making animations / documentaries...

...I know this because I've expierienced little bits and pieces of the good stuff that is out there...the pivotal moments in your life where you discover who you are...these are with you forever and are so powerful a memory that they can be triggered off in conversations you wouldn't usually go into because you have kinda somehow got into a very reclusive lifestyle.

It makes matters all the more frustrating that you’ve experienced small amounts of amazing things...by that I mean two weeks of intence joy...because you now know how special that stuff is...you have some context?...and you now also have somthing to relate to when seeing / hearing other things...these experiences however are very precious to me and would not trade them for anything in the world. At least I experienced something...or, at least I tried...but it's the not trying again for so long that can get to me. It’s the fact that you've experienced these great things that it's possible for you to be so tortured in the present.

The grass is always greener though, isn’t it?

There seems to be hardly any time in a entire persons life...it shoots by at a incredible speed...and I believe that there are too many things to do and not enough time.

But I’m one of these people who loses myself in something, I'm susceptible to getting addicted to things and losing track of time completely for years...and then usually I get shaken up like this from time to time inside the decade by friends who have a way of being honest and incredibly direct into your core.

Some people are so incredibly amazing and really poke around in your core, in a matter of minutes they have raised a number of very powerful poignant points that leave you having to go on a huge verbal diarrhoea session with whoever's in your closest proximity. In this case, my mother got the gibbering...or was I talking intelligibly?...and I actually felt drunk too, with no alcohol.

The thing is I use to have a house, yes quite a big flat with no mortgage on it at all, I lived there on my own for two years, got into a real mess, and then went back home. You see home for all its faults has one major advantage, and that is your around people, it's something that I think is vitally important in life, that your around people... to simply balance things out a bit. Our house is quite large and my parents are both very complicated people and I dont really want to go into too much here too fast, it's hard to explain without writing some sort of book on it...and maybe hard for other people to understand who've not got parents like mine.

PURE SCIENCE FICTION, AS IN, THE LARGE SPACE SHIPS GOING TO OTHER PLANETS AND RAY GUNS SORT OF VARITY

Was is it about this form of science fiction that has me so totally hooked?...well I reckon its that, it’s optimism at its very, very finest...or, it’s that if you weren’t happy on planet earth you could go somewhere else, although in Gene Roddenberry's vision, planet earth seems to be ok to live on too...the idea that they have sorted things out and space travel exists to somebody like me is unavoidably overwhelmingly appealing to watch on your TV screen.

I’m making a really big space ship at the moment in Cinema 4D and I couldn’t help but think what Star Trek means to me, and the optimism of Gene Roddenberry is something I keep going back to in my head.

SECOND EPISODE OF SURVIVORS REMAKE

Well...I’m finding all of this quite hard to review because I know the original inside out. This second episode of the remake is a odd thing because its merged together two stories from the original...I cant help but feel this episode was a bit speedy. It needed to take it's time a bit more I think...but as I say, I’m very fond of the original and seeing what you allready know being done in a really speedy fashion is very frustrating, and also theres a less seriousness to it I feel...but, perhaps the seriousness of the situation will come later...or perhaps its meant to be mordern people reacting differently to it here in 2008...we do get Anya though who in the pilot seemed to know the seriousness of the situation and had that hysteria outburst in the walk in cupboard...I keep reading this is based on Terry Nations Book of Survivors which is different to the original.

...the editing on this episode was way too quick for me. I’m a huge fan of long takes, and that interfered with my enjoyment on it too...that’s something that I shouldn’t let bother me but it does.

All this aside, I still think it's good entertainment (and putting out a lot of extremely interesting topics which Survivors always does...that’s one of the things I love about it)

Very nicely shot too, the compositions are really good, some wonderful wide shots in here, surprisingly good.

Am still really keen to see more, and that’s always a good sign... one of the things about it is that its really short, and its sad that its first series is only stretching out to six parts. Hopefully series two will be longer, or hopefully they haven’t gone too far into it by the time we get to the end of series one.

SUPPLEMENTAL: There does seem to be a blue tint on quite a few of these shots in this new series.

NICE POST APOCALYPTIC POSTERS OF TEN FAMOUS CITIES

THIS was a really cool find, I've still not seen the film and didn't know they had a publicity poster campaign like this.

It's ten famous cities all apocalypsed up, really nice work.

IT SEEMS THAT THEY'RE FILMING A SECOND SERIES OF SURVIVORS ALREADY

That was fantastic to hear, and I get to see the second episode tonight of series one...I’ll probably write about that too.

SUPPLEMENTAL: I wonder if I'm writing about this too much. It is one of my favourite-ist things though.

AND HERE’S HOW I FEEL ABOUT THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE NEW REMAKE OF SURVIVORS, OR IS THAT A REBOOT?

Can watch it [here]

And, incredibly...absolutely incredibly, it DIDN’T SUCK...ok, well bits of it did. But this was a surprisingly good effort. I’m so shocked and so happy that it was actually pretty good!

It’s definitely a bit of both...both remake and reboot...which was surprising...it definitely had some problems about it at times, but I seemed to forgive some of those...I think unfortunetly it got speeded up a bit at the end though, which I didn’t really forgive...suddenly they all met up really fast and was a bit miffed about that...but some interesting situations to be seen here. I find Survivors or just post-apocalyptic stories in general to be a fascinating situation to throw people into. And the fact that its a TV series, well I dont know of any other TV series that have taken on that story.

The positive here was that, the dead bodies and peoples reactions to that...the acting was really pretty good on that stuff, but, bare in mind I thought it this would be horrendously bad...so maybe there’s just a sort of “oh” thing going on over here about it all. But the thing was, this was pretty entertaining TV.

PROS:

-Its entertaining television and I feel has a piece of the spirit of the original.

-a good cast.

-It's very nicely shot, the colours are there, unlike many a modern film or TV series which has been made blue tinted...or yellow tinted.

-Some of it was pretty dark stuff.

CONS:

-Music is a bit over the top at times, its too much. I don’t want to dare tell another person how to be creative though, when the music was working it was really nice...but it got a tad too much at times for me.

-One of the action scenes was very badly edited.

-Not enough dark stuff, would have liked it to be a bit bolder and a bit more realistic.

-There should have been the occasional abandoned vehicle on the roads on the arial photography stuff.

-It looks like its been contrasted up in post production, which is somthing I'm not too keen on.

SOMTHING I NOTICED...

...quite funny...this and this

THREE AND A HALF HOURS TO GO…

...until we get the Survivors reboot - hour and half - first instalment. I have to say I'm uspet with how this has been handled by the BBC though...there seems to be only one trailer, ONE trailer...and it's not a very good trailer...and unfortunately people being the sheep they are, may judge it on this one trailer, they should have had at least three completely different trailers on rotation and online so that the thick people could excited about it too...they've not made a good job on this... oh well...

I TUNED IN TO EINSTEIN AND EDDINGTON

Can be viewed here...(though only in britain?) flippen heck!...they actually made something decent, I'm always very, very worried about brittish productions prior to watching them, but they pulled off a great one here. Andy Serkis and David Tenant are really very likeable actors and both did a wonderful job. I liked it a lot.

Now here comes the stuff I’m not happy about, about it. And I honestly have a problem typing this stuff out too, I don’t like to be negative, but try to be constructive, I hope.

suffers from a few problems, too much score, would have liked less music...or would have liked more music that was relevant to the times of that period...it’s a tricky thing though...there is one bit however where we got to see some sort of quartet or quintet (not entirely sure) which was nice (this is really what I’m talking about)...suffers from too much hand held wobbliness.

Don’t let this put you off though, please, please, it’s a really good story and I love the performances...and when it's shot well, it's really shot well.

DUG OUT ANOTHER ONE, I'M OFFICIALLY ADDICTED

Continuing my digging out of episodes I found a whole stash more orriginal trek, I’ll definitely be watching it all I think, so I continued to view them, it was very late at night now so I only managed to fit one more in.

Balance of Terror

Written by Paul Schneider and directed by Vincent McEveety. Really liked some of the stuff in here too, the view screen conversation with the federation outpost I loved, I don’t know but that’s always been one of my favourite things about Star Trek...when they get the distress call and then we see the damage at the other end.

This episode is slightly like The Wrath of Khan at times too, but Mark Lenard is very much the opposite of Ricardo Montalbán, hes a fairly calm commander (or at least I think he was, maybe need to watch this again) and Khan was of course somebody who got angry very quickly.

It is like a submarine film and I'm just reading now about a film called The Enemy Below which they seem to reckon is very simalar to this.

NOT LONG NOW...

...till we see how the hour and half first part of this thing has been made...another screen grab by me...I’m just really, really very excited about this whole thing...it was inevitable for me I think...uncontrollable, and while it lasts great...the anticipation and excitement before seeing it is probably going to be the best part...but I live in hope, I mean, it may be great?

THE MINIATURE I MADE

Looking at those shots of the Alien Lego miniatures got me thinking about my own miniature creations, which I’ve only ever done twice (and very sadly had to disassemble each one...they were never very big either but were a lot of fun to make)...the first time, well both times were just soil with rocks placed down, but the second time I started to use water. I sprayed water on it and boy was that a hell of a lot of fun. It’s a really relaxing thing to do and very rewarding to see your miniature start to look cool, I really don’t know why I don’t do more of it, I spose its because there’s not much room in the house and because I really would like to do a huge one.

I don’t have any photos of the first one but here’s the second one I did.

A SUDDEN URGE TO WATCH SOME ORIGINAL TREK

Went on a bit of a mini original star trek marathon, cause I had a sudden urge to see some, it had been a awful long time. So I dug out what we had recorded off the TV, which was in this order...


The City on the Edge of Forever

Directed by Joseph Pevney and written by ?...I’ve actually not seen this as much times I thought I had, I’ve maybe only seen this about two or three times as a adult. It’s really a very lovely thing...I don’t like to use the word cute...but, well...this episode is very charming, amusing and clever. Sometimes there doesn’t seem to be much explanation as to what’s going on though...but you just go with it and enjoy yourself. Really loved McCoy in this, and Kirk turns in a big softy here, and the faithful Mr Spock reminded me of a full on geek who’s happy to spend hours / days / weeks on his own building a contraption. You cant help but get swept away also by Joan Collins shes like some sort of calm angel of guidance.

Also spotted here a bit that's identical, or nearly identical to the crossing the road scene in Star Trek: The Voyage Home...they cross a road, a car has to do a emergency stop and then some shouting happens.


The Doomsday Machine

Written by Norman Spinrad, and directed by Marc Daniels. Really loved this one, great, great music throughout...loved the music on the approach to the wrecked hulk of the USS Constellation. The scene where they discover the very frightened / shell shocked / unstable Commodore Matthew Decker is wonderful, every scene with this guy is great, and I love the fight scenes they do in classic trek.

Mirror, Mirror

Written by Jerome Bixby and directed by Marc Daniels. This ones really interesting too, very enjoyable and had a fun time here. Its really funny when Kirk isn’t getting in the transported and Scotty's getting impatient about it. You can see the characters so well in these three episodes and how they are exactly the same in the six films, which, is a real joy to see.

ALIEN LEGO SETS

Made another lego discovery today. This is awesome. Created by mryoder and inspired by the Alien films. Theres somthing special about it that I cant quite pinpoint, I think its that its somthing you love dearly but done in a different style, but its recognisable that it’s the thing that you love.

THE BACK HUG / HOLD THINGY

I was going...well I use google image search a lot, but also I use it as a spell checker cause it seems to be better at times that my Microsoft publisher spell checker, I wanted to know if I was spelling Chekov the right way (which it turned out I was) and I started looking at the images there and found a really nice one of the whole hug / hold thingy.

Now, it reminded me of a conversation, (well it reminded me of several things actually) I’d had with Mark A. Perez and Jamie Lee. Mark A. Perez mentioned what a beautiful thing it is, and it really is a beautiful thing...and captured here extremely well, I really love this photo.

I unfortunately don’t know the ladies name, but this is of course Walter Koenig.

SUPPLEMENTAL: I actually dont know whats going on in this scene, and unfortunately / embarrassingly...I don’t know the sixties Star Trek very well at all...other than there’s some extremely good episodes like The City on the Edge of Forever which I've seen quite a lot of because we have it recorded off the TV.

It's entirely possible that Chekov at this point has gone evil or is not himself, cause things like that happened a lot on Star Trek. But I still think its a interesting photo.

A NOSTALGIC FIND

My dad was going through the underneath of the house again trying to sort things out and came across a big polythene bag of mine, huge, with a whole load of stuff in it. One of which was a really nice Supplement thingy...only twenty four pages long and done on quite big paper, beautifully done, the graphic design combined with the choice to have some huge photos from the films inside is great and it has a lovely feeling paper)... loved this to pieces, always went back to look at it you know?...I think I was always really taken with the Metropolis poster the most...but this little book is a great nostalgic find for me.

Not sure when Empire did this, but it focuses on ten films with a sidey column going into all the important sci-fi that’s been made since the very start of cinema.

SHORT SUBJECT CINEMA NOW HAS FOUR SHORTS ON IT

.:Short Subject Cinema:. (my other blog) focusing on short films I love, finally has some stuff on it.

NOTE: Sci-Fi nuts please go there and see Lost Cargo if you've not seen it before, its a 15 minute stop motion film that would make Nick Park proud I reckon.

THE CULT OF SURVIVORS

A good documentary on the original seventies series.

The Cult of Survivors (Part 1 of 3)



The Cult of Survivors (Part 2 of 3)



The Cult of Survivors (Part 3 of 3)

SURVIVORS HAS BEEN REDONE

Ok ok, this ones a biggy (wouldn’t be writing about it if it wasn’t)...Survivors - TV series 1975-1977 created by Terry Nation is one of the my favouritetist things ever. And here I find that it’s been remade...re-imagined?, ok lets just say rebooted. Its been rebooted and will be first broadcast on Sunday 23rd November 2008...this left me somewhat speechless and now I’m in a odd place of being tremendously excited but also immensely worried at the same time. The 1975-1977 show is INCREDIBLE and it is so good, that when you see it for the first time, it literally signs itself into a bedroom in your head, and sets up as a permanent resident in there. This resident is going to stay there until the hotel body dies.

It makes you THINK. I found myself having a couple of nightmares because of this TV series, its concept is simple and yet so relevant to today. It’s a very powerful series and shakes you to the core.

Now in 2008 we’re seeing a new version about to arrive, I wont...well, I wont write anything much about that until I see the full thing, but the trailer for it was a bit naff, however, I saw a nine minute making of thing that seemed to be ok. I just don’t have much faith though that this will be as beautifully made as the original (but by all means prove me wrong and surprise me on Sunday 23rd...yes please!!) the original is stunning with nice long takes, fantastic editing and a real atmosphere to it that is hard to explain.

The question is, have the new filmmakers poured beef soup into the engine?

CAPTAINS CHAIR

This is a odd one, I cant help but notice that the captains chair seems to be on a ramp?...is that a ramp?...and it seems to be oddly isolated in the middle of the ramp.

Loving the chair though, it's actually very similar to the old sixties chair, and looks extremely comfortable to sit in...I’ll take two.

STAR TREK TRAILER

Ok well, I’m a sci-fi nut, and so had been really excited about this movie. Of course, its not intelligent to base some sort of final opinion on the film based on this very frantic, quickly edited trailer or any trailer for any film, but here’s some thoughts.


PROS:

-Horizontal lens flare happening in a LOT of this, nearly every shot seems to have it. I absolutely love this kind of thing, it makes me think of films like Die Hard and Raider of the Lost Ark.

-This is one good looking and good feeling trailer. It's full on big budget pure (space ships / ray guns) feature length sci-fi.

-It looks like its gonna have a lot of humour in it I reckon. This to me is the most wonderful news, I love sci-fi that is well made but also funny.

-Loving what I'm seeing of Karl Urban's McCoy.


CONS:

-When child Kirk jumps from the car he seems to get pulled back along the ground, this is totally ridiculous, why is he being pulled?...

-The bridge looks...well, far too much odd looking / crude white molded plastic for my liking there, I'm sorry.

-Why is the bridge got spot lights everywhere in it….ok, well I can tell you that one, its because you get really cool horizontal camera flares happening. But from a practical standpoint, everybody would get blinded by the lights I think.

YOUTUBE

It struck me the other day, what a truly wonderful thing youtube is. A friend of mine informed me about this video (7,884,155 views) of a kid at Christmas opening up his Nintendo 64 and going through the roof with hysteria. It’s a incredible video and I bet the people at Nintendo love it. It goes into slow motion at times and repeats the moment, so I’m guessing that’s not the original video. But I’m guessing it's one of these really famous videos that has spawned lots of people doing remix and so on...that in itself is a fascinating thing.



The search bar at top of Youtube is extremely efficient / well programmed thing...and the sheer amount of stuff people have uploaded is simply staggering. I always seem to be able to get hold of the thing I’m thinking of.

Another wonderful part to all this, is peoples favourites page(s). This is like looking through somebody's DVD collection...so you've found somebody who likes the same kind of stuff you like, and then off you go diving into their collection to see what they have. On doing this I discovered another stupendous video (5,010,893 Views) of this american show about this couple who discovered this stray kitten going around with a crow. The crow was being a mother to the kitten and the video is incredible.



Youtube IS a incredible thing and I’m very grateful for its existence.

A BAG OF MIXED SWEETS

Had another experience that was interesting and full of happiness.

For some time now I've latched onto wanting a bag of revels...I’m not sure how this was triggered off, but suddenly I felt that I needed to experience it.

Many weeks went by of the same old thing I do with my life, and then one day I found myself in the newspaper shop looking at the sweets on the counter...I don’t think I’ve bought anything there at this particular place in my life, the only memory I have of last buying sweets was in 2003, at college. So I see the revels...and really want them, and thus fourth reach out with my arm to get them with a hand grabing motion. My mum has the money and pays for the bag of revels...which I believe is something crazy like forty or fifty pence.

NOTE: It wasn’t a quick decision. I stood there looking at them for quite a while, and I did ask my mum if it was ok to sort of, you know, have some revvels.

Now came the eating of them, so I’m on foot going up a hill in the cold...and I start eating them and their not what I thought there were at all. To the absolute joy here they seem to be mixed sweets, you’ll get a coffee one and then you’ll get a chewy sort of toffee type of one, and so on. The coffee ones are particularly nice I must say.

I took a long time on thinking about this one, and I reckon that it’s a bit like...a bit like those childhood experiences that you had when you had to go everywhere on foot...and in all weathers, but you usually ate what you had just bought straight away outside.

NOTE: This empty bag (looking a bit erroded now) was put in the bin by my mother twice before it had been photographed. I also couldn;t help but notice how quickly these things get to looking in a sorry state.



It also become apparent that it wasn't Revels I was thinking of when I wanted Revels...I think what I had in my mind here was Minstrels...I wanted a bag of Minstrels...but getting the surprise of the Revels not being the Minstrels was great.

I don’t buy anything in that newspaper shop and don’t go to the pub anymore either, so am a bit out of touch with the prices on chocolate and a pint of beer...some people get angry about this and I’ve had that anger channelled at me more than once now, that I wasn't supporting the local shop, but I don’t read newspapers or smoke, or buy cans of fizzy drink, or sweets (sadly)...I also don’t have a mobile phone and I sure as hell don’t have any income.

But I cant tell you enough how great it was to eat those coffee sweets and other types of sweets, in that revels bag outside in the cold.

CINEMA GIVING YOU A BROKEN HEART, NOT FROM THE FILM ITSELF BUT FROM YOUR PARENTS = THE FILM BROKE YOUR HEART

Ok...now, I don’t often get charged up to write something about a film in here, but I keep getting this overwhelming uncontrollable serge in my brain, in the last forty eight hours its happened a few times, so here I am. Its bothering me when I go into conversation with my mother and father about the film in question I just felt somewhat heart broken.

The movie was Broken Flowers Directed by Jim Jarmusch...

...and I really, really loved it. And I find their thoughts (my parents) on the film to be somewhat staggering, it's furthermore incredible that a film can reveal these things...reveal things about peoples characters it such a clear way that you did not know about prior to this.

We follow this character called Don Johnston through the entire film...and through the entire film the man doesn’t do *anything* nasty to *anybody* ...at all...not *one* single thing. Now...granted we don’t know much about his past or much about him either...we don’t know if he suffers from depression or anything much really. All we really know is that he is fifty six years old, and appears to have had what seems to be about six or seven girlfriends over a very long time period.

Both my mother and my father said he was not a nice person and a womaniser...

But... it’s a pretty long period of time gone by here for Don Johnston...and we don’t have very much information to go on at all, as to how long he's spent with each woman. We do however get to see what each one of them is like for a little bit.

They’re only opinions though, and I have to accept that. But I’m shocked and saddened by the lack of empathy in my parents towards this Don Johnston character.

A BRANCH THAT I SAW STICKING UP IN THE FLOODED BURN

So I went down there again to see what the experience would be like a second time. I took the camera this time, its always a completely different experience when your with you camera because your not really looking at the environment constantly...you stop walking, stand there and fiddle about with your camera...looking through your camera a lot I really don’t think that you see very much...it's disjointed and one thing becomes two.

I spotted this branch though, sticking out of the very fast flowing burn. Which really hypnotised me...very hard to describe this (no I’m not on drugs...lol)...the footage I got doesn’t really it justice...watching it with your own eyes completely different experience, but I’ll post it anyway. It gets interesting at the end of this clip.

THAT THING WHERE YOU HAVE A PROFOUND OUT OF THE BLUE EXPERIENCE

So it was time for a coffee, made with milk in the sauce pan, I’d not had one of these in a long time, and now getting the hang of it a lot better than previous times, because I now know to put in extra amount of coffee (it’s instant coffee, but heck the results are actually really good) in there.

I wander around the house looking out of the various windows at the flood.

I wander outside...

I see my dad waxing the car...yes, waxing the car. He tells me that its good to do this once in a while, maybe twice a decade. He had also washed the car and water had run down the hill and round the corner of the house. Round there, there’s sand bags that seem to have burst open, there’s this small mound of sand. The rain has created some beautiful almost alien landscapes in the sand.

I decide to walk closer to the flood. Its really pretty spectacular. I think that you have to have a photo here of how it looks

Coffee cup

I put down the coffee cup, because I was not going to take that with me. I put it at the base of a tree. Now that looked odd seeing it outside...my favourite cup and all, which normally never goes outside. But furthermore here I think its because I don’t go outside much either.

NOTE: ok, this photo below is a re-enactment of what happened, I’m not awfully happy about the photo, I think it could be much better...it’s the same tree I put it next to though, and the coffee cup had not been washed, so what we’re getting here is sort of authentic... : O )



Climbing the barbed wire fence

Really quite tricky this, the best place to do it is at a bit with some padding round the barb wire, there also this log on the other side, but it was all wet and slippery as hell. As I’m doing it I’m thinking “what the f**k am I doing here, this is really dangerous” but, I think with the weight distribution across my foot this was going to be OK, and *was* OK.

I wander across field and down to where its flooded, to note I’m wearing my shoes that aren’t so good for walking in whilst doing all of this, but, I seem to have a problem with my feet at the moment as I’m always tripping up...these shoes definitely make things worse though I think. The ground s a bit uneven and the grass is very long and wet. You have to go down a steep hill to where it can only be described as one big bog...its like lord of the rings with the dead people in the water (always liked that part).

NOTE: photo will be uploaded when the camera is recharged.

Down there on what is the outskirts of where I live is really quite interesting because there’s new houses being built in the flood plain...they raise up at the end of what is a very flat bit of land...its well, a flood plain, but yeah I love how bogs look, I love that grass that sticks up. There’s a very surreal quality though when walking about down there.

The return journey home I see five pheasants, beautiful creatures they are, I love the way they run, one of them ran quite close past me... because when climbing back up the hill i was hidden by the...hill...so they didn't spot me...usually they fly off, but these ones seemed calmer than normal.

I climb fence again and see the coffee cup sitting there, I pick it up and then walk back up to the house and round by the sand to see my dads not there anymore...its eerily quiet.

Now various different people (and a ongoing stream of people throughout my life)...who...perhaps don’t know me very well have often commented and said to me “are you on drugs?” ...well I can assure you I’m not on any drugs and never have been...all I can say is this... I’ve felt...well I’ve taken long to obtain the word for this, but I eventually found it, I feel that I have a hyperawareness thing going on. Now, I think this is brought out of me perhaps by myself not going outside very often...or maybe it was just special because of the flooding, a bit like when it snows perhaps. I’ve always found water to be fascinating stuff mind you.

I’m always reminded of what Steven Spielberg said about 2001...he said something along the lines of this... “no, no you don’t have to be on drugs to watch this, the movie IS the drug.” now, I feel exactly like that when walking around outside sometimes.

THE TRIP TO THE DENTAL HYGIENIST

My god, you couldn’t get much more different when you compare it to the trip with the dentist. A different section of the town...nobody in the waiting room, female dental hygienist with female assistant...very pleasant towards me, no questions asked about what it is you do for a living, and some genuinely funny moments in the reclining dental chair unit. After this we ended up going by foot through the high street of the town I was in...it was crammed full of people, my god, incredibly narrow high street and huge amounts of people...this is quite a experience if your use to only seeing two people. Cannot begin to say how beautiful the architecture is in these old british towns too...it just oozes character and they’re such solid well made buildings...its stunning stuff.

My driving also has not been used in busy towns like this in some time now, and so that at times for me can be quite scary, kind of a mixture of scary and exciting...but I cant tell you how much I hate three lane roundabouts, always have though.

THE TRIP TO THE DENTIST

I may be registered self employed...but, I’ve not had any paid work in over three years now, but then, I've turned down some major things...should I have turned them down?...well this is the question...it's best not to think about that stuff...or is it?

I’ve just been to the dentist where he asked me...“what is it you do?”...I said “errr...wellll...I’m self employed...I...um...do animations” he said “oh right, who have you done animations for?”...I said...”I um...well I do them for myself...I’ve er...I’ve not actually done any paid freelance work in over three years now” then there was a silence and possibly a glare at me... and then nothing was said about it at all as it's very difficult having conversations at the dentist with your mouth open.

My dad then paid for the bill...

I walked out of that dentist and felt very down...and see myself as a failed artist and possibly even a failure as a person. I honestly came out of there feeling really quite rough emotionally, I felt like maybe it's wrong to be living in your parents cellar...that I should really leave home and get a job...that my focus has gone down the wrong path...the thing is my parents aren’t really normal parents, they have no problem at all with me living at home. That’s not really a normal reaction from parents.

The thing is, I don’t really help myself, this journey to the dentist was the weirdest thing, I felt overwhelmed...I live in a very remote part of Scotland and never see anybody my own age...but I do like the peace and quiet of the countryside...I can honestly say that it helps the process of making films...but sometimes the gap between going into the city becomes quite big, and well, you start to forget what its like there...I was looking out the window, there was so many people in the streets, and such a HUGE number of cars...couples holding hands, mums with kids in push buggys. And women!...hot looking women. I’m at the window of my dads car thinking “wow, look at that!”

The communication with the dentist was the first time I’d spoken to anybody who wasn’t my parents in quite some time (we’re talking months here) and I don’t think I dealt with it very well.

DOCTOR WHO - YES, THE 1996 TELEVISION FILM DIRECTED BY GEOFFREY SAX

Ok, I have to say something here, every now and again I have to confess my love for the TV film in 1996 that brought Dr Who back. He was back, and would go onto our TV screen for a one off little film, and not come back until 2005.

It was Paul McGann as the doctor, and a great job he did too...and honestly, I thought the piece was very good. I would be, how old?...fifteen I think?...

It was a beautifully lit, shot and directed bit of fun science fiction. Ok, it felt a bit James Cameron-ie at times perhaps, perhaps it looked a bit like ER at times?...or even felt a little Luc Besson-ie...but I mean is that such a bad thing?...no. not that I’m saying you shouldn’t strive for originality...lol. Hmm, there’s a bit of a conflict there for sure...but your gonna get influenced by the filmmakers work you love, there’s no doubt that that happens.

The TV movie also had it's faults...but to me, it was far far better than what came in-between 2005-2008...and it was a complete tragedy that more wasn't made with McGann and this setup. There was a lot of pontential here indeed.

I really loved the inside of the Tardis, and how it looked warm and comfortable to live in...I have a thing for old Persian carpets and so on though. but I really liked the direction, editing and McGann's performance.

THE BIG WIN DIRECTED BY MARC CRASTE

Oh...my...god. I just cant even form sentences as to how extremely good this little animation is. I’ve only JUST found it now and watched it for the first time. I think that’s what happens when you don’t go to the cinema or watch the TV, because this must have been a cinema advert...and dear lord, it must have been incredible to see on the big screen. I’ve just this minute watched it about five times in a row.

You have to write about these things when you see them. I’m always very sceptical when it comes to CG, because I make a big thing of it looking so perfect...I don't have a problem here because the characters are extreamly stylised, and that's where I feel all animation belongs...the whole "lets go for photo realism" has never worked in animation. This piece really looks beautiful and has made full use of the raytracing...this is what its all about. The team has pushed forward on the technical side so that it is on par with the artistic side, a very powerful thing and i think i feel that as a animator myself, I've never come close to being able to make what I want.

The ideas in here are wonderful, the entire concept is first rate and the part where the character turns a mouth from being a unhappy smile to a happy smile on that cousin itt style character was very funny...it is genius.

The song used was excellent, this to me, pushes it forward to be a five star piece...this and the wonderful humour in it...and the fact that its a technical marvel too.

STANELY KUBRICK'S BOXES

Saw the premiere of this on More4 as part of the Kubrick season and absolutely loved it...except the bits where they decided to put a photograph into each frame (that’s 25 frames in a second, so imagine that playing for sometimes what seemed like over five seconds) (this really hurts your head and I hate it) (they also did it with Event Horizon)...but apart from that I was sitting there with a massive grin on my face. At last we get a decent documentary that’s fresh and interesting.

Jon Ronson has done a great job with this.



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VOCMAG

I was just going through old files here looking at my old sites and how I use to have my portfolio….and came across a CV of mine that had VOCMAG on it...they very nicely once featured me on their site...and possibly it may be a real magazine?...I really don’t know, I had COMPLETELY forgotten about this, and way back when it happened they sent me a email saying that it would be nice if I would put a link to their site on my site. I did do that, but eventually I did away with having links on my site.

Their site seems to have changed a little bit, but I always thought it was a awesome website full of extremely good work...I was of course, very honoured to be on there ...and, at the time with these things, you get very excited about it...eventually though, you just forget completely about it ever happening and revert back to your “my work is crap” state.

But...what does happen, is, that you are reminded by it somehow at some point as you go through old things...and it is a nice feeling, you also look at how you once had your portfolio site. I really did have it drastically different back then. Hmmm.

Here's a link to their site though >> [click here]



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FUMITO UEDA'S NEW GAME FOR PS3

This was a while back now, but a good friend of mine directed me to a still from Fumito Ueda's New Game. I'm a big huge fan of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus and strongly believe them to be two of the best computer games ever made.

So this got me excited, kept meaning to post about this one.

Some Thoughts

[EDIT]

Had to take down what I'd written here because well...it was a complete and total nonsence.

[EDIT/]

That business with the next door neighbour

I don’t want to be guilty of not reporting the positive news here, and well...I didn’t report what happened with the next door neighbour...well, I did write something out but lost it and never got around to re writing it until now.

Basically, everything got sorted out and is now cool. There was never any mention of the letter, but then that’s ok...don’t know if the letter is something I should have written out or not, but felt that I had to...and things are ok about it, so there we go. (this was months ago now though)

I Didn’t Get to Where I am Today by Thinking

This quote is from C.J. who is the managing director of Sunshine Desserts in the classic comedy television show The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin made in 1976 to 1979.

This one I find very interesting, so I’ve written some things on how it could be interpreted.

1) Too much thinking and not enough action can lead to not getting much done.

2) It can also mean that progress can be made sometimes by spreading yourself out, fast decision making on multiple fronts. Fast unending persistence. This is definitely how C.J. got to be directing manager...I think a good example of this is when a person sends out say a letter to 200 people, or a DVD. When, and if, you were to do this, you would just do it, and there would be possible outcomes happen, as a result.

3) I wouldn’t really ever tell somebody not stop thinking, as I think it’s healthy...some problems need a long think, and people vary in thought process speed. Putting down something and coming back to it after a bit of a think can help a lot.

4) Dwelling on the negative to the point of stopping what you are doing entirely and losing years to it. This is a big no no.

5) Something that has cropped up in my life is this thing where a artist will put down something mid way...say it’s a painting, the painting is taken off the easel, and put up against a wall and left unfinished for six months or even three years...the artist returns to it after this time with a fresh perspective or new ideas entirely. Now you could say that this was some form of attention deficit...but it was perhaps something that was just done, and not thought about...it was just done.

Single Artist Getting Into a Mess

My studio was in a extreme mess and I just didn’t realise how bad the floor was until today, the toilet was pretty bad too, I’m not normally somebody to let the toilet get like that, so today had to attack all of that. If your single and don’t have anybody round very often and get addicted to making these animations and lose sight of the time / days / months this seems to happen.

I’m also very tired, it feels like somebody is crushing my brain.

Somebody once said a very wise thing (James Russell) “One person Isn’t meant to make an entire film on their own” but I still to this day don’t know or see how I’m going to form a team with no money, I spose really that horrendous doubt problem of mine should be stamped on and I should really try and get a grant from one of the film places that offers money to people like me. I was, in the past, actually there at a presentation of one of those companies, and had the damned form in my hand, and just didn’t fill it in...what is it I’m not happy about with regards to that exactly?...I honestly don’t know, I perhaps was not ready at that point and wanted to learn more on my own for a couple more years.

Another thing that happened today was I noticed a thing I wanted to go to, has been and gone, it was on the Saturday night. Now I was all...”oh that’s ages off, that’s two months away” and there it is past!...damn...lol

But on the good side of things, the animation is going very, very well.

Speaking to a old friend

Speaking to a very good, very close online friend who I’d not spoken to in ages (for a few reasons, mainly cutting down on messenger in a big way) brought out a very interesting personal look at myself, as it always seems to do. The following is taken from this conversation and I’ve added some stuff to it.

I’ve been a bit all over the place in the last two weeks lost the focus a bit but I seem to have got it back again. I speak to another filmmaker through forums who seems to help me, though only I can help me. But the thing is that this guy doesn't know all the facts really, I mean the way I live, this situation, is bound to cause problems, there’s a awful lot on my plate.

To be honest though here...I have highs and lows on some things. The highs are me in my studio getting to the point in my animation where I suddenly go "yes, this is working!...this is WORTH it!" the lows are when I suddenly realise that the years have gone by and I've missed out on other types of happyness...a sort of missing out of other fun, having a second girlfriend (and no thats not two at once...LOL), enjoying life with other people the same age as me and having a laugh, going to the cinema, going to the pub, playing pool. I get so into making films though that this has gone out the window, the time is and has gone past unbelivably fast, and while I'm only reminded of these other types of happiness occasionally I am pretty happy...i tend to forget and go back to making my film. The city life you see was full of too many distrations I think...I've also always been sombody who gets addicted to things very easyly, there was too much alcahhol drinking and socialising done by me when I was there in the city. of course its all about disapline. I think though that living on your own (which I was doing at the time) was tough, and perhaps if there was more purpose (which there most definitely is now that I know I'm a director (at the time I didn't really)(in fact finding out that I was seemed to be tough to cope with also)

As your changing your life, a momentary change can do this, evoke a blip of depression, one day of big change can get you quite down suddenly. It’s hard to explain but its to do with one day of interaction with people outside of your own world (of which you've got use to being in for months) its like...."oh look some people"...and..."oh I'm having a good time OUT of my own little world". you go back home and bang it hits you, that your missing people in your life...It gets down to my love of people, which you forget about if you don’t stick your head up once in a while.

I now force myself to go out there basically, because the more I don’t interact with people the worse it is when you come to interacting with them. Very important that you make yourself do these things.

But there’s this horrible thing going on with people not liking long hair out in the world...that happens. They seem to fear it. But then I do have quite striking eyes, by that I mean that they perhaps intimidate people, so its perhaps a combination of my eyes and hair that’s causing some problems.

The Rocket-Man log book of 2002-2003

I've been doing a lot of tidying up recently and going through old stuff. I found the Rocket-Man logbook that I did in 2002, but I've not opened it up yet.

Rocket-man was the first animation I directed in my third year at college, it was a point in my life where it was confirmed to me, that this is what I’m meant to do in life. I’m not really one that’s very good with words really, but that’s the only way I can describe it, it was like what they call, a single moment of clarity.

The photo cannot be seen without this bit of text, so definitely a case for the text accompanying the photo, being essential here, the two cannot exist on their own.

Now you may think, well why?...why photo this?...and well I may or may not be able to really cover it properly...for a stranger to look at this photo it would mean nothing?...well it might not actually, it shows dust build up on a book and desk. As humans we’re fighting a constant war on dust build up, but I tend to forget about time, the hours each day go by so extremely fast that I just simply don’t dust very often in certain areas of the room. But you then look at it and think “shit me look at that!, a lot of time has gone by hasn’t it?” the dust is another way of measuring time.

But yes, it’s a bit of a selfish photo I think also. It reminds me of college, and well, I really enjoyed college at times. I loved the pressure of the assignments and the people, and like I say its where I really focused in on being a filmmaker. So that in itself, to me, is a moment that’s like the beginning of something. So I spose this book is the birth of it all.

EMAILING PEOPLE YOU DON’T KNOW VERY WELL - WITH LONG EXPLANATIONS ON MISUNDERSTANDINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED OVER THE LAST 5 MONTHS:

This is all about my next door neighbour, who possibly MIGHT think that my cheese has fallen off my cracker. Personally, I felt that there was this build up of misunderstanding, but I think I’ve screwed things up further, My mother is right, I shouldn’t have sent anything...but I was just wanting some large communication / pouring out of mind - of how I feel, to be written down and sent out, there is so much misunderstanding in the world, its huge. I thought maybe it would help, and I hope it has. But I have this horrible feeling that it hasn’t.

I've just today started to read about the self-fulfilling prophecy, which I think is maybe what this is?...which is upsetting, I must learn to relax though, and not worry too much about what has happened.

I think past events go towards my problem. And as a good friend of mine said to me recently, I try very very hard, a lot of the time to be understood because of my past.

The thing is that while it’s a big deal to me, its very possible that it may not be a big deal to them. Its further possible that they may not even remember most of what it is your going on about...we just don’t know. My life is so very low key that every time I go outside and interact with people, I come back and remember the entire thing with a lot of detail.

This is the third time that its happened. The first was a girl at college, the second was the South West Scottish Screen Commissioner and now the next door neighbour. Well actually the South West Scottish Screen Commissioner was getting a bit of a blasts of personal problems on the production of my film, it was something that I didn’t need to write out to him, but maybe because I have no social life, I feel the urge to write out problems in long letters as there’s no other way to get it out of you, except for in a blog. But maybe a letter to a single individual is more immediate, no, that doesn’t make sense, emailing a letter with your problems to a stranger doesn’t make any sense at all...I don’t think altogether a good thing because its probably out of context for the person at the other end.

But I think what I mean here is that with a blog you feel nobody is reading it, and with letter, you know that what your writing out is going to be read at least once.

Filmmaking

Anybody who knows me....will know, that I don't storyboard any of my animations.

Film school will tell you that it is Treatment then Script then Storyboard then Animatic then Animation...then Post. I find that order to be next to impossible to sit in a chair and do, and for anyone who’s reading this and hasn’t made a film themselves, don’t be fooled into thinking that those teachings are concrete and that there’s no other way...there’s PLENTY of other ways, it's ONE way of doing it, that works for some and doesn’t work for others.

If your sat there at home and are trying to make a film this way and are really struggling to do it (in the film school order)...your NOT alone...and don't let them PROSELYTIZE you...

OTHER WAYS TO MAKE A FILM:

Some people write a little scene then stop and go out and film it / animate it...then stop...then write something which is completely not related to the first scene and move onto creating *that* immediately. More ideas may then come to you to fill in the gap. How did this character end up here?...What happened in-between these very far apart scenes?...you may find yourself thinking of things as you are creating...very much a percolating process.

Some people think purely in images and ideas....and have to get those images and ideas out their head straight away...when you are on a roll with it i think you have to act.

Some people find that by writing or even drawing a big old drawing of the end shot of the story first, you can then start to work backwards on how things ended up getting to that point. Writing the start of your story is not always the answer.

Some people write about what they’ve experienced in recent life, that can be just about anything and can be very effective. Even you can go the Werner Herzog route and set out walking six hundred miles then write about what you saw and make it into a film...or even take your camera with you on that journey.

The Three Answers

Now this is something I find interesting. In art your going to come up against a question at some point, somebody is going to ask you…“what do you think of this?”, wiether that be a painting, film trailer, short film, book, play etc...you can say “Yes, I love it” or you can say “No, I don’t like that” or you can answer “I don’t know, give me some time to think about that”...all of which are honest answers. But the third answer is quite often taken very badly by the person who asked the question, almost as if they feel its a negative answer...when its actually as honest a answer as the other two. Why is this?…

“I don’t know” isn’t a immediate answer...there’s uncertainty in it...uncertainty often leads to negative thought?...I wonder why that is?

People have to understand that there’s a constant change going on, likes and dislikes are changing over a long time period in peoples minds, some people change their mind by getting use to something that they didn’t INITIALLY like over time and vice versa. There’s such vast detail in some stuff, that your brain cant take it all in at once, so one viewing really isn’t enough, and we should learn to understand that. It's hard nowadays avoiding the hype engine, I keep falling victim to that one myself, and for all things…at the end of the day, I also keep assuming, when I shouldn’t, but we’re human, we make mistakes.

It’s been a quest of mine now for about four years to try and understand the human race a bit better as best I can in the circumstances that I’m in, I’ve met a lot of extreme people in my time...is there a automatic thing in all people that pushes them towards the negative?...or am I simply falling victim to assumption and am guilty of a sweeping statement...after all... I’ve not met very many people in my life.

To go further with this, the News on the television reports bad things about 95% of the time, people remain to still watch it, I'm not saying we should be apathetic, its good to take a interest in world affairs, but apparently in the past there was a news channel that reported 95% positive stories, and it was shut down due to low ratings.

What I reckon people take a certain security perhaps in the bad news thing...it’s the “there’s always somebody worse off than myself” thing.

FAN EDIT: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

This has to be posted really, I was really very impressed by it, and it shows you just how two edits can be so drastically different...the power of editing huh.


edited by triklops


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TRAILER: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Woah...where the heck does one start here on this!?!?!?!

It’s really really really really not looking like Douglas Slocombe did the cinematography...and I mean he DIDN’T so I mean it WONT?...is it meant to???...well, they said that they would try...but I mean lets face it, trying to emulate Douglas Slocombe is going to be very tricky?...yes?...no?...your going to have agendas and so on...OR…if Janusz Kaminski and Speilebrg try to EMULATE Douglas Slocombe what we’ll GET is something thats not Janusz Kaminski or Douglas Slocombe...but a new look....OR Janusz Kaminski has been influenced by Andrew Lesnie OR Speilebrg has been influenced by Peter Jackson….OR George Lucas has been influenced by Jackon and Andrew Lesnie...what is going on??

TRAILER IS OUT OF CONTEXT?

This doesn’t feel like a Spielberg movie...right, so, I'm sure it will when it gets here?...when we see it in context it will...because it IS going to have long takes. I know Spielberg and I know that he always has long takes, when we see the final its going to feel very different from this trailer.

Moving onto something else...Is it a experimental film?...it could be?...we don’t know. It feels like it is a bit. Reason I say that is because of the direction of some of the shots...its got strong, would say, stronger emphasis on comic book than normal seen there in that warehouse stuff.

It also looks like its graded. Some of it is very contrasty for a Indiana Jones film.

I love the look of some of the shots very much, that very brief explosion shot in the jungle sure doesn’t look like CG which is GREAT...LOVE THAT. Loving the look of that....loving the bullets hitting the crates shot….and the waterfall looks amazing. I don’t like the swing with the whip on the lamp shade and crash into the front of the truck with the pause and him speaking to himself for a number of reasons, I don’t know if its CG or not but it FEELS like CG, it feels like the second he jumps from the crates they have merged it with a CG stuntman, to me it feels incredibly fake...and to me personally, my personal opinion on this is unfortunately that I didn’t really want to see that kind of merging. The is however a LOT of miniature work in this trailer too. And its looking absolutely GREAT, all that pyramid stuff and the staircase with the steps that are sliding into the walls looks incredible.

But I do love the hat sitting on the ground and it being put on...though it all feels like a completely new style?...which we have to accept and get use to. This is Janusz Kaminski and Steven Speilberg doing their thing...quite possibly doing a experimental thing...and we have to respect that.

CONCLUSION:

This is OUT of context...this is short rapid fire edited shots that are out of context. I will say this though, it feels very modern. It also feels like its been influenced by King Kong, I know that George Lucas loved King Kong so that is entirely possible. It feels like they just decided to do their own thing here, that’s very stand alone from the first three, go with they’re own cinematography style, and use a massive budget. We have to respect this and accept this.

I’m actually very very excited for the film, particularly about that jungle bit with the jeeps and that explosion. I can't wait to see how the full sequence plays out.

WATERFALLS:

The waterfall shot is truly beautiful and I do believe is 100% real. If they have added anything to that to make it a slightly more fictional place...like painted in something...they have done a truly amazing job.

STAIRCASE:

I love it, absolutely love it, I’m very excited about there being water at the bottom too, I don’t know what it is but I love scenes with water. I was truly over the moon when I saw that behind the scenes shot of them wading around in water.

PETROL EXPLOSION IN THE JUNGLE NEXT TO TANK THING:

ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS...and to me feels 100% real. The colour on that shot is superb, the greens of the jungle and the reds of the fire ball / smoke. It really feels like 1) we are in a real jungle. 2) It’s a real petrol explosion...reminiscent of past that we know and love from say Raiders.

THOUGHTS IN THE MIND GATHERED OVER THE DAYS BROUGHT TO PAPER ON FEBRUARY 17TH:

February 14th trailer was such a array of different shots, I was just totally stunned in my chair with all the styles that I saw in it...I mean at times it feels like its Sam Raimi / Bill Pope (whip swing on light) and at other times it feels like its Peter Jackson / Andrew Lesnie (opening shot and jeeps near cliff shot) then suddenly it feels like its definitely Spielberg / Janusz Kaminski (petrol explosion in jungle)...(which I will add looks very real and extremely nice). It actually reminded me of The Phantom Menace fire ball scene, you know the one?...where the ships go into the fire?...most of the space scenes in The Phantom Menace looked incredible because it was miniatures and real fire. So in essence I was subconsciously there with George Lucas / David Tattersall...BUT the way that the camera is raised as the fire ball goes up I have to say is very very Janusz Kaminski Saving Private Ryan.

Only way I can see / come up with and explain / theorise / speculate is that George Lucas has directed some of it...I know for sure that he was very taken by King Kong when he saw it, at its New York premiere...and I know that sometimes they do direct sequences in each other movies.

Also a shock to me was that it looks like its been digitally graded. Something I did not expect at all.

INDY SWINGING ON THE LIGHT SHADE BIT:

What has to be stated here is that all art is subjective. Some people really don’t mind computer generated effects...they love it, and some really are very much against...add into this, that some people don’t even see what’s computer generated and what isn’t...but some people do, and it bothers them. I personally would never do a CG merging of real live action crossing over into CG stuntman (that was very much a individual big stunt)...ie CG Harrison Ford himself, and put it slap bang in the centre stage / centre of the shot...which LOOKS like what has happened on this whip swing on light shot...that shot FEELS like its been done like that. It may NOT be CG, but to me personally, my personal opinion on this is...that...it IS cg..(may be wrong) (just my speculation)

Now that will bother some, and not bother others...its controversial, of course its controversial. Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (at this stage in the speculation) is looking very stand alone...completely new look going on here.

The reasons that the people are against CG are that it takes out that random element, that random human element, it becomes far too smooth, precise, the computer just renders out the animation perfectly along the key frames and to some people, we instantly almost subconsciously spot it straight away. What your looking at is so smooth and I would add even that it almost takes out the suspense too, it takes out the danger of the stunt. Again this is very controversial. None of us want stunt men to end up dead, we all want things to be safe, but you cant deny the fact that when we see the real thing, its all the more impressive...you go “holy crap, that guy really DID jump from that horse to that truck” and it was DANGEROUS. Something to be in awe about...a spectacle.

I’m not saying that we cant be in awe about CG, we can, we occasionally get something that is very impressive like say Gollum for example or Davy Jones.

KEEPING CG SUBTLE:

It’s controversial again...what constitutes as subtle will vary from person to person. I myself have NO PROBLEMS with CG being used the way it has been in quite a few films now, where we see a explosion of fire hitting men, engulfing them in fire. I’ve seen a lot of shots like that, that have worked extremely well over the last fifteen years...maybe because they are usually silhouettes because the light is behind them and also perhaps, because it all happens so fast in a explosion.

Sometimes real things look like cg or a miniature, and sometimes cg things look real or a miniature...it varies greatly. The mordern TV Battle Star Galitica series, the CG in that, for the space ships, is simply AMAZING.

FURTHER ANALYSIS ON THE SHOT:

You know, this is a strange one...I’m beginning to feel that it is indeed real...OR, extremely good CG...it is of course (if it is indeed CG) the very latest CG from Industrial Light and Magic (they have after all created the AMAZING Davy Jones and so things are getting quite interesting) ... but sadly I cant view it on this computer at high res at a decent frame rate. It's very odd how the whip disappears into the computer generated lamp shade also.

Hugh Fleming's Painting

Wow, things are getting very busy on the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull publicity campaign, I think today has been the biggest in terms of photographs of the film and this wonderful wondrful cover has come out too, I have to say I really like this one...beautifully done!...its the best one to date out of the four that have been done and i love the blues and reds in this.

I have to say also, that I love the traditional things that a film like this is bringing to us all...traditional paintings...miniatures and matte painting for the film itself. Just great. Exciting time for the obsessive cinema geek...lol

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

It's getting nearer...and the trailer will be here soon too. I've now seen about fifteen photos from the set and the three posters, I have to say that I'm still worried about this movie...we're just not going to know though, untill we see it.