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.
Wednesday 20 February 2008
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.
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.
Tuesday 19 February 2008
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.
“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.
Saturday 16 February 2008
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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edited by triklops
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Thursday 14 February 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday 13 February 2008
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
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
Friday 8 February 2008
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.
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