I skipped into the Academy on Monday morning (still in desperate need of sleep) for a Technical class interrupted by a request from Deborah Richardson-Webb of Contemporary Performance Practice (CPP) for a film crew. Here I pause in momentarily extreme caution… CPP… This is a personal journal, after all, and as such I ought to be expressing my personal feelings, at all times, honestly. I will, but in a separate post and maybe even in a dissertation at some point! I have so much to say on this subject but for now I will put it from my mind.
In Barbara’s class we looked at TV schedules and analysed them in a bit more depth. I was completely ignorant of the accepted types of programme that will be aired on certain days at certain times so this was very helpful and allowed me to view my own idea for a TV Drama in the light of when I think it should be aired and the audience to which it would appeal.
Mercifully our Tuesday morning class was cancelled so I managed to catch up on a bit of lost sleep from the weekend. Screenwriting that afternoon was an exploration of tension in films and the difference between anticipation, where we know something is going to happen but don’t know when, and suspense, where we don’t know something is going to happen but sense that it is. I was thrilled at the how straightforward it actually is to create tension and I am eager to try incorporating it into my writing, when we move on to longer scripts.
On Wednesday morning I attended the technical class which I should have been at last week. It was all relatively straightforward, nothing new, just more practise on three-point lighting. I now feel quite confident with this method and ready to face the assessment.
In Andy’s class we are now looking at advertising and it was quite a surprise to think that on commercial television the programmes are made to fill in between the adverts rather than the other way round. It is actually logical when thinking about it because of course the money comes from the advertising. We watched a documentary called The Rise of the Ad Man which unfortunately was presented by an extraordinarily boring guy whose voice somehow managed to increase the weight of my eyelids considerably. However, in spite of this, it was a very informative documentary which gave an interesting insight into the history of television advertising and those people who began it all.
Our timetable was clear on Thursday, which was fortunate as I had quite a bit of catching up to do, except for a half hour class in the evening with Ros Maddison from TPA who gave an interesting and engaging talk on Communication. It is useful to note that with neither mouth nor arms communication is a good deal more challenging!
King Kong is a great movie. The action, the adventure, the spectacle, the character, the sensitivity (the length!) all make for a thoroughly entertaining cinematic experience (oh, helped by the chocolates from Andy), which was, I admit, more easily enjoyable than Peter Jackson’s remake. There was a pace to the film which moved the story along and maintained the excitement and sense of adventure. It seems to be, as Andy said, the ultimate popcorn movie and, unlike Peter Jackson’s version, I would have no objection to watching it again and again. However, on saying that, I feel it necessary to defend Peter Jackson’s King Kong with a reminder that it is a different film. Yes, the original is entertaining and exciting but that is all it can ever hope to be, particularly for a modern audience due to the obvious presence of newly born special effects, and there is simply not enough substance to allow it to be anything else. On the other hand Peter Jackson’s version is what I would call rich. Perhaps indulgently rich in some cases such as length and effects but also rich in good ways such as emotion, story, character, realism, colour and experience. I would argue that where the original can be viewed no higher than at a ‘popcorn’ level, Peter Jackson’s allows for immersion, believability and wonder. I must question whether I would have enjoyed the original King Kong less had I not seen Peter Jackson’s version which added that extra dimension. They are both good films, they are both different films. One gets on with it; the other really takes its time. One is very consumable; the other is very filling. One is charm; the other is awe. Frankly, I like them both.
Adam gave us a brief introduction to a new module exploring Mobile and Web-based content which should be interesting as it seems this is, whether we like it or not, the future.
Well, having just stated last week that Production “hasn’t quite got off the ground” it seems that without warning the ground has simply disappeared. Abigail gave us a very intense session on different types of Producers supplying a huge amount of information in a rather short period of time. However at least we’re definitely learning something now and I feel we’re going to be making good progress in this class from now on which is exciting.
Everything’s very busy right now what with course work, script re-drafts for Richard, two additional projects in collaboration with TPA and singing and Gaelic on the side. I hope it stays that way but it did occur to me as I was floundering about trying to keep on top of it all, that possibly, sometime soon, I may need a bit of a holiday.
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Week 6 - Sound, Colour, 3-D...
Monday, our half-term holiday, was well used. I was First AD and Camera Assistant (I love using that clapper-board!) on a shoot for Murdo’s ninety second short Fire and Ice which spanned the usual timetabled day and whilst being excellent experience with lights was also great fun. Nothing went terribly wrong, we managed to keep to schedule and some of the footage was rather impressive. Personally I can’t get enough of the whole filming lark! It seems like a right good larf!
Screenwriting involved each of us presenting our latest three minute scripts to the class for instant feedback. Although tiring (there were eleven and a Benoit scripts) it was extremely helpful to be able to hear and comment; be heard and receive comments and ultimately compare our work. Two things it highlighted very clearly for me: first, just how tunnel-visioned we get as writers. I for one, having got myself out of a writer’s mindset and into an audience mindset, could instantly see the problems with my own script. This shows the necessity for, what Richard calls, allowing ‘space’ when writing. Secondly, it highlighted the importance of the basic rules of screenwriting particularly regarding structure – for example the inciting incident – and of simplicity; often the simplest screenplays were the best. I realised that clear was better than clever, and that the rules are there to help. Audiences expect certain things from a film so to disobey the rules and subvert those expectations is to take a huge risk and must be for good reason. Ultimately it was just great to hear everyone’s work and I enjoyed putting my own up for consideration. I hope more of this will follow in the future.
Wednesday morning started, for me, fifteen minutes after I should have been in class. I slept in and missed an extra technical class. There are many excuses I could call up in my defence. Since this is a written journal any argument is impossible, so I thought I may as well list two of them here. Firstly I had been performing in a choir concert the night before, as a backing singer of Jessy Dixon (the King of Gospel), which was really enjoyable, uplifting and liberating and although I didn’t get home especially late it was quite exhausting; rather like a night of heavy drinking, except that it was a night of heavy worship! Secondly, due to the normal classlessness of a Wednesday morning, I think my body has trained itself to sleep later on that day in order to catch up; it seems I was too weak-willed to break that pattern on this occasion. There are more explanations that I could offer but really the bottom line is; I slept in, I missed the class, I felt guilty, I’m over it now.
I had a PAT Tutorial, which was fine, followed by a class on television which both concluded the first module and began the second. We filled in those evaluation forms again and watched a documentary called Auntie’s War on Smut which I’m afraid I didn’t think much of at all. It didn’t seem clear exactly what side it was coming from. It seemed to be presenting the situation from the BBC’s point-of-view but sarcastically, as if saying “Look how stupid we were!”. Actually it is my opinion that they were a good deal more sensible then than they are now. Things have swung so far in the other direction now and it seems we are in a society influenced by a media where almost anything is acceptable and morality, decency and respect is really just a point-of-view. Personally I think we could benefit from a new ‘green book’ for today (though perhaps we should change the colour to avoid confusion… pink might be nice!) to restore some sense of restraint and taste. Beyond that the programme was of quite a poor quality, with a less than gripping style, no particular firm argument and, I suspect, a shortage of footage (there was noticeable repetition). However, it has sparked my interest and I look forward to exploring the influence of television on society, and vice versa, as this is one subject which definitely fascinates me.
On Thursday morning we began our second Cinema module and explored further the emergence and development of Sound. We watched another documentary called The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk which was very good and filled in the history of how the transition from silent to ‘talkies’ actually occurred. It helped add to the foundation laid by Singin’ in the Rain; fleshing it out with some facts, instead of songs. It is interesting to note a similar reaction happening now with the advent of 3-D films and one can only wonder what may be next…
That’s Entertainment! was a rather lengthy but nevertheless enjoyable documentary expounding on the vastness and wonder of the MGM Musicals and their beloved stars. The longevity was owing to the numerous clips from various famous shows which were scattered throughout as each star was described and commended. It was presented in a very informal style as an ageing Hollywood legend conversed in enthusiastic, colloquial and securely scripted dialogue directly to the camera. This made it easy to watch but risks audience engagement if they happen to be unfamiliar with that star. It was an easy mix of entertaining and informative filmmaking and it left me with a glowing urge to be a dancer and a messy mush of show tunes whirling round my head.
Production hasn’t quite got off the ground and I fear Abigail isn’t exactly sure where to pitch her teaching as we are her initial first-year and there are varying abilities within the class. We began by going over the ‘elements’ of production, which I think most of us are well aware of now, when really I am eager to get into some actual producing and, for example, how to make up a professional schedule, or budget plan, etc. However, I think in this, as in all things, patience is key. We continued the lesson by watching a low-budget mildly entertaining feature called Big Things in order to analyse the production value and luckily I got to leave two thirds of the way through; it was getting worse…
My weekend was completely filled up with a National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCoS) Training Choir rehearsal and concert. I spent the time immersed in amazing meaningful music and surrounded by immature disrespectful teenagers who unfortunately are the ingredients that make up this internationally renowned choir. Anyway, that’s a different story. Life hurtles on fraught with mountains and valleys and the question is: are we living, or simply existing? Heaven help us if we ever forsake our search for truth and make do with the latter.
Screenwriting involved each of us presenting our latest three minute scripts to the class for instant feedback. Although tiring (there were eleven and a Benoit scripts) it was extremely helpful to be able to hear and comment; be heard and receive comments and ultimately compare our work. Two things it highlighted very clearly for me: first, just how tunnel-visioned we get as writers. I for one, having got myself out of a writer’s mindset and into an audience mindset, could instantly see the problems with my own script. This shows the necessity for, what Richard calls, allowing ‘space’ when writing. Secondly, it highlighted the importance of the basic rules of screenwriting particularly regarding structure – for example the inciting incident – and of simplicity; often the simplest screenplays were the best. I realised that clear was better than clever, and that the rules are there to help. Audiences expect certain things from a film so to disobey the rules and subvert those expectations is to take a huge risk and must be for good reason. Ultimately it was just great to hear everyone’s work and I enjoyed putting my own up for consideration. I hope more of this will follow in the future.
Wednesday morning started, for me, fifteen minutes after I should have been in class. I slept in and missed an extra technical class. There are many excuses I could call up in my defence. Since this is a written journal any argument is impossible, so I thought I may as well list two of them here. Firstly I had been performing in a choir concert the night before, as a backing singer of Jessy Dixon (the King of Gospel), which was really enjoyable, uplifting and liberating and although I didn’t get home especially late it was quite exhausting; rather like a night of heavy drinking, except that it was a night of heavy worship! Secondly, due to the normal classlessness of a Wednesday morning, I think my body has trained itself to sleep later on that day in order to catch up; it seems I was too weak-willed to break that pattern on this occasion. There are more explanations that I could offer but really the bottom line is; I slept in, I missed the class, I felt guilty, I’m over it now.
I had a PAT Tutorial, which was fine, followed by a class on television which both concluded the first module and began the second. We filled in those evaluation forms again and watched a documentary called Auntie’s War on Smut which I’m afraid I didn’t think much of at all. It didn’t seem clear exactly what side it was coming from. It seemed to be presenting the situation from the BBC’s point-of-view but sarcastically, as if saying “Look how stupid we were!”. Actually it is my opinion that they were a good deal more sensible then than they are now. Things have swung so far in the other direction now and it seems we are in a society influenced by a media where almost anything is acceptable and morality, decency and respect is really just a point-of-view. Personally I think we could benefit from a new ‘green book’ for today (though perhaps we should change the colour to avoid confusion… pink might be nice!) to restore some sense of restraint and taste. Beyond that the programme was of quite a poor quality, with a less than gripping style, no particular firm argument and, I suspect, a shortage of footage (there was noticeable repetition). However, it has sparked my interest and I look forward to exploring the influence of television on society, and vice versa, as this is one subject which definitely fascinates me.
On Thursday morning we began our second Cinema module and explored further the emergence and development of Sound. We watched another documentary called The Dawn of Sound: How Movies Learned to Talk which was very good and filled in the history of how the transition from silent to ‘talkies’ actually occurred. It helped add to the foundation laid by Singin’ in the Rain; fleshing it out with some facts, instead of songs. It is interesting to note a similar reaction happening now with the advent of 3-D films and one can only wonder what may be next…
That’s Entertainment! was a rather lengthy but nevertheless enjoyable documentary expounding on the vastness and wonder of the MGM Musicals and their beloved stars. The longevity was owing to the numerous clips from various famous shows which were scattered throughout as each star was described and commended. It was presented in a very informal style as an ageing Hollywood legend conversed in enthusiastic, colloquial and securely scripted dialogue directly to the camera. This made it easy to watch but risks audience engagement if they happen to be unfamiliar with that star. It was an easy mix of entertaining and informative filmmaking and it left me with a glowing urge to be a dancer and a messy mush of show tunes whirling round my head.
Production hasn’t quite got off the ground and I fear Abigail isn’t exactly sure where to pitch her teaching as we are her initial first-year and there are varying abilities within the class. We began by going over the ‘elements’ of production, which I think most of us are well aware of now, when really I am eager to get into some actual producing and, for example, how to make up a professional schedule, or budget plan, etc. However, I think in this, as in all things, patience is key. We continued the lesson by watching a low-budget mildly entertaining feature called Big Things in order to analyse the production value and luckily I got to leave two thirds of the way through; it was getting worse…
My weekend was completely filled up with a National Youth Choir of Scotland (NYCoS) Training Choir rehearsal and concert. I spent the time immersed in amazing meaningful music and surrounded by immature disrespectful teenagers who unfortunately are the ingredients that make up this internationally renowned choir. Anyway, that’s a different story. Life hurtles on fraught with mountains and valleys and the question is: are we living, or simply existing? Heaven help us if we ever forsake our search for truth and make do with the latter.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Week 5 - Show Don't Tell
Joy! Editing at last. In fact a whole day of it. In the morning we looked at how to make a DVD (something which once took me a long sleepless night to achieve but now I can do in five minutes) and in the afternoon we were given some fourth year footage to mess about with and compile a scene. I wasn’t too impressed with the quality of the filming or the writing to be honest but the acting was pretty good.
In Screenwriting we were concerned with Visual Storytelling which turned out to be a sort of theme for the week. In the new three minute scripts we are working on the key is to communicate the story as simply and visually as possible, with little or no dialogue and Andy had asked us to think about how dialogue changed cinema for this week also. When I imagine scenes in films I am writing I tend to think in terms of characters speaking to each other, rather than how it could be told visually. The trick is knowing when it is appropriate to tell something visually and when it is in fact necessary for the characters to ‘talk’.
Another Production Meeting on Wednesday, where I took the opportunity to pitch an idea which was relatively well received. It’s rather ironic that we call it a collaborative opportunity but as long as we sit there reminding each other that “no-one is in charge, it’s collaborative” nothing ever gets done. However we managed to make some decisions and I am really excited about what I can learn from my group and what we might be able to achieve together. It inspires people from both programmes to explore their own potential in order to impress others and achieve greater things for and with the group. Personally I can’t wait until we can get started on something and test our own abilities.
Wednesday was the big debate on whether Sound ruined cinema. Come to think of it an actual debate, like the Democrat/Republican debate we did for Screenwriting, might have been a more engaging method of replacing the essay which would normally have been assigned at this point. As it turned out that is kind of what we did as a class, except that no-one was really on any particular side. We did however, seem to conclude that Sound has not ruined cinema and it was a necessary development, though not as necessary as editing. It seems to me, particularly when reading a screenplay, that good dialogue can in fact speed up the story much more effectively than visuals can. I have heard that script readers will often skip over huge passages of action and read the dialogue instead; so it is an important tool to master. Andy casually mentioned afterwards that the debate had been an assessment and that we’d all passed, which was rather relieving. The rest of the class was spent moodling away in our groups in preparation for the closing date of our Marketing Assignment.
On Thursday morning we had group tutorials with Andy to ensure we were all happy with our assignments, which we were. Following this we spent almost three hours completing our summative statement and posting it onto Moodle which definitely should not have taken so long. However I think it is fair to lay the blame on the distraction caused by the location – we were attempting to do it in the Production Office – and a certain person, who I shan’t reveal (*cough* Steven Ferguson *cough*).
There’s nothing like a good musical to brighten the spirit on a Friday morning. Singin’ in the Rain was a fantastic display of movie magic combined with Vaudeville energy and American sentiment. I confess I thoroughly enjoyed every toe-tapping, knee-slapping, finger-snapping moment of it and of course, before I run away with my emotions on the subject, it was also a brilliant film technically. I was slightly worried to begin with that it would be about Don Lockwood’s rise to fame but the flashback turned out to be, instead, only a short funny sequence which set the tone and propelled the movie on its way. I did notice that for a musical there was a relatively small number of songs and a good deal of story. Unfortunately with many more modern musicals it is the other way round and the songs slow the plot with painful predictability. In Singin’ in the Rain they were woven quite neatly into the story and I never found myself thinking, “Oh no, here comes another song”. Ultimately it was a fine feel-good film and it got me in the mood to do some dancing for Gavin and Charlotte’s music video later that day.
It’s hard to believe we’re half-way through the term already. Ah well, time flies when there is much fun being had.
In Screenwriting we were concerned with Visual Storytelling which turned out to be a sort of theme for the week. In the new three minute scripts we are working on the key is to communicate the story as simply and visually as possible, with little or no dialogue and Andy had asked us to think about how dialogue changed cinema for this week also. When I imagine scenes in films I am writing I tend to think in terms of characters speaking to each other, rather than how it could be told visually. The trick is knowing when it is appropriate to tell something visually and when it is in fact necessary for the characters to ‘talk’.
Another Production Meeting on Wednesday, where I took the opportunity to pitch an idea which was relatively well received. It’s rather ironic that we call it a collaborative opportunity but as long as we sit there reminding each other that “no-one is in charge, it’s collaborative” nothing ever gets done. However we managed to make some decisions and I am really excited about what I can learn from my group and what we might be able to achieve together. It inspires people from both programmes to explore their own potential in order to impress others and achieve greater things for and with the group. Personally I can’t wait until we can get started on something and test our own abilities.
Wednesday was the big debate on whether Sound ruined cinema. Come to think of it an actual debate, like the Democrat/Republican debate we did for Screenwriting, might have been a more engaging method of replacing the essay which would normally have been assigned at this point. As it turned out that is kind of what we did as a class, except that no-one was really on any particular side. We did however, seem to conclude that Sound has not ruined cinema and it was a necessary development, though not as necessary as editing. It seems to me, particularly when reading a screenplay, that good dialogue can in fact speed up the story much more effectively than visuals can. I have heard that script readers will often skip over huge passages of action and read the dialogue instead; so it is an important tool to master. Andy casually mentioned afterwards that the debate had been an assessment and that we’d all passed, which was rather relieving. The rest of the class was spent moodling away in our groups in preparation for the closing date of our Marketing Assignment.
On Thursday morning we had group tutorials with Andy to ensure we were all happy with our assignments, which we were. Following this we spent almost three hours completing our summative statement and posting it onto Moodle which definitely should not have taken so long. However I think it is fair to lay the blame on the distraction caused by the location – we were attempting to do it in the Production Office – and a certain person, who I shan’t reveal (*cough* Steven Ferguson *cough*).
There’s nothing like a good musical to brighten the spirit on a Friday morning. Singin’ in the Rain was a fantastic display of movie magic combined with Vaudeville energy and American sentiment. I confess I thoroughly enjoyed every toe-tapping, knee-slapping, finger-snapping moment of it and of course, before I run away with my emotions on the subject, it was also a brilliant film technically. I was slightly worried to begin with that it would be about Don Lockwood’s rise to fame but the flashback turned out to be, instead, only a short funny sequence which set the tone and propelled the movie on its way. I did notice that for a musical there was a relatively small number of songs and a good deal of story. Unfortunately with many more modern musicals it is the other way round and the songs slow the plot with painful predictability. In Singin’ in the Rain they were woven quite neatly into the story and I never found myself thinking, “Oh no, here comes another song”. Ultimately it was a fine feel-good film and it got me in the mood to do some dancing for Gavin and Charlotte’s music video later that day.
It’s hard to believe we’re half-way through the term already. Ah well, time flies when there is much fun being had.
Saturday, 7 February 2009
Week 4 - You had a Droch Latha?
I am loathe to admit that I have nothing more positive to relate, to follow the perhaps rather negative impression created by my comments last week, with respect to this Monday’s Sound class. Perhaps the only memorable product of that afternoon was the first few lines of a song for Simon, composed by Gavin and myself, which I will refrain from including here so as to maintain a shred of professional loyalty. After all, Simon has a lot to offer and I understand that there is little point in moving on until everyone in the class is comfortable with the basics and therefore at the same level.
Screenwriting was uncharacteristically tame this week. We heard all the new three-minute premises and then decided on two for the whole class to choose and write a script from. Whilst we were beginning this process – finding external character goals and internal character needs – Richard gave saw us individually to provide feedback on our previous three-minute screenplays; which I have been longing for ever since we handed them in. So it proved to be rather an anti-climax. It turned out that my analysis of my own work was in one accord with Richard’s criticisms and neither of us was entirely certain whether it was worth developing further and yet neither did we want to give it up entirely…. In other words; nothing new. Still, I can have another shot with this new premise and see what happens. I think my goal should be to make writing a discipline. If I expect the quality of my writing to improve then I must schedule in the time to practise, whether we have a script for Richard or not. Surely if I was constantly and militantly writing I would have to eventually produce something which was not just okay, but good; or even great.
Wednesday began a bit earlier for me than usual with an MER Meeting which went fine, even with the absence of Adam. This was followed by an extremely brief Programme Meeting with poor Andy holding the fort as the only tutor in the building! Then we were in class considering whether Television is the new cinema. I’ve thought for a while that cinema has lost a lot of creativity and originality. Hollywood seems only to churn out remakes, sequels, films based on books, films based on comics, films based on TV series… stories that have been tried and they assume will already have an audience but nothing new; nothing daring, nothing brave. Cinema will always be a unique, social experience so in that sense I don’t think TV can ever replace it but in terms of ingenuity and pioneering it seems like there may be more interesting things to see from the sitting room couch than at the pictures.
The third instalment of The History of Cinema was delivered half by Andy, with insight into the emergence of the role of Director, and half by Martin Scorsese in an interesting documentary called The Director as Illusionist. This was really quite interesting and some of the films he talked about were quite new to me so I learned a lot from it. Also, I think because it was a personal journey from a great director’s point of view it added another dimension to it which made it more captivating. Andy finished off with a brief foretaste of German Expressionism Cinema, to whet our appetite for what is to come next year, and posed the question: “Was sound necessary for cinema to develop, or has it ruined the art form?” I’m assuming that ‘sound’ means, more specifically, dialogue and I’m pretty sure I know where I stand in response to this. However, we’ll be discussing it next week so I’ll wait until then to solidify my opinion.
Sunrise was a pleasant surprise. It looked like it was going to be the standard ‘cheating-husband’ story but in fact took an unexpected turn and became one of the most charming romances I’ve ever seen. It is strange that a film, which was so clearly a love story, would be constantly showing off with innovative special effects and also a unique structure whereby everything is sorted by half-way through the film. In fact the entire middle section was a glorious revel in the reawakened passion between two lovers where nothing is forcing them apart and the protagonist meets no obstacles. It was beautiful, it was a masterpiece, it was refreshing, and it was silent! Not a word spoken and yet far from failing to engage it produced, with the skilful marriage of images and music, what can only be described as magic.
I missed a Sound class on Friday afternoon so that I could travel up to Inverness for the Awards Ceremony of MG Alba’s FilmG competition, where my short film Droch Latha? (watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2x22J1Sw74) was shortlisted for Best Performance. Unfortunately I didn’t win anything but it was an enjoyable event, a worthwhile experience and most of all a kick up the butt of my complacency to rekindle the passion and get me eager to make more (better!) films.
Screenwriting was uncharacteristically tame this week. We heard all the new three-minute premises and then decided on two for the whole class to choose and write a script from. Whilst we were beginning this process – finding external character goals and internal character needs – Richard gave saw us individually to provide feedback on our previous three-minute screenplays; which I have been longing for ever since we handed them in. So it proved to be rather an anti-climax. It turned out that my analysis of my own work was in one accord with Richard’s criticisms and neither of us was entirely certain whether it was worth developing further and yet neither did we want to give it up entirely…. In other words; nothing new. Still, I can have another shot with this new premise and see what happens. I think my goal should be to make writing a discipline. If I expect the quality of my writing to improve then I must schedule in the time to practise, whether we have a script for Richard or not. Surely if I was constantly and militantly writing I would have to eventually produce something which was not just okay, but good; or even great.
Wednesday began a bit earlier for me than usual with an MER Meeting which went fine, even with the absence of Adam. This was followed by an extremely brief Programme Meeting with poor Andy holding the fort as the only tutor in the building! Then we were in class considering whether Television is the new cinema. I’ve thought for a while that cinema has lost a lot of creativity and originality. Hollywood seems only to churn out remakes, sequels, films based on books, films based on comics, films based on TV series… stories that have been tried and they assume will already have an audience but nothing new; nothing daring, nothing brave. Cinema will always be a unique, social experience so in that sense I don’t think TV can ever replace it but in terms of ingenuity and pioneering it seems like there may be more interesting things to see from the sitting room couch than at the pictures.
The third instalment of The History of Cinema was delivered half by Andy, with insight into the emergence of the role of Director, and half by Martin Scorsese in an interesting documentary called The Director as Illusionist. This was really quite interesting and some of the films he talked about were quite new to me so I learned a lot from it. Also, I think because it was a personal journey from a great director’s point of view it added another dimension to it which made it more captivating. Andy finished off with a brief foretaste of German Expressionism Cinema, to whet our appetite for what is to come next year, and posed the question: “Was sound necessary for cinema to develop, or has it ruined the art form?” I’m assuming that ‘sound’ means, more specifically, dialogue and I’m pretty sure I know where I stand in response to this. However, we’ll be discussing it next week so I’ll wait until then to solidify my opinion.
Sunrise was a pleasant surprise. It looked like it was going to be the standard ‘cheating-husband’ story but in fact took an unexpected turn and became one of the most charming romances I’ve ever seen. It is strange that a film, which was so clearly a love story, would be constantly showing off with innovative special effects and also a unique structure whereby everything is sorted by half-way through the film. In fact the entire middle section was a glorious revel in the reawakened passion between two lovers where nothing is forcing them apart and the protagonist meets no obstacles. It was beautiful, it was a masterpiece, it was refreshing, and it was silent! Not a word spoken and yet far from failing to engage it produced, with the skilful marriage of images and music, what can only be described as magic.
I missed a Sound class on Friday afternoon so that I could travel up to Inverness for the Awards Ceremony of MG Alba’s FilmG competition, where my short film Droch Latha? (watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2x22J1Sw74) was shortlisted for Best Performance. Unfortunately I didn’t win anything but it was an enjoyable event, a worthwhile experience and most of all a kick up the butt of my complacency to rekindle the passion and get me eager to make more (better!) films.
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