Making Progress

The last class period was primarily spent discussing how our short films were coming along. Group 2 gave us some helpful advice—they had discovered that not all members of the group had to be on location to shoot since they (editors, sound operators) were doing post-production.

We began the class by watching a short film created by a senior honors student. I was very impressed to see someone not too much older than us write, direct, act, edit his own film. The movie was about 15 minutes long and it was a biopic. The plot was about the student’s own experience the summer before he went to college. Although I thought that his film was certainly something to be proud of, many of us had a problem with the lighting. Many in the classroom were turned off from the film because sometimes the characters’ faces and bodies weren’t visible, which caused a disconnect between the audience and the characters. We were overall very grateful to see the importance of lighting in our own movies.

After a discussion with the film student, Eric showed us some short films and guides to give us some pointers on how to make props, sound effects, use shots, etc. Then we divided into our little groups again. Our group finally came together and committed to one idea. I am stoked about it! We jotted down some ideas and were able to make an outline. We decided a couple of people would initiate the script, then a couple of different group members would make revisions and additions to it, and then Sam (our director) would have the final proofing of the script. I feel really good about our film now because it really will be collaborative creation. We begin shooting sometime after Spring Break but I am not quite sure if we decided on actors yet. I know Sam really wants to be in the movie!

The Creepy Player

On Thursday, March 16^th, we watched, The Player, directed by Robert Altman in 1992. The film is about a man named Griffin, a studio executive whose job is to find good screenplays and writers. At the beginning of the movie we quickly find out that Griffin is being threatening through post cards by an disgruntled writer. Griffin does some investigating and decides to confront the writer he believes is behind the scary post cards. He ends up killing the writer but makes it look like a mugging. I began feeling uncomfortable when Griffin becomes involved with the dead writer’s girlfriend. After a string of cover-ups and lucky events on Griffin’s part, he gets away with murder, even though he murdered the wrong writer.

The player was a film noir, which I have decided I appreciate but do not like. I was grew progressively uneasy and squeamish throughout the movie. I thought Griffin would be our “hero” but he was just so vulgar and BAD. After discussion, it turns out that what he was in this movie was the “anti-hero,” because he is the bad guy, however, the audience is still on his side (what a freakin’ art). June, the dead writer’s girlfriend and Griffin’s new girlfriend, also gave me a bad vibe. One, she gave way too much information to someone looking for her boyfriend on the phone. Two, she doesn’t mourn the deaths of her parents nor her boyfriend. To top her creepiness, she engages in the most grotesque sex scene I have ever seen with Griffin, even though SHE KNOWS he killed her boyfriend. Any sympathy about her oblivion to Griffin’s crime was brushed away after this scene, because he was TELLING HER at this point.

In the end of the film, the couple lives “happily ever after.” There is a scene that shows him on the phone from a convertible that is just like a scene early on in the movie where he is on the other end. At this point, it is evident that any good in him has been lost and he has totally transformed into a bad guy. We see this transformation of Griffin throughout the film though. As the story progressed he becomes more disheveled in his appearance and he becomes conniving and manipulative towards his co-workers and girlfriend. I usually enjoy endings that don’t end happily, but I don’t like this ending. It ticked me off so bad! However, it was a perfect ending for what Altman wanted to achieve with a story of evil triumphs good.

Not Another Teen Movie

Scripts were due on February 27^th. We turned in a 5-7 page script which was okay. We were set to base our comedy around the first day of college for some freshmen. When we sat down to discuss our script again, it was clear that we had created a stereotypical teen movie. After much debate, we sought advice from Eric. It wasn’t that anything in particular was wrong with story, only that it was so predictable and tired altogether. We ended up changing our idea completely. Eric also pointed out to us that 7 pages is far too long of a script for comedy. Sam showed us a clip from the Flight of the Concords that we all agreed was funny. It was apparent that situational comedy was the direction we needed to steer towards. When we finally got going on ideas, we couldn’t stop. Each one of us would come up with a great idea inspiring the rest of the group. The energy we have for this film is really good and I am excited. The only problem we are running into right now is committing to one idea and allowing that one to shine.

Eric also provided the entire class with a handful of advice during this class session. He strongly suggested that we have a producer. The producer’s job would consist of setting work-days, keeping the cast and crew on the same page, arranging shooting locations, etc. Having a producer would just make this project happen more smoothly. Eric also said it would probably be best to make a list of every scene we plan on shooting and the order in which we plan to shoot them. This is going to help us be more efficient with our time and resources since we’ll go ahead and shoot all the scenes at one location at once rather than driving back and forth everywhere.

I always enjoy when Eric shows us videos to inspire our projects. The video he showed us in an earlier class depicting three guys reenacting an entire battle scene from Saving Private Ryan made us realize that it doesn’t take a whole professional production crew to make something good. This week Eric showed us a documentary on Robert Rodriguez. It was about the production of Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I have seen this movie before and was always amazed by the special effects in it. However, never would I have guessed or imagined how low budget this movie was to make. It was very inspiring to listen and see how innovative Rodriguez was about the special effects to keep a low budget. This documentary reinforced the idea that we don’t have to sacrifice quality to maintain our time and budgets!

Blow-Out

On February 25^th, we watched the movie Blow-Out. Unlike the two movies we had previously watched, Sunset Boulevard and Singin’ in the Rain, this movie had a much more vulgar and slower plot. In addition, this movie also had nudity, cursing, sex, murder—much more stimulating elements than we had been experiencing in other films. Like the other two films though, Blow-Out did look at aspects of the film industry. The unique quality about this film, though, was that it also had a strong, underlying theme about America.

Before the movie began, Donna warned us that Brian de Palma was a “puppet master” and we were his puppets. Usually movies that come with that kind discretion, do not actually follow through. But I had a rather weird experience watching this movie; while I was annoyed with its predictability (we all knew the girl would die at the end), I was also very tense throughout the movie. The plot, the action, everything moved too slowly for me. I have never discovered how much I disliked slow motion shots until I saw this movie. However, I do think it was because the plot also moved at that tempo. I even found myself annoyed at the long shots, even though I usually am very intrigued by them. Overall it was just too much slowness for me.

The movie had two main themes that we discussed at the end of class. We spoke heavily about the fake elements of the film industry and how that was basically reflective of de Palma’s reflection of the American way. Throughout the film, we get subtle insinuations and metaphors about how we try to cover up anything that is ugly, especially truths. For example, the female lead in the movie’s name is Sally and she’s a make-up artist with the philosophy that every one’s face could use some make-up.

Also, the scene when the woman gets ambushed by a killer in the streets and then taken behind a wall to be killed was also symbolic to this theme. Obviously, in real life, someone would have thought a man quickly shoving someone to the other side of the wall would be peculiar, but like in this movie, some people would ignore it. The final scene is an even stronger depiction of the same message de Palma wanted to deliver. A murder was occurring right above everyone’s heads but they were too enthralled by the music, lights, and fireworks to see it. We ignore the ugly truth and become oblivious to truth all together.

Donna also showed us a clip from a 1966 film, Blow-Up. Blow-Out was a remake of this movie, though I wouln’t have picked up on it had I not been told. After further discussion, I got a better understanding of re-makes in general. Filmmakers tend to replicate elements of cinematography from others, but two visions stemming from the same root will never be exactly the same, or the same at all.

I am glad that we watched this movie. I didn’t like it but I learned a lot about cinematography from it. I would not have ever watched this movie otherwise, so I am extremely thankful for this class!