Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Cape Fear Review
Not the brilliance we've come to expect from Scorsese but a good remake of the 1962 classic. Max Cady (De Niro) is released from prison following a 14 year sentence for the rape of an unnamed woman. During his time within jail Cady, previously illiterate, has studied law. He has discovered that he was betrayed by his lawyer Sam Bowden, (Nolte) after telling his lawyer the truth about the extent of his crimes and plots a gruesome revenge on Bowden and his family. Cady stalks Bowden's capitalising on the families brooding issues before following them to their houseboat getaway, leading to an exhilarating showdown.
I personally believe the remake to be a better movie than the original, this in my opinion is mainly down to changes in the plot of the movie. In the 1962 Cape Fear the family are less dysfunctional and less believable as a typical American family making the terror of the situation less realistic. The families flaws within the 1991 remake also make the characters more relatable, therefore you have more sympathy for the agony and humiliation they are being put through, Bowden in particular. I also believe that De Niro's portrayal of Cady was stronger than Mitchum's. His tattooed body as well as frequent biblical quoting made the character seem more demented and psychopathic than the Mitchum's Cady, who was more calm and collected. Juliette Lewis, recently of August: Osage County, was exceptional in a performance that gained an Academy nod for Best Supporting Actress. She effectively incorporates naivety, curiosity and bravery into the movie's most vulnerable character who even shares a kiss with Cady. The camerawork and editing present within the movie were also very strong especially Scorsese's use of jump cuts from middle distance shots to extreme close ups.
If you've seen the original than there is no rush to see the 1991 remake, the same applies vice versa. But it is an exciting movie with good acting that keeps the audience engaged throughout without doing anything spectacular.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Review of The Deep
On the 8th of November 2013 my Media Studies class and I went on a trip to the 'Everyman Cinema' in Baker Street a screening of an Icelandic film called 'The Deep'. The Deep is a 2012 drama film that tells the story of Gulli an Icelandic fisherman and how he miraculously survived six hours in freezing cold water off the souh coast of Iceland. The film is in Icelantic but has English subtitles.
The film is based in a small town in Iceland where fishing is the main source of income. Six men board a boat in order to go out for what would seem to be a seemingly standard fishing trip. Howeevr their boat capsizes and within five minutes, five of the six memebers of the crew have died. Gulli is left alone in the sea where the temperature is five degrees farenheit three miles away from land. Left alone with his thoughts Gulli ponders to what to he would do if he had one more day on earth. To his own astonishment Gulli is able to swim back to shore and climb over a rocky mountain back into his hometown where he collapses at the house of a stranger. The ambulance are called and Gulli recounts his amazing story to the news. Scientific procedures are confucted on Gulli in order to try and configure how he possibly survived in the situation although there is no conclusive explanation. The film ends the real interview with Gulli in hospital.
The shots throughout the film were a massive success. The film consisted of a lot of high tech photography, including underwater filming, that helped add to the spectable visuality of the film and help us engage in how horrible the prospect of Gulli's situation was. The acting throughout the film was also generally performed to a high level. Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who played the part of Gulli, gave a riveting performance throughout and was very good displaying the obvious physical, as well as emotional, stress that the Gulli was going through. If I had any criticism of the moie it would be that I thought the director made it to short. The film was only an hour and a half long. I believe had it had been longer the movie built up more connections between the characters and the audience and more side stories could have been enhanced.
As someone who is not generally a fan of foreign movies I would definitely recommend 'The Deep' as I believe it to be a triumph in portraying such a riveting story. Their is not a dull moment throughout and it is beautifully shot.
The film is based in a small town in Iceland where fishing is the main source of income. Six men board a boat in order to go out for what would seem to be a seemingly standard fishing trip. Howeevr their boat capsizes and within five minutes, five of the six memebers of the crew have died. Gulli is left alone in the sea where the temperature is five degrees farenheit three miles away from land. Left alone with his thoughts Gulli ponders to what to he would do if he had one more day on earth. To his own astonishment Gulli is able to swim back to shore and climb over a rocky mountain back into his hometown where he collapses at the house of a stranger. The ambulance are called and Gulli recounts his amazing story to the news. Scientific procedures are confucted on Gulli in order to try and configure how he possibly survived in the situation although there is no conclusive explanation. The film ends the real interview with Gulli in hospital.
As someone who is not generally a fan of foreign movies I would definitely recommend 'The Deep' as I believe it to be a triumph in portraying such a riveting story. Their is not a dull moment throughout and it is beautifully shot.
Sunday, 10 November 2013
Editing of Reservoir Dogs
After hours production and filming we finally had all the shots we needed and we were ready to edit are and complete our remake of the opening scene of Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs.' We started this procedure by of course putting all the footage onto the computer and going to Final Cut Pro, the application we are using in order to edit our footage.
Once all the footage was on the computer we now had the laborious task of watching every shot we had taken and choosing the best ones for the film. For certain peoples close up scenes we had taken a numerous amount of shots therefore it took a while to choose the individual parts we like best. When we finally had all of the footage ready we set about ordering the film so that we could work chronologically on editing the different shots.
Before we started editing the separate clips, we had to make the opening scene of the title sequence which is simply a black background with 'A film by Quentin Tarantino' in the middle. This sounds like an easy scene to recreate, however it took a while in order to find the correct font and shade of orange that matched the original in order to make our take on the classic as authentic as we could.
We then set about cutting down the different shots and getting the correct headings of the actors names for the close ups. We also had to slow down the scenes to 50% in order to get the slow motion filming that Tarantino uses correct. Upon finishing this we only had to tasks left, the rest of the credits which appear at the end of the opening scene and adding the music.
The credits at the end were rolling, which meant he had to find the appropriate affect and speed of roll in order to get it right. The completion of this meant that we only had one task left, this was to match the music with the film. George Baker's song 'Little Green Bag' is essential to providing the opening with even more swagger, therefore it was essential to get the timing of the song correct. We watched over a youtube clip of the original opening scene which indicated to us that the song finishes when producer Lawrence Bender is introduced at the end. After this task had been completed the film editing was done and the film was finally ready.
Once all the footage was on the computer we now had the laborious task of watching every shot we had taken and choosing the best ones for the film. For certain peoples close up scenes we had taken a numerous amount of shots therefore it took a while to choose the individual parts we like best. When we finally had all of the footage ready we set about ordering the film so that we could work chronologically on editing the different shots.
Before we started editing the separate clips, we had to make the opening scene of the title sequence which is simply a black background with 'A film by Quentin Tarantino' in the middle. This sounds like an easy scene to recreate, however it took a while in order to find the correct font and shade of orange that matched the original in order to make our take on the classic as authentic as we could.
We then set about cutting down the different shots and getting the correct headings of the actors names for the close ups. We also had to slow down the scenes to 50% in order to get the slow motion filming that Tarantino uses correct. Upon finishing this we only had to tasks left, the rest of the credits which appear at the end of the opening scene and adding the music.
The credits at the end were rolling, which meant he had to find the appropriate affect and speed of roll in order to get it right. The completion of this meant that we only had one task left, this was to match the music with the film. George Baker's song 'Little Green Bag' is essential to providing the opening with even more swagger, therefore it was essential to get the timing of the song correct. We watched over a youtube clip of the original opening scene which indicated to us that the song finishes when producer Lawrence Bender is introduced at the end. After this task had been completed the film editing was done and the film was finally ready.
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Reservoir Dogs Filming
On the 4th and 9th of October we filmed the opening scene of Reservoir Dogs. The cast consisted mainly of students from my Media Studies class as well as Rod a teacher from my school and Oscar Leyens a student in year 13 who stated he had always wanted to be in Reservoir Dogs. On the 4th of October we filmed most of the opening including everyone walking past the blue pick up truck, the shot of everyone walking into the distance and everyones close-up with the exception of Oscar Leyens who we filmed on the 9th. Josh and I were in the filming of the opening, playing Mr.Pink and Mr.Blonde, therefore Lara Foch, the other member of my group, did most of the filming. Whilst filming the opening we came across a number of problems that made things more difficult, these problems included:
The set: We were unable to film anywhere off of school grounds which provided us with a number of different problems. It meant that we our filming was constantly being disrupted and obscured by people wanting to get places around the school. Tjhis was especially irritating when we were filming the scene in which the cast is walking into the distance, because their was a large group of young students at the school coming back from swimming that were trying to get into school. This delayed our filming for a lengthly period of time.
The actors: Many of the students acting within our filming had no previous experience in the field of drama therefore it was hard and unnatural for them to perfom their different roles without feeling uncomfortable or laughing, this meant some particular scenes had to be filmed over and over again. We also had problems with actors getting impatient due to the amount of time filming took and having distractions around them. At times the actors also grew impatient due to having to repeat their scenes.
Time: We had a very limited amount of time to film, although two minutes of film seems extremly short at times we felt very rushed. Due to the fact that the other people had to film we were rushed for time therefore we didn't have any breaks between filming.
The set: We were unable to film anywhere off of school grounds which provided us with a number of different problems. It meant that we our filming was constantly being disrupted and obscured by people wanting to get places around the school. Tjhis was especially irritating when we were filming the scene in which the cast is walking into the distance, because their was a large group of young students at the school coming back from swimming that were trying to get into school. This delayed our filming for a lengthly period of time.
The actors: Many of the students acting within our filming had no previous experience in the field of drama therefore it was hard and unnatural for them to perfom their different roles without feeling uncomfortable or laughing, this meant some particular scenes had to be filmed over and over again. We also had problems with actors getting impatient due to the amount of time filming took and having distractions around them. At times the actors also grew impatient due to having to repeat their scenes.
Time: We had a very limited amount of time to film, although two minutes of film seems extremly short at times we felt very rushed. Due to the fact that the other people had to film we were rushed for time therefore we didn't have any breaks between filming.
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
Oscar Predictions
Here are my predictions for the Oscars on Sunday. I have written who I think will win and who I personally believe should win. I have made my predictions based on a mixture of recent award results, past academy results and my personal opinion.
I am not making predictions on any of the documentaries, foreign or shorts categories as I have have not seen enough of the movies.
BEST PICTURE
Will win: 12 Years a Slave
Should win: Gravity/ Wolf of Wall Street
I can't describe how frustrated I'm going to be when 12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture on Sunday. Gravity is more revolutionary and is by far the better and more memorable movie. In twenty years I think people may be surprised Wolf of Wall Street didn't win Best Picture.
BEST DIRECTOR
Will win: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Should win: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
An easy choice for me and probably for the academy as well. Cuaron has gone from strength to strength as a director and Gravity is visually perfect.
BEST ACTOR
Will win: Matthew McConaughey,Dallas Buyers Club
Should win: Matthew McConaughey,Dallas Buyers Club
What a year it's been for McConaughey who out of nowhere is no the front runner for the Best Actor gong. McConaughey have a wonderful performance in this emotive drama. His chances are also heightened by the academy's favouritism towards method performances.
BEST ACTRESS
Will win: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Should win: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
This oscar seemed decided from even before Blue Jasmine came out. Blanchett has won basically every award running up the oscars and seems certain to pick up her second oscar, her first for Best Actress.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Will win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Should win: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
The supporting acting prizes are definitely the more competive this year. Personally I believe that Leto's startling performance is deserving of the oscar and many other critics and award panels have agreed. But Fassbender and newcomer Barkhad Abdi, who won the BAFTA last week, are also in close contention for the award.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Will win: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Should win: Jennifer Lawrence
It has to be said there are no outstanding contenders for this award this year. I believe that Lea Seydoux of Blue is The Warmest Color should have won but she was not even nominated. Out of nominees I believe Lawrence is deserving but I believe she will be snubbed as the Academy won't want to award her a second oscar at the age of 23. Therefore it seems as if Nyong'o will get the award.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Will win: Frozen
Should win: Despicable Me 2
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Will win: American Hustle
Should win: Her
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Will win: Philomena
Should win: Wolf of Wall Street
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Will win: The Great Gatsby
Should win: American Hustle
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Will win: "Let it Go" from Frozen
Should win: "Her'' from Her
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Will win: Dallas Buyers Club
Should win: Dallas Buyers Club
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Will win: Gravity
Should win: Gravity
BEST FILM EDITING
Will win: Gravity
Should win: Gravity
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Will win: Gravity
Should win: Gravity/Nebraska
BEST SOUND EDITING
Will win: Gravity
Should win: Gravity
BEST SOUND MIXING
Will win: Gravity
Should win: Gravity
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Will win: Gravity
Should win: Gravity
Reservoir Dogs Pre Production
For our first major assignment for AS Media Studies were put into groups of three and instructed to remake the opening titles of a movie of our choice in order to help us prepare for the filming of the opening of a thriller. My group consisted of Lara Foch and Josh Jameson-Wallis. After half an hour of searching for a suitable opening title sequence we were still undecided and were ultimately given 'Reservoir Dogs.' Tarantino's Neo Noir classic was as appealing as it was intimidating to do as we knew we would have to work hard in order to make a fitting tribute to the opening sequence of the movie. We knew that the filming had to take place on the school grounds but their was nothing unrealistic in the opening scene for us to recreate, it was especially helpful that their was an almost identical blue pickup truck at school that features in the opening of the movie. We created a storyboard and ensemble a cast in order to move the production forward and we were given the date of Friday 4th of October to film.
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