ACHTENBLOG

Scorcese

2012-01-04T19:25:00.002-05:00

Return of the Jedi and the Phantom Mess

2011-12-02T15:58:00.000-05:00

I was seven years old when Star Wars was released. I don't think I would be going too far out on a limb to say that Star Wars was a huge part of my childhood. From 1977 to 1983 me and my brother Andrew were obsessed. 'Battlestar Galactica' tried to fill the void but we knew it was a cheap knock off (it didn't stop us from stealing a few BG toys anyway). The blu-ray release of Star Wars has been a way to reconnect to those childhood memories. I avoided the dvd's as I already had all the originals on Laserdisc (yes, Originals) but couldn't help myself to see it all in high definition, even if they are slightly bastardized.

As a filmmaker and a teacher of film writing I do find another layer of enjoyment to the craft of the original films. It gives me a perspective as to why the prequels were disappointing. It also makes me reflect on some of the shortcomings of the original films.

I would say that Return of the Jedi is the least successful of the first three films. It goes between cartoony Ewok action and some very dark moments between Vader, Luke and the Emperor. The tone is uneven. Still, it's an enjoyable film. What stuck out to me on the last viewing was the wonderful Speeder Bike chase. Watching the film again after seeing the prequels I noticed that the Speeder Bike scenes are very similar to Pod Racer scenes in Phantom Menace. It made me understand why I found the Pod Racer scenes monotonous and the Speeder scenes riveting.

In Return of the Jedi the Speeder Bike scene has so much weight to it. Our heroes have landed on the moon to put out the shield generator and if they are caught, all is lost. The consequence of failing is catastrophic. This means that the audience has much more anxiety watching the action unfold and they are desperate to see Luke and Leia succeed.

Compare this to the Pod Race scene. What is at stake here? A part for their broken ship. Sure, they need to get the ship fixed but does this really justify an immense action sequence? If they don't win the Pod Race will all be lost? It seems to me a couple of Jedi's could find a way out of this problem. The consequence of this scene isn't powerful. If the kid loses they'll come up with plan B. If Luke and Leia lose the whole rebel fleet will be destroyed and the war will be won by the Empire.

I'm not sure if they redid the sound on these scenes but they sound very much like the Pod Racing scene.

Happy Halloween.

2011-10-31T20:22:00.000-04:00

I love 'The Changeling'. A great 'spooky' flick.

Sexy Beast.

2011-10-31T20:20:00.003-04:00

One of the great films you've never heard of.

2011-10-31T20:19:00.001-04:00

Sunset Boulevard

2011-09-05T20:41:00.001-04:00

Sylvia and I caught Sunset Boulevard the other night on Turner Classic Movies. Sylvia hadn't seen the film before (which surprised me) and we came in a little late as William Holden turns into Norma Desmond's garage to escape the repo men. Since Sylvia hadn't seen it we sat back and enjoyed the rest of the film.

What was interesting to me as a writer and filmmaker is that Sylvia didn't know that Holden (Joe) was dead in the pool at the beginning of the film and the he was narrating from the grave. I didn't really think of the device much before and it seemed fairly clever that a dead man was narrating the story of how he got to be that way. That is until we finished the film and I told Sylvia what had happened in the beginning of the film. She much preferred that she didn't know what happened to him and found the film to be quite suspenseful and engaging. The fact that Joe was killed was quite a shock to her.

It's a concept that the writer always has to grapple with, the audience. How much to they know? How much to they need to know? What is the best time to reveal information and when are you going to get the greatest impact? Do you kill the suspense of the ending, knowing that he is going to die? Or do you enhance the experience by letting the audience in on it? Are they on the edge of their seats pleading with Joe?

At the end of the day you need to make a choice and that was the choice Wilder made. Is it wrong? No. It's just a choice. A great film whatever way you slice it.

Chaos Cinema

2011-08-31T17:55:00.001-04:00

Brando

2011-08-28T22:28:00.000-04:00

Coppola on Letterman.

2011-08-28T22:17:00.001-04:00

Coppola's Notes on Godfather

2011-08-27T23:14:00.000-04:00

I always liked Minghella's opposite method to adaptation. He would read the book and then begin his adaptation without looking at the original material. He felt that you would include the best parts from memory. His adaptions would take on a form of a dream. As Woody Allen says, 'whatever works'.

Haunting Cavner

2011-08-22T21:35:00.014-04:00

Here is one of my student films. As a filmmaker it's fun to remember the things going on behind the scenes.

There is an improv by Jeremiah where he grabs the pizza and asks Cavner if he can eat it. I am on the stairs off camera blowing take after take because I am laughing so hard. Or when Jeremiah (Jason) was in the shower, and being the excellent acting student he was, told me that he left his underwear on the floor for the sake of continuity and me telling him that the floor wasn't going to be in the shot (actors love to get naked for some reason). It was very hard finding a 'Bully' that could act so I opted for an actor that could act like a bully. Jeremiah was a really sweet guy and nothing like the neanderthal I wanted him to play.

Brad (Cavner) was great for letting us use his town house for the shoot after we couldn't get a location. His speech at the end is what got him the part... so sad and perfectly melancholy. I think Brad had a day job working for revenue Canada. It must have been odd going between one job and the other. Brad and Mark were true champions for my concept of the 'end credits'. I thought that it would be very Canadian to have them golfing in the middle of winter. Being ghosts they wouldn't be subject to drastic temperatures. In truth, it was freezing cold and Brad and Mark embraced their parts and went hunting for the golf ball with bravado. If they don't seem to be that cold... that's acting. They froze their asses off.

Mark Piper (Wally) disappeared after the shoot and didn't make the premiere (or see the film as far as I knew). He emailed me for a copy which I sent recently - I hope he got it. I stole Mark from my friend Vince's student film 'Notes on the Apocalypse'. He took the cigar very seriously in the film. My regret was that I should have had him in an old tweed suit. Made him a throwback to the old days. He is great in the last scene when Cavner gives his maudlin speech about what he 'could have done.'. He is all reaction and the reaction is caring and cynical at the same time. He knows Cavner needs to 'get over it'. The good laugh in the early part of the film where they exchange 'That's it? That's it? That's all.' was improvised by Brad and Mark.

Carol showed up and acted in a goofy Gillette commercial for us. I thought she was great and a good sport so I cast her as Jason's level headed girlfriend. I always thought it was funny that everything Cavner did in his attempts to haunt just got blamed on her. A girl can only take so much.

The Ouija board was made for me by my cousin Dave and the scene took hours to shoot. Poor Jeremiah had to perform the whole thing three ways from three different angles. One angle with Brad in the shot and the other without (and just between you and me, I don't think he learned his lines). He had to act the overhead with Brad guiding the piece and without. He also had to hit all the marks to spell the letters. It was important that the audience was ahead of him in spelling out the words.

I was also a big fan of 'Wrath of Khan' so I snuck it into the film for some inside fun.

I stole the composer Chad Desrochers from Vince's film 'Notes on the Apocalypse' as well. We listened to a few variations of themes he came up with and I really liked the quirky bit he came up with that became the score. It's playful and fun and riffs well on horror conventions when it needs to. I think tone is key to a film and I thought Chad did a great job juggling it. His sad piano cue near the end worked perfectly. I also asked him to come up with an arrangement for the end credits that encompassed all the themes and he pulled it off effortlessly.

On the whole we shot all the Wally and Cavner scenes over two days in February of '98. We only had six hours in the hockey arena on day 2. It was a crew of three, Laureen, Vince and I. Vince lit the scenes, Laureen shot it and Vince worked the boom. I directed and the actors acted.

We shot three more days at Brad's house. We had a bigger crew with Lee and Derek doing the sound. Josy wore a producer hat with a smattering of set dressing on the side. I think the entire twenty minute film cost me $1500 dollars.

Enjoy.

Haunting Cavner from M Achtenberg on Vimeo.

Things do get lost in the world of 'independent' productions. At the beginning of the film I wrote that a very large woman and a very small boy are watching as Cavner lays dead under the car. The boy was going to tug on her coat and say 'He should have looked both ways'. The large woman is impressed by the boy's reading of the situation and is delighted that he had learned something from Cavner's unfortunate situation. Cavner protests. I couldn't get a large woman and a little boy so I settled for myself and Vince. Not quite Laurel and Hardy but what can you do? I'm not sure you can see it but the entire crowd was the crew and a few friends. Josy is the one walking by in the background. Laureen is the only one not in the initial shot as she's working the jib and camera.

I also wrote a scene where Cavner 'wanders' back home to find his mother packing away his belongings. It's a touching scene until she discovers his stash of porn and condoms. He is mortified - she just laughs. His father joins in the sad laughter. Cavner flees and it confronted by Wally who says that he doesn't need to be ashamed or embarassed, he's dead after all. 'Live a little'.

By the way Vince, they fired up those colliders and nothing catastrophic happened.

Twixt

2011-08-08T20:41:00.000-04:00

I am always excited at the prospect of a Coppola film. This isn't some kind of hope that he will execute another masterpiece but a curiosity to see what he is dreaming up (literally in this case as it's based on a dream). So many people react with expectations from a film giant like Coppola. I expect the unexpected. I want the unexpected. There are few filmmakers with as diverse filmography as Coppola and I welcome less of the same.

Gulp!

2011-08-06T12:34:00.001-04:00

Writing with Light

2011-06-20T22:40:00.001-04:00

Great Hitchcock Trailers

2011-06-20T22:35:00.000-04:00

Hitchcock was not only a great filmmaker but a great marketer and pitchman as well.

More Slogans...

2011-05-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

Screenplays come in three sizes: Long, Too Long and Much Too Long.

Exposition is BORING unless it is in the context of some present dramatic tension or crisis. So start with an action that creates tension, then provide the exposition in terms of the present developments.

PASSIVITY is a capital crime in drama.

'Comedy is hard' (last words of Edmund Kean). Comedy plays out best in the master-shot. Comic structure is simply dramatic structure but MORE SO: neater, shorter, faster. Don't attempt comedy until you are really expert in structuring dramatic material.

More From Mackendrick...

2011-05-01T18:13:00.004-04:00

PROPS are the director's key to the design of 'incidental business': unspoken suggestions for behaviour that can prevent 'Theatricality'.

The writer should consider this as well.

A character in isolation is hard to make dramatic. Drama usually involves CONFLICT. If the conflict is internal, then the dramatist needs to personify it though the clash with other individuals.

Self-pity in a character does not evoke sympathy.

BEWARE OF SYMPATHY between characters. That is the end of drama.

excerpts from 'On Film-making' by Alexander Mackendrick. Edited by Paul Cronin.

Great advice from Mackendrick

2011-04-30T15:50:00.000-04:00

It's time for another viewing of 'Sweet Smell of Success' and 'The Lady Killers'. Here is some great advice from Alexander Mackendrick.

The Director's Cut

2011-04-11T15:24:00.001-04:00

I recently watched the expanded edition of James Cameron's 'Avatar'. Despite the dismissive criticism I've heard about the film I find it to be a well crafted piece of entertainment. It's impressive in so many ways and I've always championed Cameron's ability to work with story. For him the visual effects are icing on the cake of a good story and strong characters. A snob might say that these elements are weak compared to 'high drama' but I won't buy into an argument like that. Cameron makes action adventure films and he does an excellent job in that genre.

This post isn't intended to promote Cameron or Avatar but present a discussion of Director's Cuts so I will follow that thought. The blu-ray of Avatar had a great 'making of' documentary and a lot of deleted scenes. I watched the entire documentary and was impressed at the scale of the accomplishment of the film. The deleted scenes got me thinking about how rarely I like deleted scenes. There is usually a degree of curiosity about elements of story or character that didn't make it into the final cut but in the end I find that I'm nodding in agreement that the scene was cut. Most often these scenes are digressions that don't advance the story. Remember that the audience wants to know what is going to happen next and if the scene doesn't advance the plot then they start to become restless. I have tried many times to watch deleted scenes on dvd and I have found that I lose interest very quickly. There is a reason why they were deleted.

This leads me to thinking about director's cuts that worked well and others that were a waste of time. Here are some...

Blood Simple: The Coen brothers revisited their first film and removed three minutes. The Coen's tightened up the film. The theatrical release featured a fake film historian who introduces the film to the audience. The Coen't sense of humour is at work here as the segment took as much time as they removed so the running time of the director's cut and the original were the same. Unfortunately the introduction is not on the current dvd edition (although it's on an earlier release).

The Abyss: The theatrical version of this film featured a 'what the f*#k?' ending. A well crafted action adventure film that didn't make any sense in the end. Cameron released a director's cut that reinstated an entire subplot about the world on the brink of nuclear war. The aliens of the deep were going to annihilate the human race if it wasn't for Ed Harris. This missing piece makes the film make a lot more sense. Cameron said that when the film was released no one was making an audience sit through a two and a half hour film. In 1989 it was thought that long films were death at the box office. 'Dances with Wolves' came out a year later proving them wrong - a three hour box office hit. Some might say this is ironic as Cameron's own 'Avatar' has been called a version of 'Dances with Wolves' which is itself a version of the Pocahontas story. Apparently there is a director's version of 'Dances with Wolves' but I have not seen it so will not comment.

Blade Runner: Ridley Scott has released many versions of this film and most people would say that the last version is the best version of the film. The big cuts were the original gumshoe voice-over and a much more ambiguous ending. There is a definitive blu-ray/dvd set with all versions of the film so you can watch the one you like the most (nudge, nudge Mr. Lucas).

Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Steven Spielberg didn't feel the film was complete when it was originally released. He negotiated to make a theatrical director's cut to finish the film and the studio agreed so long as he showed the inside of the alien spaceship. Spielberg agreed and tried to finish the film the way he wanted it. In the end the interior of the spaceship was a big mistake and Spielberg went back to the editing room to finally make the film he envisioned in the first place. The current edition is the 'definitive' edition and a great blu-ray to buy. Those night skies really needed high definition to look good.

Touch of Evil: Technically not a director's cut, 'Touch of Evil' was recut to the notes that Welles had given the studio about their cut of his film. Originally all the notes were ignored. Walter Murch was hired to make Welles' changes to both sound and picture. The film is now much closer to what Welles had envisioned when making it.

Mr. Arkadin: The criterion people put together a definitive edition of Welles' film 'Mr. Arkadin' (also known as 'Confidential Report'. There were many versions of the film around the world so Criterion put together all of these films and tried to reconstruct the film in a way that Welles had suggest to friend and confidant Peter Bogdanovich. Again, not technically a director's cut but a vast improvement on the hacked versions that were floating around. God bless those criterion folks!

Lawrence of Arabia: From Imdb -

Runtime:

216 min | UK: 228 min (director's cut) | UK: 187 min (1970 re-release) | UK: 210 min (original version) | UK: 222 min (premiere version) | USA: 227 min (restored roadshow version) - initially shortened for audiences, Lean eventually worked on restoring elements to his remarkable film.

Das Boot: Originally shot for television and then re-imagined as a feature film for American audiences, Das Boot featured a more comprehensive story line and a really amazing 5.1 surround treatment. This is one of my favourite experiences in a movie theatre. My good friend Vince and I hit a matinee of this film when it was rereleased and we were exhausted by the end of the film. We literally felt like we were in a submarine, being hunted down, for three hours. Sublime.

So what about those film that didn't need any tampering?

E.T. - Digitally removing guns lessens our tension. The original was perfect - no need for tampering.

Star Wars - Greedo shoots first? Why kill Han Solo's entire character arc? Some of the improved effects were nice to see but the story worked fine originally.

Empire Strikes Back: Again, Cloud City looked a lot better than it did in the original but other than that nothing is added that improves the original.

Return of the Jedi: Ditto.

Apocalypse Now Redux: By calling it redux Coppola tries to sidestep the idea of 'Director's Cut'. It is a restoration of his original cut of the film. Although I do find Redux to be worthy of interest I do prefer the original. In particular the French Plantation scene, although interesting, happens so late on the journey that it's too much of a digression - we want to get to Kurtz. Spending a half an hour on the political dialogue of these French ghosts happens much too late and doesn't advance the story. I did see this film in the theatre and I found it much more trippy and bizarre than the original and I applaud that. That said, I prefer the original film.

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy: I'm sure the fans of the series love the director's editions of the films. I'm indifferent. I've seen both and like both but I can't really remember what the director's cut added to the film other than time. I'm sure the fans would tear me a new one on this comment but there you go.

I'm sure I've missed many films here but most of these are on the high end of the spectrum. I can't really speak to the '40 Year Old Virgin' or 'Pearl Harbor'.

One film that might be of interest to some readers is the television version of 'The Godfather' called 'The Godfather Saga'. They combined 'The Godfather' and 'The Godfather Part II' into one film for television. They created a linear timeline where you first meet Vito Corleone in Sicily and play out the flashback sequences from part II, then move to 'The Godfather' and then to the storyline of Michael as head of the family and his dealings with Fredo and Hyman Roth. There were other versions released as well. There is a good wikipedia entry on the topic. There were also new scenes added that didn't appear in the original films. The big change here is taking away the juxtaposition of Michael and his father in part II. The juxtaposition of story makes the audience think about the differences between Vito and his son and how they wielded power and for what reason. Does this affect the richness of Part II? If you can find the Saga you can tell me (it's very rare).

Sidney Lumet

2011-04-09T22:39:00.001-04:00

One of the first books I ever read on the art of filmmaking was Sidney Lumet's 'Making Movies". It was the perfect introduction to a world that I wanted to be a part of. It was level-headed and even-keeled and didn't veer away from a life spent in the craft of telling stories in pictures. Sidney Lumet was a writer's director - a true story teller. Unlike many directors that want to create a style that leads the audience to wonder about the 'auteur' behind the camera, Lumet always put story and performance first. As a director he was always transparent and unseen. The only way you could know you were seeing a Lumet picture was that it was so good.

There are many great films to rhyme off - Serpico, 12 Angry Men, Fail-Safe, The Verdict, Dog Day Afternoon, The Pawnbroker and Network. Every one of these films enunciate Lumet's great contribution to filmmaking - all were great stories and all featured memorable performances. Lumet had an ear for great material and he made those scripts into great films. Network is the only film I know of that credits the writer with the title card 'by Paddy Chayefsky''. Even if this was a stipulation from Chayefsky, you always get the sense that Lumet was a true collaborator. He respected the talent of those he worked with and he got the most out of it. He was the greatest journey-man director of his time. He will certainly be missed and our only consolation is that he left us so many great films to revisit. For this he will live on for a very long time.

The Courtroom Drama Part II

2011-03-14T21:19:00.008-04:00

I was thinking more about John Patterson's criticism of the courtroom drama. In particular I was thinking about the third act problem that he identified in his article. He called it a crime against cinema and I do think he has a point. You might call it a cinematic crime to lessen the issue but here it is.

In a good movie, action drives the story. I don't mean action in terms of shooting guns or wrecking cars, I mean action in terms of the decisions that characters make. One active decision leads the character to the next beat of the story. For example, a character decides to 'leave home to save the princess'. He makes a decision that leads to more action on his part. It doesn't matter what he says in the dialogue, he is showing us his character by making decisions that lead to actions. The actions are where the story is told, especially in film. As a visual medium we watch our protagonist move from one decision to another, each one moving us closer to the resolution of the story.

The third act of the courtroom drama takes away the active decisions of the protagonist and the visual narrative stops. A courtroom drama ends up cutting from one lawyer to another to a reaction shot to a judges gavel to the agitated crowd and back again. The film story becomes a play. The thrust of the drama is now in legal arguments. There is no more action to be taken and we sit and contemplate and hope our hero wins.

What usually saves the third act is the new information that comes to light. A witness that we couldn't find, a legal precedent, or evidence that has been missed. The audience is still compelled to find out the truth. In a lot of ways they become a part of the jury even though they have been heavily biased by the writer who to root for.

So it's true that the third act of a legal thriller commits the cinematic crime of abandoning visual story telling. Yet, if you've done a good job of building a compelling story and more importantly, compelling characters, the audience will forgive and will be drawn into the climax of the picture.

As a post script, I couldn't help but think of another excellent courtroom drama - JFK.

The Courtroom Drama

2011-03-14T15:36:00.012-04:00

Today I read the article deriding the courtroom drama where the author John Patterson says that courtroom dramas are a 'crime against cinema'. He says:

The arrival of handsome-super-lawyer flick The Lincoln Lawyer reminds me of an old bugbear: we need to crack down on courtroom movies and legal thrillers, and especially courtroom-showdown climaxes in otherwise non-legal movies. Getting the law involved just kills a movie stone dead every time.

In that last category alone there are dozens of movies that simply throw in the storytelling towel in the last act and allow their narratives to become enmeshed in the courtroom Sargasso of legal back-and-forth, declamatory utterances by the attorneys and whatever character-acting old geezer is today manning the bench. Films as diverse as Eureka, They Drive By Night and White Squall were all roaring along nicely until they screeched to a halt in courtrooms 20 minutes before their actual running-times expired.

I've often said that court room dramas and sports films are successful because they have a built in drama - one side must oppose the others and there is always a winner. In drama we try to find conflict and opposing goals and both of these genres of storytelling have this naturally. We know the Superbowl is going to produce a winner and a loser. We know that OJ is going to be found guilty or innocent and the glory will go to the winner.

Both genres also produce a tough problem for the writer. How do you combat the cliche that comes with the genre? This is what Patterson is reacting to. Since we already know that there will be a winner and a loser in the black and white game of court, how do you keep it fresh? How do you write a Judge that isn't a prickly antagonist? The genre is very tired and I'm not sure that fixing the plot or structure is what's needed. What the writer needs to do is involve the audience in the characters. It is not important what the outcome of the drama is (we know the underdog will win) but the journey of the characters in that drama. I remember when Titanic came out I was skeptical of the film as I knew how it was going to end. The trick is to get the audience to care about your characters. Titanic worked for audiences as they didn't know how it was going to end for Jack. More important than that, Cameron make the audience care what was going to happen to Jack.

The great Orson Welles opened two films with the death of the protagonists - Citizen Kane and Othello. In the case of Othello, this was Welles invention for the Shakespeare play. He shows you how the film will end and then backtracks to make you care about the characters and go on their journey with them. The audience may say 'how did you get there?' but they know where the story ends before it begins. This is what the sport film and court drama have to deal with. We know the outcome but we don't know how we get there exactly. What is the twist in the story? What does the protagonist go through to get there. What is their individual need?

I will depart from John Patterson on this. There are great courtroom dramas and the genre is difficult to be original in but with good characters a good film is produced. I love 'Witness for the Prosecution'. I love it because I like love 'Sir Wilfred' played with zest by Charles Laughton. I love 'To Kill a Mockingbird' because I love Atticus, Scout and Jem. I love 'The Verdict' and Paul Newman's search for redemption. I agree with Patterson's choices of great courtroom dramas - Anatomy of a Murder and Paths of Glory, both films with great protagonists. I like 'A Few Good Men' and 'Compulsion' but I don't love them.

One film I keep going back to is Pakula's 'Presumed Innocent'. The story's twist is that the prosecution becomes the defence. A good turn of plot but carried by a flawed protagonist who has cheated on his wife with the victim of the murder. The characters carry film and the film is populated with top notch actors - Ford, Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia and John Spencer. The Judge role is of the cliched type but works fine with a little bit of street atitude and a good performance by Paul Winfield.

I will also stand in defence of 'The Rainmaker'. I don't know why this film gets beaten up so often. It's a great ensemble piece starring Danny Devito, Matt Damon, Mickey Rourke, Dean Stockwell, Roy Scheider, Danny Glover, Jon Voight and the beautiful Virginia Madsen. If the criticism of this film is 'it's not the Godfather' then it's not criticism. I really enjoy 'The Rainmaker' as a great character piece. I think the Matt Damon/Clare Danes relationship is pushing the melodramatic but as a courtroom thriller the film is excellent. It's got a great score and a plethora of unique characters. What more can you ask for? Oh right, 'The Godfather' and 'Apocalypse Now'.

If I might sidetrack for a moment, I remember watching a tv review of Woody Allen's 'Bullets Over Broadway' and the reviewer said that the film was good but 'no Annie Hall'. What the fuck is that? I guess this is why we call it a review and not proper criticism. 'Bullets Over Broadway' was an excellent comedy and 'The Rainmaker' is a good courtroom drama. We don't need to hang an albatross over the neck of great filmmakers to say that their work always needs to be universal and spectacular. 'Touch of Evil' is no Citizen Kane. 'Burn Before Reading' is no Fargo. 'A Prairie Home Companion' is no Nashville. 'Witness for the Prosecution' is no Some Like it Hot. But their all fine films.

A good film is a good film. Courtroom dramas have a legacy and they also have a lot of cliche. Often it's hard to pull away from the plot conventions but the trick is in the characters. Make it compelling and make original characters. It can rise above the convention. The third act is usually a verbal argument where the two sides verbally joust and the unexpected twists of plot are revealed. It is the crutch of the genre. Great characters will make it worth it and should forgive the mechanics of the plot.

For the sports movie? How about another screening of 'Slap Shot'? We miss you Paul Newman.

Dropbox

2011-03-13T15:30:00.002-04:00

I discovered dropbox through Gizmodo and Lifehacker and I have to say that it's a great tool for a writer who is working on several systems.

What is dropbox? It's a program that allows you to share a folder no matter where you are. I've been working on some writing projects where I usually put my files on a USB key and lug them around from my desktop to my laptop. I try to back everything up locally which is fine except sometimes you edit something locally and forget to replace the file on the usb key. I'm sure a more organized writer would say that it isn't a problem to do this but I have been known to confuse myself as to what draft I'm working on.

Enter dropbox. I install dropbox and get an account and I put my files in there. I install dropbox on my mac laptop and it automatically synchronizes to the dropbox on my pc and vice versa. Forgot my usb key? No problem. The only thing I need is a wifi connection and these are publicly available in the places I go to write (coffee shop or pub). Those without free wifi don't have my business.

In full disclosure, I am no way affiliated with dropbox. I love that it's free and it's been a great addition to my workflow. I recommend it.

Schizopolis!

2011-02-21T15:30:00.001-05:00

I highly recommend this film and Soderbergh's book written around the same time. All of this is before his meteoric rise (I've always wanted to use that phrase) to the top of the film world. I'm not sure where he is now but he's one smart and creative cookie.

'Getting Away With It'

Brilliant stuff.

Homage

2011-02-01T11:59:00.000-05:00

A great homage to 'The Lady from Shanghai' by Woody Allen. Great fun.

Christine Fellows!

2011-01-31T22:28:00.007-05:00

Christine Fellows is releasing a new album February 1st, 2011 and I thought I'd introduce her on the blog. Her music is eclectic and strange, wonderful and melodic. The best compliment is that she is a true original. I've often derided her hometown Winnipeg over the years. I went through the city year after year as a teenager and could only remember the extreme cold, the extreme humidity and the goddamn mosquitoes. What could possibly come out of such a wretched place?

Christine Fellows!

Her wikepedia entry has her born in Windsor and living in other wonderful places so maybe Winnipeg is still wretched, but blessed with immigration.

Of course, she isn't the only talent beating from the 'heart of the continent'. The Weakerthans and Guy Maddin are providing more than enough creativity to put the rest of the country to rest. Unique. Great.

I Love, Love, Love, The Third Man.

2011-01-07T00:09:00.001-05:00

Reed, Welles and Greene!

Find that on the Torrents...

2011-01-04T23:36:00.001-05:00

Kubrick Interview (1 of 9)

2011-01-04T23:21:00.002-05:00

More Welles

2011-01-04T23:08:00.002-05:00

Classic Izzard

2010-11-30T15:12:00.001-05:00

The Conversation

2010-11-20T21:42:00.001-05:00

Support Ruffus!

2010-11-17T22:03:00.000-05:00

http://www.indiegogo.com/ruffus-the-dog

Orson Welles - A great battle sequence.

2010-11-15T17:25:00.001-05:00

Welles could even make a battle sequence unique and original.

Elliot Brood

2010-11-14T14:00:00.001-05:00

Woody Allen

2010-10-03T11:47:00.001-04:00

I've been enjoying Eric Lax's book 'Conversations with Woody Allen' and I thought this bit of 'wisdom' was perfect.

"…I was saying that I want to obey the story and if you obey the needs of the creation of the piece of fiction, the meaning reveals itself. And for me naturally, it's going to reveal itself in a particular way. Years ago Paddy Chavefsky said to me. "When a movie is failing or a play is failing"—he put it so brilliantly—"cut out the wisdom". Marshall Brickman said it a different way. I told you this before—but just as cogently, just as insightful: "The message of the film can't be in the dialogue." And this is a truth that's hard to live by because the temptation is to occasionally take a moment and philosophize and put in your wisdom, put in your meaning. I did that in Match Point to a certain degree—they're sitting around the table and they’re talking about faith being the path of least resistance. But the truth of the matter is, if the meaning doesn't come across in the action, you have nothing going for you. It doesn't work. You can't just have guys sitting around making hopefully wise insights or clever remarks because while they're saving these things the audience is not digesting them the way the author intends—"Hey did you just hear that Shavian epigram?" They’re looking at it as the dialogue of characters in a certain situation: "He's saying this because she's thinking this and he wants to get on her good side. ..." They're watching the action of the story. When you lose sight of that, and we all do - I certainly do - you think you’re making your point you think you're infusing your piece with wisdom, but you're committing suicide. You're just militating against the audience’s enjoyment."

Art of Time Ensemble - Martin Tielli

2010-10-01T17:36:00.003-04:00

I am a huge fan of the Rheostatics as well as the solo work of Martin Tielli, the band's lead guitarist and co-songwriter. I am also a fan of the 'Art of Time Ensemble' who have been doing classical arrangements of popular music. You might balk that Martin's work isn't really 'popular music' and I would agree. It's too sophisticated and strange but I would argue that it is accessible to a popular audience that doesn't mind a change of signature or time.

Here is the original video produced by Justin Stephenson.

Justin and I once talked about how cool the Rheostatics' video 'Shaved Head' was as it was done live 'off the floor. It's a great homage.

If you ever get a chance to see Martin play, jump at it. He's a great artist and an intense performer (the other Rheos are awesome as well!).

If you're ever in Toronto check out the 'Art of Time Ensemble'. The shows are a spectacular mix of popular and classical music. It's an education and a profound sonic experience.

Here is ex-Barenaked Lady Steven Page doing a cover of Radiohead's 'Paranoid Android' with the 'Art of Time Ensemble'.

The Other Side of the Wind - Orson Welles

2010-09-26T16:01:00.006-04:00

Dot

2010-09-20T18:16:00.008-04:00

I worked for an animation company for over four years as a writer, director, editor and compositor and one of the things that people would ask you is 'how can you stand it?' How can you work in such minutia and not go stark raving mad? Once you've worked in a place where a shot takes you a day (or two) for five or ten seconds of footage you realize that it's a lot like meditation. Instead of thinking about finishing something you get caught up in the process of doing it. Bit by bit you chisel away at the thing until it satisfies you. If you don't enjoy the process you might go crazy.

A writer has the same problem as the stop motion animator. You need to go slowly, moment by moment, beat by beat, until you finish the script. You can't just paint broad strokes and call it a day. You are in the trenches gaining a foot a day. I wrote a new feature this summer and I felt good getting in two pages a day. If I could hit five pages it was an inspired day. If I could hit ten then my muse was certainly sitting on my shoulder although I don't remember ever hitting such dizzying heights.

The 'Making of"

David O. Selznick

2010-09-16T14:13:00.001-04:00

"I stopped making films in 1948 because I was tired. I had been producing, at the time, for twenty years . . . . Additionally it was crystal clear that the motion-picture business was in for a terrible beating from television and other new forms of entertainment, and I thought it a good time to take stock and to study objectively the obviously changing public tastes . . . ."
-- David O Selznick

I read this quote today and thought it was relevant to the current discussion of the future of the film business. It's great to see that Selznick didn't run around like a headless chicken, grasping at any new thing that might become the 'future' of cinema. There is a lot of that going on today.

Selznick was right about the motion-picture business as television did take a hearty bite of the profits of the movies. Yet, for most practitioners of the craft of making films, television didn't mean the end of creativity and work. Some people stayed in the motion pictures and some went off and made television. In fact, television created more jobs for people who wanted to tell stories with a camera and a microphone. On top of that, many great motion picture artists were trained and found great success starting out in the television business. The great Sidney Lumet, Paddy Chayefsky, and John Frankenheimer (just to name a few) came out of making television.

We are in a period of flux once again. People love television and they love movies. I don't see the business of telling stories in pictures going the way of vaudeville. The audience will get what they pay for, that is for sure, and that is the centre of the issue. It was great that Selznick had the fortune to wait and see. For now, we'll just have to keep our heads above water and hope to see land in the near future. It's good to see that we aren't alone.

"History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce."
--Karl Marx

Bet you didn't know I was a thespian.

2010-09-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

Don't worry, you read that right.

Rod Serling

2010-09-01T14:51:00.014-04:00

Rob Mills sent me this interview with Rod Serling. He has always been an impressive writer, not only for his creativity but his prodigious output. On IMDB he is credited with 148 episodes of 'The Twilight Zone' over 5 years. Twenty Six episodes of 'Night Gallery'. It is astounding to think of this kind of creative output. He says 'it lacked consistency'... no shit.

Having written on a few Television series I'll tell you it's hard work to come up with creative ideas over and over again. Many days are spent staring at walls (or the back of your eyelids). I've always been drawn to feature films as they are one-offs and usually have a bigger scope (although this is changing). You develop an idea, you write it and then rewrite it until you're happy. With television you are always trying to expand the idea sometimes to the point of 'jumping the shark'.

On the last television series I story edited I said to the writers that episode 20 to 26 were going to be the toughest. This turned out to be true as predicted. It's hard to be original over and over again, especially when you are trying to out-do yourself every time. I think the only advantage that the 'Twilight Zone' had was that it wasn't locked into a single concept or a character. You could really reinvent the show every time. Still... 148 episodes. Wow.

Steven Soderbergh

2010-08-30T13:46:00.002-04:00

A very insightful interview.

Welles' Last Interview.

2010-08-25T18:33:00.002-04:00

Monster Factory Webisodes

2010-08-23T15:50:00.000-04:00

I will be making my internet acting debut on September 6th. I play the drama teacher in 'Breaking the Fourth Wall'.

Stay tuned.

Sunday Fun

2010-08-15T15:41:00.001-04:00

Anachronisme
Uploaded by LesSingesHurlants. - Arts and animation videos.

The Useless Character

2010-08-04T16:00:00.005-04:00

My ankles were ravaged by Mosquitoes last weekend and it has been taking it's toll on my sleep (the damn itch!). I got up at five this morning scratching myself into madness. I decided to get up and go downstairs and try to distract myself. I ended up throwing on a thriller that was playing on the movie channel - 'Whiteout'. I didn't bother to check it's ratings on rottentomatoes but I did remember seeing the movie poster and thought an Antarctica thriller might ease the itch.

I don't intend to do movie reviews here but I did find that this film had a recurring problem that I've seen over and over in the thriller genre - the useless character. This is a character in the film that keeps on popping up only to console or help the protagonist. It's usually very easy to spot the useless character because they are often an actor of some stature and they have very little to do with the plot.

Spoilers Ahead.

'Whiteout' is a little murder mystery/thriller involving a female Marshall who is serving her last duty in the Antarctic and is about to hang up her badge for good. A few days before she is set to leave she discovers a man murdered out on the tundra and is determined to find out what happened. Her confidant and best friend on the continent is a doctor. He is soothing to her. He is trying to help her and to protect her. He is also played by Tom Skerritt. You may need to IMDB that name if you are young but you'll definitely know who he is when you see him. A half hour into the movie I said to myself, 'why the hell is Tom Skerritt needed for this crappy role'? He's barely a character. The answer is that he is the culprit.

Next up is 'Angels and Demons'. Ewan McGregor is cast as the helpful and passionate priest who is aiding our protagonist along the way. He is absolutely useless to the plot so a half hour in you know that he's the bad guy. Why else cast Ewan McGregor in this boring role?

A few lesser watched films - Robert Downey Jr. in 'US Marshalls' or Micheal Caine in Depalma's 'Dressed to Kill'.

It takes a lot of craft to write a thriller and it is essential that all characters have their own needs. The problem with the films that I've just mentioned is that these characters have no need of their own except to 'help' the protagonist. A good rule of thumb could be to turn the point of view of the film around. Can the film work if you change the protagonist to Tom Skerritt's character? What happens if you write it from his point of view? What is his selfish desire? Does he want to help her because he's desperately in love with her? What is his own motivation in the story?

I'm sure some members of the audience were surprised by the ending but with a 7% rating on the tomato meter most people found it predictable and boring. It sure didn't help my itching (as I continue as I'm writing this).

Postscript:

The trailer is nothing like the movie. As relating to my last post - the trailer does a decent job of making the film look far more interesting than it is.

The Teaser...

2010-07-31T09:58:00.004-04:00

There are many times that I wish that the Studio marketing machines would only put out an awesome teaser for any given film. When a teaser is done well it can peak your interest in a film and make you giddy with excitement. This Teaser for 'Bram Stoker's Dracula' was all I needed to go and buy a ticket on the first night of release.

I also remember being equally excited by Barry Levinson's 'Toys'. They let Robin Williams loose and it was enough for me to want to see it without knowing a thing about it. I haven't seen the film in a long time but do remember that it seems a little prophetic with the predator drones dropping bombs on people with their pilots in an arm chair somewhere.

This teaser for Jerry Seinfeld's 'Comedian' was pitch perfect. It inspired a lot of copy cats.

Most recently Christopher Nolan's 'Inception' came out with a great teaser. No need for a big explanation (although it seems that it wouldn't help anyway). Nolan seems to be the smartest guy in the room these days and it's worked out well for him. For me, the teaser is enough.

I'm not naive enough to think the studio would gamble their entire fortunes on a vague trailer. There is a lot of money invested and you want to get the most exposure. Fair enough. However, compare these teasers to those trailers that run for three minutes and give you the entire film beat by beat only holding back the surprise ending that you can figure out will go one way or the other. There is an old saying that 'Less is More'. You know, 'keep it simple'. Consider the 1999 thriller 'Arlington Road'. It was a decent thriller with two top notch actors (Tim Robbins and Jeff Bridges) and the marketing department ruined the film for many people by giving away all of the surprises. What do we love about a well-crafted thriller? Surprises!! I remember the filmmakers being perturbed about how much of the movie was given away in just a two and a half minutes. You can hear the viewers conversation now, "I don't need to see this film, they just showed me everything". And you know the filmmakers edited this for months, crafting every story beat and every thrill. I imagine there were many sleepless nights, kept awake second guessing whether or not it was working. Well, it didn't matter that much if you saw the trailer first.

I waited until it came out on video before giving it a shot. The film pretty much broke even at the box office and I suspect that, given a better trailer, would have exceeded that easily. Just look at the juggernaut that 'The Sixth Sense' became with that pull the rug out beneath the audience surprise ending. 'Arlington Road' was dead in the water before it even hit the theatres.

The only way I know how to combat such moronic and uninspired marketing is to cover your ears, close your eyes and mumble to yourself until it's over (la la la, I'm not listening).

Story Logic

2010-07-26T12:36:00.003-04:00

I sat down to watch "Law Abiding Citizen" a few weeks ago and I have to admit that I turned the movie off part way through. The film started off somewhat promising as a man's wife and daughter are brutally murdered and the prosecutors in the case make a deal with the most criminally responsible character in order to gain a conviction. The fellow gets a plea deal that puts him back on the street in just a few short years. It seemed like the film had a very strong theme that was going to expose the failings of the criminal justice system.

Why did I turn it off? Groaners. I think it was William Goldman who said that the audience will allow you one groaner - after that you are on your own. The groaner is usually a leap in logic in the story that gets the writer out of a jam and allows him to put the story back on the rails and in the right direction. 'Law Abiding Citizen' went further than this for me as it was becoming abundantly clear that the premise was too unbelievable for me to go on. I see this flaw often when I am teaching. Often the student's script reads fine with good dialogue and characters but they build the story on a weak foundation that doesn't feel plausible. This is often based in poor character motivation where the characters are acting on behalf of the writer and what the writer wants to happen rather than what makes sense for the characters.

(small spoilers ahead)

The first revenge killing in 'Law Abiding Citizen' takes place at the execution of the other man responsible for the murder of the man's wife and child. Our protagonist has rigged the execution chamber to ensure a very brutal death. Plausible? Not to me but ok, go on. Our man then hunts down the other killer and pulls a Dexter on him. The protagonist is arrested and is incarcerated for this revenge murder. While in jail he ends up murdering a fellow inmate - happens... ok. Then the big groan comes and I punch the stop button. The district attorney is meeting with the Judge from the earlier trial when she is shot in the head, with her own cellphone. Our protagonist, while still in jail, has managed to kill the Judge by pre-rigging her cellphone. I have a big laugh and am out. Am I really expected to believe this?

The Suspension of Disbelief.

The suspension of disbelief is a very subjective thing. I'm sure others watched and enjoyed this film but I was taken out of the story by a logic that just wasn't working for me. I can sit through 'Lord of the Rings' or 'Star Wars' and buy into it hook line and sinker but 'Law Abiding Citizen' didn't work. Part of the reason why this didn't work was that the film sets itself up in a very serious tone (as seen in the opening of the trailer). The first ten or twenty minutes made me think that this film was going to work more like a drama than a quasi-horror film. Alas, the film turns into a light version of the Saw films and I just can't buy into it. The tone of the film places the audience in our world and then asks us to buy into this genius plan of murdering all responsible for the violence against this man's family. It's a fine line for the filmmaker to walk in balancing the tone of the film so the audience will give themselves over to the story. This isn't always easy to do. I've just finished writing a script where it weighed heavily on my thinking - will the audience buy into the premise? If they don't, I'm dead in the water before the end of the first reel. How can I be sure if it will work? I can't. The only thing I can do is create a logic for the world I am writing about and follow that logic. The other task is to make sure that the characters are acting on behalf of themselves and not in service of my own agenda for the story. The rest is up to the audience.

Brilliant.

2010-07-06T17:39:00.001-04:00

Good fun.

2010-06-29T22:11:00.001-04:00

Monster Factory Trailer from Monster Factory on Vimeo.

Films to Visit or Revisit.

2010-06-19T15:01:00.013-04:00

I have been busy writing a new project over the last couple of months and in this time I have sat down to revisit some classic films for inspiration. I thought I'd share some of the ones that left an impression just in case you are looking for something fresh to watch, particularly in this dry season of the Summer Blockbusters.

1. "Gumshoe" starring Albert Finney.
My friend Larry put me on to this fun film. Great dialogue and a terrific mixture of humour and suspense. Like 'The Long Goodbye' this film doesn't fall into a parody of the Noir genre. It has fun with the conventions but still has a line of seriousness going through the story.

2. "The Long Goodbye" starring Eliott Gould.
Every time I see this Robert Altman film it goes up on my list of favourite movies. Again, the film has a sense of humour about the detective genre but doesn't fall into parody. Gould is perfect as Marlowe. Best ending ever.

3. "Out of the Past" starring Robert Mitchum.
Mitchum is awesome in this 1947 film noir where a man's shaded past comes back to haunt him. Instead of trying to hide, Mitchum's character faces it head on and with tragic results. While I'm on a Robert Mitchum love-in I would also recommend "The Friends of Eddie Coyle". Mitchum plays a small time crook who gets in over his head (not to mention the great Boston Bruins cameo including Bobby Orr). Criterion released an excellent DVD last year. You also can't go wrong with Charles Laughton's nightmare film "Night of the Hunter". Mitchum plays a corrupt preacher on the hunt for some stolen money.

4. "The Insider" starring Al Pacino.
This is my hands-down favourite film of Michael Mann. Although nominated for many Academy Awards it lost out on all. Al Pacino was overlooked by the academy for The Godfather (I & II), Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and he wasn't even nominated for this picture. Russell Crowe was nominated for his portrayal of Jeffrey Wigand but I think this is Al Pacino's film. "American Beauty" was the big winner that year. Minghella's "The Talented Mr. Ripley" was given few nominations as well.

I always say that you need a good ten year moratorium before you start to put a film into the lists of 'great movies'. 'The Insider' is a great picture and would make a great double bill with 'All the Presidents Men'.

5. "Angel Heart" starring Mickey Rourke.
I quite like the work of Alan Parker and this odd film stands out. I picked up the Blu-Ray for ten bucks and was thoroughly entertained. It is a bit hokey but overall the film holds up very well. Rourke is great and the cinematography reminded me of how over-colour-corrected the modern films are. Very naturalistic. I was also reminded of how similar a plot it has to "Shutter Island" (I much prefer "Angel Heart"). I also thought about Polanski's "The Ninth Gate" as a film that has a similar vibe to it - a supernatural noir if you will.

6. "Heist" starring Gene Hackman.
When I first saw 'Heist' I was a little disappointed in the ending as I had already been conned by David Mamet in 'House of Games' and 'The Spanish Prisoner'. On this second viewing I didn't even think about the con game and enjoyed it even more. It's great seeing Gene Hackman doing anything and this film is no different. Criterion did a great job last year by releasing both 'House of Games' and 'Homicide' in special editions. I like Mamet's stripped down and realistic settings especially in films like 'Homicide' and his secret service film 'Spartan'. One might say it is the function of a low budget and if that's true I hope it stays that way.

Did I mention how much I love "The Long Goodbye"?

More to come.

A Clean Line of Action

2010-05-17T13:12:00.020-04:00

In Cameron Crowe's book 'Conversations with Wilder' Billy Wilder spells out his 10 Tips for writers:

1. The audience is fickle.
2. Grab ‘em by the throat and never let ‘em go.
3. Develop a clean line of action for your leading character.
4. Know where you’re going.
5. The more subtle and elegant you are in hiding your plot points, the better you are as a writer.
6. If you have a problem with the third act, the real problem is in the first act.
7. A tip from Lubitsch: Let the audience add up two plus two. They’ll love you forever.
8. In doing voice-overs, be careful not to describe what the audience already sees. Add to what they’re seeing.
9. The event that occurs at the second act curtain triggers the end of the movie.
10. The third act must build, build, build in tempo and action until the last event, and then - that’s it. Don’t hang around.

When working with new writers I find that the third rule is difficult to grasp. The second and the fourth rule are tied inextricably to the third and by default, they often give trouble to the novice writer.

Grab 'em by the throat is commonly called 'the inciting incident.' This is where the goal of the hero is established. A simple example is Orson Welles' 'Touch of Evil'. A bomb is planted in the trunk of a car and explodes a short time later. All of the characters are brought together in search of the culprit and the story is established. In 'The Godfather' Don Corleone is shot and Michael, who has refused to be a part of the family, must protect his father. His journey has started. It's Wilder's rule of 'never let 'em go' that is the hard part.

'Develop a clean line of action for your character'. The inciting incident has occurred and now the hero should have a goal. In Wilder's 'Double Indemnity' Walter Neff conspires to murder his lover's husband. The goal is simple, get away with it, but life isn't that easy (thus the story). In 'The Lord of the Rings' Frodo is the only one who can carry the burden of the Ring and thus his goal is simple, throw the Ring into the fire. That is the movie. Once the Ring is destroyed the story is over. With that clean line of action we are given over twelve hours of story. I quite like Frodo as the unlikely hero. His success is mostly based on courage and dedication and a degree of luck. He is not the superhero his companions seem to be.

In the Bourne films Jason Bourne has a simple goal, "I want to find out who I am". Three movies and six hours later we find out. It is the specific story beats of the films that make the plot complicated while keeping the goal of the hero simple and easily defined. In 'The Fugitive' Harrison Ford's character wants to prove his innocence and, better yet, find the man who killed his wife. 'Silence of the Lambs'? Find Buffalo Bill before he kills again (the ante is raised by the capture of the Senators daughter). 'Apocalypse Now'? Find Kurtz and kill him "with extreme prejudice". 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' - find the Ark before the Nazis. 'Blade Runner' - terminate the replicants. 'Terminator' - keep Sarah Connor alive. 'Star Wars' - save the princess. 'Some Like it Hot' - escape the mob. 'Citizen Kane' - try to uncover the real Charles Foster Kane.

This clean line of action gives the audience a sense of where the story is going (tied into rule four) and the audience will emotionally invest in that character's journey. They want them to succeed, even Walter Neff. The goal of the writer is to surprise the audience on that journey. Eventually you get to rule ten where you build build build to what Mamet refers to as the surprising and inevitable conclusion. Many of my students shoot themselves in the foot right off the top by not setting up their story well. If the audience loses interest then it doesn't matter if you have crafted a surprise twenty minutes into the film - the audience doesn't care (they are gasping for air in a great big yawn).

Are there exceptions to the rule? Of course there are. The French New Wave played around with these rules at will. Does Kubrick's '2001' or 'Full Metal Jacket' plug into this formula? Not very well. It is usually personal filmmakers that veer off the path because they have a different agenda. This goes back to my post on theme. Often these films are interested more in the theme or character and less in the plot and they will break these rules. Charles Laughton's 'Night of the Hunter' is a great example of a film that starts off as a thriller/horror picture and then takes a turn into a morbid fairy tale. His interest in the film is his theme. Having said that, his clean line of action is still there, stop the preacher from getting the money.

'The Conversation' is an interesting film because it follows the clean line of action in the arc of the story but sometimes neglects plot in getting to the ending (the scene with Teri Garr for example). Harry Caul wants a clean recording for his client and he wants to hand it over and get paid. Clean and simple. What stops Harry is Harry. It's his own guilt that stops him from playing a part in another murder. Bertolluci's great film 'The Conformist' falls into this category as well. The clean line of action is for the protagonist (not much of a hero) to find his old University Professor in exile and murder him. Like 'The Conversation' the 'plot' of the film meanders forward to the inevitable end with many diversions that explore character more than they fulfill story and plot.

These filmmakers made conscious decisions and have a very clear understanding of how they want their films to unfold. I like these films and would not criticize any of them for not following Wilder's rules. Wilder does provide some interesting thoughts on Kubrick:

Wilder: "I love all of his movies...but sometimes...Barry Lyndon"

Crowe: "What about it?"

Wilder: "He worked six months trying to find a way to photograph somebody by candlelight...And nobody really gives a shit whether it is by candlelight or not. What are the jokes? What is the story? I did not like it. That's the only picture I did not like...The first half of Full Metal Jacket was the best picture I ever saw. Where the guy sits on the toilet and blows his head off? Terrific. Then he lost himself with the girl guerrilla. The second half, down a little. It's still a wonderful picture...Every picture he trumps the trump...you forget that this is your profession. You just get lost in the picture."

That is the goal of any filmmaker... make the audience get lost in the picture. Never let 'em go.

Film Books and Movies

2010-05-15T13:11:00.001-04:00

I have added an Amazon Associates page to link to various books and movies that I find valuable and interesting.

Please visit and make some recommendations if you think I've missed some great stuff!

http://astore.amazon.ca/achtenblog-20

There is a link in the sidebar as well.

Thematically Speaking

2010-05-09T15:59:00.014-04:00

Three of my favourite filmmakers of all time are Francis Coppola, Anthony Minghella and Krzysztof Kieslowski. What unifies all three of these writer-directors is their understanding of theme as a major part of telling stories. Coppola transformed 'The Godfather' and 'Apocalypse Now' into masterpieces by focusing on thematic elements. Minghella's 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' and 'The English Patient' are superior not because of plot but of ideas. I love the quote from Ripley 'It's better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody'. That is the film, everything revolves around the idea.

Kieslowski created great films that revolved solely around theme. 'The Decalog' is ten films based on the ten commandments. 'Three Colours' was created out of the colours of the French flag; fraternity, equality and liberty. His films were designed from the theme and then made their way to plot and character.

I was reading Francis Coppola's forward to Mircea Eliade's novella 'Youth Without Youth' and thought it sums it up in another way.

"The subject matter of any film you choose to make is doubly important because the process of filmmaking is such a relentless, tedious, and difficult experience that you have to be sure the theme is something that will sustain your interest. No matter how tough things get, or how discouraged you may feel, you have to be sure that morning after morning you'll wake up to a subject that still fascinates you. It should preferably be a subject you don't quite understand, even better if it's based on a question you don't know the answer to. Then the making of the film, which ultimately winds through several years, can provide an answer, which will be the film itself."

Some of my students proposed Documentaries this year where they wanted to 'educate' the audience about this or that. I subscribe to Coppola's idea that we should want to educate ourselves. We should ask questions that we don't have answers to. I've often said that Michael Moore's documentary 'Bowling for Columbine' was extraordinary because he sought to answer the question of gun violence in America and when he was done he said he still didn't know the answer. They say art is about the process and the journey. I believe in this. Emerson said that 'A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds'. Theme pushes us to try to find answers to the unanswered questions.

In 'Hearts of Darkness: A filmmakers Apocalypse' Coppola says that he set out to make an Irwin Allen film. A great big action adventure film in the likes of 'The Towering Inferno' and 'The Poseidon Adventure'. He says that the thematic questions that came out about these four guys going up the river to kill the Colonel were ones he couldn't answer.

"It's a way we had over here for living with ourselves. We cut 'em in half with a machine gun and give 'em a Band-Aid. It was a lie. And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies."

"We train young men to drop fire on people, but their commanders won't allow them to write "fuck" on their airplanes because it's obscene."

"Charging a man with murder in this place was like handing out speeding tickets in the Indy 500. I took the mission. What the hell else was I gonna do?"

'Apocalypse Now' is about the contradictions of war. Kurtz thinks he's found the answer, if you are going to war then go to war. Kill without feeling and kill without morality. That is pure and everything else is a lie - there is no morality in an immoral act.

In the modern day it is about dropping 'daisy cutters' on the Taliban to shred them to pieces. If one combatant survives the attack we need to worry about their well-being and human rights... it's only human (despite the fact that we just tried to grind them up). 'Apocalypse Now' exposes the ridiculousness of it all. War is evil pure and simple. If you choose to wage in it then why create rules? It's a tough question. Willard puts down his weapon and walks away. The theme is dealt with by the individual and by the filmmaker. The theme is what makes the film a classic.

Robert Rodriguez Music Video

2010-05-09T15:19:00.008-04:00

Rodriguez shot this little music video with two Canon 7d DSLR's.

Even the television program 'House' decided to do a little experimenting with the Canon 5d to shoot their season finale.

What does all of this mean? It does mean that production tools are coming down to the price where independents and amateurs alike can make images that are comparable to high end professionals. It means that talent can trump money.

What it doesn't mean is that films will become that much less expensive to make. Actors, production design, art direction, lighting, sound, props, editing and mixing cost a lot of money and when you want to tell a story on film you still need a decent budget to pull it off. The 'road movie' or the 'dogma' film will be much less expensive but other more ambitious projects will still require funding. Consider Francis Coppola who purchased high end Sony Hi Def cameras. 'Tetro' and 'Youth Without Youth' still cost fifteen million dollars a piece. It's not chump change. People still need to get paid and sets need to be built or decorated. Locations need to be rented. People need to be fed (don't ever cheap out on this one).

Where does this lead? I guess right back to the writer. If you can write an inexpensive film you might still get a feature off the ground for the cost of a down payment on a house. Just make sure you tell a great story or your cheap DSLR won't do you a damn good.

I always think of technology as a tool. It doesn't tell stories, it captures images and sound. The 35mm still camera has been affordable for a long time and it didn't automatically make everyone a professional photographer. The pen and paper is the cheapest of the technologies but how often is someone penning the great novel or play? It's the talent of the individual that matters.

The tool is just a tool.

I suck at carpentry. You can give me access to the greatest carpentry equipment that money can buy and I'll still make you a crooked table...

More Konk.

2010-04-25T17:01:00.003-04:00

I don't know if it's the Jameson but this guy seems to make a lot of sense.

Promised Land

2010-04-18T13:30:00.007-04:00

A little video I shot for my friend Dan Roth. I used the Canon 5d Mark II and shot with available light.

I was experimenting a little bit with long shots. I also avoided cutting the video to the beats of the song and focussed more on the rhythms of the visuals, how long each shot could hold my attention.

The 'performance' shot was shot from a boat out on the lake.

Finally a voice of reason on these here webs.

2010-03-28T16:33:00.002-04:00

Bernard Herrmann!

2010-03-25T21:37:00.002-04:00

This is one of my favourite docs on filmmaking. If you are interesting in music for films then you won't find a better documentary...

It is well worth the purchase for your collection:

http://www.amazon.com/Music-Movies-Bernard-Herrmann/dp/B000TJ0SB8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1269567611&sr=8-1

The Oscars...

2010-03-08T19:51:00.012-05:00

I'm not one to get caught up in the Oscars and this year proved to be another reason why. This had to be one of the worst shows I've seen and it even made me a little angry at times. Did they need to spend a half of an hour heaping praise on actors and actresses at the expense of time for the 'lesser' artists? They cued the music with such uncaring precision until someone 'important' came out. Were the actors and actresses not embarrassed at all the praise bestowed upon them while diminishing everyone else? Even the best picture was rushed out due to this shameful waste of time.

I've also taken offence at people referring to Cinematography, Editing, Sound, Makeup, Costume, Visual Effects and Art Direction as 'craft' or 'technical' awards. Sorry to break it to you all but acting is a 'craft'. If by 'craft' I mean 'art' then ok. These 'craftsmen' (and women) are all great artists coming together for a common purpose - the story. Give me an actor without a script then I will give you dead air. The actor applies their craft to enhance the words on the page. They give nuance. They provide emphasis. They imbue emotion. That is their craft.

Not to diminish them... The actor is courageous for putting themselves out there and 'Precious' is a perfect example of this. Sandra Bullock may have won the Oscar but it was a pretty safe role for her. Gabourey Sidibe had the courage to perform in an unflattering role and that is worthy of great praise. Mo'Nique too, wow.

At the end of the day it isn't about the actors, directors, cinematographers or anyone else. It is about the film. It's about the story. We are all slaves to it. We should be slaves to it. It isn't about the filmmakers or the actors, it's about a story that transcends the people who made it and it's about the audience who empathizes with it and are transported by it. The awards celebrate a job well done and they recognize the stars aligning (real stars). The good fortune of everyone involved is due to the collaboration of many great artists.

Shy Guy

2010-02-20T11:19:00.001-05:00

I love the subtext of this film. Conform!

An Argument for Stuntmen...

2010-01-28T22:27:00.002-05:00

No wires. No Green Screen. Exhilarating.

If anything, you should see Downfall... a great film.

2010-01-28T22:25:00.002-05:00

Screenwriting 101

2009-12-18T23:05:00.002-05:00

Well I always say that you need to show and not tell. Rob sent me a link to the following video and it is a brilliant exercise in show don't tell. What is wrong with 'The Phantom Menace'?

It's officially a part of my new curriculum.

Linked from Gizmodo...

2009-12-18T12:34:00.002-05:00

Wow. Verbatim cliche writing. Some might say lazy writing (although it would be cool if we could enhance crappy video).

How Original!

2009-11-24T20:31:00.005-05:00

According to Wikipedia here are the twenty top grossing films of the decade...

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
3. The Dark Knight
4. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
5. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
9. Shrek 2
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
11. Spider-Man 3
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
13. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
14. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
15. Finding Nemo
16. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
17. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
18. Spider-Man
19. Shrek the Third
20. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Kottke.org noticed that of these films only 'Finding Nemo' was based on an original screenplay. All others were based on existing material - adaptations, toys or sequels/prequels. Now this isn't new - 'Gone with the Wind' was based on a book as was 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'The Godfather'. 'Casablanca' was based on the play "Everybody Comes to Rick's". 'Rear Window' was based on the short story "It Had to Be Murder". Adaptation is not a new phenonenon. There is a lot to like in that top twenty list. Yes, they are popcorn movies that appeal to the masses - that's the idea. That is why they are the 'top grossing' and not the 'best films of the decade list'.

The only problem with this list is that it solidifies the Hollywood bean counter's idea that these are the only films to make. It creates homogeneous film industry that spews out the same films over and over.

I think the solution to the problem is to let them keep doing it. Why? Because they are going to exhaust their catalogue of sequels and book rights. The well will run dry and they will have to start to look for new material. I think we are coming to a time that reflects the end of the 1960's where the studios lost touch with the audience and faltered. They fell apart and the pieces were picked up in one of the most daring and original decades of film.

Independent film has waned over the last few years and one look at Apple's Quicktime Trailers site shows an industry in confusion and flux. The future is uncertain, that is for certain. People love movies, that is also for certain. It's also a historical fact that Hollywood has been doing adaptations and sequels for a long long time. Andy Hardy anyone? Sixteen movies (granted before televison). Sergio Leone's 'Dollar Trilogy' was an unofficial remake of Kurosawa's Yojimbo.

It is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a bad thing. Adaptation has given us some great films.

As for original films... What do consider the greatest?

Annie Hall.
Citizen Kane.
The Conversation.
The Apartment.
Ace in the Hole.
North by Northwest.
On the Waterfront.
Taxi Driver.
Sunset Boulevard.
Blowup.
Through a Glass Darkly.
La Dolce Vita.
2001 A Space Odyssey.
Chinatown.
Network.
E.T.
Do the Right Thing.
The Three Colors - Blue.

(and so many more...)

Martin Landau

2009-11-04T22:00:00.011-05:00

Rob sent me this terrific interview with Martin Landau...

http://www.movieretriever.com/blog/488/interview-with-martin-landau

I really liked the part of the interview when he was asked about how he's been directed by such diverse and talented directors. He said "I haven't been directed, literally, in 30 years by anybody. I haven't been given a direction. I come in with stuff and I figure if they don't like it they'll tell me. They don't tell me. I hit my marks, I say the words, and I go home."

The great direction is in the casting. I've often said that good directing is letting good people do their jobs. We collaborate with people that share our vision.

A few years ago I did an animated show that revolved around music. I gave virtually no direction to the composer, the writer or the designer/animation director. They knew what they were doing and they were great at what they did - much better than I was at their job. To interfere and 'direct' them didn't serve the show. They 'got it' and I was constantly amused and surprised by what they came up with. They got the idea and they ran with it. The show benefited by this collaboration. I didn't need to make it 'mine'...

If it starts going off the rails then the director needs to put it back on. They are, as one great filmmaker put it, the Circus Master...

Hire and cast great people. They will make the film better. Leave your ego at the door. It's all about the film.

Martin Landau!

Crimes and Misdemeanors. Ed Wood. North by Northwest. Tucker: The Man and His Dream.

If you haven't yet, see them all. And then go for some more.

The Wire

2009-08-25T22:02:00.005-04:00

As anyone might figure out reading this blog, I like to go at my own pace and rarely comment on anything new or trendy. It's not conscious, I just tend to get to things when I get to them.

I ordered the Wire for Sylvia's birthday this year. I got her the box set with all five seasons. We put the first one in and then proceeded to wolf them down at record pace finishing six or more years of work in a short month. I think my birthday might be covered as well...

Wow. On every level. Wow.

For those who don't know it, 'The Wire' is about the relationship of the Baltimore Police force and it's effort to control the drug trade in the city. It's also about the 'criminals' and their struggles, good and bad. What is great about the series is that it's really about Baltimore and the 'game' that is played on every level. 'The game' is the corruption from the corner gangs to the city politics and every season opens a new level of corruption. Season 1 is cops and robbers - police and drug dealers. Season 2 goes to the docks and the politics of the unions and the desperation and corruption of workers. Season three delves into the politics of statistics and the police force. Season 4 takes you to the schools and shows the failure of the educational system. Season 5 brings in the media and it's need for 'a good story'. This is just the surface - there's a lot more to it.

On top of the great writing and the thematic depth, I was totally impressed with the look and style of the show. It was shot with the care and detail of feature films. Employing such directors as Agnieszka Holland, the show is carefully crafted and steers from the trappings of shaky cameras and quick editing. The soundtrack rarely included music other than what is playing in the actual scene. It's sparse and realistic and totally engaging.

I can't praise the show enough. It's been described as the closest thing to a novel as we've seen on television. I think that is a good description. It rates up there with Kieslowki's 'Decalog' as one of the great achievements of television. It's a stunning work and I absolutely recommend it.

Special Effects

2009-08-10T17:10:00.002-04:00

We had a spectacular electrical storm last night.

Take that Industrial Light and Magic.

The Eel Story!

2009-07-17T07:20:00.003-04:00

My good friend Rob Mills has posted his now famous Eel pie story on his blog. The story involves a disemboweled eel that seemingly comes back from the dead to exact revenge... It's a great read and a hilarious story.

Thanks Rob!

Michael Bay

2009-06-27T14:16:00.007-04:00

Rob Mills has been egging me on to share my thoughts about Michael Bay. I got this email this morning:

"http://www.moviefill.com/Michael-Bay-By-The-Numbers-17226/ and I'm shocked - shocked! - you have yet to vomit your rage for this man upon your blog :)"

Lately I've come to the conclusion that if I was a 12 year old boy I would love Michael Bay and his 'blow the shit out of everything' style. It's visceral and kinetic. It is also void of good film grammar and basic visual geography. 'Shoot for the edit' is his mantra and you can't help but wonder if that is because he doesn't have a clear idea of what he wants. Shoot 12 cameras and a million feet of film and cut it to 20,000 feet. Then again, Coppola shot a ton of film for the Flight of the Valkyries sequence in 'Apocalypse Now'. Maybe the films are exactly what he intends them to be.

I did find this quote on his blog which put his filmmaking approach into a proper perspective:

What kind of story were you trying to tell in the first “Transformers” film?
Literally, I wanted to see if this movie could even work. Early on we did this Scorponok sequence, to make it more real and vicious and dangerous, and to make these things more lethal. All my friends, when I’m doing movies, my buddies are like, “Are you kidding me? You’re doing that movie? What is that?” Everyone was saying that and I felt like such a jerk. I’m like, “Oh, my God, this is so risky.” I kept thinking: I can make this real. I can make you believe that they are actually here. I remember showing people a few images, we finally rendered them, with the Scorponok’s images and people instantly go, “I get it now.”

What was the question again? Kind of story??

I do like his Verizon commercial.

Michael Jackson

2009-06-27T12:16:00.005-04:00

I have to admit that I've never been much of a fan of Michael Jackson. It's no offense to his talent but more about my taste in music.

For my little tribute I'll give you 'Fan Letter to Michael Jackson' by the brilliant but now defunct Rheostatics.

RIP Rheos and Michael...

It feels good to be alive.

For all you George Lucas Fans

2009-06-24T09:33:00.005-04:00

Here is an hour long interview with Lucas after he finished his poorly received first film THX-1138. Lucas complains heavily about the studios inability to sell films, a problem that many people still agree with today.

I was just thinking about 'The English Patient' the other day. It was a film that I didn't initially go and see as the ads painted the film as a schmaltzy love story. It wasn't until I saw a new set of trailers that presented the film as much more complex that I went and saw it. Miramax was excellent at promoting their films and creating a buzz around their new releases. On the radio today a film critic was lamenting GI Joe, Transformers 2 and the upcoming releases of Fame and Footloose. Not that Hollywood has been terribly original from the beginning. One must remember that 'The Godfather' was based on a bestselling novel as was 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'Gone with the Wind'. John Huston's 'The Maltese Falcon' was the second film based on the book - the first was in 1931. The business people like betting on the sure thing.

Thanks for the link Rob.

More Toobs

2009-06-14T11:08:00.006-04:00

Rob's finished the new installment of 'In teh Toobs' and I can see why he fell behind schedule. Ambitious would be a fitting description.

Riley Hepburn and Cary Grant! Together at last.

Keep them coming Mr. Mills!

The Sweet Smell of Success

2009-06-07T14:17:00.011-04:00

Last year my friend Annie put me on to Alexander Mackendrick's must-own book 'On Filmmaking'. It's as good a book as you're likely to find regarding the art and craft of making movies.

I had known of Mackendrick through his Ealing comedies with Alec Guinness - 'The Man in the White Suit' and 'The Lady Killers'. The one film I didn't see or even know about was 'The Sweet Smell of Success'. When Ealing went under, Mackendrick traveled across the Atlantic looking for work in America. He had been working with Burt Lancaster's production company on a different project when they asked him to direct 'Sweet Smell' from a script by Ernest Lehman based on the writers own horrible experiences as a New York press agent. Lehman eventually quit due to stress and Clifford Odets picked up where he left off, polishing the story and writing great bits of dialogue.

The film is about a young and upcoming press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) who is in the service of the most infamous and powerful gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Lancaster). The plot is simple, Hunsecker wants Falco to break up a relationship between Hunsecker's little sister and her jazz musician boyfriend. Hunsecker is a huge ego with no scruples and he controls everything around him and his sister is no exception. Falco is equally without morals and will stop at nothing to get a seat at the table.

The film features a blaring jazz score by Elmer Bernstein and unforgettable location cinematography by James Wong Howe. The vibrant nineteen fifties New York jumps off the screen at you. Odets addition to dialogue is equal to the task with great lines like 'the cat's in the bag and the bag's in the river' and 'I'd hate to take a bite outta you. You're a cookie full of arsenic." The performances are dead on and Mackendrick's direction is confident and fresh.

The film belongs with Orson Welles 'Touch of Evil' as a remnant of the 1940's film noir save for the missing femme fatale (at one point Lancaster wanted Welles for the role of Hunsecker). Both films feature protagonists that are morally corrupt. It's no surprise that 'Sweet Smell' wasn't a box office hit as Sidney Falco is a loser trying to get ahead by any means and Hunsecker is a snake with no regard at all for his fellow man. To call it cynical is an understatement. In a lot of ways Oliver Stone's Gordon Gekko (Wall Street) seems to be a descendant of J.J. Hunsecker. They are certainly cut from the same cloth.

I love moments like these when you discover a gem that was sitting there all along waiting for a few hours of attention. I also love films that stand out as so original and daring despite the fact that they caused nothing but pain for the men who made them. Mackendrick didn't fare well after the film and eventually took the position of Dean of film at California Institute of the Arts.

Ernest Lehman who left the film due to stress went on to a spectacular career with such classics as 'North by Northwest', 'West Side Story' and 'The Sound of Music'. Lancaster did well as an actor but his role as producer went down with the film as he and his associates abandoned their production company.

I'll leave you with a few more quotes to whet your appetite...

"You're dead, son. Get yourself buried. "

"Don't remove the gangplank, Sidney - you may wanna get back onboard."

A corny trailer to be sure... And yes, that is Marilyn Monroe being pimped out by Falco.

In Teh Toobs

2009-05-21T19:58:00.007-04:00

My good friend Rob Mills has launched a new internet series called 'In Teh Toobs'. Rob has been a familiar voice on this blog and I have learned much from him over the years. One of my first jobs in the film industry was working for Rob on an ambitious, independently-minded project called 'Land O' Hands'.

Rob is a television maverick in his own right. He came out of the trenches of 'Fraggle Rock' and feature films such as 'Labyrinth' and 'The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' (can you believe the Turtles are back!?). He then started his own ventures with 'The Big Comfy Couch' 'Rufus the Dog' and 'Amigo and Me' (rumour has it that he used to interview people in his bath robe to work in his garage). His love of technology and his rebellious idealism makes for a perfect combination in his self-produced, directed, edited and performed 'In Teh Toobs'.

Anyone who makes films can attest to the difficulty of trying to do it all yourself. Rob loves to laugh, create, dream and procrastinate (weekly webisodes?). I look forward to the coming episodes of 'In Teh Toobs' and would love to share a link to the first episode (there is a prologue as well).

You can see him on 'In Teh Toobs'.

Technique...

2009-05-07T17:38:00.004-04:00

I've finished another year of teaching film writing. Overall it has been a successful year with many talented and enthusiastic students. As a writing teacher I want to instill my students with a sense of drama and purpose. I want them to create memorable characters and challenge those characters to get what they want.

I am not involved in the filming and post stages of the students work but I think technique and execution is something that needs emphasis. Yes, a good script should make a good film but there is something to be said for a great execution that makes a film 'feel' like a film. I've spent many hours on the internet watching films and I've noticed a common problem beyond bad story telling. Technique.

With all the new technologies there is a common thread of discussion that argue about the technical specs and don't consider the technique. Discussions that talk about frame rates (24p vs 30p), jello effects, sensors and pixels. My experience has been that technique will overcome all of it.

You don't need to look much further than Danny Boyle's film "28 Days Later" to see that traditional filmmaking techniques are more important. It feels like a film. Not because it was shot at 25 frames per second but because the visual technique is deliberate and thought out.

My screenings confirmed this. Good technique. Deliberate and well thought out visuals rise far above the technology you capture the images on.

Ask and you shall receive...

2009-05-06T22:54:00.001-04:00

Trivia

2009-05-01T17:32:00.004-04:00

I came across some fun trivia:

Actors who have been nominated for Best Director, Writing and Acting over their lifetime (not all at once)...

The answer is posted in the comments.

Panic

2009-04-30T19:34:00.003-04:00

Our lives are constantly confused by the media and its love of drama and exploitation. WMD's in Iraq, Swine Flu 'pandemic'. I don't know what to believe so I will follow Jim Henshaw...

Francis Coppola's new film...

2009-04-27T17:48:00.011-04:00

http://www.tetro.com/

As you might know I'm a big Coppola fan. I am eagerly awaiting a trailer for his new film 'Tetro'. He has teamed up with Walter Murch once again and it's his first original sceenplay since 'The Conversation'.

The prolific blogger Mark Mayerson sent a link to an article on filmmakers in their 'magic hour'. It's great to see these great artists come back with such fresh material.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/movies/19scot.html?_r=1&ref=movies

Part of my response to Mark:

Interesting to reflect on. I caught Billy Wilder's 'The Front Page' a few months ago and thought how out of place it seemed in 1974. It definitely felt like a throwback to a different time, out of step with the films of its day. I also watched 'A Passage to India' the other day and it too felt like it was of another time. I enjoyed the film more than 'The Front Page' but it does have a feeling of time warp in its style and approach especially when put up against contemporary films like 'Reds' and 'The Last Emperor".

Look at Welles reinventing himself with the unfinished 'Other Side of the Wind' and 'F for Fake' (which seemed to be about twenty years ahead of its time). Kurosawa is an interesting filmmaker as well. His films didn't veer in any modern direction (aside from Dreams) but seems to have been timeless all along.

Robert Altman took his leave with a wonderful picture, 'A Prairie Home Companion". I guess it's fitting that Altman left us with a picture about an old time radio show going extinct. Ironic.

Nerds

2009-04-27T17:35:00.003-04:00

For all you film nerds: apparently this video was shot with the new Canon 5d Mark II with a Panavision adapter and Panavision lenses. Hit the HD button to get a sharper version.

Hal!

2009-04-27T17:21:00.003-04:00

I wonder if Watson can do my taxes...

The Web...

2009-04-27T17:04:00.015-04:00

"Ah Spring!
The frozen shell hath given way to life.
Rejuvenation!
The water runs through the veins of the sleeping world
rising out of the crystal fog to breath again.
The sun warms the mind and frees the heart from a long deep dream."

I wonder if the Midge Fly that swarms around my house asks "what is the meaning of life"? Or "why am I here"? Does it think that "every thing happens for a reason"? I imagine it would be crushed to know that it is here to provide dinner for the waking spiders and nourish the suspended life, to toil and to reproduce so that other lives can thrive. I'm sounding like a capitalist...

Murder and mayhem outside my window.

Othello

2009-04-12T14:14:00.003-04:00

Orson Welles' film of Shakespeare's 'Othello' is one of my favourite of Welles films. He made three films based on Shakespeare's work, 'Othello', 'MacBeth' and 'Chimes at Midnight'. The latter is a film invented by Welles based on the grand character of Falstaff (a combination of Henry IV Part One and Two and the Merry Wives of Windsor). In all three films Welles successfully transforms the stage plays to cinema with 'Othello' and 'Chimes' being the greatest. Both films suffer terribly from poor sound but this becomes secondary to the incredible cinematography, editing, locations and visual design.

I've always heard about a little film called 'Filming Othello' but could never find it. As one would expect, it has made it's way to youtube.

Rob Mills mentioned 'Chimes at Midnight' the other day and posted the link:

It's a shame that these films get caught up in rights disputes. It would be great to be able to access them outside of these poor internet copies.

Where is Chance the Gardener when you need him...

2009-03-29T16:49:00.001-04:00

Such wisdom. Now, what's on TV?

Is the Auteur theory dead yet?

2009-03-09T21:52:00.001-04:00

Blu-ray... the '80's...

2009-02-06T16:03:00.009-05:00

I've converted to Blu-ray. Not as a religion mind you, but as the format of choice. While DVD's look wonderful on my television, Blu-ray looks quite beautiful and sublime. Like others of my ilk, I am determined to add new discs to my collection and not replace the old ones... wishful thinking.

A few thoughts off the top...

Blade Runner - looks spectacular. The downside... the clarity allows the viewer to 'spot the matte painting'. Yes, the wizard emerges from the curtain occasionally to show itself. Still. Spectacular.

The Shining - that lens is really something else. Thanks to Rob for putting me onto the 'making of'. Intimate and fascinating. I loved the footage of the composer, Wendy Carlos (she invented an instrument for the film!).

The Third Man - The Third Man!

Body Heat - As my friend Ike said - What a debut!

Two films that I hadn't seen and have always wanted to see, 'The Last Emperor' and 'Reds'. I've always wanted to see them but refused to see them on VHS or television as I'm such a big fan of Vittorio Storaro. Storaro deserves blu-ray in the least, projection at the most. I've often criticized the '80's cinema as being commercial and benign yet it's easy to miss some great films being made under the radar. Both of these films have an epic sweep yet both of these films are small and intimate. It isn't something that you would attribute to the '80's at all. The 'masters' were all having a hard time finding financing for personal films as Hollywood made money hand over fist on commercial enterprises. I've wanted to write more on this topic but to be honest haven't quite got my head around it. I watched Coppola's 'Rumble Fish' the other night and was enthralled. It's so daring and original and was received so poorly. The decade seemed to be a cleansing of the 70's director-driven films but often feels like a river of gold where you have to shake the pan to find the nuggets.

Not that I would deride some of the terrific commercial films of the decade. I do love many of them. It just seems like we need to keep a healthy mixture. It is an issue today as the big companies are leaving their Miramax killing divisions behind and focusing again on huge commercial films. 3D, they say, will save the world! Again. The 1950's had the same idea with the advent of television. Spectacle! That's what they want.

There have been plenty of great films made in this decade and we can only hope that the accountants don't give it all away. I do love my blu-ray but I would like to keep watching films that are worthy of the awe.

Everybody wants something...

2008-12-20T08:58:00.005-05:00

I found this great diagram in the book 'On Film Making' by Alexander Mackendrick. Mackendrick was the writer and director of 'The Man in the White Suit' and 'The Sweet Smell of Success' as well as the director of 'The Lady Killers' (among others). This book is an absolute gem, brimming with great advice.

Through the diagram you can see how intricately Graham Greene had worked out all of his complex relationships. You also see how contradictions stand to create conflict and a help create a richness of character. In feature films it is difficult to create characters with any degree of depth and that is why Greene wrote his first draft as a novella and then transplanted it into a screenplay.

I was talking with a fellow screenwriter the other day and she was mentioning how novices were lacking a counter theme in their stories. That is to say that their antagonists and secondary characters are lacking a clearly defined goal. If you were to suddenly change the point of view to any of the characters you would see that the film would still work. If you made Anna's story in 'The Third Man' the central story (made her the protagonist) the story still works. It may not be the strongest point of view but in the end it is still functioning.

The Lodger

2008-12-18T10:24:00.020-05:00

I watched Alfred Hitchcock's "The Lodger" last night and was struck by the sophisticated visual style that he used in the film. Hitchcock borrows heavily from the German expressionists with regards to lighting and composition as well as using a tinting process, colouring the film in sepia and blue (depending on locations). The DVD release is from the newly released "Premiere Collection" and the film is accompanied by two modern scores. One is by Ashley Irwin and the other Paul Zaza. I preferred the Irwin score as it felt like an homage to Bernard Herrman's work with Hitchcock. At a few points I surfed between the scores to find some remarkably different choices and moods.

One of the things that made a huge impression on me was Hitchock's use of E. McKnight Kauffer as the title designer. I am very far from being an expert on silent pictures but I found that his title designs were incredibly evocative, dynamic and unique. Here are some of the images:

It shouldn't have surprised me as Hitchcock was famous for hiring the likes of Saul Bass and Salvador Dali to develop and produce titles or sequences in his films.

I really enjoyed this film although it does suffer from ending that is almost satisfying but ultimately disappointing and tacked on. Apparently Hitchcock would have preferred a much more sinister ending but was handcuffed by the producers to make it more uplifting due to the popularity of Ivor Novello, the actor playing the killer. Regardless I highly recommend this film and the Premiere Collection of discs. So often these old films are given poor releases by companies packaging public domain titles. Using dirty and damaged prints, the VHS tapes were recorded in extra long play modes and on DVD they are highly compressed in order to get two or more films on a single disc. Here they are presented with some love and extra features that make it much more enjoyable and enlightening.

A new version of "The Lodger" is due to arrive next year. The new film is written and directed by David Ondaatje, nephew of famous novelist Michael Ondaatje.

Tilt and Shift

2008-12-17T23:56:00.000-05:00

With the new Canon 5d Mark II

Cano 5D Mark II DSLR + TS-E 24mm F3.5 L from Martin Chiu on Vimeo.

O Canada!

2008-12-04T10:01:00.001-05:00

Criterion Online...

2008-12-02T21:40:00.009-05:00

Rob sent me this link...

http://www.criterion.com/

In the early nineties Laserdisc emerged from the ashes and revitalized the hardcore film fans. Using an fm modulated picture (analogue) and a digital soundtrack, Laserdisc was the best image you could find on a home video format. Much superior to VHS. Films were available in letterbox format and in addition to the digital audio track, Laserdisc also contained an analogue track you could switch over to. This is where the 'audio commentary' originated. The film's soundtrack on the dolby digital stereo track, the commentary on right channel of the analogue track and a mono mix of the film on the left channel of the the analogue tracks. The mono channel was to ensure that those who didn't have the new digital systems would still be able to get the soundtrack in mono. Very clever.

On the pioneering edge of all this was the Criterion Collection. They sought out the best prints of films, made deals with the studios and rights holders and tried to bring cinephiles the most comprehensive version of classic and intriguing films of days gone by. They have come a long way.

Technology aside. Criterion has been the ultimate standard for the passionate lover of film. They cost more. What you pay for is the licensing of the films from the rights owners, the cost of finding and scanning the best prints available and the in house production of the special features (docs and commentaries). It seems to me that this business is in it for the love of movies more than the love of money and that is a refreshing change.

I am planning on buying their new release of "The Third Man" on Bluray. I own the Crition Laserdisc and the first release on DVD (I held back from the second release).

Poor Orson... never saw a dime. He took a salary to pay for his own film, "Othello". They offered him profits but he needed the cash... He lost A Lot of money...

Thanks Rob.

Films about making Films...

2008-11-23T21:14:00.019-05:00

Lately I've been exploring some films that deal with the art of filmmaking. The following is a small list of films are currently available.

1. Visions of Light - A film about cinematography that touches on the changes in the craft from the beginnings to the 1990's. Many great examples and many terrific cinematographers and their work. I would love to learn more about James Wong Howe... an immigrant Chinese photographer - a terrific artist and a wonderful story).

2. Music for the Movies: Bernard Herrmann - What a treasure this film is! It provides some biographical details of Herrmann's life but more importantly, it explores his indelible impact on film music. The film features interviews with the late David Raskin and Elmer Bernstein. There are great passages where Herrmann's scores are deconstructed giving the viewer a window into the composers methods.

This film also features a scene that Herrmann scored for Hitchcock's 'Torn Curtain'. They play it with and without the score...

As another part of the series, The Hollywood Sound explores the change in style from old Hollywood to the modern day and features a rerecording of Raskin's Academy Award winning score for "Laura".

3. The Cutting Edge - A film about the craft of film editing. It explores the craft of editing through many artisans including one of the greats, Walter Murch.

I have been working on film scripts with my writing students over the last few weeks and one of my biggest comments has been "write the edits". Think like the editor. Think in cuts. Think in the juxtaposition of words and images... images and images. That's how you write a film.

4. Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse - Based on Eleanor Coppola's book 'Notes' and her documentary footage from the production, Hearts of Darkness is unparalleled in it's uncompromising view of the filmmaking process. Not to be missed.

5. Burden of Dreams - An account of the filming of Werner Herzog's 'Fitzcarraldo'. Herzog is one of the most engaging and talented artists working in film today. Uncompromising, daring and magnificent. I love his quote "I want viewers to be able to trust their eyes again"... He is a fearless artist.

Feel free to comment and add more to this list. I did watch 'Cinematography Style' in thinking of this post and I found it terribly ironic. It is a documentary about Cinematographers that, although beautifully shot, was just a series of quickly cut talking heads. Was there no room for a breath and an exploration of visuals? Sponsored by Kodak and Panavision, the film felt more like a public relations piece than a real exploration of the art and craft of cinema photography.

War of the Worlds

2008-10-31T10:09:00.005-04:00

Millsworks has a good posting today on the 70th Anniversary of Orson Welles broadcast of 'War of the Worlds'.

Rob also mentions Elia Kazan's terrific picture, 'A Face in the Crowd'. This film is one of the prophetic movies that satirized the popular media and foreshadowed the modern media's love of spectacle (Joe the Plumber). Rob also points out another prophetic film, Network and I would like to add a third (always best to have a trilogy), Billy Wilder's "Ace in the Hole", also known as "The Big Carnival". Wilder's film is about a Chuck Tatum, a washed up newspaperman who exploits the story of a man trapped in a cave. Instead of helping the man out quickly, Tatum manipulates the situation and turns the site into a media circus. It foreshadows such news outlets like 'Fox News' which seeks to manufacture and manipulate the news it's covering as well as people's opinions of it.

'Ace in the Hole' didn't do well in it's day - it's dark and cynical and most audiences at the time felt it was over the top. Criterion released a great print of the film on dvd.

From IMDB:
When the film was released, it got bad reviews and lost money. The studio, without Billy Wilder's permission, changed the title to "The Big Carnival" to increase the box office take of the film. It didn't work. On top of that, Billy Wilder's next picture Stalag 17 (1953) was a hit and Billy Wilder expected a share of the Stalag 17 (1953)'s profits. Paramount accountants told him that since this picture lost money, the money it lost would be subtracted from the profits of Stalag 17 (1953).

Passchendaele

2008-10-29T23:31:00.006-04:00

One of my favourite bloggers, Jim Henshaw, has once again lit up his flame thrower and let loose on the Canadian film industry and the critical establishment that seemingly supports it. This time he attacks our industry for it's inability to support films that might actually connect to an audience. We excuse our filmmakers and create some sort of 'artistic' rationale that allows failed writers and directors to make new films that don't represent the actual experiences/feelings of Canadians. And despite what our cultural institutions tell us, our experience isn't much different to the rest of the world. In some sort of bizarre cheer leading, the 'critics' are often pulling their punches and judging our home grown talent with kid gloves.

Jim's article is a frank critical look at Paul Gross's new film Passchendaele. I decided to avoid the film as I gave four hours of my life to the CBC mini-series 'The Trojan Horse', written and directed by Gross. This series, despite some good ideas, fell flat on cliches, absurd situations and lazy story telling. Jim was more adventurous and his article can be read here...

I've often complained that we export most of our great talent. It is exploited in Hollywood as our home grown filmmakers have contributed wonderful films to the canon of great movies. We need to get past the idea that 'entertaining = bad'. 'Citizen Kane' is entertaining. 'The Godfather' is wildly entertaining. We need to change the equation and realize that 'art' and 'entertainment' are not at odds.

New Tools for the Indie Filmmaker

2008-10-25T14:46:00.003-04:00

October 19, 2008 from angus giorgi on Vimeo.

Rob Mills sent me a link to the new Canon Digital SLR (EOS 5D Mark II) that is capable of 1080p video at 30 frames per second. What is amazing about this camera is that it uses a 21 megapixel sensor and it gives a filmmaker access to the entire lineup of Canon compatible lenses. The camera isn't perfect and there are complaints that the video runs at 30 fps instead of 24 and it writes the video with H.264 compression (it isn't uncompressed or Raw like the actual photographs). This may be so but many people don't understand the importance of the lens. If you have a cheap lens you'll get a cheap picture. Garbage in, garbage out.

Despite these 'flaws', this new leap forward in image gathering means that more independent filmmakers will have access to high end tools that will put them near equal footing with high end productions. This camera is being sold for $2700 dollars (body only)! Compare this to the 'affordable' Red One camera that sells for $17,500 for the body of the camera. All in on the Red camera, you're looking upwards of $25,000. Red is going to announce a new camera that will retail in the neighbourhood of the Canon price tag. Red One did something brilliant in their design. They decided to ignore the standard formats of video (HD, Ntsc, Pal) and brought out a camera that could capture the video raw and then allow the user to encode the video the way they want. This set them apart from the Hd and HDV cameras as well as the new Canon which does bring it's images in on that wonderfully big 21 megapixel sensor but has to write the video to a standard hd format.

Beyond all this geek talk, 2009 seems to be a year of change for the independent filmmaking community. I've met people that lament this as they like the elitist elements of making movies. What these folks don't really consider is story. No matter how wonderful the tool, the artist needs to have an idea. The pencil has been the most accessible tool for writing but few people are creating great novels or poetry. Still, it helps that the filmmakers have access to a tool that will allow them to create images that will be equal to their creative ideas.

Kudos to Cinematographer Alan Doyle and Editor Angus Giorgi for sharing their footage.

Apparently I'm Speechless...

2008-10-21T23:33:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been guilty of excessive amounts of work. I've also been entertained, watching the world swing by.

The show's been good.

The biggest thing on my mind today has been what will happen to American satirical television if Obama wins? These satirists have gorged themselves on the presidency of George W. Bush. And just when you think you couldn't do any better for political humour, along comes Sarah Pailin! Ironically, it's in Jon Stewart's best interest for a McCain/Pailin presidency. As Kenny Banya would say - "it's gold Jerry, gold". Those pinko American liberals should think twice before casting their vote next month as they might be creating an undesirable void in American humour for the next four years...

Consider your vote carefully.

Wall Street

2008-09-16T13:15:00.031-04:00

Has there been a more appropriate time to bring up Oliver Stone's 1987 film 'Wall Street'? I've wanted to write about this film for a few months now. More specifically, I wanted to write about the ironic impact the film had on the the financial centre of the United States.

"Wall Street" is the story of Bud Fox, a young broker who has grand ambitions of becoming a big time financial player. He ends up hooking a big time client, Gordon Gekko, a major market speculator and corporate "raider". Bud's father is a blue collar worker at a small airline company and inadvertently gives Bud some inside information regarding an upcoming court settlement. Desperate to bag Gekko, Bud gives him the inside information and kick starts his rise through the ranks. Bud's biggest problem is his lack of experience and the information he gets legitimately is weak and not worthy of Gekko's time. Gekko knows this and urges Bud to get the inside information that Gekko uses to make the big deals. As the story progresses, Bud is corrupted and begins to make himself in the image of the shrewd and successful Gekko.

"Wall Street" is both flawed and terrific. It features some great performances, great dialogue and strong characters. The major flaws come from a fairly contrived and earnest ending. I personally dislike the Stuart Copeland electronic score. Like most synthesizer scores of the 80's, I find the soundtrack rather empty and insipid. Daryl Hannah is an exception to the performances as many of her dialogue scenes were very obviously overdubbed (adr) and sound forced.

What I found to be even more interesting than the film itself is the 20th anniversary documentary on the dvd. What you discover in this footage is that Gekko, the films corrupt villain, has been worshipped by many in the Wall Street community. There are scores of interviews with brokers who talk about how Gekko inspired them. Most of these men criticized the end of the film as Gekko got his comeuppance. How wonderfully ironic this is in a fairly earnest film that attempts to expose the corruption of the financial system but ends up inspiring the real-life Gekko's who recite lines from the film like "greed is good", "lunch is for wimps" and "what's worth doing is worth doing for money". To take the irony a little further, Stone contends that Richard Nixon decided to invade Cambodia after watching Frank Shaffner's "Patton". If that film had a negative effect on the Vietnam war, certainly you could argue that Stone's "Wall Street" has had a negative effect on the current Wall Street. Greed is good and greed has borne much fruit in the current economic crisis in America.

As fun as it is to assert Stone's roll in the current economy, I don't actually put much stock in the idea. It is ironic but I wouldn't think of the world so simplistically. What "Wall Street" underlines is that colourful villains in films can upstage the heroes. Bud Fox has great character development but he is overshadowed by the rich and successful Gekko. Gekko is the in the exciting business of corporate warfare and, like Patton, there is much to admire about the way he slays his foes with such ingenuity, force and precision. Truffaut is famously quoted "there is no such thing as an antiwar film", war is exhilarating and exciting with the extreme drama of life and death. Gekko, in his metaphoric trench, is much more exciting to watch than young Bud fumbling his way through the story (I wonder if Stone named him Bud in a homage to that other great ladder climber CC "Bud" Baxter from Billy Wilder's "The Apartment"). Whether you agree with Truffaut or not is irrelevant, the idea is solid. "Raise the stakes" is one of the mantra's of feature filmmaking and some of the audience connected with Gekko and his obsession to win the battle by any means necessary.

In the end of "Wall Street" Gekko does get what is coming to him. There are consequences to devastating peoples lives for the sake of a buck. Yet, twenty years later, the mantra "greed is good" is as strong as ever. The price of gas is much higher than the worth of a barrel and most economists say it's because of the speculators, those Gekko types who love to put us all over the barrel so they can take as much as they can.

And do these wealthy men give anything back? In nature they call them parasites...