Waiting 2B Scene

Month: October 2015

  • Video Essay: The Hero’s Journey (Animation)

    Joseph Campbell wrote a classic cross-cultural study of the hero’s journey back in 1949, and since then it has inspired millions. Like Star Wars, the film it helped inspire, the book was an exploration of the big-picture moments from the stage that is our world. And this theme has enabled it to remain as relevant through the years as when it was first released (it hit the New York Times best-seller list in 1988 after it had become the subject of a PBS television special, The Power of Myth).

    For me, stumbling upon a re-run of the PBS series was the first that I had heard of it. It’s kind of eye-opening stuff, and it has keys to wonderful narrative-developing principles that transcend culture… and yet, whenever I ask people about it, what is apparent is that it is still very much unheard of.

    Well for my circle of friends and followers, today that changes. You won’t need to read the whole book just yet (though you should). You won’t even need to watch the PBS special (though it is worth while!). Start here: this fantastic little cliff-notes animation work by Iskander Krayenbosch will break the ice for you. And trust me – it is just the kind of teaser that can get you interested in finding out more.

  • Interview: Kevin Spacey Does Impersonations (ITAS)

    It seems like celebrities are doing impersonations all the time. Co-actors try to mimic each other, vocalists mimic other singers. Such is its popularity right now, that just last month the top-ten-list juggernaut WatchMojo even gave us a top ten list dedicated to this very phenomenon. [Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen it yet].

    At the top of that particular list sits the indomitable Kevin Spacey. Now I don’t know if you realise it or not… but Spacey has actually been impersonating other celebrities for a good while now! As such, today I would love to share with you a kind of ‘from the vault’ moment from the television programme, Inside the Actors Studio.

    I quite enjoy the show – and I think that the key to its 21-year success (as at 2015) is that it offers viewers a genuine interview: all of the guests (actors, directors, writers, and such) have the opportunity to actually discuss their craft and their particular approach to it. Thus was the case in an episode with Kevin Spacey that aired in July 2000.

    In the middle of this particular interview, however, host James Lipton throws in an unexpected twist. With zero lead-time, he calls on Spacey to do some of his impersonations – and what came next was truly amazing. I hope you enjoy.

  • Top Ten: Wilhelm Scream (WatchMojo)

    Since the 1950’s, there hasn’t been a cinematic sound cliché quite like the wilhelm scream. It has made an appearance as a sound-bite in over 300 movies and television programmes. Today, I want to pay a humorous homage to the scream with this fun top ten list by the great team at WatchMojo.

  • Article: David Boyd ASC & The Walking Dead (CreativeCOW)

    Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here. Well, not unless you haven’t watched any of The Walking Dead over the last five years perhaps. Other than that, you ought to be golden with this post.

    I have done a wide variety of media work over the years: this often means needing to up-skill. When I first tried my hand at After Effects, the free training that the team at Creative Cow offered was there to guide me through a very steep learning curve. Fast forward to right now, and I usually just check out the highlights off the latest e-newsletter. Well today I couldn’t help but notice that there were linking to a fantastic interview that they did with David Boyd back in 2012.

    Be warned, it is a little TLDR (yeah, not a video interview… it’s that old school type of article!)… but Boyd has since gone on to DP on shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as directing episodes of Sleepy Hollow, Once Upon a Time, 12 Monkeys, and four more episodes of The Walking Dead. So the dude knows his business. From CreativeCow: “David’s insights into shooting in general, and the core aesthetic of The Walking Dead in particular, are every bit as enjoyable as the day we first published it.” Yep!

  • List: 129 Of The Most Beautiful Shots In Movie History (Buzzfeed)

    Buzzfeed is usually the haunt of Internet jokery and inane quizzes: and yet today I was pleasantly surprised to see a list of stills that is quite magnificent… a list they have deemed, “129 Of The Most Beautiful Shots In Movie History.”

    It is a pretty reasonable list – but you will need to be ready to scroll waaaaaay past the fold on this one! As an additional pre-warning, as is always the case – there will be plenty of stills that make you go, “What the?”

    Want to see what they have on offer: click on this image below (picture is number 51 on the list, and harkens back to a recent blog post of mine).

  • How To: Get the Hollywood Greenscreen Look (KINETIC)

    Alrighty, I have had my fun for a while – so today I want to come back to one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place… to share tools, tips, tricks, and generally correlate a whole bunch of resources for those who are still “waiting to be seen” (waiting2bscene… get it?) .

    One of the biggest tools around for amateur and professional alike is having the capacity to pull a key: and to do so well. In this excellent tutorial, director and cinematographer Matthew Rosen shares five of his tricks and secrets on shooting and compositing chroma keys. This one is definitely worth the look!

  • TBT: “In a World…” (Comedian Trailer)

    So today is Thursday, and doing a #TBT is the thing to do (thanks Instagram!) – ergo, I want to throwback to one of my all-time favourite ‘movie’ trailers.

    In Hollywood there needs to be buzz created prior to the release of a production. Simply put, that is the job of the movie trailer: generate interest so people will go see it. Given the machinations of Hollywood trailers then, I would wager that you would recognise the dulcet tones of Hal Douglas. Why? Because Douglas, along with Don LaFontaine and a handful of others, were the million-dollar voices behind almost all of the big buzz trailers of the past few decades.

    So, when the producers of Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedian wanted to create buzz, they did something quite brilliant. They approached Douglas, asking him to use his skills to satirise the entire trailer framework. And what I love the most about it all is the fact that the Dean of the East Coast Trailer narrators actually agreed to do it. Subsequently we have what is arguably one of the funniest self-deprecating pieces around. A piece that still makes me smile. I hope you enjoy.

  • Product Preview: Light L16 Camera

    Many moons before I began playing in the world of videos, I was a fairly avid amateur photographer. As a kid my grandfather introduced me to the world of photography, and I was hooked. While it has felt like a natural transition from photography to videography, those humble origins still lead me to check out fantastic new developments (pun intended!) that are happening in the world of still-life technology.

    Today I happened on a new video that is promoting a completely new kind of stills camera (that also has 4K video capacity it must be said): the Light L16. All I will say about the whole thing is, well…. giggity.

    https://vimeo.com/141273968

  • Making Of: Elastic Heart (Sia)

    In my last post on Emma Stone dancing in the new Arcade Fire clip I touched on the controversy that surrounded Sia’s song Elastic Heart. Today, I’d love to briefly unpack that again by sharing the making of video.

    I was quite excited by the pending release of the Elastic Heart music video back in January 2015. When I first saw the clip I was quite moved – so much so I immediately shared the clip with my wife, knowing that she would enjoy it too. Much like the incredible Chandelier you could tell that the video was a visual parable, portraying Sia’s internal warring with – and exorcising of – some dark times.

    What really surprised me was the almost immediate and vitriolic response that the video received: bolstered by mainstream media crying wolf in the guise of sensationalist paedophilia claims, the Twitter-verse sheep all ran headlong in the same direction. One short example sums up the herd mentality: “Sia’s “Elastic Heart” video is disgusting…”

    I won’t drill down into just how ridiculous that all was. if you would like to read an excellent article that does that, you can check it out here. No – my small part to play today is simply to remind you of the behind the scenes video… a short video that unpacks the concepts behind the work.

    If you have never seen this before, and you happen to have any lingering doubts about whether Elastic Heart was truly a “Shia LaBeouf video paedophile controversy… after singer Sia features 12-year-old girl cavorting with semi-naked star.” – then you might just find this to be “… a completely cathartic thing being here.”

  • Music Video: “Anna” (Arcade Fire, Featuring Emma Stone)

    So, back in the day a British big beat musician who went by the name of Fatboy Slim had a hit called Weapon Of Choice. What stood out for many was the surprising music video. Never seen it, feast your eyes!

    Yes, that is a dancing and prancing Christopher Walken. While not the first celebrity to cameo in a clip for a song, since the Weapon of Choice there appears to have been a steady increase in celebrities coming on board for such performances.

    Just this morning I saw a new sneak-peak release from the Québécois band Arcade Fire. Much like Weapon of Choice – or Sia’s more recent controversial Elastic Heart – it is a clip that includes a dancing celebrity: in this instance, the talented Emma Stone. Check it out – and enjoy.