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Tag: Cinephile

  • Video Montage: A Stock Homage to Directors

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a video that is something of a lesson in styling. Now, you could ask almost any cinematographer in the world what they think of stock footage, and you most often find yourself on the end of a tirade against some element of the entire stock industry. Truth be told, it is easy to see why they feel that way. Invariably, stock shots look quite same-same, lacking in ingenuity and visual oomph. With that being said – I must protest the blanket hostility towards stock footage. With the development of fresh sites such as Dissolve and DeathToStock – the creative types are claiming back the unique elements that have been lacking in the great pool of stock footage and imagery – and it has been a breath of fresh air!

    So, it was very cool to stumble on this video created by the ShutterStock team that is a stylised homage to some of the great directors… and it has been done using only stock footage.  Now is it brilliant? Nah. Let’s be honest. But it is really good! And it is exciting to think that as an indie film-maker, or documentary producer, or whatever… we might very well be able to squeeze in a reasonable stock shot that isn’t going to raise the collective ire of cinematographers any more. And that is worth celebrating just a little.

    You can also read about this whole process here.

  • Video Article: Understanding Jump Cuts

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a video I stumbled on a little while ago. Coming from Vimeo’s Riley Hooper, it offers a pretty concise explanation of the technique known as a jump cut. Even if you have never heard the term before, I can guarantee that you all know what a jump cut looks like… though picking up pace in more and more places, it is a ubiquitous transition amongst the most popular of YouTube’s vloggers. As someone cleverly observed, “Anything other than a jump cut would create a slower experience that would leave you less stimulated and thus more likely to click away.”1

    So, jump right in. 🙂

  • Article: Stills Photographer Intro to Video (RED)

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share a great article that was published a while back by those in the RED Universe. Really, there’s no surprises here as the title says it all: it is an introduction to video production for those of you who are photographers. Granted, many of you may know this stuff. Nevertheless, if you are just starting to play around with the video functionality on your DSLR – or you have never really dug into the kind of background information that can make your videos a little better – then this article is a must. I hope you find it useful.

    “This article gives an overview of the key differences in order to make the “cinephotography” transition as straightforward as possible…”

  • PSA: Say No To VVS

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to share two vital videos for all mobile phone video content creators. IMHO, these public service announcement (PSA) videos ought to do the Internet rounds at least once a week! So please join the cause, and help us say no to VVS.

  • Video Essay: How to Do Action Comedy – Zhou

    Continuing my series of resource links, today I want to swing back around to one of my favourite video essayists at the minute – yep, it is time to come back to some work by cinephile Tony Zhou. He has a great cache of stuff – and this is the second instalment of his work that I will be sharing (the first being How to Do Visual Comedy). In this fun video essay of How to Do Action Comedy – originally released at the end of 2014 – Zhou once again masterfully walks us through the visual story-telling of global action-phenom, Jackie Chan. You will definitely find it to be, “… a refreshing break from the shaky cam gimmicks of popular directors like Brett Ratner, J.J. Abrams or Michael Bay.” I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

  • Top Ten: Films About Nostalgia

    Today I wanted to hit pause on my resource posts so that I could indulge in a staple of trashy tabloid journalism and YouTube videos – a Top Ten List!

    This is a list I stumbled upon over at Hollywood.com: Back in the Good Old Days — Films About Nostalgia. What a great idea for a top ten! Now if you click on the link, you’ll get the full breakdown – but for those who think it will be a case of TLDR, then fear not – I have the short version right here for you!

    10. The World’s End.
    9. Midnight In Paris.
    8. Dazed and Confused.
    7. Pleasantville.
    6. Sunset Boulevard.
    5. High Fidelity.
    4. Citizen Kane.
    3. The Sandlot.
    2. The Artist.
    1. Hugo.

    So, what do you think – do you agree with their list? Is there a case for other nostalgic films to bust a move, or is it as unassailable as MC Hammer?

  • Article: “15 Things That Stanley Kubrick Can Teach You About Filmmaking”

    Continuing with my series of resource links – today I want to share with an article which I just finished reading over at the Taste of Cinema entitled, “15 Things That Stanley Kubrick Can Teach You About Filmmaking” (by David Biggins). Below you will find the cliff notes version of the article, but I really encourage you to head over and avail yourself of the full version as soon as you can – it is well worth the read!

    In short form, here are the 15 Things That Stanley Kubrick Can Teach You About Filmmaking:

    1. Match Cuts: “[Not] invented by Kubrick but, so far, no one has ever used it quite as dramatically.”
    2. Using Natural Lighting: “Using the light that would be available to the characters at that moment in time… Kubrick often preferred to light his films in this way.”
    3. Using Artificial Lighting: “The Shining uses both natural and artificial light to help change with the mood changes that occurs during the horror.”
    4. Vanishing Points: “It is perhaps the most easily definable element of a film that makes it recognisably ‘Kubrickian’.”
    5. Tracking Shots: “[Kubrick’s films] feel dynamic because he let his camera flow through the narrative; firstly through tracking…”
    6. Steadicam Shots: “… directors can film a scene in one long continuous take, not having to disturb the actors.”
    7. Hand-held Camerawork: “Picking the right moment to use a hand-held camera can really add drama to a film.”
    8. Long Shot: “A long shot allows you to place a lot of information on screen…”
    9. Wide-angle Lenses in Cramped Spaces: “Many of Kubrick’s films are notable for their use of extreme wide-angle lenses.”
    10. Wide-angle Lenses in Large Spaces: During Paths of Glory’s court martial sequence… Kubrick uses a wide-angle lens so that the sense of depth is maintained but he’s only keeping Private Ferol (Timothy Carey) in focus.”
    11. Zoom Lenses: “[It can be] a beautiful shot that’s uninterrupted by edits, which helps to heighten the tension by keeping the audience member completely in the scene.”
    12. Choice of Film Format: “Kubrick’s productions offer useful examples as to why a filmmaker might have chosen to work with different film formats.”
    13. Chronology: “It’s fairly commonplace to see non-linear narrative films [today]… but it was atypical in 1956… By switching around the order of events, Kubrick dramatically altered how we perceive certain characters on screen.”
    14. Use of Colour: “Kubrick’s true masterstroke is having created a film that uses colour so vividly that it becomes a talking point in itself.”
    15. Casting: “He took this drive for authenticity one step further for Full Metal Jacket when he cast real drill instructor Ronald Lee Ermey…”
    An example of the Kubrickian vanishing point.

     

    Want to read the unabridged article, you can find it here.

  • Short Film: Table 7 (Slavnic)

    Coming back to my series of resource links – from video essays, to cinematographer interviews, how-to tips and the like – today I want to share with you a short film that is a long-time favourite of mine. The premise and the execution by film-maker Marko Slavnic are very well done. There’s not much to say about this really: if this kind of short doesn’t light your fire, then your wood’s wet. Enjoy!

  • Video Essay: On Archive Remakes?

    Continuing with this series of resource links – from video essays, to cinematographer interviews, how-to tips and the like – today I want to circle back around to an idea that I have often ruminated upon: that of the cinema remake. There are the obvious remakes, of course. Same name, same (or similar enough) plot-line… just large chunks of the same same same. Gone in 60 Seconds, The Planet of the Apes, Annie, The Absent Minded Professor… you get my point.

    But what I continue to love discovering is the myriad of videos that highlight those less distinguishable remakes (such as the essay I shared a little few weeks ago about Scorsese: while not a direct remake, there are enough similarities in the visual elements – and the story itself – to notice that the same director had made the piece, albeit with 50-years separating them). And so on Monday I happily stumbled upon a fun little piece that does a side-by-side comparison between archive films and the Paramount/Spielberg phenomena – Raiders of the Lost Ark! Yep, you read that correctly: this side-by-side comparison by a Vimeo user named Stoo clearly indicates that Raiders seems to have borrowed from quite a few old film ideas and visuals as well. But seriously – why just read about it: you have to see this for yourself!

  • The Best and the Worst Thing About Movies

    Today I plan on taking a small detour from my series of informative posts so that I can have a minor rant about movie trailers. I have always loved the trailers: and growing up with vocal-maestro’s such as Don LaFontaine and Hal Douglas leading the charge for many years, I think it is easy to see why. Nevertheless, as I get older, and as my appreciation for the work and machinations of cinema and television has deepened, I must admit to a growing discontent with more modern trailer traits.

    Even though director Robert Zemeckis once claimed that the purpose of trailers was to inform the audience – “We know from studying the marketing of movies, people really want to know exactly every thing that they are going to see before they go see the movie. It’s just one of those things.” – I tend to disagree. For me, the point of a trailer is to hook in the audience: to tease us, to leave us wanting more, to get us to a point of wanting to depart with our hard-earned money in order to see the production. That is the non-verbal contract that is entered into when an audience member – namely, me – watches a trailer. And to be honest – a poorly made trailer can very easily break that contract.

    So having just watched a brand new trailer – let me share it with you (as well as a comparison trailer), and I’ll explain where I’m coming from.

     

    To my mind, the trailer that fails in its duty of audience-teasing is the one for Southpaw. The reason is fairly simple: minus the ultimate ‘battle’ sequence (which to be honest, we can already draw our own conclusions on, right?), it feels like I have just seen the whole story. Seriously.  The. Entire. Story. It is already behind in points by simply being film which explores a tired premise (a fallen champion looking for redemption/love) dumped into our laps – but then we get a blow-by-blow plot outline while we’re at it. Who needs to see the film when the trailer has basically given us a Reader’s Digest Condensed Books version of the movie? The contract is broken, and I feel no need to see the film.

    Comparatively, Nolan’s teaser for The Dark Knight was a total knock-out for millions of fans globally. It is not like the world doesn’t know about Batman, you know. Given that the Dark Knight’s greatest nemesis has always been the Joker, his involvement was also a no-brainer. Nevertheless, we were masterfully teased into wanting more. That is what I am talking about!

    I am mourning the loss of genuinely great movie trailers that don’t have to spell it out. Is anyone with me?