Quotes - A Fall

These are some quotes or lyrics i associate with the theme of the fall, they may help to inspire some story ideas. Some are from my most listened to songs, and I've always loved how poetic the words are, and how they stay with me.


From 'End of the World' by Matt Alber





I don’t wanna fall, I don’t wanna fly I don’t wanna be dangled over
The edge of a dying romance






This is beautiful song, about the ups and downs an a relationship. Although this can depict a heart breaking romance, i don't think it has to be a romantic love. I feel the sentiment of these words can apply to any love between two things coming to an end, it'll be interesting to see what ideas my group and i can discuss around this quote.






From ' Half Moon Street' By Tap Tap







Just stop believing that,
You’ll go to hell if you have fun this evening





I personally find this a amazing quote, despite it being simplistic, i think its because of that we can interept it in so many ways. It reminded of the fall because of the idea of hell, and it made me wonder how we restrict our self in society today, because of fears of being hurt, judged or in trouble.

I think it would be really interesting to see a character who lets that go, and how free, or disastrous it could become. Perhaps my group will have some further ideas from this quote. I also think it could present some great ideas for realism in our story, a very down to earth feature, in a location similar to the one i live in day to day.

For this video I've used a live performance because i think it emphasises on the realism in the lyrics, and sets a nice local atmoshpere to the song.






From 'No Sound But The Wind' by the Editors




Help me to carry the fire
We will keep it alight together
Help me to carry the fire
It will light our way forever









This has to be one of my favoutie songs, when listening to the words i can help but imagine a story of two characters on a journey through many dangers, helping one another and caring for each other through it.

This can been shown in so many ways, so many stories ans stituations can fit to this idea, wether its a day to day life for the characters, supporting each other through life, or running across the country, away from the monster who have forced them from there home. Or perhaps even the 'fire' can represent something more powerful, something they share. A child maybe, or hope, or anything that can fit into the context of the story.

What i love about these lines is that there so open to different stories and tales, no matter who is listening, they could relate to the words to a aspect of there life. It relates to a wide audience on a emotional level.

It also present me with a rooted theme, although it can be interperted in many ways, the main message stays the same. Sharing and supporting something dear. This idea reminded me of the fall because the words suggest them helping each other through a fall, similar to that of Roy and Alexandria in the film too.

Story ~ Some years after the fall

The story begins with Alexandria in Hollywood, She's now 14, and has driven with her father to local markets in Hollywood, with a shipment of Oranges.

She finds herself walking through the market, passing a small flyover when she props her box of Oranges on the ledge infront of her, and finds herself wishing if she could be lucky enough to see Roy.

She's shortly dishearted at the unlikelyhood that they'll meet again, and in her daydreaming the box begins to slip from her fingers as some oranges spill over.

'THUD' "Ouch.." she hears from below.

"Sorry!" she yells down as more oranges fall below.

Picking them up, Roy lets a smile spread across his face as he looks up to Alexandria.

"You've never got out for the habit of throwing these around have you".

"Roy!"

He walks up to meet her, and once again befriends the little girl who saved his soul, he asks about her appearance in Hollywood but she dimisses queries about herself and demands to know fo Roy's life since she last saw him.

Amused he recalls to her his recent part in the action of a historical flicker, based in Alexandira...

"Reminded me of you of course".

He tells her the story

"It begins with the muslim leader Umar. He saw the beauty of Alexadria and was enchanted by it, its money and power fuelled his hunger to consume the land".

"He was an evil man?"

"Not as such, but he wanted more land under his rule, and wanted it by force, which is wrong".

"The Byzantine forces, sworn to protect Alexandria, and its beloved prietess fell to his mighty army".

" The prietess sent her most trusted messager to the commander Amr ibn Al-Asi".

"Did she love him?"

"Who? Al-Asi?"

"No! her trusted messager".

"Well thats who i was, at least i did his stunts".

"Then she did love him".

"Er, well..yes, as a preitess she was loved by everyone, but she was not allowed to love herself, a preitess must stay unmarried".

"How aweful!"

"She loved her messeger all the same".

"She warned Al-Asi of the suffering that would fall upon him and the world should he proceed to force himself into the walls of Alexandria which she had protected since her birth".

"He ignored her plea, and entered the city and forced her to follow a muslim state".

"However soon after, the curse began. Famine and suffering rippled throughout the land, as a evil wind purged through the city and to the surrounding lands without the caging of the walls".

"Returning the captive preistess he demanded she stop her powers, however she only replied, 'It was your wish to spread evil and steal the souls of my land? am i wrong? it seems you are in favour of our gods Commander, they grant your wish'".

"Terrified of the power that had befallen, and what it seemed the city once had the power of protecting, he fled the city, and the great Alexandria stood once again, returning to peace".

"Amazing, so the walls protect the people inside aswell as the world from the evil wind?"

" I think the moral was that by creating the invasion and taking over lands like an evil wind, Umar and the commander took more than they could handle, and there lands suffered because of it".

"So the people were free?"

"Thats the story".

"It sounds nice, i'd like to see it".

"I'll show it to you".

"No favours attached?"

"Yes, you have to promise not to throw oranges anymore".

"Ok".

Character Interveiw

The Doctor (from Doctor Who series 5)

Alright Doctor, nice to have you back with us again, hows it been?

Not to bad actually, considering I'm a 907-year old with a new face, its been quite fun so far.

Really? oh well that's good, I was worried you weren't going to get there on time, rumour is the TARDIS is 'playing up' for you?

Oi! now, now I'll have none of that, if anyone can drive her its me, and she's just warming up is all. Its been a big change for the both of us, I've got to run her in yet.

Oh, I see, well I just heard you crashed it into someones front garden, but I guess I heard wrong.

Err...well, that was an accident.

Right. So what adventures wait for you now?

Ah! well, that's the beauty isn't it? I don't know, not a clue, it's all about what's waiting round the corner of the next nebula. Well, I say that, nebula's don't have corners, and travelling through space its not really in a road layout, it was a figure of speech if you will, though I suppos-

Doctor? I understood what you meant.

Hm, yes well, very good! very good.

How were you feeling after your regeneration? a new man? confused, for someone so strong Doctor, it must be hard maintaining that with 11 personalities.

Well, its refreshing really. Of course I fear it, no one wants to die after all, or at least we try to avoid it. Honestly it can be odd for me, I remember how I felt before, all my memories are there. At the same time, I don't have them anymore, what I felt before is like when you wake up from a dream you'll forget, and in those last seconds before it floats out of your head you run it over in your mind. I suppose it feels somewhat like that.

But with each loss, there new life for you?

Oh yes, that's what keeps me ticking! I'm a new man, but it's still the good old Doctor.

Well thanks for meeting me, we wont keep you too long, we've learnt what a busy man you are-

That's rather accurate isn't it? but I do love a good chat, thanks for having, I do love the company from time to time.

Yes, the lonely doctor, as you've been known,

Sometimes, even I feel how much bigger the TARDIS is on the inside, when it's just me...still! It's not so big right now with Amy and Rory.

I bet Amy has a way of filling up a silence?

You bet she does - don't tell her I said that?

Stays with us Doctor.

Excellent, well I think I might pay a visit to space Florida, care to join?

Lead the way!

Geronimo!!!!!!!!!

Film Posters

Buried, directed by Rodrigo Cortes, will be released on the 29th of Septemeber 2010.
The poster campaign has definatley caught my eye recently, with clear inspiration of a Saul Bass style and reminisant of Hitchcocks many posters.



I think what makes this an excellent example of a film poster is the layout and block colours. The spiralling effect draws instand focus the the centre of the poster, the black and white keeps the image simple and easy to interpert for any veiwer. By creating a minimalist image it advertises the film without giving to much information for any moving audience to process.



The second also uses a similar styling, but this time we see the use of reveiws to create the tunnel effect, this is effective by the number of reviews used, althought an audience memeber is unlikely to read all, it presents a number of positive veiws about the film, encouraging readers of its success.

Film Reviews ~ 3 recent

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps





















This review by David Gritten suggests an overview of the films plot with attention to plot and character details, it also while recognising some potential in the story gives a negative view overall about the relationships of characters and length of script and shots. Although it does give some credit to the visual look of the film.

Cannes Film Festival 2010: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, review
Oliver Stone's follow-up to his era-defining 1987 film Wall Street, again starring Michael Douglas, lacks the punch of the "greed is good" original.


By David Gritten 2:55PM BST 14 May 2010

It was so much easier 23 years ago, when Michael Douglas carved a place in movie history by mouthing Gordon Gekko’s “greed is good” mantra in Oliver Stone’s first Wall Street film.

We all knew where we stood back then. Some loathed Gekko, while enjoying Douglas’s hammy bad-guy performance. Others among us took one look at him, with his slicked-back hair and colourful braces, and realised he spoke to them – of career possibilities as traders in investment banks.


Well, times have changed a lot since, then, and the economic crisis has revealed banks as more voracious in their dealings than even Gekko could have imagined.
This might have prompted Stone to deliver a compelling, angry sequel that directly addressed today’s world. Instead, what we get is a fudge.
Gekko, we learn, served eight years in jail for his financial misdemeanours, and in the film’s opening scenes we see him being released – dishevelled, unshaven and re-claimng his old possessions.

(The opportunity for a sardonic gag about the size of old mobile phones is not resisted.) The action then fast-forwards to 2008, when he’s made a recovery of sorts and has written a best-selling book titled – wait for it – Is Greed Good? He has to ask? If he doesn’t know, who does?
He has now positioned himself as a prophet of gloom: surveying the banks speculating, leveraging debts and exploring the short-term gains of sub-prime lending, he foresees disastrous times.

There are complications in his life. His estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan) is involved with Jacob (Shia LaBeouf), a hungry, eager young trader making a fortune for his investment bank: a younger version of Gekko, of course. Winnie is conveniently idealistic, and loathes her father’s obsession with money, while he wants above all to reconcile with her.
Meanwhile, Jacob’s bank crashes, triggering the suicide of its founder and Jacob’s mentor Lou Zabel (Frank Langella). Jacob plots revenge against a partner in a rival bank (Josh Brolin) whose double dealing has brought Zabel’s bank to its knees.

There’s plenty of story here, then, but Stone is, shall we say, greedy for more. He and his screenwriters (Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff) batter the audience with financial jargon, spoken very fast in staccato tones: shorting, sub-primes, hedging, the Fed. Without a close daily study of the financial pages, it’s hard to keep up.

Still, we keep coming back to Gekko’s question: Is greed good? Here, Stone tries to have it both ways. I lost count of the times a character says: “It’s not about the money,” but visually the film suggests otherwise: it’s stuffed with long tracking scenes and aerial shots showing Manhattan, and especially the temples of Mammon on Wall Street itself, in a flattering, golden-hued glow. We see them at sunrise, at dusk, and it’s clear we are meant to feel awe.

The film’s emotional relationships feel awkward and forced. Carey Mulligan does her best in the role of Winnie, who is meant to be pivotal – the battleground between Gekko and Jacob. But she’s essentially a liberal cipher, and somewhat passive. (This is, of course, primarily a film for and about men.) LaBeouf is just about old enough to play a smart young trader, and does so efficiently, if not particularly interestingly.

But those looking forward to seeing Michael Douglas in his pomp may be disappointed. He disappears from the movie for long stretches: after the first scene at the prison gates, it’s agood half-hour before he re-surfaces. He certainly has his moments: a rousing speech at his alma mater about his new book is pure ham (think of Stone doing the same for Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday), but at least it makes you smile. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps could use even more of Douglas.

Instead, it’s a handsomely-shot, smoothly edited vehicle that lurches its way to that wearisome climax. Annoyingly, Stone has also littered his film with cameos – Charlie Sheen (yes, that’s right: Bud Fox from 23 years back), Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, various luminaries from New York society – and, on three occasions, Stone himself. It looks as if everyone involved had a ball. How cosy it all looks. Who said the global recession couldn’t be fun?

Original: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/cannes-film-festival/7724216/Cannes-Film-Festival-2010-Wall-Street-Money-Never-Sleeps-review.html



_______________________________________________



The Last Airbender (PG)



























Plot: M. Night Shyamalan's live action adaptation of the Nickelodeon animated series. Set in a world of Asian-influenced martial arts and magic, Avatar...tells the story of Aang (Noah Ringer) and his quest to save the world from the ruthless Fire Nation.
Review: By design or otherwise, M. Night Shyamalan will never occupy the middle ground. He’s the self-anointed auteur dressing B-movie genres in A-movie glamour, his becalmed style — autumnal, serious, tricksy — attempting to blend Spielberg with Kubrick: high adventure at a snail’s pace. But this former golden boy is now a laughing stock: Lady In The Water über-flopped, and his psycho-pollen thriller The Happening was by any reckoning misconceived. Things appear to have got worse.

American critics, braying like a pack of hounds, have spilled loud, vituperative scorn on his latest, a would-be fantasy epic. Tedious! Nauseating! Incompetent! Hamstrung by a last-minute conversion into 3D! Hateful wouldn’t be putting too fine a word on it. Inevitably, upon viewing this so-called atrocity, it turns out to be just a film. A clunky, occasionally stirring, but largely botched fairy tale targeting its saga of child-empowerment towards juniors dreaming of saving the world without the assistance of their parents. Adapting a cult US cartoon series, bathed in a manga-like mythos of martial arts and quasi-Buddhist rhetoric, was an intriguing enough challenge.

Could Shyamalan apply his aesthetic to the robust demands of the Lord Of The Rings-style world-building? He’s hired Rings cinematographer Andrew Lesnie, and spooked up some original special effects: water and fire swirled like pizza-dough by the tai chi moves of the (ahem) ‘benders’. And if the 3D is wishy-washy (but hardly ruinous), there are visual splendours: temples perched on mountain peaks, cameras racing across frozen wastes (Greenland in person), and the splendid steampunk battleships of the Fire Nation spewing corrosive smoke. There’s an anti-industrial vibe on hand that echoes its namesake, Avatar — the original series is awkwardly titled Avatar: The Last Airbender.

For Shyamalan, the pace is positively athletic. We flit, with disorientating swiftness, between the elemental nations on the back of a gargantuan furball, a monkey-faced familiar to the dog-eared dragon of The Neverending Story (an appropriate touchstone). And in amongst the mystical dot-to-dot (a quest, indeed, for balance in the Force) appear Shyamalan-like grace notes as James Newton Howard’s swelling score lingers over the balletic moves of the miniscule hero (Noah Ringer). It’s when anyone speaks that it turns to stone. Unfathomably, in adapting a cartoon Shyamalan has written a cartoon.

The script is a childish muddle of voiceover and rampant exposition, its young elementals robot-reading stage directions to one another: “We must go.” “Yes, we must go.” Out of the youthful troupe — a lithe, cheery bunch struck cardboard when forced to entertain acting — only Slumdog’s Dev Patel reveals any bite as the petulant Fire prince. But then, he is the only one with a discernable character. Shyamalan is surprisingly unsure of the material, and his tone haphazard. The plot creaks, great sacrifices and dazzling secrets slip by meaninglessly and the film falls dangerously short of the conviction that made the Rings trilogy sing. The Last Airbender is also due to be a trilogy (this is Book I: Water, and the final scene is a teaser for Book II).

That might make Airbending fans content, but most of us would opt for the once-promised Unbreakable sequels. For Shyamalan to get that icy-calm mojo back. Perhaps, try one of those twist endings again.
Verdict: Far from the catastrophe the US bewailed, but still disappointingly clunky. Notch it between Eragon (below) and Dragonslayer (above) on a sliding scale of fantasy filmmaking.


Original : http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=118561























2 Stars
By Total Film Aug 31st 2010



Read more: Eat Pray Love review TotalFilm.com


Eat Pray Love review - A career as a successful travel journalist, a swanky New York apartment and a post-marital fling with James Franco: things don’t appear to be going too badly for Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts).

Yet still, she can’t find her “centre”. She used to have “an appetite for life” and she’s lost it. Woe. Woe is her. Clearly what this woman needs is a 12-month voyage of self-discovery around the globe.

Roberts’ character is difficult to feel sorry for before she sets off on this postcardperfect self-healing binge. She becomes near impossible to like as it becomes apparent we’re watching a huge holiday video.

You know those montages on A Place In The Sun that make everywhere look like paradise? There’s a lot of that.

Eat Pray Love sounds like a self-help solution before you get past the title, and Glee creator Ryan Murphy is indulgent with our time as well as the expensive location shooting: 140 minutes.

The original book – a memoir by the real Elizabeth Gilbert – has legions of fans, though. Those able to ignore the narcissism of it all will simply relax into Roberts’ leisurely gallivanting.

They’ll enjoy the colourful charismatic types that surround her: Richard Jenkins’ grumbling semi- Buddhist musings; a Balinese guru issuing mantras like a shrink with a prayer mat; Javier Bardem knocking her off her bike then falling in love with her.

On some levels, it’s just easygoing tourism: a cinema-priced round-the-world ticket. But the introspection, accompanied by a voiceover as well-suited to a PowerPoint presentation as a movie, goes on and on as Roberts seeks her “balance”.

By the time she lands on a theory she calls ‘The Physics Of The Quest’, you’ll wish you were homeward bound.

Verdict:

A neverending, inward-looking travelogue that’ll only find love from devotees of Gilbert’s writings. From coast to coast, Roberts coasts.

Original http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/eat-pray-love

Around the School ~ Cinematography Task

A2 MEDIA - photo slideshow

As a group task we journeyed around the school with the misson to capture any interesting shots or angles we can, while also using characters in our shots, We've taken a variety of pictures and compositions using the school's locations. Some are focused on an object, a scene or a more artist shot, enjoy!!

'A Fallen Friendship' ~ Cinematography with a story

Fallen friendship - free slideshow

For this task we were set to compose a series of images with a house style, suggesting a story with a title and fitting music. What i wanted from my shoot was to style and compose my pictures as if they were separate screenshots, taken at different points in the film, to make the story less static, and reminiscent of a storyboard layout.

Approaching my task, i had the idea of a 'Fallen Friendship', inspired by the music video of 'Used to be' by Beach House in a previous post. I wanted to follow a similar idea of only using two characters in a empty but serene location to create the idea of there isolation and distance from a once close friendship.

I used my local park for the setting, during the day while it was empty. I kept the lighting and colours bright, and showing the colourful surroundings to show this is a happy and comfortable place for the friends, which they have always shared with each other. I also wanted to emphasise the absence of the characters to each other by positioning. By using the same location, but in different areas i can show a immediate distance between the pair, but by also showing one character appearing always on the right and the other on the left, by being together they would be beside each other.

Narratives ~ 500 Days of Summer

A personal favourite of mine, 500 Days of Summer uses a beautiful narrative for its story.

Main Narrative styles:

Voice over

Non Linear

Montage and music sequences


The Opening sequence and titles uses an voice over which reoccurs thought out the film. It's a classic way to introduce a story or characters, however in 500 Days of Summer it develops aspects of the film and characters where visual hints are subtle.

It also uses spilt screens of various images, this presents the two main characters at once and develops the atmosphere of the story and and how Tom and Summer develop and change in there relationship, like they have in there youth. This also reoccurs toward the end of the film, were Tom and Summer finally move on from one another.

Its a technique that i would love to use in my film, two framed images moving at the same time, presenting two sides to a story, without the need for words.
The linearity of the film is also interesting, it jumps back and forth between the time of the relationship, showing it in a way that allows us to see the characters from different perspectives which reveals and changes our judgements as an audience.

To show these jumps in time it uses title pages, this is an interest concept to consider in my own film, i would like to stray away from a linear timeline in my film. Perhaps for a 5 minute film this would be too ambitious, but depending on how its presented its something i will definitely look into in more detail.

I think overall what i love about 500 days of Summer is not only the brilliant script but how artistic and free it is, i can tell the director and creators made this film to what they wanted to do and let there artist ideas and humour run through it, with less concern of aesthetically pleasing the audience.

A bit of photography

We were set a quick task to take some interesting shots of objects we could find, although I'm disappointed with the small amount of ideas i had for this task, with more time i would like to do some more in other locations, perhaps a trip to some of my favourite places will inspire some ideas and i can find objects in a natural setting as my subject.

With some i attempted to create a shot to shot a mundane, every day setting, but with an interesting aspect or angle, with others its a close up to create a more artistic shot.















































































For the pictures using the fabric i followed from a sketch i made sometime ago just as a fun doodle, which i found during my photography session, and it inspired the shots :)

V&A

As a fun visit during the summer i went to my routine visit to the V&A, just to look around and get any inspiration from the vast collections there.

Some of the pieces that i found useful for media ideas were in the photography halls.
Artists such as Hannah Starky are famous for there simplistic scene's with usually female models. Looking at her work might be useful for compistion's in the frame and presenting characters in film.



(a summary from http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O20214/photograph-untitled-may-1997/)

In 1997, when Hannah Starkey graduated from the Royal College of Art, she received a number of awards including The Photographers Gallery Award, The Sunday Times Award and the John Kobal Portrait Award. Her photographs of women in atmospheric interiors have been widely exhibited and reproduced in publications. About this image, the photographer wrote: 'The photograph of the two girls on a sofa depicts a situation that is both reality and fantasy. A moment in teenage years that can be easily identified with as a familiar memory. Emma and Sam were drama students, and this was their student union. It portrays a moment (possibly one of many) when the party is, at least for now, over. The expectations of the evening are now replaced with exhaustion and their relationship becomes one of co-dependency and the shared knowledge of a satisfied ending.'

Etaples war cemetery

During my holiday to Northern France this year i got an incredible chance to visit the Etaples cemetery. The cemetery was a 5 minutes drive away from where i was staying and the whole area is steeped in history from world war 1 and 2. Bunkers and Pillboxes littered the local beach and the cliff sides were covered by countless definitions were bombs had be shot across the channel from the white cliffs of Dover to the area while it was occupied by German troops.




















There were so many stories from locals of how there families were affected in the war, and during the occupation, it was a truly fascinating experience and the size of the effects and the cemetery itself was quite overwhelming, i think if there is a good interpretation of the Fall, its there, the people on both sides who died for there countries, how the area fell into enemies hands, how pilots fell into the area while flying across, how the bombs fell and created a new landscape that will never let us forget. There are many ways we can look at it. I think overall the Fall of War is a powerful story, no matter what account it tells.

John Hillcoat's video for 'The Anwser' by Unkle

This short video has a excellent montage of interlinking film images, showing a realtion to death and life, and how connected the world is. I think this is a fanatasic reference to an artist use of film and a music sequence.



In particular the shots of the lighting, and the following shots of veins in the body, on leaves, rivers etc. Its clever editing thats artistic aswell as very suited to documentary filming.

Alphonse Mucha~ Artists

Alphonse Mucha is one of my personal favourite artists, his work ranges from paintings and photography to posters and sculpture. The pieces i enjoy most though from Mucha's work is his decorative panels, which usually focus on one subject and creates there image in a goddess or mystical appearance. Usually accompanied by a beautiful floral frame, Mucha's work was a important influence on art and was a proieer for the beginning of the Art Nouveau movement.

His designs are based on the seasons or elements of time and weather, creating somewhat mother nature like characters. I consider this to be an interpetation of the fall, the season, as the women in his panels are shown embodiements of the elements.

I'd like to see how his frame designs, his colours, use of positioning and decorative props can influence the design of my film. What can i encorparate? the use of a decorative frame perphaps, thiers many ideas i can gain from Mucha's work on representing the Fall. Maybe i can also consider story ideas for from his work, maybe focus on a individual character for the film?



Alphonse Mucha - Autumn


Notice his use of both the dieing leaves and the food in the image, showing both the loss of froral life and the harvest of food. It suggests the balance of life and death, an interesting concept that reflects the fall well, in terms of 'when you fall, you must pick yourself back up', like a Fall and Rise.




This is a short insight into Mucha as an artist, if you can find the full documentary, i highly recommend it.

Falling out of love ~ Music

The Fall, can be interpreted as The Fall Out Of Love. I thought this can lead to interested stories and images of a couple or characters with a disintegrating relationship. I've already considered shots i could use to this story line or idea, in my notebook.

For example the music videos created for 'No ones gonna love you' a song originally by Band of Horses, which was remixed by Cee Lo Green, the video depicts the journey of a couples relationship on there travels, and how their relationship falls.




This is a similar concept, 'Used to Be' by Beach house, relates the the changes between people and how in this case it creates distance between the couple, and the isolation between them emphasised by there solitude.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World has without a doubt been my top summer film of 2010, along with Toy Story 3. It's originally based on a comic book series by Byran Lee O'Malley, and follows a recreation of the comics style throughout the film, because of this Scott pilgrim was visually spectacular, with the use of amazing graphics and special effects, timed movements for the group of characters and stunningly arranged locations and scenes Scott Pilgrim is a feast for the eyes.I'd love to use the way these scenes and locations are presented in my own film.

It also pays attention to much smaller visual details throughout, which i really admired, such as the scene with Scott and Ramona on the bus, if you look closely the unfocused lights of the streets behind them morph into the shapes of X's and hearts, according to what there saying.

Big Fish

Over the summer I've seen and re watched a selection of films for my own enjoyment, however as a media student i cant help but analyse and pay close attention to various details during scenes, by watching this selection of films i can gain further inspiration and ideas of how a film can be presented.

Big Fish is easily one of my favourite films of all time, directed by Tim Burton the story and style has his distint signature throughout, although I feel its one of his more subtle works compared to films such as Edward scissor hands or Beetle juice.














These two shots are considerably lower key to the rest of the film, but are just as spectuclar, im using these examples to examine shots which are some of the less threatical, and practical to recreate or take further.

The National Gallery

Our trip to the National Gallery of London on the 25Th of June was a great one, it gave us all a real insight into how artists have used elements in there paintings to convey messages and opinions of the time, and help us to use our sets and our films to show our meanings subtly through mise en scene.
We had a guide through the gallery for a talk on some of her favourite paintings, and how they can apply to us when filming.

The first painting we looked at was...

The Ambassadors
1533, Hans Holbein the younger





The use of the props and objects in this painting were used to depict subjects at the time, certain things were advancing, new worlds were being discovered with new trading opportunities.
I was surprised that portraits such as these were composed and planned to reveal so much when studied, even the less obvious messages like the distorted skull, and the Jesus on the cross in the left top hand corner.
I'd seen such work like this before, in Elizabeth's the 1st propaganda paintings, but i was still amazed to see how different artists had used this idea.


From the National Gallery -- http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/hans-holbein-the-younger-the-ambassadors

'This picture memorialises two wealthy, educated and powerful young men. On the left is Jean de Dinteville, aged 29, French ambassador to England in 1533. To the right stands his friend, Georges de Selve, aged 25, bishop of Lavaur, who acted on several occasions as ambassador to the Emperor, the Venetian Republic and the Holy See.The picture is in a tradition showing learned men with books and instruments. The objects on the upper shelf include a celestial globe, a portable sundial and various other instruments used for understanding the heavens and measuring time. Among the objects on the lower shelf is a lute, a case of flutes, a hymn book, a book of arithmetic and a terrestrial globe.
Certain details could be interpreted as references to contemporary religious divisions. The broken lute string, for example, may signify religious discord, while the Lutheran hymn book may be a plea for Christian harmony. In the foreground is the distorted image of a skull, a symbol of mortality. When seen from a point to the right of the picture the distortion is corrected'.




An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump
1768, Joseph Wright 'of Derby'




'A travelling scientist is shown demonstrating the formation of a vacuum by withdrawing air from a flask containing a white cockatoo, though common birds like sparrows would normally have been used. Air pumps were developed in the 17th century and were relatively familiar by Wright's day. The artist's subject is not scientific invention, but a human drama in a night-time setting.The bird will die if the demonstrator continues to deprive it of oxygen, and Wright leaves us in doubt as to whether or not the cockatoo will be reprieved. The painting reveals a wide range of individual reactions, from the frightened children, through the reflective philosopher, the excited interest of the youth on the left, to the indifferent young lovers concerned only with each other. The figures are dramatically lit by a single candle, while in the window the moon appears. On the table in front of the candle is a glass containing a skull'.





The Family of Darius before Alexander

1565-7, Paolo Veronese

'The story illustrates the mistake made by the family of Darius, the defeated Persian Emperor, in identifying Alexander after the Battle of Issus. Alexander and his friend Hephaestion visited Darius's tent; the mother of Darius, misled by Hephaestion's splendour and bearing, offered him the obeisance due to the victorious monarch; Alexander forgave her'.

Hamlet

The use of Shadows and lighting throughout the Drama edition of Hamlet always enraptures me, the use of shadows on the character and around them can portray so much of the character and the scene, such as it does here to show Hamlets inner turmoil, and darkness to his character.It's a simple technique, but i think it creates a great visual impact.

The Fall

The Fall, directed by Tarsem Singh was released in 2008. It was awarded with best cinematography and best film by the Austin Film Critics Association, Berlin International Film Festival and the Cantalonian International Film Festival.




The plot is based in a Los Angeles hospital during the 1920's in which young Alexandria meets Roy, while both recovering from accidents Roy befriends Alexander by telling her a story of six men from different corners of the earth, who journey together to claim revenge on the same man. However as his story continues he uses Alexandria to search the hospital and find morphine as he resorts to attempts at suicide in his depressed state after the paralysis in this legs.
































Because of the use of the enchanting fanatsy tale 'The Fall' uses shots in various stunning locations across the world, for this and its use of frame positioning, choreographed scenes and both natural and manmade settings its no wonder its been awarded for ts cinematography. Overall The Fall is a beautifully written and protrayed film.

























Thoughts on The Fall

For me, this film has can definitely gained a place in my all time favourites of the film world. I think what stood out the most to me was the ideals and efforts of the director, his vision and need for visual perfection reflects the story itself. It creates the imagination of a small girl and depicts her fantasy to the smallest detail without the use of any computer generated images or effects, by doing this we truly see the story through the characters mind. I find visually moving films leave the greatest impression on me as an audience members, just like the breathtaking scenes in The Fall.