Friday, 5 February 2010
It’s all about the lighting
It’s been a helluva week. Too many poorly kids at home from school and not enough work and filmmaking being done. The movie highlight of my week was curling up on the sofa and watching Twilight again....yeah, yeah, I know, the special effects were a bit cringe-worthy and the story was entirely predictable. However there is a reason that this, the first movie of the series, was a phenomenon and it had nothing to do with girl-next-door-meets-hunky-vampire and definitely nothing to do with Robert Patterson. (Sorry Robert!) In fact the entire success of this movie hinged on one thing: the cinematography. Oh yes, make no mistake – it was all down to what went on behind the lens, specifically those ultra-cool camera angles and lighting effects.
Elliot Davis, the Director of Photography in the film, is a genius. He really knew how to use the camera to capture the mood and feel of the vampire genre. (Of course, Catherine Hardwicke might have had something to do with it too.) Heck, some of that heavily-desaturated-almost-black-and-white lighting was so darn good that my great old hairy Aunt Hilda would look like sex on a stalk with those effects. It would be difficult for anyone to look bad with that lighting. So cool, so sexy, so atmospheric!
It wasn't just about lighting pretty actors either. Most of the film was visually stunning. The gorgeous mountain landscape helped enormously of course, but there was also very clever use of colour. Remember when a heavily desaturated Edward flipped up a bright red apple with his foot and caught it – how’s that for a snow white/poison apple/forbidden-fruit metaphor? No wonder teenage girls all over the world swooned en-masse. Or remember the scene where Edward and Bella were lying in a sunlit meadow of vibrant green? Such clever use of selective colour and framing techniques! Yep, the framing was very nicely done. Elliot certainly knows his stuff.
But what really made me love the film was the way the camera was used to enhance the characters of Bella and Edward. For example, remember the way the camera shook slightly at the start of the film when Bella first appeared, emphasising Bella’s awkwardness and insecurity at starting at a new school? The lighting at this stage was very middle-of-the-road ordinary, nothing special, just like our heroine. But then when the audience glimpsed Edward....mmm...Edward....now that’s when the really clever stuff began. The camerawork became steadier, the camera angles became more interesting, the shots were more tightly framed and the lighting on Edward’s face became so heavily desaturated that it was almost monochrome in places. Combine this with a great deal of slow-mo, clever make-up and sultry looks and hey presto! Our hero was transformed into every teenage girl’s ultimate fantasy.
Yes indeedy, all ordinary girls like you and I can be seduced by a mysterious and sultry young vampire – all we need is clever lighting and groovy camera angles. So forget Robert Patterson. I mean, I’m sure he’s really nice and terribly sexy and all that, but the guy who really blew my socks off was behind the camera, not in front of it.
Elliot Davis’s attention to detail is the sexiest thing about Twilight. He put a huge amount of time and effort into cinematography and editing - and it shows. He turned a distinctly average teen romance flick into a well choreographed and visually beautiful piece of artwork which was both charming and edgy in equal amounts.
Elliot Davis, the Director of Photography in the film, is a genius. He really knew how to use the camera to capture the mood and feel of the vampire genre. (Of course, Catherine Hardwicke might have had something to do with it too.) Heck, some of that heavily-desaturated-almost-black-and-white lighting was so darn good that my great old hairy Aunt Hilda would look like sex on a stalk with those effects. It would be difficult for anyone to look bad with that lighting. So cool, so sexy, so atmospheric!
It wasn't just about lighting pretty actors either. Most of the film was visually stunning. The gorgeous mountain landscape helped enormously of course, but there was also very clever use of colour. Remember when a heavily desaturated Edward flipped up a bright red apple with his foot and caught it – how’s that for a snow white/poison apple/forbidden-fruit metaphor? No wonder teenage girls all over the world swooned en-masse. Or remember the scene where Edward and Bella were lying in a sunlit meadow of vibrant green? Such clever use of selective colour and framing techniques! Yep, the framing was very nicely done. Elliot certainly knows his stuff.
But what really made me love the film was the way the camera was used to enhance the characters of Bella and Edward. For example, remember the way the camera shook slightly at the start of the film when Bella first appeared, emphasising Bella’s awkwardness and insecurity at starting at a new school? The lighting at this stage was very middle-of-the-road ordinary, nothing special, just like our heroine. But then when the audience glimpsed Edward....mmm...Edward....now that’s when the really clever stuff began. The camerawork became steadier, the camera angles became more interesting, the shots were more tightly framed and the lighting on Edward’s face became so heavily desaturated that it was almost monochrome in places. Combine this with a great deal of slow-mo, clever make-up and sultry looks and hey presto! Our hero was transformed into every teenage girl’s ultimate fantasy.
Yes indeedy, all ordinary girls like you and I can be seduced by a mysterious and sultry young vampire – all we need is clever lighting and groovy camera angles. So forget Robert Patterson. I mean, I’m sure he’s really nice and terribly sexy and all that, but the guy who really blew my socks off was behind the camera, not in front of it.
Elliot Davis’s attention to detail is the sexiest thing about Twilight. He put a huge amount of time and effort into cinematography and editing - and it shows. He turned a distinctly average teen romance flick into a well choreographed and visually beautiful piece of artwork which was both charming and edgy in equal amounts.
Labels: cinematography, reviews
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Freekstorm Annual Review
This is a new experiment for us. In previous years we have not been interested in new year resolutions at all (because most people break them after the first couple of weeks) but personally I’m fed up with drifting along aimlessly, wondering what the hell we will be doing during the next year. You can’t make movies with vague intentions. Good film-shorts don’t happen by accident; they actually need a huge amount of planning and organising. This is not Rich’s forté – he can do it if he has to, but he’s far happier designing cool special effects and dreaming up stories, whereas it is my job a producer to make sure his dreams are realised by planning and organising the year ahead.
Last year went absolutely splendidly, as far as I am concerned. Considering this time last year we were utterly clueless when we came to filmmaking, we’ve certainly come a very long way on our vertical learning curve. We have studied, studied, studied some more, read tons of books, learned the basics of scriptwriting, producing, directing, acting, the fundamentals of VFX, spent way too much money on getting filmmaking equipment (that bit was not splendid), made loads of mistakes (not splendid either, but necessary I guess), made two six minute film-shorts and entered two online film festivals. Oh and we designed a groovy new Freekstorm web site and started this blog too (which not only charts our progress but also propels us forward into action.) Yep, when you put it like that, crikey, didn’t we do a lot?! One year later, we’re still pretty clueless, but slightly less so than before. If we keep learning at this rate, think where we will be in a year’s time, or in five years time?! The mind boggles.
So what are our goals for next year?
Well, I’m including a few of the highlights here as an exercise in mass accountability.
Rich’s goals:
1. Make a blockbusting action epic in 6 mins!
2. Make a second movie-short that blows something up (I volunteer the barn in the garden – we need a new one.)
3. Finish the cyc-studio, with the possibility of hiring it out.
4. Continue to develop my skill set regarding filmmaking and special effects.
Lin’s goals:
1. Write a decent script for once!
2. Blog at least once a week, preferably twice (this not only helps develop my writing skills, but furthers my interest in film studies in general.)
3. Enter next year’s two films into DVX fests, which acts as a very useful mechanism by which to learn the process of making short films.
4. Learn how to better market our movie-shorts (and boy, do I have a long way to go!)
These goals may change and expand over the next year, of course, but by writing them down here now, it gives us a marker when this time next year we can look back and see how far we have come, and what we did/did not achieve and why.
One year from now, what do we want to have accomplished?
At the end of 2010, we both want to have made two movie shorts which have been entered into DVX festivals, with a view to moving beyond DVX fests in 2011.
So what is the purpose of 2010?
In a nutshell, Freekstorm is our way of learning about the art of making movies. During 2010 we will continue to train ourselves in VFX and filmmaking . We are not expecting Freekstorm to pay for itself during next year because we are still very much in the training phase – VFX and filmmaking are incredibly difficult to learn (especially without formal education) so we are pacing ourselves and trying to have fun along the way.
"Small moves, Ellie, small moves."
Pretty Nordic Scene, designed in Vue
Last year went absolutely splendidly, as far as I am concerned. Considering this time last year we were utterly clueless when we came to filmmaking, we’ve certainly come a very long way on our vertical learning curve. We have studied, studied, studied some more, read tons of books, learned the basics of scriptwriting, producing, directing, acting, the fundamentals of VFX, spent way too much money on getting filmmaking equipment (that bit was not splendid), made loads of mistakes (not splendid either, but necessary I guess), made two six minute film-shorts and entered two online film festivals. Oh and we designed a groovy new Freekstorm web site and started this blog too (which not only charts our progress but also propels us forward into action.) Yep, when you put it like that, crikey, didn’t we do a lot?! One year later, we’re still pretty clueless, but slightly less so than before. If we keep learning at this rate, think where we will be in a year’s time, or in five years time?! The mind boggles.
So what are our goals for next year?
Well, I’m including a few of the highlights here as an exercise in mass accountability.
Rich’s goals:
1. Make a blockbusting action epic in 6 mins!
2. Make a second movie-short that blows something up (I volunteer the barn in the garden – we need a new one.)
3. Finish the cyc-studio, with the possibility of hiring it out.
4. Continue to develop my skill set regarding filmmaking and special effects.
Lin’s goals:
1. Write a decent script for once!
2. Blog at least once a week, preferably twice (this not only helps develop my writing skills, but furthers my interest in film studies in general.)
3. Enter next year’s two films into DVX fests, which acts as a very useful mechanism by which to learn the process of making short films.
4. Learn how to better market our movie-shorts (and boy, do I have a long way to go!)
These goals may change and expand over the next year, of course, but by writing them down here now, it gives us a marker when this time next year we can look back and see how far we have come, and what we did/did not achieve and why.
One year from now, what do we want to have accomplished?
At the end of 2010, we both want to have made two movie shorts which have been entered into DVX festivals, with a view to moving beyond DVX fests in 2011.
So what is the purpose of 2010?
In a nutshell, Freekstorm is our way of learning about the art of making movies. During 2010 we will continue to train ourselves in VFX and filmmaking . We are not expecting Freekstorm to pay for itself during next year because we are still very much in the training phase – VFX and filmmaking are incredibly difficult to learn (especially without formal education) so we are pacing ourselves and trying to have fun along the way.
"Small moves, Ellie, small moves."
Pretty Nordic Scene, designed in Vue
Labels: filmmaking, reviews
Monday, 16 November 2009
Panned!
When we released our first little movie short, we featured on the blog some incredibly kind and generous comments from fellow directors and movie-festers about how promising our filmmaking efforts were. Wow! The reviews were wonderful! We truly basked in the glow of appreciation!
This time...um...the critics were not quite so kind. Most folks liked the initial (non animated) scene but eight out of ten cats really hated poor little Mervyn, and were pretty scathing about him too:
"I have to give you a lot of credit for giving an attempt at a 3D monster throughout the movie, but ...honestly, it felt like being trapped inside Playstation 1. I don't want to sound mean because I'm sure it was a lot of work, and you get credit for that, but because the monster looked so cheesy, it took away from the experience in a big way.”
“The story itself wasn't at all bad - it was really the monster itself that brought the whole thing down.”
“... for the film as a whole, I think it would have been better served with a real actor in makeup playing the part.”
“When using a CGI monster you film is going to rise or fall on the strength of that monster. Unfortunately, yours was a bit thin”
“Not convincing.”
“kind of smacks of a Dad film - dad and the kids making a film - which is quaint and cute, but often times horrifying to inflict upon a public audience! (This isn’t!!!) But it teeters as a form of self indulgent experimentation not quite ready to be unleashed to the discerning public.”
Blimey. Time to hit the vodka, I guess.
Actually the comments weren’t all bad, and our profound thanks go to those few kind souls (who were mostly professionals and worked in the VFX industry) who generously gave unconditional support and appreciation for Rich’s 200+ hours developing and animating Mervyn (yes, you read that right – it really did take over 200 hours of blood, sweat and tears!) You have no idea how much your suggestions and encouragement meant to Rich, and our extra-special thanks to Bruce Allen who was incredibly helpful.
Well, so much for that fest. Onwards and upwards, as they say.
R.I.P Mervyn. We’ll miss you.
Labels: Diabolus Domi, dvx, reviews
Sunday, 12 July 2009
Initial Reviews
Well, the movie has been uploaded to the DVX QuestFest for just over a week now and the preliminary round of voting is complete. Unfortunately we still can’t link to the movie from this blog until the winners have been announced (in a couple of weeks I suspect) but we can share what others have said about the film.
As this was our first movie, we were expecting to be totally panned as the movie is a) our first attempt and b) most definitely aimed at kids. However we need not have worried, and in fact we have been positively overwhelmed by the nice things viewers have said:
- I thought it was clever. It was cute. I enjoyed it.
- Be proud of yourself for getting it done. It must have been a lot of work.
- I bet your kids got a real thrill watching this.
- I could relate to two quests in this. First the obvious quest within the story and also as a father of two young girls, the quest to want to thrill them with adventure. I applaud you. Can’t wait to show this to my eldest daughter tomorrow.
- I have to agree (also being the father of two daughters) this is a great little family adventure! Very enjoyable. Cute story concept. You did a great job with the VFX too.I'm sure your kids will love this one for years to come. Great job.
- There's so much heart on the screen/the motivations in making it are so clear, that the film can't help but be enjoyable.
- Very enjoyable film, fantastic idea with much fantasy….. I love the title - it sounds like a ironic fairytale.
- What a fun ride! Kind of reminds me of the exaggerated effects style of Robert Rodriguez's "Spy Kids" movies. I'll definitely show this one to my kids. Though, they may get ideas for a CGI heavy film that I can't quite pull off. I might try sets, but those trolls were awesome, and out of my league.
- Considering what the budget must've been, you did a great job. As an homage to adventure movies, it certainly does the job. Fun.
- I've just looked back through your thread and also had a look at your site - blimey, you're a complete family production!!! And it's your first film over a minute!!! Really well done and you must have had a great time making it.
- Awesome job! The trolls looked great, glad you gave ‘em some facial expressions too. looks like a ton of work there. The dad has a terrific voice for reading a story, the ending was cool. it was a neat story.
- Congratulations! What an effort for a first work. Considering that EVERYTHING is done by you and your family (us four and no more) then it becomes even more amazing. I see a lot of promise for future productions from family Bang.
- Very cute film. Funny stuff. Nice family film. Congrats man. Your kids must be having a blast.
- Wow. this was pretty neat.
- For your first film, you certainly decided to go BIG, didn't you?! A great first film!
- I enjoyed it and was impressed by how much work was put into it.
And our favourite comment:
- I really enjoyed this a lot. It had a great tone and feel to it. I even showed it to my 11 year old daughter who liked it as well. This must of been a blast to make. It makes me want to go out and shoot some green screen. Well done.
Wow! Thanks guys! Much appreciated! We’re glad we made you smile a little.
Most of the comments were from fellow directors and filmmakers. I wonder if the general public will be quite as forgiving?!
This gives you an idea of the green-screening process.
As this was our first movie, we were expecting to be totally panned as the movie is a) our first attempt and b) most definitely aimed at kids. However we need not have worried, and in fact we have been positively overwhelmed by the nice things viewers have said:
- I thought it was clever. It was cute. I enjoyed it.
- Be proud of yourself for getting it done. It must have been a lot of work.
- I bet your kids got a real thrill watching this.
- I could relate to two quests in this. First the obvious quest within the story and also as a father of two young girls, the quest to want to thrill them with adventure. I applaud you. Can’t wait to show this to my eldest daughter tomorrow.
- I have to agree (also being the father of two daughters) this is a great little family adventure! Very enjoyable. Cute story concept. You did a great job with the VFX too.I'm sure your kids will love this one for years to come. Great job.
- There's so much heart on the screen/the motivations in making it are so clear, that the film can't help but be enjoyable.
- Very enjoyable film, fantastic idea with much fantasy….. I love the title - it sounds like a ironic fairytale.
- What a fun ride! Kind of reminds me of the exaggerated effects style of Robert Rodriguez's "Spy Kids" movies. I'll definitely show this one to my kids. Though, they may get ideas for a CGI heavy film that I can't quite pull off. I might try sets, but those trolls were awesome, and out of my league.
- Considering what the budget must've been, you did a great job. As an homage to adventure movies, it certainly does the job. Fun.
- I've just looked back through your thread and also had a look at your site - blimey, you're a complete family production!!! And it's your first film over a minute!!! Really well done and you must have had a great time making it.
- Awesome job! The trolls looked great, glad you gave ‘em some facial expressions too. looks like a ton of work there. The dad has a terrific voice for reading a story, the ending was cool. it was a neat story.
- Congratulations! What an effort for a first work. Considering that EVERYTHING is done by you and your family (us four and no more) then it becomes even more amazing. I see a lot of promise for future productions from family Bang.
- Very cute film. Funny stuff. Nice family film. Congrats man. Your kids must be having a blast.
- Wow. this was pretty neat.
- For your first film, you certainly decided to go BIG, didn't you?! A great first film!
- I enjoyed it and was impressed by how much work was put into it.
And our favourite comment:
- I really enjoyed this a lot. It had a great tone and feel to it. I even showed it to my 11 year old daughter who liked it as well. This must of been a blast to make. It makes me want to go out and shoot some green screen. Well done.
Wow! Thanks guys! Much appreciated! We’re glad we made you smile a little.
Most of the comments were from fellow directors and filmmakers. I wonder if the general public will be quite as forgiving?!
This gives you an idea of the green-screening process.
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