This is pretty cool, would be even better if it wasn't done solely as an advertisement for Iron Man 2, but still worth a view.
ACDC Vs Iron Man 2 - Architectural Projection Mapping on Rochester Castle from seeper on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 April 2010
Saturday, 27 March 2010
A Serious Man
I recently managed to get myself a copy of the latest Coen brothers film A Serious Man and after a few weeks of finding the time I finally got down to watching it today.
As a fan of slow, quirky comedy I was hoping a lot from the film, as all reviews stated that A Serious Man is full of the awkward, almost cruel humour I love. Plus for the most part the characters are all Jewish, being of Jewish roots myself it's nice to brush up on the cultural and religious differences you'll find between a film like this and a film set in the more traditionally based view of Christianity or Atheism.
Carrying on from that last point viewers who aren't up to scratch with their Jewish terminology may be ever so slightly lost but not enough to dampen their enjoyment of the film. Only the opening scenes (spoken in Yiddish, with subtitles) would really confuse I think. Even then you can guess what's going on.
The black humour starts from the very beginning, and I don't really want to ruin the story by giving away the various happenings but in a brief summary the story revolves around Larry Gopnik, quietly spoken and seemingly happy physics professor at an undisclosed University seeking tenure and trying to understand the sudden and unexpected revelations in his life, a disobedient son, surly daughter, genius but socially inept brother and the seperation from his wife, who is leaving him for their pompous friend Sy. Add issues with Neighbours, lawyers, 3 seperate rabbi's, the police and an anecdote about a dentist and you have the synopsis to the film.
Ultimately upsetting, genuinely funny and heart warming at the same time I can see why the film reaped such accolades as it did upon it's original release. Pretty much all my film reviews seem to end with 'not a film for everyone' and the same applies here but people who enjoy well made and well shot stories about life and it's intricacies mixed in with a large dose of black humour will love it.
Carrying on from that last point viewers who aren't up to scratch with their Jewish terminology may be ever so slightly lost but not enough to dampen their enjoyment of the film. Only the opening scenes (spoken in Yiddish, with subtitles) would really confuse I think. Even then you can guess what's going on.
The black humour starts from the very beginning, and I don't really want to ruin the story by giving away the various happenings but in a brief summary the story revolves around Larry Gopnik, quietly spoken and seemingly happy physics professor at an undisclosed University seeking tenure and trying to understand the sudden and unexpected revelations in his life, a disobedient son, surly daughter, genius but socially inept brother and the seperation from his wife, who is leaving him for their pompous friend Sy. Add issues with Neighbours, lawyers, 3 seperate rabbi's, the police and an anecdote about a dentist and you have the synopsis to the film.
Ultimately upsetting, genuinely funny and heart warming at the same time I can see why the film reaped such accolades as it did upon it's original release. Pretty much all my film reviews seem to end with 'not a film for everyone' and the same applies here but people who enjoy well made and well shot stories about life and it's intricacies mixed in with a large dose of black humour will love it.
Sunday, 14 February 2010
Since Tuesday...
I normally try to get stuff uploaded as and when it happens so that each post is for a specific thing and not a random amalgamation of my recent history. Unfortunately that has gone out of the window and what your are about to read/skim over/ look at pictures of is a mish mash of the past weeks happenings, film reviews, work, new briefs, tutorials, websites, a night out and maybe even a few other bits and bobs that spring to mind during the writing process.
For a large part of the week I have been trying to redesign a cover for The Access Project. Taking design cues from the well known propaganda poster, 'Keep Calm And Carry On' I have tried to make something more professional looking and recognisable for the charity. Attempts at constructing a cover using elements from the classroom, i.e. whiteboards, greenboards and flipcharts haven't worked so well. The cover design is starting to get to me a bit. I really like the inside spreads layout and finding a cover design that is as simple yet effective, eye catching and readable isn't as easy.
Other than toiling over Indesign and Illustrator shuffling pixels around in an effort to create a cover I have also been figuring out what to do with the rest of the year. We're mean to try and answer 3 briefs this term and so far I have made a reply to a Don't Panic brief, and am focussing on self promotion and magazine layout design for the other two. I think I'll add more and more short briefs throughout the term as well, so posters, book and album covers, that sort of thing. On the self promotional front i've bought some domain names, am investigating some servers and having a play with Indexhibit to build a website. Business cards, a better digital portfolio and some other items are also in the pipeline. For the magazine layouts I'll be looking at re-designing some existing magazines which have a staid, conventional layout solution and making them a bit more exciting whilst still keeping with the fundamentals of displaying information in a clear and legible fashion. So the next few weeks will be seeing a lot of teaching supplements and the like getting cut up and experimented with.
My 1st term crit has been and gone, with some nice things being said. I just need to sort out my horrendous efforts at sticking my portfolio sheets to boards and get a bit more exciting with some of my work. I may even need to move from using Futura and Bell MT in all my work. Time to download some new fonts I think, FF Din being number one choice. The general consensus was that I had some good looking, well displayed work, it just needs a new angle to it.
What I have managed to do well over the last 5 days since I updated previously is watch a shed load of films, Up, The Gruffalo, Mary and Max, Planet 51, Old school and Star Trek. I loved Up and Mary and Max. Two of the finest animated films I've seen for a while.
Up is your classic Disney formula, fantastical story, lead characters that form a bond despite their early dislike for each other, plenty of tear jerking moments and plenty of jokes from the comedy sidekicks. As with all animated films it is allowed to be completely surreal in it's story line and makes good use of this fact. I whole heartedly recommend it to everyone.
I hadn't heard of Mary and Max until it was put on and it was the best of the bunch of the films I just listed. Once again, surreal, yet a much more adult film than Up. The muted palette and odd topics of alcoholism, mental disabilities, bullying, self discovery make it quite a serious film to watch, but some wonderfully dark humour is present throughout the film and it ends up being quite uplifting in its own weird little way. Different to UP but brilliant in its own right, watch Mary and Max if you think Up might be a bit to make believe for you.
For a large part of the week I have been trying to redesign a cover for The Access Project. Taking design cues from the well known propaganda poster, 'Keep Calm And Carry On' I have tried to make something more professional looking and recognisable for the charity. Attempts at constructing a cover using elements from the classroom, i.e. whiteboards, greenboards and flipcharts haven't worked so well. The cover design is starting to get to me a bit. I really like the inside spreads layout and finding a cover design that is as simple yet effective, eye catching and readable isn't as easy.
Other than toiling over Indesign and Illustrator shuffling pixels around in an effort to create a cover I have also been figuring out what to do with the rest of the year. We're mean to try and answer 3 briefs this term and so far I have made a reply to a Don't Panic brief, and am focussing on self promotion and magazine layout design for the other two. I think I'll add more and more short briefs throughout the term as well, so posters, book and album covers, that sort of thing. On the self promotional front i've bought some domain names, am investigating some servers and having a play with Indexhibit to build a website. Business cards, a better digital portfolio and some other items are also in the pipeline. For the magazine layouts I'll be looking at re-designing some existing magazines which have a staid, conventional layout solution and making them a bit more exciting whilst still keeping with the fundamentals of displaying information in a clear and legible fashion. So the next few weeks will be seeing a lot of teaching supplements and the like getting cut up and experimented with.
My 1st term crit has been and gone, with some nice things being said. I just need to sort out my horrendous efforts at sticking my portfolio sheets to boards and get a bit more exciting with some of my work. I may even need to move from using Futura and Bell MT in all my work. Time to download some new fonts I think, FF Din being number one choice. The general consensus was that I had some good looking, well displayed work, it just needs a new angle to it.
What I have managed to do well over the last 5 days since I updated previously is watch a shed load of films, Up, The Gruffalo, Mary and Max, Planet 51, Old school and Star Trek. I loved Up and Mary and Max. Two of the finest animated films I've seen for a while.
Up is your classic Disney formula, fantastical story, lead characters that form a bond despite their early dislike for each other, plenty of tear jerking moments and plenty of jokes from the comedy sidekicks. As with all animated films it is allowed to be completely surreal in it's story line and makes good use of this fact. I whole heartedly recommend it to everyone.
I hadn't heard of Mary and Max until it was put on and it was the best of the bunch of the films I just listed. Once again, surreal, yet a much more adult film than Up. The muted palette and odd topics of alcoholism, mental disabilities, bullying, self discovery make it quite a serious film to watch, but some wonderfully dark humour is present throughout the film and it ends up being quite uplifting in its own weird little way. Different to UP but brilliant in its own right, watch Mary and Max if you think Up might be a bit to make believe for you.
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Films, films and more films
Today I managed to watch 2 films I have been meaning to see for quite a while. Where The Wild Things Are (from here on in it shall be referred to as WTWTA) and The Fantastic Mr Fox ( TFMF). Both films are based on books I read/ was read to when I was a little one so seeing them made into massive films is slightly odd and surreal in a way, for instance I can't imagine Burglar Bill being made into a film (if it is though I'll definitely get myself a ticket, that book cracks me up...)
The films are not only helped on by the fact that I loved the books when I was little, but they are also incorporating some of my favourite people into the production/adaption/design/filming/writing processes into the films.
Some of you may have read an earlier post of mine detailing my love for Wes Anderson and his adaption and production of TFMF did not disappoint. His trademarks are obviously tuned down for the most part, the Futura used in the titles is swapped out, long panoramic scenes don't work so well in animation as they do in his film films (that doesnt really make sense but I know what I mean) and animals don't smoke so the usual mass smoking of characters is restricted. However there is still the strong female lead, male lead who needs to prove himself/is dissatisfied, a family crisis and the usual bunch of actors are cast. I do wonder that why Wes Anderson sticks to the same cast again and again, but in the same respect why you would need to replace Bill Murray, Jason Schwarzman, Willem dafoe, Brian Cox, Owen Wilson etc? George Clooney does a great job at voicing Mr. Fox himself and Meryl Streep does equally well as his long suffering fox wife.
The film is also a lot more upbeat than his earlier films, the slow, awkward, almost uncomfortable humour present in Bottlerocket and Rushmore is replaced with a more direct line of comedy, slapstick and punchy one liners are used to good effect. With TFMF being a kids film this could have been expected and it certainly doesn't affect my view on Andersons ability to direct a film.
The story line is as it was in the original Roald Dahl book for the most part and certainly kept me entertained throughout. The sets are a joy to look at with minute details adhered to and really well made puppets as well. there are no attempts to have things over realistic, which I feel ruins a lot of animated films, the story is a surreal, childs based story and the characters are displayed as such.
Not a must see, but highly recommended and I'll watch it again I'm sure.
Now then WTWTA, I was a little nervous about this one, with the book having a word count a whole lot lower than this blog post I wasn't sure that it would translate well to the big screen at all.
But with help from Maurice Sendak (the original author), oddball director Spike Jonze, director of Jackass and Being John Malkovich, and Dave Eggars, author of the wonderful novel A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius the film has turned into an incredible success in my humble opinion.
The film looks incredible for a start, all the shots seem timed to perfection and the scenes of Max and 'the wild things' are simply stunning. On the subject of Max I believe this film could easily have flopped without him in the lead role. For such a young kid to handle the role so well is amazing. Max is played by 12 year old Max Records and I hope that he manages to get taken seriously as an actor because he was brilliant in WTWTA. To act for almost an entire film with only 7 other characters, all of which are the wild monsters of Max's imagination is quite impressive.
The story did stagnate a bit in the middle and I didn't lose interest, just lost a bit of patience with the characters. I think that Carol and KW take the roles of max and his father perhaps? Carol is certainly Max, angry at times, misunderstood, unable to hear Bob and Terry, wanting the attention of KW and the lack of said attention causing his rages and return to a more animalistic nature. KW seems to be the father figure due to her desire to keep going missing. Max's father is gone from Max's life, how and why is not explained. KW is kind and soft to Max, a far more parental care for him than the others. The rest of the characters are seemingly unconnected to Max's family, they are used well to show how Max needs to start growing up and can't get his way all the time anymore though.
For a film that has a large chunk of its run time devoted to building a fort and being happy it has some incredibly sad moments. The slow revelation that Max is the one in the wrong, and that he can't carry on living as a child is very moving. More so because not only does Max have to deal with growing up, change and loss, but his new found friends in the land of the wild things have to as well.
I think I'd be more likely to recommend WTWTA than TFMF, I don't think its the better film, it just has something about it, Max's acting, the beautiful scenes and filming make it a real pleasure to view.
The critics who said that it's too strung out have a point but I think the good points definitely out weigh the one downpoint. If you want to see a film that artistically captures what it is to be young and desirous, crazed, insecure and confused then WTWTA does all these things sublimely.
The films are not only helped on by the fact that I loved the books when I was little, but they are also incorporating some of my favourite people into the production/adaption/design/filming/writing processes into the films.
Some of you may have read an earlier post of mine detailing my love for Wes Anderson and his adaption and production of TFMF did not disappoint. His trademarks are obviously tuned down for the most part, the Futura used in the titles is swapped out, long panoramic scenes don't work so well in animation as they do in his film films (that doesnt really make sense but I know what I mean) and animals don't smoke so the usual mass smoking of characters is restricted. However there is still the strong female lead, male lead who needs to prove himself/is dissatisfied, a family crisis and the usual bunch of actors are cast. I do wonder that why Wes Anderson sticks to the same cast again and again, but in the same respect why you would need to replace Bill Murray, Jason Schwarzman, Willem dafoe, Brian Cox, Owen Wilson etc? George Clooney does a great job at voicing Mr. Fox himself and Meryl Streep does equally well as his long suffering fox wife.
The film is also a lot more upbeat than his earlier films, the slow, awkward, almost uncomfortable humour present in Bottlerocket and Rushmore is replaced with a more direct line of comedy, slapstick and punchy one liners are used to good effect. With TFMF being a kids film this could have been expected and it certainly doesn't affect my view on Andersons ability to direct a film.
The story line is as it was in the original Roald Dahl book for the most part and certainly kept me entertained throughout. The sets are a joy to look at with minute details adhered to and really well made puppets as well. there are no attempts to have things over realistic, which I feel ruins a lot of animated films, the story is a surreal, childs based story and the characters are displayed as such.
Not a must see, but highly recommended and I'll watch it again I'm sure.
But with help from Maurice Sendak (the original author), oddball director Spike Jonze, director of Jackass and Being John Malkovich, and Dave Eggars, author of the wonderful novel A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius the film has turned into an incredible success in my humble opinion.
The film looks incredible for a start, all the shots seem timed to perfection and the scenes of Max and 'the wild things' are simply stunning. On the subject of Max I believe this film could easily have flopped without him in the lead role. For such a young kid to handle the role so well is amazing. Max is played by 12 year old Max Records and I hope that he manages to get taken seriously as an actor because he was brilliant in WTWTA. To act for almost an entire film with only 7 other characters, all of which are the wild monsters of Max's imagination is quite impressive.
The story did stagnate a bit in the middle and I didn't lose interest, just lost a bit of patience with the characters. I think that Carol and KW take the roles of max and his father perhaps? Carol is certainly Max, angry at times, misunderstood, unable to hear Bob and Terry, wanting the attention of KW and the lack of said attention causing his rages and return to a more animalistic nature. KW seems to be the father figure due to her desire to keep going missing. Max's father is gone from Max's life, how and why is not explained. KW is kind and soft to Max, a far more parental care for him than the others. The rest of the characters are seemingly unconnected to Max's family, they are used well to show how Max needs to start growing up and can't get his way all the time anymore though.
For a film that has a large chunk of its run time devoted to building a fort and being happy it has some incredibly sad moments. The slow revelation that Max is the one in the wrong, and that he can't carry on living as a child is very moving. More so because not only does Max have to deal with growing up, change and loss, but his new found friends in the land of the wild things have to as well.
I think I'd be more likely to recommend WTWTA than TFMF, I don't think its the better film, it just has something about it, Max's acting, the beautiful scenes and filming make it a real pleasure to view.
The critics who said that it's too strung out have a point but I think the good points definitely out weigh the one downpoint. If you want to see a film that artistically captures what it is to be young and desirous, crazed, insecure and confused then WTWTA does all these things sublimely.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Wes Anderson
Up untill recently I wasn't the kind of person to have favourites of anything. Favourite book, food, designer, artist, musician etc are difficult for me to answer and up until recently favourite director would be in that pile as well. That was until I saw The Life aquatic With Steve Zissou about 18 months ago. The slowly delivered dark humour may not be to everyones taste but I was instantly enamored with the film. Not only is the plotline funny, it is also incredibly sad and poignant in equal measures. The story is hard to summarise, and I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone but its a revenge story, with the real emphasis being on the relationship between documentary film maker Steve Zissou, his crew and a man who believes himself to be Steves son.
The film not only benefits from having an incredible cast (Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Angelica Huston, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Willem Dafoe and Cate Blanchett all star) but it is also really well designed. Director Wes Anderson has many touches that tie all his films together, for instance his use of Futura in credits and title sequences, a favourite of mine. There is also beautiful cinematography throughout his films. Life Aquatic in particular is a wonderful film to look at. Shots like the one below make this film just that little bit extra good. For me Life aquatic really has it all.
I recommend to everyone that they should watch it, even though I know some people won't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I do.
Due to my enjoyment of Life Aquatic I set out to have a look at some of Wes Andersons other films. Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited were all acquired and watched, sometimes multiple times over the space of about 3 weeks.
What I really like about Anderson is that he has a signature style. As already mentioned, the use of the Futura typeface, use of same actors (Luke and Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzmann, Bill Murray and Angelica Huston are often included, even if just for very small parts), slow motion endings, damaged lead characters, strong women, lots of smoking. I saw Darjeeling limited without realising it had been directed by Anderson, but withn 15 minutes I was dead ertain it was one of his films. Simple things like short snappy dialogue, often bleak, often lined with dark humour. Darjeeling Limited is definitely the most commercial of the films I have seen from Anderson so far, I have yet to see The Fantastic Mr Fox though so that could all change. As with The Life Aquatic I could gladly recommend any of the films I have seen so far, from the bumbling would be thieves of Bottle Rocket, the duel between a 15 year old boy and married man for a womans affections in Rushmore, the life and troubles of a dysfunctional family in The Royal Tennenbaums to the journey for self discovery in Darjeeling Limited and of course a mans struggle to deal with his failing career and loss of his friend in The Life Aquatic. I'd love for some of these films shown at Kino4 film night, maybe we could have a Wes Anderson marathon....?
Due to my enjoyment of Life Aquatic I set out to have a look at some of Wes Andersons other films. Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited were all acquired and watched, sometimes multiple times over the space of about 3 weeks.
What I really like about Anderson is that he has a signature style. As already mentioned, the use of the Futura typeface, use of same actors (Luke and Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzmann, Bill Murray and Angelica Huston are often included, even if just for very small parts), slow motion endings, damaged lead characters, strong women, lots of smoking. I saw Darjeeling limited without realising it had been directed by Anderson, but withn 15 minutes I was dead ertain it was one of his films. Simple things like short snappy dialogue, often bleak, often lined with dark humour. Darjeeling Limited is definitely the most commercial of the films I have seen from Anderson so far, I have yet to see The Fantastic Mr Fox though so that could all change. As with The Life Aquatic I could gladly recommend any of the films I have seen so far, from the bumbling would be thieves of Bottle Rocket, the duel between a 15 year old boy and married man for a womans affections in Rushmore, the life and troubles of a dysfunctional family in The Royal Tennenbaums to the journey for self discovery in Darjeeling Limited and of course a mans struggle to deal with his failing career and loss of his friend in The Life Aquatic. I'd love for some of these films shown at Kino4 film night, maybe we could have a Wes Anderson marathon....?
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