Its been a while but...

...I thought I'd post as today was the day that the Oscar nominations were announced (you can find the list here:http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/feb/02/oscar-nominations-2010-full-list). I think it syas something about how big these awards are that merely the nomination announcement, makes the news. Predictably, Avatar leads the way with 9 nominations (including best picture) with The Hurt Locker. I say predictably because Hollywood likes to toast success and, like it or not, Avatar is now officially the highest grossing film of all time. You may not know much about The Hurt Locker, but that is set to change because one thing that an Oscar nomination will do is bring publicity and, often more ticket sales (not that Avatar needs 'em!).

In lesson today we had a look at Empire's worst 50 films and their top 500. I like lists. Even though these have been voted for by thousands of readers they still amount to an opinion. And opinions do differ, no one is right. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't give an opinion, just make sure its an informed one. It oes lead to one interesting question: can you judge one film above another? Its a problem the Oscars are going to have face but can you say that Avatar's 3D alien extravaganza is better than a gritty look at the Iraq war? Surely they're too different to say which is better (there's only one way to find out: FIGHT!) But in the same way what makes an awful movie? How do we know when we're watching one?

A Christmas Carol - The DV Review

So, I'm back home at Davies Towers in the warmth after a long but massively enjoyable day at Bradford. I hope those of you who went had a good time. I'll put some pictures up on the blog (don't worry you won't be in any) some time tomorrow. Anyway, I thought I'd pass on my thoughts about the movie; Disney's A Christmas Carol. But not just the movie, you see I think there were two parts to the experience today: 1 - the movie and 2 - the IMAX.

So here's my feelings about the movie; I liked it. But then you'd have to do a pretty horrible job to get a story that good, wrong. It really is a classic, but that does lead to some problems. How many versions of A Christmas Carol do we need? Goodness knows how many there is (I could check imdb but I really can't be bothered), and so the director has to make his version feel fresh. Zemeckis (our director) has tried to do this with CGI and motion capture, much like with his Beowulf from a few years back. Now I'm not sure about this. There's something, well, a bit weird looking about some of these characters.

Today it was Fred, Scrooge's nephew; he sounded like Colin Firth and he looked a bit like Colin Firth, but like Colin Firth would if you soaked him in brandy for six weeks and put him in a Christmas pudding. I think its the eyes; they seem weirdly dead - a bit still. Which is surprising because some of the other animation was superb (Scrooge's lip twitching with unease when he has to spend money) and at times breathtaking. So overall, I liked this version, but then I like most versions of this (especially the Muppet version - "We're Marley and Marley, woooooohhhh"), there were funny bits (Carey does a good job), scary bits (those horses) and good old fashioned soppy Christmassy bits ("God bless us everyone!") and so at the end of it, I'm happy to have seen it.

And how we saw it. The IMAX! My first IMAX movie and I have to say I loved it. I was surprised at how small the cinema was, but also how BIG the screen was. At times it really did feel as if you were having the action squashed into your face! The 3D stuff worked well, especially the flying sequences (some felt really fast and exhilerating). On the down side, at times the screen did feel blurry, especially around the periphery of the screen and if I moved my head I sometimes got a shadowing, or double lines. Having said all that I thought the whole IMAX 3D experience really added extra entertainment value to the film and that some shots were breathtaking. I don't know if I would want all my cinema experiences to be in 3D IMAX (but maybe Avatar!), but for today and for that film it worked a treat.

Add your reviews below using the comment box.

Edensor's Favourite Film

As you may have seen in the display board by A5 Edensor's Favourite film is Twilight. Yup, Twilight. Is this surprising? No. After all it was a popular movie, and the book, well the boki swhat they call a phenomenon. So, no it wasn't surprising. Add to this that the new one (New Moon) came out this weekend and there you have it. I rather suspect that if we did a poll next term, we'd have a different result (what chance 2012 would make the list?).

This doesn't mean that the people who voted for Twilight don't love that movie, they do, ask them, them REALLY do. Its just that with film we tend to have a connection to recently seen films, naturally. However it was nice to see some older films on the list. Some films had just been on TV, and so they appeared and films like Dirty Dancing and Ghost, whilst always popular, probably got mre votes because of the news of Patrick Swayze's death just a few days before.

The list is below for you to look at and feel free to comment. Whilst you're at it vote for your favourite Christmas movie from the list on the right.

100 Feet
2 Fast 2 Furious
28 Days Later
30 Days of Night
A Bridge Too Far
A Night at the Museum
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
Adulthood
Alien Vs Predator
Aliens in the Attic
Alvin and the Chipmunks
American Pie 2
Annie
Armageddon
Baby’s Day Out
Bad Boys
Bad Boys 2
Bambi
Beauty and the Beast
Big Momma’s House
Blade
Blood Diamond
Borat
Calamity Jane
Carry On Camping
Casino Royale
Cast Away
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
Death Race (2008)
Die Hard
Die Hard 2: Die Harder
Dirty Dancing
Disaster Movie
District 9
Don’t Be a Menace to South Central…
Drag Me to Hell
Eagle Eye
East is East
Fame
Fast and Furious
Final Destination
Final Destination 2
Final Destination 3
Finding Nemo
Football Factory
Forrest Gump
Friday
Friday After Next
G.I. Jane
G.I. Joe
Ghost
Ghost Rider
Ghost Town
Grease 2
Green Street
Grosse Point Plank
Hancock
Hannah Montana
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Herbie
High School Musical
Hot Fuzz
Hotel for Dogs
How High?
I Am Legend
Jaws
Just Friends
KIdulthood
Kung Fu Panda
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Mamma Mia!
Marley and Me
Matilda
Mean Girls
Meet the Spartans
Men In Black
Million Dollar Baby
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Moulin Rouge
Murder By Numbers
My Bloody Valentine
Never Back Down
Next Friday
Orphan
P.S. I Love You
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Pineapple Express
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Pretty Woman
Pulp Fiction
Purely Belter
Quantum of Solace
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
Rise of the Footsoldier
Saving Private Ryan
Saw III
Saw IV
Saw V
Scary Movie
Scary Movie
Scary Movie 2
School of Rock
Shaolin Soccer
Shaun of the Dead
Shawshank Redemption
Shrek 2
Simpsons Movie
Sleepy Hollow
Slumdog Millionaire
Sorority Row
South Park
Spider-Man
Spider-Man 3
Spirited Away
Spongebob Squarepants
Star Wars
Starship Troopers
Step Brothers
Step Up
Step Up 2
Terminator
Terminator Salvation
The Cable Guy
The Corpse Bride
The Dark is Rising
The Dark Knight
The Exorcist
The Final Destination: 3D
The Goonies
The Hangover
The Holiday
The Housebunny
The Italian Job (2003)
The Mask
The Matrix
The Parent Trap
The Princess Diaries
The Sound of Music
The Transporter
The Unborn
The Wedding Singer
The Wizard of Oz
This Is England
Titanic
Toy Story
Transformers 2
Tropic Thunder
Twilight
Up
V For Vendetta
Waist Deep
Wanted
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins
What a Girl Wants
White Chicks
White Men Can’t Jump
Wild Child
Without a Paddle
Wrong Turn
X-Men
Year One
Yes Man
Zombieland

Today's Lesson - 17/11/09

Loglines - Today we started on our second unit of work; Pitch and Pre-production. As you can probably tell from the name that there are two main parts to this task. We started looking at the first part wich is the Pitch. We'll look in more detail in the next lesson about how to write a whole pitch but for now we were looking log lines.

So what is a logline? A logline is pretty much this: a single sentence summarising the main story of a film. We looked at a few examples (see below) but then tried to improve our loglines by using carefully chosen adjectives. This is important because a successful pitch needs to grab the audience's (usually the studio or producer who will make your film) straight away.

Read through the example of The Wizard of Oz to see how it works.

After a twister transports a lonely Kansas farm girl to a magical land, she sets out on a dangerous journey to find a wizard with the power to send her home.

Here's the examples from the board to help you:
1. A giant shark terrorizes a seaside community, only a police officer afraid of the sea can save the day.
2. A masked serial killer returns to his childhood town to reek havoc and spread terror.
3. A roguish pirate seeks to recapture his ship from the hands of a mysteriously cursed crew.
4. An elderly man heads off for adventure in memory of his wife, unaware that he has company in the shape of an annoying young boy.

You then had a go at writing your own and I was really pleased with the results.

In other news, firstly there is nothing wrong NOTHING AT ALL with crying at Pixar's Up. OK? You've got to remember that this is one of the best movies of the year (second at the moment only behind Star Trek, which I'm rewatching soon, so I'll let you know if it stands up), and it's meant to be emotional. And funny. It really is very good. Talking of things that are good (well lets hope so), you really need to see the 'Where the Wild Things' trailer (go here: http://wherethewildthingsare.warnerbros.com/), now how good does that look? Very, is the simple answer.

Today's Lesson - 07/10/09

You should now have finished the analysis sheet for the clip you have chosen. This is really important because it will help when you write your essay. If you haven't finished this it'll need doing before next week's lessons. Remember, you have to write a 350+ word essay on your sequence, I'll put the help sheet on the samples drive and have copies of the A* essay available for you next week.

I was expecting your research sheets today but unfortunately no-one had theirs with them. Just to remind you, you should have completed your research (use the sheets on the samples drive) BEFORE next lesson, because I'd like to give you some feedback before I see you as a class. If you are not sure what to do or can't find information come and see me, email me or leave a comment on the blog.

Also, if you still haven't brought your trip money into me can I have it ASAP so that I can book the seats at the IMAX.

Today's Lesson - 30/09/09

More research today. Can I remind you that this needs to be completed for next Wednesday. Use the example form the samples drive to help you. Can I also remind you that you need a DVD of whichever film you have chosen to analyse. This needs to be with you next Tuesday and Wednesday in class. If you haven't got a copy then let me know and I'll try to sort you a copy (don't leave it until Monday to mention this, please!). Can I further remind you that reply slips for our jaunt to Bradford need to be with me by Friday 16th so that I can book the tickets with the museum.

We'll be watching Disney's new version of A Christmas Carol (I'm guessing it'll end happily and that the third ghost, you know the scary one, doesn't whip a machine gun out from under his robes and kill EVERYBODY!!). Remember folks this is in 3D! (anyone seen 3D yet? Any good?) and in IMAX! So its all very exciting indeed. See the trailer here:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/a-christmas-carol/trailer

This of course is another attempt at Mo-Cap (motion capture) that the director, Zemeckis, used on both The Polar Express and Beowulf. I'm still not sure that this is the future of cinema, as some of it looks ace whilst other bits (the eyes, their dead eyes!) are a bit ho-hum.

If I get chance I'll put another example of a research sheet, that I've done this time, on the samples drive. I will, of course, let you know when I've done this.

Today's Lesson - 29/09/09

Today we started on our first piece of coursework; your research on a film of your choice. We will continue this tomorrow. There are three parts to the research you need to do.

1. Production - who made the film, when and where.
2. Distribution - who put the film into cinemas and how did they advertise the movie
3. Exhibition - which cinemas was the film shown in (did the locals show it?), how long for and how much money did it make?

Like I say, we'll finish the research tomorrow (and at home if needed). I'll put up an example to show you after tomorrow's lesson.

Keep thinking about which are the worst films you ever seen. See the comments on the last post for some suggestions!