Peer Pride

Last class period was spent developing ideas and concepts pertaining to the production of our short film projects. As a catalyst in the idea generating process for our film production we watched a short film called “The Last Summer.” The film was scripted, produced, and edited as a senior thesis by UCA’s very own Corey Womack. “The Last Summer” is a biographical short film, approximately 15 minutes long, that tells the story of a high school graduate who is fixing to leave his small town for the pursuit of a college education. Despite his ambitions for a life greater than his hometown can offer, his friends and more importantly girlfriend are having trouble letting go of their dear friend. The plot leads the audience through his mental tribulations and external conflicts that dictate his ultimate decision.

As purely a UCA student film production, its presentation served as an excellent building tool. Through examination of its evident faults the class discovered a few of the concerns of low budget productions. Lighting is certainly now a major fear. The movie relied strongly on artificial light which forced many of the scenes to be dark and void of detail. Much of the audience had trouble with character identification because many faces were indistinguishable in the lighting circumstances. Although I’m sure their low budget limited the availability of lighting equipment, a more natural lighting appearance, which is cheap, could alleviate some of the gloom in the film. Beyond lighting indifferences, the film’s ambiguous ending was just simply too indefinite. The audience wants to assume that the main character followed his ambitions of education but has little confidence in doing so. Womack, the student producer previously mentioned, said that he was aiming for a certain cinematic effect through the vague ending of his film. He seemed to be implying that if the film portrayed the plot as he intended then the audience should be able to carry out the story line. Although such logic could rightly apply to longer and more detailed films, I feel similar gambles should be left to the professionals. Needless to say, the class now certainly realizes the importance of a solid ending.

Despite “The Last Summer” having its share of amateur production traits, Womack’s pride in the film brought the production experience to full circle. His contagious enthusiasm even made me proud of his satisfaction in his final product.

Filming starts this week- wish us luck!

If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we've got something here.

The cynical motivations presented in film noir style films certainly create unpleasant antiheros. Last Thursday in my film appreciation course we watched the Robert Altman 1992 film, The Player. This movie told the story of a Hollywood production executive, Griffin Mill, who murders a screen play writer under the belief that the given screen play writer was the source of threatening messages. Though plenty of circumstantial evidence, the clearly guilty Mill escaped incarceration. Mill, as the antihero of the plot, had a sense of ambiguous morality that was maintained throughout the film. Due to ambiguity in his sense of moral judgment and selfish pursuit of success I experienced building distaste for his character. Mill repeatedly attempted to use his career’s demands for cutthroat studio decision making as an excuse for moral shortcomings but any variation of such personally found week bargaining power. Thus from the beginning of the film his character was relatively putrid. As the movie progressed I felt as that Mill’s regression of character could be compared to kicking a dead horse. I already don’t like the character and yet his nonexistent moral frame is still being degraded in the viewer’s eye.

My distaste for Griffin Mill as the antihero seems to illuminate qualities that deter from the movie’s film noir style. Most film noir antiheros roles tend to blur the line of good or evil. Such as in Sunset Boulevard where the audience is left to decide whether Norma Desmon deserves sympathy or admission to the mad house. Should you root for her, root against her, or try to reason out her situation? Despite Robert Altman’s inclusion of many film noir elements, I feel that his depiction of the movie’s antihero misses the mark and consequently loses some of my appreciation for his film. Altman appears to create a monster of a character where there is no doubt of dislike towards the antihero. I want the antihero to have a question of morality that battles my mind as I watch the film, not just building evidence of purely angelic character. The plot should tease my psyche as I battle a mental duel of love and hate over the antihero. I recently watched Law Abiding Citizen, starring Gerard Butler, and I found my moral frame being questioned by Gerard Butler’s motives as an antihero type character. For ninety percent of the movie I was cheering on his path of murder and revenge! His wit, intellect, and appealing vigilante motives kept me on his side despite such a violent path of destruction. I felt his character epitomized the relationship that an audience should have with an antihero and maybe Griffin Mill could take a couple notes.

What... no nudity?

Last class showed how our films production might just make a finely whisked soufflé of mockery out of my organization skills. Although I like a degree of control and am a goal driven individual, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’m not going to be the producer. From paperwork (location agreements), to set arrangement, to the compilation of actors, the producer better be able to manage the Ringling Brothers via Skype. A blackberry in each hand and some outrageous texting skills might do the trick but one predication is for certain, our whole crew would be spending the night behind bars if it was my responsibility. Who knew it was illegal to film in an alleyway without permission anyways?.. Not me. I can’t imagine the river of paperwork that must flow through the production of a blockbuster film, it would rival the Nile. However, although I’m sure location agreements are protocol for most filming endeavors, I question how strict of a protocol it may be. For instance, skateboarding films are generally massive compilations of professional boarders mastering city terrain. These fools hurdle city gaps, fly over stair sets, and ride concrete planter boxes like it’s the interstate. Seeing that all of these objects rest on property that is of personal ownership, how do such films come to fruition without legal mayhem? My guess (though not worth much) is that although most individuals understand the concept of trespassing, they aren’t aware that they own rights for the filming of their property. You can’t sue if you don’t know it’s illegal.

In my original mental conception of our film I viewed it as homegrown. This meant that the people who were behind the scenes in its production were probably going to be the actors. I figured that Doug would win the souls of America while Elizabeth filled the shoes of Meryl Streep and Lennon brought home the bacon with some solid gut wrenching lines. You may notice that I left my name off the acting squad (stage hands don’t get filmed). But now we’re talking about trying to sign actors? I’m still wondering who would want to be in our film. After asking George Clooney I ran out of options. But on a serious note, I’m not sure how many individuals are going to want to perform in our motion picture. Although this project lies near and dear to my heart, I don’t foresee other individuals having the same enthusiasm and ambitions as I do for our film. After the sixth or seventh attempt at a shot they might just tell Doug where to put his director’s hat. On the other hand, maybe I’m just being a bit pessimistic. But for now, be on the lookout for our film premiere... It might just change your life..

Don't mind me crowd, I'm just being Murdered

Last week our class traversed through time via film, the 1981 cinema success Blow-Out took us back to the decade of Reaganomics. Director Brian de Palma epitomized eighties cinema scene through copious nudity, vulgar language, and graphic violence. Blow-Out illustrated a shift in the film industry from reserved to not so modest. The depictions of a modest society, as seen in our previously watched films, (i.e. Singing in the Rain and Sunset Boulevard) were lost to the sixties as film was no longer held back by standards limiting what could or could not be shown. And then two decades later a society corrupt from the demoralizing pursuit of personal gain emerged.

Despite having a flashy front I felt that Blow-Out was about as predictable as they come. The representation of eighties society and film is really what I found appealing. The corrupt justice system was rampant with mafia infiltrated officers and politicians. The society’s view of the state of affairs was jaded through blinding media and the compulsion to band together during times of crisis. Most corruption was simply overshadowed by the domineering nature of patriotism. Director Brian de Palma certainly was not shy in his intentions of calling out the social order. As can be seen by this film, Brian de Palma is known for borrowing much of his directing inspiration from previous fixtures of the film industry such as Alfred Hitchcock. And although I can see where a source of inspiration can be need at times, I initially found his borrowing of techniques to be quite frankly lame, unoriginal.

Whenever I have the urge to be creative (i.e. write, draw, sculpt), I generally want my masterpiece to be unique. For a director to make a movie and openly borrow most of the techniques utilized is like making prints of an original work of art. You would think directors would want their work to be original, push the envelope. Not just compile the styles of other directors. But despite my initial shock with lack of originality, I came to realization, through the aid of class discussion, that most feasible forms of filming (i.e. techniques, cinematography, themes) have be explored. Thus the sharing of directing techniques is like the reoccurring forms that can be seen in literature and Brian de Palma isn’t a director lacking originality but a well referenced artist, giving respect to his predecessors. Therefore de Palma must be a well studied man of his art and I find that respectful. Thus despite not being overly impressed with Blow-Out, Brian de Palma gained my attention.