Film forum off topic/random chat thread

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-01-2016 7:26pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Fargo gets a lot of credit for (rightly) being a fantastic bit of television, but the way it often framed its scenes, particularly the dialogue heavy ones, left a lot of cinema in the dust. Really beautiful use of the camera in places & proof to me that the medium of TV is slowly using the camera & frame just as creatively as any film these days.

It makes you wonder how much of their budget these massive studio films waste on the standard set up. Not sure what film (English one) that is in the video there but it says they had 9 different camera sets ups for a 93 second scene. That must take the best part of a day to get through, or at least half a day, when they could have had multiple scenes in the bag in that time by being a bit more creative with staging.

I remember reading something where Ava DuVernay was talking about making Selma on $20 million which was relatively small but for her was the most she'd ever had to work with. She talked about how small budgets teach you to be creative in your thinking whether it's staging, special effects, stunts etc. etc. Some directors have way too much money thrown at them and think they have to use it all. I watched Pilgrim Hill the other day and while it's not groundbreaking cinema it was as well shot and staged as a lot of bigger films and it was made on a couple of grand borrowed from the Credit Union.

Sad Professor · 04-01-2016 7:29pm

It depends. Sometimes over-over-closer-closer is exactly what a scene requires, especially emotional scenes. But if the whole film is shot that way it gets boring pretty quickly. But even then I think it depends on the film.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-01-2016 7:31pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

It depends. Sometimes over-over-closer-closer is exactly what a scene requires, especially emotional scenes. But if the whole film is shot that way it gets boring pretty quickly. But even then I think it depends on the film.

True. Sometimes though I find the over-over-closer thing can take you out of a scene entirely. But yeah, it can work depending on what's happening, the tone of the scene etc. etc.

johnny_ultimate · 04-01-2016 7:35pm

Fargo season two is probably the most stylistically and formally accomplished/complex tv series I've ever watched (Utopia perhaps more explicitly cinematic, but the show left me fairly cold overall). The level of depth in the visual storytelling, as well as the sheer energy of the cinematography and editing, were utterly unique. More along those lines and maybe we'll finally start seeing the IMO still considerable gap between television and film narrow a bit.

Rjd2 · 04-01-2016 8:15pm

Went to see the Danish Girl earlier aware of the bad reviews, but still wanted to see the fuss, their was a technical issue, so it did not show. The only thing starting at same time was Joy and they did me a great deal.

I lost the will to live towards the last half hour as it was so bland and broke the cardinal role of seeing a film, I started playing with my phone. :eek::eek::eek:

Am I a bad person?:eek:

No matter how bad a film is, are you able to avoid distractions?,

Sad Professor · 04-01-2016 8:19pm

Rjd2 wrote: »

I lost the will to live towards the last half hour as it was so bland and broke the cardinal role of seeing a film, I started playing with my phone. :eek::eek::eek:

Am I a bad person?:eek:

This is a “if a tree falls in the forest” type question. If there was other people in the cinema and they could see the light from your phone, then yes, you are a bad person. Otherwise, no.

Sad Professor · 04-01-2016 8:34pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Fargo season two is probably the most stylistically and formally accomplished/complex tv series I've ever watched (Utopia perhaps more explicitly cinematic, but the show left me fairly cold overall). The level of depth in the visual storytelling, as well as the sheer energy of the cinematography and editing, were utterly unique. More along those lines and maybe we'll finally start seeing the IMO still considerable gap between television and film narrow a bit.

I haven’t got around to Fargo season 2 yet, but I find most tv shows very inconsistent visually. For every brilliantly directed episode of Mad Men there was a dozen bland ones.

Rjd2 · 04-01-2016 8:40pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

This is a “if a tree falls in the forest” type question. If there was other people in the cinema and they could see the light from your phone, then yes, you are a bad person. Otherwise, no.

Good point, 2 other girls in the cinema, right at the back and me closer to the front, right beside the exit sign, some effort if they could see my phone upon reflection and I had it close to my knees.

They were chatting now and then as well, normally I'd be fuming, but for Joy I wouldn't blame them.

Rjd2 · 04-01-2016 8:42pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

I haven’t got around to Fargo season 2 yet, but I find most tv shows very inconsistent visually. For every brilliantly directed episode of Mad Men there was a dozen bland ones.

Have you watched the Returned or Rectify? Both shows dealing with loss and the aftermath, and both are absolutely beautiful to look at. I'd be confident Peak Rectify would hold up to most films visually at least, got a very Terrence Mallick vibe about it.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-01-2016 8:45pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

I haven’t got around to Fargo season 2 yet, but I find most tv shows very inconsistent visually. For every brilliantly directed episode of Mad Men there was a dozen bland ones.

That's the problem with TV shows, especially American network ones that have way too many episodes. Some have a different director every week. I know Madmen wasn't a network show but I'd assume it had a variety of directors.

johnny_ultimate · 04-01-2016 9:15pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

I haven’t got around to Fargo season 2 yet, but I find most tv shows very inconsistent visually. For every brilliantly directed episode of Mad Men there was a dozen bland ones.

Fargo 2 counters this by having a lot visual motifs - some very unusual - running throughout the series. Some episodes and scenes are inevitably more interesting than others, but for the most part it's a brilliantly shot piece of work. Strongly narrative-motivated camera movement, recurrent images and consistently unexpected framing are the orders of the day, alongside the aforementioned series-long stylistic decisions. When you do get around to it, the AV Club Polite Fight video series on it is well worth a look, with John Teti and another staffer breaking down and discussing a number of key shots per episode.

The Returned was mentioned above, actually found season two of that quite uninspiring compared to the much more atmospheric and visually chilly (in a good way) first

The Black Oil · 04-01-2016 9:24pm

I've only watched about half of Fargo s1 yet, I was struck by its cinematic feel, though.

Friday Night Lights had a 3 camera affair going on, iirc.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-01-2016 9:42pm

The Black Oil wrote: »

Friday Night Lights had a 3 camera affair going on, iirc.

They had 3 cameras, no rehearsal and no blocking of scenes. They were given a fair bit of freedom with the scripts too. The actors were allowed do what felt natural to them and the camera operators were trained to follow the actors rather than shoot from certain angles or anything like that.

The Black Oil · 04-01-2016 9:50pm

It'd make you wonder why having 3 is not more widely used.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 04-01-2016 9:55pm

The Black Oil wrote: »

It'd make you wonder why having 3 is not more widely used.

Even if a scene is meticulously blocked out you'd think 3 cameras would offer more choice of shot from one take thus saving time in the long run. Sitcoms tend to use multiple cameras, don't they?

Sad Professor · 04-01-2016 10:51pm

I always associate multi-camera setups with television, especially in dialogue scenes. Feels very un-cinematic when used in movies. You can nearly always tell as well. Long lenses, the way the action is centered, the flat lighting and just the feeling of less attention being paid to the shot.

The Black Oil · 05-01-2016 8:38pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

I always associate multi-camera setups with television, especially in dialogue scenes. Feels very un-cinematic when used in movies. You can nearly always tell as well. Long lenses, the way the action is centered, the flat lighting and just the feeling of less attention being paid to the shot.

Why's that, aside from what you outlined - less technical competence?

Sad Professor · 05-01-2016 9:34pm

No, television is very technically accomplished these days. But there's more to being cinematic than having good production values. It's a certain approach to visual form and aesthetics. TV is more dialogue-driven, less abstract, less inclined to compress time or feel dreamlike without literally being a dream. That doesn't mean television is bad for not being more like cinema. They are just different mediums. Television uses the tried-and-tested methods that work for the kind of stories it's telling and that's okay. But when those same methods are used in movies... they feel jarring.

The Black Oil · 05-01-2016 9:49pm

Don't know if you guys ever tune into these roundtables from the Hollywood Reporter.

Straight into it with pay for women. They also address Star Wars and some recent flops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EA4RLUn7JpA

Here's the one with directors. Unfortunately, the host is Stephen Galloway, who based on last year's videos, is fuppin' awful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ7qKKQrSBY

e_e · 05-01-2016 9:55pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

No, television is very technically accomplished these days. But there's more to being cinematic than having good production values. It's a certain approach to visual form and aesthetics. TV is more dialogue-driven, less abstract, less inclined to compress time or feel dreamlike without literally being a dream. That doesn't mean television is bad for not being more like cinema. They are just different mediums. Television uses the tried-and-tested methods that work for the kind of stories it's telling and that's okay. But when those same methods are used in movies... they feel jarring.

There's also a more made by committee approach to TV whereas cinema (the best of it anyway) is often more auteurist. Odds are if you're a director who wants to make a scene pop and stand out you'd look for new ways to frame and edit the scene other than just cutting back and forth between 2 people at either end of a table.

Another great Every Frame a Painting vid that ties into this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4seDVfgwOg

pixelburp · 05-01-2016 10:04pm

e_e wrote: »

Another great Every Frame a Painting vid that ties into this:

Probably because I linked to it earlier, and Tickle_Me started the TV ball rolling in reply

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 05-01-2016 11:35pm

pixelburp wrote: »

Probably because I linked to it earlier, and Tickle_Me started the TV ball rolling in reply

We have come fill circle

pixelburp · 07-01-2016 6:30pm

With all the talk about the gargantuan box office take of Force Awakens, I thought this an interesting article about the legacy, or lack thereof, of the (potentially) previous holder of the biggest box-office ever: Avatar.

Not sure I share the authors' enduring love for the film - I think its unabashed derivativeness is part of its downfall and how forgettable it is - but it raises some interesting points about it (technically) being an original intellectual property, or how it's probably to blame for the 3D pox we have to endure these days.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2014/12/18/avatar-became-the-highest-grossing-film-of-all-time-while-leaving-no-pop-culture-footprint/

e_e · 07-01-2016 7:46pm

It's funny that for all its unique vision and ambition Avatar really is the blandest four-quadrant film making imaginable. It's like the Coldplay of blockbusters.

Funnily enough /filmcast have had an ongoing debate about the cultural relevance of Avatar over the past month or two. When the sequel rolls out I'll be amazed if it does the same money tbh.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 07-01-2016 8:01pm

Avatar is just a Fern Gully rip off. Nothing original about it.

e_e · 07-01-2016 8:27pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Avatar is just a Fern Gully rip off. Nothing original about it.

I meant solely in terms of technology. Imagine what a genuinely exciting film it could have been if it didn't hedge its bets so much with the predictable script, boring characters and woeful dialog.

Also Princess Mononoke does the "passive protagonist standing in the middle of a war between nature and industrialization" thing so much better.

e_e · 18-01-2016 5:50pm

Film Comment's Best of 2015 list

johnny_ultimate · 26-01-2016 11:39am

I almost thought this beauty had gotten lost in the post, but it finally showed up.

Insanely lavish - hardcover book, more than a dozen discs... Expensive but really feels like it was worth it (although I paid quite a bit less than the current Amazon asking price :eek:)

Physical media dead? I politely disagree

e_e · 26-01-2016 2:38pm

My screening of The Big Short ran late yesterday because the morning press show of Dad's Army was still taking place. The 3 or 4 critics coming out of it didn't seem too pleased. :P

pixelburp · 27-01-2016 12:51pm

Accidentally flicked over to a Dad's Army episode the other day; its humour is so (intentionally?) quant, innocent & polite, and assuming this unwarranted film maintains the achingly English tone, I can't imagine it washing well with modern sensibilities. Particularly Irish ones. Watching those old episodes, you can practically smell the teacakes and stiff upper lips

pixelburp · 17-02-2016 8:15pm

Finally a comprehensive exploration of DeCaprios struggles to win an oscar...

http://redcarpetrampage.com

charlie_says · 18-02-2016 2:19pm

Thought this was an excellent list of favourite 2015 movies from Filmspotting:

From here

Adam

The Big Short
Ex Machina
45 Years
Mad Max: Fury Road
Carol
While We're Young
Taxi aka Taxi Tehran
Spotlight
Anomalisa
Tangerine

Josh

Ex Machina
White God
Mad Max: Fury Road
Inside Out
Chi-Raq
Tangerine
The Revenant
Trainwreck
The Assassin
It Follows

Michael Phillips

Spotlight
Anomalisa
Love & Mercy
Diary of a Teenage Girl
Son of Saul
Carol
Beasts of No Nation
Creed
Heart of a Dog
Tangerine

Scott Tobias

The Look of Silence
Phoenix
Carol
Brooklyn
The Assassin
Heaven Knows What
It Follows
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Hateful Eight
Western

SPECIAL GUESTS - Best movie of 2015

Pt. 1:
Katey Rich - Son of Saul
Sean Gilman - The Assassin
Sam Smith (Best Posters) - Queen of Earth, The Assassin
Rian Johnson - The Lobster
Alison Willmore - Mad Max: Fury Road
Matt Gourley - Sicario
Peter Labuza - Magic Mike XXL
Rachel Handler - Mad Max: Fury Road
David Wain - Spotlight
Joel Potrykus - Buzzard
Pt. 2:
Chris Harris - Clouds of Sils Maria
Dana Stevens - Carol
Scott Pfeiffer - Brooklyn
Tasha Robinson - Inside Out
Daniel Nava - World of Tomorrow
Matt Singer - Inside Out
Chris Klimek - Mad Max: Fury Road
Melissa Tamminga - 45 Years

Zillah · 18-02-2016 5:51pm

Yo I dug out my old surround sound system and have it up and running on 5.1. Supposed to be 7.1 but there's a cable shortage.

Anyway, I am looking for recommendations for films that have a really good surround sound experience. New or old! Thanks.

Nanoc · 26-02-2016 8:17pm

Hey guys,

just looking for opinions really on what to watch tonight from the below...

The Martian
Hateful 8
Sicario
MI: Rouge nation
Good Kill
Inherent Vice

Thanks!

GreNoLi · 27-02-2016 2:45pm

Nanoc wrote: »

Hey guys,

just looking for opinions really on what to watch tonight from the below...
The Martian

Hateful 8

Sicario

MI: Rouge nation

Good Kill

Inherent Vice

Thanks!

Go for Hateful 8, the others will leave you feeling underwhelmed.

Arghus · 27-02-2016 10:31pm

Nanoc wrote: »

Hey guys,

just looking for opinions really on what to watch tonight from the below...
The Martian

Hateful 8

Sicario

MI: Rouge nation

Good Kill

Inherent Vice

Thanks!

It's stupid all over, but I had an absolute blast with MI: Rouge Nation. Great blockbuster entertainment.

27-02-2016 10:59pm

4K restoration of Seven Samurais coming soon and it looks glorious

GreNoLi · 28-02-2016 6:37pm

I wish Rene Laloux's Gandahar would be released on blu ray, with the original soundtrack too of course.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 02-03-2016 12:17pm

Just watching a DP/30 video on Youtube there with Lenny Abrahamson and Ed Guiney and while talking about the day to day stuff at Element Pictures Ed mentions their cinema (The Lighthouse) but then he says they're in the process of opening another one. Anybody know any more about this? Location or time frame?

Those DP/30 videos can be very interesting sometimes. The guy that asks the questions is sometimes a bit annoying but generally he asks a question and then lets the person/people being interviewed talk away for as long as they like.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheHotButton

e_e · 02-03-2016 4:29pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Just watching a DP/30 video on Youtube there with Lenny Abrahamson and Ed Guiney and while talking about the day to day stuff at Element Pictures Ed mentions their cinema (The Lighthouse) but then he says they're in the process of opening another one. Anybody know any more about this? Location or time frame?

Interesting, in place of The Screen maybe?

Sad Professor · 02-03-2016 7:00pm

The Picture Palace in Galway.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO · 02-03-2016 7:21pm

Sad Professor wrote: »

The Picture Palace in Galway.

Is that a definitive answer or are you guessing?

Sad Professor · 02-03-2016 7:55pm

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Is that a definitive answer or are you guessing?

I'm assuming since its opening soon. It can't really be anything else.

johnny_ultimate · 02-03-2016 8:03pm

Confirmed for Galway here: http://www.businesspost.ie/oscar-nominated-element-pictures-shoots-for-growth/

Sad Professor · 02-03-2016 8:23pm

With the Screen and Kino gone, this will be only Ireland's third art house cinema, right? Does anyone know if the Royal Cinema in Limerick is still happening?

The Black Oil · 02-03-2016 11:04pm

I was passing the Screen in Dublin on Monday evening and there was some cinema equipment firm's van parked there. The lobby was full of stuff. Sad to see.

Links234 · 09-03-2016 1:28am

So, it's the Wachowski sisters now.

Second Toughest in_the Freshers · 09-03-2016 11:26am

^stopped reading when she mentioned Silence of the Lambs,

pixelburp · 09-03-2016 3:18pm

Links234 wrote: »

So, it's the Wachowski sisters now.

Both transitioned; is that common? Their body of work has increasingly become nonsensical & indulgent, Jupiter Ascending being their new zeneth, but happy for them both.

gucci · 14-03-2016 9:44am

I seen the trailer for Sing Street yesterday at the cinema.....it looked like everything that makes me cringe about cinema and being irish - but cant wait to see it, looks like fun!!

Film forum off topic/random chat thread

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