Friday, April 06, 2007
48 Hours 2007 Registrations Open!!
48 HOURS FURIOUS FILMMAKING is back! Bigger and badder than ever.
It's all going down over late May to early June. With the Grand National Winner announced live on C4 TV in late June.
Registrations have opened on the website. Go sign up for what will be the most fun you can have with a video camera in a single weekend!
This years TV promo (made by last years winners): HERE
"Movies are so rarely great art that if we cannot appreciate great trash, we have very little reason to be interested in them."
The above quote, from Pauline Kael, kinda sums up my mood at the moment...
I held a movie binge last night, to which ONE person showed up (he knows who he is, and can hold his head high) after I had gone to the effort of sending out invites to ALL of my friends.
A scant few people had said they were going to be able to make it and by the end of the day I had only one apology for non-attendance (get well, pharmacopaeia).
What happened to the rest of you pikers? Grrrr, I am not happy...
This has made me consider never doing this kind of thing again, or at least not inviting anyone I know will not show up or condemn me for trying to be a balanced film afficianado.
I ended up throwing the whole program (bar 3 films) outa the window and allowing my guest to choose the line-up. It was pretty fuckin' entertaining all told.
1. Some Trailers for upcoming movies
2. BANILIEUE 13
3. THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED
4. A video mashup, provided by a friend.
5. LADY TERMINATOR
6. THE BEYOND
7. SOUNDSTAGE - THE ANDY KAUFMAN SHOW
8. NEGADON
9. BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL
10. THE THING
(#3 was one of the best docos about the movies I have seen in a while.)
(#6 was something of a revelation. Gory, surreal and completely jaw-dropping.)
(#9 killed us both, as it is designed to.)
(#10 never goes amiss in any circumstances.)
I held a movie binge last night, to which ONE person showed up (he knows who he is, and can hold his head high) after I had gone to the effort of sending out invites to ALL of my friends.
A scant few people had said they were going to be able to make it and by the end of the day I had only one apology for non-attendance (get well, pharmacopaeia).
What happened to the rest of you pikers? Grrrr, I am not happy...
This has made me consider never doing this kind of thing again, or at least not inviting anyone I know will not show up or condemn me for trying to be a balanced film afficianado.
I ended up throwing the whole program (bar 3 films) outa the window and allowing my guest to choose the line-up. It was pretty fuckin' entertaining all told.
1. Some Trailers for upcoming movies
2. BANILIEUE 13
3. THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED
4. A video mashup, provided by a friend.
5. LADY TERMINATOR
6. THE BEYOND
7. SOUNDSTAGE - THE ANDY KAUFMAN SHOW
8. NEGADON
9. BLACK DEVIL DOLL FROM HELL
10. THE THING
(#3 was one of the best docos about the movies I have seen in a while.)
(#6 was something of a revelation. Gory, surreal and completely jaw-dropping.)
(#9 killed us both, as it is designed to.)
(#10 never goes amiss in any circumstances.)
Sunday, April 01, 2007
A shotgun full of handjobs
So, having my weekends back is starting to bear many forms of fruit, like a higher creative time and general personal productivity. This weekend was particularly good.
On Friday night I went and saw PAN'S LABYRINTH
This is simply Guillermo Del Toro's best film and will certainly appear in my list of top 20 films of 2007. Beautifully shot, superbly written, perfectly rendered effects, with a stunning cast living their roles. This deserved the visual effects Oscars it won and should be recognised as a modern masterwork. My only complaint is that I saw it on a screen that was far too small to do it justice and with the sound at about half the level it should have been. I am looking forward to seeing it at a multiplex soon. (I never thought I'd ever find myself saying that!)
Walking home afterward, through the manic desperation that is the Christchurch Friday night "meat-market", I realised that what Del Toro has made is something that is woefully missing from the world, the wonder and imagination of childhood reflected through an adult sensibility. So instead of going and having a few drinks, I walked briskly home, content that I had seen one of the finest films of the year, while the rest of the world wallowed in its usual fetid state of decay.
Woke early Saturday morning with my day mostly mapped out, working on two short student films that I had been asked to do.
The first, BOGART MUTATIONS, by amphibious-one was shot about 15minutes north of Chch at her home and involved me (and a few other DramaSoc buddies) being various shifty FBI types (you know that we are coz we have "FBI" tags on our lapels) plotting the demise of an inbred family of crazies. A labour of love six years in the making, these shots are the final touches that shall wrap the whole piece together and bring it to its conclusion for the director's 20th Birthday, where it will be premiered. All good fun, with a director we all lovingly referred to as having a bit of an Ed Wood quality - gave us direction, set up shot, captured shot, "OK, great, let's move on!".
Finished filming there about 11.40 and got a lift into town with entomocephalous, the director of the second film of the day.
His was something much different.
As an assignment for his Uni Fine Arts Film Course, he had been given 100m of film stock, an Arriflex 16ST and told to put something on film. He got me, ambulans and searlo as his actors, trundled us down to a local park and improvised a short cyclic "annoyance on a park bench" routine. Being film, we rehearsed pretty rigorously (which was probably the biggest difference between the two films of the day) before commiting anything to celluloid. I never knew the sound of actual film running through the gate as it captures could be so exciting. We originally thought we'd only have just enough film for the rehearsed material, but by the time we were done there was about 20ft left, so we improvised a small fantasy sequence for my character.
After that we all had Popsicles and K-Bars, and the sun did shine and we were all happy children. :)
Headed back to Andrew's house to watch the rushes of the documentary we made while shooting. The small amount I used the camera made me realise just how heavily I have been influenced by the films of Russ Meyer - I certainly like my low angle camera and fast, flashy in-camera editing! The semi-voyeristic shot of two Asian schoolgirls didn't go unnoticed either!
Went home and spent the rest of the day chilled out - watched episode one of HEROES, about half of THE BODY BENEATH and did a bit more work on the trailer compilation for next weekend (a little more on that below). Then early to bed.
Sunday: pottered about most of the morning - getting supplies for the coming week (and next weekend), doing washing, usual mundane shit - then headed into town with some of the FilmSoc crew, making sure our flyers and posters were well spread around the central city.
Got home about 5pm and have been playing WoW all evening, not even stopping for dinner (ok, so there was that 15minute pause where I had to sign a bunch of cheques...). I finally managed to complete three quests that have been aching to get done and picked up the first fragment of my key to Karazan. The next two parts require a flying mount, and I am about 80 gold short, so all in-game time shall be devoted to making a bit more cash before finishing my full key. I'll hopefully have it by the end of Easter.
By god, it's been a well-balanced, fun weekend! And I'm looking forward to several more like this in the forseeable future! Time for bed...
Coming Up:
As previously mentioned, I'm having another of my famous all-night movie binges next weekend. If you're interested in having your mind melted by all manner of cinematic brain rot, message me and I'll send you more details.
GRINDHOUSE is looking like a 31st May release in this country, after its release in the US later this week. The only review you may ever need to read about it is HERE. Possibly the greatest review ever written. Period.
48 Hours registrations open sometime in the next 24 hours. Am busily getting prepped once more for the craziness in May/June. Have you got your team together? If not, why not? It's gonna be a super crazy funtime competition this year and bigger & better than ever!
On Friday night I went and saw PAN'S LABYRINTH
This is simply Guillermo Del Toro's best film and will certainly appear in my list of top 20 films of 2007. Beautifully shot, superbly written, perfectly rendered effects, with a stunning cast living their roles. This deserved the visual effects Oscars it won and should be recognised as a modern masterwork. My only complaint is that I saw it on a screen that was far too small to do it justice and with the sound at about half the level it should have been. I am looking forward to seeing it at a multiplex soon. (I never thought I'd ever find myself saying that!)
Walking home afterward, through the manic desperation that is the Christchurch Friday night "meat-market", I realised that what Del Toro has made is something that is woefully missing from the world, the wonder and imagination of childhood reflected through an adult sensibility. So instead of going and having a few drinks, I walked briskly home, content that I had seen one of the finest films of the year, while the rest of the world wallowed in its usual fetid state of decay.
Woke early Saturday morning with my day mostly mapped out, working on two short student films that I had been asked to do.
The first, BOGART MUTATIONS, by amphibious-one was shot about 15minutes north of Chch at her home and involved me (and a few other DramaSoc buddies) being various shifty FBI types (you know that we are coz we have "FBI" tags on our lapels) plotting the demise of an inbred family of crazies. A labour of love six years in the making, these shots are the final touches that shall wrap the whole piece together and bring it to its conclusion for the director's 20th Birthday, where it will be premiered. All good fun, with a director we all lovingly referred to as having a bit of an Ed Wood quality - gave us direction, set up shot, captured shot, "OK, great, let's move on!".
Finished filming there about 11.40 and got a lift into town with entomocephalous, the director of the second film of the day.
His was something much different.
As an assignment for his Uni Fine Arts Film Course, he had been given 100m of film stock, an Arriflex 16ST and told to put something on film. He got me, ambulans and searlo as his actors, trundled us down to a local park and improvised a short cyclic "annoyance on a park bench" routine. Being film, we rehearsed pretty rigorously (which was probably the biggest difference between the two films of the day) before commiting anything to celluloid. I never knew the sound of actual film running through the gate as it captures could be so exciting. We originally thought we'd only have just enough film for the rehearsed material, but by the time we were done there was about 20ft left, so we improvised a small fantasy sequence for my character.
After that we all had Popsicles and K-Bars, and the sun did shine and we were all happy children. :)
Headed back to Andrew's house to watch the rushes of the documentary we made while shooting. The small amount I used the camera made me realise just how heavily I have been influenced by the films of Russ Meyer - I certainly like my low angle camera and fast, flashy in-camera editing! The semi-voyeristic shot of two Asian schoolgirls didn't go unnoticed either!
Went home and spent the rest of the day chilled out - watched episode one of HEROES, about half of THE BODY BENEATH and did a bit more work on the trailer compilation for next weekend (a little more on that below). Then early to bed.
Sunday: pottered about most of the morning - getting supplies for the coming week (and next weekend), doing washing, usual mundane shit - then headed into town with some of the FilmSoc crew, making sure our flyers and posters were well spread around the central city.
Got home about 5pm and have been playing WoW all evening, not even stopping for dinner (ok, so there was that 15minute pause where I had to sign a bunch of cheques...). I finally managed to complete three quests that have been aching to get done and picked up the first fragment of my key to Karazan. The next two parts require a flying mount, and I am about 80 gold short, so all in-game time shall be devoted to making a bit more cash before finishing my full key. I'll hopefully have it by the end of Easter.
By god, it's been a well-balanced, fun weekend! And I'm looking forward to several more like this in the forseeable future! Time for bed...
Coming Up:
As previously mentioned, I'm having another of my famous all-night movie binges next weekend. If you're interested in having your mind melted by all manner of cinematic brain rot, message me and I'll send you more details.
GRINDHOUSE is looking like a 31st May release in this country, after its release in the US later this week. The only review you may ever need to read about it is HERE. Possibly the greatest review ever written. Period.
48 Hours registrations open sometime in the next 24 hours. Am busily getting prepped once more for the craziness in May/June. Have you got your team together? If not, why not? It's gonna be a super crazy funtime competition this year and bigger & better than ever!
