Genie

This post is probably the one that will be the core of my film. The post is about Genie. Born in 1957, she was a victim of abuse, neglect,  and social isolation. Just 20 months old she was locked away by her father because he decided that she was mentally retarded.

She was found by social workers in 1970, 13 years after her father locked her away in isolation. Her father made sure her mother or her brother never talked to her or acknowledged she existed. After being arrested by police,  Clark Wiley shot himself.

She was then analysed by scientists, as brain study had only started around that period. They wanted to see if the theory of  human development and the human mind was correct. According to the theory, young people could only learn certain things at certain times, called critical periods. Language was one of these critical periods and according to the theory, Genie who at the time was a teenager, missed her chance forever.

 This case was so important for science that the government gave money to back the project At the age of 13 she was the size of a 6 year old, and was as much a feral child, as if she was brought up my wolves. This is should a heavy thing to review and research but it is something I need to do as my film will carry this same weight. There are a few documentaries made about Genie and I will watch them during the week.

The Walking Dead

This will be a shorter blog post but it is something I remember that happened in the TV show "The Walking Dead"

During the series we are introduced to a character known as "The Governor" who was head of Woodbury, a small town safe from zombies. In season 3 we see him as a Mr.Nice Guy who is willing to help anyone. As the episodes continue we see he isn't as nice as we first thought and he is actually very sadistic.

We also see he is very fond of his daughter, who is actually a zombie and has her locked away so know one else finds out his secret.

He tortures her while caring for her, or what he thinks is caring, which is an interesting dynamic for a character. He has so much depth and has so much going on in his head that he doesn't no what is right in the world. 

Silence Of The Lambs

The next thing I wanted to talk about is the Oscar winning feature film "The Silence of The Lambs". 

"A young F.B.I. cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims."

The reason why I think this is a big film for me to look at is it is the complete package. The direction given by Jonathan Demme is absolutely on the ball and the project he delivered was flawless. The performance given by Foster and Hopkins steal the show and they throughly deserved their Oscar. 

Looking at the chemistry between the two leading actors shows me again that getting the actors in together and working together early is so important to have a natural flow between characters. The pacing of the film to is great and it goes down as one of the best movie performances of all time by Anthony Hopkins. The kidnapping in the film to is something I looked at in terms of set design and how Buffalo Bill treats his captive psychologically. 

The cinematography is something I looked at to and it's quite stylistic although it's a "Hollywood" type film. Different angles were used to show Lecters dominance as well as Buffalo Bills dominance and this is basic film grammar, but is used really well to make them imposing.

Prisoners

The next film I wanted to look at is the 2013 Denis Villeneuve film "Prisoners". 

"When Keller Dover's daughter and her friend go missing, he takes matters into his own hands as the police pursue multiple leads and the pressure mounts. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family?"

I really liked this film and I feel the vibe around is could be quite similar to mine. The use of colour and tempo is quite on the money to what I want, as well as the fact the film is about kidnapping.

This film is so nicely structured and shows how important good acting is to deliver a story line with a weight of "Prisoners". After looking at it made realise how important logistics are for my film in terms of set, costume and makeup because if it isn't done properly it'l look poor and I want a high production standard.

  

Facebook Article

This is a very interesting article that I came across which talks about feral children that  were raised by animals.

http://www.hellou.co.uk/2015/10/new-photos-tell-the-shocking-true-stories-of-feral-children-raised-by-wild-animals-63347/

One case that interested me more so the others is the case of Genie in 1970. She wasn't raised by children, she was tied to a chair when she was 20 months where she remained until she was 13. Nobody talked to her thus she was unable to develop speech. The case was looked at by psychologists, linguists and other such scientists have learnt valuable information from her case. Various documentaries were also made.

Rodriguez

Robert Rodriguez is one of my favourite directors but many people don't seem to know who he is. His method of film making is so refreshing and is the prefect scope for amateur film makers: 

 "Creativity, not money, is used to solve problems." 

He also came up with a concept for script writing. Don't write something you can't make, write the screenplay based on that list of things you can use like cool cars, apartments, horses, samurai swords and so on.

He also earned the nickname "The One Man Film Crew" for the work he does on his films, which is everything. Rodríguez not only has the credits of producing, directing and writing his films, he also frequently serves as editor, director of photography, camera operator, steadicam operator, composer, production designer, visual effects supervisor, and sound editor on his films. This is a huge inspiration for me because his work ethic is infectious and the way he goes about things is something I love about him. 

Dusk Till Dawn

The next thing I wanted to talk about is the Robert Rodriguez television adaptation of his cult classic "From Dusk Till Dawn". It tells the story of the Gecko brothers trying to get to Mexico while being chased by cops. The reason why I wanted to talk about it is because of it's use of colour grading.

  

Rodriguez's work is very stylistic and that is partially due to his colour use. It as a nice finish to the video and really makes the screen vibrant and is something I would like to experiment with this for my project. 

Here is a piece from an article where Rodriguez talks about colour:

“Since I shot in color, we’d take the color out and make it a stark black-and-white, but at any time in post I could bring a color back in,” says Rodriguez. “You could then use color as a weapon; a really strong storytelling tool.