Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler was my number one film of 2014. I felt it was one of the most original movies I've seen in a long long time and I thought Jake Gyllenhaal's performance was mesmerising and it throughly deserved his Oscar nod.

I feel that the mood in this film is something I can portray in my film which is quite grim and edgy. It shows to how important good acting and good dialogue. This is so important for my film as to make it believable, I have to have dialogue that fits and to find the actors that will bring my film to life.

It's great to find a film like this and I am so grateful as it is a big inspiration. It also shows that even in todays society there is still scope for original content and for me that is a big incentive to go work because you never know when the next Nightcrawler will appear. 

Robert Frost - The Road Not Taken

After my last Muse post, I decided to look at different ways of story telling and having listening to the album, I decided that poetry would be an interesting thing to look at in terms of story telling.

I opted to look at Robert Frost's "Road Not Taken"

Poetry is a strong medium for story telling as it leaves the visuals up to the imagination. The words are so strong on the page that it brings a strong visual and to me that is so important for story telling as it reflects on the treatment for my film. Visual writing will help me create exactly what I want visually and will help guide me for the direction I want to go.

Muse - Drones

This is a very interesting direction post for me. I get to talk about my favourite band "MUSE". On the 5th of June they released their 7th studio album entitled "Drones". The album itself tells an entire story of a young man who is brainwashed by the government to become a killing machine for the army, and breaking those shackles.

I found it really interesting because although most albums have a general theme, this album is completely structured on telling this story. Although it doesn't have much to do with my film idea, I thought the process of making the album was cool as they developed the story before creating the music, instead of the usual process of recording a song and finding a suitable place for it on the album.

One Hour Photo

2002's "One Hour Photo" tells the story of Seymour Parrish, an employee of a one hour photo lab who becomes obsessed with a small suburban family.

  

The reason why I wanted to talk about this is because I think there are a lot of similarities to my film idea and this one. Everyone finds Seymour odd, so much so he obsesses with this family and dreams of a perfect situation that involves him and the family. The whole film carries a strange under tone that is portrayed brilliantly by Robin Williams and is something I think could be interesting to tap into. 

The Shoes - Time to Dance

I wanted to take a different direction with this next post. I wanted to look at different ways of story telling in a short space of time and this music video does just that.

I actually saw this video years ago and it wasn't until recently that I looked at it from a film making point of view. Although it is a music video, it still carries a heavy narrative which is compelling and carries the attention of the viewer for 8 minutes. It delivers a nice story arc by using nice use of contrast as well as it composition and editing. The acting of course plays a huge roll in the video but it makes the video interesting to watch and that is so important for short films. There is such a short time to hook the audience so every second counts. 

The Lovely Bones

I wanted to review Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" as it has a similar theme and vibe I want in my film. Although it is a feature film, I think the story they tell is doable for a short.

It also plays on that idea similarly to "Gran Torino" in which there is a character in the neighbourhood no one likes. It also carries on that idea of kidnapping and being held against their will.

The style of the film is something I can take inspiration from, except when the "ideal world" is created. There is a nice use of grey in the film and causes a mood over it which works considering the films overshadowing theme. 

Gran Torino

On this post I wanted to look at Clint Eastwoods 2008 film Gran Torino.

The reason why I wanted to look at this is because I've been reviewing my idea. Reviewing it in the sense that I'm exploring different ways in which I can have my characters for my film. I was thinking instead of having a prim and proper scientist, I could have the older man portray a disgruntled old man that lives in a neighbour where no one likes him and the younger character can play a bit of a renegade who tries to befriend. As he gets closer to him he then finds out his dark secret.

Again it isn't set in stone but I think it's important not to pigeon hole myself and to explores different options and choices of how to tell my story.