Lights, Camera, Creepy

As we watched Sunset Boulevard I stayed confused about what genre of movie I was watching. My brain kept sending me into horror movie mode. The lighting, camera angles, and the flawless performance of Norma were all perfectly molded together into quite the creepy film. The dark shadowy mansion along with the intriguing role of the servant Max gave the film a very dark and mysterious tone. I was shocked when Max revealed himself as Norma's first husband. (even though I knew he was interested in her) Sunset Boulevard is one dark creepy movie.

Like many other students, I was puzzled at first by Joe's motives at the end of the film. Why did he basically tell Schaffer to get lost? Why did he swear loyalty to Norma? Why did he make himself out to be, well, the coward that he was? As all of these things processed in my brain, I came to the opinion that Joe was doing it for the good of everyone. He needed to get out of the house and be his own man. He had to let Schaffer go because of his loyalty to Artie and because of her innocence. He had to tell Norma that her life is a total lie and that the movie was never going to happen. Although it drove her to murder and insanity, the deed had been done.

Certainly, there will be several opposing views to mine about Joe's motives and about his success in accomplishing his goals in that whole sequence. The great thing about movies (especially this one) is that two different people can gather two totally different things from the same sequence of events. One of the things that make great movies great is their ability to be interpreted by the viewer. One example I can think of is the movie Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. The ending of Deja Vu is very interesting. It ends in somewhat of the same way. Does Denzel Washington remember saving the girls life? Does he remember the time travel and what happened in his parallel life? There are little clues at the very end of the movie. But they are definitely up to viewer interpretation.

Surgical Sound Technicians

Did you hear that sound? Well, I did. The sound of a really cheesy opening line to a blog about sound effects. So, I am sitting here in my room watching King of the Hill (as my I.Q. of course increases) and I can't help but notice that, guess what, King of the Hill has sound. I hear Dale lighting up his cigarette and Hank meticulously mowing his front yard, as every good citizen should. Behind the scenes creative minds must have worked hard together to figure out the sound of bobby's lawnmower wreck or Josephs touchdown run. All this to say... wow, the coolest job ever, with the exception of maybe being a big cat veterinarian in Africa, must be working in sound effects on a movie or t.v. show. Watching the special on The Lord of the Rings and their production of sound proved that last sentence most definitely true. Smashing glass and dropping tons of rock over microphones with (who would have guessed a guy would remember this part) condoms as protectors sounds really cool. Not to mention working with Peter.

But the most incredible part of the film making process isn't so fun. It is called planning. Who likes planning? Not me. Planning out time for homework or planning a vacation just drives me nuts. I hate planning. Even writing essays, I usually do not have a planning stage. I call it a first draft. It costs me tons of time and frustrates me some but anything to get out of planning. In the movie making process 9/10's of the whole thing seems to be planning. From story boards to computer generated versions of the movie some movies take a year or more to plan before the first actor walks in the studio. Planning this big only happens at thanksgiving at my house. But that's beside the point.

Overall, my impression so far of the movie process is that with all the fun and laughter comes tons and tons of work. For every million dollars made comes a million hours of work. I think I will go to medical school and save myself all the movie making work. Maybe that's not such a good trade but hey I can still make sound effects as a doctor but I can't operate on someone as a sound technician.

Inside the Huddle

Last weeks lecture and class was very much factual. I have little experience with film or anything like it. Therefore, I really enjoyed learning mroe about how things ahve evolved over the course of time. It was amazing to me how "The Horse in Motion" revealed to people for the first time that during a gallop all four feet of the horse come off the ground. It is weird to think that htere was actually a time in which people had never seen movies or were unable to plug up the boob tube and check the local weather. Even though cell phones were invented and made popular over the last 20 or 30 years, it is difficult to think about life without them. I personally think that the evolution of the eye of the camera is impressive. Over a short period of time, it went from just a theatrical view to the camera like we have today where shots are not limited by the capabilities of the human observer. In "Footlight Parade" the camera was even underwater. Who knew that technology like that was even available back then? The way in which the camera angles and viewpoints evolved so rapidly is amazing.

Something that struck me was the intensity and complexity of the film making process. There are so many things that directors, writers, producers, and actors, have to consider. When we watched the awards show with Neil Patrick Harris, it really hit me how much goes into a production. Hours and hours of work, thought, mistakes, and fixes had to be done to fit things into the specific time slot and to sync the production. As a viewer, rarely do I think about what goes into the production of movies or even sports. I never appreciate how things had to be planned to fit just right, I just expect them to be so. Today I was watching the San Diego Chargers play the new York Jets and they have a camera that flies around the field and takes shots that would never be possible by an observer. The camera can go into the huddle, check and see if recievers caught the ball or where a tackle was made. it is amazing how entertainment has evolved.

Although there wasn't any time for discussion in class, during class we took random bits of footage with an iPhone. Afterwards, the questions we were presented really struck me. I had considered, along with my group, very little about camera angles or what way in which the audience would see or think about things. Our pursuit of random humor was all that was considered. Although I believe had we been able to show our footage our end goal may have been achieved, we never considered anything but just being silly and playing around. If people laughed it would not have been because of our film making techniques or consideration of the viewer/ camera angles, but instead because of the youtube generation of college students that giggle at silly things. It astounds me how much goes into the film making process. It is no wonder movie directors and actors make so much. What about the camera men though? What are they making?