Monday, September 9, 2013

The Twisted Twins

I have never been so in love before. The Soska twins are an amazing couple from Canada that are into horror and gore so much so that they make horror films. They also got so into stunts that they learned martial arts to make stunts easier for them.

A few nights ago I watched American Mary and it was completely made independently. I have to say that it was beautifully put together. There was a sense of macabre and there was intrigue, which brought so much to the screen. I'm going to have to buy this film especially for the special features. I want to know what cameras they used, what shots they considered, what were their thoughts as they were making it. I have not seen such a great couple since the Cohen brothers.

The plot was simple, a student of the medical sciences needs money to keep living at her home. She picks up odds and ends jobs to make the money, at first not wanting the jobs but the money becomes more of an enticement as she realizes that she is good at what she does.

I'll leave the rest for when you watch it. It's worth every minute of it. Yes, it's a horror film, but it's also a drama and a mystery.

If I read this correctly too, the twins' parents remortgaged their house in order for this film to be made. That is amazing support and definitely a great way of saying you believe in them. I wish I had family that could do that for me. But some people get the luck and have the talent while the rest of us have to work harder for our talents because of our poor lives.

Well time for class...

Thursday, September 5, 2013

First Step to a Problem

First step to a problem is admitting you have a problem, I LOVE PHOTOGRAPHY. Yep, not the post you thought. I was in photo class thinking; shit, shit, shit, I'm not doing this right. But sitting in complete darkness and winding film onto a metal reel wasn't that bad. I think the reason that I love photography is that my photos came out. They actually developed after 50 some odd minutes of chemicals and shaking and tapping. What a process. But it all came out and soon I will have my first black and white photos for my class.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Long Time Coming

Back when I created this blog I didn't realize that I wanted to create it somewhere else. So I did. Now, I think I want to use this as a diary type of blog. I want to be able to write about my experiences in film school and how things are going. I want to be able to write about my dreams and aspirations as well.

I'm in my second semester of classes towards my Bachelor's in Film Production.

~~~~FALL 2013~~~~
        My Classes:

Film Making Fundamentals
Modern World Cinema
Photography I
Ethics in Media

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I'm currently sitting in my Modern World Cinema class talking about Bicycle Thieves and Italian film that was depressing as all shit. We are discussing it and I kind of feel like the movie just wasn't something that I ever want to see again. I was willing to sit patiently through it the first time, but seriously it was drab and it was depressing, the main character Ricci doesn't get his bike back or get a new bike and I feel like justice just wasn't seen in it.

This weather today, makes me want to write a horror film and get some zombies going. I really wish that I wasn't in the class right now.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Late Night Movie Watching

Watched Tormented last night, a British Horror flick. It was okay an interesting story line that questions reality. It's about a head girl that, well in this case that either snaps and kills all her friends or sees a ghost kill all her friends. It was very straight forward, so my thought is that the director was doing this as a second or third film, still getting their wings. While the writing was intriguing, the acting was a little below in some cases. The graphics was fun to watch and they did take-aways for the more violent scenes. Example of that is when this girl gets her hands cut off, the audience only sees the end result and gets to hear as the paper cutting comes down on her wrist, but the visual isn't there, we have darkness briefly enough.

This is going to be a good month for horror, I mean when is it not. October is my favorite month purely for that. I love horror and every aspect that has come with it. The costumes, make-up, and haunts, the screaming, it's all amazing. This will make me expanding my visual horizon a little harder to muster though, I love horror and it being pushed in my face on every movie channel.

Luckily I have to watch a film for my portfolio, for getting into the "film school". The list is pretty cool, some of them I have heard of with very few I haven't. The list is as following:

  • Orson Welles's Citizen Kane
  • Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon
  • Alfred Hitchcock's  Rear Window
  • Vittoria's DeSica's The Bicycle Thief (spelled wrong on the sheet)
  • Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility
  • Spike Lee's Crooklyn
  • Wayne Wang's The Joy Luck Club
  • Francois Truffaut's The Four Hundred Blows
  • John Sayles's Brother From Another Planet
  • Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove
  • Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal
  • Fritz Lang's Metropolis 
  • Woody Allen's Annie Hall
  • Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust
  • Majid Majidi's Children of Heaven
So I was thinking that I wanted to watch and write about Alfred Hitchcock since he is closes to my favorite genre. But if I want to get a majority of this done over the weekend I might have to choose from John Sayles or Fritz Lang. I'm learning towards Fritz Lang because Metropolis sounds like it could be more fun to write about, though  Brother From Another Planet is a comedy and I like comedies, actually it seems I seldom not like genres. As long as the genre is presented properly then its good to watch. I checked though my movies thinking that my husband owned Dr. Strangelove but I didn't find it, though that might be because my father is borrowing almost all my movies. 

I was hoping to see something classically horror on that list, but alas my genre is less revered than most. It would have been great to see Night of the Living Dead on that list, that would be the film that I took. I would explain how it was a political satire to really get under the finger of the government without forcing their hand. It was to show that the strongest most eligible person to run things was the black lead and how the zombies or ghouls, which is what Romero wanted to call them was a way of showing how our country is corrupted. So I would have lots to say about that particular film, which was on at 3 in the morning last night/this morning. 

I must do what is required of me in order to see my passion through. 

Saturday, September 29, 2012

In the Beginning...

I'm planning on using this as a place to get my creativeness out and also to get my angst/anxiety out as well. I haven't told some of my closest people that I have changed my major over to film production. So this is the opportunity for me to write out things that I want to say without their doubt looming over me.

I talked with an adviser about changing over to film production and he was extremely excited. I didn't expect for the guy I would talk to about my future would have had this kind of background, but he is wicked cool. Jorge Oliver and his IMDB page.

That really does put reassurance into my future. Also I have approval from my husband to follow my dreams. I'm glad of that simply because I didn't want to have to deal with hearing him whine or complain about it. So with all this I am seeing that I have a chance at something that will expand my mind, build up my passion and really give me a chance at happiness.

I used to have a Massify page, but Massify seemed to have imploded and took all my material with it. But I did have most of my scripts on my old laptop. The formats for the new Celtx still supports the old ones, so it works out well for me. I need to get working on my scripts again and maybe put some shorts together for a DVD so that I have a decent set up for film production next semester.

Well, I will drift into slumber as I watch a British Horror called Tormented. Talk more later...