Hearing a lot about Sunrise being such a great film, I was excited to see it for myself. Overall I'm happy to say that I thought it was such a great movie, and definitely deserves its place in the hall of fame.

• The thing that shocked me the most was that the whole town was inside a studio. Honestly, this baffles me. It's crazy to think how much money goes in to films, even back in the 1930s! Building an entire village seems like such a waste of money to me, but you can really see how Sunrise was portrayed as a result. I loved the fact it was timeless, you don't get any sense of where it is set. Its just the bare story that could happen absolutely anywhere; Exactly what F.W. Murnau intended.
• I loved the female actress who played 'The Wife', Janet Gaynor, she was adorable! You really got the sense of how young and very breakable she was, and really sweet. It broke my heart when she thought he was taking her out on a nice boating trip and really planned to drown her in to eternity. MEN!
• The fact that it was silent with hardly any words up in between made the movie, for me, even more enjoyable. I think words and cheesy lines flying around for the sake of it would completely ruin the essence of the film. Even an accent or a name could through you off guard. It makes you wonder how many great movies could be made if they were silent nowadays, rather than ruining some great films with naff lines and fake accents.
• With the ending I was a little torn between what I wanted to happen, I couldn't tell if they were going to go for the hollywood ending or not. In a way I think the ending is lovely, but sadly the pessimist within me is screaming 'THATS SO UNREALISTIC..' that they would get back together and all is forgiven. However - I think this adds to the meaning of the story that 'love conquers all' which makes the movie all the more sweeter.

In general, I really enjoyed this movie and think it definitely lives up to its name.

bookworm

As strange as it may sound - I do actually have other hobbies that don't include watching films. I LOVE reading, even though I feel like I 'never have the time.' EVEN THOUGH I find hours on end to sit on facebook and watch endless amounts of crap/wonderfulness on TV and the other important things that consist within my life.

THEREFORE, I am going to make a conscious decision to read, read, read until my eyes fall out. Literally.

I finished a book last week called 'Swimsuit' by James Patterson. (Aka some poor writer who has to pretend to be James Patterson, but still.) I am such a huge fan of his books and I don't even know why - I manage to get past a lot of the cheesy lines and really get in to the story, even if they do completely encourage my paranoia that someone, somewhere wants to murder me. Its inevitable.

I've read almost all of the James Patterson books and Swimsuit was your typical serial killer thriller.

• Models start going missing in Hawaii, later found brutally mutilated.
• A cop-turned-writer takes it as his mission to find out what's going on, so he can get the big break he's been looking for.
• Turns out the killer is being payed by and elite group of millionaires from all over the world to kill and torture people and turning them in to short films and documentaries. Sick.
• The killer decides he wants his 'story' to be told and seeks out the writer 'making him an offer he can't refuse.'
• Everyone generally dies - THE END

It was pretty predictable but I enjoy the fact that its easy to read, I could carry it about anywhere and didn't have to re-read the chapters incase I missed something crucial.

When I'm reading something or watching it on TV, I've realized I'm turning in to one of those annoying people. The ones who say 'they should have done THIS...that would have made a much better twist....' but I guess this is a good thing because it gets the creative juices flowing.

I'm a huge fan of Chuck Palahniuk even though I've never read any of his books. I love his quotes and I think he's got a great style, so I was thrilled to bits when someone bought me 'Haunted' the other day because he'd seen me eyeing it up. *Bless*

I can't wait to read Haunted - I think its got a great story line. Its really a collection of short stories that come from a group of writers who answered an ad for a 'writers getaway' for three months, obviously expecting a nice relaxing break and not expecting what actually happens.

• 'By turns nauseating, darkly funny and brutally graphic' - Observer
• 'Deeply satirical, brutal and provocative, Haunted is harshly compulsive, eye-bleeding stuff.' - ID

Sounds right down my alleyway. Weird and slightly concerning I know, but I can't wait to start it - which is only a few minutes away. Au Revoir!

lovehearts and spandex

Can anyone believe in a matter of months, thats right months, we will have successfully (hopefully) completed our first term and be in the position to smirk slyly as we see all the new first years approach the 'big camera's'?

I can't. I still think the cameras are huge.

But, so far I have actually learned a lot more than i think.

• It's okay to ask questions that you think sound really stupid, because everyone else is probably struggling with the same thing. Even if it is to ask where the ON button is.
• Not everyone is fabulous at absolutely everything apart from me, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. And best of all, we're all learning the exact same things at the exact same time. Yay.
• When you get past all the complex buttons in editing, I find I'm not so bad after all. Its actually quite fun. Thats right, I ENJOY EXAMS. (However, please don't take this too serious and go all SQA on our ass.)
• Possibly a good thing, possibly a bad, I have come to learn the realities of Film and TV. Its not all glitz and glamour sadly, and you really gotta work to be where you want to be. Don't get me wrong, I didn't expect it to be easy and carefree, It's just a shock to learn how much work goes in to what could appear to be a small, low concept movie.
• I have found amazing people who make me feel better about going to the cinema every single day. In fact, they go with me. 'Its all research...'
• I really enjoy the technical side of things, and am proud to say that when the right questions are asked, i understand it. Thats right Mr Bergin of high school Physics, I understand lighting and can even say 'degrees kelvin' and most of the time know what I'm talking about.
• I love learning new things and experiencing new TV shows and film styles I wouldn't have considered before. I just soak it all up like a barbie in the sun. I enjoy watching silent russian films about vampires that have absolutely no 'sexyness' or obvious violence, woah, who knew.
• Writing a scrip isn't half as bad as the thought of writing a script. When I get past my neat-freak-ness, the writing just flows. I can tidy it up after.

In general, I have learned so much in only one term. Only another few years to go and ill be sweeping the shoes of gossip girl. HA. Don't worry, ill keep dreaming.

But i mean it, Term one hasn't been nearly as daunting as I thought it would be, like back in freshers when Ray said 'Don't worry you'll all be able to use the cameras by christmas...' and i sat there quietly dying a little inside. We can use the cameras! Even if I do still treat it like a new-born waiting to spew on me at anytime, I feel comfortable for the up-coming 'Inner Space' shoot and I'm sure we'll gain a lot of experience from being out there and filming live things.

Au Revoir!

Silent Russian Films...

There's nothing I love more than wakening up on a Friday morning and heading in for some sweet Russian cinema. The Battleship Potemkin was a weird one. I don't know why - but I'd heard lots about it, managing to not actually know anything about it.

After Dr Caligari, I like to keep an open mind when it comes to silent foreign films. However, when it came to The Battleship Potemkin, I wasn't as attracted.

Considering it was made in the 1920s, I can understand why the editing is considered great for the time period. Straight away I recognized the 'Odessa Steps' sequence, mainly from the cereal advert that never fails to amuse me. I had no clue it was such an influential film, and think that even though the story lacks in bits, it is a hugely successful film in terms of propaganda.

However, It just wasn't engaging enough. I thought it jumped around a bit much, and became very slow paced at some parts. I didn't enjoy the first part where the men were all complaining about the rotten meat, as i thought it was slightly disgusting as well as a bit random. However, the fact that it was made for propaganda purposes, makes slightly more sense.

Overall, I appreciate that there are some great aspects to The Battleship Potemkin, but I wont be rushing to amazon anytime soon. xoxo

first blog in YEARS

Writing my first blog of 2010, I feel it would only be right to do one of my favorite movies of 2009, (soo last year.) Honestly - I went to see Avatar with mixed expectations. I knew it was going to be impressive no doubt about that, but I wasn't sure if it would be my cup of tea or if I would enjoy the mix between the 'real world' and the world within James Cameron's imagination.
However - I can safely say I love everything about Avatar (3D to be precise.) The imagination that went into the film is incredible and I was pleased to see that they set it in the 22nd century, because it could actually be a possibility if the world doesn't blow up before then as beggars keep insisting.
Sam Worthington gave a fantastic performance as the protagonist Jake Sully, and my my he was such a stud as a blue guy. The thing about Avatar, everything was insanely beautiful and peaceful. It made you want to live on Pandora so much and be tall and blue and pretty, planet earth seemed so dull and ruined compared.
I was surprised at how amazingly convincing the performances given by the actors playing the Na'vi people were considering how alien the ways of this made up race were.
In general, I think Avatar was one of the best movies ever made and think James Cameron deserves a ton of credit for all the effort and creativity that went into this fantastic gem of a film. Well, first day back tomorrow so I'd better be off to get some sweet shut eye before I see everyone all bright eye'd and bushy tailed tomorrow at 2, over and out.