First an update on our project. We have locked down our lead actors for our two main guys in the story. We have our location, (my house) and we are meeting Monday to finalize our shot list, storyboard, and script. The main obstacle we have now is prop gathering. We have a lot of stuff we need for the older brother's room and we still need a modern camouflage uniform. We are all set on Nerf guns, we have contacted several humans vs zombies players and as we have all seen around campus, they each have 100s of dollars worth of guns.
I recently just started watching the wire.
I had never seen it before and I am now 3 episodes in. My housemate Rob confidently declares that it is the "realest" show he's ever seen. The show follows the crime in Baltimore from both sides, a gang who deals heroin in the projects, and a poor investigative unit. I would compare the tone of the show to the movie The Departed. Lot's of conflict and some heavy material. The only other crime dramas I have seen are shows like CSI which you can jump into at any point because the episodes can stand by themselves. The Wire follows a more episodic structure and deals with the same conflict throughout.
I'm working on a test for a scene in my project. I'm trying to recreate the Iron Man light beams but need some help or guidance as to what people would like to see or what it should look like.
So far I think the test is almost there. I am working on installing a little energy orb around the surface to make it look realistic in some sense. Overall I am having a great time with this project after shooting and look forward to working on more special effects.
This last weekend I saw 50/50, a dramedy written by Will Reiser starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen. The film, which is loosely based on the life of Reiser, is about a 27-year-old guy who learns he has cancer and his struggle to beat the disease. While it may sound sad and depressing, the film, because of the work by the production team especially by the writer and actors, was a perfect blend between comedy and drama. It really had the entire spectrum of emotion and made it one movie I had to write about. Even though Elizabeth has already done a great post about this film and how great the script was, when watching the movie in the theater there were many moments that I thought to myself that this would be a great movie to write about and have people discuss. I am going to look at more of the production side instead. Going back to the idea of the spectrum, 50/50 used a specific color scheme to give the film not only a certain look but also a certain feel. There are a lot of neutral colors and hardly many bright colors. Grays, browns, blacks, and dark greens are very evident when watching the film. The sky is usually cloudy and gray. I do not remember seeing any bright sun shiny days. (Photos taken of the film from online do not do the film justice because they were most likely taken by an on-set photographer and are not screenshots from the final color-corrected film). Not only do these very subdued colors seen in the set and sky reflect the setting of the film (Seattle, Washington) but it also creates a very bleak and sad mood that goes well with the main character’s battle with cancer. The brightest color I remember seeing was red, which the main character’s therapist often wore in accessories like scarves. Throughout the story she helps Adam sort his feelings and emotions through this ordeal and by the end of the movie after Adam has recovered six months later they begin dating. She is the bright spot in Adam’s life during this process literally and figuratively. Another interesting production choice I remember seeing was a lot of scenes of the main character in the dark with a small light somewhere on screen. Either he was walking down a dark street with a streetlight visible ahead of him or he was alone in a room with a side table lamp. To me this was to show that Adam was in the dark about the future. He did not know what was next and if he would survive. There is a theory that when you die you go towards the light. This lighting that the production team chose was their way of telling the audience that Adam was currently on a dangerous path that could have ended with him dead at a young age of 27. At the same time there is a saying that there is a light at the end of the tunnel which means that after a difficult adventure there is hope or a bright future ahead.Even though the script was great, one of my favorite scenes was actually improvised by the actors. The scene where the main character shaves off his head with his best friend Kyle was not in the originally script. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who played Adam, actually shaved off his head as he improved lines and jokes with Seth Rogen, who played Kyle. This just goes to show how important choosing actors are and allowing them a chance to give their ideas about the movie. It may end improving your odds of box office and critical success (no pun intended).
That's it. That's the end. This is the end of the series. You can all stop groaning at me now. ...Nah, just kidding! I could throw 26 seasons of the classic Doctor episodes at you! Muwahahaha!
I'll skip the story for this blog post. If you want to know what happened, you'll have to watch. Of course, the acting on everyone's part was impeccable. I'd expect nothing less from a BBC show that's now entering it's 49th year.
What really stood out about this episode was how bizarre it was. Something is wrong with time, meaning that all of history is happening at once. The effects team needed to therefore find out how to put pterodactyls in a park in London. The set designers had to build a secret evil lair inside of the pyramids. Make up designers had to create a horde of the Silence using only prosthetics and body glue. So many intricate parts went into making this episode look as good as it was supposed to; but together they helped deliver a visually beautiful ending to this season.
Things to look out for as far as this episode goes: Dorium, who's all blue. The fight scene between the Ponds, Kovarian, and the Silence. Any scene where they aren't on Earth. The cinematography helps the effects as the effects help the final product. The best thing about high-profile big-budget sci-fi shows is that when they're done well, they're done really well, and everything clicks together in harmony.
Back in the late summer of 2010, I discovered the show Party Down as I was lazily flipping through the hundreds of options on my cable provider's OnDemand menu. I recognized Adam Scott from The Aviator and decided to give it a shot. I was addicted instantaneously. I watched all twenty episodes in a matter of a few weeks. After I'd finished with the two short seasons, I went on a search to figure out when I could tune in for the next season. Much to my surprise, I found that Starz had canceled this wonderfully dark and quick-witted comedy.
A little background on Party Down. Premiering in March of 2009, the half-hour show is about a Los Angeles catering team, made up of aspiring actors and writers. Each episode revolves around an event the team is working and the shenanigans each member ends up getting tangled up in. It was created by Rob Thomas (90210), Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man), Dan Etheridge (Biodome), and John Enbom (Veronica Mars). The show was directed by Bryan Gordon (Curb Your Enthusiasm) and Fred Savage (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia). The recurring characters included some recognizable actors:
With all of these big names associated with the show, it came as quite a shock when Party Down didn't get a chance at a third season. According to this article, the ratings simply were not there. While the show may have had staggering potential, I think there are two main reasons why Party Down never got to come full term: Starz and censorship. Starz is a little-known channel that comes up with very few contending programs in comparison to its ever-growing rivals, HBO and Showtime. The viewership for anything on a channel like Starz is low from the get-go. And Party Down is too graphic for the likes of NBC or FOX, which has to cater to parents' wishes to keep their children naive. We are still living in an time where censorship and media regulation laws rule, often leaving winning shows to die in the outer limits of obscure cable channels.
But there is hope on the horizon! There have been rumors circulating all over the internet these past few months, hinting at a potential Party Down full length feature. Rob Thomas has even gone as far to say that his people are well into negotiations for a movie deal. Along with all of the buzz from Arrested Development supposedly being picked up for a few more episodes AND a movie deal, this could make for some interesting coming years.
