Follow Flow

The other night I noticed that the movie Boogie Nights was added to Netflix. I had heard this movie was really good before, and it's by Paul Thomas Anderson, so how can it be bad. It stars Mark Wahlberg as he breaking into the "movie" industry. Anyway, a few times throughout the movie, they use these kinds of shots, like in the opening sequence when they show a good portion of the characters in a night club, or at a house party where they transfer from conversation to conversation before taking a dip in the pool. There are many other shows and movies that make use of this style well, such as in True Detective with the now famous drug raid follow shot that goes on for a solid 6-minutes, or the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode that was all one perfect follow shot for the whole episode, which was inspired by the True Detective one. It's hard not to be impressed with follow shots, whenever they show up in media. There's so much work going into it, and being able to move with the action really draws you into the scene and makes it feel all the more realistic.

I feel that each time one of the follow shots came up, it feels like they improve the feel of the scene. Plus, you have to consider all of the work that goes into making it happen: everything needs to be perfect for the an entire run. All the actors need to get their line on the first try, nothing incorrect happens in the background at any point, and also making sure that nothing that isn't supposed to be shown isn't. The point I'm trying to make is that if you ever see one, make sure to appreciate all the it manages to accomplish.

Ted

As a huge Family Guy fan, I was ecstatic when I learned that Seth McFarlane was bringing his talent to the big screen. When Ted hit theaters this past July, I jumped at the chance to go. I had high expectations for the film and was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the movie and thought that it had the right amount of humor without taking away from a heartwarming storyline. I felt that outside of the fact that teddy bears cannot come to life, this film was very real and struck a cord with the universal human experience. Watching Mark Wahlberg's character struggle with growing up and choosing between his girlfriend and best friend was something many viewers could relate to. I appreciated McFarlane's writing and thought he did a good job of sneaking in a serious storyline behind all the jokes and gags. Although I found it hilarious, I did find some of the humor a little crude, but went in expecting to be made a little uncomfortable. It is that brash humor that I admire about McFarlane's work. He pushes the envelope to see how far he can go, and then pushes it even further. I like this because I believe humor is something to be appreciated and entertained by and those that get offended and angered by it should shut up, sit back, and enjoy what was created purely to entertain them. Here is the behind the scenes clip that I found pretty interesting. It shows how they used Seth's movements to make Ted seem as real to life as they could.

Mark Wahlberg shoots stuff.

Mark Wahlberg is, in my opinion, one of the great actors in modern cinema today. The Departed, The Fighter, Ted, The Italian Job, Four Brothers. All fantastic movies and fantastic acting jobs (at least, in my opinion. Maybe others would disagree). And I don't think its always easy to stand out as a great actor in the world of action movies, where flashy special effects and explosions make up for what's lacking in the story and talent of the actors. Marky Mark still manages to shine.

"Shooter" is the story of Bob Lee Swagger (yes, 'Swagger'), a marksman living secluded in exile after a failed mission left one of his partners and best friends dead. He is recruited by the US Government via Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) to help stop an assassination attempt of the president. However, Swagger doesn't realize that he is soon to be double-crossed by the very country he risked his life for, and framed as the would-be killer. After surviving the double-cross, Swagger goes on the run from the police. Using his special training and skills with a firearm (or in this case many, many, many firearms), he hunts down the real shooter and tries to find out who exactly set him up and why.

Sounds pretty cool, eh? Yeah I thought so too. "Shooter" was one of those movies that looks great on paper but just fails to deliver what I hoped for with the story. I found it to be pretty damn predictable and cheesy. Not to mention, Danny Glover and the majority of the supporting cast just stinks up something awful with their performances. The portrayal of the corrupt head-honchos of US intelligence  was way too cliche. I just wasn't convinced that the actors were really consuming themselves in their roles. They seemed to just play their roles to the most basic characteristics. Not enough feeling, not enough emotion.

And seriously....Mark Wahlberg's characters name is Swagger? Where the hell did they come up with that one?

I wouldn't call it one of Marky Mark's best performances either. But this is one of those movies that really does a GREAT job of making up for the places it lacks in, ... with
ACTION ACTION ACTION ACTION ACTION. 

Any scene where Swagger was wielding a gun was pure excitement. He pops headshots on guys from thousands of yards away, takes out like 20 dudes without getting a single scratch on him. This may be typical of any action movie. But they did it damn well. "Shooter" receives praise from me for its kick ass action sequences.

-Nick

Unique Filming Technique

I found The Other Guys on TV the other night and it was at the scene when they are in the bar. It's very interesting how they did it. Take a look:



Anyway, I was curious how this was done and did some research. It can be easy to 3D model and animate this entire thing but everything looks too real to be created in Maya, 3D Studio Max, Cinema 4D, or Lightwave. These were actually shot in real life.

Another film showed how to do this.



Basically, this was shot twice. Once with not actors and the crane goes through the scene with computed pans and tilts to get the correct frame, then it does the same exact sequence with the same timing with the actors. Later on in the "postproduction" phase, they added in glass, explosions, dollar bills, etc. The same goes for The Other Guys but that had to of been more than two takes because Mark Walberg and Will Ferrel show up multiple times.

Very interesting