Yojimbo

One of Akira Kurosawa's many Samurai films. Although that does not place this film under the generic Japanese action genre. Kurosawa's use of an amazing story, and cinematography to support the story, makes for an amazing visual feast.





The main charactor, No Name, is an odd samurai that is in an odd situation. This is clearly shown in the opening sequence when he walks on screen with his arms not in his sleeves and then he scratches himself. The use of rule of third is seen all through out the film even up to the end title.

The samurai places himself in the middle of a conflict, and physically in the middle of the town.




The same can be said about the bartender, this shot contsist of a pan that shows both sides of the bartender suspended in the air.



All these shots hold up to the claim that any screen shot of a Kurosawa film is a work of art. This adds support to the emotional envolvment of the bar tender, and the moral descision that the Samurai needs to make on the subject of the man, his son, and his wife. It shows two sides the problem.




To show that the samurai was not completly integrated into any of the rival families, Kurosawa used shots like this, in putting the Samurai in the FG and the bandits in the BG, creates distance between them.


Akira Kurosawa is known for putting on film EXACTLY what he wants, This wind and dust combination was not by chance. I hate to spoil it, but in the film you can clearly see the nozzle effect that is pushing the dust behind the Samurai in the BG.

End of the year sprint

Well, its the end of the year, and we have another sprint to do.

The reviews are coming up Mr. Calder, all of them will be up by the end of the week.

Things to come?

• Clash of the Titans
• The Spirit
• A combination post on Yojimbo, Django, Fist full of dollars, and Sukiyaki Western Django.
  

Midterm Throne of Blood.

A film about supertition. The cinematographer of Throne of Blood used many different techniques and styles to project the ambiance of the story.

To give the audience a feel for the betrayal and deceit in the story, Kurosawa uses obstacles in front of the camera. It gives the film a "peeping-Tom" feeling.

Kurosawa maintained the Asian style throughout the film, while still telling an English story by emphasizing facial expressions, just how Asian culture does. This can be seen in the wife's role. She has NO facial expressions which expresses her cold-heartiness.

For the supernatural aspects of the film, Kurosawa uses Natural elements such as Wind, Fog, Rain, Trees, etc. Basically nature in itself. when the ghost appears there is a gust of wind, a billow of fog, just to further add to the creepiness factor.

Lighting paid a huge role in the movie, mainly because the film is monochrome. The lighting added even more expression to the already expressed faces. one main example is Miki in the picture that I will upload ASAP.

The long needed post (Movie Review)

Well, we have all been waiting for this (Mr. Calder especially )...... A Movie Review !!!

I just watched the movie 12 Monkeys, and it has made its way up to my top "Time Travel" movies. The film has many "uncomfortable" camera angles that support the running theme, "disorientation". The audience is given many slanted and distorted shots setting the visuals for two different time lines, and giving the effect of mental strain.

I recommend the movie to anyone that enjoys a confusing "Back to the future-esque" plot. The film itself made a direct connection to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo. It also made this connection indirectly by contrasting the actors roles (in Vertigo, the male role is the "sane" one, and the female was "insane". In 12 Monkeys it was the opposite)

On futher investigation, I found out that the director of 12 Monkeys is the Writer and Director of the Monty Python series, Terry Gilliam

Be sure to check out more from this director.

Oscar time !!!

Guys, I am going to comment on the Oscars.... and its gonna be lengthy :)

I will edit later

***

..... Im screwed......

you know the saying "Up a creek without a paddle"? Well I got a new one for you guys.... "knee deep in a project without hard drive space"

Kinda lengthy... but it has a ring to it. 

I CANT WAIT FOR THIS DAMN STIMULUS PACKAGE TO COME INTO EFFECT!

this is just more stress piled on to the mountain of crap I have in my life right now.... How the heck am I going to be able to pay for college? especially a film school?..... -sigh- well... lets see how the big guy up there has things planned out.

now back to my god forsaken project.....

(Dont worry Mr. Calder, the reviews on the movies are coming up asap)

-Josue

Sneak peek of "Valentines"

Hey there readers, 

as many of you may know, I have been working on a spontanious project for Valentines day, well here is the update

I have gotten some footage that I wanted, but not all of it. I am running out of room on my comp for rendering, and its killing me. I know that i will end up re-shooting this baby,  and it will come out better :)

I have my good friend/associate Nate DeCarmo (you may know his brother Colin DeCarmo) 

helping me with music.

so like I stated in Facebook, the film is in the beta stage.... and well..... how would you like a sneak preview?

:D

I thought so.

Damn it.....

The other day I made an amazing story board (or a Director's board as Calder would say.)  Well anyway..... I lost it... and now I have to do it again......

I am going to end up pulling an all nighter tonite... video editing to do... story boarding....script writing....

Man I love this life...... $5 that I end up making Film my major....

We will see where God will take me :)

-Josue

The Mummy: Dragon guano

The third installment of the Mummy series with Brendan Fraser, A trilogy. Some famous trilogies include Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, and the first (or last) 3 Star wars films.
We know that its risky going for a third home run, when it works out, its amazing, but when
it flops to the floor like a dead fish...... well..... just look to The Emperor Tombs dragon thingy....

Surprisingly, according to IMDB, the film won 3 awards.... aha correction, it has been nominated for 3 categories.

-Excellence in Costume Design for Film - Fantasy
Sanja Milkovic Hays


-Best Sound Editing - Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film

- Best Action/Adventure -- Best Performance - Male
Brendan Fraser

I am shocked..... almost appalled. BEST ACTIONSLASHADVENTURE!? come on National Movie Awards raise your standards.

After the first 5 minutes I was sick of the tongue in cheek humor that took stabs at the previous movies and the cheap giggles.

lack of story aside, the movie was being dragged forward by the CGI, one of the shots that impressed me was a fly by with the CGI plane landing in the back ground (awesome placement and motion tracking), and thats about it. we have seen everything before, now its just on a bigger scale.

The detail of the first movie was amazing, the second had the same detail and more characters. Now this one has lost quality and just is annoying to watch.

I think I would have enjoyed it better if it was streamed in youtube by an amature film maker

Watchmen

I just read "Watchmen" last night, and let me tell you..... its amazing.

I tried to block out the bias of "OMG THIS IS TEH B3ST COMIC EVA!!!!!",
and come up with an opinion of my own. I got the Graphic novel from Colin's
brother (thanks man).

In all honesty, upon reading the work I lost some faith in the upcoming movie.
The story is so intricate, that I kinda doubted how well Zack Snyder can re-create
this thing.

I still have high hopes for the film, mainly because you can only do the movie one
way... the way you see it in the GN. Its funny, while I drooled over the comic, I would
imagine the film version in my mind, and how I would shoot it.

My verdict.... well I will make another blog about it.

The Power of Ambience : Article

I just read an article on ambient noise, and it has confirmed what I have been warned about.
Creating a sample of the environment that you are filming in helps a lot in the post production
area.

A personal experience, I was recording a basketball tourny with a colleague, and he mentioned this technique. He told me "Record at least 5 min of ambiance so that when ever there is a "dead space" in the video, you can loop back the recorded audio."

In previous projects that I have done, I have had to clip a random segment of audio (like 3 seconds of audio) and loop it for a good 25 seconds...... It sounded horrible. I will forever use this
technique from now on.

WElcome

Welcome to _

I will be posting any Movie related Items here on this blog, even including updates on 

any projects that I am doing.

-Josue