experimental

finished my experimental masterpiece about 20 minutes ago. i would say it is awesome, but that is to be expected. just kidding.

signing off one last time, mr. brandon m. segave.

the year without a santa claus

i am a big fan of the rankin/bass Christmas movies. it must take a great deal of time to accomplish the stop motion animation they use. i will write about The Year Without A Santa Claus this morning. it has a good amount of comedy in it as well. i like the heat miser/snow miser sequences. it is certainly the right time of year to bust out the classics.

when shooting it, do the just set up a camera really close to these miniatures? in some sort of diorama type setting? how do they do lighting on such a small scale? tiny lights? these are all questions i think of each year when watching the various rankin/bass productions (rudolph, santa claus is coming to town). it is impressive that the movies are as effective as they are.

el dorado

one of a series of (apparently) three remakes of the same basic plot, El Dorado has come to be one of my favorite movies to watch at night. the other two in the series are Rio Lobo and Rio Bravo. i suppose i should check these out, too. if i had to guess, i would say that i at least started watching this movie about 40 times during the semester. there is one point in the film that "Mississippi" jumps underneath a bunch of running horses. apparently, a horse will not step on a man (doubt that) and this would cause them to be jump, rendering the shooters riding them useless. it is quite obvious that they stopped shooting, replaced his body with a dummy and let the horses through. the shot skips a bit and isn't exactly matched up. still, this does not detract from my enjoyment of the film itself. amazing how modern technology allows us to surpass what was (then) professional movie making.

fletch

here is the other Harold Faltermeyer-scored movie i was talking about in my beverly hills cop post. fletch. i have never seen a movie that relies almost completely on the main character to provide virtually the entire story, comedic elements, etc. chevy chase is the work horse in this one. and i imagine people either love or hate his style in this. it makes me wonder how much improvisation there was in this film. fletch another highly quotable movie.

i think the variety of environments helps keep the sheer amount of characters that chevy chase pretends to be in check. it keeps it from becoming pointless and silly. there are scenes in a hanger, on a beach, in a mansion, in a darker vacated home, on a dusty provo, utah porch, in a hospital, in a newspaper office, in fletch's apartment, etc. almost every one of those locations has its own character that matches it. i think that this is a really important element that contributes to the film's quality.

excuse you?

beverly hills cop

what semester would be complete without a viewing of beverly hills cop? not this one. some of Eddie Murphy's finest work. obviously, the movie's strongest point is it's comedy. Eddie is not the only one who comes through with some great lines in this movie. even someone who has only a few lines, like Damon Wayans, made the most of their part. i love quotable movies, and there are certainly plenty in beverly hills cop.

the movie obviously depends on great comedic timing, and i think the camera angles and timing of edits are perfect. the camera stays on Eddie when there's a longer facial reaction coming. a good example of this is when he visits the art gallery and meets "serge." even the shots leading up to him entering the gallery, as he reacts to the scenery and people (though sometimes strange) he passes them.

obviously another great part of the movie is the soundtrack. everyone knows the famous "Axel F" theme by Harold Faltermeyer; but even some of the popular tracks used add to the comedy. i will soon be writing (i hate the word "blog" and all of its variants) about another movie that includes a Harold Faltermeyer theme.

amy bartholomew

i sat next to amy today. mistake? kind of. she glared at me and then said she might have a problem with me. i was taken aback by this. then she read this post and said she was going to punch me in the face. amy proceeded to tell me that i could document it, too. what a joyous time.

violence aside, i watched Miracle on 34th Street recently. not the new one that came out, or the colorized version. the real version. the story is tremendous and when i encounter people who have not seen it, i have to assume that they are either a) not normal or b) not American. it has become a traditional yearly viewing with my father. another thing i enjoy about the movie is the dialogue. in one scene, Alfred is talking to Kris about dressing up as Santa at the Y since he "carries his own padding." later on in the scene, Kris says "you enjoy impersonating me, don't you?" obviously implying that he is the real Santa. the fact that Alfred doesn't hesitate for a second or even question and just says "oh yeah..." was a small touch that i always enjoyed. oh the Christmas season.

while watching this year, i noticed a lot of very dark shadows in some scenes. i am not sure if these were intentional or not. i probably only picked up on this because of some of the clips we viewed in class. goodbye

short fiction

just an update on the epic short fiction saga. it lives. it is well. we are still chipping away in the laboratory. muzzle flashes, explosions, and helicopters.

update (2:36am)

still sculpting the masterpiece. sacrificing sleep for Redemption.

update (4:45am)
finished up the greatest film achievement since "woman on the floor"

looking back, i think our efforts produced a quality result.