Cruel ironies of being me

One of the cruelest ironies of being me is my relationship with horror. For some reason I love scary things be they movies games or books but at the same time I'm one of the most easily frightened people who ever lived.

And that's the weird thing about it I'm not afraid of real life things like a mugger or murderer I'm more scared of the things that aren't real, now you can argue that I shouldn't be scared of things that aren't real cause they're not real but think about that for a second, how do you know you're right and I'm wrong?

I have trouble sleeping, normally it's a mix of stress from things slightly out of my control and the fact that I don't use any energy during the day when I'm more prone to fall asleep but when I was younger and even now to a lesser extent it was because there was always that nagging fear that someone or something is watching me. Hell I can't even relax if my door is open and it's dark. That's how much of a fraidy cat I am.

So now you have a guy like me who loves scary things but can't stand being scared. I'm a bizarre one aren't I? But bizarre ones tend to go far in life or at least that's what Alan Moore taught me.

I pin it down to an overactive imagination but at the same time it is a mixed blessing. The fact is being easily scared makes it easier to understand how to be scary. R.L. Stein of Goosebumps fame said the same thing. Id like to think as a director I want to try and weaponise my own fear, the fact is fear isn't something that you can really get everyone to agree on but the idea of what creates fear is universally acceptable. It should be an interesting endeavour at least.

Foodfight!

In two days time I intend to film my end of year magnum opus isn't that swell? Truth be told heading into it I was nervous well I still am but less so and you know why? The reason is simple: Foodfight!
Foodfight! Is a fascinating film and an example of how something can make you renounce your faith in humanity but restore your confidence in yourself, because I have never seen a film that does nothing right exist on a budget of 45 MILLION! FORTY FIVE MILLION!!! Though in fairness I think it was more the mascot licensing issues rather than literally anything else in this film.

First a history lesson, the film began production in 2001 it didn't get released till last year. Right off the bat that's not a good sign. But nothing was gonna stop Lawrence Kasanoff the man behind it all from getting this film out there! Not even the near finished film being stolen in an act of corporate espionage was enough to put this dog down.

What he made up for in determination to not have his legs broken by Mr.Clean and the California Raisins he lacked in any understanding of how things worked (and yes the way that last sentience was structured was intentional).

See Lawrence was very hands on working with the animators and that isn't a bad thing, it shows a level of support between director and crew and it's better than George Lucas just stamping a ticket down on everything he likes and then leaving. Problems occur when your director doesn't really know what he's talking about. He'd walk around and tell his crew make it "30% better" or "more awesome" I'd also like to point that this man supervised production, marketing and merchandising of Terminator 2.

But I've done enough tearing the films development to shreds. Let's find some new wounds to salt, the story is a good one.

The story concerns a grocery store that comes to life at night when people are not around. Dex Dogtective (Charlie Sheen) is a top agent of the United Supermarket Defense Association which keeps the aisles safe from crime as well as running a club called the Copa-Banana where fellow advertising icons ("Ikes" for short) can hang out such as Charlie the Tuna, Mr. Clean and the California Raisins. After his beloved Sunshine Goodness (Hilary Duff) vanishes without a trace, he ends up stepping out of the game only to be brought back in when a mysterious "Brand-X" has emerged in the grocery store by the machinations of a Mr. Clipboard (Christopher Lloyd) and Icons are disappearing or being murdered. With the help of his sidekick Daredevil Dan (Wayne Brady), Dex must uncover the truth behind Brand-X and its Femme Fatale leader Lady X (Eva Longoria) and rally a resistance in order to prepare for well, a Food Fight.

I already have several questions. The film establishes that the store and its products come to life at night but there is a scene in this movie where are two heroes Dex and Dan are in a high action scene in the real world where the real nasty animation comes out. Seriously heads up it's hideous.

I told you it hideous. Try watching it when its in motion.


 So can they be themselves during the day? Is it because of Brand X? Or is it just a plot hole no one filled in?
Why do you have all these mascots in your film and do nothing with them? Well there's a few jokes towards Mr Clean but they aren't funny, and the many brand characters who were removed from the film are replaced by hideous caricatures of themselves. Subtle. And very mature.

I wanna take time out to rip apart the animation. Now the animation is over 10 years old but for a ten year old film with a 45 million dollar budget it looks worse than an episode of Cubix.
Anyone? The show with the transforming robot? Nope?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PJsIqdqMQA

Alright enough dated references lets talk Mr Clipboard played by the legend himself Christopher Lloyd. This animation is horrible. This character is horrible to look at. And there really is no reason it needs to look like this. Well there is but that's a spoiler.

Christopher Lloyd's worst role since Stacked. Look it up.

It's all about the stare. The Kubrick Stare.

Stanley Kubrick. The madman of filmmaking. Well one of them at least. If you know anything film you know who Stanley Kubrick is and the role he has played for the film industry.
The long list of films Kubrick shows how good he was and how eager he was to get details in every shot perfect. But the fact is I'm not here to talk about his perfectionism if I was we'd never see the light of day again.

No, were gonna talk about one of the things that made Kubrick's characters work. The stare, the Kubrick Stare. If you look for it it's in a lot of films and obviously Kubrick's own works.
A Clockwork Orange had two examples that stand out. The first is the very shot of this film with our hero (and I use that term loosely) Alex pulling off the stare in a way that shows you right away what were in for. The fact that he never blinks makes it pretty scary and it holds even as the camera zooms out and the music hits its peak.

The other example is actually a weird upward example of this near the end of the film. As Alex is being tortured by the music that makes him ill during his Ludvigo Treatment the writer who Alex tormented early on in the film can be seen looking up towards the ceiling in a manner very similar to how the Kubrick Stare would be done. From what I can tell this is supposedly a reference to old photos of Beethoven.

It was also in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, remember David Tennant as Barty Crouch Jr? Yep he does it there. Jack Nicholson in the Shining, he does it there too though that was a Kubrick film so it makes sense to be honest.,
This is a pretty difficult thing to talk about but that's because there's a massive list of examples even in more recent films. But the fact is I absolutely love it as a shot. Why?
I follow Alfred Hitchcock's theory on eyes. That they're windows to the soul ,watch any of his films and you'll notice that eyes are pretty important in establishing a character like the cop in Psycho to make him scarier Hitchcock just covered his eyes with thick dark sunglasses and called it a day. And it worked
But I'm a little different, I believe you can show off someone's soullessness by showing their eyes. And the Kubrick stare proves it. Give a good actor the chance and you have a something truly terrifying on your hands.

Oh and fun fact. Kubrick himself pulled this off a lot when he wanted to be serious and intimidating. Don't believe me? That's him in the first panel on the top left. 

And finally I leave you with a quote from the legend himself Roger Ebert. Because this took several weeks to write and it needs to end at some point and it might as well be good. 

"In that showdown, and at several other times in the film, Kubrick indulges his favorite closeup, a shot of a man glowering up at the camera from beneath lowered brows. This was the trademark visual in A Clockwork Orange, and Jack Nicholson practiced it in The Shining. What does it mean? That Kubrick thinks it's an interesting angle from which to shoot the face, I think."

Character Profile: Jordan

Inspirations:

Jordan is a combination of 5 individual characters.

First is the Tyler Durden from Fight Club. Both characters are cool and collected and charismatic to a fault and yet there's something off about both of them. When who they really are rears its ugly head the whole course of the story changes. Gone is cool cat Tyler Durden and in his place is a dogmatic monster hell-bent on setting the world back to 0. So men can be men again in a world where they've had nothing to feel satisfied with.

This photo pretty much embodies everything I want to put across. Cool but out of his freakin' mind!

Up next is the OTHER main character from Fight Club (I loved this movie and so should everyone else so give me a break) his name is Narrator/Jack/No Name Given. Despite supposedly being the blue to Durden's red he has more than a few black spots on his person. He's unbelievably pessimistic, hates the world he lives in and the people in it. Jordan definitely has a lot of that going on. Though at the same time both characters do care about things in their lives (for Jordan it's Moby, for No Name Given it's Tyler and Marla the only two people who seem to be consistent positive figures in his life).

And that's the character in a nutshell.

Up next is the character Vincent from Silent Hill 3. Vincent actually inspires the other half of Jordan's character "that evil side" which is weird as Vincent isn't really an evil character just rather creepy and greedy. The creator of the character described Vincent as " a hypocrite behind nice clothes and a neat appearance" which is weird considering his teeth are decayed at best. He has a penchant towards sadism and manipulation as he knows far more than he is willing to admit about the situation, Jordan is the same he knows what's going on but only divulges when he feels like it and by the end he still hasn't told everything.

The other aspect borrowed from Vincent was his mannerisms, Vincent is a very animated character, he gestures when he talks almost as if to an audience (an interesting or somewhat creepy detail is that if you observe closely at all times one of his eyes is looking at the player so in that sense he is talking to an audience) Jordan is similar, his attention always seems to be somewhere else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVtT5F4pqXc

To be perfectly honest I struggled to find a scene that really got the point of what I was trying to say but this is the best I could do. It is probably the scene that defines him.

 

Then there's Alex from A Clockwork Orange. Specifically his very creepy intro. The one where he's staring directly at the camera without blinking for a full 5 minutes never once breaking eye contact and legitimately making your trousers heavier with every second? That one?
Well here's an image in case you forgot:

And lastly there is Sherlock Holmes. Not just a specific version of the character but the character as whole. An isolationist jerk who only interacts with people if it allows him to show off how smart he is.

Pitch and Preparations

Pitch and Preparations

The pitch went well in the delivery of the story. And that was pretty much it. I knew what I wanted to use and how I wanted to use it but I had no guarantee I would be using it.

Normally I'm good at presenting stuff to for lack of a better term clients because in order to overcome my nerves I devoted a chunk of my studies to relaxing and conducting myself properly during a talk or presentation. I know how to make and maintain eye contact, how to emphasise key details and how to counter arguments against the pitched entity. But for some reason this just didn't work out here. Maybe it's because I'm good at creating and selling ideas but making them exist is something I've never done before. I guess it's a life lesson at the very least.

But that's a little harder when you're working off what could happen not what is going to happen.
Since then things have looked up. I have an actor Patrick Conway who's been very helpful even offering suggestions for how to advertise my search for actors until I decided he was the guy for the role. I have a producer who has proven herself through and through and I have a cameraman who I have total faith in to be there when needed.

Things are looking up. I'll just say this though. If I can get through this I can get through anything.

 
These location shots serve well enough for now. But it's better being in the room itself. There's just a sort of atmosphere to it. The minute I walked into it I thought to myself "this is what I want" the grey floor, the dull walls, the empty space and the lack of air all just sort of say "SCP building" to me.


The halls work. My main concern is that colour. Thankfully it's a darkly lit film and I'm sure the cameraman can work around it. 

I've Just Watched Fight Club

I am Jacks blog on Fight Club.

The first rule of fight club is that you don't talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is that you don't talk about Fight Club. However because both these rules exist to be broken I am talking about Fight Club. Get it? If you don't that's fine.

I am Jacks second paragraph.
Fight Club is a film that I get. I don't get what I get but I know that I get it. It's a film about not being satisfied with life. Life isn't worth it at times. Entire days of going through the motions seeing other people getting dealt better hands than you. Of course the grass could be greener and it will always be greener on the other side.

I am Jacks third paragraph.
It's an odd case of wish fulfilment. We all know that one person we wanna be like or that idea of a better self. I had that idea too, I always told myself when I'd be older I'd be better, I'd be more confident, I'd know how to talk to girls, I'd be cool, I'd be popular. But that's the thing about growing up, you don't improve just by doing it. All the while there's someone else who has it all, everything you want and more. In short you have Tyler Durden, and to quote the man himself:

"All the ways you wish you could be, that's me. I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I am smart, capable, and most importantly, I am free in all the ways that you are not."

I am Jacks fourth paragraph.
I shouldn't be talking about Fight Club. That's the first and second rules. But everything about it deserves to be talked about. The direction, the acting, the themes, the music and everything in between and beyond. But why should I talk about it? Watch the film. You've got nothing better to do with your life.

I am Jacks fifth paragraph.
There's something fascinating about watching this film progress. From one man who hates the world in front of him. To two guys beating the crap out of each other, to several guys beating the crap out of each other, to violent criminals and finally terrorists. All wanting to go back to zero.

I am Jacks sixth paragraph.
Death is a pretty big deal in this film. What did you wanna do before you die? A question asked whilst in front of an incoming truck. Did you do everything you wanted to in life? Was it worth it? I don't know the answer to that.

I am Jacks seventh paragraph.
Just a little reminder as we wrap up here.
"You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world."

I am Jacks final question.
Do you feel good about yourself?