Problems I Overcame When Filming

The experience I've had with this whole filming a film based on a script you wrote for a bunch of people you don't know/like to watch can be described as moderately tense at best and taking a bath with a group of angered porcupines at worst.

There have been many downs and ups on this crappy roller-coaster most of which are probably my fault. The first and likely worst was a miscommunication which left me down a producer and a cameraman. Alright I can fix this, I have time. And by sheer luck I got a backup cameraman no producer but how integral are they to the actual filming process? You can decide for yourself how rhetorical that question is.

And then I'm down another cameraman the day I'm shooting because they want to edit their own film. The irony of the situation is that after I directed and filmed by myself I learned that they COULD have helped me after all because their own endeavours were halted by somebody else's. I don't like to think of these as excuses just as minor frustrations.

So I make the 30 to 40 minute walk up a hill carrying heavy equipment to film this movie and bring my vision to life. This part wasn't too bad to be honest. I'm not the best cameraman who ever lived but if I can turn it on that's all I need. The shots in my opinion and for what they were turned out okay and the sound (thanks to Paula the technician at E3 offering her assistance) turned out great. And with filming done to a non painful standard I headed back home dragging the same equipment downhill. Much to my surprise and delight the footage.

Editing wasn't awful but it's something I don't like and required a lot of time and effort. Getting music and sound effects took a lot of work but the main concern was structuring it by which I mean using the right cuts. By the end it was an edit that just kinda existed.

The fact is I'm not a terrible cameraman or a terrible editor nor am I a terribly good cameraman or editor either. And some of the ideas I had in mind I just wasn't capable of. If at the very least I gained one positive from all this it's that I know and need to remember my limits.

Although initially I was excited for this project I don't feel the same connection to the subject as I did at the start. The more the project progressed the less enthused I became. I've learned to appreciate the effort those who willingly take on the production roles in film and television practical roles but I've learned through my time in this field that simply isn't for me. From now on I intend to stick to creating ideas and throwing them at someone else to make.

Why I'm Sick of Horror

I'm sick of Horror. That's unfortunate for me cause I shot and am about to begin editing a horror film. But I digress.

It dawned on me whilst I was filming how overdone the entire genre is, be it remakes, found footage or dumb new ideas nothing seems to click anymore. Don't get me wrong some things are still scary but none of them have the kinda throat crushing power the likes of Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers had. I say had because the Friday the 13th remake sucked and the first Halloween reboot whilst fascinating wasn't on the same level as the original. As did the sequel to the remake. A lot of franchises tend to get dumber as they go on, we only got a second movie and the dumbness had peaked.

We had something good going with Paranormal Activity but it pretty much died a death after the fourth one. Even movies based on video games can't get it right. Resident Evil as a game has only recently turned into the generic appeal to everyone rubbish it is in the last few years. The films have always been action oriented and there's no true scares too it.

And now there's remakes. Remakes aren't necessarily a bad thing, it did bring us Nicolas Cage punching a woman in the face whilst dressed as a bear.(that's the last time I bring that up I swear) it also brought us the Halloween remake directed by Rob Zombie which I could never say was bad or good but definitely worth watching. On the other hand it did bring us the unnecessary shot for shot remake of Psycho starring Vince Vaughn. A pointless idea that the world probably should've forgotten by now.

And it's not like the new stuff is any better. The fact is when we see something unique in horror films nowadays there's only a slim chance it works, the rest of the time it's just an idea that everyone else was smart enough not to use.

Horror shouldn't be a difficult genre to do sorta right surely. But I think there's more to it than that, I'm reminded of the Hogfather by Terry Prattchet and the reveal that the first tooth fairy is actually the Boogeyman. It's actually a really poignant scene where the Boogeyman admits that she used to scare kids but when she saw how humans could be far scarier than her she decided that she didn't want to scare them anymore she wanted to help them and protect them.

To draw away from that my point is horror doesn't work the way it use to because the real world is far scarier than any film. Another less serious problem is that there's nowhere to go with the genre anymore. The 90s brought us Scream and its sequels and several guaranteed to not continue careers (except for David Arquette who held the WCW World Championship whilst sleeping with Courtney Cox had I born a decade earlier he'd have lived out two of my boyhood dreams now he's just living out dreams I can't because that belt is dead and buried). And we can't make films about the characters being aware of horror rules because A) Its been done, B) it's stupid and C) If your cast is well aware of their fate why should we as an audience care?

So yeah I'm giving myself a break from scary movies for a while. Maybe I'll check in again when another genre has been sucked dry. Say doesn't Sony still have the film rights to Spider-Man and X-Men?

An Intro That Gets It

This Blog is gonna be a little different than most. Mainly cause it's not going to be that long. It's not about a film no one else saw made for several million, it's not about bears punching people. No it's about an opening.

Friday Night Fisticuffs is the latest show being made by Two Best Friends Play. A group of Youtubers who play video games for the fun and amusement of everyone else. They're Matt, Pat, Woolie and Liam. I know the name is confusing but you learn to live with it.

This isn't the first time the group has thrown together a special something for the viewers. Halloween brought us Shitstorm of Scariness, Matt and Woolie partook in Scrublords where the duo played crap fighting games and Pat and Woolie did a play through of I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.
But this is a little different because of one thing. The opening. Each episode starts with the cameraman knocking on the door. Woolie greets him and the two go inside where Matt and Pat are waiting to start gaming. This opening captures that feeling perfectly. The idea of a group of friends getting together to play video games.

The music, the atmosphere even the way the room looks all play part in giving the audience this feel of the fun were gonna have. I'm not the only who says it a lot of comments all say the same thing.
Hell I can't watch the opening without a smile coming across my face because I get it. I know that feeling, that feeling of having fun playing the medium your parents tell you you'll grow out of. You have friends and win lose or draw everyone's here to have a blast.

This might sound a little elitist but the fact is unless you've spent some time getting into the world of gaming you won't get it. If you have you'll feel a nostalgia unlike any other. If you haven't you can't possibly imagine it.

Here's the first episode if you're not sure yet. (Don't worry the intro isn't that long)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iixYVYW9pJQ

Why Does No One Talk About This?!!: Nicolas Cage Punching a Woman Whilst Dressed As a Bear

You read that title right. Nicolas Cage punches a woman in the face whilst dressed as a bear. A realistic bear. Even in context this scene makes little sense. But I'll try.\

The Wicker Man remake is an atrocious film even by remake standards, if you ever get into an argument over someone over the negative impact of remakes this film serves as both the best and worst argument ever. It's the best argument is that it doesn't have a single redeeming quality and that's just weird because the director is a guy I actually like. Neil LaBute made a few films like Lakeview Terrace a film that makes the idea of being neighbours to a police officer actually legitimately scary. In the Company of Men has the sort of Fight Club level of What the hell to it but in two guys who are more than willing to destroy an innocent deaf womans life just because they can. The premise alone makes it one of my favourite movies. Actually looking at it Mr LaBute doesn't have a high opinion of women does he?

So when he directs a remake of Wicker Man a film i've never seen but have grounds to believe is legitimately scary I have high hopes. Not since Mortal Kombat Annihilation or the ideas that I hope may help me maybe fit in with society has my hopes been dashed so quickly. Everyone remembers this scene for that scene. The scene with the bees. Yeah that stupid scene that wasn't even in the original theatrical release.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETrB6z3VMak

And that ridiculous bee scene ended up overshadowing the real meme worthy moment of this film. The scene where Nicolas Cage punches a woman whilst dressed as a bear. Every time I type that it gets funnier.

This scene is the worst argument ever for remakes. The original didn't have anything half as awesome as this. I don't even need to see it to know that. This is why we need remakes because sometimes a remake does something so bad it redeems the entire film. And then that stupid bee scene

To put it simply Nicolas Cage knocks out another woman and steals a bear suit she will be wearing for the festival they keep talking about, and then he dons the costume and infiltrates the festival dressed as a bear, it's not a bad strategy by any means it's something Solid Snake would do if he had no cardboard boxes. The problem is when he blows his cover by punching a woman in the face. dressed as a bear. Why does no one talk about this?!

The fact is this scene is so perfect it can lead to far too many jokes. So I leave you with the glorious scene itself played over Chariots of Fire. Because it just works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOpsbAUEe90