‘The Shining’ behind the scenes →
Some really great behind the scenes photos from Stanley Kubrick’s classic, courtesy The Overlook Hotel. Images discovered via David Chen.
Some really great behind the scenes photos from Stanley Kubrick’s classic, courtesy The Overlook Hotel. Images discovered via David Chen.
Director Wong Kar-Wai shot Chungking Express in an unusually brief (by Wong standards) two month period while taking a production break from another film. The Dissolve‘s Keith Phipps writes about the movie’s history, plot, cinematography and more:
Though necessitated by circumstance, shooting faster and looser seems to have opened Wong up to new ideas. Yet, just as in the world of the film, there’s order within the chaos. Though made in an urgent heat, it’s a deeply considered, beautifully constructed film that captures the feel of a particular place at a particular time—and of characters of a particular age, specifically the age when it first becomes apparent that time only runs one way, even if the world seems to be eternally repeating itself.
There’s been many, many articles written since Gravity debuted on the cinematography and CGI involved in its production. But this extended feature over at FXGuide, with six videos and plenty of photographs, goes into more depth than I’ve seen elsewhere. I’m still amazed on how much they pulled off successfully in this film.
Great breakdown of the cinematography basics behind Breaking Bad over at The A.V. Club, as dissected by Scott Kaufman (expect spoilers through Season 5 part 1 in the full article):
Breaking Bad relies more heavily than most shows on what are called “tight singles,” or shots in which a single character occupies the majority of the frame in shallow focus. The background is usually out of focus because it’s unimportant—if you’re watching a show set in a coffee shop, you don’t need the background in focus to remember where the characters are—but in Breaking Bad, the relationship between the planes of focus (foreground, midground, background) typically matters.
“Stanley Kubrick”, writing in McSweeneys (with a little help from Chris Okum):
If the heat is not at it’s absolute lowest, the crust on the French toast will turn a darker shade of brown, almost black, and while it is perfectly acceptable to eat a piece of French toast with slightly blackened crust marks, it is not aesthetically pleasing, at least not to my eye…You must care about the French toast. If you don’t care about the French toast, then perhaps you don’t care about anything is my train of thought on the matter, and if you don’t care about anything, then working for me doesn’t seem feasible, as I have an insatiable desire to be surrounded by people who care as much as I do.
Nathan Rabin over at The Dissolve is just on fire with his “Forgotbusters” column, an examination of high grossing films that now look dated culturally. This review of the movie adaptation of Michael Crichton’s Rising Sun is especially biting. For instance:
In a sequence that plays unmistakably like a clueless middle-aged white person’s conception of what a culture clash between the Japanese and denizens of the ghetto might entail, [main protagonist] Smith has his inner-city friends menace the Asian thugs that are after them in a manner that would feel more appropriate in a wacky comedy than the stirring wake-up call Crichton intended.
A terrific first person account from The A.V. Club’s TV editor Todd VanDerWerff, writing here for Grantland:
Through the rest of the evening, when people find out I was in Hall H, they ask me how it was, in terms you might usually reserve for a theme-park ride, and I have to admit that it was a lot of fun. But it doesn’t really last for me. It’s a series of carefully constructed moments, designed less to be long-lasting memories than in-the-moment staccato bursts of emotion. The reason to go to Hall H isn’t for the proximity to stars or the exclusivity of the footage — it’s to go to Hall H itself, to add this experience to the memory bank. For me, the day already begins to fog over, turning into a muggy haze.
Director Nicolas Winding Refn, interviewed by The Dissolve:
Television has gotten much more aggressive, and much more mind-expanding and progressive than cinema, which is still the crown jewel, and will always be the crown jewel. We need to remember that cinema is not just about, “How much money did you make on Friday to Monday?” but also, “What is your actual interest?” Filmmaking is an art form, and the art can inspire. But if everyone’s afraid of standing out and risking polarization, which essentially means it’s a singular vision, then the world will become less interesting.
It’s a well spoken point. Among the film critics I follow on Twitter, TV discussion comes up again and again; we’re truly in a remarkable time period. I just haven’t seen film take the same risks over the last year or so, at least compared to years prior.
Alas, Refn’s “singular vision” reached a point of near parody in Only God Forgives. I’m generally a big fan of Refn’s work, and Only God Forgives is a visually striking, haunting film with a great Cliff Martinez score. But by the end the style excess and lack of dialogue felt suffocating.
I thought I had the basics of aspect ratio down cold, but this video by filmmakeriq.com taught me some new material (e.g. why widescreen TVs settled on 16:9 as the HD standard). It’s also very well edited with solid narration and starts simple enough that newbies won’t have trouble following along.
I admittedly was a bit skeptical when I first heard about The Dissolve. Between SlashFilm and The A.V. Club, did we really need another big film web site? And it’s from the team behind Pitchfork?
But then I dove in after its debut late last week and I’m very glad I did. The content itself is excellent, written by a lot of writers I have respect for: Keith Phipps, Scott Tobias, Matt Singer and many more. There’s something also of a happy medium ground The Dissolve is getting at in terms of its content posting frequency. There’s less constant updates a la A.V. or SlashFilm, but they make those posts count.
There’s something to be said for the site’s visual design as well. In contrast to the all white ultra modern and minimalist trend, The Dissolve is a bit mellow and old school that’s heavy on serifs and warm, off white colors. I’ve already added their features and reviews RSS feeds to my feed reader.