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Author
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Topic: Inspiration...
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WEB CYAN
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posted 02-05-2000 12:14 AM
I just got back from seeing the Green Mile tonight, and I must say that it is by far one of the best movies I have ever seen. If you havent seen it yet, go! after watching it I realized how lame my movies really are. All I do is fake lightsaber fx, laser fx, bullet fx, oozing brains fx, etc.... but none of it is actually somthing that MAKES YOU WANT to watch it. Sure people go ooh, aah! But thats all. A movie like The Green Mile integrated minimal vis fx, some great placed sound fx, suspense, emmotion, comedy, drama, everything to flow smoothly together. Its a 3 hour + movie but it sure didnt have me glancing at my watch wondering is it over yet. To set the record, this is the first movie that ever made my heart beat that hard and fast, and I came very close to shedding a tear. Even a stern 25 year old guy in front of me started crying. When the movie ended and credits rolled, people didnt just hop right up, they were almost glued to their seats, and they slowely got up and left. Movies like that only come around rarely, and I hope to set aside all those cheesy low budget fx for a while and actually try to make somthing good for once, somthing that will get people hooked, not dressing my brother up in a bathrobe as he swings a broom, who cares?? Watch the movie, you might understand what I mean.... [This message has been edited by WEB CYAN (edited 02-05-2000).] |
Pyromaniac
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posted 02-05-2000 12:36 AM
That was the movie me and my girlfriend saw on our first date. I noticed she was reading the novel, so I asked her out. It brought us closer together. |
Critter
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posted 02-05-2000 10:08 AM
What you just saw is why us old farts keep saying 'develope your story, and characters, instead of using effects that are past your abilities'. The story is what is important, not the effects in the film. The effects, if done well, and if they have a purpose for being seen, help the film, but should never be the reason for the film. A good story with few effects, if any, will always beat a poor story that is overflowing with effects. If the effects help the story, and the story would not be told in the same tone without them, use the effects, but do them well. Bad effects will hurt a story as much as poor character development. The effects should never draw the attention away from the story. If people in the audiance are saying 'Man that looked great!', they just lost interest in the story, and that is the death of the movie. They are then looking for effects, if they stay to watch the rest. The story has lost out to hte effects. If the effects look bad, they break the disbeliefe in the story, and the illusion is ever, the movie is dead.------------------
Rex Winfrey
Critter Creation Shop
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giallo jerry
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posted 02-05-2000 10:52 AM
I say that cinema is mainly a visual art(it combines all existing arts but focus mainly on visual presentation). So it MUST concentrate on visual techniques (but plot remains important and musnt be left aside, it's all in balance, good visual vs. good story). I think that most recent americans blockbuster films(like Armaggedon) focus on more ''gratuitious'' spfx rather than using fx on a better way to tell the story (see J-P Jeunet and Marc Caro's ''City of The Lost Children''). At first, I was impressed by CGI effects in sci-fi and horror, but now it's boring. I think it's time that we return to our ol' buckets of latex, clay and paper-maché. ------------------
european-horror@e-Groups.com |
moviedirector
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posted 02-05-2000 11:05 AM
most movies that actually move people, like web cyan said, combine minimum sfx with a great story or plot. The story is important, but equally important, i believe, to get the audience to forget they are watching a screen and take part in the characters, I believe is in the lighting, the setting, the camera angle, and the soundtrack. You need all of theese elements in a scene just right to emotionally move the audience. What I have found helpful, is before filming, I will take my script (I write dramas) and film a few scenes from it exactly like I would for the reel movie, then have some of my family and friends watch it and I ask them what I should change. Because even if you yourself like what you have done, they are the ones you are trying to get into your story not you yourself. Also, I get ideas from them while writing my script (I don't use all of them, only the good ones) to see what people watching the movies want to happen.I don't know why I wrote that much but oh whell, P.S. The story is still VERY VERY important. MovieDirector |
Madness
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posted 02-05-2000 10:56 PM
Dont feel like a wuss WEBCYAN.I cried during that movie to. When they killed John Coffey my little brother was making electicity sounds and I was so worked up at how disrespectful he was that I decked him in the cheekbone. |
neoe
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posted 02-05-2000 11:02 PM
I know exactly what you're sayin. American Beauty was like that. I haven't seen The Green Mile yet (not out in Australia) but I will. I too have begun a bit of a change for the better, writing interesting scripts for movies which aren't 'it would be cool if this car blew up' but more like 'what if this character felt....' or 'how about if we all got caught up in life and missed the point of living...' etc.I feel that this realization is the beginning of something... Oooooaaaahhh!
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Visit www.geocities.com/neoe for my film company site
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giallo jerry
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posted 02-06-2000 08:07 AM
The question is: Why do we have to follow each Hollywood or narratives rules?
WHy don't we do it for once not by the book and make a satirical, surrealistic film that screws all of Hollywood's ''molds''?!!!------------------
european-horror@e-Groups.com |
buffy
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posted 02-06-2000 08:53 AM
`zactly.In HW there are so many rules which make you just sick. For instance: *Females cannot be heroes. If they are, they should dress in underwear and scream constantly. *Heroes cannot have bad sides. They must be made of steel and have no other feeling than vengeance or anger. They cannot be afraid, unless they are female, naturally... *The bad guy must have suffered from a reeaal bad growing-up and wishing to take over the world. He cannot have more than an inch of decency left in him. He too, can never ever get afraid. *Violence doesn´t really hurt. Not even physically. *Mental violence doesn´t hurt at all. Especially not a hero or a bad guy. Perhaps they could hurt a female, who would then cry and ask the hero to kill the bad guy. |
SeerSavant
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posted 02-06-2000 12:35 PM
Oh thank the heavans!
Sometimes, I have my daughter ask me what the big deal is about the older movies that I fawn over. They have no big FX or explosions, just relentless story. Let's not forget some greats. Psycho.. Nope, don't recall a Host of FX but still scary. Even the hallowed Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Watch it again. Not nearly as much gore as you may remember. Implied, yes. And your mind made up the rest. The scariest alien movie? Alien, the first and used the least actual scenes with the Alien in it. Damn, now I'm all hot and bothered. Gotta go take a shower. Thanks all for this particular topic. Love you!!!
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SeerSavant
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posted 02-06-2000 12:39 PM
Whoops. Did I say love? I meant respect and a hearty attaboy. Jeez. I almost lost my membership in the stoic guy who never cries at movies and such club (And No, i didn't cry at green mile.... well maybe a little misty around the eyes.... Okay damn you! I thought it was touching!!!! Oh boy, I will never live that down. Worse than watching old yeller.....OOOOPS gotta go, bye.......
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Mr. Hutt
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posted 02-06-2000 03:53 PM
Right. Effects should be used to tell the story, not just for the sake of doing them. Look at Forrest Gump. That movie, really, was a special effects extravaganza. The crowd scenes, of course when they removed "Lt. Dan's" legs, when Forrest shook hands with JFK, the digital rain scenes, the digital ping-pong ball, etc. And hardly anybody noticed these things 'cause they were SO WRAPPED UP IN THE STORY. |
Sluggo
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posted 02-07-2000 10:36 PM
Lets not all go on a hollywood bashing rampage. remember, hollywood is the hometown of filmmaking. Yes, some hW movies are terrible, but then again, some independent movies are terrible too i.e. Star Wars Episode .003: The Movie that is nothing but a big lightsaber rotoscoping fx digital crapfestAnd yes buffy, those cliches you mentioned are sickening and just...i cant even describe how f'in g'damn stupid they are! But hopefully we wont see to many more of those type of movies coming out. ------------------
"If the Bible has taught us nothing else, and it hasn't, its that girls should stick to girl's sports, such as hot oil wrestling foxy boxy and such and such..."
--Homer Simpson
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