tittles research

Film tittles are not really considered important as audience really pay attention to them straight away however, they help the look and theme of the film, and just pull everything together, I guess that would be the main aim of our title sequence, an example of this would the animation film coralline, the theme of the movie is dolls, and making and fabric ect.... and this is shown through in the tittles. With using buttons as O’s and having names go through needles ECT... These small things look very effective.



the true blood opening sequence is also effective in the same way, the tittles reflect the series theme, of blood and as i said befor it just pulls everything together, nothing is out of place or random it just all ties in. this is what i hope my group and i are able to acheive with our tittles.

stop motion animation- tittles reseache

As an individual task, I have been taking care of researching different kinds of interesting titles which we could use in our film, I have looked at famous opening sequences by people such as the famous soul bass, but out of everything what has taken my interest is the opening sequences of animations, not just any however but stop motion animation. Here is some back ground information about it.


Stop motion (also known as stop action or frame-by-frame) is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence. Clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning. Motion animation using clay is called clay animation or clay-mation.






Now with this I thought it would interesting and different if we used this concept for our tittles, as our film is very visual based we want the them of the red string to follow through from middle to end, so I thought it would be quiet cool if we could have a stop motion opening sequence with the red strings, spelling out cast and crew names, its an idea which am aware needs to be developed, but i also know could work.



Another idea I gained from this video below was to maybe have fabrics saying the names of cast and stuff, scattered everywhere however bring them together, sort of draw them together, with the red string, like in the video.



these vedios below are now more relevent to our them and kind of portrays what my vison is, the red string.

production meeting video part 1

production meeting video part 2

production meeting video part 3

production meeting video part 4

production meeting video part 5

production meeting video part 6

final script

INT. BEDROOM, EVENING

Pan from the window, across to vanity area. Several shots of woman’s room, and all of its objects which are neatly arranged. The room is covered in soft orange and dark hues of twilight shining through the window. Following the details of the vanity, a vase of red carnations are next to various pictures and photos lining the vanity mirror, images of a woman with various men, at different sites, places but all the intimate poses of a couple.

DELIHLA:

Walking towards vanity set. She had just come out the shower with a gowned and a towel on her head - (Series of close ups.)

She sits at table, she reaches over and pick up a lipstick from her make up collection, and applies it while looking in the mirror, she reaches over again to pick up, tube of mascara, and applies it, as well as lightly brushing on some eye shadow. She shifts her hair across her face and neatens it on the top of her head. She then smiles into her reflection.

She walks over to her mirrored wardrobe (tracking shot) looking at her reflection; she opens the wardrobe door, and re-closes it. – Now in a red dress.

The camera then goes back tot eh dressing table and focuses on the pictures of the two men (stuck on the mirror of the dressing table) in the background we see Delilah (reflection in the mirror) slowly approaching the pictures) Delilah grabs the pictures.Close up of Delilah starring at the pictures, Delilah looks up (daydreaming)

SCENE 2- (DREAM SEQUENCE)
High angle of Delilah and James, in bed starring into each others eyes, laughing and having light conversation. Close up of Delilah’s face smiling at James. Cut back to, David’s, face looking back at her, smiling as well. Shot of Delilah and David lying on the bed.
DAVID:
Leans in and kisses Delilah’s cheek, and pulls away. As he does so we then see James’s face again. As if he has just carried out this action.
JAMES:
Takes Delilah’s hand and kisses it
DELILAH:
Laughs and takes her hand back. We cut back to the person next to her who is now David reaches over and kisses her neck, we cut to Delilah, close ups of her closing her eyes in pleasure, cut back to James and Delilah, they begin to play fight in the bed, throwing pillows at each other, as they do so there is a constant switching of the two male chracters.
Davis and Delilah lay back on to the bed, laughing and out of breath, close up of his hands grabbing the end of the sheet and pulling it over both of them.
Fade out to reality.
DELILAH:
Camera goes from the corner of the room,
Delilah looks down at the pictures againClose up of Delilah’s hand as she throws the pictures on the bed Close up of pictures on be (foreground) Delilah walking out of the room (background) Camera goes to the bottom of the stairs and we see Delilah walking down the stairs, Camera follows her down the stairs, as she strokes the banister with her freshly painted red nails. (Close ups of her red heels going down the stairs) then back to long shot of her walking down the stairs

When she is down, we follow her to the kitchen. Here we see different shots of her, setting up the table. She goes to the cupboard and takes out two plates, smoothly cut, to her placing the cutlery, and putting out the Chinese take away out on the plates. When she finishes doing so she licks her finger (close up), and pick up a lighter to light the two preset candles on the table. She picks up a spoon and looks at her reflection and smiles.

ABSTRACT WORLD
Delilah is standing in the foreground of the frame, with the two men standing behind her their backs to each other. Camera follows the red strings, which form a long line on the floor which leads to the men’s fingers; we cut back to Delilah who puts her fingers up showing the strings, while having a mischievous grin on her face.
Camera cuts to Delilah laughing in an evil manner, and pulling the strings of the two men like a puppet master. The two men have no control and are completely expression less.
We cut to facial close ups of her whispering the men’s ears. This makes them smile.
Shots of Delilah, wrapping string around her fingers.
High angle shot of her standing with the two men.
This sequence is repeated, in fast pace editing.
“DING, DONG”
INT. DINNING ROOM
DELILAH
Comes out of her day dream, and slightly startled by the door bell, rushes to the door; she notices that, a red String from her dress has frayed. We cut to close up of the dress, and cut back to her annoyed face. She pulls herself together, and goes to open the door

Delilah is standing in the foreground, with the two men in the background, however James is facing forwards this time,

DELILAH
Close up. Bite her lips and smiles, we cut to a long shot- she then moves her finger which is tied to James, suggesting him to come to her.

JAMES
Walks towards her

INT. AT THE DOOR.

DELILAH
Opens the door, and in excitement to see James, grabs him in and hugs him, while putting her leg up.

Close up of her leg, as well as close up of the gift of wine which James holds in his hand which is wrapped nicely in a red bow.
DELILAH
Drags his hand and leads him to the dinning room.
JAMES
Is focused on Delilah, and so pushes the door behind him slightly, however not closing it, but leaving it ajar. (Mid shot)

INT. LIVING ROOM.

Cut to the living room where the two enter, and go though to the dinning room.
Series of shots of the two eating, and sharing conversation.
Close up of the under the tale where Delilah, rubs James’s legs with hers.

ABSTRCAT WORLD.

Fast pace editing of the string unravelling.
INT. DINNING ROOM

She whispers in his ear, and pulls back, from kissing him on the cheek.

JAMES

Passes her one of the fortune cookies, on the table.

Over the shoulder shot of her taking it.


EXT. AT DILILAH’S DOOR.


DAVID

Walks into the frame, about to knock at the door, realising that the door is open. In suspicion he slowly walks in still, knocking and calling out for Delilah.

INT. DINNING ROOM


DELILAH

Cracks open the cookie, and read the message. Low angle shot of her face, showing confusion. She looks up and sees David standing over the shoulder of James.

James notices Delilah’s facial expressions.

JAMES

Turns around (as he does so we switch to a P.O.V shot of David at the dinning room door, looking at the two.
He turns back around, looking at Delilah


DELILAH

Tries to explain herself, however words to come to her.

We cut to David

DAVID

David drops the roses on the floor. (Close up of them falling to the ground)

ABSTRACT SCENE

Various close ups of the strings going out of control,

DELILAH

Standing in between the two men, being tugged from left to right by them, she twists around in the string making her become tangled. (Fast pace editing)

INT. DINNING ROOM

Delilah is standing in between each man, they are both shouting at her arguing.

(Constant cut of reality and abstract scene. X3)


INT. DINNING ROOM.

Camera zooms into her face, with the two men at either side of her saying

JAMES & DAVID
“………………………………………………………………….”

ABSTRACT WORLD.

Strings break, (we hear the slamming of the door) she closes her eyes, and screen goes black.

INT. BEDROOM. (Morning)




Pan from the window, across to the bed. Several shots of woman’s room, and all of its objects which are now very messy. (Photo’s of the men are now crossed out) Her alarm clock goes off, and she is still sleeping and throws it to her wall.

She gets up in her red dress, and a yesterday make up and crosses over to the vanity area, smearing her make up even more.

ABSTRACT WORLD.

We follow the broken red strings which lead us to Delilah sitting on the floor alone staring at the broken strings on her fingers.

script version 1

SCENE 1
INT. BEDROOM, EVENING

Pan from the window, across to vanity area. Several shots of woman’s room, and all of its objects which are neatly arranged. The room is covered in soft orange and dark hues of twilight shining through the window. Following the details of the vanity, a vase of red carnations are next to various pictures and photos lining the vanity mirror, images of a woman with various men, at different sites, places but all the intimate poses of a couple.

DELIHLA:

Walks into room, holding on to her towel and walking towards vanity set. - (Series of close ups.)

She sits at table, she reaches over and pick up a lipstick from her make up collection, and applies it while looking in the mirror, she reaches over again to pick up, tube of mascara, and applies it, as well as lightly brushing on some eye shadow. She shifts her hair across her face and neatens it on the top of her head. She then smiles into her reflection.

She walks over to her mirrored wardrobe, looking at her reflection; she opens the wardrobe door, and re-closes it. – Now in a red dress.
She smoothes her down, and giggles at her reflection, she looks up into to her right fade to day dream.

SCENE 2- (DREAM SEQUENCE)

High angle of Delilah and James, in bed starring into each others eyes, laughing and having light conversation. Close up of Delilah’s face smiling at James. Cut back to, David’s, face looking back at her, smiling as well. Shot of Delilah and David lying
on the bed.


DAVID:

Leans in and kisses Delilah’s cheek, and pulls away. As he does so we then see James’s face again. As if he has just carried out this action.


JAMES:

Takes Delilah’s hand and kisses it


DELILAH:
Laughs and takes her hand back. We cut back to the person next to her who is now David reaches over and kisses her neck, we cut to Delilah, close ups of her closing her eyes in pleasure, cut back to James and Delilah, they begin to play fight in the bed, throwing pillows at each other, as they do so there is a constant switching of the two male chracters.
Davis and Delilah lay back on to the bed, laughing and out of breath, close up of his hands grabbing the end of the sheet and pulling it over both of them.
Fade out to reality.

SCENE 3

DELILAH:

Camera goes from the corner of the room, were she was looking and pans across, showing her putting the finishing touches to her outfit.
Camera follows her down the stairs, as she strokes the banister with her freshly painted red nails. (Close ups of her red heels going down the stairs)
When she is down, we follow her to the kitchen. Here we see different shots of her, setting up the table. She goes to the cupboard and takes out two plates, smoothly cut, to her placing the cutlery, and putting out the Chinese take away out on the plates. When she finishes doing so she licks her finger (close up), and pick up a lighter to light the two preset candles on the table. She picks up a spoon and looks at her reflection and smiles.

SCENE 4

ABSTRACT WORLD


Delilah is standing in the foreground of the frame, with the two men standing behind her their backs to each other. Camera follows the red strings, which form a long line on the floor which leads to the men’s fingers; we cut back to Delilah who puts her fingers up showing the strings, while having a mischievous grin on her face.
Camera cuts to Delilah laughing in an evil manner, and pulling the strings of the two men like a puppet master. The two men have no control and are completely expression less.
We cut to facial close ups of her whispering the men’s ears. This makes them smile.
Shots of Delilah, wrapping string around her fingers.
High angle shot of her standing with the two men.
This sequence is repeated, in fast pace editing.
“DING, DONG”

SCENE 5:

INT. DINNING ROOM


DELILAH

Comes out of her day dream, and slightly startled by the door bell, rushes to the door; she notices that, a red String from her dress has frayed. We cut to close up of the dress, and cut back to her annoyed face. She pulls herself together, and goes to open the door

SCENE 6:

ABSTRACT WORLD


Delilah is standing in the foreground, with the two men in the background, however James is facing forwards this time,

DELILAH


Close up. Bite her lips and smiles, we cut to a long shot- she then moves her finger which is tied to James, suggesting him to come to her.

JAMES
Walks towards her

SCENE 7

INT. AT THE DOOR.


DELILAH


Opens the door, and in excitement to see James, grabs him in and hugs him, while putting her leg up.

Close up of her leg, as well as close up of the gift of wine which James holds in

his hand which is wrapped nicely in a red bow.

DELILAH

Drags his hand and leads him to the dinning room.

JAMES

Is focused on Delilah, and so pushes the door behind him slightly, however not closing it, but leaving it ajar. (Mid shot)

INT. LIVING ROOM.

Cut to the living room where the two enter, and go though to the dinning room.
Series of shots of the two eating, and sharing conversation.
Close up of the under the tale where Delilah, rubs James’s legs with hers.

SCENE 8

ABSTRCAT WORLD.

Fast pace editing of the string unravelling.

SCENE 9

INT. DINNING ROOM

She whispers in his ear, and pulls back, from kissing him on the cheek.

JAMES

Passes her one of the fortune cookies, on the table.

Over the shoulder shot of her taking it.

SCENE 9

EXT. AT DILILAH’S DOOR.


DAVID

Walks into the frame, about to knock at the door, realising that the door is open. In suspicion he slowly walks in still, knocking and calling out for Delilah.

SCSENE 10

INT. DINNING ROOM


DELILAH

Cracks open the cookie, and read the message. Low angle shot of her face, showing confusion. She looks up and sees David standing over the shoulder of James.

James notices Delilah’s facial expressions.

JAMES

Turns around (as he does so we switch to a P.O.V shot of David at the dinning room door, looking at the two.
He turns back around, looking at Delilah


DELILAH

Tries to explain herself, however words to come to her.

We cut to David

DAVID

David drops the roses on the floor. (Close up of them falling to the ground)

SCENE 11

ABSTRACT SCENE

Various close ups of the strings going out of control,

DELILAH

Standing in between the two men, being tugged from left to right by them, she twists around in the string making her become tangled. (Fast pace editing)

SCENE 12

INT. DINNING ROOM

Delilah is standing in between each man, they are both shouting at her arguing.

(Constant cut of reality and abstract scene. X3)

SCENE 13

INT. DINNING ROOM.

Camera zooms into her face, with the two men at either side of her saying

JAMES & DAVID
“………………………………………………………………….”

SCENE 14

ABSTRACT WORLD.

Strings break, (we hear the slamming of the door) she closes her eyes, and screen goes black.

SCEN 15

INT. BEDROOM. (Morning)




Pan from the window, across to the bed. Several shots of woman’s room, and all of its objects which are now very messy. (Photo’s of the men are now crossed out) Her alarm clock goes off, and she is still sleeping and throws it to her wall.

She gets up in her red dress, and a yesterday make up and crosses over to the vanity area, smearing her make up even more.

SCENE 16

ABSTRACT WORLD.

We follow the broken red strings which lead us to Delilah sitting on the floor alone staring at the broken strings on her fingers.

broken embraces

As part of the media course, we went to visit, the London Apollo cinema to, watch, broken embraces, a Spanish film originally called, Los abrazos rotos. The film starred Penelope Cruz, and was about the story of a young aspiring actress and her love for more than one man, which eventually brings her to her death.
The film for me was very exciting, something which I did not expect. This is because the film was in Spanish and so we had to, read subtitles, this from the start was a turnoff, and I did not expect to like the film as much as I did, I almost forgot that I was reading subtitles, this is very rare, and has only happened with films like City of God.

The film had a good story line as well as great visuals; the colour pattern of the film was red, which followed through throughout, and this was easy to spot and done effectively, so it didn’t look over the top or weird.
There were a few things which I found very interesting, such as camera shots, and angles, the most interesting for me was a very long take, which was done during a conversation between the main chracters, and a young boy. The long take went to each character without, cutting and this looked really good. Something which I defiantly want to attempt in my own movie.

RED: MOODBOARD

Red moodboard

View more presentations from noriane.

final treatment

Pitch: 'Woman' is 19-20 years old. She is romantically involved with 2 men at the same time without them knowing. She uses them like a puppeteer, and from doing so she gains attention and feels good about herself. However what she doesn't realise is her lies are tampering with the red strings of fate she has made with the men, and how easily they can break.

We are introduced to ‘woman’, laying sideways, panning up from the bottom of her bed to her face; her eyes open a few seconds before her alarm goes, off. We have a shot from under her bed on the other side, of her putting on her red slippers.
Switch to a scene of a bedroom showing how clean and organised this woman is, she walks past the camera in her towel. Around her vanity table we see various pictures of her with various men, past lovers and boyfriends. Red flowers sit in a vase on the table as well as red gift packages. There are close ups of her doing her red, nails, and applying her red lipstick. Woman she walks over to her wardrobe, and opens the door. As it closes we see her in a changed outfit. In her reflection she smoothes her hair and giggles, looks upward as she thinks of her two lovers.
We see a montage of her and two men, being intimate, touching hands, lightly kissing her neck and cheeks and embracing her, we see both boyfriends have done this in the past as she recalls it.
We return to reality as we follow her downstairs and into the dining room, were we see a laid table for a meal, we watch as she adds the finishing touches, bringing in Chinese to set down, a focus on her hand as she licks her fingers from the food and lights a candle.
'Ding dong' we hear the door bell ring, and just before she walks to the door, she notices and pulls off a fraying red tread from her top, she smiles to herself and just
As she opens the door we cut to the abstract room, we see the 'Woman' facing one of the men, she looks at him and while laughing crooks her finger in front of her in a suggestive manner, thus pulling on the red string attached, which then pulls him forward./ woman standing in the foreground, of the shot with the men behind, her and she puts up her stringy fingers, and pulls one man forwards, as she does so We cut back to the house scene as she pulls him through the door and hugs him; in excitement, she leads him by the hand to the kitchen/living room where table is set. Her lover closes the door behind him however not properly leaving the door ajar

the two sit down and have their meal, we switch back to abstract scenes and have fast edits of the string unravelling, and her whispering in the current mans ears, when we switch back to reality she pulls back from kissing, him on the cheek.
She then leans over to pick up a fortune cookie, and read ‘…………’ as she does so we cut to her other man, walking to her door, about to knock he notices, the door isn’t closed properly, in suspicion he calls out for her and walks into the hose, to were the two, are on their date. We cut back to woman who is confused from the message, and looks up, and sees her second lover, over the first ones shoulder. Her face says it all< and the man across the table, is confused and looks back to find man number two, holding red roses. She quickly tries to explain her self, in panic, but this does not work as each man’s face begins to change.
We cut back to abstract scene which shows, the strings going out of control, and cut back to reality with men shouting and arguing, on each side of her, spilling wine, throwing the roses ect… whilst in the middle woman does nothing, but sheds a tear, we constantly cut back and forth from reality to the abstract scene. This shows everything spiralling out of control with men spinning around her, and acting all crazy.
In the reality scene camera zooms into her face and the silent and slow motion chaos around her is stooped, both men tell her its over at the same time/ which in the abstract world shows the breakage of the strings. The screen is black

And we go back to woman bedroom the next morning. Her alarm goes off, and she is still sleeping, throwing it to her wall. She gets up in yesterdays clothes and make up, and shifts her red slippers to the side, we go to her table, where everything is all messed up, her flowers are dead, and the water is dirty, all her cosmetics are smear and all over the place, the clothes in her cupboard are messed up, we cut back to abstract scene with woman sitting on the floor alone, staring at the broken strings on her fingers.

hes just not that into you

A film with a similar concept which I found interesting was, he’s just not that into you, a film which releates to ours, as it revovles around the relationships, and desires of more than the typical ‘two’ people.
Nine people in Baltimore try to attain their romantic ideals, usually thwarted by the differing ideals and desires of their chosen partner. At the center of this is Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young woman who repeatedly misinterprets the behavior of her romantic partners.

true promiscuouse girl

thses are the nelly furtado, promiscuouse girl lyircs. i have posted these as it looks at th actions carried out but this so called promiscuouse girl,and the effect she has on other men. i thought my group could take this is as insperation, and take some off this for our chrcater profiles.


[N:] Am I throwing you off?
Nope
[N:] Didn’t think so

How you doin’ young lady
That feelin’ that you givin’ really drives me crazy
You don’t have to play about the joke
I was at a loss of words first time that we spoke

You're looking for a girl that’ll treat you right
You lookin’ for her in the day time with the light
You might be the type if I play my cards right
I'll find out by the end of the night

[N:] You expect me to just let you hit it
But will you still respect me if you get it

All I can do is try, gimme one chance
What’s the problem I don’t see no ring on your hand

I be the first to admit it, I’m curious about you, you seem so innocent

[N:] You wanna get in my world, get lost in it
Boy I’m tired of running, lets walk for a minute

[Chorus]
Promiscuous girl
Wherever you are
I’m all alone
And it's you that I want

[N:] Promiscuous boy
You already know
That I’m all yours
What you waiting for?

Promiscuous girl
You're teasing me
You know what I want
And I got what you need

[N:] Promiscuous boy
Let's get to the point
Cause we're on a roll
Are you ready?

[Verse]
[N:] Roses are red
Some diamonds are blue
Chivalry is dead
But you're still kinda cute

Hey! I can't keep my mind off you
Where you at, do you mind if I come through

[N:] I’m out of this world come with me to my planet
Get you on my level do you think that you can handle it?

They call me Thomas
last name Crown
Recognize game
I'm a lay mine's down

[N:] I'm a big girl I can handle myself
But if I get lonely I’ma need your help
Pay attention to me I don't talk for my health

I want you on my team
[N:] So does everybody else.

Baby we can keep it on the low
Let your guard down ain’t nobody gotta know
If you with it girl I know a place we can go

[N:] What kind of girl do you take me for?

[Chorus]
Don't be mad, don't get mean
[N:] Don't get mad, don't be mean

Hey! Don't be mad, don't get mean
[N:] Don't get mad, don't be mean

Wait! I don't mean no harm
I can see you with my t-shirt on

I can see you with nothing on
feeling on me before you bring that on

Bring that on
[N:] You know what I mean

Girl, I’m a freak you shouldn't say those things

I’m only trying to get inside your brain
To see if you can work me the way you say

It's OK, it's alright
I got something that you gonna like

Hey is that the truth or are you talking trash
Is your game M.V.P. like Steve Nash

[Chorus]
Promiscuous Girl
Wherever you are
I’m all alone
And its you that I want

[N:] Promiscuous Boy
I'm calling your name
But you're driving me crazy
The way you're making me wait

pitch feedback

Today after pitching our story to the class we got some really good feedback, which I believe we should put in our story to make it the best it can be. The main things we talked about was the beginning; why was her mum there? What did those pictures represent? Originally we wanted to show that she grew up without a dad who the reason for playing these men, however this did not come across to our audience, so this is something we will have to scrap, or rethink as it was described as unnecessary

Another thing which, I extremely agreed with was the way that the woman in our film, was found out. Originally she was going to be on a date with one of the three men and somehow the other two are walking past and see her. This did not seem thought out and actually kind off weird to our audience, because these two men do not know each other and the coincidence is too much. The location of the café is something our feedback made us think about changing and maybe shoot in a house or something, to enhance our production values. As it will prevent us making up a set which doesn’t look effective, just in case the cafes don’t allow us to film there.

We were also told that our idea of the red string was very good and original, and that we should in fact do much more with it and make sure this theme is carried out, throughout the film. To do this we were advised to give more clues about this in the film, and involved more red string or, red stuff, in more than just or abstract scene.

The needing we decided to incorporate was quiet dramatic but tried to show this in a subtle and effective way, so the story didn’t just end on a dead note.
However the jump from the dates to the pregnancy wasn’t really clear, as throughout the film, we don’t really show that she has been sexual with any of these men, so the story still needs more padding.

From this we have made some changes to the story which will make it more believable, and make our chracters rounded.

treatment after feedback

when we pitched our idea to our teaher, we were told to have our turning, point and make the story much clearer when we pitched our idea, so from the feedaback, and more group disscussion, this is what we came up with

Tag line: 'The cruelest lies are often told in silence'. - 'Robert Louis Stevenson'


Pitch: 'Woman' is a 19-20 year old girl, she is romantically involved with 3 men at the same time without them knowing. She uses them like a puppeteer, and from doing so she gains attention and feels good about herself. However what she doesn't realise is her lies are tampering with the strings of fate she has made with the men, and how easily they can break.


We feel our story and characters was self motivated. The back story of the character is she's been raised by her single mother without the presence of her father, its left her with a need for attention and constant praise.

The main character the 'Woman' is seeing three men at once, we've considered a short scene at the beginning of our film to establish her as a character. Applying make-up ,and a basic morning routine, however we've brainstormed idea's of prop use to convey her personality, and the story, such as photos of her various boyfriends and single mother in the shot.


Plot points -

Establishing the 3 relationships.

They want commitment.

When she can not commit, they break up.

She's left alone.


The message was based off of my idea of White Lies, and how they return to haunt you .By cheating purely because she wanted attention, she couldn't commit and return the feelings of her men, this way she doomed herself to becoming what she fears the most. Alone.


Overall this how we visualise our film so far.



Beginning with shots of the Woman, close up, almost snap shots of her different features and movements, so we get a sense of her character and the world around her, without revealing all, easing the audience in. (considering using a phone to introduce soundtrack music.)


We then see an abstract scene, the woman standing in the centre of a room, red strings tied to her fingers leading to three male figures.


For the scene of introducing the three men, we imagine a spilt screen into thirds, similar to that in 500 Days OF Summer, this would be a great way to show the simultaneous relationships, with the Woman with a different man in each screen, doing to same actions. Presenting how she's using them, rather than each man being individual to her. This would also have a comfortable, story telling feel to the scene.

As the couples in the three screens reach there destination (a date setting - a cafe?) the screens merge into one, an overlaying image of all the men's hands opening a door.

We have action, reaction shots of each man sitting in the date setting, talking to the woman, with each transition back and forth, its a different boyfriend.

The men start to reach forward, asking for more commitment, using props such as Key's to suggest how they want to progress in the relationship, and she must back away.

She looks down to her hand, and we see the red string, tying them together, it has started to fray. When she looks again, its gone.

We return to the abstract scene, the woman is now tangled in the string, while the men are pulling it tighter.

We return to the date scene, using a circular pan around the cafe, each time it returns to the couple, she's arguing with a different man of the three

Once again we have simultaneous shots of the men leaving.

The woman is left alone.

She's left alone, with the strings broken around her.

We see a scene of the Woman going to the cafe, similar like with the men but now alone, the last shot of her by the window.

production meeting>music and visuals

in todays production meeting we discussed our main aims regarding music, and visuals,we decided hat it was to have a soft piece of music,with a guitar feel, or pioanos
however the music we choose can be very diffrent.

In our meeting we initially decided that we going to have acoustics, or piano based soundtrack, or even better make a track, ourselves with relevant dialogue, due to the recourse and people that I know that wouldn’t be a problem, overall just a soft piece of music, is what we are looking for.
However as I went home, I thought about it, and thought that we could have a kind of hard hitting rock song, which would be good for one scene in our film. And could kind of go with the theme, of our film.


Here are a few videos and opening sequences which we found interesting, which we would like to attempt, in our film opening sequences.


this first video would shows a technique which would be great for, showing the story of the dog, as it is way more effective and practical tha a reall dog


this is something which i would really love to try and do.
we like the idea of, stack annimation, this could be used to show, past or the diffrent images, of the 'womans' men


this is kind of the same technique


another thing we really liked was the 'dexter' opening sequence, because it was simple, and we need a few shots of the 'woman' getting ready



finally, we looked at tru blood, and saw that the opening was amazing, because if was a combination of clips, surrounding the themes of the series, and worked very well. this was considerd as acces to clips is very easy and practial.

what makes a good short film

Today in media we looked at short films, some which were successful they went on to gain a few awards.
These films; similar to our future ones were very short but portrayed good stories, and kind of in depth, in a short amount of time and this done very effectively.

Our teacher taught us that this was due to a few elements, which we should take in considerations ourselves when cleaning up our short stories and our treatments Firstly:

SIMPLE IDEA’S- we need to remember that we are not exactly making feature length films, so our ideas should be kept simple, but we should execute them properly. An example of this was a short film we watched called, ‘The first time it hits’ was simply about a young skater boy who fancies a girl, and tries to do a skate trick to try and impress her, however it doesn’t go to plan. This simple story idea, showed through but visually the film looked good and it was good, and easy to understand.

This is a tool which I thought we could apply to my first treatment film
‘WATCH’ as the story is very heavy, far from light hearted and the time limit may make things a little hard, as we may not have enough time to show everything that needs to be shown or, a lot of things may eventually have to be taken away from the concept rather than built upon, due to how heavy and complex it was.
Secondly:

MOTIVATED CHARACTERS- Characters, every single good character, has to be motivated. There must be a trigger, reason for their actions, so that what ever they do is backed up and doesn’t just seem too random, like in ‘The first time it hit’ the skater boy’s motivation for the trick, was to impress this girl, he wanted to impress her BECAUSE, he liked her.
So this taught me that our chracters in our film must be, motivated for the film to make sense. Chracters must also be round/believable, or else there is no point in the story, even if our film was to be fiction, us as an audience should still be able to believe what is going on and the characters in the film, for example in ‘ice cream dreams’ the story of a young girl who lives with her mum and dad, who own an ice cream van trying to make ends meat. Her dad wants her to make friends but, the girls fear (represented as a mean version of herself) tells her that the kids in the area will not want to play with her.
The imaginary girl persuading her to remain alone is believable, although we know she does not really exits.

This is something I would use to evaluate our ‘woman’ character in our treatment for ‘RED’. Her character in the film is stringing a few men along, however the reasons WHY, she is doing this and I guess that that will need to be decided, and looked over.
Thirdly:

PLOT POINTS- plot points need to be very clear, have a clear beginning middle and end, the need to be simple, without too much going on kind of like the story idea points above. This tool can be used to look over the ‘WATCH’ treatment as the story does have quiet a lot going on, from the mentally disturbed woman, and the child, and the court problems, these are good ideas, however they are not really accessible.
And lastly:

DIALOGUE- our teacher told us that most successful short films have pithy dialogue, meaning the dialogue is only present when significant and important for something, rather than having endless useless dialogue which drags the film on. In my opinion one of the best ones we watched was ‘the first time it hit’ and this is a good example of all points as it didn’t have any dialogue, everything was shown through music imagery and mis en scene and body language.
We intend to make a silent movie anyways, or a film with less dialogue as possible, so this will help me to make my own future silent film better.

Treatment annotation

this is an annotation of our group treatment showing where a lot of ideas originated from. double click on the picture to view this properly

falling in love, the read string of fate short films.

The short films below have been posted because I believe have done a great job in presenting the theme of the red string of fate, the use of camera angles, and reflections in one the videos amazes me as well. These once again are all things which I am taking in, when it comes to shooting my actual film. Enjoy.

THINGS I REALLY LIKED:
reflection of boy in the TV,reflections in the puddles, and the rear mirror of the van. i also like the scene transitions.



THINGS I REALLY LIKED: THE NARRATIVE: although they clearly liked each other, the string of fat did not assume the same, which goes against the whole concept of the string of fate. something i am defiantly considering to do (playing around with the concept) little subtle tricks like the positioning of the characters so that the bench advertising 'clover' is made to look like it says lovers'

FALLING in love

Most of my interpretations of the fall, as well as my research has been really gloomy, and looked at the fall from negative and depressing point of view.
So I decided to look at the fall from the –falling in love perspective and the idea of fat and destiny.
When looking at this subject I found out about the red string of fate, a new thing which I did not really know about.

The red string of fate is sometime also referred to as the red thread of destiny is an East Asian belief originating from Chinese legend as well as Japanese legend. According to this myth, the gods tie an invisible red string around the ankles of men and women who are destined to be soul mates and will one day marry each other. However for more recent interpretations the string is tied around each person’s thumb or pinkie finger.


The two people to be connected by the red thread are thought to be destined lovers, regardless of time, place or circumstances, this magical cord may stretch or tangle, but never break. Kind of like your soul mate

One story featuring the red string of fate involves a young boy. Walking home one night, a young boy sees an old man standing beneath the moonlight (Yue Xia Lao). The man explains to the boy that he is attached to his destined wife by a red thread. Yue Xia Lao shows the boy the young girl who is destined to be his wife. Being young and having no interest in having a wife, the young boy picks up a rock and throws it at the girl, running away. Many years later, when the boy has grown into a young man, his parents arrange a wedding for him. On the night of his wedding, his wife waits for him in their bedroom, with the traditional veil covering her face. Raising it, the man is delighted to find that his wife is one of the great beauties of his village. However, she wears an adornment on her eyebrow. He asks her why she wears it and she responds that when she was a young girl, a boy threw a rock at her that struck her, leaving a scar on her eyebrow. She self consciously wears the adornment to cover it up. The woman is, in fact, the same young girl connected to the man by the red thread shown to him by Yue Xia Lao back in his childhood.

RED

TREATMENT:

our story is about a woman who represents power in the way her own vanity and selfishness leads her to string along a number of a number of men. Literally. In her multiple love affairs.

the woman in this film, keeps this up for quiet a while and believes she will never get caught however in secret in secret each of her lovers begins to develop strong feelings for her as well as ultimate life commitments. These desires are however not in the woman’s plans so she cannot accept but however cannot give reasons why.

This confusion as to why she cannot, for each man becomes the ultimate drive which leads each of them to find out what has really been going on; that none of them were the 'only one'. This is her downfall as all three break up with her making her loose that power she once had.

we intended to portray each link, between her and each man trough read string
'red string of fate', which ill also illustrate the story in its own way, as in the beginning he string will be long tidy and controlled but as the story goes on the string is unable to stretch any longer, so the strings will start become tangled and end up broken

story number 4- treatment

‘WATCH’

Treatment:

Michelle is a 27 year old pregnant woman diagnosed with a Personality disorder, which causes her to become different people at different times, this puts her in dangerouse sitations a majority of the time.

She is due to give birth to her first child, but is aware of the fact that she will be on watch, meaning that she will not be able to spend anytime alone with her child without supervision, for health and safety puposes.

While in the hospital, she patiently aawaits the coutrs to come up with a verdict on wether on not she will be able to ever have her child, or wether it will be taken away from her. the story ends with her getting the phone call from the coutrs, as she is unable to attend, as she needs time to heal from the birth. the reseults of the phone call is however verver reveald as she drops the phone, leaving the audience wondering.

The story basiclly follows the struggles she has to go through knowing that she cannot be with her child, for being crazy, when she realy isnt.

things i think of when i heare the fall

.The fall of man
.The fall of Satan
.Falling in love
.Falling out of love
.Falling pregnant
.Falling literally (accident)
.Death- the ultimate final fall
.Lack of self esteem
.Lost of people
.Falling in the popularity ladder
.Falling for something- being tricked.

robert lepage

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Far Side of the Moon, in original French, La face cachée de la lune, is a 2003 film by Robert Lepage. The film is based on the play by the same name by Robert Lepage and Adam Nashman.
he film was very cleverly made, as it it had the theme of the moon and reflections throughout, the cinematography was great which inspired a lot of graphic matching practice, which can be seen in my cinematography file. we watched this film in class and i was amased at the graphic matching, and the way that props and locations were cleverly used, the way memories were shown; which is why i have put up this post
because i think that the film itself has some smart visual elements which i found interesting and would like to try myself.

story ideas

Our first and in my opinion best story is the story of a, woman who is stringing a number of men along, in secret, who all really like her and want commitments which she cannot accept but however cannot give reasons why. This confusion as to why she cannot, for each man becomes the drive which leads them to find out what has been going on and breaking up with her. If we did go ahead we planned to show this through a red string which would be tired to each man and the woman showing that she linked to them.
If we did chose this story I guess we would really develop this more as I believe it has great potential. especially with the ideas which we had for this story idea like having a kind of sin city kind of theme, by having the whole film in black and white but the significant red string in colour. but as i said this story needs to be a little bit more developed


The second one was the love between a man and no, not a woman but a dog.
This is also a touching love story which is not at all typical
This story is basically about a man and a dog who share a never ending love, which is tested when the dog sadly has a really bad accident which changes the way he used to be, and needs treatment and attention that his owner cannot provide him with, so he is stuck, living this hard life or giving the dog to be put down.
We felt that although this was a gloomy topic, it wasn’t too die, die, die and it was different but the main reason this film would not be achievable was because of the DOG. Getting a trained dog, on a desired day would be very hard in its self let alone shooting.


The other story was a very simple story but had so many things which we could do with it. The story is about a great dancer, who had to drop out of school, for not yet decided reasons. But in the end he has no qualifications, and ends up as a janitor. One day as he is cleaning up a school hall, he sees the stage and goes on and gives the best performance ever of his life to his imaginary audience in his head, whilst doing this, a dance teacher walks past and lets him know about a dance audience which could change his life. We found this interesting as it was simple and well thought out.


The last story was inspired by what I saw in hospital when visiting my aunt.
In hospital in labor wards, some women may be seen wearing red tags or bands on

their hands representing that they are being watched and cannot be alone with their newborn children unless for feeding, due to mental illnesses or abusive history, a lot of the time it is women that are let out of prison for birth.
My story is then about a woman who is labeled as crazy because she knows too much, and is ripped apart from her child, from the very day it is born.

production meeting two

Today my group and I met up and looked up our story ideas, and tried to finalize a few things.
Each of us came up with such fantastic ideas, that choosing only one was very, very hard,
In the end we decided to write a treatment for each of them and based on the feedback we gain from our audience, we would pick the one most appealing to our audience, because at the end of the day we are making our film for our audience.
Here is a small synopsis of each of our stories.

these can be found in my narrative ideas label.

made in dagenham

A few weeks ago we went to watch made in Dagenham by Nigel Cole This film was very moving and kind of made me feel really good at the end of it. It is basically about the fight/ protest women of ford in the 60’s had to go through to get equal pay.
At the end of the screening we were lucky enough to have a Q&A session with the producer of the film Nigel Cole
From this I found out that the film was originally meant to be called ‘we want sex’ but due to some rules about the things which can and connote be advertised on bus sides and newspapers ect... in Brittan the name was changed to made in Dagenham, however in other countries like France were the film is also released it is called we want sex.
The film was released there as well as countries like Finland and Spain because these, just like Brittan also have trouble, getting their films known and accredited worldwide, so it’s kind of like a companionship.
The film was shot on location, and we also found out that a lot of the locations were found based on luck. Overall I learnt about a lot about film making and the detail in character building. he taught us that each character has a way of being that should be followed through so that even though they are not main, or always seen we know the kind of person they are, because every time we see them they do things which reflect their character. for example, Lisa is known as the outrageous one because of all the things she does, and we kind of expect her to do some of these things too. i also learnt things about film making in Brittan, it also taught me that even big movie, producers have troubles and complications which are overcome, giving me a bit more confidence for my future filming.

interview with Drizella

Q. So now that Cinderella is gone how is life for you and your family?

A. Well my mother now owns her own fishing business, we basically sell fish, it’s not too bad, but ever since Cinderella got married, things have changed a lot

Q .Could you elaborate upon that please?

A. well as you know the house, was ours through inheritance, from my mothers late husband, ‘sighs’ who was also Cinderella’s father, so Cinderella had the ultimate rights to the house, I didn’t know myself, so when Cinderella got married we were no longer entitled to it. Meaning we now live in a small cottage/my mothers shop selling fish. Not the American dream but hey what can I say.

Q.Could you describe Cinderella to me in your own words?

A.Probably, boring, bland, plain….Cinderella was nothing but a simple girl.

Q.After watching the movie many people say that the reason for you and your sister’s actions was due to jealousy. Would you say that’s true?

A. Jealous, she had nothing to be jealous about, the way I see it its luck, if anything Cinderella was jealous of me and my sister.

Q. Did you ever feel a little bad when treating Cinderella this way, I mean you two were around the same age. And what was the reason behind it?

A. At times yes, but my mother always let us know that that was her place. To be honest I’ve never really had a problem with her, I mean when younger we did used to play together, but as we got older our mother always told us to be careful of her BECAUSE she was no good.

Q. But why is that?

A. I guess the main reason was that we were just scared, I mean we all know Cinderella was a pretty girl, a fact which cannot be argued, so I guess we were all just scared of what she went ahead and done, ‘get he prince’ this was planned from the start, “break her down, break her” my mother always used to tell us, so we had to treat her that way to make her believe herself that she was nothing but a useless maid.

Q.Do you ever secretly miss Cinderella?

A. Not really good riddance I say, I do not really miss her, but I miss the things she did for us.

interview with Antwone Fisher

the interview believe is a make believe one between me and one of my favorite film character. the aim of this is to understand character motivation, and learning how to build character motivations for my own character in future filming.


Q. As we know from the movie, you had a very sensitive childhood. But how would you personally describe it?

A. My childhood as you know hasn’t really been the best, I never really received the love from my parents which kids at school did, the love which a lot of them probably took for granted, but which I myself dreamed for and prayed for every night, you know, I just whished they could have realized what they were doing to me at the time, you know, because I was just a kid, and these are scares which will never ever leave me, I mean as I said before I have forgiven them however I will ever, ever forget.


Q. How do you currently feel towards your mother, would you say you hate her, I mean how did all your experiences make you feel towards, her?

A. Ermm. ‘coughs’ my mother, will always be my mother no matter what, that’s one thing I am always going to have to remember, before I saw her I hated her, I saw a lot of this as all her fault, you know, I felt like she just Abandoned me , I mean I know I didn’t know what she was going through at the time, but I just see love for someone as making sacrifices no matter what, you know, but my mother, she gave up and she Wasn’t there she was my mother but not my mum.

Q. What pushed you to go and meet your mother, and how did u feel afterward?

A.I just wanted to see how she was, what she looked like. This is mainly because as a kid I would paint pictures of what she would look like or me and the boys at the foster home would flick trough magazines and pick the prettiest woman to be our mother. When I saw her it was hard, I wasn’t prepared, you know, I jus wanted to see my mum. I just wanted to see if she would you know remember. I don’t really know what I was thinking. I didn’t want anything you know I just wanted her o be proud I didn’t, I just wanted her to know her son.

Q. In the end what made you end up talking about your life to the chief during your counseling?

A. At the beginning I felt like it would be the only way that I would be able to stay in my navy camp, I guess that was my only motivation, but as time went by I guess I felt like i needed to talk to somebody, not anybody, but the chief, which is what motivated me to do more wrong to gain more time with him. I guess I built trust which is really rare for some one like me.

Q. As we know, you joined the navy very young, what made you do that?

A. I joined the navy because I felt like, there was no other path, I mean after I ran away from the home, I was homeless for a few months and after Rodney got shot, I just needed to do something, just anything and that’s the first thing I thought of I guess, and now I have no regrets, because thanks to the navy I now have a great girl, met a great man, and found my family.



Q. In the movie all I saw was this drive and strive to be able to belong to a family.
So the ending was very moving for me, could you tell me a little bit more about how it felt when you met all those family members?

A. Wow, I must say that, that was like the greatest experience for me. It was kind of overwhelming I guess it just didn’t feel real. ‘Laughs’ ermm….. I cant really explain it but I just thank my aunty, it felt good to know that somebody actually cared you know, I just felt like my determination actually paid off, it felt like my childhood dreams.

Q. So now that you have found your family, is everything gong good, and do you have any plans for the future?

A. Everything is great I visit them or get visits each month, I feel like a changed man, and for he future I just hope to be happy, that’s all I want, to be happy.

the fall the movie.

The Fall movie is based on the screenplay of the 1981 Bulgarian film Yo Ho Ho by Valeri Petrov. At a Los Angeles hospital in the 1920s, Alexandria is a child recovering from a broken arm. She befriends Roy Walker, a movie stunt man with legs paralyzed after a fall.

At her request, Roy a stuntman who ends up in the hospital after falling off a horse,tells her an elaborate story about six men of widely varied backgrounds as well as a fusion of patients in the hospital who are on a quest to kill a corrupt provincial governor. the storry becomes so intreging fo little alexandia that she is willing to do anything roy asks of her to here the rest of he story , a so called 'epic tale of love and revenge' so Between chapter of the story, Roy inveigles Alexandria to scout the hospital's pharmacy for morphine. As Roy's fantastic tale nears its end, Death seems close at hand.
this film was shot on location in 18 different countries, and i believe one of the most beautiful films i have ever watched, from a cinematographic perspective.

























At her request, Roy a stuntman who ends up in the hospital after falling off a horse,tells her an elaborate story about six men of widely varied backgrounds as well as a fusion of patients in the hospital who are on a quest to kill a corrupt provincial governor. the storry becomes so intreging fo little alexandia that she is willing to do anything roy asks of her to here the rest of he story , a so called 'epic tale of love and revenge' so Between chapter of the story, Roy inveigles Alexandria to scout the hospital's pharmacy for morphine. As Roy's fantastic tale nears its end, Death seems close at hand.
this film was shot on location in 18 different countries, and i believe one of the most beautiful films i have ever watched, from a cinematographic perspective.

production meeting one

Today we were put into our groups and started gathering all the ideas we had over the summer, and sharing things we found quiet interesting with one another.
Here we discussed the kinds of film we took interest in and if we wanted to, how we could do similar things, for example the idea of the split screen showing expectations and reality in the movie, 500 days of summer by Marc watters. This was a story telling technique which we all liked the idea of, as it was different showing the two at the same time rather than in a day dream, followed by reality.

In this lesson we also looked at movie tag lines and how they should be followed through in a film. Out teacher used the example of titanic ‘nothing could come between them’ this tag line is followed throughout the film.
Our group did not want anything to cliche or unoriginal, so thought about making a movie out of a famous quote, or saying.
Here I was then able to show my group some quotes I found during my research regarding the fall which really got my attention. Most of these were from Kanye West’s song ‘all falls down’, such as
‘The people highest up have the lowest self esteem’
‘The prettiest people do the ugliest things’
This interested everyone. So we decided to make a quotes page, basically making a page with as may quotes as we can find and bring them back, for our next production meeting.
Here are the quotes which I have found

Quotes page1111111111

View more presentations from noriane.

I Am Legend Film review

Three out of Five stars
Running time: 100 mins

Enjoyable, impressively designed thriller with a strong performance by Will Smith, though it's let down by a disappointing ending and some dodgy effects work.

What's it all about?
Set in 2012 and based on the novella by Richard Matheson, I Am Legend stars Will Smith as Robert Neville, the only survivor of a man-made virus that has turned everyone into vampire-like zombies. By day, Neville prowls a deserted New York City with his faithful dog, Sam, while by night he holes himself up in his fortified Washington Square house and attempts to find a cure for the virus using his own immune blood.

However, things are beginning to change: firstly, the leader of The Infected (Dash Mihok) begins to exhibit signs of intelligence and manages to recreate one of Neville's own traps. And secondly, just as he's on the verge of giving it all up, Neville encounters two survivors who might hold the key to humanity's future (Alice Braga and Charlie Tahan).

The Good
Smith is superb as Neville, delivering a performance that is surprisingly moving, particularly when he's on the verge of cracking up. There's also strong support from Abbey, the German Shepherd playing Sam.

The effects are something of a mixed bag. The shots of a deserted New York are beautifully designed, well thought-out and packed with fascinating details (e.g. a brilliant Times Square billboard advertising a Batman vs Superman movie), but the CGI work on the vampire-zombie-whatever is extremely poor, as they all look too smooth and stretchy to convince as something a human might have mutated into.

The Bad
This is the third time that Matheson's novella has been adapted for the big screen (after The Last Man On Earth and The Omega Man) and they still haven't got it quite right. In particular, fans of the book will be mortally offended by the (reputedly reshot) ending, which is distinctly disappointing.

Worth seeing?
This is never less than watchable and worth seeing for Smith's performance but it's not as good as it could have been.


Matthew Turner

salt film review

Who is Salt?” is the tag line for the new action mystery-thriller starring Angelina Jolie, and to answer that question risks spoiling some crucial surprises. We can tell you that CIA officer Evelyn Salt was at one time Edwin A. Salt, but the sex change was all on paper; the project, once envisioned for Tom Cruise, was retooled for Jolie’s proven skills in the action genre. We’ll also note that Evelyn Salt is quite the bad-ass, a lithe and lethal character who may very well be in league with our enemies. Is that possible? Not Angelina Jolie!

Written by Kurt Wimmer ( Law Abiding Citizen), Salt is an entertaining but preposterous summer popcorn movie, like an extended episode of “24” taken to even more outlandish extremes than that credibility-defying series. From the first scene in which Evelyn is brutally interrogated in a North Korean prison, the drama literally pulls no punches just because its protagonist is now a female. The action proper begins as Evelyn prepares to celebrate her wedding anniversary with the German arachnologist who helped secure her release. But first, she must interview Orlov (Daniel Olbrychski), a Russian defector who reveals the existence of a network of Soviet sleeper agents trained to wreak havoc after pursuing quiet undercover lives in America. When Orlov names Evelyn as one of those agents, all hell breaks loose within CIA headquarters.

Counterintelligence officer Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor) has Evelyn detained, but when Orlov kills his CIA escorts and escapes, Salt breaks out of headquarters, proclaiming her innocence and fearful about her husband’s safety. Eluding capture after a wild chase on the Washington freeways, Evelyn heads to New York, where the Russian president is scheduled to speak at the funeral of the American vice president—and is being targeted for assassination.

The twists and turns that ensue lead the audience to question whether Salt really is the mole Orlov claims her to be, and the fierceness with which she dispatches various American agents and defenders of the law makes a compelling argument against her. Ultimately, the deceptions are deeper and the stakes higher than anything the writers cooked up in eight seasons of “24.”

The final season of “24,” in fact, elected the Russians as arch-villains, and Salt too seems a throwback to the paranoia of the Cold War (though recent revelations of Soviet spies in our midst are a publicist’s godsend). The fact that Salt will likely play in Russian multiplexes without a peep of protest is but one indication of how ludicrous its premise is. But those longing for some retro James Bond-style global-jeopardy bedlam (girl-power edition) will leave the theatre with a smile.

Salt offers more proof that there’s no one in movies today quite like Jolie: drop-dead gorgeous, charismatic, physically agile, and tough enough to duke it out with any man. Jolie begins the movie as a striking long-haired blonde, switches to inky black dye, and spends an entire sequence disguised as a male Russian military attaché who looks a bit like Rachel Maddow. Whatever the incarnation, the camera loves her.

It takes three strong actors to measure up to Jolie: Liev Schreiber as her CIA boss and one apparent defender; Ejiofor as her justifiably dubious CIA nemesis; and veteran Polish star Olbrychski, especially good and menacing as the defector who sets the nonstop narrative in motion.

Director Phillip Noyce, returning to the CIA turf he once explored with Harrison Ford in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, deftly handles the frenetic action set-pieces (though Jolie’s leaps from one moving vehicle to another strain believability, and the fights tend to rely on editing sleight-of-hand).

As escapist entertainments go, the fast-paced and handsomely produced Salt is a cut above the average. Just remember to take it all with a grain of…you know.


By Kevin Lally


this is a picture of what one of the film review pages looked like.
this concept and layout will be attempted so my film review looks professional

antwone fisher film review

this is a print version , of total film magazine, the ones below belong to a web page, as you can see the layout is very different, and the web page has a lot going on.

United States, 2002
U.S. Release Date: 12/20/02 (wide)
Running Length: 1:57
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Mature themes, mild profanity, violence)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Seen at: Ritz Five, Philadelphia

Cast: Derek Luke. Joy Bryant, Denzel Washington
Director: Denzel Washington
Producers: Todd Black, Randa Haines, Denzel Washington
Screenplay: Antwone Fisher
Cinematography: Philippe Rousselot
Music: Mychael Danna
U.S. Distributor: Fox Searchlight

For his directorial debut, Denzel Washington has used basic filmmaking techniques to tell a story that, although conventional, is at times deeply moving. The autobiography of Antwone Fisher (Derek Luke), who wrote the screenplay, is an inspirational tale that uses themes of family, courage, and the will to overcome as its building blocks. One could easily argue that Washington's relatively simple approach (he uses traditional camera placement, uncomplicated shots, and, from a storytelling perspective, doesn't do anything more radical than employ frequent flashbacks) is perfect for the material. The result speaks for itself.

When we first meet Antwone, he is an enlisted man in the U.S. Navy who is prone to uncontrollable outbursts of anger. One such incident earns him a reduction in rank and a visit to psychiatrist Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington), who must determine whether Antwone is fit to continue serving his country. At first, Antwone and Jerome have a frosty relationship. Eventually, however, the doctor's non-confrontational attitude breaks through Antwone's silence, and he begins relating details about his past. Born in prison to a convict mother who abandoned him, Antwone spent the first two years of his life in an orphanage. He then moved in with a foster family and was physically, emotionally, and sexually abused until a bout of willfulness got him thrown out of the house. After a stint in reform school and a short period of life on the streets, he joined the Navy.

In short order, Jerome becomes a surrogate father to Antwone, whose biological male parent died before he was born. The young man also begins to cultivate a tentative relationship with Cheryl (Joy Bryant), a girl he has been attracted to for some time. Eventually, Jerome advises that Antwone search for his blood relatives. He reasons that only by locating them can Antwone free himself so he can go on with his life.

In an odd way, Antwone Fisher is a coming of age story. Even though the protagonist is in his mid-twenties, the movie details the steps he takes to gain control of his present and future by coming to grips with his past. It's a familiar story, but one that is presented with great sympathy and intelligence. Antwone, as depicted on screen in an impressive debut by actor Derek Luke, is a richer character than the traditional male figure who discovers himself, and this is one of the movie's strengths. A flat Antwone would have made the production seem ponderous and redundant.

James Berardinelli