Carnivorous Vulgaris

Let me set the scene: Wile E. Coyote has finally outsmarted the Road Runner with one his of fiendishly thought out blue-printed plans. This time around, he has acquired a perfect size ACME helicopter fast enough to chase down his meal. He puts an anvil in the bottom of the helicopter to balance the weight, to stay low to the road. Soon he is in a high-speed chase down the road with Roadrunner. He opens the glass hatch, with his fork in hand, when suddenly he hits the brick wall of a tunnel. After crashing to the ground, the anvil, once in the helicopter, inexplicably falls on the head of the discombobulated Coyote. Merely seconds later he is run over by a truck, driven by none other than the Roadrunner.

Their chase is a classic philosophical one, a cat and mouse chase. With the Road Runner always stymieing the success of the Coyote's complex, Rube Goldberg type attempts to defeat his opponent through technology. They are essential viewing these cartoons as they exemplify ideas of morals, philosophy, of the role of science and nature, plus there's hilarious violence of the acceptable comedic violence that negates the accepted social convention when it comes to what children can watch on television.

The Coyote is ruled by his desire, to catch the Road Runner. But what happens when he does? The Road Runner is living the good life, the coyote is enslaved to his urges, his Eros according to Plato. He can be seen as a philosophical benchmark for children. Despite all his failures he never gives up on trying to achieve his goal, trying to catch that damn bird, keep trying new ideas and new methods. And some may see is overall goal as dark and nefarious, after all he is trying to kill what in the cartoon is essentially another sentient being, but it does illustrate (no pun intended) basic concepts of the natural world, this food chain hierarchy of predator and prey. 

Another example of this idea of relentless desire to achieve a goal in animated form would be Pinky and the Brain, and this is reflected upon in every cartoon:

 

Murder and world domination are hardly things we want children to be learning about, which is obviously why they never succeed. After all what would you rather be telling your kids, world domination is possible? In reality I think what these cartoons display is the idea to quit whilst your ahead, that perseverance is admirable but that you can't take it too far.

But then again they are still full of violence, but of an acceptable kind. If we showed kids a real life person dropping an anvil on another person we'd be thrown in jail: a) For setting up and filming one guy killing another guy and b) because their are laws preventing young children from seeing that sort of violence, even if they inevitably find ways of seeing it anyway. I remember seeing The Running Man as a kid and being reminded of the Looney Tunes.

The violence is in cartoons is so absurd, but I think it's only because that the road runner always survives and that the coyote always comes back, despite being run over by trucks, cars, trains again and again, being squashed, slammed, smacked into walls, cliffs and the ground that we ignore what in real life would be very serious incidents.

 

The Coyote finally gets the Road Runner, but realises without him, he lacks purpose- Yet another example of binary opposition?

Wishing Everybody A Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Technological Determinism And The Circle Of Life!!!!

Yet another lecture on animation last week, which I missed part of but here we go anyway, final post and all...

Aside from the looking at the differences between Japanese animé style animation in films such as Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle and the western styles of Disney and Warner Brothers. What struck me about this lecture was the ideas of technological determinism.

Should we use the latest technology just because it's available? Or should we make a clearer judgement on what is right for the job rather what's the latest thing. A good example of this I think is Avatar. Yes the film looked fantastic, but did it really have to be shot entirely using motion capture suits and then created in the computer? Did this really make for a better film? After all the idea of digital characters isn't really all that new, the first major one being the terrible mistake of Jar Jar Binks in The Phantom Menace. And it was done much better in the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy with Smeagol/Gollom.

Here we see Gollom as he was in the first film. This character shows the importance that no matter how good the technology you have to create a character is, the most important thing is the actor and performance behind it.

Let's focus on Jar Jar for a minute. If you watch the making of on the DVD of the Phantom Menace, you'll see that originally, Jar Jar was going to be mostly an actor in the suit with the head being computer animated. Now according to Lucas they went with a full computer generated character because it was cheaper than trying to match some one body movements to the animated head. But Lucas also says that what would be "...really cool if the whole thing was animated...". You can tell a large part of the decision to make this a full CGI character was the idea of making it a statement piece, sort of saying look we can create an entire player in the production out of nothing! Technology was therefore a major factor in the method choice.

Computer Generated Image vs. Live Action Suit

But the road doesn't go one-way....


Technology can not just be a defining factor for the way we produce fictional media, fictional media can also be a determining factor for the direction of technology. Look at PIXAR, originally the PIXAR image computer was created as a tool for high end graphical visualisation for medical and other applications. It was the latest graphical technology of it's time. It lead to the creation of such shorts as The Adventures Of Andre & Wally B, Luxo Jnr. and Red's Dream. And yes you could use the company of only starting to use computer because at the time computers were the new thing, the latest tech. In reality I think for Lasseter it wasn't about using the latest thing just for the hell of it, it was about pushing animation forward, adding motion blur, more detailed environments and essentially getting closer to reality.

With the invention of Photography, art was given freedom to become far more open, expressive and less realistic than it had been before. It was no longer about recreating reality it became focused on philosophy and meaning and something greater than reality. Now with animation and the development of computer generated images, we already have photography as well as moving images, so reality is covered. And animation has always had a certain kind of abstract approach to realism from the way Bambi recreated landscapes through the parallax view, layers of animation with simply blanks in-between. So where does that leave animation? It seem now it focused on attaining the same kind of realism we get from film and the photograph.

It's come full circle.

Prequels, Sequels and Prayers

Thinking about the release of Tron Legacy makes me realise what a huge responsibilty  films like Indiana Jones, Scream and Tron have in releasing new sequels a long time after the originals and in the case of Scream and Indiana Jones , the original trilogies came out. I could also mention Star Wars within this set, but I prefer not to think of the prequel trilogy in relation to the original, one was pure genius the other was a glorified toy advert you work out which is which.

The original and the best!

In the case of Indiana Jones, you had a well established character with some great films behind it. In terms of the original trilogy of Indy movies we already had a smaller version of the delayed sequel in the Last Crusade being released 5 years (check dates) after Indiana's darkest chapter, the Temple of Doom. Lucas and Spielberg took it to new levels in 2007 with the relaese of the Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, obviously after the relative success of the Star Wars prequel trilogy they figured another Indy film would be a sure thing. They even seemed keen to extend the idea into a new trilogy of films with the significant introduction of Shia Le Beouf as Indy's son Mutt, carrying on the family tradition of being named after the dog.....but further sequels have not since surfaced.

Is the Scream series a victim of it's own paraody and intropection of the genre?

Much like Indy, Scream seems to be gearing up to start a new trilogy with new faces as well as a few familiar ones. Once again we return to woodsboro where early twitter indications are that ghost face is on the loose again, this time in alternate masks in play such as zombie ghost face. We still have the 3 main players in the picture, Sydney, Dewy and Dewy's now wife Gale. Aswell as an all new cast of young would be victims and suspects in the guise of hayden pantierre, Alison Brie, Rory Culkin (taking the Randyesque role of Charlie? As he apparently lays out the new rules of the game). Is this gonna be a success? In all likely hood, yes. In box office terms it's set to be a precursor to the bigger summer blockbusters of 2011, being released in April. But as a cinematic missing piece to a jigsaw that it's already complete? Unlikely. I think to be a real winner in it needs to break some new ground previously untouched in the trilogy, something Indiana Jones didn't. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull didn't feel like an indy movie what with cgi monkeys, relatively tame Russians replacing the nasty Nazis and an OAP Ford looking like he needed a walking stick as much as a whip. It didn't feel new it felt like a film trying to capture it's previous glories, an admirable goal but one that is seldom achieved in cinema.

So as for Tron. The original was a sleeper hit, a cult classic that intially no-one understood but became loved by many. It had amazing new technology in it's production, a brilliant cast and a fantastic story and writting. How can the sequel compare to this almost 30 years on? The technology used in the original is now something we take for granted, so much so that it now doesn't seem that remarkable after characters like Smeagol/Gollum and benjamin button that we can take a person and fundamentally alter the way we view their performance by de-ageing them and transforming them into other beings. And judging by the preview pics found over the web and in monthly film literature the grid itself has changed as well. It no longer looks like the lo res pong type games, which seemed iconic but archaic the first time I watched the film, as at the time the Playstation had just come out! It seems now to have a gothic reality much like the matrix becomes in revolutions after agent smith has take over. Real looking but unreal. I am glad to see however from looking through chewie's the art of book, that they haven't completely discarded the design style of the original film in the costumes, light cycles etc. Like the grid these just seem to have evolved into high definiton versions of the lo-res pixels, from analogue tv with intermitent signal to full 1080p HD 3 dimensinal surround sound!

Could it be good? Yes. Could It be bad? Yes Is this gonna stop me from seeing it? NO.

So here's to the 17th December, a day that could live in infamy or a day that could kill my appreciation of both a cult classic film and faith in sequels as much as Indy and Star Wars has.

The Scarlet Pimpernel to Superman, Batman to Bateman: Secret Identity

What links the following: a flying mammal in the Chiroptera order, an arthropod of the order Araneae, a portable lighting device , Nietzsche's philosophical concept of the Übermensch and an English wayside flower?

Answer: The Dual Identity.

The Scarlet Pimpernel is seemingly the first use of a dual identity for just and nobles purposes. Created by Baroness Orczy, he's a precursor to characters like Zorro and inevitably Superman.

The Pimpernel however has more in common with Superman than he does say Batman or Green Lantern. Whilst with these characters, their superhero personalities can be seen to some extent as the disguise, with the Pimpernel and Superman, the disguise isn't the the identity known to the world but the one used to hide their truth from the world. Superman is Superman, Clark Kent is the façade as beautifully demonstrated by Christopher Reeve in the original 1978 film. And likewise with the Pimpernel, Sir Blackney, the foppish English aristo who seemingly cares more about cravats and cricket than he does crusades and courageous acts of mercy in rescuing those damn Frenchies!

They seek him here, they seek him there...!

These characters are binary opposites within their dual identities. You look at Blakeney and you see a vein character more concerned with the quality of his cravat than the lives of those around him or those in need in another countries. But Blakeney true side is the Pimpernel side, this is especially apparent in the BBC series starring Richard E. Grant.

Clark Kent lacks the confidence and posture of Superman. You look at the way Reeve portrayed him and you can see a lot of effort was put into differentiating the to halves of the character. Kent's voice was higher pitched and to a point kind of whiny, whereas Superman was deeper, firmer and did not waver. These traits don't fall under the typical categories that come to mind when thinking about binary opposition, but they are binary opposites. The meek and the bold, the preening and the modest lesser thought of than right and wrong, good and bad.

Kent, Superman, Kent, Superman- Which is the real identity?

And whilst this idea that Superman is the true identity and Clark Kent is the pretence, in some cases this idea has been modified, specifically in the TV series  Lois and Clark it's reversed. Clark Kent becomes his true self and Superman the façade he uses to do the good he knows he can, with a third guise added in the form of turning Clark Kent into a bespectacled journalist.

In the Tim Burton's original Batman film, Bruce Wayne was the true Identity with Batman being a identity that is a means to an end. Where as in Nolan's films he seems to have the idea that the real identity is Batman, all the character has left is justice, and Bruce Wayne much like the Scarlet Pimpernel is the foppish playboy persona he distracts all with! Note the hotel purchase scene in Batman Begins where he talks about this not being him, the idea of Bruce Wayne is gone only Batman is left.

A further film that I think also takes the idea of the dual identity but takes it in a different direction entirely is American Psycho. Here it is not an alien brought down to Earth who assumes an identity to save the world, or a millionaire playboy who's determined to avenge the death of his parents and so dons an array of weapons and gadgets to achieve his goals. In this film the secret identity, the hidden person is the real Patrick Bateman. The one that wants to take an axe to your face and leave your body dissolving in a bathtub in Hell's Kitchen, that wants to stab you to death and play around with your blood. As Bateman says, "There is an idea of a Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me: only an entity, something illusory. And though I can hide my cold gaze, and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable... I simply am not there."

I JUST WANT TO FIT IN!

He's an examination of the Yuppie culture that grew up in Manhattan in the 80's, a fusion of these wall street waanabes into a serial killing maniac. He has two identities, but these identities unlike Superman and the Scarlet pimpernel are in opposition in morals and ethics. On the surface and to the world, patrick Bateman is just like any other Yuppie around, to the point where Bateman prides himself on being the most yupie he can be, with the blandest business card and the best apartment. On the inside, he's Patrick bateman, murdering pschopath with no care whatsoever for moral and ethical boundries, who is driven to kil....

2 into 1 and 1 into 2!

The prestige is about opposites.

It's one man with 2 lives and 2 men with one life! Tesla originally created the machine for Borden who ONLY USED IT ONCE! Where as when Dantone used it he repeated the use of it with a fatal end for the twin, repeatedly killing himself.

The film is also a classic example of Nolan's style. Of his depth as much a blockbuster spectacle. Compare this to The Illusionist that came out around the same time and you can clearly see the differences and why Nolan is such an extraordinary film-maker.

Also note the corollary with the bird trick that features in several scenes of the film, from start to finish.

What I love about the film is that it features magic at a time when it was performed by gentlemen in a very gentlemanly way. There was none of the crazy stunts and spoon-bending that gets past off now as magic. It was more akin to the special effects.

Plus I love the fact that they use genuine magicians in supporting roles such as actor Ricky Jay appearing as the Magician Milton in the film.

I love this film and think in terms of Nolan's back catalogue it's hugely under-valued. If you haven't seen it, watch it. If you have watch it again and again and again!

Nuns On The Run!

Here I was thinking that writing Good Will Hunting (1997) as well as starring in it was a fluke, a one off. That you couldn't be an attractive leading actor and take on other responsibilities within a production. The list is a short one from Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood and George Clooney to Sean Penn, Robert Redford and Zach Braff (Hey I thought Garden State was great even if you don't!).


Whilst it does take the genre of the heist thriller down the path oft wandered, it does it with quality and something to make this more than your typical heist movie. This is not simply a gang robbing film all about the action. It's a rarity that has as well thought out characters as it does stings. You fly from careering, chaotic chase scenes to slight moments of tenderness with ease never feeling the speed bump in pace and you drive across it.

The older Affleck takes the lead this time round, as experienced but disillusioned thief Doug Mccray. He like many others in his genre, just want to get out of the game a start a fresh, with a nice big bag of cash in hand of course! And the film opens straight into his life of crime as we see the influences the greats of the genre have clearly had on Affleck. The first scene nods towards the opening of Heat, with the group of Catholicly camouflaged crooks robbing a Charlestown Bank, ending with them taking a female bank manager, Rebecca Hall, hostage.

It isn't as immediately as engaging as Gone, Baby, Gone but that's a problem really we can set aside to the genre itself.  And whilst the film's central romance between Affleck and his hostage Hall could have been more developed, much like De Niro's enamoured entanglement in Heat, there are so many moving parts to this film that to have all mesh together in one smooth, synchronous action would be a little optimistic. But the film is by no means lacking because of this. 

The Town is a strong thriller that lets you engross in the action but in between these set pieces it doesn't sacrifice the narrative. Comparisons with Michael Mann for this sub-type of film are obvious but in this case justified. Although Affleck is not quite there yet, he's certainly on his way!

No. 8 Fencing Wire....

You can't deny how good the effects are in some films no matter what your viewpoint. Avatar has achieved incredible heights in the visual effects world albeit, in my opinion, to the detriment of the story. The visual flair is phenomenal as you tread a well told story of man versus nature, or as I like to think of the narrative, Fern Gully 2: This time We're Blue!

Most people nowadays seem to instinctually think the latest technology must therefore be the best. And this is true in a sense, but after all those that do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it, right? John Lasseter probably knows this best, for whilst his company PIXAR, are best known for some of the world's greatest computer generation animated films, such as The Toy Story series, Wall-e, Up, Monsters Inc and The Incredibles, his whole approach to animation not just the computer stuff is based around what he learned from the old men of the Disney Studios. The technology of producing animated films has changed but he saw a need to preserve what was important about Disney animation to begin with. He didn't simply dismiss all the animation work done before because the methods and moved forward and radically changed.

And I think this is a lesson that the rest of the film-making world still needs to learn, including James Cameron. You don't need to shoot in 3D, in motion- capturing suits and have actors inhabit entirely computer-generated worlds to have a film worth of being called a ground-breaking work of effects.

Films like Blade Runner, Gattaca, Moon and District 9 prove this.

Firstly Blade Runner was an entirely in-camera special effects production all achieved with live action sets, model work, lighting, matte painting etc. It was as they say the last truly analogue film. And yet this analogue approach brought forth a film of epic proportions, was considered incredible (eventually) and still remains infallible even today, when we are over-whelmed by megabytes and microchips.

All the effects in Blade Runner were created in camera, like this scene of a future Los Angeles.

Gattaca, a personal favourite of mine, showed that you don't have to have big set pieces of action for a film to fit into the science fiction genre. Yes is wasn't that greater success on it's release, but then again neither was Blade Runner. The film focuses on character and emotional development over scintillating plots of explosions and big pull backs of intergalactic ships. Indeed the emotional development of the film's main character Jerome is more important than the murder plot that draws us into Jerome's story at the start. The effects here are subtle. Set in a future where space travel beyond the boundary of our own Moon is possible. People drive in Prius like cars that have almost no sound as they go by. The world is a much cleaner, slciker place and about the biggest traditional effects shots you'll get are the fleeting glanes of the space vehicles that are the tip of Jerome's drive to succeed in a world where genetic manipulation of the Human race has gone so far that discrimination has become as science.

Effects in Gattaca however, were inconspicuous. From miniature effects of spacecraft taking off in the distance to the use f existing architecture to suggest a future Earth, they weren't the focus of the film but were important to it nonetheless.

Finally there's District 9 and Moon. Two successful science fiction films of the past couple of years that achieve great success with very limited effects budgets. What they lacked in Cameron finances they gained in originality. Moon has a lot of model work to create the activity and action surrounding the character Sam Bell played by Sam Rockwell. But there is also computer stuff there too. Dust falling off the back of vehicles as the traverse the lunar landscape and other small effects combine with all the other effects elements of the film to create a very satisfying film as a whole.

Both Moon and District 9 combine both the computer generated and the practical effect tin seamless slight of hand.

It's not a CGI movie, it's not a model work film entirely, like Sharlto Copley's Wikus in District 9, it's having elements of both that can solve problems the best. Or as Peter Jackson might put it, number 8 fencing wire- whatever works best!