michel gondry

So we went to see the Science of Sleep last night, Michel Gondry's follow up to the brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And what a treat it was. Gondry is the master of creating twisted realities with his artful blend of experimental film techniques. In this he melds stop-motion with blue screen effects to create a world where dreams meet reality. Gondry is famed for his work on music videos which is a medium where his creativity can be explored. The Science of Sleep is his third foray into feature film and with it the challenge of creating a narritive flow over the course of 90 or so minutes. Hating CG effects he often goes to great lengths to achieve the shot he wants. I remember watching the making of Eternal Sunshine where Gondry wants his two stars to be laying on a sheet of ice on a frozen pond and a car with headlights on passes beneath. From a budget and technical point of view it just wasn't possible although probably achievable with some heavy After Effects work. His style is extremely distinctive and I really wanted to share this in my choices and highlights of his music video work. I am hoping that this little taster will encourage you to watch his movies which are undoubtedly challenging but ultimately rewarding.....

The Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be (look out for a narrative style very similar to the Science of Sleep and obviously a great jumping point)



Gary Jules - Mad World (from an organisational point of view this must have been really challenging)



Kylie Minogue - Come Into My World (the narrative flow picks up on itself as past catches up with future)



Bjork - Joga (just visually stunning)



Daft Punk - Around The World (a classic)



The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl (anything involving stop-motion and lego is great in my book)



The Chemical Brothers - Star Guitar (incredible mix of film to match the music.... watch this to the end)

renaissance

Just finished watching this devastating movie: Renaissance. Shot in an intriguing way the movie makers used motion-capture to gain the actor's performance then transferred this information into a 3D modelled environment, before using a computer generated rotoscope effect leaving only a black and white 2D image. The effect is startling. A hi-tech futruristic world is created in and around Paris. Set in 2054, significant advances in the world have transformed this iconic city into a crazy world where architecture meets technology. The story is that of a more traditional detective tale and film-noir is heavily referenced and highly accentuated by this delicious style.

It is great to see new and experimental mediums being generated in this way and also wonderful that this movie came out of France instead of the more powerhouse animation studios. The movie is not for everyone and it definitely requires a second viewing. Check out the really good flash website used to promote the movie here where a good use of the movie's style is incorporated.

lo-res trailer below | hi-res version here

thank you for smoking

Watched a rather brilliant movie last night called Thank you for smoking about a charismatic pro-smoking lobbyist. I was captivated by the opening credits created by shadow play studio. It is a celebration of tobacco products and their packaging. If you love anything to do with typography this will be interesting to you. What is great is that the cartons appear to be in chronological order so you see the older packaging first. It is interesting to see use of typeface and how it differed throughout different decades.

TITLE SEQUENCE lo res version below | hi res version here


trailer here

darren aronofsky

I had a bit of a Darren Aronofsky weekend having seen The Fountain on Friday and renting Pi on Saturday. I am a huge fan of his interim movie Requiem for a Dream about a group of recreational drug users who slide headlong into addiction.

And so on the strength of this movie (one of my top ten movies of all time) I went to see The Fountain. Build up for the movie has been in the form of an exquisite movie trailer....



... and with a brilliant website from the folks over at Hi-Res (who incidently did the site for Requiem for a Dream and was the site that launched their company... brilliant lo-fi style flash site here). The Fountain site is a superb experience website allowing you to navigate the three time zones that the movie is set in. The movie itself is gloriously pretentious and unapologetically incomprehensible, being mired in philosophy and religion. Most of the movie goers left scratching their head or laughing. For me though this movie was a lot more than that. It is flawed for sure. But the essence of the message is something that resounds deeply within me. Gorgeous art direction and underpinned by a sumptuos score by Clint Mansell, this film is a must for film fanatics. It feels much like the personal movies of the 60's. It explores themes of love, death and immortality whilst touching on old testament stories such as the Tree of Life from the garden of eden (the other tree was the tree of knowledge that Adam and Eve ate from). If The Fountain doesn't leave you chattering about the meaning of life you probably shouldn't have gone to see this movie in the first place. It is cerebral. It is challenging. But ultimately very rewarding. Did I mention it was beautiful to look at.

And so on to Pi. How I have managed to not see this movie for so long is beyond me. Shot in stark black and white and filmed in the streets and apartments of New York this film is designed to give you a headache. Again Clint Mansell is at the helm with the score and he produces a scratchy whiny soundtrack the crescendos in epic style as the waves of pain build in the movie. Like all Aronofsky movies he creates something of an opera with building intensity and painful release at the end. Pi is about a guy called Max who is a genius having looked at the sun for too long at the age of six and seemingly bringing everything into focus at that point. He is a brilliant mathemetician who stumbles upon a number of great importance. The movie touches on some really interesting themes such as the Fibonacci Sequence and the Golden Ratio. This 216 digit number is believed to be the key to the universe. From the point of view of the government agents who are persuing Max this represents the key to unlocking the seemingly chaotic system of the stock exchange. From the point of view of the Rabbi priests who are also persuing Max this number represents the true name of God which had been lost over the course of time. To Max this number is his gift and seems to manifest itself literally in a section of his brain, a realization with devastating results. Max is plagued by headaches and seizures which he can only control with an increasing amount of stimulants and drugs. Pi is movie genius. Raw, edgy and brilliant. If you loved Eraserhead and Waking Life this will resound deeply with you.



Aronofsky is clearly a writer/director with a lot to say and hopefully with a lot more to come. Unfortunately I suspect he may have to scale down his next effort a little as the studio execs will undoubtedly be disappointed with The Fountain's buzz and ticket sales. But this will surely be a good thing as the movie magic he creates does stem from his lo-fi and grittier film experiences.

Patryk Rebisz

Do check out this wonderful short video shot by Patryk Rebisz. You may remember a post I did a while back featuring another film by this same film-maker entitled Between you and me. What is great about this guy is his story-telling ability in the most basic of medium. Here the polaroids tell the story as they are being burned. It is a really interesting narrative flow and the music heightens the emotion. Enjoy :)

miniscule

I just had to post this awesome animated short. Genius character design and a great script although let down a little by a weak ending (yes Ben you were right). A tale of a plucky lady bird/bug who fears no foe. Brilliantly fusing real video footage with strong 3D characters. Poor old spider gets a real raw deal though. Check it out and tell me what you think...

Between you and me

This movie was filmed in what is in my mind a new medium. Stop motion burst photography. So by using a digital camera's burst mode you can fire off a series of images one after the other. By piecing these images together you create a stop-motion effect. I think this achieves a rather unique look and would be great to use in a viral ad campaign.

Between you and me has won loads of awards including the SeNef Mobile Grand Prix at Seoul Film Festival, Best Experimental Film at the Tiburon International Film Festival, Best Cinematography at the Gotham City International Film Festival, Best Short Film at the Vilnius Independent Film & Video Festival and in the Experimental Film category at Big Apple Film Festival. It was written and directed by Patryk Rebisz.