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I arrived back home in Melbourne today after locking off my last episodes in Sydney yesterday. And tonight Network Ten aired a three and half minute (!!!) 'sneak peek' of Puberty Blues.
I think we were all a little nervous of what a 'first look' might be like. But I think it sets a nice and inviting tone. It feels like the show in that it's ultimately warm and character based and there is just a sniff of some of the darker territory the actual show delves much deeper into. Cool that Ten are supporting the series so early on with such a generous chunk of airtime!
Both Ashleigh who plays Debbie and Brenna who plays Sue called me immediatly afterwards shrieking down the phone giddy with excitement!
Tonight while having a break from the edit we watched an episode of Australian Story about the very different lives led by Kathy Lette and Gabrielle Carey who wrote Puberty Blues (a truthful account of their teenage exploits growing up in Cronulla in the 70's) The book was published when they were only 18 years old. Soon after the book was published they had a huge falling out and haven't really spoken since.
While I understand that people can grow apart it seems strange that two friends that were so close and shared so much could not have spoken for over 30 years! Regardless I find their stories really fascinating. Especially Gabrielle who has had one incredible chapter after another.
I must say it breaks my heart to think that the Debbie and Sue in our version of Puberty Blues could ever 'break up' with each other. They are so beautiful onscreen together. And it's been an absolute pleasure as a director bringing it to life on screen.
A few people sent this short film to me this week and I only just had a chance to watch it. It's a beautifully shot and constructed portrait of an American tv ad director as he travels to Shangai and makes an ad selling Mc Donalds to the Chinese.
Scary how much of this is familiar to me and perhaps some others who may read these pages.
Why am I the 30 millionth person (on YouTube) to hear and see Lana Del Ray. I didn't know anything about Lana Del Ray until yesterday when I read a newspaper article about why everyone in the world 'hates' her. So then I just had to go and see who and what people were all in a tiz about.
And now, I'm obsessed with her... which just proves that old saying "The only thing worse than being talked about, is not being talked about."
I don't really care if she has 'duck lips' or she's the daughter of some rich guy or she changed her name, or she's too pretty / ugly or can or can't sing. I know I'm being sold something that isn't what it appears (or is it?). It's been packaged well, the wrapping is nice and it makes a sweet and mysterious sound when you hold it up to your ear and shake it. Regardless, I think this song and the clip (which makes the song 'sound' even better) is stunningly beautiful.
On the weekend I watched this wonderful hour long docco about the Magnum photographers agency. I love these guys (who doesn't?), apart from producing incredible work I think most the photographers possess special magical powers. Watch in the opening sequence how Martin Parr approaches some elderly women on the street, where one would imagine a group like this would be upset with a stranger coming up and taking close-up photos of them, Martin seems to have them under a spell from the second he takes the first frame. Amazing.
Similarly Larry Towell (at around 4mins 30 secs), take photos of Mennonite farmers, the amazing thing here is seeing the footage that the documentary crew shoots, which is great, but the 'photo' Tony shoots of essentially the same scene is so incredibly beautiful, it's like it was taken at a totally different time and place. Magic!
I love watching this process (some more of it here), it's like watching a type of alchemy take place before your eyes.
Spoiler Alert: Special appearance by Henri Cartier-Bresson in the final sequence. Giving the film a poetic and playful climax as only H C-B could.
As I'm deep in the heart of watching Series 4 right now, I loved stumbling across this fan cut montage of a lot of the POV shots from Breaking Bad. I never realised this type of camera positioning was such a recurring beat throughout the show. But it's reminded me it's definitely one of the defining elements of the shows visual style.
Scratch this off my 'to-do' list from below...
Watched a screener of Dragonslayer the other night. A vérité documentary about 'free spirited' skateboarder Josh 'Screech' Sandoval. The film creates a cinematic portrait so rough and ready, yet so pure and intimate. To be honest, it's the sort of film that makes me want to give up film making altogether because it's the kind I have always wanted to make, and here it is, made. Well not quite... but it's a film that both inspires me and frustrates me in the best possible ways.
The other thing that Dragonslayer does well is give you incredible access into a very 'specific world'. I've seen many 'skate films' and films with skateboarders as characters, but none have given this kind of access into the lifestyles of this subcultures most hard-core players.
It's such a beautifully poetic and fucked up punk of a film.
When I first saw the clip below, my first thought was how useful this would be to see if how effective your visual storytelling is, to asses composition and to study how an audience views a sequence.
My second thought was how all the marketing folk will use it to asses if an audience is staring at their hamburger/cereal box/car long enough.
And my third thought was how incredible Paul Thomas Anderson's has 'blocked' this scene! The way the camera leads you to reveal the other characters and open up the dialgogue between those characters.
Either way this is pretty bloody fascinating!
'This is an excerpt from There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007). 11 adult viewers were shown the video and their eye movements recorded using an Eyelink 1000 (SR Research) infra-red camera-based eyetracker. Each dot represents the center of one viewer's gaze. The size of each dot represents the length of time they have held fixation.'
More info and research examples from TheDIEMProject here.
Took the kids to see Red Dog a few weeks ago. So good to sit in a 'packed' cinema for a Australian film, and one you can take the kids to see too. Red Dog is a lot of fun and I can see why audiences have been going to see it in droves. But rather than this be a post all about Red Dog, I thought it could be a good excuse to post one of my all time favourite short films. Two/Out which is directed by Kriv Stenders, who also directed Red Dog.
Two/Out was a bit of revelation to me when I saw it for the first time. There was and still is something so compelling about the simplicity of this film, which is so brutal and raw, yet at the same time, so warm and human.
Every now and then I go and chat to film students and I always try and show them this film in a hope to inspire and acknowledge that you don't need much to make a great film. If you have a good story, all you might need is two characters, one room and a single locked off camera. Can't really get more simple than that.
Along with another great album that's also having a significant anniversary, I can't believe this week marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
This is an album that had a real effect on me. It defined a very distinct time and place in my life.
I was already a huge fan of the Chili Peppers with Mothers Milk, and I was literally counting down the days for the release of Blood Sugar. A friend actually got an advance copy on Cassette(!) and I can distinctly remember the first time I listened to it. I was in Newcastle, studying design at University, living right on the beach in a tumbling down terrace. My girlfriend and I sat on our lounge room floor vying for the sweet spot directly in-between the speakers.
I remember being quite struck by how different it sounded. This wasn't the Chili Peppers I was expecting. The punk / funk was gone and it was more like funk and hip hop and had it had a 'rawness' to it. It sounded more like Public Enemy than say, Bad Brains. But by the end of that first listen I was totally and utterly hooked. An album so epically broad and appealing and yet so intimate and warm. It's an album that introduced me to a world of sounds, musical ideas and influences. Blood Sugar Sex Magik went on continuous rotation and quickly became the official soundtrack to my summer of 91-92.
I think the album still stands today. And although I feel old in saying this, it's now a 'classic', where sadly most (all?) Chili Pepper albums post Blood Sugar have not been.
But this post is really an excuse to put up Funky Monks a film documenting the recording of the album. It's easily one of my favourite rockumentaries. There is something immediate, organic and very cool about it. And perhaps because the album has become such a classic, Funky Monks serves as an oppotunity to be a fly on the wall to witness the alchemy taking place.
When I was in L.A a couple of years ago I went and found the mansion that Blood Sugar was recorded in and subsequently Funky Monks was filmed in. Listening to the album you can 'hear the rooms'. It gives the record such a unique ambience and tone.
I went and stood outside the house like a stalker it was some kind of sacred site. I peered through the cyclone fencing in the hope of hearing a distant echo of Blood Sugar being recorded, but all I could hear was traffic... just like at the very end of THIS TRACK (turn it up right at the end!)
So good hearing the West Memphis Three were finally released from prison over the weekend after 18 crazy years. I have kept up to date with the three guys over the last fourteen years or so after I first saw the documentary Paradise Lost back in 1997 at the Melbourne International Film Festival. I remember that night very clearly. I remember the cinema (The Forum) the seat I sat in (6 rows from the front, middle section, two in from the left aisle) and that I don't think I moved from the edge of my seat from the very first frame, till the last, I don't think I breathed either.
Quite simply, Paradise Lost changed my life. It's one of the most, if not the most engaging film I've ever seen, it's the film that convinced me to quit my job and apply to film school.
If you haven't seen Paradise Lost, stop what you are doing right now and begin. Or better still buy it here and enjoy part two Paradise Lost 'Revelations' as well. I can't wait for Part three 'Revelatioins', which I'm sure will be getting a re-cut right about now. A trilogy 18 years in the making, and now with a happy ending!
Hard to imagine how these guys can adjust to any kind of 'normal life' after losing their childhoods and for one Damien, spending seventeen out of the last eighteen years on death row, for a crime he (and they) did not commit. I wish them all the best!
Tons of info about their release and the campaign to set them free over the years over at wm3.org
Also, where I be today without the soundtrack to Paradise Lost!?
I once made a single take, real time, split screen video clip (shit, 10 years ago... really!?). But not even You Am I could come close to matching the explosive energy and visual poetry of this stunning split screen composite of the recent Space Shuttle Endeavour launch. Find five minutes and click full screen!
You can see the original footage (and way more cool space footage) here. Thanks NASA!
I saw this clip the other day and it's really stayed with me. I have boxes of old Video 8, SVHS, Mini DV and now HD data I have shot from the late 80's until now and I've been tempted to get it all transferred to hard drives. But with all the hours of footage I have gathering dust I could never cut a backwards chronological time sequence like this guy has. It's quite cool seeing this guy 'grow' younger, and interestingly, I think he looks much happier at the beginning of the clip, when he is older. I would love to see a more expanded version of a longitudinal diarised film like this.
