Screen Rant on Stunts That Defy Physics and Logic
Posted on February 17, 2017 at 8:00 am
Screen Rant has a great piece busting the myths underlying some movie stunts. Pro tip: don’t try these at home. And don’t spin a six-shooter.
Related Tags:
Texting in Romantic Comedies
Posted on February 15, 2017 at 8:00 am
Kathryn VanArendonk has a terrific essay in New York Magazine’s Vulture about the unexpected asset that texting has brought to the plotlines of romantic comedies.
Cell phones have been a problem for romantic comedies in contemporary settings because they can just about eliminate missed connections and other kinds of obstacles to happily ever after. And it originally seemed that texting, like typing on a computer, was not very cinematic.
One of the trickiest things about telling visual stories — movies and TV alike — is how exactly you dramatize what’s going on in someone else’s head. Oh sure, you can rely on the staid and often incredibly dumb voice-over trope. You can use the language of cinematic storytelling to suggest things about what a character thinks and feels, using ever-popular devices like the close-up, the montage, the musical cue. Usually, TV and movies are usually stuck with exteriority.
Enter the text, which is not a perfect, all-encompassing solution, but does offer some intriguing possibilities for glimpses inside what a character’s thinking at any given time.
Here’s another look at cinematic portrayals of this ubiquitous form of communication.
New on Netflix – Abstract: The Art of Design
Posted on February 11, 2017 at 8:00 am
Meet eight of the most creative thinkers and imaginative minds working in the world of art and design today in the new Netflix original documentary series, Abstract: The Art of Design.
Journey through their creative process, explore their work, and discover how their innovative designs have profoundly affected our everyday lives. The show features architect Bjarke Ingels, illustrator Christoph Niemann, interior designer Ilse Crawford, stage designer Es Devlin, graphic designer Paula Scher, photographer Platon, automobile designer Ralph Gilles, and shoe designer Tinker Hatfield.
Classics of African-American Cinema Now on Netflix
Posted on February 7, 2017 at 3:42 pm
Netflix has a superb collection of early films made by and for African-Americans, including the silent film, “Body and Soul,” with Paul Robeson as twins. These are a treat any time, but especially appropriate for Black History Month.
Women Characters in Movies: Only 27% of the Dialogue
Posted on January 29, 2017 at 3:27 pm
Take a look at this data visualization of dialogue in 2016’s top movies, sorted by gender. According to a study by Amber Thomas, women characters said only 27 percent of the words, even in a year with many movies that had female lead characters, from “Rogue One” to “Zootopia.”
She also found that:
“Finding Dory” and “Zootopia” were the only 2 movies in 2016’s top 10 in which a female character had the most dialogue.
Female characters were outnumbered in “Captain America: Civil War’s” final battle 5:1. Throughout the movie, they only contributed 16% of the dialogue.
Batman spoke 2.4 times more than Superman and 6 times more than Wonder Woman in “Batman V. Superman.”
78% of the female-spoken lines in Rogue One came from Jyn Erso.
While Harley Quinn was a highly advertised character in “Suicide Squad,” she only spoke 42% as many words as Floyd/Deadshot (played by Will Smith). Notably, Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) spoke frequently, totaling just 222 words (16%) short of Deadshot’s word count.