Posted on January 10, 2015 at 2:03 pm
Take a look at these gorgeous cinemagraphs by Tech Noir (Floris Kloet). Just watch for a moment and see how he uses the most subtle movement to create a mood. Beautifully done, and illuminating about the way we are touched by those flickering images. Thanks to my friend and fellow critic Eddie Pasa for sharing this.
And here are some more.
Posted on December 2, 2014 at 3:53 pm
What a treat to see an oral history for one of my favorite films of all time, “The Right Stuff.” The story of the first astronauts in the early days of the space program, based on Tom Wolfe’s book, is fascinating, with wonderful characters and gorgeous cinematography by Caleb Deschanel (Zooey’s and Emily’s father). Special visual effects supervisor Gary Gutierrez explained that they wanted effects that were more old-school than those in “Star Wars.”
Make it like they did in the old days” became our marching orders. So I opened the window and had my director of photography go stand downstairs with his back to the wall and a handheld camera looking up toward the sky. On the street, crew people were holding a large parachute to catch the plane that I was going to throw out the window. Our model of the X-1 was 4 and a half feet long and cost $6,000. The model makers were holding their breath. The next day we showed Phil the footage and he loved it….We did various kinds of shaky-cam movement to give it a sense of urgency. We attached a vibrator to the lens or a power drill to the camera mount to make it all move like crazy.
Deshanel added, “At one point I shook the camera so hard, I gave my operator a black eye.”
I was also very intrigued to hear that it was writer/director Philip Kauffman who came up with the idea for Indiana Jones to be seeking the Lost Ark of the Covenant. It’s a great read.
Posted on September 28, 2014 at 8:00 am
The gorgeous Hollywood Costume exhibit that has been getting rave reviews and massive crowds at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London is coming to Los Angeles, its final stop. The costumes will be on display from October 2, 2014 to March 2, 2015 in the historic Wilshire May Company Building, the future location of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The companion book, Hollywood Costume
Costumes are more than just pretty. They are a vitally important a part of telling the story. They help to define the characters and show us where to look. It is very satisfying to see the brilliance of these designers, from Edith Head and Adrian in the classic films of the 1930’s-50’s to contemporary stars like Colleen Atwood and Catherine Martin.
Here’s a television report on the Victoria and Albert exhibit.
Deborah Nadoolman Landis talks about the highlights of the show. Be sure to look at the note from the designer of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress from “The Seven Year Itch.” It says, “I’m going to have my precious baby standing over a grate. What would I give her to wear that would blow in the breeze and be fun and pretty?”
Of course, this is fun and pretty. And unforgettable.
And here’s an interview with some of the top costume designers working today.
Posted on August 2, 2014 at 3:48 pm
My friend Alan Zilberman has a great essay on Rogerebert.com about the history of close-ups of the eye in films. The current release, “I Origins” is about scientists who study eyes professionally, one of whom has taken thousands of photographs of eyes and who falls in love with a pair of eyes he sees in an ad on a billboard.
Zilberman goes back to the earliest days of film, including the shocking image of an eye being sliced by a razor in 1929’s “Un Chien Andalou,” from Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dali. His analysis is deep, thoughtful, and knowledgeable. Here is an excerpt:
Since the silent era, there have been dozens of captivating eye close-ups, and these shots have captured virtually every tone and mood. In Jean-Luc Godard’s “Alphaville,” there are series of close-ups on actress Anna Karina’s eyes that are mournful and seductive. The eyelashes deepen the beauty, while Godard’s farming give just enough facial context so that close-ups are not unnerving. While Godard saw an eye filled with passion,Alfred Hitchcock saw the potential of an inanimate eye with “Psycho.” After Janet Leigh’s infamous shower scene, the camera steels itself on her iris then zooms outward, a visual reminder how death begins in the eye then expands outward. One of Mike Cahill’s favorite eye close-ups is in Krzysztof Kieślowski “The Double Life of Véronique”: “It’s super-super close, and you see a reflection in the eyeof someone walking to the doorway. uses a , he’s playing with the reflection so that eye’s purpose is twofold.” In fact, “I Origins” has several moments where a distant object’s reflection is in the iris; this shot is one of the most popular in film, within one genre in particular.
From “2001: A Space Odyssey,” onward to “Blade Runner” and “Looper,” science fiction filmmakers use an eye close-up to engage with the viewer’s sense of awe and chaos. The purpose of the close-up often depends on whether the viewer sees one eye or both. A single eye can be disorienting, both in terms of the character’s fear or the sheer enormity of what they’re seeing (filled with reflecting light, the eye close-up in “Blade Runner” is one of the more rapturous examples).
I really enjoyed the piece and it made me think of some additional examples, especially “Unfaithfully Yours” from Preston Sturges, when a close-up of an eye seems to penetrate right into the brain.
Posted on April 27, 2014 at 8:00 am
Here’s a great quiz from Indiewire on films by woman directors, covering more than 170 films going back to the silent era and covering every category and budget size.
