James Ellroy’s novel “The Black Dahlia” is a fictionalized crime noir that launches from one of the most gruesome unsolved murders of old Los Angeles. Ellroy’s book is quintessential noir layered in a dark world of criminals, muscled confessions and crooked cops. No one is innocent in the pursuit of justice for the murder of […]
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Let’s start with the first expectation. You read the ominous title and saw the screen grab of Dunkirk, you might be expecting this to be a negative review of Christopher Nolan’s latest epic. Well it’s not. I took in a late screening on Sunday night of opening weekend. Being that it was the day after […]
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Some inspiring and thought provoking quotes from Alfred Hitchcock, Harrison Ford, David Lynch, Ava Gardner, Robert Downey Jr. and Emma Watson. Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders. Alfred Hitchcock ‘May the Force be with you’ is charming but it’s not important. What’s important is that you become the […]
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Learning After Effects is a daunting challenge – it’s not quite a Non-Linear Editor, but also not quite Photoshop. In trying to explain or teach After Effects I look back at my own history of learning the program.
Once I learned the fundamentals by working through a book – my growth in After Effects came from working with Templates – yes… templates.
Using a template is not like being given a piece of stock footage – it’s like being given a small factory. You put in your own assets and it creates a final effect. But there’s SO MUCH more you can do with a template if you dig down into project file – you can customize each detail and break down the effect and reverse engineer the techniques used. You can study the organizational structure of the template – and organization can be a big issue in complex After Effects projects.
After Effects Templates are also a great way to learn new graphical styles and techniques. Just find a template you like and start working. Soon you’ll start to grasp what elements make up that style.
So we’re really excited to announce our new giveaway from our friends at BlueFX. We were able to “twist the arm of Szilard” the CEO of BlueFX into offering a package of their most popular logo animation packages.
The Top IQ Points leader for the month of July will receive not one… not two… but All Three Logo Supercharger packages (worth a total of $597).
Each of these supercharger sets contains 10 After Effects templates – that’s 30 different templates all together!
No special plugins are required and they each come with tutorials to show you how to get started even if you’re new to After Effects. Imagine all the different animations and styles you can create and learn just with these templates.
Wanna get started now? Check out this FREE After Effects Logo Animation Template from BlueFX and get started playing with and learning After Effects.
So how do you earn points on Filmmaker IQ? Here’s a breakdown of everything you can do.
Hurry up you – only have a few days left – Our point count will end at midnight of August 1, 2017.
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Behind the scenes photos from Fury Road, The Passion of the Christ, The Force Awakens, The Birds, The Wolf of Wall St. and Léon: The Professional.
Fury Road practical effects
Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel having a conversation on set of “The Passion of the Christ”
Stormtrooper changing room for “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”
Alfred Hitchcock behind the scenes of “The Birds”. Rod Taylor claimed that the only way to keep the seagulls to stay still for long enough was to feed them a mixture of wheat and whiskey.
Balcony shot from “Django Unchained”
Shooting a 360 degree dolly shot on “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Natalie Portman on the set of “Léon: The Professional”
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In our last course, The History of the Hollywood Musical, I professed as to not have been a big fan of the latest Musical Oscar contender La La Land. I knew my opinion was contentious especially up against such overwhelming high regard for the film.
But the point of this post isn’t to explain my position on La La Land (although I will provide it for context) but the strange polarizing effect that hardens a mild dislike into something much stronger.
So let’s back up to my screening. La La Land had been on my radar for a long time having heard word of it playing at South by Southwest. By the time it rolled into my neck of the woods last January, I was really excited to see it. Right at the very start of the film after the classic Cinemascope logo, I felt put out. This didn’t look right. The faces in the overpass dance sequence we’re completely lost in shadow. The music had that squeaky clean sound: mixed so perfectly the sound loses all it’s character. (for example: breathy whisper vocals should not sound louder than big brass and rhythm hits – that sounds fake).
By the time the title card hit at the end of the number I felt I had just witnessed a low budget tacky postcard that the LA chic creative class send to their relatives in other states.
But so what? It’s just an opener… I let it go and started watching the story between Mia and Sebastian. My mind worked out the possibilities of the story as it unfolded. I recognized the art and craft of the direction. It almost drew attention to itself from Chazelle’s whiplash pans to the way he likes to photograph instruments.
I did have issues while watching with the character arcs. I found myself rooting for Sebastian to take the tour gig and make some money and a little disappointed at Mia for not seeing the long term benefits. I felt myself frustrated at Sebastian’s inability to make a phone call to tell Mia he couldn’t make it to her show. I thought a one woman show was a terrible idea and put off with the story element that some casting associate actually bothered to see it (and leave without introducing herself only to call for an audition much later). By the point of Mia’s big audition solo, I didn’t feel a thing for her character. The big epilogue was when I finally felt like the film was making good on the promise from the CinemaScope in the opening – a tad bit too late, beautiful, but kind of wrong…
So I left the theater in a mixed state. If I had to put it on a scale of ten I would have registered it as a 4/10. So on the negative side of mixed feelings. I began to investigate critical reviews. I read mostly gushing reviews but the few negative ones I found struck a chord with me – noticing things that I had felt while watching the film.
I took to Facebook and gave my quick review and immediately found myself arguing my position. And as I was making my points and building my argument, that initial 4/10 rating began to slide south. The more I attempted to articulate my misgivings, the more I found I disliked the film.
My opinion of the film was no longer affected by the film itself but by the social resistance I was facing. I was now an advocate against an overwhelming majority. Caught in such a position hyperbole is a easy weapon. Dislike turns to Detest and colors the discussion.
Now several months passed, I feel like I can more accurately assess my feelings of the film – and more accurately assess others reactions. When talking about movie reviews I always think back on the the criticism leveled at Roger Ebert for his star reviews – giving the same three stars to a serious and important drama as well as a frivolous fun popcorn flick. Ebert answered the criticism in that he reviewed the film for what it aimed to be and that the star rating should not be read into too deeply. Well he’s right – but I wonder if the whole film criticism world of stars, thumbs and scales really a lot less relevant than I had previously thought. I had seen and read lots of glowing reviews of La La Land by critics who admit early on that they did not like the musical genre. How is that opinion going to inform me as a person that loves the musical genre?
The fact is we all bring different emotional and psychological baggage in to a movie. What you see and what I see may be completely different and it can be affected a million different things before, during and after the movie.. And let’s dispel any notion of informed opinion being any better when it comes to enjoying a movie. Just because I have studied a subject does not mean my opinion is any better than yours – it may explain why I have my opinion and why I would persuade you think the way I do, but it does not mean my feelings are better felt than yours.
No one will have your identical life experiences. And no one really has any business telling you how to feel about a movie. Sure critics can tell you why they felt the way they do about a film – and that can shade your expectation at the movie theater – but ultimately you get to make up your own mind.
Maybe we can stop seeing disagreements about films as personal attacks but more of a conversation – an exploration into the differences of tastes, expectations and… ah who am I kidding???
P.S. I didn’t like Rogue One and thought Episode 7 was far better. I expect to be crucified by sundown.
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Some easter eggs and other little facts from The Godfather, Jaws, The Departed, Halloween H20, The Big Lebowski and Apocalypto.
Whenever oranges appear in “The Godfather”, they foreshadow death or a near death involving the Corleone family. However it was not intentional in the first film.
Director Steven Spielberg named the shark in “Jaws” Bruce after his lawyer.
An “X” shows up every time somebody is going to die in “The Departed”.
Janet Leigh, mother of Jamie Lee Curtis, drives her car from “Psycho” in “Halloween H20”.
None of Donny’s bowling shirts bear his actual name in “The Big Lebowski”.
An image of Waldo lying among dead bodies flashes in “Apocalypto.” This was only in the theatrical release.
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