Short Film Reviews

The Death and Life of Desmond Wolfe

I like this short film because it's filmed nicely and has some beautiful cinematography. It also has some nice music that plays throughout this short film. I also like how the story is told through singular shots of his past from when he was a baby to when he was an adult.

I did dislike a few things about it though and that's one of the shots didn't seem to fit into the storyline and wasn't needed and through me off a little when watching it both the first and second times.


Traffic Jam

This short film I disliked for a few reasons. Firstly I thought the plot was very boring and didn't have a lot going on in it and didn't catch my attention as much as some of the other short films. I also feel like a lot more effort went into other short films I've watched and just feel like it didn't have much relevance.

If I had to say I liked something about this movie was that the two main characters had some chemistry and it helped the short film go along a bit quicker. 

Film Genres

Film Genres

Sci-Fi

Science Fiction is a genre of fiction that has imaginative content such as futuristic settings, space travel, parallel universes, Aliens, Planets, futuristic science and technology, and paranormal activities. The term Sci-Fi was first used in 1954 by Forrest J Ackerman.

It differs from fantasy as the concepts and the imaginative elements of the film are mostly scientifically possible. Sci-Fi is also largely based on writing above alternative possible worlds and futures.

Sci-Fi elements include things such as: A time setting in the future (which can include alternative timelines or that which contradicts historical facts and events), characters that are aliens, androids, mutants and humanoid robots (can also include future human evolution), futuristic technology and weaponry (which include ray guns and teleportation machines and devices), new and different political and social systems, paranormal activities (such as mind control), different worlds and dimensions, and scenes set in outer space.

Sci-Fi also includes many sub-genres such which include: Alternative History, Time Travel, Super Human, Space Opera, Space Western and Comic Science Fiction.

Famous Sci-Fi Film, Film Series and TV Series:

Star Wars

Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Episode III – Revenger of the Sith (2005)
Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Episode VII (2015)

Doctor Who (1963-Present)

Avatar (2009)

Alien Quadrilogy

Alien (1979)
Aliens (1986)
Alien 3 (1992)
Alien Resurrection (1997)

Predator Franchise

Predator (1987)

Predator 2 (1990)

Predators (2010)

Star Trek – All Series (1966-2005)
Star Trek Films Include:
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)

Transformers Series

Transformers (2007)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

Horror

Horror is a film genre that seeks the purpose of playing on people’s fears and scaring people. Horror films often include scenes that scare and startle viewers and also supernatural themes are frequent in horror films. Horror films also sometimes have themes of fantasy, supernatural and thrillers within them.

Horror films often deal with viewer’s nightmares, fears and terror of the unknown.  Frequent elements in horror films also include ghosts, aliens, demons, vampires, werewolves, zombies, cannibals, serial killers ad vicious animals.

The first horror films go back to the 1890’s with the first film based on Frankenstein being released in 1910 by Edison Studios. During the 1930’s Universal Studios became known for making horror films such as Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), The Old Dark House (1932), The Mummy (1932) and The Wolfman (1941).

Examples of Horrors

Evil Dead (1981)
Evil Dead 2 (1987)
Psycho (1960)
Cabin in the Woods (2012)
Insidious (2010)
Insidious: Chapter 2 (2013)
The Ring (2002)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Friday the 13^th (1980)
The Crow (1994)
Paranormal Activity (2007)
Paranormal Activity 2 (2010)
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
Paranormal Activity 4 (2012)
The Sixth Sense (1999)

Thriller

Thriller is a very broad genre in film that is known for using tension, suspense and excitement as some its themes. Thrillers can make a viewer’s mood go to high levels of anticipation, uncertainty, anxiety, surprise and terror. Thrillers can also tend to be adrenaline rushing and fast paced.

There are many common sub-genres such as psychological thrillers, crime thrillers, erotic thrillers and mystery thrillers. Another sub-genre that is very common with thrillers is the spy genre that commonly deals with espionage and conspiracy.

The themes in thrillers include things like protagonists face death, a very smart antagonist, a lot of story has a sense of mystery, a sense of realism with the story and characters, the protagonist and antagonist will have some sort of conflict weather it’s on a physical level or mental level.

Examples of Thrillers

Inception (2010)

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Hannibal (2001)

Red Dragon (2002)

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Seven (1995)

Vanilla Sky (2001)

Insomnia (2002)

Disturbia (2007)

Patriot Games (1992)

Air Force One (1997)

Limitless (2011)

Unbreakable (2000)

American Psycho (2000)

Shutter Island (2010)

 

 

Writing Report on Me

Writing Report on Me

I’m going to start this writing report with a few facts about me, I’m 18, was born in Southwick, West Sussex (of course in England) and this is my third college course.

With previous experiences with video production skills I’ll start with what I did at college on my level 2 course. I and my group (Dylan and Zak) made an animation advert on Lion Bar which I wrote the script for and helped build some of the sets and clay characters for the advert. I also helped with moving the characters and camera positioning with each shot as we used both Claymation and Pixilation to create the advert.  Secondly I helped with a live action advert (with Catt and Harry) about Coca Cola and did a lot of camera work and boom work.  And lastly I also helped out with a short film production called Dark Reflections (with Joley, Catt, Harry and Zak) and did the storyboards and script. I missed out on some of the production due to illness.

Outside of college when I was 15 I was going to make a documentary of my on a month in my life and started to film footage of my days and ended them with me doing a video of how I was feeling. I stopped the project and deleted the footage due to how much was going on at the time.

Film makers who inspire me include Christopher Nolan (Director of The Dark Knight Trilogy and Inception), Michael Bay (Director for the Transformers Films), Joss Whedon (Director of Avengers Assemble) and of course Steven Spielberg (Director of ET, War Horse, Jurassic Park, Minority Report, Schindler’s List and many others). Also Steven Moffat (Doctor Who and Sherlock) is one of my favourite writers.

My hobbies and interests include going to the cinema (as of September 22^nd 2013 I’ve seen 25 films this year at the cinema), writing, watching films and TV, playing my XBOX 360, travelling, reading, listening to music, looking after my animals and taking my dogs out for a walk. I read magazines such as Empire, Total Film and SFX and am subscribed to the first two. The music I listen to is mostly rock such as Nickelback, Linkin Park, Guns N Roses, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, 30 Seconds to Mars, Paramore and Daughtry but also listen music like Maroon 5, OneRepublic, Olly Murs, Katy Perry, Band of Horses and film composers like Hans Zimmer, Steve Jablonsky and James Horner. Video Games I play include the Halo Series, Call of Duty, Fifa, Dead Space, Batman Arkhum Series and the Pokemon Games.

My favourite films include Inception, Gladiator, Drive, The Dark Knight Trilogy, the Transformers Films, the Harry Potter films, Avengers: Assemble, Last Samurai, Minority Report and Crash. My favourite TV shows include Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Arrow, Hannibal, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory, Grey’s Anatomy, Dexter, Pokemon and Family Guy. Doctor Who is my all-time favourite because of how original it is and also how fresh and interesting the show stays, with Matt Smith being my personal favourite Doctor. I like shows such as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones because no character is safe and it has so many unexpected twists while keeping realism to it what really make both series great.

I currently am unemployed and will look for jobs once I have my ankle operation. I don’t have much work experience due to missing a lot of school due to illness but did work with animals for a year and a half on a one day a week college course at Brinsbury college.

At school I didn’t achieve great GCSE grades with an E in English and D in Maths but did get a B in Work Related. This was all due to the fact I missed year 11 at school due to illness (Gastro Paresis to be exact). I have much approved my English skills including my writing. I have received certificates from cricket which I did for 4 years and am currently planning getting back into it next season.

The skills I’d like to improve on are my knowledge of how a camera works and how to operate it, my editing skills as they are basic, get to direct some productions and write some long scripts for possible feature film productions. I also hope to gain an overall Distinction grade on this course and go either to film school or try and get jobs as a film writer and storyboard artist as those kinds of jobs interest me. I also would like to try my hand at acting.

P.S. I made sure this is over 750 words unless my Word Document was lying to me.

Christopher Nolan - History and Views

Christopher Nolan

Brief History

Christopher Nolan (Born July 30^th 1970, London, England) is a film director, writer and producer. He is best known for directing ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ and Inception. As of 2013 he has directed eight feature films. His films have grossed over $3.5 Billion worldwide. As of 2013 he is also one of only three directors who has directed two feature films that have grossed over $1 Billion worldwide (The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) the others being James Cameron (Titanic and Avatar) and Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey). His next feature film will be ‘Interstellar’ which he is directing, writing and producing and will be released in 2014 under film studios Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros and Syncopy.

Filmography

1. Following - 1998 (Director, Writer and Producer)

2. Memento - 2000 (Director and Writer)

3. Insomnia - 2002 (Director)

4. Batman Begins - 2005 (Director, Writer and Producer)

5. The Prestige - 2006 (Director, Writer and Producer)

6. The Dark Knight - 2008 (Director, Writer and Producer)

7. Inception - 2010 (Director, Writer and Producer)

8. The Dark Knight Rises - 2012 (Director, Writer and Producer)

9. Man of Steel - 2013 (Writer and Producer)

10. Transcendence - 2014 (Producer)

11. Interstellar - 2014 (Director, Writer and Producer)

 

Why I think he is a great director?

In my opinion Christopher Nolan is one of the greatest filmmakers alive today. He makes consistently great films and never seems to disappoint. Whether it’s his smaller budget films like ‘Insomnia’ or ‘The Prestige’ or his big budget films like ‘The Dark Knight Trilogy’ or ‘Inception’ he never makes a bad film and he always amazes me when he brings out a new film out and I see it for the first time.

I have five of his eight films on DVD or Blu-Ray and those are Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, The Prestige and Inception which are five of my favourite films because of how well they were made.

Christopher Nolan is also a rare director who writes his own films and has original ideas like ‘Inception’ or ‘Interstellar’ which push the boundaries of film making. ‘Inception’ probably being one of the most clever films ever made that actually still makes sense (well to most people).

I also think he is one of the only directors to direct three consistently good films in a trilogy with ‘Batman Begins’, ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ all being great films which are probably in my top five favourite DC Comic films.

I also look forward to seeing his future feature films and see what he has to bring next and see if he can top his previous work which will be hard to do due to his great consistent films.

The Dark Knight Rises - Film Review

Film Review

The Dark Knight Rises

Director: Christopher Nolan

Producers: Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas and Charles Roven

Writers: Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer

Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Liam Neeson, Cillian Murphy and Morgan Freeman

Composer: Hans Zimmer

Film Studios: Warner Bros, Legendary Pictures, Syncopy and DC Comics

Released: 20^th July 2012 (US and UK)

Running Time: 165 Minutes

Budget: $250 Million




Synopsis: Eight years on, a new evil rises from were Batman and Commissioner Gordon tried to bury it, causing Batman to resurface and fight to protect Gotham City... the very city which brands him an enemy. 

Review: The conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’ is a worthy one and a great ending to this great trilogy.

The film starts with a great action sequence which has a great set piece and is well done without special effects which makes it even better. It then switches to ‘Gotham’ and you get a bleak outlook on things and see how the events of the previous film (The Dark Knight) are still affecting people in this film. The first act is quite slow but it makes for some very good character and story development and also doesn't try rushing things along just for the sake of action.

When the action does kick in though it is well done, exciting and puts you on the edge of your seat with one of the best fight scenes I've seen in a long time where you can feel every punch and it just makes it feel that much more real.

The second act in this film sets up for the final part of the film and makes you question how Bruce Wayne/Batman is going to overcome the situation and save not just the city but himself.

The third act is the big finale and is just done so well and had me on the edge of my seat for the last 45 minutes of the film because of how intense it was and also how well the film was executed.

Now to the ending of the movie and I think it was done perfectly and while some may question the ending in my opinion it was a great ending and conclusion to the film and the trilogy.

Now to the cast of the film: Christian Bale returns to play Bruce Wayne/Batman and I think gives his best performance out of the three films. He has a lot of time as Bruce Wayne in this film and at the start shows just how broken he is and what the previous events have done to him physically and emotionally and plays off it very well. He also gets the Batman persona right once again.

The rest of the returning cast play their roles very well once again with Michael Caine having some great speeches and once again has a great performance. Gary Oldman and Morgan Freeman are also very good as always and add to the story. There are also a few small appearances from previous cast members which both add to the film and makes sense to the story.

Now to the new cast members: Anne Hathaway surprised me how well she plays Selina Kyle in this movie. She’s gets all the sides of her done well including being sexy, funny and can also kick ass. Tom Hardy plays the villain in the movie, Bane and he is great in the movie and is a great physical match for Batman. He isn’t just muscle though showing he is also very smart as well as a good fighter and I liked that as it reminded me of the Bane from the comics. I also understood his voice through his mask very well and liked how the mask didn't cover his whole face and let you see his emotions which also added to the character. Other new cast members including Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard play do well in their roles and both also add a lot to the movie and show’s how much effort Nolan has put into the characters.

The script and story are both well done and pack a lot into 2 hours 45 minutes of film and don’t rush much of the film and also lets the film unravel slowly. The film is also not predictable and has some good twists with two big ones really adding depth to the film.

The score from Hans Zimmer is once again superb with his music catching the emotion and feel of the film and I can see why Nolan likes working with this guy because his music adds so much to films.

It also executes the use of practical and visual effects with a lot of great set pieces and stunts that are done in real time while some great special effects that make it look real.

I don’t really have any real complaints about the film other than maybe the second act of the film showing more and making it feel like it is over a long period of time but that’s a minor one and doesn't really bother me.

Overall the film is well made, well-acted, some great action, lots of character development, good story, great musical score and just overall a superb summer film and I advise anyone to watch this and the other two films in this trilogy because you’re missing out on some great film making.

Rating: *****