Tim Tamisiea's excellent documentary Bob Seger Rocks is online now. Embedding is disabled, but it's well-worth a watch. Safe for work, about 15 minutes long.
Did it get a little dusty in here? Shut up, I'm not crying.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Validation: 9/10ths of a great short film
Twitter user & filmmaker Paul Docherty recommended this film for #shortfilmsunday. I always love the things he comes up with - such a wide variety of interesting filmmaking from across the web.
It's really well-made. Beautifully acted and lovingly shot and lit. It has an original, fun premise. Almost 3.5 million people have watched it. The beginning is awesome. I really liked it...except...
What the main character does to "get the girl" is stalking behavior. If a total stranger came into my job and decided it was his mission in life to make me smile, if he brought teddy bears and flowers and followed me everywhere - I would call the police. I might leave town or change my name. This kind of pursuit of a woman is not romantic or fun or sexy. It's an unhealthy fixation. Dude, she didn't smile back. Or talk to you. Or invite your attention in any way. Leave that girl alone!
I realize the Romantic Comedy genre is full of moments like this where the boy chases the girl or the girl chases the boy, and that the audience wants to believe in great love at first sight and see persistence rewarded. Classical Hollywood narrative film is all about a protagonist following his heart's desire, and we need to see him take visible action to pursue that desire to have a satisfying conclusion. I recognize that it's just a movie, and a very good movie at that - but personally I shrink from watching that kind of behavior. I think it's creepy any time a person decides that romance with another person is their one goal in life. I think it's creepy when strangers demand that I smile. I'm the humorless feminist who watches Say Anything and thinks that Lloyd Dobbler is really irritating and should probably leave the girl alone and definitely NOT follow her to a foreign country to leech off of her goals and aspirations since he has none of his own.
So often we're made to identify with the protagonist in the film and think about the person we really wanted and wish that we'd had the same "courage" to pursue and that we hadn't been so hung up on fear of rejection, etc. The woman is portrayed as something to conquer through lofty deeds and persistence. The protagonist, who we get to know pretty well, is a Nice Guy Who Just Wants Love. What could be so bad about that? The little lonely Nice Guy in all of us perks right up. The character is played by the very talented and charming TJ Thyne, and the movie has set us up to know that he's a nice, non-threatening person, but Victoria has no way of knowing that he's not dangerous. To her he's just that creepy guy who won't stop hanging out at the DMV demanding that she smile. Change the soundtrack a little bit and you have a whole different movie.
It's really well-made. Beautifully acted and lovingly shot and lit. It has an original, fun premise. Almost 3.5 million people have watched it. The beginning is awesome. I really liked it...except...
What the main character does to "get the girl" is stalking behavior. If a total stranger came into my job and decided it was his mission in life to make me smile, if he brought teddy bears and flowers and followed me everywhere - I would call the police. I might leave town or change my name. This kind of pursuit of a woman is not romantic or fun or sexy. It's an unhealthy fixation. Dude, she didn't smile back. Or talk to you. Or invite your attention in any way. Leave that girl alone!
I realize the Romantic Comedy genre is full of moments like this where the boy chases the girl or the girl chases the boy, and that the audience wants to believe in great love at first sight and see persistence rewarded. Classical Hollywood narrative film is all about a protagonist following his heart's desire, and we need to see him take visible action to pursue that desire to have a satisfying conclusion. I recognize that it's just a movie, and a very good movie at that - but personally I shrink from watching that kind of behavior. I think it's creepy any time a person decides that romance with another person is their one goal in life. I think it's creepy when strangers demand that I smile. I'm the humorless feminist who watches Say Anything and thinks that Lloyd Dobbler is really irritating and should probably leave the girl alone and definitely NOT follow her to a foreign country to leech off of her goals and aspirations since he has none of his own.
So often we're made to identify with the protagonist in the film and think about the person we really wanted and wish that we'd had the same "courage" to pursue and that we hadn't been so hung up on fear of rejection, etc. The woman is portrayed as something to conquer through lofty deeds and persistence. The protagonist, who we get to know pretty well, is a Nice Guy Who Just Wants Love. What could be so bad about that? The little lonely Nice Guy in all of us perks right up. The character is played by the very talented and charming TJ Thyne, and the movie has set us up to know that he's a nice, non-threatening person, but Victoria has no way of knowing that he's not dangerous. To her he's just that creepy guy who won't stop hanging out at the DMV demanding that she smile. Change the soundtrack a little bit and you have a whole different movie.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Take One Shorts online
I went to the Take One Film Festival on Wednesday night. The festival showcases work from first-year film students shooting on both 16mm film and HD. A few of the crowd favorites are online. My student Ryan Farmer's film, A.D.D., was in the festival, but he hasn't put it online anywhere.
The Last Lonely Unicorn is a stop-motion love story about a unicorn and...you'll see.
The Dead Die Twice pays homage to all those Clint Eastwood movies my dad loves. Plus it's been helpfully edited for television.
Great job, students!
The Last Lonely Unicorn is a stop-motion love story about a unicorn and...you'll see.
The Last Lonely Unicorn from Scott Westrick on Vimeo.
The Dead Die Twice pays homage to all those Clint Eastwood movies my dad loves. Plus it's been helpfully edited for television.
Great job, students!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Unrecoverable Loss of Eugene
I saw this short at a screening at the College Art Association conference last weekend. It sort of broke my brain. The first frame tells you Extremely Wrong Things are About To Happen. And then they do.
The Unrecoverable Loss of Eugene from Patrick Loehr on Vimeo.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Ooh. I just made a touchdown!
Prepping for this semester's classes, there has been a lot of discussion about documentary techniques (interviews vs. reenactments vs. process-oriented stuff), and it made me remember my favorite short re-enactment, Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No. No Mas and James Blagden created an animated piece inspired by Ellis's NPR interview where he told the story of how performance-inhibiting drugs helped him pitch a no hitter on June 12, 1970.
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