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BUT FIRST.... FUN WITH YOU-TUBE
WWW.YOUTUBE.COM has become such a fun corner of the web. Anyone can post a video
for free. I have found these great little video clips of my favorite film folk. You probably won't
find these clips anywhere else...
Stanley Kubrick Akira Kurosawa Siskel & Ebert Hearts of Age
talks at the 2001 stars in Japanese throwing quite the Short film made The Shining
opening (1968) wine commericals hissy in rare dy skit by 19 year old ***** recut of the
out-take Orson Welles trailer. Very funny
WWW.YOUTUBE.COM has become such a fun corner of the web. Anyone can post a video
for free. I have found these great little video clips of my favorite film folk. You probably won't
find these clips anywhere else...
Stanley Kubrick Akira Kurosawa Siskel & Ebert Hearts of Age
talks at the 2001 stars in Japanese throwing quite the Short film made The Shining
opening (1968) wine commericals hissy in rare dy skit by 19 year old ***** recut of the
out-take Orson Welles trailer. Very funny
| INDEPENDENT FILM-MAKING KILLER'S KISS (1955, Stanley Kubrick) Pictured Left. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968, George Romero) Romero broke EVERY horror movie cliché (such as the heroes being glamorous and surviving zombie attacks) for his grim, classic tale of flesh-eaters could compete against all the other horror films currently playing in drive-ins at the time GONE IN SIXTY SECONDS (1974, H.I Halicki) Highly successful auto chase classic (remade in Hollywood recently.) Halicki had no film-schooling, he basically shot by instinct. The result is this jarring, off centered film. SUPER SIZE ME (2004, Morgan Spurlock) Documentaries are big now, but they can get boring. Spurlock slaps the fast-food racket with wit and humor. VISUAL STORYTELLING People remember more of what they see than what they hear. SUNRISE (1927, F. W Murnau) Possibly the greatest silent film. Murnau uses superimpositions, a wildly mobile camera, and expressionistic sets to convey the severe up and downs in the marriage of a farming couple. MODERN TIMES (1936, Charles Chaplin) Pictured left REAR WINDOW (1954, Alfred Hitchcock) As curious photographer LB Jeffries (James Stewart) pries closer into his homicidal neighbor's life, the film's shot compositions go from wide shots, to medium shots to suspenseful close ups. THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE (1961, Val Guest) Tense sci-fi about the earth flying off it's orbit and towards the sun. By the film's end, the settings are really grimy, and everybody is drowning in sweat. Watch this during a snowstorm. SCREENWRITING THE WOLF MAN (1941, George Waggner) Borrowing heavily from Greek tragedy (the hero learns his fate early on.) screenwriter Curt Siodmack's screenplay for this classic is literal, sad and very fast moving. IN WHICH WE SERVE (1942, Noel Coward, David Lean) The story of a British warship's fatal end. Inventive use of flashbacks. SOME LIKE IT HOT (1959, Billy Wilder) See left. IT'S A MAD. MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963, Stanley Kramer) While most other directors made long-winded historic epics, Kramer made this riotous epic comedy about greed and more greed. Mixes slapstick with great dialog THE TAKING OF PELHAM, ONE, TWO, THREE (1973, Joseph Sargent) This classic thriller about a subway hi-jacking is so rich in well researched facts, you almost know how to drive the IRT local after watching this. DIRECTING MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936, Frank Capra) Capra uses montages, quick dissolves (eliminating several seconds of dead screen time) to briskly tell this comedy about a small town guy (Gary Cooper) becoming an overnight millionaire. STRAY DOG (1949, Akira Kurosawa) The search for a Tokyo gun-man during a blinding heatwave. Kurosawa has almost everybody here fanning themselves, panting, gulping and drinking etc. to give a feeling of claustrophobic mania. WHITE HEAT (1949, Raoul Walsh) The then standards of gangster movies are trashed (i.e gangster nice mom, sweet girlfriend) to make this James Cagney classic fresh and exciting. Rules were made to be broken, and this film proves it! NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959, Alfred Hitchcock) See Left. JAWS (1975, Steven Spielberg) Young Spielberg recieved alot of studio griping when he used alot of unothordox camerawork and editing here. During production, the insider name for this film was "Flaws". Whose laughing now? ACTING SEVEN CHANCES (1925, Buster Keaton) How do you react when you are chased by literally hundreds of armed angry brides? Here Buster Keaton DOESN'T show any facial reaction. Great under-played silent comedy here. A NIGHT TO REMEMBER (1958, Roy Baker) Again, underplaying works in what is still the best film telling of the infamous 1912 shipping disaster. YOJIMBO (1961, Akira Kurosawa) See picture at left. FARGO (1995, The Coen Brothers) Frances MacDormand could have gone for silly parody when playing a simple, kindly police chief. She didn't, which helped make this one of the best films of the 1990's. THE AVIATOR (2004, Martin Scorcese) Another performance that could have been ruined with over-played parody. It's amazing to watch Leonardo DiCapio's Howard Hughes shift from charmer to an obcessive maniac here. CINEMATOGRAPHY THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER (1941, William Dieterle) Bright, unmotivated light is used to tell this classic about Satan visiting New England THE NAKED CITY (1948, Jules Dassin) One of the first Hollywood films shot mostly on location. (All NYC!) Has a wonderful documentary look to it. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1967, Franco Zefferilli) The same fabric used for Elizabeth Taylor's gowns were used for camera filters. This caused Ms. Taylor's outfits to stand out here. BARRY LYNDON (1975, Stanley Kubrick) Pictured at left. VISIONS OF LIGHT (1992) A great documentary about cinematography. Traces camerawork from the birth of film to modern Hollywood. PRODUCTION DESIGN ALIBI (1929, Roland West) William Cameron Menzies' under-detailed art deco sets gave this pioneering gangster film the look of a sleek magazine ad. THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935, James Whale) Pictured left. HELL! (1960, Nobou Nagakawa) The second half of this wild, sometimes gory Japanese fantasy epic takes place in Hell where bright sharp objects pop up all over the place. Hell is mostly made up of primary colors here. THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962, John Ford) Just to watch to see how an excellent western like this can be tainted by lazy set design. The old west was never that clean! John Wayne and Lee Marvin look like they're battling it out in a Ponderosa Steak House at times! Had to point that out. PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE (1985, Tim Burton) All of Tim Burton's film have great set design, but this, his first feature, constantly looks like K-Kart displays gone horribly berserk. Large Marge rules! AUDIO BLACKMAIL (1929, Alfred Hitchcock) Pictured left. M (1931, Fritz Lang) Lang uses off camera sounds to convey the massive scope of an investigation and manhunt of a deranged serial killer. THE SET-UP (1949, Robert Wise) Director Wise uses no music score here. To fill that massive gap, he uses layers of natural sound to move this classic about a washed up boxer (Robert Ryan) along. THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1953, Byron Haskin) Monsters and scary alien war machines NEED distinct, one-of-a-kind sounds to make them scary. Godzilla's roar is another example, so are those creepy horn-blasts the tripod machines make in Spielberg's remake. KISS ME DEADLY (1955, Robert Aldrich) Hard hitting crime thriller whose soundtrack has a hyperactive pain motif (lots of punching, slapping, screaming...) My local TV guide described this film simply as "a cinematic knuckle sandwich". |
KILLER'S KISS- Young
Stanley Kubrick
(pictured) got a few
investors who basically
left him alone to make a
very off-beat crime film
set mostly on Manhattan
streets. Back in 1955,
when the film was made,
this was a new, and
breakthrough thing.
Stanley Kubrick
(pictured) got a few
investors who basically
left him alone to make a
very off-beat crime film
set mostly on Manhattan
streets. Back in 1955,
when the film was made,
this was a new, and
breakthrough thing.
MODERN TIMES
A decade after
the invention of
sound movies,
Charles Chaplin
chose to shoot his
hysterically funny take on
the machine age with
almost no dialog, just
visual terms.
SOME LIKE IT HOT:
Screenwriter/director
Billy Wilder (along with
I.A.L Diamond) came up
with a screenplay full of
twists, where almost
every line uttered is either
a sarcastic remark, a lie,
cover-up or silly fib.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
In another one of his
cameos, Alfred Hitchcock
vainly runs for a departing
bus in this 1959 classic.
It fits, because almost the
entire film is set in places
of motion- speeding
taxis, trains, police cars.
YOJIMBO: While the
warring samurai on
the ground act like
maniacs, Toshiro
Mifune (picture, atop
tower) underplays his
lone samurai. A great
study in contrast by
director Akira Kurosawa.
BARRY LYNDON
Director Stanley Kubrick
and cinematographer
John Alcott filmed this
incredible tale of 18th
century greed by
candle-light, using
special NASA lenses.
THE BRIDE OF
FRANKENSTEIN
Director James Whale
started out as a set
designer. He knew that
strong verticles create a
subliminal tension.
BLACKMAIL: Made in
1929, by young Alfred
Hitchcock. While other
directors used the new
medium of film sound in
a realistic way, Hitchcock
used distorted and off-
kilter sound levels to
convey fear and tension.
A decade after
the invention of
sound movies,
Charles Chaplin
chose to shoot his
hysterically funny take on
the machine age with
almost no dialog, just
visual terms.
SOME LIKE IT HOT:
Screenwriter/director
Billy Wilder (along with
I.A.L Diamond) came up
with a screenplay full of
twists, where almost
every line uttered is either
a sarcastic remark, a lie,
cover-up or silly fib.
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
In another one of his
cameos, Alfred Hitchcock
vainly runs for a departing
bus in this 1959 classic.
It fits, because almost the
entire film is set in places
of motion- speeding
taxis, trains, police cars.
YOJIMBO: While the
warring samurai on
the ground act like
maniacs, Toshiro
Mifune (picture, atop
tower) underplays his
lone samurai. A great
study in contrast by
director Akira Kurosawa.
BARRY LYNDON
Director Stanley Kubrick
and cinematographer
John Alcott filmed this
incredible tale of 18th
century greed by
candle-light, using
special NASA lenses.
THE BRIDE OF
FRANKENSTEIN
Director James Whale
started out as a set
designer. He knew that
strong verticles create a
subliminal tension.
BLACKMAIL: Made in
1929, by young Alfred
Hitchcock. While other
directors used the new
medium of film sound in
a realistic way, Hitchcock
used distorted and off-
kilter sound levels to
convey fear and tension.
RECOMMENDED VIEWING:
Before making a film, it's best to see how certain films from the past worked
so well. Some of these aren't the best films for each category. These are the
strongest examples. All of them are great, fun films, and should be watched.
so well. Some of these aren't the best films for each category. These are the
strongest examples. All of them are great, fun films, and should be watched.
