The Hand That Bends The Spoon

My latest short! I just finished this film last week for my film final. I am mostly happy with the way it came out. Of course there are a few things that did not work exactly as I wanted, but I think, on the whole, I accomplished a lot this time around. Special thanks to Britney Arcadio, my best friend, who originally came up with plot, and for starring in the movie. Thanks also to Brent Perkins for acting along side her, and thank you Marshall Murr for being a great production assistant. PS, forgive the crappy lighting in the last few shots, we were racing daylight and had technical difficulties on top of that. Anyway, Enjoy!

Happy Mother's Day...

A Barely Merry Christmas

Sorry I've been ridiculously busy lately and haven't done any blog posts in a while, but it's mainly because I was busy making a new movie. For my Acting for Camera class my group and I decided to make a holiday themed film and we ended up with this, A Barely Merry Christmas. Enjoy!

Part 1

Part 2

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I have been wanting to do a blog post about this film for a quite some time, but wanted to make sure I said all the right things. At the same time, I feel I could go on and on forever about how much I enjoy this film, so I have chosen to briefly explain a few things I admire about this film and sum up the post with some film stills and clips.

When I first saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, I had watched it after doing a report on Jesse James for school and was curious to see how this film portrayed his last days. After seeing it, it became an all-time favorite. Every time I watch this film, I find new unique aspects to it and discover how brilliant the entire production truly is every time.

Like I said, I could go on forever about this movie, but one of the things I admire that I must mention is how the film is technically a western as it involves Jesse and members of the James gang, but instead of focusing on adventurous escapades, it focuses on the painful ways of life that came from living as an outlaw, so in actuality the film is really a drama.

Partial to that, most people found the film to be extremely long and slow, and at two hours and forty minutes, it is. However, what I really like about the length and even the slow pace is that with each scene, more and more tension builds up with each character and as well as within their relationships with one another, particularly the relationship between Jesse and the Ford Brothers. The performances by Brad Pitt (Jesse James), Sam Rockwell (Charlie Ford), and Casey Affleck (Bob Ford) fully allow the audience to feel the anxiety that would normally consume anyone in Jesse James' presence. It's no wonder after watching the film, the audience feels a bit drained and exhausted.

Besides the great writing, acting, and amazing direction, the film has stunning cinematography and art direction, one of the reasons why I decided to mention it on the blog. To me, this film is so good and is full of so many strong acting moments, interesting plots, amazing music, and extremely beautiful cinematography. Definitely worth seeing, if you haven't already.

More Images...

Here is one of my favorite scenes:

Here is the trailer:

Horror v.s. Suspense

Image Source

       When I realized that I wanted to make suspenseful and scary films, I wasn't inspired by horror films as much as thrillers. This is not to say that I don't like horror films or that they are uninspiring. They are entertaining and carry on that "cult classic" persona that us haunters cannot ignore. However, when it comes to film making, horror has overtime become known for having the cliché bad acting, predictable plot line, and overall cheesy elements that don't tend to scare us as much anymore. Many horror films even resort to strictly showing gore to scare us rather than building up suspense. Although not all horror films are like this, quite a few are. 

       Being the scary movie fan that I am and on a journey to create some scary films of my own, I find myself being critical, but fair when it comes to films that are supposed to scare us. To be honest, I like horror films- they are fun to watch with friends and entertaining for their often cliché factors- but I like thrillers more. I am more inspired by thrillers for their writing which is more mysterious and less predictable, their acting which is often better, and the overall style of the film which is generally produced better, and usually has the old-fashion Hitchcock rule: the less you see, the more you fear. 

        On the whole, I watch and enjoy both genres, but tend to find more inspiration from thrillers and films that use suspense more than gore. Anyway I have basically stated all of this to warn all that I plan to blog about all kinds of scary movies, just a heads up. If you catch me writing about thrillers more than horror films, just don't be too surprised.