Rod Serling; A Man of Meaning

   

     Been watching some of my favorite The Twilight Zone episodes lately, and it got me thinking about Rod Serling and all of his genius. I found this interesting Mike Wallace interview with Serling on censorship, content, and commercial vs. quality. Throughout, you can really tell this is a man with dignity, a man with passion, and a man who believes in the use of entertainment to teach, question, and progress. Quite fascinating how Wallace questions Serling about superficial intentions as a television writer, where Serling keeps having to remind him it's about quality.

"I don't want to fight anymore. I don't want to have to battle sponsors and agencies, I don't want to have to push for something that I want and have to settle for second best. I don't want to have to compromise all the time. Which in essence is what the television writer does if he wants to put on controversial things... I stay in television because I think it's very possible to perform a function of providing adult, meaningful, exciting, challenging drama without dealing in controversy, necessarily."

Sally

     For one of my recent directing projects I chose to do a short inspired by a scene in the film Wait Until Dark from the 1960s. The film stars Audrey Hepburn who plays a blind woman who must defend herself from intruders, one of which is played by Alan Arkin. The film is based on a play by Frederick Knott (who also wrote Dial M for Murder) so it's got a strong dose of suspense, which I love. One of my favorite scenes in the film is in the beginning when Audrey Hepburn arrives home and walks past the body of a dead girl, and doesn't even know it, I just had to nod to this fantastic scene by re-creating it in my own way.

Here it is: 

Halloween Movie Countdown: "Shutter Island"

"Personally, Doctor, I'd have to say 'screw their sense of calm...'"

I have decided to save the Halloween Movie countdown for the last 13 days of Halloween (like ABC Family, I know...). This is purely due to the fact that I have been busy working on several theatre productions lately as well as some film projects and of course, Halloween! I thought it would be great to start this years countdown with one of my all-time favorites, Shutter Island.

To me, this film is a masterpiece. While directing the movie, Martin Scorsese made sure that all vital elements to a great production were there: plot, spectacle, character, theme, language, and music. Shutter Island explores arguably several themes, but the main one being presented in one simple question "Which would be worse, to live as a monster or die as a good man?"

Now, I don't want to give anything away because I am one of those people who never spoils the secrets of a great film in hopes that people will just watch it for themselves, but I will say this: it is the ultimate psych-thriller and it keeps you on the edge of your seat literally throughout the entire movie. Trust me it's definitely worth seeing and will probably require multiple viewings as most people feel mind-boggled after watching it for the first time... which Martin Scorsese would only have done to us intentionally. Hey, it takes place in a mental institution... we should feel crazy by the end of it, right?

Soundtrack Selection: On the Nature of Daylight by Max Richter

Movie Trailer:

The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing

Saw this documentary in my film class this semester and truly loved seeing it again today. Here is the first bit of it, hope this film nerdiness/awesomeness brightens your day!

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!

Halloween Movie Countdown: "The Others"

If you're looking for a thriller that is suspenseful, beautiful, eerie, and has a shocking surprise ending, The Others is just the right flick.

Nicole Kidman, Fionnula Flanagan and both children in the film (Alakina Mann and James Bently) give some truly great performances in a story that is intriguing the entire time.

Something I really enjoy about this movie is that it is made so well. The story itself is brilliant, but the technical aspects of the film are stunning. The lighting is spooky and beautiful and director Alejandro Amenadar makes some smart choices with the camera.

The art direction is also perfect for such a creepy film. Just seeing an old spooky house (that does not use electricity), a hidden graveyard, and rooms that are rich in elegance, but also rich in 'the unknown' makes this an ultimate classic for Halloween.

The Others is a classic haunting/ghost story with quite the twist, great atmosphere, and some very good acting as well. We ended up watching this on Halloween two years ago, many of my party guests had not seen it before... they were in for quite a surprise...

Here's the trailer:

Guillermo Again!

Turns out he will be co-writing and producing instead of directing. I hate being misinformed- it makes me look as foolish as this guy.

... still bound to be better than the 2003 version, though.

Also thought this news was interesting: Del Toro's New Stop-Motion...

Sherlock Holmes

As I walked out of the movie theatre after seeing Sherlock Holmes, I immediately had the desire to see the film again. The film was great on so many levels: I found the writing to be witty, the acting very good, and the overall direction was very well done. I loved the story and how it was full of little plot twists along the way and how they combined the ideas of magic and the laws of science which played into my favorite part; the art direction.

They fully succeeded in capturing London during the industrial revolution which really helped create a great look for Holmes' clever gadgets and messy study. Combining this time period and the story's elements of 'magic' really gave every scene a bit of an edge. What also gave the film an 'edge' was the editing & cinematography; I really liked the way flashbacks were edited and loved some of the clever camera shots. Even if this film isn't your thing, the music by Hans Zimmer is a must-have.

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"The Shining": An Analysis...

For those who love symbolism in filmmaking as much as I do, or just happen to be a big fan of the film "The Shining," you may like this in-depth analysis of the film. You may never watch it the same way again.

Review by Rob Ager

Horror v.s. Suspense

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       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.