Narrative Lecture part 11: The Mist

The next film we watched for our Narrative lecture is The Mist (2007)



The film began with our protagonist David Drayton going to the nearest supermarket, with his son and neighbour, to get some supplies and tools to repair his house that was wrecked in the storm that hit his area. All of a sudden a man came rushing in telling everyone to lock the doors and don't go outside because there's something in the mist. At first the public looked in confusion but when they saw the people outside the super market disappearing and screaming. The store manager then asked his staff to lock the doors and told everyone to stay in until we know what's happening.
However this was no easy task since everyone in the store are losing their minds, some wants to leave while others believe this is the work of god.

The main focus of the film is not on the mystery of the mist but on the public's reaction to something that is unknown to them. It reveals the public's true colours that they are weak and they need something to give them meaning and a purpose. However looking for such a thing can be quite dangerous and will make you a treat. An example would be the antagonist of the film Ms Carmody, she is a very religious person who believe in a vengeful god who punishes those who steps in his territory. She points out that the events that are happening to them is what is mentioned in the bible and they need to make blood sacrifices to please god.
This makes her very dangerous because the public became vulnerable and will listen to anyone who would make sense, even if the person the public is listening to is crazy. She uses this to the full effect and started to gain followers which she can control. Carmody became their leader and she makes the decisions for them.
I felt this film really explore the human nature of finding meaning and purpose in the world, showing they will find comfort in the most unlikely places. Which is why I like this film for exploring the public losing hold on reality and on their hunt for a purpose in the world.

Narrative Lecture part 10: Tremors (1990)

The next movie we watched for our Narrative lecture is Tremors.



The plot of the film is about two handymen who are planning to leave their home to find a better job, but while on their way out the two of them saw a lot of weird things. A woman looking at tremors that never appeared in the first place, a drunk who die of dehydration and mysterious murders. The two handymen soon found out it was a monster who was causing all of these events and it is up to them to stop it.
We watched this film as an example of another type of monster budget movie with an actual monster as the villain.
The main idea of the film is about survival, trying to stay alive from a dangerous monster who gets smarter every time.
This film is very different from what I am used to because not many of the cast died and they all stand their ground against a monster and win. The film also shows that if you have the greatest plan ever it doesn't go as smoothly as you hope it would. If you are trying to distract the monster or set up a deadly trap, the plan won't work the second time because the monster becomes aware of the plan. The animatronics really help in bringing the monster to life because of it's texture and movements as well as the overall design of the monster that you can actually believe that this can be real. That's why I enjoyed this films because of the little blocks to the characters' plans and showing how deadly a monster can be when it gets smart, as well as the effectiveness of the animatronic on the monster.

Narrative Lecture part 9: Arachnophobia (1990)

The next film we watched for our Narrative lecture is Arachnophobia


The story of Arachnophobia is about a group of scientist lead by an entomologist going to the Amazon jungle looking for a new type of bug. While on their search they end up finding a new breed of spider, which they decided to examine it when they return home to see what makes the spider unique. While on their return they unknowingly brought with them a live spider which made it's way to a small town where it will start a new colony of spiders.
We watched this film to see an example of a horror budget film which uses a creator as a monster. This films plays on the public's fear of spiders and to me it did it with great success because of how the spiders move and the way the music is used to describe the action of the spiders.
The way it plays is like a murder mystery but instead of a person, the public where looking for the illness that was killing everyone which turns out to be poison from a spider. Some of things they mentioned in the film was very questionable on the spider for example they move like an ant colony and are organised and their poison acts very fast, but then again the public are dealing with a new breed of spider so of course the spiders won't work like an ordinary spider.

Narrative Lecture part 8: Mars Attacks (1996)

The film we watched for our narrative lecture is Tim Burton's 'Mars Attacks'



The plot of Mars Attack is that Earth is invaded by Martians, who the humans thought were peaceful, but it turns out they want to take over the world.
This film is an adaptation of a card game that was based on the sci-fi films of the 1950's. With crazy over acting people and budget like clothes for the Martians. I believe this film really captured the 1950's feel with it's story and setting but also added some recent technology to it to show that the film your watching is dated but recent at the same time. With the use of camera movement by actually going close to the actors as well as the actions that were taking place in the film. It is also a very daring film by killing off big named actors at the time who you would think that they will survive at the end of the movie. However where it really shines is it's use of CG, the visual effects is stunning. Actually believing that some of the events that happened in the film could be possible, that there could be aliens with big heads, lazer guns that can incinerate people to their bones and giant robots that rampage across the city. Even though the CG at the time was dated it is still impressive and it also help delivering a satisfying 1950's sci-fi film.

Narrative Lecutre part 7: Them! (1954)

The next film we watched for our Narrative lecture is 'Them!'



The plot of the film is about a police officer investigating the disappearance of the public which turns out to be mutated ants who are spreading across the globe, this involve the military and its up to them to prevent the ant from spreading even more.
This film is considered as one of the first atomic aged movies as well as one of the quintessential monster movies. It was also meant for 3D but the producers stopped when they broke the camera, so there are scenes that are meant to poke at you.
This may also be considered as a big budget movie because the giant ants are animatronic and there are a lot of them.
This movie might be playing on the public's fear on the uses of nuclear power that it might mutate a creature and turns them into a monster, showing that using such energy is dangerous that there must be alternate and safer ways to get energy.
Even though the movie was long it was quite enjoyable seeing the type of special effects used in the 1950's, even now I believe the effects are pretty good because at that time they had to create their own monsters and make them look realistic.

Narrative Lecture part 5: House of Wax (1953)

The next film we watched for our Narrative lecture is André De Toth's 'House of Wax'.



It stars Vincent Price as a wax sculptor named Henry Jarrod who is obsessed with his creations. Until a business partner burnt his gallery with Jarrod in it. After that event mysterious murders started beginning with the business partner. Soon a new gallery opened displaying new wax models by Jarrod, one of the new models is the same business partner in the same position he died in. We are then introduce to Sue Allan, who is investigating the murder of her friend and the disappearance of her body. She finds the body at the same wax gallery playing Jone of arc.

This movie is meant to be one of the first films done in 3D, and it really shows because they are not being subtle. An example of can be shown when we see a man with some paddle balls advertising the wax gallery, he even spoke in a manner that it seems he is talking to the audience.
The narrative of the film was pleasing as a murder mystery movie but the camera angles where bad, it focus at odd places especially near the beginning when Jarrod was fighting the business partner, but the shots where done in a way that the audience felt they were in the film. However at times I felt the film focused more on the 3D than on the actual film it self which most films do when they are making a film in 3D. The public can see this as a reference for making a movie in 3D, how you see this is up to you. The positive is that the film is trying to draw the audience in the film making them feel they are involved, but the negative side is that it trying too hard to show it is a 3D film that it loses its story and become distracting.

Narrative Lecture 4: The Day the Earth Stood Still

The next film we watched for our Narrative lecture is The Day the Earth Stood Still 1951 version.



The plot is about an alien named Klaatu who came to earth to deliver an important message to the public, but kept on getting stopped so he decided to hide amongst the people to learned about them and gaining information to find a way to deliver his message.
This movie was known as the first of its kind for being different. Instead of having an alien invasion it has an alien delivering a message to the world. The message is the message of peace letting the people know that if they continue making more weapons of mass destruction they might take their war to an even higher place which is space. So Klaatu came to earth to say there are some aliens who won't stand for that and will prevent this by destroying earth, but they are willing to give earth a second chance by sending their robots to monitor them and if there are any violence they will eliminate it. Klaatu admits this plan isn't perfect but it will get the job done.
I believe what makes this movie successful is how it talks about the violence in the world and it might grow into other areas like space. The movie questions this and asked when will it end, how far will the violence go. What if there was a life form who discovers this and decided to take matters into his own hands by threatening the planet by destroying it. The film itself is a type of warning to the public making them aware that all these violence isn't good and there has to be another way to settle disputes.
People questions if the film is a B Movie or not but the truth is I don't care I thought the effects were good at it's time but where it really shines is the story of Klaatu's quest to bring peace to the world.

Narrative Lecture part 3: The Quatermass Xperiment

In this part of the lecture we looked at British narrative in film, we observed this by watching 'The Quatermass Xperiment'(1955).

The film began with a spaceship landing in a field causing a disturbance around the area. Police and firemen surrounds the spaceship waiting for their orders from the man who made the ship, Bernard Quatermass.
Once they investigated the ship they only found one survivor, a space engineer named Victor Carron. He was sent to the neariest hospital but before the paramedics left Victor told Quatermass help me.

This film gave off a frightening vibe, because Victor had a zombie like appearance on his face and his actions came out odd. He attacks plants at random and he always gave off the most frightening dead like expression. What also gave this film a scary feel is the way the deadbodies look when victor touched them, the deadbodies are very skinny to the bone which was a very good effect at the time. To help with the scarinest of the film it plays with the mystory of whats happening to Victor, by having some odd outburst and going through changes in his body and mind.
I believe what made this film unique is how it shows a different type of invasion, unlike the old sci-fi films at the time where they had aliens purposly coming to earth to take over. In Quatermass it was a non-contagious bacteria that effected one man and used him to absorb life around him to get itself bigger to send off spores to effect more people.
So in this film it was a bacteria that was threating earth and it was up to Quatermass to stop it because he felt responsible for it. Once he had stop the bacteria he still wants to carry on his experiment, to explore the far regions of space. That is what made this film unique with it's different way of story telling and exicution.

Narrative Lecture part 2: Ed Wood

The next film we watched for our Narrative Lecture was Ed Wood(1994).

The movie is a biography on the worst director named Ed Wood, who take risks in making his films that he believes are great. The film shows how far Ed Wood is willing to go to produce his master piece and it depicts Ed Wood as a pretty nice guy making friends where ever he goes and bringing them to his films.
It also shows us Ed Woods fixation on Orson Welles and wanting to be just like him, a great director.
The movie also have Ed Wood questioning himself if he is doing the right thing, if he is even meant to be a director.
I believe this movie is meant to tell us what will happen if you have the drive for making a film but going about it the wrong way by taking one shots of scenes with no back ups, not enough money and doing things illegally like taking shots on locations that you don't have permissions for and stealing props.
But regardless of all the dangers, once it is done it will all be worth it in the end.

Bad Kids Go To Hell Review

Two weeks ago my class was assigned to read and review comic book. I had trouble finding time to read it, but once I did I could see why my tutors asked us to read it. The comic we were asked to read was 'Bad Kids Go To Hell', it was made by Matthew Spradlin and Barry 'Bazz' Wernick.

Before I actually read the comic I did asked some of my class mates who did and one of them said it felt like a movie in book form and I also heard that it had a 'Breakfast Club' feel to it. How ever when I was reading it I could see some other film influences in it, I won't say what films they are to avoid some spoilers.
The story is about a group of trouble makers joining up in detention in the library for causing trouble in school. The characters are Megan the brains, Tarek another smart kid, Craig the jock, Tricia the cheerleader, Veronica the goth and Matt the underdog/loser. All six of these kids did something bad and they are all answered in the book. While they are serving their detention an angry spirit of an native Indian is wreaking havoc in the library and the kids need to get out before they are all dead.

Now when I head the title 'Bad Kids Go To Hell' I assumed they actually went to hell and had to fight for their lives or something. Which is pretty much true since they are going through their own hell mostly fear, paranoia and guilt. It also talks about how tough going to a private school can be with the stress of making your parents proud, baring with the school kids picking on you and the fear of graduation leaving school to move on to somewhere unfamiliar.
The book is not only about school kids having trouble with school but it is also mystery story finding out who or what is causing trouble in the library and why, which all will become obvious in the end.
So if any of you haven't read this book yet please do because it is really good, there are some nick picks here and there like the colours don't match and one of the characters hair style changes from elegant short haircut to something that some what resembles girly wolverine haircut and back, but it's nothing major the story is good the some of the characters are likable and the artwork is nice. So go and give it a read.

Narrative Lecture part 1: Lost in La Mancha

On Tuesday the 21th we have watched a documentary about a man who had the ambition to make a film but didn't have the budget for it. The name of the documentary is Lost in La Mancha.

The documentary is about Terry Gilliam, who directed Brazil, Jabberwocky, Brothers Grimm and Monty python and the Holy Grail, having trouble making a movie on the story of Don Quixote. The Spanish story of Don Quixote is about man who wants to live in a world of fantasy filled with dragons, giants and knights. To make that world real Quixote decided to imagine it all by making his suit of armor out of pots and pans and goes off into his own little adventure.

It was important to watch this documentary because it shows that if you have the greatest idea ever you still need money to make, and it also shows if you have the money everything still goes wrong. Examples would be if an actor was running late, if shooting outside beware of sudden change of weather and if the actor ends up sick. These events can stop a production of a film in a flash, it does not matter how prepared you are it can still happen.