The 56th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express started this week under the new creative leadership of BFI’s Head of Exhibition and Festival Director, Clare Stewart, bringing a rich and diverse programme of international films and events from both established and upcoming talent over a 12 day celebration of cinema. The Festival will screen a total of 225 fiction and documentary features, including 14 World Premieres, 15 International Premieres and 34 European Premieres. There will also be screenings of 111 live action and animated shorts. A stellar line-up of directors, cast and crew are expected to take part in career interviews, master classes, and other special events. The 56th BFI London Film Festival will run from 10-21 October 2012.
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Sinister - Total Film Review
Like most struggling writers, true-crime novellist Ellison (Ethan Hawke) spends far too much time in his room watching films.
What's harder to swallow is that none of them are Insidious, with which Scott Derrickson's slick horror shares much of its DNA (not to mention its producers).
Both movies feature young families uncovering old secrets in new houses; both have child-snatching demons glimpsed only in passing; and both aim for that tricky combination of spooky and funny.
Happily, both mainly hit the mark. In terms of spooky, one of Ellison’s films (found, naturally, in the attic) shows a family hanging from the tree in his backyard, while another reveals a face that moves eerily audience-wards behind his back. Though a little less scary, Sinister tackles its comedy scenes better than the earlier film, particularly those featuring fanboy cop Deputy So-And-So (the brilliantly awkward James Ransone) who’s all too eager to help Ellison with his investigations. “That is a conversation I would not want to be around,” he offers when Ellison decides to tell wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) they’ve moved into a murder house. Frankly, she might have guessed something was up by how much time hubby spends wandering around the attic swinging his baseball bat at shadows. Thanks to a dependably driven performance from Hawke, Chris Norr’s gorgeously glassy cinematography and several shiversome reveals, Sinister manages to be both an opportunistic Insidious clone and a much more consistent watch. It may be as subtle as Ellison’s trusty slugger, but there’s no denying it gets the job done. Verdict: An enjoyable, if boilerplate, boo-flick that maintains an enviable rate of scares per minute by throwing everything – demons, ghosts, snakes, loud noises – at the screen.
What's harder to swallow is that none of them are Insidious, with which Scott Derrickson's slick horror shares much of its DNA (not to mention its producers).
Both movies feature young families uncovering old secrets in new houses; both have child-snatching demons glimpsed only in passing; and both aim for that tricky combination of spooky and funny.
Happily, both mainly hit the mark. In terms of spooky, one of Ellison’s films (found, naturally, in the attic) shows a family hanging from the tree in his backyard, while another reveals a face that moves eerily audience-wards behind his back. Though a little less scary, Sinister tackles its comedy scenes better than the earlier film, particularly those featuring fanboy cop Deputy So-And-So (the brilliantly awkward James Ransone) who’s all too eager to help Ellison with his investigations. “That is a conversation I would not want to be around,” he offers when Ellison decides to tell wife Tracy (Juliet Rylance) they’ve moved into a murder house. Frankly, she might have guessed something was up by how much time hubby spends wandering around the attic swinging his baseball bat at shadows. Thanks to a dependably driven performance from Hawke, Chris Norr’s gorgeously glassy cinematography and several shiversome reveals, Sinister manages to be both an opportunistic Insidious clone and a much more consistent watch. It may be as subtle as Ellison’s trusty slugger, but there’s no denying it gets the job done. Verdict: An enjoyable, if boilerplate, boo-flick that maintains an enviable rate of scares per minute by throwing everything – demons, ghosts, snakes, loud noises – at the screen.
Waterloo Road - Replication Analysis
In this clip from the British TV school based drama, Waterloo Road, there is a very wide range of different camera shots, to explain the representational issue of teenagers, which is exactly why my group chose to replicate this specific clip. We decided this would be a good idea as having a range of different camera shots shows our skills as a group and it wouldn’t be boring. The clip starts with mid-shots of two male characters, one walking towards the other (who we do not see as clearly), followed by a gunshot sound, so even though we do not see the event so clearly on screen, we know what has happened due to the sound effects. After this main event in the clip, the editing is very much cut at a quick pace from scene to scene, and especially from character to character to show their feelings of fear, building up a feeling of tension amongst the audience. Following this we see a wide and high angle shot of all of the students outside of the school, having previously been evacuated, screaming and panicking. This birds-eye-view shot makes the audience feel as though they are seeing the effects of the tragedy from all angles, as you can see everyone in this shot. This cuts to a slow motion pan around the headteacher – who stands straight and emotionless, staring into space; rather than running around and screaming like the other, much younger characters. This illustrates to the audience that she has some importance as she stands out amongst everyone else – controlled and still amongst the storm. Also this could suggest that she is much older and wiser than the other clueless, panicking school children surrounding her. Straight away after viewing this character it cuts back to the screaming school teenagers to impact on the viewer the levels of panic and distraught brought upon these young people. After this we see Donte, the victim of the shooting, burst out of the building in no calm way at all, confirming that everyone has good reason to be panicked – it is unsafe to be in the building as he stumbles straight out of it and doesn’t look back. We then see a midshot of a girl running towards the character Donte, shouting his name and looking incredibly worried. She is held back by her father and told to run no further, creating a sense of suspense for the audience – the kind of scene that will make an audience sit on the edge of their seats, feeling empathy towards the young girl, despite her young age and stereotypical representation of a not very classy teenager, as she must watch her loved one suffer from afar and is unable to help him. The headteacher remains standing straight and almost emotionless, as she stares at all the commotion going on around her. The camera again pans around her but this time from a much lower angle, looking up at her, suggesting that she is about to gain the audience’s respect as she appears to come up with an idea. The teacher snaps out of her trance and the camera cuts to a midshot of the back of the character’s body as she turns around to run inside the building that victim Donte had previously burst out of in panic. This could suggest that she is about to be seen as the hero of the situation.
Wednesday, 3 October 2012
Waterloo Road Analysis
This clip from Waterloo Road deals with several issues such as drug abuse, peer pressure and age. From the beginning of the clip we can tell as the audience that we are in an environment for younger people - the camera focuses on toilet cubicles covered in graffiti and litter, which we instantly associate with a secondary school. Next, the audience can tell that we are encouraged to look down upon the characters featured on screen as the camera starts at a very high angle and pans across the tops of the toilet cubicles, to where two girls are standing, handling and discussing drugs. As the third character cuts in, she is looking over the toilet cubicle wall, down at the two girls. As she stresses to them that they shouldn't be dealing with drugs, the camera cuts to the point of view of the two girls, looking up at her, as though she has more authority than them as she is the 'wise one' - she is giving them sensible advice that they both know they should listen to. The high angle in comparison to the low angle shooting may also be linked to age - perhaps the third girl is older than the other two, as she is looked up at in a way which represents her as old and wise, as well as speaking sense. Also towards the beginning, the camera pans from character to character as they question each other, creating a sense of confusion amongst the two girls.
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