Tag Archives: movies

December 5, 2013 · 10:03 pm

A Quiet Moment of Writerly Bliss

IMG_3734

So my progress on the Eldritch sequel has been halted for the moment as I put together an outline proposal on another project. More on that to come, but it’s a novel and after much gnashing of teeth I finally came up with my Act III! Nothing like breaking through a mental barrier and solving plot problems all at once!

The secret to my breakthrough was both taking a break and indulging in a research-related movie. The story is to have a historical setting and watching newsreel footage from the time suddenly filled in the gaps for me. There is nothing more useful than being able to picture the setting, the people, the events…

A fresh blanket of snow outside, peace and quiet, and a roaring fire did their bit to contribute as well.

Yay me!

(Moments of satisfaction for writers are solitary and rather fleeting, therefore they must be enjoyed. I shall celebrate with egg nog and then take the garbage out.)

Comments Off on A Quiet Moment of Writerly Bliss

Filed under the Writing Life

Tagged as , , , ,

September 12, 2013 · 7:13 pm

What Would Hitchcock Do?

alfred_hitchcockThis is quite a good look at the mechanics of scriptwriting and how the great Alfred Hitchcock put together his immensely popular thrillers.

A meticulous craftsman, Hitchcock made movies that are textbooks on the art of effective visual storytelling.

Comments Off on What Would Hitchcock Do?

Filed under Writing Workshop

Tagged as ,

June 25, 2013 · 4:31 pm

Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)

Another animation classic. For clever concept and perfectly focussed execution, this very short short is peerless. A one-joke film, but so well done!

Bambi Meets Godzilla from Global Mechanic Media on Vimeo.

Comments Off on Bambi Meets Godzilla (1969)

Filed under Animation

Tagged as

June 21, 2013 · 7:18 pm

Weekly Eldritch: Empty Streets

images-3

Stepping into a street that is unexpectedly empty always makes me uneasy. Continue reading →

Comments Off on Weekly Eldritch: Empty Streets

Filed under Eldritch

Tagged as ,

June 18, 2013 · 4:31 pm

Banks rattle me.

Here’s another favourite of mine, a lovely animated short based on a story by the great Canadian humourist Stephen Leacock. This shows you how devastatingly simple cut-out animation can be. Watch the writing hands… no need to animate a whole arm! And I love that shadows show around the moveable paper bits. Beautifully written and performed too, of course. Starting with stellar source material is never a bad idea.

My Financial Career by Gerald Potterton, National Film Board of Canada

Perfection!

Comments Off on Banks rattle me.

Filed under Animation

Tagged as

June 11, 2013 · 1:39 pm

Fantastic Animation App: McLaren’s Workshop

th_cd3b0ba944968798efa226bcc0656742_1370466323mclarenappthumbJust a couple of weeks ago I was talking about Norman McLaren, animation visionary at the National Film Board, and now the venerable NFB has released a truly awesome app: McLaren’s Workshop. And it’s free! I couldn’t download it fast enough!

Continue reading →

Comments Off on Fantastic Animation App: McLaren’s Workshop

Filed under Animation

Tagged as ,

June 3, 2013 · 5:31 pm

Richard Condie: Piano practice, scrabble and nuclear war

Among my NFB animation favourites are two crazy funny shorts by Winnipeg filmmaker Richard Condie.

Getting Started (1979) is the sad tale of someone trying to sit down to piano practice. All musicians (and procrastinators) will find this painfully familiar.

Getting Started (1979) by Richard Condie, National Film Board of Canada

The Big Snit launched a good half-dozen catchphrases that I still find myself saying over twenty years later…*

The Big Snit (1985) by Richard Condie, National Film Board of Canada

*and when I write out my grocery list I always include “carrost”

Comments Off on Richard Condie: Piano practice, scrabble and nuclear war

Filed under Animation

Tagged as ,

May 30, 2013 · 6:51 pm

Weekly Eldritch: Jan Svankmajer’s “Alice”

Alice and White Rabbit

What creepy little gem do I have for you today? Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, no less, or at least the film version made in 1988 by Czech animator Jan Svankmajer*. Titled simply Alice, this film gives the old story a stunningly bizarre industrial-age twist.

k-bigpic

Carroll’s tale was already a bit nightmarish, and Svankmajer has certainly taken that element and run with it. You know how it starts, with Alice in a lovely forest following the white rabbit? Here’s how Svankmajer reimagines it:

Check out that rabbit! Yikes!

Here’s another, truly eldritch scene:

It’s about time that taxidermy played a larger role in children’s entertainment, don’t you think?

Svankmajer is quoted here talking about the film:

So far all adaptations of Alice (including the latest by Tim Burton) present it as a fairy tale, but Carroll wrote it as a dream. And between a dream and a fairy tale there is a fundamental difference. While a fairy tale has got an educational aspect, it works with the moral of the lifted forefinger (good overcomes evil), dream, as an expression of our unconscious, uncompromisingly pursues the realisation of our most secret wishes without considering rational and moral inhibitions, because it is driven by the principle of pleasure. My Alice is a realised dream. (interview, Electric Sheep Magazine, June 2011)

* Jan Svankmajer was a tremendous influence on the Brothers Quay, whose animation I posted in a previous Weekly Eldritch

Related:

more on Jan Svankmajer

 

 

Comments Off on Weekly Eldritch: Jan Svankmajer’s “Alice”

Filed under Animation, Eldritch

Tagged as