Saw III movie review analysis - Saw 3 trumps Hostel for gore
October 28, 2006
Before I start, this movie is for “true’ horror fans only. It’s for people that like really freaky movies that make you cringe and want to look away at parts.
I just got home after watching the late night premiere of Saw III and although I’m usually absolutely bursting with things to say when I get finished with a film, this one left me disturbingly quiet. Wow, what a f**ked up horror movie and I mean that in a good way. I tried to check out the reviews before I went, but wasn’t able to because the movie wasn’t pre-screened for critics.
They definitely didn’t go soft in this finale, in fact it’s probably the goriest horror movie I’ve ever seen. The torture devices are more elaborate then ever with scenes that even surpass recent movies like Hostel; incidentally the frightening teaser trailer for Hostel 2 played in the previews for Saw III.
All three of the Saw movies exploit the following question - How far would you go to save your own life? To me this is really a great question to play with in a horror movie and allows for absolutely terrifying situations. Read more
Sound Production for DV - Digital Video - Filmmaking Adventures
October 28, 2006
The next step for continuing on in my filmmaking adventures is to learn more about sound production, recording and editing. The number 1 complaint I’ve received concerning Boy Who Never Slept was the sound quality. I have A LOT more ambitious projects in the works and I’m working very hard to improve all aspects of my filmmaking skills and right now I’m especially paying attention to Sound.
Last week I bought the book “Producing great sound for digital video” second edition by Jay Rose. It’s a 400+ page book and so far I’m read to page 165. It goes over the basics of what sound is (changes in air pressure) how it spreads through air, water, and other materials and gives many practical details about microphones and recording options. When I have time I’ll provide some specifics of how I’m personally applying this info, but for now (I know I haven’t even finished the book yet) my plan for recording the sound on my next short is as follows.
Considering I don’t have enough money to buy a professional boom, shotgun, and lavaliere microphones, so here is my realistic plan for shooting better sound on my next production. Read more
Militarism, Satire and Starship Troopers | Mock the Novel’s POV?
October 28, 2006
I recently re-watched the movie Starship Troopers. Remember? The movie about the space marines fighting the giant bugs? Think back all the way to 1997, and the real career launcher for Denise Richards (I personally prefer her performance in Wild Things).
The last time I had seen this movie I was still in high school and all I remembered about it was a lot of action and some cheesy, funny news bits. Upon re-watching the movie, it’s apparent that the entire film is a satire of a militarism or the doctrine claiming the development and maintenance of a powerfully military is essential for the benefit of society and that society itself is best governed by the concepts embodied in military culture (like discipline, authoritarianism, rank and hierarchy).
A militaristic society is based on the principle that prosperous civilizations are the result of military actions, specifically the threat of force and war, therefore a strong military is of utmost importance and is what the civilian populations are dependent upon or subservient to in order for their world to prosper.
Read more
First DVD Sold - BWNS on Amazon.com - Reviews Anyone?
October 13, 2006
The Boy Who Never Slept DVD
If you’ve seen the movie and want to help me out, why not post a customer review?
This is so exciting. Every PENNY I receive from DVD sales, adsense, advertising or donations is going to fund future films. I’m absolutely dieing to get behind / infront of a camera and produce something new.
BWNS is also available through CustomFlix, but since that has not generated any sales and doesn’t have all the great accessible features that amazon.com does, I removed the CustomFlix links and replaced them with amazon links.
Interesting note on IMDb:
It says on the amazon BWNS page:
For more information about “Boy Who Never Slept” visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Boy Who Never Slept is not currently listed on IMDb Read more
BWNS is given an R Equivalent Rating of Mature from Fair Ratings 4 All
October 13, 2006
Fair Ratings 4 All (http://fr4a.org/) gives free independent ratings for games, movies, music, television, and videos. They contacted me earlier this week about rating Boy Who Never Slept. I fully support the idea of an organization outside of the mainstream MPAA, dedicated to providing content ratings for independent works. There website is new and there isn’t a lot of items rated right now, but I’m really interested in seeing if this site / organization takes off.
They gave BWNS a rating of “mature” which is equivalent to the MPAA rating of R. This is consistent with what other websites that have listed BWNS as containing mature content (this includes veoh video and yahoo video). Reasons given for the rating from fr4a are “This movie is rated Mature (M) due to its use of alcohol, adult language, sexual content, and nudity”.
You can check out the rating here:
FR4A also expressed interest in donating to future productions. I’ll keep you posted on what happens. Below are some of the e-mail exchanges I’ve had with fr4a.
Sex Objects and Examples of Bad Website Graphic Design
October 10, 2006
One year ago I wrote a brief article entitled “Examples of Bad Website Graphic Design” (copy of article on this website). Through article marketing, it was sydicated on a number of different sites including webdesign.org. I recieved the following comment on that article, which raises questions about my intended audience and woman as sexual objects. I’ve posted my reply below and I welcome your response.
Estela writes
Do you think you could you take off the comment about “People aren’t necessarily going to read the text of your website just because a girl in a bikini is on it” from your “Examples of Bad Web Site Graphic Design” article on webdesign.org? As a “girl” webdesigner, I feel like you aren’t addressing me in your article. Instead of contributing to the idea that women and girls are sex objects, why don’t you write to an audience of ALL people (male, female, etc)? That sentence sort of spoiled the rest of the article for me.
The Departed - Movie Review, Analysis, and Mistakes
October 8, 2006
Last night I saw “The Departed”, directed by Martin Scorsese (known for directing a bunch of famous movies throughout the last 25 years, including “taxi dri
ver” and “Gangs of New York”)
It was absolutely outstanding and if you check out the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes it scored a rating of 92% positive. This is an almost unheard of high rating for a new film. Usually for a film to rate this high, it has to be in retrospection, meaning the reviews are done after the social and popular impact of the movie has already been seen.
Quick Summary
The movie is violent crime drama about a local mafia crime boss, and an undercover agent trying to bring him down, and a dirty detective. It was the fun “double identity” theme where each character has to struggle with concealing his hidden identity and coming to terms with the stress and drama the situation creates. Although the material is all stuff we’ve seen before, the “hero” undercover agent who wants his identity back, the dirty detective, and the over-the-top hedonistic crime boss ala soprano style and there are numerous continuity problems (listed below), this movie still comes off as outstanding.
What makes this film so good is its absolute superb delivery of its material. Read more
Beware of ‘The Screenplay Agency’
October 6, 2006
I should start off by saying I’ve never used or sent anything to ‘The Screenplay Agency’ before. I’m putting out this alert, because after I saw their Google ads appear on my website, I did a little research on the company. According to numerous blog articles (like this one from the screenwriting life) and forum posts (like this one from without a box), they are not a legitimate agency and indiscriminately will “accept” any piece of writing sent to them. After your initial correspondance they aparently try to pitch you on paying them to create a treatment of your screenplay.
Please don’t take my word for it, read the links above. The blog post by Danny Broderick from the screenwriting life is especially enjoyable to read. He sent them a nonsense script and documented the correspondence he had with their company. I highly suggest you read it and stay away from the screenplay agency.
[tags]screenplay,the screenplay agency,bad script agents,movies,literary agents, screenwriting scams[/tags]
Google Page Rank Update - Want to Advertise Now?
October 6, 2006
Google is currently in the middle of another pagerank update. The higher the rank your website has, the more links point to it and in a general sense the more “important” Google views that website. Of course search engine rankings depend on a lot more things then simply page rank, but it is a strong indicator of the importance of a website.
How is moviepals.org fairing on this update?
The main site and blog have risen to a pr of 5 out of 10. Some of the inner pages of this site (like the BWNS download page) and specific blog posts are up to 6 out of 10.
BWNS shot with a $100 camera!! Filmmaking accessible to everyone
October 6, 2006
The camera I shot most of BWNS with was the JVC Digital Video Camera GR-DV3. Although I understand that the video quality for BWNS was not top notch, I purposely set out to make a movie on a budget anyone could afford. I was just checked ebay and found the camera I shot BWNS with in good condition on sale for $90.00 and that’s with no bids!!!! It’s going to be very exciting to see what people create, considering the digital revolution has made filmmaking accessible to everyone.
I sold that camerea after production in order to recoup some of the expenses. Later I was able to buy a sony dsr pd100a, a 3 ccd semi pro camera, but I had to sell it when I relocated to Los Angeles. I wasn’t even able to shoot anything substantial with it.
I’m currently saving up to try and get a semi-pro video camera. Even that level of equipment has become surprisling affordable. I should be able to buy a used semi-pro video camera for $1600 or less, depending on what model I want.
[tags]filmmaking,camcorder,video camera,digital video camera,mini dv[/tags]
