Throughout the course of this blog, I will most likely be posting recent filmmaking projects that I have taken upon myself to complete. I attend an arts school where I specifically major in film production and film theory. This is now my second year in the program, and I have already learned so much. What is perhaps the biggest project of the entire run at this school, I need to take 2 genres and mash them together and make a film with it. Of course there are the steps that I am leaving out, like pitching the story, development of characters, scene development, dialogue/conversation development, treatment writing, scripting, figuring out where and when I am going to film, and then making sure that my cinematography is as fine as it can be. This project will take (an estimated) 5 months to complete.
So, basically I have to take 2 genres and watch 2 films for each. For my genres I have selected ''neo-noire'' and psychological drama. Afterwards, I have to write a 4 page essay on the stylistic attributes that will help me figure out the genre. It could be camera work, lighting, imagery, sounds, ect. I'm not quite sure the films that I will watch for the psychological drama, but I know the neo-noire movies(Blade Runner, The Usual Suspects). I guess it's not that hard to find a psychological drama, I'm sure I've seen my share of them. Would ''The Silence of the Lambs'' count as one? I'm not too sure, but I know that could be classified as neo-noire anyways. Suggestions are welcome :)
So my thoughts on the project are as follows: I'm screwed. 5 months for a project that seems so stylistic? That's insane. I'm very organized, calm and cool, but this has got me paniced. My teacher is also an english teacher, which means that I have to do the 4 page essay with perfect grammer and structure. Not only that, I have to make sure that the points I'm maiking are valid! Other than that, I'm not too worried, I mean the rest is quite easy. I just have to make sure that I can work fast. The due dates for a lot of the assignments come quick.
P.s: How are you all doing today? :)
For the Neo-Noir I would recommend the two most famous, Chinatown and LA Confidential, Chinatown is quite simply one of the best films ever made...
ReplyDeleteThen there are less well known ones such as the excellent Red Rock West which I watched recently...
As for the psychological drama, well it's a rather loose term, many films contain elements of it, but I would recommend some of Michael Powell's films, Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes and Peeping Tom, there is the recent Black Swan as well... Then the classics, Taxi Driver, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Truman Show and fight Club, all great films.
Well good luck with the project!
and if you think I could help in anyway, then don't hesitate to ask me!
Thank you so much Jack, that actually did help a lot! And thank you for the offer :) I trust you when it comes to movies. I have a question for you...I'm trying to follow your blog, but I actually don't know how.. How do you do it?
ReplyDeleteOh wait, I just found out, nevermind.
ReplyDeleteSo you're the "vertigo_ncwj" that just started following my blog??, I didn't know who it was at first!
ReplyDeleteGlad you're following! and good luck with your project!