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    M for Movie

    By Marlin
    Aug 25, '05 6:22 PM EST
    image
    Magnificent Montague�this one�s a curious one. As far as posting the rest of my final work, I�m content spending this first part of my vacation with my thumb in my rear rather than compiling and editing images for the log.

    Moms Mabley I mentioned to a log passerby that my posts generally tend to be close-ended pieces, and ultimately don�t invite much dialogue. In the case of this film, I would enjoy some dialogue, if there�s any to be had. The film is a reflection of my writing style, it turns out, and so I encourage the folks that enjoyed the log pieces to grab the office Aeron chair and draftsman no. 13 for a good six minutes. Heaven knows draftsman no. 13 needs a break. I hope you enjoy.


     
    • 9 Comments

    • raji

      man does that thing drag on forever.

      Aug 25, 05 6:27 pm  · 
       · 
      The Thriller in Manila

      I likeded it.....The guy with the glasses was a bit boring but good editing, Big ups

      Aug 25, 05 7:33 pm  · 
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      anatomical gift

      at the risk of sounding like an acritical dope...I thought it was really good.

      Aug 25, 05 9:51 pm  · 
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      Mason White

      nice one, marlin.
      i think the pace was great. suddenly i was eager to see some flesh to rubber no-holds-barred dodgeball.

      also, you might be interested in the work of Honest or Jem Cohen

      Aug 25, 05 9:58 pm  · 
       · 

      i liked the very first clip of the dog playing on the white floor with the two red balls. the clarity and abstraction of it - really beautiful segment. (would love to see this piece play out longer in a different context.)

      the later dog scenes, where it seems like they try to connect with the larger narrative (chasing vs. dodging, the falling drops sequence), actually seem less effective. these later scenes are less idealized, as you get a sense of lighting/shadow on the white floor, making it less abstracted from an understanding of 'real', and the feeling that someone is dropping the balls for the dog, i.e., the feeling that it's intentional.

      all in all pretty interesting and nicely made. nice soundtrack and use of vintage footage. triggered lots of non-sequitur associations for me. i'd been curious as you've talked about this project. thanks for posting it.

      Aug 26, 05 9:52 am  · 
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      I'd hint more toward Syberberg

      feel the burn

      Aug 26, 05 4:27 pm  · 
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      Marlin

      So, Mason, i had a feeling you'd enjoy this lil flick. Own Ben Smoke, though crossdressingcrackaddict has been musicians becomes a cumbersome subject after one too many indie flicks. There’s a bit about cheap sunglasses at the beginning I can watch forever. I enjoy the Nike spots, though the gag aspect also is a bit taxing.

      Shadows and the dog: there is a broadcast (TV) bleed at the edges of the frame that make it into the entire screen composition when the file is viewed as a QT. This explains a lot of the extra black borders in the graphics that seem misplaced. In addition, practically all the shadow in the dog sequence is cropped out when the movie is viewed on a television- this is the way it was viewed by the jury, cropped in by a television. Like print media, broadcast design still mandates a bleed space, and i'm on vacation, so folks get the full construction of the file.

      Peripheral address of a couple emails: SCIArc doesnt have a film department, obviously. In fact, there is nothing about SCIArc that necessarily stresses filmmaking. I feel, in an effort to adjust the education to expanding technologies and to the proliferation of powerpoint and short animations generated in 3d programs, SCIArc is offereing seminars that explore these forms of expression as they have been used previously in history. As these forms of expression/demonstration seep into client presentations, a level of clarity about how to do them properly becomes a curious point of academic investigation for architecture.

      Aug 28, 05 5:49 pm  · 
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      Marlin

      Grand theft fast, grand theft furious: Brother Damon relayed a conversation he had with a designer at Rockstar Games. Brother Damon was commenting on the intensity of the car crash sequences in the new Grand Theft Auto. “Hollywood,” the designer says. “No one does car crashes better than Hollywood. You figure, they’ve been doing it that much longer than us anyways, and they’re after the same thing we are: make the next one cooler. Better.” Thus, in an effort to learn how to visually communicate the feeling, the essence, of a space through motion picture, I figure Hollywood probably does it better than architects. From Hollywood, lessons are available on how to “demonstrate” through motion pictures and animations, the feeling of confined space.

      Scorcese’s Raging Bull and Mike Leigh’s Mean Time: Certainly Raging Bull demonstrates an amazing way to cover, shoot, and edit a boxing sequence. But, Scorcese is better at something else I feel should resonate with architects: moving a camera through, and editing shots of, small spaces. Tiny bars, New York brownstones. Mean Time as well. Scorcese and Leigh demand from the viewer an understanding that these are indeed real spaces, not 2D sets. The audience’s point of view is not fixed. Hollywood simply does a better job moving the camera in order to demonstrate the legibility of the space where a scene takes place. But these aren’t lessons that need to be overcomplicated with a language of “architecture and film,” it’s precision scene coverage. Lessons available in a first year filmmaking textbook.

      Aug 28, 05 5:49 pm  · 
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      Marlin

      This film resonates with an excerpt from a previous post, “…it’s how good you are under the circumstances.” I’m still bewildered I pulled off something watchable under the weight of an urban planning studio. At some point in the final nights, I dumped half the film knowing I’d never get it done with as much integrity as the sequences I had already begun. Thus the task was to figure out how to give the film a beginning, middle, and end without half the intended story. I suppose at some point there will be an extended version…

      Films worth watching? The list is too long. There are however, remarkable lessons in movies by popular directors, and so there is no need to burden the question by rehashing the specialty/ foreign list on Netflix. I like to recommend The Shooting, a hectic Monte Hellman B-movie “existential” western that’s more genius than genius, Jack Nicholson’s first appearance on screen. Written by the same woman that wrote Five Easy Pieces. I love them both as pieces that stemmed from an amazing shooting script.

      The secret’s out. I spent all semester watching Errol Morris flicks, poring over Moshe Safdie, and listening to DJ Premier compilations.

      ~Marlin

      Aug 28, 05 5:49 pm  · 
       · 

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