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What film opened your eyes???


Jonathan Spear

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i'll definately never forget that scene in Blair Witch at the end where the camera guy ( :blink: ) is facing the wall with his head bowed...

 

:o

 

Yeah that was scary. That was also one of the only true scary moments in that film IMO. It didn't really deliver.

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Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" was the first film that got into my head, I got started with silents, so also "Battleship Potemkin" and "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari", etc. I'll also lump in "Touch of Evil" and "His Girl Friday" for being my favorite films, let's say those are my choices from the sound era.

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Yeah that was scary. That was also one of the only true scary moments in that film IMO. It didn't really deliver.

 

 

true. the only other moment that sent shivers down my spine was when the girl starts yelling and screaming at the guy who lost the map. an awkward moment.

 

from a filmmaker's point of view, i'd have to agree. it definately didn't deliver.

i'd be lying if i said that i found it obvious, but i do remember falling asleep at one point, then waking up moments before that ending scene.

 

it was hugely succesful though, so i bet the studios were happy.

 

which reminds me, didn't Blair's cinematographer die in a copter accident a few months ago?

:(

and his career was just getting started.

 

i guess those are the risks we take.

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I also forgot to add seeing "Superman: The Movie" in 1978.  Combine that with "Close Encounters" and I fell in love with lens flares and halation around bright areas from diffusion filters.

 

If "Close Encounters" sparked my interest in how movies were directed in terms of the camera movement, "Superman" made me realize that a DP was involved in this, because the beginning of the movie was dedicated to "Geoffrey Unsworth, O.B.E."  I vaguely knew that this meant he was given the Order of the British Empire, post-humously I guess, and this really impressed me as a teenager, that a cinematographer could get that much respect (by dying unfortunately.) Then I read that he was much loved and respected by his colleagues, which also impressed me. And I still run into that: the DVD's of "Superman" and "Tess" both mention him in the behind-the-scenes docs, and in both cases, the leading actress was probably to most moved by his death.  They really appreciated how he made them look too...

 

Unsworth and Alcott, both involved in "2001", the other big influence, cemented an early and continuing interest in British cinematographers.  Then I saw "Lawrence of Arabia", "Chariots of Fire", "Fiddler on the Roof", "Three Musketeers", etc. in my early college years and I was hooked on those DP's.

 

 

WHOA! :blink: SNAP!!!

 

EXACTLY the same for me, except it all happened to me around 1993- I grew up surrounded by that old school British look. Shame it never stayed around...

 

While I'm here, Disney's Fantasia is for me the greatest cinematic accomplishment of all time and justifies the creation of the art form. Despite being my favourite film and the picture I always turn to for everything, I have kept my knoweldge of it's production to a MINIMUM since I first saw it on the 1990 rerelease- I don;t care HOW it was made: bottom line is that it's amazing, stimulating and fulfilling.

 

Somewhere between Bambi and Santa Claus The Movie (really a live action Disney animated movie) were the movies that opened my eyes and that was early 80s.

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"GoodFellas" opened my eyes to the world of filmmaking. Michael Mann had a big influence on me with "Miami Vice." When I was in college, the TV show "Homicide" made an equally large impression on me.

 

Just a few examples of what got me into it. Now I'd have to say Godard and Fellini are the two influences I reach for first.

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Yep yep yep. Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, Bladerunner, Godard's Weekend, Fellini Satyricon and

8 1/2... They have all shaped me, without a doubt. Even as Fellini's Freudian comic book antics wear off on me, 8 1/2 remains one of the most stunning black and white films ever made.

 

D. Sloan: Cassavettes, absolutely. It's just that I couldn't choose any one of his films to be on my list. Same with Godard. Coutard's camerawork puts me into cinematic heat (???). Btw, I thought our film interests might be similar after you posted something about Jodorowsky (being a genius) a few months ago.

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That's interesting, because when I saw that, I thought it was creepy too, but I said "what the hell was THAT supposed to be?".

Then later, I read that he was supposed to have been hanged by the killer, but you couldn't see the rope in the scene, so they said "what the hell, leave it in".

 

MP

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I also forgot to add seeing "Superman: The Movie" in 1978.  Combine that with "Close Encounters" and I fell in love with lens flares and halation around bright areas from diffusion filters.

 

 

I loved Superman! Northfork had that great halation look that reminded me of Unsworth's work in Superman when the Kents found Clark. I unfortunately wasn't born until almost a decade later so I missed it in theaters but I watched it on the small screen all the time growing up and now on DVD.

 

My favorite movies growing up were movies like Spielberg's Jurassic Park and E.T. All those movies seemed so magical and as I grew up, movies like The Sixth Sense, The Matrix, and A.I. inspired me to start experimenting and learning how to create my own magic. And now I am at a Film School learning more and this forum has been a great help as well.

 

Janusz Kaminski's work opened my eyes to cinematography and I fell in love with his signiture style. I asked many questions here, as David Mullen knows, about Kaminski scenes, especially in A.I.. So because of both David and Janusz I am a big fan of "halation around bright areas" using difussion filters or NETS, I am a big fan of nets over the lens. As for more of my favorite DP's; I love the work of Allen Daviau, Gordon Willis, and Conrad L. Hall.

Edited by Roberto Hernandez
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Guest Aaron Slade

By far and away BLADE RUNNER.

 

To a lessor extent Star Wars.....Dont Look Now.......Scarface.........The Shining.....and The Exorcist

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That's interesting, because when I saw that, I thought it was creepy too, but I said "what the hell was THAT supposed to be?". Then later, I read that he was supposed to have been hanged by the killer, but you couldn't see the rope in the scene, so they said "what the hell, leave it in".

 

I always understood it to be the legend of the Blair Witch acting itself out. If I recall correctly (and it has been a while since I've watched the movie), part of the legend was that two children are taken down to the basement, with one being forced to stand in the corner and face the wall while the other is killed. This is what I immediately thought of when I viewed that scene.

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I always understood it to be the legend of the Blair Witch acting itself out. If I recall correctly (and it has been a while since I've watched the movie), part of the legend was that two children are taken down to the basement, with one being forced to stand in the corner and face the wall while the other is killed. This is what I immediately thought of when I viewed that scene.

 

That's what I got from it too. The thing that always bugged me about "Blair Witch" was you never saw anything in the woods. They got me all keyed up but there was never a payoff with a real fright. It would've been better if you caught a glimpse of something ala "Signs." Something that would scare the piss out of you. Also the format IMO robbed attention from the plot when the guy is killed and all they find is something in a cloth. Everybody in my screening was like, "What was that?" It was just a big blob on the screen, useless. I still don't know what it was.

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The thing that always bugged me about "Blair Witch" was you never saw anything in the woods. 

What you don't see is often scarier than what you do. The only reason this film was frightening was that the viewer kept wondering, "What is out there?". The payoff is often anti-climatic compared to how scared you were before the "reveal".

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What you don't see is often scarier than what you do.  The only reason this film was frightening was that the viewer kept wondering, "What is out there?".  The payoff is often anti-climatic compared to how scared you were before the "reveal".

 

Though that is certainly true. You can't obscure something you never showed in the first place. In that movie the 'plot' kept going forward but the character of "what's out there?" is never revealed. Halfway through the movie I was like, "well there isn't anything out there." I was wondering maybe they're not showing anything because the characters are delusional? But that wasn't the case. Or was it? For me it just didn't work, I wasn't scared one bit until the end part when the camera fell on its side. But only because it was unexpected.

 

If you give the audience something to wonder about as they did in "signs" by revealing only glimpses of the aliens, you start to ask many more questions than just "What is out there?"

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If you give the audience something to wonder about as they did in "signs" by revealing only glimpses of the aliens, you start to ask many more questions than just "What is out there?"

I understand what you're saying, but you're comparing a $72,000,000 movie to a $35,000 movie. The Blair Witch folks did what they could with what they had, and they were very successful (at the very least financially). Blair Witch managed to make 2/3's of what Signs made at the box office. That's pretty amazing. Whether the film was really scary or not is another story.... It's funny how people starting speaking so badly about it once it made a lot of money. If it had made a couple of million and disappeared no one would have cared.

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I would also add that not only have Tim Burton's films been an influence for me but oddly enough, so have the films of Ed Wood.

 

(And at this point in the post, I duck to avoid being pelted with dvd's of Real Movies That Don't Suck!)

 

The first time I saw "Plan 9" I was maybe 14. And it did get me thinking a little bit. I guess I figured, "If Ed Wood can make movies so bad that they're good, then I can probably do SOMETHING decent!"

 

Oh but they are bad. I saw "Orgy of the Dead" with a friend and we were laughing so hard that we were crying...

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Hey Ladies and Gents,

 

        Which film, tv show, etc inspired you to choose your line of work (or hobby)?

  Or was it something else entirely?

 

I never knew anything about the industry until I randomly met my now business partner while I was serving him food... he says "you're a writer, aren't you?" I say, "yes?" "I need your help..." Now we have a website holding a film festival, you can post your industry experience for free for collaborative film, and post casting and crew calls for free... Our site is an awesome networking tool, and it's a great spot for movie buffs too... they can watch and vote on the movies for free! If ya want... check it out at http://www.haydenfilms.com. The movie that made me realize where I was supposed to be was called "Far From Heaven..."

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