"Tales of a Student Filmmaker" is on the move!

Hey all,

This blog is now on the move! Everything is transferring over to a new Wordpress site, http://filmtales.wordpress.com. Check it out! All my posts will be exported to that new page, and all new posts will be published there.

If I have time I might duplicate the posts and have them here as well, but in general, Wordpress is the place to be!

Cheers,


Emma

Fun Videos for Filmmakers

It's Monday... so here's a fun distraction!


Alright, alright so we've all heard of this "Sh*t [insert name here] Says" thing that's going around the internet, right? (If you haven't... where have you been?) As a short blog post today, I present to you my two favourites so far. 


First up, we have "Sh*t You Never Hear On Set", which is absolutely hilarious for anyone who has ever worked on a film set. Even if you haven't been on set before, you'll probably still find this entertaining, and a fun look at how things work (or don't work) on a working film set. 

Isn't it great? :)


Next we have "Sh*t VFX Artists Say". This is for anyone who has ever spent endless hours on computers working on VFX shots, or ever wondered what it was like to do so... I learned the joy of this last semester, when I spent many, many hours with AfterEffects layering and rotoscoping and doing all kinds of simple VFX work for my film, which starred a ghost. The experience taught me great respect for the VFX artists who do this full time... it's a lot of work!

Alright then that's all for now! I hope these videos helped lighten your Monday.


PS - Have you heard of the documentary that Matt Tingey (the director of the first video) has been working on? It's called "My Other Me: A Film About Cosplayers" - check out the trailer on Youtube: http://youtu.be/dF64evU0AZI

Vancouver: The Best Place On Earth (for Film Students)

Thoughts on the Vancouver Film Industry and Some Advice for Beginners

I’m feeling the need today to express my love for my hometown. I know so many people who have negative feelings toward their own hometowns for one reason or another (or more), but as for myself? Vancouver has really been a great place for me, and I’m now going to explain why.

For starters, I’m just going to clarify for anyone who doesn’t know, I’m talking about Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Yes, Canada. Not Vancouver, Washington or anywhere else. I mean the city that hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics; the city with a [mostly] cool Skytrain system (it’s a train! in the sky! like the Disney monorail but for mass-transit!); the city nestled between the Salish Sea (formerly Georgia Strait) and the tall coastal mountains; the city at the mouth of the mighty Fraser River; the city that’s home to beautiful Stanley Park with its towering trees; the city that is - yeah, I suppose you get the point now.

A Few Thoughts After Reading "A Song of Ice and Fire"

[A note before we begin: I wrote this article less than twelve hours after finishing the last chapters of A Dance With Dragons, at an absurd hour of the morning on Wednesday. What follows is a somewhat rambling account of my experiences so far with this compelling series of novels; I’m basically just working through my thoughts, in writing, and attempting to come to terms with the many sudden twists and surprises that occurred at the end of ADWD.... PS - I promise there are no spoilers!]

Many of you have most likely heard a thing or two about George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series by now; with HBO’s TV adaptation of A Game of Thrones last year and the second season airing in a few months, and the highly anticipated release of the fifth book in the series last summer, it seems A Song of Ice and Fire is everywhere. 

My own journey with the series began with HBO’s Game of Thrones mini-series last spring. I had heard about the books when I worked at a local bookstore, but hadn’t had a chance to read them before the series began, and I was determined to wait until I’d read them all before watching the show. My mind was changed, however, when I heard from friends of mine who were watching the show how good it was. I had not heard such acclaim for a fantasy series since The Lord of the Rings, so I decided to heck with it - I’m watching. [It also helped that I read a scathing and highly inaccurate review of the series from a certain journalist at the New York Times, which made me even more intrigued by the show... for a critique of that author’s critique, check out my blog’s archives - it’s easy to find!]

What has followed that decision to watch the show has been a months-long emotional roller-coaster as I watched the show, then dove head-first into the novels and finished the first four over the summer and last night, finished the fifth (the delay was caused by my university studies taking over my life). 

The Worst Review I’ve Ever Read: Ignorant, sexist, and insulting to fans of fantasy.

Never have I felt quite as insulted when reading a review of any novel, film, or television series, as I was when I read New York Times critic Ginia Bellafante’s “review” - if you can call it that - of the new series, Game of Thrones, and I am most certainly not alone.

The review came to my attention as I stumbled across the waves of anger and backlash that flowed across the internet in the wake of Bellafante’s article being posted on the NYTimes website, and out of curiosity, I endeavoured to investigate. I wondered, what could have possibly triggered so much frustration and fury from so many people? What I discovered, as I read Bellafante’s article, was enough to have me seeing red.

To begin with, I have sadly never read George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels, though I do own the first one and intend to read it this summer. I had seen some of the promos for the new HBO series and had long since made the decision to check it out (hey, it’s epic fantasy, a genre I’ve loved since I was eight years old - why wouldn’t I watch it?). I didn’t know much about it other than what I’d been told by enthusiastic fans (I used to work in a bookstore, so I interacted with ASoIaF fans often as they arrived every couple of months or so to inquire as to the new publishing date for A Dance With Dragons). So, like many others, I had thought that perhaps Bellafante’s “review” would give me a bit more insight to the series, and perhaps give me an idea of what to expect to see.

I was so very mistaken.

It seems that Bellafante’s understanding of the term “review” is rather different from the general population’s view. I, personally, would consider a review to be a written (or spoken) analysis of a work that examines all the aspects of it and makes a recommendation of its quality - in more basic terms, someone with experience critiques a work and makes an argument as to why they think it is good and worth a person’s time and effort to see, or why they think it is not. Bellafante, on the other hand, seems to have decided that reviewing Game of Thrones was the perfect opportunity to not review the new TV series, but instead attack the fantasy genre as a whole and, to cap it all off, insult the female population of the planet in the process.

Why "Knowing" is an awful film.

Even the poster is rather awfully Photoshopped. 

I was reading through io9 today and came across this article: “In which our critic confesses to loving the end of Knowing” (http://io9.com/#!5797215/in-which-our-critic-confesses-to-loving-the-end-of-knowing). The review argues that the film isn’t great, but Nic Cage mostly makes up for it, and it attempts to make some kind of point about something but doesn’t quite get there.

Sure. I can agree with that. I’m sure there was a point buried in the nonsense that was never quite uncovered; still, I would never, ever come close to calling Knowing a good film in any way. I didn’t even like it, at all, and I’m a big sci-fi fan who is very accepting of even mediocre sci-fi, or spec-fic, or whatever. I love the genre so much I’m willing to forgive a lot and even if I recognise it’s bad, a film can still be enjoyably bad.

Not so with Knowing.

Ah, the life of a student filmmaker.

I have a confession.

I have been negligent in my blog-posting duties. I must apologise for this disgrace, and promise that I will be much better in the future!

The reason for my absence from the blog-sphere is, naturally, life as a student filmmaker. End of term hit like a freight train, with exams, papers, excessive studying, and - of course - the last few weeks of editing this year's film for SFU before the big deadline (the sound mix at Sharpe Sound) and the second big deadline, Tuesday's film screening.

But now everything is coming to an end, and suddenly I have some free time that did not exist before! My blog will prosper once more, and rest assured, I have many ideas for interesting blog posts (much more interesting than simple colour correcting, I promise - that post didn't seem to get as much attention as the Riese or Sharpe Sound ones did, and I can see why).

To begin my return to this blog, I will post a rant I wrote on my other, slightly more random, Tumblr blog (myriadthoughts). It is in response to an article I read on the very awesome website, io9.com, about the film Knowing - a train wreck of a film if ever I saw one. Surprisingly, I've discovered there is a lot of love and admiration out there for this awful film, and I felt compelled to write my own thoughts on the subject. I hope you find it entertaining!