Term 2: Week 3: In which we really start making films

The first half of the week was officially quite empty but thankfully we had the Crawl for Haiti film to fill it up. More on that excitement in a seperate blog.

Wednesday

Again we had the luxury and comfort of the boardroom to enjoy as we discussed the idea of appointment viewing. This was especially enjoyable for me since I cut my analytical teeth on Doctor Who, and have been familiar with it's structure and its 360 presence from the beginning. I also know the names of all the actors, and way more unnecessary detail besides.

(For instance, while the Paul McGann tv movie conflicts with continuity somewhat, his Doctor has established himself moreso through the Big Finish audios and the novel series. Also, there is the forgotten Ninth Doctor, played by Richard E Grant in an online one-off. And what connects these two? Withnail & I of course!)

As our accompanying viewing we got a real treat: the Morcambe and Wise Christmas Special! Some of the topical jokes fell badly flat, which is probably why you don't see these being repeated on tv any more, but a lot of the humour still works and I could easily imagine families gathering to watch it at Christmas. It's a pity we don't have anything similar - surely in the BBC's sizable stable of comedians someone could put together an hour of laughs? What you wouldn't get, though, would be the co-operation of the guest stars. Can you imagine today's celebrities submitting to that kind of treatment? Each one would have a long list of what could and couldn't be alluded to, and what level of mockery they would tolerate.

Thursday

This was a big day for the DFTV crew, since it was the first time we all worked together on a shoot. Overall, I think we did very well.

My own area of responsibility was sound, but by the nature of the event, that was mainly taken care of by our TPA equivalent, and it's a good thing too since what I know about sound could be scribbled on the back of a beer mat. Still, I didn't take that as an excuse to sit back and let the others do the heavy lifting, I joined in, sometimes quite literally - lugging sandbags to weight the tripods. I mainly busied myself worrying about the little details like battery charges and holding up the back focus diagram.

I enjoyed the collaboration very much, and I think we got on very well with TPA, since they are our natural techie kin. This little experience has made me more excited for upcoming partnerships, since I reckon we can do some great things together.

Friday

More silent cinema, this time the much-hyped Sunrise. I'd never even heard of it until Andy told us about it but I'm glad I got the chance to see it.

The plot is simplicity itself, the story of a marriage's difficulty and eventual resolution. I wasn't absolutely convinced by the characters' sudden 180 but I was willing to go with it, and the cynical interpretation that the man was only luring his wife into a false sense of security all the better to kill her didn't cross my mind. Their finances did make me nervous - can you really afford to gallivant about?

I really have to mention the cutest piglet in cinematic history - it was adorable. Was it relevent? not really, but it was more than cute enough to make up for that.

Joy of joys, the soundtrack this week suited the action and was easy on the ear! It had character themes and evoked atmosphere and emotion. So, thank you to whoever recovered and recorded that.

It's a pity Murnau was in that car crash, since he surely had more brilliance in him. Perhaps he could have sped up the transition into sound cinema. So take this as a life lesson folks: when driving, be sure to pay full attention to the road.


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