A cold open (also called a teaser) in a television program or movie is the technique of jumping directly into a story at the beginning or opening ...
The best example of this is Star Wars, where you get no titles or credits, launching straight into the backstory and then into Leia's ship, confronting Darth Vader. It couldn't be done any other way. Another would be Resevoir Dogs, where it begins with the team discussing Madonna songs in a diner (among other things) and then walking iconically down a road.
Personally, I like this kind of opening - it gets you directly involved with the action and there's no messing about beforehand. Beginning with credits feels rather too close to the old films (such as The Best Days Of Our Lives).
But there are still films which start with listing all the who-did-whats with a meaningful graphic behind it. Dr Strangelove did it, and so did Centurion more recently (this was what sparked my thoughts).
So people, what do you think? Do you prefer a hot or a cold opening? (And yes, this is a blatant attempt to encourage you to comment.)
Oh, and if I got my details on films wrong, do correct me - I'm doing this entirely from memory.
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
Friday, 16 April 2010
Doctor Who
I love Doctor Who. Love it, and know far more than any one person ought to about it. In fact, my study of all things Who went a long way to teaching me about television, the way it's written and made, and got me thinking about the possibility for expansion in television. I'm glad I was dropped into the serious business end of the fandom, more interested in analysing the themes of Paul Cornell's writing than the finer aspects of how hawt David Tenant is.
In the first four series of the relaunch, a few things became very clear, and the clearest was that Steven Moffat is a brilliant writer. He wrote the best two episodes of season 1 (The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances), one of the best of season 2 (The Girl in the Fireplace), the best of season 3 and one of the scariest of all time (Blink) and while his contribution to season 4 didn't wow me especially (The Library) that is only in comparison to his other work, as a part of the whole season it was very strong.
He writes brilliant, lovable characters: Captain Jack, Sally Sparrow, Madame de Pompadour, River Song.
He uses the inherent premise of the show - timetravel - in interesting ways, and incorporates imaginative technology: microscopic robots which create clones of one person, a ship trying repair itself using organic components cannibalised from the crew, meeting someone at various points in their life while for you it's only been minutes, creatures which can only ever move when you don't look at them, leaving messages in the past for people in the future.
And most of all, his stories are scary as hell. Who can forget the armies of gas-masked clones, or the smell of "barbecue" in the Madame de Pompadour? I know that for weeks after Blink all my sister had to do was freeze making a grimace and I would be sent into a panic.
So imagine my glee when I heard that the replacement for Russel T Davies would be none other than Steven Moffat. Whole seasons guided by his brilliance. Oh my.
From here on in, it's gets SPOILERY, so beware ye who enter.
I was actually rather anxious to watch The Eleventh Hour because I had such high hopes for it. What if it didn't live up to my expectations? What if I hated Matt Smith, what if Amy Pond turned out to be a cold kipper? Added to which, I couldn't watch it during broadcast, being too busy driving tractors and fending off feral ponies with nothing more than a sharpened stick.
My fears were in vain, however, since it was magnificent. This is perhaps not the level a film student should be speaking in, but I loved it, every bit of it: I love Matt Smith, I love the Eleventh Doctor, I love Amy Pond, I love the plot, the timetravel cleverness, I loved the fish custard, the giant toothy eel thing, the stop motion effect they used, the new costume, the new TARDIS, the long term arc they seem to be on, the dialogue. Everything then. Especially the bit with all the Doctors, yay geek moment!
Its success rested a lot on Matt Smith and I'm very glad I got to see his episode of The Street, because it showed that he is a very good actor. I like his character: sometimes unpleasant, sometimes charming, and usually oblivious to wordly conventions. Thank goodness, he manages to appear older than he looks - I was rather put off by how young he is.
The second episode, The Beast Below, while it was still doing some introduction had more freedom to go do something plotty and it did not disappoint. The idea is the kind of thing which I adore: it's dark, relevant and manages to be depressing and still have an uplifting message. SPOILERS, again, you have been warned! The people of Britain, all bundled into a starship to escape Earth, are secretly powering their vessel by exploiting and torturing a giant alien creature. They live in something akin to a police state, with so called worthless citizens going missing. Every five years they have a choice: to vote to object to this state of affairs, or to have their memory wiped. Almost everyone chooses to forget and live happily, and those who don't are killed.
This is a kid's show. And it's saying that democracy is a joke, we live off the backs of others' suffering, humans are self-interested jerks, and most of them are fascists.
Absolutely fantastic.
And tomorrow, it's Daleks. I can't wait.
In the first four series of the relaunch, a few things became very clear, and the clearest was that Steven Moffat is a brilliant writer. He wrote the best two episodes of season 1 (The Empty Child and The Doctor Dances), one of the best of season 2 (The Girl in the Fireplace), the best of season 3 and one of the scariest of all time (Blink) and while his contribution to season 4 didn't wow me especially (The Library) that is only in comparison to his other work, as a part of the whole season it was very strong.
He writes brilliant, lovable characters: Captain Jack, Sally Sparrow, Madame de Pompadour, River Song.
He uses the inherent premise of the show - timetravel - in interesting ways, and incorporates imaginative technology: microscopic robots which create clones of one person, a ship trying repair itself using organic components cannibalised from the crew, meeting someone at various points in their life while for you it's only been minutes, creatures which can only ever move when you don't look at them, leaving messages in the past for people in the future.
And most of all, his stories are scary as hell. Who can forget the armies of gas-masked clones, or the smell of "barbecue" in the Madame de Pompadour? I know that for weeks after Blink all my sister had to do was freeze making a grimace and I would be sent into a panic.
So imagine my glee when I heard that the replacement for Russel T Davies would be none other than Steven Moffat. Whole seasons guided by his brilliance. Oh my.
From here on in, it's gets SPOILERY, so beware ye who enter.
I was actually rather anxious to watch The Eleventh Hour because I had such high hopes for it. What if it didn't live up to my expectations? What if I hated Matt Smith, what if Amy Pond turned out to be a cold kipper? Added to which, I couldn't watch it during broadcast, being too busy driving tractors and fending off feral ponies with nothing more than a sharpened stick.
My fears were in vain, however, since it was magnificent. This is perhaps not the level a film student should be speaking in, but I loved it, every bit of it: I love Matt Smith, I love the Eleventh Doctor, I love Amy Pond, I love the plot, the timetravel cleverness, I loved the fish custard, the giant toothy eel thing, the stop motion effect they used, the new costume, the new TARDIS, the long term arc they seem to be on, the dialogue. Everything then. Especially the bit with all the Doctors, yay geek moment!
Its success rested a lot on Matt Smith and I'm very glad I got to see his episode of The Street, because it showed that he is a very good actor. I like his character: sometimes unpleasant, sometimes charming, and usually oblivious to wordly conventions. Thank goodness, he manages to appear older than he looks - I was rather put off by how young he is.
The second episode, The Beast Below, while it was still doing some introduction had more freedom to go do something plotty and it did not disappoint. The idea is the kind of thing which I adore: it's dark, relevant and manages to be depressing and still have an uplifting message. SPOILERS, again, you have been warned! The people of Britain, all bundled into a starship to escape Earth, are secretly powering their vessel by exploiting and torturing a giant alien creature. They live in something akin to a police state, with so called worthless citizens going missing. Every five years they have a choice: to vote to object to this state of affairs, or to have their memory wiped. Almost everyone chooses to forget and live happily, and those who don't are killed.
This is a kid's show. And it's saying that democracy is a joke, we live off the backs of others' suffering, humans are self-interested jerks, and most of them are fascists.
Absolutely fantastic.
And tomorrow, it's Daleks. I can't wait.
Easter Hols
Another term, another big catch-up write-up to cover what I've been doing these past couple of weeks. Well, for part of it, I was far out in the depths of Dartmoor and thus couldn't get to a cinema without hikacking the tractor and making a daring getaway; I only got as far as the next field, unfortunately, as the feral ponies foiled my plan. However, I do have a few things I can talk about:
American Gods
It's hardly surprising that a geek like me is a Neil Gaiman fan, but I've actually only dipped my toes in his writings, a few library copies of Sandman here and there, the odd book, most notably Good Omens which I swear I will adapt one day. However, I picked up a copy of American Gods during the tragic Borders closing down sale and finally got time to rip into it as I enjoyed the solitude of the Devon countryside.
It's an engaging mixture of the mundane and the supernatural, incorporating mythology into modern-day America. The premise is this: when people came to America, they brought their gods, but quickly forgot them, leaving them to live ordinary lives as best they can. The story is about the conflict between the old gods and the new, with plenty of twists and turns and a whole array of characters, taking mainly from the minor European pantheons (is it possible to have a plural of "pantheon"? Is it by definition singular? Hmm) and from Africa.
Anyway, s'a good book and worth a read if you have some disposable time.
Clash of the Titans
Apparently no one on earth - no one I know anyway - has even heard of the original. This makes me sad, because I love the original with its stop motion animation and its craziness. At least it got a nod whenJake Sully Perseus finds a clockwork owl in the weapons room.
The trailer for this film had me pretty excited, and it didn't really prove a let down. The trailer does, by the way, give away most of set pieces, but that's how you sell a film!
The story is classically structured, but then what would you expect? It was nice to see the narrative unfold neatly with its mid-points and crisis-points, its protagonist and its themes. It didn't go in the direction I hoped it would, and which the tag line almost-but-not-quite hinted - Damn The Gods. It's a shame because they set up a strong line throughout the film that the Greek pantheon (yet again with the pantheon business) were a bunch of bastards 90% of the time; Zeus and Poseidon are both explicitly stated to be rapists, in addition to which they quite merrily go around killing people and stabbing each other in the back. It was all going so well, but then, at the end, Zeus is let off and they all share a laugh. Shame.
Also on the negative side is that Gemma Arterton's flat as Kansas voice insisted on being there. She's very pretty, I'll grant, and not a bad actress, but her vocal expression is nil and sounds always looks as if it were dubbed with expert attention the lip sync but with no concern given to the performance. Good to see she'll be rocking the toga again in Prince of Persia.
The rest of the cast were very strong, with plenty of recognisable names and faces: Pete Poslethwaite, Sam Worthington*, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes*, Hans Matheson, Polly Walker*,Tony Nicolas Hoult and Effy Kaya Scodelario. Oh, and there were flying ponies. Gotta love that.
My last word on the film is this though - I could not get over a small giggle every time they said "Argos". Curse you, retail outlet, for spoiling the name of an ancient civilisation!
*all of them thoroughly typecast as, respectively: a hero, a deformed villain and an amoral woman.
I was going to write about Doctor Who here, but I think I need a post of its own to contain the outpouring of love I have for Steven Moffat et al.
American Gods
It's hardly surprising that a geek like me is a Neil Gaiman fan, but I've actually only dipped my toes in his writings, a few library copies of Sandman here and there, the odd book, most notably Good Omens which I swear I will adapt one day. However, I picked up a copy of American Gods during the tragic Borders closing down sale and finally got time to rip into it as I enjoyed the solitude of the Devon countryside.
It's an engaging mixture of the mundane and the supernatural, incorporating mythology into modern-day America. The premise is this: when people came to America, they brought their gods, but quickly forgot them, leaving them to live ordinary lives as best they can. The story is about the conflict between the old gods and the new, with plenty of twists and turns and a whole array of characters, taking mainly from the minor European pantheons (is it possible to have a plural of "pantheon"? Is it by definition singular? Hmm) and from Africa.
Anyway, s'a good book and worth a read if you have some disposable time.
Clash of the Titans
Apparently no one on earth - no one I know anyway - has even heard of the original. This makes me sad, because I love the original with its stop motion animation and its craziness. At least it got a nod when
The trailer for this film had me pretty excited, and it didn't really prove a let down. The trailer does, by the way, give away most of set pieces, but that's how you sell a film!
The story is classically structured, but then what would you expect? It was nice to see the narrative unfold neatly with its mid-points and crisis-points, its protagonist and its themes. It didn't go in the direction I hoped it would, and which the tag line almost-but-not-quite hinted - Damn The Gods. It's a shame because they set up a strong line throughout the film that the Greek pantheon (yet again with the pantheon business) were a bunch of bastards 90% of the time; Zeus and Poseidon are both explicitly stated to be rapists, in addition to which they quite merrily go around killing people and stabbing each other in the back. It was all going so well, but then, at the end, Zeus is let off and they all share a laugh. Shame.
Also on the negative side is that Gemma Arterton's flat as Kansas voice insisted on being there. She's very pretty, I'll grant, and not a bad actress, but her vocal expression is nil and sounds always looks as if it were dubbed with expert attention the lip sync but with no concern given to the performance. Good to see she'll be rocking the toga again in Prince of Persia.
The rest of the cast were very strong, with plenty of recognisable names and faces: Pete Poslethwaite, Sam Worthington*, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes*, Hans Matheson, Polly Walker*,
My last word on the film is this though - I could not get over a small giggle every time they said "Argos". Curse you, retail outlet, for spoiling the name of an ancient civilisation!
*all of them thoroughly typecast as, respectively: a hero, a deformed villain and an amoral woman.
I was going to write about Doctor Who here, but I think I need a post of its own to contain the outpouring of love I have for Steven Moffat et al.
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