Archive for the ‘movies’ tag

Two minutes and forty seven seconds.

I get to shoot my first film this week and words can hardly describe how excited I am. The main reason I switched schools was so that I could actually work with film, and after a year and a half I get to shoot 100′ of 16mm black and white reversal. While this is a big deal for me, 100′ is not a lot of film. So I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how I want to use my 4008 frames. The idea I’ve settled on is pretty cool, it’s simple yet clever and should be easy to shoot. Which is great because I’m very much use to a video work flow, and film is unforgiving at best. I get to set my focus with a measuring tape, frame my shots in an inaccurate viewfinder, and depth of field? Well, I have to consult a chart to even have a chance of controlling that. I’m proud to say I am pretty handy with a light meter these days, and my knowledge of lighting has grown to a respectable level. For most of my shots I’ll only get one or two takes though, so while I can prepare for most anything, I’ll still need a lot of luck for this project to really turn out.
Which I hope it does, because visually this has the potential to be by far the best thing I’ve shot… and that measly 100′ of film is $85.

I got to see David Bazan in Tucson on friday. I was sorta on the fence about going to the show until a few weeks ago, but I am so glad I went. It was amazing. Me and two guys made the drive down to Solar Culture in Tucson and while I wish David had been in Phoenix, the venue was worth the drive. The place is an art gallery by day and at night it has concerts on a little stage, which makes for a intimate and unique atmosphere. The acoustics were good, which can be rough at smaller places, but it was just the overall feeling of the place that really made it work. The show was only $10, and the guy at the door was just taking cash with a small money box for change, which is better then an ass hole bouncer or some huge commercial ticketing system. After getting in we looked around and saw that most people had bought in their own drinks, which the venue is totally cool with. So we went to a gas station and got a six pack and enjoyed a few cheap beers with the show. A concert sans the ~$8 beer? What’s not to love? The first act was some local guy, who was awful but after him was J Tillman. I had never heard of him, but he was really quite good. His sound is sorta Iron and Wine -esque and his voice is just off the charts. I’d definitely check him out if you’re like me and had never heard of him.
Then David Bazan took the stage, and I immediately noticed something a bit different about him. Earlier in the night I had seen a balding, bearded man making a phone call near the front of the venue. I thought to myself, “Is that David? Nah, he was shorter then I am, there is no way.” Its funny how you can sometimes idolize people in odd ways. David Bazan has always struck me as a hulking beast of a man, with a lumber jack beard and a straight face, he just seemed like Paul Bunyan with a guitar.
So to set the record straight, David Bazan is an excellent singer/songwriter, a hulking, beast of a man… who is also like 5’6”.
He played a wide variety of songs, from his solo stuff to old Pedro The Lion tunes. He also played a bit of Headphones and apologized for not playing “Natural Disaster” because he didn’t know the synth part very well. He did play “Bad Things To Such Good People” which was amazing. He played the first riff while getting himself set between songs and I (and most of the people around me) yelled in excitement. It’s a dark and complicated song, but hearing it live was great. Also I couldn’t help thinking about Luke playing it in the back yard of the Juanita House with the rest of us trying to sing along, good times.

I saw I’m Not There last night, it’s a movie about Bob Dylan where Bob Dylan is played by five different actors. Each story line follows a different time in his life or aspect of his character. While it’s not the most cohesive movie I’ve seen in recent memory it was really fun to watch. Dylan is portrayed as an old soul who is running from his past by an eleven year old african american boy. As a conflicted husband and father by Heath Ledger, a spiritual person and preacher by Christian Bale. A young poet who speaks his mind by Ben Whishaw, an old hermit by Richard Gere and finally as a jaded and misunderstood rock star by none other then Cate Blanchett. It’s a really fun watch, if you can catch it, I highly recommend seeing it.

Keep it chill, I’ll do my best too do the same.
Dave Hildreth

Across The Valley

I saw Across The Universe last night. I can honestly say that it was just as enjoyable as it was confusing. I swear, no one actually directed the movie, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t very creative. We drove out to Scottsdale to see it at the Cine Capri. Which I’m sorry to saw was in it self was a letdown. The more theaters I goto the more I realize how spoiled I am by the Egyptian. The Cine Capri was a popular theatre in Phoenix, as a matter of fact it was host to many hollywood premiers, but it was torn down a few years back and replaced by multiple “Cine Capris” (which is French for $.50 more profit per ticket) at different theaters, Phoenix now has two of them. I figured it was a huge theater, with a balcony and cool architecture. Nope, it was just a bigger theater with stadium seating and ugly gold curtains. So I drove to north Scottsdale and payed extra for nothing, but I still don’t regret seeing the movie.
Across The Universe was fun to watch, but it’s first and fatal flaw is that it’s too long. 90 minutes people, unless you’re David Lean it’s all you get! The music however is amazing, all the Beatles covers are well done and while the visuals do at times get too weird (the Eddy Izzard scene is un-watchable). The majority of the musical scenes are a lot of fun and that is why everyone should go see it. Don’t expect much from the plot, and don’t be surprised when characters just randomly disappear and appear. There is one in particular that shouldn’t have been in the movie in the first place, but just randomly pops in and out of scenes throughout the movie. It’s a directoral nightmare, but like I said, if you at least sort of like the Beatles you should go check it out.

I’m hard at work on my demo reel (you know that thing I’ve been working on for months now) I think I finally have a grasp on how to do this. I basically started over two weeks ago after watching a bunch of other people’s reels. I’m doing a sort of montage now, and while I don’t really like the concept of it, it supposedly helps you get a job. So I’m jumping on the bandwagon and hoping for the best. I get to show my resume to a bunch of potential employers at a job fair next thursday. So while I have to get the stupid thing done in the next few days I’m excited about showing it off. Even if my current boss might be there… it could get a bit weird… oh well.

On wednesday Wes Anderson released a short film onto iTunes. It’s called Hotel Chevalier and it’s excellent. It gives a bit of background to one of the characters in his upcoming film The Darjeeling Limited. It’s short and doesn’t have much of a plot but it’s full of Anderson’s usual charm. It’s free, only on iTunes and also rated R for a reason.

David

I’m about ready to leave the country

I got ahold of a screener copy of Michael Moore’s latest film SiCKO today. It’s is almost undeniably his best. Most who have heard something about it might say that it is about America’s 50 million uninsured citizens. It isn’t, no it’s much worse than that. The movie is in fact the story of the other 250 million people who have health insurance. From the nightmares of denied policies to 9/11 rescue workers and the free healthcare systems of the rest of the 1st world. Sicko paints a bleak and disheartening picture of the American healthcare system, I highly recommend seeing it.
Although Michael Moore’s style of documentary is becoming more and more popular, i’m not so sure that is a good thing. Moore wants people to trust him, and when they see his movies they expect the truth and a certain amount of fairness. You hear all the time about how conservative fox news is or how liberal the washington post is but in the end most journalists at least try to stick to the basic rules of journalism. Give both sides of the argument and don’t give an opinion unless the page heading reads op-ed. Michael Moore doesn’t even have to pretend to stick to any rules.
I like most of his movies but i definitely take them with a grain of salt. For example in the beginning of the movie Moore makes a big point of a ranking of the world’s healthcare systems. America is like 37th or something awful. Later in the movie he takes some people to Cuba where they receive free healthcare, no questions asked. Moore shows cuba to be these people’s savior, yet on that same list that he touted earlier Cuba is listed behind the US in quality of care.

My little foray into vinyl is going well. I now own half a dozen albums and am having a lot of fun searching record stores for more. The simple act of shopping for records is a lot more enjoyable that i thought. There are a few good stores around Tempe but there are many more awful ones. My current little collection includes albums by the beatles, led zeppelin, radiohead, u2, elton john, and dolorean. Pretty eclectic selections but i’ll fill in the holes along the way. The A side of the magical mystery tour is lame, but other then that i like em all, it really is amazing how different they sound on vinyl.

In other news i get to head home here in two weeks, I am so excited. I am weary of the plane ride, this little fear of flying is really starting to becoming a problem. I’ve never had a bad experience on a plane and use to like flying. Who knows what is wrong with me.

My first entry to the Heinz contest has been posted. Check it out
http://www.youtube.com/contests_layout?name=TopThisTVChallenge&v=nbmPPJcg8vE&goto=588

I’d write more but it took me a week to just write that much.
David Hildreth

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