Scott Pilgrim vs. the world

Scott Pilgrim vs. the world, 2010, directed by Edgar Wright. Starring Michael Cera and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

I watched this film because many friends told me it was good and I'm still not sure what I really think about it.

Michael Cera again plays the nerdy quiet guy but this time with the ability to fight!?

Story is based on comics of the same name, tells a tale of a young adult fighting his way through enemies to win the heart of the girl of his dreams. This literally means fighting and with the girls "7 evil exes".

As soon as the film starts, retro gaming references appears such as old game music and sound effects. If you are into retro gaming (nintendo, sega etc) then you might enjoy the whole film more than those who don't. For me, thats the only reason I kept on watching till the end. Since the film is based on a comic series, I expected it to be packed with special effects and stupidity but not to the level it displayed. Even for a viewer as myself who understood the jokes and references it was still too much. they tried too hard to make it work and it just becomes irritating and silly.

Although it was meant to be parodies, it still is not that interesting to watch. The fights are especially bad and cringing at times. Michael Ceras and Mary Elizabeth Winstead's characters arent really likable which doesnt help.

The sound of the film was something that stood out for me though, good choice of music and use of sound effects. Again the gaming references were a nice touch and I think the best character in the film is Scott's sister and the gay room mate, his characters is just brilliantly dry and wonderful to watch.

The film is worth a watch for retro game lovers, and also if you want an over-dramatic comedy that isnt really that funny.

Ponyo on the cliff by the sea

Ponyo on the cliff by the sea, 2008, Studio Ghibli, Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

This was one of my favourite out of all the films I watch this holiday, I'm actually ashamed of myself for not goign to watch this when it was out in the cinemas.


This film tells a wonderful story of a 5 year boy falling in love with a girl-goldfish that he saves and how the goldfish wishes to become human to be with the boy.


Studio ghibli played a big part in my childhood and now is playing a big part in my adulthood. This film is visually stunning! Everything from character design to the amount of detail that goes into the background. The colour they used is so vibrant and beautiful, it highlights the fact that this was meant for children but any adult would appreciate the beauty in the visuals.

The storyline is very sweet and romantic yet also very exciting at times such as when the tsunami hits the village. The story ends perfectly with the girl having her wish granted and becoming human to stay with the boy.

I advise everyone to give this film a watch. It is a treat for the eyes and mind.

How to train your dragon

How to train your dragon (Dream works) released in 2010 directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois tells a fantastic tale of a viking teenager from a dragon slaying tribe befriending his natural enemy.

I really enjoyed this film, the story was well written and the main characters were very likeable from the moment you saw them, especially the dragon. The development of the story was paced nicely, it allows the audience to enjoy the bond of the teeanger and dragon growing stronger gradually. The bond between Hiccup (boy) and Toothless (dragon) is the main reason why this film is so interesting to watch, the progress of their friendship is one that will make every child who watched this film want a dragon. Every scene is packed with little comedy that will keep you laughing and smiling all the way through. The romance between Hiccup and Astrid is also fun to watch, the awkward chemistry in the air is portrayed very nicely. The flying scene with Hiccup, Toothless and Astrid is like a modern day equivilent to Aladdin and Princess Jasmine on the flying carpet.

The epic battle scene at the end with the fantatic battles a visual display will keep you on the edge of your seat, especially when you think Hiccup died and although its cliche, the happily ever after ending scene just makes you walk out of the cinmea smiling.

Definitely worth watching and especially if you want something to cheer you up.

Film reviews!

Since the start of the holidays Ive been doing nothing but working, writing my essay and watching films on a daily basis.

I think the excuse I'm going to use why i wasted my days away in bed watching films is that its for research.

But jokes aside, I have watched some amazing films and will be giving a brief review about some of them films on here.

Heres the list of films I've watched through the holiday period so far

How to train your dragon
Step brothers
Prince of persia
Scott pilgrim verses the world
Harry potter and the deathly hallows
Get him to the greek
Zoolander
Oceans 11
Clash of the titans
Ponyo on the cliff by the sea
Princess mononoke
Fight club
Kick ass
Robin Hood - didnt finish watching.

Christmas was great!

Christams this year was amazing, spent it with my partner and had a lovely time. Actually had wrapped presents and a big dinner! I'm so going back next year!

One of my gifts was a book on typography which is so useful and interesting. Will definitely be using it to help with further designs1

Hope everyone else had a lovely holiday

PRP research

So I've been doing alot of readign recently and finally getting motivated about the PRP, filling in all the parts bit by bit now and hopefully have the draft done very soon. Theres been alot of interesting things I've learnt from my readings. For instance I found out that they had interactive movies back in the early 1900's called "phantom rides".

These movies were made by placing a camera on the front of a train and filming the ride, so when the audience views it in a cinema, it would be like they were on a train themselves. The idea is widely used in theme park rides etc but made more interactive by using moving seats and surround sound.

Simulated Client Project Feedback

So just got the feedback, got straight B's on this project which I'm happy enough about, obviously getting straight A's will be alot better but I can understand that there wasnt enough thought put in to deserve an A. i will use this as a motivation to do beter on the actual Client Project.

Client Project

I have been researching into where I can do my client project and decide to go to the screen printing company I use.

The company is called Monster Print, I came across this company when looking for a place for my bands TShirt printing. The companys website does the job for providing information to its customers but I think it could alot more with a video advert and a tutorial to give the customers a deeper insight to the process of screen printing the company itself.

With big social network groups such as Myspace, Facebook and even Youtube, these videos which I propose to make will be a great source of advertising and will hopefully bring on more business for the company.

I will be finalizing some ideas and will be posting on here in the near future.

Digital piracy advert

for my simulated client project I have done an advert to deliver the importance of digital piracy.

Shot in an hour, edited in about 1 hour.

Simple stuff :) hope you like it.

Back to uni...again

Right since I havent blogged at all, this summer, I thought its time to do it properly.

Over the summer I have been working hard designing.

Heres my portfolio.

http://emptees.com/tees/designed/14151-joewse

There's Something About Mary Title Sequence Remake

Film review The Wolfman

This film is directed by Joe Johnston, the film stars Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving and Geraldine Chaplin. The film is about werewovles and the horror that comes with it.

I was not in too impressed with this film, as soon as the film started, the font they used made me cringe, it didnt fit at all and the voice over made it sound like a kids horror film. so with the terrible start aside, I continued watching and it started getting quite interesting. There were many nice angles for shots and the location was beautiful....Wait..thas about it for nice words, thats really all the film had for it, the rest of the film just got worse as I watched it, when you finally get to see the wolfman, it looks just like a man wearing a wolf costume...it is! I felt the make up was going to fall off at one point, it just looked so unconvincing, it was terrible. The film had a twist which was quite expected, they gave away most of it from scenes before, so when you finally realise it wasnt much of a shock. The ending wasnt great, werewolves die, theres still a man whos been bit, what do we do? blah blah blah.

But been a bit more serious, the filmd lacked climax, the film makes so you feel on the edge of your seat all the way through it that you interest very quickly. you seem to be expecting something all the way through and you don't realise it when it actually happens.

Not really worth watching, maybe once and never again.

Documentary

The documentary is near its end, just rendering and exporting to do, I feel that it has turned out well, theres a vast amount of information, nice visual and I would say a good choice on sound...apart from the voice (in my opinion).

the roles i took on was camera man and editing, me and james split the job because we were unavailable at certains times so had to over each other.

the rest of the group really pulled their weight too, really glad we had this team and it was a pleasure working with them.

more detail on the project will be in the evaluation.

Another new animation

Another new animation

New animation for documentary

Another animation finished

Heres another one, its now 2.43am, I really need some sleep!

Animations for the documentary

I've been working on the animations for the documentary for the past 2 days and these are my results so far.

Todays filming

Today I went to film a few more B-roll footage, I went to a few parks around the village to film, then I went to film the powerstation on J24, near Donnington park, then I went over to the airport to ask permission to see if I could film on the landing strip of planes taking off. I found out that would be impossible so went to the aeropark, this is apparently the second best place to film planes. I grabbed the flight timetable and watched out for planes to take off, although it took me 3 times to actually get a decent shot it was worth it.

In total the money spent today was,

£10 for petrol
£1.90 for parking

Documentary

Just had first bit of B-roll filmed, I got the shot of the motorway, but todays really foggy so everythings not very clear at all, might try again tomorrow to make sure we get a good clear shot. I also have to film a desserted park tomorrow, missed it today because it went dark during the time I went to get tapes. Now going to be working on the animations for a long time, nice!

Death

This is the poetic documentary on death we did a couple of weeks back as a short project. Filmed and Editied by me within 3 hours.

Documentary proposal

The proposal went really well the other day, really impressed about it. i am happy about the subject we're covering and how the teams been working together, we have moved from idea to idea and finally came to this final idea. The history of global is a decent subject and I believe we will do a good job of it.

I will be doing research into the animation that we need for our project now and post research up when I have done.

Documentary

The other day we had to go out and make a poetic documentary on death in 3 hours, I liked the idea of very quick tasks and producing something decent in a short time, its a good challenge and I love challeneges. I feel that more impulsive lessons like that one would definitly be benificial, because you need to think on your feet. The end product Is actually not bad, and I had a feel of what it'll be like as a director. I believe that these short projects stimulate the brain and increase our creativity.

The Proposal Film Review

The proposal, a Romantic Comedy starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, directed by Anne Flecther.

The film basically revolves around the boss and her assistant, the boss needs to deported back to canada because her visa is out of date and she decides to get married to her assistant in order to stay in the country for her job. This then leads the immagration office to look into this fake marriage they're going under. Andrew then takes Margaret back to Alaska to meet his family where the marriage is about to take place. Obviously the relationship between the 2 is awful at the start, simnce Magaret has been a really harsh boss to Andrew for 3 years he more or less despises her at the start. Despite all this he still knows evrything about her and she still has to learn everything about him. As the couple spends time together in alaska they start warming up to eachother and theres the chemistry and where all the comedy is. At the end the marriage is cancelled, she doesnt want to drag him down etc and as they now both love eachother he has to do everything in his power to get her back and its all a happy ending in the end.

Basically just a typical Rom-Com

On terms of the production this film was fantastic, good choice of shots and composition, nice lighting, location was beautiful. I did notice that they were times when the camera were out of focus, to think that a $40 million budget film would make an error like that?

The film itself is pleasent to watch, nothing really bad to say nor anything in particularly great. Its an average film worth watching once in a while.

Paranormal Activity Film Review

So the film that everyone had been going on about : Paranormal Activity, a film made out to be found footage of what is said to be real ghost/demonic happenings.

When I first saw this film I already have been told that its obviously fake but went and sat down in the cinema forgetting this point to see how I'll react.

At first I didn't realise it was shot similar to the "Blair Witch Project", I had in mind that it was shot like "The Haunting in Connecticut" which is an supposedly a reenactment of a real event.

I feel that the film started off quite boring, with the way it was introducing the characters and everything, everything was fine etc I guess they used thi to lure you into a false sense of security first, and as this boring daily life situations went on you come to the night vision camera mode.

When the camera is set in the bedroom at night the timecode starts at the bottom of the screen and its when most of the "paranormal activities" starts happening. After the first time it you start to understand that that is when you're supposed to get scared so you start to brace yourself for it but since each event that happens different each one comes as a schock still.

The major reason it is actually freaky is because it looks real and especially because of how it looks like any other household you can relate to it. Another thing that helps is the very unsettling camera movement, since the camera is mostly moving about when male character "Micah" is holding it, it makes the viewers very comfortable.

This film is mostly creepy, since most of the things that happen are slow, you don't know whether it will suddenly make you jump etc. for instance, the scenes where the female character "Katie" is just standing over the bed watch Micah is probably the creepiest thing ever.

Its not a new idea but its done really well, with the all the supernatural occurances looking very realistic, the cuts were not smooth but obviously intended to add to the unease of the viewers.

In general a very good film, the only points that weren't realistic were the actions of the 2 characters. I believe that Micah's actions were especially not believable, for instance filming all day long and actually filming it when his girlfriend goes missing. If my girlfriend were to be missing after knowing theres paranormal activities in the house, first thing I'll do is definitely not to grab the fucking camera, but to actually find her first! but I guess they had to use it to get the footage for all the scenes, only solution were to say they had CCTV installed too to catch footage from other areas of the house without the his camera.

I think that the sound played a big part to the film, since most of the sound were backgroudn noises it makes you think that you hear things that aren't mentioned etc. its mostly the voices of the 2 characters, although they did use a demonic voice at some parts I think it was done well, conventional but creepy.

I believe the ending was fantastic, also unbelievably creepy and in general a very powerful film.

The budget of this film is apparently only $15,000 but had a tremendous gross revenue of $141,870,499. Its said that this film did so well because of internet virals, it was only firt viewed in selected towns and cities of America for people to review, then social networking websites such as twitter and facebook came into the equation and because of the good feedback it was getting they brought it out for a worldwide release. It began to get people really intrgued to its authenticity so many people went to watch this film allowing this massive gross revenue.

Newcastle and Igloo

I ventured up Newcastle the other day and ended up building an Igloo! There was at least a foot of snow on the fields so we thought theres nothing better than spending a whole afternoon making a fullsize igloo. We made it out of indivual bricks too, we shaped the bricks with paper bins.

The photos right here :)