Okay, I’m poor, very poor, being a student sucks more than it used to so many years ago. But that’s still not gonna stop me from pre-ordering the Don Hertzfeldt DVD now available for pre-order through his site.
Collecting his animated short films I’ve laughed countless times at with a bunch of extra features and on a shiny disc, you too can soon own the goodness by ordering it here.
Have been pointed to say that the trailer for Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men” is out and it looks to be a very good looking film indeed. Hi res trailer downloadable here.
Having become completely addicted to YouTube, I’ve found myself watching clips, lots of clips, of the Daily Show. It’s unfortunate that we don’t get it here in New Zealand, it’s definitely one of the best shows on. Funny and informative at the same time, it actually provides an objective view to the american news and media. Just search it on Youtube and you shall be rewarded.
Meanwhile, I also found this video on a journalist story which is both scary and true and makes me even more wary of working in such a field.
Feeling like crap after a night of beer and rum. But look, shadow puppets! Everything is going to be all right.
Just got back from a brief visit to Hamilton, attending the funeral of the extraordinary Sam Barnes. I met Sam during my stint at uni doing the screen and media course and instantly fell in love the guy, which wasn’t hard, as Sam was one of those guys that instantly got along with anyone and everyone. I wont say much else about him, but he is sorely missed by all and was taken away from us far too quickly. Goodbye Sam.
If anyone is interested in reading a bit about him and his final months, or just wants to drop a word to his friends and family, you can read his blog here.
“PLAY! A Video Game Symphony is a world touring symphony orchestra that plays arranged music from video games.” It’s also freakin’ awesome.
There is like all this different tracks from all these different classic games from Sonic to Metal Gear to Mario to Halo and of course… Final Fantasy. There are some clips on YouTube from the concerts and to hear a full orchestra playing and singing ‘One-Winged Angel’ from Final Fantasy VII is a very geekish thing to be drooling over, but screw it, I love my games.
And the best thing about it… they’re aparently gonna tour New Zealand. No dates released yet, but Australia and New Zealand are listed on their tour and by jove, they better stick to it.
Titles listed in the offical program:
1 PLAY! A Video Game Symphony – Fanfare – Nobuo Uematsu
2 Final Fantasy VIII – Liberi Fatali – Nobuo Uematsu
3 Super Mario Bros. – Suite – Koji Kondo
4 Shenmue and Shenmue II – Sedge Tree – Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
5 Battlefield 1942 and Battlefield 2 – Suite – Joel Eriksson, David Tallroth, Fredrik Englund, Jonas Östholm, Bence Pajor
6 Final Fantasy VII – Aerith’s Theme – Nobuo Uematsu
7 Sonic the Hedgehog – Suite – Masato Nakamura
8 Metal Gear Solid – Main Theme – Tappy Iwase, Kazuki Muraoka
9 Kingdom Hearts – Suite – Yoko Shimomura, Utada Hikaru
10 The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind – Suite – Jeremy Soule
11 Final Fantasy series – Swing de Chocobo – Nobuo Uematsu
12 Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross – Suite – Yasunori Mitsuda
13 World of Warcraft – Suite – Jason Hayes
14 Silent Hill 2 – Theme of Laura – Akira Yamaoka
15 Halo – Suite – Martin O’Donnell, Michael Salvatori
16 The Legend of Zelda – Suite – Koji Kondo
17 Final Fantasy VII – One-Winged Angel – Nobuo Uematsu
Goddamn school is driving me nuts. They expect you to make a 3 minute short film called “The Meeting” within the space of half an afternoon and make it about two characters in separate environments and meeting at some point… and make it good.
Actually, that wasn’t so hard, except the equipment issued out was screwed and we didn’t figure this out til an hour into the shoot and by the time we chased the problem back to school and got it fixed, there was only two hours left to shoot. And being the supreme genius that I am, I wrote a script involving multiple set ups, multiple locations and yada yada yada… and miraculously, it would have almost turned out alright. Had we not lost that one hour, we would have got the interiors shot and had a begining and an ending to the film. Instead, we got a middle filled with funky lights and dreamlike realities. Which look really cool, but pretty pointless when not put into context.
Returning to school, we were told that there will be no reshoots, it’s all the camera operators fault and although I got pretty damn pissed off for a while (haven’t been that angry in a long time actually), I’m not blaming anyone and have figured out a way to salvage the footage we’ve got.
I call it “The Meeting 2: Electric Boogaloo”
Two favourites being adapted have finally got trailers up.
First up is the Scorsese remake of “Infernal Affairs”, now titled “The Departed”. Was skeptic at first, but my faith had waned and now I’m healed. Free us lord Martin! Trailer downloadable here.
Second, the screen adaptation of James Ellroy’s “The Black Dahlia”. One of my altime favourite books, being done by Brian De Palma and secretly, I wanted to make this some day, but meh… there is always Stardust. Oh wait… trailer here.
Starting to get a little movied out, but still enjoying it. Mind Game is practically at the top of my list of films seen at this festival and the Science of Sleep is pretty damn close behind. I think i can afford to make it to maybe one or two more films, but that’d be about it for this year.
Thats the one great thing living up here in Auckland. Down in Hamilton, during every film festival season, I’d make a trip to Auckland to get me a copy of the festival booklets and work out how the hell I’m going to see what I want to see in either city during whenever. It’s just nice to have them all in one city for a change.
Anyway, been coming up wiht multiple ideas for short films to be made for the end of year, but have yet to stick to one I actually like and is worth doing in a student film enviorment. I’ll bet our screenwriting lecturer is enjoying recieving pages after pages of different treatments from me, as I’ve simply shut off my filter in handing her stuff and I’ll just drop off whatever now. Gave her five treatments on Friday and I have a feeling I’ve got four more for her tomorrow.
Anyway, because ninjas are cool here is a trailer for one kick arse ninja movie coming up… well… if your into that and turtles… here.
But a more worthwhile trailer to download is Aranofsky’s new film The Fountain to be downloaded here.