Quantum of Cobblers

If this blog is to be truly reflective, then as well as looking at where films work, it also needs to look at where they don't...and why.

It struck me after watching what could have been a good film almost ruined by editing, that if this blog is to be truly reflective, then as well as looking at where films work, it also needs to look at where they don't...and why.

We watched Quantum of Solace on Saturday night. After 20 minutes we were all but ready to give up, so bad was the editing. It starts with one of Bond film's trademark intro chase sequences --now almost as much of a cliche as the TARDIS scene in Doctor Who ("It's bigger on the inside than the outside!")-- during which Bond captures an enemy agent and brings him in for interrogation, at which point things start to go wrong, both for Bond and the viewer. Someone fires a shot, someone else crumples, and then someone runs off. At this point, Bond runs after them -- which is a slight improvement on what's gone before, since we can at least identify one of the protagonists. In the scenes that follow, the villain runs across lots of rooftops, and then goes underground.

It wasn't that the editing was technically poor...it was actually very good at conveying what I assume the editor was trying to do, to (presumably) be thrilling, and to replicate being on a roller-coaster. The problem is that thrills and effects are at a premium, whereas clarity seems to be optional. The editor seems to have forgotten what the point of his/her job is -- to be part of an overall process. Instead the editor has elevated his/her part of the process to dominate everything else. When the producer actually got the editor back under some sort of control, the film became a much better one, at least until the final sequence, which was almost as incomprehensible as went before. It may be that I'm doing the editor a disservice, that the responsibility rests with the producer and/or director who encouraged such incomprehensibility. Certainly neither Richard Pearson, who edited Iron Man 2, nor Matt Chesse, whose work includes Finding Neverland and The Kite Runner are dunces -- both have been Oscar nominated. Perhaps the problem is that the film was also turned into a video game, and they became preoccupied with replicating that feeling, because the film is like watching one looooong game. Which is a shame.

It seems that the Bond franchise has been becalmed by the financial climate, but I think that if Quantum of Solace had been a better film, more intent on storytelling than on effects, maybe the take would have been better.

I very much got that feeling in the preview of our films; watching two of them, I had no idea what was happening and why, because the editing process seemed to have become an end in itself. Hopefully the final post-preview work will take care of that.

Casting

Introducing the male and female leads of Heads or Tails:

I've just realized that I never made good my promise (or was that a threat?) to introduce the cast of Heads or Tails. To avoid overwhelming you with new faces and names, I've kept it to the male and female leads. However, I'm awaiting b & w shots from them, so for the moment it's text only -- but as soon as I can, I'll update the blog post to show pictures.

First off, Ben Fuzi plays Ben, the main protagonist's boyfriend. Ben played a solo choir boy in a promo for BBC's Last Choir Standing, and is also interested in producing and directing his own work.

Sophie Pearce plays Hannah, the main protagonist. Sophie has appeared in the Phoenix Theatre's productions of both Guys n Dolls and The Tempest, as well as the intriguingly titled Cinderella's Interstellar Adventure, and has also performed as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. What was very noticeable was how much more accomplished they were as third year actors, versus the first years that we cast in Doorways. It just goes to show how much actors can develop in just two years of regular performing. In fact, Sophie managed the remarkable achievement of appearing in 3 of the 4 films, including two filmed the same weekend -- just how she managed that is unclear.

Looking Back At Filming Heads or Tails

After a three week break, I finally have the right frame of mind to look back at Four Eyes' production of the short film Heads or Tails.



Gulp; it's another of those moments when as a blogger, one looks at the date of the last post and thinks "Three weeks! It can't be!"



But on the plus side, these blogs are meant to be reflective, and one can't reflect without perspective, and for that one needs distance. Even the week after we finished filming, when our lecturer Mike asked me how filming went, I struggled to give him a considered answer.



I think I can do that now.



Three weeks ago we were ready for the off. Just twelve hours away from starting. Kate gave me a lift into the uni on the Friday morning, which were spent anxiously pacing up and down. I got there good and early, as did Jaeeun, who was frantically finishing off the storyboard.



The others were delayed due to their bus not running, which upped the tension still further, but we finally reached our opening location, the SU shop. With hindsight, we should have done some unofficial filming the day before, since we were all so anxious that we seemed to develop an extra set of thumbs instead of fingers. However, we were equally paranoid about running the battery down, so had decided against it. The cramped nature of the shop meant that some of the scenes were tricky, and when we finished it was more with a feeling of relief than actual satisfaction, but off we went to Jaeeun's rooms to film the next scene.



It was only when we reached the Hobgoblin that I began to relax into the process and even enjoy it. Darren --the landlord-- was a revelation as the bar manager and really got into the part.



The cafe scenes on the Monday went well for the most part. In fact the only problematic session was the lecture scene that had to be finished off during our last session on the Monday. By this time energy levels were low, shots needed to be made from specific angles to hide the fact that we had lost the audience we'd had shots during the early (thereby raising potential continuity problems) and everyone was feeling a little tired and stressed.



It was only after some days after my conversation with Mike that I realized that it was this difficult last session that had so jaundiced my view of the whole experience. Most of the time filming went much more easily than it did for Doorways because we knew what we were doing, but ending on a low left a poor impression of the whole process. It shows how endings --even ones in real life-- can affect the impression of what's gone before.