 My day as a background player, bowling First off, a shout out to the cast and crew of the NOVA special I participated in as an extra. Very professional, very ambitious. I can’t share the name of the production, but for at least the part of the script covered by this shoot, physics and bowling are natural bedfellows.
Now, as a writer/director I spend what time I’m involved with film/video projects behind the camera. Despite some limited experience in acting classes and helping friends out, I’ve never really held performance to be a personal ambition. However, when a friend of mine who was art directing a program for WGBH approached me about doing a day as a bowling extra on a program that two other friends of mine happened to be working on, I said why not.
Despite all the familiar faces on set, everyone was naturally far too busy achieving an ambitious day’s work to chit chat with me. Having been in their shoes, I fully expected that, so I contented myself by assuming the role that I myself have put others through over the years, sitting around waiting for my scene to come up. Predictably, despite the 10 a.m. call time (the last feature I directed demanded 5 a.m. call times for sunrise shoots, so this was luxury I hardly deserved), we three extras weren’t needed until 5′ish, so I read my novel, chatted with the other extras in hushed tones, ate my free lunch, and took in the activities of the set.
At key points during the day, the producer and director were careful to let us know when we were likely to be needed, and to update us with inevitable rearrangements of the schedule. I felt I’d dodged a bullet in costuming when one of the combinations of garments I brought was enthusiastically endorsed by the director (I somehow had a feeling that the red bow tie would be a winner…). Everyone was considerate, professional, and overall it was a pleasant display of how nicely a shoot can be run, even with a hard deadline and an ambitious shot count for the day.
For myself, it highlighted the importance of providing a calm, inclusive atmosphere for everyone, even the extras who are stuck sitting around all day waiting for their scene. It was also a reminder of what it’s like to be the one sitting there, and while I’ve always made an effort to be considerate of everyone on the set of one of my projects, in future I’ll be even more mindful of the scheduling and handling of the background players.
It’s so easy to be caught up in the minutia of directing the scenes at hand–especially on lower-budgeted shoots with small crews and a blurred line between producing, directing, and assistant directing–that necessary pleasantries and interactions with the larger crew can fall by the wayside, when in fact even three minutes spent making someone who’s waiting around feel like they’re part of the proceedings can result in hugely better attitudes all around. And better attitudes pay real dividends when its someone’s turn to be on camera.
I’m glad for the experience.
I was watching Pulp Fiction on IFC the other week (in HD, thankfully), and was reminded about one of my favorite aspects of the movie; how the script takes potentially ordinary action scenes, and makes them compelling by making them unusual. The gunfighting chase culminating in the sword-wielding rescue of Marcellus from the “rape of the rednecks” is perhaps the best example. The surprise confrontation between Bruce Willis and John Travolta (who’s sitting in the bathroom) is another. Granted, these scenes were brief, but with swords being slashed and machine guns being fired, I say they’re action scenes.
All of which made me think of the Crank movies.
Outrageous as they are (Crank 2 more delightfully so then the original), they do make a point of staging each and every action sequence as unusually as possible. The result is an audience riveted as much by “I can’t believe he’s having a gunfight while experiencing oral pleasure from his girlfriend” as by Jason Statham in a sharp suit stoically employing firearms. To be frank, I had expected both of the Crank movies to be either a) terrible, or b) a guilty pleasure. But the imaginative (and hilarious) plotting, Statham’s complete commitment to playing it straight, and its highly unusual action sequences kept my eyes on the screen for two whole installments.
Which isn’t to say this notion of unusual action staging can’t be overdone. Speaking of another movie I had no business enjoying but kind of did, Shoot ‘Em Up employed the same idea, outrageous action sequences staged in ridiculous ways. However, whereas the examples I cite in the previous movies are (by comparison) down-to-earth sequences that could plausibly be performed by a fit and practiced marksman, the sequences in Shoot ‘Em Up are utterly beyond the boundaries of any possible human achievement. While the director get points for imagination (not to mention including Monica Bellucci), I take more points away for eliminating any hope of suspension of disbelief. (And yes, I do understand that the whole point of Shoot ‘Em Up was to be completely and totally outrageous. It was.)
Now, before you tell me I’m insane for even mentioning suspension of disbelief in a post discussing the Crank movies, please note, I’m talking about the action sequences themselves, not the overall plot.
While I find myself utterly engaged by action that’s imaginative and creatively staged, I’m only truly engaged if I’ve got an emotional investment in the scene, which usually happens if I believe, in the moment, that a character is trying really hard, and has an actual chance of dying (or at least being horribly maimed). If the action is so far over the top that it triggers my “no-fucking-way” response, emotional engagement goes out the window, and at that point I’m simply watching a well-choreographed routine. Maybe fun, but not stirring.
So that’s my personal take-away on action scenes, and what I try keep in mind as I write. Keep things plausibly within the capabilities of human physiology, but stage things interestingly, and hopefully the audience will get a ride they can connect to and enjoy.
 A bit of captain obvious on every disc... I rent a fair number of Blu-Ray titles through Netflix. I also purchase a smaller number of Blu-Ray titles for my modest collection–movies I’ll want to watch a few times, examine the extras of in detail, and perhaps even put into my yearly “oh, I haven’t watched that in a while” rotation.
Which is the problem. Because the majority of the Blu-Ray titles I happen to own and watch repeatedly begin, right off the bat, with a trailer advertising how great Blu-Ray is. You can probably guess my forthcoming rant.
Why, oh why, does the distributor think that the virtues of Blu-Ray need to be extolled to someone who already owns a frigging Blu-Ray player!? Seriously. I plunked down the money for the player. I wouldn’t be seeing the stupid ad if I hadn’t. And I’m obviously watching a Blu-Ray disc, so what possible purpose could this kind of preaching to the choir have other then to piss me off after the third viewing of the same disc.
True, I could skip the offending ad with the touch of a button. However, I’m usually too busy dimming lights around the living room and grabbing a glass of beer (love those nitrogen widgets!) to catch it at first given the boot-up time necessary for the magic of Blu-Ray to take place. Then the hype machine starts up, I start sputtering about being nagged over buying something I already own, and my wonderfully patient and understanding wife smiles a calm smile for the umpteenth time and hands me the remote, so as not to deny me the pleasure of skipping the ad, with vigor.
My quickdraw ability with the remote is not the point. One possible point is that these little ads are one more grain of sand on the beach of reasons for physical media haters to decry the obsolescence of any disc format. An argument I have little patience for since the highly compressed video delivered by streaming or downloadable media services pales in comparison to a nicely compressed Blu-Ray disc. Yes, I’ve tried Netflix on demand and Amazon streaming. Yes, it’s awesome and convenient. And yes, I find the video quality is inferior, and I’m tired of the occasional skips. At the moment, I still like discs for movies I really care about seeing.
Getting back to my ad hatery, the real point is there’s no reason for it.
It’s not like the Blu-Ray authoring that creates the discs for manufacturing somehow leverages the authoring that went into making the DVD version of the same title. Both formats have widely different authoring requirements, and both sets of discs need to be created separately. No, I can instead imagine some executive or another demanding “I don’t care if we’re hyping the format to people who already own it, we need to make sure they’re constantly reminded that the more expensive discs are the best!” As if the folks who took the trouble and expense to go out of their way to assemble an HD television and Blu-Ray player combination are somehow not going to be aware of which discs to buy. Perhaps I’m being optimistic, but I suspect that owners of PS3’s and $200+ dedicated players are capable of “grabbing the blue box off the the shelf.”
If you’re going to burden customers with an ad, burden ones who might actually have a reason for buying the product (sorry DVD watchers) and might possibly need to be made aware that there’s a higher-quality format out there that they can blow their hard-earned cash on. (This is assuming they’re not part of the 10% unemployed as of this writing, or the undoubtedly larger percentage of working poor who don’t have the money to spend on this kind of nonsense.)
But better yet, why don’t you just leave us all alone. Skip the ads telling us how great your format is. Skip the trailers that are going to be outdated in five months. Just throw up a menu and let us watch the damn movie we gave you our money for.
 Another fine trip to London Amazingly, Google has already stuck my blog onto the front page of hits for my name, so I guess I’d better get on the stick with this thing.
Just returned last week from London, where I had the opportunity to put my writer/director hat on to present a project that’s been near and dear to my heart. Anyone who knows me can attest that I love discussing my work, and it was an extremely productive exchange.
Of course, while I was there I had a nice time wandering around the city on Halloween, as well as attending an opening night party for Hammer Film’s London Festival, with a great collection of vintage posters and publicity stills from various movies. Later in the week I also attended a screening of Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter at the Curzon Soho theater, where I got to meet the wonderful Caroline Munro. We chatted about acting and her role in the upcoming film Eldorado (an extremely eclectic cast, and the final performance of David Carradine).
All in all, a fantastic trip. I hope to have reason to return soon.
Trying to wrap my mind around getting Wordpress going. Hooray, another means for me to risk carpal tunnel syndrome…
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You’ve Found Me Congratulations on being intrepid enough to track down my small corner of the web. I'll likely be rattling on about writing, or perhaps directing, color correction, or even the production of my web serial, Starship Detritus. Whatever the topic, you're welcome to hang out and comment—I'm glad to hear from you.
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