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Thursday, November 5, 2009
Exegenis
In building a simple blog based upon film reviews and thoughts about the industry, I considered my experience with blogs in the past and how best to shape my web presence as to convey the message and tone I wanted. Having never studied film and without an educated knowledge of formal reviewing (short of watching David and Margaret and reading Empire) I knew that the best approach would be a casual one, incorporating humour and sharing my own experience as opposed to breaking down the construction of a particular piece.
I chose Blogger as the host for my central node for a variety of reasons, it syncs up with my Google account which is convenient, there is already a large network which encourages aimlessly browsing through blogs and its simple to set-up and use. But the largest influence on my choice was being aware of my own predispositions upon reaching any blog. In choosing Blogger over nearest competitor Wordpress I chose a more leisure orientated blog, in my experience Wordpress is more often facilitated to express a professional opinion, I didn't want to give that impression. By choosing a platform which a specific group of content generating users, I helped influence the type of people accessing the blog and the impression they got of it.
The next important decision in shaping my impression people got of my web presence was choosing the layout of my blog. The simple Harbour layout by Douglas Bowman was the most appealing to my intentions, it was clear and yet decorative enough to show the site was arts related. I didn't want the page to be cluttered with too many distracting widgets so I chose the ones related to my external nodes and a trailer of the day one to tie in with the movie theme. I wanted my page to be rich in links throughout the text and for that not to interrupt with quickly reading the post if the reader doesn't have time or doesn't need to follow the links. Choosing the Harbour layout was important in achieving that because of the subtle difference in text colour between a link and regular content. Lots of embedded links helps to solidify the casual browsing feel I wanted the blog to give off, but if they are too “loud” on the page it distracts from the content.
I chose the social networking tools Delicious, Twitter and Digg for my contributing nodes because they all encourage the frequent short browsing that West Coast Cinema was meant to be a part of. I can link to various stories or trailers I might want to share on a smaller scale and get a good idea of general public consensus through the comment at each of these sites.
I chose Blogger as the host for my central node for a variety of reasons, it syncs up with my Google account which is convenient, there is already a large network which encourages aimlessly browsing through blogs and its simple to set-up and use. But the largest influence on my choice was being aware of my own predispositions upon reaching any blog. In choosing Blogger over nearest competitor Wordpress I chose a more leisure orientated blog, in my experience Wordpress is more often facilitated to express a professional opinion, I didn't want to give that impression. By choosing a platform which a specific group of content generating users, I helped influence the type of people accessing the blog and the impression they got of it.
The next important decision in shaping my impression people got of my web presence was choosing the layout of my blog. The simple Harbour layout by Douglas Bowman was the most appealing to my intentions, it was clear and yet decorative enough to show the site was arts related. I didn't want the page to be cluttered with too many distracting widgets so I chose the ones related to my external nodes and a trailer of the day one to tie in with the movie theme. I wanted my page to be rich in links throughout the text and for that not to interrupt with quickly reading the post if the reader doesn't have time or doesn't need to follow the links. Choosing the Harbour layout was important in achieving that because of the subtle difference in text colour between a link and regular content. Lots of embedded links helps to solidify the casual browsing feel I wanted the blog to give off, but if they are too “loud” on the page it distracts from the content.
I chose the social networking tools Delicious, Twitter and Digg for my contributing nodes because they all encourage the frequent short browsing that West Coast Cinema was meant to be a part of. I can link to various stories or trailers I might want to share on a smaller scale and get a good idea of general public consensus through the comment at each of these sites.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
On time Reviews!
After you have worked in a cinema and become accustomed to free movies, it is difficult to bring yourself to pay for them. Cinema prices are too expensive, there are better movies and a bigger selection at the video store, your living room doesn't have a gaggle of rowdy teenagers throwing popcorn at each other. In my experience I can't help by purchase some of that delicious popcorn either; I am sure that years of conditioning has left my body craving it and that accounts for the vast majority of the reason I do still periodically go.
But there is another good reason to go to the cinema this month at that is Duncan Jone's directional debut Moon. Unfortunately while being an excellent movie to see it is a difficult one to review without detracting from the mystique of the film. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, a engineer on a three year contract to mine "Helium 3" on the surface of the Moon. Kevin Spacey voices GERTY, an emoticon faced AI robot programmed to help Sam and keep him from being too lonely in isolation.
One of the few films I have seen recently based upon an original idea and executed fantastically. I cannot sing its praises enough but I won't post a trailer here, I saw it without having had it ruined by spoilers... that's the way to watch it.
Great poster though!
The only other film that has enticed me to the cinema recently was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which while being entertaining is not even worth comparing. This film got huge amount of press attention because it is Heath Ledgers last film, as if the fact that it was directed by ex-Python Terry Gilliam wasn't enough. Unlike the vast majority of my peers, I have not particularly enjoyed his work outside of Monty Python and although his most recent effort is his best a few scenes fell short of holding my attention. I did enjoy seeing Andrew Garfield playing a large role in a popular film, I liked him in 2007's festival hit Boy A and hopefully his performance in this will get him better recognized. Johnny Depp and Colin Farrel do a good job of filling in for Heath, its difficult to say whether Jude Laws performance was awful or whether I am still holding something against him for Alfie.
But there is another good reason to go to the cinema this month at that is Duncan Jone's directional debut Moon. Unfortunately while being an excellent movie to see it is a difficult one to review without detracting from the mystique of the film. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, a engineer on a three year contract to mine "Helium 3" on the surface of the Moon. Kevin Spacey voices GERTY, an emoticon faced AI robot programmed to help Sam and keep him from being too lonely in isolation.
One of the few films I have seen recently based upon an original idea and executed fantastically. I cannot sing its praises enough but I won't post a trailer here, I saw it without having had it ruined by spoilers... that's the way to watch it.
Great poster though!
The only other film that has enticed me to the cinema recently was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which while being entertaining is not even worth comparing. This film got huge amount of press attention because it is Heath Ledgers last film, as if the fact that it was directed by ex-Python Terry Gilliam wasn't enough. Unlike the vast majority of my peers, I have not particularly enjoyed his work outside of Monty Python and although his most recent effort is his best a few scenes fell short of holding my attention. I did enjoy seeing Andrew Garfield playing a large role in a popular film, I liked him in 2007's festival hit Boy A and hopefully his performance in this will get him better recognized. Johnny Depp and Colin Farrel do a good job of filling in for Heath, its difficult to say whether Jude Laws performance was awful or whether I am still holding something against him for Alfie.
Free entertainment!
If you are an Australian resident you'll know all too well that we have limited free online streaming available. Throughout the rest of the world bandwidth is plentiful enough to offer a variety of legal streaming services so that you can watch your favorite TV shows after you have missed them.
So far the only Australian channel to have taken the leap into free streaming is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and their iView interface has set a high standard. They keep anything that shows on the ABC up there for a couple of weeks and loading is fast considering the high quality of the video.
You can still catch a fantastic BB4 documentary "The Great Contemporary Art Bubble", which explains the facade behind exorbitantly priced pieces that have sold in the last decade. I have never taken an interest in the modern art world but stories like Damien Hirst's crystal skull being sold for 100 million US dollars penetrated the mass media and I remember being shocked to find out that the artist selling this work was still alive and had set the price himself! Art critic Ben Lewis spent a year documenting what had caused this explosion in the value of contemporary art, and how its availability led to it being treated like a commodity, prone to speculation and market manipulation.
Its a really fun watch and it will help you to understand why some art has been getting sold for more money than you and everyone you know will ever make. Plus Lewis is a likable character that drives a hilarious electric car.
So far the only Australian channel to have taken the leap into free streaming is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and their iView interface has set a high standard. They keep anything that shows on the ABC up there for a couple of weeks and loading is fast considering the high quality of the video.
You can still catch a fantastic BB4 documentary "The Great Contemporary Art Bubble", which explains the facade behind exorbitantly priced pieces that have sold in the last decade. I have never taken an interest in the modern art world but stories like Damien Hirst's crystal skull being sold for 100 million US dollars penetrated the mass media and I remember being shocked to find out that the artist selling this work was still alive and had set the price himself! Art critic Ben Lewis spent a year documenting what had caused this explosion in the value of contemporary art, and how its availability led to it being treated like a commodity, prone to speculation and market manipulation.
Its a really fun watch and it will help you to understand why some art has been getting sold for more money than you and everyone you know will ever make. Plus Lewis is a likable character that drives a hilarious electric car.
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