Painting with Light

Have you ever wondered why certain movies carry that ominous, eerie feeling right off the bat? Why was Children of Men so dull and depressing? What about Matrix? Confessions of a Dangerous Mind? It is the lighting. I had not paid close attention on the deliberate lighting decisions and the kind of mood that it can set until now. Will update as I learn more on this.

In the meanwhile if you are interested read these books:

• Matters of Light and Depth by Ross Lowell
• Painting With Light by John Alton
• Motion Picture and Video Lighting by Blain Brown
• Set Lighting Technician’s Handbook by Harry Box

There is bunch of more recommended books at Bill Zarchy's Web site.

A Few Good Movies

One of my friend asked if there are any movies that I would recommend him to watch, and hence this post...

• Paycheck (2003)
• Gloria (1980) - You can find John Cassavetes' stamps everywhere. Almost all scenes are filled with some kind of uneasiness or conflict - whether acute or mild. These kept me glued to the couch.
• John Carter (2012)
• The Fountainhead
• Aeon Flux (2005)
• King Kong - Peter Jackson's wonderful creation.
• Shooter - Good pace all through.
• The Birthday Girl - The script and screen play closely matched the footprint of a good Hollywood style movie.
• Grosse Pointe Blank - The screen play exactly matched the definition of a good screen play (as taught at my film school).
• Short Circuit - Somehow the director (John Badham) had succeeded in creating in us an emotional attachment with "Number 5".
• Stakeout (1987) another one by John Badham; very well done. 
• The Holcroft Covenant - Typical Ludum - came through quite okay.
• The Bourne Series - The pace, action, editing and of course the story.
• Matrix (all of them) - Wonderful concept; as a computer engineer I totally admire it and relate to an OS. Cool editing, FX, action.
• Star Wars (the original one) - Some how it transported me to a magical era.
• I, Robot
• Clear and Present Danger
• The Fugitive
• Indiana Johnes - series
• Unforgiven
• For a few dollars more
• A Fistfull of Dollars
• Pale Rider
• Dirty Harry - You must have guessed - yeah I like Clint Eastwood :)
• Gentlemen's agreement
• To Kill a Mocking Bird
• The Good, the bad and the ugly
• The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) - My all time favourite novel - kudos to Alexandre Dumas. I guess, probably that's why I like this. Or probably the ending.
• Cool Runnings - Hilarious. Nice screen play (again following the blue print of a perfect Hollywood movie).
• 6th Sense - I simply loved it. Very nice screen play or was it the way it was presented...?
• Where Eagles Dare
• Guns of Navarone
• Runaway Jury - Very nice; what a controversial subject for a movie - and what an ending.
• Flash of Genius - Very nice screenplay for a movie - and again a good ending.
• Ivanhoe (1952) - Neatly done. I liked the way Walter Scott had crafted Bois-Guilbert and how it came out on the screen. You know he is the bad one, but can feel bad for him on his love for Rebbecca!
• High Heels and Low Lifes - the script adheres to the formula. Good.
• Casino Royale (2006) - Good editing.
• King Solomon's Mines (2004)
• Hostage (2005) - Good script. Like the "love triangle" there is a"need/want triangle" in the story - wasn't expecting that.
• Terminator Salvation (2009) - How do they get this look? There was this another movie that spoted similar dark look - Death Race (2008) - though didnt like Death Race the looks was good.
• The Russia House (1990) - Very nice camera work.
• Push (2009) - Taught; kept me watching till the end.
• U.S. Marshals (1998) - Fast paced and good!
• Metro (1997) - Prety good; nice script and good direction. Wonder why it didnt make money at the box office..!
• The Driver (1978) - I liked the direction and editing.
• Eragon - I liked the screen play a lot - it was very familiar to Star Wars - the original one. I was further astonished to learn that the author of the story Christopher Paolini was born in 1983!
• Walking Tall (2004)
• Dejavu - Nice script/story
• The Scropion King
• Robocop - liked the script
• Home Alone2 - made me laugh like hell
• The Musketeer (2001) - quite a good screenplay
• The Karate Kid (2010)
• Jack Reacher (2012) - need the bad guy's motive to be a bit more compelling. 
• Happy accidents
• Trams-Siberian 
• Oblivion (2013)
• Kick Ass (2010) - How did I miss this?
• Allied (2016) - Very nice. The performance of the heroine was too good.
• Two days in the valley - too many loose ends. But stil it was watchable. 
• Probably not in the above set; but still some elements were good:

• Klute (Not a strong story - but very good direction)
• Blind Horizon (2003) - Nice direction and editing.
• Hidalgo - Could feel myself rooting for Hidalgo! I wonder how they succeeded in making that horse limp on its right-front..? It was a pleasant surprise to find that Robert Dalva was the editor. He had come to my film school and spoken about Black Stallion(s), Jurassic Park III etc.
• The Da Vinci Code - Why here? I really really liked it all through - but probably something - I dont know what... didnt quite make it.
• Nadine - Reasonably good script. Probably the stakes should have been a bit higher.
• Munich - Why here? Somehow... something... probably the script didn't quite make it.
• Million Dollar Baby - Don't curse! I put it here because it is so sad. But for this, the movie is too good.
• Live Free or Die Hard - Quite good overall - I need a bit more of a twist in the script. Another reason why this movie is here...is... ta..td... Go De Anza (Len Wiseman graduated from here)!!
• Keeping Mum
• The Illusionist - I liked it a lot. I feel like putting this in the top buckett; but it is here only because I would like to have the character of Crown Prince Leopold a bit more strong, more evil so as to justify being tricked.
• Elektra (2002) - Good camera work and special effects.
• CQ - I really thought that is was a movie released in 1969.
• The Client (1994) - The was almost perfect - I would want some more conflict as to the ending; right from the start I was sure that the kid is gona make it throughout.
• The Italian Job (2003) - Neat. Good start. Few blotches of less than perfect direction - for example Donald Sutherland merely says that he loves Mark Wahlberg but it is not shown in actions. This is one of the gotcha's my Screen writing proff used to talk about so often!
• Romancing the Stone - To me this movie had a great script but was directed to be on the mild side - the director's choice on the look and feel and over-all impression dampened the movie's overall impact.
• The Philadelphia Experiment (1984) - Quite taut.
• Sahara (2005) - Very nice movie; I would have put in the top bucked but for the climax. Somehow if felt a bit dragging at climax - seemed like the script writer struggled to tie all loose ends and also to bring to an end with a bang. The stunts were too good.
• Undercover Blues (1993) - very nice.
• Shoot'em Up - Stylistic; I liked the characterization.
• Phantom (1998) - Just took me back to my childhood days! Liked it a lot - nice 1930's feel.
• Devil's Own - Good conflict.
• A History of Violence (2005) - Neat story line. 
• Tooth Fairy (2010) - I could see the script adhere to all the beats. If you are an aspiring screenwriter then learn from this.
• The Island
• Green Lantern
• Contraband (2011) - good twists; but hero gets a lot especially the adventure in Panama and the painting
• Trouble with the curve (2012) 
• The Adjustment Bureau (2011) - Philip Dick is cool! The visualizations are nice but somehow I felt that the ending lacked some punch.
• A Matter of Life and Death (1946) - probably one of the earliest movies about after life and fighting your way back (which has been done so many times in Tamil). Loved the logic Michael Powell had nicely intertwined.
• The Longest Yard (1974) - Very nice! Was not expecting this to be so good.
• Jericho (2000) - Liked the twist/mystery. But movie was a bit dragging in the middle however this gave it a feel of late 60's movie.
• The Tourist
• Stand Off (2011) - the comedy was good
• Masterminds (2016) - watchable
• Carlito's Way (1993) - why has this not been made into a Tamil movie yet? Very nicely made. Characters and motives are well formed.

Movies that I want to see

• Experiment in Terror - I saw few clippings when some elements were taught at school. Seemed to have been crafted by a good director (Blake Edwards).
• Primer (2004)
• Stalker by Tarkovsky 
• Tarkovsky’s Solaris (1972)
• Prisoners

Elements of a Good Movie

How to shoot a movie so it engages the audience?
There a re a few tricks, apart from having a good theme, script and actors, you need to know which scenes to shoot how. As a director when you read the script you will be able to identify scenes that need to be shot in a particular way to engage the audience.

Any movie will have the following three kinds of shots:

• Voyeuristic: In these kinds the director will try to convey the grandeur by use of elaborate sets and also will try to convey the experience of the character - say in The Last Emperor, the opening sequence where the little boy is made to sit on the throne, who jumps up and flaps his arms when he sees a cloth flapping in the wind (and who then walks through soldiers).
• Vicarious: The second kind is to make the audience feel the character's emotional turmoil. This involves using POVs heavily. Care is taken to show that character thinks, weighs options and makes decision.
• Visceral: The third kind is to put the audience right in the middle of the action. If this happens to be an action sequence as in Saving Private Ryan, then the geography of the location is established and number of characters participating with their position is established, then the audience is put right in the middle of the action by taking care to even direct the sand and gravel! This does not involve POVs but action punctuated by suspense and suspense punctuated by action.

On the whole, any movie theme should be packaged like a chase so the audience is left engaged.

Movie is a Character's (protagonist) journey (plot) towards a Goal which the character desperately wants against all odds (antagonist).

Make sure to have a singular protagonist, antagonist and a singular goal to make the movie effective.

Editing Exercise

Recently I edited a bunch of sample video footage from the Highlander serial. You can see the final result at YouTube 

The emphasis was on editing action sequence and building tension. One thing I should have done is to introduce camera shake which would have made the final output much much better. Probably next time! May be I should have shortened the quickening at the end and also should have shortened the post-quickening scene.

How to Act?

Assume that you have a script and a (screen) play written etc etc... now how would you go about and prepare to act?

• First understand the back ground and the context under which the play-write wrote it. Understanding this is very critical - this would help you to bring out the very essence that might not be available in the script/play itself. For you to act well, finding this is like finding the undercurrent that a Salmon uses to shoot against the flow of the current.
• Next do your homework - ie understand your character well, you should be able to say even to the extent of what happened to that character when she was say 12 years old, who were the best friends, what was the outlook on life - how it evolved etc etc
• Then understand the goal of the character. (The goal might be influencing the goals played in each scene). Find the sub-text.
• Prepare GOTE sheet - you should prepare one for each scene. Write down who else in the play/scene can help that character or hurt that character. What are the deepest fears and how can that be played in the scene. Remember the fundamentals: any change in goal or tactic forces a change in motivation.
• Find out what in the character's nature that would make you choose the tactics in the scene.
• Break the scene into beats and units and explain the motivation for each beat or unit from the angle of the chosen character. If any character enters or leaves the frame/scene then that automatically constitutes the start/stop of an unit. There may be many choices that might be "right" but remember to find the choices that are the most exciting.

That's it now get on the stage or set and give your best :)

Here are some very important tips:

• Never play a part pitifully - we root for underdogs; so look for the driving force to bring that edge out even if you are playing a very miserable part.
• Also if you have to play a negative role, find a more vulnerable reason to justify your actions on the stage.
• Now get ready for the most important one: Bring out conflict - conflict should always exist. Even if you are playing a dry scene try to inject conflict. Example: if you are just talking - a real boring speech - add a dimension of conflict to it - be it as simple as struggling to unscrew a Coke bottle.

Wind power augmented bicycles...?

Today I stumbled upon the crazy yet interesting discussion on building a vehicle which propelled by wind can go faster than the wind itself. See http://karmatics.com/dwfttw for a detailed discussion on this topic. Also checkout the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHsXcHoJu-A on YouTube. If we can find a way to direct this energy (or release it is a direction we would want to) and augment this vehicle with a bicycle like pedal power we could have an interesting clean/green vehicle.

Tamil (ThoopuKaraNam) = SuperBrain Yoga

ThoopuKaranam is a Tamil word which refers to a particular act of worshiping Lord Ganesha.

Let me try to explain this process. This involves holding your left earlobe with right hand (thumb holding the front of earlobe and index finger folded and placed behind the earlobe to hold it with a moderate pressure) while the left hand holds your right earlobe in a similar fashion. In this posture, arms will be crossed over at the chest. Now while holding earlobes so, lower yourself a bit by bending at the knees and then stand straight; repeat this 'bend and stand straight' routine a few time while holding your earlobes.  Few folks follow this with a couple of gentle taps with knuckles on the head (probably just where the hair line ends) at a spot right above the end of the eyes.

You would have practiced/performed this at schools as a punishment (must have been an old practice at the schools) if you were unable to answer the pop quiz in the class; or dozed-off after a heavy lunch when your Math/History teachers exhibited their monotones vocal qualities.

Now this ThoopuKaraNam has been found to be the best Yoga for the Brain - check out the SuperBrain Yoga Web site!! I do not know how far this is true. And I am not associated with these guys either! I merely found this an interesting coincidence :) I say coincidence because I have read somewhere that in olden times piercing on earlobes to wear an ornament was believed to keep the vision perfect!

May be our ancestors who lived so long ago really had some strong understanding on everything and passed those on generations after generations; and we managed to loose all those and start to reinvent the wheel!