Just finished absorbing all the tasty details of the criterion DVD set for Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers. Really damned satisfying look at the story, the ’46 “classic film noir” approach to the movie, the “solid student film” version made by tarkovsky, and the ’64 “bad ass pulp” take on it. Also includes Stacy Keach reading the short story, along with critics dissecting, and studio notes, and actor interviews. Really amazing to see such a short story interpretted and laid out in so many different ways.<\/p>\n
Mostly i’m astonished how much i still care about the very simple idea of “a tough guy who’s lived a bad life, but won’t\u00a0fight back when his Killers show\u00a0up.” Something about it is so awesome, that you can approach it from tons of different angles and it’s still pretty interesting. why? WHYYYYYYYY???<\/p>\n
Anywho. In vidHero land, I’m finishing up the cover art (eek, color. ugh), and have decided to go with a 24 page print, and just include a concept letters\u00a0and art 2-page spread, and an advert for Jonason’s upcoming comic, James and Robot. Credits and copyright inside the front cover, solid fuel pimpage inside the back cover.\u00a0The plan is good. Just need to execute.<\/p>\n
Instead. I’m about to blow 50 bucks on gas to drive down to\u00a0my folk’s house and do some laundry. discuss recent events. wee. While this has always seemed pointless from the front, it has always turned out very inspiring on the back end.<\/p>\n
One the comic is done,\u00a0I’m planning to finish off this “space battle fx sequence” for Alan Winston’s star wars fan film “Jedi 6: Queens of the Sith”. Just 5 years late! woo hoo! I think it has a lot of potential, based on the blue screen acting (being funny), and the high impact comedy action that is planned. But i can’t decide if it would be better to complete it as a sub par computer graphics animation (with perfectly controlled timing) or\u00a0with sub par paper mache and models (celebrating the lack of budget and time, but less likely to be well timed). Part of me really wants it to be a great action sequence demo reel. but this probably isn’t important to the movie. hmm.<\/p>\n
After this,\u00a0the plan is to finish the vidHero movie script (with an eye towards shooting over the summer). But part of me\u00a0wonders if i shouldn’t just shoot a trailer and try to seek funding to shoot the full script. Seems wise to leave the pain and suffering of shooting a 90 minute movie to a less “crazy” idea. For many months,\u00a0a little voice\u00a0has\u00a0been wondering why one would write a big crazy fx laden super hero action movie, but shoot it as a no budget bullshit amateur video. slim chance of success. WHEN DO WE LEAVE!<\/p>\n
Now part of me is wondering if\u00a0the current structure for the movie is all wrong. just like the comic, i\u00a0sense that it’s a relic from an old mindset that\u00a0only cared about being funny. I don’t think comedy is my forte. And after dwelling on the whole mass of Ernest Hemingway’s “the Killers” it seems clear that\u00a0my movie pitch was schizo, and embarassingly shallow (in both structure and characterization). I’m thinking maybe i should excise the whole first half hour (of hospital-based vigilante training gags\/backstory) and just focus on\u00a0making a movie about\u00a0a city vigilante.\u00a0The hospital segment seems like it’s own story, and has little to do with the movie’s ultimate goal (of violently critiquing the body of work of a certain fame-fringe director).<\/p>\n
I’m more and more obsessed with the idea\u00a0of making contained art projects that function as aggressive critiques on failed directors. I think\u00a0there’s something in floating in this idea that\u00a0has the possibility to be\u00a0a very modern\/challenging evolution of art. It\u00a0ties into this idea i have that critiquing anything\u00a0art related has become\u00a0pointless, since everyone is now an artist.\u00a0The abuse of art, action, and criticism,\u00a0could cross the gap between criticism and art in a way i don’t think i’ve ever seen. But it’s also almost overwhelmingly likely to come off as a pretentious. Like an geeky moronic\u00a0tribute to the genuine motivations of the french new wave\u00a0movement. That is,\u00a0if anyone can even see past the first layer of each project. which will no doubt be a shitty layer of failure. hmm. SO BE IT?!?!?!?!<\/p>\n
So. This is the\u00a0approach\u00a0i’m sticking with for today. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
I’m not sure optimist is the word to describe someone who knowing walks into a train wreck of self expression on the off chance it might make their life worth living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just finished absorbing all the tasty details of the criterion DVD set for Ernest Hemingway’s The Killers. Really damned satisfying look at the story, the ’46 “classic film noir” approach to the movie, the “solid student film” version made by tarkovsky, and the ’64 “bad ass pulp” take on it. Also includes Stacy Keach reading… Continue reading We are Killers<\/span>