"Millions," Danny Boyle

It was interesting to see how Boyle translated and accommodated his style for a children’s film. His signature camera techniques, aesthetics, and story lines were readjusted by changing their degree of intensity. For example, in his previous work, Boyle predominantly used fast editing synchronized with music to create a certain quality of dynamism and surprise as the actions build up towards the climax of the story. However, in Millions, editing was used to extend and emphasize key actions. For instance, when the thief threatens Damian and explains he will call at night to get the money back, the action of opening and closing the phone is repeated five times through the editing. By repeating the same action from different angles, a shot that could last a couple of seconds takes much longer to be completed. This editing technique was also used when the characters played with the money by throwing it into the air. As a result, the amount of money seems substantially greater as well as the joy it generates to its beholders.

In addition to editing as a technique to emphasize important actions, music was key to direct audiences’ attention and feelings. When Damian is in danger or close to the thief, a heavy breathing takes over the soundtrack. Nevertheless, such sound effect looses its initial strength and is stripped off its signaling power because it is heavily used throughout the entire film. Thus, by the end of the film the hunting breathing annoys the audience rather than frightening them. It seems as if Boyle was very conscious of the fact that Millions was meant for a younger audience, and thus he used music and editing techniques to ensure they would not miss important cues of the story. This methodic process, however, places the film on the borderline between succeeding and irritating the audience.

One of the cleverest scenes in Millions is when the nephew of a policeman explains where the money came from. The boy uses toys to relate the story to his peers in the screen as well as in the audience while Boyle crosscuts into real action to expand the story for the adults with an atrophied imagination. The colors in this sequence were corrected and boosted in post-production, creating high contrasts to dramatize the scene and create the right ambiance for the tale. In addition, there is a high synchronization between the toys and the real action which is achieved through fast cutting. Thus, such crosscutting not only allowed for an enhanced illustration of the story, but it also successfully catered to the two diverse generations that compose the audience.

The monologue of Damian at the end of the film seems to be reciting Boyle’s words: “that’s how he would want the story to end, with big piles of stuff. But it’s not his story. It’s mine. This is where I want it to end.” This speaks not only about the story per se, but also about the freedom and power that the person behind the camera has. Even though the audience may have thousands of ideas about how to spend the money, this is Boyle’s story and only he has the power of crafting its ending. In addition, it seems to be a stand against big studios since they are known for imposing positive and happy endings to mainstream films, which might have been the case with The Beach.

"Genesis," by Nacho Cerdà

It is definitely a short that can lead to an interesting discussion about the relationship between the artistic object and the artist himself, what motivates an artist to do his/her job, and the ramifications or consequences that such job can generate. It is interesting that the main character tries to bring his wife back to life through sculpture, an ancient form of art. However, he combined such "old" art with a much contemporary and technologically advanced form of expression, film. In fact, it is only when the two of them merge that the metamorphosis is completed.

Having said that, I can see why some people might not have liked the aesthetics of the film. It felt a little bit overdone or heavy handed in some instances like the green shots with the smoky car.

Times Square at 11:00pm

"Biutiful," by Alejandro González Iñárritu

If you have the chance, go see this movie. I'm still processing it, so I'll probably come back in a few days to revise and add things to this post.

I know that I loved it. I have been replaying it on my head over and over since I walked out of the theater. This film was able, like only few films can, to completely draw me into its story.

Javier Bardem was incredible. He is definitely one of the best actors out there. He metamorphoses from a character to another with a commitment that is rarely found. Like my mother said after having seen him in Mar Adentro, he is a "monster," the most flattering expression she could find to put into words this man's ability of transformation.

There is a lot to talk about this film: the acting, the themes it explores, the innovative techniques, among other things.

It was amazing the way that they used sound in this film. The biping, ultrasonic sound that acutes itself as the tension in the scene is raised to higher levels makes you connect not only in a mental level but also in a physical one. You feel the pain and disconfort in this kind of scenes, specially when Bardem is connecting with the spirits that cannot find their way over. As Bardem, we grow unconfortable and hope for it to be done soon.

en busca de libertad

Fuerza Bruta

The Art of Flying

"28 Days Later," Danny Boyle

To be honest, I always try to avoid scary movies. That’s why, when I was around 16 years old and some friends decided to play 28 Days Later on TV, I was extremely relieved to be picked up by my parents earlier than expected so that I would not have to endure the entire film. Today, thinking about that experience, I realized that it is impressive for a British film with a humble budget and no stars, to have made it into the Venezuelan market where theaters are monopolized by American blockbusters. Thus, 28 Days Later seems to be Boyle’s ultimate realization. He was able to return to his comfort zone of working with a small crew, modest budget, and unknown actors, and yet develop a film that taped into global mainstream. It seems like The Beach “cured Boyle and Macdonald of any temptation to go Hollywood,” (71) and yet this film found its way into such market.

Boyle’s talent is definitely stimulated and brought to the surface by pressure and the need of creative problem solving. In fact, he admits “I love leaving things as late as possible. It’s very exciting” (80). This is why there is a direct correlation between his most brilliant films and very small budgets. The interesting part is that his solutions to such monetary restrains greatly enhance the story lines and aesthetic elements of his films. In the case of 28 Days Later, Boyle decided to use digital cameras which were cheaper than celluloid cameras but somewhat new and unfamiliar. Nevertheless, their technology created images that were unlike what audiences were accustomed to, thus intensifying the strange atmosphere of the infected city. The images were crisp and the movement of the infected was fidgety and disjointed, “sort of like staccato” (76). In addition, in order to operate these cameras, a reduced number of people were needed, which allowed Boyle’s crew to shoot the outdoors scenes through multiple cameras at the time. Boyle’s work tends to be great when shooting indoors, however, it seems to loose such spark when faced with exteriors. Nevertheless, in 28 Days Later these shots, which were extremely important to set the tone and establish the story, were brilliant. As Jim wonders in complete shock through the deserted streets of London, we are drastically pulled into the story questioning our reactions in his position.

Another benefit Boyle extracted from his budgetary limitations was the use of inexpensive-unknown actors. After having made The Beach, a film that revolved around only one factor, Leonardo DiCaprio, Boyle went the complete opposite way with 28 Days Later. However, the drivers of such decision were not only monetary. There was an element of egotism that must have played a big role in making this decision. He had stated in an interview, previous to the release of The Beach, that “a mass audience always goes to a cinema for actors, not directors” (59). Therefore, 28 Days Later seemed to be Boyle’s retaliation project, a way of proving that directors’ films can be successful. Nevertheless, the fact that Jim, Selena, Hanna, and Frank were unknown to the audiences, made it possible to create a deep connection and identification between them.

Apart from the innovative camera techniques, editing, and experimentation used by Boyle in 28 Days Later, what took this film to the next level were the different layers of commentary and criticism. For example, there is a striking condemnation of traditional systems. It is not a coincidence that the humans, who were supposed to represent hope and salvation, were part of the military, one of the oldest organizations still standing in modern days. To accentuate such clash between old and new systems, ancient statues saturate the house in which the soldiers retrieved. Here, we are presented with a new kind of social intolerance which is very close to audiences’ reality and thus, it forces them to “speculate where it’s come from” (72).

"The Beach," by Danny Boyle

It was interesting to see the interplay between people’s background and their current situation. There was a constant tension between the two. In a way, Thailand represents a melting pot, the capital of the world. Everyone has a different accent and place of origin however, there is no desire to dig into people’s past, culture, or background, but only to enjoy what the city has to offer. Such mantra is exposed in the opening scene as Richard is first introduced: “My name is Richard. So what else do you need to know? Stuff about my family or where I’m from? None of that matters. Not once you cross the ocean and cut yourself loose…” As the film develops, such concept is held constant by omitting stories about characters’ backgrounds. Nevertheless, there is an underneath piercing desire to hold to fragments of the past, which is why Richard decided to leave the map of the beach to his fellow Americans. “I told myself that spreading news was a part of a traveler’s nature, but if I was being completely honest, I was just like everybody else, shit-scared of the great unknown, desperate to take a little piece of home with me.” However, as he was accepted in the island’s community, he became part of a subculture of outsiders whose main rule was secrecy. They were the outcasts of a society that does not even know of their existence. Thus, the fact that Richard lingered to the idea of completely censor himself from his origins was his greatest mistake and reason of punishment: his loose link with America was the cause of his expulsion from paradise.

With a significant larger budget, Boyle finally used special effects in a more in tuned way than in A Life Less Ordinary. Even though these scenes were not realistic per se, they had a clear purpose to enhance the story line. For example, when Richard and the French couple are camping in the first island they reached, we see the sky though Francoise’s camera as she is taking night pictures. Francoise and Richard start to play in front of the camera, and we see their blurry shapes in front of the stars. Such vision of the two externalizes their mutual love interest. Normally, to represent love scenes the camera spins around the couple, as if intoxicated or dizzied. However, in this scene Boyle reinterpreted industry’s standards by conveying the same feeling through a different vehicle. Having said this, we cannot avoid pointing out that Boyle did go overboard when Richard and Francoise finally kiss. His touch was only evident by the use of a higher shutter speed which freezes the images and eliminates the normal cinematic blur. Apart from that, it seems like he followed a checklist and used all the industry standards: full moon, fluorescent shrimps, and spinning camera.

The use of special effects was mostly evident when Richard becomes a character of a videogame. It was clever of Boyle to integrate such a pastime since it is embedded in mainstream society, and thus in the audiences of his film. Boyle used such a metaphors to relate the story while, in a different level, criticizing society. These solitary games alienate the players by transporting them to a desert island, which is why they were perfect to convey Richard’s insanity. As he runs franticly trying to provoke and trick the armed farmers, he tells himself “I was the only one with the overview of how it all fitted together: the island, me, them, the invaders, all connected, all playing the same game.” However, having real blood spread all over his face triggered the game over of these fictional combats and missions.

"A Life Less Ordinary," by Danny Boyle

In my previous notes on Boyle, I talked about my curiosity to discover weather or not a larger budget had spoiled the creative spark of the team that brought us Shallow Grave and Trainspotting. Sadly it did, and I have the impression that such decay might have worsen with The Beach. So far, it looks like Boyle and his team need restrictions and pressure for their ingenuity to shine through. The $12 million budget made them forget that less tends to be more, and thus it looks like they tried really hard to spend every penny of their budget. They included cheesy special effects, over the top locations, car chases, guns, fights, bits of musicals, and lets not forget the closing sequence with cartoons providing the most archetypical happy ending that Hollywood could conceive.

During the scene in which Lily breaks up with Robert and he goes back to his apartment, I thought that Boyle’s style was finally shinning through the cracks. As Robert enters his apartment building, the camera, at an extremely high angle, shows the angular staircase lit by a dark red light that creates hunting shadows. Once inside the room, Robert sits in the bed, looks into the camera, and falls backwards as the camera moves to capture him from above the bed. If this kind of camera movement and lighting were persistent throughout the film, the larger budget would have been justified. However, the scene that follows this one is an example of the extravaganzas in which the team preferred to allocate their budget: a tacky computer-animated heart that brakes into pieces. Boyle and his team were criticized for having cut scenes that “would have made [the film] have sense” (47). I wonder what happened with this one. It might have slipped their minds or, because they were catering to an American audience, they assumed there would be no success without special effects. What a shame.

In one of his interviews, Boyle states that “you have three minutes to announce your intentions, to make an indelible stamp on the audience” (40). He is right, I can assure you that after only seen the opening scene of A Life Less Ordinary we could have come to the sound conclusion that it is nothing like its antecedents. The overexposed white police station, filled with policemen, nurses, prostitutes, and social workers, was supposed to convey the idea of a nuance paradise. Well, it didn’t. However, the cherry on top of the cake was the music. A cheesy and over the top song invaded the screen in such a high degree that one of the prostitutes lip-sings part of the song. Maybe this was a small premonitory shot of the dreadful musical sequence at the karaoke bar. The camera was steady and traditional, as if we were watching an ordinary Hollywood film from the late eighties. And, as soon as the actors opened their mouths, a highly dramatized and somewhat theatrical acting style was enforced. I felt like every small detail I enjoyed from Shallow Grave and Trainspotting was bleached out in this film. There was no exciting editing, original story, innovative camera angles, or clever acting.

New York International Latino Film Festival

After seeing many online ads for the Latino Film Festival, I decided to organize a trip to NYC exclusively for the festival. As a venezuelan aspiring to work in the industry, I was curious and interested to see what kind of films Latinos around the world are producing. I thought this festival would showcase a wide range of good work from multiple nationalities. However, I was disappointed and surprised that most films they selected were produced or co-produced by Americans. For example, there wasn't a single feature film from Colombia, only a couple of shorts. Given the fact that Colombia has such an active film industry, this was the first bad sign of the festival.

I have to admit that I left NYC very disappointed. The people running the festival are just drilling and reiterating the stereotypes that follow us around the world. The organization of the festival was awful. I couldn't believe that there was more than an hour delay in the opening night. As it turns out, they were showing the same film in two theaters with half an hour difference. The funny thing is that they didn't have an extra copy of the DVD.......... How is that possible!!!! I was hopping that after this screening the other 4 films we had schedule would go smoothly and on time. Well, I was wrong. The next day, not only we had to wait an hour while they fixed technical issues, but the sound system was dreadfully laud, making it excruciating to sit through the bad short films we were watching. Ah, and lets not forget the very low picture quality. I think the filmmakers that attended the festival felt nauseous by seen their work projected so poorly. I'm in complete awe by the fact that the festival was sponsored by big names such as HBO and Heineken. They most have good connections I guess!..

"Trainspotting," by Danny Boyle

Even if this film is indisputably about heroin, it is also a film about many other subjects. For example, it talks about the fast caducity of the “in” factor and the anxiety provoked by the threat of loosing touch with such reality. In addition, it touches on political subjects. I particularly liked the scene in which the gang of boys follows Tommy into the characteristic Scottish landscape. Here, Renton gives a monologue about what little it means to be Scottish, and his feelings about the British colonization. He provides a concise, yet deep insight into their view of nationalism and their relationship with their own country. Renton yields “Ah’ve never felt British, because ah’m not. It’s ugly and artificial. Ah’ve never really felt Scittish either.” Such a disconnection with society also came through during the scene in which the baby dies. Renton, paralyzed by a sense of impotence, wishes he “could have something to say, something human.” It is as if given their addiction and life style they have become a new kind of animal, something lower than humans.

I particularly like low-budget films because filmmakers are forced to be extremely creativity in order to surpass the roadblocks created by monetary constrains. Trainspotting is a good example of a successful low-budget film. In this case, the financial necessities dominated the creative process from beginning to end: from the writing of the script to its production, finding “new ways of telling new stories [and] speaking of lives that have rarely been spoken of” (27). For this reason, Boyle predominantly shot indoors and the actors selected were not well known. It is also interesting to notice how well they incorporated the lighting sources into the set design. We can see big lights in the floor, covered-up by color filters, as well as red filters covering the windows. However, we never question their presence in the scenes. Additionally, they disregarded the usual use of 3 point lighting, thus, creating unusual shadows in the walls and actors’ faces.

Besides lighting, the monetary restrictions forced very creative solutions out of Hodge when he was writing the script. He knew he should try to keep outdoor scenes to a minimum and thus had to think of inventive solutions to move characters from one location to another, coming up with one of my favorite shots from the film. After Rento’s trial, he walks out of the pub to go to Swanney’s in search of drugs. Hodge explains that he “was thinking, how can I get him there? Are we going to have to see him on the bus or on the street. I thought, no, I can’t be bothered with that. We’ll just have him jumping off the wall” (18) and falling in the floor of the dealer’s house, where the camera was awaiting for him.

After Trainspotting, Boyle said that his team was ready to make movies with a larger budget in order to improve their work. He explains that making low-budget films “is a wonderful discipline to have in the beginning. But as you develop more it’s like being stuck on an escalator that’s moving the wrong way. If you stand still on it you end up going backwards” (30). I haven’t seen A Life Less Ordinary or The Beach, but I’m really curious to see the results of the immediate increase of budget in this team’s creative process since there are numerous directors who lost their essence once immersed in the studio life of Hollywood.

"Shallow Grave," by Danny Boyle

In Shallow Grave, we can perceive the determining role that music has in Boyle’s work. In fact, he explains that his “biggest influence is music” (xi). In this film, Boyle uses music to provide hints of an underlying danger which automatically distorts the carefree trait of the characters. When the flatmates are overwhelmed with euphoria from the luggage full of cash, a happy yet unsettling melody overflows the scene. Through the aids of music we realize that there is something off about the situation we are witnessing. Thus, we start speculating about the origins of the money and its real cost. Such use of soundtrack reminded me of the opening scene of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, in which a happy music is coupled with scenes of a model American suburb. As the camera tracks through these model houses, an unsettling element discreetly takes over the scene.

Shallow Grave explores the power originated from sight. The issue of who is observing and who is been observed was a theme that particularly reminded me of Fritz Lang’s Dr. Mabuse. Surveillance represented power and control over the others, which is why David, the “gentle giant” (10), drilled wholes in the ceiling to observe every inch of the house. Moreover, it is interesting that David needed glasses to be able to see and thus have power over the others. In fact, through close-ups of his glasses, Boyle indicates the shifts of power through the film. By only showing the reflection of the attic’s door in David’s glasses, we know that he will be able to defend himself from the two killers that had just assaulted his flatmates. In addition, when Juliet tries to lure him into running away with her, she starts seducing him by removing his glasses and thus leaving him vulnerable.

In addition to surveillance, Shallow Grave reminded me of Dr. Mabuse regarding the use of technology and telephones as a medium of control and penetration into closed systems. In Dr. Mabuse, the telephone goes from being the glue of his operations to become one of the principal causes of the fall of his empire. Such situation is reenacted in Shallow Grave. When the flatmates are ahead of the game, they have a strong domination over the telephone, deciding to ignore conversations with outsiders. However, the only time when Juliet picks up the phone willing to talk, there is no answer from the other end. Through this call, the two men that were looking for Hugo were able to enter the flat, which was no longer a safe and sealed place.

Back to the Typewriter

I'm back to the good old writing. I'm taking my last class in film studies, which is also my last class as an undergraduate student!... so I will be posting some of the work done towards that class. You might wonder if I'm going through an obsessive period on Danny Boyle. I'm not! But most of the writing I'm doing are analysis of his films because this class is focused on him. Soon, I'll also be posting more of my own pictures as I try to prepare a worthed body of work for a portfolio!

"The Lottery of Life," by Flavia Romani

To watch the short, please CLICK HERE

"Schizophrenia," by Flavia Romani

To watch the short, please CLICK HERE

"Peek into the Future," by Flavia Romani

To watch the short, please CLICK HERE

Stills from "The Lottery of Life" (final project)

Stills from "Peek into the Future"

This are some pictures I got while shooting my first short film. Hope you enjoy them. I'll post the short film as soon as I figure out how to make the file smaller than it currently is.

The Donkey Show

The Donkey Show is an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream." It has been running for a while at a theater in Harvard Sq. It is a very participative show which recounts the play and its story through popular songs of the 70s. Here are some of the favorite shots I got.