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Local Radio Stories by L-M.Gorman

Once again, despite this being a blog dedicated to film, here is a little something else we have been working on in class during our radio sessions.

Local Radio Stories by L-M.Gorman

'Colin' The-Luckiest Zombie Alive

Despite having been written as an assessment piece for my course at university, this holds a lot of relevancy on here. This is my review of new zombie film written by the new indie director Marc Price, of Nowhere Fast Productions, 'Colin'.

Dare a director to create a film with a unique idea, or at the very least a unique spin on a common idea, and it’s a fair wager that only one out of a million will live up to the challenge. Marc Price is that one in a million. The zombie film has been done to death and back (excuse the pun), but to create a film from the perspective of the zombie?! Now that is something new.

Modern Hollywood blockbusters have budgets of millions of dollars to go on all sorts of sound and visual effects to really make the film convincing, but Price has proved that all you need is fifty pounds, a little elbow grease and the determination to get the job done. Although ‘Colin’ may not be as visually stunning as many recent zombie films, such as the 2004 remake of the classic ‘Dawn of the Dead’, the cinematography, editing and originality certainly give Price’s film the extra kick that is missing in many of today’s high budget smashes. Price questioned many of the things that take up large proportions of a film’s budget, and came up with some very clever alternatives; since the film is set in a world where zombies have started to take over, why spend money on a set when the actual world is already out there for free? When bonfire night is around the same time as the film is being shot, why spend money on the sound of fake gunfire when a self-made recording of the fireworks sounds exactly the same? ‘Colin’ was shot in and around the area of London where Price and the people helping him lived, so they knew exactly when and where it would be quiet enough to shoot, and the film never shows any direct gunfire (it is only ever hinted at in the background) so using Adobe Premier software he was able to edit firework sounds into the background, leaving the audience none the wiser. “The main thing we had to splash out on” Price explains, “was tea and biscuits for the crew. But we ended up buying the really cheap value biscuits, which were absolutely horrible and hardly anyone ate, so they lasted for quite a while. We also had to buy things like food colouring and syrup for blood.”

A major perk to having an extraordinarily low budget is that most people will not hold high expectations of what they are about to see, so it is much easier for them to walk away surprised and liking the film. I did exactly the same; walking into the cinema at a special screening in Farnham, I was dubious about watching ‘Colin’, but with a little patience it didn’t take long for me to really start to enjoy the film. There is literally only about two dozen words spoken throughout the entire thing, and any emotional link felt towards the protagonist is developed through the way he moves and the camera work. Contrary to the popular style of zombie films, the humans are actually portrayed as being the ‘baddies’ and I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Colin at certain points, even though he is actually shown killing someone. The whole film is very cleverly shot with subtle hints being dropped throughout as to what Colin was like as a human, and the audience is made to think and wonder from start to finish about what is really happening.

The common attitude that the first of a new genre should be below par certainly does not apply here – as the first ever film based entirely from the zombie’s perspective I think it works extremely well. Despite the low budget, limited cast and resources and near-outdated equipment ‘Colin’ is definitely on the list of “Recommend to a Friend” ‘and is available on DVD nationwide now.

Colin truely is a film, fantastic.

Remembrance Day by L-M.Gorman

Despite this blog being dedicated to the beauty of FILM, this post is for the latest thing we have learned to do in lessons at UCA. Radio recording and editing.

Remembrance Day by L-M.Gorman

"Does Oscar Ever Get It Wrong?" - An Alex Wagner article that caught my eye.

After looking at the IMDB top 250 films and checking out a few of the films listed that I'm particularly fond of, I stumbled across an article posted on the internet on October 1st 2009 by Alex Wagner, a film geek living in London. It easily sums up the injustice that is often rife at award ceremonies, in particularly at The Oscars, and in all honesty, actually made me laugh.

Does Oscar Ever Get It Wrong?
By: Alex Wagner

Even the most intelligent people in the world make mistakes. The brightest minds once thought the world was flat. Over the years I think there have been great injustices at the Academy Awards. Films that were not so deserving have walked off with the Best Picture Oscar. Actors & Directors have picked up that coveted statue even though someone better should have received it. Let’s take a look at some of those moments and of course as always, if you don’t agree or can think of a different time I haven’t covered feel free to let us know via the comments section...
Read the full story here

In my opinion, Alex Wagner is definately someone to follow for anyone interested in film and all that is motion picture based.

The Shawshank Redemption - Best Movie of All Time?

Fear Can Hold You Prisoner. Hope Can Set You Free.

In 1994 the tale of Andy Dufresne, a man wrongly accused of the murder of his adulteress wife and her lover, that gets sent to prison for two life sentences in the notoriously harsh Shawshank Prison, was created. Released in the UK on February 17th 1995, the film follows Dufresne for more then twenty years during his incarceration; from the day of his sentencing to the day of his sudden and mysterious escape from Shawshank.

According to votes cast on IMDB, The Shawshank Redemption is the best movie of all time, with a current score of 9.2 out of 10 and 448,418 registered votes. The next film on the list, rated a 9.1, is 'The Godfather Part 1' a narrow 2nd place, behind by only 80,953 votes.

With an all-star cast; including Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and Bob Gunton, and receiving 7 Oscar nominations, another 13 nominations and 11 overall award wins at various awards ceremonies, it's no wonder that The Shawshank Redemption has survived the test of time over the 15 years since it's production in 1994. The Shawshank Redemption has even managed to make it's mark on a global scale, particularly claiming a plethora of awards in Japan, including the 'Best Foreign Film' at the Awards of the Japanese Academy in 1996 and 'Best Foreign Language Film' at both the Hochi Film Awards (1995) and the Kinema Junpo Awards (1996).

The Shawshank Redemption holds the ability to move a grown person to tears, make you laugh out loud with the characters and skip a heart beat in apprehension. The ideology of friendship, ambition and hope is perfectly encompassed in this 142 minute film. The film is simple, yet portrays an everlasting message; hope is what gives us life, hope keeps human kind going, hope can set you free. There was also no need for director, Frank Darabont, to use any typical Hollywood special effects to make this a film you can't help but love, it relishes in the natural effects of life and emotion to keep the story alive.

Don't let the fact that The Shawshank Redemption has a run time of over two hours deter you from watching it. I wholeheartedly agree that it is one of the best films of all time. It truly is a film, fantastic.

Is Hollywood losing it's charm?

Nowadays, the cinema box office is dominated by the big Hollywood blockbusters from the likes of 'Universal Studios', 'Pixar', 'MGM' or, the ever popular, 'Disney'. Although no real complaints can be made since these mainstream films have provided hours of entertainment for cinema-goers worldwide, it has to be said that as time has passed these films have become very "samey", with storylines becoming [annoyingly] predictable and a lot of films now just being adaptations or remakes. The ability to make a good sequel has never really been found, whereas the one to shock audiences has now been lost; so why are feeble attempts at both still being made?!
It's not being said that all of the products of Hollywood from recent years have been below parr, but it is being said that with some of the abysmal excuses of films, such as 'Epic Movie' or (the just as bad) 'Disaster Movie', that have been released, motion pictures are losing their charm.
Obviously, there are still the exceptions to this. Not every film is bad and some of them carry just as much charm as the black and white classics from when cinema was young and films were still a cause for excitement. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', '(500) Days of Summer', 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' and 'No Country for Old Men' are just a handful of films from the last decade with which Hollywood have really been on to something.

They say "things get better with time", but to be completely honest, it's doubtful that Hollywood has. Where is the modern day 'Psycho', 'The Godfather' or 'Casablanca'? Maybe in ten years time people will look back and consider today's films to match up to the old classics.
Maybe the mind of a cynic with nostalgia for the Hollywood Golden Age is too harsh on modern cinema.
Who knows.

Heath Ledger's last film. Released October 2009

After 'The Dark Knight' it was thought that Heath Ledger's film legacy was to end there; going out on a high in one of Hollywood's most eagerly anticipated films of 2008, if not the decade so far. This however, is not to happen. There is still one more film up Heath Ledger's sleeve from beyond the grave.

Terry Gilliam, the man behind classics such as 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' and the 'Monty Python' film saga, began filming 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' before Ledger died, and following his death, all production stopped. It wasn't until some very clever re-writing of the script and the agreeing of Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law to complete the film in Ledger's role, that the filming of Terry Gilliam's latest vision was able to begin once more. The re-writing of the script has allowed the story to follow a man whose appearance changes a he travells through one magical land after another in an attempt to win a bet with the devil, Mr. Nick, that could save the daughter of Doctor Parnassus from a from a future most undesirable. As the film begins, Heath Ledger plays Tony, a man set on helping Doctor Parnassus in his quest to beat Mr. Nick, and as time continues and the characters go from land to land, Tony appearance changes to that of Johnny Depp, to Jude Law and finally Colin Farrell.

As a tribute to Heath Ledger, all of the income received by Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law during the filming of 'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' has been given to Ledger's daughter, Matilda Ledger, in order to ensure the security of her economic future.

'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus' hits cinemas accross the UK on October 16th and really will be Heath Ledger's last film.