Wow. Another great video from Tony Zhou, this guy should start his own film school. I wish I had films like this when I was studying film. Boils everything down so simply and with perfect examples to illustrate his point.
Really makes me want to watch some Kurosawa all over again. Vividly remember some big movement in Kagemusha, all that rage expressed in a sudden violent move.
What a great idea, to compare the first and final frames of films. I love observations like this, really shows the beauty of these films and also highlights how much detail great directors go into with their work.
This is so well put together and with some fantastic film choices by Jacob T. Swinney, who I linked to before with his film Evolution of Batman in Cinema, and is reflectingly scored with Thomas Newman's "Any Other Name" from American Beauty.
I picked out some of my favourite stills from the edit below.
Finally got round to seeing Birdman tonight. Really really enjoyed it, a great story with brilliant characters you cared about (or were interested in getting to know more) and all told in such a seamless style, with hidden cuts and steadicam making it flow like theatre. (Which I think was the intention). It carries you through at a constant steady pace and does bring this documentary feel to it. Sounds like it was fun to make with this style of long takes and free flowing steadicam weaving its way around the theatre and other locations:
Andrea Riseborough, meanwhile, described the process as "wonderful", mentioning how it was possible to hear the filming of a sequence from far away before the camera arrived and then "the magic happens with you, and then everything leaves you, and everything's silent."
Via Wikipedia
The music was brilliant too, I've seen Whiplash already, and it did remind me of that - which I guess is a shame in some small way as it paints it with that brush. But the effect was brilliant, really kept you on edge and kept this constant pace going on and on, driving you through each scene and never really knowing what the hell was going to happen next.
When I left the cinema at night (Odeon Covent Garden), it was like walking out in a scene from the film, so I put the soundtrack on my phone and wandered through a bustling Soho with drizzle in the night sky. Walking past the various theatre's, with those drums pounding was cool - it's the big kid in me, but it was quite a buzz. Ha!
Ultimately there was a really interesting point I took away from the film, that feeling of wanting to leave an impression, or dare I say a legacy or doing something that feels important in this short time we have. His need to create something meaningful to make amends for how he lived his life was mirrored with his daughter showing him how humans have spent so little time on earth with tissue paper (which he went on to wipe his nose with!). This quote sums up the absurdity of it all though:
Riggan: The last time I flew here from LA, George Clooney was sitting two seats in front of me. With those cuff links, and that... ridiculous chin. We ended up flying through this really bad storm. The plane started to rattle and shake, and everyone on board was crying, and praying. And I just sat there. Sat there thinking that when Sam opened that paper it was going to be Clooney's face on the front page. Not mine. Did you know that Farrah Fawcett died on the same day as Michael Jackson?
Via IMDB
It also had some really striking posters created for the marketing of the film.
Showing how Batman's cinematic image has evolved through time is a fun idea for a film, and it is superbly executed by Jacob T. Swinney.
It's incredible to see it start at something resembling Nosferatu, to the knowingly silly cartoon-like Adam West to the Gothic and dark Tim Burton 1989. Much like the films, I've not really thought too much about the Schumacher films (!), so just skip those.
Fun to see one animation film sneak in there, there is some great work in the various animations been created through the years, and the Mask of the Phantasm has a lovely Art Deco design to it, which really lends itself well to the Batman mythos.
Much like Batman himself, Swinney's edit comes into its own when Zimmer's score kicks in and we see the Nolan/Bale iteration kick in. And what a thrill. Some fantastic imagery in that trilogy which are all present here, and (if you'd forgotten) reminds you how cool those films are.
Now I want to watch them all again...again.
Another great analysis of film grammar from Tony Zhou. This type of directing separates the pro's from the amateurs.
It was this level of detail that always amazed me in great films. It made me think twice about being a director back in film school too. Being able to continually layer story elements into every single aspect of the film to make it so rich, was something I personally found daunting. Many people underestimate what a director does, 'the guy that shouts', 'the guy that speaks to the actors', 'the guy who points the camera'' etc etc. Of course it is all those things (and many many more), especially the shouting, but there's a level of thought, detail and expression that is simply mind-blowing on great films.
I'll always be in awe of the talent of great film directors and how deeply they've thought about expressing their stories.