Drive (2011) - The Quadrant System

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.

Advice if you're creating a TrueView ad

This isn't quite true, but succinctly sums up what happens if you don't think about the first five seconds of your commercial. Especially with work that is just designed for TV and whacked on YouTube. Design your content for the platform.

Bitter Lake by Adam Curtis

View fullsize

Great documentary from Adam Curtis (feel that isn't the right way to describe Adam Curtis' films).
It is so intelligently assembled from a wide variety of material from the BBC archive, with which I always picture Curtis exploring like Hangar 51 in Indiana Jones.

I found it an incredibly absorbing way to tell the story of how Afghanistan became the Afghanistan we know today, all through the lens of how information is manipulated by politicians, the leading classes and the media to the public - leaving them bewildered at what the hell is going on.

UPDATE - BBC have pulled the full length doc from YouTube - so not sure where you can see this. The more adventurous shouldn't have a problem...

Chuck Norris uses beer as an energy drink

Only Chuck Norris could use a beer to wake him up from an unconscious stupor, after being buried alive. It also allows his car to have some sort of superpower to drive out from under the earth too. That's some beer.

For bonus points, this clip includes someone shouting "Freeze assholes!" - which is a must for anyone who happens to be in a position of power to scream at the unsuspecting. 

(Skip to 1:50 for the fun stuff)

True Detective - Title Sequence

I’m finally getting round to watching True Detective, I’m only up to episode 3 so far, and really enjoying it. Suffering a little from all the hype I feel, and involving themes that seem to have been covered in some other recent films and tv shows. But I’m only at episode 3, so can’t judge it fully yet. 

What I can comment on is the title sequence, which is really striking. It easily passes the test of ‘pause any frame and it looks like a beautiful image’. Seriously, I dare you to find a bad frame in the whole sequence, there isn’t one. Art of the Title has done a fantastic job of giving a very detailed breakdown of the sequence, and an interview with the Creative Director Patrick Clair.

So this is short and sweet – just a link to the sequence and some of my favourite frames from it