Archive - March, 2011

Movie Barcodes

March 28, 2011 in Images with Comments Off

A Movie Barcode of "The Wizard of Oz." Notice the Transition from the Beginning of the Film, which is Sepia-Toned, to the Technicolor World of Oz. (Click Image to Enlarge)

The use of color in cinema has been on my mind in recent days because of a site called Movie Barcode, which offers a new way of experiencing a film. Movie Barcode compresses every frame of a movie into a single image. While these images may be interesting in their own right, they are more intriguing for the glimpse they provide of a filmmaker’s overall vision. While we may not always notice how a director employs color while watching a film, it is impossible not to see a movie’s color palette when viewing these compressed versions. It is a reminder of the myriad of artistic choices any film director must make.

Many serious filmmakers give careful consideration to the color palettes used in their work. Hitchcock was notoriously preoccupied with color. The symbolism of the green, red, and gray costumes and scenery in Vertigo is just one example.

A still from Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo"

A movie barcode of Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (Click Image to Enlarge)

The Coen brothers’ recent film True Grit is another case in point. The film is awash in muted earth tones–browns, whites, blacks, and grays. According to a recent interview with the brothers on Fresh Air, production designer Jess Ganchor, who has worked with the Coen brothers on their last four films, is partly responsible for the color choices used in movies like True Grit and No Country for Old Men. Ganchor has been known to create a palette of approved colors for scenery, props, and costumes, and any color that deviates from this palette is forbidden.

A Still from the Coen Brother's "No Country for Old Men"

The compressed version of "No Country for Old Men." Jess Gonchor's strict color palette is clearly visible. (Click image to enlarge.)

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Ira Glass Talks about the Creative Process

March 23, 2011 in Process with Comments Off

 

Ira Glass from This American Life

 

IRA GLASS ON STORYTELLING

 
In the following clip, Ira Glass, the host of NPR’s This American Life, gives some useful advice to writers, journalists, and broadcasters about the art of telling a good story. Remember the method you learned in college–opening paragraph, thesis sentence, supporting material? Well, forget about it! Glass says to throw that tired technique out the window. Instead, Glass says the building blocks of good storytelling are using anecdotes, raising questions in a skillful way, and offering readers and listeners moments of reflection. Learn more here:

 

 

 

 

IRA GLASS ON BEING A BEGINNER:

 
In the third part of the interview, Glass offers some astute insights about the early stages of being an artist. For most emerging artists, there is often a gap between taste and ambition and ability. Glass explains why this difficult stage is inevitable and why artists should continue making work anyway. This advice isn’t just for broadcasters–it applies to all artists, regardless of their field. Watch Glass’s interview here:

 

 

 

You can read more articles about the creative process here.

 

News: Sinatra, The Strokes, Salman & More

March 22, 2011 in News with Comments Off

A NEW SINATRA BIO: James Kaplan has just published a new biography on Frank Sinatra called Frank: The Voice. Geoffrey O’Brien has written a long review, “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” in The New York Review of Books. Kaplan focuses on Sinatra’s early days and tries to understand how this talented, but solitary singer captivated millions. If O’Brien’s article makes you long for a little Sinatra on your stereo, I highly recommend these recordings: Come Fly with Me (a concept album that contains songs about traveling), Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, and In the Wee Small Hours (arguably the best album Sinatra made).

SALMAN RUSHDIE WORKING WITH SHOWTIME: Deadline reports that writer Salman Rushdie is writing a script for a Showtime drama called Next People, which explores contemporary American life.

A NEW ALBUM BY THE STROKES: The Strokes’ greatly anticipated fourth album, Angles, comes out today. Melena Ryzik recently published a long profile of The Strokes in The New York Times.

A NEW VENUE FOR CREATIVE NON-FICTION: Amazon is now offering novella-length, creative non-fiction for the Kindle. Kindle Singles, as the new micropublishing venture is called, will sell for $2-$3 each. Each article will run between 5,000 and 30,000 words. You can read more about the venture in Wired or in Virginia Heffernan’s final column in the New York Times Magazine. This could be a good development freelance, investigative journalists, who are finding it harder and harder to make a living through traditional media outlets. Is it possible that e-books and micropublishing will revive long-form journalism, as well as short fiction? These forms seem to be a perfect fit for e-readers, mobile phones, and the iPad. I can’t think of a better way to spend time waiting at the airport or on that long subway ride to work.

FRENCH CINEMA: The Guardian is offering its readers “A Short History of French Cinema.” The article includes complete footage of Georges Méliès’ landmark film, A Trip to the Moon. This important work has influenced everyone from The Smashing Pumpkins to Caldecott Medal winner Brian Selznick.

THE BELIEVER AWARDS: The Believer has just announced their picks for The Believer Book Award and The Believer Poetry Award. The winners will be announced in the next issue of the magazine, along with readers’ picks for the best books and poetry of 2010.

Hedgehog in the Fog: A Short Animated Classic by Russia’s “Golden Snail”

March 19, 2011 in Images, Process with 3 Comments

If you’ve never seen Yuriy Norshteyn’s Hedgehog in the Fog, then you are in for a special treat. And if you have seen it, you owe it to yourself to revisit this classic, animated film.

Hedgehog in the Fog is one of the most beautiful, evocative short films ever made. It won many prizes and awards on both sides of the Iron Curtain when it made the festival circuit in the mid and late 70s. In 2003 Hedgehog was named “the number one animated film of all time” at an animation competition in Tokyo.

The story is simple–a hedgehog makes his regular evening journey to see his friend, the bear cub. But on this particular night a fog has descended on the forest and the hedgehog has many frightening, transformative encounters. The cinematography of Nadezhda Treschyova, story by Sergei Kozlov, and music of Mikhail Meyerovich come together with Norshteyn’s animations to create a moving, memorable experience.

Norshteyn’s craftsmanship and originality, as well as his affinity for small, quiet details have earned him tremendous respect in the animation world. Nick Park is reportedly a fan, and the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, creator of Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, cited Hedgehog in the Fog as one of his favorite animated films and called Norshteyn “a great artist.” Miyazaki and Norshteyn both share an eye for natural beauty. The forest in Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke may owe something to Norshteyn’s mysterious forest in Hedgehog, though Miyazaki’s final vision is certainly his own.

Norshteyn was born in a working class suburb of Moscow. His early artistic path was a difficult one, plagued by anti-Semitism and struggles within the education system. Norshteyn practiced carpentry and painting before learning animation.

Yuriy Norshteyn, Photo by Nikita Pavlov

Norshteyn works closely with his wife, Francesca Yarbusova, who is an important collaborator on his films. He uses a unique, multi-plane technique to give his work its remarkable sense of depth. The camera shoots down at a series of glass plates that can move horizontally and vertically, giving the illusion that characters are moving toward or away from the viewer.

This stop-motion technique, which does not employ computers, is incredibly labor intensive. His slow production pace has earned Norshteyn the nickname “The Golden Snail.” Since 1981 he has been working on a 65-minute production of Gogol’s The Overcoat. In 1986 he was fired from Souyzmultfilm (the primary Soviet animation studio) because he was working too slowly. It reportedly took Norshteyn and his small team two years to create 10 minutes of film.

While some critics have attributed Norshteyn’s slow output to his obsessiveness and perfectionism, one could also view his story as a remarkable dedication to craft and personal vision in an overly commercialized movie industry. It is a terrible irony that Norshteyn no longer has to contend with Soviet censors, but must now struggle to find capitalist funding for films that have no mass market appeal. In a 2005 interview in The Washington Post, Norshteyn railed against the state of cinema today: “There is no artistic freedom because artistry has been replaced by ignorance.”

Somehow, Norshteyn has found the tenacity to persevere in spite of tremendous setbacks. During the creation of The Overcoat, Norshteyn has endured continual funding problems, the death of his close friend and cinematographer Aleksandr Zhukovskiy, and the closure of the Moscow film labs that were processing the movie’s black-and-white film stock. (For now, Norshteyn has overcome this hurdle by developing the film himself).

Perhaps like Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo or Terry Gilliam’s Don Quixote, the plagued production of The Overcoat should become a story in its own right. Undoubtedly, the final product will determine whether the film is dubbed Norshteyn’s greatest triumph or his greatest folly. If the film lives up to expectation, Norshteyn will likely be portrayed as a hero, and if the film is anything less than a masterpiece, he risks being dubbed the Captain Ahab of the animation world. Regardless, it is an incredible example of an artist remaining true to his vision even in the most difficult circumstances.

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Ten Rules for Writing Fiction

March 19, 2011 in Words with 1 Comment


A Draft of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" from 1843

The Guardian’s two-part series “Ten Rules for Writing Fiction” has been a popular topic of discussion in the writing community in recent weeks. The idea was inspired by Elmore Leonard’s “10 Rules of Writing,” which originally appeared in The New York Times. The Guardian asked writers like Zadie Smith, Philip Pullman, Margaret Atwood, and Jonathan Franzen to provide their own list of rules for fiction writing.

The advice ranges from the maternalistic (“Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don’t whine”) to the practical (“get an accountant”).

Richard Ford includes recommendations about domestic life: “Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea” and “don’t have children.” In marked contrast, Helen Dunmore takes a stand for creative parents everywhere: “If you fear that taking care of your children and household will damage your writing, think of J.G. Ballard.” (In addition to writing over forty books, Ballard raised three children on his own after his wife died of pneumonia).

Several authors suggest carrying a notebook or journal. Ted Hughes advised Michael Morpurgo to “record moments, fleeting impressions, overheard dialogue, your own sadnesses and bewilderments and joys.”

Another key theme is discipline. “Write,” may be the best advice of all (or as Walt Whitman said, “Make the work.”) This may be common sense, but the act of being alone with one’s self and creating something out of nothing can be overwhelming, even for the most experienced writers. “Don’t wait for inspiration,” says Esther Freud. “Discipline is the key.” As A.L. Kennedy observes, “No amount of self-inflicted misery, altered states, black pullovers or being publicly obnoxious will ever add up to your being a writer. Writers write.” “You see more sitting still than chasing after,” says Jonathan Franzen. Anne Enright agrees: “Remember, if you sit at your desk for 15 or 20 years, every day, not counting weekends, it changes you. It just does. It may not improve your temper, but it fixes something else. It makes you more free.” “Discipline allows creative freedom,” says Jeanette Winterson. “No discipline equals no freedom.”

There are other memorable rules as well “Write a book you’d like to read,” recommends Hilary Mantel. “Think big and stay particular,” appears on Andrew Motion’s list. David Hare observes that “style is the art of getting yourself out of the way, not putting yourself in it.” Neil Gaiman offers this gem about the editing process: “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” Anne Enright suggests a writer’s version of death meditation: “Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die.”

And no discussion about the writing life would be complete without some mention of fear. “Fiction that isn’t an author’s personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn’t worth writing for anything but money,” says Jonathan Franzen. “Be without fear,” advises A.L. Kennedy. “This is impossible, but let the small fears drive your rewriting and set aside the large ones until they behave–then use them, maybe even write them. Too much fear and all you’ll get is silence.” I’m especially fond of Will Self’s advice: “You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.”

Finally, Esther Freud gets the prize for the most obvious, but essential rule: “Never forget, even your own rules are there to be broken.”

Click here to read part one of The Guardian’s “Ten Rules for Writing Fiction.” Part two is available here.

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