Filmmaker's Dream Blog

               Are you ready for a new ride amongst beautiful animals, a small life boat, and the wide Pacific Ocean?  You’re in for a treat with the new movie release of ‘Life of Pi’, coming this winter.
               The novel, Life of Pi written by Yann Martel, will be turned into an adventurous 3D film soon to be released November 21, 2012. The film tells a story about a young man named Pi from India who is the son of a zookeeper who becomes trapped in a shipwreck with zoo animals ( zebra, monkeys, hyenas, and more). After surviving the storm, he finds himself in the company of the animals and a Bengal tiger on a small life boat. Fear begins to erupt from the beginning, but after time unfolds a friendship is formed between Pi and the tiger. Through the rough seas of the Pacific Ocean, more challenges arise as their boat continues to sail.
          
         The screenplay was written by David Magee. The film holds a very strong cast of actors, which includes, Tobey Maguire, Irrfan Khan, Suraj Sharma, and many others. The filming location for the 'Life of Pi' takes place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. According to IMDb, M. Night Shyamalan attached to write and direct this story at one point.
Suraj Sharma will play the role or Pi and Tobey Maguire will play the role of Yann Martel, the author of the story.

         The visual art and elements of this film are absolutely beautiful and in excellent quality. I personally look forward to watching the film this coming winter to see how well it relates to the original story. Many people are extremely excited to see the film and ready to give their critiques.  This film is sure to be a big box office hit before the end of 2012. Please watch the trailer below to find out more about this fantastic film!

After entering in the YourFilmFestival contest, which has been featured on Youtube for nearly 5-6 months. The film festival is being put together by Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender to send ten amazing filmmakers to the Venice Film Festival. One lucky winner will get the chance to get their film remade into a Hollywood film for half of a million dollars, along with $25,000 in their pocket. Unfortunately, Luv.Net didn't make it into the top 50, but with over 15,000 submissions sent in the competition was very stiff. After checking out some fellow independent filmmakers' work, I came across a film called, ' Fish' which made it into the top 50 semi-finalists. The film is based on two cousins looking to survive off of each other in the streets of Trinidad. They steal and commit very small petty crimes to get by, but steal from the wrong person. The film is both intense and keeps your attention the entire time. Every part of the film feels real and although there aren't any buildings blowing up or special video effects being used, the story gives a real edge. The quality of the film is absolutely gorgeous and puts you into the environment of the story. It is apparent the amount of work and dedication put into this film and I believe it deserves to be apart of the top 10 finalists in the YourFilmFestival contest. The film was created by Shaun Escayg, located in the United States of America. It was really great to see someone from America could put together a film that has a foreign film type of edge to it. If you really enjoyed this film as much as I did, vote for it on the YourFilmFestival channel on Youtube! Be sure to check out the other 50 semi-finalists that entered into the contest as well. The films may spark a new inspiration for you to get out there and start shooting!

     After listening to some of the legal podcasts posted in last week's post, I decided to review them and give my opinion of the podcasts. I gained some valuable information that I could apply to my own situations from each podcast. They all gave me something to think about concerning legal matters.


Review on Legal lens on 'The Descendants'
      This podcast took a while to get into, the main topic for nearly ten minutes was a discussion about games on Facebook and the success of its new platform. The film, The Descendants stars George Clooney in a story about heirs taking in an estate that lies on the coast of Hawaii. The film covers trust law and protection of property. According to the podcast, the film is a great story that goes over the legal matters of inheriting property, wills, and things that often happen to families in similar situations. This is a great way to gain some insight of legal liabilities through watching a film.


Review on Controversy over cameras in court
         The supreme court has never allowed cameras in the court room, but lately controversy has begun to rise over cameras being used. Nancy, a speaker on this story mentioned that cameras could bring harm to court cases. Nancy mentioned how video clips can end up on YouTube or alter participants' behavior from feeling self-conscious. Another argument that came up, was that it is a public access type of court room and the public should be able to see it. Nancy mentioned that an audio recording should be enough in this case. Personally, I think it should be determined t the case type, participants, and the judge. Not all cases may need to necessarily be recorded. I can see Nancy's point of view, if the public audience has nothing to do with the decision of the case, is it really fair to use it for entertainment purposes?

Review of Making Out of Ashes
       September 11th was a very tragic event that all of America is well aware of. The fact that a documentary was done in honor of the victims is very honorable. It was very interesting to learn how the producers gained information from families involved in the 9/11 event. The creative side to filmmaking is always expressed, but learning about the legal aspects behind the scenes of the film is very important.  Homeland security was a very strong contributor to the story. The producer mentioned if it was okay to use the strong emotion in the film or if it was too much. Personally, I feel that emotion is the strongest key to a film.

All of these podcasts were on very different topics, but still surrounded the legal side of things whether it's an example law, using law in film, or how something as simple as cameras and media could spark possible lawsuits and controversy. Take a moment to review the podcasts from last week and give your opinion on them as well.

            John Carpenter's horror idol film, Halloween, has changed the genre of horror. Did you know it was an independent film? All the filmmakers were inexperienced and they were considered as kids that just wanted to make a movie. The score of the film was put together by one person and it is considered to be one of the top 5 most noticeable film scores ever. John Carpenter was barely out of film school and directing his first film. Little did he know it would become one of the most iconic horror films to exist. There was no blood or real gore shown in the film, which makes it more of a psychological thriller. John Carpenter mentioned how he would have liked to directed films in the 1940s. The budget for the film was around $300,000 which is incredibly low for a big production film to be put together. E.T. was considered a low budget film and the budget for it was around $10,000,000. The film was shot in 21 days. John asked his girlfriend to produce the film along with Irvin Yoblans. They all came together to put a fantastic story together. All of the actors were new and inexperienced, although the star, Jamie Lee Curtis brought along a legendary past. Her mother was the star of the film, Psycho. Halloween has changed so many films that incorporate masked men as horrific characters. This was posted to let you know that the most iconic films here today didn't have known actors or a big budget, but a story. Your film can make anything possible! Stay original and follow your dreams!

        As a child growing up, 'The Adventures of Tintin' were one of the few cartoons I could enjoy watching. It always held magic, mystery, and adventure in every episode. Tintin started in France as a comic book in 1929, and since then has sold over 200 million books! Steven Spielberg mentioned how he bought his first Tintin book, 'The Seven Crystal Balls'. (Grossman, 2011) He couldn't understand french, but he understood the entire story through the pictures and storyboard.
      In 1983, Steven Spielberg contacted the creator, Herge in regards to bringing the stories to life. Herge agreed to the project and immediately wanted Steven to direct it after seeing  'Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark'. Before the film could be discussed, Herge died a few weeks later. Spielberg obtained legal rights to Tintin from Herge's wife, but there were some script issues that needed to be handled and so the project stalled. Now nearly three decades later, 'The Adventures of Tintin' has finally been created and set for release.
      The production budget for this film  was a little over $130 million dollars. This film will be distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film took over three years to complete and is being rated PG, for brief smoking scenes, action violence, and some drunkenness. The team for 'The Adventures of Tintin' worked hard to keep the characters and storyline as close to the original cartoon as possible.
      The animation and effects of this film look absolutely incredible and like many other new releases it will be in 3-D. The film uses 85% animation and 15% live action to give it that unique and eye catching look. (Lyttleton, 2011)  Some of the fans of Tintin are displeased with Spielberg's choice to  make the film in 3-D , as a lifelong fan states, "Hergé's comic-book hero is one of the great creations of the 20th century. Which makes Spielberg's film version little more than murder." (Lezard, 2011) Ouch! That's a harsh critique before seeing the film, but I guess all of us will just have to wait until December 21, 2011 to see for ourselves.

References:
Lyttelton, O. (2011, October 16). Steven spielberg says ‘the adventures of tintin’ is “85% animation, 15% live action [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/steven_spielberg_tintin_85_animation_15_live_action/

Grossman, L. (2011, October 23). Inside tintin [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2097373,00.html

Lezard, N. (2011, October 18). How could they do this to tintin [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/oct/18/how-could-do-this-tintin

Paranormal Activity 3 was just released yesterday, October 21, 2011.  The film has brought in over $26 million in the first day being released. It is said that producers only spent $5 million on the entire film. Paranormal Activity 3, is a prequel to the previous films and shows the main characters from 1 and 2 as children. I got the chance to view the film myself and was very pleased. The effects were awesome and very believeable. Seeing the first two films really brought this last film together and actors, especially the children, made it very real. I don't know how they did a few things, but I'm sure with $5,000,000.00 those can easily be done.  The film held a pretty good story and with it being set in the 80s, the producers did an excellent job.

  My mother decided to rent some films today, many of the time she will get films I have NEVER heard of. I'll say is this a low budj mom? and she'll get defensive and explain that it's not. Anyway on to my review for Camp Hell. I thought it would be some sort of knock off Jason film with an axe murderer killing off teens doing God knows what in the woods. From the first 10 minutes I realized it would be a religious film or maybe a film about demons. I noticed that Jesse Eisenburg * star of Social Network, Rio, and many other films* was filming in this movie, he's even on the front cover. Once it came to his role, his scene was there for about 5 minutes. I thought, maybe he'll appear later on in the story. As I continued to sit through the film I was very confused. The story takes place in a strict "christian" camp, yeah you know the ones that don't allow you to do a thing and everything is a sin? First off, it was completely confusing, because they were mixing Catholic and Christianity religion together, which shows the writer probably had no real knowledge base in the religion at all. Throughout the film it is mentioned repeatedly how masturbation is one of the largest sins you could probably make because it brings you closer to the devil.. If that was the case I'm sure about a minimum of 80% of the world would desecrate in the pits of hell. The main character, Tommy, shows interest in a girl going to the camp and they go off in the woods and begin kissing and then dry humping with a few breast grabs. Meanwhile during this entire scene Tommy has a leaf just sitting right on top of his butt which totally throws off the sensuality of whatever this scene was trying to achieve. After this happens a particular "evil" is unleashed and a priest now has headless doves under his pillow, a young teen is "possessed" sitting in his own urine, and well... that's about it. I still have no clue what was going on and where was Jesse Eisenburg? I mean he's on the front cover! A second scene flashes towards the end of Jesse slashing his wrists and sitting in a bathtub... and it ends there. That's it that's what got him on the front of the cover. Anyway, Tommy is again confronted by the priest and all of sudden the "evil" appears and takes over the priest's body. He runs to a chapel where his mother is basically the statue of Mary, the statue falls on him, and the "evil" appears again. He wakes up in a hospital.... says he doesn't believe in God anymore and about 5 minutes  later throws some kind of bible out of the window ... THE END. This movie was absolutely terrible, even for an aspiring filmmaker, I know just how hard it is to get a strong cast, funding, equipment, special fx, etc. , but none of this matters if your story is not good. This film could have had so much potential, but failed miserably. If you see this in your local RedBox just skip to a movie you've actually heard of or one that is just not Camp Hill... or Camp Hope , it seems that they didn't decide on the title either.