Up

WARNING! SPOILERS!

If you haven't seen this film, go see it! This review is intended as a discussion point after seeing it.



Up has a fair few suprises up it's sleeve, not just the plot which, whilst not totally devoid of predictability, is more than entertaining enough to keep you enthralled throughout, but also because some of it's themes are pretty dark for a Disney film. The opening montage, in which we see Carl and his wife Ellie get married, try for a baby and have a miscarriage, grow old together and then Carl at Ellie's funeral, is moving in a much deeper way than say, the death of Bambi's mother. It feels more real, this is a film that may be more likely to make the parents cry rather than the kids. Beginning our story with a grieving old man who feels lost and alone is heavy stuff for Disney, and it definitely pays off. Call me a cynic, but often with these films I kinda feel they get a little too bogged down in phony sentimentality, it often seems quite tacky, or cheesy, but here the entire film has a genuine warmth to it, and you do actually care about the characters. The severity of the subjects lend the film a weight and emotional depth few Disney films manage to achieve. In the final moments of the film, as the house Carl met his wife and grew old in, and his childhood hero plummet to their doom, it's quite a powerful moment.
However, whilst Carl's character feels wonderfully realised and is suitably fleshed out by a solid back story, Russell's character isn't explored quite as deeply. we know what we need to know about him, and he becomes a likeable character (it would have been perilously easy for him to have come off as annoying, but the film manages to avoid this), but the bits where he talks to Carl and provides a bit of backstory don't quite fill in the whole picture. In a way this is good, as it leaves some things open to the viewer's imagination and tries to get our brains working, but at the same time it means Russel's happy ending isn't quite as satisfying as Carl's. But this is a minor point, Russel is not the main character and certainly works well.
The film looks awesome too, with a whole army of lovingly rendered dogs and some beautiful looking landscapes. All in all, a top film, I'd say, and one of the best Pixar films I've seen in years, both in terms of style and substance.

It's Kyle Cabinet!

A reeeeeeeeeeeeally rough idea for a character -



I'm still not really sure if it's a good idea for the character to be a literal visual representation of a 'file', I toyed with the idea of just making it a file with googley eyes and legs, but I couldn't really make it look very likeable at all. Then again, how likeable is Kyle Cabinet here? I'm not too sure...

More Simulated Project Ideas

So, after studying the brief and finding out I only have 20 seconds for my short film, I've been thinking about what could fit comfortably into this time. I don't think I should throw my original idea out of the window, as it won't be impossible, but it would have to be incredibly fast paced! This isn't an enormous problem though, or even really a problem at all as it could make for somewhat of a sensory assault, which could be fun!
My other idea was to do it kind of like those Oxfam adverts, the one where it shows slow motion shots of poverty stricken countries and then says "...but for only £1, you can help" except replace the starving children with musicians. The voiceover could say something like "This is Larry, he's a band. He has to walk three miles to get to an amp everyday, etc. etc...but for the price of a CD, you could help!" This only really addresses the problem of downloading music rather than file sharing as a whole, and still needs a bit of work, so I'll keep thinking.

The Third Term Begins!

I've had a few ideas for our first project, to make a piece of multimedia that illustrates when and why file sharing is illegal and it's consequences. I think a short film would be the best way to do this, and was thinking it could be hosted by some kind of animated character, talking us through what file sharing is. I have a few ideas for what this character could look like, and once I've sketched a few out I'll post them up on here.
In terms of the consequences of file sharing, I need to do a bit more research as I could only come up with a few off the top of my head. There's a chance you could be arrested, but it's a slim one, and it probably won't act as much of a deterent. Instead, I think it'd be a good idea to highlight the damage downloading music can do to independent musicians and artists, as this is something some people may not be fully aware of.

Filming!

OK, so the script is finished (I went with the spoof documentary idea, and I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out) and has been emailed to both the actors, who are going to head down to Nottingham on Saturday 16th to film it. The rooms in the uni I wanted to film in aren't available this weekend however, so I'm going to have to film it in the library (in the study rooms for Tipler's office and the interview room, and then in a separate room for the room the time machine is kept in), downstairs in the student union (for Tipler's workshop), and then outside the university (for Roger's links to camera).
Hopefully this will all work out ok, it won't look exactly how I planned it, but as I'm running out of time I'm just going to have to go with it. I'm sure with a little imagination these locations will look fine.

A Slight Setback...

Unfortunately, I'd forgotten that the deadline is actually the 22nd May, so the room that was booked from the 25th to the 27th is now no use to me. However, I've adapted the script, and personally think it is now a lot better than the last incarnation. The film is now a spoof documentary that focuses on Dr. Tipler's attempts to build a time machine, hosted by a Louis Theroux style reporter. The film starts off with the presenter stood outside a university, explaining that he's about to interview esteemed scientist Dr. Edward Tipler. However, Tipler doesn't really know what he's doing... The presenter knocks on his office door, finding him asleep at his desk. Then we get a bit of backstory on Tipler, framed through a talking heads style interview with him, interspersed with old footage of him and photos of him as a kid, etc. After this, Tipler shows us round his workshop, shows us some old, failed attempts at time machines, get's heckled by a group of students, and then finally shows the reporter his latest time machine, which is a chair like object you get strapped into. The reporter nervously straps in, and then the machine is turned on, causing a powercut. The lights go out, the screen goes dark, and we hear a large thud and the presenter in pain. Tipler manages to turn the lights on, and finds out that the time machine has disappeared into the past, however the reporter has not and has fallen onto the floor. The final shot is the reporter, back outside the uni, wearing a neck brace and summing up his experience with Tipler.
This will be pretty easy to film, and I think it has a lot of potential comic opportunities, the only problem now is whether or not the actors can make it at such short notice. If not, I don't really have time to find any more so will have to use people I know...!

Another Update!

Things are coming along quite well, with Elliot's help a room has been booked for filming between the 25th and 27th May, I'm just waiting on responses from the actors now. I've got quite a few props to gather, and a few to make, but nothing too difficult!
I'm currently re-writing the script again, to try and get it as tight as possible. If anyone reading this would look to see the script in it's current form, just give me a shout and I can email it out, all feedback is welcome!