Reflection on the experience of FMS Live

This post is my personal reflection on the entire experience of FMS Live, an enjoyable unit based on cinema screenings and blogging. As I have already noted in my media diary reflection, I deeply enjoy watching films and I find it intriguing to be familiar enough with the art of film to be able to criticise and review it. Therefore, I found FMS Live to be considerably useful to me.

Although I would have preferred it if arthouse films -which are essential for a film student- were an option too, I still think the screenings have been a valuable opportunity. I therefore tried not to miss any of them, except for when I was ill for a week. The screenings were either films that I really wanted to see (like It follows and Kingsman: The Secret Service) or ones that I would have never watched by myself (Furious 7, Unfriended) and I am glad for watching each and every one of them, as they were all interesting in their own way.

In the seminars, I did try to take as much part as possible in the discussions about each film. I did comment on every film I saw, yet sometimes not being a fluent English speaker made it hard for me to communicate my ideas as successfully as I wanted to. Also, I did try to express my opinion in the facebook discussions about the films, but I only felt comfortable doing it when I had in mind something very specific and substantial to note.

Having a blog has also been a very interesting part of the unit. I have been using blogs for years, as I find them to be a very enjoyable way of communicating one’s thoughts to a potential public. Noel’s first lecture on blogging was hence very useful tο me. It provided me with valuable information about other blogging platforms rather than Blogger, which I have always been using, and about the way amateur bloggers turn into professionals. It would have been interesting if I had used Wordpress instead of Blogger for my FMS blog, however I decided this was not the right moment for such experimentations, as what I wanted to focus on were the posts themselves. I knew I would be writing exclusively about films, so I tried to give the blog a relevant look using references to Inception (the spinning top) and Memento (the title). I also used Inception’s spinning top to demonstrate my rating for each film, instead of the common stars, in an attempt to add something special to it.

The reason I chose to focus my blog posts strictly on films and especially on reviews is that film is perhaps the only form of media I am interested in writing about on a professional level. I may have been writing reviews for a while now, but still, this opportunity has been very useful to me. This is mainly because I had never written any reviews in English, which turned out to be quite challenging. Being used to communicating complicated thoughts about films in my mother tongue, I now had to adapt my way of thinking to the English language, with which I am obviously not equally familiar. I therefore needed to either simplify my thoughts or express them in a simpler way.

Hence, my own professional goals have been reflected in the experience of FMS Live, which has therefore been considerably valuable to me. 

Matthew Vaughn: From Layer Cake to Kingsman: The Secret Service

My own infographic on Vaughn's filmography.
Please click to enlarge.

The recent release of Kingsman: The Secret Service reminds us of how talented writer and director Mattew Vaughn is. Looking back at his directorial work, it is not hard to understand why he has been both so commercially successful and critically acclaimed. One could argue he simply makes big-budget, commercially-oriented blockbusters, yet his films do not simply aim to mindlessly entertain the large multiplex audiences at which they seem to be targeted. The personal touch of the director is always visible and his films have more than the average Hollywood action flick to offer.

Vaughn’s directorial debut is the 2004 crime thriller Layer Cake, which is also the only film he has directed without having written the screenplay himself. Still, the amazing final twist of the film was his own idea and didn’t exist in the original script. Also, the film stars Daniel Craig and it is thanks to this role that he was considered as the next James Bond. Layer Cake might not be as memorable as Vaughn’s following films, but it is undoubtedly impressive as a debut.

His second film is Stardust (2007). This is a family-friendly fantasy film, based on Neil Gaiman’s novel of the same name. It tells the story of a man who enters a world of magic, in order to find a falling star and bring it back to the girl he is in love with. Only, in the world of Stardust, stars look like human beings! The movie is but a wonderful fairy-tale about love, as well as Vaugn’s most tender and moving film to date.

Stardust was well received, both by critics and in the box-office, yet it was not until 2010 and the cinematic adaptation of Mark Millar’s graphic novel Kick-Ass that Vaughn’s career was decidedly launched. The film Kick-Ass, although less unconventional than its source material, is an impressively fresh take on the super-hero genre, featuring both satire and gory, R-rated violence (even involving children!). In Kick-Ass, Vaughn demonstrates excellent directorial abilities and a deep understanding of what makes a film truly entertaining. 

One year later, Vaughn went on to direct X-Men: First Class. This X-Men prequel came after two considerably disappointing films in the franchise, only to turn out to be arguably the best X-Men film ever! Vaughn’s take on the popular mutant team is refreshing and substantial, as the film truly pays attention to its characters. Perhaps, even more than to the action itself! Thanks to Vaughn (as well as his excellent casting choices) the X-Men franchise was successfully reborn. The following film in the series, Days of Future Past, is co-written by Vaughn and it is almost as good.

Vaughn’s latest film Kingsman: The Secret Service is to the espionage genre what Kick-Ass is to the super-hero genre. Having once again adapted the script from the homonymous graphic novel written by Mark Millar, Vaughn demonstrates the same amazing ability to blend unconventionally brutal action with humour and also with hints of social commentary, making a film that, above all, is extremely entertaining. In fact, it’s probably as entertaining as films can get.

I think Hollywood filmmakers should really take example from Matthew Vaughn. With five films to date, he has managed to deconstruct and provide a new, fresh take on two different genres, as well as decidedly revitalize a long-running Hollywood franchise.

Reflection on group work

This post is a reflective piece on the way I collaborated with the other members of my group, namely Fatima, Josh and Liam, in order to produce four infographics.

Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the first two meetings and thus to contribute in the production of two out of four infographics. This was due to unpredictable problems, such as an illness and a cellphone dysfunction which unfortunately affected our communication. To be honest, however, had I been more eager to find out about the second meeting, I could have tried harder contacting the others instead of relying on the assumption that they will get in touch with me.

Of course, I was not feeling comfortable with having missed half of the group meetings and I knew I would have to make up for it. I met Fatima at that week’s seminar and we agreed one of the remaining infographics would be made just by me and Liam, who had also missed the last meeting. However, although I was glad we had both agreed to this as a way to make amends, it was at this point when the communication within the group was at its weakest. Having missed both of the meetings that far, I was not yet feeling comfortable enough to undertake this task on my own with Liam. I needed to attend a meeting with the entire group first, in order to get a grip on the process of producing an infographic. I tried to explain this to Fatima, but either I did not do it very successfully or she did not really agree with it. In any case, I ended up expecting we would have a group meeting whereas Fatima and Josh were expecting me and Liam to do the infographic by ourselves.

This problem was solved at the following week’s seminar, when my group and I had the chance to discuss about this in person. Then, we arranged we would meet the following Thursday and do both the group piece and the separate one. After all, this misunderstanding might have served as a short delay to the creation of the third chart, but it did not by any means disrupt the collaboration of the group.

During our last meeting, my group and I tried to focus on a subject relevant to the latest film we had watched at AMC, Unfriended. We thus decided to produce a piece about the found-footage genre. I had a suggestion of my own to which the group did not stick, but our final idea worked out fine, so we were all happy with the result.

What I found interesting about working with Liam on our own infographic is how useful cooperation can be to the conception of an idea. Whilst the main suggestion of doing a chart about super-heroes was mine, we both contributed equally to the final decision of the subject. We both helped to develop each other's thoughts and highlighted their flaws, jointly arriving to the final concept.

After that, all the infographics were complete. Nevertheless, I still felt the need to make amends for the meetings I missed, as I had only been in half of them. I therefore did one more chart on my own, as part of my final article on Matthew Vaughn’s filmography.

I finally feel quite satisfied with my contribution to producing the infographics, although some mild problems could have been avoided had I been more careful. 

Unfriended (2014) review

During a group Skype video call, six friends start receiving messages from a stranger, who seems to be using the profile of an old friend of them. The girl to whom the profile belongs had committed suicide exactly one year before, because of cyber bullying. It all looks like a prank at first, until one of the teenage friends is found dead in her room…

What’s strange about Unfriended is that it seems to be not only more effective, but also more interesting as an overall experience if watched on a computer! This is because the only thing we see in Unfriended is but a computer screen. The entire film consists of a Skype group call which takes place in real time -it is filmed all in one take, with the actors being in different rooms of the same house. We have seen this before in VHS, yet this is the first time a whole film is made using such a modern type of media. If anything, this method of filmmaking and storytelling (along with the young age of the actors) makes absolutely clear that the film’s target-group consists of a very specific generation of viewers. It also introduces a new form of found-footage horror and indeed manages to refresh this worn-out sub-genre. Given that, the film itself seems to acknowledge this as one of its pursuits, through the main character’s name, Blaire, which possibly serves as a reference to the legendary Blair Witch Project.

Truth be told, Unfriended does not truly differentiate itself from most cheap found-footage films. The script is based on the overused plot of a supernatural entity terrifying a bunch of teenagers and the cheap method of jump-scares is used a lot, although not always clumsily. The film wouldn’t stand out in any way, if it wasn’t for the concept of the computer screen and the Skype call. This is what makes the film feel quite original and unexpectedly interesting, allowing the lack of surprises to go unnoticed. Thanks to this intriguing concept, the overall illusion of realism is enhanced and the actors have the freedom to improvise, which makes their performances look impressively natural. Also, the Skype call provides some deeply creepy scary scenes…

Unfortunately, the film’s most apparent weakness is technical. A viewer who is familiar with computers easily notices the technical mistakes which give away the film’s artificiality and reduce its realistic feel. For instance, the sound of the video call is conveniently muted whenever the director needs it to. Without this sort of technical details (which are the film’s greatest flaw), Unfriended could have been a truly suspenseful, if not scary, film. Still, the praiseworthy performances and the compelling concept are responsible for a rather unsettling and certainly very interesting experience.

(2½ out of 5 spinning tops)

Inforgraphic #4: SUPERHERO DEPICTIONS ON SCREEN

A comparison between different cinematic takes on the same superheroes, in terms of budget, box-office gross, their IMDb rating and their Rotten Tomatoes critics score.

Infographic #3: FOUND FOOTAGE MONTAGE

This infographic notes the films that made the found-footage sub-genre popular in the first place, the five most popular found-footage films of all time time in terms of Google searches and the genres besides horror that have used the found-footage concept.

Snow-White in modern cinema

Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella is the latest of a series of live-action adaptations of classic fairy-tales Hollywood has been constantly attempting the past few years, mainly after Tim Butron’s take on Alice in Wonderland. The peak of this cinematic trend was the year 2012 and the fairy-tale of Snow-White. During that year, not only did two Hollywood studios make two different blockbusters based on the same popular story, but also a Spanish silent adaptation was released, called Blancanieves (Spanish for Snow-White)!

Snow-White is arguably the most interesting of all fairy-tales in terms of film adaptations. First of all, Walt Disney’s Snow-White and the Seven Dwarves (1937) is the first sound and colour animated feature film ever made. It is therefore a film of great historical significance, as well as one of the best films in Disney studios’ filmography. But the tale’s modern cinematic adaptations are of great interest too, as the story has been seen on screen on significant variations.

Before 2012, an alternative take on the famous story was created in 1997 by director Michael Cohn, who envisioned the tale of Snow-White as a gothic horror film. Snow White: A Tale of Terror, starring Sigourney Weaver as the evil queen, heavily relies on its dark atmosphere, without however providing anything truly memorable as an adaptation, except for some gruesome alterations of some parts of the story.

In 2012, both Relativity Media and Universal Studios released their own takes on Snow-White, with none of the films being very faithful to the source material. However, Relativity’s Mirror Mirror is the only one of all these modern adaptations that actually tries to include little children into its target group. It is also probably the weakest of all. Indian director Tarsem Singh’s film was an effort to blend comedy, fairy-tale, action and fantasy elements at the same time, perhaps so that the result would be suitable for all kinds of audiences, but it failed to maintain a balance between all these genres.

Universal Studios’ response to Mirror Mirror was Snow-White and the Huntsman, starring Kristen Stewart as Snow-White. This film is very loosely based on the original tale and it rarely tries to even feel like a fairy-tale. Instead, it makes it absolutely clear (in contrast to disoriented Mirror Mirror) that it is but a dark, epic-fantasy blockbuster, which draws inspiration from the Lord of the Rings mythology. It might feel slightly disappointing as a fairy-tale adaptation, hence the mixed reviews, but it turned out to be an unexpectedly solid and visually compelling epic adventure, with amazing direction by Rupert Sanders.

Lastly, the Spanish film Blancanieves is arguably the most special of all the above, as it is basically a modern silent film about Spanish tradition and the cruelty of the entertainment industry! Still, it is probably the most fairy-tale-like of all three 2012 adaptations, thanks to its traditional style of storytelling. Also, comparing to all the above Snow-Whites, Macarena Garcia in the role (and even with a short haircut) truly is the fairest of them all! Blancanieves is a masterful, moving fairy-tale set in the real world, which uses dark humour to brilliantly highlight that, in real-life, there is no such thing as happy-endings…

With four modern film adaptations, three of which came out in the same year, Snow-White has therefore had a truly interesting cinematic history…