RichRock : Running Free

These guys rule the roost with their DVD’s showing the best mountain biking action in the most creative way, using film as the media…

Watch… I can’t wait…

Well, I’m supposed to be teaching in my homegroup tonight. There is a preferred subject, but I’ve had no inspiration about how to go about it. The problem is simple - do a subject I’ve done quite a few times, but differently.

All I have is a sequence of events that I’d like to unfold the session with. However, the actual elements (quotes, stories, questions, practicals) have yet to materialise. Am I panicking?

Yes.

Don’t get me wrong. I like watching movie trailers from www.apple.com/trailers. But this metrics.apple.com just makes it hang. I can leave a page loading for about 10 minutes and still it’s ‘waiting for metrics.apple.com’ If anyone’s got any idea why, or if I can bypass it, please let me know. My system is Ubuntu 7.10, the browser is Firefox 2.0.0.12.

I’ll say I’m a dance music fan. I grew up listening to early 70’s electronic music like Edgar Froese, Tangerine Dream, Didier Bocquet, Vangelis and Jean-Michel Jarre. Then I found out about electro - I was fascinated by the concept that electronically generated music could become popular. It did. The rise of house in the late 80’s, with acid house, then moving into the 90’s with techno, then I got into ambient music around 94-95, never looked back. In fact, I have an ambient mix online for download here. I listened to all sorts, catching the wave of early pioneers of IDM like Aphex Twin, Autechre, Squarepusher, any of the Warp Records posse. I never once professed to liking pop/rock music, although some bands held my attention, like Jansen, Barbieri & Karn (they of Japan fame), Bjork, Kubb, and even Fiona Apple!

Then I experienced Pete Namlook aka Peter Kuhlmann. A one-man record label, producer and produced more albums in one year than most people would in a lifetime. This guy did more for my musical interests than any other. He was a father figure to my view of ambient and electronic music, as he pushed the boundaries, exploring old school Berlin electronics, new wave ambient sounds, dance rhythms, and world music. It was a little hard to get his music though, but that was to change again.

I found the internet. Full of useful information, I trawled resources about creating music. When broadband arrived it brought two important things.

1 - The Creative Commons Licence. Without this, there is no legal way to redistribute music. This license comes in a variety of flavours, and it interested me, as I always stated on my own productions that the music could be copied, as long as my name remained as the creator of that music. I have a personal affinity with the CC license.

2 - The rise of the Netlabels. Netlabels are just that. They release music on the internet, for people to download, using the aforementioned Creative Commons license. My favourite netlabels are listed below :

• Sutemos - a Lithuanian netlabel dedicated to electronica in a variety of forms from, you guessed it - Lithuania. The site is available in english too.
• Laverna - An italian netlabel catering for electronica, with a leaning towards IDM. Pretty good, but not exceptional. Materaelectronics, Transient and D.a.f. are my favourite artists.
• Monohm - a netlabel from Vienna, mainly outputting material from Markus Brosel, who does some excellent ambient piano pieces, but also providing releases from other artists. They even have collaborations with mainstream artists like Vidna Obmana, Asmus Tietchens and Kraftwerk.
• Spheric Lounge - not a netlabel, but an improvisational/gathering/outlet for experimental electronic musings. The gist is this: Musicians gather at a location for a weekend or however long, create ambient noodlings over the weekend, then they are masterered and released on the website. Forthcoming gatherings are posted on the site too. Music varies from the sublime to the ‘why???’, but it’s a dropping in point for me every now and then.

So there you go. An update on my musical voyage. It’s going to continue for a while, what with Christian worship music and hiphop, plus the odd foray into classical tunes. A work in progress.

And look, I got through the whole post without mentioning Sigur Ros!

Pixar make great films. End of story. Each films they’ve released has not only upped the technical bar on CG generated films, but also in terms of story, character, and atmosphere. Ratatouille is fantastic. Not an outrageous laugh a minute film, but thoroughly enjoyable, accessible, and despite the circumstances, believable. Let’s face it, Pixar rock. Here’s the proof:

• Toy Story - Awesome
• Toy Story 2 - Even better
• A Bug’s Life - not seen, can’t comment. Yet.
• Monsters Inc - made me cry at the end. Excellent - even for ‘Welcome To The Himalayas!’ scene.
• Finding Nemo - I wasn’t sure about this. The bubble had to burst. Pixar do it again. Awesome film.
• The Incredibles - this time I really thought they’d blown it. I watched this with a degree of cynicism, and I was wrong, but it was Pixar’s darkest feature yet.
• Cars - How do they keep going with new stuff all the time? This was awesome - great characters, excellent story. Even the attention to detail was superb.
• Rataouille - I’ve given up on Pixar ever making a dud. If they have, this is most definitely not it.

Which leads me to their next film, Wall-E. I really don’t like the voice they use in the trailers, but the character has already shone through. Pixar are going to do it again. Here’s the superbowl spot:

Following on from last night’s commentary on War Films, I’d like to look at the misunderstood part of cinematography - the single shot take.

What I mean by this is an extended take of one scene which could last 1-2 minutes. Notable examples include:

Children Of Men - When the resistance (Clive Owen et al) are driving towards Bexhill, and are confronted with the rampaging youth mob. In this scene, the mob drop a burning car in their path, and a motorcyclist gives chase. The whole scene lasts around 2 minutes, without a single break in the shooting. Only later, upon much investigation, do you learn that the whole scene was filmed around the shell of a car. Only when you do see this scene do you realise the impact that a single-take scene can have.

War Of The Worlds - when Tom Cruise is fleeing the dock area, this scene is not only notable for the Superbowl shot of the bridge blowing up and destroying his local neighbourhood (a scene I will never forget), but the freeway escape where the camera skirts around the vehicle, and past other vehicles strewn around the road. Notable because it included other elements in the scene, such as the aforementioned car debris.

Bad Boys II - Gangster shootout - where Will Smith and Martin Lawrence encounter a bunch of drug dealers in a hideout, the camera pans round our heroes, and through the doors of the bad guys, adjusting the camera’s path through debris, fans, etc. This is virtual one-shot cinema at it’s almost finest. A constant revolution through doors, windows and scenery to reveal the actions of both good and bad guys in one take.

Such cinematography could be labelled as virtual cinema. And in the post-Matrix era, this could be true. However, long, linering shots of such quality could be traced back to Japanese cinema. These guys could make a facial expression interesting. For 5 minutes. Never mind any action. In these days of Michael Bay-esque fast cuts, heavily saturated cinema, we could be forgiven the works of Alfonso Del Cuaro and remember the longer cinematography as featured in Snake Eyes, where the opening scene lasts 15 minutes or so. But it is a clever deception. It is a series of four or five takes, overlaid with clever cuts, from bodies blocking to overplacement of shadow. But it’s what makes a shot interesting. Like photography, it’s what makes something worth keeping. Something visually interesting, or unique. Which is why Children Of Men, despite it’s dystopian themes, will always be a favourite film of mine.