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Geeking out at the Movies

Captain Ron

By Captain Ron
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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12887

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I think it was the Oscars thread that got me thinking Surly is missing a technical movie making thread. It is a rabbit hole I love going down on YouTube to see the thoughts of people (filmmakers) who are far more into this than me. I figure we need a place to share those videos here.

This thread is for anything technical. You see something that you really love about Direction, Music, Sound, Cinematography, Acting, you name it - this is the place! This is for really geeky stuff in films - the stuff that gets a ton of awards, but most people have no fucking clue about.

Spoilers? Don't care. Some of this stuff is carried in themes that to explain sometimes requires spoiling the movie. You might want to put a spoiler tag in there, but don't feel you need to hide it.

This thread needs a kick off - Let's go with something modern, fresh and stuck in everyone's mind: TOP GUN: MAVERICK 

 

TOP GUN: MAVERICK - SOUND

 

 

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Augustus

Augustus 3061

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Fantastic idea for a thread.  Nice job.

I've mentioned this on one of The Godfather threads, but I'll discuss it again here for those who might not have seen that one.

I love it when the camera work itself is used to emphasize, or in this case foreshadow the film's theme--which in the case of the Godfather is the fall from grace of Michael Corleone and how that corrupts his soul, and most importantly, what it eventually costs him.  

Prior to this scene it's been made clear to us that Michael did not want to be part of the family business, and explained to Kay that their criminal life and the violence associated with it was repellant to him.  "That's my family, Kay.  It's not me."

All of that changes in this scene.  As he explains in Godfather III, "I had a whole different destiny planned out. But my father was in danger, what could I do?"  In this scene, as Michael explains that they can't wait to take action because regardless of what Sollozzo says, killing Vito is necessary for his business to move forward, Michael outlines his plan to murder Sollozzo and McCluskey--an act that will forever alter his future and make him an integral part of the Corleone family business.

As Michael begins his explanation, we've got a pretty wide angle view of Vito's office.  We can see Tom Hagen still in the picture, and Sonny has just exited to the right. Clemenza and Tessio are in the room as well.  The camera begins to slowly zoom in on Michael as he outline the plan.  And by the moment he says, "I'll kill 'em both,"  Michael is all alone in the shot, beautifully foreshadowing that his decision will eventually cost him everything he loves, and leave him isolated and alone in the world.  We get a similar shot of him sitting alone at the end of II, and at the end of III, when he dies.  If I did it right, the video should begin as he starts his proposal.

 

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LonghornSean

LonghornSean 4011

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I'm certainly not an expert in storytelling or filmmaking, but I have a huge fascination with behind the scenes and making-of stuff when it comes to film. I've probably watched the entirety of the Lord of the Rings making-of "appendices" three times, or at least the majority of the nine hours of extra content. I don't really spend money on physical media (Blu-Rays) anymore, but man I miss the high quality making-of stuff that they had, though I don't think anything has been as comprehensive as LOTR.

I know not everyone is a fan of Titanic, but it's one of my favorite movies (born in 1987). If you just watch all the making-of featurettes, you see example after example of genius filmmaking tricks to get various shots, some minor some major. With today's tech, many of those techniques wouldn't be necessary anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGy4LGbLfo0

Here's another I recently watched. These compilation vids from directors, actors, etc can be a bit shallow but they're usually a fun watch

 

Edited by LonghornSean
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TornACL

TornACL 7722

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On 3/19/2023 at 10:19 PM, Captain Ron said:

Bonus second post, because this movie is a lot of fun and this was probably the video that made me realize this thread was overdue

(Slight spoiler in this one)

Baby Driver - Color

 

I had very low expectations for this movie and enjoyed it immensely. Fun.

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gofuckyourself

gofuckyourself 8349

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Lol at the above posts only because I saw the thread title and immediately thought "Oooh The Godfather"

I'll indulge that thought with two scenes that also illustrate the power of sound design. Just before Michael kills Solozzo he goes to the bathroom to get the gun and has that moment to himself. He returns and the camera stays on him while Solozzo talks. You hear a train outside that very intentionally gets louder and louder, representative of Michael's internal noise and thoughts as the wheels grind and squeal and finally he takes action. The train has left the station or arrived or however you position that use of analogy and sound.

 

Even better is the Baptism scene. Just awesome to dissect. There's obviously the baptism of blood but the use of the organ as it becomes more and more ominous as visuals switch from the religious sites to those of the killers preparing. It builds to a crescendo of gothic tones which ceases as Michael "renounces Satan" as his men begin to kill, while the baby begins to cry as the violence unfolds:

 

 

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Patricio Swayze

Patricio Swayze 17058

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Two of my all time favorite movies, Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now. Both have many scenes that would fit in this thread. 
 

for Taxi Driver, this is a famous one. I think Scorcese said that he did this dolly shot of Travis on the phone because it felt so pathetic that you couldn’t watch. 
 

Apocalypse Now…well, this is the climax scene but a lot going on visually. I know folks love to hate on The Doors, but The End was the perfect song for the movie and Coppola used it perfectly.  Visually, I loved Willard emerging from the water. It’s obviously edited in reverse, but still striking. However, for some reason the shot a few seconds later of him squatting and then standing with the blade in the rain while lightning gives the viewer glimpses of him before the assassination of Kurtz always felt powerful to me. Finally, the quick cuts of Kurtz being killed with the sacrifice of the ox is hardcore, especially since it was a real ox. 
 

 

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Sam Lin

Sam Lin 3559

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3 hours ago, gofuckyourself said:

Another favorite. Peak Pixar storytelling in about 4 minutes. This was a sucker punch moment with my kids when I watched it first. Still such a great montage.

 

This scene was perfect. If the movie had only been these 4 minutes, I still would have thought it well worth the price of admission.

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Knoxtnhorn

Knoxtnhorn 6064

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13 hours ago, gofuckyourself said:

Another favorite. Peak Pixar storytelling in about 4 minutes. This was a sucker punch moment with my kids when I watched it first. Still such a great montage.

 

Gdammit.  I've got to stop watching this stuff during school.

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kingkoopa6

kingkoopa6 8376

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On 3/20/2023 at 9:10 PM, LonghornSean said:

I'm certainly not an expert in storytelling or filmmaking, but I have a huge fascination with behind the scenes and making-of stuff when it comes to film  

Yea. That making of stuff pretty cool. 
im sure it was on this site I saw this before 

 

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Augustus

Augustus 3061

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Posted (edited)
On 3/20/2023 at 8:00 PM, Captain Ron said:

I’m pretty sure we could make a thread about the technical movie making of The Godfather. Carrying on that theme …

 

 

 

That's fascinating that you posted a video about that specific scene.

I don't know how many times I've seen The Godfather (gotta be at least 20 over the decades), but every time I've watched it I'm always struck by how subtle, but how incredibly important, those few seconds are, as Michael's attention is drawn to the fact that Enzo is shaking like a leaf, but his own hands are very still and composed.

I don't know if I agree completely with what this guy is inferring from the scene, but that's not important.  What's important is the recognition that the shot is itself hugely important to the plot and the film's theme.

For me, it seems more of a discovery for Michael than symbolizing just the decision he's made to join the family business.  He's becoming aware that he's cool as a cucumber under highly stressful and frightening circumstances, which reinforces the confidence he'll need later on to assume total leadership of the family.

There's an interesting thing that happens in the novel, that wasn't included in the film, that relates to this.  I'll spoiler tag in case anyone hasn't read the novel but wants to at some point:

Spoiler

In the film, Michael's journey is one of an innocent, apparently morally upright young man, who gets corrupted over time due to circumstances beyond his control that compel his fall from grace.   But in the novel, once he's joined the Dark Side which will forever control his destiny, the reaction (I can't recall if it's Sonny or Tom Hagen) by his brother is "I KNEW IT!!"  In other words, 'you've always acted like this life wasn't for you, good little college kid, soldier, etc but obviously this was in you all along, and I could see that, and now it's proven,' so to speak.  The implication was that despite his resistance, it was clear from the beginning that Michael was a shrewd, calculating, chess master type who had all the qualifications to be a brutally effective gangster, and if I recall correctly, Michael's reaction to this is akin to a wink/clever smile.  I saw the movies long before I read the novel so that caught me a little by surprise.

 

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dcbc

dcbc 14496

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I'm going to drop the level of discussion down a notch with this post.  But I love movies.  When I was a kid (1970s), my uncle gave me a Super 8, and I set about making movies, eventually graduating to a Back to the Future style JVC VHS-C camcorder.  Anyway, in the early 80s, they had a special called SPFX - The Empire Strikes Back.  We recorded it, and I must have worn that tape out with dreams of making sci-fi movies.  I ultimately didn't got that route with my life, but I loved all the practical effects they leaned on to make ESB.  To this day, my favorite is Ben Burt explaining how they found the "blaster" sound effect, which was created by tapping a wrench on high tension wires.  It's a wonder I didn't electrocute myself trying to emulate that sound.  With all that said, I probably will have something more interesting to contribute down thread.  Carry on with this interesting Godfather discussion. 

 

 

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kingkoopa6

kingkoopa6 8376

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Movies that catch you by sound always get me. 
 

I rewatched a lot of sicario because of the sound. 
 

‘ The Beast ‘ plays a few times in the movie and each time it gets me hooked. 
 

Johann Johansson -RIP-  killed it. 
 

he was like a mini Zimmer. Did prisoners and arrival  

 

 

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LonghornSean

LonghornSean 4011

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9 hours ago, dcbc said:

I'm going to drop the level of discussion down a notch with this post.  But I love movies.  When I was a kid (1970s), my uncle gave me a Super 8, and I set about making movies, eventually graduating to a Back to the Future style JVC VHS-C camcorder.  Anyway, in the early 80s, they had a special called SPFX - The Empire Strikes Back.  We recorded it, and I must have worn that tape out with dreams of making sci-fi movies.  I ultimately didn't got that route with my life, but I loved all the practical effects they leaned on to make ESB.  To this day, my favorite is Ben Burt explaining how they found the "blaster" sound effect, which was created by tapping a wrench on high tension wires.  It's a wonder I didn't electrocute myself trying to emulate that sound.  With all that said, I probably will have something more interesting to contribute down thread.  Carry on with this interesting Godfather discussion. 

 

 

Yes, the origin of that sound effect is great.

If anyone hasn’t watched “Light and Magic” series about history of ILM on Disney Plus, it’s well worth the watch.

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28794

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On 3/21/2023 at 8:46 PM, MissingInAction said:

Fangoria was a favorite of mine. Huge fan of old fashioned creature effects.

I had subscriptions to both Starlog and Fangoria magazines as a teen. I was in to all types of movie effects. I raided my mom’s makeup kit and covered my face in green eyeshadow to become Frankenstein’s monster, made fake blood out of Karo syrup and red food coloring, bought liquid latex rubber to build cuts and scars. I even visited the mortuary and got the guy to give me some mortician’s wax but I never figured out how to do anything useful with it. I shot stop motion animation with my Super 8 camera and even sent away for a “backwinder” device that you could use to rewind the film in the cartridge to allow for double exposures. 

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Parliament

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For starring in The Matrix, Keanu Reeves made $35m in total. He donated 70% of this to leukemia research. Also, when filming The Matrix sequels, Reeves gave the effects and costume teams $1m each. By the end of The Matrix Trilogy, he’d given away $75m.

Well of course he did.

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12887

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I saw the Dune thread pop up yesterday and it reminded me of this. These were probably the first videos I thought of when making this thread, but they weren’t the right ones to start with.

Dune has to be one of the most technically well made movies of the last 20 years. It feels a lot more raw than most movies, in a very good way. This talks about what went into the film to make it happen.

 And

 

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gofuckyourself

gofuckyourself 8349

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On 3/31/2023 at 4:54 PM, henrygandorf said:

🧵

 

A lot of remarkable things about the film obviously but not mentioned is how it was marketed. TV spots were big still and none of them gave anything away. Other than some cool shots, which helped, they kept it under wraps with only Fishburne's quote "No one can be told what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."

Ballsy but brilliant and so seldom done. Certainly not with mega-budget blockbusters.

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15350

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As far as cinematography, I'm hard-pressed to find too many films better than 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.  The scenery, the cars, the lighting, 1960's Sunset, camera angles....just absolutely superb.  

 

Saw it in the theater 3 times because I just couldn't believe what I saw.  Incredible.  

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Deej

Deej 76859

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On 5/3/2023 at 1:56 PM, Trey3216 said:

As far as cinematography, I'm hard-pressed to find too many films better than 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'.  The scenery, the cars, the lighting, 1960's Sunset, camera angles....just absolutely superb.  

 

Saw it in the theater 3 times because I just couldn't believe what I saw.  Incredible.  

It's a beautiful movie. 

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12887

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I needed to revive this with some more chatter. And with the Bear's second season dropping a few weeks back, I thought I would share this video because it really nails the editing of The Bear. This show is awesome and I highly recommend it, if you aren't watching it.

 

 

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12887

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18 hours ago, henrygandorf said:

 

On this note, I didn't realize that Nolan cut ties with Warner Bros over their handling of the release of Tenet. I never payed attention to / thought anything of the Universal logo on the opening of the trailer. But I heard about it on a podcast this morning as they were talking about Zaslav. More like skewering.

Which leads to ...

 

 

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henrygandorf

henrygandorf 29194

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1 hour ago, Captain Ron said:

On this note, I didn't realize that Nolan cut ties with Warner Bros over their handling of the release of Tenet. I never payed attention to / thought anything of the Universal logo on the opening of the trailer.

yeah, because of the switchover, my nbcu guy is getting me into a press screening for it next week.

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Captain Ron

Captain Ron 12887

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With the next Mission Impossible about to come out, I’ve been thinking of having a marathon to re-catch up on the series. This popped up on my YouTube radar and is worth a view. I forgot (or just never thought about it) that Brian dePalma did the first MI film. And while the guy admits the script is meh, he loves the visuals and camera work. Check this out:

 

 

 

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mdleast

mdleast 8297

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With the next Mission Impossible about to come out, I’ve been thinking of having a marathon to re-catch up on the series. This popped up on my YouTube radar and is worth a view. I forgot (or just never thought about it) that Brian dePalma did the first MI film. And while the guy admits the script is meh, he loves the visuals and camera work. Check this out:
 
[/url]  
  

This post reminds me to provide the PSA that “De Palma” is a great doc about him and his movies.
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ztejas

ztejas 43524

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Meant to post in here earlier. Was scrolling through IG earlier today and saw a pic of the actual club from the opening scene of The Birdcage and I discussed it a bit with another IG poster. 

This is such a phenomenal opening shot. Believe it's technically 2 shots as it's stitched together from a helicopter to the street. 

 

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45695

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On 3/20/2023 at 11:10 PM, LonghornSean said:

I'm certainly not an expert in storytelling or filmmaking, but I have a huge fascination with behind the scenes and making-of stuff when it comes to film. I've probably watched the entirety of the Lord of the Rings making-of "appendices" three times, or at least the majority of the nine hours of extra content. I don't really spend money on physical media (Blu-Rays) anymore, but man I miss the high quality making-of stuff that they had, though I don't think anything has been as comprehensive as LOTR.

I know not everyone is a fan of Titanic, but it's one of my favorite movies (born in 1987). If you just watch all the making-of featurettes, you see example after example of genius filmmaking tricks to get various shots, some minor some major. With today's tech, many of those techniques wouldn't be necessary anymore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGy4LGbLfo0

Here's another I recently watched. These compilation vids from directors, actors, etc can be a bit shallow but they're usually a fun watch

 

Siap, but if you love the LOTR appendices, check out the documentary on Disney plus about the creation of industrial light and magic. What a ride. 

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