The Magic of Hitchcock

Another week of film school. I heard about Tisch from Karen this week. It's a super prestigious film school, costing thousands in tuition, and YET it is modeled after Ryerson apparently. After recieving pretty bad grades in Macleans, it's good that I can be proud of something with my school.

So this week's roundup:

Vertigo
What can be said? It is such a well conceived movie. Well written, well acted, well shot, well lit, well edited. I like this film becuase it doesn't feel like it was made 50 years ago. It looks more like a modren day 'period peice.'

Of particular note are the 'forward zoom, reverse tracking' shots, or the contra-zooms. To me, it's one of the most stunning examples of the technology of film and optics enhancing the feeling of the shot. The shot down the centre of the bell tower is perfect in my mind ($19,000 for that one shot, it better be!). It's a perfect angle, simple, capturing all the details and creating an interesting composition. And the motion creates just the right kinesthetic feeling.

Go rent this film. Seriously. Even if you've already seen it.

Jarhead
Before there is ANY more confusion, this is NOT a comedy. For some reason I was under the impression it was, and then my friend who saw it said 'he laughed a lot' which further solidified this idea. I thought 'Jarhead, that's a funny name. Must be a comedy!'

No. It's about senselessness of the gulf war.

Has some beautiful shots in it, the oil fields in flames being my favourite.

I say, wait for the DVD, and then wait for some 'guys night out' to help disolve the cost of rental