Category: film
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James Nachtwey’s Powerful XDR-TB Photography
I try not to link to TED Talks as I believe doing so will just add to the millions around the Internet already doing so (plus, I hope everyone visiting here already subscribes to the TED Talks RSS feed). Today, however, l feel compelled to do so after viewing James Nachtwey’s heartbreaking photographs of people…
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Paid Lyrics: Advertising in Music
Following on from the (not so) shocking news that stars from Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’ were paid a small fortune to smoke on screen, I came across the slightly more shocking news that musicians are getting paid similar amounts for product placement in their lyrics. The practice itself doesn’t surprise me as product placement in music…
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Collective Creativity is Key to Pixar’s Success
Programmer and Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull leads by empowering others to achieve. In a recent Harvard Business Review article, he describes the architecture of Pixar’s Success: a community where people at all levels support one another. A movie contains literally tens of thousands of ideas. They’re in the form of every sentence; in the performance…
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Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe (Again!)
It’s not often I actually laugh out loud while watching something on TV, but these last few days I’ve been re-watching Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe on YouTube and have been laughing constantly. Its sarcastic look at TV and Charlie Brooker’s customary cutting remarks and commentary keeps this show as one of the best I’ve seen. If…
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Banning Film Posters Glamorising Guns
With the recent ASA ruling that the posters advertising the Jolie crapfest that is Wanted should be banned due to its glamorisation of guns, The Guardian presents us with 8 more classic movie posters that should be banned if these asinine rules were rigidly applied. The Man with the Golden Gun Naked Killer Hitman Gunslinger…
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Top 25 Documentaries
The International Documentary Association celebrated its 25th anniversary last year by asking its members to select the top 25 documentaries in history. These were the results: Hoop Dreams (1994) The Thin Blue Line (1988) Bowling for Columbine (2002) Spellbound (2002) Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) An Inconvenient Truth (2006) Crumb (1994) Gimme Shelter (1970) The Fog…
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Great Arts on YouTube
The Guardian selects the 50 greatest arts videos on YouTube. YouTube is best known for its offbeat videos that become viral sensations. But among its millions of clips is a treasure trove of rare and fascinating arts footage, lovingly posted by fans. Ajesh Patalay selects 50 of the best – Joy Division’s TV debut, readings…
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Polish (and Russian) Film Posters
Web design blog wellmedicated has uncovered some great Polish film posters. These conceptual masterpieces put the original American posters to shame every time; they are truly beautiful works of art. Trimming this list down to a mere 50 posters that I absolutely love was surprisingly difficult. I find it difficult to choose stand-out candidates from…
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Reminiscence and La Jetée
La Jetée: Next weekend (Saturday 13th, 2pm) my alma mater, Cardiff University, is screening the classic French film La Jetée (The Pier). This 28-minute, 1960s sci-fi inspired Gilliam’s excellent Twelve Monkeys and has a rather respectable score of 8.3 on IMDB. Come along! Reminiscence: This piece of ‘total theatre’ is inspired by a famous case…
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Top 10 Ads by Movie Directors
I think I could easily spend an entire day watching well directed TV commercials. This compilation of the top 10 commercials by movie directors, however, saves me some wasted time and gets straight to the point. Back in 2001, a genius pen-chewing BMW marketing exec stumbled on a belter of an idea – fling bundles…