Keeping Up With The Program

My first instinct is to blame Netflix for this. By "this," I mean my rather erratic TV viewing habits. Gone are the days of neat and ordered viewing, an episode a week enjoyed genially at the time it's aired (or an hour or two later, because life before DVR is hazy and may not have actually been real). Gone are the days where I can flit between a bunch of shows, casually watching "whatever happens to be on" with mild but a steady sense of disinterest...

At any given time, I need "a series." I need a single (okay, maybe three) programs I can pull up at a whim, ones that can hold my interest steady for four plus hours, in the event I need a binge, which is the preferred method of viewing...

Until I get, you know, a bit too deep in. In already-completed programs, this will happen around season 4. Of every ten, the majority won't be viewed past this point. My interest suddenly fizzles to zero, and the thought of pulling up an episode seems unmanageable.

As a result, a good deal of the shows I've begun have remained perpetually unfinished for me (or for those ongoing, I've fallen dreadfully behind). And I need to stop doing that! I've been unsuccessfully evading Buffy spoilers for too long. I'd like to follow the Call The Midwife tag on Tumblr. And I need to learn what on Earth the Big Deal Thing was at the end of True Blood season 4. I'm a girl of the Harry Potter generation, gosh darn it! An obsession with the way things end is in my blood, right?

Or maybe that's the problem. Harry Potter, after all, was and wasn't about how the whole thing ended. It was the lead-up, the guessing, the weird sense that this could go on forever, even though it obviously can't. Harry Potter taught me both how to care deeply about how something ends, while subconsciously dreading them. I like getting more of the story (thus the episode binges) but I don't actually want to run out. And if I back away half-way through, I can be assured there's always a bit of story still waiting for me, until I decide to pick it up next. Unless of course it's just too good to pass up. In which case, I'll gladly go racing straight to the finish.

Unplanned Adventures: Catching Fire, Midnight Premiere

In the early hours of Thursday, I got to indulge in an experience I had not had since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2: the midnight release. A group of faithful GUSTies and myself braved the throngs of teens and twenty somethings all for the sake of seeing Catching Fire before anyone else.

And while I of course paid for my late night foray in my vague, zombi-esque palor for the rest of the day, it was so worth it. 

The energy of the cinema was simply incredible. We were all in the largest theater in the cinema, surrounded by a young, high-energy crowd. Admittedly, these weren't the cosplaying, die-hard fans of Deathly Hallows (but how can anything compete where the Harry Potter fandom is concerned?), but as I can't remember the last time I saw a movie on it's opening week, in a proper theater, at a time that wasn't 10 AM, it was certainly exhilarating (or that could have just been the large coffee and M&Ms that were my lifeline).

 

As for the movie itself...wow. I went in with pretty high expectations, after all the glowing reviews I had read, and I'm glad to say that it lived up to the hype. A lot slicker than the first movie, it still manages to forge that emotional attachment to the characters (largely due to the incredible performances of the entire cast, standouts including Sam Clafin, Jenna Malone, and the freaking-obviously gifted Jennifer Lawrence, who could bring an audience to tears over a dramatic dictionary reading). The movie manages to follow the book quite closely, and pulls details and dialogue so neatly from page to screen that I couldn't find a single thing that conflicted with the way I had imagined things.  And the baboons! Don't get me started on how terrifying the baboons were...

But I digress. Perhaps part of the reason I enjoyed the movie so much boiled down to it being a factor of the midnight screening, of being with new friends and staying out way past my bedtime. It was an impulsive decision to go (about two days prior, despite classes and what not the next day), one I ended up not regretting in the slightest. For what it's worth, I think it was impulsiveness, combined with the time, was what heightened the pleasure of the experience as a whole. There are precious few instances in my previous years of Uni where I did anything that was categorically "reckless teen," unless you count pulling all nighters and buying hardback YA novels. Some of it's just my personality, my business, and the way my friends and I define fun. But I think to be impulsive takes a certain degree of confidence that I hadn't quite developed as a teenager. A certain boldness, something I think I've only gained since coming abroad for my studies. 

I like this new aspect of me, this willingness to plow forward unplanned. Simply put, I think the best adventures are the ones that happen on a whim, and I'm quite keen on having good adventures.

An Ode to The Theater

So this week is officially the busiest fandom-related one I've had in a while, since the Harry Potter book and movie years, probably. This Thursday, I'm going to an early screening of Catching Fire, and this Saturday is the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary, which I'll be seeing at a cinema showing as well. It's all so exciting, and I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it, but I figured I'd also take a moment to talk about part of why I'm so excited, aside from the whole friendship/fandom/social thing...

I don't know what it is, but I am simply love the experience of being in a theater (both for movies and stage-performances).  It's sitting in the dark, comfy plush seats, the sheer grand I live for the experience of an audience member. You're given the opportunity to get utterly lost in some other world (which is why noisy-distracting audience members in INFURIATE me to no end) for a time. I don't get to go nearly as often as I'd like, so when I do, the whole experience always feels quite grand. Even if it's a tiny theater. It's an affordable luxury, one I can't see myself tiring from any time soon.

I have yet to go to the Cineworld in Glasgow City Centre (which is where I'll be seeing Catching Fire) but it's so tall and epic looking that I'm sure it'll be properly grand. And ticket prices weren't even that bad, once I applied the student discount. If all goes well, I'll probably end up making a bit of a habit of my favorite cheap escape... :-)

Book Before Movie?

In my *hrmphhrrmph* formative years,  I was a staunch book purist. Call it a result of being an enthusiastic member of the Harry Potter generation, but if there were two truths I knew universally acknowledged, they were...

1.) The Book must always, without question be read before seeing the movie.

2.) The Book is always better.

And I held steadfast to these beliefs, carefully planning my reading lists to correspond with their movies, faithfully accumulating movie-tie in editions to be consumed quickly before the film left the cinema, only to dutifully criticize the movie's many departures from the original source.

But something has shifted. Over the last couple of years, I've suddenly found myself recanting on both views, and have as of late excessively seen movies before reading their books, and in several occasions *lowers voice to a whisper* enjoyed them more.

My twelve-year-old self would be mortified.

My most recent inversion of the cardinal order was Never Let Me Go, a book and movie I'm sure you'll find me talking about excessively. While I had been told to read the book for years, and had fully intended to straight away, the DVD was marked down in Fopp to 3 quid a few weeks backs, and well, I couldn't pass that up...

And I loved it. The cast, the plot, the score, the sweaters (so many excellent sweaters). I finished it stunned, and couldn't get it out of my head. I rambled about it to my friends, my roommates, anyone I could get to listen to me for more than five minutes. 

 I knew I needed to read the book, and promptly went on a hunt for it, trying two different Oxfams in the city before caving and going to Waterstones. Book in hand, I promptly cleared my schedule, holed myself up in room, and polished off the novel in under 24 hours.

And while the book was incredible, really (I've got more Ishiguro on the horizon as soon as I get through my essays and what not)  I can't say that I liked it more than the movie. In fact, I found the emotional impact of the movie more profound. The characters read as very contained on the page, but on screen, that containment is repression. There is this wonderful disconnect between the things they say, and what they feel, which doesn't translate the same way in a book, where you lack the benefit of a quavering voice, a tight and pained expression...

As I can't reverse time, there isn't really a way of telling whether I would have enjoyed the book more if I read it first. Maybe it is a question of order. But I also think it comes down to something I was reluctant to admit to myself when I was a book purist. While there are certain things that can only come across in a book, there are also things that can only be done on screen. And these things can be profound. The fact that the movie is the product of some source material does not mean that it can't be powerful art on it's own accord.

Something to think about, at any rate.

Some of My Favorite Scores

So I was going through the backlog of my Youtube favorites the other day, when I landed on "Moving On," the bonus track from the LOST: The Final Season, and to put it very eloquently (as we are nothing if not eloquent on this blog): SO MANY FEELINGSSSSS.

 The perfect score be enjoyed regardless of whether one's actually seen the movie/television program. The music alone should be able to return you to that place you were mentally when you first experienced the movie. Oh, there's just nothing like it...

With that in mind, I figured I'd share some of my favorite movie/television scores as of late.

1. "Main Titles" Never Let Me Go, by Rachel Portman

This movie, oh, I can't even describe it. When I saw it for the first time, I couldn't get it out of my head. It's a story that doesn't quite ever leave you. And nothing evokes that sense better than Rachel Portman's soundtrack.

2. "Main Titles" Cider House Rules, by Rachel Portman

I promise my whole list won't be her, but seriously she just has this way about her scores. It wasn't as if this was my favorite movie of all time, or anything like that. But the score is just so gorgeous in it's own right, and lends this sense of expanse to the story itself. I don't know, for a movie about a young man whose great adventure is but a drive away from the place he grew up, something about it felt so much larger than that. If you ask me, it's the soundtrack.

3. "Exploration" Coraline, by Bruno Coulais

Here's one of a decidedly different flavor. As a general rule of thumb, when in doubt, children's choirs are perfect for making things SO MUCH MORE SINISTER. Bruno Coulais's soundtracks are just so delightfully different, and the Coraline soundtrack manages walking this fine line between the playful and creepy. I love it.

4. "Clara?" Doctor Who: Series 7, Murray Gold

Bless you, Murray Gold. This is such a lovely character theme. I'm so glad the series seven soundtrack was released proper, because I so loved when this came up through series 7, and wanted a chance to listen to it proper. It's so sweet and dreamy. If I could live in a song, it'd be this one.

5. "Main Title" Game of Thrones, by Ramin Djawadi

How could I not, honestly? My heart starts racing at the opening notes. I can't listen to it and not expect a solid hour of soul-crushing television (not to mention, it has easily the best opening credits of all time...but that's for another post). It gets me all fan-girly just thinking about it.

6. "Opening Theme" Newsroom by Thomas Newman

I'll confess to having not watched the second season yet, though I'm not quite sure why. Ah! This theme actually manages to get me inexplicably weepy. As does much of the show, for that matter. It's just delightfully timeless and hopeful, and has that perfect balance of epic and intimate (if you haven't been able to figure out yet, I can get absurdly emotionally invested in good television).

7. "Let Me Tell You About My Boat" The Life Aquatic by Mark Mothersbaugh

So I've never watched The Life Aquatic, but this song, and the rest of the soundtrack, are just so sweet and happy. I'm also quite the fan of the theme Mothersbaugh wrote for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, or just his soundtrack music in general. It's quite a different sound, really electronic without being cheesy or contrived.

8. "Neverland--Piano Variation in Blue" Finding Neverland by Jan A. P Kaczmarek
Oh, it's just lovely. That's all there's to say about it really. There's a certain magic to it. I can't think of another way to describe it, but there it is.

9. "Dragon Flight" Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, by Alexander Desplat

Okay, so yes, Hedwig's Theme is iconic (as is everything John Williams touches). But I've got quite a soft spot for Alexander Desplat, and I remember being so moved the first time I heard this in the theater. There's so much to love about this piece. It just invokes the moment so perfectly, that sensation of triumph and flight, and the little bit of the Hedwig melody just gets to me every single time. Whenever I hear it, I'm transported back to that midnight viewing.

10. "Cloud Atlas Sextet (Orchestra Version" Cloud Atlas, by Tom Tykwer

After reading Cloud Atlas last year, I honestly couldn't figure out how they were going to go about writing the "Cloud Atlas Sextet." In the novel, it becomes so larger than life, almost a piece of music that I foolishly figured couldn't actually ever be written. Boy was I wrong.

This of course only scratches the surface of my obsession with soundtrack scores. Feel free to post recommendations (if you happen to come across this in your browsing...I congratulate you for finding this rather obscure corner of the Internet blogosphere).

My First Studio!

So today was my first chance directing in studio. I'm lucky enough to be apart of a student television station that still has a fully equipped studio (albeit, not a well-equipped one, but it's quite snazzy and professional looking nonetheless). I have to admit, I was really freaked out about the prospect of directing, originally. I don't know, there are so many little details, so many things to remember. And my inner perfectionist seemed very bent on psyching me out. Certainly I would be DESTINED to fail, and it would be the absolute END OF THE WORLD when I did.

Since coming to Scotland, I've really tried to shut that voice up. Too often, I feel, it's that fear of the reprecussions of not doing something well that keeps me from even bothering to try. But I can't think like that. It doesn't do me any good, and only keeps me from doing the things I want. And I think it leads to me perpetually undervaluing myself. Because for all the planning and panicking, my studio session actually went quite well. My links were filmed without too much of a hitch (apart from a considerable amount of trouble created by getting a blue background) and I'm psyched to get under way with editing and reviewing the footage (we'll see how keen I am on all that in a week).

Once I got started in the director's chair, there wasn't room for the perfectionist in my brain. I was too busy actually getting the work done. Sure, I had to refer to my far-more-experienced Assistant Directors on things like figuring out camera angles and how to get the background less wrinkly with the lights, but that's not so bad. Asking questions satiates the voice that wants it all to come out well, and when I get straight forward answers, I feel like I know what I'm doing. And that's when it all gets a little less scary.

(Also, there's something rather satisfying about sitting up in a gallery and telling people what to do...just saying. :-)).