Pans Labyrinth

A fascinating magical tale set in fascist Spain 1944. The story of a young girl and a fantasy world created in her own mind to survive the harsh reality of a real world she is not prepared for, set in a not so tranquil Spanish war time countryside this is a charming, graphic and sometimes dark fairy tale. The art direction in this film is amazing, I'm sure most of you will have seen this film, when I went to see it at the cinema I knew little about it and wasn't expecting it to be in Spanish with subtitles through-out the whole movie. I strongly believe the foreign aspect added to this movie, it helped to create the illusion of another world and it's not often you see a film of this scale and budget that isn't in English dialogue, it was a refreshing change. This dark adult fairy tale has some very interesting characters, especially the Child Catcher. The set design, characters and story line make this fantastic film a must see.

Se7en

One of my favourite all time films with out a doubt. The intro to Se7en really sets the scene for whats to come, sinister, dark, gorey. The close up of the murderer slicing off the skin of his fingertips isn't for the squeamish. Thought has been put into the choice of typography as it mimic's that of a mad mans scribblings, the whole sequence is gritty and dark which is carried on throughout the rest of the movie. Many opening sequences to thrillers have clearly been inspired by this one...

Nip/Tuck

Anyone ever watched it? It's not a bad program, I really like the intro the use of manaquins is a nice touch, they could have used real people, but manaquins are more associated with shop windows and fashion which questions the whole idea of plastic surgeory and vanity, yet they also look like sculptures or ornaments, which we would associate more with the desire of perfection. The intro is portraying the surgeons as craftsmen or artists, starting with a blank canvas or in this case a blank dummy and gradually bringing it to life.

Stranger than Fiction

A distinctly average film, if only it was as good as the opening sequence by MK 12 studio's. Stranger than Fiction follows the life of Harold Crick, a simple IRS auditor who one day wakes up to have his life being narrated step by step. Although the film isn't great the producer does manage to keep you constantly interested and engaged with the use of playful camera angles and inframe oddities. MK 12 studio's created a very edgy looking intro for the film, based on Harold's obsessive compulsion for numbers. For instance he would know how many steps it is to the bus stop or his mind would be constantly measuring distances between inanimate objects, all this information has been cleverly overlayed to create a sort of Heads Up Display (HUD). Take a look...

the outro is pretty neat too!

A scanner darkly

I've chosen to blog about A scanner darkly, not because it's my favourite film, in fact I've only seen it once and I'd definatly have to see it again in order to understand it, but because this is a film that pushes the boundaries of cinematography... and I am a graphics student afterall! The story is based on an undercover cop in a not-too-distant future who becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result. This is a very immaginatve and complex cult film, it's not a cartoon... in fact the whole film was recorded with real actors including Keanu Reeves himself, and then the whole thing was cell shaded over. The detail is incredible and gives a very unique look that suits the quirky style and content of the film. A film that definatly needs repeated watching in order to take it all in.