French Drama 'Les Revenants' ['The Returned']

Les Revenants

This series is a French supernatural drama, that takes places in a mountain town in the Alps. People who have died in the past start to come back to life. I have been watching this show on Netflix. They have english subtitles made for this version and is translated extremely well. I never would have guessed that even with subtitles I would continue to watch more than the first episode.  

I feel like the shots are longer than they would be if the show was produced in the U.S. At first you feel like the shots should cut quicker and they are showing a shot for too long. By the second episode I got use to these shots and it adds to the mystery of the show.  The overall look and feel of the mountains is very different from any location in the U.S. so the exterior shots grab my attention. Visually this show is so great that I could watch it even without subtitles and still find it interesting.

This show originally aired in France on Canal+ under the name Les Revenats, in 2012.  Not to get confused with the American series Resurrection (ABC, 2014), which has the same premise as Les Revenats. Or the American Adaption also call The Returned, which recently aired on A&E last month. I haven't seen the American version but it seems to not be nearly as good as the original, looking at the reviews.  

Season one of Les Revenats had eight episodes that are all just under an hour an episode. Season two is apparently in production, but I'm surprised they are taking this long between seasons. This show has been doing very well! They won an International Emmy for best Drama Series. 

Shows with subtitles don’t usually interest me. I feel like reading the subtitles takes away from the experience because I usually consider it too much work and not worth the effort. With Les Revenants, this is not the case. I could not stop watching this series after just one episode. The aesthetics are so strong that I didn’t even mind the subtitles. The setting, the shots, and the pacing all work together to keep me wanting more.

I would rate this show a 9/10, even if you don't understand any French and hate reading subtitles on foreign films you still need to give this show a try.  

First Episode of The Newsroom

The Newsroom is a television show that premiered in 2012 that depicts an interesting inside look of a newsroom for a very popular fictional news network. The creator, Aaron Sorkin, created the episodes around actual news events that were occurring in the country at the time. The show stars actor Jeff Daniels who plays the lead news anchor and has an outrageous, stubborn personality.

The first episode of The Newsroom was full of controversial topics and intense scenes that pulled you in right from the beginning. In addition to this, this show is identified as a comedy as well and it definitely contains comic elements that make you laugh out loud. In this episode, the first 10 minutes were the most powerful, because of the speech he made about why America was not the best country in the world. This sparked contrasting reactions from people that witnessed the episode, because he really went off on the government and how we are not as great as we used to be. This speech rang a harsh truth in many people's ears that they didn't necessarily want to hear. It created a conflict in the show that you were intrigued by and made you want to continue watching so you can find our the answer to it. In addition to this conflict there are many love conflicts that arise. One between the main character and his new producer that was an old flame, and a love triangle between the secretary and two guys that work for the station. These conflicts that are presented right away make everyone interested in the story and the dialogue. The Newsroom is definitely shot beautifully and the lighting is mostly natural from the windows and very bright. The shots include a lot of close ups and pans of the studio, and they undertake the feeling of the chaotic studio structure very well. The Newsroom is definitely a show that I want to continue watching and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to find a great show to see. 

            Here's the video of this great speech. 

GISHWHES!

What is GISHWHES, you ask? Well, it is the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen! Actually though.
Here is a link to a promotional video for GISHWHES 2012!
GISHWHES is an international scavenger hunt that was created by actor Misha Collins from the popular CW show Supernatural. Misha is not only known for being a great actor, he is actually known for just being an awesome person.
With this scavenger hunt, Misha encourages participants to step outside of their comfort zone. For 7 days, participants go on an adventure to try to capture certain 'items' with their camera. Some of the tasks this year include capturing picture or video of a storm trooper in full costume cleaning a pool, using a Zamboni to draw a giant frowny face on an ice-skating rink, knitting a scarf over 12 feet long, giving a puppet show at a children's hospital, going shopping for diamonds in a wig made of popcorn, making a kilt entirely out of cucumbers, creating a mock news show, and 145 more!
I am one of the lucky ones to be participating in this year's hunt and our team, I think, is actually doing really well! We might actually have a chance at the grand prize, which is staying in a private haunted castle in Scotland with none other than Misha Collins himself! Our team of 15 has people from all over the United States. My group consists of girls from Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, Michigan, and Minnesota. Our team name is Hawkeye and the Awkettes loves crossstateepicness, but we're also known as crossstateavengers for short. Together we have been working hard since late Monday night to complete as many tasks as possible. I would post some of our work, but we're not allowed to yet until the scavenger hunt is over. Tonight we completed the mock news program, as mentioned above, in Studio B of Park and then next, us Ithaca girls, are going to create an 'erotically charged' scene with dialogue that only talks about grammar and font. This should be very fun to shoot!
A participant from last year's hunt, Savannah Comilla, said, "GISHWHES isn't just a scavenger hunt, it's like 10 days of pure thought, inspiration & creation."Although this year it's only 7 days, after 3 days alone, I have had some great experiences that have required me to think very creatively, artistically, and outside of the box. I hope this scavenger hunt becomes a definite annual thing because I am having so much fun!

Bob Marley

   

Let me preface this blog post by first saying that I started watching Marley (2012) not knowing much about Bob. I guess I had him wrapped up as just a really chill musician who smoked a lot of weed and enjoyed warm sunny days on the beach in beautiful Jamaica. 

Scottish filmmaker Kevin Macdonald contends that Bob Marley is very much a kindred soul who found himself in a place to bring about real change in others' lives and the course of history through his music.

In depth interviews with Bob's wife, his children, his siblings, his friends, fellow bandmates, business partners and other stars including Jimmy Cliff and Neville 'Bunny' Livingston of The Wailers. 

The film begins with an arial shot of a rural picturesque Jamaican landscape guiding us to the Bob's birthplace. Interviews with the superstar's siblings, old school teacher and with villagers tell the story of his childhood as a half-white and half-black kid in a small impoverished town.

Bob Marley's dad, Norval Marley, a white Marine from England, did not play an active role his Bob's Life. Bob's mother, Cedella Booker, a black Jamaican girl, gave birth to Marley at age 18 and raised him through childhood. The filmaker uses Bob's mixed identity later in the film to explain his unique behavior and offer a sort of Ying-Yang analogy.

Through found interviews with Bob, the superstar comes to life, telling his own story throughout the film. Rare footage combined with, what I assume to be actor reenactments, stunning visuals also bring this film to life.

The director covers Bob's rise to fame, his cult-like following, his philosophy, and his historial impact on the world and specifically on Jamaica. Jamaica, at the time of Bob's rise, was going through a gang-like bloody political civil war. Bob was not immune to the spillover violence.

The film uses primary source interviews to detail an assassination attempt on Marley's life in Kingston, Jamaica by a political gangster, that thankfully failed. Bob had been shot in the leg and easily recovered. Interviewers say that Bob felt hurt emotionally after the attack.

However, Bob used the attack as a source of inspiration and adopted a respectable sense of martyrdom. After touring abroad after the attack to rest his mind, he returned to Jamaica to play a free concert promoting peace. Both party leaders in the civil war were in attendance. 

Through stunning found footage of the concert, Bob is seen passionately and instinctively in a spur of the moment trance inviting both warring political leaders up to the stage. On stage, he gathered them together and held their hands in a stunning show of unity and togetherness. This scene encapsulates the film's main message that Bob is more than just a musician, but rather a meaningful and unifying messenger of peace.

This film, brings the reggae star to life in an equally entertaining and transformative way that allows audiences to leave with a sense that they too have experienced first-hand the magic that is Bob Marley.

Foley Artist

Hey guys, the title is a link to this video that I just watched about foley artists. It's basically a video of this foley artist who apprenticed on Empire Strikes Back demonstrating some foley techniques, showing the camera around his workroom, and talking about how they put together the individual sounds for a scene in a movie. I thought it was pretty cool, and if you're interested in working on sound as a career, it looks like it'd be a pretty sweet job.

SoundWorks Collection: Gary Hecker - Veteran Foley Artist from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.