:: GussetBLOG ::

:: Friday, July 04, 2008 ::

Life Cycle

Filmed in Ashton Court, Bristol. Ah, I remember those tracks!
By Tom Mansfield

Jesus, how to give away too much personal information on the net! He really needs to edit that. Emailed.

Labels: Bike, Bristol, Film, ID, Video

:: Dan 4.7.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Excerpt from The Dogway Melody circa 1930

Labels: Film, Humour

:: Dan 19.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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From my friend Keira,

"Hello !
Hope you're very well...all of you.
I wanted to share with you my latest (very short) film , where I typed a picture of Bournemouth Pier using my old typewriter. I recently showed this, and the picture/s at Aruba, the bar situated on Bournemouth Pier approach as part of an event called Muse Platform, you can see footage of this event here.
I will be doing more typing at events soon so please check my website for news.
Thanks!
Keira"

Labels: Art, Film, Typography

:: Dan 15.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Charles says, "had a bit of time on my hands with nothing to do so i made godzilla a city to destroy."

Labels: Animation, Film, Sci-Fi

:: Dan 12.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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"A little piece of trivia I didn't know, apparently Stanley Kubrick asked Roger Waters if he could use music from Pink Floyd's 'Atom Heart Mother' for Clockwork Orange. Someone's re-imagined what the opening sequence would have looked like if he'd said yes and this is the result." [via grom]

Labels: Art, Film, Literature, Music

:: Dan 12.5.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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"From Dr Who to the Dark Side of the Moon, the members of the Electronic Music Studios used pioneering technology and ideas to create a radical new soundscape for the 20th century."



What The Future Sounded Like
Documentary, 27 minutes
HDV and Digital Betacam
16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen
Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound

"Post-war Britain rebuilt itself on a wave of scientific and industrial breakthroughs that culminated in the cultural revolution of the 1960’s. It was a period of sweeping change and experimentation where art and culture participated in and reflected the wider social changes. In this atmosphere was born the Electronic Music Studios (EMS), a radical group of avant-garde electronic musicians who utilized technology and experimentation to compose a futuristic electronic sound-scape for the New Britain.

"Comprising of pioneering electronic musicians Peter Zinovieff and Tristram Cary (famed for his work on the Dr Who series) and genius engineer David Cockerell, EMS’s studio was one of the most advanced computer-music facilities in the world. EMS’s great legacy is the VCS3, Britain’s first synthesizer and rival of the American Moog. The VCS3 changed the sounds of some of the most popular artists of this period including Brian Eno, Hawkwind and Pink Floyd. Almost thirty years on the VCS3 is still used by modern electronic artists like The Emperor Machine.

"What The Future Sounded Like colours in a lost chapter in music history, uncovering a group of composers and innovators who harnessed technology and new ideas to re-imagine the boundaries of music and sound. Features music from Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Roxy Music and The Emperor Machine."

RIP Tristram Cary

Labels: Electronic Music, Film, RIP

:: Dan 27.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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unsubscribe-me.org

Labels: Amnesty, Film, Politics

:: Dan 23.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Rave-infected vampire flick, the first new movie from Hammer in almost 30 years



Episodes begin at MySpace.com/BeyondTheRave on April 17th.
Beyond the Rave is a vampire story set in England's underground rave scene. The movie follows the last hours of freedom of local soldier Ed, who is flying out to Iraq in the morning. With the help of his best friend Necro, he spends his last night in the UK tracking down his missing girlfriend Jen, last seen partying with a bizarre group of hardcore night-time ravers led by the mysterious Melech. But as he catches up with Jen at a party, Ed discovers that Melech's crowd, who are hosting the event, are looking for more than a night of fun, and that not everyone will make it through to dawn.

Labels: Advertising, Film, Horror, myspace, Video

:: Dan 15.4.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Spin (Double Edge Films)



[thanks rob]

Labels: Film, Humour

:: Dan 11.1.08 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Hammer Horror returns - on MySpace

"Beyond the Rave, the first horror movie made by Hammer Films since 1976, will be released not in cinemas but through MySpace, the world's biggest social networking site, on which it will be streamed in episodes next spring before being released on DVD.

"The studio said that Beyond the Rave would contain all the ingredients of a Hammer classic: “vampires, blood, death and suspense throughout”, but, as the name suggests, with a 21st century twist."

Sounds like it'll be a "twist" we've seen 100 times already, but good to see Hammer back nonetheless.

Labels: Film

:: Dan 14.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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"Electric December is an online advent calendar. Explore 24 days of short film treats created by young people from across the UK. This year Electric December is curated by eShed.net - a Bristol-based film website for 14-21yr-olds. Visit the archive to view eight years of presents. Pick it up, pass it on… Subscribe to the podcast, embed films in your own site, send your friends an ecard, or bluetooth to your mobile."


Gotta love the electro-sprouts!

Labels: Art, Film, Watershed

:: Dan 9.12.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Gearing up for the special edition directors cut Wired have this Q&A:
Ridley Scott Has Finally Created the Blade Runner He Always Imagined
via null device, who also pulls some pullquotes out of it:

J. Craig Venter
Geneticist
"The movie has an underlying assumption that I just don't relate to: that people want a slave class. As I imagine the potential of engineering the human genome, I think, wouldn't it be nice if we could have 10 times the cognitive capabilities we do have? But people ask me whether I could engineer a stupid person to work as a servant. I've gotten letters from guys in prison asking me to engineer women they could keep in their cell. I don't see us, as a society, doing that."

Doesn't this miss the entire point of the story. I don't think Dick ever intended any of his novels to be accurate representation of the future. He only wrote science-fiction because it was the only medium through which he could get his ideas published. The story is actually about the philosophical arguments about what is human.

From wikipedia:
Dick's inspiration for the central plot point involving androids which are indistinguishable from humans came from specific factors in his own life experience. First and foremost, he could not accept that the people who committed atrocities such as the Holocaust during World War II were truly human. He felt that they must be inhuman monsters who merely appeared to be human. While this was initially a figurative philosophical concept, Dick was a user of amphetamine, which he used to fuel his writing. As a result, he developed a high level of paranoia, and his notion about people appearing to be human when they were not became more literal.[citation needed]

Admittedly this is exactly the type of uncited reference that makes wikipedia unreliable, but having read it matches my understanding of it of the point he was trying to make.

Sci-Fi that tries to accurately predict the future is often boring. [cf. most Arthur C. Clark] Sci-Fi that asks 'what if?' is what is really interesting. The what if doesn’t have to be plausible, it's just a platform. It allows analysis of current thinking, be it scientific, philosophical, political, religious etc, from an outsiders point of view. That’s what makes it interesting as a medium.

Labels: Film, Literature, Sci-Fi

:: Dan 28.9.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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A very quick review, and no spoilers, I just have to say I loved this. I can't remember looking forward to a cinema release that much in ages, and when I do do that I'm usually disappointed, but not here. The Treadstone replacement project it revolves around Mrs P noticed was name dropped back in the closing scene of the first film. I like details like that. It all works very well. And there is plenty of Nicky* action and a great part for Albert Finney. The sound work is also pretty good, although too loud in the cinema, there's nothing worse than unrealistically loud foley. The scene with the fight in the bathroom, where Bourne's attacker is thought to be holding a blade of some sort (razor?) is so fast moving you can barely see a thing, but the knife sounds in it are great. Although, if you removed the visual action it would probably sound like the Goon Show.

[The Bourne Ultimatum is out now]

* I've just discovered that "Julia Stiles" is a dangerous Google Image Search.

Labels: Film, Review

:: Dan 18.8.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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"Will you look at me... and tell me if you've known me before?"

That was interesting. Pretty much what I expected. The Lynchian themes of identity swap, dream logic, and dark humour etc are all there. Maybe slightly less violence than one might expect. Having made the move to digital production Lynch has been freed of all of the restraints of traditional film making techniques (notably cost of film stock) and has let ideas run away with him. It seems to have brought out the worst in him.

It was well publicised that neither he nor the actors nor anyone else had any idea what this film was about and that there is no real story as such. It’s about a "woman in trouble" Lynch says. That doesn't necessarily make it a bad film. You haven't had the true David Lynch experience if you come out of the cinema not asking, "so what happened?" Part of the appeal of Mulholland Drive was unravelling the mystery, although I'm not convinced there actually is a solution to it. It was developed as a TV series pilot with the intension of replicating Twin Peaks success but when no network picked it up and extra half hour was whacked on the end and it got a cinema release. That final half hour didn't appear to make any attempt to close off the multiple story arcs that had been opened. INLAND EMPIRE has less excuses and seems to have sprawled into a three hour monster simply because Lynch couldn't contain himself.

Technically it's hit and miss. The sound design is wonderful; if you are interested in use of sound in film you sould watch this. The music too, is great, and to his credit some of it also written and performed by Lynch. There's some brilliant lighting, and intriguing sets (dark corridors adjoining garish pink rooms), and even some comedy dance routines. As many reviews have commented there is some very good acting, especially from Laura Dern. Her confessional scenes with the guy with the wonky glasses are riveting. However, some of the acting is also decidedly below par, like in the barbecue scene where pretty much everyone is poor (Dern included). The camera work in places is reminiscent of the most ill conceived, pretentious, student wank. The extreme close-up tracking of the coffee cup near the beginning is terrible. There is far too many facial shots held just slightly too close for the camera to be able to focus. The focus, in fact, is all over the place, sometimes it is used as a very effective artist tool (like when characters walk up to a fixed focus lens then move on again), sometime it just looks like Lynch hadn't yet learnt to work without a focus puller and wasn’t any good at doing it himself. With the exception of one good cut scene the footage shot in Poland and the footage in the US don’t really fit together at all.

As the image above shows, The Cube decided to put an interval in the middle of it. (After real four for anyone who cares.) This broke it up nicely and despite detracting slightly by interrupting the flow it didn’t take too long to get back into the swing of things. The first few minutes of the break were strangely quiet, as everyone stood around quietly introspective and unsure how to interact. I stood in the cold courtyard huddled around the glowing cigarette ends of Slim and Sam. After a few exchanged shrugged the silence was broken with a question of, "any idea what's going on?"
"No. And it's not going to get any clearer I'm sure," was the best response I could muster. Most of the rest of the conversation is reflected above, as it would appear the conversation caused me to galvanise my views at the half way point.

The second half seemed to include more humour, more dance, and more whores that the first. The final scene, under the credits, brought together some of the jokes very nicely. In all it's not one of Lynch's best films and although he seems to be very excited about the possibilities of digital cinema it's nothing for fans to get excited about yet. Hopefully over time that will change.

Others comments:

• Lynch on Lynch
  
• Wikipedia
  
• Rotten Tomatoes
  
• Fanny Magnate does a good job of pulling some meaning out of it.
  
• warm n easy on Hijack brilliant captured most of the audiences reactions:
  "no idea what went on - I think I was visually raped yet don't recall"
  
• Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian provides the perfect summary:
  "Unlike the plasma TV screens in Dixon's, David Lynch is evidently not HD-ready"

Labels: Film, Lynch

:: Dan 16.5.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Labels: Film, Freedom

:: Dan 11.5.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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"Singapore has said that it will ban a documentary about the detention of a former leftist activist because its "distorted and misleading" portrayal of events could undermine the government."

Trailer:

Labels: Amnesty, Censorship, Film, News

:: Dan 11.4.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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Hola!

Just back from a week in (initially) sunny (and latterly very windy) Spain. The gig over there went really well and Madrid is a great city. It's full of fascinating and exciting places and great food. More information and photos to follow.

Thanks to Dash for filling in in my absence. Although that link of live AFX sets isn't quite everything that's ever been recorded, there was that 3GB torrent last year. I'd link it again but I can’t find it now.

While I get my mind back on things here are some links to be going on with...

Etherhead's Notes on Breakcore documentary is now finished and on sendpace [111MB avi]

VUKZID
Janksy Noise says:
"Running alongside V/Vm Test, Vukzid is a new platform which allows me to make unrestricted audio available for you to download and freely distribute at non-profit.

"The music industry has changed beyond belief over the past few years and we are now at a very exciting stage of development in terms of being able to make high quality audio available online for fast download and free distribution.

"The traditional industry is pushing for paid and restricted downloads which goes against my own feelings and beliefs as it excludes more people than it includes when it comes to downloading and sharing audio files.

"Thanks to the kind people at Brainwashed all of the audio you will find here is free of charge. You can of course help me continue providing more free music by donating money to this project which helps take the financial pressure off me and/or by buying releases from the V/Vm Test shop."

Labels: Breakcore, Film, MP3

:: Dan 23.3.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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No, not the fetish, it's a film about The History of the Human Beat Box. Sounds like it does for beat boxing what Scratch did for DJing, but unfortunately music licensing problems have been preventing release for years. Shame. Would love to see it.

Labels: Film, Music

:: Dan 25.2.07 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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I went to see Underworld last week. (As Grom has already reported, Sony Pictures are being sued by White Wolf for 17 counts of copyright infringement and over 60 points of unique similarity between Underworld and their work, the official filing is here.) Now, you would think that any film featuring a raven haired vampiress in a rubber cat suit can’t really go wrong, right? Wrong. This films only redeeming feature is its costumes (see previous comment), the music is appalling, the effects and make up are a long way short of spectacular, and much of the action is laughable. I’m going to explain these three complaints in a little more detail to try and convince you not to spend any money on watching this.

Music: When, oh when, will the general public get tired of "Nu-Metal" soundtracks? The scene where one of the characters turns into a werewolf for the first time, in the back of a car, and the people in the front notice, say "oh, shit" unconvincingly, and turn the radio up so the transformation is accompanied by a less-than-thrashing guitar riff and some guy doing some girly screaming, is utterly pathetic.

Effects: I know effects are often over played and over used in movies these days, but just look at the make-up when Bill Nighy’s character, Victor, is first awaken, it looks some sort of Blue Peter make your own cardboard skeleton that turns into a vampire project.

Action: There is a scene where someone takes a sword and in some unrealistic half arsed flying spinning jumping movement is suddenly on the other side of the room. The person they were fighting then stands up and slowly turn around to see that the sword is now blood stained. A close up of the victims face then shows a small diagonal superficial cut appear across their face and a little blood oozes from it. The view thinks, oh, he’s got a minor cut there look, I wonder what the relevance of that is? A look of shock comes over the guys face and the top half of his head then slowly slides of sideways as his head had actually been totally, perfectly, cleanly severed through the middle, showing us the cross section of his brain which was apparently capable of thought as well as controlling motor movement and facial expression despite this somewhat major trauma. The audience hold their sides and shake with laughter so much they are rendered incapable of asking for a refund.

You have been warned.

Labels: Film, Review

:: Dan 13.10.03 [Arc] [0 comments] [links to this post] ::
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