....... to want to make a movie. Watched 'No country For old Men' recently. Slowly paced but filled with tension. Beautiful natural looking lighting It's got me wanting to have a go at a proper film. Just got to bear in mind Orson Welles famous quote - "Writers need a pen, artists need a brush, but filmmakers need an army".

Whats the films that inspire you ?

WAKING LIFE, pans labyrinth,BODY SONG, FOREST GUMP, the scent of a woman, donnie darko, la jette, david lynch films,, ABRE LOS OJOS/vanilla sky, before sunset/sunrise, THE DEPARTED, city of god, Pi, dont look now,reservoir dogs, scanner darkly, willow, lady vengeance, EDWARD SISSORHANDS, falling down, orphee, , crash, DONNIE BRASCO, ... and lots more!!!

Some great films there. Watched Donnie Brasco lat night (again).

"The Third Man"
Old, black & white, straight story but so well made. Each frame a Rembrandt. A perfect example of how to capture an audience and tell a story.

"Magnolia"
An awe-inspiring film. Again, storytelling at its best. The only film in which Tom Cruise plays a believable roll.

"Baise Moi"
A french film, made by a couple of street prostitues with a camcorder and a few friends. Definitely on the verge of pornography but a superb example of how you don't need thousands of pounds to watcheable film if you have the passion to do it.

' Capturing the friedmans ' - cos it screws me up everytime i watch it and I am in awe of a film maker who can get that level of participation. Raises all sorts of gnarly ethical questions.

' Island of flowers ' - Superb film making - go watch it now - Island of Flowers

' farenhiet 9/11 ' - not cos of the fat bloke, or the sligthly ott construction but because it made documentary cool again.

' pakistans gun markets ' - I want to do stuff like this but I lack the bollox, the money, and the contacts.... YouTube - Pakistan's Gun Market

I want the three hours of my life back after watching Magnolia. Same goes for the Thin Red line. Sure, they look great, but geez, tell me a story about people I care about. Same with the Departed, thank you for joining the dots for me so I didn't have to.

Rant over; The Usual Suspects, Momento, Fight Club, Sixth Sense, American Pyscho, Training Day, The Machinist.

__________________
Andrew

www.killerheelsproductions.com

Don't know about Magnolia (It's on my next hire list) but Malicks The Thin Red Line is a war classic,

And as for 'Pakistans Gun Markets', I agrre Mark, takes from fearless courage to go and shoot that. I think I remember The Guru saying he had done some coverage in Iraq, any frightening experiences there G ?

The Third Man, totally in agreement, a masterpiece

I'm frightened when I walk down Southall Broadway, so I don't relish going into war zones. I don't do "hard news" but specialize in low-budget drama and documentaries, which means that, if I get booked for a danger zone, it's not on a "rush, rush, shoot, shoot, feed, feed" job but something a bit more dignified. On location there isn't this feeling of competition with other news crews to get the most dangerous images. It also means that I say "no" to stupid ideas from Kate Adie wannabees.

Strangely, because I'm very cautious in such zones I tend to get a number of jobs in these locations, mainly because the crew know that I'm not going to be doing anything daft or stupid. In fact, most of the times where things have started to go wrong and I suddenly became in urgent need of a bowel movement, is because a member of the team gets carried away or (more often) let his/her fear give them such an adrenalin rush that they start to act without thinking.

It helps that I had a macho-phase in my twenties and had a bit of a play in the Marines for a few years, so I don't feel the need to "prove" myself and have no problems saying "that's too dangerous I ain't gonna do it". In the more exciting zones, my regular soundie is also ex-services, so we have a pact to look after each other with safety coming first and the production second.

I've written a few articles for magazines about my experiences in these zones and I'll try and find the pdf files so that I can put them up.

This thread is about movies which inspire you, not necessarily your favourite films, so stuff like the Sixth Sense, Training Day and such is great entertainment but hardly inspiring. Magnolia, Donnie Brasco and The Thin Red line require a bit of effort from the viewer, which makes them such good films. On the documentary side, Nick Broomfield has done some t'riffic stuff which, at the time, was ground-breaking and led to people like Michael Moore following his example.

Really admire you for going to those war zones but totally in agreement, safety first, production second. One of the reasons I've stayed away from Russia, where a few incidents in our business have occurred. Look forward to those PDF's

I’d have to disagree with you there Guru, it’s a little sweeping to suggest that an entertaining film in not necessarily inspiring, and one that you struggle to understand is.

Training day for example. The whole story takes place over one 24 hour period. Yet in that short time frame the narrative sets up the characters and defines the goals. Then, turns the whole thing on its head. Now that is great writing (from a first timer too), and so is the direction to bring that out of the actors. That does not inspire you?

Usual suspects and Sixth Sense, both had great reveals/twists. They not inspire you to try the same?
The Thin Red Line? Sweeping vistas of tall green grass swaying in the Pacific breeze. Nice photography, but it does not inspire me. I found myself looking at the time wondering when something was going to happen.

For me, film is about telling a story, hopefully about characters I’ll care about. Yes, this may be a definition of entertainment, but it’s more likely to get me off my backside and try and do something similar than a well framed, colour saturated landscape.

And one last thing; Michael Moore? Great editor, not a great film maker.

__________________
Andrew

www.killerheelsproductions.com