Category Archives: Film

Legendary sound designer Ben Burtt, who was responsible for the sound effects in the first Star Wars trilogy, explains how two dozen iconic sounds from ‘A New Hope’ were created. To wit:

The base sound for the blaster shots came from a piece of metal hitting the guy-wire of a radio tower — I have always loved the noise that high-tension cables make. And I never noticed that Vader’s use of the force was accompanied by a rumbling sound. Anyway, this is a 45-minute masterclass in scrappy sound design.

kottke

A playful and rather touching documentary by Patrick Waldrop, using mixed media and an extended interview to explore the mutual admiration and friendship that existed between Hungarian immigrant and Simpsons animator Gábor Csupó and musician Frank Zappa, whose posthumous album cover for The Lost Episodes Csupó designed.

shortoftheweek

Originally released in 2016 to publicise the Shin Godzilla movie (now only available on the secondary market for a 500%+ markup), these Kaiju figurines of monsters with their heads hung solemnly at a press conference are a respectful nod to an important part of Japanese culture: the apology – through which balance and harmony in society are maintained.

From top: Godzilla apologizing for destructive vandalism (破壊行為), Mechagodzilla for imitation and copyright infringement (模倣行為) and King Ghidorah for aggressive invasion (侵略行為). 

That’s Hedorah on the right in the last pic.

colossal

Lessons From The Screenplay explores how the most effective movie scenes often follow the three-act structure of entire movies, books and plays.

A case in point: one chilling exchange between Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in Johnathan Demme’s ‘The Silence of The Lambs’.

More (in the form of a more in-depth podcast) here.

kottke

A diverting inisight into the way colour in movie posters is used to communicate with the desired audiences.

James Verdesoto of Indika Entertainment Advertising explains how white backgrounds are used for comedy, blue for action thrillers, shadows indicate secondary characters, yellow is the colour of independent film and so on.

laughingsquid/vanityfair

Another side-by-side size comparison by Alvaro Gracia Montoya: In this case, elements of the Star Wars universe from a lightsaber handle to the planet Yavin Prime (in whose orbit the original Death Star was destroyed). Sez he:

Only movies from episode I to VIII, Rogue One and Solo. Obviously not everything appears, only the most representative.

Previously: Know Your Monsters

awesomer