Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
At you
Here's
Looking
September/October 2012 7 6 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
above
James woods
toP leFt
Peter Finch
the choice of renn as a
protagonist was no mistake, he
is so deeply desensitised that
when he initially watches a tape
in which a desperate woman is
tortured his only focus is on the
production values.
Perhaps the seminal
flm about television,
Paddy chayefskys oscar
winning screenplay is a
satirical masterpiece and
incisive piece of social
commentary that only
seems to improve with age.
Image: 1983 Canadian FilmDevelopment Corporation (CFDC) Image: 1976 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Im mad as hell, and Im not going to
take this anymore! So rants veteran
primetime news anchor Howard Beale
(Peter Finch) in this most enduringly
relevant of movies: a dark-hearted
cross-examination of the state of
television, in which producers eagerly
broadcast a crass public spectacle
in pursuit of higher ratings. After
Beale states on air that he is going
to kill himself, the clearly unhinged
broadcaster is re-branded as the mad
prophet of the airwaves and in a
move that seems to foreshadow the
coming of Glenn Beck becomes
an overnight sensation watched by
millions of Americans eager to witness
the next meltdown and, potentially, his
live suicide. Perhaps the seminal flm
about television, Paddy Chayefskys
Oscar winning screenplay is a satirical
masterpiece and incisive piece of
social commentary that only seems
to improve with age. A sign of its
increasing relevance and power decades
later can be seen in the fact that its
often still self-consciously imitated and
referenced most obviously in the pilot
of Aaron Sorkins ill-fated Studio 60 on
the Sunset Strip (with Judd Hirsch flling
in for Finch) and a recent episode of
Charlie Brookers Black Mirror.
[Rob Beames]
network (1976)
Dir. Sidney Lumet
Do you think erotic and violent
TV shows lead to desensitisation? To
dehumanisation? This question is
posed not ffteen minutes into David
Cronenbergs classic body horror
movie, the query underlines every
second of the remaining runtime.
Seedy TV programmer Max Renn
(James Woods) is physically disfg-
ured by his quest to uncover the truth
about snuff TV show Videodrome;
becoming less than human to the
point that his stomach eventually
accepts a carefully-placed Betamax
tape. The choice of Renn as a protag-
onist was no mistake, he is so deeply
desensitised that when he initially
watches a tape in which a desperate
woman is tortured his only focus is
on the production values. To further
desensitise Renn, Cronenberg bends
and removes him from reality. Is it co-
incidence that the movie was released
at a time when increasingly gruesome
scenes were playing out on tape re-
corders across the western world? Or
that, within the narrative, Videodrome
was produced in Pittsburgh, home
to Romeros inhuman fesh-eaters?
Given that it is David Cronenberg
playing God here, its highly unlikely
that anything was left to chance.
[Helen Cox]
Videodrome (1983)
Dir. David Cronenberg
spotlight here' s looKing at you
8 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com September/October 2012 9
September/October 2012 11
spotlight here' s looKing at you
On its release Time Out described
Stay Tuned as a 'pointless 'satire' with
the 'emotional depth of a 30-second
soap commercial.' Clearly, they had
missed the social relevance of this
quirky fantasy comedy in which John
Ritter plays Roy Knable a plumbing
salesman who is sucked into a hell
dimension inside his TV set. In the
late 1980s Rupert Murdoch started
Sky TV, making satellite dishes
one of the most desirable home
commodities of all time. According
to the commercials, there was no itch
30+ channels couldnt scratch. Stay
Tuned highlighted the epidemic of
couch potato-ism in contemporary
America, comparing Murdoch
to the devil himself as John Ritter
signs away his soul to Jeffrey Jones'
demonic Mr Spike in exchange for
the ultimate TV package. Only when
Knable realises how much he has to
lose by tuning out of reality is he able
to save himself and his wife from an
untimely televised doom. Even though
it contains lame puns on well-known
pop-culture greats such as 'Duanes
Underworld' and 'I Love Lucifer, Stay
Tuned should still be recognised for its
critique of an over-dependence on TV
culture and commercialism as a whole.
[Helen Cox]
StAy tuned (1992)
Dir. Peter Hyams
Stay tuned highlighted
the epidemic of
couch potato-ism in
contemporary America,
comparing murdoch to
the devil himself...
Image: 1992 Morgan Creek Productions
right
nicole kidman
In To Die For, Nicole Kidman
plays ruthless TV wannabe
Suzanne Stone, the dark
side to Curleys Wife in John
Steinbecks Of Mice and Men.
America, home to Hollywood,
has always deemed movie star
status more signifcant than any
other (perhaps save presidency).
In the 90s, with television an
established, ubiquitous household
necessity, small screen celebrities
became equally as adored and
often transitioned to flm (Will
Smith and Melissa Joan Hart
for example). This obsession
with being seen is something
that director Gus Van Sant
keenly explores, hinting that
people generally believe that
being watched somehow lends
our actions a greater substance.
'Whats the point of doing something
good if nobodys watching?' Stone
asks in the opening sequence,
breaking the fourth wall;
communing with the audience
and coercing them to consider
why we watch people and why
they like to be watched. Given
the glut of Reality TV shows that
have dominated schedules for the
past 15 years, the question of why
people urgently crave recognition
is more relevant to popular culture
than it has ever been.
[Helen Cox]
to die for (1995)
Dir. Gus Van Sant
Given the glut of reality tV
shows that have dominated
schedules for the past 15 years,
the question of why people
urgently crave recognition
is more relevant to popular
culture than it has ever been.
Image: 1995 Columbia Pictures Corporation / The Rank Organisation
10 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
September/October 2012 13
spotlight here' s looKing at you
Image: 1994 Baltimore Pictures / Hollywood Pictures
redfords well-liked drama
looks at the tV sets place
of reverence in the average
American living room and
how public trust in it can be
exploited by corrupt forces.
A star-powered account of a
real life 1950s television scandal,
Redfords well-liked drama looks
at the TV sets place of reverence
in the average American living
room and how public trust in it
can be exploited by corrupt forces.
While following Rob Morrows
congressional investigator a man
who excitedly declares hes 'going to
put television on trial' it recounts
how the game show Twenty One
was rigged, with the programmes
producers and sponsor giving their
preferred contestant the questions
in advance in the name of ratings.
In the screen version, John
Turturros gawky schlemiel, a long-
running champion on the quiz,
is found to be a less photogenic
and aspirational fgure than Ralph
Fiennes handsome challenger,
a clean-cut college intellectual,
and is forced by those in charge
to 'take a dive' live on air. His
replacement and subsequent fall
into obscurity enables the flm to
explore the superfcial and feeting
nature of celebrity, something
which resonates even stronger in
contemporary times.
[Rob Beames]
Quiz SHow (1994)
Dir. Robert Redford
oPPosite
ralPh Fiennes, christoPher mcdonald
and John turturro
[Book] The Spectacle of the Real: FromHollywood to Reality TV and Beyond (www.intellectbooks.com) gofurther
12 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
fi lm i n a wi der context
widescreen
14 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
La Haine
Asian Dub Foundation providing
the score for The Other Cinema
at Broadwater Farm
Bugsy Malone
Transfroming East End's Troxy
into Fat Sam's Grand Slamin
April 2012
Top Gun
A screening and immersive
event at Canary Wharf
summer 2011
Since 2003, Future Cinema have been transforming how people watch
flms. Tis summer, they staged their biggest spectacular yet taking
over an entire music festival with an immersive live movie experience.
Founder and creative director Fabien Riggall explains how they did it.
i NteRVi ew by leoN mcdeRmott
Flash
Forward
future cinema started as the
future Shorts flm festival, in
2003. can you give us an idea
of why you set it up in the frst
place?
I was a flm-maker, going to
a lot of flm festivals, but also
to lots of clubs and music
festivals. With Future Shorts,
we wanted to create an
experience-led flm festival
combining a gig or a club with
a flm festival, which allowed
people to experience flms
in another way. We wanted
it to be about the collective
experience, because I truly
believe that however much
technology takes us away from
connecting people do want
to connect and feel part of a
community. Future Shorts
started as that, and from that
one event has spawned into
300, in over 50 countries.
Its this global community,
who can connect online and
through social media, who
are looking for something
different. They want to be
shaken, as it were, rather than
just have a passive experience.
Disruption is my favourite
thing in the world its what
makes me happy, and when
you see something unusual, it
fips your mind from its daily
routine and I think thats what
people are looking for today,
when everything is so laid out:
you know where youre going,
whats happening, youve read
the reviews and so on. Short
flms can be incredibly good at
breaking with that; theyre little
bursts of creativity, and we
thought, if we can bring them
into a non-theatrical setting
and build things around that,
why cant we do it with feature
flms?
September/October 2012 15
Photos Sandra Ciampone (botoom)
'...however much technology
takes us away from connecting
people do want to connect
and feel part of a community.'
16 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
The Wolf Man (2008)
4-color screenprint
Part of the 'Universal Series'
widescreen future cinema
in 2007, you put on a screening of
one flew over the cuckoos nest
which took this idea even further,
keeping the flm itself secret until the
event. How did that work?
That was really about building a
parallel world for the flm before
it screened, so you have this gang
or community who are engaged
in what the flm might be, in
actually entering the narrative and
becoming characters. With One
Flew we worked with Mind, the
mental health charity. We created
the Oregon State hospital and
took the audience around there;
we had actors playing the doctors,
who knew every member of the
audience because we got them to
fll out profles beforehand. We
took them on a surreal fshing trip,
had them play basketball on the
roof, and got them to break out of
the hospital. This all culminated
in a screening, and the audience
watches the flm having spent two
hours experiencing that. So theyre
more engaged with the flm than
with any other flm theyve ever
been to.
you took over the wilderness festival,
in oxfordshire, this August, with
screenings of Bugsy malone, La
Haine and one secret flm. what are
the challenges there?
It was kind of crazy. Bugsy Malone
was such a nostalgic hit when we
staged it in London; it was such
a happy, positive project. So we
talked to the Wilderness organisers,
and thought about the idea of
taking over the whole festival so
you have Fat Sam being the biggest
guy in town, and essentially turning
the whole festival into New York,
but over the course of the day,
Dandy Dan started taking back
the territory. And we worked with
all the festival partners the other
stages, the food stalls, everyone
taking over the festival for one
day and turned it into this Bugsy
Malone wonderland, where we
had splurge fghts, gambling,
shakedowns, everything.
the screening of La Haine had a live
soundtrack by Asian dub foundation.
what were your aims with taking
such an urban, inner city flm into the
countryside?
We screened La Haine in
Broadwater Farm in London
earlier this year. Were very
passionate that cinema can
have a big part to play in giving
young people an opportunity to
experience something different,
and this flm which is a witness
and a mirror to the riots which
happened in London last year
gave them that opportunity.
And we wanted to practice what
we preach, by giving a chance to
some of the people who the flm is
about to do something different,
so we had some of the people from
Broadwater Farm who came with
us, working with us, at Wilderness.
We created a show around the
flm: we had breakdancers, a boxer,
and even a cow. And Asian Dub
Foundation were just phenomenal
they lifted the flm on to another
level, and created yet another way
of engaging with it.
do you think that what youre doing
creating this broad, immersive,
total experience - is a more
fruitful direction for the future of
cinema than just selling it on the
technological advances like 3d?
I think that what weve tapped in
our audiences is that there could be
another way of experiencing flm,
beyond 3D. Weve just fnished an
event with Prometheus in 3D, and
the 3D experience is fantastic but
I do think that were taking it up
a level. I think that in combining
flm with music, with theatre,
to create a multi-layered thing,
weve genuinely created another
way for flm. Were not going to
replace whats already there the
traditional exhibition is the heart of
cinema but were asking people
to do something different to dress
up, to take part, to become part of
the world were creating. That, for
me, is our mission: to fnd a new
format. And the fact that were
doing it at Wilderness disrupting,
in a good way, this amazing festival
with a crazy, fun movie we all
saw when we were kids, and then
with another about disadvantaged,
inner-city youth I think is a good
sign. I genuinely think that this
could be the future.
Bugsy Malone
More shenanigans and tomfollery
of the creampie kind at East End's
Troxy. April 2012
Photo Melanie Gow Photos JefMoore
September/October 2012 17
[weB] www.futurecinema.co.uk [weB] theothercinema.org gofurther
Paul (2010)
4-color screenprint
produced for the US premiere
of the flmat the SXSWfestival
Monsters, Inc. [Variant] (2011)
5-color screenprint
size: 18" x 24"
adventures through the bui lt and fi lmed envi ronments
architecture & film
Y o u k n o w, we n e e d
a set for that. This reminder
from director Terence Young
to production designer Ken
Adam during the making of
Dr No not only resulted in a
hastily-conceived yet brilliant
solution from Adam for the
spider room a small space
dominated by a disquietingly
sloping, forced-perspective
roof whose circular grille casts
ominous shadows but also
laid the foundations for a series
of designs that, if realised
in bricks and mortar, would
surely have seen the German-
born artist crowned a post-war
architect of some talent.
By 1962 Adam was already a
seasoned professional, having
designed for the cinema since
the late 1940s when he left
the Royal Air Force. Though
he worked across genres, it
is the very particular look he
developed for seven Bond flms
that is his legacy in flm.
Undoubtedly informed by
study of architecture and
employment in a British
practice before the war and
his experiences piloting the
snarling Typhoon fghter-
bomber during it, Adams
philosophy blended extravagant
technology with a dramatic
and often unsettling use of
geometric forms. Rightly
celebrated for audaciously
grand constructs, whether
Blofelds volcano, Strombergs
tanker or the vaults of Fort
Knox, each flm also contains
more intimate spaces that are
equally worthy of attention.
Common elements such as
ramps, bridges and open-tread
staircases and a concern for
fnishes tie all these projects
together.
The offces of Osato
Chemicals in You Only Live
Twice are an exquisite nod to
traditional Japanese architecture
updated for Western tastes, with
sliding screens, fnely-crafted
woods and clean lines, all in a
sympathetic palette of colours.
Willard Whytes penthouse
in Diamonds are Forever is
a carefully-orchestrated
symphony in chromed steel
and glass with activity in every
plane, from the chandelier
in the ceiling to the picture
window and eye-like wall safe
to the model landscape set into
the transparent foor. Circles
feature heavily.
Adams work here shows
a real sympathy for the
Panavision frame, although
he has admitted to the current
writer a preference for flms
shot in Academy. In fact his
Bond sets tend to ft the picture
space perfectly, regardless of
its proportion. Ceilings are
low and often canted; foors
separate into layers, refecting
the 60s fashion for split-level
living and conversation pits;
end walls are usually shown,
often defned by a window.
Adam has an intelligent
eye for actual architecture as
both inspiration and location.
Goldfngers rumpus room,
with its angled structural
members, rubble walls and
exposed timber, is clearly
infuenced by the great Frank
Lloyd Wrights Taliesin West
home and studio. In Diamonds
are Forever the Las Vegas
Hilton is extended by a matte
painting to become The Whyte
House, whilst the wonderfully
sculptural desert dwelling in
which Bond does battle with
Bambi and Thumper may
appear to be classic Adam but
is in fact the Elrod house by
noted California architect and
Wright disciple John Lautner.In
The Spy Who Loved Me, the soft
curves of Strombergs Atlantis
have affnities with the organic
1970s designs of Luigi Colani.
These spaces exist between
reality and fantasy, thrusting
Expressionism into the
Swinging Sixties to generate
a world perfectly matched to
an aspirational audience and
the new architecture they saw
emerging around them.
Designing 007: Fifty Years of
Bond Style is at the Barbican
Art Gallery, London until 5
September 2012.The new James
Bond flm Skyfall is released in
the UK 28 October.
[Book] ken Adam Designs the Movies: James Bond and Beyond gofurther
Responsible for creating some of the most iconic and
memorable sets in the history of flm, production designer
Ken Adam knows a thing or two about dreaming on a
grand scale. chRi s RogeRs takes us on a brief tour.
Scene
Sette
Above
Sketches of the modifed Lotus Espritas
seen in The Spy Who LOved Me
Opposite
Volcano set design as seen in
You Only Live Twice
1967 Danjaq, LLC & United Artists
Corporation. All rights reserved
Below
Pentagon War Roomdesigned for
Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove
18 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com September/October 2012 19
i n m i l d - m a n n e r e d insurance
salesman Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey)
is unwittingly the star of a perpetual
reality TV show. His world, the town of
Seahaven, is a Norman Rockwell-inspired
idyll of heart-warming dependability,
a saccharine stasis that Truman never
thinks to doubt until the sky falls in on
him. Exiting his perfect house on another
perfect sunny morning, he waves to his
smiling neighbours and prepares to take
the short drive to work when from out of
the blue drops Sirius (9 Canis Major),
a television stage lamp that smashes onto
the road before him. Truman investigates
but when he looks up in the direction it
has come from all he can see is clear blue
sky. Sirius, the falling star is Trumans
frst clue as to the reality of his existence
(Seahaven is a huge, elaborate television
sound stage) and despite being passed
off later by a radio announcer as a
piece of space junk it is the catalyst that
sparks Trumans process of questioning
everything that he has come to know.
Read More f o u r f r a me s online at
www.thebigpicturemagazine.com
the art of abbrevi ated storytelli ng
four frames
tHe Sky i S fALLi nG Te Truman Show, Dir. Peter Weir, 1998
1 2
4 3
Te moment of
revelation comes with
a bang. Jez coNolly
sidesteps the falling
debris to delve deeper.
Images: 1998 Paramount Pictures, Scott Rudin Productions
20 www.thebigpicturemagazine.com September/October 2012 21
Marks...
above/below
JenniFer lawrence as katniss everdeen
w i t h g a r Y r o s s ' adaptation
of Suzanne Collins' Young Adult
novel, The Hunger Games, a new
generation of cinema-goers were
introduced to the concept of a future
world in which watching people
being killed live on television is
a national pastime. Collins' post-
apocalyptic narrative was inspired
by graphic footage of the Iraq War
and Reality TV and drew from
the Greek myth of Theseus and
Shirley Jackson's 1948 short story,
The Lottery. The Hunger Games'
vision of lethal televised violence
is a neat entry point into the world
of killer gameshows in the movies.
Gladiatorial combat, war, sport
and violence dominate gameshows
within movies that address,
satirize and deconstruct themes
1000 words
moments that changed ci nema forever
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