A Life of Moving Images

Hey here’s a funny quiz for any filmgoer out there. Thanks for the link to Amanda.

Summer’s coming to an end - work is not. I am editing all sorts of tv programs - and soon I’m facing another challenge: taking care of almost the entire post-production of a children’s reality show called Woimaxi (by Helsinki-Filmi), in which teams of three compete in adventurous tasks, and learn about renewing forms of energy. We are kind of updating the way it is being done, so I’m extremely thrilled about the project.

It is going to be the first professional production for me as an editor, that has traditional dramatic elements in it. This alone is enough to get me all motivated, but I might be also composing an orchestral score for the show! More news on this later.

Oh umm, I’m also planning to return to Bournemouth to continue my studies. So if you know of a spare room in Winton with a reasonable rent and friendly housemates, let me know. Thanks!

The Summer Mainstream

The summer has been full of cinema surprises for myself and many others: I only saw Iron Man after so many friends recommended it, that I just could no longer ignore it. And it turned out to be smart and funny, a well spent couple of hours, though I felt it wasn’t a film that fully reached its potential.

Then there was the one some optimists had waited for two years: The Happening. I was expecting to be absolutely stunned, to walk out of the theatre emotionally exhausted and with a new view of life. Instead, I experienced one of the most cruciating disappointments in a while. The writing was horrible. There was no way around it.

I found Hancock a positive surprise after it had been ripped apart by critics worldwide: analytically thinking, it had problems in character development, structure and introducing believeable twists. But I had a good time, related to the character and themes, and was also deeply moved. So for me, despite its flaws on the surface, the film worked.

Sex and the City was exactly what you thought it would be. The film provoked some good discussions afterwards, especially about how far should one’s loyalty and support for a friend go, and whether the girls’ attitude towards John was a bit too harsh. Other than that, enjoyable - but easily forgettable. However, you rarely get to be one of the few representing your own gender in a screening for hundreds of people.

Contrary to Hancock, There Will Be Blood did not work for me. The main character had his moments, but most of the time I didn’t know, why I was being shown, what was up on the screen. It all felt remarkably true and mildly threatening, but I had difficulty relating to any of it.

Then there was Once, with the lazy beginnings and endings of an inexperienced writer from one scene to another, but so what? The music was touching, everything felt either true or so innocently aspiring to be true, that you went along and enjoyed even the bits, where someone accidentally glanced at the camera. It didn’t stay with me after the screening though, the story and the characters and the themes I mean - but the music did.

The Dark Knight, a worldwide phenomenon, undigestible after a single viewing. Don’t get me wrong when I say this film didn’t satisfy me on an emotional level: I loved it, but by the end of it was so puzzled by the pace of the thing, that I wanted to let all that anxiety out already. I yearned for a chance to release it. But the film never gave me that, not at least with the first viewing. Most likely it wasn’t intending to, and I’m just overly addicted to uplifting endings.

The last two films I have seen were both extraordinary in their own ways: animations, but so different from each other. Kung Fu Panda had the most amazing acting ever by animated animal characters, they were so believeable that I couldn’t believe it. Somehow this slightly formulaic pic got a hold of my heart. It’s so simple when a movie works. You feel it.

The other animation was of course Wall·E, which premieres in Finland properly in September. The creative minds at Pixar are clearly in love with love stories, this being no exception. They also have courage, and it’s nice to see them tackle a new genre in sci-fi (well, almost new). What I said about animals just a couple of sentences before, can be said here about robots. It might be the love themes, but compared to stories from other animation studios, Pixar’s have always lacked a certain rough edge in my opinion: they are so sweet I can barely take it. But so far I have been able to. Wall·E definetely deserves a reviewing. And if I’m not entirely wrong, many more during the next decades.

Audience reaction is the whole point of making films. Critics may say a film is a classic or crap based on whatever they want, but what has become clearer and clearer to me lately is, that an impressively original structure or believeable performance means nothing compared to a whole, that blows you away - even if an analytical approach would reveal the film to be cliched, incoherent, poorly executed or only unintentionally great.

So partly, the responsibility of a satisfactory cinema experience is on the viewer. To not take the baggage of analytical approach to the cinema. I genuinely think it shouldn’t even wait outside the cinema. It should be left home. Or even better, just work, if related to films.

In the screening of Kung Fu Panda, the audience was swept away in the story immediately, like me. We laughed, some cheered, we all fell into dead silence, I cried, then we laughed of relief - all this because we recognized something in the film and related to it. Analytically thinking, I still think it is a great film. The themes are nothing new, but they don’t need to be - most of us are still struggling with them, right? It was a well executed, fresh approach to an archetypal story, that did everything you expected from it and more.

The best films change the way I walk out of the theatre. With confidence, understanding, courage, patience, good mood and optimism. They make me feel better about living.

What makes a film great to you?

The Inevitable Compromise

Have you ever felt like you are the one making all the compromises? Your partner, friends and strangers don’t appreciate your sacrifices, but keep demanding more and more so that they won’t have to give up anything.

When was the last time you took time to see the compromises other people make? Think about it. There might be that one selfish guy with two shopping bags blocking your way when you are in a hurry, but do you know how many let you go first because they think you need the four second time advantage more desperately? How often do you let other people go before you?

Sometimes we are blinded. I remember working really hard on a film and being disheartened, when the unpaid crew members were not sacrificing as much time and energy for the project as I was: inexperienced, I never saw things from their perspective. The project was not the same for them as it was to me. I had put the work ahead almost everything else in my life; the film was my baby. And the unreasonable sacrifice blinded me from seeing, that the crew was already making huge compromises. It was not them, but me, who wanted more and more, so I wouldn’t have to make any compromises at all with what I was trying to achieve. I was the uncompromising one.

I don’t think it is a necessary, or even a good quality for a director. If you don’t know how to end up with the best possible compromises, that give you the best possible end results in the given time, budget and situation, you will only end up with a crappy film or worse, no film at all. The uncompromising director is the person no one wants to work with. A good director defends the quality of the film in the game of compromises against budget, time and other external restrictions, as long as he has a breath in him.

But eventually the good director also does make the compromises, because if he doesn’t, he will run out of both time and money, deliver an unfinished film, get fired, embarrassed and a big ‘AVOID AT ALL COSTS’ stamp on his forehead. Except in the real world, where it seems, all sorts of maniacs are given control over and over again.

It is so much easier to see the compromises we are making ourselves, than the ones happening around us. We take things for granted. Not immediately, but surprisingly quickly.

Most good things come out of being able to think and feel from everyone’s point of view, including of course our own too. And bad things from not doing the extra effort, and seeing things only from our own perspective. Even wars are just two parties not understanding each other. Litter is caused by some people not wanting to take others into consideration.

When my friend talks about ‘dumb’ people, he refers to exactly this type of behaviour. Not spending a fraction of a second to think about, how your actions will affect other people, and whether you could improve the overall happiness in the world with simple choices. It is not that difficult to make a habbit, but you have to do it yourself.

So instead of concentrating on the compromises you are making, try to concentrate on the ones people around you are making. Because they all are, it is a basic part of living in a society. Maybe you will find out that making a small compromise yourself will actually help a friend or a stranger avoid a huge one. They might even remember this when next time the situation has turned around, and they have a chance to help you out.

Bad karma

If you found an 80Gb Apple iPod from the floor of a public library, would you return it to the desk or take it with you?

Mine was lost today, together with some cruciatingly important files on the hard disk. I have the music doubled on the MacBook Pro, but the files had not yet been backed-up. So I’m fucked, or at least it feels like that right now.

I kind of thought, that karma would balance things out when I lost something important to me, since I never keep other people’s things I have found to myself. Either I am just too naive for this world, or this means I have done a couple of selfish or greedy acts that hadn’t been balanced out before?

If you spot an 80Gb Silver iPod (especially with the engraving ‘There is always hope.’ in the back) being sold somewhere in the Internet, let me know. Thanks.

Lyhyt suomennos: 80Gb iPodini on varastettu sen tipahdettua laukustani kirjaston lattialle. Jos näet sellaista myytävän jossain (etenkin kaiverruksella ‘There is always hope.’), otathan pikaisesti yhteyttä. Kiitos.

There’s some good in this world

When the world around us gets unbearable, people have different means to get through the day: hobbies, vacations, movies, music, sports, literature, sleeping and so forth. The most common would probably be stories, in whatever form.

The best stories make us feel better, or more hopeful and optimistic, about ourselves, other people and the cruel world. They are not necessarily happy stories about happy people, but in my opinion, the best ones make the audience happier, at least in the long run. Even the stories with sad and horrible endings can do that; make us see how well things are in our own life, and what can we do to become more the people we want to be.

These short stories are too sweet for some people, but they certainly worked for me. The talent shows keep repeating this same character arc, from insecure to recognition, but these clips are the best I have seen.

Andrew Johnston (BGT)

Paul Potts (BGT)

If absolutely nothing else works for you, this will. Or you are made of stone.

Christian the Lion

I hope these made you smile. I’m off to Tallinn for the weekend! 

Musiikkia Keski-Maasta

Vihdoin saamme tänne korpeenkin konsertin, vaikka sitä vielä hetki joudutaankin odottelemaan:

Tampere Filharmonia esittää Howard Shoren suurteoksen The Lord of the Rings Symphony ensi kertaa Suomessa vappuna 2009.

Sinfonia kuullaan kahdessa konsertissa, vapunpäivänä 1.5. ja lauantaina 2.5.2009 kello 19 Tampere-talossa. Konserttien kapellimestari Markus Huber ja sopraanosolisti Ann De Renais ovat säännöllisesti mukana teoksen esityksissä kansainvälisillä konserttilavoilla. Orkesterina on Tampere Filharmonia ja kuoroina Tampereen Filharmoninen Kuoro ja poikakuoro Pirkanpojat Tampereelta. Lavalla on yhteensä noin 200 esiintyjää.

Liput on itsellä jo, konserttiin haluavien ei kannata epäröidä - ainakin muualla nämä on myyty nopeasti loppuun. Kuulin ‘The Breaking of the Fellowship’ -kappaleen Filmharmonic -konsertissa Lontoossa, ja se pelkästään sai tämän fanaatikon sydämen pakahtumaan.

Onpahan jotain odottaa ennen seuraavaa Shyamalania ja sitten Hobittia.

Short translation: The Lord of the Rings Symphony finally in Finland next May!

Earn reactions

The Nordic filmmaker site I mentioned earlier, dvoted, published an interview with me. Purpose of the ‘Member in Focus’ slot is to introduce filmmakers to other members. Both Unwanted and Drink the Drink can be viewed on the site.

Answering questions like these is quite fun, and sometimes you realise new things about your views on different things. One idea, that I put properly down in words for the first time now, was that a storyteller, instead of demanding attention and reactions from the audience, should always earn them.

By this I mean that only after an audience has gotten to know your characters enough to relate to them, can you expect a reaction. If people don’t care, they won’t feel. Demand someone to feel, and they will resist - the only reactions you will get is frustration, disappointment, anger, pity and boredom.

So impatience and arrogance won’t win the audience over. What does? It will probably be a life-long quest to pursue the ever-changing answer.

Long wait with a surprise ending

My first viewing of The Happening on Saturday was a cruciating experience of slowly admitting to myself I am not liking the film. When you have waited for something for two years, swearing aloud you know you are going to love it, and then it turns out to be a huge disappointment, the feeling is quite undescribable. You shrink, and you hope it is just a nightmare taking place the night before. This time, it wasn’t.

Yet there are some great things in the film: where the script doesn’t feel uncooked, or Shyamalan has the guts to be his true self as a storyteller, there is the same familiar, amazing potential in there. The Variety review feels beautifully calm and objective - not so opinionated as many others out there, or then it is just so close to how I feel about the film.

I might look into this disappointment and its problems more later on, now I will guide you to read the Finnish language review by my friend. With this same friend we have been looking at Unbreakable lately, scene by scene, trying to see why it works for us so well. It being a film, that really gets you in a unique way, that still gives me hope: hope that Shyamalan will get it back together, if he doesn’t rush with his next script, and add random violence, be it from the request of studio executives or not. He is one of the few writer-directors out there telling original stories, most of which have been thrilling, touching, funny and indeed original in every way - and that alone is worthy of some respect.

Sleeping wisely

Flexible working hours can be such a challenge. Instead of making it easier to arrange your personal life, you might end up sleeping all your free time like me.

Waking up late, taking overlong naps, staying up too late. It is near to impossible to motivate myself to get up in the morning, if the glory of getting somewhere on time is not there to reward me. Another ten minutes of sleep feels worthy of losing all my free time after work.

Naps are useful though, if taken wisely. You have to find out the length of your rem cycle, then try to set the alarm to the end of it. To most people this means naps between 15 to 60 minutes. Every now and then I fall asleep on my couch for two to three hours: sometimes in the evening, other times right after breakfast, barely ever when you are supposed to, e.g. in early afternoon* or in the morning as this article suggests. It is a bad habit, that usually makes me even more tired.

None of this really matters, when you have the time and desire to just sleep for the fun of it.

But how to cope with flexible working hours, if in your heart you are a ‘work-before-pleasure’ sort of person? I guess it is just a question of self-discipline. Going to sleep earlier, only taking power naps, and finding motivation to get up in the mornings. This next bit can be applied to anything, and I couldn’t find the original source, so it’s a free quote. But a way of thinking I have found useful, when there has been a need for scientific support for deleting things from the ‘to do’ -list I wouldn’t have gotten done anyway.

To build your own motivation:

1. Make your goal as achieveable as possible. Either by splicing it into smaller parts, by changing your approach, or by getting help from outside.

2. Make sure you feel you have enough time and energy to achieve the goal. If you are too tired or stressed to be motivated, admit the situation and do something about it first. Do not use this as an excuse for laziness though.

3. Make achieving the goal mean something to yourself. Understand why you want to do this, and how will life be positively different when it is done. Do not just try to motivate yourself by thinking of the consequences of not doing it.

So basically in order to be motivated in something it would be useful to feel our goal is achieveable in a given time, and that achieving it is somehow meaningful to us. If you genuinely want to get something done but just can’t, make sure the task at least ticks these boxes. Most things do, when you only look at them from the right angle.

I want to get up earlier during the week, because like most people, I have more energy to get work done in the mornings than later in the day, and it will also leave me more free time in the evenings, which then enables me to go to sleep earlier - and then again get up earlier.

Whether or not I will succeed in starting my days with a half hour run is yet to be seen. But it’s all about maximising your own potential by finding the best sleep rhythm for you.

And if you can’t think something through, a nap probably won’t hurt. A power nap that is.

* I have seen some editors take naps during their day at work. Just coming out of their dark room and falling onto the lobby couch, eyes closed for 15 minutes. It refreshes, and also gives you back a bit of perspective on whatever you were working on.

Description and dialogue

An obvious word of advice for aspiring scriptwriters and filmmakers: read produced scripts.

But do not read Signs after midnight and stop before the happy ending, if just two days ago your bathroom light bulb exploded, meaning you will have to brush your teeth in almost complete darkness, the only beam of light coming from a torch*. In a room with a mirror, and a shower curtain. When you seem to be the only person in the house… and you know you are afraid of the dark.

Just wanted to let that out, in case it is not common sense. For daytime reading, I would also suggest The Sixth Sense, which I just finished myself. First script ever to bring me to tears: the ending is not quite as in the film, and succeeds in capturing the loveability of Malcolm Crowe in a very whistful way. Shyamalan allegedly sold the script for $2.5m in one day. Funnily enough, I just found the first page lying alone on a chair at school, and immediately recognised it.

It is also good to read scripts of films you didn’t like, just to find out, if the problem for you was in the script or in the execution. Especially for this reason, you want to find the shooting draft, and not one that has been written afterwards to match the film, and not an early draft either. You want the version everyone referred to when making the film.

Reading scripts of films you love is even better: it is enjoyable, it inspires and guides. Sometimes it makes you feel really self-confident about developing your own story finally into an amazing script. Yet as soon as you start the work you will probably remember, that creating something simple is not a simple job.

Taking it to the next step for me will be to watch films with the script in one hand and a remote in the other. I no longer fear to destroy the experience for future viewings by doing this. The best stories should survive it, and the rest are not worth watching again anyway.

If you get carried away by the drama, like I always do, it is hard to keep pausing after each scene to analyse it. A good solution to this is to pair up with someone, who also wants to break the film and script apart: you can have an ongoing discussion, which will help keep some distance to the story - because a bit of distance is what you need in order to analyse it. Also, don’t go for the best home theatre system in the country; use a laptop instead. It’s better to save the bigger screen and better sound system for when you just want to watch the film, and not concentrate on the structures behind it.

For scripts, this might be a good place to start (most scripts I have found here have been shooting drafts): Internet Movie Script Database

* let me remind you: torches run with batteries that can die at any moment, especially a moment like described above, and also when aliens are stalking you