Let it SNOW!!

The next see-for-free Christmas flick? 

SNOW

For the next week you can check out this movie at ABC Family's website for their 25 Days of Christmas Celebration. Cheesy? Yeah, but not without it's delightful little holiday moments. It's nothing we haven't seen before but it's worth a look. 

Synopsis 

In a modern retelling of the Santa Claus legend, Nick Snowden reluctantly takes over the family business. As if that wasn't pressure enough, with only three days before the big night, one of Nick's young reindeer is captured and taken to a zoo. Not only must Nick rescue Buddy-the-reindeer in time to complete his Christmas deliveries, he has to do it before the young buck learns to fly and the zoo realizes what its got. In the course of his adventures, Nick touches the lives of those at a boarding house including Sandy and eight-year-old-Hector. As only a true innocent can do, Nick tries to bring back the spirit of Christmas they lost long ago. Nick rescues Buddy, brings holiday hope to the boarding house residents, and in the process, finds his true love.

Design

For this movie I'm going to focus on the set design and special effects design. There are several parts of the movie that call for visual effects, flying reindeer for one. In this version of the santa legend santa doesn't travel by chimney, he travels by mirror. This was done mostly through camera tricks, but when the visual effects were used, they weren't bad. They weren't necessarily good, but this is a see-for-free movie. 

Most of the sets looked incredibly underdone, but I had my favorites. The best design was the main character, Sandy's, room. The subtle use of red and green was pleasant. I'm the super-fan of using great wall paper to spice up a set and I often think the right wall paper can raise the production value of a film. This was clearly the thinking of Marion Pon, the Art Director. I felt a kindred spirit in the design and for that I make this another Tell movie! 

Santa Claus Conquers the Martins!

So, for this See-for-free holiday movie blog I found a B-movie gem that is sure to get a reaction (what that reaction is depends heavily on your love or hate for movies of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 kind)

 I've been waiting to reveal weather the designs of these movies are Kitsch or Tell, until I've given a little insight into why I feel the way I do... but I don't think it's hard to guess that this movie is Kitsch. So, if you're into this science-fiction genre and want a little holiday cheer, this movie can be watched here totally free of charge. 

Classic
Even though there are hundreds of B-movies that cross genres, the kung-fu/horror, the sci-fi/western, or the mockumentary... I think this film took the genre blending a little too literally, and I'm shocked to say that it was a full two hours in running time. Directed by Nicholas Webster, this film takes you into two worlds that have been explored many different times... Mars and The North Pole. Santa doesn't actually conquer the Martians, but like the true American he is, he does set up Christmas for Martians to enjoy every year.

Design
Maurice Gordon was the Art Director, and he had his hands full with this jolly flick. Gordon had a very brief career in the sixties (he art directed only one other television episode after this) but who's to say this guy isn't a one hit wonder of film? Well, I think I might. This little picture to the right shows you just

about everything you'll get out of this film. His martians harken back to one of my all time favorite B-movies, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T, but fall short after you have a look at them for more than a minute or two.
I wanted to love this design, because I am a huge fan of movies like this and I think the aesthetic of said films are lost on a modern audience and therefor don't get made by a money hungry film industry. I have to say though, that there was one amazing moment in the piece and it was the archival footage they used! (I'm pretty sure it was the footage used in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. 
Check It Out!
If you don't have time to watch the whole movie... you should defiantly check out this review... it says everything you'll need to know about Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.  

Benji's Very Own Christmas Story

This movie is featured on Hulu for the Holidays. Made in 1978, this short film was nominated for a Primetime Emmy. I was never a Benji fan and I wasn't sure if I wanted to give this little short a chance to make the list. Two minutes in - I knew I'd be watching the whole movie. This version of Santa ended up being something I never could have imagined. There is a crazy musical number " Multiplicity: I am what people think of me" that is a movie oddity I won't be able to forget any time soon.

Also one of my favorite actor's of all time Deep Roy makes a brief appearance as an elf and it was incredible! This movie is a bizarre little nugget of history nestled away in web 2.0.

Synopsis 
This TV special was directed by long-time Benji entrepreneur Joe Camp. When Benji leads her human pals on a journey to the North Pole, loveable old Santa shows them how different cultures celebrate Christmas. And yes, they discuss the "True Meaning" of the Holiday. - Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide 


Design 

Harlan Wright was the production designer for the project. Wright worked on several Benji short films, but never worked on any other shows. There is only a limited amount of information available about this movie considering it's limited significance and the fact that it was shot over thirty years ago. I found the design to be refreshing for a short and I thought that the interesting ideas of the film were well supported by the design. This Santa was a Kris Kringle/Santa Claus combination character and throughout the movie he adorned different culture's wardrobes. 

In the scene to the left his two wardrobe elves needles and pins bring out my favorite prop of the film: a huge book with all of Santa's cultural stylings. It's a strange moment in the film, but the book is fantastic. I thought the scene in the CEPAC center was also incredibly original. The design was futuristic for the late seventies, but feels so dated now. I think those designs are fabulous. They make a comment about the time period they were made in without consciously meaning to. That's what I liked most about this entire design. There were so

many dated yet really original ideas. 
Multiplicity 
Santa's wardrobe global wardrobe changes were the most stereotypical parts of the film and most of them took place during the Multiplicity song and dance scene. This scene actually had a few truly terrifying moments but justified why itself in terms of why they were showing these different sides of Santa... 

Kitsch or Tell? 


This film made an educational statement that I respect. The design was well thought out and incredibly telling of the time it was made. I think the scenes were all quirky and fun. Despite a few terrifying moments out of Kris Kringle, I think the charm of the piece could be found in the design. This is my first Tell movie of the Christmas season!! 

Christmas Cheers!

Now that I have a new approach to this personal blog, I have decided to get into the Christmas spirit by bringing you five christmas movies that you can See-for-Free this Holiday Season! 


The Most Wonderful Time of the Year 



The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Inside Story - Free videos are just a click away


The Hallmark Channel has been showing this Christmas movie for free on it's website as a part of it's Countdown to Christmas celebration. I actually checked this movie out at my local redbox!

Synopsis 
A modern-day female Scrooge gets a taste of Christmas romance in this family film from the Hallmark Channel. Jennifer (Brooke Burns) is a stressed-out single mom whose holiday spirit is awakened when her eccentric uncle Ralph (Henry Winkler) comes for a visit and brings along a handsome stranger, Morgan (Warren Christie), who was stranded at the airport. - Sandra Bencic, All Movie Guide

Design
The concept of the design behind this made-for-tv christmas special was undeniably flat. This could have been due to the budget or the quick shooting schedule but that's what makes these kinds movies more fun to sift through... when a design really "pops" it's nearly a sure sign of something magical brewing. I love christmas movies, even the made-for-tv flavor and Peter Andringa , the Production Designer, was nominated for a Leo Award in 2007 for his work on Everything's Gone Green. He was also the Art Director of a few Fringe episodes (that look pretty amazing). Andringa's set dresser, Dave Paddon, has worked on crews since the mid nineties, never really breaking in to anything other than the made-for-tv scene. So what went wrong with The Most Wonderful Time of the Year? Let's take a look:

Frame Real Estate

This is the opening shot of the movie. Typically, designs should set up the expectation from the first frame on screen. There will realistically always be low scenes and cover sets that have to be accounted for in low budget movies but this shot should have said it all. They invested in a crane shot for this opening! If they are putting that much money into the execution of the shot, why not do the same with the set design?
What we end up seeing is a two dimensional use of space at best and a devastatingly dark, unbalanced frame at worst. The uniform and slightly boring white lights set up the neighborhood and play a small role later in the movie but it's unbelievable that Paddon and his team only decorated the faces of the houses. Without even so much as a candle in the windows to add a little balance to the frame, this shot pales in comparison to the potential Andringa has shown in his body of work so far.

Once a Dreamer 

Andringa may not be an advocate of the opening sequence "pop" I referred to, but he does have a way with his dream sequences. This scene was my absolute favorite in the film. Andringa and Paddon created a really exciting contrast that had a sophisticated sensibility. In the midst of all the yule-tide-romance blather, this scene is a diamond in the rough. The room where they sit is hallow and lifeless. There are

little details that sell this dream-like idea. The color scheme is incredibly strict, dominate by tones of white, this piece uses only deeply saturated  reds and very delicate hues of green. This contrast is key to the scene's concept. It makes things disproportional and unrealistic. This santa clause (the only representation in the film) is also fantastic. The small details make this character work: his missing beard and goatee replacement, the lack of a collar under his jacket, and his disheveled appearance. Jennifer's

outfit adds to the dream sequence. The oversized collar and silver pendant give her look an outdated feel. Her hairstyle harkens back to the fifties new wave up-do . Even her shoes look to be fifties inspired. With the all white table decked in deep red tones her costume contrast works well in the scene. Each piece of the frame is used by the art team to instill one idea: This is a sophisticated Christmas nightmare. Uncle Ralph makes a charming exception to the rule and though there

is no explanation as to why the designers choose to deviate from the color palette for his character, I find it a delightful quirk in the design. His orange patterned argyle sweater and bow tie combination should stick out like a sore thumb but in this sequence it makes nonsense, dream logic sense. This is clearly a strong collaborative moment for Andringa's team... it's just sad that the film has to right back to undeveloped (and under-designed) scenes like this:

Kitsch or Tell? 
This Holiday design has a few interesting attempts, but I have to say you get what you pay for. This free holiday movie lacks the design cheer that it needs to sustain the even weaker plot points. I'm making this movie the first on my winter Kitsch list.

If you still want to check it out... click here. ( I mean who can turn down a free Christmas movie?)

THANKS!!

After reading some criticism about my blog, I have to say I feel truly grateful. John's insights were extremely helpful and I realized the error of my ways. I considered each film I watched as an opportunity to dissect the film material in an academic way. In other words... I was stuck in film school.

My New Media Blog always seemed to come a bit easier, because strangely I felt like I had more freedom to make mistakes... no matter how dumb they seemed. But picking films as my blog topic was maybe a little too weighty given the fact that I write academically about them all the time. I need to step back and see if I can get at me strengths... I enjoy writing (partly why I didn't understand my struggle with blogging) and I know a little insider gossip about the world of Production Design in film. Maybe I can marry my two passions and make my blog a little more personal and a little less "academically structured".

Thanks John... If you ever check out my blog again (although I would understand why there would be no need) I appreciate your honesty! It really helped me connect some dots!

The Pale Man

** New approach. Taking a look at things through my perspective.**

Synopsis

Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth is a gritty fairytale piece set in post-war Spain. It follows young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero)  as her stepfather, Capitan Vidal (Sergi Lopez) , terrorizes the rebels. Ofelia fights to save her mother and unborn brother by completing tasks given to her by the mythical fawn, Pan(Doug Jones). After her mother dies, Ofelia sacrifices herself for her brother and becomes a princess in a fantasy world. Pan’s Labyrinth

is a deeply layered film with stunning visuals and an intricately formed environment. Eugenio Caballero and Pilar Revuelta won the Oscar for bringing Del Toro's vision to life on screen through production design and art direction. Their collaborative effort was meticulous, artistic, and imaginative. Through their art, they take an inaccessible world and make it a hyper-realistic experience for the viewer.

The Pale Man's Den 
“The one who gorged on excess was banished to a den in the netherworld... He kept a watchful eye on a dagger… Once the blade was removed he collapsed unto himself and faded from existence.”(The Pale Man’s Legend) Del Toro drops twelve-year-old Ofelia into this den to complete the task of retrieving the Pale Man’s dagger. Beautifully capturing the era, this scene addresses all the themes of the film. As Ofelia works towards a right of passage, the boundaries between reality and fantasy fall away. The visual motifs comment on the connection between deviant behavior and a child’s imaginative ability to create monsters to explain that behavior. 

Ofelia's Room 
Upon arrival, Ofelia is instantly at odds with her natural world and retreats by reading a book of fairytales that come to life before her eyes. The color palette of her new room is shaded in blues, greens, and grays denoting a cold impersonal place. The sparseness suggests that it was furnished out of efficacy

 not embellishment. Despite the fact that Captain Vidal has money, he chooses to live in a world of strict utility. In a room with unconventionally high walls and low furniture, she is always placed in the lower third of the frame to subtly put forward the notion of submission. Ofelia is forced to reside in Vidal’s home and by extension she is confronted with a new set of values.
Concept and Construction 
When Ofelia’s book animates itself, the color palette from the fantasy world bleeds into her reality. Reds, golds, and browns fill the empty page demonstrating the dramatic contrast between her reality and the

fantasy world she is about to enter. She follows the magical instructions, drawing a door on the wall with magic chalk and when it opens an enchanted world is revealed.  The warm tones of the fantasy world are embryonic.  This is a direct reflection of Ophelia’s subconscious. Her young brother is about to be born and her mother falls ill. This threatens two lives that she deeply cares about. The color palette and shapes are uterine like her mother’s belly. They have 

biological and intimate connotations for Ofelia and the viewer.The contrast between worlds is showcased as soon as Ophelia enters the Pale Man’s chamber. She climbs into the entryway on a small wooden chair from her room, immediately creating a sharp distinction between reality and fantasy. The fantasy world is incredibly organic. Tree-like columns rooted in a red-checkered floor support the cavernous lair. Lights in the ceiling represent the lunar cycle. 

Monsters and Men
The first sight of the Pale Man sitting at his banquet table is extravagant. It is a direct replica of Vidal’s kitchen table in an earlier scene, making a strong comparison between the evil actions he commits, and the manifestation of a monster in Ofelia’s mind. The Pale Man sits motionless at the head of the table on a blood red throne. This visually establishes the monster’s power while comparing him to Vidal. Both characters are two-dimensional representations of malevolence. This is yet another visual representation of the link between Ofelia’s subconscious and her fantasy world. The fireplace behind the monster is a direct replica of his likeness. It

mirrors his eyeless face and gaunt jaw. The fireplace increases his menacing presence in the shot. The key light in the scene comes from directly above the monster causing harsh shadows and immediately denotes danger. The dome above the monster’s head displays hieroglyphic paintings of the monster throwing, stabbing, and eating small children. The images link the evil creatures inner workings with an ancient tradition. Each image is a more threatening foreshadowing of his capabilities. The paintings reveal the Pale Man’s evil nature while giving the chamber a sense of timelessness.
Brutal Disobedience 
As she leaves, she admires the beautiful feast placed before the Pale Man. The table is filled with ham, red gelatin, grapes, and wine.  Each treat is a dark temptation. The camera slowly pans across the feast and as the movement pauses the monster’s long pointed fingers are revealed motionless on both sides of 

a gold platter that holds two eyeballs. Against Pan’s warning she eats one small grape. The monster comes to life. This act of deviance shows Ofelia’s need to rebel against authority as she finds her place in adulthood. Rebellion in her fantasy world results in a near death experience and visually mirrors her entire coming of age experience, while referencing another commonly used mythological device. The Pale Man puts the eyes into the slits in his hands and advances towards Ofelia. 

He cannot see unless his hands are immobilized. This is an outward visual of the monster’s half-life curse. He stumbles and staggers giving the impression he hasn’t walked in several lifetimes. 


Sights for Sore Eyes

It took over six hours of make-up to get the pale man to look like the monster he does in the picture above. Dave Jones, who also played Pan the Fawn, was also the Pale man. He often had to wear the suit for thirteen hours a day. I'm sure things looked a little different from his perspective, but I must say... it was worth the effort. 

No Country: 2nd Installment

In No Country for Old Men there is a strange juxtaposition between what can’t be seen and what can’t be heard. The door creaks as Chigurh enters Moss' hotel room in the infamous battle scene, but the viewer never sees the door open. He turns the air valve on his captive pistol but his weapon is never seen. Chigurh is never visually in the scene but his presence is still strong. Conversely, what can’t be heard is equally unsettling. Only Chigurh’s footsteps can be heard. He is never heard breathing and when he gets shot he doesn’t even grunt. In each case the same unnerving feeling is achieved.

            The film is a  textbook example of how to use sound. Each element deals with loudness, pitch, and timber. The Coen brothers eliminate speech and music from most of the clip and strip it down to an intense use of noise. The mixing is perceptive. The overall feel is achieved in an intense and artistic way. All of the sounds are diagetic and it improves the overall believability. The attention to detail heightens the quality of the film. It is meticulous in every way. It is never underwhelming even though it is often very bare bones. No Country for Old Men is a superb example of how to successfully and artistically use sound in film. 

New Approach: A Turning Point

Sadly, I didn't consider the fact that I would eventually run out of Nicholas Ray films to watch. So now instead of focusing on one director I'll use a couple of blogs a week to dive into films that have caught my attention. 

This Week: No Country For Old Men... The Sound of Perfection

In No Country for Old Men, the Coen Brothers are clearly genius in their attention to detail. The entire film is a masterpiece and the sound design is nearly perfect in my opinion. Even the weakest scene in the film still holds up under scrutiny. Each scene has several interesting sound motifs. The two main characters weapons’ have motifs. The sound of flies always accompanies death. Each character has a wind motif as well. It uses over 40 sound bridges in scene transitions alone. I thought the use of sound to aid editing was clever and it took the film to a higher level. The film also employs a strong sound perspective. It's always heard from the viewer’s POV. It was delicately and realistically done.

Even though they never actually share any screen time, there is an electric scene where the two main characters have an incredible exchange. Anton Chigurh played by Javier Bardem is a hired assassin who finally meets up with Llewellyn Moss (Josh Brolin) because there is a transponder in the two million dollars he stole from a Mexican drug deal gone bad. In the scene Chigurh has a shotgun with a silencer and a captive bolt pistol (an air tank and hose that shoots out a small metal disc and sucks it back in.) Moss’ only weapon is a shotgun.

The design of this scene is an interesting look at complexity vs. simplicity. Even though something relatively simple happens in the clip, forty-three different diagetic sounds are heard and there are over eighty different sound transitions. In this clip the wind motifs for both characters meet for the first time. The fidelity of the clip doesn’t hold up, but it works nevertheless. The gun's clicking, the wind, the lock hitting the ground, and the sound of the trigger are louder than they would be in reality but the shotgun blast is much quieter. These little details become one intense scene that is full of a tension I've never experienced before in the movies...

Where will it go from here?