About Interesting Career-Related Topics... - Correction of A Classmate's Post

by Nikole Weinreich.

The topic that I want to talk about is Documentary Film.

Why? Because that's what we've been studying all these months! Non-fiction films, everything has to be taken from reality. At the beginning, it seemed boring and closer to journalism, which we don't like at all. But, as time passed by and we learned more about the “magic” of documentary, I realized that I like it, I like to go and look for what I want to film outside, to learn how to find emotionality in the people you film, how to tell the story in a way that can be easily understood and also making it beautifully. It may sound strange, but I love to find myself in front of a computer, not knowing how to make the story, how to mix different shots and sounds, where to put the music, and start giving sense to all what I'm going to show to other people. That's the challenge, making people not to get bored by watching the reality they see everyday, trying to make it dynamic and full of sense and wonders, to be able to see the meaning under everything and think about what's happening around. Not to make a speech using the film, but to tell a story using your point of view. Another way of making cinema, another beautiful way of making cinema.

Career-related Topic.

I wrote briefly about this in my previous post, and now I can expand the subject in a more satisfying way. I mentioned that I'm quite interested in film music, being an amateur composer myself (I don't think my music is good anyway). To me, music in films it's not just about increasing the emotion that we see on screen, but also to create in some cases a stream of conciousness, a voice that doesn't merely repeats what the movie is saying but is also able to carry its own message.

I'll use an example to illustrate my point. The music for "The Hours", composed by Philip Glass (both my favourite film and composer), wasn't an addition to the film at all. It didn't "increase" any emotion portrayed in it, neither told you what to feel, but created a fourth main character whose psychology, though helped you to better understand the characters, also created a complex atmosphere that served as a multi-layered message. That's where I learned that film music wasn't just something you add to a movie as salt to a meal. What I'd like to learn now is all about the technical aspects of composing, how the notes can be combined with each other so that a phrase said in words can be said in musical language.

I've loved film music since I was very, very young. I remember I had the cassette of the music for "The Mission", written by the grand Ennio Morricone, and I listened to it repeatedly, without understanding exactly why. About ten years later, I found out that music had such a strong power on me, it could easily manipulate my emotions and up to this day, I still use music to handle my emotions.

Recommended websites:

http://www.filmtracks.com
http://www.scorereviews.com

Both of these sites are online reviews of film music.

Movies In The Internet

I start my day by checking http://www.imdb.com, or the Internet Movie Database. It's the biggest site of the web when it comes to information about every film that has been done, it's being made, and will be filmed. It contains information of box-office charts (in the USA), a complete profile of any movie you search, and lots of other features, including a "IMDb Top 250", a list of the highest ranked films among the users of the website. I can be reviewing it for hours, reading movie trivias and stuff.

The second interesting site is http://www.filmtracks.com, a critical review of movies' original soundtracks. I read it because I'm also interested in film music, particularly orchestral, as I'm an amateur composer myself. The website contains reviews of both recent and old film scores, and because of it, I've learned a lot of stuff about music, and I've also tuned up my ear.

http://www.imdb.com

http://www.filmtracks.com

My Weekend

This weekend was a blast. I went to the theather twice - both of them to see "The Dark Knight", the latest Batman movie. The first time, on Friday, I ended up on the edge of my seat, because of its intensity. It's an extremely intense movie when it comes to its acting, its action, its emotionality, and its overall experience. I believe it's up to its hype, but now it has gone a bit too far, I think. For example, they're saying that Heath Ledger -who plays The Joker, the main villain this time-, deserves an Oscar - or at least a nomination. Ok, his performance was spectacular, but... an Oscar? Come on. Add to that the fact that Ledger died recently, and they're using that excuse to promote even more both, the Oscar campaign and the marketing of the film. But anyway, that's no excuse for not seeing the film. Everyone's crazy about it! I mean... I went to see it TWICE, the second time two days after the first one, and I loved it even more!