Fuck Yeah Film Theory

A blog about film theory and criticism, but using popular movies and television for examples. You don't need to be an academic to appreciate film!

[dragotzenny-deactivated20150825]

[kit-icarus]

Me

[pervocracy]

film theory: evil characters, especially subordinate ones like “henchman” roles, are often masked in order to dehumanize them to the audience and establish them as the un-knowable Other, whose death garners no sympathy

film reality: “we only have three stuntmen today but we want to make it look like there’s a whole bunch of dudes, so… I have an idea”

[stayforthecredits]

(via The Superweirdo Behind ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ - The New York Times)

[ai-yo]

Black Stunt woman Appreciation

Since the news about the death of stunt woman Joi Harris on the set of Deadpool 2 I thought we should big up some of the real Black Superheros

Kelsee King-Devoreaux

Professional stunt double, coordinator and author since the early 90′s. She was Jada Pinkett’s double for the Matrix. King-Devoreaux has spoken out against white stunt performers donning Blackface to double for Black actors when there are many Black performers who are capable and struggle to look for work.  

Angela Meryl

Actress, author and stunt performer extraordinaire. Who hasn’t the veteran and Taurus Award nominee doubled for Halle Berry, Beyoncé, Gabrielle Union, Rihanna, Vivica A. Fox

Natascha Hopkins

Hopkins has doubled for Halle Berry in numerous films but also Kerry Washington in Scandal

Amanda Foster

Born in Essex, this single mother of 3 was a hustling a supply teacher, model and film extra. When she was on the set of Patriot Games she heard there were no Black women stunt performers in the UK. She then started training to become the first. 50 years old and still doing YAS! 

Damita Jane Howard

Howard is the go to stunt woman for our faves doubling for Danai Gurira on The Walking Dead and Angela Bassett on American Horror Story.

Jazzy Ellis 

Independent filmaker, activist and stunt double.

Jwaundace Candece

Stunt woman, actress, writer, producer, and professional wrestler. WOW

April Weeden-Washington

She was a slayer. Nuff said. But really with skills like horse riding and martial arts Weeden has been slaying since forever.

Cheryl Lewis

Cheryl Lewis can do it all. Not only is she a pro stunt woman but she is a dancer, actor, aerialist, puppeteer and is trained in multiple disciplines of martial arts. She doubles for Simone Missick’s Misty Knight in Luke Cage.

Shellita Boxie

Started doing stunt work since 2008 and has worked on many big movies including the hunger games and Girls’ Trip

[archieultimateslice]

[moonblossom]

It makes me stupidly happy whenever I find out iconic lines like this are ad-libbed, because I feel like it helps demonstrate how thoughtful and invested the actors are are about their roles.

[recycledmoviecostumes]

Recycled Movie Costumes tries not to get into the habit of posting off-topic, but we hope you won’t find the below too terribly off topic. While we are deeply saddened by the loss of both Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, we wanted to specifically address Debbie Reynolds, as her collection of film costumes and props has been so important to us here at Recycled Movie Costumes.  

In 1970, MGM sold off most of its costumes and props.  Reynolds attended the auctions, buying an enormous bulk of what was offered. At a time when these items were being sold off as mere pieces of old inventory taking up valuable space during a time of consolidation, Reynolds understood that many of these items were historical treasures that were truly worth something. When beautiful items from My Fair Lady, Gone with the Wind and Singin’ in the Rain were left to rot in the corner of large warehouses, Debbie purchased them with the dream of being able to display them properly.

In 2011, Reynolds told the Las Vegas Sun  “My lifetime dream has been to assemble and preserve the history of the Hollywood film industry,”

Reynolds opened a museum in Las Vegas, but it failed in 1997. According to The Hollywood Reporter, she approached the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences about acquiring the collection not once, but five times.

Eventually, Reynolds was forced to put her collection up for auction through Profiles In History. The collection was so large that three separate sales were held over the span of several years. The Auction Catalogs from June 18, 2011, December 3, 2011, and May 17, 2014 contain phenomenal information about the costumes, props and the films with which they were associated. In many instances, the researchers for the catalogs have noted not only where a costume or prop came from – but cases in which they have been re-used in other films. These auction catalogs are not only fascinating to pursue but have been absolutely invaluable to us here at Recycled Movie Costumes.

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[as-warm-as-choco]

Before the computing era, ILM was the master of oil matte painting, making audiences believe that some of the sets in the original Star Wars and Indiana Jones trilogy were real when they weren’t. They were the work of geniuses like Chris Evans, Michael Pangrazio, Frank Ordaz, Harrison Ellenshaw and Ralph McQuarrie ! Forever thank you, to their handmade art and the work of their colleagues, that made us dream of impossible worlds and fantastic places across Earth and the Universe.

There are more background paintings on this article, featuring comments by the masters/artists themselves ! 

Some of the following pieces were made by other artists:

[theyonicsouth]

I want this job

[catbountry]

This job is obsolete due to computers.

It’s a shame, because there’s just something special about a good matte painting.

[fashion-and-film]

Jacqueline Durran’s designs for Pride and Prejudice (2005) are some of the best examples of using costumes to support characterization. Just by looking, you can get a detailed picture of the individual personalities of the Bennet women.

[fuckyeahbehindthescenes]

Columbia Pictures passed on the movie saying it was a “wimpy Walt Disney movie.“ (x)

ET: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

[dailydormer]

[frankoceanvevo]

[onlyblackgirl]

The history of film in one scene

[pemberley-state-of-mind]

[fuckyeahfilmtheory]

"When I interviewed for the job of directing this, one of the things I told the Working Title executives was that I wanted to cast the characters at the ages Jane Austen wrote them. These are very young people experiencing these emotions for the very first time, and this don’t make sense to me if they’re played by Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier in their 30s. These characters don’t quite understand what they’re feeling for this other person, so they have to be young.”

(Joe Wright, Director)

[bioshockinfinites-deactivated20]

I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won’t contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That’s what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ORSON WELLES! (May 6, 1915 — Oct 10, 1985)

[fuckyeahfilmtheory]

One of my favorite things to ramble about is how film is by it's very nature a participatory medium.  A film doesn't really exist until an audience watches it and brings their own life experiences into their interpretation of it.  So I love this quote.

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“Ian Holm taught me a great lesson when he was doing Bilbo. Every single take that we did, whether it was a close-up or a mid-shot, or a long-distance - He would give a different reading, a different performance, in intensity, and subtleties… I saw in front of me all sorts of different aspects of Bilbo. Thrilling to work with because in the moment you responded to whatever you received. Ian said he thought it was his job to provide everything that he possibly could discover about the character, and present it in the performance, and then the director can cut it together in the way that he wants. So the performance is created by the director. The actor is the material." - Sir Ian McKellen.

[fuckyeahfilmtheory]

Slates for Sarah

There's not a lot of press for it outside of film community blogs and stuff, but last week a camera crew member named Sarah Jones was killed in a horrible on set accident in Georgia.

As details emerge, it's becoming more and more clear that her death was entirely preventable and was caused by gross negligence on the part of producers who put other things above the safety of their crew.

That's a cardinal sin in my world.  You care for your crew. Your movie, your job, your paycheck, all of it is built on the backs of your crew and you never, ever forget that.

Thankfully, a lot of people are working to make sure that people are being held accountable.  They've also built a really beautiful and moving tribute to a hard working camera assistant, Slates for Sarah.

They're also pushing with a petition for Sarah to be included in the Academy Awards In Memorium tribute.  I wholeheartedly support this effort, for many reasons, but especially because I think this discussion of safety on set needs to be brought to a wider audience.  Check out the article and follow the link to the petition to sign.

[pemberley-state-of-mind]

"I used a hand-held camera in this scene, so that it becomes all about the actors, that you move with the actors. lf they want to go somewhere, you follow them. So much of filming becomes about the camera and the technical aspects. And one of the good things about hand-held is that it empowers the actors.”

(Joe Wright, Director)

[improv-is-easy]

I told Miyazaki I love the “gratuitous motion” in his films; instead of every movement being dictated by the story, sometimes people will just sit for a moment, or they will sigh, or look in a running stream, or do something extra, not to advance the story but only to give the sense of time and place and who they are. "We have a word for that in Japanese," he said. "It’s called ma. Emptiness. It’s there intentionally.” Is that like the “pillow words” that separate phrases in Japanese poetry? "I don’t think it’s like the pillow word." He clapped his hands three or four times. "The time in between my clapping is ma. If you just have non-stop action with no breathing space at all, it’s just busyness. But if you take a moment, then the tension building in the film can grow into a wider dimension. If you just have constant tension at 80 degrees all the time you just get numb.

Rogert Ebert, on Hayao Miyazaki (via pseudolirium)

And this is why I often gravitate to works that have this even if “nothing happens” a lot of the time.

(via eshusplayground)