I met Robert Rodriguez, I shook his hand, he gave me his autograph, and took a pictur

[miker]

I'd much rather meet the director of 'Memento' (**** , why can I never remember his name).

He's from similar indie roots as ol' Robert. It will be interesting if he, too, is lured by Hollywood.

[twister!]

It's already happened. His name is Christopher Nolan - after shooting his debut 'Following' (which he wrote and directed) he did indeed bypass the UK film scene and go straight to the USA and make Memento (which he wrote with his brother and directed).

His latest film is a Hollywood, star driven film (Al Pacino, Robin Williams) called Insomnia (which he did not write, it's based on a play or book). It is supposed to be very good too (although not as good as the stuff he has written himself). This recent, and successful, work as a 'director for hire' should secure him some creative freedom for future projects.

[deanl]

Hey there.

I've got Following on dvd. Its an ok movie. Not great though. You can see where he got allot of his ideas for Momento from.

I heard The Following cost "just" 5 grand.

I'm watching Insomnia of Thursday. Should be good.

Despin out.

[twister!]

Yes, Following is okay. Apparently he shot it using friends for actors and the usual guerilla style tricks. For a first film made with practically no money it is quite impressive - it's what he used as a calling card in America. Does the DVD have any interesting extras?

I'll probably see Insomnia on Sunday.

[deanl]

Hey there.

The dvd has a directors commentary. The Shooting script. You can choose to watch the movie in chronological order it also has a few trailers and a few biogs.

I think Nolen is where he is now not because he went round the studios with a video tape of his work. But because the movie was recognised at a few big film festivals.

Despin out.

[twister!]

Maybe - not sure of the exact details of how he did it - but he's done VERY VERY well from it.

The directors commentary sounds like it might be interesting. Not many I've seen are though - eg I saw the Tim Burton one for Sleepy Hollow recently - he hardly says a word - the occasional 'we used lots of smoke in this scene.' - sooo insightful.

I saw today that there's a 2 disc version of Memento out in the States - which has some new Enhanced Region encoding which means it won't play on Multi region players!!!

[deanl]

Hey there.

I have it. Its been out for a while now. It workes fine on my Samsung 709.

Great case, Great extras, ok commentary track, Good movie

Despin out.

[Esparto]

*******!

fixed it
V
V
V

[Eliud25]

So I have begun to slowly but surely understand Austin and I have come to the conclusion that Austin is the place to be if someone like me wants to make it big in the film industry. As you all know America is the land of opportunity and with this opportunity comes great fame and fortune. However, how does one start on the road to greatness or should I say great filmmaking. As I watched the Matrix on TV, I realized that Hollywood is just a name, and that Austin to is just a name as well. You see filmmaking, weather it be a 100 million dollar feature or a 1000 feature has more to do with the ability to be creative and inventive than on a proper film crew or money. As I attended the Super 8 film festivals and shows, which were shown in different theatres in Austin, I realized 2 things. 1. Austin tends to show you the way by show casing ones work on the big screen. So let?s say I have a small super 8 film which filmmakers submit to let?s say Flicker, which shows filmmakers work bimonthly, then they project it on the big screen in front of a group of low budget filmmakers and their dates and families. 2. Filmmakers in Austin have this mentality that one should make films for quality not for fame. That ones films should be better. Why do they have this mentality? Because most films that are showcased are of poor quality with bad composition, weird angles, inaudible or out of sync sound, fuzzy images, discolored film experimental or just plain bad. Don?t get me wrong some are really good. Some are exceptional. As I attended these film festivals I realized that if you make it in Austin, you make it in Hollywood. Why? Because Austin has an atmosphere that encourages filmmakers to go for ones dream. So know I understand why great filmmakers come from Austin. It is the way the whole system is set up. Sooner or later someone who really pays attention to all these super 8 and 16mm films and learns from them, becomes great because that director absorbs all those film ideas and incorporates them into his/her style of filmmaking. Yes they do. And then they want to create better films because they get tired of seeing experimental or low budget shorts and they say to themselves? I can do better? Don?t get me wrong I am not putting no one down. On the contrary I am praising the fact that these little film festivals help filmmakers become great. Yes sir/madam now I understand. [img]graemlins/camera.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/film.gif[/img] [img]wink.gif[/img] [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[SoulJacker]

Hopefully, they'll be here any minute.