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Shows that inspire….
.. I have been watching the first series of “Dexter” as it begins its run across UK tv, and i have to say I am really impressed with it.
Aside from the usual guff about great acting, witty script and so on, its a really good watch for the technical way its been shot. the colour (correct spelling !) has a vibrancy thats counterbalanced with subtlety often lacking in many modern productions. Sound is also very well handled.
However, for me its the pre-planning that must have been done that really shows through..I have never been to Miami (or even the US) so i can’t say for sure, but i have no doubts the real sky is rarely as brooding and menacing as the production team have managed to portray. To expose for faces of characters and yet retain the depth of detail visible in the cloudscapes is nothing short of astonishing. I realise it is highly likely that the sky shots could have been enhanced, corrected and maybe even completely replaced…but i would like to believe the camera crew knew what they were doing.
In fact, i have been so struck by the skies that i am thinking the director is trying to use the sky as a subconscious marker for the main characters frame of mind. What a great concept- and refreshing to see it work.
If you have not seen this show, then you are missing a macabre treat.
So thats my current inspirational show….care to share your own thoughts on shows you have found thought provoking recently (or maybe not recently)?
adam
Editor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK -
9 Replies
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Yep… Dexter is a great show.
I’ve never been to Miami before either (although I live in the Southern US)… but the thing I noticed is how much everyone sweats… just buckets. I’m not sure how much is natural due to the Miami heat and humidity, and how much is for effect, but the continuity on it is very good.
Another show I loved watching for technicalities was another Machael C. Hall vehicle, “Six Feet Under.” If you didn’t catch its original run on HBO, it’s certainly worth a look on DVD. I found the cinematography on it to be just absolutely stunning, especially the episodes that were DP’d by Alan Caso. Just brilliant. And a good reaffirmation that the most well-lit thing on a set and the most important thing are not always the same. It’s just brilliant.
Check it out.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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I have always thrown on the latino channels for graphical inspiration.
I like watching Rob and Big for story-telling.
Animation-wise, nothing ever caught my eye like Bump in the Nite. This was 3D animation made to look like stop-motion claymation. They’d even throw a thumb print in there every now and again. The first time I saw it, I thought it was well-done claymation. Anything that can sneak one by me like that… I really dig.
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Don’t know the channels you refer to Grinner – we don’t get them over here in the UK.
Bump in the Nite sounds like something to keep an eye out for. I must admit to having a slightly love hate relationship with stop-motion animation – I worked for 6 years editing and sound designing on some very successful animation series (Bob the Builder & Pingu). I enjoyed the work but i am so glad to be cutting commercials now!
adam
Editor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK -
“Top Gear” is my current obsession. I’m building a feature documentary and my work has been greatly inspired by the editorial and visual style of Top Gear. If I can recommend two episodes in particular, they’d be the “Polar Special” [Season 9 finale] and the trip in Africa [S10E03]
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a good choice – my only problem with the show (apart from Clarkson being a…err better not swear) is the fact that sometime the content does get lost in the style.
For me, a good show is all about its subject matter. If the style begins to surpass the content, then the director needs a slap.
Editor/Mixer
Character Options Ltd
Oldham, UK -
we all get tired of what we do everyday.
I dont get paid for stop-motion stuff so I find myself doing it to relax.go figure.
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We used to be big fans of “Mr. Bumpy” and his “Bump in the night” show when the kids were tiny tots. For those that don’t know, the premise is that he’s a friendly version of the imaginary monster under the kid’s bed, kind of a party-hearty Beetlejuice kind of thing. You can likely find clips on youtube or copies on Amazon.
My 15-year-old has gone bonkers for stop-motion this year, I think he’s been sneaking looks at “Robot Chicken” at a friend’s house (we don’t let him watch it at home, the mature themes can be a little risque’). Anyhow, he has been trying to use iPhoto and a digital stills camera to stop-mo his Gundam space robots in elaborate battle scenes. That was really tedious in terms of method and results. We recently bought him a great little program from Boinx called iStopmotion for the mac, as a reward for improved grades.
Has all the features you need, onion skinning, time lapse, a blink comparator, frame replacement, etc. plus the higher-priced version includes greenscreen right in the program. Works with (some) webcams, (some)digital stills cams, and most DV camcorders with firewire.
You can import a background movie of somebody walking, for example, and use the onionskinning to match your clay or legos or whatever to the live motion a frame at a time, a poor-man’s version of mo-cap, this gets you very fluid human motion in your animated puppets or whatever.
It also uses the mac’s voice recognition, so you can keep the computer across the room and instead of needing any kind of remote shutter trigger, just say: “shoot” or “Capture two”. and the program hears you and takes the captures for you. That’s pretty awesome.
Basic version is around fifty bucks, the fancy pro vesion around a hundred, which can be used for broadcast-quality stuff, but they offer a free 5-day trial download. The company is called Boinx.
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I always loved the intro to Deadwood on HBO. Great editing, cinematography, and sound…. Actually the show as a whole was pretty solid top to bottom….
LOL if anyone from HBO is reading please bring it back 🙂
Tommy D’Angelo
Editor
Punk Rock Kid
NYC by way of Westchester -
My personal favorite right now is Design:e2. It’s a PBS doc series about sustainable architecture and design. It is beautifully shot and edited with really good writing to boot. Coming from the corporate video world, this is the kind of look and feel that I often strive for in my productions.
You can now download episodes on iTunes. The episode about the Amsterdams port lands is particularly interesting and beautiful to look at.
C
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