Posts Tagged ‘movies’
It must have been fate that Bryan Singer would direct the new film Superman Returns, the fifth in the series of Superman films. Singer loved the George Reeves Superman TV series when he was young, and was a huge fan of the Dick Donner-directed films from the 70s and 80s that starred Christopher Reeves as the Man of Steel. “I identify with Superman. I am adopted, I am an only child, and I love the idea that he comes from another world, that he’s the ultimate immigrant. He has all these extraordinary powers, and he has a righteousness about him,“ said Bryan.
After attending the School Of Visual Arts in New York City (but not graduating), he graduated from the USC cinema school (where, incidentally, he met John Ottman who wrote the score for Superman Returns), Singer’s first commercial success was as the producer/director of The Usual Suspects in 1995.That film saw him work with Kevin Spacey for the first time, and Singer and Spacey are re-united, again in Superman Returns, as Spacey plays arch villain Lex Luther, just out of prison and again set to rule the world.
However, it is as an adapter of comic books, bringing superheroes to life, that Singer has carved a niche for himself in the movie world.
In 2000, as writer and director, he introduced Wolverine, Magneto and the rest of the X-Men to the movie world in a hugely successful adaptation, before reprising the characters in the follow-up, X2. Singer left the X-Men franchise to develop Superman Returns and did not work on the 3rd film The Last Stand.
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When young Iowa-born actor Brandon Routh was cast by director Bryan Singer as Clark Kent and his alter-ego Superman in soon-to-be-released blockbuster Superman Returns, there was a fair degree of surprise in Hollywood. While Singer had suggested that he wanted an unknown actor to take Superman into the 21st century, few thought that he would opt for someone with no big screen experience, as Routh had previously only appeared in a number of TV shows such as Will & Grace.
However, Routh has taken up the mantle left by Christopher Reeve with gusto, suggesting that the role has a tremendous legacy that the young actor is proud to be a part of. And insiders feel that Routh has made the part his own with a performance of both strength and vulnerability.
Brandon Routh was born in Des Moines, Iowa on 9 October 1979. He grew up in Norwalk, Iowa and then attended the University of Iowa, starring in productions at the Norwalk Theater of Performing Arts as he began his acting career.
Brandon made the jump to professional acting in the series “Odd Man Out” (1999, ABC Television), before going on to guest star in the series “Gilmore Girls” (2000) and “Undressed” (1999).
Trivia
Aged 6, Brandon was so excited about watching “Superman”, dressed in his Superman pajamas, that he gave himself a migraine.
Brandon went to a Halloween party in 2003 as Clark Kent/Superman. He was awarded the film role one year later by Bryan Singer.
The 21st century Superman does not just care about America, even though he was raised in America, his love is American, and he works in an American newspaper. Brandon feels that Superman has to be universal. Read the rest of this entry »
So you say you have a burning desire to make a movie and you will do what ever it takes to get the job done? You fancy yourself and “independent” type and you want to reflect that in your art? Well, you better know what it takes before you decide to launch yourself into the world of independent filmmaking. If you do not know, your project may never see the light of day, or more importantly the light of a movie screen.
Making a low budget or “independent” film is a double edged sword. On the one side you have the freedom to express your art without corporate considerations, but on the other side you have the daunting task of doing almost every job yourself. From writing, producing, directing, and acting to providing travel arrangements, applying make-up, and fixing broken equipment, you cover the broad spectrum of chores and responsibilities. And that does not even cover the other responsibilities such as providing meals for everyone, rehearsals, etc… All you have to do is look at the long list of credits at the end of any movie in the theaters and you can see how much work it takes to make a motion picture.
While in the midst of making my last film Mike And The Magic Lamp I almost started to doubt whether I would ever finish it. I had been working on this movie for about two years straight doing every aspect of the film myself when I suddenly started to run out of energy. The continuous filming that I was doing combined with a heavy work schedule at my real job (Stage Manager of TV shows in Hollywood) was starting to get to me. I would have to prepare everything before a film shoot, and then do just about everything during the film shoots. Once in a while I would have a loyal friend help me with the awesome responsibilities of carrying equipment, setting it up, and then tearing everything down and putting it away each day, but you can only ask them to do so much if you are not paying them.
At one point during the filming of M&TML I passed out, fell off my director’s chair and hit my head on the corner of the set. I was mentally and physically exhausted while only halfway through the filmmaking process. The problem was that I was not yet creatively exhausted. The burning desire to make a movie and enter it in all the major film festivals was still alive, but the vessel (my body) that allows me to create was in need of a little R&R. I would take a day off here and there but it was always hard to rest when you have that little creative voice in your head bugging you to get your film finished so the world can enjoy your art. I was very lucky that I only suffered a minor head injury from that accident.
I finally finished the film Mike And The Magic Lamp after four long years of endless work that nearly put me in the hospital from exhaustion. The film went on to win the Silver Award at the Houston Worldfest in 1998 along with several other awards that year at major film festivals like the Santa Clarita International Film Festival. That film gave me recognition as an Independent Filmmaker and inspired me to pursue the path of making films on my own terms.
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Movie is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of Movie as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Movies are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
Movies are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures, which reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them. Movie is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment and a powerful method for educating — or indoctrinating — citizens. The visual elements of cinema gives motion pictures a universal power of communication. Some movies have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles that translate the dialogue.
Traditional Movies are made up of a series of individual images called frames. When these images are shown rapidly in succession, a viewer has the illusion that motion is occurring. The viewer cannot see the flickering between frames due to an effect known as persistence of vision, whereby the eye retains a visual image for a fraction of a second after the source has been removed. Viewers perceive motion due to a psychological effect called beta movement.
The origin of the name “Movie” comes from the fact that photographic Movie (also called Movie stock) had historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for an individual motion picture, including picture, picture show, photo-play, flick, and most commonly, movie. Additional terms for the field in general include the big screen, the silver screen, the cinema, and the movies.
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