Thanks to Charlie Horse 47 and Killdumpster for their sponsorship of this post, via the magic of Patreon.
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Another bank holiday has come and gone but, as life returns to normal in the land of tea and crumpets, just what is playing upon all our minds?
Frankly, I don't have a clue what's playing on mine.
And that's because you haven't decided on it yet.
You guessed it. Such indecisiveness on my part can only mean the return of the feature in which the first person to comment below gets to decide just what will be the topic for debate.
Therefore, hesitate ye not - and set that ball rolling in whichever direction it deems fit to roll.
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ReplyDeleteIs it just me that's bothered by job titles in the film & TV industry?
ReplyDeleteIt's like they'd made their way almost through the whole team assigning job titles: actors, cameramen, sound technicians, tea ladies,….. And then they got to the last of a long series of meetings with just two people left on the list.
"Right, we have just Harvey and Glen left. Harvey wears a suit all day, sits in his ivory tower, makes some very high level decisions but does no real work, shmoozes with potential investors over expensive meals, and looks down on us all from afar. And the there's Glen. He has to create and deliver the final product. We supply him with all the tools and resources he turns them into something we can sell. I'm thinking we call them the director and the producer. Everyone agree?"
"Great, I'll get the intern to sort out name badges and business cards. There's no way that even he can f*** this up."
I mean, yeah. But there's different levels of producer. On smaller films it's an insanely difficult job scraping around to get the money together and keep everyone onboard.
DeleteAnd different directors, too. Imagine being someone who has an actual idea of what they want and then has to convey that to a crew of hundreds if not thousands, and eventually takes the credit or blame.
Some directors simply surround themselves with top-line talent who make them look good. But others actually do have a [sick in my mouth saying this] 'vision' for what they want, and good ones manage to express that.
When ever I read about anything about film production, I'm always amazed that any actually ever get made, dangermash. Otherwise I'm afraid I don't have a strong opinion on that.
ReplyDeleteYou know what bugs me on tv? History documentaries narrated in the present tense. As in "Then Lenin goes to Petrograd Station..." It happened in 1917. That's over a hundred years ago! He WENT there ffs.
There. I got that out of my system.
Btw, anyone seen Deadpool & Wolverine yet? And if so, care to report back?
I went to the cinema for the first time in ages at the weekend, but as a metropolitan elitist naturally decided to catch a fancy, subtitled art film instead, Kneecap. Which was great -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYfp-hKxZQ
-sean
You know what bugs me about documentaries these days? The ten minutes of trailer-style preamble and soundbites before things get going. Just TELL THE STORY.
DeleteIn case it's not clear, I'm thinking the producer's and director's job titles are the wrong way round. The director actually produces a finished product, whereas the producer struts around like a company director.
ReplyDeleteAh, right cm. In the music biz the term 'producer' - with recordings anyway - does seem to be much closer to what a 'director' does in film.
Delete-sean
*dm
DeleteAs in dangermash. Apologies, #@&*ing spellcheck changed that to 'cm'.
-sean
Sean - That's called "the retrospective present tense", I suspect. It's a stock in trade of speculative biography writing, I believe. Yorkshire gossips use it, too.
ReplyDeletePhillip
I always think of directors, not like a company director, but someone who 'directs' actors, camera guys, etc, as to what to do. For instance, Sydney Pollack liking his camera guys to aim their cameras over actors' shoulders, to make the audience feel like it's eavesdropping, standing behind the actors portraying the characters, etc, whilst they are speaking Producers, I think of more as people looking for money men, etc, to get the thing made; looking for talent; and generally anything else that's necessary. I don't know how true this is. Dangermash, your guess is as good as mine (probably better!)
ReplyDeletePhillip
Great subject to explore DM!!!
ReplyDeleteMe and the missus were actually discussing what the difference was between producer and director as we had no idea…. And still don’t LOL.
SEAN - we are intending to see the DEADPOOL movie as we have not seen any movies since pre-covid I think. One review I read from a non-comic source said much of the movie is targeted at Marvel and it’s movie busy struggling as of late??? Which then made me wonder if we’d “get it” as we are not exactly fan boys anymore.
Both the director and producer of a film seem to be far more important than the screenwriter even though a film is nothing without a decent story. The best director and producer in the world don't matter if the script is crap.
ReplyDeleteSean , I remember some complaints to Radio 4 because the present tense was being constantly used on the historical discussion show 'In Our Time' with Melvyn Bragg. I must admit it doesn't bother me at all and I hadn't even noticed it until people started complaining.
Phillip, I googled "retrospective present tense" but apparently the correct term is "simple present tense" or "historical present tense".
The only thing that bugs me on radio/TV is people who insist on pronouncing the year as a number so 2024 is pronounced "two thousand and twenty four" rather than "twenty twenty-four" gggrrrr. Do these people think the Battle Of Hastings took place in "one thousand and sixty-six" or the Second World War began in "one thousand, nine hundred and thirty-nine"??? I realise that from 2000 to 2009 we ALL pronounced the year as a number (despite it being illogical) but some people never stopped!
Colin - Regards my 'retrospective present tense' error, it goes in a file, alongside confusing 'Piranha' with 'Killer Fish' ! ; D
ReplyDeletePhillip
If you think producer and director roles are vague, try looking into Hollywood accounting. Return of the Jedi has still not returned a net profit!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Colin that the writers are probably treated the worst, and mostly considered replaceable technicians. TV is just as bad (as the recent writers’ strikes highlight). Producers will happily use AI generated scripts soon.
At least with comics no one expects any better…
DW
It's quiet...too quiet (as they say in the movies).
ReplyDeleteAs the discussion seems to have ended I'll just mention that it's exactly 25 years since the South Park movie was released in the UK on August 27th 1999 - my father died six days later on September 2nd so the two events are forever connected in my mind. I owned the South Park movie soundtrack CD which included some great songs such as Blame Canada, Mountain Town, What Would Brian Boitano Do? and Shut Your F*cking Mouth Uncle F*cka :D
And after our recent discussion of Logan's Run I realised I didn't have a clue about the plot of the original novel so I googled it - not only does everyone die at 21 rather than 30 as in the film but there's no domed city and no Carousel ceremony in the original novel either so I'd say the film is a big improvement except for the stupid ending as I mentioned in a previous comment.
Dangermash, thanks for the topic.
ReplyDeleteI can't say that any job descriptions in Hollywood films upset me. I have, however, always been enchanted by the job descriptions Best Boy and Chief Grip.
Steve - And what about 'gaffer' ? (Although not counting Bill Maynard!)
ReplyDeletePhillip
Colin:
ReplyDeleteDon’t think I’ve ever seen more than an episode or two of SOUTH PARK but I loved the movie. I agree that the songs are great. First time I heard “Uncle F***a” I was laughing so hard, I almost passed out from lack of oxygen.
Been forever since I read the Logan’s Run novel, but I remember being disappointed by it. Besides not having a Domed City or Carousel ceremony, it also doesn’t have a Jerry Goldsmith score or Jenny Agutter, so OF COURSE it’s not as good as the movie ;)
I don’t know if it was in the original novel or one of the sequels (yes, I bought and read those too back in the day) but I seem to remember a sequence where Logan and Jessica get attacked by robotic eagles that pop out of a huge statue of Crazy Horse carved out of a mountain. It was like something from a Killraven comic or Kamandi comic.
b.t.
b.t., I expect the Logan's Run Marvel comic would have been not unlike Killraven had it lasted longer than a couple of issues after the film adaptation finished.
ReplyDelete-sean
Sean:
ReplyDeleteI suspect you’re right about that. Didn’t the Moench/Ploog “Terror on the Planet of the Apes” strip in the POTA mag have mini-monorail cars at one point like in LR?
And the two post-adaptation issues of the LR comic did start to deal with the grim aftermath of Logan’s actions (as someone alluded to earlier), with the other city dwellers freaking out and rioting once they realized their “PERFECT WORLD OF TOTAL PLEASURE” (as the poster put it) was a thing of the past.
b.t.