Dig the life fanstastic

Tuesday 3rd November; a slow afternoon, so off we went to the Conerhouse with a plan to see Wes Anderson's latest film, Fantastic Mr. Fox. Which is already a wonderful story by one of my favourite children's authors, Roald Dahl.

As a child I loved his books but I especially adored Quentin Blake's beautiful illustrations. To me they appear delicate, random, and full of movement. The detail of each drawing is captivating. He uses inks and watercolours as washes to add colour, and despite the chosen media, the illustrations hold amazing vibrancy on the page.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is a piece of stop-motion animation work, made entirely with models for all of the characters. Each scene was painstakingly crafted, usually involving several models. Of course it was highly time-consuming for the entire film to be completed. Apparently it was all shot using a Nikon D3 which has a higher resolution than that of full High Definition. It was shot using a rate of 12 frames per second rather than 24 frames so the viewer was more aware of the stop-motion. I think the enhanced stop-motion adds even more charm to the film.

I also really enjoy Wes Anderson's other films. Fantastic Mr. Fox was lively and brilliant, but others; The Darjeeling Limited and Rushmore are also favourites of mine. The Darjeeling Limited is about 3 brothers journeying through India on a train and how the country is filmed is extraordinary. It truly captures the essence of the culture and amazing scenery.

What I thought was Junk-ola

The Finnish film artist Fanni Niemi-Junkola came to the Whitworth Art Gallery for a talk about her work on 20th October 2009. I hadn't heard of her before but I soon discovered that I wasn't that keen on her work. The first video she showed us was 'Giants' (1998). It featured two women fighting, almost wrestling, on the beach. It was close up, slowed down and the disgruntled noises coming from the women were slowed and heightened. I found this unsettling and uncomfortable to watch. As it was slowed down slightly, to me it seemed lacking in drama. And I thought considering the content of the film is should be full of it. The women didn't seem to be using all of their energy and effort either. The fighting didn't seem real and full of strong emotions. It seemed very controlled and like the women were holding back instead of letting go. It is staged and I know as an art piece it is more about what the 'fighting' stands for rather than how real it appears; but personally I feel that the meaning is somewhat weakened if I don't believe it is actually happening.

The next film she showed us was probably my favourite of them. 'To begin' (made in 2001) was of a woman near to the point of giving birth. It only showed two people throughout though, the woman and who I assume is the father of the child. This was a very stark video. It was grey and lacked colour but full of medical equipment. Niemi-Junkola suggested that the artistic gesture in this was the absent emotional context which seemed almost cruel. The fact that there was only two people, highlighted this and a sense of loneliness.

In contrast to the first two videos being depictions of women, 'Tower' (2008) was a landscape piece. It was a view from a helicopter of the top of a lighthouse in the sea. A harsh noise constantly blared out. The 'music' gave me a headache but I appreciated the meaning of the power of a small community.

Mission Impossible

Brief number 2; another group task. This time we were set a video project. Similar to the Sweded Movies which Be Kind Rewind is made up of, we had to parody a film. We were tackling Mission Impossible.

I'd hardly done any video projects before this one but I really enjoyed it. It was fun to mimick such a serious sort of film and be so resourceful. Not all video footage needs to be an expense and I think Michel Gondry proves this perfectly through The Science Of Sleep, which is a lovely film.

Definitely going to try my hand at some more video work in the future.