My friend Ben has finally decided to get a real blog. He’s been sort of blogging on Facebook, but he decided that it was time for him to branch. Good for him, bad for me. Unfortunately, Ben writes on THE topics and in THE way that I would love to and he does it much better than I could. 1 As I scanned his blog for the second time this evening, I saw he has delivered yet another terrific post. This one was about the sudden disappearance of the TV credits over the last few years. Personally, I would have just said “Blame Lost” and be done with it, but that’s why he’s better at blogging than me. I am just as sad as he to see the credits disappear from our television screens. I remember being physically depressed every time I watched Lost and saw the incredibly boring type float across the screen into abyss because it meant no real credit sequence, but ultimately, I got it, and it worked on some levels. Lost is about a group of people who are quite literally lost and are floating in what seems to be nothingness — it might as well be anyway. It’s a theme thing. My heart sank when this seemed to be an “Aha!” moment for TV Execs who thought this would be an excellent way to squeeze in yet a few more ads. Perhaps I am wrong on this though, and this is merely showrunners last attempt to regain a little bit of their ever-dwindling hour2 of entertainment by chucking the credits and adding 43 more seconds of awesome TV. Who knows.
While I completely echo Ben’s disappointment, I wonder if perhaps there is a light in the tunnel. The way people watch TV has changed over the last decade and will continue to in the near future. This is largely due to box sets and internet downloading (legal or otherwise). Now hours and hours of a series can be consumed in one go, ad free, for as long as the viewer can stand it. It’s like watching an insanely epic movie that just keeps going. You watch a season and when it runs out, you just run down to Blockbuster and get the next one. I often talk to people who have spent the last weekend marathoning or catching up on a show (or two). It’s easy to spend days on a show that’s a masterpiece. I know I’m guilty of this, and surely you are too.
Now, let me ask a question. You have the entire series of 7th Heaven in front of you to get through — what you don’t like it? It’s a perfect example because it has eleven seasons of deliciously boring episodes to get through, but fine, you pick the series of your choice. Depending on the show, you can have 80 – 100 episodes to get through. So here it is… How many episodes in are you before skip the title sequence? 10? 5? 2? Whether it is because the viewer is so engrossed in the show that they want to get to the action as soon as possible or it’s just due to the credits’ repetitive nature, spending that 45 seconds watching characters do the same dance to a song you will have in your head for days now is an absolute chore. I know I skip them, especially now that credits are less common, and I come to a show that still has them (usually a cable network) I just want to claw my eyes out. This goes double, triple even, for Showtime’s Dexter, who’s credit sequence goes on for almost a full two minutes.
As someone who’s ultimate goal in life is to get their own successful television series, I would love nothing more than to have an awesome credit sequence leading into my equally as awesome episode. I even have the tone and music and shots picked out in my head. It would be easy to blame commercials and the ever decreasing hour, but I wonder, even if we were given back the lost time, with the current trend of viewing, would we want to bring back credit sequences?
In the spirit of Ben’s post, I have decided to post a few fave sequences myself. Enjoy.
Full House
By todays standards, the series and credits were God-awful, but there’s still something about these credits delightful. It’s possibly that thought that these characters would take the time out of their busy days to turn and smile at the camera. How nice is Danny Tanner? Though I have long grown out of the show, and others of it’s calibre, there is something about the early nineties opener that really knew how to get your toes tappin’ and put in you in a good mood going into the episode. Step by Step, Family Matters and many more are all guilty of it and have equally entertaining opening counterparts.
Growing Pains
In a similar vein, there was Growing Pains. I loved this show and I still know every word to it’s theme song. I remember loving watching all of them grow up — though the young Jason and Maggie pictures that have been technicolored is a bit off putting. Oh look! They’ve left silly Jason out by the fence again! Silly man.
Edit: I just noticed in this particular version of the credits it was Mike who was left abandoned on the curb. Oh, those Seavers, always mixing things up!
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Pardon me, but I can only link to this one. For some reason it’s near impossible to get the actual credits of the show off of youtube and once I actually found said actual credits, the embedding rights have been removed. Such is life. However, if you are in the mood for Buffy credits Alias Style, Charmed Style, Season 8 comic style or in still photos you are absolutely in luck.
Buffy had a great title sequence. It quickly set the mood for the show and introduced the characters in a way that showed off their individual personalities. I may be bias about this, but I think if you’re able to find them, it’s worth checking out.
And just so you’ll feel my pain.
Dexter
These credits are a beautiful work of art and damn near perfect. They are visceral and confronting while maintaining an mundanely domestic quality, in other words, these credits ARE the show. Well done, Showtime… but really, two minutes?
Since this post took so damn long to put together, no Wii Fit for me tonight. I’m taking my flabby self to bed.
Also, a link to Ben’s blog has been added to my links.
Ben, if you are reading this, you better not get a big head or I’ll have to punch you in it. ↩
A forty-two minute hour. What a concept… I wonder if works in exercising? ↩
I started using the Celtx program in late 2005, I would guess, but I could be overshooting that a bit. Back then, it was still very much in Beta and nothing but a glorified typewriter, but I have stuck with it and after it’s long awaited 1.0 release, the program has really come into its own as a sophisticated piece of screenwriting software and pre-production tool. I stumbled across it when I got fed up with using the temperamental Microsoft Word but didn’t have enough money (I didn’t have any money, really) to go out and buy something like Final Draft. Luckily, there is a group of unsung heroes out on the web that believe in Open Source Software, and that’s how I came to find Celtx. Yes, it is completely, and will always be, free. I am not going to do a full review here, maybe one day, but I do recommend the download. Like I said, it free, and the interface is so simple that you will have yourself writing a screenplay, stageplay or anything in seconds after launching the program.1 Not only is it great for writing, but the ladies and gents of Celtx have really worked hard to make it a complete pre-production planning tool as well. It has script breakdown capabilities, calenders for planning, a storyboarding function and so much more. If you got a few minutes I recommend the download to see what it has going on.
Also, another thing that the developers at Celtx have done is started releasing short films about filmmaking. They have a channel over at Blip.tv where they have started releasing quick little shorts titled “Motion Sketches” and I’ll give them credit, they relay a lot of easy to digest information in short amount of time. I’ve only had time to look through a couple, but if you have any interest in filmmaking or how cinema is evolving, I would check them out. The current one is about the role of the producer but their first episode is about how the definition of Cinema has changed over the last several years due to what is referred to as the “digital age.”
I watched the first episode last night entitled “So this is Cinema?,” where the host, Mike Jones (who I will talk about later) starts off by telling us that Cinema is so much bigger than sitting in a big dark room. There is an old way of thinking that a writer writes and a director directs and a cinematographer… cinematograph-erises… but there is room for us writers to be better if we are educated about post production and if editors were educated about pre-production, and so on. According to this sketch, 21st Century Cinema is about empowerment and being self-sufficient. Software has started to be bundled together so that any filmmaker, at any level in their career, can start thinking about all the processes instead of just the one stage they’re on now and worry about the next step when they come to it… only Mike says it much better. If you have five minutes check out the first Celtx episode here. And if you have more time, visit the channel.
MIke Jones, who is heavily involved with Celtx development down here in Australia, also happens to be a friend and mentor of mine. I am going to let you in on a little secret about Mike; he knows everything. I am not lying here or exaggerating, ask him how to do anything and he can tell you. It’s really shocking. That aside, he is also a fellow geek, and has some great insights on cinema that you might not get from the more wanky variety of filmmakers – what it is, where it came from, where it’s going, etc. On his website he has written articles about Cinema as a Spatial artform, an audio AND visual artform and how the old way of “film” is dead. Though he’s a little bit more in love with the digital age than I and I have some differing opinions on the validity of gaming and cell phones as legitimate forms of cinema delivery, his opinions are worth reading and I promise you you’ll learn something new with every article read.
I will be adding Mike’s blog to my links as well, something I should have done sooner.
As for Wii Fit, it’s a disaster. I didn’t make my goal, so I have started a new one and of course have not exercised since. Sigh.
Since the 1.0 Release they have added a comic book feature for, duh, writing comic books in a highly logical and non-flow-disrupting way. I have been itching to have a reason to play with that one. ↩
Cloning is still a fairly new phenomenon, really only measuring up to a few sheep here and there, so it’s not surprising that a story about a woman who paid to have her dead dog cloned would make the news. People are bound to have their opinions on such things. Is it natural? Is it a sin? What have you. Personally, I think the sin lies in the fact the woman paid $50,000 to have her dog Booger cloned. What’s wrong with going the pet shop and just getting a new one that looks like him and naming him something like Booger 2? 50k must be one hell of a puppy. Anyway, I digress.
Bernann McKinney has made the news once again because allegedly she is the same woman who sexually assaulted a mormon missionary thirty-one years ago. It turns out if you have your picture out in the paper for the world to see, the world tends to see it. Read the full article here.
What an idiot. Thirty years ago, this woman commits this crime and then flees the country. She’s never able to be found 1 which would mean to me, if I were a criminal on the run, that I should keep doing what I am doing. But what does this girl do? She runs and does something ground breaking and media attention-getting, leaving her face splashed all over the internet. Sheesh, I at least hope that dog knew how to fetch a beer out of the fridge.
I leave you with a quote that more than confirms her guilt for me:
“She’s ugly as sin now, but sure enough, that’s her.”
Wii Fit:
BMI: 22.79
Weight: 61.5 kg
Two days before my deadline and I still have 1.5 kg to lose. Son of a Bitch.
Though I do not understand this due to the fact that the woman only thought to drop her first name and use her middle name as a disguise. I mean come one, at least swap them or something! ↩
Recently my girlfriend and I have been getting into Battlestar Galactica and we absolutely love it. They just completed the actual series and I know there have been rumors of a new movie to come. So far there isn’t a title for the project, but they have found a writer! As an avid Buffy fan I was pleased to find an article in the LA Times saying that Jane Espenson will be writing the feature. I will admit now that I did not read the whole article, as I have only seen up to about mid-season 2 and have an intense phobia of spoilers, but I did read enough to find out this exciting TidBit.
Can’t wait to see it, Jane!
In honor of her accomplishment I will tell you what I had for lunch: A way healthy McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger (no fries).
James Cameron accomplished the awesome in the 80′s/early 90′s. He made the first two Terminator movies, which in my opinion, T-whatever is the only role the Governator was perfectly suited for. Though we can never really fully grasp why the futuristic cyborg has some strange miscellaneous accent, it seems to be forgiven and we allow the man who can hardly form a sentence save (or destroy) the day. In 2003, we thought that Nostalgia and the Gov alone would be able to setup some box-office gold with Terminator 3. It almost worked… almost. Turns out you have to actually have a good movie as well and cannot rely soley on a sixty year old man who used to be cool to sell the movie (this applies to Chuck Norris as well). 1
The grudge look attempts to promise quality.
Though all seemed to be forgiven (and possibly forgotten) regarding Terminator 3 and America was equally as stoked when the Sarah Connor: My Long Title Promises Awesomeness TV Series came into view. Even this show was smart enough to pretend that T3 didn’t exist by jumping through time, effectively erasing the flop’s existence. This must have built up some good karma because Sarah Connor is terrific, like really. I enjoy it immensely and that’s not only because I have not-so-PG fantasies about Leda Headey, who plays the eponymous character, or that oh-so flexible Firefly chick. Me, along with lots of other viewers anticipate the upcoming Season 2. It has great potential and I believe that soon it will find it’s place on it’s own without the two movies and possibly earn a shorter title.
One would think this would be enough to the various sized Enchiladas in Hollywood. They have found a way to earn back our trust while also having a way to continuously generate an income due to the ongoing nature of a TV show. But alas, it is not enough. As Abba said, Money, Money, Money. Now we can all anticipate the arrival of the 2009 Box Office Smasher,Terminator Salvation. I am stoked, let me tell you. And to make things better, James Cameron has little to do with it and they have hired McG to be the director.2 One might be able to say “Hey look, Christian Bale is in it as John Connor, and he’s Batman, so like, it’s going to be awesome.” Unless he decides to put on the Batsuit with little to no explanation to his fellow characters, I highly doubt awesomeness will occur. 3
Though I might not be able to claim to be the first person to report on this movie, I can say that I’m definitely the most disappointed, possibly more so than I was with the last Harry Potter book. I can’t believe anyone would think that this was a good idea. Even if I was a thirteen year old boy promised a free Playboy Mag upon entry, I would not turn up for this piece of bull. What is the logic here? Could it be a fake nostalgia thing? The target demographic is far too young to remember the arrival of the first two movies and it’s even unlikely that a number of them have even seen them. At best, there will be some that have occassionally tuned into Sarah Connor or went and saw T3 for Kristanna Loken in that red spandex get up. When things get down to it, and these kids were actually to see this movie, they wouldn’t enjoy it. The effects are no where near what they would be used to and the first movie is way too long for their little attention spans. 4
Lucky for execs though, they do have one marketing tool that they can take advantage of — the fact that if you tell kids that it’s something they should remember as awesome, they will assume they remember it is awesome and will buy into the hype. Have you seen those “Bred in the 80′s” shirts? The majority of the consumers that buy that shirt were probably born in ’89, ’88 at the earliest, but they have been told that living in the 80′s was THE thing and therefore they get to share in this glory on a technicality, though they have absolutely no recollection of what that means. It’s false memories thus it’s false nostalgia. I am assuming that this is the same principle that Terminator Wankation is trying to channel to ensure viewers. That, and Batman.
I may be way off on this assumption, but I guess we will have to wait and see what happens when it comes out. Until then, I will be doing what any other self respecting Terminator fan will be doing: watching Leda Headey run around in kick-ass boots trying to forget that distressing night out with Kellie and Old-Man-Governator.
Wii Fit says I gained .4 kg.
Unfortunately, I never made it to Arnie’s entrance due to the fact that I was on a blind date that I had to escape from by sneaking out to “go to the bathroom” only never to return. From what I could tell from the first ten minutes, I was doing myself a favor, both as a movie goer and a date goer. ↩
You may know him as the director of Charlie’s Angels and producer of The Pussycat Dolls Present.↩
From the trailer it appears that he has stolen the bat-voicebox so, this specific awesomeness might be more likely to happen than I give it credit for ↩
Length would be forgiven if the were movie was labeled “Epic” but since it is merely a “Classic” it might as well be labeled “Boring. ↩
Well, the good news is that my Pages are all back online, the bad news is that I’m stuck with this gay theme for the time being. It seems as though the layout theme that I settled on (one that I actually liked) had issues supporting Pages that wasn’t the homepage. One of the few things it’s required to do. Hopefully soon I will able to shed this psuedo-I’m-creative-wank theme and get one a little more sleak. There might be some more layout changes in the near future so bear with me while I get on my feet; and hopefully then I will be able to concentrate on actual content.
Yes, we are experiencing our first technical difficulties. I have been playing around with some things today and I seem to have messed up the topic pages. Not that there was much there to begin with, but you’ll notice when you try to navigate to other pages they will be all white. I am working on fixing this, but my lack of knowledge in web design is seriously hindering it.
Comments can now be edited after posting. There is however, a short time limit so changes have to be made relatively shortly after the post has been made.
Yesterday, I was lucky enough to be an observer in the All Saints writer’s room. For those who cannot easily guess what that may entail, let me explain, I observed in the room with all of the writers. I spent a whole day watching the writers do there job. Does it sound boring? Well, it most certainly was not. In fact, it was pretty much on the awesome side.
As an American, I am not an expert on Australian television, especially their dramas. I’m not totally opposed to it,1 but it would seem that the more actively I pursue my interest in television the less time I have to sit and watch it. Ain’t life grand? I have seen only a handful of All Saints episodes, so it can be easily said that I was a bit disoriented at first but I think I caught on fast enough.
Because we 2 were plotting out an episode that doesn’t air until next year sometime, I don’t really know what I’m allowed to say about the actual episode in terms of respect for the show and respect for spoiler phobia, so to be safe, I’ll just stick to the “My Day” part of the story.
The day before I was sent a brief rundown of what the episode was that we were going to be looking at. After I got over the “I don’t know which faces to put to these names” portion of my anxiety, things went a bit more smoothly. (Turns out there are a few new characters to appear an that’s why they weren’t able to be found anywhere on the web). I was also informed that they were starting at 10, so please be there by 9:45.
If only I had gotten there at 9:45. Not wanting to be late, I left my house at about 8:45, knowing that though the distance to Channel 7 studios wasn’t far, the traffic in that area could be a real bitch. Of course, with my luck, there was no traffic. None. In fact, from what I could tell, the roads were bored. I got there at nine. NINE! Yes, it is good to be on time and even a bit early, but I believe an hour early falls into the category of “Annoying” because your hosts have to discreetly find a place to put you so they can get their actual work done. So, I went and grabbed a coffee, which took about three seconds, so for the next half hour or so I just drove around the three or four block radius in order to kill some time. At 9:35, I thought that maybe I had crossed the “Annoyingly Early” threshold into the “Professional” area and headed on into security.
I, by any means, did notdress up for this, but I did make sure that I looked presentable, which included a pair of boots with a very small kitten heel on them. I like them and they look nice. However, I was the only one there who had any form of hard sole on 3 and every time I walked across the hardwood floor it echoed and felt like then entire studio could hear me. I may be exaggerating here, but not by much.
Annabel Davis, the script department manager, a very nice lady who had been handling me up to this point, introduced me around to the writer’s department before sitting me on a couch to wait for everything to begin. As people started to trickle in I got more aquatinted with everyone. Naturally I gravitated toward the writer’s assistant, Nicky, because I saw her the most as she set up for the day but I also got to speak with one of the show’s medical advisors, Camilla (unfortunately, I never caught her last name). Finally I met the show’s script producer Louise Crane (an insanely hilarious lady with a great feel for story telling), the script editor Trent (aka Trent 2, for my purposes) and the actual writer for this particular episode Trent Atkinson. I instantly fell in love with Trent Atkinson a bit, possibly because upon meeting him I just assumed he was twelve and not to mention he was just the most pleasant human being on the planet, which is so taken for granted these days. Trent and Louise really worked well together, seeming to fuel each other, both in story telling and comedically. Trent told me which seat was Lou’s and as long as I didn’t sit there, I would probably be fine.
Like I mentioned before, they are in the process of adding new characters, so Lou showed a couple of casting DVD’s of the people they have cast since the last episode Trent wrote. That was neat, because I was able to familiarize myself with the new faces considering I really only knew “Frank” and “Von” by name/face and recognized the people who turned out to be “Dan” and “Bart” as “All Saints People” before this time. So then the writing process began. Lou and Trent began to talk through the episode’s story with the occassional input from Camilla and/or Trent 2. On the other end of the table, Nicky typed everything they decided on — eight hours of essentially typing what everyone said. This is pretty much how the day went (except Trent 2 made an exit at lunch time). It was really cool and one of my favorite parts was watching Camilla. They could give pretty much and time lapse (ie, for surgery or recovery) or visual (ie, coughing up blood) and she could tweak the ailment to have that desired effect. That was really interesting.
It was a pretty exhausting day for me, and I wasn’t really doing much. I did take notes though. Apparently, observers are allowed to write a submission for the episode plotted in the room and someone will give them feed back on it. I’m definitely going to do one in the coming weeks. It’s going to be really hard, especially since I have no idea about any of the medical ailments that were discussed. Annabel said that Camilla would have a summary for the episode’s medical but it probably wouldn’t be out for another two weeks, so I might have to wait for that so I don’t look too much like a tool.
Yesterday really confirmed for me that this is what I want to do. The creative energy was awesome and you could really tell these guys were having a ball doing it, even when they got serious and “down to business.” And it didn’t really hurt to hear the “insider info” about the actors that you might not hear elsewhere. They sound like great people to work with though, I’ll say that. It seems like there is never a dull moment around those parts and I can’t wait to get my foot in the door. I left my CV with Annabel just in case something ever comes up where they may need someone to do … anything really, I am not too fussed.
On a little side note, Trent is directing a series of short films hoping they will help him get funding for his feature. I offered my assistance if he need it and hopefully he will take me up on it. He told me to give him an email and he would let me know some details. It would be cool to get back on set again, it’s been too long.
So, yep, yesterday was a bit A+ in my book. Hopefully I didn’t make too bad of an impression (though, would that be better or worse than making no impression at all, and be forgotten instantly?) I wish that I’ll be able to do something else like that again some time in the future. Thank you so much Stephen Davis for getting me the connection with his show writer friend Blake Ayshford and All Saints. It was definitely a great experience.
The episode will probably air in February or March, so it’s a while to wait. Hopefully though I will be able to post my submission on this website after I submit it, granted I’m allowed to.
In other news, when I did my Wii Fit yesterday it said I lost .5 kg. Today’s results are as follows:
BMI: 22.79 (from 22.94)
Weight: 61.3 (from 61.7)
So down .4 kg is a good sign I guess, but I’m still far away from my goal and rapidly running out of time. (Not to mention over a week ago I started at 61.4…)
Though from what I have observed, a lot of it is a bit shit. ↩
I say “we” like I was somehow an integral part of the plotting process and day’s work. I was not, if I was, that’s pretty much anti-observer, don’t you think? ↩
Writers truly are the “way casual” bunch, wearing their Chucks and Ugg boots to work. ↩
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