Saturday, September 10, 2016

Celebrate #HispanicHeritageMonth with #DePelicula



I'm excited to join forces with Aurora of Citizen Screen to celebrate #HispanicHeritageMonth with a special social media and blog campaign: #DePelicula. I worked with Aurora to expand this once Blogathon to reach a bigger audience using social media.

Message from Aurora of Citizen Screen:
Hispanic Heritage Month, the roots of which go back to 1968, begins each year on September 15 and ends on October 15. In previous years I’ve celebrated the month by hosting The Hispanic Heritage Blogathon. Although both years of that blogathon were great successes with bloggers spotlighting Hispanic players and Hispanic-themed movies and such to commemorate the imprint Hispanics have made on Hollywood, this year I’m doing something quite different. In a joint effort with the lovely and talented Raquel @QuelleLove of Out of the Past blog I am spearheading a social media campaign to spotlight Hispanic Heritage in movies and in entertainment.

What Raquel and I have in mind is a cross-promotion campaign using the #DePelicula hashtag in order to spread the word about actors, filmmakers or films that celebrate, depict or examine aspects of Hispanic culture in film and entertainment. I will be spotlighting several Hispanic movie-related themes and persons on this blog and posting #DePelicula-related content across social media. Raquel and I would love to have you join the effort. You are welcome to blog about a movie or person as you may have done in the previous blogathons or you can design a series of posts on a social media platform of your choice. The sky’s the limit and creativity is welcomed. If interested, here are the #DePelicula details:

#DePelicula

How to participate:
1) Pick one platform: Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, YouTube or Vine.
2) Pick a theme or type of content – this could be a focus on one Hispanic actor, several actors, filmmakers, movies or a combination of these.
3) Chose the Frequency: one post, daily posts or anything in between. Content should go up between 9/15 and 10/15.
4) Sign-up in the comments section below by letting us know your idea and/or plan. Please include your platform (with a link), theme and frequency.
5) Use the hashtag #DePelicula in all of your posts so we can easily share your content. Also, make sure the content is made public so everyone can see your #DePelicula posts.
6) Feel free to use the image above on any and all promotions, blog posts, etc. It is the official #DePelicula graphic.
7) Have fun! Follow the hashtag and encourage others to participate. Liking, retweeting, commenting and replying are encouraged.

While this event will focus primarily on “classic” Hollywood cinema and players, we recognize the impact Hispanics are making in films today so if you choose a contemporary Latin American actor, filmmaker or film, that’s fine, too. #DePelicula commemorates all Hispanic contributions to film and entertainment.

Help us spread the word and make this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month one for the social media record books!

If you can’t think of a topic or topics here are a few lists to get you started:

Latinos in Film from Wikipedia
Famous Hispanic from Ranker
Famous Hispanic Actresses from Ranker
Films Set in South America from Wikipedia
Golden Age of Mexican Cinema from Wikipedia
13 Films Set in Latin America
10 Early Film Actors You Need to Know
10 Early Film Actresses You Need to Know


Here's how I'll be participating:
Platform: Twitter @Quellelove
Theme/Type of Content: Quotes from Hispanic Actors and Actresses
Frequency: Daily

Will you celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with us? #DePelicula

Friday, September 9, 2016

The First Film: The Greatest Mystery in Cinema History


Who created the first film? It may not be who you think.

During the late 19th century, several inventors were working furiously on the technology that would produce moving pictures. Some of these figures are well-known including the Lumiere Brothers, Thomas Edison and others not so much. But have you heard of French inventor Louis Le Prince? Chances are you haven’t and this film seeks to rectify that.


Film-maker David Nicholas Wilkinson sets out on a quest to prove Le Prince produced the first ever films in October 1888. What’s odd about Le Prince’s story is that two years later, after he had been working on the technology to project the films he had made, he got on a train from Dijon to Paris and was never seen again. No one knows what happened to him. What adds to this mystery is the fact that Le Prince’s final trip was supposed to be one leg of a much longer journey to New York where he was going to showcase his invention and his films. Was he murdered? Would he have been recognized as the first inventor of motion pictures if he had been able to complete his journey?


Image from The First Film (2016)

A plaque above the Leeds Bridge in Leeds, England reads "Louis Aime Augustine Le Prince came to Leeds in 1866 where he experimented in cinematography. In 1888 he patented a one-lens camera with which he filmed Leeds Bridge fro this British Waterway building. These were probably the world's first successful moving pictures." 

Wilkinson spent 30 years looking for answers to all of these questions. Seven of those years were spent researching and working on this documentary including 14 months of filming. Along with writer and researcher Ifran Shah, Wilkinson sets out on a journey of discovery with lots of surprises and setbacks along the way. Wilkinson has 40 years of experience working in the British Film Industry as a film-maker, distributor, actor and author. He’s originally from Leeds, where it is said that Le Prince filmed the very first motion picture. As a young man, a teacher once told him about Le Prince. He was skeptical at first but then became fascinated with the mystery and made it his passion project to seek out answers.

Most of The First Film (2016) is comprised of on-location shooting in Leeds as well as countless interviews with film historians, critics, curators, researchers, screenwriters and other expert. Wilkinson traveled across the pond to Cleveland, Ohio, Memphis, Tennessee, Washington Heights, NY and Fire Island, NY to do research. We see in-depth discussions with Le Prince’s great-great granddaughter, the leading expert on Le Prince and many others.



There are three surviving clips of Le Prince’s films, all of which pre-date the work of Edison, the Lumiere Brothers and other inventors at the time. This documentary examines the Rhounday Garden Scene. Wilkinson and Shah find the original filming location and the crew recreate this short with Le Prince's camera. As did many other inventors, Le Prince tinkered with the technology over many years. He and his wife Lizzie started a technical school of arts which lead him to many other opportunities. Le Prince worked on Civil War panoramas. These were meant for public consumption and meant to go beyond a single photograph. This might have been the seed that developed the idea for moving pictures. In The First Film, we learn about Le Prince’s progression as an inventor, about his 16 lens and single lens cameras and also about the other 10 inventors who were working on the same technology at the time.


Louis Le Prince

Wilkinson makes the bold claim that Le Prince was the world’s first cameraman, director and producer. Is he right? You'll have to watch the documentary to find out. I’ve always been drawn to stories of underdogs, especially ones whose life and work have been overshadowed by others. In this case, Le Prince’s achievements were forgotten and his mysterious disappearance possibly deprived him of the title of the maker of the first film.

The First Film (2016) is a quirky documentary that shows much passion for its subject and a determination to seek out the truth of an old but very important mystery. It’s a film for anyone who has a love of history, is curious about the early technology of film or loves a good research project. This documentary premieres online September 12th from Guerilla Films.

Many thanks to Erskine PR for the opportunity to view this film.

Watch the trailer here:

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Hitchcock by Truffaut


Hitchcock
by François Truffaut
Simon & Schuster
Revised edition 1985
ISBN 9780671604295 - 368 pages
Amazon - Barnes and Noble - Powells

Alfred Hitchcock is considered to be one of the best directors of all time but that wasn't always the case. At the height of his career, many critics saw Hitchcock as a commercial director whose films thrilled audiences with their suspense but weren’t meant to be taken seriously. All that changed when French director François Truffaut drastically altered the narrative of how we discussed Hitchcock’s work and he did so with this book: Hitchcock by Truffaut.

“Hitchcock had been victimized in American intellectual circles because of his facetious response to interviewers and his deliberate practice of deriding their questions.” – Truffaut

Recorded over one week in August 1962, François Truffaut sat with Alfred Hitchcock and interviewed him about his body of work. Because Truffaut and Hitchcock had a language barrier, Helen G. Scott of the French Film office of New York was on hand to help translate. Every single Hitchcock film from his early work in British silent films up until The Birds was dissected, analyzed and debated. Truffaut had intimate knowledge of all of Hitchcock’s films and this shows in how they discuss each one in detail. The reader ultimately benefits from having Truffaut, a celebrated director himself, ask the questions because they come not only from a deep understanding of the film-making process. It took Truffaut four years to transcribe their conversation into 500+ questions and answers that make up this book. His dedication to champion Alfred Hitchcock significantly changed how we view his body of work today.

On Hitchcock... “the most complete film-maker of all. He is not merely an expert at some specific aspect of cinema, but an all-around specialist...” – Truffaut

I had heard about this book before but it wasn't until I watched the documentary Hitchcock/Truffaut (2015), which tells the story behind legendary interviews, that I sought out the book in earnest. It had been out-of-print for some time and the documentary's release prompted the publisher to reissue the revised 1985 edition, which includes more content on Hitchcock's films after The Birds.

Still from The Trouble with Harry and chapter opener - Hitchcock by Truffaut

Screen cap sequence from Saboteur with Norman Lloyd and Robert Cummings

The structure of this book makes it pleasantly readable. Each chapter begins with a list of topics discussed within and Truffaut and Hitchcock's conversations are broken up in a simple Q&A format. There are a generous amount of black-and-white photos used expertly to illustrate what's being discussed in the text. These photos include 1/4, 1/2, full page and two-page spreads of behind-the-scenes photos, film sequences, stills and I love that each chapter starts with a photo of the two directors in discussion. Their conversation flowed in a chronological order from Hitchcock's early days in cinema to the present day. Footnote description of movie plots are provided for those unfamiliar with the film. It helps if you know Hitchcock's films well because there are some spoilers. The backmatter includes a full filmography for reference. The revised edition extends the narrative with further conversations between Truffaut and Hitchcock about Hitchcock’s last films and Truffaut’s remembrances of the director in his final years.

“Under the invariably self-possessed and often cynical surface is a deeply vulnerable, sensitive and emotional man who feels with particular intensity the sensations he communicates.” - Truffaut

So what did Truffaut and Hitchcock talk about? Pretty much everything. But they kept it strictly to the movies, personal matters were avoided for the most part. Topics included: circumstances of the film, the preparation, the structure, any directorial problems, Hitchcock’s thoughts on commercial/artist success or failure of said film and more. Hitchcock’s work was his life. Truffaut offers many observations on how the director worked and the influence on film.

 “His assessment of the achievements and the failures was genuinely self-critical, and his account of his doubts, frustrations, and hopes was completely sincere.” – Truffaut

Hitchcock by Truffaut is film school in book form. Never have I read a book so full of enlightening information about the film-making process. I learned so much from both directors on how to build suspense, expert use of the camera as storyteller and how stories are adapted. Here are some of my favorite quotes:

 “Suspense is simply the dramatization of a film’s narrative, or if you will, the most intense presentation possible of dramatic situations.” Truffaut

“A good book does not necessarily make a good film.” – Hitchcock

“The main objective is to arouse the audience’s emotion, and that emotion arises from the way in which the story unfolds, from the way in which sequences are juxtaposed.’ – Hitchcock

“... total plausibility and authenticity merely add up to a documentary.” - Hitchcock  

The art of creating suspense is also the art of involving the audience, so that the viewer is actually a participant in the film.” – Truffaut

“There’s no relation whatever between real time and filmic time.” – Alfred Hitchcock

On the MacGuffin - "The only thing that really matters is that in the picture the plans, documents or secrets must seem to be of vital importance to the characters. To me, the narrator, they’re of no importance whatsoever.” – Alfred Hitchcock

The camera should never anticipate what’s about to follow.” – Truffaut

“I’m very concerned about the authenticity of settings and furnishings. When we can’t shoot in the actual settings, I’m for taking research photographs of everything.” – Hitchcock

This book is chock-full of these kinds of insights. And for Hitchcock fans, myself included, there are lots of behind-the-scenes trivia bits that will delight and inform. Here are some of my favorites:

  • Hitchcock avoided whodunits because all the excitement is at the end. Murder! (1930) is a rare example.
  • Selznick invited Hitchcock to US to make a film about the Titanic but they ended up working on Rebecca (1940)  instead.
  • Best Picture Oscar for Rebecca (1940) went to Selznick not Hitchcock.
  •  Foreign Correspondent (1940) was made as a B picture because thrillers and adventures stories were not taken seriously by Hollywood.
  • In Dial M for Murder (1954), Grace Kelly’s clothing go from very bright colors to more somber ones to match the mood of the film. 
  • The house in Shadow of a Doubt (1943) was a real home chosen for authenticity. The gentleman who owned it was so excited to have his home featured in the film he had it freshly painted. They had to paint it dirty then paint it back.
  • Some plots points in Hitchcock films were inspired by real life criminal cases.
  • Hitchcock hated royal blue skies. This drove him crazy on the set of To Catch a Thief (1955).
  • The United Nations lobby was recreated for North by Northwest (1959) down to the last detail. They were not allowed to shoot in the actual building.
  • Hitchcock filmed Psycho (1960) in black and white because he didn’t want to show red blood on Janet Leigh.

After 1968, people took Hitchcock more seriously and we have director François Truffaut. Hitchcock by Truffaut is an essential book for any film lover's collection and a manual for any future film maker.


This is my fourth review for the 2016 Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge.


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