Wednesday 30 November 2011

Saturday 19 November 2011




Have you ever entered a room only to forget why you went to the room in the first place?
Recent research has suggested that it's the physical act of passing through a doorway that strips the memory of the reason for doing so. It doesn't happen if you pass from one part of a room to another. Was Lewis Carroll aware of this? And do loft livers who live in one room suffer less from temporary memory loss than the rest of us?

Cher Bill


Wave hello to Andrea Arnold. I took your advice and saw Wuthering Heights which was directed by her. And I agree. The photography was superb, all that movement and shallow depth of field, close focus and darkness. But doesn't it get a bit irksome after a while? Especially the hand held look. It ends up becoming the focus of the film at the expense of plot and character. Good photography should compliment and enhance a story, not dominate it. But perhaps it's what cinema audiences want these days: style over substance. It was the same with Tinker Tailor, and you only have to watch Guinness's performance in the original version to recognise that photography does not alone make a great movie (despite coming close in The Third Man).
Look at Carlos Reygadas's Silent Light as an example. A perfect balance between character, story, and photography.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Sunday 6 November 2011

The Serious Poet.




Radio Four's excellent piece on Spike Milligan is well worth a listen, f you can still access it.
It reminded me of whether it's a good idea to meet your heroes. I'd argue against it, though meeting him was the exception. It was one of the most enjoyable shoots ever.

Saturday 5 November 2011