Renn's Blogs

[Renn Brown]

The separate threads thing was dumb, so I'm centralizing everything. I'm going to be writing a lot between now and the end of the year, so I wanted to simplify everything. Here is the old shit...

Funny Games

The Strangers (and Funny Games)

Videodrome

Pixar Vs. Dreamworks

Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man)

My Project: Gumby's Big Adventure

The Fall / Mongol

Hearts Of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse

My Project: Poster for Andre's Review of Peckinpah's Batman

Wall*E Photo-Blog

Salo -or- 120 Days Of Sodom

Ben-Hur & CGI

My Project: Jurassic Park Sound Design

70s Endings

Hell Ride

My Project: Pictures from my Short Film

King of Kong

Intro to Chewing Film School

[Renn Brown]

And new shit...

You should read Blog Wars!

Some really great stuff from the CHUD bloggers...

Set-Up (Anderson)
Part II (Gabe)
Part III (Erix)
Part IV (Tom)
Part V (Guest)
Part VI (Sam)

And my attempt to live up to their beautiful insanity...

PART VII

and the final two entries:
Part VIII (Natalia)
Part IX: The Punchline (Anderson)

[Sam Strange]

Great writing, Renn. My interest is...piqued.

[Renn Brown]

Thanks Sam! I appreciate your constant and consistent goodwill.

[Renn Brown]

Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World

I was able to see it at a Film Festival focusing on the ocean recently, and I was quite impressed.

**Also, Blog Wars links have been updated and completed above.

[Renn Brown]

Appaloosa

I really dug this movie. It plays with a theme very close to my heart.

[Renn Brown]

Savannah Film Festival 2008

Introduction (Part 1)

I will be starting a separate thread for the festival, but I'll post all of my entries here too. This first part is just a brief intro to the fest and this year's line-up.

[Renn Brown]

Savannah Film Festival 2008

Complete Coverage:

Introductions:
Part I
Part II (John Sayles)
Part III (Brett Ratner)

The Wrestler
Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange/Never Apologize)
Short Films & Happy-Go-Luck

Final Recaps:
Synecdoche, NY
I've Loved You So Long
Recount

[Renn Brown]

Gump Vs. Button

http://chud.com/articles/blogs/1493/Gump-Vs-Button.html

I wanted to catalog all of the motifs and elements that Eric Roth used in both Forrest Gump and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I'd love to include any you can come up with!

[Sam Strange]

Renn, that video's really fucking cool. Not only did you manage the artsy feel, but you also pulled off looking cool with a cigar. Considering your small frame, that's quite a feat. I wish you would write more blogs, though.

[Renn Brown]

I will be! I've got 7 more planned out with lots of pictures and fun stuff!

EDIT: And thanks so much! I'm really hoping people like the video.

[Renn Brown]

Self-Portrait on HVX200

http://chud.com/articles/blogs/1536/...on-HVX200.html

I'll have a blog with the video embed tomorrow.

[The Mechanic]

Hey, wanted to let you know that I watched your self-portrait short and thought it was pretty cool! It's cut really well, and I guess not knowing you i can now make the assumption that you're some sort-of kingpin card shark.

[Renn Brown]

Self-Portrait Results!

http://chud.com/articles/blogs/1546/...t-Results.html

Here's the video Self-Portrait I recently made. There's a facebook link, and a Vimeo embed. Take a look and let me know what you think.

EDIT: Thanks Mechanic. There's supposed to be a *spoiler* Id Vs. Super-Ego thing going on, so you can just say I'm a douche who likes to think he's a kingpin cardshark.*

*Any night at Smoker's Paradise playing hold 'em with Nick, Sweeney, & Co. would prove otherwise.

[Bucho]

Yeah, I thought your self-portrait was cool too Renn. I'm curious how do you make decisions on where to cut when you're cutting to music? I'm a total amateur and always cut to the beat but you cut off beat a lot. I read that you chose the song in part because of the rhythm so I watched the vid with that in mind. Do you run totally by instinct or do they teach you some stuff about making those kinds of decisions in film school?

[Renn Brown]

Well, keeping in mind that this is probably not my most slaved-over edit ever (I cut it in a semi-all-nighter in about 3 to 4 hours for class, then touched it up for another hour before I uploaded it online), but my main focus was visual rhythm. The way in which the shots are made to interact or reflect off one another via a cut is paramount, and makes the shots used more effective.

Obviously you want to cut to beat plenty so that you anchor the visuals to the music, but by dropping off beat and letting an image run or by cutting to beat inconsistently, you can create contrast within your edit. The biggest power this gives you is that when you DO cut directly to beat, it will emphasize a part of the song.

It also helps if you are working with footage that has it's own visual rhythm, independent of editing. When I shot this, I had my DP use a jib arm and do specific types of swoops at specific speeds. I knew the song really well, so I could picture these shots matching certain undertones of the song by the way they moved, or their pace (the shots going from the ground up on Ivey, and then Ivey and I on the couch are the two biggest examples- they are slow unbroken shots that come in directly after serious beat-matching. They both mirror an undertone of the song and are made more dramatic because of it). I also had him shoot take after take after take of him searching around me and the set, moving the camera however he wanted. This gave me lots and lots of movement that I could juxtapose to create visual rhythm to complement the song, even if I didn't cut on every drum beat or whatever.

I hope this wasn't more than you were looking for, and feel free to call me on my shit if you disagree- I'm no expert.

If you have anything that you ever want critiqued, let me know. I'd love to do it, and I'll always happily hear suggestions on my own shit too.

EDIT: Most everything I mentioned I learned via instinct, reading books (Murch! Murch! Murch!) or through pure osmosis of observation. The stuff they're teaching me in school is almost purely technical- workflow, AVID tool control, etc. Directing the Narrative (which is what I made this for) is about staging and shots, so I guess there is a bit there- but not really an editing thing.

We have a Theory of Editing class that I will likely take, but it's not a subject I've had much formal training in yet.

[Bucho]

No, that's the really cool behind the scenes sort of shit I like. When I say I'm a total amateur I mean totally, like it's just cutting family or travel stuff I shoot on my cheapo dv camera, but being a film dork I like to try and pay attention to proffesional techniques.

I notice it with other music videos too and didn't understand why they work the way they do but the way you explain it makes complete sense, about camera movements having their own rhythms and about how cutting off beat helps emphasise the parts of the song where you cut to the beat by contrasting. It was interesting hearing what you said about the merits of different hosting sites too, I only have a Youtube account but I'll be looking more into using my Facebook page I guess.

Do you have any of your other projects posted for the public?

[mcnooj82]

Cool stuff Renn! Though to be completely honest, I found it went on for a little too long and skipped around. But I tend to not have much patience for music videos and it didn't help that I wasn't into the music. Clearly, this kind of thing isn't for me. But then again, you said:

I decided to go the artsy, film schooly, pretentious route this time (had to do it at least once while I'm here!).

And in that regard, you aced it!

But it looked and sounded great on a purely technical level. What did you guys use to dolly the camera past the back of the monitor? Also, did you mean for that cut between those two shots to be noticeable? Or is my monitor too bright while you were trying to go for the invisible cut during the black?

[Renn Brown]

That particular bounce had some automated brightness enhancement that made that cut visible. The blacks are all pretty crushed in the original footage.

I'm glad you kinda liked it!

[mcnooj82]

If only you'd used Speed Racer music!!!!!

Sigh... what could've been...

[Renn Brown]

Review: Public Enemies

http://chud.com/articles/blogs/1913/...c-Enemies.html

My thoughts on what may be the biggest disappointment of the year.

[Phil]

I don't know what's preferred when a review is in a blong, but I'll just put it here and see what happens.

Originally Posted by Renn's blog

Mann put his detail-obsessed energy towards the story of a gangster who wanted nothing more than to have a wild ride before inevitably slamming head-first into the ground; John Dillinger as meteorite..."We're having too good a time today. We ain't thinking about tomorrow," sounds great coming from Dillinger, but even that declaration twinges with self-deception and desperation. For all the fun he claims to be having, Depp's Dillinger seems constantly plagued by the stress and melancholy of his losses.

See, I think I would have loved that movie. Instead...

When we see Dillinger in a theater, hoping he is not spotted during a newsreel that entreats the audience to literally look to their right and left for him, it is clear how truly fucked Dillinger is.

...stuff like this, framed by Dillinger dining out in public getting gladhanded by the locals, seemed played for laughs. That should have been a "fucked" moment, but I just didn't feel that in the film.

Really nice review. Almost makes me want to revisit the film.

[Renn Brown]

Thanks Phil, I appreciate you reading the review, much more for commenting on it.

If you're looking for actual discussion, I would suggest quoting it in the post-release thread, since it's not likely to get any response here (besides my own).

I agree with you 100% on the theater moment. It was one of the key scenes that would have been remarkable in that wonderful alternate universe.