good vid, and i hunted down the dali vid and sifted it

>> ^marinara:

good vid, and i hunted down the dali vid and sifted it


I won't be watching it--the idea is just too creepy for me.

Citizen Kane put me to sleep, Godfather was decent but not my type of flick, Star Wars movie was good, etc.

>> ^ant:

Citizen Kane put me to sleep, Godfather was decent but not my type of flick, Star Wars movie was good, etc.


Citizen Kane was a chore, I only watched it because, well, people like this guy. I didn't notice anything special about it at all. I can only assume that the clever, innovative stuff it did has been repeated in every other movie I've seen so I'm accustomed to it. Maybe if I'd only seen pre-Kane movies before seeing it, it would blow my mind.

>> ^Quboid:

>> ^ant:
Citizen Kane put me to sleep, Godfather was decent but not my type of flick, Star Wars movie was good, etc.

Citizen Kane was a chore, I only watched it because, well, people like this guy. I didn't notice anything special about it at all. I can only assume that the clever, innovative stuff it did has been repeated in every other movie I've seen so I'm accustomed to it. Maybe if I'd only seen pre-Kane movies before seeing it, it would blow my mind.


You've got it exactly right, after Citizen Kane movies were changed forever. The non-linear way the story was told had never been tried, and the camera and lighting were used in completely innovative ways. Hell, in one scene when Welles couldn't get the camera angle that he wanted he grabbed a pickaxe and shovel and dug a deep hole in the middle of the set in which to place the camera!

Truth is though, my favorite Orson Welles movie is "Touch of Evil" with Janet Leigh, Charlton Heston and Welles himself playing one of the most disgusting villains ever portrayed on film. The opening shot alone is a masterpiece, an uncut tracking and crane shot that goes for more than 3 minutes. Fantastic stuff.

Check out the opening scene here... http://videosift.com/video/Opening-shot-to-Touch-of-Evil

No director has ever surpassed this scene... Altman made a great effort in "The Player" and Scorsese came close in "Goodfellas", but still not quite.

@therealblankman - or anyone else - can you name anything specific that Citizen Kane did? How was lighting different?

I've heard that it was the first film to use camera angles to portray power (e.g. looking up at someone dominating) which seems obvious to me and I've never made any films. Also I've heard it was the first to have ceilings on sets, which would go hand-in-hand with more camera angles. Before Citizen Kane, cameras were just placed at the normal approximately head height? That seems incredible.

I assume these weren't actually the first, like in 3D gaming (my forte), Doom is generally considered the first 3D game when it's not and Quake considered the first true 3D game when it's not - they were just the first to really bring this to the forefront.

Edit: Damn, that Touch of Evil shot is impressive. That must have been hell to organise.

>> ^Quboid:

@therealblankman - or anyone else - can you name anything specific that Citizen Kane did? How was lighting different?
I've heard that it was the first film to use camera angles to portray power (e.g. looking up at someone dominating) which seems obvious to me and I've never made any films. Also I've heard it was the first to have ceilings on sets, which would go hand-in-hand with more camera angles. Before Citizen Kane, cameras were just placed at the normal approximately head height? That seems incredible.
I assume these weren't actually the first, like in 3D gaming (my forte), Doom is generally considered the first 3D game when it's not and Quake considered the first true 3D game when it's not - they were just the first to really bring this to the forefront.
Edit: Damn, that Touch of Evil shot is impressive. That must have been hell to organise.


Well I could babble on, but really I'd mostly be regurgitating Wikipedia so have a look for yourself... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane#Filmmaking_innovations

And I'm glad you agree about Touch of Evil. You should really see the whole movie of course. It's not a "chore" like Kane, the only challenge really is suspending disbelief and accepting Charlton Heston as a Mexican police chief!

So right about Un Chien Andalou (the Dali flick).
He forgot about Meshes of the Afternoon, a similarly worthless film that you have to sit through about 3 times if you go to art school.

do i detect a hint of bitterness?

at some point, what probably donned on this fine young man was the realization that much of schooling is simply training to be mediocre.