Film Friday: Christopher Nolan

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Sorry for the non posting as of late, just got a bit hectic here at Roebot Land. Anyway onto Film Friday (applaud here).

So as you may be aware Christopher Nolan's latest and greatest Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises, came out today. How many of you went to see it? For those of you who haven't, I'll forgive you if you go see it by the end of the weekend. If not I'm sending Bane right after you.

I will break you...if you don't see my movie.
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 It was great, it was amazing and it is my favorite of his trilogy, but I'm biased. I love Bane as a villain (he's in fact my favorite), and I love Nolan's films, well most of them anyway. So without further adieu I bring you a brief, fun history of Nolan's works.

Ahhh my inspiration!
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When Nolan went to college he actually didn't major in Film, but instead English. See Nolan is all about the story, which is my favorite part of any film! So clearly I love this man (number two in my favorite directors list).

He's also a bit of an inspiration for me. Starting out with making short films he eventually built his way up through the ranks to direct his first feature Following. Which is about the dangers of stalking, from a stalker's perspective (that's putting it lightly by the way, much deeper than that (but to be honest I still haven't seen it)). When it showcased at the San Francisco Film Festival in 1998 it eventually attracted bigger production companies to his work.

Following poster
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 Then enters Memento, which has since become a cult film about a man with short term memory loss looking for the man who murdered his wife. It's a very interesting movie and really well done with the different way it's told (completely reversed/out of chronological order) which brought it up to it's stardom level. It also boosted Guy Pearce into more films, but he has since somewhat laid low.

"Have you seen this movie?"
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 Following Memento (see what I did there, two Nolan films...I'm so clever) came Insomnia, my least favorite of his works, simply because he actually didn't write it (or have his brother do it). Not only that but the casting (aside from Williams) was a bit off, it just didn't seem to work. Still a good movie however because Nolan can take any story and turn it into a pretty darn good one.

Work soon followed again with the beginning of his magnum opus the Batman Trilogy (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, & The Dark Knight Rises). I can't tell you how amazing it is in text form, just please go watch them right now. That's all.

Only second to original Star Wars.
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After the initial Batman Begins was The Prestige, based on a novel. Also a great film about obsession, love and magic. Seriously this is called one of Nolan's best. But then a swan song emerged, and it is called Inception. This genre combining masterpiece really upped the ante for me when it came to Nolan's work. I enjoyed him already thanks to what he was doing with Batman and how Memento, played out but this just was an absolute game changer.

It will mindfuck you...so damn hard.
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Like I said, the man knows story, and this does not disappoint. A heist film that takes place entirely in your head...what the hell? How could that possibly work? Well people, it does, and it does wonderfully. I really don't want to drag you all into this, because it would basically be me typing for a few pages about how great Nolan's films are without really delving into why.

Nolan like many other directors has under his belt a writer/director credit. He also works with his brother Jonathan Nolan on almost everything under the sun. He also tag teams with his wife as a producer so he can really cut loose. And he does, with his brilliant story telling and masterful way behind the camera.

Certain shots in Inception, literally brought tears to my eyes, as they also did in The Dark Knight Rises. He composes a shot perfectly and uses his IMAX know-how to really bring certain scenes to an amazing level (even if he has broken two in the process). His attention to detail is amazing and just all around one of the best filmmakers in this day and age.

Another huge factor for me to favor Nolan is that he brings a crusade against digital film making. He believes that films are meant to be shot on film, not some memory card (albeit he and I differ here, but I believe that major motion pictures should be shot on film stock). The point being while the world marches against him, and pushes for a digital age (especially 3D, people are hounding him about that that) he remains strong against them and pushes for celluloid.

The never ending debate.
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 In short, Nolan is great. That's all you really need to know, if you didn't know that already that is. Stay tuned for more regular posting and next week we'll talk about my number one guy!

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Green to Make the Scene

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As anyone will tell you in the world, it takes money to get anywhere (save for your stoop, or the street). Hollywood however doesn't just need money, it demands money. The industry revolves around the Jacksons and the Franklins (quick, who is on those bills?), and you need both to get anywhere worth mentioning. There is no way to make a film for nothing, that's the sad truth.

The Red...the most expensive camera to exist.
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 The moment you buy a camera, or even pay for a camera phone, you have officially invested money in your career as a film maker, no ifs ans or buts about it. As much as I would love to have a story where I just happen to stumble by a Canon 5D Mark II, with an 84GB SD Card and a Macbook Pro preloaded with Final Cut Studio X, that just won't happen (a guy can dream though right?). So what is someone like you supposed to do? Someone who wants to create but cannot afford all the wonderful amenities that would come with being super rich.? Easy, balance money.

You just gotta find that balance.
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 I know a lot of people have trouble with that, I did when I was younger (that's why my DVD collection is over 300 strong). Here are some helpful tips I can give you when it comes to trying to balance money about.

Wall Street teaches you how to properly get money.
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Instead of eating out all the time, buy the ingredients you want to eat what you were going when you went out. You'll be able to make that meal four times over! When it comes to an editing program there are a lot online that are free/a small amount that do pretty well. At the moment I use AVS4You which was free, it gets the job done (not Final Cut obviously). Don't buy a camera that's over $1,000 unless you plan on having that with you AT ALL TIMES! (I have a friend who has a $4,000 camera that he barely uses) You need to make sure the money you invest in trying to make your films look good, is something you can use on a daily basis.

When it boils down to it, money sucks. You can either buy everything you want (because you're Billy Gates) or you struggle to make ends meet. Sure there is that comfort level, but you don't want to spend a whole lot because you're worried about being knocked down a bracket. The thing is, don't worry about that comfort level. My mantra is "Money comes and money goes." Spend like you mean it, but do spend wisely.

Couldn't have said it better myself
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The fact of the matter is money can't buy you happiness, your dreams make you happy. It just sucks that they kind of need one another. Damn you money, you green conniving bitch.

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