The sporadic ramblings of Emily C. A. Snyder - devoted to God, theatre, writing, and much randominity.
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Second Sweeney
So, Jules and I got up earlyish this morning and jogged over to the movie theatre where a) every parent and their child were congregating while b) movie ticket personnel dragged their fingers but c) the woman in front of us gave me two "get six dollars off a movie ticket" coupon for that theatre! We went in to see Sweeney Todd (second and last in theatres for me, first for Jules), which I think went well for Jules right up to the last image (where the good folks' story lines were not resolved). And I realized, again, and more completely, while watching the movie and examining details of it that I'd missed the first time round, that I really am a directing fool.
That is to say, I simply kept watching this or that shot, or these or those choices and saying, "Oh, if you'd only just pushed this!" or "Can't you hear your own pre-recorded voice? Play up this expression!" or "Long shot, long shot! SMASH CUT, sillies!" or "Now, if we'd reblocked it this way and kept that in and added this and filmed it like that it would have said this..." all of which is not to say that I didn't enjoy the film. (Although I don't plan to see it again in theatres...Enchanted on the other hand...!) I did enjoy the film. It's just that there's so much more that could have been done, so much more grace that could have been pulled from it. I love many of the choices Burton made - including almost all of his musical cuts and scene additions - and I love the way Depp's hands are always restless on the hilts of his razors and I love Toby as a little boy and I looooooooooooooove the opening crazy-rush-through-London-a-la-Moulin-Rouge!-CGI-goodness - but there's more, more, more to be done.
*huffhuffsigh*
As it is, I gots me a copy, a good translation of Antigone by Sophocles and am thinking about directing a 20/30 minute version of it, hopefully with only three people. Antigone, Ismene & Haemon. I&H would alterate taking turns being Creon, Guards, Chorus, etc. Antigone would remain herself. I don't know if it would work, but it seems to be forming in my mind. We'll see.
I'm no good at relaxing. After Todd Jules and I went to B&N to look at books that included interior illustration and to jot down those publishers. Jules also got the Writer's Digest guide for illustrators and artists, since she (*gulp!*) is done gone matriculated this spring.
It's odd...everything still feels very...foreign to me. I am here, in my home, with people I know but I feel very foreign. Not necessarily to them, but to my life. I am musical director, but not director. I am a (sometime) substitute teacher, but not a teacher. I am a student, but I do not live at school. I am a daughter but I feel rarely at home. I am a colleague, but to whom; a friend, but to whom; a name and person, known and unknown. I am also writing rather overdramatically - and yet there is a truth underlying the hyperbole.
Cardinal Neumann's prayer sustains me. "He may take away my friends/But He knows what He is about/Therefore I will trust Him." Oh, for Colonel Brandon: "Give me an occupation, or I shall run presently mad." Yet, not an occupation, so much as a vocation. Or again with St. Augustine, "My heart is restless until it rests in You." Hrm. Daily prayer, I think. Yes.
Mood: Pensive
Music: Oh, that Kingdom of Heaven (is it?) movie with Orlando Bloom that was so horrible on film but so glorious on CD.
Thought: Amusement is Julie thinking the jazzy-Narcissus song was for use in the Snow Queen! Silly Julie, kicks are for trids.
Goodness is: Afternoons together.
So, Jules and I got up earlyish this morning and jogged over to the movie theatre where a) every parent and their child were congregating while b) movie ticket personnel dragged their fingers but c) the woman in front of us gave me two "get six dollars off a movie ticket" coupon for that theatre! We went in to see Sweeney Todd (second and last in theatres for me, first for Jules), which I think went well for Jules right up to the last image (where the good folks' story lines were not resolved). And I realized, again, and more completely, while watching the movie and examining details of it that I'd missed the first time round, that I really am a directing fool.
That is to say, I simply kept watching this or that shot, or these or those choices and saying, "Oh, if you'd only just pushed this!" or "Can't you hear your own pre-recorded voice? Play up this expression!" or "Long shot, long shot! SMASH CUT, sillies!" or "Now, if we'd reblocked it this way and kept that in and added this and filmed it like that it would have said this..." all of which is not to say that I didn't enjoy the film. (Although I don't plan to see it again in theatres...Enchanted on the other hand...!) I did enjoy the film. It's just that there's so much more that could have been done, so much more grace that could have been pulled from it. I love many of the choices Burton made - including almost all of his musical cuts and scene additions - and I love the way Depp's hands are always restless on the hilts of his razors and I love Toby as a little boy and I looooooooooooooove the opening crazy-rush-through-London-a-la-Moulin-Rouge!-CGI-goodness - but there's more, more, more to be done.
*huffhuffsigh*
As it is, I gots me a copy, a good translation of Antigone by Sophocles and am thinking about directing a 20/30 minute version of it, hopefully with only three people. Antigone, Ismene & Haemon. I&H would alterate taking turns being Creon, Guards, Chorus, etc. Antigone would remain herself. I don't know if it would work, but it seems to be forming in my mind. We'll see.
I'm no good at relaxing. After Todd Jules and I went to B&N to look at books that included interior illustration and to jot down those publishers. Jules also got the Writer's Digest guide for illustrators and artists, since she (*gulp!*) is done gone matriculated this spring.
It's odd...everything still feels very...foreign to me. I am here, in my home, with people I know but I feel very foreign. Not necessarily to them, but to my life. I am musical director, but not director. I am a (sometime) substitute teacher, but not a teacher. I am a student, but I do not live at school. I am a daughter but I feel rarely at home. I am a colleague, but to whom; a friend, but to whom; a name and person, known and unknown. I am also writing rather overdramatically - and yet there is a truth underlying the hyperbole.
Cardinal Neumann's prayer sustains me. "He may take away my friends/But He knows what He is about/Therefore I will trust Him." Oh, for Colonel Brandon: "Give me an occupation, or I shall run presently mad." Yet, not an occupation, so much as a vocation. Or again with St. Augustine, "My heart is restless until it rests in You." Hrm. Daily prayer, I think. Yes.
Mood: Pensive
Music: Oh, that Kingdom of Heaven (is it?) movie with Orlando Bloom that was so horrible on film but so glorious on CD.
Thought: Amusement is Julie thinking the jazzy-Narcissus song was for use in the Snow Queen! Silly Julie, kicks are for trids.
Goodness is: Afternoons together.
posted by Emily C. A. Snyder | 4:11 PM
1 Comments:
that wonderful push thru the streets of london in the opening was honestly one of my favorite moments in the film. that, and the rendition of "nothing's gonna hurt you..." it was really quite beautifully done and i enjoyed it tremendously, but as you say, there was so much more that could have been done with it, too.
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