Requiem for Australian TV

'Coming soon' - or already here? (the sequel)

Just remembered a couple more of my favourite trailers so thought I would throw them into the mix....

The Life Of David Gale turned out to be a pretty bad film, but the trailer was really exciting. I guess the issue with a lot of good trailers that turn into bad movies is that in a trailer you just have to show us moments of excitement and tension, with no responsibility to explain the set-ups, etc. When viewing the finished movie, sometimes these same moments can be exposed as contrived, unjustified or unrealistic.

I thought 8 Mile was actually a good movie - although still not as good as the trailer!

'Coming soon' - or already here?

Writing my post the other day about titles raised some questions in my mind about the nature of art. Can the title of a book, movie, song, or similar have a kind of artistic merit by itself, regardless of the quality (or otherwise) of the work it describes? Most of the examples I gave were titles that appealed to me because they triggered something in my mind - a memory, or the recognition of an emotion from the past - that might have nothing to do with the content of the work.

I have similar feelings about movie trailers. Occasionally I see a trailer that appeals to me as something to watch on its own (although the difference is that if I like a trailer it almost inevitably makes me want to watch the movie). For instance, take a look at this trailer for Kenneth Branagh's 1996 version of Hamlet, and see how exciting it is:

The cast! The music! The colour and movement! The action! ... The cast! The movie itself turned out to be pretty good, but who would want to sit through a four-hour unabridged version of Shakespeare's longest play, when you can see all the best shots, and glimpse all the big stars, in a minute and a half? I was 15 years old when I first saw this trailer, and I remember it leaving me breathless with excitement. I wanted to watch it over and over again. I kind of still do.

But the tone and mood of a trailer can often be surprisingly different from that of the film in its entirety. For instance, the trailer for Baz Luhrmann's Australia:

gave the impression of an old-fashioned sweeping epic in the style of Old Hollywood. So, on watching the movie I was very surprised to see it incongruously infused with Luhrmann's trademark slapstick elements, speeded-up camera footage, etc. I loathed Australia-the-movie. So much. One day I may write a post about it - called Baz Luhrmann earned my trust and then abused it spectacularly, leaving me feeling depressed, confused and angry.

Another favourite of mine - and an example of a great trailer that promotes a mediocre movie - is this one, for 1997's Paradise Road:

Doesn't it look great? Corny, sure - but all those great actresses; a rollicking great war story; triumph over adversity (through art!) - how could you not be thrilled? In fact, it was pretty average. But even knowing that, I still find the trailer exciting.

Then there's the old disguising-the-fact-that-this-movie-has-subtitles trick:

In fact, I thought 8 Women was a really fun movie, and would recommend it to anyone, but I do think it's strange that the only line of dialogue in the trailer is the isolated (and dramatically irrelevant) moment when one of the characters says "That is the question" in English - and that the rest of the plot is covered by an (English-language, naturally) voice-over. That's like advertising an American movie in France, and including a random shot of someone saying "C'est la vie!". It seems to be trying too hard to say 'Look! This movie is accessible to you!", rather than concentrating on what really makes the film appealing.

All of the points mentioned above hinge around one major issue - the fact that a trailer is not created as a piece of art, but as a promotional tool - no matter how noble the film-makers' intentions, and no matter how free from studio interference they have been, the trailer is always created entirely to persuade people to shell out and buy a ticket. Does this mean there can be no artistic merit?...

The most exciting trailer around at the moment (for my money) isn't for a movie at all, but a TV series - Boardwalk Empire. The first episode was broadcast a couple of nights ago in America, so we'll soon see whether it lives up to the trailer's promise...

Gimme More

I'm very excited about taking Britney Spears: The Cabaret to Melbourne in October. This remarkable little gem of a show was written by Dean Bryant as a one-woman show for the incredible Christie Whelan - originally for the Adelaide Cabaret Festival 2009. We at Luckiest Productions have been fortunate enough to produce the show in Sydney last year, and now an upcoming season at Chapel off Chapel in Melbourne.

The show is a brilliant and multi-layered piece, which is both a satire (of Spears's public image, and of wider celebrity culture) - but also an attempt to make audiences empathise with the girl in the spotlight (not an easy task for a writer or performer where this girl is concerned!) A large part of the success of the show is the incredible job Musical Director Mathew Frank has done of adapting Britney's perky, sexy, and over-produced pop songs into cabaret numbers - from a slow and stripped-down Toxic, to a version of Slave 4 U which gives a glimpse into Britney's life as a hard-working and strangely sexualised child star on The Mickey Mouse Club. The way that Christie scales this range of moods and emotions in her performance is testament to her considerable acting talent, as well as her versatility as a singer, dancer and comedienne. One of the most common reactions from people who've seen the show is that they expected to laugh, but were shocked that they ended up crying too. It takes you on a journey - as any piece of art should - and works in many ways more like a piece of theatre than a cabaret show.

One of the best things about being a producer is being able to take shows that you believe in, and try to bring them to wider audience. It's really rewarding working on Britney Spears: The Cabaret because I'm so confident that every person I get through that door will walk out satisfied and fulfilled.

I'm also looking forward to spending three weeks living in Melbourne while the show is on - a lot of my friends are living down there at the moment, but I have a complicated attitude towards that city. But that's for another blog!

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On Titles

I've been thinking today about titles. Titles of books, films, albums, etc have always been important to me, and sometimes a good title will stay with me for a long time, even after I've forgotten much about the work it describes (or perhaps never seen/read/heard it). It's very hard to describe why a title has an effect on us - it can be penetrating, or humorous, or surprising... I guess any memorable title is something that contains a truth that jumps out at us and helps us to relate to something in our own life in some small way. In that respect I suppose a good title has the same qualities as any good piece of art, only in miniature.

I know that when I was coming up with a title for this blog I spent a whole evening mulling over various alternatives, before eventually settling on the above pun because I felt it encapsulated the melding of high and low culture that I wanted to explore.

Here are some of my favourite titles. As for the works they describe - some of them I love with all my heart, some I quite like, and some I am completely ambivalent about....

Leslie Howard, I want to be like you...

"Howard was one of early twentieth century Britain's most revered actors and matinee idols ... He usually served as producer and/or director of the Broadway productions in which he starred. He was also a playwright ... His Hollywood roles included Professor Henry Higgins in the film Pygmalion, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award ... Howard is perhaps best remembered for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind, but he was uncomfortable with Hollywood and returned to England to help with the war effort ... He died in 1943 when his aircraft was shot down by the Luftwaffe ... Howard had been traveling through Spain and Portugal, ostensibly lecturing on film, but also meeting with local propagandists and shoring up support for the Allied cause ... The Bogarts named their daughter Leslie after him."

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You can be stupid and still dangerous...

Glenn Beck, 28th August 2010: "I am not a journalist". (3:35)

Glenn Beck, 31st August 2010: "I am launching a news website".

If you are like me, watching the news or reading the paper can be an exercise in exasperation. It’s so hard to find a place that helps me make sense of the world I see.
Too many important stories are overlooked. And too many times we see mainstream media outlets distorting facts to fit rigid agendas. Not that you’ve ever heard me complain about the media before. Okay, maybe once or twice.
But there comes a time when you have to stop complaining and do something. And so we decided to hire some actual journalists to launch a new website — The Blaze. And we moved fast. We built the team and the site in just two months.
We want this to be a place where you can find breaking news, original reporting, insightful opinions and engaging videos about the stories that matter most.
The Blaze will be about current news — and more. It’s not just politics and policy. It’s looking for insight wherever we find it. We’ll examine our culture, deal with matters of faith and family, and we won’t be afraid of a history lesson.
Flame is a powerful image. It has long stood for a burning truth. A truth that is not consumed. The Blaze will pursue truth. Of course we will make mistakes. Honest mistakes. And we’ll be quick with corrections. We intend to earn your trust and keep it day in and day out with hard work and a lot of transparency.
And don’t expect everything to be deadly serious. Boring is bad. We intend to have plenty of fun.
We’ve put together a solid team of writers and reporters. I intend to keep them busy by sending a zillion story ideas at all hours.
We’re also counting on you. Your comments. Your feedback. Your tips! You will help us build and shape The Blaze.
Thank you in advance.
Glenn Beck

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/a-message-from-glenn/

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