5 COMING SOON films motioncolor can't wait for.

As a child I chanced on the Apple trailer website (http://www.apple.com/trailers/) when looking up the trailer for the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie and have since become a trailer addict. I can spend hours watching them so here's a list of the 5 most anticipated upcoming movies as judged by their trailers.





Already released in the US, Martha Marcy May Marlene follows a young woman's psychological journey, fresh after escape from an extremist cult. Expected in Australian cinemas in March 2012 the cinematography has already been praised by viewers.





With an Australian release set for mid-January, The Descendants explores issues of parenthood and self-discovery after the protagonist (George Clooney)'s wife falls into a coma and her extra-marital affair is exposed. Set in Hawaii expect to see a lot of exotic suburbia.





An action-fantasy remake of the Grimm Brothers fairytale the plot is expected to be predictable but the visuals will no doubt be mind-blowing if the trailer is anything to go by. From the producer of Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland and starring Charlize Theron, Kristen Stewart and Chris Hemsworth it is set for a tentative June 1st 2012 release.





Similar in style to 'Horton Hears A Who', an adaptation of a Dr. Seuss story by French studio Illumination Mac Guff who animated 'Despicable Me' the trailer already showcases the beautiful worlds audiences can expect to romp through when it arrives in cinemas next year March. Showcases the voice-acting talents of Danny DeVito, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift.





Rebooting the Spiderman franchise 'The Amazing Spider-Man' retells Peter Parker's story true to the comic book series to which it owes its roots. Starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone what should be most exciting will be the special effects. Any film that includes scenes of a superhero soaring over the New York skyline will be a sure-fire hit with me.

The greatest job in the world

So get this, someone out there is being paid to listen to good music. This job actually exists, they get paid to watch stuff before its released and pinpoint certain songs to certain moments and set certain moods. The title is known as a "Music Supervisor" and they are people who have an appreciation for all styles of music and are good at spotting artists. If you've ever watched a tv show and wanted to know what song was playing during a particular scene because you've never heard it before you can thank the music supervisors for exposing you to new music.

Just throwing out some names:

Alexandra Patsavas, was in charge of the super indie to mainstream soundtracks of Twilight, The O.C., Greys Anatomy and Gossip Girl. For exposing mainstream audiences to underground music there is no greater job. Her superiority complex must be fantastically high.

Chris Mollere was in charge of music for Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries and Kyle XY. Once again angering hipsters world wide for betraying their favourite artists.

I thought I'd have a go at compiling a soundtrack. It's not for any particular film or tv show but it certainly sets a mood. Let's just say its the soundtrack for the first season of MotionColor.

Turning Into Stone - Phantogram


Trembling Hands - Explosions In The Sky

Gymnopedie #1 - Dragon Ash

My Blood Is Full Of Airplanes - The Cinema

Bad and Good Trailers

I love a good movie but sometimes I watch trailers of films after I've seen them and find that they are a completely inaccurate portrayal of the essence of the movie. I know I should get off my high horse but this just really ticks me off. For example the other week I watched the excellent Arrietty by Studio Ghibli (in Japanese of course, English translations of Asian dialogue are too awkward for my taste) and then watched the American trailer on Youtube.

There are two major problems I have. The first being that the trailer has actually just given away the whole movie, even the ending and this upsets me because there are no surprises anymore.

The second is all those jokes they insert into the trailer that are standard with American comedy trailers in that the music will suddenly stop when the pun comes and everyone's meant to laugh, music resumes. Its old and lame and Arrietty is not a comedy at all.

Those poor American kids will be so disappointed and bored during the movie because they can never sit still and with this film I can imagine for children they need an insane amount of patience to survive it.

Compare the American trailer with the British one below.

This trailer is not only insanely truthful to the film but it also manages to entice target audiences while not giving away the entire plot.

Most film trailer productions are outsourced to advertising agencies who produce the 2 minute clips. Sure they know how to market a film so that it looks amazing but sometimes they just butcher it as demonstrated by the first trailer. Below I've included a few of my most favourite trailers of recent films that made me really excited to watch the movie. Of the 4 of them I was insanely disappointed by The Roommate and Beastly but they still had excellent trailers.

Another Earth (see earlier post for review)

The Roommate

Never Let Me Go (see earlier post for review)

Beastly

Another Earth (2011, Fox Searchlight)

Director: Mike Cahill

Cinematographer: Mike Cahill

Starring: Brit Marling, William Mapother

"Within our lifetimes, we've marveled as biologists have managed to look at ever smaller and smaller things. And astronomers have looked further and further into the dark night sky, back in time and out in space. But maybe the most mysterious of all is neither the small nor the large: it's us, up close. Could we even recognize ourselves, and if we did, would we know ourselves? What would we say to ourselves? What would we learn from ourselves? What would we really like to see if we could stand outside ourselves and look at us?" Richard Berendzen

The break before the start of college Rhoda Williams crashes into another car while drink driving. She survives but a pregnant woman, her unborn daughter and her son die in the accident and Rhoda is sentenced to prison. After release she embarks on a journey of redemption whilst a global event is unfolding. Scientists discover another planet identical to earth both in geography and inhabitation. On Earth 2 there is a you. Someone who has lived a life identical to yours and who makes the same decisions as you do. Underlying the whole movie is the question Rhoda so potently asks. "If you met yourself, what would you tell yourself?"

Beautifully shot, Another Earth looks like an ordinary suburban drama except that in the sky there is a planet that looks just like earth. This ominous motif is consistent throughout and reminds us all of the bigger events that underscore the domestic. In fact the image of Earth 2 is the only special effect that you will encounter in this low-budget gem but the picture is so endearing that it is enough to classify this movie as almost sci-fi. The colour spectrum consists largely of different tones of blue and yellow signifying cool and warm. Of course the lighter blues that are seen in the ocean scenes are the most refreshing and help adjust moods. At times the colour work is sub-par to the point where scenes, especially indoor scenes in John's house appear to be shot with a hand-held camcorder but it only adds a layer of realism to the film. None of the cast are particularly famous unless you count Mapother being Tom Cruise's cousin as famous which is wonderful as it allows audiences to concentrate more on the character than the actor.

The score by Fall On Your Sword characterises the key protagonists in the film. For example Rhoda is symbolised by the cello and John the piano. The most beautiful scene in terms of the music is a scene where John plays the musical saw producing an eerie and haunting sound complimenting the fantastic cinematography.

Another Earth was possibly one of my favourite films of the year. It was released earlier in the year in the US and played at Melbourne and Brisbane IFFs. It has yet to be announced whether it will be granted a limited or wide release in Australia but I am keeping my fingers crossed as I would love for other people to enjoy this movie as much as I did.

Black Swan (2010, Fox Searchlight)

Director: Darren Aronofsky
Cinematographer: Matthew Libatique
Starring: Natalie Portman (Sarah Lane as dance double), Vincent Cassel, Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder
















A tragic tale of a tortured ballet dancer was one of the best films of 2010. Along with 'Never Let Me Go' it was a film I had been looking forward to watching for months and it certainly didn't disappoint. There were a few scenes that were awkward to watch such as the masturbation and lesbian love scene mainly as they are such taboo subjects but I felt they were necessary, the first to demonstrate Nina's loss of innocence as a result of her obsession with dancing and the latter her being tipped completely into the deep end. All essential as part of her emotional journey towards the epic finale.

To complement this thriller is a muted palette that compliments the superb acting and really lends to the depressing feel of the movie. The recurring colors being black, white and pink. The grain also lends to the film's honesty.

A lot of controversy had arisen over whether Natalie Portman really did dance the entire movie or whether that was just part of a PR strategy to generate hype about the film. It's still uncertain how much she did actually dance but she did have a dance double, Sarah Lane from the American Ballet Company who refutes the claims that 90% of the dancing was by Portman. Some scenes where Lane was shot above the torso are impressive in the special effects field where they replaced her head with Portman's. This kind of technology has really taken off in recent years in films such as Captain America where Chris Evan's head was cged onto a skinny extra's body and surprisingly even The Social Network where Armie Hammer's head was cged onto Josh Pence's body so that he could play identical twins.

Adventureland (2009, Miramax)

Director: Greg Mottola
Cinematographer: Terry Stacey
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Margarita Levieva, Ryan Reynolds, Martin Starr, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig











Stumbling across the gem of a movie 'Adventureland' was the result of researching Jesse Eisenberg from The Social Network and obsessive watching of rollercoaster youtube videos.

Adventureland is set in the 80s and has equal amounts of scenes set in the daytime and nightime. Daytime is mostly reserved for activity in Adventureland and is filmed in a washed out yellow filter. Nightime scenes vary between the theme park with all its bright lights, bars and house parties resembling scenes from the classic, American Graffitti. The entire film has a washed out aesthetic and is multicolored in line with the funpark theme although not excessively so.

What is interesting is that the whole story takes place during summer vacation between when the lead character James (Eisenberg) graduates high school and starts college. And while everyone is wearing t-shirts and short shorts acting as if the temperature is sweltering the whole movie was actually shot in the middle of winter in Pittsburg and every day the crew had to find ways of hiding the snow that had fallen the night before.

The script is well paced but I feel that it was unrealistic that James (Eisenberg) would have been able to be such a player in the film and gotten away with being angry at Em (Stewart) for sleeping with the repairman given that he was dating another girl at the same time.

Never Let Me Go (2010, Fox Searchlight)

Director: Mark Romanek
Cinematographer: Adam Kimmel
Based on the novel "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield












Never Let Me Go was one of those movies that you got really hyped up about and then felt disappointed after watching it. Visually it was a feast for the eyes but because I had read the book a year prior I ruined it for myself. I guess it's the same with all movies based on books with Harry Potter being one of the few exceptions. I prepped myself months before by watching Romanek's earlier film "One Hour Photo" and Mulligan's "An Education". Both were excellent which is another reason why you should always walk into a cinema with an open mind. I was mainly disappointed as the film wasn't quite able to convey all the British repressed sensibility that was so ubiquitous in the novel.

The entire movie is in shades of khaki green exuding a kind of solemn feel. The only variation is mainly between the natural greens and the turquoise the latter of which only appears in scenes within the hospitals juxtaposing the natural and artificial. The whole movie is really quite grim as from the very start you come to understand that they will all die young.

Some of the most beautiful scenes were shot in the English coastal towns. My favourite being Victoria Pier in Clevedon, the scene where Ruth (Keira Knightley) speculates that they are the clones of trash and also where Tommy (Andrew Garfield) piffs a stone into the lapping waves of the ocean in anger. In fact the other coastal scene shot in Holkham Beach with the abandoned boat was the most endearing for me and it was the screenshot I used as my desktop wallpaper for a few weeks.

The sombre mood overall was well captured by cinematographer Adam Kimmel though I have a feeling Mark Romanek played a large part in deciding the palette as the film has quite a similar feel to his previous work "One hour Photo" although I'm probably just comparing the scenes in the photo lab to this movies hospital scenes which had very sterile atmospheres.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of Romanek's work in the future but I hope next time he won't try to adapt such an emotion-heavy book into a 100 minute film.

Memoirs of a Geisha (2005, Spyglass)

Director: Rob Marshall
Cinematographer: Dion Beebe
2006 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design











Watching Memoirs when I was 15 on a tiny tv in the corner of a ski lodge on Mt. Kosciusko was an experience that made me truly appreciate the use of color in a film. When choosing which film to create a color bible for Memoirs was the first to spring to mind. I borrowed the dvd from my university library and watched it a second time this time on my widescreen plasma and was mesmerized by the beauty of the cinematography.


When creating the color palette I found a lot of muted pastel colors were used, perfect for old Japan and for telling a story about a faded past. This was occassionally interjected with scenes of sharp contrast between light and dark and bright colors such as the scene of Sayuri's snow dance and when she is introduced to the American colonel after the Japanese surrender. The standout items in the movie were definitely the array of colorful kimono designed by the costume department which were inspired by the kimono patterns they found in Kyoto. Each female character is given a kimono style.style of kimono. Hatsumomo's for example is reminiscent of a glamorous Parisian runway model's style with loud patterns and bright colors. Sayuri's is more muted to complement her grey eyes and in line with the ongoing theme of her coming from a fishing village.


The other standout is the set design. The town (hanamachi) was constructed entirely in California. In the second scene it is nighttime when all the lanterns are on and the rain falls creating pockets of orange light which reflect off the wet cedar of the buildings in the narrow laneways, the effect is stunning. As the set was located outdoors lighting was controlled by large canvases which spanned the length of the set acting as cloud cover for the harsh Californian sun.

Finally I just wanted to mention that the cinematographer, Dion Beebe is Australian. Am I proud? Yes.

The color of the motion picture.

Have you ever watched a movie in the afternoon and come outside to realise that whilst you were lost in a story time had passed and night had arrived. Movies have the ability to transport a viewer to another place and this is all achieved through excellence in many areas including directing, acting or simply, a good story told well.

The color of the motion picture is dictated by concept artists and the cinematographer/s and they determine the look and feel of a film visually. They are in charge of the camera and lighting crews and work in conjuction with a director to make a movie look right in accordance with the atmosphere required in the scene.


This blog showcases some of the most visually arresting movies' color bibles and highlights just how beautiful movies can be when viewed in pictures.
At the bottom are custom color palettes that were inspired by the film which can be an excellent resource for those in the illustration fields and beyond.