I've spent a wee while on it, and I like it! Also included is a tumblr to fully chronicle the production work (which can be found under the Blog tab).
http://bentrangmar.wix.com/bentrangmarmedia
Saturday 9 November 2013
Friday 18 October 2013
Legend of the Seeker
If someone compiled every fantasy cliché ever, threw it into a cauldron, added some cheesy acting, terrible special effects, 300-style slow-mo in the action sequences then some horrible editing for some extra flavour, the bubbling and putrid mess that resulted would be Legend of the Seeker, an ABC drama from 2008 based off of some books from a while back which nobody cared about enough to put too much effort into when making the adaptation.
I've been on a binge-watching spree of the series and it's safe to say that despite all its flaws it certainly isn't a bad show - it has some reasonably high production value which gives it some much-needed flair, as otherwise it'd be too clichéd and boring to watch through. But this remains the biggest merit that exists in the show.
The camera is never not moving. I think that I found one shot in the entire of the first 2 episodes that remained stationary and it was less than half a second long. Even the shot-reverse-shots where characters talk are so shaky you could think that an earthquake is happening - it's worse than JJ Abrams with his lens flares.
And the acting gets worse and worse each episode. Episode 1 wasn't too bad, although the old man character Zed is completely wooden, which works when he's unconscious for a small period, but otherwise it looks bad. The main character Richard is at least well-acted, but the supporting cast lets him down entirely. Yet some of the characters don't have their priorities as straight as they probably should be - the token black character seems to believe that his daughter is more important than saving the world.
The fight sequences highlight most of the other problems. The special effects look horribly outdated even for 2008 and when you can see a green outline around the characters as they fight, not to mention fire not lighting up one of the character's faces, it's obvious that not much work was put into this.
I've been on a binge-watching spree of the series and it's safe to say that despite all its flaws it certainly isn't a bad show - it has some reasonably high production value which gives it some much-needed flair, as otherwise it'd be too clichéd and boring to watch through. But this remains the biggest merit that exists in the show.
The camera is never not moving. I think that I found one shot in the entire of the first 2 episodes that remained stationary and it was less than half a second long. Even the shot-reverse-shots where characters talk are so shaky you could think that an earthquake is happening - it's worse than JJ Abrams with his lens flares.
And the acting gets worse and worse each episode. Episode 1 wasn't too bad, although the old man character Zed is completely wooden, which works when he's unconscious for a small period, but otherwise it looks bad. The main character Richard is at least well-acted, but the supporting cast lets him down entirely. Yet some of the characters don't have their priorities as straight as they probably should be - the token black character seems to believe that his daughter is more important than saving the world.
The fight sequences highlight most of the other problems. The special effects look horribly outdated even for 2008 and when you can see a green outline around the characters as they fight, not to mention fire not lighting up one of the character's faces, it's obvious that not much work was put into this.
And in all of the fight sequences there is unneccessary zooming and slow-motion in the vein of 300's famous battle scenes all of which accomplish nothing except to drag on the fight to excessively long periods of time. In fact I found myself getting bored at the end of the fight sequence in the second episode - then Zed makes a comment about being the mythical Seeker not having "an instruction manual".
Then I stopped watching the show, and waited until I calmed down, then watched it again.
Then I stopped watching the show again, because of a wanted poster with a photographic print of Richard on it.
Then I watched it again, and managed to keep watching it for one whole episode before the editing of one sequence made me so confused that I had to stop to understand what was going on. Instead of a normal sound bridge from one sequence to another where the evil villain is talking, the camera cuts mid-concersation and while the audio is still playing, it shows Richard, then cuts to a soldier who is in a completely different location, then to the female lead, then to Richard - all the while the villain is talking. It was confusing and didn't work.
But as I've said above the production value and design are very high-standard, with a sequence in a cave in the third episode really standing out with a well-constructed creepy atmosphere BUT STILL SHAKY CAMERA.
Legends of the Seeker is bad, but not awful. Looking past its flaws, I can enjoy it enough to watch on, but the bad writing, special effects and acting could easily deter some.
Thursday 10 October 2013
Why Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM is so good
Because of the broken lead I won't be able to update with the pictures for now, but I'll hopefully be able to do so quite soon. Instead, I decided to jump onto a show I've mentioned a couple of times before - Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM - and consider why it's one of the best kids' TV programs I've seen.
The episode I'll focus on is "Ultra Sonic", considered to be one of the best episodes. The brief story of the episode is that Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, in the middle of an over-arching battle against the industrializing Robotnik, sneak into the Robotnik-controlled city of Robotropolis. Their mission is to decipher the Robotisizer, a machine which turns animals into slave robots, so that thy can build a de-robotisizer. When there, Sonic and his close friend and heir to the throne of the planet Sally bump into Sonic's robotisized Uncle Chuck - the man who acted as Sonic's father during his youth. With the help of a Power Ring, an invention made by Chuck, Sonic and Sally are able to restore Chuck's conscience and they work together to stop Robotnik from harvesting an immense underground power source. Once they have done so, however, Chuck loses control and becomes a mindless slave under Robotnik's power again - meaning Sonic has to leave him behind.
Even the synopsis shows that the show is taking itself seriously. The relationship between Sonic and Chuck is the complete opposite of superficial and unneccesary, neither does it feel like it was thrown in to add some extra drama - the scene where Sonic has to leave his Uncle behind is very well-handled and Jaleel White's normally annoying voice acting has really stepped up from the horrific Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, giving Sonic (who is typically a headstrong, arrogant superhero) a down-to-earth characterisation that other shows never bothered with.
Maybe one of the reasons that the show was aired is because of a similar theme in the pilot episode. Despite being much weaker in terms of quality, there is a mention to the robotisized Uncle Chuck and Sonic and Chuck's dog Muttski (all the protagonists are animals but they have domesticated animal pets? Bit weird). Muttski is encountered during a raid in Robotropolis and Sonic is almost driven to tears because of it - the emotional aspect of this war is heavily shown throughout the series and despite the main characters' optimism Robotnik always has another way to get back at them.
But a brilliant relationship always on display in the entire series is that between Robotnik and his nephew/'assistant', Snively. Robotnik has some of the most intimidating voice acting in the entirety of children's TV ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUa8DLg1TCE ... 3:07 is a particularly brilliant moment) and is massively obese, whereas Snively is a sniveling coward who is short in stature and always stuttering his words. It's not the most in-depth relationship until the second series where Snively begins to insult Robotnik under his breath every time he's given an order, but either way the relationship is presented in a darkly comic way (7:10 in the video above is my favourite moment in the entire series) which gives both characters a similar sense of evil despite their radical differences.
Something that always stood out to me as fantastic is the backgrounds of each individual shot. Excepting the pilot and the occasional one here or there each shot has a unique and beautifully drawn background with a huge attention to detail. This episode in particular has some very good examples of this, such as the shot revealing the underground power source (an enormous crystal, but oil is normally used) or the various extreme-long shots of Robotropolis.
Sonic and Sally are the main characters and appear in every episode but the supporting cast have more vibrant personalities - the other three supporting characters in this episode are: Bunnie Rabbot, a partially-robotisized rabbit girl with a southern US accent who does the heavy lifting and beating up; Rotor, a nerdy walrus mechanic who builds most of the inventions for the Freedom Fighters; and my favourite Antoine D'Coolette, an ignorant and self-idolizing French Canadian coyote with a stupidly over-the-top accent and over-stereotyped behaviour. Antoine is the most cowardly of the lot (which could be seen as offensive to French people as some stereotypes see the French as people who run from fights) and his English is hilariously broken, leading Rotor to correct him often. "Gringo!" he says once after watching Sally and Rotor do all the work, which leads to Rotor rolling his eyes and saying "Not Gringo, Antoine, BINGO." Of course, Antoine simply says, "Yes, that is what I am saying," which almost becomes a catchphrase of his.
The supporting characters may not be as serious as Sonic or Sally but without them the show wouldn't be able to hit the perfect balance of comedy and drama. One of the least entertaining episodes, "Warp Sonic", is all drama and no comedy - even Sonic's uncle in this episode makes jokes with him even after he's just regained conciousness: "Still good-looking and always cooking, eh?", referring to Sonic's annoying love of chili dogs.
In fact, one of the show's very few faults is such a minor thing that it could be passed off almost entirely, and that is the running gag of Sonic's chili dog love. The only reason that this is on here is because the terrible Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog constantly referred to it and now chili dogs have been burnt into my brain as a mark of evil. At one point, Sonic even prioritises chili dogs over the mission he's on occasionally - which leads to the death/robotisization of two allies.
Death is a constant threat being faced by the Freedom Fighters. In many episodes Robotnik builds machines that serve to kill or entrap animals - one of the darkest lines Robotnik has is when he interrogates a captured Freedom Fighter.
"I have machines of all kinds, marvelous machines. They can do things you would not believe."
This is the point during the first episode I watched that I sat forward and began to pay attention - I genuinely thought that I had misheard the show so I re-wound it and played it again to the same result. 'Torture?' I thought. 'No way.' At the end of the episode, Sonic returns to Robotropolis quickly to rescue the captured Freedom Fighter and rescue him, but the cell he was kept it in empty - there is no sign that he was ever returned to the cell after the meeting with Robotnik and his 'machines'.
The terrifying influence that Robotnik's prescence has on the Freedom Fighters' lives is more than physical. In an episode that otherwise contains no allusion to Robotnik at all (the episode is about the private lives of the Freedom Fighters and how powerless they are to weather and circumstance) Sonic has a nightmare about Robotnik, leading him to trash Antoine's hut, driving Antoine literally insane as he is normally a clean freak.
The series had two seasons and the second season is filled with very small references to an unknown project called "The Doomsday Project". The season also is about Sonic and Sally teaming up with other Freedom Fighter groups which she gets told about by her essentially dead father, the King of Mobius, for a final assault on Robotropolis to end Robotnik's reign once and for all. The build-up to the final two episodes is enormous, and they do not disappoint - Spyhog is the tale of Uncle Chuck, now able to control his robotic body, being discovered as a spy by Robotnik and revealing the location of the Freedom Fighter's hideout (which also includes a scene where Snively tortures Antoine by making Escargots (or snails) with margarine instead of butter). Pressured by time but scared of failure, the Freedom Fighters deliberate too long and The Doomsday Project begins in the following episode, which leads to the hideout being destroyed and the Freedom Fighters being forced to assault despite not being prepared. It is implied that many lives are lost in the ensuing battle and Sonic and Sally have to use a last resort in the Deep Power Stones, two incredibly powerful sources of energy, to destroy The Doomsday Project, and with it, Robotnik, in an amazing sequence with jump cuts, video distortion and frantic audio giving the impression that Robotnik has definitely been finished.
But with The Doomsday Project's destruction, the entirety of Robotropolis is destroyed also. Every robotisized animal that existed there is presumed dead - something that was supposed to be lamented on later. But before the end credits roll a mysterious capsule appears in the wreckage of Robotropolis, and out climbs Snively. He relishes in Robotnik's death and swears revenge on Sonic for killing him messily, leaving him to clean up Robotropolis and restore it. "But this time... I'm not alone!" he exclaims hysterically, and two Sonic-like red eyes appear in the darkness of the capsule.
Then the series was cancelled and never seen again. One of the writers for the series claimed that the third series was going to feature a character from the comics that was never shown, but apparently the show was cancelled because the third season's writing was "too dark and depressing" with a large focus on the lives lost in the Battle of Doomsday.
The episode I'll focus on is "Ultra Sonic", considered to be one of the best episodes. The brief story of the episode is that Sonic and the Freedom Fighters, in the middle of an over-arching battle against the industrializing Robotnik, sneak into the Robotnik-controlled city of Robotropolis. Their mission is to decipher the Robotisizer, a machine which turns animals into slave robots, so that thy can build a de-robotisizer. When there, Sonic and his close friend and heir to the throne of the planet Sally bump into Sonic's robotisized Uncle Chuck - the man who acted as Sonic's father during his youth. With the help of a Power Ring, an invention made by Chuck, Sonic and Sally are able to restore Chuck's conscience and they work together to stop Robotnik from harvesting an immense underground power source. Once they have done so, however, Chuck loses control and becomes a mindless slave under Robotnik's power again - meaning Sonic has to leave him behind.
Even the synopsis shows that the show is taking itself seriously. The relationship between Sonic and Chuck is the complete opposite of superficial and unneccesary, neither does it feel like it was thrown in to add some extra drama - the scene where Sonic has to leave his Uncle behind is very well-handled and Jaleel White's normally annoying voice acting has really stepped up from the horrific Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, giving Sonic (who is typically a headstrong, arrogant superhero) a down-to-earth characterisation that other shows never bothered with.
Maybe one of the reasons that the show was aired is because of a similar theme in the pilot episode. Despite being much weaker in terms of quality, there is a mention to the robotisized Uncle Chuck and Sonic and Chuck's dog Muttski (all the protagonists are animals but they have domesticated animal pets? Bit weird). Muttski is encountered during a raid in Robotropolis and Sonic is almost driven to tears because of it - the emotional aspect of this war is heavily shown throughout the series and despite the main characters' optimism Robotnik always has another way to get back at them.
But a brilliant relationship always on display in the entire series is that between Robotnik and his nephew/'assistant', Snively. Robotnik has some of the most intimidating voice acting in the entirety of children's TV ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUa8DLg1TCE ... 3:07 is a particularly brilliant moment) and is massively obese, whereas Snively is a sniveling coward who is short in stature and always stuttering his words. It's not the most in-depth relationship until the second series where Snively begins to insult Robotnik under his breath every time he's given an order, but either way the relationship is presented in a darkly comic way (7:10 in the video above is my favourite moment in the entire series) which gives both characters a similar sense of evil despite their radical differences.
Something that always stood out to me as fantastic is the backgrounds of each individual shot. Excepting the pilot and the occasional one here or there each shot has a unique and beautifully drawn background with a huge attention to detail. This episode in particular has some very good examples of this, such as the shot revealing the underground power source (an enormous crystal, but oil is normally used) or the various extreme-long shots of Robotropolis.
Sonic and Sally are the main characters and appear in every episode but the supporting cast have more vibrant personalities - the other three supporting characters in this episode are: Bunnie Rabbot, a partially-robotisized rabbit girl with a southern US accent who does the heavy lifting and beating up; Rotor, a nerdy walrus mechanic who builds most of the inventions for the Freedom Fighters; and my favourite Antoine D'Coolette, an ignorant and self-idolizing French Canadian coyote with a stupidly over-the-top accent and over-stereotyped behaviour. Antoine is the most cowardly of the lot (which could be seen as offensive to French people as some stereotypes see the French as people who run from fights) and his English is hilariously broken, leading Rotor to correct him often. "Gringo!" he says once after watching Sally and Rotor do all the work, which leads to Rotor rolling his eyes and saying "Not Gringo, Antoine, BINGO." Of course, Antoine simply says, "Yes, that is what I am saying," which almost becomes a catchphrase of his.
The supporting characters may not be as serious as Sonic or Sally but without them the show wouldn't be able to hit the perfect balance of comedy and drama. One of the least entertaining episodes, "Warp Sonic", is all drama and no comedy - even Sonic's uncle in this episode makes jokes with him even after he's just regained conciousness: "Still good-looking and always cooking, eh?", referring to Sonic's annoying love of chili dogs.
In fact, one of the show's very few faults is such a minor thing that it could be passed off almost entirely, and that is the running gag of Sonic's chili dog love. The only reason that this is on here is because the terrible Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog constantly referred to it and now chili dogs have been burnt into my brain as a mark of evil. At one point, Sonic even prioritises chili dogs over the mission he's on occasionally - which leads to the death/robotisization of two allies.
Death is a constant threat being faced by the Freedom Fighters. In many episodes Robotnik builds machines that serve to kill or entrap animals - one of the darkest lines Robotnik has is when he interrogates a captured Freedom Fighter.
"I have machines of all kinds, marvelous machines. They can do things you would not believe."
This is the point during the first episode I watched that I sat forward and began to pay attention - I genuinely thought that I had misheard the show so I re-wound it and played it again to the same result. 'Torture?' I thought. 'No way.' At the end of the episode, Sonic returns to Robotropolis quickly to rescue the captured Freedom Fighter and rescue him, but the cell he was kept it in empty - there is no sign that he was ever returned to the cell after the meeting with Robotnik and his 'machines'.
The terrifying influence that Robotnik's prescence has on the Freedom Fighters' lives is more than physical. In an episode that otherwise contains no allusion to Robotnik at all (the episode is about the private lives of the Freedom Fighters and how powerless they are to weather and circumstance) Sonic has a nightmare about Robotnik, leading him to trash Antoine's hut, driving Antoine literally insane as he is normally a clean freak.
The series had two seasons and the second season is filled with very small references to an unknown project called "The Doomsday Project". The season also is about Sonic and Sally teaming up with other Freedom Fighter groups which she gets told about by her essentially dead father, the King of Mobius, for a final assault on Robotropolis to end Robotnik's reign once and for all. The build-up to the final two episodes is enormous, and they do not disappoint - Spyhog is the tale of Uncle Chuck, now able to control his robotic body, being discovered as a spy by Robotnik and revealing the location of the Freedom Fighter's hideout (which also includes a scene where Snively tortures Antoine by making Escargots (or snails) with margarine instead of butter). Pressured by time but scared of failure, the Freedom Fighters deliberate too long and The Doomsday Project begins in the following episode, which leads to the hideout being destroyed and the Freedom Fighters being forced to assault despite not being prepared. It is implied that many lives are lost in the ensuing battle and Sonic and Sally have to use a last resort in the Deep Power Stones, two incredibly powerful sources of energy, to destroy The Doomsday Project, and with it, Robotnik, in an amazing sequence with jump cuts, video distortion and frantic audio giving the impression that Robotnik has definitely been finished.
But with The Doomsday Project's destruction, the entirety of Robotropolis is destroyed also. Every robotisized animal that existed there is presumed dead - something that was supposed to be lamented on later. But before the end credits roll a mysterious capsule appears in the wreckage of Robotropolis, and out climbs Snively. He relishes in Robotnik's death and swears revenge on Sonic for killing him messily, leaving him to clean up Robotropolis and restore it. "But this time... I'm not alone!" he exclaims hysterically, and two Sonic-like red eyes appear in the darkness of the capsule.
Then the series was cancelled and never seen again. One of the writers for the series claimed that the third series was going to feature a character from the comics that was never shown, but apparently the show was cancelled because the third season's writing was "too dark and depressing" with a large focus on the lives lost in the Battle of Doomsday.
There's no doubt that Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM was quite more adult than other children's shows at the time and it had something rather unique in the fact that it was a drama in a time where comedy was ruling the children's market with Ren and Stimpy and later Spongebob dominating the scene - but shows like Avatar: The Legend of Aang may even have drawn inspirations from this show with its memorable set of characters but deep and intruiging themes which to this day are still shunned for children's TV. Sonic Underground was the spiritual successor to Sonic SatAM and it captured some nicely dark moments in it but it tried too hard to be 'cool' and 'down with the kids' with increasingly awful songs each episode (each with the most vomit-inducing music videos ever) so it flopped.
Will there ever be a real heir to the throne of Sonic SatAM? Possibly - but it's unlikely. Avatar's sequel series The Legend of Korra has been unsuccessful in capturing the essence of The Legend of Aang, and Sonic's last attempt at a TV show was the Sonic X show based on the Sonic Adventure games on the Dreamcast. While the show wasn't bad, it wasn't good either and was very different to the three Sonic series that preceded it, similar to how the Sonic Adventure games were a radical change from the side-scrolling platforming seen in previous games.
Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM is a fantastic show with a nice variety of well-acted characters (as racist as they might seem) and well-thought-out storylines that not only engage the viewer but also invites them to think - a rarity in children's TV. If I was going to recommend a kid's TV show that wasn't Avatar or Tom & Jerry this would be it. I love this show and there needs to be a third season.
Wednesday 9 October 2013
A DELAYED UPDATE
My new blog post was intended to involve some of the preliminary research and photos from the early stages of production of my new short film "We Are Free", but because the USB lead for my iPod has broken I have not been able to do the planned update - therefore I shall update instead this evening.
Monday 30 September 2013
Are companies targeting children's TV with "mega-adverts"?
I’ll admit that a guilty pleasure of mine is to go on Netflix and watch some of the worst movies and tv shows that I can find. Direct-to-DVD films like Arena provide little entertainment value but they do allow me to see the merits of better films much clearer. When it comes to TV shows, however, it’s sometimes difficult to find bad ones unless you look in the children’s section.
I wanted to find something that I couldn’t watch the whole of, and there were plenty of opportunities – but something that I noticed with almost every one of the selections was that they were all based around a toy or game. There was other ones like Spongebob which was original when it came out, but the LEGO Ninjago and Beyblade shows raised a bit more suspicion. I watched a few episodes from both of these shows, as well as the Super Mario Bros. Super Show (which I never remember being so awful) and it’s safe to say that these are just overblown ads, or as I'll refer to them, "mega-adverts".
What’s even funnier is that these were both very successful. The LEGO series has a third season in production as well as a feature-length film, and the Beyblade series ran for 3 seasons before dying out, then being revived over the past two years. The subliminal messaging in Beyblade is also laid on very thick – characters saying “Wow, I’d sure love to get my hands on THAT beyblade!” at least once or twice an episode, and even a sequence in which an announcer points into the ‘camera’ to address a large stadium and shouts something along the lines of “and YOU could be here too with your own beyblade!” .
As I scrolled through the other TV shows on offer, I only found more and more reasons to believe that companies are choosing children as the easiest way to get tons of money. Adverts during breaks in programs normally are only shown once every 15 or so minutes. By the time the children see the advert again, their attention span would have lapsed enough to forget it or ignore it. By making the entire program an advert the childrens’ attention will be entirely on the show – I remember always ignoring the adverts when watching some Tom and Jerry.
Unlike Beyblade, however, the Ninjago series has a running storyline which spans the entirety of 13 episodes and cleverly finishes on cliffhangers each time – to make sure they see how the story ends, children will tune in each week. And the fact that this happens means that children will be discussing the week’s episode at school, similar to how I remember always discussing the week’s Doctor Who or how the girls would talk about X Factor or I’m A Celebrity. This only reinforces their need to watch the next episode and their love of the show overall – and should a company put an advert for their product during the advert break for the show of that product, then children will notice it, go “Oh look, it’s Beyblade!” and pester their parents until they buy £50’s worth of toys which they can play with while the show is on.
But is it wrong to exploit children in this way? I believe not. In watching some of the shows, I admit that I actually enjoyed the LEGO show, as clichéd and simple as it was. The Beyblade show and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show were idiotic and rubbish (although the latter had the wrestler Lou Albano playing Mario, which was hilarious), but as I stated in my The Last Airbender ‘appreciation’ I absolutely love the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM show (which is actually advertising a comic series rather than the games) for its excellent characters and surprisingly deep and emotional plot with themes of death and challenging the definition of freedom.
I think that these “mega-adverts” are the future of children’s broadcasting – it’s the most sensible option for making large profits, but with a rising crowd of decent-quality mega-adverts it’s possible that originality could overtake them at some point. Even if this doesn’t happen, mega-adverts have, in essence, no power – it’s up to the parent what the child does or doesn’t get, so unless adults get hooked on the shows there shouldn’t be much of a problem here.
But then comes the bronies...
I wanted to find something that I couldn’t watch the whole of, and there were plenty of opportunities – but something that I noticed with almost every one of the selections was that they were all based around a toy or game. There was other ones like Spongebob which was original when it came out, but the LEGO Ninjago and Beyblade shows raised a bit more suspicion. I watched a few episodes from both of these shows, as well as the Super Mario Bros. Super Show (which I never remember being so awful) and it’s safe to say that these are just overblown ads, or as I'll refer to them, "mega-adverts".
What’s even funnier is that these were both very successful. The LEGO series has a third season in production as well as a feature-length film, and the Beyblade series ran for 3 seasons before dying out, then being revived over the past two years. The subliminal messaging in Beyblade is also laid on very thick – characters saying “Wow, I’d sure love to get my hands on THAT beyblade!” at least once or twice an episode, and even a sequence in which an announcer points into the ‘camera’ to address a large stadium and shouts something along the lines of “and YOU could be here too with your own beyblade!” .
As I scrolled through the other TV shows on offer, I only found more and more reasons to believe that companies are choosing children as the easiest way to get tons of money. Adverts during breaks in programs normally are only shown once every 15 or so minutes. By the time the children see the advert again, their attention span would have lapsed enough to forget it or ignore it. By making the entire program an advert the childrens’ attention will be entirely on the show – I remember always ignoring the adverts when watching some Tom and Jerry.
Unlike Beyblade, however, the Ninjago series has a running storyline which spans the entirety of 13 episodes and cleverly finishes on cliffhangers each time – to make sure they see how the story ends, children will tune in each week. And the fact that this happens means that children will be discussing the week’s episode at school, similar to how I remember always discussing the week’s Doctor Who or how the girls would talk about X Factor or I’m A Celebrity. This only reinforces their need to watch the next episode and their love of the show overall – and should a company put an advert for their product during the advert break for the show of that product, then children will notice it, go “Oh look, it’s Beyblade!” and pester their parents until they buy £50’s worth of toys which they can play with while the show is on.
But is it wrong to exploit children in this way? I believe not. In watching some of the shows, I admit that I actually enjoyed the LEGO show, as clichéd and simple as it was. The Beyblade show and The Super Mario Bros. Super Show were idiotic and rubbish (although the latter had the wrestler Lou Albano playing Mario, which was hilarious), but as I stated in my The Last Airbender ‘appreciation’ I absolutely love the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM show (which is actually advertising a comic series rather than the games) for its excellent characters and surprisingly deep and emotional plot with themes of death and challenging the definition of freedom.
I think that these “mega-adverts” are the future of children’s broadcasting – it’s the most sensible option for making large profits, but with a rising crowd of decent-quality mega-adverts it’s possible that originality could overtake them at some point. Even if this doesn’t happen, mega-adverts have, in essence, no power – it’s up to the parent what the child does or doesn’t get, so unless adults get hooked on the shows there shouldn’t be much of a problem here.
But then comes the bronies...
Thursday 26 September 2013
The Cat in the Hat
When I was in my mum’s womb, my mum played Dr. Seuss audiobook tapes into her belly to stop me kicking. Because of this, I know One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Fox in Socks and Green Eggs in Ham almost off by heart. Growing up, I was consistently read these books as well but my least favourite of these was The Cat in the Hat – mostly because my mum named me Thing 1 and my sister Thing 2.
I loved the film adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, even if the Whos’ noses creeped me out. So, when I heard there was a The Cat in the Hat movie being made, I begged my mum to let me go (I was 7). It turns out that there were 2 The Cat in the Hat movies: one of them was a hand-drawn animated TV show which I never saw, but the one that haunted my young nightmares was the 2003 live-action adaptation with Mike Myers, Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin. I revisited this movie yesterday and found that it hasn’t lost any of its horror.
The world of the film is very colourful and lively, which appeals a lot to younger audiences, but very early on into the film the boss (‘Hank Humberfloom’) of the children’s mother (‘Joan’) literally screams in Joan’s face, which doesn’t fit into a children’s film at all – one would expect more of a lighthearted tone so early on in the film.
Joan has to leave her kids (Fanning and Breslin) with a terrible babysitter who makes them watch political television (in a kid’s film?) so when the children dispose of her The Cat (Mike Myers) appears at their door. Myers’ ability to make fun of himself infinitely is a point in favour of the movie but when he sees a picture hidden from the view of the audience and his hat springs up erect, I couldn’t help but think “In a kid’s film?”
The Fish was another character which I absolutely despised. In the book, I didn’t mind him, but the film’s CGI render of him frightened me hugely. His buggy eyes and lack of a nose meant that I never watched the film again (until yesterday). In fact, his design overall wasn’t appealing to children in the slightest nor was it representative of his character – in the book the Fish was plain and boring in conjunction with his ideas to stop the Cat’s lunacy. In the film it looks like the designers wanted to make a ‘cute’ Fish but it didn’t work – he only looked creepy.
The movie only gets worse from thebeginning. Thing 1 and Thing 2 just looked like blue-haired midgets and nothing more, there was a scene involving PARIS HILTON where the Cat takes the children through an underground club playing loud rock music (in a kids’ film?), and when complete chaos is released onto the world, there’s a short sequence where the Cat and the children are sliding down a slide when the action suddenly stops, the Cat turns to the camera, holds up a leaflet for Universal Studios (a theme park in Orlando, Florida) and says that there’s a Cat in the Hat ride that children can go on there. Mike pulls one of his trademark cheeky grins seen in the likes of Austin Powers, then the action un-pauses and continues.
It’s quite literally the most blatant and cheap form of advertising I’ve ever seen in a movie – and I thought Transformers was bad! I can’t begin to desicribe how utterly shocked I was when I saw this scene. I can perfectly well understand making a movie and maybe subliminally putting some adverts on a billboard which someone drives past – something which doesn’t stop the action – but pausing the action, confusing the viewers, then just shoving this advert down their throat is almost inexcusable.
Come to think of it, there are plenty of ‘pulp fiction’ (not the excellent movie, the literary term) movies and TV shows that rely on blatant advertising to make profits. In fact, lots of TV shows – especially kids’ shows – ARE just huge adverts. Take the recent Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated show that ran on Cartoon Network – or maybe the LEGO shows which have been running recently – or for girls, the My Little Pony or Care Bears shows. Compared to some old Nickelodeon shows like Ren and Stimpy or Hey Arnold! or The Wild Thornberries...
Even shows for adults could be seen as giant adverts. One that springs to mind is Game of Thrones, which just begs people to buy the books to read on and find out more with the year-long gaps between seasons. And hilariously, the enormous The Walking Dead has action figures despite being aimed at adults – in an adult’s show?
Is everything nowadays an easy way to get money?
I loved the film adaptation of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, even if the Whos’ noses creeped me out. So, when I heard there was a The Cat in the Hat movie being made, I begged my mum to let me go (I was 7). It turns out that there were 2 The Cat in the Hat movies: one of them was a hand-drawn animated TV show which I never saw, but the one that haunted my young nightmares was the 2003 live-action adaptation with Mike Myers, Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin. I revisited this movie yesterday and found that it hasn’t lost any of its horror.
The world of the film is very colourful and lively, which appeals a lot to younger audiences, but very early on into the film the boss (‘Hank Humberfloom’) of the children’s mother (‘Joan’) literally screams in Joan’s face, which doesn’t fit into a children’s film at all – one would expect more of a lighthearted tone so early on in the film.
Joan has to leave her kids (Fanning and Breslin) with a terrible babysitter who makes them watch political television (in a kid’s film?) so when the children dispose of her The Cat (Mike Myers) appears at their door. Myers’ ability to make fun of himself infinitely is a point in favour of the movie but when he sees a picture hidden from the view of the audience and his hat springs up erect, I couldn’t help but think “In a kid’s film?”
The Fish was another character which I absolutely despised. In the book, I didn’t mind him, but the film’s CGI render of him frightened me hugely. His buggy eyes and lack of a nose meant that I never watched the film again (until yesterday). In fact, his design overall wasn’t appealing to children in the slightest nor was it representative of his character – in the book the Fish was plain and boring in conjunction with his ideas to stop the Cat’s lunacy. In the film it looks like the designers wanted to make a ‘cute’ Fish but it didn’t work – he only looked creepy.
The movie only gets worse from thebeginning. Thing 1 and Thing 2 just looked like blue-haired midgets and nothing more, there was a scene involving PARIS HILTON where the Cat takes the children through an underground club playing loud rock music (in a kids’ film?), and when complete chaos is released onto the world, there’s a short sequence where the Cat and the children are sliding down a slide when the action suddenly stops, the Cat turns to the camera, holds up a leaflet for Universal Studios (a theme park in Orlando, Florida) and says that there’s a Cat in the Hat ride that children can go on there. Mike pulls one of his trademark cheeky grins seen in the likes of Austin Powers, then the action un-pauses and continues.
It’s quite literally the most blatant and cheap form of advertising I’ve ever seen in a movie – and I thought Transformers was bad! I can’t begin to desicribe how utterly shocked I was when I saw this scene. I can perfectly well understand making a movie and maybe subliminally putting some adverts on a billboard which someone drives past – something which doesn’t stop the action – but pausing the action, confusing the viewers, then just shoving this advert down their throat is almost inexcusable.
Come to think of it, there are plenty of ‘pulp fiction’ (not the excellent movie, the literary term) movies and TV shows that rely on blatant advertising to make profits. In fact, lots of TV shows – especially kids’ shows – ARE just huge adverts. Take the recent Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated show that ran on Cartoon Network – or maybe the LEGO shows which have been running recently – or for girls, the My Little Pony or Care Bears shows. Compared to some old Nickelodeon shows like Ren and Stimpy or Hey Arnold! or The Wild Thornberries...
Even shows for adults could be seen as giant adverts. One that springs to mind is Game of Thrones, which just begs people to buy the books to read on and find out more with the year-long gaps between seasons. And hilariously, the enormous The Walking Dead has action figures despite being aimed at adults – in an adult’s show?
Is everything nowadays an easy way to get money?
Wednesday 11 September 2013
Avatar - The Last Disappointment
In our Media Studies lesson today Max commented on the heavy use of medium shots in Doctor Who being because 'that's what Hollywood does'.
Then appears a bunch of text explaining the basics of the world of this film with a handy voiceover to make it less of a chore - but already I noticed that it wasn't following the intro like it could have done for a much more concise and interesting way to show this information. After this, the camera fades down from black to reveal the South Pole, the home of a surprising amount of wood considering there are no trees. Oh wait! Those are the actors?
Just two lines in and the actors have already told us too much. Firstly, Sokka, the comic relief character from the show who's always strived to prove to his Dad his maturity, is now not only a brick wall but also has the attitude of one. Sokka is the complete opposite of what he was in the show - in the show, Katara, his sister, drops water on him, leading to him yelling at her in a sarcastic and silly way, but here he stands up, walks over to Katara, grabs her hands, and tells her to 'Stop doing that stuff around me' in what is now the completely characteristic monotone of the comic relief character. Katara, on the other hand, is also the complete opposite of her TV counterpart - she drops water on Sokka in the show and he yells, and she just giggles. Here, she apologizes multiple times almost sounding as if it's out of fear of Sokka. In the show, she's typically represented as an independent and mentally strong young lady who can kick some butt if she feels the need to, including that of her brother, but here she's shown as weak and vulnerable.
Things only go downhill. Now we have more exposition from Katara in the form of a voiceover before they discover Aang on a greenscreen set (the greenscreen is so badly done for a big-budget film like this that you have to wonder what editing software they used - probably Windows Movie Maker). Along with Aang is his Sky Bison, Appa, who in the show is a hugely important character, where his capture leads to one of the most touching side-stories in the entire series. To build up to this immense moment the entirety of Season 1, which this film covers, is spent with Appa in every episode to help the audience get a strong and positive liking of him. And this point brings me onto one of the biggest complaints of the entire movie.
The movie skips out some of the best and most important parts of the first season. The biggest of these is entirely focused on what a lot of people consider is the best episode of the series in The Storm - an episode where Aang and his pursuer/enemy Zuko's backstories are juxtaposed to show viewers how similar they are, which leads up to Aang's rescue from a Fire Nation prison by a mysterious masked figure called the Blue Demon. Although this rescue is shown in the film, not included is one of the best and most important fight sequences in the entire series which involves a spectacular crossing from one prison wall to another using three enormous ladders. In the film, there is a fight sequence, although as I'll talk about these are massively underwhelming. After the pair's escape, the Blue Demon's mask is knocked off, revealing that he is actually Zuko in a classic Shyamalan "what a twist!" moment. Yet the emotional impact is nowhere near as powerful as the show where the astonishing similarities between them had been revealed and the power of their teamwork been accentuated so massively - especially when the show includes a short scene when Zuko awakens to realize that Aang has saved him too and a short reflection by Aang that the two aren't really as different as they make themselves. In the movie, this scene is cut out and Zuko is left in the woods.
The best part about this short sequence where Aang is rescued is the obligatory Shyamalan cameo, and hilariously it's because he's the best actor in the film. Admittedly the actor from Slumdog Millionaire as Zuko was nowhere near as bad as the others but it still felt like he didn't try.
Another sequence that got changed a bit too much is a small part involving an Earth Nation village which has been taken over by Firebenders. Haru is presented as a love interest for Katara which makes Aang jealous, but he helps Haru to rescue his earthbending father who is being held prisoner in a huge metal ship - as far from any earth to bend as possible. Of course, this is in the TV show and the film gives us the typical lack-of-effort approach by not thinking and imprisoning earthbenders in a camp SURROUNDED BY EARTH. Not only was this a weird change but Haru is now a small child, making any potential for romantic thoughts about him quite illegal.
Then it comes to the fight scene where Aang tells all the earthbenders (who, according to Toph, Aang's earthbending teacher in the show, are stubborn and solid like the earth) to stop laying around when there's earth to bend in what might be the most sensible line of dialogue in the movie, aside from the thousand or so lines of exposition that everybody watching the film already knew because they watched the show too. Anyway, the fight begins in quite possibly the funniest synchronised dance routine ever where a large group of benders stomp a bit which makes a medium-sized rock float in the air before another punches it to send it flying at a single soldier. Meanwhile, the firebenders stand around and pick their noses.
Shyamalan spent too much time worrying about how things would work out because the bending in the show had the endless capacity to be fluid because of the animation medium yet the CGI, in places, works out fantastically well - if only it looked authentic. Shyamalan thought that by having huge-scale choreography he would appeal to fans by making the fights look more epic than they already were. Unfortunately this decision was bad and it makes the film's action sequences (of which there are far too little) look more like a bunch of people flailing around and another bunch doing nothing at all.
Going into detail about the rest of the film will do nothing except appear to be the angry rants of a disillusioned fanboy and while it's true that I am by far an Avatar fanboy I am anything but disillusioned about this film and its horrific mutilation of a fantastic show. All that I have left to say about the movie is that its casting director Douglas Aibel needs to have chosen actors which can at least understand the characters they represent instead of just picking people off the street that look vaguely like the characters from the show.
If there was one thing I had to credit this film for, it's that it ended.
What did I learn from this film?
1) Don't give a beloved series to a director on an imdb list called "Please do us all a favour and quit your job"
2) Don't make a TV series into a film - it doesn't work
3) Don't hire actors with no acting experience at all when you have $150 million to spend
4) Don't deviate from the source material if you want to keep fans happy
5) Don't make any more Avatar films please
Not Shyamalan.
Also known as Shyamalamdingdong and 'How do you even say that?', Shyamalan delivered plenty of nightmares in The Sixth Sense, so when I heard he was behind the film adaptation of Avatar: The Legend of Aang I was thoroughly pleased, hoping that his masterfully terrifying understanding of when viewers were least expecting fear would translate well to create a faithful recreation of one of the most beloved cartoons of all time.
Now for a history lesson. When I was very young, around 5 or 6, every Thursday my mum would take me up to my Aunt's house. Every Christmas, she would throw our letters to Santa into the fire then throw some powder in after, turning the fire a brilliant blue colour. But that was not my favourite reason for going to my Aunt's - in fact, it was Tom and Jerry, which she had 6 VHS tapes of. Quickly it became my favourite cartoon and it remains as such today because of the nostalgic value each cartoon gives me. Second place is a draw between the Sonic the Hedgehog SatAM cartoons, a surprisingly dark and at some times disturbing depiction of the battle for control of the planet, and Avatar: The Legend of Aang.
Avatar was a rare breed - a drama for children that had some pretty mature themes in - war, love, and balance, not to mention family - which still succeeded in captivating its audience with each oncoming episode whether they were children or adults: it was a show that it was hard to dislike. The series even had a dubious sense of historical reference with the Fire Nation's attack representing Japan's aggression towards China prior to WWII. And if you were a follower, it was impossible not to lip-sync the series' intro every time.
The series got a sequel in The Legend of Korra, but people still think The Legend of Aang is far superior because of its infinitely loveable characters, the individual episodes being so unique, and of course the epic fight sequences involving fast-paced elemental bending.
Then Shyamalan came along and suggested the idea of a live-action adaptation of the first season with a possibility for a sequel, and nickelodeon wet their pants with anticipation of a reception as large as The Spongebob Movie's. And so did the audiences when they saw the movie's opening sequence - faithful to the original, with the four elements being displayed by four benders in precisely the same way the show presented it. I remember how excited I was to see these four short clips that so accurately followed the show and I couldn't wait for more. Little did I know that this would be the exact opposite I would want to wait for.
Then appears a bunch of text explaining the basics of the world of this film with a handy voiceover to make it less of a chore - but already I noticed that it wasn't following the intro like it could have done for a much more concise and interesting way to show this information. After this, the camera fades down from black to reveal the South Pole, the home of a surprising amount of wood considering there are no trees. Oh wait! Those are the actors?
Just two lines in and the actors have already told us too much. Firstly, Sokka, the comic relief character from the show who's always strived to prove to his Dad his maturity, is now not only a brick wall but also has the attitude of one. Sokka is the complete opposite of what he was in the show - in the show, Katara, his sister, drops water on him, leading to him yelling at her in a sarcastic and silly way, but here he stands up, walks over to Katara, grabs her hands, and tells her to 'Stop doing that stuff around me' in what is now the completely characteristic monotone of the comic relief character. Katara, on the other hand, is also the complete opposite of her TV counterpart - she drops water on Sokka in the show and he yells, and she just giggles. Here, she apologizes multiple times almost sounding as if it's out of fear of Sokka. In the show, she's typically represented as an independent and mentally strong young lady who can kick some butt if she feels the need to, including that of her brother, but here she's shown as weak and vulnerable.
Things only go downhill. Now we have more exposition from Katara in the form of a voiceover before they discover Aang on a greenscreen set (the greenscreen is so badly done for a big-budget film like this that you have to wonder what editing software they used - probably Windows Movie Maker). Along with Aang is his Sky Bison, Appa, who in the show is a hugely important character, where his capture leads to one of the most touching side-stories in the entire series. To build up to this immense moment the entirety of Season 1, which this film covers, is spent with Appa in every episode to help the audience get a strong and positive liking of him. And this point brings me onto one of the biggest complaints of the entire movie.
The movie skips out some of the best and most important parts of the first season. The biggest of these is entirely focused on what a lot of people consider is the best episode of the series in The Storm - an episode where Aang and his pursuer/enemy Zuko's backstories are juxtaposed to show viewers how similar they are, which leads up to Aang's rescue from a Fire Nation prison by a mysterious masked figure called the Blue Demon. Although this rescue is shown in the film, not included is one of the best and most important fight sequences in the entire series which involves a spectacular crossing from one prison wall to another using three enormous ladders. In the film, there is a fight sequence, although as I'll talk about these are massively underwhelming. After the pair's escape, the Blue Demon's mask is knocked off, revealing that he is actually Zuko in a classic Shyamalan "what a twist!" moment. Yet the emotional impact is nowhere near as powerful as the show where the astonishing similarities between them had been revealed and the power of their teamwork been accentuated so massively - especially when the show includes a short scene when Zuko awakens to realize that Aang has saved him too and a short reflection by Aang that the two aren't really as different as they make themselves. In the movie, this scene is cut out and Zuko is left in the woods.
The best part about this short sequence where Aang is rescued is the obligatory Shyamalan cameo, and hilariously it's because he's the best actor in the film. Admittedly the actor from Slumdog Millionaire as Zuko was nowhere near as bad as the others but it still felt like he didn't try.
Another sequence that got changed a bit too much is a small part involving an Earth Nation village which has been taken over by Firebenders. Haru is presented as a love interest for Katara which makes Aang jealous, but he helps Haru to rescue his earthbending father who is being held prisoner in a huge metal ship - as far from any earth to bend as possible. Of course, this is in the TV show and the film gives us the typical lack-of-effort approach by not thinking and imprisoning earthbenders in a camp SURROUNDED BY EARTH. Not only was this a weird change but Haru is now a small child, making any potential for romantic thoughts about him quite illegal.
Then it comes to the fight scene where Aang tells all the earthbenders (who, according to Toph, Aang's earthbending teacher in the show, are stubborn and solid like the earth) to stop laying around when there's earth to bend in what might be the most sensible line of dialogue in the movie, aside from the thousand or so lines of exposition that everybody watching the film already knew because they watched the show too. Anyway, the fight begins in quite possibly the funniest synchronised dance routine ever where a large group of benders stomp a bit which makes a medium-sized rock float in the air before another punches it to send it flying at a single soldier. Meanwhile, the firebenders stand around and pick their noses.
Shyamalan spent too much time worrying about how things would work out because the bending in the show had the endless capacity to be fluid because of the animation medium yet the CGI, in places, works out fantastically well - if only it looked authentic. Shyamalan thought that by having huge-scale choreography he would appeal to fans by making the fights look more epic than they already were. Unfortunately this decision was bad and it makes the film's action sequences (of which there are far too little) look more like a bunch of people flailing around and another bunch doing nothing at all.
Going into detail about the rest of the film will do nothing except appear to be the angry rants of a disillusioned fanboy and while it's true that I am by far an Avatar fanboy I am anything but disillusioned about this film and its horrific mutilation of a fantastic show. All that I have left to say about the movie is that its casting director Douglas Aibel needs to have chosen actors which can at least understand the characters they represent instead of just picking people off the street that look vaguely like the characters from the show.
If there was one thing I had to credit this film for, it's that it ended.
What did I learn from this film?
1) Don't give a beloved series to a director on an imdb list called "Please do us all a favour and quit your job"
2) Don't make a TV series into a film - it doesn't work
3) Don't hire actors with no acting experience at all when you have $150 million to spend
4) Don't deviate from the source material if you want to keep fans happy
5) Don't make any more Avatar films please
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