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rooneywritesbest · 4 years

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Jokes on You: Birds Of Prey Review

Birds Of Prey and The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn feels like a new injection of creativity into a universe of films riddled with a major identity crisis.

The DCEU was once a division and block of movies that were being weaved together to acclimate into a bigger sandbox. However, along the way, the rain of studio interference, and certain fan backlash started to wash out the future of any cohesive foundation.

The discussion of the DCEU is one often plagued with their past, and reception of failure. The feedback split the fabric of viewership between the fans, and critics.

Now with its eighth film out in theaters, and the commercial success of such hits as Aquaman and Shazam being the blueprint going forward.

Birds of Prey follows suit with the census going forward the presence of lower budget solely director based films will be the bread and butter to keep pace in the landscape of shared continuities.

The reason behind the new shift of identity is due to the reception. The film is garnering race reviews and critical acclaim from both branches of the audience. It currently sits at 86% certified fresh on rotten tomatoes.

Hearing the news of positive feedback towards a DC film property. Especially one that felt from its marketing being pitched as a female version of suicide squad is an awesome feeling to have. Due to the honesty, I was scared of this film, but I kept my emotions at bay and went in blind.

An opportunity arose and I had the chance to see Birds Of Prey. When I was driving to the theater the feeling of doubt was still present deep in my mind and another sign that caused my nervous tension to awake was no one was in the theater.

Then it happened the film started, and it was a lot of fun. The story is contained very well, and it’s a blend of Tarantino with the amount of blood, and mutilation of body parts. The action was inspirational of John Wick due to the reshoots being done by JW director Chad Stahelski.

I also forgot to mention that Birds Of Prey is full of heart, and bears resemblance to other films such as Deadpool 1, Guardians Of the Galaxy, and Doom Patrol. The film is a triumph of passion and understanding the love for these characters. Honestly, the way all media should be especially cape flicks at this point.

Moving on the narrative is simplstic but also layered with elements of character spotlights. Many will gripe, and say the “the film sucks or ‘Im done with DC”. My response to that would be everyone is entitled to their opinion.

I always post non-spoiler reviews. So the next portion of this article would be the discussion of the cast and going forward.

First off, Margot Robbie does an amazing portrayal on par with Christopher Reeve Superman. Robbie has officially taken on the role of Quinzel almost like it’s an extension of her personality; Not to mention the growth of Harley was layed out very well in this film. Harley went from being The Joker's "punching bag" to the baddest woman in Gotham.

The jester was finally standing on her two feet and the days of exposition and camera eye candy from Suicide Squad are officially through. It's awesome to chart the timeline of development from one film to another for the longevity of a character unfolding on the silver screen. Hence why Harley's arc in BOP is a prime example of character development.

The supporting cast is very well put together. Jurnee- Smollett Bell plays Black Canary in a new perspective and it feels good to witness a new flavor of creativity on a character that was chained to the small screen on Arrow for the last eight years of cable.

Don’t get me wrong Katie Cassidy, and Juliana Harvaky did an amazing job with the representation of the role of the Canary. It just felt like a breath of air from Bell, and there is no clear favorite because all are worthy of the mantle.

Another highlight was Renee Montoya by Rosie Perez. Perez did well with what she had to play with. Her arc wasn’t too big but at the same it was necessary. Montoya’s story is heavily spoiler-filled.

Huntress was absolutely awesome in this film. Mary- Elizabeth Winstead truly didn't have a lot of screen time, but when she did you could feel the empathy deep down. The tragedy of her past was painted all over her character arc.

The emotion of rage burning away the PTSD in her. I would definitely want a huntress spin-off to further peel back the layers of her troubled arc. Moving on, Winstead did a good job of advancing the plot but also being the grounded element of the fantasy that Harley resides in.

Now for the question, everyone will ask “How is Black Mask”. Black Mask is a character that you can only judge if you see for yourself.

Without diving into dark territory just know one thing Ewan Mcgregor has a lot of fun and is a strong demanding presence absolute scene-stealer.

Another character in this film was the set design and the camera. The presence of the camera is an element of filmmaking that goes unnoticed a lot in these cape films.

However, in Birds Of Prey, that's not the case. The colors are gorgeous and the cinematography gives off alure and spectacle to a Gotham that actually has a vibrant personality hindered by the scum of the criminal underworld.

The one difference between the MCU, and it’s opposition the DCEU. One has a villain problem while another doesn’t and Black Mask in this movie makes that distinction quite clear.

In conclusion Birds Of Prey is a blueprint of finding self-confidence and emancipation fits the narrative well. I'd recommend it DC is definitely branching out with aesthetic absolutely smart choice because they were so fixated on beating marvel and the mouse.

Struggling to find the answer it was right in front of them. The key is by doing these low budget director vision films they can stand on there own.

Remember, Birds Of Prey is a film that will divide many, and push away some. It’s also one that fights the reception with bits of fan-service, funny moments, and an interesting soundtrack. One thing to know is if you want to see something new and not formulaic then give this a check out because if you fall into the latter then the Joke is on you.

If I gave Birds Of Prey a grade a B 8/10 definitely need to see it again

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dickinsonstate · 5 years

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Film festival at DSU encourages community to connect with Spanish and Latin American cultures

“The festival will provide a unique opportunity to view contemporary films from Latin America and Spain,” said Dr. Cheri Robinson, assistant professor of Spanish at DSU. “Many of the films deal with pertinent issues for people of all cultures: dreaming of a better life, overcoming adversity and a search for truth and meaning.”

The scheduled dates for the films are:

Wednesday, Feb. 6, 6 p.m. | Spider Thieves/Niñas Araña – Dir. Guillermo Helo, Chile (2016)

Three teenage girls from a Santiago shanty town set in motion a plan to climb buildings and plunder expensive apartments. All they want is to have all the cool and trendy stuff they see advertised in TV commercials and department stores. Word spreads and soon enough they become the notorious “spider thieves.” Watch the film trailer here:  http://bit.ly/2H5qJdn

Monday, Feb. 11, 6 p.m. | On the Roof/El Techo – Dir. Patricia Ramos, Cuba/Nicaragua (2017)

In this feel-good ensemble dramedy, a flat rooftop in an old Havana neighborhood is the natural habitat for three friends who spend their days and nights dreaming about the future. Yasmani is an amateur pigeon fancier who is too shy to talk to a girl he likes; Victor José has convinced himself of his Sicilian descent and now prefers to go by Vito; Anita is five months pregnant and pretends that she doesn’t care who the father is. In the midst of their boredom, without money and dreaming about success, they decide to set up their own business. The cost of this dream will finally lead them to personal maturity, but with some difficulty. Watch the film trailer here: http://bit.ly/2RIHDm6

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 6 p.m. | Birdboy: The Forgotten Children/Birdboy: Los niños olvidados – Dir. Alberto Vázquez & Pedro Rivero, Spain (2016)

There is light and beauty, even in the darkest of worlds. Stranded on an island in a post-apocalyptic world, teenager Dinky and her friends hatch a dangerous plan to escape in the hope of finding a better life. Meanwhile, Dinky’s old friend Birdboy has shut himself off from the world, pursued by the police and haunted by demon tormentors. But unbeknownst to anyone, he contains a secret inside him that could change the world forever. Based on a graphic novel and short film by co-director Alberto Vázquez and winner of the Goya Award for Best Animated Feature, Birdboy: The Forgotten Children is a darkly comic, beautiful, and haunting tale of coming of age in a world gone to ruin. Watch the film trailer here: http://bit.ly/2VKWDPx

Tuesday, Feb. 19, 6 p.m. | The Queen of Spain/La Reina de España – Dir. Fernando Trueba, Spain (2017)

After enjoying a successful career in Hollywood, Spanish actress Macarena Granada (a luminous Penélope Cruz) returns home to play Queen Isabella in an epic period film that has the local media buzzing. Once in Spain, she runs into former friends and colleagues while the film production goes through a roller coaster of emotional scenarios, including the return of a once-famous director, passionate affairs between crew members, and the hovering presence of Franco’s regime. Oscar®-winning director Fernando Trueba, brings together an all-star cast for a lavish homage to 1950s Spanish cinema. A spirited film-within-a-film, The Queen of Spain is an artful rendering of breathtaking costumes, rich visuals and madcap fun, unpredictably melding Hollywood’s studio system with that of fascist-era Spain. Watch the film trailer here: http://bit.ly/2H9Kv7v

Thursday, Feb. 21, 6 p.m. | The Future Perfect/El Future Perfecto – Dir. Nele Wohlatz, Argentina (2016)

Xiaobin is 17 years old and does not speak a single word of Spanish when she arrives in Argentina. But a few days later, she already has a new name, Beatriz, and a job in a Chinese supermarket. Her family lives in a parallel world in a launderette, far removed from the Argentinians. Xiaobin secretly saves money and enrolls at a language school. She tries out in the street what she learns there. After having learned how to “make appointments,” she arranges to meet a supermarket customer, Vijay. He comes from India, and although they can barely communicate with each other, they start a secret romance. And when she practices the conditional, the form of possibility, Xiaobin starts thinking about the future. What would happen if her parents learned about Vijay? The more she masters the Spanish language, the more she interferes in the scenario. Watch the film trailer here:  http://bit.ly/2RI0KN5

All films will be shown in Beck Auditorium located in DSU’s Klinefelter Hall, and there is no cost to attend.

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

For more information, contact Cheri Robinson at [email protected] or 701-483-2472.

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dweemeister · 6 years

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Pom Poko (1994, Japan)

As one of the co-founders of Studio Ghibli, the late Isao Takahata famously did not know how to animate. Whether because or in spite of that, he became the studio’s philosopher-poet – posing mature questions of ethics and humanity to audiences that no one else working in animated film could accomplish. Takahata’s third film for Ghibli, Pom Poko, breaks the fantasy-reality polarity he shared with Hayao Miyazaki (who just finished 1992′s Porco Rosso and was underway with 1997′s Princess Mononoke).

Yet this is a fantasy striking for its allegorical richness, even if the quasi-documentary, voiceover narration-heavy approach to the story makes this one of Takahata’s weaker films – a weaker film judged within lofty standards, however. The film revolves around a group of tanuki (Japanese raccoon dogs), some of whom can shapeshift, as they combat the ever-encroaching urban and suburban sprawl to their forests. Their tactics are initially successful, but – as consistent with Japanese mythology – their indiscipline, prideful factionalism, and inability to effectively communicate among those growing factions doom the lifestyle they hold dear. Which other director of animated film, past or present, could express those aspects through tanuki, letting them become reflections of the vast tapestry of human behavior? I can think of no one else but Takahata.

It is the late 1960s in the Tama Hills in Kanagawa Prefecture, just southwest of Tokyo. Japan’s post-War economic boom has precipitated into a skyrocketing demand for housing, and the Tama Hills have been designated for significant residential and commercial development. By the early 1990s, New Tama is threatening the tanuki’s forest and resources not provided by human litter and trash are declining. Led by matriarch Oroku, the militaristic Gonta (Takahata’s loving parody of Miyazaki’s dictatorial attitude to work at Ghibli), the wise and wizened elder Seizaemon, and a young up-and-comer named Shoukichi, the tanuki resist the humans by committing sabotage at the construction sites. Some of the leaders advocate for simply scaring or intimidating humans (recall that some tanuki can shapeshift); others are more interested in killing or maiming as many humans as possible. No matter which tactic is adopted, the developers send new and more employees – forcing the tanuki to send a few their own to seek out the advice of master shapeshifters from across Japan.

For older viewers who are creeped out or will not see this film because of its depiction of tanuki testicles, if pure disgust is the only reason why you are discounting Pom Poko from your movie-watching options, you need to be more open-minded in what makes quality cinema. In Japanese art, tanuki have always been shown with their testicles, and often using them in creative ways (as a drum, a backpack, etc.). This is always handled with a wink by Takahata, with no self-seriousness whenever tanuki testicles are being used in transformations.

Pom Poko has been described as an ecological fable within the canon of Ghibli’s pro-environmentalist films like Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), Only Yesterday (1991), and Princess Mononoke. Consumerism and unrestrained capitalism are fundamental to the environmental destruction that occurs, disallowing humans and tanuki from living in harmony as they used to before Japan’s reintroduction to the international theater. But these themes are not fundamental to Pom Poko. The film’s human characters are caricatures, somewhat removed from ever being fully understood by the tanuki. What the tanuki partake in – the ideological divisions that corrode their culture despite a clearly-defined common goal – is the true focus of the film, not the supposed sweeping declarations of how humanity should learn how to coexist with nature. With a story by Miyazaki and the screenplay by Takahata, there are also references to Japanese folklore and culture that will escape almost all Western viewers (including this one), but these never detract from the feelings of cooperation and selflessness, betrayal and disillusionment that define the tanuki struggle against the human developers. Just be prepared to research certain cultural elements that made no sense afterwards.

The tanuki are riven by internal differences that leads to an unorganized response to the human developers’ progress. Central to the quandary is the balance between intimidation, scaring the humans, and violence. Tanuki elders hold mass meetings with the entire populace – due to their species’ tendency to party hard after even the most inconsequential success, their audience seem too distracted to take successive debates and wisdom-laced speeches seriously. There is too little effort to listen to the tanuki leaders and, eventually, master shapeshifters and learn about their disagreements. Such disagreements are embodied in the belligerent Gonta and the peaceful Seizaemon and Oroku. Gonta believes only spectacular violence can alter their apparent fates. He launches unauthorized offensives with the most disgruntled tanuki to obliterate infrastructure and send construction workers to their ghastly ends. Later, Gonta even attempts a failed coup against Seizaemon and Oroku, believing their methodical approach to the situation is leading to their imminent destruction. The violence accomplishes little, as the humans do not understand the root of this ecoterrorism.

Seizaemon and Oroku are more interested in understanding human culture than Gonta, urging transformation-capable tanuki to integrate themselves into among humanity to learn as much as possible. But the transforming tanuki scouts largely observe humanity from a distance, rarely inquiring to humans about the nature of their culture – its history, its contemporary demands, and why its envisioned future is what it is. The first meaningful conversation with a human is initiated by Shoukichi at a moment far too late to salvage the tanuki’s society. When everything else has failed, a fantastical display without words of what was the symbiotic relationship between humans and tanuki will save the latter from extinction. As Seizaemon and Oroku become obsessed in understanding humanity without communicating with humans, they lose sight of the transformations within their own ranks. These two are blindsided by too many things. They fail to anticipate Gonta’s treachery despite obvious signs of his combustible impatience, fail to intuit the widespread inattentiveness of their mass meetings, or – in the most underdeveloped subplot of the film that Takahata should have paid more attention to – fail to detect the fatalism of the non-transforming tanuki that sees them join a suicidal Buddhist dancing cult that results in a massive waste of life.

Pom Poko is a film defined by poor leadership. Their internal discord is preventable and surmountable as the tanuki leaders decide to ignore the welfare of those who cannot transform or those who do not adhere to their adopted strategies. Poor communication is rampant. The rigidity of their beliefs hastens their downfall. Contrary to the expectations of the leadership, the introduction of the shapeshifting masters only exacerbates their dilemma – the masters are basing their approach on ancient anecdotes and an assumption that talking with humans need not be considered. Like in Grave of the Fireflies, pride might be the tragic flaw of the protagonists. But where pride in Grave of the Fireflies leads to the deaths of a pair of siblings, pride is projected onto saving a collective in Pom Poko. When pride presides over a group through its leaders, disaster is destiny.

This is not to say Pom Poko is only a dour piece examining effective leadership. The film is also a broad comedy not above fart jokes, slapstick, and situational humor. One of the funniest, enrapturing moments is thanks to animation directors Megumi Kagawa and Shinji Ôtsuka (both of whom have served in various roles on almost all of Ghibli’s films). Tragicomedy is complicated to execute, and Takahata just about manages the balance here – Pom Poko’s tragedy never interferes with its comedy and its comedy usually does not cheapen the tragedy. Vacillating between the two tones will be jarring for those without grounding in live-action classic Japanese cinema – a bittersweet celebration in the film’s final moments is followed by a closing, ascending shot reminiscent to the final moments of Grave of the Fireflies. There, the tanuki have been forced to assimilate to human culture. Displacement, not just by physical means, abounds. If it is not obvious yet, Pom Poko (the highest-grossing domestic film at the Japanese box office in 1994) should not be considered a gateway Studio Ghibli film and plays better in tandem with live-action Japanese movies.

Behind the scenes, a special relationship that helped Studio Ghibli further cement its place in Japanese popular culture was just beginning. Nippon TV (NTV; a major broadcast network in Japan) chairman Seiichirô Ujiie began to help produce Studio Ghibli films beginning with the studio’s 1993 television special Ocean Waves (a testing ground for Ghibli’s younger staffers; it was released elsewhere as a theatrical film). Pom Poko was the first feature film he co-produced (alongside Ghibli co-founder Toshio Suzuki and Ritsuo Isobe) for the studio, beginning NTV’s long-running association with Studio Ghibli – in Japan, NTV is the exclusive broadcaster of all Ghibli films and is usually the first network to provide breaking news of Studio Ghibli activities. Ujiie was involved in the production and financing of almost every Ghibli film released after Pom Poko – his passing in 2011 made producing new Ghibli feature films much more difficult. Ujiie professed that he was a Takahata fan, once proclaiming that he would fund any of the director’s projects, even if they lost money (such as 2013′s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, in which Ujiie received posthumous credit).

Task any other animation director with Pom Poko, and they would probably deliver a more juvenile, less considered film. Of all Takahata’s films, Pom Poko may be the one work that could only have existed through animation. It is his least intimate Ghibli movie as it adapts an epic war story within a faux documentary structure. On the surface, it seems like Takahata is taking fewer risks than usual because of animation’s necessity here. Look closer and, in the same tradition of Watership Down (1978... though not nearly as serious as this movie), Takahata is sharing ideas seldom depicted in animated or live-action cinema. Pom Poko is not his finest outing nor is he at his most visually inventive. But to compare this with his other films is to compare artworks operating at a mesmerically high standard.

My rating: 8/10

^ Based on my personal imdb rating. My interpretation of that ratings system can be found here.

#Pom Poko #Isao Takahata #Toshio Suzuki #Studio Ghibli #Hayao Miyazaki #Ritsuo Isobe #Seiichiro Ujiie #Megumi Kagawa #Shinji Otsuka #My Movie Odyssey

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Jupiter’s Legacy: Mark Millar on the Genesis of His Superhero Story

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Superheroes have a long history. After flying onto the scene more than eight decades ago, led by Superman, along with fellow octogenarians Batman, Wonder Woman, and Captain America, the pantheon of capes-and-tights characters has expanded to include countless more. And as legendary creators made their mark across decades, the origins and powers of these icons transformed almost as frequently as their costumes.

Meanwhile, the superhero team The Union, from the comic book saga Jupiter’s Legacy, have 90 years of consistent fictional history, with a singular overarching story, envisioned by one man: Mark Millar.

After discovering both Superman and Spider-Man comics the same day, at the age of four in Scotland (where he grew up), the now 51-year-old writer would go on to make a significant impact on the superpowered set. But he wanted his own pantheon.

And with Jupiter’s Legacy, Mark Millar has created a long history of superheroes of his own—now set to be adapted as a Netflix series.

“I wanted to do an epic,” he says. “Like The Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars… the ultimate superhero story.”

Co-created with artist Frank Quitely and published by Image Comics in 2013, Millar calls Jupiter’s Legacy his love letter to superheroes—and part of his own legacy.

The story begins in 1932 with a mysterious island that grants powers to a group of friends who then adopt the costumed monikers The Utopian, Lady Liberty, Brainwave, Skyfox, The Flare, and Blue Bolt. Told on a grand scale with cross-genre influences, the story spans three arcs: the prequel Jupiter’s Circle (with art by Wilfredo Torres), Jupiter’s Legacy, and the upcoming June 16, 2021 release Jupiter’s Legacy: Requiem (featuring art by Tommy Lee Edwards). With the May 7 debut of the Jupiter’s Legacy series on Netflix, the story will now also be told in live action.

Millar established himself in the comics industry in 1993 and crafted successful stories including Superman: Red Son, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, The Ultimates, and Marvel Comics’ Civil War—all of which have inspired adaptations and films, and led to him becoming a creative consultant at Fox Studios on its Marvel projects. His creator-owned titles Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass, and Wanted, have likewise spawned hit movies.

But compared to Jupiter’s Legacy, none of those possessed such massive scope and aspiration as the story that explores the evolving ideologies of superpowered individuals, and how involved they should be when it comes to solving the world’s problems. Relationships are forged—and shattered by betrayal—with startling violence and titanic action sequences (both part of Millar’s signature style).

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“From Superman and the Justice League to Marvel to British comics—inspired by guys like Alan Moore, and so on, I’ve thrown it in there… it’s got a bit of everything,” he says.

That “everything” extends beyond comic books. Millar drew inspiration from King Kong’s Skull Island, and references the cosmic aesthetic of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which informed the “sci-fi stuff.” The writings of horror author H.P. Lovecraft “were a big thing for me,” when it came to The Island, created by aliens, “that existed before humanity, and that these people are drawn out towards where they get their superpowers.” The character Sheldon Sampson/The Utopian is a Clark Kent/Superman type, but his cohort George Hutchence/Skyfox is more than a millionaire playboy stand-in for Bruce Wayne. Rather, Millar based him on British actors from the 1960s—Peter O’Toole, Oliver Reed, Richard Burton, Richard Harris—who were suave rascals.

“I loved the idea of a superhero having a good time, getting on with girls, drinking whisky, smoking lots of cigarettes,” Millar said.

At the risk of sounding “so pretentious,” Millar jokes, he also pulled from Shakespeare. Indeed, the comics are as much a family saga as a superhero one (and written by the much younger brother of six whose parents died before he was 20). Utopian is a father to his own disappointing children, and a father of sorts to all heroes. He is Lear as much as he is Jupiter, the Roman god of gods. The end of his reign approaches, and various factions have their own appetite for power—such as his self-righteous brother who thinks he should be a leader, or Utopian’s son, born into the family business of being a hero, but who could never live up to his father’s expectations, or his daughter who is more interested in fame than heroism.

He views Jupiter’s Legacy as more thoughtful than Kick-Ass, Kingsman, or Wanted. The plot’s driving action hinges on a debate about the superheroes’ philosophies and moral imperatives. It seeks to address a question Millar asked when he was a kid reading comics.

“Why doesn’t Superman solve the world’s problems?” he recalls thinking. “Why didn’t he interfere and stop wars from even existing?… Is it ethically wrong to stand aside and just maintain the status quo, especially when the status quo creates so many problems for a lot of people?”

On one side of the debate, Utopian believes interfering too much with society’s trajectory is a bad move. It’s not that he is cynical; quite the opposite. He thinks things are actually improving in the world. His viewpoint is there are less people hungry across the globe than ever before, and less people with disease. Millar describes Utopian as a “Truth, Justice, and the American Way” kind of hero, to borrow a phrase associated with Superman, and believes capitalism works. As his hero name suggests, Utopian thinks a better world is within reach, even if it takes generations, and encourages even the heroes to be patient and trust people to do the right thing because they are innately good.

“He says, if you look at the difference somebody like Bill Gates has made in Africa—just one guy—if you look at capitalism taken to the Nth degree, then it pulls everybody up, and poverty in places like India, is massively better just compared to a generation ago.”

Besides, as Utopian says to his impatient brother Walter/Brainwave, in Jupiter’s Legacy #1, being a caped hero doesn’t make them economists and, “Just because you can fly doesn’t mean you know how to balance a budget.” Plus, the notion of using psychic powers or brute force to simply make the world “better” is out of the question. Or is it?

The mainstream awareness of superheroes baked in from more than 80 years of stories, and the shorthand that especially comes with 13 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe commercial juggernaut, has provided Millar with a set of archetypes to lean into. It was true of the hero proxies in the Jupiter’s Legacy books, and he says it’s true of the show. In fact, he says audiences are so sophisticated with regards to these types of characters they’ll be able to immediately slip into his universe, and that “a lot of the hard work has been done for us.” He adds that audience literacy with superhero tropes also provided him something to push against.

“The Marvel characters lock these guys up in prison at the end of these movies,” Millar says. “Everything’s tied up neatly with a bow, the rich are still the rich, the poor are still starving, and the superheroes aren’t really doing anything for the common man in any very global sense. These guys have just had enough of that.”

Millar’s comics technically kick off in 1932, when Sheldon first brings his friends on a journey to The Island, but his story goes back to 1929 when the stock market crashed, and the Great Depression began. This is likewise when the Netflix series will begin, and Millar says it’s because of the historic parallels between then and 2021.

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“We’ve been in a similar situation as we are now: there’s impending financial collapse coming out of a global pandemic,” he says. “The idea is that history continues and repeats itself, and people make the same mistakes over and over again, and the superheroes are saying, ‘Let’s actually fix everything.’”

Continuing the theme of parallels, when discussing the inception of Jupiter’s Legacy with Millar, The Godfather Part II comes up more than once because of the film’s dual storylines following Vito Corleone and son Michael, separated by decades. However, while the comics contain some flashbacks, the plot doesn’t unfold across different time periods simultaneously. But the Netflix series will shift between eras, with half of the show during the season taking place in 1929, for which Millar credits Steven S. DeKnight, who developed the series.

“The way Steven structured it was really brilliant, because I saw these taking place over two [different] years,” Millar says. “[But] The Godfather Part II track shows you the father and the son at the same age and juxtaposes their two lives.”

As a result, he says the series is a visual mash-up of genres that’s both classical and futuristic.

“It just feels like a beautiful period movie, then when it gets cosmic, and it gets to the superhero stuff, it’s a double wow… it’s like seeing Once Upon a Time in America suddenly directed by Stanley Kubrick doing 2001.”

This is a notable advantage to bringing the story to television, as opposed to making Jupiter’s Legacy three two-hour films as he originally planned with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura in 2015. Millar says that to tell the Jupiter’s Legacy story properly on screen would require 40 hours, and with a series, what would have been a one-minute flashback in a movie can now be revealed in two hours of its own.

It was another director who has since made a name adapting ambitious comic book properties that extolled to Millar the benefits of television: James Gunn. When Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad) had a chat with Millar about the project, Gunn said it could never be done as a movie. “The smartest guy in the world is James Gunn,” Millar says.

An exciting challenge of adapting his work for television is that the series will expand on the backstories and concepts of the books. For example when Sheldon Sampson and his friends head to The Island in the first issue, it takes up six pages. Within the series, half of the first season is that journey, and what happens when they arrive.

“Six issues of a graphic novel are roughly about an hour and 10 minutes of a movie; for something like an eight-part drama on TV, you really have to flesh it out,” he says. “It just goes a little deeper than what I had maybe two panels do.”

He emphasizes, however, that these flourishes won’t contradict the comics. Though he sold Millarworld to Netflix, he remains president so he can maintain control of his creations.

Overall the series has made the writer realize the value of television, and while a second season has not yet been confirmed, he’s already thinking about a third and fourth, and how it will dovetail with the upcoming Requiem. The story that began in 1929 continued through 2021, and collected in four volumes, will soon continue far into the future in the concluding two volumes.

“We saw the parents, then we have the present, and then we see their children in the next storyline,” he says. “That storyline goes way off into the future where we discover everything about humanity, superheroes, all these things. It’s a big, grand, high-concept, sci-fi thing beyond that.”

Listening to the jovial Millar discuss the scope of his Jupiter universe, which is imbued with optimism, one might not think this is the same person known for employing graphic violence in his works.

He thinks his films especially are violent yet hopeful, and fun. Kingsman is a rags-to-riches story, and “you feel great at the end of Kick-Ass, even though you’ve seen 200 people knifed in the face.” But he doesn’t consider his writing to fit under the dark-and-gritty label, and he’s not interested in angst, which he finds dull. With Jupiter’s Legacy, the comic and the show, he views the tone as complex but not “overtly dark.”

Additionally, Millar says he thinks society needs hopeful characters such as Captain America, Superman, and yes, The Utopian in 2021—as opposed to an ongoing genre trend of heroes drowning in pathos.

“The Superman-type characters are just now something from a pop culture, societal point of view, we need more than ever,” he says. “The last thing you want is seeing the world as dark, as something that makes you feel bad. Never forget Superman was created just before World War II in the midst of the economic depression by two Jewish kids who were just scraping a living together… I just think it’s so important when things are tough to have a character like that that makes you feel good.”

Even though Utopian suffers for his idealism in the comic, Millar says his ideas are passed on. This is The Utopian’s legacy.

“Ultimately, he wins if you think about it,” ponders Millar.

After a successful career spent creating characters and re-shaping superheroes with 80 years of history, the new pantheon of Jupiter’s Legacy may become one of the defining and lasting features of Mark Millar’s own legacy.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Jupiter’s Legacy premieres on Netflix on May 7. Read more about the series in our special edition magazine!

The post Jupiter’s Legacy: Mark Millar on the Genesis of His Superhero Story appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ts8eCS

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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richietoziersgazebos · 7 years

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The Clown Is Back

Interview with Argentinian Andrés Muschietti, director of the movie based on Stephen King’s masterpiece.

“It’s the metaphor of an era in which we get controlled by fear”

MADRID - The little paper boat swifts through the stream of water along the saidewalk. Georgie is 6 years old and is following the paper boat in his yellow raincoat. But the boat is faster than his legs. Before he can reach it - her - the boat falls in a drain and disappears into the dark. The kid kneels, looks for it, he’s afraid his brother might get angry at him for losing it. That’s when two gloved hands appear, holding the boat It’s the unforgettable opening scene of IT, Stephen King’s masterpiece, published 31 years ago: over a thousand pages written during a very dark moment of the writer’s life, when he was addicted to alcohol and cocaine. Through the story of 7 kids that have to deal with a murderous clown in the America of the 50s and then again 27 years later when IT comes back, IT is a splendid coming-of-age novel. After the 1990 TV miniseries, its first cinematographic transposition arrives in our theaters on October 19th, directed by Argentinian Andrés Muschietti, 44, who, in 2013 made his mark as a director with his first feature film, Mama, produced by Guillermo Del Toro. The movie, that evolves around the protagonists’ childhood (shooting for part 2 are expected to start in 2018), is already a huge international success, grossing over 185 mln USD in its first three days in the theaters (out of just 35 mln USD budget).

- Is it true that you wrote an apology to Stephen King asking for his forgiveness? Andy: Yes, because even if I tried to stay as faithful as possible to the book, I made some changes. For example the movie takes place in the summer of 1989, while SK had chose 1957, when he was 10 years old. I grew up in the 80s so it’s a time I feel closer to me. King reassured me, saying that he’s very happy with the result. I was very relieved.

- What makes IT a classic? A: When I read it the first time I was a kid, it struck me because it’s about things I was experiencing myself for the first time like violence and bullying but also love. Discovering what being part of a group means and finding your own strength is the emotional journey that these characters go through, and it resembles our owns. - Many tried to capture the mystery of childhood but failed A: King has been pretty clear about this: as children we learn how to live, as adults we learn how to die. We look back at our childhood as the golden years of our life, when death was miles away from our thoughts. The true horror is in knowing that we will never be kids again. - How did you find the protagonists? A: I wasn’t just looking for talent, I wanted to find actors that shared something with their characters. It wasn’t easy. Once the casting was over, I put them together in a room to see if they would’ve worked as a group. - Why is it so hard to get SK’s novels’ real essence? A: I think that bad adaptation came from directors that weren’t that emotionally invested with the original work or that undervalued its human aspect, focusing exclusively on the horror part. The Studios aren’t keen on the idea of playing with the different layers of a story while one of King’s qualities is his ability to move us, make us laugh and scare us at the same time. It’s like an emotional rollercoaster. - Something that’s also a part of the Italian cinema A: I’ve always loved Il sorpasso by Dino Risi: the observation of the human element is incredible and while it’s a comedy it’s dramatic at the same time! Americans will only watch American movies while in Europe there’s also space for independent movies. In the US the main goal is to produce commercial movies that will call for as many viewers as possible. In this way the different shades of the stories get lost: when you go to a meeting to present your idea, you have to make clear what kind of movie you want to make and if it resembles another that has already been made. Nowadays everyone’s afraid to invest on creativity, no one wants to take risks. - Do you? A: I want to experiment and, in the case of the horror genre, the risk of resulting ridiculous is pretty high. When I was shooting Mama, in 2012, we used to pull the strings of the monster creature puppet to make it move. You always end up discovering new amazing things when exploring new territories, while sticking to things you’ve already done before will only lead to a forgettable movie, something that has been already seen. - What’s the last movie that surprised you? A: Dunkirk. Christopher Nolan is one of the few directors who can entertain while remaining an author, even it took him three Batman movies to get the freedom to make something different. If you don’t want the Studios to interfere with your work you have to guarantee them a good profit first. - You were lucky: IT is one of the highest - grossing film of the year. What does Pennywise represent for you? A: He’s a demon that only children can see, because they still have imagination. But the clown also represents the confrontation with a new world of fear. To me, it’s something related to the fear we get injected every day through religion, the media, the government and the companies. Derry, the fake town where the story takes place, represents the cult of terror in which we’re living. - The tale of seven kids that, in order to survive, need to stick together, is it a metaphor of our times? A: Fear is used as a tool of control and submission. Bill - Georgie’s brother - more than once says to his friends that Pennywise’s illusions aren’t real. This how we should think too, in a world like the one we’re living in, when we process the informations we receive from the media or certain presidents that lie to us to keep us under control. Pennywise can kill them only if they’re apart and I think that we too are weaker when we’re divided. Our society teaches us to be afraid of different cultures and religions. Gullible, naive people scare me because they’re easy to manipulate. In America, for example, the man in charge is completely crazy. - You were born in Buenos Aires, how is it to live in the US? A: Being born and raised in Latin America I come from a different reality, which include experiencing imperialism. I travelled and lived in different countries, I know how things work outside Argentina. Some systems work, like socialism in Scandinavian countries, where everyone pays taxes and no one complains about the government. But in American socialism is associated to communism so it’s seen as bad. That’s why Bernie Sanders will never win. - Do you see a change in the future? A: Donald Trump is making so many mistakes that it makes me hopeful, actually:people are starting to criticize him and doubting his words. Unfortunately, when you criticize the government in the US you’re also attacking the whole country. It’ll take time to see some actual changes. - Give us a heads-up; in chapter two - when we’ll meet the protagonists as grown ups - will there be space for flashbacks? A: Yes, we’ll go back to 1989. Unfortunately, since our budget was pretty low, we didn’t have the possibility to shoot any of those scenes. Never mind: I was able to include some of the elements that will connect the two parts. The screenplay should be ready for January and I’d like to start shooting after March. I can’t wait.

Thanks for reading, I’m sorry for the mistakes and I’m very sorry if some of this doesn’t make sense, if I can help you with anything or if there’s anything you’d like to ask please don’t hesitate!

#andy muschietti #andrés muschietti #it #it 2017

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maangelilli-blog · 5 years

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Mark Angelilli

RJ Thompson

History and Theory of Graphic Design

9 April, 2019

Milton Glaser

Born in New York City, MIlton Glaser is one of the most profound graphic designers in American History. Some even view him as the epitome of graphic design on a global scale. For his education, Glaser attended High School of Music and Art. Later on at the age of twenty-two, he went on to graduate from the Cooper Union School of Art. A few years later he traveled to Italy in order to study printmaking with Giorgio Morandi, who is a well known painter and printmaker. Morandi became a face of fame due to his introspective paintings of bottles and boxes. Glaser worked alongside Morandi for a matter of two years from 1952-1953. However, it wasn’t until the following year, in 1954, in which his success would skyrocket.

It was this year that he co-founded Pushpin Studios with the help of Seymour Chwast, Edward Sorel, and Reynold Ruffins. With this team directing Pushpin Studios, together they applied a ground-breaking effect on the bearing of graphic design. Glaser would grow his reputation even more in the coming years. In 1968, Glaser, along with Klay Felker founded New York magazine. Up until the year 1977 Glaser was able to serve as the president, as well as design director. New York Magazine became the gold standard to look up to for other city magazines (“Biography”, para. 3).

Fifteen years after the founding of New York Magazine, Glaser assisted in starting another design firm. This time he partnered up with Walter Bernard. The two of them created WBMG, which is located in New York City. WBMG has designed more than 50 magazine, newspapers, and periodicals globally. The Washington Post, La Vanguardia in Barcelona, and O Globo in Rio de Janeiro have all undergone redefinition by WBMG. They have also consulted on projects with other notorious names such as The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Times Herald, The East Hampton Star, the New York Daily News and the National Post (“Biography”, para. 6).

Glaser even started his own studio named after himself called Milton Glaser, Inc. Founded in 1974, this studio produces a broad scope of design. Milton Glaser, Inc manufactures corporate identities and produces logos, brochures, signage, and annual reports for advertising purposes. In 1990, the studio was accountable for formulating the interior design of a museum located in Manhattan’s South Street Seaport, which is named New York Unearthed. He designed the logo for Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, Angels in America in 1993. Glaser’s work has not been limited to just commercial enterprises. Around the world, Glaser has had his art exhibited. The profound designer was a one-man show at the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Lincoln Center Gallery, and the Houghton Gallery in New York (“Biography” para. 7).

Largely influenced from the history of art and graphic design from decades earlier, Glaser created a new design combination that involves both conceptual and intellectual ideas (Philadelphia Museum of Art, para. 1). As for his New York Film Society Poster, there’s nothing that is too flamboyant about this piece. Actually, it is quite simplistic. However, this simplicity is in no way diminishing the creativeness of the work. The clarity of the design is what makes it comprehensible. What’s being shown is a side view of people sitting in a theatre. Rather than creating realistic people, he uses basic geometric shapes. They have been composed in such a way that they are perceived as a generic human figure. As for the color scheme, he uses the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue, as well as some small green shapes. To make these colors stand out, they are placed on a black background to act as a neutralizer. Glaser does a good job of demonstrating the idea that art doesn’t have to be necessarily flashy or realistic for it to be successful. He understands that humans visualize what we see as generic shapes and forms, even though we may not notice this primarily. He forms the body using right-angled “L” shapes. The hands and the feet, from looking at a side view, are just small triangles. As for the head he used slightly warped rectangles to make it appear that the heads are glancing upwards. Simplicity doesn’t equate to elementary. Glaser exemplifies this perfectly with this design.

Yet another famous poster he has done was for the Golden Globe Award winning television show, “Mad Men.” It really has a psychedelic feel to it. Glaser utilizes of multitude of colors that just seem to all come at you at once. In the foreground, he uses the black silhouette of a man that makes it seem like the vivid colors appear more striking. The man does not give his attention to the viewers. Rather he is faced towards the design, demonstrating that he is more interested by the glamour within the life of fortune and wealth. The poster gives off a distinct aesthetic; one that yells power, seduction, corruption, business, and fame. Given the saturation of the hues, the depiction of a woman, an alcoholic beverage, and a businessman, it produces these sort of vibes for the observer.

For the Multidisciplinary Design Conference in San Francisco, Glaser designed a poster titled “Gravity Free”. The illustration depicted has a strong relationship with the title. A man seems to be tossing up his own severed head which appears to be floating in mid air gazing back at his own body. Surrounded by him are a number of birds. As we know, a bird’s ability to take flight in the air makes it seem as if it is defying gravity. Together, these two aspects of the work pander to the idea of them being unaffected by gravity, hence the title. When taking into consideration the basic laws of design, we see a good use of contrast between colors. Red and green are opposite on the color wheel meaning they compliment each other well, which makes for a visually appealing design. It is also noticeable that Glaser makes use of a gradient between the complementary colors so that they gradually fade into one another. As for the typography, he gives the lettering a touch of curvature which adds to the effect of being “gravity free, since this produces the illusion that the words are freely floating about.

In 2009, Glaser constructed a logo for the identity of the SVA Theatre. He puts a big emphasis on line quality in this piece. The constant use of lines generate the principle of repetition. The intersection of the lines also creates an implied weight and density. The base of the building where all lines intersect seems the most dense, while the top of the building is less dense because there are only the diagonal lines that are free from interference with the others.

For the last design analysis, he made a poster that sheds light on the health issue of arthritis. The typography is used as a centerline that creates symmetry, given the letter “A” on each side. Color theory is promoted well due to the use of the red-green color scheme implemented on the letter up above. Jagged line combined with the red hue a represents pain, just as the disease provides. Meanwhile, the “A” on the bottom half of the poster is smooth and is a shade of blue, which can be perceived as a more comforting color. This counteracts against the upper half of the poster.

Most importantly, as a designer Glaser was part of the movement that opposed modernism. The Pushpin Studio eagerly studied graphic design that was made in previous eras. They experimented with fine art and commercial art. This included wood-cut illustration, Art Deco, comic books, Art Nouveau and Victoriana. During the 1960’s and 1970’s, the studio earned international reputation for its innovativeness.

Works Cited

Milton Glaser | Biography, www.miltonglaser.com/milton/c:biography/#1.

Art, Philadelphia Museum of. “Milton Glaser: Design, Influence and Process.” Philadelphia Museum of Art, www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/2001/39.html.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Giorgio Morandi.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 16 July 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Giorgio-Morandi.

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jessicakmatt · 6 years

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Recording Contracts 101: How to Sign the Right Record Deal

Recording Contracts 101: How to Sign the Right Record Deal: via LANDR Blog

Music’s leap to digital distribution has impacted all corners of the music business… Like how recording contracts and record deals work for musicians.

Signing a record contract can be scary, confusing, exciting and joyful all at the same time. But no matter what, there’s some key info you need to know before you sign the dotted line…

There’s some key info you need to know before you sign the dotted line…

Music attorney Mark Quail took some time to answer the most important questions about record contracts for today’s musicians.

Quail has been practicing music law since 1990. He currently advises leading electronic musicians Richie Hawtin, Dubfire, Art Department, John Acquaviva, Matador, Pleasurekraft, Mathew Jonson and Shaun Frank. Quail also sits on the executive and advisory board for the Association for Electronic Music and hosts the successful The Music Law Podcast.

We asked Mark everything you need to know about modern recording contracts including how to avoid getting stuck in a bad one, how to protect your rights as a musician, and some clauses to look out for before you commit.

What does ‘recording contract’ mean in today’s streaming-first music landscape?

In many respects, today’s record contract is much the same as yesterday’s record record contract even in this “streaming-first” music landscape.

In most cases the record contract will seek a complete transfer of ownership of the music copyright in the master recordings from the original artist to the record company. The record company usually seeks to hold onto the copyrights forever.

This is how record companies build their catalogs and make themselves more attractive for sale to those seeking to buy media companies in the future.

The record contract will seek the musician’s exclusive services for a period of time which could be defined as a period of years or a number of singles or albums that would have to be delivered to fulfill the contract.

Do musicians need a record contract to be successful?

Not necessarily…

What artists need today is marketing muscle and money to cover the costs of social media and management to be successful.

The days of having to spend large amounts of money in a recording studio to produce sound recordings and having to maintain an entire shipping network to transport physical goods to thousands of retailers are over.

Those were the main duties of a record company in the past and they decided what was released to the public and what wasn’t.

Digital audio workstations and digital music distribution have removed those barriers.

What’s required today is a method of getting the artist’s work and image into the mind of the public. This requires money (obviously) and a skilled team of social media managers and other marketers who are up-to-date on the particulars of social media promotion and the best marketing opportunities and sponsorships available.

In most cases working independently can only get artists so far before they need bigger representation.

This can be accomplished by a record company or by the artists and their manager’s independently—But in most cases working independently can only get artists so far before they need bigger representation.

The audience available to an artist once they’ve reached a certain level of success can be increased even further through the power of a major label marketing team.

For example: Think of “SoundCloud rappers.” Some reach a pretty good level of success by simply releasing music on SoundCloud. But moving on to greater success often means signing with a major label to reach a wider audience.

It’s a model that’s very common in today’s music industry. The label minimizes risk by making business decisions based on the measured success an independent artists has already accrued. Which means independent success is important whether you plan on signing with a label in the future or not.

How have record contracts changed?

Record contracts have generally always sought to acquire and hold copyrights. What has changed is the method of distribution.

Today it’s streaming. Yesterday it was shipping shiny silver discs in plastic containers. Tomorrow it may be something else.

Record contracts will generally contain terms granting the record company the exclusive right to exploit the master recordings via “any means now known or hereinafter discovered”.

Today it’s streaming. Yesterday it was shipping shiny silver discs in plastic containers. Tomorrow it may be something else.

With that type of language, the record company can change or add to its methods of sales in order to make money from the records.

What can make a record contract bad?

There’s a few ways to answer this question…

Allow me to get philosophical for a moment: Any contractual terms that unduly benefit one side of a record contract more than the other will cause bitterness and resentment in the future.

Any contractual terms that unduly benefit one side of a record contract more than the other will cause bitterness and resentment in the future.

Those feelings will end up poisoning the relationship between an artist and record company when they both really need to work with each other in order to succeed.

What most good lawyers try to do when negotiating a record contract on behalf of an artist is make sure that the contract’s terms give each side what they need.

In any commercial venture where creativity is important, the most prudent way to proceed is to create a relationship where both sides are happy and are willing to work with each other. In most cases with a major label that relationship can last for 5 to 7 years or longer.

If the relationship is a failure it can often mean the ruin of an artistic career. So be careful.

Here are some examples of specific deal points to avoid depending on your situation. There are entire books on this but I will just provide three off the top of my head:

A recording commitment that is too long, where so many records are required to fulfill the contract that it takes too many years to complete.

Loss of creative control. The terms of the contract allow too much interference from the record company that might dilute the artist’s vision for their music. That drives artists crazy and they start looking for ways to get out of the deal.

Contractual terms that permit the record company to make too many deductions for packaging, foreign territory sales and free goods when calculating the artist’s royalties.

There’s tons more to consider when avoiding a bad contract. But for the sake of this discussion, these three points are worth keeping in mind.

What makes a record contract good?

What makes a record contract good are terms that enable each party to benefit from the deal.

What makes a record contract good are deal terms that enable each party to benefit from the deal.

Both sides have to benefit or else the relationship is going to bottom out and become unproductive.

Particular contract terms will depend on the bargaining power of the artist. Which is why it’s important to monitor and track your own stats and bring them to the table as part of a contract negotiation.

A new artist with no real history of earnings will not get the same terms as a artist with a proven record of strong earnings.

These terms can include:

Royalty rates

The number of singles to be delivered

Whether the record company will pay for a video

The amount of money the record company will spend on social media campaigns

Whether the record company will also participate in the moneys earned from music publishing, merchandising and live performances

From a technical, legal standpoint a contract that is well written and contains clear and unambiguous deal terms can also be considered a good contract.

Poorly written contracts create more questions than they provide in answers. More questions means more money spent on lawyers which may mean going to court to argue the matter before a judge.

What are the benefits of long-term record contracts?

In all honesty, I do not think there are any benefits for artists in a long-term contract that requires more than three albums to be delivered.

All record contracts are structured as a series of options that are completely at the discretion of the record company. While an artist might think they have a guaranteed distributor for their music for a long period of time, in actual fact they could be dropped at any point by the record company.

A short-term contract allows artists to move to another record company upon fulfillment of the first record if they want to. Circumstances can change quickly and it’s good to keep your options open.

Circumstances can change quickly and it’s good to keep your options open.

The best case scenario is a situation where the artist builds their popularity in the marketplace over a period of two or three albums, completes the first contract and is then in a position to do another record deal while their career is on the upswing and while they have much better negotiating leverage.

What is a 360° Record contract?

As the name suggests, 360° contracts aim to cover all parts of artist income and label services.

There are generally four sources of income that an artist has:

Income from sound recordings

Income from songs that the artist composes

Income from sales of merchandise (T-shirts etc.)

Live performance income

360° contracts encompass all or most of these four elements.

A 360° contract seeks to allow the record company to receive monies from all four streams of income listed above, and ideally provides services to artists in order to maximize the monies from each of these areas of revenue.

Are 360° record contracts good for artists?

Some artists will need a large injection of money into their careers in order to get to the next level. If that’s the case, they may have no other choice but to permit an investor like a record company a more secure way, like a 360° contract, to recover that investment.

With sales of records declining and with streaming income being very small at this point in time, a record company needs better ways to secure their investment.

Getting a piece of the other income streams like merch and touring is one way to do it. This is why record companies seek these types of deals.

If an artist cannot get funding or the marketing muscle they need without the help of a record label, then having to deal with the terms in a 360° record contract may simply be the business proposition the artist will have to decide on.

Learn more about Mark Quail’s practice here and listen to The Music Law Podcast for more info on music law. Follow Mark on Twitter and Instagram. Read more from Mark on Music Copyright and how it impacts how you get paid for your music.

The post Recording Contracts 101: How to Sign the Right Record Deal appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog https://blog.landr.com/record-contracts/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/180598980459

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symbianosgames · 7 years

Link

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

Voxel art hasn't been around for too long in popular games media. It had an appearance long ago before polygons were the deciding factor for art/technical direction in games, but that's long forgotten. The reason, simply put, is hardware stress making it impossible for voxels to be a feasible rendering technique in games.

Greebles can be easily explained as "bumps". A Minecraft map, when viewed from afar, looks rather bumpy doesn't it? Well that bumpiness would be called "having a lot of greebles". I hope that helped to clarify the confusion.

When I first started making voxelart in the summer of 2013, it was pretty common to use the form to make "retro-3d-art" like 3D Dot Heroes. It was fun and considerably easy to get results fast so I would often make between 5 to 10 full models a night (5-6 hours). I didn't think much of the resulting poly count when making these models because everything I was producing would be exported and rendered in a Voxel Engine. Voxel engines were good at making you think "oh hey! this should totally be fine on computers to run, I wonder why more studios don't use voxels in games". Well, once I started actually contracting art out instead of modding, I quickly learned how intense voxels really are.

Late 2013 I started working on my first commercial game and, boy, did I learn a lot about Voxel engines. Everyone back then was either using an existing voxel engine or making their own (please don't do this if you're doing this today, for your own sanity) and I had to learn a lot about the inner workings of voxels. Once you start working in a voxel engine you start to observe how much voxels burn through your computer hardware. Various factors play into this stress but if you simply view the polycount, something as simple looking as Minecraft can be extremely memory consuming. Every single voxel will draw 12 polygons at a time, which is a lot for something as insignificant as a piece of dirt. On top of that, if you make a character which isn't a perfect cube, you sure as hell are going to break through 100 polygons for the 1 model, and fast.

Luckily, when working with any engine today, you can export voxel models as polygonal objects (because most, if not all, voxel editing tools will come with exporters for standard 3D formats). This will allow you to take something made up of hundreds of voxels exported with as little polygons as possible.

This is where the fun begins. When I started doing Voxel Art professionally I decided to spend most of my spare time figuring out new voxel art styles. These were all style which ignored the constraints of poly count, so I was still committing a terrible sin of killing my computer graphics card and CPU. When I started making mobile games I realized that this can't do; I needed to make an art style that could reduce the poly count as much as possible so you could still enjoy your games at 30FPS+. Soon enough I realized this became my style. Due to market demand of making voxel art for low spec hardware, I started developing a style which got further away from Pixel Art and Retro Art and got closer to forms like Low Poly Art.

***

Almost every game requires a character and it normally becomes the first thing you make. Voxel characters suck.....so much. You don't have the freedom of making something super rounded or shaped out otherwise your character becomes completely unreadable and technically demanding (high poly count)

Ex: The character below looks to have a functional shape. you can see the defining factors; its limbs, its torso, and its head. "Not bad" you might think....but boy, add in some lighting and it'll become a mess of shadows.

This was one of my first experimentation's with freeform character design in voxels, ignoring the polycount or the squareness of voxels. The idea was to use the extreme and understand what are the pros and cons. The pros here is that you can very clearly define a shape and explain to a player that "X" is an ear. Admittedly, the above design isn't terrible, I'd even say it works, but the moment you add in new factors like animation you run into a massive technical wall. Skin rigging and even Rigid Body rigging become a painful job of making sure the mesh doesn't break itself. Aside from the T-pose model, unless this was animated frame per frame like a Pixel Art piece, it wouldn't come out in an ideal fashion.

When I came to this point in my designs I noticed I need to immediately find a way to reduce the poly count and make it look good. Simply put, I need to make flat design work somehow.

This was one of my first successful animations/rigs, made in a game jam years ago. This made me realize that I didn't need to make models with full arms and legs to be functional in expression. This was likely my first significant step in understanding the "Rayman" Aesthetic as the potential future of voxel character design. You can make hyper-expressive animations without the concern that your arm or leg will look all weird (because nothing is there) and you have less content to make in the long run, even if you make variants to limbs.

This step in my style was defined by my technical capabilities. I wasn't a great animator and I barely knew what I was doing at the time, so when I found something that worked, I stuck with it and refined it as much as possible. Today I've refined myself to the point of using arms and legs, while only using the Rayman aesthetic when the gameplay deems it necessary (ex: Spartan Fist).

These were both later attempts at Character designs. The first one above is from Critical Annihilation. I avoided the Rayman limbs since the game was lightly animated, but even then I felt the character was too stiff. I later made these set of dwarves for a client and I'll point out 2 mistakes I made:

I used noise....far too much. Something I no longer use. Noise will only cloud the design you intend to make. You have no direct control over the result when applying noise and so it no longer feels like something polished.

I used too much stepping to define a design. By this I mean that I made the beards have a 45 degree slant (little steps resulting in greebles).

Admittedly, you can see that I've already reduced the amount of stepping in my models from the first one I showed to now. This was me slowly realizing that I wasn't prioritizing shape/design clarity. When you apply shadows in-game, everything gets blurred out. Additionally i noticed that shadows would hide a lot of details I put into the color work. This lead me to reduce the amount of colors I had in my palettes and focus on the visible design.

***

We're in 2015, I've learnt how to animate a bit, I've started to understand limits of color use when applying lighting to models in-game....Let's throw all that out the window for something new!

For most of that year I worked on a game called Voxelnauts, which had a one of a kind aesthetic; Flat-shaded Voxel Art. The polar opposite of everything I had taught myself to date. Let's ignore the fact that shadows are a thing, and ignore the limits of voxel rendering (because it used a raytracing engine rather than a traditional mesh renderer).

(Voxelnauts, by Retro Ronin)

The character above was not made by me, though I did animate him (gif version can be found on my portfolio site). This model was made by the art director John Su. He taught me a lot:

You can apply shadows manually on objects by coloring the voxels. Imagine the light source and work accordingly. BUT!

Make sure your color gradient on shadows is obvious! Don't be shy, make it contrast both in hue and brightness (the beige skin vs the dark red/pink underarm)

Because it's flat shaded we can make limbs clip into one another and no one can tell!

And lastly, the way you sculpt a voxel model is VERY valuable. EVERY VOXEL COUNTS.

These are all the things I learned, either told by JS directly or things I've noticed as I was adopting the games style. I still take a lot of these points to heart, mainly the way I rig and animate models and the value of every voxel.

When I stopped working on this project I took everything I learned and starting finding designs in voxel art which can utilize an entire body design. I managed to go in a new direction and attempt a model with a full body.

This old man was designed with Luciana Nascimento. We worked together, using her concept art of this old man to make a design which would work in a single mesh. I was once again attempting to make voxels even more reduced in polycount though there were some struggles with this nonetheless.

I still hadn't accrued the skills to properly skin-rig, so making this old man work efficiently was a nightmare.

The coat has stepping, and while it didn't interfere with the model's visuals (it hid things as it should) it was, once again, a nightmare to skin rig.

However, I did gain some knowledge from this:

The head was connected to the body but splitting the head made animating a lot easier, and it had no obvious negative impacts to the look of the head animations (head rotation didn't clip into another mesh).

***

2016! New year, hopefully I get to learn and try a bunch more things. (I did)

I had not used some techniques from the Flat-shaded experience since I thought it was reserved for that aesthetic....nope. I decided to take that knowledge and apply it to some high resolution voxel character. Splitting the meshes based on limbs, similar to the Rayman style, but this time I'll include joint limbs like arms and legs. Additionally, I'll take some knowledge from Flat Shading and model those limbs in a way which makes clipping less of a concern and more of an artistic rule.

Results:

(Settlers Keep, by Foxdawn)

This design took into account MANY things I learned to date and I bet you can see some of those things.

I used colors sparingly; 1 color as the base value for a property and a second color (normally lighter from the base) as the highlight which would contour the objects.

Limbs had variable sizes (voxel density is 1:1) so they would each go into one another. Using, say, a larger shoulder with a slimmer arm socketed inside made animating easier. No need to skin rig, I kept rigid body rigging and it gave the right amount of expression, as seen above.

I made most objects as flat as possible and utilized the rigging/animating process to dictate subtle details (like the feathers bending on the bird).

The above model is very high-res compared to everything I had made previously but it pushed my art forward with all the knowledge I had. When I moved onto another project you'll see that growth even further.

I took the large scale human model and condensed it further to make something a little less demanding yet would still follows the same animation process. This design became a lot clearer as something feasible when my animation and rigging skills got a lot better. Setting this up was simple in principle and the results were fantastic. However, this art direction is only feasible if:

The character design showed a level of importance based on sizes. eg: Character's head is predominantly larger than everything else.

I used the same philosophy as previous: limbs are variable sizes to hide any clipping/Z-fighting

Use contouring colors, except this time it's used to outline important segments instead of everything.

Any shading is done using contrasting colors instead of subtle gradients

Here's another example of using the above rules, to give you a better idea when working with variable creatures and designs. The rules above can also help to make certain designs a lot easier to set up. By avoiding voxel stepping all together and preparing models in a T-pose for rigging, while keeping models as low poly as possible, you have more opportunities to create unique animations and poses, like below:

From Qubicle

To Maya

To Unity!

I became accustomed to a workflow which made my models feel entirely incomplete in the editor. A model was truly complete when it was running in-game. Building out the final design in my mind before doing the groundwork, and working backwards from there. This would be the process:

Keep the final design in mind

Deconstruct the model into limbs or parts which would require animating

Block out the limbs to get a sense of complexity and possibly reduce the complexity from there

Begin modeling

Simplify the design to utilize as few colors as possible but still do some shading on the model directly

Export to Maya

Rig and begin animating!

Seems quite straightforward, but once you get the hang of your tools, you get a better sense of how to make your art before actually making it.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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blackkudos · 7 years

Text

Method Man

Clifford Smith (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also one half of the hip hop duo Method Man & Redman. He took his stage name from the 1979 film Method Man. In 1996, he won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, for "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By", with American R&B singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige.

Method Man has appeared in films such as Belly, How High, Garden State, The Wackness, Venom, Red Tails, Keanu and The Cobbler. On television, he and frequent collaborator, fellow East Coast rapper Redman, co-starred on the short-lived Fox sitcom Method & Red. He also had a recurring role as Tug Daniels on HBO's Oz and Calvin "Cheese" Wagstaff on the HBO's The Wire. In 2016, he had a cameo role in Luke Cage which aired on Netflix.

In 2012, The Source placed him on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time.

Early life

Born on March 2, 1971, in Hempstead, Long Island, Smith divided his childhood between his father's Long Island residence and his mother's home in the Park Hill section of Staten Island (colloquially known as Killa Hill). He has two sisters, Terri and Missy.

Music career

1992–96: Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) and Tical

As Wu-Tang Clan ascended to hip hop stardom, Method Man was always one of the most visible members of the collective. He was one of only two members to get a solo song on the group's debut album Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers and he was the first to release a solo album under the Clan's unusual contract which allowed its members to release albums under any record label. Method Man chose to sign with rap label Def Jam Recordings, although Elektra Records A&R man Dante Ross initially wanted to sign him around the same time Ross signed fellow group member Ol' Dirty Bastard. Method Man's solo debut, Tical (1994), was critically acclaimed and well received, entering the American charts at #4 and eventually selling in excess of one million copies. That album featured the hit single "All I Need", later remixed featuring Mary J. Blige, which won a Grammy ("I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need"). During this time Method Man also became close friends with fellow New York City-based rapper The Notorious B.I.G., and was the only guest rapper featured on his debut album Ready to Die. He was also featured on Spice 1's album AmeriKKKa's Nightmare on the track "Hard 2 Kill". In 1995, he was also featured on "Got the Flava" off Showbiz and A.G.'s album Goodfellas. In 1996, Method Man appeared on Tupac Shakur's album All Eyez on Me, on the song "Got My Mind Made Up" alongside his rhyme partner Redman, The Dogg Pound (Daz and Kurupt) and Inspectah Deck, whose verse did not make the released album version (although his nickname "Rebel INS" can be heard as the song fades). He was also featured on Redman's 1996 album Muddy Waters on the track "Do What Ya feel".

1997–98: Wu-Tang Forever and Tical 2000: Judgment Day

On June 3, 1997, the Wu-Tang Clan released their Grammy-nominated multiplatinum double CD Wu-Tang Forever, the long-awaited follow up to 36 Chambers. The album has sold over 8.3 million copies to date worldwide.

His second solo album was Tical 2000: Judgement Day, released in 1998, which was heavily influenced by the apocalypse theories surrounding the forthcoming end of the millennium, and which featured myriad guest appearances from his fellow Wu-Tang MCs. The album was certified double platinum. Other guest appearances include Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, D'Angelo, Chris Rock, Mobb Deep, Redman, and brief cameos from Russell Simmons, Bishop Don "Magic" Juan, Janet Jackson, and your drunk uncle at Thanksgiving. The album sold better than his first fueled by the party track "Judgment Day" and the D'Angelo collaboration "Break Ups 2 Make Ups", earning Platinum and Gold certifications in the U.S. and Canada respectively. Reviews for the album were mixed and its long runtime and abundance of intermittent comedy skits were widely criticized. Producers on this album included True Master, 4th Disciple and the RZA.

1999–2001: "Blackout! (with Redman)

Method Man was part of the very successful Hard Knock Life Tour with Jay-Z, Redman, Ja Rule, and DMX. During this tour, Method Man & Redman recorded Blackout!, a light-hearted, bass-heavy, profanity-laced, party record with an EPMD-evoking emphasis on funky beats and the mischievous wit and cool flows and good rhythm of the two MCs. The album reached platinum status quickly, both in the U.S. and Canada, fueled by "Da Rockwilder", "Cereal Killa", "1, 2, 1, 2", "Tear It Off" and "Y.O.U." This album also featured three previously released tracks on which the two collaborated.

Their success would lead the duo on to star in movies and TV shows, become product spokespersons and household names, but also associated them with marijuana use in the media. The most immediate results of their success was their co-starring roles in the major motion picture film How High, their endorsement deal for Right Guard, Redman's starring role in Seed of Chucky and a short-lived sitcom on Fox Television entitled Method & Red.

2000–04: The W, Iron Flag, and Tical 0: The Prequel

The Wu-Tang Clan released The W on November 21, 2000, and Iron Flag on December 18, 2001. The W received both critical and commercial success for the group, while Iron Flag did receive some but not to the effect of The W. The efforts earned two more platinum plaques for the Wu-Tang Clan.

In 2004, Meth released his third solo album Tical 0: The Prequel, which featured the hit party single "What's Happenin'" with Busta Rhymes. Hip hop critics voiced their displeasure with the album, many agreeing that Tical 0 felt like generic party rap and featured too many mainstream guests, detracting from his own performances. Regardless, this album sold reasonably well and was certified gold record by the RIAA relatively quickly, but would not see the platinum success of his previous solo releases. There was trouble even before the album's release when Method apparently complained to the press about excessive interference from Def Jam over the album's beats (Meth supposedly desired more input from Wu-Tang leader RZA). On its release, many fans and critics were taken aback by its strong "mainstream" or "commercial" sound, highlighted by the guest appearances of pop-rap stars like Missy Elliott and P. Diddy, two artists that are involved with much different facets of rap music.

P. Diddy was one of the executive producers for the album, although Meth later voiced his displeasure with the final product. "On the third LP, it was suggested (by Def Jam) to bring in Harve Pierre and P. Diddy. Who am I to argue? Puff knows how to sell some records. But that wasn't the direction to go in, and I know that."

2006–07: 4:21... The Day After

Method Man's fourth album, entitled 4:21: The Day After was released in August 2006 with a star lineup of producers featuring Havoc, Erick Sermon, Scott Storch, Allah Mathematics, Mr. Porter, and, most importantly to Meth, RZA. This time around, a more focused Method Man went back to his hip hop roots and both hip hop fans and the media took notice. He did an interview on the ItsHipHop.Tv. Despite this being one of Meth's strongest solo efforts to date, the album failed to do well commercially due to it having no single or video, which Method Man has held discontent towards his own label for. However, he toured strongly all over the world to promote the album, and appeared onstage with fellow Wu-Tang member Inspectah Deck, as well as New York up and comers Saigon, and Gat Murdah. Meth contributed various reasons for the problems between him and his label, Def Jam. While he puts most of the blame on personal agendas in the Def Jam offices, Meth did take some blame, himself, for giving into his record label.

In early May 2007, Method Man's camp leaked the street single "New York New York" which became a popular track on the internet.

2007–10: Blackout! 2

On March 27, 2007, Redman confirmed on BET's Rap City: Tha Bassment that a sequel to How High is currently being written.

In an April 10, 2007 Onion A.V. Club interview, Redman hinted that there would be a second collaborative album with Method Man, with work beginning in midsummer or early September.

In early 2008, a remake of the Smooth da Hustler and Trigger tha Gambler classic Broken Language was released to the internet by the duo entitled Broken Language 2008, fueling rumors of a Blackout! sequel coming soon. This rumor was further fueled by the duo while performing in Gainesville, Florida at the University of Florida. Blackout! 2 was scheduled for a December 9, 2008 release but was pushed back to the first quarter of 2009, with a new release date of May 19, 2009. Bun B confirmed that he guest starred on Blackout! 2 – in April 2009, a single was released titled "City Lights", produced by Nasty Kutt Also producers such as Erick Sermon, Rockwilder and Pete Rock announced their presence on the album.

The duo has finished their Still High tour with Termanalogy, the Alchemist, and Evidence of Dilated Peoples.

2011–present: Crystal Meth and The Meth Lab

Crystal Meth was to be Method Man's upcoming fifth and final studio album. The album has no confirmed release date. The Crystal Meth was first announced before Method Man began working on his and Redman's sophomore collaboration album, Blackout! 2. In the liner notes of that album, it was given a scheduled release date for 2009. The album, however, was further postponed until it was later mentioned in an MTV interview it would be released in early 2010. At a concert on December 23, 2010, Method Man told the crowd to look for his album in March 2011. However, the album was postponed again.

In an interview with The Come Up Show following a recent performance in Canada in April 2011, Method Man replied with this regarding his current 'weed-loving' image:"When you get older and you've got kids and your kids are going to school and you know [their] teachers...and they see how active you are and concerned [you are] with your kids' education or well being, it's hard to sit there and be taken seriously if people are always talking about he's always high...which is totally not the case", he said. "When I first came out, I was young, we were doing our thing, we smoked a lot...and we didn't care if the world knew. Now, I have to use more discretion because of my kids. This is not for me; everything I do is for them now, so I use a bit more discretion and I don't put weed as a forefront any more."

On October 5, 2011, a new single from Method Man, entitled "World Gone Sour (The Lost Kids)", was released on iTunes. In July 2012, he confirmed that the album will come out in 2013 & will be produced by RZA. He also expressed a desire to work with Odd Future frontman Tyler, The Creator. Throughout 2013, Method Man worked on material for Crystal Meth and significantly worked on the Wu-Tang Clan's sixth studio album, A Better Tomorrow. He also toured with Redman throughout the year. On January 1, 2014, Method Man announced that a mixtape titled The Meth Lab would be released in March 2014 and that Crystal Meth would be released in August 2014 on Tommy Boy Entertainment. However, Method Man released The Meth Lab as a album through Tommy Boy on August 21, 2015 and Crystal Method still hasn't been released.

Acting career

In the early 2000s Method Man began a career in acting. He has had recurring roles in critically acclaimed television shows such as HBO's Oz as Tug Daniels, HBO's The Wire in which he plays Prop Joe's nephew Cheese, The Twilight Zone and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He and Redman hosted a pilot on MTV called Stung. He has made numerous appearances as himself on TV shows such as Mind of Mencia and Chappelle's Show.

Method Man portrays Drops on CSI, a wealthy Las Vegas party promoter who clashes with the CSI team, specifically investigator Nick Stokes, in their investigations involving his clubs or entourage. His first appearance on CSI as Drops was in the 2006 episode "Poppin' Tags". He resumed the role in the 2007 episode "Big Shots" and again in the 2008 episode "Drops Out".

His first prominent role came in 1998 with the film Belly along with fellow rappers Nas and DMX. He has since added many credits to his name, including roles in the films Garden State, One Eight Seven, and many others, with starring roles in the feature films such as How High and Soul Plane. On March 27, 2007 Redman confirmed on BET's show Rap City that the sequel to How High was being written. The script for How High 2 is being written by Dustin Lee Abraham of CSI, who also wrote the first movie. In 2005, Method Man had a cameo in the horror movie Venom, where he played a deputy who is killed shortly into the movie. He also appeared in the 2008 movies The Wackness and Meet the Spartans.

Method Man stars in the episode "Snitch" of Law & Order SVU as the main antagonist. The episode was first broadcast December 4, 2007.

Method Man has made an appearance in the Def Jam series of video games. In Fight for NY he voiced Blaze, one of the main characters. In Icon, he voiced Gooch, a major character in the storyline. In Underground, He voiced Meth, one of the major characters. He made a guest appearance in the music video for the 2003 "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys, where he played the role of her boyfriend. He also appeared in Beanie Sigel's music video "Feel It in the Air", where Method Man played an undercover cop leading an operation against Sigel.

Method Man has fallen back from pursuing more acting roles after the situation with his sitcom on Fox left a bad taste in his mouth, and now mostly just acts if the project is being handled by a friend of his, as was the case with CSI and The Wire. He also played an arsonist and a wealthy executive as well as main antagonist in an episode of the FOX TV show The Good Guys.

Method Man appears as a hip hop business mogul in an episode of Burn Notice.

Method Man had a cameo appearance in the 1997 film Cop Land, as a physically violent fleeing criminal who throws Peter Berg's character off of a New York rooftop. Method Man has also appeared in the TV drama Wonderland, as a patient in a mental hospital.

Method Man plays a small role in the 2011 film The Sitter starring Jonah Hill. In 2012, he played crewman "Sticks" in George Lucas' movie Red Tails about the Tuskegee airmen.

Method Man plays the lead in the 2011 film The Mortician.

Method Man plays the lead in the upcoming film Lucky Number.

In 2014, he voiced Phantasm, who is the primary antagonist on The FX animated comedy Chozen.

In 2016, he played himself in Difficult People, "Marvel's Luke Cage and "Paterson (film)"

Other ventures

Method Man appeared in the 1995 documentary entitled The Show. There is a memorable scene in which Method Man, on a train in Japan, gets into an argument with U-God and Ghostface Killah, over camera time, radio interviews, and clothing mishaps.

In 2006, Method Man appeared on the MTV reality game show Yo Momma in the first episode of Season 1.

Method Man is the first of the Wu-Tang Clan to produce a series of eponymous graphic novels for Hachette Book Group USA's imprint Grand Central Publishing (to be followed by GZA and Ghostface Killah).

Personal life

He became engaged to his wife in 1999 and they married in 2001. He has three children: two sons (born in 1996 and 2001), and one daughter (born in 1997).

He is cousin to Newark, New Jersey rapper Redman.

Legal troubles

On May 17, 2007, Method Man was captured in New York City for marijuana allegations. His SUV was pulled over near the Battery Tunnel toll booths for having an expired inspection sticker. An unidentified source said, "It was like something out of Cheech & Chong. He rolls down the window and the smoke would choke a horse." The arresting officer noticed two blunts and a plastic bag containing marijuana in plain view. Upon further inspection more marijuana was found under the driver's seat. Method Man was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, criminal possession of marijuana, DWI, and driving an uninspected motor vehicle. He reached a plea agreement to perform community service including rapping to young kids about the dangers of drugs.

On October 5, 2009, Method Man was arrested at his home in Staten Island for income tax violations. He was accused of failing to file income tax returns for the state of New York between 2004 and 2007 and owes nearly $33,000 in taxes. On June 28, 2010, Method Man pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to a conditional discharge and paid a $106,000.00 fine.

Controversies

Wu-Tang management

In 2003, Method Man criticized Oli "Power" Grant and Mitchell "Divine" Diggs, the managers of the Wu-Tang business. "Number 1 on my shit list right now is Divine from Wu-Tang management. He took something major from me that he had no intention of giving back."

Aside from the financial issues, Method Man was unhappy with the decision to bring Wu-Tang into the fashion world for a brief period of time with Wu-Wear, despite the brand being a major money-maker for the group. "When Wu-Wear started making shoes and sneakers and pants, it was shoddy material. I never rocked that shit."

Wendy Williams

In 2006, Method Man had a personal and publicized conflict with TV talk show host Wendy Williams on The Breakdown, an internet show on Onloq.com. Williams talked on air about Method Man's wife having cancer, which was something he wanted to keep private and her own family members had not yet known about. He said that people who lived next door to him did not know, but Williams had dug it up and made it public over the radio. Because of this leaked information, Method Man and his wife had many problems.

Wendy Williams also reported rumors that Method Man had even been having an affair with his wife's doctor. Method Man first heard of this while in recording sessions in Los Angeles.

She said me and [the doctor] was f**king [sic]. What kind of s**t is that, man?," he said. "You don’t do that to nobody ... I was ready. I was so mad, I was crying right there and I'm like I'm gonna kill some f**king body and these [Wu Tang friends] kept me in there, kept me in L.A.

Sean Combs

During a concert in 2006, Method Man criticized Diddy's decisions on Duets: The Final Chapter, the posthumous album by The Notorious B.I.G., saying that Biggie never would have worked with some of the subpar rappers. "They got niggas on that album Big would have never rocked with," Meth said of the album. "Musically, I ain't fuckin' with Puff Daddy". He also brought up the fact that he was the only other rapper that Biggie chose to have on his debut album Ready to Die. He was featured on the track "The What".

Previously, Diddy had been one of the executive producers for Method Man's 2004 album Tical 0: The Prequel, to which Meth later voiced his displeasure on the final product. From then on, he focused on production from within the Clan and its closely tied collaborators.

Fox Television

In 2004, Method Man starred in a Fox sitcom called Method & Red. However, after only a short time on the air, the show was put on hiatus and never returned. Method Man later spoke to the press about Fox's influence on the show's style, saying that "there's been too much compromise on our side and not enough on their side" and criticising the network's decision to add a laugh track. Before the show even aired for the first time, he was telling fans not to bother watching it. He told the Los Angeles Times:

This is frustrating for me. I'm trying to keep this show ghetto, and there's a way for it to be both ghetto and intelligent. But it's not going that way.

Discography

Studio albums

Tical (1994)

Tical 2000: Judgement Day (1998)

Tical 0: The Prequel (2004)

4:21... The Day After (2006)

The Meth Lab (2015)

Crystal Meth (2017)

Collaboration albums

Blackout! (1999) (with Redman)

Blackout! 2 (2009) (with Redman)

Wu-Massacre (2010) (with Ghostface Killah and Raekwon)

Blackout! 3 (2017) (with Redman)

Wikipedia

#Method Man

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inchhaj · 7 years

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Week 7: Pirates

“The Pirate at Home and At Large”-Adrian Johns

John’s reading begins by describing the history of home piracy. At first home piracy was seen as just home copying due to the noncommercial purpose behind the copying, but as time went on it was later classified as straight piracy. It was deemed dangerous to the entertainment world and made illegal. It was a strange thing because the household was seen as the backbone of the nation, passing down traditional ideals like working hard and morality. When piracy was found in these homes, it made them seem lesser than the homes that didn’t commit these “crimes.” The home was viewed as a safe zone and one that was above surveillance.

The perpetrators of this piracy in the 1950’s were enthusiasts of jazz and opera who some were experts. They wanted to collect records and build libraries. The pirates wanted to make money, but mostly wanted to add to like minded individuals personal collections. For opera, the pirates wanted to give listeners the opportunity to listen to new or unknown music. For jazz, pirates wanted to reproduce classic records that record companies refused to make. Independent labels started popping up and releasing jazz tracks and lesser known genres. These labels gained popularity across the country, topping charts and affecting some radio play. They targeted younger audiences and African Americans. But these still weren’t home recordings. Some started dubbing records to finalize their collections. This led to some commercial success among some. A label named Jolly Roger became impatient with larger labels and began pressing records on his own under false pretense. RCA led a hunt against bootleggers and the plants they pressed at, but embarrassingly Jolly Roger was pressing his records as well as pirating RCA’s own records in one of RCA’s own plants. Following this Jolly Roger was blacklisted for not paying royalties and eventually sued to which it surrendered. This led to the end of jazz piracy.

Opera pirate recordings came from European sources rather than American like jazz as well as radio broadcasts. Magnetic strip made it easier from these pirates to record and push out copies faster. Opera piracy shared a lot of moral and economic characteristics with jazz piracy. A lot of pirate labels created names for their labels that resembled real large labels like RCA. Piracy created certain circles of experts and connoisseurs who spread knowledge with one another.

To further combat piracy, the RIAA was created. They lobbied for copyright and even hired their own agents to find pirates. To go with this, laws were passed against copies of records. Cassettes soon became a large part of home piracy. The RIAA, due to the introduction of cassettes, warned that home recording was more dangerous than commercial. Eventually legislation was passed that made the distinction from home copying and commercial piracy.

Eventually videotapes became prevalent in American homes. Home owners could now tape shows that they would miss and watch them later. Technology like the Betamax made this possible. Large studios sued Sony and the Betamax, lost at first, but eventually won out. Due to this legislation, millions of Americans could be labeled pirates. After several new hearings, with the added discussion on fair use, courts overturned their decision. The MPAA eventually headed a lobbying campaign with nationalistic overtones about the Japanese invading. They argued that the Japanese produced cheap copies and were purely imitators, taking over American culture. There was an increasing debate and discussion over the changing of global powers based on home taping and piracy. “Home taping became the first global piracy.”

“Degraded Images, Distorted Sounds: Nigerian Video and the Infrastructure of Piracy”-Brian Larkin

Larkin brings Johns’ topic to piracy to a modern day anthropology viewpoint that focuses on the piracy industry of NIgeria. Furthering the idea of the “moral economy” that was discussed in John's’ article, Larkin brings in the perspective of modern media piracy as having a function of bringing Western and International media to marginalized countries. The article focuses on the infrastructure that supports the pirate network. The base of the infrastructure of piracy is capitalism as it is the economic system that facilitates the exchange of money, goods, and services. Piracy is born out of a necessity to fulfill the void within formal governmental infrastructure that countries such as Nigeria are unable to provide on a consistent basis. Larkin notes that media itself is able to flow smoothly, but if infrastructure is consistently failing and inconsistent it will lead to piracy as a means of providing media to the people via an alternative route.

Larkin traces a modern Silk Road of video piracy that stems from East Asia to the Middle East where Western and Bollywood Films are traded along the route and distributed to countries along the way. As the pirated media passes along the route, it gathers “an aesthetic, a set of formal qualities that generates a particular sensorial experience of media marked by poor transmission, interference, and noise”(291, Larkin). As the media passes through each country it gathers a sort of metadata that is tell tale of recopying, reproducing, and redubbing. Some films will show signs such as subtitles on subtitles, clips edited out, or poor sound and image quality from the recopying of media. This process alters formal media and the end product will often vary from the original greatly. As formal media is valued highly and often overpriced for the majority of populations or unavailable in more remote locations, the pirate media is able to fulfill this gap albeit through a more complex series of distribution transactions.

The pirate industry also helped spawn a burgeoning Nigerian film industry called Hausa, nicknamed Nollywood. These films differ from Western films in that they are geared toward themes of love, family values, and elder respect; “they are not the kind of African movies usually screened at film festivals but rather are oriented toward popular audiences—meaning that their production and financing depends entirely on how well they perform in the marketplace”(299, Larkin). Distributors of pirated media ultimately became the funders of Nollywood films as they were able to produce the tapes or disks for the films. These distributors also would develop the direct to dvd movie genre that would revolutionize how certain films could cut down costs by choosing not to screen in theaters. In 2001 however Nigeria fell under Shari’a law under the Kano State government which banned movies altogether. Nigerian Filmmakers however refused to go down without a fight and formed a filmmakers association and went to the government head on to legitimize their industry and prove that these films were an important part of their economy. With the Hausa film industry now solidified into 5 main distributors they were able to produce movies albeit through the censorship guidelines given by the Kano government.

Pirate media is often sold in informal settings such as public markets or small businesses that sell pirated disks or tapes in large supply. What’s also interesting to note is the fact that much of the technology is secondhand or breaking down. Larkin notes this as a pirate modernity where a large group of people are experiencing technology through a different contextualization due to the constant breaking down and decay of it. While still being connected to international media forms, there is still a feeling of marginalization as the infrastructure of technology is still in the process of repair and decay. In the end, the big question is the power that technology holds in the progression of societies. Larkin notes that “different societies can feel cut off from history or excessively attached to the past—without a future or rushing toward one. Technology, especially the media, often provides the conduit for our experience of being “inside” or “outside” history”(303, Larkin). What Larkin wants the reader to understand is that piracy is more than the attached negative values given to it by corporations that own the media itself. Piracy is an aspect of modern life that is hard to grasp in its entirety, ambivalent to moral value, and crucial to providing marginalized people’s with access to an ever shifting media world.

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itscharliepeirceuniverse-blog · 7 years

Text

Assignment 1

Sound for moving image

Introduction

Sound in motion picture is very important for communicating the feeling of the story. In cinema sound is used emotionally to reflect each scene. Sound can be used cleverly in film to alter your perception against the story. An example of this is when a evil man walks into a scene. The composer of the film aims to make you feel warey of the character so you know he is evil. This is a non Diegetic sound because the character does not hear the music. Any sound, dialogue or music that isn’t directly in the story means that it is non Diegetic. If the sound is within the story this means it is Diegetic.

Until the 1920’s sound was not used commercially in film. The sound industry was still in early development during the early 20th century. This meant it wasn’t easily accessible for film use when started in the 1890’s. This commercial changed when a synchronized soundtrack called a Vitaphone was introduced. The first mainstream film to include a Vitaphone was The Jazz Singer. The movie was the first to have timed dialogue and songs to accompany it. This film became a big success and helped introduce sound into film business.

Dialogue

When film began dialogue was not a necessity to the story, originally speech was shown on slides of text if required. When film first introduced dialogue people nicknamed them ‘talkies’. People weren’t interested in dialogue based films because they focused less on the visual experience. Despite this fact speech managed to change the film experience. Recorded voice allows us to understand the real expression and feelings of a character. An example of this is in an old Disney fairy tale. The princess of the story has a kind soothing voice to show she is kind. An evil character on the other hand has a nasty accent on their voice. Without recorded dialogue for you to notice that the experience with each character is not as easy or enjoyable.

When recording dialogue for a motion picture most of the content is captured on set. Actors are provided with a Lavalier or clip on microphone to record up close voice’s. Sound men are also to capture the reverb of each character and location. They do this by using a boom mic and other positional mic’s around the room.

Sometimes it is not possible to record actors voice’s on set. This is usually because of interference from weather, or the microphone is out of range. Additional dialogue recording (ADR) is used in this situation to get a clear recording. ADR is done in post recording once all the scenes are edited.The Dialogue editor's job is to analyse every recording in the film for any mistakes. One checked every actor goes into the studio to record their lines that weren’t captured on set.The ADR editor is responsible for recording the post dialogue. Each line must be synced to the picture and mixed to position the characters scenery. By using the reverbs and recordings from the sound man, the ADR editors can tweak the speech to sound in space for each scene.

Music

Music has played a big part in film since sound was introduced in the 1920’s.

Orchestras have been the main source of music in film since introduced. Orchestral sounds are highly regarded because of the rich, grand sounds that they resonate. Using techniques such as ostinato, harmony and timbre can give wide ranges of feelings. This is good for film because score’s have the ability to imitate many dynamics such as volume and pitch.

In 1933 the film King Kong was released to cinemas. The composer Max Steiner revolutionised the film industry by creating the first running score for a film. The score was originally written by him and composed in time for each scene by an orchestra. Before King Kong film composers only created small pieces of music for scenes, frequently composers would use other people's works as well. Having an original score meant that the composer had complete control to create a relatable unanimous piece of work. This idea changed people’s thoughts about music in film, making it popular in most commercial features.

Music can be used in many different techniques to add to a scene. Generally in film, music will be used in corresponds to an emotion in the scene. It can also be used against the scene to make you think non diegetic thoughts about the story. An example of this is when dark music plays in a scene, you may not know what is about to happen to fit the dark music, but sonically we have been told something will happen. This shows how powerful a tool music is in film, allowing the writer to create the story in two perceptions because the scene may actually not be what the music tells us.

Music can also be used to introduce a character or location, this is called a le motif. A le motif is the use of repetition with a piece of music. An example of this is in Star Wars a New Hope. Whenever Darth Vader walks into a scene, a le motif strikes into the film to enhance his militant, evil presence. This technique impacts well in a film because you get a musical reflection of what you think of that character or location. This technique works well in television or chains of films the best because they can keep repeating it over and over. Overtime a le motif can become nostalgic to viewers, making it a more exciting experience.

A good example of music in film is in Gladiator. At the start of the film you see Russell Crowe's character walking through a field with a piece of music playing. Throughout the film that music gets repeated to represent that his flashback. The music in the scene helps indicate his feeling of heaven and freedom. This repeats throughout the film making you connected to the music. Near the end of the film he dies, instead of using generic sad music they include the song from before. This music impacts well because it reminds you of his journey and makes you realise he is now at peace. This techniques has been used very well for showing his inner emotion in music.

Sound design

Sound design is the production of unrealistic or hard to capture sounds. Effects can range from a monster’s roar to a beep. Sound design is not always essential in film production. A Classic Drama for instance would not tend to use sound effects.

When creating effects for film, the director and design team analyse each scene. After lots of discussion the designers create a relatable interpretation. Sound designers make most of their work digitally, using a range of synthesis and audio manipulation. To make the sound effects unanimous for each scene, the producer layers the audio in time to every detail on screen. After using a range of effects including reverb pan and compression the sounds are mixed down to perceive as if they were natural to the scene.

In the film Wall-E, sound effects expert Ben Burtt changed things by creating the sounds before the animating had began.This meant the animation team had to fit the animation around the sound. This technique worked well because it gave the animators a structure. This also worked well creativity, it opened up ideas of how the universe could look.

When creating the voice of Wall-E, Ben wanted to create a high pitch lifelike robot voice. To achieve this he layered a variety of pitched human voices. To make the voices match, they were tuned together and modulated using sound effects such as a vocoder and bit crusher.

Foley

Foley design is when you record or imitation a real life sound. Whenever you hear a natural sound in movies such as footsteps, it has often been recorded in a studio.

You would expect natural sounds to be naturally recorded. But it is hard to record subtle sounds with enough clarity, usually because there is background interference. Any natural sounds that can’t be captured are created in a Foley studio. Foley artists use a variety of techniques to get natural sounds. Some Foley can be taken from their natural habitat, such as the strike of a lighter. However some sounds can’t be recreated within a studio, such as rain. Any sound that can’t be recreated naturally can be imitated by props. Foley artists take sounds from wrong atmospheres and making them seem right. A prime example of this is recording frying bacon. The crackling wet sound imitates the sound of rain making it a Foley sound.

In a Foley studio you commonly see a Foley pit (shown in picture). A Foley pit is used to record footsteps and movement. The pits have different terrains and materials to imitate common humans or animals movement. A good example of this is in Planet Earth. When filming animals, most camera set ups are too far away from the activity to records. This means Foley must be used to fill the scene. To make a foley representation of a natural sound a soundscape is recorded when filming, the soundscape will be included within the final mix behind any other significant noises.The foley pit could help Planet Earth for recording animal ground movement, this would be a simple way of copying an animals walking pattern and velocity in how they walk.

As you can see recording sounds in a studio give you complete control of the sound.This also means the production can be made to fit directly into the music, sound design and dialogue of the film or tv show.

Atmospheric/ background

Atmosphere is vital for filling the empty spaces in a film. Atmospherics can be used cleverly to represent a certain weather or mood. An example of this is when you hear wind in a film. Although it could be minor detail hearing it in the background helps you picture the scene more and play with your senses.

Atmosphere can be recorded anywhere to get different textures and feels. Generally films will capture soundscapes from onset or near by locations to use in their film.

In more recent years of sound in film electronic music has developed the idea of experimental digital soundscapes to add to a scene. Digital production has many parameter meaning soundscapes can now no do alot more.This is good for film because it allows us to create something more interesting and adds another element to tie the film together.

The Jazz Singer. (1927). (film) U.S.A: Alan Crosland

King Kong. (1933). (film) U.S.A: Merian C. Cooper

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. (1977).(film) U.S.A: George Lucas

Gladiator. (2000). (film) British-American: Ridley Scott

Wall-E. (2008) (film) U.S.A: Andrew Stanton

Planet Earth (2006) (TV) United Kingdom `

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