New Wave Films (UK)

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peerpee
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#326 Post by peerpee » Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:14 pm

zedz wrote:I haven't seen the Flanders interview, but if its style earns a negative comparison to the woefully pretentious and inept visual treatment of the Romney interview on Hadewijch, I will avoid it like the plague. It's an interview with the director, folks: nobody's interested in your feeble attempts to replicate key scenes from Seconds, or Chungking Express, or whatever the hell you thought you were doing with your idiotic fish-eye lenses and drifts way out of focus. Ugh.
I agree re: the technical pretensions of the Romney shoot, I was overlooking that because the content is great. The Soda Q&A is painful because you can barely hear Dumont from the in-camera mic at the back of the room.

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AidanKing
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#327 Post by AidanKing » Tue Jul 02, 2013 4:34 am

On the one occasion I attended a Labour Party policy forum as an ordinary member (before I left the party in 1998), we were shown a video presentation outlining the issues the organisers wanted us to discuss. It featured key New Labour figures talking to an offscreen interviewer located at the side of the camera and contained unmotivated zooms, cuts, changes of angle, shifts from colour to black and white and so on. No one ever addressed the camera directly. It looked as if whoever directed it had recently watched Oliver Stone's Nixon and JFK and thought it would be a good idea to replicate their style. Unfortunately, whoever it was forgot about the content and the fact that, when Stone filmed someone in this way, it was because they were not to be trusted. Ironically, considering what happened after the 1997 election, you could say that the style of the video told the truth.

The above is just a roundabout way of saying that it's the content of the Romney interview that was good: I can live with the style under those circumstances.

I think the best two interviews with directors I have seen have both been on BBC2. The series Moving Pictures had a special edition in which Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker went through key sequences from Goodfellas explaining exactly what motivated the filming and editing choices. Mark Cousins' series Scene by Scene had an edition featuring Brian de Palma which was particularly memorable because you could see an initially visibly wary de Palma gradually coming to appreciate Cousins' approach to the interview.

Clearly, the resources available to the BBC at the time were greater than those available to DVD producers now but my favourite director interview on DVD that I've watched is on AE's Kings and Queen, especially where Arnaud Desplechin talks about being taken to see Bergman films at a (possibly too early) age and the influence of Bergman on his own work.

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#328 Post by zedz » Tue Jul 02, 2013 10:26 pm

AidanKing wrote:On the one occasion I attended a Labour Party policy forum as an ordinary member (before I left the party in 1998), we were shown a video presentation outlining the issues the organisers wanted us to discuss. It featured key New Labour figures talking to an offscreen interviewer located at the side of the camera and contained unmotivated zooms, cuts, changes of angle, shifts from colour to black and white and so on. No one ever addressed the camera directly. It looked as if whoever directed it had recently watched Oliver Stone's Nixon and JFK and thought it would be a good idea to replicate their style.
I was working in a museum and a colleague somehow ended up with the responsibility for shooting and editing a conservation video intended for school groups. He had no experience whatsoever making films of any kind, but was assigned a lackey to do the technical stuff. He had just seen Prospero's Books. O the horror.

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AidanKing
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#329 Post by AidanKing » Wed Jul 03, 2013 9:05 am

I actually quite like the sound of a Prospero's Books-influenced conservation video. Presumably every last piece of relevant information was up on the screen but was so densely packed and layered that it was impossible to interpret?

The BBC has just shown a series about geology called Rise of the Continents which, although rather good, had an unfortunate tic of going into a Tony Scott post-Enemy of the State-style frenzy every time it wanted to say that this geological process happened a very long time ago and took a very long time. It was extremely eye-catching, and quite beautiful, to look at whenever it did this but it didn't really help with conveying the information.

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RossyG
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#330 Post by RossyG » Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:03 am

I really like Artificial Eye's home made interviews, where they just train a camera on a director or performer in their office. The only snag is that they're so low-tech that they sometimes don't check to see if the auto-focus is on the speaker rather than the wall of VHS tapes behind them.

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MichaelB
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#331 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jul 03, 2013 1:07 pm

AidanKing wrote:The BBC has just shown a series about geology called Rise of the Continents which, although rather good, had an unfortunate tic of going into a Tony Scott post-Enemy of the State-style frenzy every time it wanted to say that this geological process happened a very long time ago and took a very long time. It was extremely eye-catching, and quite beautiful, to look at whenever it did this but it didn't really help with conveying the information.
Jump to 0:54 for a splendid corrective.

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AidanKing
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#332 Post by AidanKing » Fri Jul 05, 2013 1:23 pm

Great stuff indeed. Is that Mr Miller's Dogme Documentary Manifesto? Thanks for the link.

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repeat
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2009 4:04 am
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#333 Post by repeat » Wed Jul 31, 2013 2:57 pm

3 Documentaries by Sergei Loznitsa available for pre-order at VivaVerve! A propos, the aforementioned DocAlliance announced last week that O Milagre de Santo António (2012) is "coming soon" on their site.

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repeat
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#334 Post by repeat » Thu Aug 08, 2013 9:02 am

repeat wrote:A propos, the aforementioned DocAlliance announced last week that O Milagre de Santo António (2012) is "coming soon" on their site.
It's online, 720p and streaming free for the rest of the week ("in your country", presumably in some others as well)

peerpee
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#335 Post by peerpee » Sun Aug 11, 2013 4:41 pm

Sorry if I've missed this, but Pat Collins' SILENCE is only listed on DVD at Amazon (not that I buy discs from there anymore). Hoping there will be a Blu!

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AidanKing
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#336 Post by AidanKing » Wed Aug 21, 2013 4:47 am

I think Caesar Must Die is also DVD-only.

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Aunt Peg
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2012 5:30 am

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#337 Post by Aunt Peg » Fri Sep 06, 2013 4:13 am

I received my Blu Ray of In the Fog and the print is thing a beauty.

The subtitles are also optional.

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newwavefilms
Joined: Sat Sep 19, 2009 5:55 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#338 Post by newwavefilms » Sun Sep 08, 2013 3:19 pm

peerpee wrote:Sorry if I've missed this, but Pat Collins' SILENCE is only listed on DVD at Amazon (not that I buy discs from there anymore). Hoping there will be a Blu!
Just DVD unfortunately. If only the BFI would make its P&A funds available for small scale projects like making Blu-rays, the money spent would have a lasting legacy rather than just being frittered away on vast advertising stunts, the main beneficiary of which are the media outlets, not the film-watching public.

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RossyG
Joined: Sat May 30, 2009 5:50 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#339 Post by RossyG » Mon Sep 09, 2013 6:31 am

Frustrating. I'll still buy the DVD, though.

Maybe an online petition to support boutique labels might help.

I suppose Kickstarter appeals would be out of the question to raise money for BDs?

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#340 Post by zedz » Wed Sep 18, 2013 4:00 pm

Just had to chime in to confirm that the transfer of In the Fog is a thing of wonder. It's just eye-poppingly gorgeous.

The extra short on the disc (Letter) is a smeary, atmospheric memory piece that's like nothing else I've seen by the director. More in the line of Sokhurov, actually. It's lovely and mysterious (and SD) and a great addition to the disc. Now I need to get that documentary set.

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MichaelB
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#341 Post by MichaelB » Wed Sep 18, 2013 4:18 pm

I can also thoroughly recommend the Loznitsa documentaries disc.

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NABOB OF NOWHERE
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#342 Post by NABOB OF NOWHERE » Wed Sep 18, 2013 5:11 pm

zedz wrote:Just had to chime in to confirm that the transfer of In the Fog is a thing of wonder. It's just eye-poppingly gorgeous.
My copy looks like there's a slight acid lemony wash over the daytime scenes. Is that the desired look or should I get checked for cataracts?

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#343 Post by zedz » Wed Sep 18, 2013 8:45 pm

I didn't notice anything about the image that differed from what I saw theatrically, but I was just skimming the feature.

aewb
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#344 Post by aewb » Thu Nov 28, 2013 8:01 am

New Wave have acquired Norte, the End of History. Kickstarter for a blu?

OnOnt
Joined: Wed Aug 22, 2012 10:07 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#345 Post by OnOnt » Thu Nov 28, 2013 12:28 pm

When they tweeted about a new lengthy acquisition I had my fingers crossed for Norte. They'd have my pledge for a Blu kickstarter, but I'm hoping it's already a foregone conclusion.

fatboyslim142
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 7:49 am

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#346 Post by fatboyslim142 » Sun Dec 01, 2013 5:21 pm

What's the difference between the film version of 'Mysteries of Lisbon' & the mini-series version apart from the running time? Is there anything in either version that's not in the other? I'm wondering as I won the Film version on New wave's Facebook page.

shaky
Joined: Mon Jul 29, 2013 2:52 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#347 Post by shaky » Sun Dec 01, 2013 5:31 pm

From Adrian Martin:

"Basically, the difference between the versions is that he dropped one whole episode (No 4, I think) from the overall structure - because (as his producer said when I saw the 6 hour version) he did not want to shorten everything, he thought it better to make one long, decisive cut."

That episode is about an hour or so long. Martin also considers this cut episode to be perhaps the best thing Ruíz ever directed.

fatboyslim142
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#348 Post by fatboyslim142 » Sun Dec 01, 2013 5:35 pm

shaky wrote:From Adrian Martin:

"Basically, the difference between the versions is that he dropped one whole episode (No 4, I think) from the overall structure - because (as his producer said when I saw the 6 hour version) he did not want to shorten everything, he thought it better to make one long, decisive cut."

That episode is about an hour or so long. Martin also considers this cut episode to be perhaps the best thing Ruíz ever directed.
What extras does the UK DVD have & is it worth keeping the DVD when it does arrive whilst getting a subtitled version of the Mini-Series?

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zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#349 Post by zedz » Sun Dec 01, 2013 6:38 pm

shaky wrote:From Adrian Martin:

"Basically, the difference between the versions is that he dropped one whole episode (No 4, I think) from the overall structure - because (as his producer said when I saw the 6 hour version) he did not want to shorten everything, he thought it better to make one long, decisive cut."

That episode is about an hour or so long. Martin also considers this cut episode to be perhaps the best thing Ruíz ever directed.
There's a bit more to it than that, as there's a substantial scene in the theatrical version that doesn't appear in the TV version. It conveys (in a completely different way) important information that would otherwise be missing.

I think that calling the elided episode "the best thing Ruiz ever directed" is sheer hyperbole. It's as good as the rest of the series, but hardly stands out as especially wondrous (or even especially different) - and that really sells an incredible career painfully short. The theatrical-only scene (Pedro wanders into Father Dinis' inner sanctum) is pretty damn amazing, however. :wink:

peerpee
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Re: New Wave Films (UK)

#350 Post by peerpee » Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:11 pm

I'd wager that 'Kickstarter for a Blu' would work every time for New Wave Films.

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