Welcome to Season 2 of WILDsound's The Film Podcast. Today, Matt and Kierston tackle the complex and intricate art of Focus Pulling. Let's join in to hear about some famous examples as well as some little known examples from the WILDsound Festival you may not have seen yet- but definately should! 

This is it! The season Finale of Season one of The Film Podcast. We hope you enjoy Matthew and Kierston's discussion on The Alan Smithee- the great name of Shame of the Film and television world! 

show notes

• DEFINITION 
  • Coined in 1968, and formally discounted in 2000, “Alan Smithee” was a pseudonym used by film directors who wanted to disown a work or their contribution to a work. The idea behind this is that for whatever reason, the director was not able to extend their true creative vision to the piece, thus it is not an example of their work they want to follow them on their resume or be linked to them creatively. 
    
    EXAMPLES Fade In aka Iron Cowboy (1968) and City in Fear (1980) both directed by Judy Taylor
    
    
    Why it is used: When there are extreme conflicts on a set, where a director feels their role is not being utilized, their creative vision not being created, then they do not want their name attached to the work.  
    • It takes away any credit that filmmaker has to claim the work as their own. 
    • It allows a creative to distance themselves from work that could harm them in the future.

Kierston and Matthew take a hilarious look at early Screwball comedy- what was the world like that produced screwball comedy? What factors were at play that brought screwball forward, and would end up influcencing comedy antics for generations to come. 

show notes

• DEFINITION:  Popularized in the 1930’s during the Great Depression and building an audience into the 40’s in North America, Screwball is a specific style of comedy film that is notable by a few distinctive traits: Fast, stichomythia-type banter, ridiculous, farcical situational comedy, and often feature of the central strong female character. On a deeper note, they tend to break down the struggle between classes and can touch of larger social themes. 
  • GENERAL EXAMPLE: Classic films like Bringing Up Baby (1939), You can’t take it with you (1937)
    
    
    Why it is used: When we think back to the Great Depression we can see why a population in economic hardship might be drawn to films that critique the social establishment, the upper class, and of course, have humorous and optimistic overtones.  
    • If you want to talk about how difficult it is for artists to find paying work, and how there are limited options for women except to marry rich, have your characters cross dress to get a job and the make the central love interest focused on finding a rich husband.  
    • If you want to talk about the awkwardness of single-session sexual encounters with your partner- set it at your best friend’s wedding and make it funny! 
    • Screwball comedy allows for social commentary through the sense of humor. 

Today on The Film Podcast, Matthew and Kierston skim the surface on one of the most popular, complex, and intense genres in media. What exactly is speculative fiction and science fiction? What purpose do these genres play in our society? Kierston and Matthew take on a huge topic and break down what it means in media. 

Show Notes

• DEFINITION 
  • Science fiction and Speculative fiction could each be their own podcast and one day they might be, but let’s just skim the surface for today with what they are and the differences. Science Fiction can be difficult to define and it is often considered a genre within speculative fiction, however Isaac Asimov was reported to have said “ Science fiction can be defined as that branch of literature that deals with the reaction of human beings to changes in science and technology.” Key characteristics of science fiction often include a society which is utterly altered by changes in science, technology, and automatism. People or their society are now almost unrecognizable to today because of the changes technology has had on them. 
  • Spec-fi, however, is a wider umbrella genre that includes science fiction but taps into more possible sub genres not limited to science. Fantasy, supernatural, they call all fall under Spec-fi. But the idea behind spec-fi is to put our world as more or less the same as it is now- with one or two massive key differences. 
  • To distill it down and slightly oversimplify it: Spec-Fiction could happen today If…  and;  Science-Fiction might happen someday If…
  • GENERAL EXAMPLE: Science-Fiction: Metropolis (1927- Fritz Lang), The Jetsons, you can even make a case for Futurama. Spec-Fiction: George Orwell’s Classic 1984 or X-Men.
    
    Why it is used: the amazing thing about good spec and sci-fi, is that at their core, they are here to tell a story about our real world- through the lens of something fantastical- either scientifically possible, plausible or absurd.
    
    • If you want to make a commentary on violence in our society and how it affect us as a population- but don’t want to come under fire for criticizing the world you actively live within- set up your story is a world already overrun by violent technology that has caused the world to collapses. We haven’t collapsed as a society, so we are NOT them, we can watch there story, learn from it, and alter our own thoughts about our world by having it’s influence from a safe distance. 
    • If you want to talk about society’s dependancy on technology and how it relates to social status- but you don’t want to horrify them into throwing away their iphones- set the piece safely in another reality that is JUST different enough to be distant- but familiar. 

On this episode of The Film Podcast, Kierston and Matthew talk about an Experimental film. What is the experimental film? Why does it exist? What classifies Experimental Film and what cultural capital does it accumulate and create? Matthew and Kierston attempt to figure all this out on today's episode 

show notes

• DEFINITION 
  • Experimental film or sometimes called Avant-garde cinema (it can be debated) in a type of filmmaking that re-evaluates traditional filmmaking and narrative styles, structures, and techniques. It often employs unconventional narrative structures, and/or abstract techniques, such as asynchonristic (non-diegetic) sound, the absence of sound, stream of consciousness storytelling, heavy metaphorical overtones, and non-conventional story-lines, or non-linear plots. 
  • GENERAL EXAMPLE: We don’t often find true experimental films in mass media, but we do see experimental Elements in mass-consumed media. Think of an abstract dream sequence in a film or TV show, of the techniques used to show are a character on a drug trip. One popular way the experimental film is often mass consumed is through Music Videos. 
    
    Why it is used: 
    
    -Experimental cinema is just that- an Experiment. It is meant to play with film techniques and narrative structures. Simply put, it is the abstract art of the Cinematic word

Today on The Film Podcast, Matthew and Kierston discuss a little known, but incredibly necessary position in the film industry- The Production Designer. What are they and what do they do? We find out today on The Film Podcast, as Matthew and Kierston break down this important and crucial industry job. 

show notes

DEFINITION: A production Designer is responsible for the visual look of the film. Not the Camera movements, not the acting, not the lighting- but the actual visuals in the work. The phrase was coined by William Cameron Mensies, while working on Gone With The Wind. It is also called the “art director” “scenic designer”. 

• • GENERAL EXAMPLE: Let’s take a classic fantastical film like Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. Those wonderful, colorful scenes with the kids in the Factory? The production designer is working in tandem with the director's vision, to create the “look” of those fantastical worlds. In the classic 1971 Willy Wonka film, starring Gene Wilder, that wonderful moment when the kids are in the candy garden, with the chocolate river? Every single piece of edible whimsy in this scene- from the gummy-bear trees to the toadstools, has passed through the mind, eyes, and hands of the Production designer (and in that specific case also the Special Effects team) to be built by the art department. It is the production designer than ensures the location is in order and the set is constructed safely and visually perfectly for the scene that will be acted out on it.
    
     
  • • Why it is used:
    • Production Designers may not be as well known as Producers, Directors or Cinematographers, but they are absolutely just as important. They are responsible for the “look” of the work. 

In Today's Episode, Kierston and Matthew break down some camera terms. What is Deep focus? If you work in film or have a background in photography, then you very well may already know. What does imploying deep focus do to your shot? What can this technique due to alter the way you feel and think about the cinematic moment you are experiencing? Join Matthew and Kierston as they break apart all things films! 

Show Notes

• DEFINITION: Deep-Focus is a camera and cinematographic technique that puts every plane of the scene in clarity. So if we are looking at a focal point- our hero stands in the foreground, around a forest of trees in the mid-ground with a mountain in the background and every section of the piece is totally clear and in focus- that director is employing deep focus.
  
  GENERAL EXAMPLE: Casablanca, Citizen Kane, 
  
  Why it is used: When we focus on one thing in the scene we are basically visually saying to the audience “ LOOK AT THIS- FOCUS ON THIS THING”, but when we employ deep focus we are saying “everything in this scene is worth looking at equally.” 
  
  • It can create a wider sense of spectrum of circumstance- our hero standing in the forest against the mountain, now looks very small, than if the background was out of focus but we saw him clearly. 
  • It creates a dramatic sense of space, physically and metaphorically

Welcome to The Film Podcast by WILDsound. WILDsound is a Film Festival, running Audience Feedback Filming sessions in Toronto, L.A, and Montreal, as well as running monthly writing competitions in Screenplays, Features, Spec Scrips, Novels, Poetry and many more. 

On today's Episode, we meet our hosts Matthew Toffolo and Kierston Drier as they break down what exactly a "walk and talk" shot is in film and television- as well as how and why they are used. 

 

SHOW NOTES 

DEFINITION: specifically in regards to film and television, a walk and talk shot is a story device, a narrative technique employed, often by the director to propel action and movement into a scene that would otherwise by dialogue heavy. 

• GENERAL EXAMPLE: You see this used a lot in Procedural shows like medical dramas, crime dramas, law drama, etc. The idea behind this is the actors are talking and sharing whatever information they have to in the scene, but the scene involves them walking through or to something. 
   
• • WHY IS IT USED
    Dialogue heavy scenes are often needed to establish a character backstory (Think that classic scene in a Rom-Com when the Characters have a hear to-to-heart while walking in the park), Explain a situation, or establish major conflict. We want to avoid exposition is most cases of writing, but when we MUST have a scene where exposition is happening, then that dialogue-heavy scene would get pretty boring if the characters were just standing there like talking heads. So a Walk-And-Talk shot does four things: 
    • It creates a sense of Urgency- those characters are getting somewhere!
    • It can link scenes together. Ex: The characters were in the boardroom and they shared important information that will affect them in the next scene when they enter the main office space. 
    • It establishes the lines as more casual (these details must be shared but they are not SO important that the characters have to STOP what they are doing to share it)
    • Psychologically, it establishes visual interest. As moving characters are more interesting to watch that non-moving one. 
      
       

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