tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3682993305881165292024-03-04T23:06:31.348-08:00Victoria NaumovaVictoria Russo. As aspiring filmmaker I write about films and filmmaking. Occasionally literature and just random stuff.Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-680357759517456342013-06-11T10:52:00.003-07:002013-06-11T10:53:59.632-07:00My bit overdue review of Zero Dark Thirty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1790885/">Zero Dark Thirty</a></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is another war-related film from the Oscar-celebrated collaboration of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000941/?ref_=tt_ov_dr">Kathryn Bigelow</a></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (director) and </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1676793/?ref_=tt_ov_wr">Mark Boal</a></b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (writer). Their second film is dedicated to the ten years of secret operation by an elite team whose only mission is to </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">find and eliminate Osama bin Laden.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As in their previous film, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0887912/"><b>The Hurt Locker</b></a>, Bigelow and Boal present this war topic with great realism and through non-judging position. Like in The Hurt Locker, the film follows the story through the eyes of a lonely main character dedicated to her mission and work - CIA operative Maya (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1567113/?ref_=tt_cl_t3"><b>Jessica Chastain</b></a>). Not only Maya’s obsession of finding </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">al-Qaeda terrorist leader leads the team of what seems like tired and lost team of intelligence, it also drives the whole film. Considering that Jessica Chastain’s character is a woman without secrets, interesting stories or personal problems, it seems at first as an impossible task to get a real hero out of Maya, but Jessica Chastain does it brilliantly with her pure and sincere performance. The actress proves that she is gifted not only in the comedy roles like in The Help or supporting roles like in Lawless and Coriolanus but also as a lead in a serious drama.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dramatically a lot of focus and attention concentrates on a character who becomes a center of the film, a real person who is the only reason of the story’s existence - the leader of al-Qaeda. He is an invisible villain. A goal of creating drama through fighting an invisible villain is a difficult task in filmmaking and that is where “Zero Dark Thirty” lacks its visual expression. </span><span style="line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Zero Dark Thirty does not feel like a long film (despite its 2 hours 37 min) but its broken pace damages everything: years pass by in a repetition very quickly while the raid itself is shot almost in a real-time, minute-by-minute speed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000941/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kathryn Bigelow</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1676793/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mark Boal</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> made an important creative decision not to commit to any viewpoint and decided to follow passionate but quite straightforward character. All these decisions left this film emotionally cold and very “as a matter-of-fact”. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The manhunt for one of the world's most dangerous man</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a tremendously important event in the history of the 21st century and no wonder that it attracted one of the best filmmakers of our time. However in the attempt to show a true event without slipping into a melodrama of a patriotic victory and avoiding factual problems, the filmmakers showed an unemotional story of a lonely individual on the edge of the earth trying to achieve her goal for no apparent personal reasons. As a story it is amazing and by no means important in the history of 21st century, but the decisions made in the script almost diminish its value and as a film it fails to impress.</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></div>
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09693133761437734842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-32220504049082356392013-06-09T11:00:00.004-07:002013-06-09T11:03:41.521-07:00Sweetheart is up online<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
It's been a year and couple of months since we shot short film <b>Sweetheart</b> in West London.<br />
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Since then Sweetheart, written by talented Lisa Gifford and produced by super-competent Elisar Cabrera, enjoyed a great festival run with a <a href="http://victorianaumova.blogspot.ru/2012/10/sweetheart-had-raindance-worldwide.html">Premier screening in London at Raindance film festival</a>, screenings at Bragacine Fim Festival in Portugal and two festival in the US: West Chester Film Festival and Fort Lauderdale.<br />
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It feels like it's been such a long time ago since we wrapped filming on the day, and to be honest the shoot went so smooth that I was waiting for something to go wrong. Luckily it didn't, thanks to our amazing crew and everyone who helped out it was a very pleasant experience.<br />
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Here is a full film online, if you like it, please do share and click on "like" on youtube page.<br />
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I hope this is my first amongst many future joint projects with the lovely team behind Sweetheart.<br />
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09693133761437734842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-25485378870562330482013-06-07T06:17:00.001-07:002013-06-07T06:17:40.378-07:00Summer, friendsSummer rainy days. <br />I am sitting in between.<br />In the middle of life,<br />Staring outside<br />Water falling down.<br />In the middle of life,<br />Right here, right now.<br /><br />I don't want anything. <br />It's not about basic needs and secret desires or love in general. <br />Love is about freedom, and I let everyone go. <br />Some stayed for some time, some didn't. <br /><br />Some are still here, at the back of my mind and at the reach of a phone button, ready to help, to talk, to laugh or just there. <br />In them I trust. In their existence. <br />They do not need to prove themselves every time to me.<br /><br />I'll even forgive them if they are late. <br />Although they can't be late. <br />Because they are never truly gone.<br /><br /><br />Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09693133761437734842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-35481745277256663212012-12-12T03:00:00.001-08:002012-12-12T03:40:42.738-08:00Film of The Day - 12.12.12<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I decided to make a post every day on a film that reminds me of the events happening today or something related to my experience of the day. This is to do with one of my resolutions which I am starting today rather than on Monday or in New Year - a resolution to write a blogpost every day.<br />
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Today the Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his usual annual speech to the nation. It was broadcast live from the hall of Sover Federacii where the rest of the Parlament was listening to his speech.<br />
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I am not going to go on how many of things he said were true and how many were lies, and how his viewpoints are different from his actions. Actually, the last one is relevant.<br />
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Being a politician at the top, one learns how to reason and justify their actions even when they feel those actions are wrong. We don't know what actually Putin thinks and maybe he doesn't even justify the reasons for his idea of treating the Constitution the way he wants and allow such a serious miscalculation in election votes to make him President for two more times.<br />
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I want to remember of another politician today and the way he faced truth after he was retired. Those historic events were captured in the film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0870111/">Frost/Nixon</a> (2008).<br />
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This film gives us a great way to understand the way people at the top make decisions. The drama of that interview being broadcast live to the whole nation, brings the sense of "immediate" sharing.<br />
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This film makes me think of what would happen if right now, while Putin speaks live, something happens and he says something completely truthful and new. But this is not an interview and there is no one to challenge him.<br />
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Here is trailer to Frost/Nixon, if you haven't seen it yet, watch it. Maybe next time you see a live broadcast - maybe it's another historic event taking place.<br />
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09693133761437734842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-7670694058040316362012-11-19T13:44:00.001-08:002012-11-19T13:50:51.107-08:00The Whole Era of Soviet Sci Fi is Over...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
...as Boris Strugatsky died today.<br />
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Part of Strugatsky brothers tandem, he was one of the most influential sci-fi writers not only in the USSR but in the whole world. Born to the society fascinated with space he and his brother also touched on the Soviet and universal problems through philosophical prism.<br />
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His works can be known to you through the film of Andrei Tarkovky's Stalker.<br />
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But their sci-fi books are so fantastic that they deserve more and more films to be made.<br />
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Rest in Peace, Boris.<br />
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09693133761437734842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-66935080547319364232012-10-10T10:06:00.000-07:002012-10-10T11:00:41.209-07:00Sweetheart had Raindance Worldwide Premier!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last Sunday our film Sweetheart that I directed, had its premier at Raindance Film Festival. Sweetheart was screened alongside other short films in the selection of Program 14 named <a href="http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?aid=9157">"Thrillers"</a>.<br />
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The atmosphere at the festival was amazing, previously several days before the screening all the tickets were sold out so the organisers moved this selection to a bigger screening in Apollo Cinema. But couple of hours before the program started all tickets were sold out again. It was packe! People were queuing up to find seats. Every film was welcomed with a round of applauses.<br />
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Before the program started filmmakers could introduce the film and say couple of words to the audience:<br />
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Huge thanks to all the crew and cast who worked so hard on this film!<br />
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We shot film at the end of March 2012 and through making this film I met so many great people!<br />
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Here is a picture of the team at the Raindance:<br />
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You can read more about the film, its team, news and watch the trailer on <a href="http://sweetheartfilm.moonfruit.com/">Sweetheart's Website</a>.<br />
Also follow Sweetheart on <a href="http://twitter.com/Sweetheart_Film">twitter</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/SweetheartShortFilm">facebook</a>.<br />
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Victoriahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09693133761437734842noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-89150272130135232332012-10-01T06:43:00.001-07:002012-10-01T06:43:01.939-07:00Lawless - my very informal view<br /><br /><center><a href='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/show_photo.php?p=12/10/01/742.jpg'><img src='http://photo.blogpressapp.com/photos/12/10/01/s_742.jpg' border='0' width='281' height='210' style='margin:5px'></a></center><br /><br />Lawless is a new gangster-drama by Joan Hillcoat, director most known for The Road and The Proposition and his collaboration with Nick Cave.<br /><br />Nick Cave wrote a script for this one as well - this time adapting Matt Bondurant's novel.<br /><br />I haven't read the novel and these kind of films are usually not my cup of tea unless they are more about the drama rather than the time.<br /><br />Reasons are, well, half of the time it is hard to understand what they are saying. And it's not just me being foreign and stuff. A lot of British people I talked to could not understand completely, of course they did, but not entirely.<br /><br />Another reason - not being a person who grew up with the notion of this Prohibition era I can hardly sympathise it. When people were starving in the other countries it is hard to think about poor people not having alcohol and it just feels that like everyone was a baddy those times. The trick is to show that they are baddies with a human face or with very strong dramatic reasons for being baddies. Boardwalk Empire really succeeds with that. And Broadwalk Empre creates characters not out of the blew, of course it has hours and hours to show exposition. A feature-length film does not have this luxury and needs to dig into the story. <br /><br />But still, a lot of the characters in the Lawless I am left not connecting too. Take the "villain" Guy Pearce. Why on earth is he so weird and so violent? What is it in for him? Why is he so persistent. The greatest way was to show that something bad happened to him or that he actually has his truth. But just being the force of evil is not enough. Besides he is not evil if you think of it - they are breaking the law, and he is enforcing it. In terms of a soldier mind, or a perfect cop or samurai - serving the law or master is matters of pride and dignity. In this case Guy Pearce's character's master is the government.<br /><br />I am sure there are all these reasons in the book. But I found it difficult following it in the film and sympathising characters. <br /><br />Acting-wise, everyone was amazing. The way the move, talk, creating the reality in the voice, smiles. From little performances of the Cricket guy to stunning Jessica Chastain and super-sincere performance by Shea LaBeouf. I am not going to talk about Tom Hardy. He is one of the best actors in his generation and I hope he is going to take up more roles like this, central and creating reality from scratch.<br /><br />Technically-wise, it was beautifully shot and edited, great blocking and compositions. I had some problems with cutting in terms of continuity of movements. It was a stylistic choice but at some points it was taking me out of story. But who cares. <br /><br />My favourite film of John Hillcoat is the The Raod and this hasn't changed after Lawless came out.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad<br />Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-39177242975892471122012-09-27T15:56:00.001-07:002012-09-27T15:57:53.068-07:00We are at Raindance!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eEwH93yqOEGU2Gq48m7C96nyC-jvRuFv-SoMHd2zumUd5LJ6FMJt0IkrC7fMQ83_V5SWneoRIHQJWjLQcIvbUHxkmf95ebmhGX2QXj46Nd7jZ6XS5GRNVca4sNjxy7sfK8b5ClRpRh5D/s1600/me+raindance.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0eEwH93yqOEGU2Gq48m7C96nyC-jvRuFv-SoMHd2zumUd5LJ6FMJt0IkrC7fMQ83_V5SWneoRIHQJWjLQcIvbUHxkmf95ebmhGX2QXj46Nd7jZ6XS5GRNVca4sNjxy7sfK8b5ClRpRh5D/s320/me+raindance.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
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Last night one of the most important independent film festivals in Europe - Raindance opened its doors for the 20th time.<br />
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I remember several years ago someone recommended me Raindance as great evening course for screenwriting. It was the first step in my filmmaking career (which only just began). I remember the thrill of getting to the course in the evening in Apollo cinema and then hours of talking to fellow film-inspired folks in the local bar.<br />
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Two years later and our film is in the festival. Short film Sweetheart that I directed this spring is in the official selection of Raindance in program 14 to be screened in Apollo theater on October the 7th at 17.00. You can view details and book tickets <a href="http://www.raindance.co.uk/site/index.php?id=603,9177,0,0,1,0">here</a>.<br />
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It's been a great year so far for <a href="http://sweetheartfilm.moonfruit.com/">Sweetheart</a> and we are really excited about the future of this film.<br />
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Here is a trailer to the short film:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/38TY8hiTu2A" width="560"></iframe></div>
Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-54772816932992303492011-12-04T14:27:00.001-08:002011-12-04T15:27:55.149-08:00"My Week With Marilyn" review or "Why did they even bother getting great actors?"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh215Y9Hy5DRJrtrs03XSQ_nDiuUL6hfHC6Djiis3gLa-a1hpbWqvbULa0njQUIckCpjBklXD06RaOi_S5UOwvZzpkswQZEpS_vQQukr3XeUm3IPT8gkp2RhvQN9z8c5TaMfM04gzqQz6UN/s1600/my_week_with_marilyn_ver2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh215Y9Hy5DRJrtrs03XSQ_nDiuUL6hfHC6Djiis3gLa-a1hpbWqvbULa0njQUIckCpjBklXD06RaOi_S5UOwvZzpkswQZEpS_vQQukr3XeUm3IPT8gkp2RhvQN9z8c5TaMfM04gzqQz6UN/s320/my_week_with_marilyn_ver2.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
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It's 1956 and Hollywood goddess Marilyn Monroe arrives to London to work with famous Laurence Olivier in his film "Prince and The Showgirl". Young and passionate about films Colin Clark uses his connections and dedication to get a 3rd assistant director role on the set of Olivier's film. He observes working relationships on set and starts his own close relationships, including one with Marilyn Monroe.<br />
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<a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931329/">Michelle Williams</a> plays Monroe and while she does it with charm and delicacy, let's just say truth: she is not Marilyn and one can only pity an actress who has to portrait on screen someone as charismatic as her. Same goes to Laurence Olivier played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000110/">Kenneth Branagh</a>. If you want to imagine how these two would go on, it's enough to watch the real "Prince and The Showgirl" and picture Monroe and Olivier playing a Director versus Star. I am not going to criticise Williams' performance as she had to keep up with some astonishingly cheesy lines.<br />
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Cheesy lines, that's what downgrades <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1519666/">Eddie Redmayne</a>'s otherwise brilliant performance. He is usually great with being extremely innocent and sweet, that's what makes him the best for this role and casting couldn't make a better choice for Colin Clarke's character. But saying out loud what belongs to romantic novellas and girls' diaries does not make one look very convincing.<br />
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While story is beautiful and sweet, it lacks conflict and scriptwriters failed to dramatise it. Instead they injected a full amount of super-sweet lines in places where silence, a look and a pause on actors' eyes would do a better job. Why cast great actors anyway if you make them narrate all of their feelings? Actors are there to get those feelings out on screen so the audience trust what they SEE not HEAR.<br />
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This is what cinema is about.<br />
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It's about reaction, when one character is on the front and talks to someone who is standing behind, sometimes reaction is more important than words. But director <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0193508/">Simon Curtis</a> decided to go on a narrow lens to make every shot stylish and "cinematic", i.e. using shallow depth of field. It is very frustrating when one can't see a face of an actor/actress just because they are out of focus for stylistic reasons. Why do you need these great actors at all if you keep on not showing their faces?<br />
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The middle part of the film was quite flat and repetitive. Shot as a beautiful postcard of Britain it lacks the bittersweet feelings of young Colin Clark. Great sunny weather only suggests that everything is brilliant, while Colin knew at the bottom of his heart it's just a silver lining in the enormous black cloud that covered Marilyn's life.<br />
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It is a great film to watch for aspiring filmmakers to see what could be done better at scriptwriting stage, editing and directing. This story could have been saved and had all the potential for being one of the best films this year, Mr Weinstein.<br />
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<br /></div>Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-17985752727755351762011-11-21T10:12:00.001-08:002011-11-21T10:18:39.044-08:00Grading Digital<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Hello everyone,<br />
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As some of you know I am a filmmaker and currently studying at Metfilm School in Ealing Studios.<br />
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Anyway, until now I was only editing and never had a chance to grade or colour correct, now I am in editing class having to grade one third part of a feature film. We are mostly using Colorista II in Final Cut Pro, as it's most suitable for the quality of digital footage we have.<br />
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Just wanted to show you a quick example from a first day - I was trying to create an effect of Sepia for one of the flashbacks to 1942.<br />
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Here is an original footage:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71o6tcamWGN-zaf_hT7srt45cSJFd2uHhdlydzPuG6GIm5Hdmdn3RaTqXpGrfBhAj9YpL2b5F723OZOxqIhU9aQBZzsK5H2Rr3gH_cSzt5cCYjwf91ajLkRbq56BoyzQE4Gkwnvfbpm5H/s1600/no+sepia+Janet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj71o6tcamWGN-zaf_hT7srt45cSJFd2uHhdlydzPuG6GIm5Hdmdn3RaTqXpGrfBhAj9YpL2b5F723OZOxqIhU9aQBZzsK5H2Rr3gH_cSzt5cCYjwf91ajLkRbq56BoyzQE4Gkwnvfbpm5H/s400/no+sepia+Janet.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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And here is the changes I applied in Colorista II playing with colours:<br />
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To be honest this pictures reduce quality significantly, but you can see the idea behind it.</div>
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Have a nice week!</div>
<br /></div>Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-62566000867367805312011-10-19T14:56:00.000-07:002011-10-19T14:56:08.089-07:00A bit of analysis on Czech hidden gem "Daisies"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-f28OCtc_HzNrgY9MhrhfyUH_3wIflDqA_4IUwS8em2GgI7qh7TOZnQRI18S8feyPPvEpX1JqrY7aLYlSI7wcT4E0k_eC4WMuvENu7Mrr94dP-8nkKpqyeNU26MfZRgHAyEzazz1CjqH/s1600/sedmikrasky_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-f28OCtc_HzNrgY9MhrhfyUH_3wIflDqA_4IUwS8em2GgI7qh7TOZnQRI18S8feyPPvEpX1JqrY7aLYlSI7wcT4E0k_eC4WMuvENu7Mrr94dP-8nkKpqyeNU26MfZRgHAyEzazz1CjqH/s320/sedmikrasky_2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span id="internal-source-marker_0.7694879034534097" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Film “Daisies” by Vera Chytilova was made in Czechoslovakia in the times of oppression and strong political control of communist party over all the form of art. Vera Chytilova and other brilliant Czech filmmakers (like Milos Forman and Ivan Passer) contributed to the creation of movement that was later called as “Czech New Wave”. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The objective of making film for them was “to make the Czech people collectively aware that they are participants in a system of oppression and incompetence which had brutalized them.” Most films of Czech New Wave including “Daisies” were made just few years before the events of Prague Spring, period of political liberalization at the end of 1960-s in Czechoslovakia. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When analyzing this film it is important to look at the historical, social and cultural context of the times and place where this film was made. “Daisies” is enjoyable to watch and anyone who ever had to deal with any form of repression can relate to this film. “Daisies” is a filmic fest of freedom and joy of rebellion. Somewhat surrealistic it is explained not only by the cultural context but also the social and political setting in which this film was created. Surrealism of this film is an antidote to brutal realism of Soviet and communist societies.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Daisies” is a great example of anti-narrative structure, made in the years of political, social and cultural oppression it breaks the rules of narrative and style. It is not simply an example of anti-narrative art, it is in every form an attempt of deconstruction of narration. This film despite its illogical structure and form makes an enjoyable and intelligent viewing experience, because the absence of plot is compensated by creation of story (“fabula”) by each individual viewer.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some parts of “Daisies” include dialogue, but those that do not are in a way similar to silent movies.Soundtrack is mostly illogical and non-diegetic. Some of the scenes are especially similar to the early silent comedies from the use of filmic style: the scene in the night club where girls outperform dancers and show outrageous and silly behavior. First of all there is no dialogue in this scene, only music accompanying it. The place where girls sit looks like a static. Exaggerated movements and gags are great example of early comedies, when cinema was not regarded as a form of art but a form of entertainment. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is again a revolutionary act from the authors of the film, as in communist societies, film could not be the form of entertainment and pleasure, but the form of education and propaganda. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The absence of constructed dialogue plays an important role in destroying the narration. Rudolf Arnheim argues that “The addition of spoken dialogue has made storytelling easier, dialogue narrows the world of film.” </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The context of this film is linked to its filmic style: it is illogical and inconsistent. Any filmic style created is destroyed within some moments. For example, the change of colours with the rhythmic repetition is linked to the change of sound and when audience gets used to it and regards it as the filmic form, just in few moments it is broken only to be replaced by another one. Therefore I believe that the context of this film and the destruction of narration is closely linked to the destruction of filmic style.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Abundancy in food is mirrored in abundancy in filmic construction (although in this case I mean deconstruction): bold cuts, very bright colours, great variety of various cuts, psychedelic visuals , especially the ones with moving train and of course the great number of montage pictures of various things from roses to butterflies.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Film “Daisies” is full of images and actions that can be regarded as archetypes. Carl Gustav Jung described archetypes as “inborn tendencies which shape the human behavior”. These visions and symbols are universal. Jung continues “we often meet these themes in the fantasies, dreams, delirious ideas and illusions". As film in question is following deconstruction of narration and plot , the experience of watching it is very similar to fantasy or a surreal dream. This dream is full of archetypes: a tree of life, virginity, apples (and food in general) as a source of knowledge and life. And of course archetypical fears like castration (cutting phallic-shape food with scissors proceeding to cutting own bodies) and drowning as a form of punishment. (</span><a href="http://www.carl-jung.net/archetypes.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.carl-jung.net/archetypes.html</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 2010).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By including archetypes Chytilova made the experience of watching this film more surreal and dream-like and as any dreams are very deconstructed and illogical. Usually in the morning we do not remember the plot of the dream however we strongly remember the feeling of it.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However one should make a difference between archetypes and stereotypes. While archetypes are included in the convention of the film, stereotypes are destroyed. It is interesting to compare “Daisies” to another very feminine film that deals with stereotypes, “Gentlemen prefer blondes”. The American film does not deconstruct stereotypes but acknowledges their role in society. For example Lorelei says: “Don't you know that a man being rich is like a girl being pretty? You wouldn't marry a girl just because she's pretty, but my goodness, doesn't it help?” (Gentlemen prefer blondes, 1953). </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In contrast to that Chytilova destroys every stereotype and “heroines rebelliously try to subvert the patriarchal system and gender stereotypes”. The revolutionary act of sabotaging gender stereotypes goes in harmony with the filmic style of deconstruction. (Kinoeye, 2002). </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A great example of illogical narration within the film is a philosophical question (although in the film it is a trivial problem): “Why do they say “I love you”? Why don’t they say, for example “egg”?” Main characters question the meaning of the words that are used everyday with no real meaning and value to it. If they are used with no meaning, why not replace it with something else. The whole film exploits this idea and replaces values and meanings with very brief creation of new meanings and style only for them to be deconstructed in next to no time.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">There are different approaches to the principles of film narration. The distinction between the story and the form was theorized by the Russian Formalists. They studied two most important principles: story (also called </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fabula</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">) and plot (</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">syuzhet</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">). The plot is “a system because it arranges components – the story events and states of affairs – according to specific principles”. And there are three sorts of principles that relate plot to the story: Narrative Logic, Time and Space. Chytilova does not follow these principles in “Daisies”, the flow of story is illogical, time does not matter and space is a free structure. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Story or fabula on the other hand is not a system, it is action, series of events. Tynianov argues that “story can only be guessed, it is not a given”. (David Bordwell, 2005).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the very beginning of the film Marie I says “Nobody understands anything”, this is a great summary to the plot of the film: it warns audience that there is nothing to understand and every attempts to find meaning and matter will be laughed at and destroyed within no time. (Daisies, 1966).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Narration structure was viewed as one of the most important elements in creating film and plot. But experimental filmmakers had a fresh approach to filmmaking by using anti-narrative. Anti-narrative on its own has got a structure and follows its own rules created by authors within the film. But “Daisies” is a great example of early experimental films which destroy any attempt to find logical plot. Any new form of narration and style to be regarded as new shall be first deconstructed and broken. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the end of the film when girls are drowning, film questions: “Is there any way to mend what’s been destroyed”. The answer is no, as girls are killed with a huge chandelier and the film is ended with no chance to mend its deconstruction. (Daisies, 1966).</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This was followed not only in art but also in society: revolutions were needed to create a new society. It is a pity that it took Czech Republic and its filmmakers such a long time before revolution and the chance to create openly. </span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bibliography.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bordwell, D. Principles of Fim Narration. In: Wartenberg, T.E., Curran, A. eds. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Philosophy of Film</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 2005, Oxford: Blakwell Publishing Ltd.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Concept of Archetypes at Carl Jung, 2010. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Carl Jung Resources</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, [online]. Available at: </span><a href="http://www.carl-jung.net/archetypes.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">http://www.carl-jung.net/archetypes.html</span></a><br /><a href="http://www.carl-jung.net/archetypes.html"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></a><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Daisies (Sedmikrásky), </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0161615/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vera Chytilová</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 1966, Czechoslovakia. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Gentlemen prefer blondes, </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001328/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Howard Hawks</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 1953, USA.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><a href="about:blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Hames</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, P., </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Czechoslovak New Wave</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 1985, Los Angeles: Berkeley.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Radkiewicz, M., 2002. Angry Young Girls. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Kinoeye</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, 2(8).</span></div>
</div>Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-75362532273548447962011-09-13T13:19:00.000-07:002011-09-13T13:21:39.696-07:00Chess is a pure drama<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sometimes as filmmakers we are looking for new fields of drama for ideas for films. Court and medicine are the best examples of pure drama where life and death and other values like justice are at stake. That explains the popularity of courtroom series and hospital tv series.<br />
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But sometimes drama lies in the things that we usually regard as boring. Chess is a great example of a dramatic sport where personalities and different temperaments crash and collide.<br />
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A new film "Bobby Fischer Against the World" distributed by DogWoof, proves that chess is a great source of drama with great and weird genius at war, like Bobby Fischer himself. This is the first documentary to explore the bizarre life of one of the greatest chess players, Bobby Fischer.<br />
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You can watch the preview or the whole film here<br />
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<iframe src="//widgets.distrify.com/widget.html#389-3385" class="distrify-player" frameborder="0" height="392" id="distrify-player-389" scrolling="no" title="Distrify video player" type="text/html" width="640"></iframe></div>
Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-39293038650994856362011-09-07T03:24:00.000-07:002011-09-07T06:31:24.344-07:00Michael Schumacher. Brilliant 20 years.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPkx6B2-g_1thFZ8PbIKTkUMQ-j8vp1hl2-2czZ0gsFyaZgN-1ua4rbNiD5d2TocNh6mVD6x9yg9piL2ZUH5qOEcLQXReP3FUpjwMfeCJWafUrmEOBRBDFKXTBdQ2_OMvUI_Y_LMhjKjI/s1600/schuey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXPkx6B2-g_1thFZ8PbIKTkUMQ-j8vp1hl2-2czZ0gsFyaZgN-1ua4rbNiD5d2TocNh6mVD6x9yg9piL2ZUH5qOEcLQXReP3FUpjwMfeCJWafUrmEOBRBDFKXTBdQ2_OMvUI_Y_LMhjKjI/s320/schuey.jpg" width="182" /></a></div>
The other day I was talking to the priest in Orthodox church as part of my "Leto Be" documentary about the fans of 30secondstomars, Echelon. So I was asking him about the lines in Bible that say that one shall not make yourself an idol in the form of of anything. The truth is that I always had idols in life, they helped me to be who I am.<br />
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One of them, the first of them is Michael Schumacher.<br />
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He is an unwritten book. He is a warrior in shining arms of nowadays. His poster that I had since I was 15, helped me to believe in myself and to fight till the end. Whether you are at the exam and feel like you lost it all, or in your relationship. He was always fighting till the end even when it was illogical to continue. The most logical driver used his intuition when it mattered the most.<br />
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And sometimes he was totally wrong. I admire him for his mistakes more then for his championships. Not that I approve of them and I am glad he acknowledged and apologised and learnt a big deal from them. He didn't give up.<br />
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It is very easy to take your mistake of one moment, one wrong choice you did and guide your whole life as a misery and blame yourself and have this eternal excuse of being a wrong-doer. It takes far more courage and inner strength to stand up as if you are a new person with a blank history and go on. It is much easier to be unhappy then happy and brilliant.<br />
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Michael Schumacher is not brilliant because he's born brilliant. He is brilliant because he chose to be brilliant. And that choice is a choice of a true hero. Whether it means tragic hero one day, like in Adelaide, or a perfect hero like in Japan (choose your favourite year).<br />
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My admiration of him wasn't always consistent. I cried my eyes out when he broke his leg. And his decision of come-back made me cry too, in a good way. But then for numerous races I was questioning his decision and choice to be back. Until I realised again, that he is being himself, not an idol, a real person who makes illogical choices because he believes in them. And he might be wrong sometimes. But yet again, he will never have regrets, that he didn't try.<br />
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He is racing for 20 years because he cannot not to race and there is no ego anymore involved in this process. He is doing it because he can and he wants to. I admire this even more then some of his greatest victories. He reached the state of not caring when he cares. It's hard to explain but I guess that's what they call wisdom and I hope that one day I will reach it too. And when I do, I will look back at my most embarrassing moments in life and acknowledge them and be thankful to Michael Schumacher for teaching me not to give up and get pass your own selfish guilt.<br />
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Last race (Spa 2011) was amazing and British media and fans all worshipped Button who came third from 13th. But the man who was 5th came from the last place on grid, he overtook 19 cars. He didn't win. Neither did Button. But we know that those two really are true warriors.<br />
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I have no vocabulary to express my feelings to Michael!!!<br />
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To prove he is not an idol but a human being here is a press-conference of him at Monza when he cried.<br />
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<i>Picture taking from F1Racing Facebook page, September issue of F1Racing magazine. </i><br />
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Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-42330403132692686742011-09-02T02:28:00.000-07:002011-09-02T05:47:08.720-07:00My Short Observational documentary "Two More Sausages"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
As some of you know I am co-producing a feature documentary happening in Bosnia "My Side Of School". Director Chris Bates is leaving today for the first trip of shooting today so wish him luck. With your help and support of our friends and relatives we raised $4000 for the first art of the documentary. Check out the fund-raising trailer here <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki1zYr3k1Dw&feature=player_embedded">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki1zYr3k1Dw&feature=player_embedded</a><br />
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But as a director of documentaries I am very novice, so here is my first very short observational documentary on one day of a local coffeeshop "Two More Sausages". The criteria for this doc was to shoot without words, so no interviewing and not interfering the process and life. This is as part of my documentary module at <a href="http://www.metfilmschool.co.uk/">MetFilm School</a>.<br />
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As my tutor, Caroline Deeds, director of some BBC and Channel 4 docs, always says, patience is very important for any documentary-maker. And it was certainly true in case of shooting "Two More Sausages". A 3 hours wait was worth it as a very interesting client appeared in the cofeeshop...<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tyY6VLWTu8g" width="560"></iframe><br />
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Please let me know what you think and how it can be made better, your advice is very important for me.<br />
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Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-52777465495894512302011-08-26T12:54:00.000-07:002011-08-26T12:54:34.128-07:00Licensed Web SeriesDuring two months of this summer I was working on the webseries called "Licensed" as a producer. These are webseries about Raymond Hewitt, a TV Licensing detective enforcement officer. His sole mission in life is to find all those who have failed to pay for their TV Licences and punish them. He will do so in style.<br />
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The production of series was a great pleasure and surely a lot of hard work. It was a great experience and I shall take some time one day to share with you my idea of making webseries on low budget. <br />
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Here is a 4th episode of Licensed, where Raymond Hewitt visits a student house...<br />
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If you like the series, subscribe to us on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/LicensedProductions<br />
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<iframe width="560" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CEYjTJwKHfQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-62495005619095230572011-08-09T11:59:00.000-07:002011-08-09T12:20:27.574-07:00My Side Of School - Crowdfunding campaignI have been quiet on this blog for a while, please forgive me for such a long silence. I was going to create a new blog but then decided that this one has too many things I value.<br />
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I am co-producing a feature documentary called "My Side Of School". <br />
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<i>My Side of School' will be an observational documentary about the division between young and old in the small town of Stolac in Bosnia & Herzegovina. There is already division in Stolac - the population of Bosniaks (Muslim) and Croats (Catholic) has endured nationalist rule since the end of the war in the 90s, and local politics aims to keep the two groups apart. <br />
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Most young people do not mix with those from the other group, drinking coffee in their own cafes. <br />
However Edvin, Nives and friends are unconventional in that they are a group from both backgrounds. <br />
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These characters find it hard to spend time together, especially during the week, as the school they all attend keeps the two ethnicities apart: Croats attend in the morning, and Bosniaks in the afternoon. <br />
Separate sets of staff teach them their own languages and their own versions of history. <br />
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This division is clear in the open, but away from the public eye, it's a different story. <br />
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There is a hotel in the centre of town which has been decaying since it was burnt out during the war.<br />
Nives and her friend Zora joke that it's now alive again - its dark rooms are the perfect place for clandestine, cross-ethnic teenage adventures.<br />
If their parents knew they were romantically involved with Muslim boys, there would be hell to pay. <br />
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This feature-length observational documentary will follow these and other characters over 12 months, to provide a picture of young love, ambition versus apathy, and the conflict between religion, politics and identity in a country that is struggling to prepare itself for the future. </i><br />
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We are funding the next trip to Bosnia via crowdfunding on the website called Indiegogo. For as little as $5 you can be involved in making this documentary and be part of this project. <br />
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<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/MySideOfSchool?a=146592&i=addr"></a><br />
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<iframe src="http://www.indiegogo.com/project/widget/28379?a=146592" width="210px" height="400px" frameborder="1" scrolling="no"></iframe>Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-18296812082726478182011-07-10T06:05:00.000-07:002011-07-10T06:05:48.777-07:00Dream Journal - death of a cowboyJuly 9 - crime scene<br />
This dream was again without my presence and not about me. I was a constructor of a dream, I was a director looking through the camera display, a writer putting the words in the mouth of a man.<br />
This man, a cow-boy looking old man with grey hair but yrt black moustache, was shot in two places. His first thought was how is it fair, but it soon passed away necause a sharp wave of pain hit his brain and soul. He thought for a moment that he can trick death yet again. He covered the wound with his hand and on camera he was alive. But he was dying in a movie, and for him - both an actor and character it was a point of no return. <br />
He died in my dream, he died in a movie, but that image of an old hand covering wound is still there.<br />
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<a imageanchor="1" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Undiscovered-Self-Carl-G-Jung/dp/0451217322?ie=UTF8&tag=victor00b-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969"><img alt="The Undiscovered Self" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0451217322&tag=victor00b-20" /></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=victor00b-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0451217322" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" />Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-22647520206242986162011-01-05T05:15:00.000-08:002011-01-05T12:31:04.060-08:00Film Releases in 2011My friends from <b>FirstShowing.Net</b> created a wonderful <a href="http://www.firstshowing.net/releaseschedule2011/">list of film releases</a> in 2011 (US dates). <br />
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This list should be as usual divided into the Pre-Oscar season untill March and Post-Oscar season. <br />
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January is full of funny blockbusters and comedies with the highlight of beloved "Green Hornet".<br />
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Not so many big names are released in February as companies will be busy with the awards season.<br />
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March comes back to screens with several interesting-looking thrillers: The Adjustment Bureau, Limitless and The Lincoln Lawyer.<br />
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April looks interesting as it highlites the release of comedy "Your Highness", a detective action film "Hanna" and circus drama "Water for Elephants".<br />
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May is definately a big month for blockbusters: Hangover part 2, Thor, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Kung Fu Panda: The Kaboom of Doom. Another film that is coming out in May is the film I am most looking forward to "The Tree of Life" starring Sean Penn and Brad Pitt.<br />
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Summer brings us a great number of summer actions flicks like Green Lantern, X-Men, Cars 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Captain America: The First Avenger, Cowboys & Aliens and the final part of Harry Potter.Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-4248581797507932422011-01-04T11:36:00.000-08:002011-01-04T12:23:50.829-08:00Democracy in Russia is less than a wordCan you imaine spending New Year's Eve and Christmas in prison? for 15 days? in the 3 meters square room with no window, no bed or charis, just walls. Can you imgaine that you are a world-wide well-known politician who can't spend holidays at home because you were arrested at the political demonstration which was legally authorised by police and local authorities?<br />
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If you can't imagine those things happening you clearly are not from Russia, for in modern Russia human rights and government do not go along. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRjlKlotOoYlUEwKCO2WdxdWMItd5FB9E3JXILVVNm7wQfyeLHPZjsNaX2MgLs_fLliJ1b1LqRiG5aO7jKH_qXS9LTSHoll0zTrW3JFeNw8PxD_2d3Jb-AaBwDB7Tv6wvz-TyQiUfw1R2/s1600/o47933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRjlKlotOoYlUEwKCO2WdxdWMItd5FB9E3JXILVVNm7wQfyeLHPZjsNaX2MgLs_fLliJ1b1LqRiG5aO7jKH_qXS9LTSHoll0zTrW3JFeNw8PxD_2d3Jb-AaBwDB7Tv6wvz-TyQiUfw1R2/s320/o47933.jpg" /></a></div><i>Source: www.echo.msk.ru</i><br />
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On the 31st of December 2010, the former deputy prime minister and opposition leader <b>Boris Nemtsov</b> was arrested after political demonstration for "failing to follow police instructions". He was arrested after the demonstration that is held every 31st and 30st of the month to support the 31st article of Russian Constitution which states that every citizen has gor a freedom of speech. This human right is one of the basic rights in democratic countries, however it is contantly violated in Russia and the latest events proved it. The opposition has obtained a permission to hold this demonstration, so police arrested Nemtsov and other demonstraters after the event was over on their way home for not obeying police instructions. Those who were at the event say that there were indeed some anti-Putin and anti-government discussions at the demonstration. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVKNW4977kCse-9UZCqBKzIn9QxVztfYChIDFtcWZPORhR_hYRTe_3AfgPlm2OXuOMGAEoG4Lb2qu0S2KwIur9kxG9pm5B8YrIjO4-bBrgWs6ku053lNdQKu1y2ugHYjZFQBbWnj_tYOz/s1600/o47935.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZVKNW4977kCse-9UZCqBKzIn9QxVztfYChIDFtcWZPORhR_hYRTe_3AfgPlm2OXuOMGAEoG4Lb2qu0S2KwIur9kxG9pm5B8YrIjO4-bBrgWs6ku053lNdQKu1y2ugHYjZFQBbWnj_tYOz/s320/o47935.jpg" /></a></div><i>Source: www.echo.msk.ru</i><br />
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This event was not covered on any of the TV channels in news. Most of the country who does not have access to internet does not know what is going on with the government opposition. <br />
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The court decided to give 15 days of imprisonment to Boris Nemtsov. For what? for merely questioning the work of Russian government. Considering that upcoming government elections will probably have the same level of equality we have no prospects in near future for the change of course.<br />
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Here is a link to this news on <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12105885">BBC news.</a><br />
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<a imageanchor="1" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Politics-Russia-6th-Thomas-Remington/dp/0205704913?ie=UTF8&tag=victor00b-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969"><img alt="Politics of Russia (6th Edition)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0205704913&tag=victor00b-20" /></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=victor00b-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0205704913" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" /><br />
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<a imageanchor="1" target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Russia-Russians-History-Geoffrey-Hosking/dp/0674011147?ie=UTF8&tag=victor00b-20&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969"><img alt="Russia and the Russians: A History" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0674011147&tag=victor00b-20" /></a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=victor00b-20&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0674011147" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" />Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-79203455985779881292010-07-17T04:00:00.000-07:002010-07-17T04:13:20.346-07:00To the people of the Twenty First CenturyWe are given with tools, knowledge and freedom to build the new house of humanity. But standing here with spade in our hands, how can we be sure that we are building a basement - not a graveyard. And yes, we are children of our parents, whose blood and soul were tortured by the inhuman kinds of the 20th century. For more then 100 years they learnt to be brave and oh not so vulnerable. What can we rely on if church is no longer united, there are no souls left in the parents' house or the library - where shall we take the inspiration to restore nature and house? <br />
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Earth... First we need to get strength, we need to get rid of thirsty feeling and get back to job, and we are the diggers, graving the past and mourning about it, even though we didn't do it. We are here because someone else didn't do it either - in the 20th century of inhuman kinds there was place for humans, we are here because of them. How many are not. We are diggers, our ignorance and inner conflict take us down, standing on our knees, doubts like worms eating us from inside. Our elder brothers and sisters lost themselves in the agonizing freedom and oblivion of drugs, sex and videogames. We can't count on them, can't look up to them. Their dreams are dead and Requiem is conducted.<br />
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Digging is not an honorable job, not at all. Each of us asks question: why on earth do <i><b>I</b></i> have to do it? I didn't do anything wrong, it's all because of those generations before me, leave me alone, people, all I want to do is sit back and enjoy life, if stupid Paris Hilton does that, why can't I do it?" <br />
I know life is unfair. But I guess each generation as each person has got its mission, its pre-destination. Isn't our mission now to save earth and to show next generations how it's done? Wouldn't it be a great example for our children how to treat nature? Maybe they'll call us "the people who saved us"; maybe they'll make movies about us? Maybe the house on the basement that we first destroy and then build again - maybe it'll be a brilliant example of architecture, a piece of art, a masterpiece. Can they count on us? Those future generations, those unborn kids. Will they praise our Requiem for a Dream? Or will they just acknowledge "Glamour life and no dreams"? <br />
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Sitting here at 2 am in the morning and burning energy on this PC, I am asking whether I am any better, whether I am brave enough to start digging the basement, no glamour dress, but gloves to clean oil from birds. Is this a dress code for the 21st century? Or is it just another costume party?<br />
I am not saying that we have to sacrifice ourselves. But let's start thinking! Reflect!<br />
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We are the awareness. We are the start of today. We are the fresh green grass outside of OUR house. We are the faces on google map. We are switched off lights. We are saved tuna dolphins. We are windmills. We are the beauty of unspoiled sea. We are the sustainable farms. We are the wind. We are the people of the 21st century.<br />
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Let our children be proud. I am not saying - sacrifice yourself. I'm saying - SWTICH ON YOUR MIND. <br />
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Next time you are switching on lights in several rooms - switch on your mind. <br />
Next time you are taking plastic bag in the supermarket - switch on your mind.<br />
Next time you print stupid emails - switch on your mind.<br />
Next time you use your car - switch on your mind - maybe there's a bus or a bike.<br />
Next time you are washing dishes and leave water on for ages - switch on your mind.<br />
Next time you throw something away - switch on your mind and sort out garbage.<br />
Next time you see people in need - switch on your heart.<br />
Next time you see dirt on the sky - wipe it off and switch on some smiles.<br />
Next time you hear about some "oil spill" - switch on your conscious and don't illusionate yourself thinking that this doesn't concern you.<br />
Next time you go to a picnic - switch on your esthetic sense and don't leave garbage. <br />
Next time you see a master peace in the nature - don't ruin it, save it to the future people who will call you proudly "he was a man of the 21st century".<br />
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Here's a trailer to my friend Brian Hill's documentary "A Climate of Change" <br />
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<a target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.com/Climate-Change-Tribeca-Festival-Premiere/dp/B003IHSS9W?ie=UTF8&tag=victor00b-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Climate of Change (Tribeca Festival Premiere)</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=victor00b-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=B003IHSS9W" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" />Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-74562744450066997142010-07-04T13:15:00.000-07:002010-07-07T05:01:00.422-07:00Westerns Week<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdfJ1frYglXiKpGbe_-PK5Q76ZmSDv1AQw8_iEa1mCuJBpmmev4r9EBruyYrECU3Xxi9iY0Gp1473_Z0IT1vQeKIRPA3vIHkkrgXrHEqUNf6-b1WTmuLt1CPYogSBQ6jttYgf-iiaO-zK/s1600/goodbadugly.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTdfJ1frYglXiKpGbe_-PK5Q76ZmSDv1AQw8_iEa1mCuJBpmmev4r9EBruyYrECU3Xxi9iY0Gp1473_Z0IT1vQeKIRPA3vIHkkrgXrHEqUNf6-b1WTmuLt1CPYogSBQ6jttYgf-iiaO-zK/s200/goodbadugly.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490153947301588226" /></a><br />I am glad to announce that I will start my filmmaking course at <a href="http://www.MetFilmSchool.co.uk/">Metfilm School</a> this September. It's located in Ealing Studios famous for films like Dorian Gray, Easy Virtue and Little Ashes (and many more). <br /><br />Certainly main goal is to learn the craft of filmmaking, but the craft isn't enough - you also need inspiration. And Metfilm stands for it so they sent me a list of films and books recommended to studying. Half of those films I have already seen but I decided to take this to a different level and review all these films. To make it easier for you and myself I am gong to divide films by genres. <br /><br />So this week (5--11 July) I am watching Westerns. <br /><br />Here are ten wonderful Westerns in my list:<br /><i> *I made some changes to my list due to advices frim my twitter friends* </i><br /><br /> 1. Stagecoach, 1939.<br /> 2. High Noon, 1952.<br /> 3. The Magnificent Seven, 1960.<br /> 4. 7 Samurai, 1954 - <i> It's back! </i><br /> 5. The Misfits, 1961.<br /> 6. <strike> A fistful of Dollars, 1964. </strike> Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, 1969<br /> 7. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, 1966.<br /> 8. The Wild Bunch, 1969 - <i> if I find it </i><br /> 9. Once Upon a Time in the West, 1968<br /> 10. High Plains Drifter, 1973.<br /> 11. Unforgiven, 1992.<br /> 12. The Proposition, 2005.<br /><br />The choice of films is made according to the IMDB index, different sorts of best western lists and certainly, based on the availability of films. But please do make suggestions and corrections to this list, I am more then welcome to add some more films and welcome your opinion.<br /><br />So see you on my blog every day - for a fresh review of western classics. And please keep in mind that I am a girl who was born in USSR, so this is quite a different genre to me.Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-38054217430930508252010-07-04T11:00:00.000-07:002010-07-04T12:59:17.982-07:00Why Twilight Saga is dangerous<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tDW8Zx76x8irv5Hc2aGBOpkKKW-rMJ2Q5Acc3dd9ZaEaS2abZnPweDJSVW73KkWt5MSFyjEy3BABBl1BAMVB2OmVgjY-nwpcPO-UBfaUF7eXfw_CRir-8wue14UB-o4oD0lrCJKStk44/s1600/eclipse-poster-movie.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5tDW8Zx76x8irv5Hc2aGBOpkKKW-rMJ2Q5Acc3dd9ZaEaS2abZnPweDJSVW73KkWt5MSFyjEy3BABBl1BAMVB2OmVgjY-nwpcPO-UBfaUF7eXfw_CRir-8wue14UB-o4oD0lrCJKStk44/s200/eclipse-poster-movie.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5490143100741329122" /></a><br />It's been almost a week since Eclipse, the third part of teenage vampire Twilight saga is out in cinemas and we heard lots of interesting reviews about this film. While Eclipse by many is named as the best film out of all Twilight saga films (it's more dynamic, full of interesting characters and stories) I want to concentrate on the aspect of its popularity and which has both sides of love and hate.<br /><br />The main reason why Twilight is so popular is purely psychological: cinema is the main media where mirroring is used. The viewer transfers his ideas and views on the main character on the screen and the more similarities there are between the viewer and the character on screen - the easier is it to false-believe this film is actually about you. Here we see Bella, an ordinary, not particularly beautiful or stylish, not smart or talented and not interested in any hobbies. Admit it, she's boring. This character is so undefined that it is hard to believe in its existence if you can't identify yourself with her, for example for men or for talented and/or beautiful / confident girls. Take any girl in the world and out of three - 2.5 would be able to identify with Bella, mostly because of lack of confidence and a huge desire to be loved by someone as special and wonderful as Edward. Girls and women (as they identify themselves with their younger selves and through this media relive their youth) all over the world dream of having two wonderful men from mystic world being in love with them. Which is fine so far, girls don't have to be supermodels or scientists to have a right for love. <br /><br />But, the most dangerous thing in Twilight saga is that Bella doesn't anyhow fight for her love. She just gets Edward, just like that - from the first sight without any transformation, chase, fight or humiliation. And yes, after she looses him she has to go for him and save his life (in second part of saga "New Moon"), but remember that before that she gets another man, Jacob, again, just like that - from the first sight, without any changes, difficulties or love. <br /><br />This is one of the aspects why Twilight doesn't work as a drama - dramatic conflict in a romantic relationship is lost. Normally in the film there is a certain pattern: main character wants something -- but he/she can't get it for some reason -- then (s)he fights to get what (s)he wants -- (s)he can't get it -- (s)he meets people along the way who transform him/her and with their help/love/hate -- (s)he almost gets what (s)he wants but -- then everyone knows this is the last chance - (s)he doesn't get it. And then when character, his friends and villain and everyone in audience thinks that this is the end and there could be no more hope - something wonderful happens and the main character gets another chance. Whether (s)he finally gets it or not defines end as a Happy End or Tragic. <br /><br />We can't see dramatic potential in romantic relationship in Twilight - because... main character doesn't know what she wants. There is some sort of understanding that she likes Edward (more then anything in the world) and that she wants him, but then - why she gets him so easily in the beginning? From this point of view - New Moon had a more dramatic potential but it was so poorly executed and so much attention was given to Jacob, whose love she gets without any efforts - that it messes up with dramatic relationships. <br /><br />This problem makes Twilight saga not only quite poorly executed film franchise, but also quite dangerous for girls, who are already identified with Bella and are patiently waiting for two gorgeous men to love them. This film would have been completely different if protagonist was Edward or Jacob. In this case Bella's reaction would be completely justified: she is a lady who has a right to choose between two knights. She should have been however still posses some sort of special power: beauty, gift or social status... All the fairy tales and movies (which copy the plot of storytelling) teach us these lessons. These patterns help us to love those who we want to love and fight if we can't get them. <br /><br />However Twilight, although it incorporates mystic elements, is not a story of great dramatic potential. It dangerously shows us that we can be loved by two interesting and powerful people even though we do not deserve that. We could deserve that if we find in ourselves some talents or power but this requires some confidence to explore ourselves and the world around, to fight and sacrifice and make choices, to become more confident in our relationships whether we lose or win. Our generation and generation of young girls has got difficult issues with confidence, we hide behind labels and brands and try to find heroes to look up to, but what we get is Paris Hilton and Bella: love and fame with no effort. These girls' confidence is hit very hard when they understand that it's not how it works in the real world - and they try to look out for answers in their favorite films and books - but Twilight is no use unless you are in love with a real vampire.Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-87222782268734674002010-04-16T20:56:00.000-07:002010-04-16T21:20:03.525-07:00the only way to live lifeYou leave cinema at 6 am on Saturday morning. Inspired by a wonderful film "Knocking on Heaven's door" you realise that everything you made up before that - all the logical shields that you used are bullshit. <br /><br />All the strength you input into not thinking about him is vanished after watching this film. Because strength and action should always go into fullfilling all that good that there is in your heart. And if you like someone - isn't that good?<br /><br />But you remember that this is against all logic and just wrong. And probably you just made everything up and this is nothing but a spring fantasy. You know nothing about him and this might be all an illusion and the best way is just to forget and not act on it. You used to like his friend. Your friend used to like him. He's much older. He's Martian. He's an unknown variable in your equation of life. there is just no future with and to be honest no present.<br /><br />But then you go underground to Lubyanka station where just 2 weeks ago a major explosion killed 40 people. And you think - what if you died - right here, right now. And if he knew - that would be nice for him to know, even if he is a selfish bastard, that you died with your heart warmed by by this spring love fantasy and his talent.<br /><br />And when you go outside of undeground - to spring sun - you realise that the only way of living life is actually living it.Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-47841239490864498902010-04-04T14:45:00.001-07:002010-04-05T13:29:34.939-07:00A Bedtime story for MartiansLet me tell you a story about a little brave heart that was not afraid to love and never regretted it. I have heard this story from a falling star: it told this story to everything before it fell down to Earth.<br /><br />On another planet - similar to ours - there was a beautiful tree: it was made of silver and golden and planitum strings and it was alive. It had purple round leaves and golden branches. And its name was - A Tree. It turned its branches and leaves to the sun and when sun was hiding in clouds A Tree played its leaves with a wind like on a harp.<br /><br />There were a lot of birds who lived on A Tree because they liked its warm branches. These birds were not just using A Tree as a house - they also liked to sing. They sang in different ways: there were birds who liked making noises as violins, others - as pianos, other birds - as drums and some as guitars. These birds were famous in the whole forest because of their wonderful music. When there was wind, A Tree helped them and a beautiful music of harp was added to birds' sounds.<br /><br />And there was only one bird that could sing with a human voice. It's name was Little Bird. Its voice was magnificent - powerful and strong, soft and gentle. It sang always about happiness, sun, work and wonderful forest and its creatures. These forest soon became the best forest on the planet because it was the most effective and most productive. These birds on A Tree could rock the whole forest with a beautiful and inspiring song.<br /><br />But one day a Little Kitten came to the forest and it decided to see A Tree and its famous birds band. When a Little Bird saw the Kitten, it immediatly fell in love. And although a Little Bird was never in love before, it felt that it was real. The Little Bird sang a beautiful song to this Kitten in an attempt to impress it. And Kitten was impressed or maybe it just pretended to. A Little Bird was so happy and it started signing beautiful romantic songs to kitten anf dancing watlzes with it. For several days the whole forest looked like a wedding ball - for everyone was celebrating. But on the 3rd day a tragedy happened. Not always kittens are as they seem.<br /><br />Little Kitten suddenly jumped and killed two birds and almost got a Little Bird. A Tree covered A Little Bird in its brances and never let it go. A Little Kitten understood that it can't get any more food and left the forest. Its "meow" was never heard in this forest again.<br /><br />But A Tree stayed and A Little Bird stayed. And its heart was broken: its songs were sad and tragic. For several days it sang very sad songs. Sometimes it sang beautiful romantic songs about the first day of love and these days sun was happy and everyone was celebrating because A Little Bird was in a good mood. But sometimes a Little Bird was singing very sad heart-breaking songs when all the birds were crying and wind was not blowing and A Tree was still, and sun was hiding in clouds and even Sky of the planet was crying with big tears.<br /><br />After one of the songs like this A Tree said: "I hate that Little Kitten, it ruined everything, I wish to Search and Destroy it".<br /><br />But A Little Bird said: "And I don't regret anything. Those days were one of the best days in my life. and Without it I would never be able to feel love and what it is like to lose everythng. And although now instead of one whole Big Heart I have a Million Little Pieces - I am very happy that it happened. Because now I can love and sing not just with one heart - but with a million little pieces of my broken heart. Sometimes it's better to have love and lose it - rather then not knowing it at all - what it is like - to love."<br /><br />And this Little Bird was far happier then any other birds - because it did not regret the past and remembered the best of it. And it had beautiful dreams of A Tree and its purple leaves. I wish you to close your eyes and have these dreams of a beautiful planet.<br /><br />Good night, little Martians.Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-368299330588116529.post-83997890415757269822010-02-22T17:02:00.000-08:002010-02-22T19:03:06.676-08:0010 tips of Networking for "new-born" film-makers in LondonI guess no one is simply born as a film-maker, just one day we are bitten by film-contagious beasts and become "new-born" film-makers, suckers for films and inspiration.<br />But film-making is a team-sport so we need other people to make our dreams come true. One of the essential skills for new film-makers is networking as in any other business - we make our own luck.<br /><br />So here are some of my tips on how to network in London:<br /><br />1. Memento<br /><br />Remember the power of little notes that Leonard Shelby used in Chris Nolan's film. Use his tips even if you have not "this condition" - use the power of business cards. Take and collect them from anyone who gives them to you: you might not know when you need a help of make-up artist or a professional florist. Make your own business cards especially for your film-making "you". If you are a student you can use some cheap resources - like free business cards templates or <a href="http://www.vistaprint.co.uk">www.vistaprint.co.uk</a><br /><br />2. Extras<br /><br />Take part in other film project's - you never know how many people you can meet on set - your potential actors, writers, cameramen, technicians, make-up artists. Make friends with them, talk in coffee-breaks, exchange business cards. You can start as an extra in various student or short films shootings. Use resources like <a href="http://www.starnow.co.uk/">http://www.starnow.co.uk/</a> to find these opportunities. Remember you'll never meet as many people interested in films as you meet on set.<br /><br />3. Twitter<br /><br />Join twitter and follow actors, film production companies, PR companies, film journalists and film enthusiasts. There is always a huge amount of news, ideas and information on twitter. That is how personally I met wonderful people from <a href="http://www.heyuguys.co.uk">heyuguys</a> and started writing reviews for them. You can also learn a bunch of great stuff from great directors like Jason Reitman and Duncan Jones who use twitter a lot. For the start you can follow my film list on twitter here <a href="http://twitter.com/victoriarusso/films">film list</a><br /><br />4. Small talk<br /><br />Talk to different people about your film project or just about your interest in films. Use small talk not just to discuss weather but mention your passion for films. If a person is somehow interested or related to film-industry they will probably will to tell you about it. The other day I had a small talk with a shop-assistant at Westfield and just mentioned a recent film that I watched. She told me that she knows that stuff as her friends run a small film production company. I know some people who were writing script for TV series and they met a film producer when they were walking their dog in the morning. <br /><br />5. BFI<br /><br />Become a member of <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk">British Film Institute</a> (for 40 pounds a year) or just simply subscribe to their email newsletter and go to special previews and screenings with Q&A (they are at the affordable price range of 6-15 pounds). Not only you can watch a film before its release in cinemas and listen to directors/actors, - you can also meet a lot of interesting people there. Stay after the screening and hang out in the bar. <br /><br />6. BAFTA<br /><br />We all not BAFTA for its awards that have just taken place in London, but BAFTA operates all year round. SO subscribe the to <a href="http://www.bafta.org">BAFTA</a> newsletter and look out for events master-classes that are open to public - always try to purchase ticket immediately (it's around 10-15 pounds) as they sold out quickly. But this will allow you to enter the BAFTA home in Picadilly street, hang out in the bar and enjoy the event. Sometimes BAFTA holds special master-classes for film students for free. Last year I went to the screen-writing masterclass by the writers of LOST. <br /><br />7. Raindance<br /><br />If you don't know about <a href="http://www.raindance.co.uk">Raindance</a> yet, well you should, as they have a variety of interesting and useful courses for you. Subscribe to their newsletter and look out for "Boozin'n'Schmoozin' networking event or just go to one of their courses and stay after the course to hang out with other crazy filmmakers. <br /><br />8. Meet-ups<br /><br />Go and hang out with movie geeks - most of them are just nice people to hang out with anyway, besides they are passionate for films. Check http://geeksoflondon.com/ and subscribe to their newsletter for upcoming geek events. My fellow guys from www.heyuguysblog.co.uk organize meet-ups for film-lovers as well so stay tuned.<br /><br />9. Ask questions<br /><br />Don't be afraid to ask questions. I learnt it myself, being a shy person I would prefer just to sit there and let the others talk. But if it's a movie geek event, or Viggo Mortensen's Q&A - there is your opportunity to stand out from the crowd by asking a smart or a silly question. Q&A is really a great chance to address a famous filmmaker or actor and ask them whatever you wanted. Go first - most of the times people are afraid to ask the first question so everyone will give you credit for being brave and hopefully remember your face. <br /><br />10. Stay in touch<br /><br />It's as easy as it is - to send email Christmas cards to your film networking or birthday greetings. You will be amazed how some people get excited and surprised that you actully remembered it's Christmas and sent them some good wishes. And think about yourself - whom would you rather help - an old classmate who never even sent you a message on facebook in 10 years or someone who always sent your little birthday wishes?<br /><br />Let me know what you think of this... :)Victoria Naumovahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18430430042078894520noreply@blogger.com3