The LAST AMERICAN SLASHER

"Each generation is so remarkably different from the previous one"

-Wes Craven

Push play if you want to listen to the soundtrack 

Back in 1991,  i became a fan of reading two magazines 

STARLOG(SCI FI MOVIES) and FANGORIA (HORROR MOVIES). The second one increased my love of horror films. Not only because you can see pictures of behind the scenes shoots of my favorite horror films, but because i got to read about directors and their craft. 

One of the names that always stuck with me was 

WES CRAVEN.

"Being raised the way that i was, made me love films even more because they were forbidden."

-Wes Craven

Born and raised in Cleveland Ohio, by Caroline and Paul Eugene Craven on a very strict Baptist family. He had a difficult childhood, his father died when he was very young. And he was raised by another family while his mom had to work . This foster family had forbidden Wes to see any kind of films, only disney films he could see. He studied English and Psychology. Where he got expelled because he went to the movies. He went to see "To Kill A Mockingbird", the movie that changed his life. After watching films of Fellini, Truffaut, Buñuel, he got inspired to make his own.

So he quit his job as a teacher and decided to dedicate fully to his passion. He began as a messenger in a post-production house. He worked his way up. But he didn´t liked the buisness side of movies so he quit again. Between driving a taxi cab and cutting dailies on a small company with a man called Sean Cunningham, it turned out to be a long life friendship .Cunningham is best known for creating the Friday the 13th series of horror films, which introduced the fictional killer Jason Voorhees.

Cunningham told him "i got some guys with 90 thousand dollars, you wanna write a scary movie?"

"At that moment in my life, i think i´d never seen a horror movie"

-Wes Craven

In 1972, Wes Craven directed his first feature film "The Last House on the Left". Considered one of the most disturbing films of its time.

"It was a subersive film, rather than doing violence that´s entertaining we will do violence that was appaling"

-Wes Craven

"I´m in Las Vegas, and i was thinking, why don´t you write something about the desert?"

-Pete Locke (Producer)

In 1977 Directed "The Hills Have Eyes" with actor Michael Berryman who made a career of portraying mutant bikers, evil undertakers, monsters and other frightening characters.

In 1982, Craven wrote and directed "Swamp Thing" based on the DC Comics character.

Swamp Thing differs in many respects from Craven's usual work, in that Craven's intent was to show the major Hollywood studios that he could handle action, stunts and major stars. Craven substituted his usual focus on the problems of the family and society for pure entertainment. Filmed in the swamps of Louisiana, this film made Craven had to overcome every single problem as a Director. Alligators, a swamp, humid weather and a production company telling him in every shot "Wrap it up!!!"

After that, inspired by 3 different articles in the L.A. Times, about unexplained dead asian kids who had survived war and concentration camps. All three told their parents, they knew if they slept they would get killed, because someone was chasing them. Craven got what he needed to begin writting his most famous movie 1984´s "A Nightmare on Elm Street ".

Craven based his most famous character Freddy Kruger on a man he actually saw when he was little. After loosing his father, young Craven knew there wasn´t much protection form him. He felt all alone. He lived on a second story apartment and one day as he heard someone mumbling in the street. He looked outside and this man with a hat on the street, stared at him and smiled. To this day he recognizes, that was the inspiration for Freddy , someone who takes delight in scaring children.

The sweater , the hat, but no mask, he wanted Freddy to have scared tissue. The most primal weapon is a claw like a bear or an animal. A powerful message. A feared character , not a stunt double or an old man. The answer came with actor Robert Englund whose portrayal of Kruger made him the indisputable 80´s villain and a EVIL ICON forever. Craven calls it "the terror of entering adulthood and leaving childhood behind".

Craven continued pushing horror to its limits:

• The Serpent and the Rainbow
• The People Under the Stairs
• Shocker

But he reunited with commercial success in the 90´s with SCREAM.

The slasher film genre was pushed once more by his favorite director. In 1996 Wes did what no other director had done. Not even Hitchcock. Craven killed within 15 mins of the movie, his leading lady. Drew BARRYMORE´s death on the film was so shocking to everyone. Because she was the face in the poster. Everyones jaws dropped to the floor. 

The teen horror genre was reinvented. By including characters who knew and saw slasher films. They had memorized the rules of that kind of movies. 

But the cherry on top was the ENDING. No one expected it. I´m not gonna spoil it, if you haven´t seen it´s a must.

No matter who you are , where you come from, where you go. Everyone has felt than tiny little spark of fear in a dark alley, or when the lights go out, whenever we are really alone.

"Horror films don´t create fear... they release it."

-Wes Craven

(1939-2015)

KINEMA

First i must adress the LANGUAGE status.  After a month of receiving emails and votes "ENGLISH" won, sorry for the ones who wanted BLOGDAYAFTERNOON in spanish.
But it was a close one. Thank you so much for reading and supporting BLOGDAY AFTERNOON.

I will continue to write about what and why i love MOVIES. 
Thank you.

cinematography, it is the visual stamp on a movie.

Psycho (1960)

You can push play to listen to the soundtrack:

As far as i can remember i´ve always loved to see the opening credits on a film. The cinematographer, is one i pay special attention to it. Because i can watch in detail during the film how much the cinematographer has evolved from his last film.

Cinematography (from Greek, kinema "movements" and , graphein "to record"  It Gives name to the  discipline of making lighting and camera choices when recording a series of photographic images for the cinema. Without photography, there would be no cinema. 

Inside Llewyn Davis (2013) 

I his book "My lunches with Orson Welles" English director Henry Jaglom tells the story of having trouble with his crew on the movie set of his first movie "A SAFE PLACE" (1971) He kept asking for a certain kind of shot, that would be considered different. The crew refused to do it telling him  "it´s not in the script".

SKYFALL (2012)

He went to lunch with Orson Welles and asked him

How would inspire a crew to go off-script?

Orson replied: “Tell them it’s a dream sequence”

After that, Jaglom told the crew "Its a dream sequence" And it worked out perfectly. The filming crew even gave him feed back.

Orson told him:

"You have to remember, this are hardworking people, they wake up early, are told what to do,they have rules. The one place they are free are dreams. Where things are poetic and abstract. If you give them that freedom they will work for you."

 "writing with light, is....  it’s not about the amount of light, but rather, the quality of the light."

-Vittorio Storaro 

(Cinematographer Apocalypse Now and The Last Emperor)

The lighting themes of almost all of his films, Mr. Storaro shared, has been inspired by the expression of light in classic paintings, such as: The Calling of Saint Matthew:

PAN´S LABRYNTH (2006)

I could talk for hours about which are my favorite shots  but i find really interesting how they express their form of art. I´ve gathered several quotes from my favorite directors of photography. Maybe next time you catch one of this films you can largely appreciate that every frame in every film means something. It says and communicates the very essential thread of the story.

It must appear real and beautiful at the same time.

The Godfather (1972)

"The film should be brown and black in feeling, and occasionally hanging on the edge from the standpoint of what you see and what you don't see. A lot of cameramen work to increase the quality of the image, but in this specific case I'm working to decrease it."

— Gordon Willis Director of Photography The Godfather

"I like simplicity. I like using natural sources. I like images to look natural - as though somebody sitting in a room by a lamp is being lit by that lamp."

-Roger Deakins Director of Photography (The Shawshank Redemption, No Country for old men, UNBROKEN)  

No Country for Old Men (2007)

"The language of film is further and further away from the language of theater, and is closer to music. It's abstract but still narrative. Everything feels less rehearsed. It's more experimental than classical."
-Emmanuel Lubezki

BIRDMAN (2014)

"…The images themselves are not sufficient: they are very important, but are only images. The essential is the length of each image, what follows each image: it is the very eloquence of the cinema that is constructed in the editing room."

-Orson Welles

Citizen Kane(1941)

"Whether a director has a lot of experience or very little, the energy of the camera is always generated by his vision of the story. This is a very important idea that only came to me after years of experience."
—Darius Khondji
Director of Photography (SE7EN)

"If they understand the story and the scene, often times the crew will come to me and offer ideas i take to the director."

- Frank G. DeMarco 

All is LOST (2013)

“A cinematographer is a visual psychiatrist — moving an audience through a movie, making them think the way you want them to think, painting pictures in the dark,” 

-Gordon Willis.

Annie Hall (1977) 

"What makes a good director? hmmm... hiring ME maybe!! "

-MichaelChapman

RAGING BULL (1980)

"What makes films art? ...i have no idea"
- Michael Chapman

TAXI DRIVER (1976)

EN ESPAÑOL

"La imaginación no debe tener fronteras, nos debemos la oportunidad de poder fabular, no solo en nuestro idioma, en nuestra tierra y en nuestra historia. Tenemos esta auto marginación !

-Guillermo del Toro

Si gustas oprime PLAY y escucha mientras lees.

No debe tener fronteras, así como lo dice Guillermo del Toro, en esta ocasión quise hacer el blog en español, al final diré porque mis razones de esta edición en castellano.

Mis 3 películas favoritas en ESPAÑOL

1) El Secreto de sus ojos (2009)

Una GRAN película argentina dirigida por Juan José Campanella, en el 2010 se convirtió en la segunda película argentina en ganar el Óscar a la mejor película extranjera.

SINOPSIS

"Treinta años atrás, cuando Benjamín Chaparro era prosecretario en un juzgado de instrucción, llegó a su oficina la causa de un homicidio que no pudo olvidar."

Con una de las tomas más impresionantes que yo haya visto en el cine, haciendo zoom desde el aire, entrando a un estadio de fútbol a llegar a un close up del protagonista. IMPRESIONANTE!

No es solamente un asesinato o una historia de amor. Es más allá.

Si te gustan las historias de Sherlock Holmes, el guión  esta tan bien escrito, que Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, sería fanático de esta película. Es una historia que solo se puede contar en español y ya que cuenta con la pasión única por el futbol .

2)REC (2007)

Una película española  dirigida por Jaume Balagueró y Paco Plaza quienes llevaron el género de horror más allá de lo antes filmado. Lo inesperado de la historia pero sobre todo la perspectiva en primera persona que nos otorga el director haciendo a la cámara subjetiva. Nos lleva en un viaje desde un reportaje en la central de bomberos, hasta lo más oscuro del terror.

De verdad al final de esta película le tuve q bajar el volumen y encender las luces. Porque no sabía que iba a pasar.

SINOPSIS

"La reportera Ángela Vidal y su camarógrafo Pablo realizan un reportaje acerca de la vida de los bomberos en una noche cualquiera. Matan el tiempo realizando entrevistas, grabando la cena de los bomberos y esperando a que haya una alarma que le dé vida al reportaje. La ansiada alarma interrumpe un partido de baloncesto y los reporteros acompañan al equipo de bomberos al lugar del aviso."

3)Te doy mis ojos (2003)

Dirigida por Icíar Bollaín acerca del tema de la violencia contra la mujer.

Una película muy, muy fuerte, con temas reales, temas actuales pero sobre todo llevada al cine de forma magistral. Con actuaciones excelentes. El conflicto, las provocaciones al rededor de una pareja que quiere a pesar de todo y en contra de todos permanecer JUNTA.

El final es indescriptible y puedo decir que llore después de verla. La fuerza que tienen las imágenes no es violencia solamente física, es psicológica , es emocional y verbal.  Una de las mejores películas que haya visto.

SINOPSIS

"Cuenta la historia de Pilar y Antonio pero también de quienes los rodean, una madre que consiente, una hermana que no entiende, un hijo que mira y calla, unas amigas, una sociedad y una ciudad como Toledo que añade con su esplendor artístico y su peso histórico y religioso una dimensión más a esta historia de amor, de miedo, de control y de poder."

Hola, primero que nada GRACIAS! Gracias a ti , Gracias por las casi 6 mil vistas, en 3 años, 76 posts después que tiene este BLOGDAYAFTERNOON. Poco a poco ha ido creciendo y madurado esta idea.

Me parece pertinente tener opciones y una de esas opciones que quiero proponer a los lectores que me siguen y se interesan por mi opinión.

Muchos me han dicho que "en español si lo leerían"

Otros me han dicho que "en español tendría más lectores"

Otros me han dicho "¿y porque no en español, si es tú idioma?"

Quiero ofrecerles la opción de votar por lo que les gusta. Pondré a voto si seguimos con el blog en ingles o lo cambiamos a ESPAÑOL. Tú decides, mándame tú opinión en los comentarios o un inbox por facebook, o en un mail (metalfka@hotmail.com) SENCILLO, la mayoría de votos gana.

Si no tenemos quorum , sigue en ingles. Pero me parece pertinente tener y proponer la opción.

Gracias por leerlo.
Un abrazo.

ELGEORGE

Evocation in the West

You can push play and listen to the score as you read

“There is no crisis in cinema. There are negative periods. There are times when some films are received well and others aren't. The past teaches us that some films were received badly, 
while others go sailing on.” 

-Vittorio De Sica

(1901-1974)

Brad Pitt as Jesse James

OPENING SCENE

"He was growing into middle age, and was living then in a bungalow on Woodland Avenue. He installed himself in a rocking chair and smoked a cigar down in the evenings as his wife wiped her pink hands on an apron and reported happily on their two children. "

To this day the legend of "Jesse James " lives. His crimes, his adventures, himself being an OUTLAW. We are always interested in the LEGEND and rearly the MAN. Who was he? what made him ?

Adaptated from Ron Hansen's 1983 novel ,The 2007 movie "THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD" Director Andrew Dominik made one of the best films in the last 20 years. As many movies it wasn´t popular at the box office, but to me it is A MODERN CLASSIC.

"Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader."IMDB

If you haven´t seen it its one of those movies i say : 

BUY IT! Don´t wait.

If you love films, movie making, you will love this movie. It is a perfect film to me, For many reasons.

If you listen to the music, it is always evoking something in our minds. A memory or a time period. It can be persuasive and not invasive. This film is a period piece because the Old West is dying and with it, its legends. Imagine a time before tv, internet or radio. Imagine everything you "could" know or get recent information was from books, magazines, photographs, drawings, paintings, gossip or whatever your parents told you. That is why Jesse James became LEGEND. And was LARGER THAN LIFE.

It is filmaking at its best. Because it is a human story. I´ve watched it many many times. And as they say with good books, every time it tells me different things. The music for the film was composed by Australian musicians Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT. One of the most well-known sequences of the film is the scene of a train robbery at night time. Cinematographer Roger Deakins used various cinematographic techniques to give the train more of a presence when it was in pitch darkness. This film´s cinematography is a mixture of oil paintings and old photographs.

Casey Affleck as Robert Ford

In real life as WE GROW UP we are Robert Ford when we were children, we looked up , we wonder about everything. We sensed flavours, we needed help getting around, we were amazed by anything. We want to run and want to play all day. The character of Robert Ford idolizes Jesse James, the man, the legend. He wants to be him. Jesse is everything Ford isn´t. Jesse has courage Ford is very very shy. I think we are watching ourselves in different perspectives. We are sometimes afraid and other times we have full confidence. The movie shows this differences between characters. 

Notice how in this scene JAMES is focused and FORD is out of focus.

AS ADULTS, we have responsabilities we make decisions all day, we have in our hands our fate.

AREN´T we JESSE JAMES to others? 
Even in death Jesse James was displayed and people made money out of showing his corpse. People were afraid of him in life and death. Instead Robert Ford was famous for betraying Jesse. No one payed to see his corpse or stand on the rooms he grew up in. There is no Legend to ROBERT FORD.

THE MISTAKES WE MAKE makes us what we are. The person we have in front of us is not flawless.

How do we learn to be ourselves? By trying out things. Flavors, coffee or tea, meat or no meat. Traveling, being scared, having no resources, being stupid, being naive, speaking, expresing our opinions, 

How we connect with others. How we learn from others. It´s human behavior .

To me this film is about those moments as an adult about  Just a moment for  yourself. To see the sky, to stare at a sunset, to enjoy a meal, to be alone. To be WITH YOU. 

OUR ACTUAL SELVES

The privilege of growing up, growing old, being able to look back to our past, of having this chance of making choices.

Being young we wanted to be grown ups. Being adults we would love to be young again.

How we made strangers our life long friends. 

"The Asassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"  is NOT just a movie it becomes a mirror of ourselves. It is not an action movie, it is not an EASY FILM to watch.

ENDING SCENE

"The shotgun would ignite, and Ella Mae would scream, but Robert Ford would only lay on the floor and look at the ceiling, the light going out of his eyes before he could find the right words."

“Tell me to what you pay attention, and I will tell you who you are.” 

—W. H. AUDEN