Germany Year Zero [1948]
1. The truck goes over some potholes, jolting a few lumps of coal onto the road. A small crowd dashes over to pick them up.
2. The recording of a Hitler speech echoes through the ruins.
3. Quickly, they decide which of the dead man’s possessions have any value.
Dune [1984]
1. The ducal pug.
2. “Remember, walk without rhythm and you won’t attract the worm.”
3. Snack time. He rips off a chunk of flesh from a dead cow (horse?) suspended upside down from the ceiling.
Apocalypse Now [1979]
1. The inside of the trailer could be anywhere in America.
2. “I don’t see any method at all, sir.”
3. Neck slice.
The Headless Woman [2008]
1. Two kid-sized handprints on the window.
2. She never says “Please” or “Thank you.”
3. The shirts are all too small. He takes them anyway.
A Bunch of Bananas [1975]
1. He starts stomping around the room in a rage. She joins in, then takes his hand. They begin an impromptu softshoe dance.
2. “What in God’s green … why in hell didn’t you tell me you cooked the turkey?”
“No, Frank. Bananas. That’s all it is.”
3. She takes the fake gun from her purse. Pumping the trigger, she waters the plants on the windowsill while looking wistfully at her battered yellow car in the driveway.
As I’ve written before, color correction is one of the most important stages of finishing a film. Especially since it’s an art as least as much as a science. Earlier this week I watched a series of tests made my Nick Coyle, my colorist, and replied with a bunch of notes. I thought it might be fun to share a few extracts:
“Even though he’s a redhead his hair is too much on the ‘flaming’ side of orange.”
“You look at his shirt and you almost feel how soft it is, that’s it’s cotton.”
“Again, a few shades less orange here. We want the red and green shirts to look like Christmas on a snowy morning.”
“Has the wonderful feeling of an indeterminate spring day that’s cold.”
“I like that ‘textured’ feeling of the shadows throughout this shot.”
“The latter is very important: that turquoise/green/blue notebook cover needs to ring a bell for the audience each time it appears on screen.”
“Bright day, vivid color, but starkness in the shadows. Like if Giorgio de Chirico was the cinematographer of Reality Bites.”
“Like if this was a Jacques Cousteau film and we were underwater.”
“Real people in an unreal situation that exists outside of time.”
Ministry of Fear [1943]
1. Cake crumbs on the seat, on the leg of his pants, on the floor of the train.
2. Seance: a circle. Astrological symbols on the floor like the numbers on a clockface. Dan Duryea’s fallen body like the minute hand.
3. Hilfe cuts the lights, dashes through the door and slams it shut. In the dark Neale fires the gun once. A pinhole of light appears in the door: bullet hole.
The Interview [2014]
1. “That’s not the first rule of journalism! That’s the first rule of circuses and demolition derbies!”
2. Fake grapefruit.
3. Ten second sex scene.
Shine a Light [2008]
1. Marty begs for a set list.
2. “We’re both pretty lousy, but together we’re better than ten other men.”
3. Buddy Guy shows up and shows how it’s done.
As someone who’s indifferent to the Rolling Stones, watching this was a mild ordeal. The narcissistic mythmaking from The Last Waltz is, once again, on full display. David Tedeschi’s hyperactive editing is very irritating. What are they trying to cover up with all those cuts? I liked Buddy Guy’s number though, and “Faraway Eyes.”
Belle Toujours [2006]
1. He notices her, cranes in for a better look. When he’s knows for sure it’s her, he smiles and leans back in his seat.
2. She snaps the box shut and says, “It doesn’t interest me any longer, it only annoys me.”
3. After taking money from her purse, he offers the waiters gratuities.
