#Akira Korusawa

[pizzasplash]

[louelldetuya]

This video about Akira Korusawa on how he composes movement in his movies is I think one of the best videos talking about films. In the video it was shown that Kurosawa uses movement to tell stories in his films. Using movement to portray emotion and makes the scenes interesting.

[itssomehingtodoiguess]

Farewell Harryhausen, and some Kurosawa!

Yesterday a great man fell, Mr. Ray Harryhausen, creator of many of my favourite films as a child. The first time I encountered his works I was five years old and still in daycare (nice parenting DAD!), the movie was The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and it is one of my all-time favourites to this day. The story of the film as far as I understand is somewhat of a mishmash of different stories, mostly borrowed from A thousand and one night (naturally as from what I know, that's were Sinbad made his first appearance) but is all in all just a really good adventure film from the 50s. 

The strength in Harryhausen for you you uneducated s.o.b, is his rather (at the time) revolutionary use of claymation to create epic monsters. The very best one (personal opinion) and leading star in many of my five-year-old-nightmares is the Cyclops that makes his (well there are a couple of em) appearance in said movie above!

When I was a kid, this guy was both the COOLEST and the darned scariest thing I had ever seen in a movie (maybe a tie with the JP Velociraptors). It is to this day the very best design of this mythological beast I have ever seen and the movie would be nothing without him! 

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad has everything! A two headed Roc bird, a walking skeleton with sword and shield, an evil wizard, a flippin Genie AND a schmuckin' dragon! Now if that ain't got you sold I don't know what will.

Harryhausen made tons of movies and if you haven't seen any, you're totally missing out and should go about and change that as soon as you come to your senses! 

Either way I'm really bummed the dude croaked taking that aside from the classic Disney flix, most of the movies my dad brought home was Harryhausen epics thus they have tremendous nostalgic value to me. It is a true loss even though as far as I'm aware he hasn't done anything in quite some time but I do truly wish him a peaceful rest.

Here's a list of the most awesome Harryhausen movies you should check, sorted from most awesome to still awesome: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Didn't expect that one did'ya!) The Golden Voyage of Sinbad Jason and the Argonauts Clash of the Titans (the original COOL one) Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (There's a giant walrus in this one! Idon't even know what to say to that!)

  All of them are simply delightful and especially so if you have (like me) a general interest for film history or special effects.

So to sum it up (for once eh!) in memory of this great mans contribution to filmmaking, take a moment and enjoy his works. They are very much enjoyable.

While we're on the subject of classic movies I just yesterday watched Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa for the very first time, something I've been putting off for years (now to my regret). The movie was nothing short of amazing even (especially maybe) when compared to modern movies. The storytelling is spot on, the camerawork is phenomenal especially but not only considering the time, and even though stretching out for roughly three and a half hours, it never gets boring (to me atleast, you might be an impatient little one).

The story is simple enough but the greatness of the film lies within the characters (more specifically, the Samurai). I was honestly amazed by how well written and at times relatable the characters were in this movie as often with old movies, you kind of feel detached as the general feel of dated movies feel very.. Well I don't know what word to use so I'll go with unnatural. Not because the films were poorly made but more so because  that's just kind of how you made movies back in the day (at least in the west). 

Having seen the thing I do finally feel enlightened to all the praise I have heard regarding Seven Samurai, it is an amazing film and it introduced many later to be classic scenes to the screen, many of which are still in heavy use to this day (You know that scene from that movie when the enemy army appears over the peak and then rides down across a hill, yeah this was the first one.).

I personally have never had any problem watching movies in black and white and I still don't, however I did feel a bit of a shame watching Seven Samurai as the landscapes and the surroundings are nothing but stunning, I sit and I REALLY wanted to see them in colour. You can't have everything though and it never bothered me, after a while I even started somewhat imagining colors on everything.

Note: This guy is the fuckin' best!

I need to wrap this up so that I can have some coffee and Cheese Doodles (ain't feeling like making my keyboard yellow) but yes, watch Seven Samurai, it's long but well worth the while. I have already downl- HMPH.. legally obtained a couple more of the works of Akira Kurosawa (Next up is Yojimbo!) so who knows, maybe I'll have some more recommendations in a couple of days!

I shall try master, I shall try, Zeke

  (Is it just me or do my posts just keep getting longer?)