Written by Anthony Watkins

In cinema, it is well-known that the director is ultimately the person responsible for the final look of the film. He/she is the highest in authority on the project and makes all the final decisions for the film. Because the director is the one responsible for the finished product, there is a good amount of weight that falls on them to create a commercially and critically successful film that resonates with as many people as possible. After doing multiple films, a reputation (good or bad) for a director can be developed. If he or she releases a very successful and popular film, audiences expect that level of performance to carry over into their next project. Some directors such as Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese have a very good track record. Others have not done so well. Sometimes there is a slight mix. In particular, one that has made a name for himself (for bad and for worse) is Manoj Shyamalan, or M. Night Shyamalan by which he is usually referred.

Shyamalan was born on August 6, 1970 in Mahe, Pondicherry, India. While he was still a boy, his family moved from India to the United States, settling in the suburbs of Philadelphia (Biography Channel). A son of two doctors, Shyamalan developed a strong interest in filmmaking at only 8 years old when he was given a Super-8 camera. By the time he was fifteen years old, he had made about 45 short films.

Despite being raised a Hindu, Shyamalan went to a private Catholic school in his early education years, and then to Philadelphia’s Episcopal Academy. After high school, he studied film at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. By the time he graduated from NYU in 1993, he had already completed his first feature-length film, Praying With Anger. The film, which he wrote, directed, and starred in, was a semi-autobiographical story of an Indian-American who travels back to India to attend college. Unfortunately, the film didn’t gain the attention of many audiences or critics, partly because of its low-budget and independent nature.

After the failed project Labor of Love , Shyamalan was able to sell the screenplay for Wide Awake (1998) to the independent studio Miramax for about $250,000, given the conditions that he direct and the film be shot in Philadelphia. The film received decent reviews from critics, but failed to gain the attention of audiences (Biography Channel).

It was finally in 1999, on his third directorial effort, that M. Night Shyamalan’s big break came in The Sixth Sense. The supernatural thriller, which was also written by Shyamalan, starred Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment. The film focused on a disturbed young boy (Osment) possessing a “sixth sense” to see dead people. The film received mass critical acclaim and was a box office hit. Bringing in over $26 million in its opening weekend, The Sixth Sense went on to garner over $600 million worldwide by 2000 (IMDB and Biography Channel). It was nominated for 6 Oscars (including Best Picture) and gave Shyamalan two Oscar nominations (Best Director and Best Writing). The film’s ending remains widely regarded as one of the biggest twist endings in the history of film. 

After The Sixth Sense, Shyamalan achieved more success with Unbreakable (2000), a Science-Fiction film reuniting Shyamalan with Bruce Willis. His next project was Signs (2002), another Science-Fiction film that follows strange occurences at a small family’s farm. The film became Shyamalan’s second-biggest hit, grossing over $400 million worldwide (Biography Channel).

Unfortunately, it was after Signs that Shyamalan’s career began to fall. He tried to build on the success of Signs with The Village (2004)—a film that tracks a village being surrounded by strange creatures. The film received mixed to negative reviews from critics, mostly due to its ending, and it didn’t perform well commercially. Two years later, Shyamalan’s career hit rock bottom with Lady in the Water (2006). The fantasy film was heavily attacked by critics, especially criticizing Shyamalan’s terrible acting in the film, for which he went on to receive a Razzie Award for “Worst Supporting Actor”. After another disappointing film, The Happening (2008), Shyamalan’s next project was The Last Airbender (2010), a film based on the popular children’s animated TV series. The film turned out to be a complete flop, panned by critics and audiences alike, with renowned critic Roger Ebert describing the film as an “agonizing experience” (Biography Channel).

Following the disappointment of The Last Airbender, Shyamalan returned to the Science-Fiction genre with After Earth, a film starring Will Smith and his son Jaden Smith as a father and son who crash land on a future, apocalyptic Earth where all living things have evolved to kill humans. Once again Shyamalan’s film was negatively received by critics and audiences, mostly due to its poor pacing and predictability.

In conclusion, M. Night Shyamalan’s career has fallen as much as it had risen. He achieved global acclaim for The Sixth Sense and had moderate successes with Unbreakable and Signs. Since then, however, his career has been in a seemingly unending tailspin. What began as a once very bright and promising career has deteriorated and faded into blackness. But, at only 44 years old, there is certainly time for the once famed director to bounce back. The only remaining question is, “When?”

Currently, M. Night Shyamalan is in post-production on a horror/comedy film titled, Sundowning. He resides with his wife (whom he married at the dawn of his career in 1993) and 3 children in the suburbs of Philadelphia.

M. Night Shyamalan typically uses his childhood home of Philadelphia as the backdrop to his films. This is present in Wide Awake, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village. He has also cast several actors multiple times in his films, including Bruce Willis, Joaquin Phoenix, and Bryce Dallas Howard. Formally speaking, he likes writing and directing on the supernatural, as he masterfully did in The Sixth Sense. Interestingly, he also tends to use water as a sign of death or weakness, as he does in The Sixth Sense, Signs, The Village, and Unbreakable. Shyamalan’s films typically feature a twist ending, as most famously executed in The Sixth Sense but also present in The Village. Technically speaking, his films typically feature long, static shots of 2 individuals talking, partly reflective of the French New Wave. He also likes filming character’s reflections in various objects. Finally, Shyamalan typically works with James Newton Howard for composing his film score (IMDB).

IMDB. 2014. 25 Sep. 2014. <http://www.imdb.com>.

“M. Night Shyamalan.” The Biography Channel. 2014. 25 Sep. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/m-night-shyamalan-9542296#personal-life>.

by
Billy Martel 


               


Television certainly has come a long way, hasn’t it?  From being seen as a threat to the film world when it was introduced in the 30’s television has evolved into a unique media that is home to many different forms of storytelling, the most popular today being the serialized story format.  Dramas like Breaking Bad (2008 - 2013, Gilligan) and Sons of Anarchy (2008 - 2014, Sutter) are created with the idea that the story will end.  Each episode will advance the over-arching plot of the series and lead inexorably to the finale where a (hopefully) satisfying resolution to the story will be offered.  Dramas, Police Procedurals, and even sitcoms have begun to take on this format of storytelling. 

In the face of this, Forever (2014, Miller) seems to be several years too late, a series from a bygone era where all you needed for a show to be successful was a quirky bunch of entertaining characters with decent chemistry solving mysteries with an extra twist thrown in to make it stand out from the other shows with the same formula.  After all it worked for Magnum PI, Quantum Leap, Dukes of Hazzard, and many others, why not here?  And that’s the thing.  It does work.  It works well.  I’m not sure what I was expecting tuning into this program, but I was surprised at just how charming and, I hate to say it, quaint it was. 

Of course what I just said also describes some other very popular shows of more recent years such as Psych (2006 - 2014, Franks), Monk (2002 - 2009, Breckman), or Criminal Minds (2005 - present).  But those shows set themselves apart in ways other than relying on the charisma of the leads and the quirkiness of the premise.  They took risks, they pushed the envelope, they got messy.  Psych pushed boundaries with its fourth wall breaking humor.  Monk combined humor and pathos by introducing us to a truly disturbed main character.  Criminal Minds has kept audiences hooked with a combination of fascinating psychological profiles of serial killers, and Intriguing story arcs on par with more serialized shows.  From what I've seen, Forever plays its premise very safe.

A brief, the plot is that Dr. Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd) is immortal.  He has been alive for 200 years, appearing to be exactly the same in physical appearance as the night he was first killed.  Every time he dies from a mortal wound or disease, he wakes up in water, naked and alive.  Since his last death, he has been working as a medical examiner for the local police department, surrounded by a kooky supporting cast and armed with his keen deductive skills.  Now up until that last sentence my summary conveys a lot of intrigue, almost like Life on Mars (2006 - 2007, Graham, Jordan, and Pharoah) or Once Upon a Time (2011 - present, Kitsis, and Horowitz).  There is a mystery to solve.  A supernatural or science fiction element is introduced.  Elements of Steampunk, shades of Tuck Everlasting (1975, Babbitt), and potential for great story arcs and themes in the future.  But then the last sentence gives the show a much safer, much more "tried and true" feel. 

Too be honest, I really enjoyed the show.  This is a show where you don’t have to feel intimidated coming into the series on a random episode.  No extensive backstory is needed when the protagonist is a likable, handsome guy, who gets through the day by just being charming and being able to run faster than the crook.  It is fun, interesting and really non-threatening to children, parents, and most importantly the network, which would be fine, if this was the 80’s.  Unfortunately these days most people don't watch TV casually anymore.  most obsess over our favorite shows, binge watching them to catch up on storylines before a newest episode.  TV shows are no longer savored, they are devoured like a banquet set before a starving man.  Even the advertisers know it.  The commercials for Sean Bean’s new show Legends (2014, Gordon, Nachmanoff, and Bomback) claimed outright that the show would become “your new obsession.”  In an atmosphere like this, I find it hard to believe that a show that seems, like its protagonist, to be out of its own time will survive. 

Written by Steven Collier

Adobe Flash has long been something of the black sheep amongst the animation world. Despite its unsurpassed versatility and production speed, its comparative lack of visual quality almost always precludes it from being implemented in theatrical releases, forever being relegated to direct-to-DVD fare. Yet, beyond the silver screen, Flash animation reigns as one of the preeminent mediums for creating animated commercials, children’s programming, and virtually every moving image you see online. While certainly not the best looking animation out there, its effective implementation still requires a remarkable degree of skill, and as such I have long held it in high regard. So, you might well imagine my elation last weekend when I learned that an actual Flash-Animated movie was being released nationally. I leapt at the chance to review such an overlooked medium. Unfortunately, the movie in question was My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Rainbow Rocks. (Thiessen, 2014)

Rainbow Rocks is a strange animal - a direct sequel to last Summer’s My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, (Thiessen, 2013), which was a spin-off of the ongoing animated series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (Various, 2010-Present), which was itself a reboot of the 1980’s cartoon My Little Pony (Bacal, 1986-1987), which was created for the express purpose of promoting the eponymous toy line. As one might imagine, an origin this convoluted makes any succinct overview of this movie’s plot rather tricky. Nevertheless, I shall persevere. Rainbow Rocks follows the trials of “The Rainbooms” a musical girl group who all attend the same high school. The band members all share a mysterious enchantment that imbues them with magical abilities whenever they play their instruments together. However, when their actions attract the attention of a trio of evil sirens who hope to usurp the powers of “The Rainbooms” ensorcelled Teeny Pop ballads, our protagonists are left with no choice but to openly fight this new menace at their school’s first ever battle of the bands.

From a narrative perspective, it would be incredibly easy to dismiss this movie as nothing more than a glorified seventy-five minute long toy commercial. However, that would be an unforgivable disservice to the animators at DHX Media and their subsidiary, Studio B Productions, who have consistently pushed the technical boundaries of Flash animation to its limit. Rainbow Rocks is no exception and currently stands at the high-water mark of that particular medium.

By Flash animation standards, Rainbow Rocks looks amazing. Its models present a virtually unparalleled level of fluidity and articulation, which makes viewing them a joy, regardless of the context. Couple this with the fact that the entire film was the result of less than one year’s production time, its crew’s accomplishments become all the more impressive. The average Dreamworks animated feature can take five times that long to produce.[i]

This unparalleled speed of production is due entirely to the unique properties of Flash animation. Unlike other forms of 2D animation, Flash does not require its character models to be manually drawn in every frame to create an illusion of movement. Thanks to its entirely digital nature, most Flash character models are actually comprised of a series of interchangeable pieces that when layered on top of one another appear to create a seamless whole. Each of these pieces is mounted on an invisible point of articulation, which allows that specific component to be rotated a full three hundred and sixty degrees around that position. These articulation points are connected to one another, creating a sort of skeleton, or “rig,” that provides the entire structure for a Flash model. Think of it as being like a digitized Pantin mechanical paper doll.

Albeit, one with a great many more pieces.

Once a rig is constructed, it can be programmed to follow a default set of actions, which can be reused at any time, thus negating the need to ever design more than one movement cycle for any character. As such, if all the animation models are roughly the same shape, a single rig can be used to animate the entire cast of characters. Now, a Flash animator can always tweak any character’s rig to give it unique movements, stances, and quirks, but ultimately they will be limited to the confines of the basic movement range of any given rig.

By now, one might wonder why such an automated, sterile form of animation is even deserving of any attention. And to answer that, I need to go back about 15 years to the dawn of the internet. You see, Flash was originally designed as a program capable of efficiently streaming full-length cartoons over the internet, while still remaining well below the 1MB threshold which was about all early computers could manage.[ii] Flash largely achieved this by utilizing the same tricks it does today: recycling assets, swapping rig components in lieu of animating actual transitions, and reading files as a series of movements instead thousands of individual images.

The difference is that in the early aughts, Flash was still only capable of reliably streaming extremely basic, choppy animations, like Badgers. (Picking, 2003)

Whereas today, well, we have Rainbow Rocks.

Like all forms of digital animation, the underlying programs that power Flash haven’t changed much. However, the capabilities of those programs continuously increase with every subsequent advancement in computer technology.

So, is Rainbow Rocks a good movie? I would argue that yes it is. Despite the fact that its overall premise makes viewing it unrelentingly prohibitive to anyone unfamiliar with its source material, Rainbow Rocks remains a competent, clever, film that creatively makes the absolute most of its resources. And regardless of medium, or context, I believe that is worthy of real praise.

[i] http://www.dreamworksanimation.com/insidedwa/productionprocess
[ii] https://www.adobe.com/macromedia/events/john_gay/page04.html

         Written by Brandon Gordon

            It’s no secret that the biggest movie of the summer was the superhero hit Guardians Of The Galaxy. The film, which opened in August, saved the summer box office from becoming a complete catastrophe.  Helmed by writer-director James Gunn, a relatively unknown director, whose previous films include Slither (2006) and Super(2010); Guardians showed us that it had the strength to contend with other hits from Marvel Studios.

            The film stars Chris Pratt as a space outlaw known as "Star Lord". When Star Lord receives a mysterious orb he is paired with an unlikely team of criminals to keep it from falling into the hands of the warlord Ronan, who wishes to use its power to control the universe. Co-staring with Pratt is Zoe Saldana as "Gamora", Dave Bautista as "Drax" and Bradley Cooper as "Rocket". The film also features Vin Diesel as "Groot", a tree creature who can only say “I am Groot.”

            The two elements Guardians is not short on are humor and heart. From the beginning to the end Guardians gives a satisfactory amount of character development and a great deal of jokes to go along with it. This mixture is blended wonderfully in a way that keeps you drawn in, devoted to the story and connected with our team of protagonists.

            No summer movie is complete without a great soundtrack, and this is where Guardians really steps up and delivers. The film uses a collection of hits from the sixties and seventies compiled on the cassette "Awesome Mix Vol. 1", which was given to Star Lord by his mother before he left Earth. "Awesome Mix" is exactly what it says it is, awesome. With hits like "Hooked on a Feeling" (Blue Swede) and "Escape(The Pina Colada Song)" (Rupert Holmes), the film's use of music helps to heighten the emotion in a way usually that one would expect from a director like Quentin Tarantino. The music acts like a character and gives forward momentum to the narrative as well as adding a bit of fun for the viewer. 

            What Guardians is: is fun. From start to finish the film is exactly what a summer movie should be, escapism in a grand sense. Not only is it fun but a pleasant surprise. Unlike the Avengers (2012), only the most seasoned comic book veterans have heard of the Guardians Of The Galaxy. Yet, Guardians still brings just as much action and excitement as Marvel's more noticeable heroes.

            Even though Guardians came out two months ago, it deserves its mention as the hero of the summer, saving Hollywood from what could have been the worst season in decades. Even with Guardians breaking the $300 million mark at the U.S. box office, the season still finished greatly under expectations as the worst summer of the 21st century.

            If you need a break from the onslaught of the standard issue Marvel superhero movies, yet still care to see a good rousing superhero film, Guardians may be the perfect fit for you. So quickly, before it's gone from theaters, get out and enjoy one of the best films of the summer.