Pink Floyd, The Wall, and Adam Curtis

by Ed Hick

Well, I've mostly been concentrating on my dissertation this weekend, but I thought I would give you a little more insight into my mind and tell you a bit more about my inspirations.

A film I watched recently was Pink Floyd - The Wall (1982, Alan Park) which is a musical film based on the album of the same name. I'm not too fussed about the story but there are some really nice animations and surreal sequences in the film. Most notably the school sequence, and there is also a great bit were Bob Geldolf is tripping out and his room turns to an oversized, empty, white room.

You can watch the full film on YouTube (the parts I mentioned above are at 22:15 and 50:10):

I have also started to watch Adam Curtis' The Trap, a 3 part series about modern politics based on flawed theories and paranoid behaviour of the Cold War. It shows how while politicians have been saying they are giving people more freedom we actually becoming more trapped due to free market ideas. The whole series is also available on YouTube, here's part 1:

Ok not sure what else to put this week, so here's an awesome song from one of my favorite bands at the moment. Enjoy.
(I can't embed it so you have to click the link here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNnAvTTaJjM )


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My Inspirations

by Ed Hick

I always find it tad difficult to pinpoint inspirations, because as someone growing up surrounded vast array of different types of film and other media a lot has inspired and my projects.

Though for Repossessing Tim an obvious inspiration for story and style is Terry Gilliam's Brazil (1985). I love the surreal element and over the topness. I mean I would love to able to build massive sets of looming towers, though my budget and time does not stretch that far, though one scene that I love is one were Sam the main character is in his new square grey office, I feel parts of this scene will creep into Repossessing Tim.



Another film which is inspiring props and locations is Micmacs (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2009), which sets part of the film in a junk yard yet still manages to make it look colourful which is what I am going to try to do with my film.

Parts of Hitchhiker's Guide to Galaxy (the books and the film) have influenced me too. I think I am beginning to like the idea of Tim being a bit like Arthur Dent in Hitchhiker, well they're both wear dressing gowns. And they are both shoved out of the usual worlds into new ones. I love the Hitchhiker books so I guess they make an influence on everything I do. (I really want to make Douglas Adams other books on 'Dirk Gently' into a film, that would be awesome.)

I also recently watch Roy Andersson, Du Levande (You, The Living) which is a lovely film full of beautiful shots of people doing everyday things, though stuff is a little bit off. Everyone has white pale faces and there is the occasional dream sequence. I kind of like the stillness and the way it shows the slight absurdness to our lives.



Just one more for this week, I don't want to overwhelm you.
Emir Kusturicas Underground (1995), this is a really surreal film that half tells the story of Yugoslavia through the 20th century and also looks at war, greed, family, communism, corruption and has an awesome brass band in it. I'm not sure how this one influences me, but I really like it and have watched it a couple of times in the past month so its bound to add something to film. Either way, you should watch it.