It's been my aim to have something to say when preparing these new podcast episode posts, but I think this week the well is running dry. I've been up to my ears with researching foreign direct investment in Nigeria and the Chinese car market for a Global Competition class, and I feel like I've hit a limit of things to say. So, this week I'll keep it simple and to the point. Episode 10 features RED SPARROW and our recommendations. I chose THE DEATH OF STALIN, which is a pitch-black comedy I appreciated but which didn't provide me with the kind of lift that funny movies usually do. I certainly can understand if folks seeking a break from daily political news might not want to turn to something this bleak--but funny!--as an escape.
Upcoming episodes:
-April 4: A WRINKLE IN TIME and a discussion about films from the last twenty years that were critically or commercially unsuccessful when released but may come to be considered classics
-April 11: MINORITY REPORT and our recommendations segment
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Friday, March 23, 2018
Filmbound - Episode 9: Game Night
I suspect I'm not alone among writers in doubting the quality of what I produce. Being hypercritical of one's work isn't inherently bad--it can push you to improve what you write--but I'd be lying if I claimed that taking a tough view of my writing is a mostly positive process. It's rare that I'm satisfied with the final version of a piece because there tends to be some ideal version in my head that didn't make its way to the page. Weirdly, I have more confidence in the research papers I'm writing for my MBA classes even though I don't feel I know that subject matter nearly as well as films. Maybe it's because I don't have any bases of comparison for that writing while I have plenty when it comes to movie reviews.
Podcasting is not the same as writing something to be read, but there are enough similarities, plus the performance pressures, that doing the show doesn't eliminate the self-doubt but merely modifies how it is experienced. I edit FILMBOUND, and to be certain that it sounds OK, I also listen to the episodes after they're released. So I'm interacting with these episodes as a participant, a producer-editor, and a listener. I think I went overboard in removing breaths and filler words in one episode, and I've been tinkering with improving the master volume. (Episodes 8 and 9 should have volume improvements, if you ever thought there was an issue.)
Still, the big surprise for me is that I've been relatively pleased with how the episodes have turned out. After recording I've felt like some of these weren't so hot, but buffing the episodes for release and listening to them in the car has helped me feel that the show is a respectable effort. I suppose feeling that way is progress for me even if the same doubts will probably creep in after the next recording session.
Episode 9 features GAME NIGHT and a discussion about what constitutes the ideal theatrical experience, a topic carried over from the interview questions that are part of a project I'm doing in an Advanced Brand Management class. In my admittedly small sample size of interviewees, I was surprised how often an empty or near-empty auditorium for a screening was preferred, even if that's probably how I see most current releases. (In my case it's because the cheapest admission can be purchased at those times.) I suppose the incessant talkers and smartphone users during movies, or anecdotal reports of them, have boosted this preference, but I didn't expect the communal nature of moviegoing to be something people specified that they were going to efforts to avoid.
Upcoming episodes:
-March 28: RED SPARROW and our recommendations segment
-April 4: A WRINKLE IN TIME and a discussion about films from the last twenty years that were critically or commercially unsuccessful when released but may come to be considered classics
-April 11: MINORITY REPORT and our recommendations segment
Podcasting is not the same as writing something to be read, but there are enough similarities, plus the performance pressures, that doing the show doesn't eliminate the self-doubt but merely modifies how it is experienced. I edit FILMBOUND, and to be certain that it sounds OK, I also listen to the episodes after they're released. So I'm interacting with these episodes as a participant, a producer-editor, and a listener. I think I went overboard in removing breaths and filler words in one episode, and I've been tinkering with improving the master volume. (Episodes 8 and 9 should have volume improvements, if you ever thought there was an issue.)
Still, the big surprise for me is that I've been relatively pleased with how the episodes have turned out. After recording I've felt like some of these weren't so hot, but buffing the episodes for release and listening to them in the car has helped me feel that the show is a respectable effort. I suppose feeling that way is progress for me even if the same doubts will probably creep in after the next recording session.
Episode 9 features GAME NIGHT and a discussion about what constitutes the ideal theatrical experience, a topic carried over from the interview questions that are part of a project I'm doing in an Advanced Brand Management class. In my admittedly small sample size of interviewees, I was surprised how often an empty or near-empty auditorium for a screening was preferred, even if that's probably how I see most current releases. (In my case it's because the cheapest admission can be purchased at those times.) I suppose the incessant talkers and smartphone users during movies, or anecdotal reports of them, have boosted this preference, but I didn't expect the communal nature of moviegoing to be something people specified that they were going to efforts to avoid.
Upcoming episodes:
-March 28: RED SPARROW and our recommendations segment
-April 4: A WRINKLE IN TIME and a discussion about films from the last twenty years that were critically or commercially unsuccessful when released but may come to be considered classics
-April 11: MINORITY REPORT and our recommendations segment
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Filmbound - Episode 8: Annihilation
On this week's episode Paul Markoff and I venture into ANNIHILATION. It didn't occur to me until I was writing this that the film's metaphorical zone, The Shimmer, could be thought of as cinema itself, although I don't think that's what writer-director Alex Garland was necessarily trying to say. Still, art can refract how we understand ourselves and our surroundings. This reading could put a more pointed or amusing spin on the climax as it regards the interaction between the observed and observer. I really need to have this kind of revelation prior to or during the podcast recording and not days after the fact, though.
The recommendations segment on this episode is expanded a bit because I wanted to spread the word about the Wexner Center for the Arts' Cinema Revival: A Festival of Film Restoration. The event is a fantastic way to see a bunch of old films that look and sound perhaps as good as they ever have. The educational components, such as an enlightening session on the art of subtitling, are well worth attending too. A pass costs less than the manufacturer's suggested retail price of a Criterion Collection Blu-ray, so you get great value for all the films you can see at this easy-to-attend festival. Aside from the presenting guests, I suspect it draws few out-of-towners, but if you live within a reasonable drive or somewhere unlikely to get most of what is shown, it's worth your time and money to make a weekend of it. Screenings are spread over six days, but the bulk of the festival takes place Friday through Sunday.
We also spent more time than usual talking about Paul's recommendation of writer-director Cory Finley's debut THOROUGHBREDS. The drama with dark comedic elements was on my shortlist of potential recommendations for this month's recording session as well. If it hadn't been a film I was unaware of until it showed up in theaters, we might have given it the featured slot on an episode.
This is the first of two new episodes this week in an attempt to put out future episodes about three weeks from their films' release dates. You'll also notice below that we have scheduled our first episode featuring a film not in current release. I don't know how often we'll dig into the past for an in-depth film discussion, but it's something we'd like to do from time to time.
Upcoming episodes:
-March 23: GAME NIGHT and a discussion about the ideal theatrical experience
-March 28: RED SPARROW and our recommendations segment
-April 4: A WRINKLE IN TIME and a discussion about films from the last twenty years that were critically or commercially unsuccessful when released but may come to be considered classics
-April 11: MINORITY REPORT and our recommendations segment
The recommendations segment on this episode is expanded a bit because I wanted to spread the word about the Wexner Center for the Arts' Cinema Revival: A Festival of Film Restoration. The event is a fantastic way to see a bunch of old films that look and sound perhaps as good as they ever have. The educational components, such as an enlightening session on the art of subtitling, are well worth attending too. A pass costs less than the manufacturer's suggested retail price of a Criterion Collection Blu-ray, so you get great value for all the films you can see at this easy-to-attend festival. Aside from the presenting guests, I suspect it draws few out-of-towners, but if you live within a reasonable drive or somewhere unlikely to get most of what is shown, it's worth your time and money to make a weekend of it. Screenings are spread over six days, but the bulk of the festival takes place Friday through Sunday.
We also spent more time than usual talking about Paul's recommendation of writer-director Cory Finley's debut THOROUGHBREDS. The drama with dark comedic elements was on my shortlist of potential recommendations for this month's recording session as well. If it hadn't been a film I was unaware of until it showed up in theaters, we might have given it the featured slot on an episode.
This is the first of two new episodes this week in an attempt to put out future episodes about three weeks from their films' release dates. You'll also notice below that we have scheduled our first episode featuring a film not in current release. I don't know how often we'll dig into the past for an in-depth film discussion, but it's something we'd like to do from time to time.
Upcoming episodes:
-March 23: GAME NIGHT and a discussion about the ideal theatrical experience
-March 28: RED SPARROW and our recommendations segment
-April 4: A WRINKLE IN TIME and a discussion about films from the last twenty years that were critically or commercially unsuccessful when released but may come to be considered classics
-April 11: MINORITY REPORT and our recommendations segment
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Filmbound - Episode 7: Early Man
To state the obvious, the big difference between FILMBOUND and our defunct TV show NOW PLAYING is that Paul and I have much more time on the podcast to talk about the selected films. On a typical TV episode each of the five films was allocated 30-40 seconds for a scripted intro, 45-60 seconds for a clip, a minute and a half to two minutes for one person's scripted review, and 70 seconds for the impromptu discussion between us. If there was time left over at the show's end, we could use it to add to the conversation about one or more of those films.
With the podcast our discussions per film have generally lasted 20-25 minutes, yet neither of us say everything we would like to or intend to. For instance, a couple comparisons I'd meant to make regarding THE 15:17 TO PARIS came to mind after the show was recorded. The way the conversation gets steered sometimes veers away from comments I intended to make. Nevertheless, I appreciate that the podcast provides the space for fuller analyses of the films.
If the discussion about EARLY MAN seems shorter than the time we usually set aside for a film, that's because it is. It happened that both of us saw Nick Park's stop-motion animated comedy directly before our recording session for episodes 4-7. In theory that should mean we would have more to say about it than something more distant in memory. I don't know if our more limited conversation had to do with needing more time for reflection, holding positive but mild appreciation of the film, or being tired from hours of recording. Maybe it was a combination of those three factors.
The episode gets a little feistier when we consider if qualifying some films as guilty pleasures diminishes them. I am not a fan of such a classification, so as things tended to go with our spoilers discussion on episode 5, I play the role of the grumbler.
We're recording this weekend, and as I mentioned before, we're going to try to get new episodes released a little closer to their opening dates. To do that the plan is to release two episodes next week so the RED SPARROW and A WRINKLE IN TIME episodes don't arrive via your preferred podcast service more than a month after they've opened. We'll also be doing our first episode devoted to a non-current film, but I'll wait to reveal what it will be.
Upcoming episodes:
-March 21: ANNIHILATION and our recommendations segment
-March 23: GAME NIGHT and a discussion about the ideal theatrical experience
-March 28: RED SPARROW and our recommendations segment
With the podcast our discussions per film have generally lasted 20-25 minutes, yet neither of us say everything we would like to or intend to. For instance, a couple comparisons I'd meant to make regarding THE 15:17 TO PARIS came to mind after the show was recorded. The way the conversation gets steered sometimes veers away from comments I intended to make. Nevertheless, I appreciate that the podcast provides the space for fuller analyses of the films.
If the discussion about EARLY MAN seems shorter than the time we usually set aside for a film, that's because it is. It happened that both of us saw Nick Park's stop-motion animated comedy directly before our recording session for episodes 4-7. In theory that should mean we would have more to say about it than something more distant in memory. I don't know if our more limited conversation had to do with needing more time for reflection, holding positive but mild appreciation of the film, or being tired from hours of recording. Maybe it was a combination of those three factors.
The episode gets a little feistier when we consider if qualifying some films as guilty pleasures diminishes them. I am not a fan of such a classification, so as things tended to go with our spoilers discussion on episode 5, I play the role of the grumbler.
We're recording this weekend, and as I mentioned before, we're going to try to get new episodes released a little closer to their opening dates. To do that the plan is to release two episodes next week so the RED SPARROW and A WRINKLE IN TIME episodes don't arrive via your preferred podcast service more than a month after they've opened. We'll also be doing our first episode devoted to a non-current film, but I'll wait to reveal what it will be.
Upcoming episodes:
-March 21: ANNIHILATION and our recommendations segment
-March 23: GAME NIGHT and a discussion about the ideal theatrical experience
-March 28: RED SPARROW and our recommendations segment
Wednesday, March 07, 2018
Filmbound - Episode 6: Black Panther
One of the tricky things about developing and planning the FILMBOUND podcast has been determining the release schedule. Originally I thought we'd feature two films, utilize a third segment per episode, and release twice a month. After our first recording session and my time editing the initial batch of episodes, it seemed like we'd be better off releasing weekly and focusing on one film, plus devoting additional time for recommendations or a topical discussion. The catch, though, is that recording once a month and distributing the episodes over four weeks has meant that the films being discussed have already been in theaters for three or four weeks, which seems like an eternity in the front-loaded film conversations online. Will EARLY MAN, the film featured in next week's episode 7, still be in theaters by the time our discussion becomes available? Then again, it's not as though these episodes have an expiration date on them.
While the studios and theaters cycle films through the system at an increasingly rapid pace, I recognize that the average moviegoer isn't seeing these films on the same kind of schedule. Nevertheless, we're working on trying to shrink that gap a little when we record in March, although in most cases we're probably going to have about three weeks between a film's opening day and its episode release. With BLACK PANTHER, the featured film on episode 6, that isn't a big deal as the blockbuster continues to dominate film discussions.
Upcoming episodes
-March 14: EARLY MAN and a discussion about the concept of cinematic guilty pleasures
-March 21: ANNIHILATION and our recommendations segment
While the studios and theaters cycle films through the system at an increasingly rapid pace, I recognize that the average moviegoer isn't seeing these films on the same kind of schedule. Nevertheless, we're working on trying to shrink that gap a little when we record in March, although in most cases we're probably going to have about three weeks between a film's opening day and its episode release. With BLACK PANTHER, the featured film on episode 6, that isn't a big deal as the blockbuster continues to dominate film discussions.
Upcoming episodes
-March 14: EARLY MAN and a discussion about the concept of cinematic guilty pleasures
-March 21: ANNIHILATION and our recommendations segment
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