Edgar Wright Discusses The Art of The Close-Up With David Chen

David Chen is one of the key contributors to /Film, the best movie website on the planet. One of the coolest things that he does is sit down with directors and discuss some of their trademark techniques. The latest of this series has Chen sitting down with one of my current favorite directors, Edgar Wright, and talk about the art of the close up. Wright often employees the close up in his films, accompanied by quick cuts. My favorite occurs at the beginning of Shaun of the Dead, when Shaun is getting ready for work. Shaun (Simon Pegg) is completely out of focus, but things like his tie, name tag and cup of coffee are the highlight of the shot, Cool to hear thoughts on how and why directors shoot things in a certain way, and what makes their style unique. You can see more of Chen's sit downs by clicking on his Youtube page, and check out the Wright interview after the jump...

CCD Links It Up Vol #2

Click after the jump to see more of whats happening around the Internet. These stories are all cool as hell in their own way, but couldn't make up a whole post here on CCD on their own. Enjoy....

Dr. Mierzwiak Takes On Movie Posters With His Own Unique Style

I come across many artists who ply their wares on the Net, but the thing I love to do most is to then visit the artist's particular personal page and see what else they got cooking. After seeing Dr. Mierzwiak's cool ass Avengers poster over at /Film, I decided to see what else the dude had to offer. I stumbled over to his Deviant Art page and found a treasure trove of film posters that are phenomenal. You can see them for yourself by clicking here, but after the jump I will place a few of the ones that I like best....

5 Reasons To Watch 'Alcatraz' This January

We are reaching the point in that fall TV schedule when shows go on mid-season hiatus and networks bring in mid-season replacements for shows that under performed (only 3 episodes for Charlies Angels & Playboy Club... really???). One of the most anticipated mid-season additions is 'Alcatraz', the new show from uber genius JJ Abrams. The first official teaser trailer (30 seconds... C'MON!!!) has leaked and it has piqued my interest... so here are 5 reasons why I think you should give the show a shot come January. Click after the jump for the list and an embedded version of the trailer...

Now This Is How More People Should Spend $100 Bucks...

Spanish comic artist and budding film director Jesus Orellana has created a magnificent all CGI short film entitled 'Rosa'... but that is not the amazing part of this whole story. While it is impressive that he could create the CGI film all by himself, what is more amazing is that he did it using consumer grade equipment and at a cost of $100 bucks!!! Now the short is causing a big stir over at /Film over whether or not it is any good, but frankly I a super impressed by Mr. Orellana's work ethic and frugalness.  Now there is news that the "Rosa' is going to be getting the full feature treatment. I want to hear your guys opinions on the short, so you can get a synopsis of the short and see it embedded after the jump...

Nothing Like Some "Behind The Scenes" Info To Make Me Want To See A Film Even More!!!

What do you get when you take three awesome bloggers (Peter Sciretta from /Film, Frosty from Collider, and Quint from Ain't It Cool News) and give them access to the editing room for the upcoming Disney tentpole film John Carter Of Mars from director Andrew Stanton? You get this awesome 20 minute video that talks about it from the differing perspectives of the highly qualified bloggers that makes me want to see this movie even more. See for yourself:


JOHN CARTER Video Blog from ColliderVideos on Vimeo.

Pete also included two still pictures with the video in his post. Here they are.

Helium at Dusk

Helium Airship

John Carter opens in March 2012. I will be the first online since I love the books so much. Hope the film is wonderful and does well enough to warrant a few sequels. I can't wait!!!

Artist Fabrizio Fioretti Gives The Ghostbusters A Digital Art Makeover

Check out these terrific renditions of the Ghostbusters done by artist Fabrizio Fioretti. His work is amazing. To see more of it, click here. Well done Fab....

Via /Film

Nazi's That Use Dr. Frankenstein's Formula To Re-Animate Dead Soldiers... Yes Please!!!

Every once in a blue I'll read some cooky premise for a book or movie and be blown away. You know, something so ridiculous that it makes you say "Wow... how did they come up with that one?". Also, sometimes I see these crazy plots and think "How come no one has ever put these concepts together before?". When I read about 'Frankenstein's Army' over at /Film yesterday, both of those thoughts popped in my head. How perfect... the Nazi's (the most evil group of people ever) go one step further and use, fellow German, Dr. Frankenstein's re-animation formula to raise an army of the undead. Yeah... I'll watch the shit out of this one regardless of how it turns out. Here is a teaser clip:

What do you guys think about this one? Will you check it out? Tell us in the comment section below!!!

How cool is this concept art?

'The Batman Complex' Is Something You Need To Watch If You Love Nolan's Dark Knight

Here is a cool fan made trailer that is making the rounds on all the big geek sites ( /Film, Topless Robot, etc)... which means I usually wouldn't have posted it since those guys had it covered. But this one is to cool to ignore. Here you go:



Here is what the creator of the faux trailer, The Man Batman, has said about the vid:

The gist of the idea revolves around a few fun topics, mainly the whole “what is real?” train of thought, and also every fans desire, deep down or upfront, to be Batman at least once in their lives. LOL. And so, I tried to craft a story where we see what happens when someone takes their dream of being Batman a little bit too far. An idea, after all, is a truly resilient parasite. ;)

While some of it is still left a bit ambiguous (both unintentionally and intentionally – while there’s only so much that can be strung together, I often like to leave a little bit open so as to see what fellow fans are able to imagine/create)… I wanted to focus more on the character aspects (and a bit of the tragedy as well), and attempt to move past the initial shock of the psychological twist. One aspect I tried to hint at was the paralleling descent of both Bruce and Cobb. As Cobb and the team go deeper into Bruce’s mind, they start to encounter the truly dark issues that his subconscious houses. As a result, Cobb himself gets caught up in the obsession of all that lingers in the mind of a Batman. There are a couple fun things in there that are best left to surprise, but all in all, I’m relatively happy with how it turned out. It’s fairly fast paced and doesn’t leave much room to breath, which helps amplify the tension I think. But that’s just me.

Inception, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight & The Machinist all in one? YES PLEASE!!! Would you watch this? Please leave some comments in the section below!!!

'A Brief History Of Title Design' Highlights The Art Of The Start

The title sequence is the key to hooking people into a movie. Come up with a cool concept or some wild way to start your film and you are sure to put people on the edge of their seats. This cool video from Ian Albinson was shown during SXSW this year highlights some of the best Title Cards from Hollywood over the last century. It's pretty awesome and features some of my personal favorites, such as: 'Star Wars', 'Dr. Strangelove, 'Dr. No', 'Mean Streets', 'Vertigo', 'Reservoir Dogs', 'Se7en', 'Mimic', 'Zombieland', & 'Scott Pilgrim vs The World'. Thank you to /Film for the pic & the tip.



A Brief History of Title Design from Ian Albinson on Vimeo.

Robert Rodriguez, Nike & Kobe Bryant Team Up For "The Black Mamba" Mini Movie

I saw the teaser trailer and posters for Robert Rodriguez's mini movie for Nike & Kobe Bryant called 'The Black Mamba' a few weeks ago, but held up on posting about it untill the complete film came out during All Star Weekend. After Bryant's MVP performance in Sunday nights All Star Game, I felt it was fitting to feature this cool poster and the complete short film here for you guys. I hope you enjoy Rodriguez's offbeat, zany grindhouse long form sneaker commercial/movie featuring Danny Trejo, Bruce Willis, and the rest of the Rodriguez regulars. Go get 'em Kobe... you really are the shit!!!



Thanks to /Film for the clip and artwork. You guys rock.

I Am Not 'Dredd-ing' This Movie...

(See what I did there... Dredd-ing... that's great)... Oh, um... I was thinking aloud again. Anyway, here is a crazy set pic from the new Judge Dredd movie, and it looks spot on to the amazing comic that it's based on (not like the way everything was wrong in the Stallone movie). Now while I can enjoy the Stallone Judge Dredd for its horribleness, I am truly looking forward to seeing Karl Urban play the Judge correctly. Anyway, here it is... enjoy:

Via /Film

Was Fight Club Really A Grown Up Version Of Calvin & Hobbes?

I had read this comparison awhile back, and I gotta tell you the whole thing makes perfect sense to me. The boys over at /Film (thanks for the photo guys!) found this great mashup video that pairs original clippings of the comic strip with the sounds of the original trailer from the David Fincher classic. It is pure brilliance. You can read more about the Calvin & Hobbes/ 'Fight Club' connection in a phenomenal article over at Metaphilm by clicking here. What do you think of this connection??? Let us know in the comments section below.

Edgar Wright Is The Man!!!

Thanks to heresjohnny1991 for making such a cool ass video featuring one of my all time favorite directors. In my eyes he is 3 for 3, as Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz & 'Scott Pilgrim' are all more then wonderful... enjoy the clip, and lets get started on that Ant Man movie Edgar!!!! Thanks to /Films for bringing this to our attention... you guys rock!!!

Bye, Bye Endor...

The Star Tours Attraction has come to a halt, and in conjunction with the Celebration V Star Wars Convention in Orlando, there was a gala celebration to close the revolutionary ride. Fans of the series took to the streets of Disney World in Orlando to see some really cool Star Wars themed shows. The rewrote the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular to include Han Solo, Chewy, Slave Leia, and everybodies favorite dead green bountyhunter Greedo:

Is Greedo rocking Uggs??? WTF...

We also get an appearance from Darth Maul. This is a ton of fun, and Youtube has allowed the full clip to be posted in one video despite its 48 minute running time. Watch it while its ups there, cause it might not be up there for long:



Thanks to /Film for the story and the screenshot above. You guys rock!!!
 

Phantom City Creative Says Thanks Like This...

The dudes over at Phantom City Creative came correct in order to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. This film festival promotes horror, sci- fi, action, and cult films. PCC decided to create 5 posters in memory of the five films that they felt embody the best of what Toronto After Dark has had to offer over the last 5 years. All of these films have won awards at the festival, and I have seen them all... and they are great in their own quirky way. I especially love Dead Snow and Behind The Mask, and it just so happens that those are my favorite posters of the lot. You can pick up the posters for $20 bucks each by clicking the link above. Thanks to /Film for the tip. Tell us which one you like the most in the comment section below.

Dead Snow

Let The Right One In

Mulberry St.

Repo: The Genetic Opera

Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon

Was Fast and The Furious a Remake of Point Break??? Hmmm.....

I was on vacay last week, so I have been spending the last few days catching up on all favorite blogs... and I came across this hysterical mashup over at /Film (yeah I jacked your pic... thanks guys!) and I thought it was great... so true, and yet so fucking crazy!!!  Enjoy children, please let me know what you think in the comment section below.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.