Wednesday
Monday
An Idea.
I have just had an idea of how to portray Sinatra without having to use to much acting and with being able to bring in his alcohol problem. Watching a clip on Sinatra there is a clip of him sitting in his chair at a dressing table with one of his nicknames 'The Voice' written across the back of his chair. So i could use an actor to simply with his back to the camera either pick up a whiskey glass and slam it down or use something to do with an alcohol bottle etc.
September 15th
Francais Albert 'Frank' Sinatra - Ol' Blue eyes timeline
'15' – Suitable only for 15 years and over
No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video or DVD.
Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
Language
There may be frequent use of strong language (eg 'fuck'). But the strongest terms (eg 'cunt') will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence
Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques
Dangerous techniques (eg combat, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
1915 - Dec 12th Born Hoboken, New Jersey
1929 - Expelled from high school after just 47 days for rowdy conduct
1940's - Early to mid started of with great success as solo artist
1950 - Music career stalled
1954 - Reborn after winning academy award for 'Best Supporting Actor'
1954+ - Signed with Capital Records, released albums such as - Songs of this time, In the wee small hours, Come fly with me and Only the lonely.
- Found his own record label 'Reprise Record' Had great success with albums such as -
Ring-a-ding, Sinatra at the Sounds and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carbs Jobim.
1960's - Toured internationally and fraternized with the Rat Pack and president John.F.Kennedy.
1965 - Sinatra turned 50; recorded 'Septemeber of my years' and scored hits with 'My Way' and 'Strangers in the right'
1971 - Retired after dwindling album sale
1973 - Came out of retirement recorded several albums
1980 - Scored a hit with 'New York, New York' and toured both within the United States and internationally for a few years.
1998 - Died, May 14th, aged 82 - LA, California
Target Audiences
The type of audience i am aiming to target is not a specific age although it would not be suitable for children merely because i imagine the film to be quite intense and where the audience would feel empathy towards Sinatra's situation of stress and alcohol abuse. The audience ideally should be musical or interested in the life of Sinatra but i would hope that the film would be interesting to any mature teenager/adult despite there level of interest in Sinatra and music in general.
'15' – Suitable only for 15 years and over
No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video or DVD.
Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
Language
There may be frequent use of strong language (eg 'fuck'). But the strongest terms (eg 'cunt') will be acceptable only where justified by the context. Continued aggressive use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed but without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
Violence
Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
Imitable techniques
Dangerous techniques (eg combat, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable.
Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse.
The reason i would choose '15' rating for my film is because it would include the journey of Sinatra's life which includes his alcohol addiction, it would also include the lust and love of his life which may include nudity and sexual scenes, the language would be strong as it would be enhancing the stress of his musical lifestyle, his ups and downs and mood changes depending on the period in his life.
Tuesday
September 9th
I have made a decision to make my film on the life of Frank Sinatra; in todays lesson i have been looking at his biographies on the internet and the time scale i am going to focus on in the 2 minutes i have. I have been thinking about whether i am going to get an actor to act as him in detail with facial shots or whether i am just going to use body shots; i think that depends on whether the actor is a suitable and a believable look a like which is doubt full to work without it looking poor quality.
I am still going to use the idea of the radio tuning in and out of different stations to start with and there being lots of hype about him as well as other musicians of his time. I am going to introduce a time line within the first 30 seconds flashing in and out of video clips of him at the stages of his life; similar to The Kingdom. -
I think the majority or possibly all of my piece is going to be in black and white merely because it is based around the 1950's era where colour technology was not so advanced.
- In the 1950s some of America's greatest actors played characters who were past their prime, emotionally vulnerable, with fragile egos. Bette Davis stars as an aging actress manipulated by an aggressive younger actress in All About Eve (1950); Humphrey Bogart plays a broken-down alcoholic in The African Queen (1954) and a psychotic naval captain in The Caine Mutiny (1954)-
“Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.” - Frank Sinatra
FRANK SINATRA - EXPERTS REVEAL SINATRA WAS A FUNCTIONING ALCOHOLIC -
ContactMusic.com says - Frank Sinatra was a functioning alcoholic, who went cold turkey on his love of booze and cigarettes in the weeks running up to recording sessions to save his voice. The late crooner's biographers, ANTHONY SUMMERS and ROBBYN SWANN, have presented evidence they discovered while researching their book SINATRA: MY LIFE to alcoholism experts, who have confirmed claims Ol' Blue Eyes was ruled by Jack Daniels. The husband-and-wife journalists now claim Sinatra's boozy standard ONE FOR MY BABY was more than just a song the legend sang; it was actually the soundtrack to his sad, lonely and violent life. Swan says, "Sinatra's use and abuse of alcohol was much more important than anyone understood. We tracked that and we gathered information that, from the mid-40s on, he was really seriously abusing the booze, and, even in his later life, drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels a day. "It was all well documented by close friends, who spoke lovingly about him. "When we submitted that evidence to a couple of experts on alcoholism, they said, pretty conclusively, that this is a functioning alcoholic and I think that helped us to explain and I think will help the reader understand the explosive temper, the up-and-down relationship with women and his children, the depressions and the insomnia." Oxford University-educated Summers adds, "One of the strange anomalies is that a man, who not only drank so much but smoked so much - those untipped Camel cigarettes - for years and years and years, was still able to put out such a wonderful voice over such a long period. "We learned that he went off the booze and off the cigarettes for a period before he made an album." Summers claims the ravages of heavy drinking and smoking took their toll on Sinatra's famous voice - and this can clearly be heard on some recordings. The biographer adds, "The booze and the cigarettes and the sorrows in his life affected his voice. "You hear him do One For My Baby in the late 50s, and then you hear the recording he did of the same song just before the 50s and they're as different as day is from night. "The voice, by then, has been tempered, weathered by the booze, the cigarettes, the sadnesses and he's clearly living the song more the second time around."
I am still going to use the idea of the radio tuning in and out of different stations to start with and there being lots of hype about him as well as other musicians of his time. I am going to introduce a time line within the first 30 seconds flashing in and out of video clips of him at the stages of his life; similar to The Kingdom. -
I think the majority or possibly all of my piece is going to be in black and white merely because it is based around the 1950's era where colour technology was not so advanced.
- In the 1950s some of America's greatest actors played characters who were past their prime, emotionally vulnerable, with fragile egos. Bette Davis stars as an aging actress manipulated by an aggressive younger actress in All About Eve (1950); Humphrey Bogart plays a broken-down alcoholic in The African Queen (1954) and a psychotic naval captain in The Caine Mutiny (1954)-
I want to include Sinatra's like for alcohol and it being his way of getting through his days within my opening by shooting similar to Hitchcock eg: shooting body shoots and his hand picking up a whisky glass and slamming it down empty whilst walking of stage or in his dressing room or something similar.
“Basically, I'm for anything that gets you through the night - be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniels.”
ContactMusic.com says - Frank Sinatra was a functioning alcoholic, who went cold turkey on his love of booze and cigarettes in the weeks running up to recording sessions to save his voice. The late crooner's biographers, ANTHONY SUMMERS and ROBBYN SWANN, have presented evidence they discovered while researching their book SINATRA: MY LIFE to alcoholism experts, who have confirmed claims Ol' Blue Eyes was ruled by Jack Daniels. The husband-and-wife journalists now claim Sinatra's boozy standard ONE FOR MY BABY was more than just a song the legend sang; it was actually the soundtrack to his sad, lonely and violent life. Swan says, "Sinatra's use and abuse of alcohol was much more important than anyone understood. We tracked that and we gathered information that, from the mid-40s on, he was really seriously abusing the booze, and, even in his later life, drinking a bottle of Jack Daniels a day. "It was all well documented by close friends, who spoke lovingly about him. "When we submitted that evidence to a couple of experts on alcoholism, they said, pretty conclusively, that this is a functioning alcoholic and I think that helped us to explain and I think will help the reader understand the explosive temper, the up-and-down relationship with women and his children, the depressions and the insomnia." Oxford University-educated Summers adds, "One of the strange anomalies is that a man, who not only drank so much but smoked so much - those untipped Camel cigarettes - for years and years and years, was still able to put out such a wonderful voice over such a long period. "We learned that he went off the booze and off the cigarettes for a period before he made an album." Summers claims the ravages of heavy drinking and smoking took their toll on Sinatra's famous voice - and this can clearly be heard on some recordings. The biographer adds, "The booze and the cigarettes and the sorrows in his life affected his voice. "You hear him do One For My Baby in the late 50s, and then you hear the recording he did of the same song just before the 50s and they're as different as day is from night. "The voice, by then, has been tempered, weathered by the booze, the cigarettes, the sadnesses and he's clearly living the song more the second time around."
Monday
September 8th
I watched Desperate Housewives the other night and thought the way in which the beginning is narrated with a set voice talking about the silent footage with appropriate music in the background was really affective and an idea which i liked.
First Idea - Black and White biography of a music artist eg. Eva Cassidy - An amazing act who was unfortunate and suffered from cancer.
Use of narration over music and writing on screen of timeline and major happenings in her life.
- Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American vocalist known for her interpretations of jazz, blues, folk, gospel, country and pop classics. She released her first album The Other Side, a set of duets with go-go musician Chuck Brown in 1992 followed by a live solo album, Live at Blues Alley in
1996. Cassidy was virtually unknown outside her native Washington, DC when she died of melanoma in 1996. -
Possibly starting with a radio presenter introducing her and then going on from there with narration and pictures into someone acting to be her.
Other ideas of Musicians -
Tracy Chapman (Problem - finding a suitable actor)
Joni Mitchell
Frank Sinatra
Friday
September 5th
Today we watched some past film openings of students from overseas, they were all at a E-C grade and thrillers. None of the films stood out to me but they have shown me the things that i do not want to do and the areas to try and avoid when/ if i decide to make my own film opening.
We also watched a section from the film Seven; although at the moment my thoughts are to do a possible romance film it gave me lots of ideas of positions and how set is extremely important. The use of -
- Simple acting with no talking
- Lighting (a spotlight in darkness and rays of red light made the scene tense)
- Photos hanging up and old books etc
We also watched a section from the film Seven; although at the moment my thoughts are to do a possible romance film it gave me lots of ideas of positions and how set is extremely important. The use of -
- Simple acting with no talking
- Lighting (a spotlight in darkness and rays of red light made the scene tense)
- Photos hanging up and old books etc
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