As the summer winds down, is 3D doing the same?

Here's an excellent article about the trends for 2D vs 3D. Well worth a read.

Life in a Day and Senna

It's that time of year where nearly every square inch of silver screen space is taken up by the huge, money guzzling juggernauts  known as the summer blockbusters (or is it now 'franchises'?). There are exceptions, but, on the whole, they offer little in the way of originality or creativity... and even less in real soul or human drama. I guess that's not what their aim is. Their aim is to generate as much bounty as possible and maybe pave the way for vapid sequels. The onset of 3D has just made them all the more unappealing to me.

With this said, I am really pleased to see two smaller films... and documentaries at that... doing so well upon their recent releases. They are 'Life in a Day' and 'Senna'.

Making Ugly - indie Brit-flick

Making Ugly is a British independent thriller reportedly shot in London and Edinburgh on a micro budget of just £7,000 over a period of 74 days.

This kind of spirited, determined and dedicated film-making is something that fills me with hope and encouragement in a business dominated by major studios, ridiculous budgets, 3D sideshows,  distributors that have little faith in smaller movies with heart and multiplexes that would rather show the same film on 2 or 3 screens rather than give a screen to those smaller movies.

All the best to Squarebox Yellow, cast, crew and backers.

Now, let me get back to my screenplay!!!

Making Ugly Official Trailer from Squarebox Yellow on Vimeo.

All aboard the 3D bandwagon!

Who needs a story when you've got a pair of these?

As I set out to write this, I think to myself; 'Is it a coincidence that the number 3 key on my keyboard is also the key for the £ symbol?' 3D or £D?


It seems that more and more ‘big’ movies are being made to cater for the new 3D fad. Or, at least I hope it is a fad and not something to stay and increase. In my opinion, on the whole 3D is a cheap side-show gimmick and its spectacle (if you want to call it that) detracts from the emphasis of the elements of a film that really matter... story, characters and theme. And anybody that says that these things don’t matter in a mainstream movie clearly hasn’t seen Insomnia (flawed as it might have been) and Toy Story 3 (yes I know... but that was a 3D movie that bucked the trend as a solitary beacon). Actually, the 3D element in Toy Story 3 was completely pointless to me. 3D doesn’t make a film immersive... story, character and theme does that in a much more clever, subtle and effective way.