From another one of my video tapes almost a whole evening of short programmes on animation.
[These programmes are] from a four part late night series called 'Animation Grand Prix' from 2001. Shown on Channel 4 (UK) each weeks segment would be dedicated to a particular country showing short films and features along with non-country specific programmes. Regrettably I only taped the Japanese night, most of which I'm uploading here. Programmes shown on the night that I won't be uploading included a specially commissioned series by Adam and Joe (which has already been uploaded) and the premiere of anime Blood: The Last Vampire (2000).
The evening began with part one of Adam and Joes series on animation and then the first in a series of programmes where 5 animators had 3 days to make a one minute film (which I may upload later).
Actress Jessica Stevenson (Spaced) talks about some of her favourite animations including Top Cat (1961), Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin (aka Street Fight) (1975) and Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell (1995).
A short film on artist Mumble Boy.
A short CG animation by Satoshi Tomioka.
A short film on making 'anime music videos' (AMV) from back in the day when everything was sourced from good ol' VHS.
Another short from Satoshi Tomioka.
A short film looking at lesbian characters in anime.
After this came the premiere of Blood: The Last Vampire and a few more shorts which I didn't keep in the end. One of which I remember being a short that cut footage from Ninja Scroll with a group of monks having an orgy, very odd.
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Friday, 7 August 2009
RIP John Hughes
1950 - 2009
Director of such films as Ferris Bueller's Day Off , Planes, Trains and Automobiles and The Breakfast Club has sadly died. He has also written and produced films such National Lampoon's Vacation, Home Alone and Beethoven.
Monday, 3 August 2009
Vidzilla
I have now started a new YouTube channel dedicated to archiving any interesting vintage and rare video that I happen to have lying about on good ol' VHS:
http://www.youtube.com/user/NobodysTapes
And here's my first upload:
Back in the days when TV was still cool, long before reality TV, late night programming was fantastic. It seemed like every Christmas one channel or the other had a strand of cult movies. Channel 4 one year had a Godzilla season during its infamous 4Later timeslot.
A total of seven film were shown uncut and undubbed, many possibly for the first time. This included the original film that pre-dates the BFIs DVD release/cinema run that many believe to be the first time the film had been shown in the UK uncut. At the time only a few of Haisai era films were available dubbed on VHS, and since then most of these films still remain unreleased in the UK.
I managed to record four of these films; Godzilla (1954), Gojira Raids Again (1955), Mothra Verses Godilla (1964) and Godzilla Returns (1984). I can't quite remember what the other three were but I do remember that Godzilla was repeated the following year along with Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla (1974).
Uploaded here is the seasons introduction, presented by two guys (sorry haven't got their names at hand) who at the time had a video review programme.
Warning: This video contains some swearing.
http://www.youtube.com/user/NobodysTapes
And here's my first upload:
Back in the days when TV was still cool, long before reality TV, late night programming was fantastic. It seemed like every Christmas one channel or the other had a strand of cult movies. Channel 4 one year had a Godzilla season during its infamous 4Later timeslot.
A total of seven film were shown uncut and undubbed, many possibly for the first time. This included the original film that pre-dates the BFIs DVD release/cinema run that many believe to be the first time the film had been shown in the UK uncut. At the time only a few of Haisai era films were available dubbed on VHS, and since then most of these films still remain unreleased in the UK.
I managed to record four of these films; Godzilla (1954), Gojira Raids Again (1955), Mothra Verses Godilla (1964) and Godzilla Returns (1984). I can't quite remember what the other three were but I do remember that Godzilla was repeated the following year along with Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla (1974).
Uploaded here is the seasons introduction, presented by two guys (sorry haven't got their names at hand) who at the time had a video review programme.
Warning: This video contains some swearing.
Sunday, 26 July 2009
I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized".
So I was watching Elmo this morning, unintentionally of course, and Elmo was teaching Mr Noodles to whistle. Eventually he did, hailing a taxi in the process (I missed the start so I don't know whether this was the whole aim). Anyway who should we find driving this taxi?
Yup non other then a Muppet version of everyone's favourite pimp killing vigilant Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, complete with some faux-Bernard Herrmann score!
Mr Noodles proceeds by getting in the drawn out Taxi for it to drive off leaving him falling to ground, because, of course, It's not real.
---
Oh and I'm going to start posting on this blog hopefully more often from how on.
Yup non other then a Muppet version of everyone's favourite pimp killing vigilant Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver, complete with some faux-Bernard Herrmann score!
Mr Noodles proceeds by getting in the drawn out Taxi for it to drive off leaving him falling to ground, because, of course, It's not real.
---
Oh and I'm going to start posting on this blog hopefully more often from how on.
Saturday, 29 November 2008
Sheffield Doc/Fest Part 2
A brief summary of the films I saw, even though that was now a few weeks ago.
Dokkoi - a very rare showing, apparently that was the UK premiere. Introduction by the films producer and part of a season of films on Ogawa Productions. Very early screening at 9.15, too early for some as half-most on the people who came left during the film, very disrespectful to any film. I loved it even though i was very tired (had been up since 6am). The film is set around a poor farming town where jobs are limited due to the poor economy at the time (late 70s), it opens with a funeral and death features prominently throughout the film. People apparently came up to the film crew and asked them to take pictures of them so that would have something in case of their own funeral. It wasn't uncommon for the crew to be interviewing someone who only a few days later they would find out who just died. Powerful indeed, there's no DVD release on this or any on major distribution on any Ogawa's work. I may never see this again.
SWTH - a local short film that seems to be bordering on acted drama. Quite good, i enjoyed it.
Japan - Nicely (but no intentionally) follows n the subject of Japanese economy, this shows modern day poverty in a successful Japan. A BBC/NHK co-production that will be on TV in the new year and an extended version will be shown in Japan. McAllister was there to answer questions afterwards as was the star Naoki who got a huge round of applause. I loved this documentary and there were alot of heart warming and funny moments. I recommend this to all when it shows next year.
No Manifesto - Rough cut, still has a bit to go. Bit difficult to work out what this film is about watching it. It's stuck between a retrospective of the bands career, darting back to various events and themes at several moments and a look at the band current working process as they are seen working on the album Send Away the Tigers (probably too much footage is shown on them working on Imperial Bodybags) Another great film, but then I enjoyed the whole day. Lots of fantastic interviews and footage. Can't wait till its finished.
Dokkoi - a very rare showing, apparently that was the UK premiere. Introduction by the films producer and part of a season of films on Ogawa Productions. Very early screening at 9.15, too early for some as half-most on the people who came left during the film, very disrespectful to any film. I loved it even though i was very tired (had been up since 6am). The film is set around a poor farming town where jobs are limited due to the poor economy at the time (late 70s), it opens with a funeral and death features prominently throughout the film. People apparently came up to the film crew and asked them to take pictures of them so that would have something in case of their own funeral. It wasn't uncommon for the crew to be interviewing someone who only a few days later they would find out who just died. Powerful indeed, there's no DVD release on this or any on major distribution on any Ogawa's work. I may never see this again.
SWTH - a local short film that seems to be bordering on acted drama. Quite good, i enjoyed it.
Japan - Nicely (but no intentionally) follows n the subject of Japanese economy, this shows modern day poverty in a successful Japan. A BBC/NHK co-production that will be on TV in the new year and an extended version will be shown in Japan. McAllister was there to answer questions afterwards as was the star Naoki who got a huge round of applause. I loved this documentary and there were alot of heart warming and funny moments. I recommend this to all when it shows next year.
No Manifesto - Rough cut, still has a bit to go. Bit difficult to work out what this film is about watching it. It's stuck between a retrospective of the bands career, darting back to various events and themes at several moments and a look at the band current working process as they are seen working on the album Send Away the Tigers (probably too much footage is shown on them working on Imperial Bodybags) Another great film, but then I enjoyed the whole day. Lots of fantastic interviews and footage. Can't wait till its finished.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Sheffield Doc/Fest
Two weeks till Sheffield Doc/Fest and I will be attending, I will be seeing:
Dokkoi! Songs of the Bottom (1974) (intro & Q&A)
The ‘bottom’ of the title is that of society itself. Ogawa’s subject had shifted from Sanrizuka to Kotobukicho, an area of great social deprivation. Filming was tough and the budget was far too small. Once again the team lived in the place where they shot, in this case renting doss houses. Everywhere they looked, people were clinging to life with their fingernails. The film became a series of poetic portraits – songs – of those people, some of whom died during the production. Alert camerawork, inventive intertitles and, most of all, a complete immersion in the world of the story, contribute to Dokkoi’s unforgettable power.
Smoking With the Hawk (2008) + Japan: A Story of Love and Hate (2008)(with Q&A)
Smoking With the Hawk - Clyde is hard. Fucking hard. He's also a pool impresario whos got £8,000 riding on his boy against a young whippersnapper from Chesterfield. Meanwhile Clyde has to deal with a mild machete attack and train his hawk to be a killing machine.
Japan: A Story of Love and Hate - Naoki had it all in the boom days of the Japanese economy. Now he shares a one-room windowless flat with a girl who’s half his age. At fifty-six, he is one of thousands of Japanese who have fallen through the cracks to become a class of working poor. He grits his teeth to perform the obligatory morning calisthenics at the post office before earning his pittance. The twinkle of rebellion is still alight in his eye but this love story is bound by work, pride and necessity. The destructive push-pull cycle between Naoki and his lover is only broken when Naoki must finally meet her father, which wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t the same age. British documentary's sinner and saint, Sean McAllister, again offers extraordinary access and returns with an absorbing a portrait of inescapable contradictions, of life and the narrow lines love and hate share.
No Manifesto (2009) (Work In Progress with 30 min Q&A)
Manic Street Preachers fans unite! This is the doc you’ve been waiting for and its almost ready. The most colourful and contentious band South Wales ever produced face off with their equally colourful and contentious fans in a verité-multimedia-documentary-experiment-work-in-progress. Out-takes, raw and untamed touring footage and of course, the magic of the music will be screened for the first time in its embryonic stage. You can safely expect absolutely anything. With the director in attendance, the audience has the rarest of opportunities to have their input into the shape and feel of this long overdue rockin’ Manic’s doc.
Website: http://www.sheffdocfest.com/
Dokkoi! Songs of the Bottom (1974) (intro & Q&A)
The ‘bottom’ of the title is that of society itself. Ogawa’s subject had shifted from Sanrizuka to Kotobukicho, an area of great social deprivation. Filming was tough and the budget was far too small. Once again the team lived in the place where they shot, in this case renting doss houses. Everywhere they looked, people were clinging to life with their fingernails. The film became a series of poetic portraits – songs – of those people, some of whom died during the production. Alert camerawork, inventive intertitles and, most of all, a complete immersion in the world of the story, contribute to Dokkoi’s unforgettable power.
Smoking With the Hawk (2008) + Japan: A Story of Love and Hate (2008)(with Q&A)
Smoking With the Hawk - Clyde is hard. Fucking hard. He's also a pool impresario whos got £8,000 riding on his boy against a young whippersnapper from Chesterfield. Meanwhile Clyde has to deal with a mild machete attack and train his hawk to be a killing machine.
Japan: A Story of Love and Hate - Naoki had it all in the boom days of the Japanese economy. Now he shares a one-room windowless flat with a girl who’s half his age. At fifty-six, he is one of thousands of Japanese who have fallen through the cracks to become a class of working poor. He grits his teeth to perform the obligatory morning calisthenics at the post office before earning his pittance. The twinkle of rebellion is still alight in his eye but this love story is bound by work, pride and necessity. The destructive push-pull cycle between Naoki and his lover is only broken when Naoki must finally meet her father, which wouldn’t be so bad if they weren’t the same age. British documentary's sinner and saint, Sean McAllister, again offers extraordinary access and returns with an absorbing a portrait of inescapable contradictions, of life and the narrow lines love and hate share.
No Manifesto (2009) (Work In Progress with 30 min Q&A)
Manic Street Preachers fans unite! This is the doc you’ve been waiting for and its almost ready. The most colourful and contentious band South Wales ever produced face off with their equally colourful and contentious fans in a verité-multimedia-documentary-experiment-work-in-progress. Out-takes, raw and untamed touring footage and of course, the magic of the music will be screened for the first time in its embryonic stage. You can safely expect absolutely anything. With the director in attendance, the audience has the rarest of opportunities to have their input into the shape and feel of this long overdue rockin’ Manic’s doc.
Website: http://www.sheffdocfest.com/
Thursday, 9 October 2008
At last! Laserdisc!
Well I got this a while back but I am posting this now. I've finally bought a Laserdisc player! As a film collector it a has long been my desire to buy one of these machines. Why? Well not only as a retro novelty but also because there are so many films that are still not available on DVD but were released on VHS and LD. Some examples; David Lynch's On The Air, Neil Young's Human Highway, Shohei Imamaura's Insect Woman etc... And also at times the LDs had extras not available on DVD, such as the Nightmare Before Christmas Boxset which featured an extended documentary and more short films (more on this later).
As for the visual quality: well going by the 14" TV screen I'm using the quality appears to be on par with DVD (though DVD still is higher) and is definitely better then both VHS and VCD. VCD I tend to find to be very flat and sometimes jerky due to the compression to mpeg.
For those who don't Laserdisc is a home video format introduced in the 80's and was successful in the US and Japan up till 1999 when DVD came in. LDs were released in the UK and many titles were available but it just didn't catch on in the general market. The discs themselves are 12" wide (the same as LPs) and are double sided holder 60 minutes per side in standard definition (CLV) and 30 in higher (CAV) meaner who would have to flip the disc or even change discs throughout the viewing, later machines could play both sides.
The machine itself cost initially 44 Pounds but unfortunately being second hand and over a decade old it seized up upon watching my first disc (the ever 'classic' Angel Enforcers), repairs at another 50 fixed the problems. I've bought a few titles so far, nothing too rare so far, discs seem to be around the 15 mark for semi rarities, fiver for the standard films and onwards and upwards for those in higher demand. So far i own: Angel 2, Angel Enforcers, My Crazy Life, Red Squirrel (I think these are all on DVD, i bought these just to test the machine), Talking Heads: Storytelling Giant and Nightmare Before Christmas Special Edition.
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