Everyone Stares thoughts (SPOILERS)
Posted: 14 Sep 2006 08:26an open place to discuss the particulars of the film. people who prefer to have those elements not revealed before watching the move are thus forewarned...
i just finished experiencing the movie and found it quite exhilarating. i've never seen jeff seitz onscreen before and it was a treat to see him and all the other behind the scenes folks making their contributions to events that have had such an impact on most of us here.
stewart's filmmaking skills are made plain and apparent throughout. i enjoyed the variety of visual techniques he employed. i had been wondering what sort of stop motion effects would be included since they were mentioned in an interview some months back. i am guessing it was the scene with the furniture appearing to move around by itself. i found it
artful to precede it with the shot of the ships moving that seems to have
frames cut out to achieve a similar effect.
other manipulations that stood out were slowing down the footage of sting and andy dancing and letting us here the pitched down voices as well. its the sort of fun any video editor might do during the process of cutting picture, solely for his own entertainment usually. this is a technique i plan to incorporate into my own stuff eventually, so it makes me feel i'm on the right track when i see my idols employ it also!
there were so many funny moments. the roadie mooning the camera during the sped up footage of a stage being set up was fall down in the floor hilarious! i have mostly thought of stewart as the true humorist of the group, but there were a lot of comedians on tour with them in those
early days, and none bigger than his bandmates. stew saying he felt like a dick as the group's drummer, not knowing what to do during the video shoot made me laugh out loud!
the movie struck me as highly poignant as well. i'm glad that most of the internal strife was not really captured and barely alluded to. this puts the focus of the movie on what it's like to be in a functioning band and the comraderie they enjoyed while creating music. overall, very positive and uplifting. many i suppose would blame sting for the group's demise, but the movie suggests that it was the unreal world created by being in the group that did it. this is the film's true insight. the final scene however, with sting pronouncing stewart as the chief villain of his existence (perhaps only half jokingly) gives the movie enough sense of ambiguity to be able to interpret it any way you like. herein lies the picture's artistic value, as art's only real societal relevance is its interpretation by the viewer/listener.
on that note, let's not forget the music. the derangements were obviously the highlight (for me, anyway). i thought they were especially inventive, and was very surprised to hear even the don't stand remake included in the mash-up. the songs flitted in and out very quickly, punctuating the listening experience. it was fun to watch sting and andy do little hammy cover versions. a real treat for me personally to hear masoko (my favorite police tune) pop up twice, although i kept hoping against hope that i would hear a live snippet of it (even tho i'm pretty sure no such animal exists). the inclusion of klark kent into the police mythos was very welcome indeed! i also thought an excellent balance was struck between the narration, the music, and just letting "scenes" play out with their "dialogue".
sorry for the half-assed review, these are only my first impressions from having just seen it for the first time. like conroy, i suspect i'll enjoy it even more with the commentary. looking forward to the extra footage and derangement easter eggs a great deal! lastly, i'd like to thank stewart copeland for sharing his "little toy" with us all!
i just finished experiencing the movie and found it quite exhilarating. i've never seen jeff seitz onscreen before and it was a treat to see him and all the other behind the scenes folks making their contributions to events that have had such an impact on most of us here.
stewart's filmmaking skills are made plain and apparent throughout. i enjoyed the variety of visual techniques he employed. i had been wondering what sort of stop motion effects would be included since they were mentioned in an interview some months back. i am guessing it was the scene with the furniture appearing to move around by itself. i found it
artful to precede it with the shot of the ships moving that seems to have
frames cut out to achieve a similar effect.
other manipulations that stood out were slowing down the footage of sting and andy dancing and letting us here the pitched down voices as well. its the sort of fun any video editor might do during the process of cutting picture, solely for his own entertainment usually. this is a technique i plan to incorporate into my own stuff eventually, so it makes me feel i'm on the right track when i see my idols employ it also!
there were so many funny moments. the roadie mooning the camera during the sped up footage of a stage being set up was fall down in the floor hilarious! i have mostly thought of stewart as the true humorist of the group, but there were a lot of comedians on tour with them in those
early days, and none bigger than his bandmates. stew saying he felt like a dick as the group's drummer, not knowing what to do during the video shoot made me laugh out loud!
the movie struck me as highly poignant as well. i'm glad that most of the internal strife was not really captured and barely alluded to. this puts the focus of the movie on what it's like to be in a functioning band and the comraderie they enjoyed while creating music. overall, very positive and uplifting. many i suppose would blame sting for the group's demise, but the movie suggests that it was the unreal world created by being in the group that did it. this is the film's true insight. the final scene however, with sting pronouncing stewart as the chief villain of his existence (perhaps only half jokingly) gives the movie enough sense of ambiguity to be able to interpret it any way you like. herein lies the picture's artistic value, as art's only real societal relevance is its interpretation by the viewer/listener.
on that note, let's not forget the music. the derangements were obviously the highlight (for me, anyway). i thought they were especially inventive, and was very surprised to hear even the don't stand remake included in the mash-up. the songs flitted in and out very quickly, punctuating the listening experience. it was fun to watch sting and andy do little hammy cover versions. a real treat for me personally to hear masoko (my favorite police tune) pop up twice, although i kept hoping against hope that i would hear a live snippet of it (even tho i'm pretty sure no such animal exists). the inclusion of klark kent into the police mythos was very welcome indeed! i also thought an excellent balance was struck between the narration, the music, and just letting "scenes" play out with their "dialogue".
sorry for the half-assed review, these are only my first impressions from having just seen it for the first time. like conroy, i suspect i'll enjoy it even more with the commentary. looking forward to the extra footage and derangement easter eggs a great deal! lastly, i'd like to thank stewart copeland for sharing his "little toy" with us all!