KRN_MLLR

This is a campaign that I feel strongly towards. I want to see Ken Russell's directors cut of The Devils and it is clear that (at the time of writing) over 4,000 people, who have supported the Facebook campaign, also want Warner Bros to either release the director's cut they shelved or if not to allow another company to take over the rights of The Devils. 

Film critic, Mark Kermode, in his Uncut Blog and on the BBC Radio 5 Live show has been increasingly vocal in his anger towards Warner Bros' treatment of what is considered a British masterpiece. Recently, after a packed Los Angeles screening of the film, Director/Producer Guillermo Del Toro has been vocal in his support for a release of the film. 

So to anyone who may see this: I implore you to follow the link and back the campaign. 

This is a drawing from yesterdays life drawing class. Our task was to draw a model with perspective and mood in mind. Perspective and mood will help our consideration of the composition and framing when filming.  

Although this drawing isn't perfect and definitely has faults, like the detail in the face, I am quite pleased with the outcome. Drawing used to be a major player in my creative side, but due to lack of time and poor attitude it was the first time I had picked up a pencil in 7 years. The framing and use of shadows reference a composition seen in black and white films like Les Diaboliques. I feel I have captured the intended atmosphere of pain and sorrow. This has the same tonal qualities, composition and atmosphere that I want to capture in an upcoming project, Time Off.  

After such a long time since drawing this has given me a positive attitude towards drawing again. 

Niles Talbot (William Sadler) is an executioner that takes pride in his work, believing his job to be a necessity and a justice for the people. After the death penalty is abolished Talbot continues his work as a freelancer. 

I found this episode to be a fairly weak opener to the series. William Sadler put in a good performance, but is let down by a plot too big for its 20-22 minute time slot. Much like James Glickenhaus' The Exterminator, this episode tells a story of a man who takes justice into his own hands, however was done better in the former. The issue with this episode wasn't the premise, nor direction or editing, but lack of time it has to tell its story. This leads to a rushed third act in which the tables turn on our protagonist who is then executed. With a longer running time the final act could have been told better and the story wrapped up neatly. 

Back to the Future director and series producer, Rober Zemeckis, directs this episode in which a housewife murders her husband and shortly after suffers a home invasion from an escaped maniac dressed as Santa Claus. 

This episode worked a whole lot better than the first episode. Larry Drake plays a truly frightening Santa and Mary Ellen Trainor plays a convincing housewife caught up in a struggle to hide her own murder as well as trying to protect herself and her daughter. The performances are helped by Zemeckis direction, whilst the pace of the edit from Stephen Semel keeps the pot boiling throughout.

Filmed in a 4:3 aspect ration for television, this episode was brilliantly shot by cinematographer Dean Cundey. One particular shot is beautifully shot, in which the wife holds an axe over her dead husband in an attempt to frame the killer Santa, the camera follows it's focus on the axe head as she brings it above her head to her guilt ridden face  and struggles to swing the axe back down into her dead husband's skull.