Happy New Year!
I've seen many thousands of films over the years, and used to have a large green Halliwell's Film Guide in which I highlighted those I'd seen, and tried to fill in the gaps of those that I hadn't and which captured my imagination. I also subscribed to cinema magazines.
My cinema knowledge is fairly extensive and has also been added to by my son beginning a film and television degree at the University of East Anglia and building an extensive and ever-growing library of BluRays and DVDs with a remarkably eclectic range of films.
Each year, more films emerge, and the guides become a little out of date, but still include the classics. Other books such as "1001 films you must see" etc. are also on my shelves. I used to subscribe to 'Empire' magazine when it first came out, and the occasional 'Sight and Sound' magazine as well, and would frequent the local video store: Blockbusters of course, and scour the TV schedules.
I still have plenty of films in the house, and access to thousands more through streaming services and my son's ever growing collection.
If pushed, some of the films I would class as my favourites would be: 'The Big Lebowski', 'Delicatessen', 'A Canterbury Tale', 'Withnail and I', 'The Searchers', 'Local Hero', 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' and a whole host of others which didn't make it on the list because they didn't pop into my head as my fingers hovered over the keyboard just now. I'll get back to them in time.
I'm a great fan of Powell and Pressburger, classic Ealing comedies, Alastair Sim, early Pixar, Jacques Tati, French new wave, classic westerns, the Coen Brothers and a hundred others directors and genres. I know quite a bit about film and have an opinion on plenty of them.
This blog is going to be a bit of a creative outlet for me, and an addition to my blogging portfolio which will extend my geographical thinking in a different media and direction.
I'll share memories of particular films from the past, preview films that are coming up, talk about films I've seen recently (in the cinema when I'm able to), and explore their geographical significance in particular of course.
Geography is tied in with all films of course: they are set somewhere, and their narrative is driven by characters engaging with places, and their own interconnections. The landscape is tied to many films very closely and helps create the atmosphere, the mise-en-scene.
Each image in a film has been carefully chosen, and may appear on screen for just a short time, but linger in the memory for a lot longer. This visual skill is also geographical - we are used to looking closely at images and looking for clues. The notion of narrative is important here too.
I'll explore the design of film posters and the landscapes they show, cultural geography in films, how cities and the rural landscape are (re)presented in film, film soundtracks and the stories that the films were based on, or the new worlds that they open up. I'll explore how maps feature, and where films are located in specific locations. I'll trawl streaming services for new film offerings as well.
I was also quite interested in developing a specific course / extended unit on the geography of film for students to follow. The rise of streaming has made this possible, although there are copyright implications of showing films in schools of course.
A little research has also uncovered a whole new world of film-related blogging, twitter accounts and teacher endeavour which I shall be sharing and celebrating for those who may already be studying these qualifications. I'll explain how I'm going to do that as the blog develops.
It's an also an excuse to (re)watch a load of movies now and then and add some reviews and thoughts as I do. There's no shortage of excellent films to share with you.
Feel free to recommend films that I should add to my lists as well, or which you feel I should consider adding to my lists.
Lights, camera, blogging....
A New Year means a new blog.
In 2020, I blogged about Iceland
In 2021, I blogged about Quotidian Geographies to tie in with my Presidential theme.
This year's blog project tackles something I am very interested in: films and cinema.
I will aim to blog each day, but won't necessarily manage it on my new blog.
The rationale for the blog is here in the first post on the blog:
My cinema knowledge is fairly extensive and has also been added to by my son beginning a film and television degree at the University of East Anglia and building an extensive and ever-growing library of BluRays and DVDs with a remarkably eclectic range of films.
Each year, more films emerge, and the guides become a little out of date, but still include the classics. Other books such as "1001 films you must see" etc. are also on my shelves. I used to subscribe to 'Empire' magazine when it first came out, and the occasional 'Sight and Sound' magazine as well, and would frequent the local video store: Blockbusters of course, and scour the TV schedules.
I still have plenty of films in the house, and access to thousands more through streaming services and my son's ever growing collection.
If pushed, some of the films I would class as my favourites would be: 'The Big Lebowski', 'Delicatessen', 'A Canterbury Tale', 'Withnail and I', 'The Searchers', 'Local Hero', 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp' and a whole host of others which didn't make it on the list because they didn't pop into my head as my fingers hovered over the keyboard just now. I'll get back to them in time.
I'm a great fan of Powell and Pressburger, classic Ealing comedies, Alastair Sim, early Pixar, Jacques Tati, French new wave, classic westerns, the Coen Brothers and a hundred others directors and genres. I know quite a bit about film and have an opinion on plenty of them.
This blog is going to be a bit of a creative outlet for me, and an addition to my blogging portfolio which will extend my geographical thinking in a different media and direction.
I'll share memories of particular films from the past, preview films that are coming up, talk about films I've seen recently (in the cinema when I'm able to), and explore their geographical significance in particular of course.
Geography is tied in with all films of course: they are set somewhere, and their narrative is driven by characters engaging with places, and their own interconnections. The landscape is tied to many films very closely and helps create the atmosphere, the mise-en-scene.
Each image in a film has been carefully chosen, and may appear on screen for just a short time, but linger in the memory for a lot longer. This visual skill is also geographical - we are used to looking closely at images and looking for clues. The notion of narrative is important here too.
I'll explore the design of film posters and the landscapes they show, cultural geography in films, how cities and the rural landscape are (re)presented in film, film soundtracks and the stories that the films were based on, or the new worlds that they open up. I'll explore how maps feature, and where films are located in specific locations. I'll trawl streaming services for new film offerings as well.
I was also quite interested in developing a specific course / extended unit on the geography of film for students to follow. The rise of streaming has made this possible, although there are copyright implications of showing films in schools of course.
A little research has also uncovered a whole new world of film-related blogging, twitter accounts and teacher endeavour which I shall be sharing and celebrating for those who may already be studying these qualifications. I'll explain how I'm going to do that as the blog develops.
It's an also an excuse to (re)watch a load of movies now and then and add some reviews and thoughts as I do. There's no shortage of excellent films to share with you.
Feel free to recommend films that I should add to my lists as well, or which you feel I should consider adding to my lists.
Lights, camera, blogging....
Comments