Actor, filmmaker and creator of YouTube sci-fi series Damon Dark, Adrian Sherlock has recently been re-editing and re-uploading his oeuvre, and today is the turn of The Death of Damon Dark, a shocking installment penned by Brett Gerry Films. Originally conceived as a four-part serial, … Read More →
Tag Archives: narrative
The Crimes of Nigel Kneale
Nigel Kneale is largely famous for his work in the field of science fiction, but he also wrote kitchen sink dramas, mysteries and horrors. Despite which, his legacy as a sci-fi author in this country is vast, and he is held beyond reproach by numerous … Read More →
Violence on screen equals complacency on the page…
The recent furore over The Killer Inside Me (2010; dir. Michael Winterbottom), which centres around its graphic depiction of violence against women, has totally failed to pinpoint the cause of that film’s failure, with many theorists and commentators misdirecting their efforts onto spurious, tabloid-baiting claims: … Read More →
The Last Movie (1971; dir. Dennis Hopper)
With the recent death of actor-director Dennis Hopper, some critics and obituarists have dimly remembered that, between his breakthrough success with Easy Rider (1969) and personality-defining roles in Blue Velvet (1986; dir. David Lynch) or Speed (1994; dir. Jan de Bont), he helmed this sprawling … Read More →
Taxi (2008; dir. Paul Olding)
This is a series of vignettes, each taking place in and around a Hackney cab, which hinge on false expectations and occasionally jokey denouements. Helmer Olding and his creative team seem to be aiming for a slick, commercial feel to the proceedings, which, despite the … Read More →
Providence (1977; dir. Alain Resnais)
Released just before commercial cinema began its descent into adolescent sensationalism, Resnais’ masterpiece of meaning, time and truth garnered numerous awards and recognition throughout Europe, but is summarily ignored by modern film theorists and practitioners. By presenting the narrative process as egotistical and damaging, Resnais … Read More →
Altered States (1980; dir. Ken Russell)
This is Russell’s only interesting film, and sees him applying himself to the excesses and longueurs of award-winning author and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky’s direly introspective rumination on God, consciousness and sensory deprivation. Chayefsky famously had Russell sign an agreement that he wouldn’t change one word … Read More →
New Damon Dark short from an original Brett Gerry Films screenplay now online
Following on from our recent profile of actor/director Adrian Sherlock’s science-fiction webseries Damon Dark – which you can read in full here – correspondence with Sherlock has resulted in an original screenplay for the series. You can watch the finished short in the player above. … Read More →
Is it possible to exorcise the ghost of a writer?
A local film project, and the online conversation it’s generated, serves to highlight the growing simplification of film education in this country, and the over-reliance of modern media professionals on distracting and rudimentary cinematic concepts. The Ghost Film was born out of writer/director Ian Cottage’s … Read More →
Folk and oral tradition as an alternative to manipulative narrative form
Currently accepted narrative practices, taught in universities and colleges, and adhered to by the majority of mass audio-visual media content existing today, guide the audience through a series of connected sequences (a better description would be ‘progressions’) that culminate in a concluding climax-and-resolution scenario, which … Read More →
The impossibility of objective writing within currently accepted narrative processes
Television and cinema are capable, within the single framework of a film, of presenting a multitude of disparate social, cultural and political perspectives. The essential key to the success of these viewpoints, i.e. giving them unbiased presentation within the film and allowing critical debate afterwards, … Read More →
How can the demand for interactive television be met by an openly hostile mass audio-visual media?
A recent YouGov survey suggesting that 69% of the British population want more interactivity with mainstream television, demonstrated by the ability to influence dramatic narratives through digital interfaces or online resources, also revealing the vast majority of audiences use social networking media whilst simultaneously viewing … Read More →