Back in April Mike Hawthorne the fella who currently draws CONAN over at Dark Horse comics played a cool little April fools prank on his adoring fans. He got me pretty good as I got my hopes up nice and high for a CONAN/HELLBOY crossover. Well...He revealed it was only a prank after he had at least 20 replies to his post. SHITE!!! Ok well being the cool dude he is Mr. Hawthorne offered up a sketch card to the first 10 people who contacted him by e-mail. Well I checked in. I do not know particularly what number I was but I was one of the lucky few. Here it is ...a cool profile shot of CONAN by Mike Hawthorne. Dig that hatching makes it look all antiquie and what not. Thank you Mike.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
CONAN sketch card - By Mike Hawthorne.
Back in April Mike Hawthorne the fella who currently draws CONAN over at Dark Horse comics played a cool little April fools prank on his adoring fans. He got me pretty good as I got my hopes up nice and high for a CONAN/HELLBOY crossover. Well...He revealed it was only a prank after he had at least 20 replies to his post. SHITE!!! Ok well being the cool dude he is Mr. Hawthorne offered up a sketch card to the first 10 people who contacted him by e-mail. Well I checked in. I do not know particularly what number I was but I was one of the lucky few. Here it is ...a cool profile shot of CONAN by Mike Hawthorne. Dig that hatching makes it look all antiquie and what not. Thank you Mike.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Sunday, May 1, 2011
A little Critique on the work of Marcus Nispel
I’ve been watching films directed by Marcus Nispel to try and get a feel for what CONAN 3D might be like. I was watching the Dean Koontz's FRANKENSTEIN film starring Michael Madsen and Vincent Perez. ( He directed it ) Marcus is a fan of the medium shot and likes to have the subject approach the camera and do a pass as the camera turns when the subject gets closer. So we can expect a lot of that. Another Nispel habit is the segue…he melds scenes together in montage format and transitions to the following scene's establishing shot to create mood. He does this particularly using the medium shot and a lot of wind or rain to set the feel of the mood.
Another big time Directing favorite of Marcus’ is the extreme close up just before a flashback sequence. On a face or on eyes and then he does the fade in with the flashback…usually a medium shot heavily clouded or shadowed almost noir like with muffled voices echoing throughout the flashback.
When it comes to blood and gore he does not scrimp. After watching TEXAS CHAINSAW ( He directed it. ) I took note that he uses that medium shot he favors so much to stage the scene so you can see everything. Whereas somebody like George Romero or Tobe Hooper would have a close up on the wounding or maiming of the victim. Which in the case of CONAN would probably be a good thing what with all the swordplay in the movie and all.
One thing that concerns me the most is the actual sword fights themselves. I do not like in close tight shots. I want to see every Swing , swoop , dodge , block and parrie.
Excellent fight scenes of note from the last several years I’d say were in KING ARTHUR , Lord of the Rings , Braveheart , 300 , Gladiator and Pathfinder BUT…the fight scenes in the 13th Warrior were Too close for my tastes. The best shot in the entire film was when Bulwyf swings his sword like a bat and knocked the leader of the bad guys off his horse. The trial of the 3 shields scene was pretty cool too. Not to say I did not enjoy the film because I did…but that close up , way too close to the camera action takes away from the action itself and robs us the viewers of some well deserved sword play action!
In many ways Marcus’ Directing skills remind me of Russell Mulchahy’s work on HIGHLANDER which is a good thing. So I have faith in Marcus’ talents. I feel my research was worth the effort. I am highly optimistic. Now lets see that damned film!
Marcus Nispel...
Dean Koontz - FRANKENSTEIN...
Bulwyf ( Pronounced BULL VIFE ) from the 13th Warrior...
Mel...
Karl Urban - PATHFINDER...
Viggo - As Aragorn from the RINGS trilogy...
Another big time Directing favorite of Marcus’ is the extreme close up just before a flashback sequence. On a face or on eyes and then he does the fade in with the flashback…usually a medium shot heavily clouded or shadowed almost noir like with muffled voices echoing throughout the flashback.
When it comes to blood and gore he does not scrimp. After watching TEXAS CHAINSAW ( He directed it. ) I took note that he uses that medium shot he favors so much to stage the scene so you can see everything. Whereas somebody like George Romero or Tobe Hooper would have a close up on the wounding or maiming of the victim. Which in the case of CONAN would probably be a good thing what with all the swordplay in the movie and all.
One thing that concerns me the most is the actual sword fights themselves. I do not like in close tight shots. I want to see every Swing , swoop , dodge , block and parrie.
Excellent fight scenes of note from the last several years I’d say were in KING ARTHUR , Lord of the Rings , Braveheart , 300 , Gladiator and Pathfinder BUT…the fight scenes in the 13th Warrior were Too close for my tastes. The best shot in the entire film was when Bulwyf swings his sword like a bat and knocked the leader of the bad guys off his horse. The trial of the 3 shields scene was pretty cool too. Not to say I did not enjoy the film because I did…but that close up , way too close to the camera action takes away from the action itself and robs us the viewers of some well deserved sword play action!
In many ways Marcus’ Directing skills remind me of Russell Mulchahy’s work on HIGHLANDER which is a good thing. So I have faith in Marcus’ talents. I feel my research was worth the effort. I am highly optimistic. Now lets see that damned film!
Marcus Nispel...
Dean Koontz - FRANKENSTEIN...
Bulwyf ( Pronounced BULL VIFE ) from the 13th Warrior...
Mel...
Karl Urban - PATHFINDER...
Viggo - As Aragorn from the RINGS trilogy...