Marc Forster still defending his work on 'Quantum of Solace'

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  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    edited August 2013 Posts: 17,789
    DarthDimi wrote:
    why the hell must we witness a quiet conversation between two seated people with the camera going left - to - right, up - and - down, back - and - forth? What's the point? We're in a room in a house, not on a boat!
    Absolutely. NYPD Blue started that particular nonsense, I believe.
    DarthDimi wrote:
    The QOS car chase? I can distinct between wheels and doors but don't ask me to point out whose car is in frame. Sienna? Heck, I don't even know why I'm constantly pulled out of the chase to watch horses, let alone figure out who's who on the roofs of Italy.

    You have trouble with that?

    LOL, seriously, by the FOURTH time I watched the film, it all made sense to me.
    :))
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    I really just don't have a problem with the editing in QoS. I'll agree, it was incredibly hectic when I first watched it, but now, I know exactly what's going on.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,264
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I really just don't have a problem with the editing in QoS. I'll agree, it was incredibly hectic when I first watched it, but now, I know exactly what's going on.

    Indeed, like most things it improves with multiple viewings.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    The 'shaky-cam' style is 'Cinema Verite', a documentary style adapted to draw the viewer into a seemingly more realistically documented world. I think District 9 showcases the advantages perfectly combining visual effects with live action. As @DarthDimi points out though, sometimes it's ridiculously overused. It's all down to the fact that cameras pre-2000 tended to be so bulky that adequately maintaining a steady shot without sticks was almost impossible. Now you have bad camera ops trying to falsify an effect and it just seems so utterly contrived. What I dislike most is when a director chooses the said style out of pure laziness. You can all but forget about the Mise en scene, the frantic coverage calls for just one object to be the focal point without any need to address the geography or continuity of the scene.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    Dragonpol wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I really just don't have a problem with the editing in QoS. I'll agree, it was incredibly hectic when I first watched it, but now, I know exactly what's going on.

    Indeed, like most things it improves with multiple viewings.

    But seriously we can agree that something is wrong when it takes four viewings before we have pretty much seen everything? I'm not talking about story. Sometimes films require multiple viewings for us to understand them. But this is more basic, it's about a visual medium denying me all the visual information I need and now we acknowledge that we have to train our brains to fill in the blanks after four or so viewings.

  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    @DarthDimi, I'll agree, the first time I watched the film, I had so many questions and things I wondered that made no sense. As soon as the engines revved up and the car chase began in the beginning, the quick editing made me think Daniel Craig was the truck driver somehow, and made me question who was chasing who in what car, etc.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    We see things the same way, @Creasy47.

    I'm not saying QOS is a bad film. It has a lot of potential. And I have learned to embrace it. But that fact by itself leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. After watching CR the first time, I wanted to watch it again because I loved it so much. After watching QOS the first time, I needed to watch it again, just so that I could go back for things I had missed when blinking my eyes. I have had to learn things about QOS and it should be that way with a Bond film, certainly not because I'm denied images of all things.
  • I could get on with QoS as a basic revenge thriller - but then you have so many silly things, and that art deco plane, and subsequent chase, is more Indiana Jones than this type of movie. Throw in some things I personally hate, that is, WTF moments, such as when Bond leaves M to go chase an assassin, when she is at the mercy of White, who subsequently escapes of course (but gallantly doesn't kill her it seems), then goes to Haiti to kill a man just to watch him die, but doesn't even bother to spy around dead man's apartment for clues, just happens to get picked up by a gal in a car mistaken for someone else, who the throws him over but goes unarmed to confront the very man who she knows is trying to kill her... oh stop me it's awful and only 20 mins if that into the movie.
  • Posts: 908
    It's worth noting,that this is the ONE film that really improves a lot,when seen on a (as large as possible) TV Set,especially in the PTS. Suddenly things come together somehow. I still remember how astonished I was, when leaving the Cinema back in 2008, but my opinion of it changed quite a bit , when I rewatched it on Bluray (and has risen ever since). Still I have quite a few issues with it,but they are mainly with the Story Development (as opposed to the Storyline, which I happen to find sound and convincing)
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    DarthDimi wrote:
    But seriously we can agree that something is wrong when it takes four viewings before we have pretty much seen everything?
    Yes. The first time I watched QOS I was pretty pissed off about having to 'rewind' to try and make sense out of the PTS in particular. But now, I just sit back & enjoy. I just don't enjoy having to initially visually de-code.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    DarthDimi wrote:
    We see things the same way, @Creasy47.

    I'm not saying QOS is a bad film. It has a lot of potential. And I have learned to embrace it. But that fact by itself leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. After watching CR the first time, I wanted to watch it again because I loved it so much. After watching QOS the first time, I needed to watch it again, just so that I could go back for things I had missed when blinking my eyes. I have had to learn things about QOS and it should be that way with a Bond film, certainly not because I'm denied images of all things.

    QoS is regarded a lot higher than I would suggest in Bond circles, mainly given the benefit of hindsight. It's a well produced movie with some creative flourishes and a number of quality components, but it's afforded a level of leeway regards the narrative that most Bond films aren't. The simple fact is, as a film it's middling at best. It's fine for people to fawn over it, hell I am a big fan of AVTAK, but objectively it's just not a great film and never will will be.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    DarthDimi wrote:
    We see things the same way, @Creasy47.

    I'm not saying QOS is a bad film. It has a lot of potential. And I have learned to embrace it. But that fact by itself leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. After watching CR the first time, I wanted to watch it again because I loved it so much. After watching QOS the first time, I needed to watch it again, just so that I could go back for things I had missed when blinking my eyes. I have had to learn things about QOS and it should be that way with a Bond film, certainly not because I'm denied images of all things.

    Absolutely. I actually had a mental checklist of things to watch out for - scenes that didn't make sense, a mix-up of characters because of editing, lines that were thrown out that I couldn't understand (took me forever to understand what Camille says about her pistol before she and Bond storm Perla de las Dunas), etc. throughout my second, third, even fourth viewing in the cinemas.
  • Posts: 908
    I could get on with QoS as a basic revenge thriller - but then you have so many silly things, and that art deco plane, and subsequent chase, is more Indiana Jones than this type of movie. Throw in some things I personally hate, that is, WTF moments, such as when Bond leaves M to go chase an assassin, when she is at the mercy of White, who subsequently escapes of course (but gallantly doesn't kill her it seems), then goes to Haiti to kill a man just to watch him die, but doesn't even bother to spy around dead man's apartment for clues, just happens to get picked up by a gal in a car mistaken for someone else, who the throws him over but goes unarmed to confront the very man who she knows is trying to kill her... oh stop me it's awful and only 20 mins if that into the movie.


    I have to correct you on the Bond leaving M back with White Statement. We can clearly see Bond watching M escape through the door frame. You are absolutely right about the non searching of Slates room,however. It is of the issues I've been writing above (along with handing Camille to that Guy in the Harbour after the boat chase without questioning her,what the hell is going on and not telling M that it wasn't him who killed the Special Branch guy in the opera and, and, and ...)
  • edited August 2013 Posts: 6,396
    The film is just a mess. There is no clear narrative to what is going on. The film doesn't know how to say what it actually wants to say and in the end you come away from watching saying to yourself "What exactly was that film about?". It was obviously hampered by the writer's strike, which plunged both Craig and Forster into the deep end in order to to get the script as coherent as possible. On this basis, I'm amazed it wasn't an out and out disaster. I think that's probably why we're now looking at a three year gap between films. I imagine EON don't want their fingers burnt in this manner ever again.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Creasy47 wrote:
    throughout my second, third, even fourth viewing in the cinemas.
    Wow, that many times in cinema? :O
  • LeChiffre wrote:
    Very underrated film IMO. Give me QOS ahead of Roger Moore in a safari or clown suit any day!

    Benny's not going to like this ;)

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    LeChiffre wrote:
    Very underrated film IMO. Give me QOS ahead of Roger Moore in a safari or clown suit any day!

    Benny's not going to like this ;)
    Hell, I don't like it. [-(
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,959
    chrisisall wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    throughout my second, third, even fourth viewing in the cinemas.
    Wow, that many times in cinema? :O

    I saw it five times, actually! After that, I vowed to see all Bond films - even if we get a DAD clone in the future, though I hope not - at least five times in cinemas. Five for QoS, five for SF, five for 'Bond 24,' hopefully.
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    LeChiffre wrote:
    Very underrated film IMO. Give me QOS ahead of Roger Moore in a safari or clown suit any day!

    Benny's not going to like this ;)

    Me neither. So Rog in a safari suit isn't at all Fleming, but at least it's bloody entertaining. QoS is at best passable and at worst borderline pretentious. At least with a Rog film it knows exactly what it is. QoS doesn't have a clue. Plus, if I desperately crave Fleming I'll just go and read a book.
  • Posts: 6,396
    RC7 wrote:
    LeChiffre wrote:
    Very underrated film IMO. Give me QOS ahead of Roger Moore in a safari or clown suit any day!

    Benny's not going to like this ;)

    Me neither. So Rog in a safari suit isn't at all Fleming, but at least it's bloody entertaining. QoS is at best passable and at worst borderline pretentious. At least with a Rog film it knows exactly what it is. QoS doesn't have a clue. Plus, if I desperately crave Fleming I'll just go and read a book.

    Agree. TSWLM and FYEO are vastly superior to QoS. Just my opinion I know but apart from both of these films being fun and cracking entertainment, importantly the storytelling make sense. You don't come away from either of those films thinking 'huh?'
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Creasy47 wrote:
    I vowed to see all Bond films - even if we get a DAD clone in the future, though I hope not - at least five times in cinemas.
    Whoah, the last movie I saw more than twice in the theatre was.....

    *thinking, please wait*

    ....Escape From LA.

    :-??
  • RC7RC7
    edited August 2013 Posts: 10,512
    RC7 wrote:
    LeChiffre wrote:
    Very underrated film IMO. Give me QOS ahead of Roger Moore in a safari or clown suit any day!

    Benny's not going to like this ;)

    Me neither. So Rog in a safari suit isn't at all Fleming, but at least it's bloody entertaining. QoS is at best passable and at worst borderline pretentious. At least with a Rog film it knows exactly what it is. QoS doesn't have a clue. Plus, if I desperately crave Fleming I'll just go and read a book.

    Agree. TSWLM and FYEO are vastly superior to QoS. Just my opinion I know but apart from both of these films being fun and cracking entertainment, importantly the storytelling make sense. You don't come away from either of those films thinking 'huh?'

    If I were going to a desert Island and I could take only one of QoS, or a Moore entry picked at random, I'd pick the Moore every time.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    RC7 wrote:
    If I were going to a desert Island and I could take only one of QoS, or a Moore entry picked at random, I'd pick the Moore every time.
    You might get MR... oh, but that's the point...!
    Naw, I cannot agree here then.
  • Posts: 6,396
    RC7 wrote:
    RC7 wrote:
    LeChiffre wrote:
    Very underrated film IMO. Give me QOS ahead of Roger Moore in a safari or clown suit any day!

    Benny's not going to like this ;)

    Me neither. So Rog in a safari suit isn't at all Fleming, but at least it's bloody entertaining. QoS is at best passable and at worst borderline pretentious. At least with a Rog film it knows exactly what it is. QoS doesn't have a clue. Plus, if I desperately crave Fleming I'll just go and read a book.

    Agree. TSWLM and FYEO are vastly superior to QoS. Just my opinion I know but apart from both of these films being fun and cracking entertainment, importantly the storytelling make sense. You don't come away from either of those films thinking 'huh?'

    If I were going to a desert Island and I could take only one of QoS, or a Moore entry picked at random, I'd pick the Moore every time.

    Ooh I wouldn't quite stretch it that far. I'd probably end up throwing TMWTGG or AVTAK into the sea! Actually there's an idea. Perhaps I could write a mayday message on the jacket sleeve and use the case as a makeshift 'message in a bottle' ;-)
  • edited August 2013 Posts: 5,767
    Shark wrote:
    That said, the incoherence and jumpy rhythms mostly come from the editing. A ridiculous amount of coverage from different angles, tight close ups, lack of master shots etc. This is the opposite of Deakins's/Baird's approach on SF.
    Deakins´ and Baird´s approach is far from exemplary, I sure hope it won´t become a template for future Bond films.

    DarthDimi wrote:
    Compare this to what we see in for instance The Bourne Ultimatum. Good film, but why the hell must we witness a quiet conversation between two seated people with the camera going left - to - right, up - and - down, back - and - forth? What's the point? We're in a room in a house, not on a boat! Some people say that it enhances our involvement in the scene. Really! I see. Or better, I don't. For when I'm in a room overlooking a quiet conversation between two people, I'm neither spinning my head like a drunk or wiggling like a toddler in my chair.
    Like it or not, but why do you need the pretense of a reason for it? It´s just a thing the director seems to like, for no apparent reason. Just like some people like their music loud.
    Ballhaus let the camera move around people in a conversation sometimes, for no other reason that he thought it would be cool, and he was praised for it. So I guess it comes down to taste.

    RC7 wrote:
    The 'shaky-cam' style is 'Cinema Verite', a documentary style adapted to draw the viewer into a seemingly more realistically documented world.
    This is the bs some promoters spread like a desease, and you should be ashamed if you still believe this. Not since the first "handy-cams" is it at all possible with a hand-held camera to shake that much. It has nothing to do with being realistic. The shootout in Heat looked pretty realistic - you can sometimes feel that a guy is holding the camera and runs with it. But it doesn´t shake.
    Shaky cam can deliver a certain kind of dynamic. But, again, it has nothing to do with realism. If at all, it has to do with Heavy Metal music ;-) .
    RC7 wrote:
    I think District 9 showcases the advantages perfectly combining visual effects with live action.
    I agree about the advantages put to good use in D9, but there is not much shaky cam. Handheld is not the same as shaky.
    RC7 wrote:
    What I dislike most is when a director chooses the said style out of pure laziness.
    Technically, that is unlikely to occur, simply because it´s much easier to produce smooth shots. I suggest you watch the making-of docs from JJ Abrams´ first Star Trek movie, and from The Bourne Ultimatum. Abrams is filmed while operating the camera and bouncing it, to get a certain shaky effect he wanted. He had to do it himself, because noone else managed to produce the kind of shaking he wanted. In TBU, the roof chase in Tangiers is filmed with cameras on wires, pretty much like Jackson did in LOTR. No camera was shaking during that shoot.

  • edited August 2013 Posts: 3,494
    chrisisall wrote:
    RC7 wrote:
    If I were going to a desert Island and I could take only one of QoS, or a Moore entry picked at random, I'd pick the Moore every time.
    You might get MR... oh, but that's the point...!
    Naw, I cannot agree here then.

    Personal opinion and tastes that each and everyone here is entitled to have and not wrong for having aside, I think there's something seriously wrong in the coconut with someone who would prefer Moonraker [-(
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    chrisisall wrote:
    RC7 wrote:
    If I were going to a desert Island and I could take only one of QoS, or a Moore entry picked at random, I'd pick the Moore every time.
    You might get MR... oh, but that's the point...!
    Naw, I cannot agree here then.

    Personal opinion and tastes that each and everyone here is entitled to have and not wrong for having aside, I think there's something seriously wrong in the coconut with someone who would prefer Moonraker [-(

    @SirHenryLeeChaChing, would it help if Q's re-entry line were replaced by "I sure hope that old man got his tractor beam out of commission." ? ;-)
    boldfinger wrote:
    Like it or not, but why do you need the pretense of a reason for it? It´s just a thing the director seems to like, for no apparent reason. Just like some people like their music loud.
    Ballhaus let the camera move around people in a conversation sometimes, for no other reason that he thought it would be cool, and he was praised for it. So I guess it comes down to taste.

    True enough, @boldfinger, but it starts losing its appeal once multiple DP's use it almost as if it's a mandatory thing, as if it defines 'cool filmmaking' or even worse 'good filmmaking'. And it gets worse still when some DP's use it because they are otherwise no longer able to shoot certain things well. It's easy to crowd the place with cameras and record as much footage as you can so that afterwards you can pic the half-second shots that will blend nicely into a 20 second scene. It's a lot tougher to seek out that one camera angle that allows for a 20 second shot without redundant vibrations and whatnot. ;-)
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    boldfinger wrote:
    RC7 wrote:
    The 'shaky-cam' style is 'Cinema Verite', a documentary style adapted to draw the viewer into a seemingly more realistically documented world.
    This is the bs some promoters spread like a desease, and you should be ashamed if you still believe this. Not since the first "handy-cams" is it at all possible with a hand-held camera to shake that much. It has nothing to do with being realistic. The shootout in Heat looked pretty realistic - you can sometimes feel that a guy is holding the camera and runs with it. But it doesn´t shake.
    Shaky cam can deliver a certain kind of dynamic. But, again, it has nothing to do with realism. If at all, it has to do with Heavy Metal music ;-) .

    If you'd read my post completely you'd have recognised my note about Verite originally being the bi-product of bulky camera equipment. As for the style being adapted for mainstream cinema I'm not really understanding your rather patronising assertion that I 'be ashamed if I believe this'. It's not a case of 'belief', it's 'fact' that mainstream directors such as Spielberg adopted the style for films like Saving Private Ryan to add a veneer of documentary style realism to the action. The fact it's become the norm, does not mean it should be dismissed. In the right hands it works, the problem is it's become shorthand for delivering frenetic action.

    boldfinger wrote:
    RC7 wrote:
    What I dislike most is when a director chooses the said style out of pure laziness.
    Technically, that is unlikely to occur, simply because it´s much easier to produce smooth shots. I suggest you watch the making-of docs from JJ Abrams´ first Star Trek movie, and from The Bourne Ultimatum. Abrams is filmed while operating the camera and bouncing it, to get a certain shaky effect he wanted. He had to do it himself, because noone else managed to produce the kind of shaking he wanted. In TBU, the roof chase in Tangiers is filmed with cameras on wires, pretty much like Jackson did in LOTR. No camera was shaking during that shoot.

    Again, you miss my point. Shooting handycam in close-up allows the director to dismiss the geography of the scene in all but a wide shot. Therefore they can shoot any number of takes and angles very quickly. The reason a Stanley Kubrick film took so long to produce was because his attention to the Mise en scene was acute. Most directors these days don't particular care for multiple set-ups when they can, as you say, pick up the camera and add 'bounce it around' a bit, to save time actually figuring out how to cover something in an original way.

  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    DarthDimi wrote:
    would it help if Q's re-entry line were replaced by "I sure hope that old man got his tractor beam out of commission." ? ;-)
    That's Jar-Jar level humour, sir.
  • Posts: 2,402
    As soon as there was that shot in Skyfall of Bond walking out into the street from the hotel, I knew right away that we'd be looking at a film with hundreds of times better editing and cinematography than QoS.
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