Moving Image
After I finished photographing this head-dress, my partner (Mark Charade) and I decided to experiment with a short film!
Ever since we met 5 years ago, Mark has been experimenting with films, the most recent prior to the below being Pearlescence. Every time he just gets better and better, in this case experimenting with new colours and themes.
Watch below, watch full screen and in HD!
I don't really tend to fangirl about many things, unless I feel they are particularly special. NBC's Hannibal is one of those very special things. We came in fairly late in the game, as this was something that I'd heard of, and had been meaning to watch, but was put aside for Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. In the space between other shows, I finally decided to try Hannibal, and boy, I'm so glad I did.
The first two seasons (and likely the third) of Hannibal take place in an alternate universe before Red Dragon - which had only covered the story once Hannibal had been caught and in prison. In the show, Hannibal is working as a psychologist, long before Clarice Starling. In Red Dragon, Will Graham only meets Hannibal shortly before he catches him, as opposed to the long relationship the two have in the show. Although the majority of the storylines in the show are unique, they reconstruct Thomas Harris' tones extremely well, and some even have nods to the books (such as the introduction of the Vergers in season 2). Lines from the book are faithfully injected into the show ("It feels like I'm talking to his shadow, suspended on dust") without being jarring, only noticeable if you've read the books.
After devouring the two seasons of the show so far, I stated reading the book series (I'm currently on the third book, Hannibal), which are well worth the read, especially if you like thrillers. But in this post I thought I'd ramble on about the many reasons why the show has really captured my imagination!
Exquisite cinematography.
Hannibal is quite literally a feast for the eyes. Not just the fastidiously constructed shots, although these are the ones that will etch themselves on your mind, but the entire show takes immense care with every scene. The colour palette is considerably well thought-out, from how a wall contrasts clothing, or how a shade of blue might reflect the turmoil of a character's mind. Symmetry is deployed in a similar vein to Kubrick (cited as one of the show's inspirations, along with David Lynch, both of which you can see clearly throughout).
One thing that sets Hannibal apart from it's ilk, is that the horror of death is offset with the most stunning tableau shots, much like a Vanitas painting. Macro and close up shots of the food being prepared by Hannibal is designed to be mouth-watering, shocking considering the implication of what the "meat" comprises of. By employing the skills of a food stylist, artist Janice Poon (she has a great blog here), these shots are able to stand alone as incredibly beautiful objets d'art.
It's also worth noting that the (wonderful) Hannibal fanbase includes a lot of absolutely beautiful fanart!
A male protagonist who is flawed and fragile.
Think about how often you've seen a male protagonist who is depicted as damaged and doesn't overcome his flaws. Will Graham is treated, as noted by Hannibal in one of the first episodes, as a "delicate tea cup, only used for special guests". It's rare that a male character would need to rely so heavily on those around him, particularly women. His sexual advances are denied due to his fragility, and his whole persona seems a lot more realistic than many male leads (another male character that also goes against the norm is Walter White from Breaking Bad).
Another interesting note is that many of the female characters have been gender swapped from their counterparts in the books; Alana/Allen Bloom, Freddie/Freddy Lounds. The books themselves feature what I would consider, an extremely strong feminist character in the form of Clarice Starling, so it is refreshing that this has been considered in the show.
Writing
As the audience we are well aware (it's also revealed to us in the first episode) that Hannibal is dangerous, and so it can only be a matter of time before the other characters gain this knowledge. The foreshadowing, mostly from Hannibal's own mouth ("You have to convince yourself the lion is not in the room" and "I'd love to have you both for dinner" comments) gives a playful hint as to what is to come. Re-watching the first season with the knowledge of how everything develops, especially Will and Hannibal's increasingly complicated relationship, is interesting. The use of metaphors are subtly used throughout the 2 seasons without being hammy, while the overarching story has obviously been constructed with meticulous care.
Actors.
There isn't one bad performance in the entire show, even from actors I wouldn't normally consider to be top rate (such as Eddie Izzard, whose performance is a good homage to Anthony Hopkins' Hannibal). The majority of the actors were unfamiliar to me, or hadn't been in any large productions, but they stand alongside such great performers as Laurence Fishburne. Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy are incredibly strong as Hannibal and Will, with Mads portraying the cannibal as well as, dare I say better than, Anthony Hopkins.
Sound design.
One of the more surreal aspects of the show, to compliment the visual style, is the sound design. There are many scenes in which dialogue is put aside; not guiding the audience along by pointing out the obvious, but allowing the audio space and often ominous soundtrack to do the work. The soundtrack is slightly different for each episode, for example, Season 1, Episode 2 has a bubbling, slightly nauseating sound for the mushroom killer, while Verdi and Mozart is used dramatically throughout Season 1, Episode 7. I remember in particular, the sound throughout season 2, when Will is at his most fragile, is extremely evocative.
Wardrobe.
Oh my god the suits. Hannibal is well-known to enjoy the finer things in life, from wines to cars, so his wardrobe would definitely need to be a priority. And boy, does the wardrobe department follow through.
The theme of mental illness.
So often in media, mental illness is portrayed in a negative way, and phrases like "he's crazy" have entered our everyday lexicon. With the main theme on the show being psychology, in particular the psychology of the mentally ill, it would have been easy for a group of careless writers to treat mental illness as a monster. Without glorifying, Hannibal delves into the complex minds of fictional killers, via Will Graham's empathetic mind.
From the outset, Will's state of mind is put into question, with Crawford asking him where he falls on the Autism spectrum, to which he responds, "My horse is hitched to a post that is closer to Aspergers and Autistics". Will has particular trouble with social situations, an issue that many people struggle with. As his taxing tasks effect his already fragile mind, the audience is given a glimpse of what it may be like to suffer in such a way, allowing us a glimpse of how complex the human mind can be. Not only is Will's psychology laid out on the table, but some of the other characters are shown as flawed and, at times, unstable. One of the reasons why Freddie Lounds is such a distasteful character is that she encourages the view that Will Graham is "crazy" and therefore shouldn't be around Abigail Hobbs (evidentally she didn't notice the real monster in the room). As I said, this could have so easily fallen into the spectrum of media that encourages an unhealthy view of mental illness, but Bryan Fuller's team have created something special that deals with these themes in a mature and complex way.
In short, I highly recommend giving Hannibal a watch, as it far surpasses many other television shows currently being aired.
Have you watched Hannibal, if so, which aspects did you enjoy the most?
I like watching televsion shows.
I know, it's pretty uncool and mainstream to own a tv, let alone watch shows. And I have been known to watch some terrible shows (in my defence, Come Dine With Me is perfect background noise when I'm editing photos, or spending the few spare hours I have each day relaxing).
But I really enjoy well-made series. I've already discussed Ripper Street here, and I'm still loving that. But I'm also particularly partial to certain other big-budget (mostly American) shows such as Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad.
My boyfriend started this obsession. When I first met him he had a box-set of LOST, which I remember sneering at, assuming it was some American dross. That is, until he sat me down and made me watch it while also giving me a pop quiz of theories. I suppose previously I hadn't spent much time analyzing the shows I watched. All that changed with LOST.
Of course, in the UK, there isn't such a big budget for TV... apart from the X Factor. There are few creatives that actually put together a very good TV series (or, the ones that are good are too risque to be shown). That's why I'm loving Channel 4 right now.
Sure, they put out some really quite questionable concepts (see: Big Fat Gypsy Weddings), but they also gave Charlie Brooker a budget to create Black Mirror. I could, and probably will, make a whole separate post regarding my love for Brooker, and Black Mirror. But what I do think happened is it unleashed a whole new level of surreal onto the general public (which would probably have NEVER been considered acceptable on the BBC for example), and this allowed for an upgrade of mind-fuck in the form of Utopia.
Described thusly:
"Five online strangers end up being drawn together by the legendary manuscript of a cult graphic novel and they end up being pursued by a secret and deadly organisation known only as The Network. The online comic book forum agree to meet after gaining possession of the original manuscript for the cult graphic novel 'The Utopia Experiments'. "
(Well that was an exceptionally bad piece of copy, but I assure you, the writing of the show is far, far better)
It's not for the faint-hearted. The opening scene involves multiple murders, and just in case that and "dark future" didn't tip you off that this is pretty fucking dark, the first episode includes a horrendous torture scene involving eyes.
Utopia is surreal. Like if Charlie Brooker teamed up with David Lynch, surreal. The "baddie" (well, the one that murders people for "The Network") is the most bizarre and saddest bad-guy I've seen for a while. With his glazed-over eyes, labored breathing and constant repetition of "Where is Jessica Hyde?", he's just... weird and terrifying.
It's also REALLY, REALLY well shot. Although I can't seem to find a decent high-res image that shows it off. You should probably just watch it and see for yourself.
Utopia is a 6 part series, already on the 4th, with the 5th episode showing on tuesday. So far, it's ridiculously well written, consistantly leaving me on the edge of my seat. I just hope that it continues in the same vein, and rounds off the series well. I say "rounds off the series" because I'm hoping against hope that there will be another series, and the characters won't just suddenly wake up from a dream or some equally hideous writing-cop-out.
There seems to be a historical drama face-off going on between ITV and BBC.
I know everyone flails about Downton Abbey, and I do admit when I tried to watch it I did have 4 large dogs trying to jump on me at the same time (don't ask), but it didn't entice me to watch more than one episode. To me it has that certain.... nicely nicely British historical drama, can't offend the censors, fun for all the family.... feel to it. I'm probably wrong, and I am most definitely not one of those people that watches one episode and gives up (god forbid the kind of twat that watches an episode IN THE MIDDLE OF A SEASON, then moans about how they don't understand what's going on), so I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and try to watch it again soon.
But unfortunately, I do find it difficult to believe that ITV can produce anything of worth. Chalk that down to the X Factor/Britain's No Talent generation.
So when I see that ITV is filling it's Sunday slot (previously belonging to Downton) with a new show, Mr Selfridge, I am hardly scrambling for the remote. In fact, I had little knowledge (due to never watching ITV) of it, and turned to BBC One instead, where I happened upon Ripper Street in all it's gory glory.
Oh, and the "bad guy" in the 2nd episode is Joe Gilgun, who I first saw in This Is England. To say he plays an immensely brilliant villain is an understatement.
After gulping down Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad in 2012, it's fairly safe to say that British TV is just nowhere near the level of it's American counterparts. Mainly due to budget. However, I'd say that Ripper Street is pretty damn close in terms of writing and attention to detail (although there are rarely any GRAND sets, the detail put into the small snippets you see is brilliant). This is possibly because it was created as a collaboration between BBC and BBC America.
Unfortunately, the theme of the show isn't anything new, and is very similar stylistically to Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes films. Very gritty, a specific colour palette in terms of costumes, and a very similar soundtrack (that AMAZING broken Romanian-esque sound created by Hans Zimmer, who apparently "did hideous things to a piano" alongside banjos, violins and other unconventional instruments). It's the very tried and tested Victorian-era gritty-bits-of-East-London style, but if you like that kind of thing, it ticks all the boxes, and it does do it well.
However, what Ripper Street DOES do is deal with the time period shortly after Jack the Ripper went about his business, and the paranoia left behind, causing conflict with the police force. I won't go into the details of the characters (if you care enough to read this far, just watch it), but will say it's a "monster of the week" show, with some loose relationship plot development moving throughout. We actually accidentally watched half of the second episode without seeing the first, and while we didn't know the detail of each character, you can get the gist, which goes to show the storytelling is well-written.
What I do want to discuss is the role of women in Ripper Street. The Daily Mail, that seems to consistently objectify and degrade women on a regular fucking basis, claim that Ripper Street is an "Anti-Women Orgy of Gore"
The Daily Fail article complains about the "souring atmosphere and the way that violence is rather too lasciviously portrayed against a backdrop of fetishised period-perfect sets" and the "torture and murder of women, enthusiastically depicted... nothing to do with the Ripper, mind you." She goes on to complain that the first episode featured a "convoluted plotline about the first snuff movies ever made", and that "we see a great deal more of this act than is strictly necessary".
Mustn't it be lovely, to live in a world of puppy dogs and kittens, where the idea of sitting down on a Sunday night to watch a little bit of gory drama is viewed in the same titillating light as 50 Shits of Grey. Such a terrible shame when your little drool-fest is interrupted by the TYPE OF SHOCKING VIOLENCE THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS TO REAL WOMEN EVERY DAY. "It would be laughable if it wasn’t quite so nasty", apart from it's not, is it, because it has actually struck a nerve, that you aren't capable of dealing with in an intelligent manner.
She even goes on to complain about how the men are kitted out in exquisite tweed and plaid suits while the "women are generally naked - or just shuffle about in rags".
Nice rags.....?
The Daily Fail article may have had a point, if the series continued with female murders (it started out with one to highlight how all female murders were linked to Jack the Ripper shortly after his time), however the article fails to highlight that point. The second episode features a male victim and the introduction of a strong, mothering character (albeit just for one episode) - and the only "tart" actually ends up almost (well she beats the crap out of a few extras) kicking some arse in a full gown, corset and tiny wobbly hat.
Fuck your false feminism, Jan Moir. Calling out misogyny just because something is depicted in a violent way does not mean that Ripper Street's creators are anti-women.
Have you seen Ripper Street - if so, how did it make you feel? Also, would you suggest I give Mr Selfridge a go?
Some of you may remember this post in which I showed the short experimental film Markabre Charade shot.
Since then he has taught himself Final Cut and re-edited the film from scratch, with fantastic results. I suggest watching in full screen!
"A test of current equipment in low light.
Evoking the Sprit of Glamour's Golden Age.
Decadent, Indulgent and Unhealthy.
She may be adorned in the feathers and furs of magnificent creatures but the protagonist and butterfly share a similar unfortunate fate. An intangible beauty trapped behind glass, whether it be that of a jar or a mirror.
As her eyes, ensnared behind a net, peer into her reflection will she experience an epiphany and act upon it or is she resigned to her fate as an ephemeral beauty?"
Please leave a comment letting us know what you think!
Below are some screencaps from the film:
