Favorite Film Making sequences ... in FILMS?

MikeKardec · Feb 8, 2016

In another thread I was just bemoaning the fact that it's only very rarely that I have seen accurate depictions of film making in movies. On top of that it is very often the case that the films being depicted in movies about movie making are terrible ... so terrible that I've always suspected some strange psychology at work among the film makers. It's as if they are afraid of being upstaged by their own creation or as if they have contempt for the film making process.

I'm fairly certain that last idea is not true (I worked in Hollywood for more than a decade), in fact on an average day it is very hard to tell if you are working on a movie that will turn out to be a stinker or a masterpiece! Still bad movies within a movie are the norm, and I'm coming up with VERY few examples where the films within a film are excellent. Anyone have a positive example or two?

LizzieMaine · Feb 8, 2016

Peter Jackson's "Forgotten Silver." His reconstructions/parodies of "Colin Mackenzie's" productions are hilariously exaggerated, but technically brilliant.

The newsreel sequences in Woody Allen's "Zelig." Again, they're parodies, but the flat-footed style of early talkie newsreel footage, the overwrought narration, and even the title cards are perfectly recreated.

The "I've Got My Eyes On You" musical number in the 1930 Vitaphone musical "Show Girl In Hollywood." It's a typical early-talkie musical bit with Alice White proving she can't sing -- but it's also a very careful documentation of how such a routine was shot and recorded as of late 1929. Probably the most accurate and complete visual record we have of early-talkie production techniques.

MikeKardec · Feb 8, 2016

Yeah ... it's that parody thing that bugs me. Why? Occasionally, I get it. Film makers take themselves way too seriously but the constant "silly world" view of film making is really odd! I'll have to take a look at Show Girl, that's kind of promising because maybe it's early enough to have existed before Hollywood decided it couldn't afford to take itself seriously.

I remember "Chaplin" as being pretty good but I'll have to see it again because no exact moment comes to mind. And though I can't remember if there's an actual "film making" sequence in The Last Tycoon there is that BRILLIANT "I'm just making pictures"/"What's the nickle for" sequence between Robert DeNiro and Donald Pleasence where DeNiro as Monroe Starr describes the difference between writing movies and writing plays. But really, Harold Pinter, Elia Kazan, it would just be too embarrassing if they screwed it up like everyone else.

Edward · Feb 9, 2016

The relevant sequences in Shadow of the Vampire are nicely done.

Doctor Strange · Feb 11, 2016

Not EXACTLY what this thread is about, but I just happened upon this listicle of movies (more or less) about Hollywood:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/22-essential-films-about-hollywood-20160209

At the very least, it may provide some ideas for good filmmaking sequences in films.

MikeKardec · Feb 11, 2016

Doctor Strange said:
Not EXACTLY what this thread is about, but I just happened upon this listicle of movies (more or less) about Hollywood:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/22-essential-films-about-hollywood-20160209

At the very least, it may provide some ideas for good filmmaking sequences in films.

Yeah! That's a good place to start.

Denton · Feb 12, 2016

How about Fritz Lang's Odyssey, the film within a film in Contempt?

DanielJones · Feb 13, 2016

I am partial to Das Boot. I love the use of silence to create tension, then the slightest noise make you jump.
Something about this scene I just dig on. It's that sense of relief after you have felt like you almost suffocated with the crew.

Then there is the scene of urgency.

It's a very long film, but one I don't mind sitting through. For me the scenes in this film stand the test of time.

Cheers!

Dan

Inkstainedwretch · Feb 13, 2016

"Tha Stunt Man"(1980) is a sort of hate hymn to movie-making, with powerless actors n the grip of a literally godlike director (Peter O'Toole). His name is even Eli Cross, and he's a deus ex machina, always being lowered by a crane into whatever scene is being filmed. The movie being shot is a war film intended to be graphically realistic.

"Sweet Liberty," (1986) is a satire on filmmaking in which Alan Alda is a professor who has written a serous, scholarly book about the Revolutionary War centering on the person of Banastre Tarleton, the notorious British general. Alda is horrified when all the actors want to change their characters into something more ego-flattering and the back office wants to transform the film into a bonehead teenage sex comedy.

V.C. Brunswick · Feb 13, 2016

I love this sequence from Showgirl in Hollywood (1930).

Feraud · Feb 14, 2016

LizzieMaine said:
The newsreel sequences in Woody Allen's "Zelig." Again, they're parodies, but the flat-footed style of early talkie newsreel footage, the overwrought narration, and even the title cards are perfectly recreated.

Yes, absolutely! I love the film for those wonderful newsreel sequences.

Lean'n'mean · Feb 14, 2016

Not sequences as such but a few interesting ' films about film making within the film.'

' The French Lieutenant's Woman' (1981)
' La Nuit Américaine' (1973)
Fellini's '8 1/2' (1963)

'

MikeKardec · Feb 15, 2016

Lean'n'mean said:
Not sequences as such but a few interesting ' films about film making within the film.'

' The French Lieutenant's Woman' (1981)
' La Nuit Américaine' (1973)
Fellini's '8 1/2' (1963)

'

Yeah, and they are all pretty good! TFLW is an exception but I'm pretty sure that the issue of refusing to take film making in films seriously is a Hollywood based trait. It's interesting how many of the examples offered here come with caveats: they are not to be taken seriously no matter how entertaining they may be.

Right after the shot where the mixer is (probably inappropriately) twisting his knobs, the Showgirl sequence shows them using a "sound camera" to record the audio, that's cool. A completely forgotten piece of equipment on stages and location they were used to make optical tracks for theatrical prints up through the 1980s.

Feraud · Feb 15, 2016

Does anyone remember the Ben Stiller film The Cable Guy from the mid-90s? In the film there are clips of a trial occurring which engrossed the public. There are only a couple of news clips but the characters are based on Erik and Lyle Menendez. I always enjoyed this newscast within a film.

skydog757 · Feb 16, 2016

Inkstainedwretch said:
"Tha Stunt Man"(1980) is a sort of hate hymn to movie-making, with powerless actors n the grip of a literally godlike director (Peter O'Toole). His name is even Eli Cross, and he's a deus ex machina, always being lowered by a crane into whatever scene is being filmed. The movie being shot is a war film intended to be graphically realistic.

The very film that occurred to me when the subject was mentioned. I enjoyed it very much; haven't heard a mention of it in decades. That reminds me of My Favorite Year (1982), also starring O'Toole; this film was about making a television comedy/variety show with O'Toole playing a seasoned screen veteran making a guest appearance. My favorite part is when O'Toole states that he should be able to get his part with just a few takes and is informed that this will be a live broadcast, no second takes. To which he exclaims "I'm not an actor! I'm a Movie Star!"

MisterCairo · Feb 23, 2016

Not from a film but I've always loved the episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus that focusses on a movie called "Scott of the Antarctic".

They used a new type of artificial snow that looked and felt more like snow than snow.

And it featured a lion.

MisterCairo · Feb 23, 2016

Favorite Film Making sequences ... in FILMS?

MikeKardec

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LizzieMaine

MikeKardec

One Too Many

Edward

Doctor Strange

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MikeKardec

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Denton

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DanielJones

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V.C. Brunswick

Feraud

Lean'n'mean

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MikeKardec

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Feraud

skydog757

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MisterCairo

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