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Saturday 18 September 2010

Danny Boyle and how he matched new technology with old to film "Slumdog Millionaire"

Last week a student asked how Boyle managed to keep his images stable as he filmed fast-moving scenes in India's Mubai.
Asking relevant questions can provoke outstanding analysis that will be valuable for your case studies. It is too simplistic to argue that that digital technology and cameras on their own led to Boyle's outstanding results - it was achieved through a combination of very old and new technology.  That is, technological convergence in its widest sense! Danny Boyle simply showed ingenuity and fine practical sense when he combined an old technological device with the latest digital, hand-held cameras.

Be prepared to fine-tune your arguments and beware of making simplistic claims.

In his interview with the director of The Wrestler, Danny Boyle explained how he used a "gyro" to stabilise his new silicon imaging cameras.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyroscope       ( Invented in 1817 ) !!!

A link to Danny Boyles interview with Darren Aronovsky on how he filmed Slumdog Millionaire

7 comments:

Mr Smith said...

Thanks for posting this. I've drawn the short straw this term and have to teach Audience and Institution so will be raiding your blog for ideas and resources.

I'm going to request that my students 'follow' you if that's ok?

Dogberry said...

Mr Smith - of course that's Ok. I'm glad if anything on here helps. What I'll do is post the research tasks my students were asked to do for Institutions and Audiences. Everyone is at the institution and production stage at present. They are all doing Film4 and "Slumdog Millionaire" as a class case study. Then they research the same information for a US institution/production company with a big budget and special effects.

We are moving onto the the marketing campaign and distribution issues next week. If you leave your e-mail on here I'll send you my tasks sheets for my classes. BTW, I'm sure you already know that this marketing element is great for lessons for group presentations analysing film posters, trailers, etc.

My best wishes with "the short straw".

Mr Smith said...

Cheers. My email is m.smith@lc.leics.sch.uk

The dull part of this is finding the level of detail needed for the top grades. Would love to teach Scott Pilgrim, Kick ASS, Moon etc and keep the course up to date but finding the interviews with specific technical detail is a nightmare. This slumdog video is a perfect example of what is needed but is like rocking horse droppings on the net.

Dogberry said...

Thanks, and I'll back to you when I'm in College.

That's an interesting problem you have. I have many more able students this year, so that's a problem I share, too.

I saw Kick ASS the other night - and laughed out loud!
It would be great for the A2 part of the course on Post Modern Media.

Anonymous said...

Hi

I have had no teaching on this all year, just coursework and there is only 2 weeks until the exam when i get back! I was wondering if you had any sheets you could post/email me that relate to this part of the exam?

Thanks!

Dogberry said...

Click on the Institutions and Audience link and you should get most of what you need.

Good luck for the exam.

Mr Smith said...

Obviously I'm replying a bit late, what with the exam being on Monday but most of the stuff you need is on DOGs site. I have a few slightly different case studies but you can't go wrong with the Kings Speech on here.