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Audrey Hepburn Through my Eyes: My Fair lady

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I don’t believe I recall the first time I saw Audrey Hepburn on the screen. However, I do recall owning a boxset of musicals. It still sits on the shelf at my parent’s house; with its sleeve held together by sheer will alone. It contains Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Calamity Jane and My Fair Lady. I have fond memories with Calamity Jane, with its overly cheerful music and tomboyish main character. But I have even more fond memories of My Fair Lady. My Fair Lady was glamorous in every way. It has the most beautiful art direction, the gowns, the cinematography. I remember the Ascott opening scene, shot in one glorious take and all the women donned in black and white dresses that seemed to be a mix between 60s fashion and Art Deco. This whole scene serves to separate both Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle from the exact group of people they are trying to fit in with. They aren’t stoic and lifeless people who only care about their status like the rest of the people at

Waddles' Top Ten Tunes (November 2017)

Music is an easy thing to gloss over just how integral it is to our everyday lives. How many of you listen to music in the car, on public transport, or at the gym every day? I'm willing to wager that most of you do. Music is pleasing, it can affect our mood and most of all, we love it to death. So, lets share our love together. 10. Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again - Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand  Before they sang this duet, Judy told Barbra 'you're so good that I... hate you!' Barbra followed up with the line, 'you're so good that I've been hating you for years.' That interaction itself seems to describe this duet. Charming and positive. I could swear that over the 47 years Judy Garland graced this planet her vibrato only got stronger and her tone only got richer. Sometimes, I question if the two had ever hit a bum note in their lives. Two timeless singers with unique voices that somehow come together as one perfect whole. There's so

(Archive) Lets Talk About My Copious Amount of Favourite Movies and Their Scores

*Reposted from my former blog* Ah, yes the pivotal question to the film fanatic's ear  'what is your favourite film?’  This question is often replied to with a temperamental answer. We go through a multitude of stages when settling on a decent answer to a snap shot question. Stage one, favourite genre, which often ends in a spew of nonsense because you don't have a favourite genre as such. Stage two, the flicker; where your mind scans through as many films as it can. Stage three, settling for the first sane film to pop in your head.   A serious fan would need a good week to work out their favourite film, flicking through their collection of films and critically analysing each one and then separating them in to categories of greatness. It's a long and tedious process that frankly I don't have the energy to go through. For me, my favourite films are merely the ones that have had a profound effect on me or I will watch at any given moment. Through this way

(Archive) A Relationship with Film

*Reposted from my former blog* Films, a motion picture utilised to tell a story, it’s an art form and a discovery that has only improved over the many years. There is many a way to create a movie, using traditional film reel, digital cameras, stop motion animation, cell animation, CGI and 3d animation. There’s a variety of genres, styles and methods in executing each film. In turn this makes motion picture on of the most versatile art forms, an art form that almost anyone can experience and enjoy in some way. My adoration towards film was not something that just clicked all of the sudden; it was a gradual process that built up over many years. Ever since a young child I’ve watched films, especially since when I was just a tot and everything else was uninteresting to me. But you know what I did love – some good old movie time. But then my parents had a respectable VHS collection, of which my attention was mostly drawn to the wonders of Pixar and Disney. As I grew up I had my ho

(Archive) A History of Soundtrack Loving

*Reposted from my former blog* As a young child I always found myself tapping along to musical numbers, so much so that often you could find me theatrically singing and dancing to ridiculous songs such as 'I Feel Pretty' in my bedroom. At such a young age the idea of scores rarely crossed my mind, I may have realised that there even music to accompany the bittersweet scenes only once or twice. This seems so alien to me, now I look back, since I currently find it hard to not rant about a particular score from a particular film that was particularly bad. However I did listen to one spectacular piece more than intended which I'm sure you've all heard of, 'Ecstasy of Gold' by the wonderful Ennio Morricone. That one track was what my father used to play constantly in the car, and if we were travelling to Scotland from England, we would probably hear it a good ten times due to the abundance of tracks on his mix CD's. The gorgeous melody produced by the master

(Archive) Scottish BFI Film Academy Experience

*Reposted from my former blog* About three weeks ago I got the email whilst at my Uncle's house telling me 'you got in to the BFI Film Academy Scotland Residential'. Obviously I was overjoyed; I automatically called my parents and said 'you better get me there'. Despite this excitement there was some overshadowing doubt that filled my every thought. I'm not a particularly confident person; I have a multitude of insecurities that often can reduce me to tears. Where I live I'm a fairly outgoing individual, yet still quiet being the listener rather than the speaker most of the time. However as soon as I'm somewhere I have to meet new people and speak to them, I find it incredibly hard. On top of that, I had never been involved with making films when others most likely have. I'm not going to bore you by going in to the details of what we did day by day but I will tell you what we made and how amazing it was. The main priority of the whole residenti

(Archive) Top 3 Films Snubbed at the Oscars

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*Reposted from my former blog* On my Instagram I used to do a series in which I would recommend three films, short films, artists and musicians, every week, these would be shared to my Facebook and Tumblr and were mostly for my own amusement and as a way of educating a few friends. I stopped doing this after a short while due to laziness and the fact I wanted to write more about the things I was recommending. I have finally decided to start again, and each post will have a link to my blog here, where I can write a little more. If you want to check out some of my old recommendations feel free to head over to my Instagram: @flynnpenguin. Perhaps, one day, I shall accompany my old posts with some writing too. Top 3 Films Snubbed at the Oscars I thought I'd start off with something that has been grating at my skull for the past couple of days, and what even sparked my idea of starting this up again. Frankly, I've lost interest for the Awards. Yet despite this, I still end up