Director

When All Is Lost, Remember This:

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

(Click Here if you can’t see the video above)

I watched the movie “All Is Lost” starring Robert Redford this past week. It wasn’t a great movie, or even a very good one. But I was really impressed by some of the visuals of Redford lost at sea, adrift in a seemingly endless ocean.

“All Is Lost” is as barebones simple of a movie as it gets. Redford’s character (whose name or background we never learn) is sailing across the ocean. One morning he awakes to a huge leak in his ship. The movie follows him trying to fix the leak and trying to stay alive.

That’s all. No other characters. Only 2 or 3 lines of dialogue across 2 hours. Just an old man and the sea.

Like I said, I was awestruck by the enormity of the ocean in the film. “All Is Lost” worked as a great advertisement against ever setting sail on my own.

As Redford’s character kept battling the elements, I kept wondering, “Why would you ever mess with the ocean?” Continue reading →

Reality Interrupted

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

“The Joe Schmo Show” might be the most incredible reality television experiment of all time.

This is not your typical competition for a million dollars filled with wannabe actors. “Joe Schmo”  asks the question, “What if there was a reality show where everything was fake except one contestant?”

The Joe Schmo Show

bostonherald.com

On the surface, it’s hilarious. Seeing a dozen trained improv actors (and, inexplicably, 90s celebrity Lorenzo Lamas) dance around one unsuspecting mark as they parody all your favorite reality tv tropes is an incredible hour of television.

Underneath the over-the-top parodies, though, “Joe Schmo” gives us a picture of how to adapt to reality.

The rouse is on the poor Schmo 24/7 (who, to be fair, is rewarded with $100,000, luxurious vacations, and other prizes for his troubles). To accomplish this high wire act, the cast spends months getting into character, rehearsing their roles, memorizing backstories, and creating a script to work from.

The cast knows all it takes is one slip up, one drop of an accent, one stumbled line, and a million dollars and months of hard work would be washed away. Perfection is essential.

Of course all of this preparation is thrown out the window when the wildcard element of the Schmo enters the picture. Continue reading →