Comments on Polybloggimous: Film Is A Visual Medium. Your Work Will Be Obscur...

So cool reading your blog. Any facebook or twitter...

2011-11-26T03:00:47.800-05:00

So cool reading your blog. Any facebook or twitter acount?

A friend who reads the appropriate dialect swears ...

2011-11-20T08:23:48.451-05:00

A friend who reads the appropriate dialect swears the main logo on a long out of business but very good Szechwan restaurant near ABC read 'F-ck you, round eyes'.

1) I've often wondered about those peanut butt...

2011-11-19T18:20:06.983-05:00

1) I've often wondered about those peanut butter cheese crackers myself. I'm not a fan of them and I have no idea how anyone could even come up with that combination and think, "Yum!" but in their defense, they don't really taste much like cheese... or peanut butter. So maybe that's the secret to their success?

2) That banner story reminded me of this.

Looking forward to part 2!

John, I'll answer you in reverse order. 1. ...

2011-11-19T11:13:28.271-05:00

John,

I'll answer you in reverse order.

1. I (obviously) haven't got the first idea what transpired when the banners were ordered, so I can't comment. I'm also not willing to assume somebody made a comment that provoked the sign writer without any evidence to support that conclusion. I only know what I was told by the Location Manager (who had been informed by the Art Director)-- namely that they had ordered utterly innocuous banners.

I'm ready to drop that discussion -- just 'cause I don't feel like discussing it any further in relation to a post that was meant to be nothing but a tongue-in-cheek jab at myself.

2. Commercials are an entirely different kettle of fish with regard to an item like banners for set dressing. In an ad, there shouldn't be ANY written visual that doesn't specifically contribute to selling the product. The Agency and Client would have already spent hours arguing about the exact wording and associated artwork. And a commercial may involve hundreds of specific details, but it has a crew devoted to NOTHING BUT those hundreds of specific details for ONE 30-SECOND SPOT. A feature (at least volume-wise) consists of 180 or so 30-second spots that are shot back to back with no time between. They're not, in any way, comparable situations.

They just aren't.

And I'm done with this part of the story.

If an art director for an ad agency had let that s...

2011-11-19T10:48:09.362-05:00

If an art director for an ad agency had let that slip into the background of a shot for a commercial, they would have been out of a job post-haste. It is funny but it's also snobbish - if the signs had been in English, or even French, they sure as shootin' would have cared, no? But since it was just Chinese no one gave a shit. Maybe the sign painter got a little miffed about their condescending attitude. Not saying the Art Dept. was necessarily racist, but that was the first thing I thought of, because most Chinese calligraphers I know are pretty serious artists, or like to think they are, but if someone made an off-hand comment that it would matter only to Yellow people, I can see some of my wife's friends pulling this stunt.

A little harsh, John, don'tchathink? Frankly,...

2011-11-19T08:46:03.291-05:00

A little harsh, John, don'tchathink?

Frankly, it never occurred to anyone that some guy who was being paid handsomely to create some banners would fuck with us that way...OMG, the Art Department trusted a vendor! That plus the fact that an Art Department -- like most departments on a movie -- had about 12 billion other details to concern themselves about. For that day and for all of the days coming up.

Producers who would even think about firing people for that one would have had a mutiny on their hands - and they'd have deserved it.

P.S. I didn't mention that because I wanted to talk about blaming anyone. I mentioned it because I still think its funny as hell all these years later. (It kinda sucked in the moment.)

The important part is the peanut butter & chee...

2011-11-19T00:04:08.546-05:00

The important part is the peanut butter & cheese crackers.

That story about the banner is fucking hilarious. ...

2011-11-18T20:56:52.695-05:00

That story about the banner is fucking hilarious. I bet you guys were somewhere near the Nationalist Party building in Chinatown, too.

Someone in the Art Department should have been fired for not cross-checking the banners, though. What if the painter had written propaganda for NAMBLA or something worse?