6 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Becoming An Artist

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Of course, art is subjective: Believing that someone great, someone else could a painting the same image is not to think so much. If you want to be an artist, you must have a certain level of competence in this area. Some people are naturally good and enjoy the art right away, while others have the potential to be good, but they just need time to develop their skills. That's why things like schools and art classes are great. If you are an artist, but you do not know if you are good enough to improve a class and skills.

2. Am I paid enough?

It can take a lot of time and effort, not only to build your skills, but also to establish your brand. If you want to be an artist must, as you want to be a part-time artist and full-time dedicated artist. It's something you have to work on yourself. You must be responsible for developing your skills and use them to create the best of your abilities to works of art that will sell. You must also work amount to get noticed by people. For most people, it's a struggle. Many people have the potential to succeed, however, disappointed by the lack of drive.

3. Do I need to know what kind of artist I want to be?

It is important that you find your niche. From a commercial point of view, it is important to find a USP and the best of it. If you are, you're an idea of what kind of artist you want to be well on your way to developing your USP. Today, there are so many people pay attention to customers and can be difficult to get noticed and attract customers. You must stand out from the crowd and offers something that others do not.

4. Am I ready for chess?

There is no guarantee that you will never succeed. If you do not succeed, it may take a year or it could take ten. You are bound to be setbacks along the way, but it is important not to let prevent them from trying. If you have used for centuries in an image and do not sell it, then you should yourself to be an artist? Not. You have to keep trying. Your first image could not start your career. You never know when your career is right, never start properly. Keep trying and it will eventually start.

5. Can I probably something that I created?

As an artist, creating beautiful works of art and hope to sell them. It is very important that even as an artist, so you can confidently present your works to the public. Often shy or embarrassed to trust something they have created, no matter how good it is to share. You might also want to keep something for themselves, because they think it's not good enough to look for other people. That is, you can not find to be an artist, if you can not bring yourself to share your work with others. You must learn to appreciate your work. There is nothing wrong with being proud of something you created.

6. Do I love creating art?

This is the most important question you need to ask yourself, because it is not necessary to start a career as an artist, if you do not like artistic creation. One of the things you need for success is a passion for your work, and you will not push further for you if you do not like artistic creation. If you find it difficult to be creative, because you do not like an artist is probably not for you. If you are looking forward to your time "in the" work on your next creative project, and you are always brimming with ideas for new projects, you have the right approach. That is, if you love what you do, it is not clear how far you can go with it.

Breaking News

Breaking News (2004), is an action thriller from Hong Kong which was released in 2004. It was directed by one of the most celebrated directors in Hong Kong, Johnnie To. Chang Hing-Kai and Yip Tin Shing wrote the screenplay. It stars Nick Cheung as Inspector Cheung, Richie Jen as Yuen, Kelly Chen as Superintendent Rebecca Fong and Simon Yam as Asst. Commissioner Wong.  

The movie deals with the opinion molding power of media in today's world. It shows how media can corrupt some person or an organization's image and at the same time be effective in instilling hope and goodwill among the people too.

It is one of those few action films which successfully manage to blend action and sensible content together in order to give the viewer something to be amazed by and think upon.

The way in which the start of the movie has been shot is amazing. It starts with a shootout and a failed attempt by the Hong Kong police department in capturing Yuen and his gang. The police officers who operate this mission are badly defeated. While Yuen is running away, he encounters a police officer whom he overpowers. The timid police officer joins his hands and begs for his life. To the police department's bad luck, the media is present at that moment and the photographs of a police officer kneeling and begging before the criminal are circulated. This tarnishes the image of the police department. People start to lose their faith in the department.

The Police Department takes various measures to cover up for this embarrassing defeat. Superintendent Rebecca Fong, suggests that since their image was tarnished by the media, it should be through the media only that they improve it again. The department agrees. We are also introduced to Inspector Cheung and his crew who have been assigned to capture Yuen and his gang. After the police are able to track down the location of Yuen, the real action starts.  

Rebecca ensures that the media is present to shoot the whole event live, the event as in the capture of Yuen by the police department. Since it was Yuen who forced a cop down on his knees in that infamous embarrassing photograph, it is hoped that by arresting him on camera, the police can improve their image. And thus a 'bloody' reality show starts. 

Yuen gets a hold of this and he too plays it smartly. Various events are ensured by both the parties, the cops outside the building and criminals inside holding hostages, to somehow use and manipulate the media present on site. And for the media people its a day in heaven with so much of action and scoop around.

The movie progresses ahead with a pace that is sure to blow you off completely. The action, dialogues, etc are very well executed. The story itself is so heavy and good.

The movie currently holds a fresh rating of 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. This movie was remade in Russia titled Goryachie Novosti (international title: Newsmakers). Talks of its remake in the United States are up with the possibility of Joel Schumacher directing it.

Shotgun Stories

I recently happened to check out the works of Jeff Nichols. He has made three films so far – Shotgun Stories (2007), Take Shelter (2011) and Mud (2012) and I loved all of them. It seems that he is here to make his mark and stay for a long time.

Here in this post I would like to cover Shotgun Stories (2007) which was written and directed by Jeff Nichols. Shotgun Stories stars Michael Shannon, Douglas Ligon, Barlow Jacobs and others. Its the story of feud between two sets of half brothers after the demise of their father. 

The background of the story can be described through the angle of Mr. Hayes (the father, whom we never see in the film). Mr. Hayes had married twice. He had three kids from his first wife. He never cared about his first wife and his children through her. 

Meanwhile he had also married another woman and had four children through her. Over the course of time he abandoned his first wife and three children. The three children by the first wife - Son, Boy and Kid are the ones around whom the film centers.

Son Hayes is married to Annie and has a child Carter. He is a normal man except for his addiction to gambling. Because of this his wife leaves along with their son and now Son is alone. He asks his brothers, Boy Hayes, a basketball coach and Kid Hayes to move in his house.

One night they are visited by their mother who tells them that their father is dead. Son Hayes and his brothers go to attend the funeral. Present at the funeral is the second family of Mr. Hayes - his second wife and the other four children - Michael, Mark, Stephen and John.  

At the funeral, Son Hayes can't control himself when everyone around is praising the late Mr. Hayes while completely neglecting the fact that he had abandoned and left his first family on streets. So Son speaks some very harsh words and spits on the grave. Mark Hayes, the more violent in the second family retorts to physical measures. Although the dispute is broken by others, it is clear that a war has started.

From left to right : Son, Kid and Boy Hayes.

The film goes ahead with the war. It also deals with the costs that each of the family has to pay for their actions. 

Jeff's Nichols' direction is amazing. It is hard to accept that this is his first feature film. You see his brilliance in almost every frame and with every dialogue that he has written . Along with that one has to applaud the makers for their perfect casting. Everyone on screen does a perfect job and leaves you no space to complain or get bored.

It feels good to know that the film had got its due appreciation. Late film critic Roger Ebert named it as one of the best films of the year 2008. Bill White of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer named it as the best film of the year 2008. Philip Martin of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and  David Edelstein of New York magazine named it 3rd and the 8th best film of 2008 respectively. The film currently holds 91% fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Hunt

The Hunt (Orignal Danish title: Jagten), which was released early this year has been receiving showers of praise from almost everyone who has seen it. Directed by Thomas Vinterberg , one of the founding brothers of the Dogme 95 film movement in Danish Cinema, this film has all that it takes to present a simple yet powerful picture in front of the viewer. Thomas Vinterberg co-wrote it with Tobias Lindholm.

The Hunt follows the story of a man named Lucas (Mads Mikkelsen) who works in a kindergarten school. He is divorcee and has been struggling to maintain a stable relationship with his son who stays with his ex-wife.

The story is set in a small town where everyone knows everyone. At the beginning of the film we are introduced to Lucas and his group. Lucas has a best friend in Theo. Theo is married and has a kid daughter, Klara. Along with Klara, Theo also has a teenage son. Lucas is very close to Theo's family. He often walks Klara from her home to kindergarten and back.

All the things go on as usual until Klara sees some pornographic images on her brother's iPad. It doesn't make a proper sense in her innocent mind. What's worse is that she imagines and makes up a story which involves Lucas doing certain acts (sexually abusing, although nothing shown or even mildly suggested visually) with her.

When Lucas returns back the gift she had made for him, it triggers her emotionally and she confides her story to Martha, the head of kindergarten. Certain actions are taken according to the protocol. Slowly the whole town knows about it. And what starts as an innocent lie by a small kid turns out into a mass hysteria of the whole town against Lucas.

Everyone starts to shun Lucas. He is fired, his current girlfriend leaves him. His friends don't want to see him any more, the shop keeper won't allow him in his shop, etc. Lucas' son who believes in his father's innocence, comes for his help. That is the only relief for Lucas. Slowly the resentment of the people turns into voilence and Lucas has to deal with the dreadful mass hysteria against him.
 
The film currently holds a fresh rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Thomas Vinterberg and his team deserve to be honored for taking such a subject and showing it in an effective way. Mads Mikkelsen gives some of the best performances we as a movie audience will ever see. The little girl, Annika Wedderkopp is adorable and shocks us with a performance that's way too ahead for someone of her age. Editing, music, cinematography and everything else about the movie is just so good. Overall the film turns out to be winner. 

Tasher Desh

A few months back I saw Gandu, an Indian film which broke all the taboos of the Indian society with such an ease and flow that one hardly notices until the end credits appear. The effect of that movie was the only reason that took me in the cinema hall today to watch Tasher Desh, the latest film of Gandu's director Qaushiq Mukherjee aka Q. Now again this movie shook me and made me question my eyes and ears. Tasher Desh has nothing controversial like Gandu but still the story, narration and characters are unlike any other Indian characters you have ever seen.

Tasher Desh, the original play was written by the great Rabindranath Tagore. In an interview Q said, "this is one Tagore story that has fascinated me since I was a child. 'Tasher Desh' is completely different from his oeuvre. He experimented a lot with this play. In fact, critics find it flawed, so it became a children's play but it is not a children's play. It is very political. I think, we did not get it right contextually."

Tasher Desh mixes the elements of fantasy and surrealism in brilliant way. Q just refuses to go by the book to churn up an usual film. As it is being said, this film is literally Tagore on acid. Maybe this is not a film for everyone. But it's worth a watch. You either hate it or love it but you definitely won't be able to ignore it. For someone who isn't interested this can be quite irritating and torturous.

The film follows two parallel story lines. First line follows a writer who carries around a torn copy of Tasher Desh and second, of a prince and his adventures. The two stories are shown in distinct and strikingly different visuals. The writer's sequences are in black and white, symbolizing his dull and barren life while those of the prince are in bright colors.

The prince is bored of his usual and monotonous life. He wants to explore. He takes up his merchant friend along with him to roam and know the world. But they get stranded on a strange island. 

The people on the island live by rules. Everyone is named after the cards. Nothing happens here due to personal desires or wishes. In fact the very words, 'desire', 'progress', 'freedom' are banned from the usage. It is here that the prince instills a sense of dis-order and freedom through a beautiful musical sequence. This creates a kind of awakening on the island. A quest for liberation starts under the lady who is the Ace of Spades.

Meanwhile back in the real world, the writer meets his muse who symbolizes the Ace of Spades for him and this forms the storyline for his parts.

The themes of reality, anti-fascism, chaos, liberation and desires fit at proper places.  

Visually, this film is a treat to the eye. It takes time to grow on you but once it does then the surrealistic treatment by Q works wonders. 

One can take the entire film to be one long dream sequence too. That's the beauty of the story. People can interpret it in their own way. The combination of intoxicating visuals, breath taking sequences and the amazing musical scores works highly in favor of the film.

Yojimbo

Yojimbo (1961) has a sacred status for all Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune fans. The great Japanese director, Kurosawa's direction plus Mifune's epic acting skills makes this movie stand out among lovers of good cinema.

It is a period film. The story is set in the second half of the 19th century after the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The movie starts with a samurai (Mifune), who finds himself unemployed. He is left without a master and cause. This forces him to wander around searching for a life and income. And incourse of this journey, the samurai comes across a town.

Now this town is in mess and has become a battle ground between the two rival gangs of Seibei and Ushitora. Turns out that Ushitora once used to work for Sebei. But when Sebei announced that he will pass the crime syndicate to his undeserving and foolish son, Ushitora breaks out and forms his own gang. Ushitora has two brothers. Inokichi a timid and somewhat soft man and Unosuke, a dangerous man. Unosuke is the only person in the town who has a pistol and this makes him even more powerful and dangerous.

The samurai after knowing all these, decides to use this situation in his favour. He believes that eliminating these two gangs would be good for the people of the town as well. The samurai then proves his worth and makes his skills known to these gangs. Now both of the gang leaders lobby hard to make the samurai join their respective gangs so that it will be beneficial for them in the war. But the samurai has different plans.

There are various other characters like a resturant owner, a government officer, a woman who has been exploited by Ushitora, etc.The samurai's intentions and his course of actions, the war between the gangs, the role of Unosuke and his gun in all of these form the rest half of the movie.

There was some controversy when Sergio Leone remade it as A Fistful of Dollars (1964) starring Clint Eastwood. After watching A Fistful Of Dollars, Kurosawa sued Leone and wrote to Sergio Leone that it is, "a fine movie, but it was MY movie.”

Yojimbo holds 97% fresh ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. Also it ranks 95 in Empire magazine's list of 500 Greatest Movies Of All Times.

In The Name Of The Father

Jim Sheridan's In The Name Of The Father which released in 1994 is an amazing film. The screenplay was written by Jim Sheridan along with Terry George based on the autobiography Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four by Gerry Conlon. It starred Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite and Emma Thompson in lead roles.

This film is based on the true story of four people who were falsely convicted for the IRA's Guildford pub bombings. Those four persons were commonly called as Guildford Four.

The film is shown through the life of Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four. At the beginning of the movie, we see him as a rebellious and mischievous young man in Belfast. His family is worried about him. They in turn send him to London so that he can make his life. On the way there he meets his old friend Paul Hill and the two enjoy their time in London without actually doing anything. One night without any place to eat or sleep, they end up robbing. With some money now, Gerry returns back to his home in Belfast.

And the next thing that we see is the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary arrests Gerry. He is brought back to mainland UK. His other friends get arrested too. The police torture and threaten Gerry and his friends for seven days under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and wrongly make them confess to those false charges. When Giuseppe Colon travels to England to meet his son he too is arrested along with the family of his sister-in-law, with whom he was staying. These people are termed as Maguire Seven.

The film continues with the trial, punishment and Gerry and his father Giuseppe's life in prison. They share the same cell. The film shows the attempts of a lawyer Gareth Peirce who campaigns for a re-trial and the release of these people and how things go ahead.

One of my personal favorites. It's one of most rightly cast movies ever. The father-son relationship portrayed between Giuseppe and Gerry is one of the best things in the film.

In The Name Of The Father got positive reviews and was received well. It has a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film got seven Academy Award nominations - Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Editing, Best Actor in a Leading Role (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Pete Postlethwaite), Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Emma Thompson), Best Director and Best Picture.