Now, I havent seen War Horse but...

jonny_trousers

I liked the film and it's beautifully shot, but it's nowhere near as good as the play. Then again, I do quite like horses, if not the kind of people who tend to ride them.

daviesee

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I liked the film and it's beautifully shot, but it's nowhere near as good as the play. Then again, I do quite like horses, if not the kind of people who tend to ride them.

I have problem with how it is shot. It is beautiful no doubt but too much is shot in the "golden hour" which leads to a fake look if it is used too much.
Reasoning - I am into photography so can recognise and appreciate it, but it is so obvious that my wife picked up on it early on.
PS - Got your Equilibrium yet?

Back on topic. It is a decent film that is designed to pull on the heart strings and show the stupidity of war, albeit through a horse instead of a human. Anyone having a problem resolving a horse being in those positions really doesn't have a clue about how inhumane humans can be, or the reality of history.

jonny_trousers

daviesee wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I liked the film and it's beautifully shot, but it's nowhere near as good as the play. Then again, I do quite like horses, if not the kind of people who tend to ride them.

I have problem with how it is shot. It is beautiful no doubt but too much is shot in the "golden hour" which leads to a fake look if it is used too much.
Reasoning - I am into photography so can recognise and appreciate it, but it is so obvious that my wife picked up on it early on.

No, I can completely agree with that. There were plenty of touches I didn't like, but all in all I enjoyed it. Like I say, though, the play is infinitely better.

PS - Got your Equilibrium yet?

Funny you should mention that. I actually do have it all ready to be built up now, but it's been a ridiculous wait (all Colourtech's fault). I'll update your thread with pics next week. How's the orange peril?

GiantMike

daviesee wrote:

I have problem with how it is shot. It is beautiful no doubt but too much is shot in the "golden hour" which leads to a fake look if it is used too much.

As I said before, I thought the lighting was terrible. At the same time they were using warm soft lighting and direct white light. The white light produced really strong highlights and hotspots which were completely artificial. While I can see that they were trying to balance natural light with fill-in lighting to remove the shadows, it made the finished shots look completely artificial. A bit like a lot of the What Mountain Bike shots where they balance a strong sun with a lot of fill-in flash from 1 or more sources which produces strong but artificial looking pictures. And that's before they go to work with post-processing.

GiantMike

Look at this shot, for example. The Officer on the left has a highlight on his leather shoulder strap indicating a strong light from the left of shot. The horse has a highlight on its neck indicating a strong light from the right of shot (and enhanced by the strong shadow as a result of the boy's arm. The result looks more like a painting, but a painting wouldn't have all the lighting flaws.

CHRISNOIR

LeicesterLad wrote:

Wasn't cocaine put back into Coca Cola in WW1? - Now that would be good cycling fuel...

Maybe, but you'd have to stop every thirty minutes to find somewhere to 'refuel' and your times would significantly inrcease as you also stopped to chew the ears off passersby and to tell people that you're "a really good cyclist and this is a pretty good bike cos, like, carbon is right where it's at right now and I prefer Campag but some people prefer Shimano and they're,like, total idiots, yeah, and like, everyone's totally into cycling at the moment, yeah, but I was, like, doing it years ago when everyone else was totally into, like, football, yeah and have you got a ten pound note I can borrow, mate?"

Etc.

daviesee

OT

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

How's the orange peril?

In the shop
See here for the story:- viewtopic.php?f=40012&t=12833185
New left lever and rear wheel (rim, spokes & rebuild).

Absolutely wonderful prior to that and will be again! :P

LeicesterLad

CHRISNOIR wrote:

LeicesterLad wrote:

Wasn't cocaine put back into Coca Cola in WW1? - Now that would be good cycling fuel...

Maybe, but you'd have to stop every thirty minutes to find somewhere to 'refuel' and your times would significantly inrcease as you also stopped to chew the ears off passersby and to tell people that you're "a really good cyclist and this is a pretty good bike cos, like, carbon is right where it's at right now and I prefer Campag but some people prefer Shimano and they're,like, total idiots, yeah, and like, everyone's totally into cycling at the moment, yeah, but I was, like, doing it years ago when everyone else was totally into, like, football, yeah and have you got a ten pound note I can borrow, mate?"

Etc.

Cheered me up

Pross

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I liked the film and it's beautifully shot, but it's nowhere near as good as the play. Then again, I do quite like horses, if not the kind of people who tend to ride them.

So what type of people do ride them? As far as I can tell it is anyone from gypsies to royalty. My daughter has been riding for about 8 years now and I have met loads of people who ride horses in that time. In most cases they are normal people with average jobs and often choose to go without other luxuries such as holidays or new cars to cover the costs. I have met some very nice, kind and helpful people plus some who aren't and there are a few of the stereotypical pompous snobs so pretty much exactly the same as people who ride bikes. In fact the costs of buying a horse and buying a bike are very similar with less than a grand enough to get you going, the average being around £2k to £3k and for a top level competition model a lot more. Still, there's nothing to beat a good stereotype - I'm sure no cyclist minds that motorists think we are all red light jumping, pavement riding hooligans

Frank the tank

The "sort of people who ride horses" are small in stature,light-weight,people who wear silk shirts and jodpurs.

Otherwise known as jockeys.

jonny_trousers

Pross wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I liked the film and it's beautifully shot, but it's nowhere near as good as the play. Then again, I do quite like horses, if not the kind of people who tend to ride them.

So what type of people do ride them? As far as I can tell it is anyone from gypsies to royalty. My daughter has been riding for about 8 years now and I have met loads of people who ride horses in that time. In most cases they are normal people with average jobs and often choose to go without other luxuries such as holidays or new cars to cover the costs. I have met some very nice, kind and helpful people plus some who aren't and there are a few of the stereotypical pompous snobs so pretty much exactly the same as people who ride bikes. In fact the costs of buying a horse and buying a bike are very similar with less than a grand enough to get you going, the average being around £2k to £3k and for a top level competition model a lot more. Still, there's nothing to beat a good stereotype - I'm sure no cyclist minds that motorists think we are all red light jumping, pavement riding hooligans

An excellent point excellently made. Forgive me; I'm sure your daughter is an absolute delight.

big_southern_jesse

War horse walks into a bar...

The bar man says:

"Why the long film?"

jonny_trousers

Big Southern Jesse wrote:

War horse walks into a bar...

The bar man says:

"Why the long film?"

dilemna

I read the book. It's ok. Michael Morpurgo has written it for children from the perspective of a horse thus it does feel a little contrived, awkward, superficial and simplistic in places but it is worth reading but not worth all the hype that has been generated around it. Sure animals horses, pigeons and dogs all suffered terribly in both wars but this book doesn't really dwell on the suffering side too much as it is for a young audience. I found some of the main characters rather implausible, but then again it's a book aimed at kids. The ending is a total fantasy feel good ending that only happens in kids books to make them think that everyone lives happily ever after crap. It ruins the book imho. But you'll have to find out for yourselves what this is ............ I guess if you are 12 years old the anthropomorphism that under pins this book perhaps might not be so grating. It irritated me a bit in places, especially when Topthorn, best mate of Warhorse Joey dies ................ and then the re-union of Albert with Warhorse Joey is ripe for Hollywood schmaltz crap.

verylonglegs

Not overlooking the fact horses have been used in wars since...um..man was having them probably!

Redhog14

I love the way the "targeted" ad in the bottom RHS of my screen is for Equine Insurance:o

Mike67

Aren't you all missing a trick here?

Go with Missus to watch film...3 hours with ads. (and it wasn't that bad)
Have meal with Missus afterwards....another couple of hours of your undivided attention.

Missus is v.v.happy that you still know where your soft side is and got to go for a meal together.

That makes five hours in the bank to be used up on a long Sunday ride...everyone's a winner