General Review of Twilight

Okay! Here it is! My general review of Twilight (more in-depth stuff to follow in the coming weeks). I've rushed a bit to get it out to you, so I'm sorry if it's not as clean and precise as other articles, but at least it's up and readable :)

So, as soon as the film ended, Robbie asked me to sum it up in one word. At first, I said “hm…” because I was still digesting everything I’d just seen, but he said “that doesn’t count. It is an interesting response, coming from you, but it doesn’t count.” I thought about it for a few minutes, and “pleased” was my response. There is much for me to discuss, analyze and question, but overall I am pleased.

Firstly it was good to finally see all of the clips that were released prior to the film’s debut edited together cohesively as the film makers wished them to be viewed. I always get a bit worried before seeing films that I’ve studied or obsessed over that I’ve ruined my experience by watching all of the publicity leading up to the release, and while it does give me certain preconceived expectations, I didn’t find that it took anything away from my first full viewing of Twilight. It was satisfying to see it all linearly and not disjointed, not to mention the beauty of seeing it on the big screen with surround sound instead of on my computer screen or re-recorded YouTube videos, and also seeing the scenes that I was present for during filming to see how they ended up after editing, sound added, etc. It was very cool to see those scenes and think, "I'm sitting right behind that tree," and remember how I was an extra in one scene during my last day on set? Yeah... I definitely saw myself in the background of Forks when Bella and Charlie are in the cruiser at the beginning. Very surreal.

As I said, I am very pleased with the film. Whenever a popular book is adapted there is the worry of how it will be done, how they will use the book, what they will do to beloved lines, scenes, settings etc., and for the most part, I think Twilight kept what they needed to keep (thanks to the producers for replacing the previously cut Lion and Lamb line among many other things retained from the book), and they didn’t change much that fans would believe couldn’t be changed (I suppose I can forgive the fact that there isn’t a black leather sofa in Edward’s room… although it kind of pains me as we all know the importance of that piece of furniture). Of the things that were added to the film and not in the book, I feel that the vast majority of the extra scenes are well done; they add necessary information to the story, or develop characters and their relationships effectively.

These additions are important; in the book we have pages and pages to get to know these characters and how they interact with each other, but in the film we needed a few extra elements to develop those relationships since we didn't have pages of text and ample time to get familiar with them. There are many examples that I’ll go into as I thoroughly analyze the film, but the element that sticks out in my mind to support this at the moment are the scenes between Bella and her parents. I think Charlie and Renee are two of the best-interpreted characters in the film. Renee is just the right amount of loving and erratic, and Billy Burke really pins down the taciturn and yet strong elements of Charlie. He is quiet and reserved, but his underlying love for Bella and desire to be with her and protect her is evident every time they are together (The perfect awkwardness of Bella giving him comfort after Wayland dies, the “thank you” to Charlie after he gets her new tires, and I love when he’s cleaning his gun and cocks it, ready to meet Edward).

The film has that edgy, indie look that I’ve come to expect from a Catherine Hardwicke film, and I am very grateful for that. It would have been too easy for this to become a cheesy teenage love story that was over the top schmaltzy with popular music and mediocre, melodramatic

acting. But with Catherine’s distinct style, Kristen Stewart’s stellar performance as a relatable, strong but slightly awkward Bella, and Rob Pattinson clearly illustrating the many sides of Edward from the jovial teenager in the throes of first love, to the self-deprecating and self-loathing monster that he believes himself to be, this is not a typical teen flick.

It is edgy, dark, intense, passionate, and there are no easy answers in this relationship and we haven’t yet seen a rosy, happy ending. I’m also grateful that like Stephenie Meyer, the film makers didn’t speak down to their audience. They maintained the adult themes without being over the top, and they added witty, snarky dialogue that fits in with both Meyer’s style and a teenager’s reality. While lines like “Speedo padding on the swim team…” or “I like this dress,

it makes my boobs look good…” may sound as though they are trying to emphasize more sexual topics, it’s more believable as a real teenage conversation, and the reality of Catherine Hardwicke’s films and the believability of the characters in her films has always been one of her strengths. It’s these added lines as well as bits like Charlie drawing a halo over his head when he’s about to meet Edward, or his nonverbal response (he throws his arms in the air) when Bella asks if he told her mother about the almost-accident that really bring depth to the characters and make them recognizable and relatable. They have quirks, just like us.

I can’t make the whole review rosy, or I wouldn’t be a very good film student, so here are a few quick points that I found jarring and I will analyze further in the future:

* The tinkling sounds effect when Edward sparkled- although I found the sparkle well executed. It would have been so easy to make that sparkle cheesy and unrealistic…but the tinkling almost made it less-believable. The effect spoke for itself.

* Certain lines missing/changed/dropped. I don’t have a problem in theory with changing lines; as I’ve said before, it is necessary to change elements of a book when adapting it for film so it translates well from the medium of text to screen, but there were some missing or changed that I didn’t agree with, or I didn’t see the reasoning behind changing them.

For example, “If I could dream at all, it would be of you” isn’t there, and it might not have fit, but it's one of those iconic lines that I'm guessing most of the audience was waiting for… or when he and Bella are walking into school and he says “if I’m going to hell…” and it drops off, and I naturally want to finish the line from the book with “I might as well do it thoroughly.” And also, the conversation in the car after Edward saves Bella in Port Angeles. In the film it’s just “put your seat belt on,” and while I understand there wasn’t the set-up to the scene to share the “I want to run over Tyler” line, it was a good opportunity to share a well-loved moment from the novel that might have fit better, or a witty Bella-comment from the film like, “I think Kirk stuffs his Speedo” or something… Obviously I’m still thinking all of this out.

*I’m not sold on the flash-back scene to the Cullens and the Quileutes. I found them artistically out of character with the rest of the film, and while that is the nature of a flashback, this seemed a jump of genre or class to me. It took us from a rough and raw scene (my crazy-rainy first day of set) of Jacob and Bella on First Beach and made it dreamlike, Disney-esque, and fuzzily surreal… I was waiting for the wave-fade and slide effect like a Waynes World spoofed dream-sequence to cap it off... I think a flashback could still occur at this point without my initial reaction being “cheese.”

*There were a few characters that I found jarring: Tyler, Mike, and Esme. I’m not sure if this is due to the difference of the film character to the book character, or if it’s just some other personal reaction, but I found them a bit off.

-Tyler was basically a bully. While in the book he’s annoyingly persistent, he doesn’t throw things at Bella (in the film he chucks something at her to get her attention in the school’s parking lot… to me this is just as horrid as snapping your fingers to get someone’s attention- rude), he doesn’t make fun of her car as soon as she parks on her first day at Forks High, and he doesn’t pull the chair out from under Mike and give Bella a harassing kiss on the cheek.

-Mike is a great character, and I think Mike Welch played him very well, but he also took on a more annoying/bullying slant rather than the golden retriever depiction that comes across in the book. Shaking his rainy hat on her, calling her “girl” and “Arizona” repeatedly, and while I love the scene between Bella and Mike when he says “So you and Cullen, huh? I don’t like it… he looks at you like you’re something to eat,” but it was very rushed, and it made Mike look cocky instead of protective.

Then again, this could be exactly what the film makers were going for. They might have thought Tyler and Mike were too close, and needed to distinguish them a bit more on screen from each other and from Edward and Jacob, so the bullying and pestering aspects of the characters were emphasized. Maybe they wanted to show Mike as cocky, protective AND jilted... Who knows? Perhaps that’s a question I can ask them in the future.

-And Esme I balked at mostly in her first scene when they are making Bella Italian food. It’s a great scene; it takes a rather static scene from the book and makes it more visual. I loved the way that it appears in the book: at the front door, slightly awkward and uncertain, but it would help it to be more visual for the film and could therefore stand to have some humorous action added to it, like the Cullens cooking (it was certainly funny to see Emmet wielding a huge knife and slicing mushrooms). Anyway… it just irked me that the first line to Bella in that scene comes from Esme who says, “Bella we’re making Italiano for you.” This is an awkward moment for Bella, meeting the boyfriend's vampire family for the first time, and for Edward, the perpetually single guy introducing the first girl he's ever brought home, and there isn't a welcome or a greeting. In the novels, Esme is so gracious and thoughtful, and her hospitality is something referred to repeatedly, that it startled me that she jumped straight into that conversation instead of introducing herself, welcoming Bella or some other expected initial response.

Things I thoroughly appreciated/enjoyed and will expand upon in the future:

* The Indi-esque feel of the film. Thank you Catherine Hardwicke. Her architectural background, visual sense for all scenes, her love for the book and her desire to honor it as much as possible, and her sense of reality, rawness and authenticity all shine through. Of course there are blips, in my opinion, but this film would have been so much worse off had it been “Hollywoodized.”

*Bella is strong and independent. Yes, she’s awkward and solitary, but Bella is no damsel in distress. I love when she figures out what Edward is, before they go into the woods, and you can see the determination in her face; the necessity to confront him, call him on all of his crap and get the information she wants.

*The clever inserts: Edward catching the apple like the Twilight cover, Stephenie Meyer’s cameo where she orders a veggie sandwich, and when Bella Googles the legends, Little Brown comes up in the search results (Stephenie’s publisher) as well as Gillian Bohrer who was the Summit representative on set who was there for the extent of the filming.

*Rob’s songs. The lyrics, tone, and placement are ideal (if you haven’t Googled the lyrics yet, do it. It adds a whole new dimension to the songs and their placement in the film). I think the restaurant is where Bella truly makes her choice to be with Edward, but he’s not yet decided and wishes her to be safe from him, so it’s very appropriate for that song to be playing. And in the ballet studio, the pain in his voice during the moment when he puts his mouth on Bella’s arm just has every ounce of emotion you want for a climactic scene.

Brilliant.

*The foreshadowing. That great closing shot that focuses on Bella and Edward, pans back over the shoulder of someone, we recognize it’s Victoria who turns, takes her hair down, and the music goes from quiet-romantic to Radiohead; it's intimidating, edgy, and menacing. Also, Edward’s line at the prom after they walk away from Jacob, “I leave you alone for two minutes and the wolves descend…” is great. People unfamiliar with the books will understand precisely what he means without thinking twice, but fans will understand the extra meaning there and appreciate its insertion.

*The soft focus on Mike when he asks Bella to prom and the sharp focus on Edward in the background. It effectively shows where her attention really lies.

*The flowers in the meadow are the same color that they are in the book. If that was just a coincidence, it was a good one.

*Bella’s reaction in the hospital- Robbie (my Nokia technician) found it to be over the top, but I found it necessary to set up New Moon. We needed to see a glimpse of what Bella would do if Edward was gone in order to understand her intense reaction in New Moon.

Oh there’s so much more... but look how long this post already is! I’m going to have to go through it scene by scene, or perhaps by theme, like “In this post, I’ll be looking at the editing choices” or the music, or the characters, or a book to script comparison… the sky’s the limit!

Obviously I have much more work to do, but there are my initial thoughts and musings on Twilight’s adaptation from book to screen. Let me know what you think!

It’s been brilliant to be a part of this process and really see the creation from beginning to end. I certainly hope I have the same opportunities in the future, and that my work will be helpful, inspiring, clarifying or at least interesting. As long as it keeps me entertained and I keep learning things, I think I’ll consider it successful.

Stay tuned, much more to come.

In Other News...

My first published article has just been released! It's an interview with the game designers at Lord of the Rings Online (it's similar to World of Warcraft, but with The Lord of the Rings as the overarching storyline).

Go to this site, and scroll down to my article, A discussion with game designers The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of Angmar – LOTRO.com. Then click on 'view pdf article' to read it. You have to register, but it's free.

Also, my Twilight film review will be up this weekend, analysis to follow, and I've had a few emails and comments about New Moon coverage. Just so you know, I'll be covering the New Moon adaptation the same way that I'm covering Twilight, don't worry... I'm not stopping anytime soon :)

UK Premiere- Report

I’ve just come back from the Twilight premiere in Leicester Square and it was certainly an experience. It was a week of ‘yes you can go, no you can’t, yes you can, no you can’t’ and finally the people from Nokia pulled through and got me into the thick of things. I found out Tuesday night that I was able to go, and Wednesday morning I was on a train to London. I met up with Robbie and Steph from Nokia around 3:30, we chatted and discussed what was expected of me (to take photos and video using the new Nokia 6220 phone as well as do a few livestream videos with Robbie during the event) and what I was hoping to get out of the evening. They were both extremely laid back, lots of fun, and very positive about the whole experience. Neither of them knew anything about Twilight, so I tried to forewarn them what they were getting into, and yet when we left the pub to head over to the premiere they were somehow shocked at the fact that we could hear the screams from three blocks away. I had to bite my tongue to stop from saying “I told you so.”

The crowds were immense and manic! The enthusiasm was all that I would expect of Twilight fans. It was a slightly different feel than the Breaking Dawn release at the Nokia theater in NYC in August, because that was like a giant party with all of the fans celebrating together and this was more of a fierce competition of who was the bigger Twilight fan, who could push to the front, scream the loudest, and who could see Rob first, but it was still brilliant. There were vampires, signs, chants of “We want Rob!” and “Twilight!” and the crowd overflowed the barriers security had placed there.
The Twilight poster was huge on the Vue theater and TWILIGHT spelled out twice in the Twilight font in blue neon lights on either side of Rob and Kristen’s photo. Oddly enough there wasn’t a red carpet, it was a black carpet, but it was very appropriate for the Twilight décor. There weren’t vampires or Volturi running around, but there were four hired models, two male and two female, wearing all white and with sparkles on their faces who escorted Kristen and Rob down the carpet. It was a bit cheesy, but effective. They certainly made Rob and Kristen, both wearing all black, stand out from their stark whiteness, and it added some glamour to the presentation, but I wanted to get them a coat or a cup of tea... it was FREEZING! And the vampire/model girls were only wearing white, silk dresses. They’re probably still thawing out their toes!

We spoke to a few of the contest winners (video of two of them here) who were pumped and electric about the premiere, got our tickets and headed over to the theater.


Robbie and I were escorted into the meet and greet pen (don’t you love how it’s called a pen? And it really was a pen… we were packed in there like cattle) where we tried fairly successfully to gain the attention of Catherine, Rob and Kristen. It was only the three of them there (which also kind of surprised me; I figured the producers or perhaps a few more cast members would appear... I wonder how that decision is made), so the three of them bore the entire brunt of the media and the mania, but they handled it well.

They walked down (with the white, sparkly models), did an interview at the end of the carpet, walked back to the beginning of the carpet (with the white, sparkly models), and then worked their way down the crowds, press, and meet and greet areas. They were running late so sadly no one got a lot of time to interview, take pictures etc, but it was so cold I can’t say that I minded all that much. We were able to see them, observe the mania and then move inside.

To be honest, I was slightly frustrated with the whole premiere process. It’s impossible to get their whole attention, you only have a few seconds to get the question out, it’s probably a question they’ve heard 100 times so they're already bored with it, there are a thousand people screaming their name, flashbulbs going off everywhere, and their handlers are constantly moving them along so it never feels like anyone is accomplishing anything. It’s just a lot of skimming the surface. I suppose that’s the point of premieres- just to have some mania, stir up some attention and get people to recognize the name Twilight; it’s not a forum for in-depth info sharing. Hmm… I think this will be a blog entry in the future as I hash through the many elements of movie premieres.

I also found it odd because the last time I saw Rob it was 3am on the last day of shooting in Oregon, we were freezing and hovering around a propane heater on set and swapping ridiculous life stories... just being normal human beings, and in this situation it was like a circus. He was on parade, escorted around... it wasn't bad by any means, it's another facet of an actor's job to do a film as well as the publicity, it's just interesting to see the different sides of one role; the actor, the person, the icon etc. It's the real person versus the 'reel' person (i.e. the character they portray or the iconic figure that they represent). I certainly enjoy the creation part, the development and the filming process more, but this is still an essential part of the overall process.

Anyway…. we were then escorted inside where there was nothing but Twilight posters on every surface. It was great. It really set the scene that something big was happening, and it was happening here. Rob/Edward’s golden eyes were staring us down all over the cinema. On each seat was a black goodie bag with a copy of Twilight inside, two red apples (cute), shampoo (sadly it doesn’t smell of strawberries), Vitamin water and candy, and the MTV Twilight video was playing- the one that introduced the Cullens and talked about the translation of the book to the film. Then the lights went down, and a man from E1 came out (the film’sUK distributor) and said his thanks and introduced Catherine, Rob and Kristen. Catherine said how stoked she was, and how cold she was, and then she gave the mic to Rob. As he took it a girl yelled “Bite me!” at him and he told her with a chuckle and a crooked smile to talk to his manager and then he’d consider it. He said he was glad to be back in London and with “real people” which everyone laughed at, and then they all left (Kristen didn’t say anything) and the film began!

I’ll review the film fully in the next bajillion posts…there are so many angles I want to analyze, that I’ll be doing it in installments. I’ll start with a general review that I’ll have up certainly before the week/end is out, and then I’ll probably do weekly installments analyzing different aspects of the film like the editing, music, lighting, characterization etc…. but for now I’ll just say that I’m pleased. There’s lots to discuss, many things that I wonder about and question, but that’s my job as a film student. Overall, I’m very pleased with it though.

After the film, Robbie and I had a drink in the theater's bar that was fully kitted out with Twilight photos and posters, and spoke to a number of people about their reactions to the film. Most were thrilled to the point of ecstasy to see their visions in real life, of course there were things that they didn't like and my favorite comment on adaptations, "It wasn't how I pictured it..." It can be hard to remember that this is just how Catherine Hardwicke, the producers and their team (which includes Stephenie Meyer) pictured it. It's not the be-all end-all. It's one interpretation that we are invited to view.

Okay, I've a ton more pictures and video, but I was using three different devices to capture stuff, so all of the media will be up as soon as I can get it up, but that’s enough for now… if I start thinking about my reaction to the film I’ll be here for hours and as it’s 1am and I still have the photos from at least one camera to upload, so I’m going to end there for the evening.

Stay tuned for more; the brief review, and then analysis and tearing apart portion of the program is soon to follow.

Addition: This is what I saw as I was walking into Euston Station in London. Twilight is totally taking over my life and following me everywhere :)

UPDATE: My Webshots can be viewed HERE

Rob on GMTV the next morning. Dawson's Creek with fangs? Really? Sigh...

Rob's BBC Interview

Link to the Telegraph's video of the Black Carpet Coverage with a couple of nice interviews with Rob, Kristen and Catherine... but for the love of Pete I wish they'd stop asking Rob if he has a girlfriend...

Watch This Space...

Tomorrow is the UK premiere of Twilight, and it's just been confirmed that I'll be on the red carpet covering the event. Insert squeal of delight here!

I'll be with Nokia on the red carpet, thanks to the Twilight Lexicon, throwing my questions in the mix, recording interviews, taking copious amounts of photos, using a fancy new Nokia device to do all of this, and then I'll be escorted in to see the film. YAY!

I'm looking forward to this for so many reasons. For all of the expected reasons of general excitement (how often do I get to go to a movie premiere, let alone one that has been the focus of my life for months, and I have seen from beginning to end?? Maybe there will be more in the future, but this is definitely the first!), but also for the entire presentation of the evening. I can't wait to see how it's received in the UK; if the mayhem is anything like what it was in US, if Rob will be mobbed, how it is presented and introduced, who of the cast will be there...

It's gonna be brilliant. So watch this space! I know some stuff will be going up on the Lexicon, and some stuff will be going up on Nokia's site I believe, but I actually don't have a ton of details at this point! All I know is to get myself to London, and be prepared for anything throughout the day. So watch this space! Excitement and analysing shall commence shortly :)

New Moon is Cleared and Big Opening Weekend!

Whoot whoot! New Moon has been cleared for production (as if I ever doubted it...), and Twilight has already made $37 million. And that's only from midnight on Friday morning until Saturday. They're expecting a possible $70 million opening weekend. Summit has GOT to be breaking out the champagne. Additionally, Rob Pattinson is the number one most-searched actor on IMDB.com, Kristen Stewart is number two, Taylor Lautner is number five, and Twilight is the number one most-searched film. WOW.

I'm purposely trying very hard not to read any reviews and whatnot, I want to try and stay as pure as I can until I see the film myself (dear LORD I hope it can happen December 3; I don't know how I can cleanly make it until the 19th... darn UK release being later...). But hopefully I can see it cleanly, make my own observations and opinions, write them down, hash them out, and THEN catch up on the reviews and answer to them. So my review will just have to wait! I'm sorry! Just think of it as the coverage that keeps on giving. When every other outlet has started quieting down, I'll just be warming up :)

Happy viewing all, I'm sure some of you are up to your 7th or 8th time by now!

UPDATE: Whoot! It made bucket loads this weekend- over $70 million, and it's the highest grossing film for a female director. Congrats to Catherine! Read about it here.

Let the Mayhem Begin...

Well today is the day. It's Twilight premiere day in LA and the masses are already going mad!

I just spoke with Jen from the Twilight Lexicon and it sounds uber exciting; I'm rather jealous I'm not there, but hopefully I'll be at the London one. The Borders podcast was yesterday with many of the actors attending, signing autographs, and copious amounts of screaming from the hundreds of fans gathered there. The premiere is being held at two theaters (it's just that big :) and there are already hundreds if not thousands of fans lined up around the blocks surrounding the theaters for spots in the fan area of the premiere. I hope there will be serious body-guarding for the cast and crew!

In other good news, apparently 51% of all internet movie ticket sales this week were for Twilight... and it's not even out yet!! That's very promising for the film's success. I don't think the film makers will have to worry too hard about Twilight making them some money, and hopefully that will mean a positive move forward quickly for New Moon production. I believe they're looking to make something in the realm of $30 million in the opening weekend, and I can't imagine they'll have much trouble (yes I'm knocking on wood).

I'm most curious to see the entire presentation of this evening. How did they decorate? What was the budget like for posters, cardboard cutouts, banners, did they make it look like a forest? Did the staff have pale skin and yellow eyes? I doubt it, but you never know with premieres, remember the premiere of V for Vendetta (picture on the right... there were tons of those guys there that night) or the guys that dressed as orcs and jumped around for an hour at The Lord of the Rings premiere? You never know... there could be Newborns running amuck in LA right now outside of the theater.

I wonder how they'll introduce it, if they'll refer to Stephenie Meyer and the overall spectrum of the novel; or if they'll discuss the film making process, the challenges with the adaptation, with the weather, with the stalking fans... and will they discuss it at all afterwards? Is anything said at the end or does it just split apart and everyone goes to their release parties?

Hmm... things we shall soon discover, I hope! And hopefully I'll have a chance to investigate in London.

Keep a weather eye, and happy Twilighting all! Please try not to rub it in too much that you'll ALL see it before me :-p I have to wait until December 3 at the earliest, and possibly until December 19 for the general release. Sigh...

New Twilight Trailer

Can we just discuss the new Twilight Trailer? I'm starting to worry that I'm not going to be able to look at the film objectively and critically at this point because whenever I see a new scene or a new image from the film I just get excited, and possibly a little giggly when staring at Rob Pattinson.

I think that's because I already have a lot of faith in the filmmakers though. I'm not waiting 'to see' or 'to be disappointed.' I already know that they are treating this adaptation better than most could imagine; I've already seen some pages, some scenes, and I know that it hasn't clashed with my perceptions of the novel, and it certainly helps that Stephenie Meyer was involved in every step of the process, approves all of it, and endorses it wholeheartedly. Just seeing the care that they've put into shooting every scene and the work poured over the editing process, well, it gives me some hope that this won't turn into a situation like The Golden Compass or The Seeker (ugh...depressingly appalling adaptations).

I'm sure all filmmakers care about the film they are working on, but I'm guessing that many just think of a film as a job and nothing more. While I know that the crew of Twilight have never once forgotten that this is still a business and they are responsible for its success or failure, I feel like they've truly cared about making the film for the fans, because they are fans too. They didn't want the film to be too different because it would alienate their own vision of the novel, not to mention the millions of fans they'd disappoint too.

And this new trailer... okay, the scene opens with an establishing shot of the Olympic peninsula, effectively setting the scene with tones of purple and gray with striking green hills to illustrate the mysterious and other-worldly feel of the location, and the first thing that struck me from a film-study perspective was the transitions, particularly in the first thirty seconds or so as the ethereal music comes up, until just after Edward stops the van from hitting Bella. If you'll notice, almost every cut is a quick fade to black and a quick re-light. To me, this looks like eyelids closing sluggishly and opening back up again on a new and equally as fantastic scene (fantastic as in fantasy-like). This technique throughout the entire trailer reveals in snippets what Bella is seeing, and how she is figuring out the story. I think this is a great device, as the book is from Bella's point of view, this opening and closing of 'the eyes' makes me feel like I'm a bit in a dream and watching this fantastical scene unfold in front of me through her eyes. Even though it's not from her point of view, it still feels like the trailer places you in an observatory point of view. It's not just clips cut together (although there are a few clear cuts) to show the action, it's an experience that draws you in. Also, the moment that Edward swoops in to save her in the trailer, the picture goes to negative, which I think is just brilliant. It's in that moment that Edward has decided (or not decided, but acted instinctively) to reveal himself entirely to Bella. His cover is down, and everything is reversed, and it all changes after this point; so the brief flash of the scene in the negative effectively illustrates this. Brilliant. With the other-worldly music at the beginning, and the suspense-filled phrases: On November 21... Nothing will be the same.... From the Worldwide Bestseller.... Forever... Begins... Now... the sweeping shots of the Gorge, the slow-motion of Edward and Bella walking to school together to emphasize their unusual relationship and how it sticks out to those around them, the focus on the supernatural elements of the Cullens leaping and running... it all makes for a very well put together trailer.

It's interesting how much of the supernatural they are releasing in this one trailer too. Having Bella say 'Vampire' especially after hearing about radioactive spiders, kryptonite, heroes, bad guys and watching Edward rip apart a tree and gracefully catch an apple off of his own foot super-hacky-sack style... it raises the interest as well as the expectation for what we're about to see. He's a different character than most have ever experienced before, and I think the trailer illustrates that well. Many vampires have existed in the history of literature and film, but not one that abstains from his drinking-from-humans tendencies ("My family, we're different from others of our kind"), lives as a member of a loving family, falls in love with a human and proceeds to date her (the kiss... oh, the kiss... need I say more? You can almost see Bella 'attacking' him and him obviously enjoying it, but trying to restrain and back off at all times, and "You are my life now," Yes, I swooned. I know I've talked about the visible chemistry between Kristen and Rob, and Stephenie Meyer has also talked about it at length, but hopefully you can see a bit of it now too)... these are new territories in the realms of storytelling; hence, perhaps, part of the huge appeal of Twilight to readers, although just the dreaminess factor of Edward alone doesn't hurt.

I also enjoyed seeing some of the scenes that I watched being filmed in April- now edited, filtered, cleaned up and rehashed on film. It's bringing the whole experience full-circle. Like the restaurant scene- there was only the one small clip in the trailer, but it looks so different from what I saw filmed in April. The light is softer, the sound clearer, the focus more exact. It makes me wonder which of the hundred takes taken that day they used, and how they decided that those shots were the perfect ones to piece that scene together. And I think about how that was a really rainy day, it was cold and very long, they shot that angle of Rob's face with the back/side of Kristen Stewart's face at least two dozen times, Kristen was full of mushroom ravioli and was worried about eating more, and how none of that peripheral drama plays into the scene at all. It still amazes me how when creating a film all of that side action of 'real life' is forgotten and the focus immediately comes back to the text and the story. Just think about how often in a day you get mad, or hungry, or giggly; can you imagine having a small slice in the middle of whatever emotion you're feeling be completely removed from that situation? I don't think I can turn things on and off like that... I guess that's why I'm not an actor!



















(This first picture is the restaurant with no special lighting; it was before they started setting it up for filming and I was able to duck in and take a picture. It's all a bit chinky and somewhat awkward, and the second one is a screen shot of the day, and you can see how it already looks more appropriate and romantic with the lighting etc, and then see the clip from the trailer and it looks spot on. It's so interesting what they can do with art directors, set dressers, and lighting.)

And while I'm on this tangent... I think I've said this before, but it was also interesting watching the preparation processes of Kristen and Rob. Kristen would disappear for a long time between scenes, spend a lot of time in her trailer, and she didn't linger around with the other actors much. She would prepare, focus, come into the scene and shoot it brilliantly, checking herself in the middle of takes, asking to do it again if it wasn't right with her etc., whereas Rob would meander, do what he pleased, and when it came time to film he would pause for about twenty or thirty seconds before action, stare at a spot on the floor or off into the distance, and then he'd be in it; he'd be Edward. It was just neat to witness how differently they prepared and how well each tactic seemed to work for them.

Of course I'm now even more intrigued than I was to see the film in it's entirety (I didn't think that was possible...). I'm working on an article right now on how Twilight is adapting a work the way that I think works should be adapted...at least in the realm of fantasy literature, although the principles described can apply to any adaptation. I just feel like when a film is created by fans for fans, with the help and approval of the author, if that underlying passion and desire to present the film as well and with as much of the spirit of the book present as possible is there- it just easily translates to the film. There's no way not to feel the passion and care put into a work when people really care (i.e. The Lord of the Rings. That was a whole set of Tolkien fans, and look at how well the films turned out, winning scads of Academy Awards and winning over millions of book-loving fans).

I. Cannot. Wait. It's been such a brilliant experience to live with this adaptation from the beginning. Well, not the super beginning as I wasn't there when Greg Mooradian bought the rights, but seeing it from filming, to editing, to marketing, and soon to release... it's all very exciting. Just the filming techniques put into the trailer give me hope that the film will be even more specific and thought-out.

Update

I realize aside from the 'I Heart Stephenie Meyer' post, that I've been pretty darn quiet recently, so I thought I'd just jot down what I've been up to.

After the Breaking Dawn weekend of craziness, I went to my college roommate's wedding in New Jersey, then to camp in New Hampshire (it's an all girl's camp that I've been going to since I was seven. It was my 19th year there- 10 years as a camper and 9 as a counselor... doesn't that make me sound really old?? I'm only 25!). That was great. Probably about 2/3 of camp was reading one of the four Twilight books, and nearly all of them have read Harry Potter, so we had a good time up there chatting about our obsessions in the great outdoors. I dressed up as Harry Potter for Showtime (our skit-show in the middle of camp), and on the last day of camp everyone at my table dressed as Twilight characters and we took over the dining hall; no one was allowed to get their dinner until the showed us a superpower that a vampire or werewolf might have. We even had a very small camper wearing all silver stuff (she looked like a human disco ball) and a headlamp- she was the Volvo! It was great!

So after camp I went to hang out with my folks for a bit in Pennsylvania, unpacked and repacked everything (I've literally been living out of a suitcase all year, so I had to re-evaluate what had to come back to Wales with me), and went on a mini roadtrip to see friends and professors in Washington DC and Fredericksburg VA (I did my undergraduate degree there, at the University of Mary Washington). I was then home for 24 hours and then on a plane to the UK.

I've most definitely been living in denial of the fact that I'd be returning to the UK, so when my plane touched down in Manchester, England, it was very, very surreal. I love the UK. I still do, I always have, and I hope I always will, but I've never been a fan of leaving anywhere. It doesn't matter where I am or where I'm going, leaving stinks! Most of the time I love arriving, but this time was a bit tough. I've just had such an incredible year; I've traveled like crazy (something that makes me happy...literally, it's like a shot of happiness straight into my system), caught up with friends and family, read like a fiend, had tons of new experiences, got to talk to authors, visit with game designers, immerse myself in the adaptation of Twilight and truly lose myself in my work.

I. Have. Loved. Every. Minute.

You can't often look back on a full year and not remember any bad days. So it was very tough to say goodbye to that and head back to Wales where people haven't shared the same experiences with me, I don't know what my department is like right now (a lot of stuff is up in the air), I don't even know what classes I'm teaching yet, and school starts in TWO weeks! I'm not sure who's still in town of my friends.... it's a lot of 'not sure' stuff, which makes for a rather anxious return.

I'm sure it will all be fine; it usually is! I tend to make the best of whatever situation I'm in, and I have a lot of new persuits to try this year (teaching, international ambassadorship- let me know if you're interested in studying abroad, it's actually part of my job now, and I really want to pick up sailing or something like that...), I'm really glad to see the friends I've been away from, and my work is still going well. It's certainly slowed down a bit as I'm away from contacts and events and the like now, but now I can settle heavily into research and writing, and planning (TwiCon 2009 anyone? I'm planning the academic panels, so I'll be there. And check out the link... there's something big a-brewin').

So there's the rundown on what I'm up to and an illustration of a hurdle that can arise in studying abroad. I'm going to start prepping for my classes (I can't believe that I don't take them anymore, that I actually teach them...there's a new experience!), I'm working on a couple of articles and will hopefully get them out in the next few weeks (one on considering fans in an adaptation, and one on the inter-media aspects of Twilight), I'm gonna run every day, take in the gorgeous scenery, and remember that I love this place, too. It's different, but if something didn't change in my life, I wonder if I would have started to take all of those wonderful adventures for granted. You have to have some 'normal' times to appreciate the sublime times! That's what I'm telling myself anyway :)

I Heart Stephenie Meyer

Well, the beloved author of the Twilight Saga has had a rough few weeks. Most of it was probably ups with the book release, concerts, and adoring fans, but some has been harsh reviews which, as I know from experience, you can easily say that it doesn't bother you, but you still take every word and every mark with a red pen to heart. And then, to top off the busy, draining weeks she's probably had, somehow a draft version of the first twelve chapters of Midnight Sun was leaked onto the internet. While this is a gross invasion of her rights as an author, and upsetting that whoever was trusted with this manuscript somehow allowed it to pass to less-trusting hands, I think the most horrifying thing, as an author, is to know that something unfinished is now associated with your writing.

For me, writing is such a long process. Nothing is completed in one sitting. Even my blog entries go through three or four drafts before I post them, and they're still riddled with typos and grammatical errors. Not to mention they ramble a bit, and my thoughts are never quite as clear as they could, or perhaps should be. My supervisors over the years have thrown me terrified looks when I hand them a first draft, because I bet they resemble the writing of a fifth grader, and not of a PhD student. That's just how my process works. I get my ideas onto paper in the most basic, simple way, and then I hash, rehash, cut apart, and hash some more until it starts to resemble something a little more academic. I continue this process right up until the deadline, and I usually wish I could continue the editing long after it has gone to a publisher or turned in for marking. That's just how I work.

So I can't imagine the frustration, and the sense of helplessness that Meyer may be feeling right now. I shudder to think about being graded or reviewed on a work that I never once even considered close to complete. To have that stand as a part of the body of your work, but never have had the right to decide if it was something that you wanted to share yet or not. Ugh...

You all know how I feel about spoilers, and haters, and anyone whose sole purpose it is to destroy someone else's joy, peace or contentment... this is just one more case where someone as giving to her fans as Meyer has become the victim.

I'll get off my soap box again... I don't mean to keep climbing back up there, but like so many things on this blog, it's how I process some thoughts.

To show my support, here's the banner created by a number of the Twilight fan sites to show their support, and I'm reposting it here with their permission. All the best Stephenie, and I hope you don't let a few joy-squashers dampen the joy that the stories and writing has always given you.

Breaking Dawn Release Events in NYC Part 2

The line outside of the Nokia theater was incredible. Dustin and I walked around the perimeter of the building just taking in all of the fans, t-shirts and full-on costumes. I think my favorite was the Team Cullen baseball team, or the girl dressed as a bride- veil and all. The excitement was palpable. It kept building, and every now and again would break into shrieks and chants (i.e. the video… there’s nothing like 2,000 people chanting “TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!”). At one point I was chatting with Dustin about something or other and I heard shrieking, and started looking around for the source (perhaps a cameo appearance by an actor? A sighting of Stephenie’s car? How did I know?), and Dustin just says to me, “It’s just your normal shrieking honey, I think it’s the anthem of the weekend...” And that was very true. It was like a kettle boiling over every ten minutes or so.

Anyway… we met back up with the Lexicon gang and Bailey from the panel, and only had about half an hour to wait before the doors opened and we were allowed in.

I think I now know what it’s like to be a part of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. There were dozens of security staff around screaming “Don’t run!” but those voices didn’t work so well against 2,000 enthusiastic mostly-teen girls. Once inside I wandered the main floor for a short while, just to get a feel for the energy and see what the crowd was like. Then I bought my tour t-shirt (gotta have souvenirs…) and went to sit up in the seats above the main floor. I’m so glad that I did that. It was great to see the crowd react throughout the show, not to mention to be able to sit comfortably after a long day. The theater was spacious, but still very intimate. I never felt like I was far away; I could hear and see everything I wanted to and there were monitors all over the place providing ample close-up views of Justin’s fingers or Stephenie’s grimacing face as she contemplated how to answer a question without revealing any spoilers from Breaking Dawn.

As 7:00pm neared, the audience was at its breaking point. Finally, the lights went down, and one by one, spotlights came up on each of the massive banners hanging on stage- a spotlight on Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and, finally, the Breaking Dawn banner, to which the audience erupted. I could slowly feel myself turning into a shrieking groupie. As soon as Justin Furstenfeld came out with his guitar, I just gave into the hype and rode it throughout the rest of the evening, shrieking with the rest whenever anything remotely exciting happened, and hanging on every word from Stephenie Meyer and every note from Justin Furstenfeld.

I was thrilled that Justin was wonderful. I hate it when you build up a band or musician in your mind, memorize every lyric and let the music affect your daily life, and then when you see them live they just fall flat. Justin Furstenfeld did NOT disappoint. He was wonderful. Every note was on, the emotion streamed from his fingers and vocal chords like tortured honey, and he seemed truly pleased and honored to be there in front of the manic crowd. I think he did four songs, and then as he left, Kim Stolz of MTV reappeared to introduce Stephenie Meyer. Take a look at that video and I don’t think you’ll need anymore analysis of what that moment was like.

I loved the questions that Meyer chose (over 1800 questions were submitted to mtv.com and Meyer chose the ones that she wanted to answer). There were many new ones, which sparked new information and discussion. I found her to be very down to earth, honest, and unchanged from the first interview I ever saw of her. She seemed to be truly in love with her fans, and very relatable to them. I imagine this has only helped her popularity as she seems like your own big sister or the cool mom down the street. She realizes the phenomenon that she has created, but instead of getting a big head like one would expect an author to get, she just seems excited that so many people want to share her obsessions with her; she swoons as much as the next person when the name “Edward” is mentioned and says that she still has moments where she just needs to go back to the books to visit her friends. That sounded very familiar to me!

My favorite part was after the interview, when Justin returned to the stage and played a few of the songs that influenced Stephenie. They both sat on the couches on stage, and it felt like a laid-back jam session in someone’s garage, and 2,000 people just happened to be invited. They both appeared to be enamored with the other, even giggling from time to time. Stephenie shared that she went to a Blue October concert after hearing “Overweight” on the radio, a song that she has described as a “Jacob” song because of lines like ‘ever had to carry the weight of another, for how long’ and ‘I owned up, I’ve grown up, do you remember me? I showed up and so what if I’m the used to be?,’, and after that experience she met with Justin to hear a few more songs and chat with him about the Breaking Dawn tour. While there, he played a few unrecorded songs for her and after listening to one, “My Never,” she was shocked, because there was a page in Breaking Dawn that fit perfectly with that song. When reading the book on Saturday, I’m almost certain that I found that page... at least I think I did… I’d like to know if it’s really the page she mentioned; it’s eerie how perfectly the song fits the book and vice versa. There seems to be an indescribable bond between Meyer and the musicians that influence her. “Hate Me” is the most-often referred to song, as it embodies Edward’s anger at himself, wishing that Bella could just hate him and move on with her life, but “Into the Ocean” and “Congratulations” are two more for me that I think are just eerily related to the Twilight series. There’s that line in “Into the Ocean” about the ocean being 14 miles away (the same distance as La Push from Forks), and “I thought about your face, relaxed and floated into space” which is basically exactly what Bella does at the end of New Moon; she thinks of Edward's face and drifts…until a certain werewolf saves her.

Anywho… this interview/breaking into song bit of the evening was lovely. It was great to hear about the creative processes for both Meyer and Furstenfeld, seeing what inspires them and how they work (they both agreed that the majority of their brilliancy always seems to come in the middle of the night and they can’t sleep until they purge their brains of whatever storyline or song is running through it). The crowd was entranced, hanging off of every word (and yet still managing to shriek whenever Edward, Jacob, The Meadow, Rob Pattinson, or anything else remotely swoon-worthy was mentioned). I really enjoyed the ease of the conversation, and the smooth transitions of their talk into Justin’s songs. The acoustic version of “Sound of Heaven Pulling Down” nearly brought me to tears, and I certainly can’t get enough of “My Never” and “Hate Me.” I wish I had the whole evening to live over again now that I have my favorite parts organized in my brain.

I was very sorry to see it start to wind down, but the release was just a few short hours away at this point, and Stephenie had 2,000 bookplates to sign. The crowd was NUTS at the signing part. I truly understood the term “bottleneck” as an entire auditorium tried to squeeze through one set of doors to file quickly by Stephenie before being shuttled out the door. I tried to think of something brilliant to say to her as I went by, but that was a lost cause. I’m sure that part of the evening was a giant blur to her anyway, so I was just immensely grateful that she was willing and excited to sit there for however many hours she had to sit there, undertake whatever hand cramps came her way, and be close to the fans. It was very refreshing.

Dustin and I somehow floated towards the Borders by Penn Station, pushing through our over-stimulated minds’ exhaustion and riding our post-concert high. After getting recognized on the street (very odd; a girl that had been at the panel recognized me and wanted to ask me a bunch of questions about my days on the Twilight set), we walked into Borders, through the throngs of fans, most of whom were dressed as vampires or werewolves. Inside was organized madness. We picked up our bracelets that allocated us to a group to pick up our books (we were in the ‘A’ group), and did a tour of the building to see what was going on. There was a make up booth giving people purple rings around their eyes and alabaster-pale skin, a fortune-telling booth called ‘Ask Alice,’ a trivia contest organized by the Lexicon staff, and upstairs by the café the Twilight trailer and clips from the film were being shown to a crowd of avid fans. Around 11:30 we went to the ‘A’ section of the store to get in line for our books. We were about fifty people back in line. Again, the excitement started building. Every few minutes a member of the Border’s staff would get on a megaphone and scream how many minutes from midnight we were, and the crowds would erupt with cheers and hoots. My phone rang about six times from friends that I got to read the series and were at release parties of their own (my one friend’s mom was working at the local Borders for the release event and Meghan said she came home with vampire bites on her neck… I told her that wasn’t accurate for Stephenie Meyer’s vampires, but I was glad for the excitement and participation of her mother).

Finally the countdown began, and once THREE….TWO….ONE was shouted by the masses, the books were officially on sale. I was also very impressed by the staff there. The scanning and bagging of the books was a well-choreographed dance. The line moved quickly, and we grabbed our books and ran out of the store- when I got the seventh Harry Potter I had a bad experience of people flipping to the back and reading the last page out loud… NOT COOL. I am sooo not a fan of spoilers or people whose intent is to spoil, so we didn’t hang around once we had Breaking Dawn in our hands. We walked home, read for about two hours, passed out (it had been a very, very long day, and I wanted to be able to give my full attention to Breaking Dawn), woke up around 9am and just read all day. We ate in, I didn’t answer my phone or divert my eyes for any longer than it took to pour milk in my tea. Such a brilliant day.

I do hope to analyze Twilight a bit academically in the future, but that is a massive undertaking, so don’t hold your breath for my analysis! Right now I’m just trying to sort out this article, a Twilight academic panel for TwiCon 2009, and oh yeah… move out of Boston, repack my stuff in Pennsylvania, and get ready to go back to Wales in early September. Eeep!

It was a brilliant, brilliant weekend, and I’m so glad that I was able to be a part of it. Of course I’m looking forward to every opportunity that comes my way, and hope that I’ll be able to grab onto each of them. We still have the film versions of the remaining three books (no, I don’t know anything about their production status, sorry!), and Midnight Sun to look forward to.

YAY!

My webshots album

And here are a bunch of videos... you may have to deal with me singing along to the songs in some of them... sorry!


Twilight Chanting


Kim Stolz asking who's excited... and the crowd erupts!


Stephenie Meyer enters


My Never


Sound of Heaven Pulling Down (love this acoustic version)

And for some reason 'Hate Me' won't load... dang.