Don Jones on sun 29 mar 98
Dear group,
I saw a video last night that I must share with you. First of all, I watch
ALOT of movies, sometimes 4 a week. This one truly left a big impression
on me. The name of it is "Scent of Green Papaya". I'm sure many of you
have seen it already.
The main reason I'm sharing it with you is that I became very much aware of
pottery in this film. Everywhere were storage jars, planters, wonderful
serving dishes and decorative clay. Big pots, small pots, brown drippy
ones, white elegant ones, all kinds. Pots play a role in the plot of the
film as well.
In addition I think that this is one the most amazingly photographed and
detailed film I've seen in ages. Every frame is a carefully crafted
composition of color and form. It is complimented by sounds of birds and
insects and domestic sounds of all kinds. It has a music track that is
very unusual and very sophisticated. To watch this film is to be drenched
in beauty. It is truly a work of art.
Enjoy,
Don Jones
claysky@highfiber.com
:-) implied in all messages and replies
http://highfiber.com/~claysky
Jan Wax on mon 30 mar 98
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Don Jones wrote:
>
>I saw a video last night that I must share with you. First of all, I watch
>ALOT of movies, sometimes 4 a week. This one truly left a big impression
>on me. The name of it is "Scent of Green Papaya"....... I'm sure many of you
>have seen it already.
To watch this film is to be drenched
>in beauty. It is truly a work of art.
Yes! This film is such a visually seductive piece and pottery does play a
big part.Since you brought up the subject, Don, I've thought of another
film in which pottery is featured. It's "Ugetsu" - a classic Japanese film,
made in either the fifties or sixties. A war is raging... a potter is
trying desperately to get his wood-fired kiln to temperature, but the enemy
army is approaching,closer and closer, so he throws on the last of the wood
and runs away, returning days later to find....?? (wouldn't want to spoil
it for anyone). I'd love to see it again, but haven't found it yet on
video.
Jan
Louis Katz on tue 31 mar 98
Our Blockbusters Video Chain had Ugetsu.
Louis
Barbara Brown on wed 1 apr 98
Last year I did " A Potter's Guide to the Movies" for our Association of
Clay and Glass Artists of Calif. newsletter and I thought clayart
members might enjoy it.
A Potter's Guide to the Movies
Here's a list of movies that have pottery scenes. They are all on video
and in most cases, I've noted how far into the video the pottery scene
is.
1. Ghost
Pottery studio (at 8 min)
2, Naked Gun 2 1/2
Parody of pottery scene in Ghost
(at 49 min)
3. Little Buddah
Katmandu, Nepal pottery village
(at 39 min)
4. Joy Luck Club
Chinese pots (at 1 hour, 20 min)
Rose and Ted are drinking from Paula
Ross's coffee mugs (1 houe, 28 min)
5. The Egyptian
Vivika Heino made 775 pots for this
movie (8 min, 12 min,and many more)
6. Demetrius and the Gladiators
Pottery (at 12 min)
Otto Heino at potters wheel (1 second
shot at 15 min)
7. Rieku
Story of the original Japanese tea
master. Teabowls (at 2 min)
Bellermine jug (at 8 min) and more
If you live in San Francisco area this
can be rented at Japantown Video
8. Karate Kid III
Pottery studio (at 34 min)
9. Diehard
A 1 second shot of Peter Callas's pot
being blown up (at 1 hour, 51 min)
10, The Scent of Green Papaya
Great pots alll through the movie
11. Titanic (not on video yet)
Great scene of Beatrice Wood look
alike working on the wheel
Enjoy!
Barbara Brown
who had a great time at NCECA and want to thank Mel for the clayart
room. I got Vince Pitelka's mug and love it.
Barbara Brown phone/fax 408-736-3889
1225 Manzano Way,Sunnyvale,Ca. 94089
http://www.silverhawk.com/crafts/bbrown97.html
Suzanne Wolfe on thu 2 apr 98
Dear Barbara and Clayarters,
There is one really significant film not on this list, and it happens to
be my favorite. It is the film "Utz", which is about a Czech man who
collects Meissen porcelain. The whole film is about the porcelain (and
clay) itself, and the psyche of the collector. The film is based on a
short novel by Bruce Chatwin, author of Songlines, a renowned contemporary
author. That film should be on everyone's list --
Also, and previously mentioned, Ugetsu -- all about potters in hard times
in Japan, and how one gets mixed up, through delusion, with a lovely
"ghost"
Rikkyu -- film by (I think)Teshigahara about the great Japanese tea
master. Had some great tea scenes in it. When I saw it they had gotten
two of the reels mixed up, and so it was really confusing.
Good movie-watching to all!
Suzanne
On Wed, 1 Apr 1998, Barbara Brown wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Last year I did " A Potter's Guide to the Movies" for our Association of
> Clay and Glass Artists of Calif. newsletter and I thought clayart
> members might enjoy it.
>
> A Potter's Guide to the Movies
> Here's a list of movies that have pottery scenes. They are all on video
> and in most cases, I've noted how far into the video the pottery scene
> is.
> 1. Ghost
> Pottery studio (at 8 min)
> 2, Naked Gun 2 1/2
> Parody of pottery scene in Ghost
> (at 49 min)
> 3. Little Buddah
> Katmandu, Nepal pottery village
> (at 39 min)
> 4. Joy Luck Club
> Chinese pots (at 1 hour, 20 min)
> Rose and Ted are drinking from Paula
> Ross's coffee mugs (1 houe, 28 min)
> 5. The Egyptian
> Vivika Heino made 775 pots for this
> movie (8 min, 12 min,and many more)
> 6. Demetrius and the Gladiators
> Pottery (at 12 min)
> Otto Heino at potters wheel (1 second
> shot at 15 min)
> 7. Rieku
> Story of the original Japanese tea
> master. Teabowls (at 2 min)
> Bellermine jug (at 8 min) and more
> If you live in San Francisco area this
> can be rented at Japantown Video
> 8. Karate Kid III
> Pottery studio (at 34 min)
> 9. Diehard
> A 1 second shot of Peter Callas's pot
> being blown up (at 1 hour, 51 min)
> 10, The Scent of Green Papaya
> Great pots alll through the movie
> 11. Titanic (not on video yet)
> Great scene of Beatrice Wood look
> alike working on the wheel
>
> Enjoy!
> Barbara Brown
> who had a great time at NCECA and want to thank Mel for the clayart
> room. I got Vince Pitelka's mug and love it.
>
> Barbara Brown phone/fax 408-736-3889
> 1225 Manzano Way,Sunnyvale,Ca. 94089
> http://www.silverhawk.com/crafts/bbrown97.html
>
Nancy Solway on sun 12 apr 98
Barbara:
Thought I'd add another movie to your pottery in film list, and tell you
about my experience.The movie is John Schlesinger's "The Believers".
This is a very scary suspense film about a guy (Martin Sheen) and his
love interest (Helen Shaver) who get involved with a frenzied cult
religion. Can't remember the details because when I finally saw the film
finished I was absolutley terrified and as I was pregnant at the time
(you'd understand if you saw the film...) tried my best to forget about
it.
I was employed to be the ceramic maker and consultant on the film, shot
in Toronto in 1987. I tried to turn down the job because I'd had a bad
experience doing an Arctic Power commercial in the 70's (basement potter
gets apron dirty!) but the art director really wanted me because of the
work in Raku I was doing at the time - smoky unglazed swirly brushwork
thrown vessels. The film is about ritual and fire and as Helen Shaver's
character is a potter they wanted her work to connect with this. The
main work I had to do was make the "hero pot" - 12 of them
identical.This was the name given to my piece which was the prop used in
the turning point in the film - Sheen's young son breaks the pot and
some voodoo stuff is hidden inside thus revealing the story. Anyway they
wanted this piece in Raku but I told them I couldn't guarantee they'd be
identical. So I did them in white earthenware using various grey to
black slips and the special effects dept. smoked them identically. Doing
12 gave the crew enough chances to shoot the scene. I kept one for me.
I also made a bunch of pots for the set and consulted with Shaver and
Schlesinger. The big problem was that the film was researched really
badly. When I got to the set with Sheen and Shaver (and this scene was
the big set-up for their first necking scene) I found out that during a
power outage she was supposed to lift the lid of the red hot kiln and
say something like "my pots will be ruined". The light from the kiln was
supposed to dramatically brighten the room. I told the crew a potter
would never do this and a few minutes later Schlesinger stomps in and
asks whats the problem. I explained, finishing with "it's your movie" (I
can't believe I actually said that to John Schlesinger) He then stomped
out and I helped the effects guys throw some light out through the peep
holes with the lid closed.
Anyway in the end much of the pottery stuff was editted out. Just as
well as it really was not that important to the film. My pot is there,
though, and just after release I received a call from a potter who I
barely knew who had seem the film in Florida to say there was someone
who was making pots just like mine in a movie. I felt pretty good that
my work was that recognizable.
Hope my little story didn t bore you all - it was a great experience -
I made good money and was really impressed by the professionalism and
committment on set. I was supposed to write this up for CM but never
found the time.
Nancy Solway.
Barbara Brown on wed 15 apr 98
Nancy,
Thank you for the great story about your pottery in the movie "The
Believers" Sunday I went to San Francisco to the Legion of Honor show
"Treasures of African Art from the Tervuren Museum" which is filled with
pieces used for African ritual and on the way home I stopped and rented
the video of "The Believers". It is a pretty scary movie and I
understand why you had trouble watching it. So brave hearted pottery
movie fans, here is one to add to our list. "The Believers" Nancy's
beautiful raku pot at 16 min and the pot being broken at 38 min
If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, there is a video store that
has most of the movies on our list (I went in and asked for Utz as
recomended by Suzanne Wolf and they didn't have it but they ordered it
and I will see it soon) It is Videoscope, 4546 El Camino Real, Los
Altos,Ca phone 415-947-0800
Barbara
Barbara Brown phone/fax 408-736-3889
1225 Manzano Way,Sunnyvale,Ca. 94089
http://www.silverhawk.com/crafts/bbrown97.html
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