Entertain Me Or Else

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Entertain Me Or Else

AUSTRALIA CONTENTED WITH CONTENT?

February 26th 2010 00:46

By Jonathan Scutt 26-2-10

Yesterday I saw 3 episodes of FAMILY GUY in a row! I’m not really a fan, but I did buy the STAR WARS take off BLUE HARVEST & will probably buy the follow up SOMETHING, SOMETHING, DARK SIDE.
So I was watching FAMILY GUY & the episode finished & they announced another one. So I watched that & then they announced yet another one! They use to follow FAMILY GUY with AMERICAN DAD so it was a double dose of royalties for Seth Macfarlane. Last night was a triple dose.
Channel 9 often has back to back episodes of TWO & A HALF MEN & Channel 10 was always grouping THE SIMPSONS into clusters of 2 or 3.
This raises the question, will the new government reduction in licensing fees really be a boost to local content? A commentator used TWO & A HALF MEN as an example of how an off the shelf sitcom from America was about a quarter of the cost of a brand new Australian made episode of PACKED TO THE RAFTERS. So with all these new channels starting up on digital & the new internet TV, will there be money for my sitcom SHUT UP! to be made?
Will there be a demand for such new local content. For a long time the only comedies made in Australia seemed to be sketch shows. Jim Shomos from FORGET THE RULES said in my documentary FAMOUS FOR 15 METERS! that sketch show comedy somehow counted as drama points for commercial networks! Don’t ask me how.
Now we are getting loads of game shows & panel shows such as TALKIN’ ‘BOUT YOUR GENERATION, ADBC, THE WHITE ROOM & the return of GOOD NEWS WEEK.
The last Australian made sitcom I saw was CHANDON PICTURES (which made me feel very optimistic about my own video production career thank you very much!) But SBS are also making a new series of WILFRED. I should know I was an extra in it. (Can’t say too much, top secret.)
So we shall wait to see if the commercial networks take the 250 million (or is that billion? I must ask Barnaby Joyce) & invest it in local content. Maybe only the ABC & SBS does that. Maybe it will all mean more back to back episodes of US sitcoms!

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TALKIN’ ‘BOUT TONIGHT

February 8th 2010 02:13

By Jonathan 8-2-10

Well it’s nice to see Shaun Micallef back on the television with his TALKIN’ ‘BOUT MY GENERATION. Why a show with a line from a WHO song as its title has the riff from ‘SMOKE ON THE WATER’ in its theme music I don’t know.
Also, the show was already being shown in 3D! A photo is in 2D but a moving image has height, width & time! Therefore the show with the 3D glasses should have been called 4D! But I won’t go on.
I also enjoyed Shaun’s New Year’s Special. It was very reminiscent of his Channel 9 MICALLEF TONIGHT show: the wheel segment; the Pete Smith voice over & Francis Greenslade. I wonder if Shaun will eventually replace ROVE LIVE with his own brand of variety show. He’s already on Channel 10.
If you heard the commentary on his MICALLEF TONIGHT dvd, he said he wasn’t very comfortable doing interviews, proper interviews. He was often not listening to the interviewee but was preoccupied waiting for the opportunity to insert a joke. Personally I think there are lots of interview shows out there, just as there are lots of game shows. I’d rather watch Shaun doing his quirky, rather surreal version that tends to throw the guest off balance a little with unexpected twists & turns.
I know all the usual expected twists & turns, I want to be surprised!

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ROSS ROYCE PROMO

January 23rd 2010 07:56

By Jonathan Scutt 23/1/10

Here we are in the last year of the first decade of the 21st Century, (just to be technically correct!) Here is a promotional video I made for the band ROSS ROYCE featuring an interview, a photo shoot & some of their video clips. I made the SUZANNE & HELLO PEOPLE clips as well.
For some reason the flash from the still camera was nullified by the video editing software, but that’s only a trivial complaint.

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HELLO PEOPLE

January 23rd 2010 07:52

By Jonathan Scutt 23/1/10

This is a video clip for the band ROSS ROYCE that I shot at the East Brunswick Club. Ross wanted the shots slowed down to create that rock video clip effect that musicians seem to love so much. Possibly it’s so that they don’t have to sync up the music to the lips. Anyway This song was performed at the start of the show so the clip is a way of showing all the band with all the flashing lights & head tossing beloved of rock videos.

Ross Royce Live at East Brunswick Club December 2009

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BACK TO THE DWARF

December 30th 2009 20:57

MATURE CONTENT

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HOLY QUARK!

December 5th 2009 23:52

By Jonathan Scutt 5/12/09

At last my beloved QUARK is out on DVD! This is a sci-fi comedy from 1978 featuring Richard Benjamin as Captain Adam Quark leading a strange bunch of characters around in the United Galaxy Sanitation Patrol garbage ship. I remember this show from my childhood but unfortunately they only made one series & it was only shown once as far as I can remember.
If you’ve seen Richard Benjamin playing it straight in Westworld, then it will be hard to watch that film again after seeing him hamming it up in Quark.
His crew consists of Jean/Gene, a transmute whose behavior veers from macho space ranger one minute to sensitive female the next.
Then there are the Bettys. Played by every man’s fantasy, identical twins! Tricia & Cibbie Barnstable are a female & her identical clone, made from a cell from under the finger nail. They speak & move in unison, but neither of them is sure which is the actual clone. If you like hot blondes then you probably won’t care which is the clone.
Quark’s version of C-3PO is Andy the cowardly robot. The pilot episode featured his creator professor O.B. Mudd but he was replaced in the series by Ficus the Vegeton. He is a humanoid vegetable who owes a lot to Mr Spock. Compared to Ficus however, Mr Spock is a virtual drama queen of emotions!
Finally there is Adam Quark’s boss Palindrome played by Conrad Janis who was Mindy’s father in Mork & Mindy. (If you can remember back that far). Palandrome runs the space station Perma One & answers to his boss the Head, who is a giant head.
The show was made around the time of STAR WARS & was very much a parody of sci-fi, but it owes a lot more to STAR TREK, especially with the subtle in joke about a Roddenberry bush! An episode entitled May The Source Be With You, is an obvious parody of STAR WARS long before Family Guy or Robot Chicken. Another episode entitled Vanessa 38-24-36 is an obvious parody of 2001 with Vanessa the computer instead of Hal 9000.
For those of you who love sci-fi, & have never heard the Head’s catch cry: ‘The galaxy ad infinitum!’ then you should check out Quark & maybe put it in your DVD collection along side Big Bang Theory. (Did I ever tell you about Big Bang Theory?)

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HEATH LEDGER INTERVIEW

December 5th 2009 23:38

By Jonathan Scutt 5/12/09

With the release of Heath Ledger’s last ever film, ‘The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus’ I thought it might be time to show the complete interview we did with Heath back in 2006 for ‘Single Rules’. The interview with Daniel Radcliffe in ‘Celebrity Embarrassing Moments’ seems to have been very popular on Youtube. This was probably because people thought they were going to see him drop his trousers or something. I’m not that tacky! (I’m not that lucky.)
Anyway, producer Danni Crees was from Perth like Heath, & thought this might help break the ice & get him to open up & speak about his private life. She grabbed Heath for a few minutes but he wasn’t too keen on saying much. Apparently he wasn’t very open when it came to giving interview in general & the scraps of interviews I filmed him do with other reporters confirmed this. Even Adam Richard expressed this view when Chanel & I interviewed him in 2005.
As a result I wasn’t able to use more than a few seconds of Heath Ledger in any segment of Single Rules. I tired to fit shots of him under voiceovers, such as in the Embarrassing Moments segment so that I could make the most of the few shots I got.
When Chanel asked Shane & Clayton Jacobson about what it was like being single, they gave us really good answers. When Danni asked Heath, all he did was nod & chew his gum!
So for all you fans of Heath Ledger (which doesn’t include me) here is a tiny scrap of video that has been hidden in the cupboard all these years.
I could have tried to sell it to the highest bidder I suppose, but a few grunts & a bit of gum chewing probably wouldn’t have fetched much of a price.
Perhaps I should dust off my video of Daniel Radcliffe dropping his trousers. Well not until that court injunction lapses in 2050. Damn him & his lawyers!

SINGLE RULES title image

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COMMENTARY COMMENT

November 15th 2009 23:18

By Jonathan Scutt 16/11/09

Fortunately Channel 9 didn’t dump Big Bang Theory in favor of Two & a Half Men. In fact they finished showing season 2 & are now showing season 3! The show is obviously not as high-brow for their audience as I feared.
I have my season 2 DVD but I’m a little disappointed that there are no cast & director’s commentary for each episode. I always enjoy listening to the commentaries. Dr Who even have subtitles describing the production of the TV series as well as the commentaries from actors, directors etc.
The new Robot Chicken Star Wars Part II DVD has 5 or 6 different commentaries. It even includes a commentary featuring Frank Oz who played Yoda. He didn’t even appear in the Robot Chicken DVD but somehow he’s ended up on a commentary. That’s dedication for you!
I made a version of my FAMOUS FOR 15 METERS! documentary with director’s commentary. It was mostly me whinging about people who weren’t much help during the production. But it was also about… no it was mostly me whinging.
I have seen a Dream Theater live DVD with commentary from the band. That’s a bit of a new phenomenon but I think it’s a good idea. Since then I’ve gotten Deep Purple & Rainbow DVDs with commentary. The 1969 live concert ‘Deep Purple Concerto for Group & Orchestra’ has been released on DVD with Jon Lord giving commentary about his composition.
He adds little insights such as Ritchie Blackmore continuing his guitar solo long after it was meant to finish. Conductor Malcolm Arnold was visibly getting impatient, but some of the London Symphony Orchestra were actually tapping their feet along with the rock music.
Apparently one of the timpani players was Tristram Fry who went on to play drums in Sky, so classical musos aren’t always the antithesis of rock musicians.
I also just bought a ‘Gentle Giant’ DVD with a live concert from 1978. This also features commentary from the band which is very enlightening. If you’ve never seen a rock band switch from bass to violin; to trumpet; to guitar; to recorder; to drums; to cello & xylophone; all in one concert, then you should check out Gentle Giant! It’s incredible! These days you’d just press the ‘trumpet’ button on your midi keyboard. Back in the 70s they had to do it all for real!

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ZOMBIE FX

November 1st 2009 23:51

By Jonathan Scutt 2/11/09

Here is yet another segment from my FAMOUS FOR 15 METERS! documentary. This is the making of the special effects for the Zombie Horror film "From Parts Unknown'. There is lots of fake blood, (made to a secret recipe that I must not reveal) & lots of garden hoses & hydraulic pumps

FAMOUS FOR 15 METERS! title image

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DIGITAL OR DEATH!

September 30th 2009 04:52

By Jonathan Scutt 30/9/09

Here is another segment from my documentary FAMOUS FOR 15 METERS!
This time it is about Community television Channel 31. This is the segment where manager Greg Dee talks about the need for funding from the government to change over to digital so that Ch 31 won’t loose any more viewers when they buy a digital set top box.
No wonder nobody watches my documentaries! That explains it now!
I have a set top box but I can’t plug it in until I get a new aerial. I have now started my own video productions business SCUTTY ARK PRODUCTIONS making my own programs such as the Star Wars documentary.
Needless to say, as a result, I can’t afford to buy a new aerial!
So I might be one of the few remaining viewers of Channel 31 when analog switch off occurs in 2013.
This segment was shot around April 2008 & the shots of the Channel 31 Antenna Awards came from 2007. Back then Senator Stephen Conroy was in opposition, so he was making an election promise not to ‘leave you behind’.
Since then he has become the government minister responsible, yet has not fulfilled his election promise. (When has a politician ever reneged on an election promise? I ask you!)
Channel 31 have their: ‘Fair Go Kev’ campaign going at the moment with the watermark at the bottom of the screen. In light of recent events they should probably change it to the: ‘Fair shake of the sauce bottle Kev!’ campaign instead.
Either way, I’ve put this video on my website so as to remind readers of the precarious state of Community television. I’ll also pop a copy into the mail for Senator Conroy. Around the time I made my doco, the Perth Community television station closed down. Who will be next?
Where will I get to show my documentaries then?
The ABC? SBS?
Dream on!
(And I frequently do).

Incidentally, if you want a documentary made you can always send me an email at jonathanscutt@bigpond.com.

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