40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes
If it’s an inspiring speech, you betcha it has been said in the movies somewhere. Here’s a truly inspiring video clip, edited by Matthew Belinkie of OverthinkingIt: 40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes.
Transcript:
Shame on you. This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re going to let it be the worst. And I guarantee a week won’t go by in your life you won’t regret walking out, letting them get the best of you. Well, I’m not going home. We’ve come too far! And I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause. A day may come when the courage of men fails… but it is not THIS day. The line must be drawn HERE. This far, no further! I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. You’re going to work harder than you ever worked before. But that’s fine, we’ll just get tougher with it! If a person grits his teeth and shows real determination, failure is not an option. That’s how winning is done! Believe me when I say we can break this army here, and win just one for the Gipper. But I say to you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time: you’ve got to get mad. I mean plum mad dog mean. If you would be free men, then you must fight to fulfill that promise! Let us cut out their living guts one inch at a time, and they will know what we can do! Let no man forget how menacing we are. We are lions! You’re like a big bear, man! This is YOUR time! Seize the day, never surrender, victory or death… that’s the Chicago Way! Who’s with me? Clap! Clap! Don’t let Tink die! Clap! Alright! Let’s fly! And gentlemen in England now abed shall know my name is the Lord when I tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they’ll never take our Independence Day!
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] - via Miss Cellania
Comment (12)
Permalink
Please share:  email
this 
|
The Stories Behind Hollywood Studio Logos
You see these opening logos every time you go to the movies, but have you ever wondered who is the boy on the moon in the DreamWorks logo? Or which mountain inspired the Paramount logo? Or who was the Columbia Torch Lady? Let's find out:
1. DreamWorks SKG: Boy on the Moon
In 1994, director Steven Spielberg, Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, and record producer David Geffen (yes, they make the initial SKG on the bottom of the logo) got together to found a new studio called DreamWorks.
Spielberg wanted the logo for DreamWorks to be reminiscent of Hollywood's golden age. The logo was to be a computer generated image of a man on the moon, fishing, but Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren of Industrial Light and Magic, who has worked on many of Spielberg's films, suggested that a hand-painted logo might look better. Muren asked his friend, artist Robert Hunt to paint it.
Hunt also sent along an alternative version of the logo, which included a young boy on a crescent moon, fishing. Spielberg liked this version better, and the rest is history. Oh, and that boy? It was Hunt's son, William.
The DreamWorks logo that you see in the movies was made at ILM from paintings by Robert Hunt, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films (designers of the original storyboards), Dave Carson (director), and Clint Goldman (producer) at ILM.
Photo courtesy of Robert Hunt
- Thanks for the neat story, Robert!
2. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM): Leo The Lion
In 1924, studio publicist Howard Dietz designed the "Leo The Lion" logo for Samuel Goldwyn's Goldwyn Picture Corporation. He based it on the athletic team of his alma mater Columbia University, the Lions. When Goldwyn Pictures merged with Metro Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer Pictures, the newly formed MGM retained the logo.
Since then, there have been five lions playing the role of "Leo The Lion". The first was Slats, who graced the openings of MGM's silent films from 1924 to 1928. The next lion, Jackie, was the first MGM lion whose roar was heard by the audience. Though the movies were silent, Jackie's famous growl-roar-growl sequence was played over the phonograph as the logo appeared on screen. He was also the first lion to appear in Technicolor in 1932.
The third lion and probably most famous was Tanner (though at the time Jackie was still used concurrently for MGM's black and white films). After a brief use of an unnamed (and very mane-y) fourth lion, MGM settled on Leo, which the studio has used since 1957.
The company motto "Ars Gratia Artis" means "Art for Art's Sake."
Sources: MGM Media Center | Wikipedia entry on "Leo The Lion"
3. 20th Century Fox: The Searchlight Logo
In 1935, Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Film Company (back then mainly a theater-chain company) merged to create Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (they later dropped the hyphen).
The original Twentieth Century Pictures logo was created in 1933 by famed landscape artist Emil Kosa, Jr. After the merger, Kosa simply replaced "Pictures, Inc." with "Fox" to make the current logo. Besides this logo, Kosa was also famous for his matte painting of the Statue of Liberty ruin at the end of the Planet of the Apes (1968) movie, and others.
Perhaps just as famous as the logo is the "20th Century Fanfare", composed by Alfred Newman, then musical director for United Artists.
4. Paramount: The Majestic Mountain
Paramount Pictures Corporation was founded in 1912 as Famous Players Film Company by Adolph Zukor, and the theater moguls the Frohman brothers, Daniel and Charles.
The Paramount "Majestic Mountain" logo was first drawn as a doodle by W.W. Hodkinson during a meeting with Zukor, based on the Ben Lomond Mountain from his childhood in Utah (the live action logo made later is probably Peru's Artesonraju). It is the oldest surviving Hollywood film logo.
The original logo has 24 stars, which symbolized Paramount's then 24 contracted movie stars (it's now 22 stars, though no one could tell me why they reduced the number of stars). The original matte painting has also been replaced with a computer generated mountain and stars.
Paramount logo history, for more details, see: CLG
Wiki
5. Warner Bros.: The WB Shield
Warner Bros. (yes, that's legally "Bros." not "Brothers") was founded by four Jewish brothers who emigrated from Poland: Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner. Actually, those aren't the names that they were born with. Harry was born "Hirsz," Albert was "Aaron," Sam was "Szmul," and Jack was "Itzhak." Their original surname is also unknown - some people said that it is "Wonsal," "Wonskolaser" or even Eichelbaum, before it was changed to "Warner." (Sources: Doug Sinclair | Tody Nudo's Hollywood Legends)
In the beginning, Warner Bros. had trouble attracting top talents. In 1925, at the urging of Sam, Warner Bros. made the first feature-length "talking pictures" (When he heard of Sam's idea, Harry famously said "Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?"). That got the ball rolling for the studio and made Warner Bros. famous.
The Warner Bros. logo, the WB Shield, has actually gone many revisions. Jason Jones and Matt Williams of CLG Wiki have the details:
Warner Bros. Logo History - see the full details at CLG
Wiki
If you're interested in WB cartoons, you can't go wrong with Dave Mackey's Field guide: Link
6. Columbia Pictures: The Torch Lady
Columbia Pictures was founded in 1919 by the brothers Harry and Jack Cohn, and Joe Brandt as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales. Many of the studio's early productions were low-budget affairs, so it got nicknamed "Corned Beef and Cabbage." In 1924, the brothers Cohn bought out Brandt and renamed their studio Columbia Pictures Corporation in effort to improve its image.
Vintage Columbia Pictures Logo (Source: Reel
Classics)
The
studio's logo is Columbia, the female personification of America. It was
designed in 1924 and the identity of the "Torch Lady" model
was never conclusively determined (though more than a dozen women had
claimed to be "it.")
In her 1962 autobiography, Bette Davis claimed that Claudia Dell was the model, whereas in 1987 People Magazine named model and Columbia bit-actress Amelia Batchler as the girl. In 2001, the Chicago Sun-Times named a local woman who worked as an extra at Columbia named Jane Bartholomew as the model. Given how the logo has changed over the years, it may just be that all three were right! (Source)
The current Torch Lady logo was designed in 1993 by Michael J. Deas, who was commissioned by Sony Pictures Entertainment to return the lady to her "classic" look.
Though people thought that actress Annette Bening was the model, it was actually a Louisiana homemaker and muralist named Jenny Joseph that modeled the Torch Lady for Deas. Rather than use her face, however, Deas drew a composite face made from several computer-generated features (Source: Roger Ebert, Photo: Kathy Anderson)
Obviously, we're missing the stories of the logos of many other film studios. We'd love to hear from you if you know any! Please tell us in the comment section.
If you like this article, please check out Neatorama's articles on logos:
|
Comment (106)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Dark Knight Tattoo Is Topical…But Is It a Good Idea?
Although modern technology has evolved to the point where tattoos can be removed, getting one is still quite a major commitment. Despite this, some still choose not only to get tattoos, but tattoos related with pop culture, references whose relevance threaten to fade over time. At GreatWhiteSnark’s blog, there’s a write-up of a gentleman who obtained a spectacular tattoo inspired by the upcoming film, The Dark Knight:
I’m putting out a call for genuinely novel and creative ways for fanboys (and -gals) to express their enthusiasm for the newest Batman film from director Chris Nolan. You could do worse–well, depending on how you look at it–than to take a cue from the dude who emblazoned a tattoo of the Batman symbol from Batman Begins and The Dark Knight across his back, courtesy of Tony Siemer of New Breed Tattoo in Dayton, Ohio.
I’m very much looking forward to the film, and desperately hope that it will be remembered as a modern classic, but what do you think about the idea of getting pop culture tattoos? In particular, in this case, does the tattoo’s associations with the overall character of Batman render it timeless? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Hit the Link for the larger image and GreatWhiteSnark’s always-snarky write-up.
|
Comment (20)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
100 Films in Under 2 Minutes
Montage-maker Paul Proulx’s work has been featured on Neatorama before, but I just couldn’t resist myself again: Proulx has recently put together a 2-minute clip that features moments from his 100 favorite films. At first I didn’t feel like this clip was particularly creative but as I watched it more, I realized that aside from the juxtaposition of similar beats/events/lines here, there’s a rhythm to the way these moments are edited together…and I like it. What do you think?
Also, can you name all the films?
|
Comment (11)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
The Films of Joel and Ethan Coen: A Mashup
Those of you who are huge Coen brothers fans like me know that despite being set in a variety of outlandish places (e.g. Arizona in “Raising Arizona”, L.A. in “Barton Fink,” Brainerd in “Fargo”) a lot of their films have similarities: ponderous voiceovers, psychotic white males, copious amounts of gunplay. But this brilliant mashup by Youtube user barringer82 not only reveals the visual and aural similarities between many of their films; it also does an excellent job of showing you how diverse and compelling their films really are. Bonus points if you can identify every single one of the films used.
|
Comment (8)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
The Outrageous (Mis)Fortune of Terry Gilliam
Anyone who’s ever seen the heartbreaking documentary Lost in La Mancha knows that esteeemed filmmaker Terry Gilliam does not have fortune on his side when he’s making films. But what might be less familiar to people is that his bad luck has followed him almost since the beginning of his career. According to film blog Cineleet:
No director in history knows more about compromise than Terry Gilliam. Part and parcel of being a visionary is being constantly told you can’t get the shot. Forces of Darkness conspire to defeat you, often in the form of studio executives, sometimes in the form of Nature herself.
Right now, they have a great post documenting many of the challenges Gilliam has faced, from 1977’s Jabberwocky all the way through next year’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which was dramatically affected by the tragic death of Heath Ledger (Ledger was slated to portrayed one of the film’s main characters). I can’t imagine the fortitude it takes for a man like Gilliam, who’s suffered countless setbacks, to keep pressing forward. I’d like to think that the visions he has for his movies prevent him from stopping.
|
Comment (14)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Family Guy Star Wars Style Poster
Family Guy and Star Wars fans can both appreciate the clever re-imagining of the famous Star Wars Style “C” poster recently devised for the Family Guy: Blue Harvest special. The original Star Wars cast has all been replaced by the signature players of Family Guy, and even the logo and credits emulate those seen on the original Star Wars poster.
The poster can now be pre-ordered from the official Star Wars shop for $9.99 (ships January 20).
Preview video clip of the “Blue Harvest” episode.
|
Comment (4)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
Steam Trek: The Moving Picture
What it might have looked like if Star Trek was made a 100 years ago by George Melies. View the full version of this brilliant at sisterson.co.uk.
Link [YouTube] - linkfilter.net via Fanboy
|
Comment (2)
Permalink
Please share: email
this
|
-
Your purchase helps support the blog - Thank you!
