LOW BUDGET EYE CANDY #1 from Steven Boone on Vimeo.
Yes, there was a time when it seemed George Lucas might become more of a director than an entrepreneur. Steven Boone of Big Media Vandalism analyzes one neck-snapping action sequence from Lucas’s first (and most adult) feature, 1971’s “THX-1138,” in this terrific video essay, hosted at Vinyl Is Heavy. “Low-Budget Eye-Candy” showcases a precise but unfussy directorial style that grasps “the subtleties of true film craft… and the power of its simplest tools.” Here’s evidence that a pursuit sequence (OK, a car chase) doesn’t have to cost loads of money, or resort to frenetic cutting and camera placement, to create excitement. Writes Boone: “Post 1970’s, post-MTV, post-AVID, post-Internet, post-DVD, this is what mainstream American cinema has lost.”
