The production logo, or ‘vanity plate’, is an often-ignored element of film paratext. But these ever-changing ephemeral images are some of the most viewed of any film. In this essay, I place the vanity plate centre stage in a live screening in a historic picture palace to see what these images can tell us about the historic moments and ideologies of their production.

Published in [in]transition as part of the Once Upon A Screen, Vol. 2 project.

http://mediacommons.org/intransition/vanity-plate

When videogames became mass media in the 90s, Hollywood’s response was to try and bring their filmmaking expertise to the medium, with disastrous results. In Immortality, director Sam Barlow presents an alternative approach to the oft-maligned FMV game, and in doing so turns a dark mirror on filmmaking itself.

Commissioned by the British Film Institute.
https://youtu.be/Bsp2QmUcwil

During the politically tumultuous period of Italian history known as the Years of Lead, a wide range of B-movies were created reflecting the corruption and moral ambiguity of the times: poliziotteschi. This longform video essay was released by Arrow on their Years of Lead boxset.

Watch here.

Innovative blockbuster auteur has been creating exciting work in South Korea for years, but rose to Western audience attention in 2019 with his smash hit Parasite. This video, part of a series created for film magazine Little White Lies, gathered over 150k views. Watch here.

Takeshi Kitano pivoted on his reputation as a TV comedian to deliver three chilling crime films back to back. In this video created for the BFI to celebrate their restoration of these films, I dive into the absurdity and violence of Kitano’s film Sonatine. Watch here.

Playing with audience and critical reactions to the mixed tone of Donnie Darko, this essay proposes three alternative genres the film may be classified as, and argues for each through fake trailer edits. The end results present the plot and characters in radically different ways, showing how genre can structure a film.

https://youtu.be/n1CAYXoLeLk