Photo Journal Part 7: Looking Up

I was trying to find a diffeerent perspective when taking pictures of trees. I got a little carried away. I hope you enjoy them anyway. Comment suggestions for what to take pictures of next.

 

Photo Journal Part 6: First Day of Spring

 To celebrate the first day of spring here are some flowers that I've been photographing this week. Please comment suggestions for other posts. 

Photo Journal Part 5: A Walk of Trees and Industry

Staying close to the house, I tried to be more experimental. I looked for ways the natural melded with the industrial. I hope you enjoy the photos and drop a comment. I paricularly like praise for my photos but suggestions and hints are welcome too.

 

Photo Journal Part 4: A Walk at Dawn

 Ive wanted to take pictures of this barn for years now. I finally got my chance when I got up early for some dawn pictures.

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my progress. Drop a comment to give suggestions for my next excursion.

Double Feature: Thank You Mr. Lucas

I remember seeing the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy while “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede played in the background or when Peter Quill dances to "Come and Get Your Love" during the opening credits to the movie. Let’s face it, that movie is full of musical classics.  I listened through the soundtrack and I was reminded of a debt of gratitude to George Lucas for the Guardians of the Galaxy. No, I'm not talking about that other galaxy far far away.

On August 1st 1973, American Graffiti hit theaters and would be George Lucas' first major success, changing how we think of music in the movies.

I don’t hear a lot of American Graffiti references today but it was and is an important film. The sheer volume of licensed songs that George Lucas wanted for American Graffiti is staggering. He wanted between 85 and 90 songs.  Due to budget constraints he cut that to 45 songs played throughout the film; costing a whopping $90,000 out of a budget of $770,000.

Producer Gary Kurtz, knew Dennis Wilson, of the Beach Boys, from a previous film (Two Lane Blacktop).  Kurtz managed to get the singer/songwriter to license two Beach Boy songs, at the discounted rate of $2000 a piece (Baxter 135). Attorney Tom Pollock followed the Beach Boy deal up by negotiating with the rest of the music publishers on Lucas’ list.  The deal stated that no composer could receive “a higher license fee than any other” (Pollock 108).

Lucas had always described the idea for American Graffiti as a musical. The music was an important part of the film. Even at 45 songs the studio wanted only five or six songs, because of the cost (Pollock 108). Lucas said no.  In the end, Universal had producer Francis Ford Coppola, underwrite the $90,000 for the music.

American Graffiti has endured as a film classic sitting at 77^th on the AFIs Top 100 movies and the 62^nd on the 10^th anniversary list. It was an Oscar nominee for best picture and best director in 1974. As a relative financial success it made George Lucas wealthy and famous. That all being said, American Graffiti was one of the first films to have an almost exclusive soundtrack made up of popular songs.

 

Think about how movies use popular songs today, would Guardians of the Galaxy be the same movie without all those popular tunes? probably not. It all started in the late 60s and 70s with filmmakers like George Lucas, Coppola and Kurtz to push that connection between modern popular music and modern film. Thank you Mr. Lucas for guarding the galaxy.

 

 

Baxter, John. Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas. New York: Avon Books, Inc, 1999.

 

Pollock, Dale. Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas. New York: Da Capo Press, 1999.