Duncan Jones brings you closer
One of Twitter’s mantras is “Twitter brings you closer”. They especially like to emphasise how Twitter can makes watching TV show a more immersive and personal experience. Over Christmas I came across a great example first-hand of Twitter ‘bringing me closer’, which I thought I’d share.
‘Moon’ is one of my favourite movies of the last few years, a beautiful, intelligent, haunting sci-fi film that harked back to an age when Science Fiction was about big ideas and not big budgets. So seeing it in the Christmas schedule as part of a double bill with Blade Runner, I made an appointment to view. I mostly stayed off Twitter during the film as, despite many previous viewings, I was still completely engrossed. I did pull my phone out to tweet this however during a particularly heart wrenching scene, if only to distract myself from the sadness of it:
That bit in #moon always gets me.
— ted littledale (@_superted) December 30, 2012
I then spotted in my timeline that someone had retweeted this tweet from Duncan Jones, the director of Moon, talking about the same point in the film.
Getting excited now!Almost at my big heart-breaker shot.still makes me sad! #moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
It turns out that, having himself spotted in the Radio Times that Moon was going to be making it’s ‘proper telly’ premiere, Duncan Jones had decided to arrange a tweetalong with himself and various members of the crew, including Concept Artist and VFX Supervisor, Gavin Rothery and composer, Clint Mansell amongst many others. You can see a more comprehensive storify of the tweetalong but here are some highlights.
Making a quick reference to Blade Runner which aired directly afterwards:
So this opening ad is not in the script.at all!Was somethign I came up with while we were in the edit, and needed a way to… #moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
…get the exposition out the way without having to do a text crawl, like SOME other films that are playing after Moon! #MoonBbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
Talking about how they got Kevin Spacey on board:
Somebody just asked how we got Kevin Spacey involved.Well, we couldnt, at first.He was understandably cautious.#moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
We actually werent able to convince KS to be Gerty until after the film was completed & he saw Sam Rockwells performance #MoonBbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
Expaining some of the thinking behind GERTY and comparisons with HAL from 2001: A space Odyssey:
A question about Gerty’s voice and Hal.I wanted Gerty to be the anti-Hal.Use the audiences expectations against them! #Moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
Question about Gerty’s face.Emoticons are a new part of our language.A shorthand for emotional stance. It felt right!#Moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
Clint Mansell talking about his score:
@samochandler @manmademoon this is one of my favourite pieces of work but its so easy to write to a performance like Sam Rockwell gives..
— Clint Mansell (@iamclintmansell) December 30, 2012
A nod to Chesney Hawkes’ ‘The One and Only’ featuring in the film:
Chesney absolutely a conscious choice.After doing it, I decided to use it again in Source Code, & now, it will be in everything! #moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
Chesney himself even got involved:
I landed safe n sound backing Blighty…now watching ‘Moon’ with the ol man on BBC2! @manmademoon #MoonBbc2
— Chesney Hawkes (@ChesneyHawkes) December 30, 2012
The reasoning behind featuring ping pong in the film:
Why ping pong?Had table as a kid, but not enough friends to play all the time.Ended up playing against it folded :( #moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
Playing a folded ping pong table is a great, quick metaphor for loneliness as well.
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
Duncan talking about his cameo as a female computer voice:
Post editor @bazzybazbazbaz has joined us!He just reminded me that the lady computer voice in vehicles.. is me! pitch shifted #moonbbc2
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) December 30, 2012
This is just a small selection and I highly recommend fans of the film visit the storify page.
It was great to go through all the tweets after the movie ended (with Blade Runner on in the background). Not only was it interesting hearing little tidbits about the film, but there was something about the fact all these people were watching and talking about the film at the same time as you that made it somehow much more personal than something like a DVD commentary. Twitter really did make the experience much more intimate and engaging.
by Ted Littledale
