The Making of Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland was filmed almost entirely in front of a green screen. According to Wikipedia, Johnny Depp actually wore lavender colored contact lenses to avoid getting sick. Much of the cast and crew felt nauseated by being surrounded by the green screens for hours on end. The film was shot in conventional 2D and was later converted to 3D, earning the criticism of James Cameron, who advocated shooting in 3D.

Promotional stills released from The Visual Guide to Alice in Wonderland reveal that only the actors and costumes were real, and the entire setting was CGI. This resulted in a relatively short shooting schedule, 40 days in total. The sequence when Alice falls through the roof and sits upside down was shot right-side up, with a tall wig replicating the look of hanging hair. The deck of card and chess piece soldiers were portrayed by motion capture actors, while Cheshire Cat was all CGI. A veteran commerical actor was hired to preform the Fudderwacken sequence.

Johnny Depp said the character of the Hatter was easy to portray, as it just came out during filming. His casting and that of Helena Bonhome Carter was obvious, as Depp has been in many Burton films, and Carter is the mother of Burton's children. The film's storyline is self contained, thus a sequel would be unnecessary, but welcomed nonetheless.

Track of the Month: Alice

As Alice in Wonderland is our favorite movie of the year, today is a special selection in the track of the week series. This month's track of the month is:

"Alice" by Avril Lavigne, from the album "Almost Alice"

Haunting, powerful, emotive, resonant....

Featured during the end credits sequence (with the growing 3D mushroom), "Alice" is a haunting piano ballad. Sung from Alice's perspective, the lyrics relate how Alice is "trippin out" when she ventures down the rabbit hole. The song relies on Avril's soaring vocal work, and the powerful heavy notes of the piano. "When the world's crashing down...don't you try and stop me," is a really uplifting message of empowerment and triumph over obstacles.

It's most poignant moment is when Avril softly, almost wistfully, sings "I found myself in Wonderland."

The video is like any other movie theme song music video, in that it has Avril playing Alice, and she falls down a rabbit hole and attends the tea party. There are, of course, scenes of the film interspersed, and a mad hatter impersonator spliced together with Johnny Depp's portrayal. There's a particularly scary sequence where Avril's mouth seems to unhinge and get impossibly wide. Avril said she wanted a lot of scenes to feature her playing the piano, to prove that she can.

Sadly, youtubekeep is down, so watch the video from this link.

A Reading of Through the Looking Glass

After finishing Alice in Wonderland, I've just read the sequel, Through the Looking Glass, or What Alice Found There. Though written a few years after the first book, the writing style was consistent.

Again though, there was a pronounced irritated tone throughout the book. I really don't know why: perhaps this was seen as humorous or this was how people behaved. Alice is bratty in this book, which makes sense considering she's only seven, but she's rather rude. She has a sense of entitlement and looks down on the creatures that reside through the looking glass. I understand they are silly at moments, but she doesn't alter her human sense of logic and just relish in the whimsy of Wonderland. The connotation of the book is best demonstrated by how many times Carroll uses the word "contempt" or its variants thereof.

The narrative wasn't as disjointed or disconnected as in the first book, and the story always returned to the the life-size chess match Alice was a part of. A cast of characters as unique as the first set showed up, and the Hatter returns as a page for the White Queen's court. My favorite part was with Humpty Dumpty, as he was wonderfully conceited. Characters were again altered or combined for the movie, and some memorable lines assigned to Alice and other characters.

The book's theme was about dreaming, to convey the transience of childhood. After Alice is unable to reach the scented rushes that constantly move out of reach (as illusive as recovering one's youth), Carroll writes "Even real scented rushes, you know, last only a very little white--and these, being dream-rushes, melted away almost like snow," on page 212. The book ends asking "which one do you think it was?" after discussing the dreams of Alice and the Red King.

Maybe I love the movie too much, or the disjointed narrative and contemptuous/irritated tone of the book is disconcerting, but the film was so much more magical and warm than the books.

A Reading of Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland, written in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, is the book that has inspired countless adaptations, animated or otherwise. I love Victorian era Brit Lit. The vocabulary is far too advanced for today's youth in some instances, but that is indicative of the higher educational standards of Victorian Britain (but this isn't a history lesson). The antique illustrations are a treat.

The book itself is rather short, and a breezy read. It's not perfect, and I prefer the movie. I'm not saying it's awful. The book is more of a series of vaguely connected vignettes of Alice's adventures down the rabbit hole. Alice herself makes a lot of social gaffes, by saying things that are easily misinterpreted, or speaking without tact. But that's like how children are. The animals are argumentative and more animal like than their motion picture versions. I liked the playing card soldiers in the Red Queen's court better in the movie, it would have been interesting to see actual playing cards (like in the book) doing the parts in the movie. The tone was surprisingly irritated, because Alice is easily bothered by the animal's bizarreness and stupidity, and the animals are annoyed of what Alice says and her misunderstanding.

I'm going to read Through the Looking Glass next. I recommend that people see the movie first, then read the book, because it's a treat seeing memorable lines on the page. I can tell Tim Burton interpolated parts from both books into his film, and adapted some characters, and developed others further. The Mock Turtle is hilarious, but somewhat pointless to the overall narrative, but his inclusion in the movie would have been a humorous part.

The ending shows that Alice was actually dreaming (it was a languid summer day) but sweetly relates the theme of the movie: that the magic of childhood is lost on many people, but interacting with Wonderland and children can inspire it once again.

Movie of the Year: Alice in Wonderland

Hedorah and I recently completed a five viewing marathon of Tim Burton's latest masterpiece Alice in Wonderland. The word masterpiece is not good enough to describe this film. We both venture to say that this is the film of the year.

The story is well known to people who have read the beloved children's classic novel. Alice falls down the rabbit hole and enters Wonderland aka Underland, a strange, zany, and wondrous world populated by equally bizarre denizens, from talking animals and playing card soldiers.

Many things make this film memorable, magical, touching, and endearing.

You fall in love with the characters. Mallyumpkin, a mouse that brandishes a sword, is annoying but her fierce loyalty is lovable. Absolem, the cool caterpillar, is enlightening. The fat boys are secondary characters but their humorous banter lights up the screen. The rabbit in the waistcoat is nervous but an intelligent member of the troop. The White Queen, inspired by sexual tv chef Nigella Lawson, is a force of goodness, and is genuine and pure. Bayard the dog is diligent, kind, and protective of his family. The Red Queen is not one dimensional, but a complex, cruel, but sympathetic character because she isn't pretty and was disfavored by her parents. Even minor characters like the frog stewards in the Red Queen's court are lovable. Human characters such as Hamish, though he is ugly and delusional, are endearing in their simplicity. Aunt Imogen, who believes she is engaged to a prince, is a hilarious yet awesomely bizarre character (she's our second favorite). The Mad Hatter, played by chameleon Johnny Depp, of any character is the best. He is adorable and endearing. His lines are so profound and touching, and his scenes are equally humorous and heartwarming. I can't say enough of the Mad Hatter.

The film's message that mad people (aka the most original, true-to-themselves people) are the best kind of people is a powerful theme that sticks with you. The visuals in the movie are not cheap, but imaginative. The story is not just solid, but is of substance. Alice's journey in finding herself and recapturing imagination is a theme that touches everyone, it is through this that we can recapture the wonderment and magic of childhood, where we simply believe six impossible things before breakfast. One where the fact that there is no answer to the question "how is a raven like a writing desk?" an answer enough. One where friendship spans not only distance, but time and place itself. One where the measure of one's worth is their muchness, and can be found only inside oneself. One where madness is normal, and normalcy mad. A world where the best way to travel is by hat... a wonderland.

On the controversial scene of futterwacken: the dance scene catches the viewer off-guard upon the first viewing as it seems to come from nowhere; however, after a second viewing it makes sense as the futterwacken dance is alluded to repeatedly during the film. The scene is really kawaii and a highlight of many highlights.