French web series From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blow Up is a French online film magazine in the form of a web series created and directed by Luc Lagier and produced by Jean-Stéphane Michaux. Episodes consist of a supercut of excerpts from various films, usually including voice-over commentary. The series debuted on the network Arte in mid-November 2010 and is available on Arte's website and on YouTube.
| Blow Up | |
|---|---|
Logo | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Luc Lagier |
| Directed by | Luc Lagier |
| Narrated by | Luc Lagier and others |
| Country of origin | France |
| Original language | French |
| Production | |
| Producer | Jean-Stéphane Michaux |
| Original release | |
| Network | Arte |
| Release | November 2010 – present |
| External videos | |
|---|---|
| "Le Bus au cinéma" (transl. "The Bus in cinema"), an example of a Blow Up episode in the "Top 5" format | |
| "Tree of Life", an example of a Blow Up episode in the "Carte blanche" and "Recut" formats, made by Johanna Vaude, is composed of excerpts from The Tree of Life, a 2011 film directed by Terrence Malick.[1] |
Each episode of Blow Up is a supercut of similarly themed excerpts from various films. For example, one of the episodes, which is about buses in film, features about 100 film excerpts involving buses, edited together into about 17 minutes of video.[2] In most episodes, someone, usually the series's director Luc Lagier, provides voice-over commentary in a deadpan manner.[3]
Episodes come in the following formats:
In late 2010, Blow Up was conceptualized by self-described cinephile Luc Lagier of the Franco-German television network Arte when Joël Ronez of Arte's web division suggested that he create a series similar to a blog or online magazine.[2] Arte, which had no video series about film at the time and wanted to create one, granted full creative freedom to Lagier[5] and his producer Jean-Stéphane Michaux. Lagier, who had been editor-in-chief of an Arte magazine about short films called Court-circuit (transl. Short circuit) from 2000 to 2006,[2] did not want Blow Up to be journalistic like his previous work had been.[2][5]
Blow Up is named after Blowup, a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni in which the main character thinks that he has discovered a murder in an enlargement of a film photograph. Lagier saw his own series as likewise involving the inspection of film to find that which is hidden.[6]
Lagier's inspiration for episodes' themes sometimes comes from current events. After choosing a theme, he tries to make a list of at least 100 films that contain scenes involving the theme, by remembering films he has seen before, watching his DVDs, and reading film magazines.[5] Lagier is uninterested in using the internet for this purpose, because he wants Blow Up to feature scenes that have not already been widely circulated online.[1] Not every scene on the list reaches the final product.[5]
In mid-November 2010, Blow Up debuted on Arte's website.[6] It is also available on YouTube.[1]
For six months in 2014, Arte gave the series four minutes and six seconds of airtime on terrestrial television. Some formats, such as "Bio express", could be fit, but others, such as "Top 5", were too long.[2] Lagier commented that he prefers the freedom of the online medium for the series.[2]
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