Blog 8

The Hurt Locker – Ending

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GILIUfKClWI

I believe that the main theme of the film, The Hurt Locker, is that you can’t run from your purpose in life. This theme is demonstrated actively by the main character, William James, throughout the movie, but in the final scene the theme is finally revealed didactically when he talks about how you don’t know what you’ve got till its gone, as well as how he loved being a soldier and disarming bombs. He then talks about how that was his real purpose in life, before he returns to war.

            Throughout the film, The Hurt Locker, the theme of, not being able to run from your purpose in life, is referenced actively. This is done by showing William James’ complete disregard for his own life while doing his job, of disarming bombs, because he just loves doing it so much that he doesn’t care about anything else. In the final scene, where he is playing with and talking to his infant son, the theme is finally demonstrated didactically for the first time when he says, “You know what, buddy? Once you get older, some of the things that you love might not seem so special anymore.” One of more interesting parts of this scene is Will’s relationship with his son. During his conversation with his infant son, he reveals the objective fact that he does love being in the military and disarming bombs, but the fact that he actually loves his son, is subjective. During this scene the space seems to be limited so it feels claustrophobic and uncomfortable, like he is contained or trapped. This plays into the theme because he feels out of place as a civilian, like he needs to leave and go back to war. This use of space is again demonstrated when he returns to war and the camera is in a wide shot giving the frame a sense of space to breath and freedom, just like Will is feeling because he is back where he belongs. The shots of Will are also surrounded by a lot of sharp, straight lines, which contrast with the curvy lines on and around his son, during his shot. This contrast in shape and line further pushes the idea that he is rigid and tense because he uncomfortable and out of place.

Blog 7

 

Both of these pictures are from the amazing animated movie series, Toy Story. The first picture is from a scene in the first movie, where the toys are given the bad news that there is going to be new toys coming that might replace them. The second picture is from the scene in the third movie, where they are first introduced to their new wonderful home.

Color

            In both of the different pictures of animation, the colors that are used for the different characters, objects, and backgrounds, are all very oversaturated so that they will look more vibrant and interesting, especially to children who are the primary viewers of the series. Each character has a specific color, or set of colors, to help stand out and differentiate them from the other characters. Each character also has all different shades of their colors to help show their textures. Woody has a big head that is made up of bright skin tones, so that he stands out as an important character. His other main colors are in his dark brown hat, his yellow shirt, blue jeans, and other brown accessories, which are all slightly less bright than his face. They are less bright than his face because his face is his most important feature that needs the most attention, but all those colors are still brighter than other characters because he is the most important character. Buzz shares the Woody pattern of having brighter colors than everybody else, with his bright white and green suite, because he is also the other most important character. Though in the second picture, your eyes are drawn to Lots-O because he is the focus of the shot by him having saturated and bright pinks and whites.

Lighting

            Both of these shots have very dynamic lighting because of their extreme use of shadows. In the first shot there are a lot of very dark and prevalent shadows that cover different parts of characters bodies as well as the background. This gives the scene a darker, gloomier, and slightly more depressing mood because of the shard contrasts of light and dark. It is also symbolic for how the characters feel because they are feeling sad and depressed on account of possibly being replaced or played with less. It is also symbolic of how the characters feel like they are being overshadowed by the new toys. The second picture has a lot of extra light coming into frame, which creates less dark shadows. This makes the mood more happy and welcoming. This is symbolic of how the characters are getting a new bright beacon of happiness.

Blog 6

180 Degree Rule

            This video definitely seemed to follow the 180 degree rule the whole time. This is because there are basically only two distinct different shots throughout the whole video. The first shot is inside the building looking at Arthur and Eames and shows when they fire their guns at the enemies out of the door. The second shot is outside showing the enemies being shot at. The two cameras are very much within the 180 degree arc because they are a few feet from each other and facing the same way with a mere 30 degrees of difference.

Rule Of Thirds

            The video seems to adhere the rule of thirds throughout most of its shots. This is because during the single shots with just Arthur in the frame, he is in the first, top left, intersection of thirds pretty much the whole time. When Eames joins him in the double shots, he takes the top left intersection of thirds while Arthur moves over to the second, top right, point. During the frames where you are able to see the enemy firing at them, the enemy seems to stay around the top left intersection. But in the enemy’s second shot, he is more of in the middle of the frame, not leaving any major action at any of the intersections.

30 Rule

            This video adhered to the 30 rule through the entirety of the clip, either changing 30 degrees or 30 percent, between each shot. This video actually moved 30 degrees and percent between each of the two back and forth shots. When you are inside the building you see a medium shot of Arthur and Eames. That medium shot inside the building is 30 degrees away from the other shot outside. The exterior shot is a wide shot showing some buildings and the enemy off in the distance on a roof.

Blog 5

Beat It - Michael Jackson - 1982

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRdxUFDoQe0

Beat It - Fall Out Boy – 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk8Pb17pcQI

Michael Jackson - LISTENING FRAMEWORK

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo

- Medium

Source

- Guitar/Bass and Drums

Groove

- Pop, with a little Rock

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation

- Vocals, drums, guitar, bass, synth, lead/solo guitar

Structure/Organization

- Intro, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Chorus, Gtr. solo, Chorus, Chorus

Emotional Architecture

- The song builds up to the choruses and the guitar solo, but drops when returning to the verses.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality) Balance

Height

- Voice and Guitar are high, Bass and Synth are low

Width

- Drums and synth are in the middle, Bass and the guitar solo are on the left, Guitar is on the right, and the vocals pan back and forth

Depth

- Vocals and the guitar solo are the loudest, and the bass/guitar are also kind of loud

Fall Out Boy - LISTENING FRAMEWORK

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo

- Fast

Source

- Drums and Guitar/Bass

Groove

- Punk. With some Pop and Rock

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation

- Vocals, lead guitar, drums, guitar, bass

Structure/Organization

- Intro, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Verse, Chorus, Chorus, Gtr. solo, Chorus, Chorus

Emotional Architecture

- The song builds up to the choruses and the guitar solo, and then drops when returning to the verses.

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality) Balance

Height

- Guitar is high, Bass and Drums are low

Width

- Guitar is on the left, the Guitar solo is on the right, and vocals pan back and forth

Depth

- Vocals, Lead Guitar, and the Guitar solo are the loudest

For my comparison I chose to compare the original version of Michael Jackson’s 1982 pop hit, Beat It, with Fall Out Boy’s 2008 cover of the song, that took a more punk approach to the hit. The original version of the song is more of a medium tempo pop song with some rock groove to it. The cover is a much faster rendition of the song that focuses its groove on being a very punk song that has many elements of the pop and rock genre’s. The cover made by a four-person punk/rock band, rather than the original that was sung by one guy and used mostly synth sounds and instruments, to create the rhythm. Both songs featured special guest musicians for their respective guitar solos. The original featured Eddie Van Halen, while the cover featured John Mayer doing its guitar solo. Both the cover and the original shared the same structure and emotional architecture, as well as the source of their sound and mostly had the same instrumentation. The two songs tended to differentiate on their height, but shared a similar depth, with the vocals and guitars being the loudest instruments in each song. Each song did have their own different and distinct width, besides them both having the vocals pan back and forth throughout the song. The cover had most of the instruments and vocals panned evenly through both sides, but has the regular guitar panned to the left, while the guitar solo is panned to the right. The original has the guitar panned to the right and has the bass and guitar solo panned to the left, while the drums and the synth are panned evenly in the middle.

I prefer the Fall Out Boy version of the song better because it has more of a rocking punk groove to it and has more traditional rock instruments, rather than synth and sampled instruments. I also liked the faster tempo that made the song more intense an interesting. Overall I like traditional rock and punk music more than “just pop” songs that Michael Jackson has produced, though I am fond of them as well.

Blog 4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFnVy8SQvPQ

This scene is from one of my favorite movies of all time, Inception. This scene is when Arthur is defending the warehouse by trying to keep the enemy outside at bay with his gun. He is then assisted my Eames and his grenade launcher, who takes the enemy out with one shot.

In this scene there are a few examples of different listening modes. One of those examples is, the casual sound of the loud squeaking that comes from Arthur sliding open the metal door. There is also an example of sound disassociation, when Eames makes the sound of him cocking a machine gun while his hands are off screen. Then he lifts up to reveal that he was actually cocking a grenade launcher.

This scene also has a couple of examples of different representations of space. The first example is of the distance of the enemy shooter in all of the shots. He is always really far away and looks really small because we don’t need to know what he looks like because who he is, is unimportant to the scene. Being far away also gives us the perception that we are in Arthur’s position, making the audience feel more immersed in the action. Another example of space in the scene is that none of the characters in the scene move than a few feet. This gives the scene more of a feeling of being trapped in an intense firefight with not a lot of options.

Blog 3

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/66.01.Brainwashed

Acknowledging the lizard is one of the seven layers available in search for renovation.  This level means that all humans share a quality with lizards, in that we don’t like to be laughed at. The reaction to this is called the resistance, which is when you feel you must keep things simple because of a fear of being ridiculed. Artists realized that we have to fight through the resistance to be rewarded. Another level is being connected, which means that social media connections, such as how many followers, likes, or comments you get, are not very important. Instead digital media connections, such as videos, images, and sounds that you create, are the things that can really be used to make connections. The final level is learning, which means challenging yourself to think differently. Not what they do in school, which used to work when you would learn a trade.

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These blog exercises are a complete waste of time, is not exactly what I would say. I do believe that there are many reasons why we should not be doing these blogs weekly though. I think that the majority of these blogs don’t have much to do with what we need to be learning from this class. In fact, most of them are very similar to what we are already doing every week for our lab projects. I believe that having to do these blogs on top of all of the projects that we have to for class is a bit too much. I may be biased because all of my classes this quarter have a lot of work to do in them, and I often feel overwhelmed. I think that focusing more time and effort on working on the projects for our labs each week, rather than wasting time doing the blogs, would be a better solution and would allow us to have a better final product for each project. Another improvement that could result from not having to do weekly blogs would be to make the weekly lab projects more in depth. The removal of the blog assignments would also allow for more free time for students to read the optional readings that are provided by the class.

I don’t necessarily hate the blog assignments, but I think that there is just not enough time for them with already having projects every week, the optional readings, other classes’ work, and other extra curricular activities. I think that some of the blog assignments are good and beneficial, and that they should merely have their important points of merged together with the lab projects. I do like how the first half of the blogs are due all together halfway through the quarter and that the other half is due at the end of the quarter. This worked out well for me personally, because I was very busy the first few weeks with work that was due each week, so I was able to work on those assignments first and put the blogs on the backburner. Luckily I had a break in the chaos during the beginning of the fourth week and was able to finish all four blogs in four days, starting on Monday the 23^rd and finishing on Thursday the 26^th. I hope that this feedback will help you change or alter the way the class is setup so that it can hopefully accommodate everybody’s needs.

Blog 2

Jonathon Flaum’s first story is about Mumon, one of the last remaining red wolves, and his journey to find his freedom and his howl. It begins with Mumon being trapped physically, and mentally, for his own safety. He is then set free onto the unfamiliar world and has trouble coping. After a couple of trials and challenges, he is able to run free through the Forrest. Then he must face a difficult unknown challenge, which forces him to reach inside his soul and realized what he wants, and has to do. Then he is able to howl.

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As discussed in the article Finding Your Howl by Jonathon Flaum, to get to your howl, you must have a brush with death. Meaning that for anybody to reach their one true calling or purpose, they must first face their most fearsome and terrifying challenge and then come out unscathed. Some people will never take this challenge will miss their opportunity, out of fear of the unknown or because they fear that they will fail. I don’t believe that I have found my howl yet, but I might have gotten a little growl.

One of my favorite movies of all time is Inception, from the mind of Christopher Nolan. In that movie there was a line that really spoke to me and made me start to think in a different way. The quote was when Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Cobb said “Dreams feel real while we’re in them. It’s only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.” There are many reasons why this quote speaks to me creatively, such as the real meaning, other interpretations, and its relation to the story of the movie.

One of the more obvious but interesting things about this quote is that fact that Cobb says this to Ellen Page’s character, while they are in a dream. At which time she does not know that she is in a dream, or even believe that this act is possible. This demonstrates how true this statement is to the film, and to real life dreams. The actual meaning of this quote is also rather intriguing because of how you never think of dreams in this sort of way, also how this can apply to real life situations. In real life, when something is obscure or different, you are usually too caught up in the moment to notice until after that moment of intensity has passed.

This quote is also rather important to me as an aspiring filmmaker. This is because if you make a movie and have the same effect on people, with the believability and intrigue of your movie, as dreams do, then you are doing an exceptional job of immersing your audience in the fake adventure that they are simply watching. This is often one of the biggest problems with bad films. The simplest things can cause the audience to become un-immersed, so it is your job to make them believe that they are in the movie until the very end.

The quote also helps me to think more creatively with stories, visuals, and many other things that are involved in the creative process. When I think of writing or storytelling in that it can be as imaginative as a dream as long as you can convince people to believe that it’s realistic. When you are dreaming you can have a fantasy of infinite possibilities that are realistic enough to believe, at the time. If you follow this same philosophy when doing anything creative, such as making a story, a song, or a picture, you could wind up having interesting and awesome results.

Blog 1

Protagonist- Emily Rightwing

Blue and Purple

The color blue represents good, justice, and is a rather basic color, which are all important representations of Emily because she is an average police detective working on a really important case to take down the most corrupt and hidden criminal ever. Blue is also the color of the police, which she is a part of, and it is a rather basic color that can just blend into the background, just as Emily does. The color purple is mysterious which relates to Emily because she is a detective who solves mysteries. The color purple also represents a strong female, which Emily is.

A Basic Bright light

The lighting in this image is rather bright, but the light source is a rather basic light bulb. These characteristics relate to Emily because the brightness insinuates that she is good and important, but the fact that the bulb is so basic and average, means that she is not all that special other than the fact that she is taking on this very important case. The lighting also suggests that there is only enough light for someone to notice her, but not enough light for her to stand out as someone of great purpose or importance.

A Round Magnifying Glass

The magnifying glass is quite obviously important to the character of Emily because she is a detective for the police, but it also has a greater meaning for her because it is circular. The fact that the magnifying glass is circular is important for her character because it means that she has everything that she does is focused, has a specific purpose, and is also well organized and put together. The circle also means that she is committed and determined to fight for good and justice. The circle is also a very simple shape, again showing that she doesn’t stand out very much.

Antagonist- Peter (Saton) Angel

Red and Gold

The rich gold color represents power, fame and money, which all relate to Peter because he owns a very important and well-known business. The gold also represents royalty which he has somewhat been acclaimed because he is so well connected to different prominent political figures and all of his work with trying to help the community and impoverished. The red looks somewhat fancy and distinguished as well, but it is truly covering up the fact that he has blood on his hands from his crimes and other illegal activities from his criminal past and present.

Brightness Surrounding with Interior Shadows

The fact that Peter is surrounded and shrouded in a bright light, on the outside shows that he is famous, popular, and surrounded by greatness. The lighting also shows that he stands out and is always in the spotlight due to all the good things he has claimed to have done. This outward lighting would lead you to believe that he might be happy and that he has everything that he could want. But he himself is a shadow on the inside because he has many bad secrets from his criminal past and that he is in fact very evil on the inside.

A Diamond

The shape is a diamond because he appears to be very classy and sophisticated at first glance, because of all of the wealth and prestige that he has earned, as well as all of the charity events that he holds and attends. But as you look closer you will notice that it has cracks and damage, as does Peter. These imperfections are there because of all of the criminal things that he did in his past that he is trying to cover up and the bad things that he is still doing secretly today.