Yahoooooooo!!!!!! We get to look more indepth at our research script today by annotating three different scenes from one of the movies we plan on watching for our research script. The movie i'm going to be using for this time is Pan's Labyrinth, even if it seems to be a movie that everyone is choosing lately. BTW, I called dibs first...I so called this movie like last year :p
Anywho, the three scenes i'm choosing to annotate are:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=n9YD2PFF31E
http://youtube.com/watch?v=p25w1pxGg6k
http://youtube.com/watch?v=5z3u-iCbNxI
Monday, December 10, 2007
Blog #8--Visual Concepts in "Get a Date"
In the short film Get a Date, there is a variety of visual concepts that the director chooses to show. From the beginning of the film we see the use of a split screen while the two different people look through a newspaper. The use of the split screen emphasizes a connection between the two different characters as we are able to see what types of people they are interested in, which is ultimately shown when they circle the types of people they want. The director's use of a split screen falls under the ideas of visual concepts because it shows the connection between the two characters rather than telling us.
Another example of visual concepts found in the movie is when the old man is sitting in his chair, stroking the cat with one finger, while staring at the camera with one picture haning over his head. This has to be the funniest shot in the film because we see such a humorous character on screen during this shot. While the narration does not provide us with any detail about the man, the mise en scene that the director choose to include is more than enough. It was able to show us what the character is like without having to tell us, not to mention, it was a lot more enjoyable for the audiance to see the man's character rather than hear about it.
The last MAIN example (besides the use of sounds to ruin the date over and over again) of visual concepts found in this film is when the old lady applies her makeup. This is a continuing shot that expands with more detail and length each time we see it. The first time the lady only puts on soo much make up, the next time something is added, and the last time, something more is added. Each time she adds more makeup, the outcome of the date occurs diffferently, although, she still never ends up going on her date.
Through using visual concepts, the director is able to show the main points of the movie in an more interesting way, which is ultimately more pleasurable to the audiance, and thus is a more sophisticated technique in the film maker's arsenal of tricks and techniques.
Another example of visual concepts found in the movie is when the old man is sitting in his chair, stroking the cat with one finger, while staring at the camera with one picture haning over his head. This has to be the funniest shot in the film because we see such a humorous character on screen during this shot. While the narration does not provide us with any detail about the man, the mise en scene that the director choose to include is more than enough. It was able to show us what the character is like without having to tell us, not to mention, it was a lot more enjoyable for the audiance to see the man's character rather than hear about it.
The last MAIN example (besides the use of sounds to ruin the date over and over again) of visual concepts found in this film is when the old lady applies her makeup. This is a continuing shot that expands with more detail and length each time we see it. The first time the lady only puts on soo much make up, the next time something is added, and the last time, something more is added. Each time she adds more makeup, the outcome of the date occurs diffferently, although, she still never ends up going on her date.
Through using visual concepts, the director is able to show the main points of the movie in an more interesting way, which is ultimately more pleasurable to the audiance, and thus is a more sophisticated technique in the film maker's arsenal of tricks and techniques.
Blog #7--Visual Concept Questions
1. In your own words, explain what you think is a visual concept and how do they work?
A visual concept is a story that is told without dialogue. To achieve a story without the use of dialogue, the body language of the actor, certain editing styles/cinematograpy, or objects are used. These different aspects mainly emphasize the visual aspect of film rather than the telling aspect. Visual concepts are challenging, but is necessary to help filmmakers understand how to tell a story without telling/guiding the audiance along through the use of dialogue. A strong film will actually find the happy balance between visuals and dialogue to tell there story...enough telling so your not totally lost, but a lot of visual aids so that the story is more emotionally enhanced, thus causing a better response/connection to your audiance.
2. Answer/Discuss the Points to Consider on the project description.How can you show the passage of time?
Passage of time can be done through the use of special effects during editing like a clock wipe, flash to white, or a cross disolve. To be more "professional", filmmakers will actually use their objects or actor's body language to show the passage of time rather than use cliched editing effects (more often than not they distract the audiance from the original story line).
3. Describe an emotional moment you would like to explore cinematically. It's basically a short rough draft of your treatment.
I'd like to explore the moment of akwardness. May people always say "akward" when something get's quiet or what not. As a film maker, I'd like to "poke fun back at society" by playing of the comic and emotionally frustrating feelings of akwardness. Not only is this something that many people can relate too, but it will be something that can explain some truth behind actual akward situations.
A visual concept is a story that is told without dialogue. To achieve a story without the use of dialogue, the body language of the actor, certain editing styles/cinematograpy, or objects are used. These different aspects mainly emphasize the visual aspect of film rather than the telling aspect. Visual concepts are challenging, but is necessary to help filmmakers understand how to tell a story without telling/guiding the audiance along through the use of dialogue. A strong film will actually find the happy balance between visuals and dialogue to tell there story...enough telling so your not totally lost, but a lot of visual aids so that the story is more emotionally enhanced, thus causing a better response/connection to your audiance.
2. Answer/Discuss the Points to Consider on the project description.How can you show the passage of time?
Passage of time can be done through the use of special effects during editing like a clock wipe, flash to white, or a cross disolve. To be more "professional", filmmakers will actually use their objects or actor's body language to show the passage of time rather than use cliched editing effects (more often than not they distract the audiance from the original story line).
3. Describe an emotional moment you would like to explore cinematically. It's basically a short rough draft of your treatment.
I'd like to explore the moment of akwardness. May people always say "akward" when something get's quiet or what not. As a film maker, I'd like to "poke fun back at society" by playing of the comic and emotionally frustrating feelings of akwardness. Not only is this something that many people can relate too, but it will be something that can explain some truth behind actual akward situations.
Blog #6--Research Script 2
Yay!!! We get to look at another research script! Will this one live up to Jason's awesome script, or will it fail to reach such incredible standards? Follow along with me and we'll find out.
First off, before I dwelve into the questions that Mr. Bigue wished for us to answer, there is one immediate problem that I noticed about his research script. It looks as if he's looking at 6 different movies! Holy #%@*, how the bloody hell is he gonna look at 6 different films in the maximum alloted pages (15)? Even worse, he only has 13 pages...it already looks like he's set himself up for failure. Also, this is incredibly hard to read vertically--someone should teach him the right format!
1. How this writer structured his discussion of the topic?
Blah, he suckes so bad in this script. He doesn' narrate this one in his own voice, rather he relies on two fictional narrators to narrate the story. Even so, the flow of the script felt slow. He took a long time to get into his topic, so most of the script ended up being his narrators blabbering on aobut the history of social realism. I suppose it would be worthwile to mention this, but it needs to happen fast, rather than take like 3ish pages.
2. What visuals did he use to enhance the v.o. narration?
He used visuals from the films to support his ideas. I think he did ok here.
3. What topics and references he researched to get his information.
Most of his sources are from online, which is ok, but he needs a variety of sources. He also has some videocassettes, but still though, where are the books and the interview referances?
4. Look at the rubric and give the script a score and explain why.
I'd score this as a 15. He has some good points that are necessary to consider, but he overwhelms himself in too many different films, therefore, his analysis is short and not fully developed. He also spends to much time on an introduction/history and a conclusion, so this throws of the pacing of the script/film. His largest hinderance is the format and narrators, which are both wrong...completely.
First off, before I dwelve into the questions that Mr. Bigue wished for us to answer, there is one immediate problem that I noticed about his research script. It looks as if he's looking at 6 different movies! Holy #%@*, how the bloody hell is he gonna look at 6 different films in the maximum alloted pages (15)? Even worse, he only has 13 pages...it already looks like he's set himself up for failure. Also, this is incredibly hard to read vertically--someone should teach him the right format!
1. How this writer structured his discussion of the topic?
Blah, he suckes so bad in this script. He doesn' narrate this one in his own voice, rather he relies on two fictional narrators to narrate the story. Even so, the flow of the script felt slow. He took a long time to get into his topic, so most of the script ended up being his narrators blabbering on aobut the history of social realism. I suppose it would be worthwile to mention this, but it needs to happen fast, rather than take like 3ish pages.
2. What visuals did he use to enhance the v.o. narration?
He used visuals from the films to support his ideas. I think he did ok here.
3. What topics and references he researched to get his information.
Most of his sources are from online, which is ok, but he needs a variety of sources. He also has some videocassettes, but still though, where are the books and the interview referances?
4. Look at the rubric and give the script a score and explain why.
I'd score this as a 15. He has some good points that are necessary to consider, but he overwhelms himself in too many different films, therefore, his analysis is short and not fully developed. He also spends to much time on an introduction/history and a conclusion, so this throws of the pacing of the script/film. His largest hinderance is the format and narrators, which are both wrong...completely.
Blog #5--Research Script- Topic/Thesis/Films
Woot for IB and crazy research scripts!!!!
Now that I've got that out of my system, I'm finally ready to crank my research script ideas onto paper....well, digtal paper in the form of a blog :)
Ok. So, my topic: Old horror versus new horror in Spanish and American movies.
More specifically/my somewhat developed thesis for now: I want to look at how horror has developed as a genre of the course of film, and also how American concepts of horror compare/contrast to Spanish horror.
Films I plan on viewing
American: Sleepy Hollow, The Shining
Spanish: Pan's Labyrinth, Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo (director: León Klimovsky)
Now that I've got that out of my system, I'm finally ready to crank my research script ideas onto paper....well, digtal paper in the form of a blog :)
Ok. So, my topic: Old horror versus new horror in Spanish and American movies.
More specifically/my somewhat developed thesis for now: I want to look at how horror has developed as a genre of the course of film, and also how American concepts of horror compare/contrast to Spanish horror.
Films I plan on viewing
American: Sleepy Hollow, The Shining
Spanish: Pan's Labyrinth, Dr. Jekyll y el Hombre Lobo (director: León Klimovsky)
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Blog #4 -> response to Jason's research script.
Overall I think Jason's research script was very good. It was, hands down, far superior to my own. I especially liked his topic of study because it was specific enough to provide a concise thesis, but general enough to explore many realms of lighting. Lighting also happens to be one of the easiest things to talk about in film because it is so subjective; it basically gives you more "under the surface" ideas without having to think too horibly hard.
Jason's scripts was structured like an "visual" essay. It started with an intro paragraph, which also happened to be the opener to his documentary. The nice part about his opening scene was that it focused on a lot of similarities to the movies he watched (the thunder/lightning, black and white with flashes of color, etc.). I believe this adds to his understanding of the films watched, and the art of visually showing what he's going to talk about. The rest of his script focused on supporting paragraphs from each movie; first Tsotsi and then Sin City. He used many examples from the film and the director/director of photography's conversation to support his ideas. I also noticed that he used our text book to help him use the appropriate terminology for describing what he saw/talked about. Not only do we have to recognize what the style of film are, we have to be able to talk about it appropriately...nice work here Jason. He does use VO's and sound from the movies to help add an element of expertise to his documentary, so this was also nicely done.
I think I'd score him between a 20-22.
Jason's scripts was structured like an "visual" essay. It started with an intro paragraph, which also happened to be the opener to his documentary. The nice part about his opening scene was that it focused on a lot of similarities to the movies he watched (the thunder/lightning, black and white with flashes of color, etc.). I believe this adds to his understanding of the films watched, and the art of visually showing what he's going to talk about. The rest of his script focused on supporting paragraphs from each movie; first Tsotsi and then Sin City. He used many examples from the film and the director/director of photography's conversation to support his ideas. I also noticed that he used our text book to help him use the appropriate terminology for describing what he saw/talked about. Not only do we have to recognize what the style of film are, we have to be able to talk about it appropriately...nice work here Jason. He does use VO's and sound from the movies to help add an element of expertise to his documentary, so this was also nicely done.
I think I'd score him between a 20-22.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Post #3- Short film critique
One of the most prevalent things within this film is the use of color and lighting to create a mysterious mood.
Monday, October 22, 2007
film reflections
Well, I've been thinking about possible films I would like to use for my research paper and so far I know I want to use the film Pan's Labyrinth because there are so many things in that film from cinemotography to lighting to style. I'm trying to think for two other movies I could use to compare along with Pan's Labyrinth, but so far I'm at a dead end. Any help woudl be appreciated.
1) Current events, well, there are so many current events to talk about so I'm going to choose three that interests me the most at the moment--most interesting film coming out that I want to see (August Rush), wildfires evacuate 250,000 in San Diego County, and a women survives 19 hours in the Pacific Ocean.
The film August Rush, directed by Kirsten Sheridan, is about a young boy who ends up being a musical prodigy who has lived in an orphanage his entire life but ends up traveling to New York to play music and find his biological parents. I've recently seen this trailer in theaters and the movie definitely sparked my interest because of the storyline. I can also relate to the movie because I'm a musician and I've also spent some time now researching Beethoven for my extended essay (so the basic ideas of being a musical prodigy is common between the two).
Wild Fires are another thing that fascinates me because of the mass destruction it causes. While they are very negative turns of events, there are always intereseting events that follow. Wildfires also seem to open many people's ideas to the idea of safety in their area. The reason I choose this particular wild fire was because 250,000 people were being evacuated...that's the most i've heard of in a long while.
The film August Rush, directed by Kirsten Sheridan, is about a young boy who ends up being a musical prodigy who has lived in an orphanage his entire life but ends up traveling to New York to play music and find his biological parents. I've recently seen this trailer in theaters and the movie definitely sparked my interest because of the storyline. I can also relate to the movie because I'm a musician and I've also spent some time now researching Beethoven for my extended essay (so the basic ideas of being a musical prodigy is common between the two).
Wild Fires are another thing that fascinates me because of the mass destruction it causes. While they are very negative turns of events, there are always intereseting events that follow. Wildfires also seem to open many people's ideas to the idea of safety in their area. The reason I choose this particular wild fire was because 250,000 people were being evacuated...that's the most i've heard of in a long while.
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