Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso.

Leeper briefly talked about him in the class, and he also showed up in the movie that was presented in the Signs and Wonders.

To be honest, I don't really understand much of his works. Looking at his works is like listening to classical music: I appreciate it, but I don't get it. It is like there is a sensation, but I don't really understand what caused the sensation in me. I guess it is like eating something without knowing the recipe.

"First Communion" is the painting that Picasso completed when he was 16. As you can see above, it is impressive for a teenager to have drawn something so delicate and mysterious. Yes, Picasso was a genius.

Here is the problem. If you can draw something like "First Communion" when you are 16, no one will doubt that you are a genius. However, if you continue to draw like that when you become an adult, you are no longer a genius, because the drawing is no different from the others. Any professional artists can draw like that. For young Picasso "First Communion" was a milestone, but for Picasso, who is no longer a child, it becomes a mediocre.

Diego Velazquez was Picasso's idol. Picasso wanted to become like him. In the early works of Picasso, he was heavily influenced by Velazquez, and Picasso did make a lot of reference to the works of Velazquez. However, Picasso became a genius not when he was able to perfectly imitate Velazquez, but when he was able to destroy everything that was set before.

Las Meninas by Velazquez

Las Meninas by Picasso

As you can compare two works above, Picasso rejected the perspective that was developed and appreciated since the Renaissance, and decided to set a new perspective that none have experimented before. 

A child drawing like an adult is brilliant, but an adult drawing like an adult is boring. However, an adult drawing like a child might be interesting. As Leeper mentioned Picasso's quote in the class, "At 15 I painted like Velazquez, and it took me 80 years to paint like a child."

I believe that, for Picasso, his paradigm shift was not triggered by his effort to be different or to bring change, but I think it was a matter of "authenticity", in other words, "being truthful" to his own expression or taking full responsibility of his own intention.

Pablo Picasso did say, "art is a lie that makes us realize truth". However, I believe that only "truthful lie" can do its job.

For the side note, going back to the main point of my previous blog..maybe better way to put his quote is "art is a reflection that makes us realize truth".

Dredd: I AM THE LAW

• Today I was back in my hometown of Greenwood IN, and caught a showing of the movie Dredd. This is a remake of an older filmed named "Judge Dredd" which was based off of a comic book. I only had one word flying through my head this whole movie...that word would be "Badass". Was it a good film? That really depends on what you like to see in a movie. If you are trying to view this movie as an artist...your'e not going to find much. It's your stereotypical sci-fi meathead protaganist movie. The only times in the film I felt there was an "art form" were the drug sequences. This won't spoil anything, but in the movie, there is a drug called "Slo-Mo". The drug looks exactly like an inhaler, and when people inhale the chemicals, their brains are slowed down to only 1% of regular speed. This creates some fantastic, and sometimes beautiful images of water splashing with rainbow colors... Also slow-motion bullets piercing human flesh...with rainbow colors. Call it "stupid" but let me tell ya, you ever need 2 hours just to zone out and turn off your brain, Dredd get's the job done. That being said, I still found it entertaining, but people who hate voilence and gore should turn away. Zoning out for 2 hours to watch a bunch of explosions...that's not stupid...is it? 

• If you want to experience the effects of "Slo-Mo" click this link, but be warned, not for the faint of heart!

To Pixie, or Not to Pixie?

"To pixie, or not to pixie? That is my ultimate question." I have been wanting to cut my hair for some time now, but i couldn't find the right hairstyle to use. From long hair to short hair is a big step to take, especially if my mom isn't involved. You see, the reason why i want to get a pixie cut is to freak my mom out. hahaha. So, i just need to save up enough money to get my hair cut and that is that. But is it a good choice?

To have a pixie cut, you would have to straighten it every day (especially if you have curly hair like me), wash it more often, and if you dye it a different color (don't worry, i'm not) you would have to dye roots almost every weekend. But, for me, it would be nice to have short hair for a change.

Most of my friends think that it is a great idea, so i might a well give it a try. An if worse comes to worst, i can always let my hair grow out again.

Doing all of this research makes you kind of want to have your hair like that. Hahaha. I really hope that i will look good in it like i think i will. Wish me luck=]

42

I couldn't attend Signs and Wonders this Thursday because of another meeting, but luckily I have already seen Midnight in Paris. It's funny that we have been talking about fairy tales, because that movie seems a lot like one. No, there's not a brave hero or a villain, but it is a fanciful tale that is something we might dream about.

The subtlety of the film is something I really enjoyed. If I remember right, it is never explained why he goes back to the 1920s, which I think is a brilliant choice. That would ruin it. Frankly, it doesn't matter at all why that happens. And more audiences need to accept that. There's a magic to mystery, and that's why George Lucas ruined The Force by explaining it as biology.

What I really liked about the film was Gil idealizing the past. It's easy to do that. Sometimes we even remember bad times in our life as nostalgic. One of my favorite exchanges is when Gil kept talking about how great the 1920s were, but the woman says she loves the 1890s much more. It's all about perspective.

---

Hollywood often makes terrible films, but there's a great drama coming out that will have a nice wide release. I'm biased, because I was an extra in it. The writer/director is an Oscar winner, and from what I saw on set it's going to be very powerful.

Oh yeah, my blurry face is in it for about one frame.

Rethinking things

Ugh sorry this is late. I actually had this all finished yesterday, but putting Leeper out in front of the panels was harder than it looked. Turned out I had to rasterize the panel layers to make them erasable so that I could take out the parts I needed and- agh, you don't want to hear about that ^_^; its super boring and to be honest, took too much time to find on the internet. Now if only I could find the way to get rid of those obnoxious 'page 6' and so ons that show up in the bottom corner *grumble grumble*

Now to get to the crux of the matter

Basically, the last few times I've left class, I've felt really depressed. Okay, that may be an overstatement, but I've been blue, let's put it that way. I feel like I may not be cut out for this whole story thing after all. Which really hurts, because story is what I want to do. I want to create stories, to create characters. I have a deep passion for stories and characters, but this class has made me rethink everything I know. It makes me think that maybe I like the wrong stories. Yes, most of my favorite films are obscure animated features from Europe and Asia, but I also enjoy movies like Iron Man and the Harry Potter series. It also makes me think that maybe I'm going about everything wrong. Some of my story ideas are more 'Christian' than others...ugh...that's worded wrong. Basically I mean, in some of my stories are more along the lines of a Ted Dekker novel, where God is spoken about and may even be an active character and some characters may be outspoken Christians...this isn't writing out as well as I would hope. I hope I'm making some sort of sliver of sense. Or maybe nobody's reading this and they just look at the comic. ^_^ I mean, that's fine. Sometimes its good for me to just write out what I feel, a kind of therapy. It doesn't matter if anyone reads it.
What I'm trying to say is that I'm struggling with being Leeperized. I understand some of what he's saying and I agree with it too...but at the same time a lot of it I can't always wrap my mind around. It might not help that this week I've had a cold, so I haven't been able to wrap my head around most of my classes.
I mean, I've never been the person who thought they could change the entertainment industry. I have thought, however, that I could be a positive influence. Create works that are more wholesome (and by wholesome I mean...like...more like the term 'wholesome' meal. It fills you, its not just meaningless fluff. I myself don't like nonsensical violence/language/nudity and sexuality in media...but sometimes these things have a purpose so you can't just write them off as untouchable) and that have truth to them. And I also, to be honest, want to make something that someone could watch with a relatively good conscious. Is that wrong? I can't even tell anymore.
I'm probably just overthinking stuff. I do that with life in general, so why not here too?

The Nature of Art

I'm listening to some Beethoven right now, and it's kind of an awesome experience....I used to think of classical music as boring, adult music that should be studied and appreciated only as an important addition to our musical history.....you know, the stuff of old people in posh places where they talk about things of practical insignificance. That kind of approach to classical music utterly killed my enjoyment of it, until I was actually able to let go of my false assumptions regarding this genre of music and just take it as it is.

Thinking about this makes me wonder whether there are other things in art that we are unable to enjoy because perhaps we have unconsciously categorized them as something they are not. For example, we talked about how, at the beginning of the 20th century, artists such as Pablo Picasso changed the way art was portrayed by disfiguring people's features into very unnatural positions. This was bound to cause mass controversy, and why? Because of the same reason I was unable to enjoy classical music; they had categorized art into something it was not, something that was very opposed such a representation of people.

Art is much bigger, much more mysterious and powerful than the box in which we place it. I think that if we are able to approach it with a more open mind, we'll be able to enjoy it and learn from it a whole lot more than just going with the comfortable approach of placing it in the "art" category.

Not a Revolution

One interesting thing I got out of class today was something Leeper mentioned about mainstream media. I really agree with his thinking about our purpose as student who may enter that world. While I may wish I could change the entertainment industry, that's not my goal—it's too big of a task. Yet it's still something we think about because that was an impression I got from HU while visiting last year. It's very likely that I just got the wrong impression. They had a track that included the semester internship in LA, which lead me to believe that's where I would end up if I came to Huntington, and once you're on the inside, you can make a difference, right?

It's a very common misconception because 100% of the Christian people who were excited for me to come to Huntington for a Film degree asked me if I was going to make movies like Fireproof. I was looking towards the film industry as a ministry opportunity, whether that meant developing Christian media, or simply being a good witness through my actions for others I would work with.

This mindset has yet to really change because I don't feel that I have a story to tell. I'm not the person who chose film in order to get my story told—not even on the big screen. I love the technical process of filmmaking, especially in post-production where I can use a computer (my playground) as a tool to create something

Bad Case of Nostalgia?: Midnight in Paris

If you missed Signs and Wonders last night, shame on you [as if I have right to dole out shame after missing last week..]. Anyway, last night's movie, Midnight in Paris, was truly a wonderful and artistic movie.

The premise is, a screen-writer and aspiring novelist, Gil Pender, is in Paris with his fiancee, Inez and her parents. It's clear right off that Gil's creativity is annoying and looked down upon by his fiancee and her parents. While Gil sees Paris as a magical world, his fiancee can't wait to get back to America.

"I don't get here often enough, that's the problem. Can you picture how drop dead gorgeous this city is in the rain? Imagine this town in the '20s. Paris in the '20s, in the rain. The artists and writers!" -Gil

"You're in love with a fantasy."-Inez

But then, Inez meets an old crush, Paul and his girlfriend, and suddenly Paris is enlightening to her. She's swooped off her feet by Paul the know-it-all and begins to see Gil even more negatively than before. Only Gil doesn't see anything going on with his crumbling engagement through his mask of jealousy for Paul's intelligence; Gil does see, however, that something is wrong, and he knows he's miserable.

By mishap, Gil winds up at a street corner where he is picked up by a strange, vintage vehicle that drives him right into 1920's Paris. Here, Gil meets famous writers (Ernest Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald), artists (like Picasso, Salvador Dali, Man Ray, etc) but more importantly makes friends and actually feels at home.

That's all I got for summation for now. I'm going to move on to some things that really struck me in this movie. The most important lesson for me to learn from this movie is how to fully appreciate the present. I've been experiencing my share of longing to just go back in time, or go forward in time, or just not be here, which is what Gil faces--however reluctant he is to see it. Nostalgia and longing to be in the past is Gil's form of escapism.

"Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present...  "-Paul, Inez's crush. 

Gil's novel in the works is about a man who runs a nostalgia shop, which is what prompted this line. But, in hearing this I was jetted into what we've been talking about in class with fairy tales and talking about escapism. I think it's interesting for find out about the many ways of escapism that we humans create for ourselves. Not only do we set up amazing, fantastical worlds to run to, and we use the past to hide from the present too. And there's so many more ways to escape than just those two forms.

And why do we want so badly to escape? I feel like Gil sums it up.

"That's what the present is. It's a little unsatisfying because life is unsatisfying." -Gil

As Christians, we know life is unsatisfying and why it's unsatisfying, but was also know it doesn't have to be that way. I think the truth to this movie is that Gil is looking for something, to fill the "God shaped vacuum in the human heart" (Pascal quoted in A Family of Faith). And while at the end Gil comes to terms with the present and satisfaction with his life [meaning he dumps his fiancee, thank goodness, oh and decides to stay in Paris], he did so not by Godly means but through faith means: faith in himself. Having faith in yourself is great, but having faith in yourself alone is bad, but that's another blog post entirely so I'll steer clear of that for now.

So in a way Gil found a way to satisfy that God shaped vacuum. And we'll leave it there.

Another line that stuck me was one that the character Ernest Hemingway said, and one I absolutely love.

 "I believe that love that is true and real creates a respite from death. All cowardice comes from not loving, or not loving well, which is the same thing." -Ernest Hemingway

So this goes back to Tuesday's class when we were talking about something not being lovable until it is loved. Not only that, but when that love is true, there is no fear anymore. Hemingway was talking about the complete absence of the fear of death and feeling supernatural upon finding real love [specifically kissing the right woman, but I'm broadening perspectives here and I can't share that experience so]. And,  [I'm sure you can tell where I'm going with this] that corresponds back to Christianity and how, our love for God and our relationship with Him makes us unafraid of death.

Lost in Literature

It is an artists job to use media to change the social fabric of our culture.
We want a world outside of this one, so we turn to the media around us. You go into those worlds, these stories, and bring something back with you. Something unique to you. That's what makes reading such an interesting activity. Each person will jump into a story, and each person will take something unique out of it.
Each person's perception of a story or event is different, and from this difference we get our art.
Art that reflects the artist.
 Story's help us sort things out in a non-intellectual way to sort through our emotions and thoughts, which is undoubtedly why we still have books around.
I think there is defiantly something to the weight of a book in your hand. Most people prefer to have an actual book, verses an online copy. I think we need that weight, that texture. We want to make the experience as real as we possibly can, because we long so much to get lost in it.
Not to be lost forever, but just lost for a little while. Lost so you can look with new eyes and see the wonders around you, like when you get lost in a familiar woods, and because of your lostness everything looks different.
Although we wander, and think we are lost, we always seem to end up on the same pathway again. We have a funny way of returning to our old habits, or old haunts.
For Christians I think that it is just a learning experience for us.
I miss reading, on that note. I miss good fantasy novels, honestly.
Eh. Yeah. xD
 

A Bit Twitchy, There, Pal

When Professor Leeper told us we were being shown a movie by Blue Sky, I knew I’d heard the name before. I wasn’t able to associate it, though, until he mentioned Ice Age. So when I saw Bunny for the first time, I was able to see a few similarities in the style of the animation and characters. The most obvious trait of the titular Bunny character was her twitchiness, at least in my eyes, because I recognized that trait from another Blue Sky character; Scrat the squirrel.

Scrat and the Bunny both have a distinct rodent-like behavior that makes them stand out from more human characters. Not that they don’t have human traits; both are very expressive and have a good measure of intelligence, but both have this very twitchy behavior that prevents them from being still figures. They can’t stay still, even more so than other organic characters in animation, and the attention to that detail is both fascinating and appreciated. They act like small rodents just as much as they look like small rodents. I know that this doesn’t seem like much of a big deal, and that this effect is pretty commonplace amongst other productions, but the way Blue Sky pulls the effect off makes both characters seem so much more lifelike.

Also, I apologize for not being able to include a video of Bunny; Blogger's search function won't show the video, which probably means that due to copyright reasons it is not allowed in a Blogger post.

Dream Big

I recently was involved in a music video shoot. My friend Anthony Frederick was camera operator, and I was camera assistant. We went to Becker at noon on Tuesday to pick up the RED camera to use. On the way to the Mansion we were shooting at we both weren't too excited for the project. I thought it might just be the band and a few guys at an average house that the crew called a "mansion." We pulled into the driveway, and we were blown away. The house was huge. It was really a mansion. Suddenly I got pretty excited about the project. Then two cars arrived that we would be using for the shoot. A corvette convertible and a 1960's Camaro. This was shaping up to be a high value production. Anthony and I were teamed up with Remedy Live a company from Fort Wayne. They were directing and producing the film. We were just there to run the camera. The guys from Remedy were very  relaxed and made it fun to work on. All the expensive locations and vehicles we had there just showed me that if you know people and make some calls, anything can happen. I'm trying to get to know as many people as I can. Friends in high places can really help in the film business. The shoot went really well and I learned a lot. I'm really glad I went.




The Mansion

Selling Out

The reading tonight was so interesting, and absolutely rich with great information. It really got me to thinking about my own art. In the reading, it was talking about the fact that some Christians are not accepting of artists, and their artwork. I kind of wonder if that is because, as an artist you are the creator of the artwork that you produce, and as Christians there is only one Creator, being God. I don't know, I could be totally taking that wrong, but it really makes me think.

Also, going back to the discussion in class today about selling out: As much as I love Disney, I have to say, that when they closed down their hand drawn animation department, I think that was selling out big time. I feel like Disney Pixar makes great computer animated films, but by doing that they have lost some of the magic. I think that for them, it was just easier to work with Disney Pixar, because they would be able to produce movies faster, and by doing so, it would be quicker and easier to bring in the money. I have so much appreciation for hand drawn animated films, and stop motion films, because I know that it takes a really long to create those kinds of film, and I feel like there was more thought put into those films. I know, it  weird, me being sort of against the whole computer animation, especially since I am going to major in Digital Media Arts. But, hand drawn animation is where my heart is, and maybe one day I will be able to reopen the hand drawn animation department at Disney.

"Maniac"

Today I am going to blog over this short film that I have watched about 4 times now, and just can't get over how beautiful it really is. It was directed by a well known actor we all know Shia LaBeouf, it stars also I famous rapper that most of us know too Kid Cudi. I do warn you that the film is kind of "bad" from HU standards or whatever that means. It tells a story of a documentary team that follows these two serial killers, and around while they plot to murder there next victims. I love the camera angles used in this film, the way the actors act, and really put off the vibe that you are really there with them. I would love to see Shia direct more things in the future, if I knew he was actually good at it. I highly do recommend that everyone give up 10 mins of your time and watch this film.

Cartoons and Animations still influenced by Christianity

Today in class we talked about how the Brothers Grimm fairy tales were steeped in Christianity and how they had a fear of God that translated into their tales.  We also said that cartoons and animations now a days have strayed from that path and have become even pagan.  Although this statement might be true for a majority of films, I believe that many animations and cartoons are still steeped in our Christian past.  So in this blog I just want to go over a few films that I thought were greatly influence by Christianity or the Bible.  The animations that I will be looking at are solely Pixar but I’m sure this applies to other companies as well.

The first animation that came to my mind was Wall-e.  For me, Wall-e is pretty much Pixar’s rendition of the flood in the Bible.  The planet has become corrupt and uninhabitable (due to the large quantity of garbage). So the people must leave the earth and wait for it to be cleansed of its corruption.  Then, to check to see if the planet is again inhabitable they send a “dove” back into the world to check for any sign of life.  This dove is Eva whose attributes and appearance is strikingly close to that of a dove.  She retrieves a plant and heads back to the ship to tell the great news of the earth’s cleansing.  They return to earth and inhabit it once again.  They start completely new and begin all over again to start the new earth. Now, of course tons of other things happen in the movie but im just narrowing it down to a where the allusions of the bible are clearly seen.

Finding Nemo is another one.  How Nemo’s sin of disobeying his father’s instruction and touching the “butt”(boat) leads him to exile and is forced away from his father.  But regardless, his Father has such strong love for him that he risks his life so that he and his son can be back together again. This may be a little more of a stretch but I feel like this alludes to God’s love for us and how even though we are sinners he still wants us to be with him. There is also another part in the movie which I find rather interesting, when Marlin (nemo’s dad) is trapped inside a whale.  What he learns inside the whale is faith to let go and in doing so no longer relying on his effort. And when he does his he is freed by the whale.

These where just two films that I looked at which showed biblical allusions and themes.  There are still great animations and things out there that are still steeped and influenced by Christianity.  If anyone has any more movies that they thought had allusions or themes I would love to know.

Hands on Experience

I missed two days of class this week due to a music video shoot. I almost decided to not help out with the project because I really didn't want to miss the class time and get behind on homework. I decided to just go for it and help with the project.

I made the right decision. I learned so much over those two days of shooting. I'm not saying that class isn't important, because it definitely is, but there is a lot to learn from just being on a film shoot. I learned things over those two days that I won't forget, and that it would be difficult to learn in a class. Some of the things I learned were just little things that no one had ever taught me. I never knew that when a tripod was used they could sometimes be called "sticks." When I first looked at the shot list I had no idea what sticks were. Soon though I was setting up the tripod for the next shot and speeding up the shooting process.

I'm not encouraging you guys to sleep through classes and dip out on classes often. I'm just telling you that if a good film opportunity comes up I would encourage you to do it. You will learn some things out there that you won't learn in a class room.


Matt Shouse

An Animation Dream

When you watch animation, do you feel like its made of magic? Like you could actually believe that its really there? Animation isn't just pictures and audio featured for your entertainment; it is an extension of a person's imagination specifically made because they had the ability to make it happen. Animation is suppose to relieve you of the real world, entering in the part of your mind where you feel free. Have you ever daydreamed about flying? Flying is a away for you to escape the real world without moving your body.
The film I chose was a film that extended the minds of both musicians and animation. When i saw this film, I saw an amazing symphony of music; like the notes that it produced just lifted from the video and started floating around you. When I saw this, I thought that I could make it myself, but i also knew that i could never top what i had just seen. Animusic.com is an amazing company that devotes their time to making entertainment for people so they can increase their own potential in animation and creativity. I would suggest to watch many more videos on their website; it might inspire you like it did me. Just Click on the website below.


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

The Conceptual Word

The Main Idea 

Hello fellow students!
This blog is a (belated) reflection piece on the movie we watched Sunday night in Signs and Wonders, Temple Grandin. For those of you who couldn't make it, I definitely recommend that you go to the media room and get it so that you may watch it. 
This is my blog analysis of Temple Grandin, and why I loved it so much.

Blog Body

In a nutshell, Temple Grandin is about a young woman who shares the same name as the movie title (who'd o' guessed?), and suffered from autism. She was absolutely brilliant, but the written word was a huge challenge for her. She learned via pictures, and once she saw something, she was basically able to accurately recite or describe whatever that something was. 

Although this trait was greatly magnified for Temple Grandin because of her autism, a lot of people have similar problems with learning, because of the means of general education. For instance, I am a visual-doing learner. It is hard for me to learn from reading because it is merely letters on a page to me. However, I can easily memorize things that are picture diagrams, or cartoon type things. Since my parents know that, one day, my dad came hope with a surprise present for me: a physics text book that was in the form of an manga cartoon book. It was fantastic! I would sit for long periods of time studying the pictures and reading the short text. 

That's one of the reasons I think that I loved the movie Temple Grandin so much; I was able to relate pretty easily. Basically, I learn through pictures, and I found it extremely cool that I was able to watch someone who had a reading disability succeed in life. 

Just because you aren't an avid reader, doesn't mean that you are not intelligent. This movie was incredible at showing that, because Temple was, in fact, an incredible scientist and inventor. She was super intelligent even though people doubted her intelligence, even as a child.

The End?

Basically, do not allow other people to bully you because you have trouble reading. You might not be an avid learner of the written word, however, you may be a genius of the conceptual word: the words told through illustrations and spoken stories.

Be strong. Be confident. Be who God has designed you to be.

Blessings,

~Katy

The Worst Independent Film of All Time???

• This post doesn't have anything to do with what we discussed...but the closest relation to THIS and fairy tales, would have to be the fact that it's a fairy tale that this movie even exists. I gotta say, I usually don't watch independent films. Why you may ask? I'll admit there are some great Independent films out there, but one of the reasons I tend to watch movies made by studios ( and sometimes still get bummed out ) is because they don't make movies like "Birdemic". A lot of people say "The Room" is the absolute worst American Independent film ever. I can't say whether or not that's true, because I haven't seen it, but what I have seen, is the shock and terror, of "Birdemic: Shock and Terror". I can say without a doubt there is literally nothing on this earth that can mentally prepare you for the atrocity of this film. That sounds really harsh... but it's true. In seriousness though, Birdemic is probably the worst movie I've ever seen. I got suckered into it after watching "Howard the Duck" last year, I said " Gee there can't be anything worse than THAT" I was shortly pointed towards this movie. I can't say I feel sorry for myself though. Nobody knows about this movie except for indie film makers and people who were just unlucky to come across it in a backwater internet search. In retrospect though, it's a good thing this movie is hidden. I think I lost brain cells after watching it. Okay, enough complaining, you wanna know why this movie was so bad? Lately, all of the movies I've been watching in DM101 and Signs and Wonders have purposeful meaning behind them. We aren't just watching fluff films with explosions and no morality. Birdemic does have a greater meaning behind it, the whole movie is what would happen if you crammed Al Gore in a blender with a flock of seagulls. That's right, the movie is about global warming. It's entire moral basis is this incredibly sappy and blatantly obvious lecture on global warming, and how if we don't stop burning fossil fuels, birds are going to go crazy and attack us. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, the whole plot is set in this california coastal town, and eagles get into flocks and dive-bomb buildings, shoot acid at crowds and slice people's necks with talons... Yeah go ahead read that again. Clearly the director, James Nguyen, is a big fan of Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock's film "The Birds" is basically what this new director was shooting for. Except Alfred Hitchcock's film was actually good, and is considered a masterpiece, and of his many iconic films. Birdemic is a joke compared to The Birds however, and I thank god that there are absolutely no references or cheesy jokes in Birdemic to The Birds. It would severely squander the name of Hitchcock's movie. Okay so that basically explains that Birdemic had some "purpose" and they weren't just fooling around intentionally making a horrible film. What they did wrong film wise though would be... stale actors, the upmost horrible CGI, action scenes that boggle the mind in stupidity, the script sounds like a first draft...by a middle schooler. The camera shots are horrendous ( I counted one actually good shot that lasted 3 seconds.) pointless scenes ( there are over 20 minutes of silent driving shots ) cheesy romantic subplot, half the characters cram information about global warming that I learned in 8th grade. Finally the fact that there was absolutely no point in this film's existence except to blow 10,000 dollars ( yes that was the ACTUAL budget) on a forceful message about global warming, which those 10,000 dollars could have gone to global warming research, if it REALLY MATTERED that much. I was recently reminded of this film's existence, so I just had to share it with you guys, if you didn't believe a word I said, the movie is on youtube and here is the actual trailer if you want a quick giggle...
• see ya next time when they release Birdemic 2! ( Yes, they are making a sequel )

The Prince and a Princ-Cow?!

Fairy Tales are timeless stories that have been told for generations and generations. Like any other girl i do have this secret wish to become a princess and meet my prince charming and live happily ever after. Its nice sometimes, to kick back with a wonderful romantic fairy tale about a Princess and a frog,but much like todays day and age, no one in their right mind would even think about kissing a frog to see if will turn into a prince. Its nice to THINK that will happen and that you'll live happily ever after and birds and talking chipmunks will come out and sing you song and you'll walk out together towards the horizon...FALSE! Once again its nice to THINK that will happen but it won't, this is reality and things are a bit different. Not to say that you won't find your true love, you will! Just don't expect to meet them in a Disney fashion ;)

Fairy Tales

I LOVED yesterdays discussion. Fairy tales have always been one of my favorite kinds of stories and getting to spend a whole class discussing them was such a treat. So many things were talked about that I had never realized with fairy tales before.

One thing I really appreciated was the emphasis on how fairy tales are unexpected. I try and write a lot and I often run into the problem of making my stories realistic. I feel like they need to be the most believable, predictable thing on the planet. I forget that the stories that usually take you away the most are the unpredictable ones. The ones full of wonder and unexpected twists and turns. I loved the line in Buechner's chapter on fairy tales when he says that in a fairy tale there are often three golden caskets and you don't know what will happen when you open one. There's a beautiful queen who turns out to be an evil witch. Nothing is expected. Nothing is set. Nothing is predictable.

Fairy tales take you away in a way that no other story can. When Master Leeper read the story about the little boy who found the castle I was taken away. I closed my eyes and the combination of Leeper's master storytelling and the brilliance of the story painted an image in my mind as clear as day. I could see the castle. I could see the boy and his family. It was the same with the story of the selfish giant. Novels can't take me away like that, comedy or tragedy. If Leeper read the Three Musketeers in class, while I would love the story, I wouldn't be transported to the world of the Musketeers in quite the same way. There's something magical about stories full of magic and wizards and dragons. I think some of the magic from the stories seeps out into the real world and for a little while the worlds touch. They kiss in a beautiful moment of unity. It never lasts, but I live for those moments when I can experience a world a little more magical than this one.

I have come to understand how incredible children's literature really is. Before this class I didn't have the appreciation for it that I do now. I figured that while they were good stories there still wasn't the literary mastery that people like Dumas' and Austen and Cervantes possess. I was very wrong. They might not be wordy like Don Quixote, but they don't need to be. They are beautiful in their simplicity. They paint a picture with fewer brushstrokes, and often smaller ones, but the painting has a brilliance about it that can't be matched.

There's a magic about children's stories that is beautiful. Leeper mentioned it when he said children approach stories with wonder, wanting to know what's next to learn. And children's stories feed that wonder, that desire for unknown knowledge. As an adult I lack that and have to consciously choose to be in wonder once again. Like Leeper said, apples in fairytales are golden to show us that green apples truly are wonderful. Rivers run with wine to remind us of the awe of rivers running with water. What I said earlier about wanting a world that was a little more magical than this one, I don't know how true that is anymore. Maybe I just need to see this world a little more clearly through the lens of fairy tales. Maybe fairy tales would teach me how to see the world properly if I just let them.

Illusion or Reflection

Last week, Leeper briefly talked about Renaissance and Catholic art pieces.

His take on Enunciation and Magnifica was very fresh to me. I had nothing against Catholic church take on Maria, but I never really have appreciated enough about a virgin being chosen by God. It is something very beautiful I guess... Renaissance did depict Jesus in many ways. Most of the times, Jesus was portrayed as a baby Jesus or as a suffering flesh on the cross.

From my understanding and interest in history, Renaissance was based on the philosophy of Dante, who believed that salvation came from "self-awareness", and Beatrice in his "Divine Comedy" was the pinnacle of "self-awareness". Starting that point on, many artists inspired by Dante started to draw their own Beatrice. Botticelli, the painter of "The Birth of Venus", was one of them.

To go back more, another philosophy that not only shaped Renaissance but the Western culture as a whole was Plato, who asserted the separation between the spiritual world and the physical world. To be more specific, Plato defined the physical world as an illusion. He basically belittled the reality. It is a fact that the Western world is heavily influenced by Greek philosophy, and even Christianity (for example, monks causing pain on themselves.) I do believe that many Christians nowadays tend to hate there physical body, and value only their own spirit.

I am not trying to downplay western civilization or the Renaissance. In fact, I am a huge fan of Renaissance art, and with all my heart I do appreciate western cultures as much as I love my own. Actually, I believe that the boundary between the West and the East is becoming more uncertain nowadays. We can blame it on globalization or thank globalization. 

However, my point is that I do think it is false to believe that this reality that we live in is a mere illusion or "phantasma". 

I believe that there is a meaning behind God separating water from water in Genesis 1. As water reflects objects, the heaven(spiritual world) and the earth(physical world) were made to reflect one another. I believe that it would be too much to say that one is less than the another. Yes, sin made us to fall. Yes, the earth has failed and it is tinted by our sinful nature. However, consider this. God justified us with the blood of Jesus Christ and already made us glorious(Romans 8). The spiritual and physical world are not separate. Word integration might be superfluous in this context, since they've been one. Those two worlds are interdependent.

Considering this, the responsibility of artists increases, because we have to capture the reflection of heaven and share with the others so that they could be delighted.

As faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see...

let us reflect heaven and let heaven reflect us... Let us live by faith alone.

'Cos I Want to be Little Again Sometimes

This is Belle (from Beauty and the Beast).
I had to draw her for a school project.

All this fairytale business is really starting to eat at my morale. Whether or not Disney told the stories right, Disney fairy tales were some of the first one's to help kickstart my imagination when I was little. One of the things I want to do the most right now is dissolve back to that childhood moment when the prince met the princess for the first time, or another character stepped foot onto the land of an entirely different world, or when dinosaurs started talking and broomsticks started dancing because that life had so much more promise than this adult life does.

I love, when in Telling the Truth, Buechner talks about that suppressed inner child in us mature, "well off" beings. We're so mature and think we have it all figured out (or at least have a handle on figuring it out) we forget the small magical things or dismiss them altogether. But secretly, that inner child is ensnared by the "silly" fairytales; and it's the best stories that catch that child that really interact with us.

One thing I notice when I look back on the crazy fairy tale movies I used to watch is how filled with hope I was, and how that hope and feeling resolved me to wanting to do something more. I remember distinctly feeling like there was nothing I couldn't do. I had an imagination so vivid that this world became minuscule, boring, and I began to turn it into a fantastical world where I saw, felt and lived in hope.

Of course, that kind of dreaming is dying now, and sometimes it's scary to just hope.

To hope that maybe I'm that ordinary kid that hardly has a head on their shoulders because it's in the clouds but will one day be the extraordinary someone that everyone else can look at and smile. To hope that maybe, on the nights when it hurts so much that when I close my eyes I'll wake up somewhere else and start over and fight the local dragon to defend my castle instead of waking up to more monotony. To hope that when the rest of this dying world is panting it's last breaths I can stand up and say with full confidence that there is hope if people could just open their eyes and unclog their ears.

That's what fairy tales do for my inner child. They feed me hope, and really, it's only a child you can give hope because adults are just too well off to deal with that nonsense. And thinking about that reminds me just what an artist is: a child. We'll get smacked with the belt sometimes for our curiosity and our hope.

As an artist, we were forced to grow up before everyone else, but we'll be younger than everyone else forever, because it's our job to speak to the child inside our viewers.

Fairy Tale

I never realized how a fairy tale could be such a powerful genre for presenting thought provoking messages. I have always just discounted fairy tales as purely entertainment and never took a deeper look at the stories. The quote Professor Leeper read in class today i thought was a crucial point to remember; the statement about how in fairy tales they make the rivers flow with whine so that we remember for a second that they flow with water. That is so true! I take for granted so many awesome things around me just because i have been inured overtime to not be impressed by them. Also, with modern technology the simple and often amazing things in life get completely overlooked.

In my future cinematic endeavors i would love to somehow bring out the beauty in the simple. Whether i do this by means of an epic fairy tale or just by presenting a simple concrete yet enticing story; such as the film Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. I loved that film because the whole movie the boy was searching for some kind of resolution to in some way justify his father's death; yet at the end the conclusion is reached that there is no answer to be found. You get wrapped up in the hope to find some exciting answer at the end, then you are sucked back into reality and you realize that some things in life cannot be resolved nicely.

Fairy Tales

The movies and the books and the pictures and the smells and the sounds and the feelings all come together in a moment and show you something incredibly, heart-wrenchingly wonderful - they show you fairy tale. My deepest desire, I have come to realize, is to be lost in a world of fairy tale. It is to open that wardrobe and find Narnia; it is to dive into the rabbit hole and experience a strange, dream-like world; it is to make friends with the magicians and the dwarves and the elves; it is to find the princess in the castle and fight for her and hold her forever; it is to live a life so saturated with the unbelievable that I can finally laugh in the face of death. Because a lot of this life honestly feels like death, so much so that death itself seems more exciting and closer to fairy tale than most of what comes and goes around here. I'm not saying that Jesus has not made me new or that there is absolutely nothing to live for....I'm just saying that sometimes it feels that way. And the fairy tales take me into something else - call it escapism if you will, but I am still drawn to it. And it may be that I need to face up to the facts of life and just keep moving forward....like the rest of the world....and I mean that's what seems to be the only option given to us in this society to non-stop activity. But what does it mean to live?

What does it mean to live?

This is a question ignored time and time again. People just don't want to think about it. You ask them and they look at you like you're crazy and are in need of some serious counseling....but the question remains in all of us. Why do we work so hard to do what we're supposed to do? In the words of Solomon, its just a chasing of the wind. Meaningless. I like to think of myself as human, but humanity nowadays functions so much like robots that I don't know if that's a good title anymore. Maybe a better name for me would be child. At least children know that fairy tales matter. They get it. The awe that comes with hearing a story of another world is not suppressed by children. Adults, for some reason, find it more virtuous to stuff the wishy-washy talk of all that "too good to be true" nonsense and get to what really matters: the hard, cold, unrelenting facts of life. Well thats life...isn't it? You go to school to go to college to get a job to earn enough money to feed your family to live a relatively comfortable life to go on living until you retire, at which point you simply wait for the end to come.....and then it's all over. What a life.

Fairy tales are a different life. If not anything else, they are different. In fact, it is a good different, because the things that make us human, in the purest sense of the word, are actually addressed and become the point of focus throughout the entire fairy tale, ending in either happily ever after (which is only labelled "childish" because the adults are too afraid of that which is too good not to be true) or in a somber, cruel death that points again to our humanity in it's tragic state of death. At least fairy tales step up to the plate and show us ourselves as we really are, instead of trying to distract us with money, jobs, future plans, efficiency, etc. The only things that are worth our time, really, are those things that make this temporary life shine with the light of our eternal destiny. And I think fairy tales do a fantastic job with that.

Fairy Tales

I loved the discussion today in class! I absolutely love a good fairy tale, and that is probably why I am so enthralled with Disney. It is amazing to be able to live in a world, where anything can happen if you just believe, although that world only exists in your mind. Something I find frustrating when I am imagining fairy tales in my mind, is being able to get that idea on a piece of paper, exactly as I see it in my head.

One of the reasons that I enjoy fairy tales so much, is because typically the story has a happy ending. The good guys win. The prince marries the princess. They all lived happily ever after. Wouldn't that be nice if it was like that in real life all the time?

I loved the quote today "you have to be loved first, to become lovable". I think that sends such a beautiful message. It is just like Beauty and the Beast. I really enjoyed the film today about the man and the mouse. I thought it was a clever idea, and definitley touched on this idea of being loved before being lovable. I think that the idea of this worked in the man's case, as he had to learn to love the mouse, that he had no interest in, other than to kill her at first. However, when the mouse shows him love, he is able to eventually show her the same love back.

Also, I have been inspired to purchase the "Oxford's Book of Modern Fairy Tales", as well as "The Brother's Grimm Fairy Tales". I can't wait to read them! I do love a good fairy tale!

Fairy tail Dream

Today was a fun class. Pretty funny videos. Comedy is different then fairytales. Fairytales can and should be deconstructed and revisioned.
People have to step out of there comfort zone and into wonders. You have to wonder and not reck your current art work. You can't just say I will draw a tree. You need to just ponder and wonder.

The french fairy tail was kinda funny. My favorite part of it was when they turned into a elephant and a giraffe then a whale. Thats a modern fairytale. A modern fairy tale is something that we would not think of doing for example kissing a frog or todd to a prince or princess depending on the view.

Dont plan, Don't forget your forgot. There is usually irony or something in some fairytales as I said earlier.

Once Upon a Disney

The comic has nothing to do with my post...I had a difficult time figuring out the comic for this one so I went to a fallback idea I've had for awhile.

 

I always find it funny when I find out that people's conception of fairy tales are completey Disney-fied. Not that I have anything against Disney movies! I currently have a love-hate relationship with the company, but for the most part I love the movies and, to be honest, its my childhood so it will always have a place in my heart. But you'll have to be in denial to not see how idealized the stories are. Of course, a lot of people don't know the original fairy tales very well, so they don't expect anything different. Fairy tales are not always something you would want to tell a child before going to bed. But if Disney made all their movies like that, they could potentially lose their target audience due to over-protective parents. No, Disney needs to advertise happy endings, like this:

Because if Disney was comprised of movies with more bitter endings, they wouldn't be able to sell things, like tickets to Disney World (this commercialization is mostly the 'hate' part in my love-hate relationship). Exponentially less people would go to a park that advertised 'Where dreams sometimes, but not very often, come true'.

All things said, I was very shocked when I found that my favorite fairy tale of all time is actually, as far as I know, the only one that Disney adapted without completely Disney-fying it. And, at the same time, I'm sure none of you knew that Disney even made an adaptation of it. The story is 'The Little Match Girl', and the only way to see the short animation of it is to get the special edition of The Little Mermaid on DVD. Or, you know, in this day and age, find someone who uploaded it on youtube, like I did. Its almost completley accurate to the original story, has beautiful animation, and, most importantly, not a very happy ending, depending on your look on things. But it has a lot of truth, heart-wrenching truth. I've linked it below, and you all should watch it. Its Disney at its rarest, purest form, a form I wish the company would go back to.

 

Bunny

• Today in class we watched Bunny, one of Blue Sky's short films before working on Ice Age. Surprisingly, I had actually already seen this little short film. It was on the bonus disc for the Ice Age DVD. I remember watching it when I was younger ( Ice Age came out in 2002, so I was just 8 years old ) and thinking to myself " this is literally the weirdest thing ever". If you think about it, it really is. An old bunny cooks a big fat moth in her pie, and then crawls in the oven, grows wings, and flys off into the light... As an 8 year old, I had no idea how to react, other than to just laugh it off as something stupid or random. 10 years later, I'm in college watching this exact same film with a completely different mindset. I think with a little analyzing, I've come to the conclusion that the moth was the bunny's husband. She picks up the picture and looks at it rather sad, so I'm assuming the husband died. In this strange fantasy world, dead people become moths, and the bunny looked so old, maybe to the point where she was suffering. She was shaking, so I don't know if she was suffering or maybe she was just twitchy like a bunny... either way, she is transported into this light, which I'm going to say is heaven. I mean, the original moth is in the oven along with all of these other moths, I think this was Blue Sky's interpretation of heaven, maybe not for the staff, but it's what they chose to do for the short film. The thing at the end though that sort of confirms that the moth was her husband was the very last shot where the picture moves and you can see the two moths kiss/bump faces, ( since moth's don't have lips... ) This film was really interesting, and actually what I find more interesting than the film is the actual company Blue Sky. They made this beautiful little short film about death and the afterlife, and where are they now? There are 4 Ice Age movies... I actually liked the first Ice Age movie, it wasn't a masterpiece in any way, but it had heart, and there was at least some emotion. Now with the 4th movie recently released this past summer, I wonder will it ever stop? It amazes me what a movie making company can turn into, making these unique little short films, and then hitting it big with this one movie, so they decide to run it into the ground to create as much money as possible. I've actually seen all 4 of the Ice Age movies, and I can confidently say they've gotten worse and worse, and have just been sell out movies. The last one had Nicki Minaj and Drake... How do we get from an interpretation of the afterlife and happiness, to signing record artists for a nameless movie that no one will remember in 10 years? Last time I saw "Bunny" was 10 years ago, and I still remembered it pretty clearly. All I'm saying, it's a shame what happens to companies just to make a quick buck, but I guess that's just how the world works. In the future, "Bunny" is going to remind me of how easy it can be to sell out, and hopefully I will not go down the same path in the future. 

Post-Modernism in ALL Media

      Today in class we talked about how in this age we are testing out different ways of conveying art through media.  He gave the example of the movie “Tree of Life” which is practically a series of movie sequences that don’t seem to match up right away.  Of course, that movie is just one example, another would be the short film of the prince and princess and its different take on the princess kissing the to frog to turn it into a prince.  It seems like today’s audience is more willing and open to watch and experience different types of movie experiments.  And sense I also know a little bit about today’s gaming industry I also know that it is moving in that same direction.

      Over the past few years, games have been coming out that for last generation's standards would not be considered a game.  Games are coming out now that redefine what games can be.  This is mostly because today’s audience is strongly supporting indie games, they want something new and different just like it how the movie audience wants to experience something different when the go to the movies.  Now not all games are about the gameplay, more and more games are focusing on art and emotions. For an example, a game just came out where you’re a traveler trudging through a desert and the goal is to reach the distant mountain; there is no fighting, no health bar, just beautiful scenery, and an enthralling soundtrack.  Now game companies want to develop believable characters so the player can become emotionally bonded to the character, making for a completely different experience. 

      I guess what I just wanted to say in this blog is that ALL media is going through the Post-Modern era right now.  Movies are not the only medium people are experimenting with. This is the age where media is experimented with.  

One Upon a TIme

Once upon a time is how a majority of fairy tails start. It was a common occurrence in my childhood, and I assume many of yours, to hear a story start out like this. When I think of a fairy tail, I think of the classic Disney movies. I think of the prince rescuing the princess, and then having a happy ending. However I also realize that every fairy tail, is not, and does not need to be like that. There are fairy tails that have dark and sad endings, and also have not

your normal prince saving the princess story.

            Today in class I enjoyed all of the films. My favorite was the first one we watched about the house on the hill where the person and the rat fall in love. It was just something I never was expecting. I also loved the last one about the bunny and the fly. I thought that it was a little ironic that the fly was driving her crazy at the beginning of the story, but buy the end it took her where she was happy.