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Final Words

My favorite film this semester was definitely West Bank Story. It was so fun to see my childhood memories recreated. Something that I loved about this class was how it made us think. As a thinker and processor, I found it very refreshing to have new ideas. Well, until next time! Merry Christmas!

last post before deadline

this semester has been something ill never forget i have met interesting people doing this the way i see films has changed drastically i thank you Steve leeper for a wonderful semester i hope i can continue my education in this class and maybe get a chance to talk to you and get your opinions of life!

See Y'all Soon!

Hey Guys!

So, this is probably going to be my last blog. I just wanted to say thank you to you all for being such great classmates, and people to learn with. Thanks for making my first semester of college better then I could have ever hoped. I want to give an especially special thanks to the friends who kept up with me outside of the classroom. Y'all were such a blessing, and didn't even know it. Thanks for being awesome! See you Tuesday!

~Katy

Blogging

oh the fun times i have had blogging! this was my first time i thought these thing where stupid and pointless at first but then as time progressed i realized that blogging has a huge impact! at first my blogging sucked agreed it still does i made a few blogs im not to proud of but i think i straightened myself i thank you leeper for showing me the joy of blogging ill be doing it for the rest of my life!

My thoughts on the class.

Well this class has been… interesting to say the least. My thinking process is definitely different than it was upon the beginning of the semester. I think I have a better idea of what I want to do with this major. Also, I have a new appreciation for many types of films, literature, and art.

I am definitely purchasing, “The Gospel is…” because I learned so much from that book about story-telling. I’m sure I will read that more than once time in my life.

I loved the section that we did when we just looked at painting after painting, and I also loved the literature that was included. This really broadened my interest and my knowledge about what affects art.

Every single reading that I read taught me something that I never knew before, and then I continued to learn when discussing it in class.

The best part of the whole class was watching the film. I mean, how many classes do you get to have that the majority of it is watching good films and animations that you have never seen before. I still remember watching World of Glory, and thinking about the future class consisting of darker videos. Fortunately this did not happen.

Overall, I am Extremely grateful for this class and wish it lasted the entire year.

Gaming: Character Design

Something that I have always loved about watching my brother play video games was the character art. I loved the belts and buckles that Sora had all the way to the kinds of swords Cloud yielded. Needless to say, I hated when characters were poorly done. Detail work is important to a good character. If you are working with 16 bits, then that's fine that Mario is pixelated; one can still see his mustache, blue overalls, and red shirt and cap. It is very important for character designers to take special advantage of the level of detail that their game can handle.

George Lucas in Love

i love this film it really showes you being in a pblic surrounding can give you the best ideas sadly in this film it didn't Walt Disney trying to buy his script lol. i would like to see something like this for star trek aswell i think it would be interesting to see!

Blogging

I’ll have to admit, blogging was super beneficial to me in this class. Although, I personally do not really like to blog, I am learning to like it more. Sure, writing blogs was helpful and caused me to really focus on my thoughts, but the main thing that was influential to me was the blog discussions that we had before class. I did enjoy reading everyone’s blogs on the site, but there were always just so many different points and topics, and typically I always thought that they were good points of view and that the writer had something valid to say. But then when we discussed the particularly good, controversial, or conversation-related blogs in class, I was always very challenged. I was force to think and decide what I though about each controversial issue. I found so many interesting clips and sited from those blogs. I often times ended up re-reading many of the blogs that we discussed in class.

I left this class with a whole lot more insight thanks to the blogs and the discussions. I know that blogging had helped me a lot in this class, and I hope to someday become better at it, cause I think it serves a good purpose.

Merry Christmas

if anything should calm us down i say its christmas every yar when i see those lights on the tree i get a warm fuzzy feeling i think we all need to calm down and take 5 n just look at your christmas tree, and relax all these finals are coming up not to may of us has had time to celebrate. m

Steins;Gate

Recently, I watched the anime Steins;Gate, and I have a few things to say about it. First of all, the drawing style was very interesting in that it was not entirely traditional for an anime series. It took a little bit of getting used to, but in the end, if it was going to be an off style, I wish it had been more the style of Death Note. Next point is that the concept of time travel that they imagine is absolutely unique and fantastic, and the plot is so very intriguing that if you are not careful, you will end up watching half of the series in a day or two (don't ask how I would know). Finally, it is one of the best animes out there. The second half, in particular, is so mind boggling, that you do not really know what is happening until it's all over. Since I personally LOVE "think pieces", this was absolutely fantastic. If you liked live action films such as Inception or Looper, you probably would like this show a lot.

psychological thrillers

i loved this topic because it was from a fellow ps3 gamer (just kidding) lol but seriously i love these movies aswell because their so abnormal i love the psychological horror movies such as "The Killing Room" or "The Cube" and seeing the mental capacity of peple and what they'll do to survive it kind of like
"Saw" in a way whereas they had an option to save themselves maube im blowing this way out of text but i enjoyed it either way thank you!

The Screwtape Letters

One of my favorite books of all time is C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters” I would recommend that everone read this at some point in their lives because it literally will change their outlook on life, God, and Satan. It makes the spiritual war between God and Satan so much more real. 

The Screwtape letters is all about demons and how they try to hide what is true and what is right from humans and how they try to lead them down the way of sin and destruction. It takes the reader through experiences that each person can relate to and challenges their  faith through every letter.

The story begins with a demon named Screwtape who is writing to his nephew, Woodworm. Like the other demons, Woodworm has a human, who’s life he is trying to corrupt, and his Uncle Screwtape is there for him and gives him advice about the ways to do so.Woodworms human, known as “the patient”, is converted to Christianity. Woodworm is of course punished for this, but uncle Screwtape reminds him that there is still hope. If he goes about it the right way, he can bring “the patient” back to their side. 

From then on Screwtape writes woodworm many letters about how to get to the patient. Screwtape is sly, and suggests using clever  little techniques that will add up in the end, rather that using a few big temptations like Woodworm wants to do, saying that "the safest path to hell is the gradual one." 

 Screwtape knows that it’s the little lies and sins that slip by that gradually destroy morality and wins over souls. One of Screwtapes greatest strategies is hiding the truth, making it difficult for the patient to see the enemy. Scretape knows that distracting the patient from the enemy is the best way to destroy a soul.  

This book definitely caused me to really think about how hard Satan tries to get us to turn away or not accept God. It definitely got me to put my guard up and turn to God for the strength to overcome Satan’s attacks

Micro Art

So, this is kind of way off subject of animation, but for a few minutes, I would like to advert y'all's attention to something that I love, and that I am fascinated with: micro sculptures.

What I love about micro sculpting (or carving in some cases) is that it makes you see something that you know should not be. For instance, a pencil is a pencil, not a saw or a key. In the same way, we do not expect a piece of metal less then an inch high to be a pair of lizards.

I love the fantasy of these sculptures. They make me look at the impossible and instead of thinking how impossible it is, I can try to figure out, instead how to achieve what I am seeing.

Another micro art that is going around right now is micro photography. The photo below is 100% real. This photographer named Andrey Pavlov uses a special super micro lens, and uses ants as models. He has a whole bunch of pictures up, and his name is a link.

I have always loved fairy tales, and this micro art makes anything possible.

Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

I know it’s been awhile since we talked about children’s film and television, but I just wanted to bring up one of my favorite childhood television shows. This was Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.

I sort of wished I would have posted about this when it was relevant to the conversation, because I think that  he entertained and challenged children with out crossing any lines. By “not crossing any lines” I mean that there was really nothing that happened where a parent would potentially question if their child should be watching that or not. I think that protecting children’s innocence is important and that these sort of shows need to exist. After all it people should decide for themselves what their children should watch, so if a parent wants their child to not be exposed to unpunished deviance, profanity, ect, then Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood is a good option.

Another great thing about Mr. Rogers was that he provoked creativity in children everywhere. Mr. Rogers always seemed to be a warm, kind, and genuine man with a enormous imagination. This is what I saw in him as a child at least. But I also saw a man that was able to show me a whole other existing world. This is so important for children shows.

The YouTube Presintation

i really thought the YouTube presentation was great and its a perfect example of starving artists making their mark on society. i hope Google doesn't screw YouTube up so far i have loved the changes and hope they keep using it for the better i would like to see other examples i think Shane Dawson has a similar life he was just a nobody on YouTube and now he recently had an offer for a TV show! same way as the annoying orange but he has a show now! its amazing the power of YouTube and i loved the presentation good job!

I'll figure out a title for this later....

Procrastination.... All college student goes through the "Aw, it's not due till the end of semester... I'll just do it later!" syndrome. There is nothing that inspires someone to get something done like a looming deadline.  Procrastination is the vice of the college campus that breaches across campus', nationalities, race, age, and gender.  Why do we do it? Or rather, why do we NOT do it? We can't seem to find the inspiration to get things done. In accordance with Freud, the Pleasure principle may be responsible for procrastination; humans do not prefer negative emotions, and handing off a stressful task until a further date is enjoyable. The concept that humans work best under pressure provides additional enjoyment and motivation to postponing a task.  Some psychologists state that such behavior is actually a mechanism for coping with the anxiety associated with starting or completing any task or decision. Other psychologists indicate that anxiety is just as likely to get people to start working early as late and the focus should be impulsiveness. 

Welcome to college. 

THE FINALS

Whose ready for this!? .... Not me. lol this is my first finals in an actual public school! I think it should be multiple choice just so I can keep my sanity! I hope I don't let you down leeper ill try to give it my best! And I wish I could express how much this class has meant but I wish you all good luck!

New Trend of Books to Movies

One thing that has been evident lately in films is the increase of non classic books being made into films. Good examples of this recently would be Cloud Atlas, Silver lining's playbook, Perks of Being a Wall Flower, and Killing Them Softly. This makes it clear that book adaptations are no longer strictly based on overall popularity. Filmmakers have become more daring with their choice of script material, and making un popular books into popular movies. This has an indirect effect on the sales of such books, so overall its a good thing because it increases the sales of literature. Audiences desire to read the book and compare it to the movie. Whether filmmakers realize it or not they are anyway promoting literacy. This new trend is helped by the longer average duration of movies, which allows for more detail. The new emergence of movies based on novels seems to have a positive effect on different kinds of art, and seems to only be growing.

Cloud Atlas

A few weeks ago I saw the movie Cloud Atlas. I thought it was a great movie that really capitalized on the versatility of actors. The movie displayed landmark performances from several up and coming actors, and already popular actors. This also had the highest budget of any independent film to date. This goes to show the new emergence of independent films as competition for large studio films. One remarkable aspect of this film is the use of special effects and makeup to transform the actors into completely different characters. Some actors even had up to five or six roles throughout the movie, eliminating the need for a wide range of actors. This allows more characters to be played by great actors, and really showcases how good of actors they really are. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone that enjoys challenging and complex plot lines along with amazing special effects.

Hairy Potter

A Hairy Potter (just because we all have thought it).

Harry Potter is a mainstream film that I know that Leeper does not like very much (if at all). However, after seeing it for the first time ever, I am not sure I entirely agree that it is a totally poor piece of footage.

Saturday, I watched the third movie, and I actually liked it. Sure, the third movie is supposedly the best, and I have never seen any other movies. From what I saw, the film was, as a whole, well produced and thought out. I wasn't super fond of all of the CGI that they used, but I did think that the movie would not be the same without it.

I did like the creative mind of the character designer, though (I believe he was also the director?). While the movie was dark, it was not too dark to the point that a child would be horrified if they watched it. I loved the takes on the various creatures.

Wether or not you like Harry Potter is entirely up to you. I do not think that I will be watching all of the other movies, but I did enjoy the one that I watched.

DM 101

Throughout this course, I have learned a lot about media. I have decided that I love small independent studios, documentaries aren't too bad, and that just because something is different that what I was used to, did not automatically mean that I should not show it any interest.

One of the things that I loved about Professor Leeper's teaching style is that he made us think for ourselves, and he would suggest foreign themes so that we could expand our minds. Basically, I just want to say thank you to Prof Leeper for making me take new aspects into consideration for my future work.

k.

Sometimes  I feel like the world is losing the ability to communicate.... We get together and break up with people through a text because we are too nervous to actually speak to that person in real life. We text each other while we are int the same room. one word texts have become my major pet peeve. AND NO ONE ACTUALLY PICKS UP THEIR PHONE ANYMORE! Did you realize that calling was the original reason for a phone in general? And before that we had letters and telegrams?! And before that, people actually had to go speak to each other in person to get a fast response?! Kids of our generation hide behind their keyboards in an attempt to save themselves the embarrassment of talking to someone in person and possibly being hurt. Or to protect themselves from the possibility of seeing a human being with actually emotions respond to some of their blatantly mean and hurtful words. People say things over a text that they would never say in person, or even in a call for that matter! For example, "sexting." NO ONE WOULD EVER SAY THOSE NASTY THINGS IN PERSON!!! The other person would think that you were a pervert and be all "EW?! GET AWAY!!" We hide behind our digital walls so as to not have to face reality. In reality, you ARE still speaking to a living, breathing human being. And a lot of us would be ashamed of some of the things we say behind our computer or smart phones if we said them in real life.  With good and practical reason too!  Our hiding has even effected our English language! People have a new way of speaking in shortened English in an attempt to shorten the words we say and our conversations.  I cringe sometimes when I hear the way some people speak in a way that makes it hard for some of us to even understand them! We shall see I suppose how people speak in the future. Will they speak to each other like in Wall-e? In the comfort of their comfy chair through a televised screen? That idea of people and the future scares me in the fact that it will completely change the way we respond to each other.  God made us to be relational creatures, and we are abusing and wasting this amazing gift that he has given us!

Signs and Wonders recap.

I personally think that Signs and Wonders was a great success this year, and I am sure that I am not the only one who thinks this way. It is all due to your participation and extra blog credits from prof. Leeper.

The theme for this semester was "beauty and longing", and I think that except one or two movies, movies this semester were perfect representation of that. I believe that it was a fortunate theme for this semester.

We've boldly started with "Senna", a documentary about a F-1 pilot, and ended with the "Enchanted April". The Midnight in Paris was a great delight from Woody Allen, The Song of Sparrows was a unique experience and perhaps the climax of this semester may have been "Malena". The discussion after these movies were definitely worth taking part of it. I think these were some factors that really showed what Signs and Wonders can do.

Something special for me this semester was that we were able to present two Korean movies: Poetry and Secret Sunshine. It was an opportunity for me to learn to appreciate and know more about the art of my home. I wish we will be able to show some more Korean movies.

However, my favorite movie of this semester's Signs and Wonders was "Lars and the Real Girl". It really showed me what good movie should be and can do. It was a pleasant surprise. Perhaps the best part was the discussion after the movie between Prof. Alexander and Prof. Leeper... it was not an everyday experience where you can listen these two particular great minds talking about movie, art, faith etc.

I encourage you to continue to come and take part of it. Watching good movies is not an ultimate purpose of Signs and Wonders; it is about watching good movies TOGETHER that makes the program get going.

Let me wrap up with couple questions for you.

What was your favorite Signs and Wonders movie this semester?
What theme would you like to observe next semester?

Clint Eastwood is Beast

         

            One of my favorite movies of all time is Gran Torino. This is a movie that is great, not because of violence and explosions, but because of the amazing storyline and great acting. In this movie Clint Eastwood was the director and main actor. This seems like it would be extremely tough to do. To have to manage everyone on set, get in character, and just be the boss of everything would be a crazy load for a man of 82. That and he did outstanding in his role of a bitter old man and just being straight up BA. I have always wondered what kind of education and career somebody must have before they can convince someone that they can direct and star in a feature length film. I have seen other actors like Ben Stiller, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney and do very well acting in great films. I am just baffled that a man as old as Cli

Finals week is HERE!!!

So! Finals are here! Studying seems to be irrelevant when it comes time to actually getting work done.... I know that as for myself, I tend to try and find any other thing to do EXCEPT study for that class that I am completely stressed out over.  Finals are the exemplification of trying to accurately grade everyone on the same material in the same way.  I know that it is supposedly the best way to grade everyone in the same playing field, but is it really? We all have different strengths and weaknesses based on our personality and how God made us. Some of us are better at depicting ideas through drawing, others through kinetic learning, others of us are oral learners while another person maybe good at just throwing up words onto a page like we must in a test.  WHY IS A TEST USING MULTIPLE CHOICE OR ESSAY DEEMED THE BEST WAY TO EXTRACT THE IDEA LEARNED IN CLASS?! To a lot of people, it really isn't fair.  The issue is our education system deems it necessary to attempt to use one device to reach all children.  The "bulls-eye shotgun" style as my educational psychology called it.  This basically means that we try and reach as many children as possible using one strategy. Every other child that does not fit into this "majority" is kind of other wise left out in the dust.  Even then, many teachers don't even attempt to find out how the majority of the class learns! They simply teach in the way that THEY know how to teach or learn! I struggle with lazy teaching like this simply for the fact, it is lazy and children are not being reached! The classes that I enjoyed and learned the most in where the classes that had a variety of ways to learn and respond to the learning.  I learn my information for a test in different ways for the same information.  If there is a part that I know is going to be multiple choice, I first learn the facts orally and by reading them out loud to myself multiple times. Then, I go back and test myself by having someone read out a question that I have constructed and then I must recite the answers.  If a part of a test is matching, I write out 2 sets of notecards. One with a word and another with the associated answer.  Then, I mix them up on the ground and put them together and then go back and judge how well I did.  This way, I am receiving the information in different ways.  I really only know these tricks though because my mom was a teacher and knows how to teach kids in ways each of them will understand.  If we want children of the future to succeed, we need to change the education system so as to reach every child. But, in association with film, here is a funny and entertaining video on how I feel a lot of kids study for finals.... :D

Really dad? REALLY?

I think we all have been the unfortunate victims of our parents and their attempts to fit into the 21st Century. Sometimes, they succeed. Other times..... well..... we all have a good story or two about those times.  Once, at my birthday party, my mom decided that it would be a great idea to start dancing to "Single Ladies" in front of my entire group of friends at my house while we were eating cake. Thanks mom, thanks.  At least she is in touch with the music of the day if that makes it any better.  This video does a fantastic job of exemplifying the parental attempt to be "cool." Well, it makes me laugh in recognition of some of those awkward moments...

Bioshock and violence

Well, it definitely was a shock when I went to go watch the trailers for Bioshock.  The graphics were excellent, and I can see why it was brought up as a piece of art. But, the violence in it was overwhelming.  I am usually not bothered by violence, which is unfortunate because it really should bother us.  But, the use of a child as weapon is pushing my limit of what is okay.  Sending a child to kill others and using there innocence and naivety for your own advantage and use is wrong. Honestly, I struggle with the use of violence period.  Kids need to understand the line of what is right and wrong in the world, and I think that it helps to break down the barrier associated with that.  We grow used to things that we spend a lot of time around.  I used to be EXTREMELY sensitive to swearing, and then I attended public school. At first, I would cringe every time that I heard a cuss word uttered. Eventually, I became immune to the words, though I personally did not speak them.  This has become the standard for video games in this day in age.  A video game is not considered "cool" or "worthy of playing" by most teenagers if there is not a couple of good explosions, people dying, or some sad backstory, the game will not be successful! This is a sad fact of the world. Why are we so fancinated with the idea of taking the life of someone else? That person had a life, a family, maybe children. We never consider the idea that the person sitting on the other side of the barrel, maybe is someone just like us.  I think that is why people were up in arms about Kony and his army of children. Why aren't we that up in arms about a video game that uses a version of that reality? We enjoy being disturbed and scared so much that we push the limits of what that reality is.  We gradually move away from innocence into a darker reality which disturbs us and confuses us even more.  Until we realize that this is a spiral into a deeper and darker reality into which there is more grey area than there is black and white.  The Bible states 10 commandments. One in particular stands out.  Love God and love others as He first loved you.  How much loving can you do when holding a gun to a child's head? Yes, it is virtual reality. But, it is just that, a twisted version of our reality.

3.14159265

Just recently when we watched the Tree of Life, I thought that there could not be another film that incorporated such beautiful imagery in the piece. After this afternoon, I have decided that I had made a mistake.

The Life of Pi may not be quite as openly abstract as The Tree of Life, however, I would like to say that it was almost (if not) as beautiful as The Tree of Life. In contrast to The Tree of Life however, The Life of Pi used CGI in addition to the life shots. The use of camera angles was otherworldly in several scenes. Several times throughout the film, you would see an object floating in the sky, or the water, or kissing the horizon of the two, but you could not distinguish air from water, and it was all beautiful.

One of the things that I really liked was the way it made you think. You could not very well leave that theatre without asking which account was real, and which was not. This film questions reality, and it was interesting to see the world differently.

Final Blog

Alrighty, so this is it... My final Blog.. I'm going to give an overall view of the class this semester, and overall I did like it. As Leeper said at the beginning of the year.. it's gunna make you think and it really has, I've really rethought my view on media and how it impacts our lives and I've really learned how to reach out to new media and trying to understand it. I have loved all the media we have covered and I've learned how creative some people are. I've also learned that story is everything.. this is one of the biggest parts I've learned because seriously, story is what makes a film. Look at all the bad films... just bad stories.. we may not totally realize it but it is. So all in all... loved the class and till next time.. Justin out.. God bless yall 

Music in my Life

So doing all these blogs I've realized how much music I listen to because I listen all the time while I do homework and again these blogs.. but I can't believe how much music impacts my life. Especially country... shout out to all the country lovers... but I just feel it gives me relaxation when I do my work and lyrics of a song can always have meaning, not always meaningful to me, but it really impacts all of us. I bet there isn't a day where anyone hasn't listened to some type of music, seriously. Music allows us to be free and for some it is a way to show emotions.. not trying to be emotion here but for reals. Anyways, I love my music and it means a lot to me, I don't know what I'd do without it. Btw... Josh Turner is the man and an inspiration to me so yeah that's why the pictures there..

Corny Commercials..

So yeah.. are you ever watching TV and during a commercial break it goes to a commercial that is completely stupid while trying to present a product... yeah those are cool... yet funny. In todays commercial society I guess you could say, they really need to do better with these products because they are representing ideas in a terrible way... even if the product is a stupid idea.. but I get a kick out of all of it.. If you've seen the latest WaxVac... thats probably the newest joke in the commercial society.. check it..

It's a complete joke.. Over the years there's been so many, you probably know what I mean.. I just think people need to present these products more efficiently. 

Great Video!

           I'd Like to start by saying this music video is freakin amazing. It is stop-motion, the entire background is jellybeans, it took 22 months, 1357 hours, 30 people, and 288,000 jellybeans. Because of this music video Kina Grannis, the singer, jumped up to being a much more popular artist. Since her and her team took so much time to make an amazing video they now are much more popular and well known. She now continues to make crazy awesome music videos, along with good songs, to build an even larger fan base. Thats something that I love about any kind of film. It can make someone with enough drive, determination, and a dream to a highly respected artist. Unlike other careers it truly depends on whoever wants it the most and puts the most work towards it to get ahead. Every time I see a video like this and hear a story like Kina Grannis' I always feel inspired to try and do the same thing.

Boys Meets World

Alrighty so lately I've fallen in love with Boys Meets World... everyone seems like they've been talking about it the last couple months and I can see why people love the show so much. It's full of everyday school situations and they twist and make it so comical, and now they're gunna be making girl meets world with some of the same cast, so we'll have to see how that turns out, but the thing is its the funniest show ive ever seen.. besides the office maybe... I love the office, but it just gives a great story every episode and I'm so glad I watch it now. 

YouTube inspirations

Okay so through the past few years I've fallen in love with YouTubers videos and I'm so inspired with what they do and how awesome their videos are. They all started out with almost nothing equipment wise but YouTube has changed their lives by making videos their job, so yeah here's some people who inspire me and their videos are art and creative in so many ways. 

Freddie Wong

MGM

Ghost in the Stalls 

Big Money, Big Actors

It is interesting how one actor can make or break how popular movies or television shows can turn out. There have been multiple times I have seen which actors were in a movie and wanted to see it without even watching the trailer. For me those actors are probably Tom Hanks, Russell Crowe, Gerard Butler, and a few more. Or theres movies where they throw in a ton of famous actors into one movie and instantly get a huge audience. Movies like Tropic Thunder and first and second The Expendables had a large cast of very popular stars and drew in a large number of viewers. Thats one thing I don't like about the industry. Im not saying these are bad movies, but I feel its a cheaper way to get people to come and watch. If companies have a lot of money they can hire big actors and instantly make a lot of money, no matter how good the actual movie is. I'd rather make a no name actor a popular one after being in a great movie. I give low budget movies that become popular a lot of credit, saying they can beat the big production companies without the money they have.

Call of Duty

Alrighty, since we went over video games in the last presentation I'm gunna talk about my view on Call of Duty because it's my favorite game ever... soooo here we go.. So basically I love the whole Call of Duty Franchise, it's just I think they have their ups and downs... I was impressed by the earlier versions of COD and then I think it went downhill.. probably because of the online interaction which is all I play and then with the new black ops I think they did a good job with that... the first black ops and MW3 I thought was a downer for the franchise... besides zombies.. which is amazing but online wise terrible. The new black ops though I think they thought through the online because it is really good and impressive butttttt I just hope it doesn't get old.. it needs new maps but yeah there's my COD blog..

Lil Fred - "Farm it Maybe"

So I'm finally going to Blog about our "Farm it Maybe" experience because I never did yet, so in all being said... here we go. If you don't know what I mean by this, it's a video my brother, cousins and me made and it went viral on YouTube and we all got to go to NYC on Fox and Friends... CRAZY!... okay so here's the story.. My cousins were coming to visit the farm and through the years we always end up making a video, this summer was a different story.. Me and my cousin came up with the idea to make a parody and make it farm style after seeing the PetersonFarmBros, I'm Farming and I Grow it, if you haven't seen that.. check it out.. So after being inspired we made a parody to Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen.. and it turns out it was totally worth it. After 3 weeks of lyrics, recording, filming, we released the video and after about 3 days it started getting some major views... we didn't think it'd get so big.. but it was all a blessing of how it started. This was just caziness in the household, and then on the 4th day after it was released I get an email from a fox news producer saying that they want us on the show... now this was when it was nuts... I read the email and I was about sick to my stomach. We were planning on heading out a few days after the email but the batman movie incident happened and it moved us a few days ahead because of all the coverage but we were picked up in a huge SUV and we drove through the night to NYC, it was my whole fam of 5, I didn't want them to miss out because they first just wanted me and Fred, so it was a blessing to experience this with the family. So in the morning we got to fox studios where we met my cousin who took the train in and we were then in the preshow room all excited, we got on air 2ce and it was such a blessing... it was a hit and run interview kinda so afterwards we headed home. It was awesome.. ask me more about it and I'll tell ya.. I got some stories.. but anyways this is a long blog so if you wanna know more seriously ask..

Lincoln

Over the weekend I saw the new movie Lincoln in theaters. Just to start I thought it was an amazing film. Great acting and a great interpretation of Lincoln's legacy, as far as I have learned from school. To me it seems like no matter how the movie is made, movies based on true stories get a leg up on other movies. I don't know if I've seen one of these movies that I haven't liked, not to say there aren't any but I just haven't seen one. But the movie Lincoln was awesome because how factual it was and just how well made it was. It's tough to make a movie when everyone that watches already knows what is going to happen and your still on the edge of your seat at the end. Thats exactly what Lincoln did, and why it was great. I would recommend it to anyone, rather you like history or not.

Commercial Kings

        

        Is it really considered selling out if all someone might want to do with there filmmaking skills is make advertisements? I don't believe this it true. As a matter of fact, besides product placement, I don't think a lot of things many people consider to be selling out actually so. Like advertising it could be just what a lot of people love to do. I hope after graduating from college to maybe do free-lance or join an ad agency and make commercials or something like that. As of right now I don't know how great I would be at making feature length films, or even short 10mins films, but I know I love making like mini videos. I believe if its something you love to do then it is in no way selling out. On the other hand if you hate what you do and do it for the sole purpose of making money then maybe you should seek a new career. The guys in this picture are a great example of someone that does what they love even though some may call it selling out. They have there own show about them making cheesy commercials for local companies that need help getting their name out there. 

The Hobbit

The Hobbit. Who isn't excited for this movie to come out? It's honestly going to be one of the best movies I've seen I'm sure of it. From watching behind the scenes video journals of the production it looks like they are following the storyline of the book extremely well and that makes me happy. Too often Hollywood adapts a book to the screen and they leave so much out. This looks nothing like that.

The way Peter Jackson has taken this story and put everything into it is incredible. He has gone from just a conception of it to a full on production spanning not just two movies, but three. The fact that they are doing that is huge because there will be nothing that they have to cut from the original story and that's great.

The casting of all the characters is, in my opinion absolutely perfect. I am currently rereading the Hobbit and as I get to a new character I think of how I envisioned them and it's just like Peter Jackson has everyone looking. The only two examples that I can say I'm less than happy about is the casting choices for Bilbo, and the design of the Great Goblin.

In the Fellowship of the Ring Gandalf makes the statement that Bilbo hasn't aged a day since their adventure of the Hobbit. But the Bilbo in this story looks much younger. I understand that the actor who played Bilbo last time is much too old now, but it's still frustrating.

The other frustrating character is that of the Great Goblin. When I read of the Great Goblin I assumed that he would be much the same as a normal goblin. Maybe a little taller. Perhaps somewhat grand looking, but in the end, a goblin like every other goblin. Instead we get this: 

While this is breathtaking from the perspective of CG, I don't think this was what Tolkien had in mind when he wrote about the great Goblin.

Those two things aside, I cannot wait for the Hobbit. I already have my tickets for the premiere and I will be anxiously waiting in line at the the local theatre waiting to have Peter Jackson blow my mind again.


PS. This is my last blog post. Be jealous.  :)

Wrap-Up of Intro to Digital Media Arts

So, this is my last blog and I thought that I'd give my input of this class. At first, I wasn't sure what to expect so I had mixed feelings towards it, but after being in it, I realized that I have more of an opened mind about film and I loved the discussions that we had in class. The blogging was fun as well and it was great to see other people's opinions about things.
All in all, this class was a great experience and I am glad that we all had the opportunity to talk and let out our opinions, and learning everything together!

Munchkin

So over the lat few weeks on my floor the board/card game Munchkin has become very popular. We have spent several late nights playing this game over and over, sacrificing sleep to play it.

Basically this charming little game is a satire of Role Playing Games like Dungeons and Dragons. You all play as a generic adventurer exploring a dungeon. Your goal in the game is to reach level ten. To do this you must defeat monsters, sell equipment, and use certain action cards to go up levels.

Everything is this game is sarcastic. Monsters range from one titled "Hoard of Lawyers" to one that is simply a giant nose, to a potted plant. You defeat these various beasties by using items such as the "Hammer of Kneecapping" or the "Singing and Dancing Sword". You can also use potions and other crazy things.

The biggest part of the game, however, is the act of betrayal. At points in the game it becomes less about going up levels yourselves as it becomes trying to stop someone else from going up a level. You can play your potions to, instead of making the adventurer stronger, making the monster stronger. There ends up being a lot of treachery and backstabbing, which makes for a wonderful game.

This is all in all a great game that is very fun to play when you have an hour to blow. The best part about it is that it is endlessly expandable. There are currently 25 different expansions to the original game, each with around a hundred new cards.

Come by Baker during open dorms sometime to play this fun little game.

Cam Op

This weekend I was cam op on the Red Scarlet X. It was my first time officially being cam op on the Scarlet, but the scarlet was the least of my worries. Almost everything we shot was in low light. My aperture was always wide open, therefore focusing was a nightmare. The director would frequently want both talent and camera to move and it just wasn't happening because of the focus issues. We would have to shoot the shot wide because of focus problems. Maybe I could have done a better job, I'm not sure. I think we got some really good shots, and I think the film will look beautiful.