Bloggin Time

What could one more credit hurt? I think I have enough...

Anyway I enjoyed the presentations today. They were varied enough that we didn't have to sit through the same topics for each presentation. I think they all had interesting points and angles.

I've heard some personal accounts of interactions with Tom Cruise, and they say he's at a 10 all the time. He has an insane work ethic and never stops. One guy joked that Cruise is the type of guy who will just do pushups constantly when he gets bored. He never stops and always puts forth 100%. No one deserves the money he makes, but you have to hand it to him for being such a hard worker. Fame did not fall into his lap. (Odd Fact: Tom Cruise and I skydived at the same place in Florida. Years apart.)

Harrison Ford is known for doing his own stunts, but he just calls it "physical work." If something is dangerous, he'll let a stunt guy do it.

I think games can use some really cool art. Games don't need to be the same as art. The first objective should be for it to be a game. I don't care if it looks pretty if it has bad gameplay mechanics.
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This class has showed me some things that I would have never seen otherwise. I'm always happy to expand my mind and knowledge. I think I have learned some very interesting things about what art can be, or should be. Filmmaking is a powerful tool and if done right, you can change how people think and how they act.

Tree of Life

Well, here we go.

After the viewing last night (my first time) I came away with this conclusion: I just watched a mixed breed of Planet Earth and home movies, set to classical symphonies. That's about all I felt. But I do have more to say than that.

This film is so dense and has so much going on that I find it hard to comment on it. The main thing I took away from it was that this movie is an experience. You feel it. I cannot really explain any more. That is how I feel it was different from other non-conventional movies.

Time to state some film student blasphemy. For the most part I did not like it. I felt it a waste of my time. If I watched Planet Earth instead I would at least learn something about the universe. I didn't learn anything here. Maybe I'm not supposed to learn anything, that's fine. I didn't learn anything from Pee Wee's Big Adventure either, but I still love that movie.

So instead of learning, what am I supposed to take away from it? Or, what am I supposed to think about, ponder? And this is what bugs me the most: as much as I want to think about it, it gave me nothing to think about. At this point you must think I'm brain dead. Maybe I am. Maybe it's because I had the luxury of growing up learning about creation, sin, Job, and life's existence. Many people don't, and I can see why they would love this movie so much. I basically think about life's existence every day, so nothing in this film was new to me. Fighting families, regretting the past. Whatever it was, I felt like I'd seen it all.

I can see how this is viewed as pretentious. It could be a little, but I think it was made with a genuine passion, and for that I respect it. But I think Malick made it for himself more than anyone. If you wanted to get across the story of Job, I think there are better ways to do it. But again, this movie is more of an experience than a lesson. It is told with a strong voice.

There were things I liked about it. Obviously the cinematography was amazing and powerful. Nothing more needs to be said on that than already has. And I did not mind at all that there was no plot; that doesn't bother me. I was most interested in the family's story. The father-son relationship was interesting, as was the decisions the son made, becoming a jerk like his father. I wish we could've spent more time with them than watching a dinosaur wallow on the beach. Their family was a very nice perspective on life. I just wish the characters themselves would've asked God more questions about 'why?' And I don't need answers, but I wish the questions would've been more obvious.

What Leeper said about seeing the vastness of the universe and the microscopic life forms, then realizing that you're still worth something was interesting to me. I just wish it would have been edited down. I love the debate of 'if evil can exist along with a perfect God.' Asking "where is God in all this pain" is a great starting point for a movie. This one just didn't do it for me.

Not gonna lie, the end was a bunch of BS to me. Having a guy walk through a doorframe in a desert? I'm sure that's powerful to some, but that is just the exact thing I'd write if I was making fun of experimental films. The whole beach thing I found to go on too long and it was boring. Hooray, we all end up together. Again, I want to think about the film, but I'm not finding much to think about.

Needless to say I won't be able to purge The Tree of Life from my mind for years to come.

West Bank Story

It's really refreshing when you see a film that seems new and pulls surprises. In the YouTube era and with the onslaught of media everywhere, it seems like you've seen everything under the sun. This surprised me. I also enjoyed the courage of this film. Although it didn't necessarily insult a culture, this is not really the type of film that gets made in our politically correct world, even if it's independent.

I like that this shows how pointless hating each other is. It is not an in-your-face awareness film, but instead it invites us in through songs and comedy, and then eases into some deep cultural problems. The production value is huge, and I can really appreciate all the time they put into this. It shows. They pulled off a great storytelling technique that so many fail to do: entertain and also tell a message.

Star Wars

George Lucas in love was a perfect fan film, and I don't think there's much more that can be said about it than already has.

I had one beef with the Star Wars Debate film. He made a point that Phantom was an exciting film with a crappy character. It's actually a really boring film with tons of crappy characters. Besides some meaningless battles against robots, and a pod race scene that goes on way too long, the film is filled with boring political discussions and nonsensical dialogue. I'm sick of people debating the prequels, I've made my peace with them. 

But, this video review carefully dissects why the prequels are awful movies. I actually learned about what makes a movie good through these too. Just a warning, it's really vulgar but entertaining. Like extremely vulgar. There's 7 parts and after you'll know exactly why the originals are better storytelling.

Today's Viewings

I thought there were many interesting things about today's videos. The one that I like the most was "Hoppipolla" by Sigur Ros. The concept was great, and relatable, and ironic. Although eleborate music videos are very interesting and impressive, this simple story carried enough weight to hold its own against the other videos. As for Sigur Ros, I think it is an amazing feat to have such a huge hit that connects with people, and it is in a language that we don't understand.

The Gorillaz. I liked this video when it came out. It has a mixture of live action and animation, and Bruce Willis. How can you not love that? But, the very end shot was too predictable and not that bold.

I'd already seen the Spike Jonze one today, so here's another that is incredibly elaborate when you realize what they're doing. I think he is a really good director, and Being John Malkovich is one of my favorite movies. 

Music videos can be so diverse, and that's what makes the medium great. 

Music Videos

Music videos can be an amazing storytelling tool. And they can be great even if they aren't telling a story. They have evolved so much, and since the democratizing of film production it seems almost anything can be created. Music videos can be silly, and they can also make a powerful impact. That's why I like the variety of filmmaking. It doesn't have to be one thing or the other.

I remember when that first Ok Go video came out. I saw it on TV at a Dave and Buster's over six years ago. It's funny to think that it seemed fresh back then. That was before YouTube had taken over the media. Now there's thousands of videos like that. But I really admire what Ok Go did. It was simple and they had nothing to lose. Now they're getting to do huge music video projects. I like the concept of a music video, because you can work off a simple idea that could not work as a TV show or movie.

Here's a classic music video that no one has probably seen. I like the fact that it doesn't tell a story. It has nothing to do with the lyrics. But it's awesome.

Documentaries

I think documentaries can be incredibly fascinating or make you suicidal from boredom. That's my experience. They're such a specific kind of filmmaking and sometimes the best stories are told through this technique. This will be an interesting section, since I am in the documentary class with Dr. Clark. I've had to make a series of short docs under two minutes, and it's pretty enjoyable editing it together. You get to pick out the highlights and create a concise story. At least you try to.

One of my all time favorite movies is "Waiting for Guffman." It's a mockumentary from the creators of Spinal Tap, and one of the funniest films I've ever seen. I just watched "Thin Blue Line" yesterday, and that was featured today in class. I usually like Morgan Spulock's work as well. I think he has pushed docs into being entertaining and still educational. He is really honing in his storytelling techniques.

Docs are also great because you can learn something without reading an entire book. Personally I think they can sometimes be even more educational than some non-fiction books.


Here's a short documentary I did for a show called alt.news at my old school. It's a magazine style show that lets you know about off-the-wall stories you wouldn't normally get on the news. I produced, edited  etc, all of it. The original interview was about 18 minutes long. I had nothing to do with the bookmark segments with the puppet. This aired on PBS to three states and about 1 million people.

When they Day Breaks

Easily one of my favorite animated films we watched in this section. I keep thinking about that Pixar quote. It's not about story, but storytelling. I think this film excels in that. And it's just so fascinating to watch. They painted on photocopies, and I cannot even imagine how long that took.

I've never seen animals like this. It's hilarious and amazing. The chicken's hat is genius. Since it's so realistic, I easily accept all of this as normal. It gets very profound. I love the shot of the egg that flashes to the ambulance. That is life. Fragile, gone in a moment. And it's shown through human like animals.

This is something that should be watched several times. I love seeing all the walks of life portrayed by different animals. They're all connected and their lives cross, they affect each other.

The Big Muddy

http://bigmuddyfilm.com/

I thought I could write a little about the festival I was involved in. The Big Muddy is the oldest student run festival in the country. It is an international festival with the categories of animation, documentary, narrative, and experimental. From what I have heard documentaries are the most prominent at Big Muddy.

I was on a committee made up of students and faculty that screened films and voted on which ones to include. Faculty gave the final say, but our votes showed them what was better received. I'd say there were about 20-30 students in a screening at one time.

What was most interesting about judging a film, is you learn very early on the vibe it gives. What I mean is you already have a positive or negative feeling within the first 10 seconds to a minute of a film. Honestly, there were so many submissions we hardly ever watched the entire thing. Sometimes it was a full length movie, or sometimes a very short film. Of course, the final submissions were watched in their entirety. But you can tell a lot about the quality of a film very early on.

I learned something very important. If you can't capture someone's interest within the first minute of your film, can you really blame them for losing interest? Even if you have some amazing truth to reveal at the end, it may not matter because they've already tuned out or moved on. It's like what you hear about meeting people, you've already decided if you like them within the first 10 seconds. Is this good? Probably not. But if you can't keep the interest of the audience for your film, who cares what you made?

Animation and Story

Even before I wanted to make live-action films, I was into drawing and cartoons. I have a deep respect for animation, especially hand drawn. I grew up on the old Looney Tunes, as well as the Disney animation revival. The first film I ever saw in theaters was the Lion King. It has been cool getting to watch animation for a couple weeks. 

I don't want to get into this debate over mediums and beauty and art that seems to be raging on. But, I think no matter what you're trying to make, the number one thing you should be going for is keeping your audiences interest. That doesn't mean explosions, but I do think there should be a lot of thought put into the story and characters. I didn't really like the film about the family and whatever incest that was happening. I did love the rotoscoped film When the Day Breaks. I think these are both "weird" films, so its not that them being abstract bothered me. 

One cool thing about animation is its being democratized. Pixar used to be the only studio that could pull off a short, now a few guys can crank one out and have it look a million times better than Tin Toy. This is an exciting time for CGI, but I don't want people to forget about hand drawn. Again, I think relatable characters and interesting story trumps any type of aesthetics. That's why Toy Story kicks butt, even though it doesn't look as good as Brave. Story and characters matter more than anything else, if you want people to care. 

Pixar

I enjoyed today's class. I don't think there's anyone in the world who has not enjoyed at least one Pixar film. Fun fact: I have seen every Pixar film in its theatrical release. I have also been a projectionist for four of them.

What I always loved about Pixar (before Cars 2 and beyond) was how their movies already had a classic feel when they were released. They didn't bother trying to make pop culture references and they didn't stoop down to potty humor. They were geniuses; they made films equally enjoyable for kids and adults. I'd say at least five of their films are storytelling masterpieces.

I agree with the Leep on Wall-E. The first half of the film was brilliant. Then its tone changes and it goes into a message film that I didn't care about. Although, I think the first disappointment for me was Cars. It was a film that was way more enjoyable to kids than adults. Its not that compelling. Its alright, but not great. Cars 2 was a nightmare.

Pixar used to outdo themselves every new movie. (I think Monsters Inc. and the Incredibles was its peak.) But now it seems they are more interested in doing sequels instead of fresh ideas. The last good Pixar movie was Toy Story 3, and even that was a sequel. Now there's a prequel to Monsters? That's not the Pixar I knew. The only thing I can guess is that Disney started pushing them to do sequels or safer stories after they acquired Pixar.

Pixar used to be a pioneer that took risks. I hope they can get back to that.

Product Placement/Sand

I've always been interested in advertising. Not working in it, but the psychology and studies behind it. In our modern era we are so saturated in ads that we don't even realize it. Nearly every video you watch on the internet has an ad before it. I was pumping my gas last week, and there was a screen that was running commercials on the pump.

I've seen The Greatest Movie Ever Sold and I am a fan of Morgan Spurlock. There are some horrible product placement in films that I think compromised the filmmaker's integrity. That being said, I don't think products should be avoided all the time in feature films. We do use these products. I never really cared about Pepsi in Back to The Future, because it was getting the point across with the juxtaposition of the '80s and '50s. Should Marty just order a "cola" with a fake label slapped on it? That would be more distracting. Would it have mattered if it was Coke or Pepsi? No. That movie is about putting you in a specific time period. It works fine in this instance. Also, when I see television shows that have characters using fake brands (so the studio doesn't have to pay companies) it actually takes me out of the show and basically says "hey, this isn't real." Of course it's not real, but we all want to believe our favorite characters have a possibility of existing in our world. All that being said, the documentary shows some shameless ways that ads fund a movie and they are distracting.
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I thought the sand films were very well done, but it seemed so meticulous that it was hard for me to enjoy knowing how crazy long that must have taken.

Trees

I think "The Man Who Planted Trees" was a great story. Seldom does an animated short like that pull off a large scale feel. I researched it more, and found that it come to much acclaim. I believe Prof Leeper already mentioned it won the Academy Award, which I think it greatly deserves. It has also been voted in the 50 Greatest Short Films of all time.

I did not know that it was originally a book. (Unless we were told in class and I forgot.) I tried imagining this as live action, but I don't think that would have the same impact as the animation has. It is so visual, and so many creative things are done with this short. This story is so well told and animated. I even read that some people thought that Bouffier was real.

This makes me want to discover other shorts that have the same amount of scale and depth to them. This was an enlightening story with a positive message. Nothing is cynical about this.

Stop Motion

Stop motion is a particular interest for me. Probably my first introduction into it was Gumby. Then it was me favorite computer game called The Neverhood, where everything you saw in the game was made out of clay and animated with stop motion. I have loved Wallace and Gromit ever since I first saw them and Chicken Run is smart and hilarious.

I'm glad we got to watch some stop motion films in Tuesday's class. Co Hoedeman has a gift for this kind of creative storytelling. I think stop motion is about as intriguing as any art form gets. When it is done well, it is something amazing to see. This has to be the ultimate labor of love in the animation world. I don't like thinking about how long it takes to make, but I can't help it. The best part is what you are seeing actually exists. They are physical objects that have come to life without the help of a computer. 

The Sand Castle was a very interesting film. I think the story it told was captivating and interesting to watch. Tchou Tchou drug a little for me, but it still connects on a universal level, and I think it was very creative. 


This below is the most disturbing stop motion I've viewed. I have never seen the whole film so I can't really put it in context. But it contains themes of creation, and I thought of this while watching The Sand Castle. 

And here's a clip from The Neverhood. (The whole game's premise is based on the Genesis account of creation.)

American Beauty

For Sunday's Signs and Wonders we watched one of my favorite films of the 90s, American Beauty. I think Sam Mendes is a great director and crafts his films well. I'm really looking to the next Bond movie, which he directs.

The writing is excellent in this film. I think it captures what we all want to say perfectly. Realistically  we don't always get our points across like these characters do, but I think there is someone that anyone can relate to in this film. It speaks so much to us about our life, especially suburban culture that took over the 20th century. This is not exclusive to the US, but it obviously spun towards it.

For the first third of the film no one really feels like themselves. This is something that can strike a chord in any of us. We have all felt stuck. Going through the motions. Wondering what's the point. I like how this film stops to think "Why? What is going on here? Why do we value the things we do? What has become of life?" Even better, I don't think the film answers all of those questions, but it does make us think about them, which is very important. I love the freedom you feel along with Les when he tells off his boss, quits his job, and applies for a job with no responsibility. In real life these are all bad ideas, but maybe it will help us think to go after what we enjoy doing. We live vicariously through Les. When he says "It's just a couch!" I hope we all realized what he was saying. I hope we can learn not to put such emphasis on materials.

I think this film is all about perspective and values. It doesn't really draw a clear line. It shows us what each character values and thinks. And that's the real beauty of the film. Ricky finds everything beautiful. I think he's insane, but he's onto something. He's the one person getting enjoyment out of life, and he has a pretty crappy life. Luckily he has an affect on Jane, and she becomes comfortable with herself. This film makes us question our lives. I hope it has helped some people go after what they really want. This is a powerful film that luckily got a widespread audience, a rarity these days.



"This isn't life, it's just stuff. And it's become more important to you than living. Well, honey, that's just nuts."
-Les

Song of Sparrows

My favorite aspect of Songs of Sparrows was its cinematography. Many of the shots look like beautiful paintings or pictures. Film is so much more influential when thought goes into the placement of the camera and subjects. I enjoyed the symbolism in the film, although that's never a deal breaker for me. 

What I found most interesting in the film was the depiction of Iranian life. In the United States we have such a bad perception of Iran, but we forget that it's full of normal people trying to make their way in life. As Dawn noted, I also find interesting the similarities between Christianity and Islam. Phrases like "God is good" and "I will pray for you" are used in both religions. 

I also like the depiction of the father. His love for his children shined throughout the movie. Not just in his quest for the hearing aid, but for the little things, like holding the antenna for his kids, letting them draw on his cast, and his desire to provide for them. Unfortunately greed got in the way of his ultimate goal, which is something we can all relate to. As was said in the discussion, this film could have easily been set anywhere. The situations, emotions, and desires are something that every human relates to.

I won't pretend that I was blown away by this film. I felt like it lasted three hours. Now I'm not someone who loves constant excitement, or hates foreign films. The Bands Visit was one of my favorite films I have watched this year, and was slow and had subtitles  But, it pulled me in much more than this one did. I wouldn't have minded Band to be a bit longer. That's not to say Sparrows was bad at all, it was very well made and a good film. The humor had me laughing a few times too. This is a movie that I think I would need to watch again to really get the symbolism, and I would also recommend it. For me, it was more educational about Iran than anything else. 

The Lunch Date

There were many films that made more of an impression me than this one, but I picked Lunch Date because I saw it last year in a short film screenwriting class. Now that I watched it again, I am ready to give some thought.  (I also just learned it won the Oscar for best short subject.)

What I love about Lunch Date is its use of very little dialogue. It could easily be a silent film. In many regards it is shot like one. Black and white, old style music, an art deco train station. It was made to transcend a time period, although by no means is it a period piece.

The use of expression works perfectly. You know exactly what the woman is thinking. You discover the story with her, right up until the reveal. The wardrobe is also very important to the story. You know exactly the type of woman she is and where she comes from, and the man is obviously a bum. I especially like the tag still attached to his hat.

In so little time their relationship develops and matures with exactly no dialogue. This is executed perfectly. It's also nice to see the woman get over some of her prejudice. We know she'll have a hilarious story to tell her friends when she gets back.

Maybe what's most fascinating to me is how we watched to people eating salad and found it interesting.

Incredulity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Incredulity_of_Saint_Thomas_(Caravaggio)

This is one of my favorite paintings. Unfortunately I never got to see this in church. To think of the art I was exposed to in Sunday School, it was cartoony versions of Bible characters. How much more of an impact would it have been if I had seen this painting? Or any of the ones we saw today in class? How much broader would my appreciation of art be? It's a shame modern Christian culture suppressed art the way it did. If you look around the natural world, or to the skies, you see that God is a great artist too. I think if you have the talent of an artist, you should be making as much of it as you can.

I don't find white Jesus offensive. It is offensive if you truly believe that's what he looked like, but other than that it's just another painting of millions we can focus on or move away from.

The Leep said something interesting that I have also found true. Atheists want to do good because they see a world that needs to be fixed; Christians want to do good because it is a commandment from God. It's interesting. I don't know how to make sense of it though.

I wish we could strive for higher quality art. Instead of the Carvaggio painting, I got this in Sunday School. Awesome.

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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.

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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.

Anatomy of Gray

The whole time I viewed this film I thought "why should I care about a man who I don't know tell his life to me?" And actually, most of the time I was thinking "why do I care about this man who I don't know?" This answer was most likely brought up in the post-discussion. He is connecting with our story. I think that's what the most powerful films do, they connect with the viewer.

Even though we heard so much about this man's life, including very intimate details, I felt like I really never got in his head. What makes him tick? Why is he so compelled to do this? I found his quote "I like telling life more than I like living it" very interesting.

I almost think that his storytelling was a wall for him. Even though he was very open about his life, I felt like he may have been hiding more. It's something I can't place my finger on.

Was he addicted to the laughter? Was telling his struggles his only way to cope? He obviously had some very deep issues. His life had some tragedy, but when I think about other stories I've heard it's not the worst life in the world. But without Christ, I guess that was enough to kill yourself. I've seen Christ transform people's lives and give them hope where they had none. It fills in the gap we're all born with.

What's most tragic to me is how much Gray really didn't get life. He found suicide almost poetic. With Christ I believe he would have seen the world very differently. It's also sad that near the end of his life he began to be the happiest. For all the stories about life he told, I don't think he was able to put it all together. Maybe that's why he told stories. To make sense of it all. He said he liked telling life more than living it. But not to say that he was completely lost, I think there's a lot to be learned from his story.