Filming STAC Live Commercials

I enjoyed filming on Friday. One of the main things that I liked about it was that I felt like I helped Ashley and Ilana learn film techniques, strategies, and...forms. Ashley seems really interested in film so I was hoping that she got a lot out of the experience of watching me direct and film and of acting in the commercial herself.
The experience was really good for me too. I haven't gotten to film in a while so it was refreshing. When I film, I usually film each shot from a bunch of different angles and when editing, i choose from the dozens of shots. It has been effective for me in the past, although it's very time consuming. But I probably could have avoided this by making a storyboard.

Låt den rätte komma in

How was the backstory handled?
Bits of the backstory were thrown in at several different points in the movie. Which is weird for me, because it makes me feel like I have to watch it again. And i remember Luke said something today like, "Movies are made to only watch once" or something along those lines. But when the backstory is dabbled in all over, it kinda makes me lose track of things, and watching it again clears things up for me usually. So I don't know if i agree with that. I think watching movies a second time is almost necessary in some cases, and this might be one of them.

How is camera movement used?
I think the camera movement was used in the same way that sound was. In order for an audience to detect silence, something must be heard that isn't normally heard. So in order for an audience to detect movement, the camera must be still as the slightest things/details in the picture move. It's far more effective and far more like you're watching something you're not supposed to. When the camera moves, it feels human almost. When it doesn't, it either feels like you're spying or it literally feels like a camera, in which case you feel outside of it but extremely drawn into it as well. Really cool.

How is camera distance used?
I haven't quite figured this out. But maybe going by what i said in the last question, perhaps close camera shots are made to see slight movements in detail and far camera shots are for seeing bodily movements in little detail. But i am not really sure why the director would want that.

How is character developed other than with dialog, or how does the director develop character visually?
Oskar's character developed through changes in decisions i guess. His decision to stand up to the bully showed a complete turnaround in his behavior. Also perhaps symbolism? Like when Oskar touches the window with his hand, it shows that he's longing and upset. I'm not entirely sure.

Sound is used to incredible effect in this movie--how do the filmmakers use sound?
Well we discussed the whole silence thing, which I thought was brilliant. But then i started thinking of other horror movies. And don't they all do that too? I'm not saying all horror films use sound they way this movie did, but don't most horror movies accentuate the silence in order to make those big surprising sounds that make people piss themselves?
I also feel like the music wasn't really that important. Most of it wasn't necessarily needed. Maybe it was, but the sounds other than the music--the blood dripping, Eli drinking the blood of her victims, the blood coming out of Eli's body--all that was the sound that toys with the emotions and stuff of the viewer. Although now that i think about it, what if the music was directed to make the viewer more connected to the love aspect of the film, and the purpose of the creepy sounds was to make the viewer more connected to the gross aspect. Causing cognitive dissonance in the viewer, intriguing them and luring them in even more.

Hakan - what's up with this guy?
Before knowing he was a pedophile, I thought he was some sort of vampire overseer of Eli or something. But after knowing that, which i think is very important, it changes the entire story. It changes what you get out of it. It changes the scene in the hospital right before he falls out of the window. I think that that would have been necessary backstory to provide.

What is behind the puzzles? What do they symbolize?
I think it symbolizes Eli's intelligence, intricacy, and uniqueness. It's a simple interpretation, but I don't know what else it could mean.

Is this a happy ending?
Yeah. I feel like neither of their lives in their entireties are very happy. Both characters are very alone. But in the end, they're with each other, and they have happyish moments together. And in the end, they get to be with each other, even though Eli's situation still sucks, and even though Oskar's situation still sucks. And right now, all we know is that they are happy together. Maybe Oskar will be used as Hakan was. But even with that in mind, I don't think it affects the happiness of the ending. Because I think viewers assume the best, because we like good news. So it's relative to who's watching it. but over all, i think this ending is happy to the majority of viewers.

Workshop on December 1st

On Tuesday's workshop, we saw Cathryn's basic layout of the magazine all put together. We were able to add and alter ideas more easily with this template out in front of us. It's good to stop along the process of the magazine and remember the goal. We have to makes sure that it's going in the direction we want it to go in. And it's helpful to keep track of that while at the same time making fitting alterations by being organized. It just makes things easier for us to do as a group. Our ideas aren't floating around, they're actually being put into effect and we get to see it in the next workshop. It's really effective to just take good (or bad) ideas you have, create them into something real, and work off of that.

Monday, November 23rd Workshop

Today's workshop involved a lot of stuff. It was very productive. Lizy went to the computer to test out fonts for the front. I went over to the computer she was on and watched her. Then I toyed with what she had and the result was something that the group really liked. It's what the group chose as the final one. I was pretty proud of that.
A few other girls chose color schemes for the pages. I didn't take much part in that because my opinions would have conflicted a lot, but I wasnt unsatisfied with what they did.
Juliana was trying to set up her spread with the window shopping thing. I hopped over to her and helped her make some decisions, but i pretty much just watched her.
So today was a productive day and everyone was doing a lot of different things. I cant wait to see how everything comes together.

Last week's regular art post.

Last week was hectic. I wish I had more time to make the movie for my college apps. I just had a lot going on. It hasn't been the best past few weeks for me. But regaurdless, I still want to make the movie before this year is over. Soon, preferably. I still have to cast it. But I'm thinking Alex and Doug. Or maybe Alex and Zach? I don't know yet, but i'll figure it out.

Friday, November 20th Workshop

Today's workshop was productive. Catherine brought in samples of the ideas we chose on Tuesday on "mock" magazine pages. It was helpful to see it all lain out. We revised some of our decisions and made new ones. I specifically designed some ideas for the fashion spread that Dina wanted. We didn't have time to present them, but i showed them to Catherine and she said she liked them. I didn't feel like this workshop was super productive. It was just a lot of "go off and get some ideas and bring them back" as opposed to "go off, make ideas, share them, revise them, and make more." But i still got stuff done and made things I'm somewhat proud/content with. Or happily discontented? Haha.

Magazine Workshop- Tuesday, Nov. 17th.

In today's workshop, we created possible designs for the table of contents of the magazine and designs for the inside of the magazine (design ideas that could be common throughout the whole magazine to tie everything together). The group was divided in two and we each worked on these aspects of the magazine. I worked on the designs for the inside of the magazine. I came up with two ideas and people seemed to like the concept I came up with in one of them. After sharing both groups' work, we started to look for ways to incorporate all the ideas we liked together into one coherent design for the table of contents and the inside of the magazine. I learned that in order to make good ideas, you need a lot of them. And i kind of related it to how when the group came back into the stac room yesterday after making their commercial, Luke told them to go make another. You really don't know how much better something can get until you create more and brainstorm more. And i realized it applies to anything in art. Moral: don't be afraid to re-do your art. The next thing create can be better than the previous thing.

COLORS- The most important thing I learned in STAC all quarter.

I am absolutely in love with and in awe of all the newly learned facts you've taught me about color theory and colors in nature. I used to be a victim of "symbolic painting". The grass is green, so I made the grass really green. The sky is blue so I made the sky really blue, etc. I always knew these things didn't look right, but I never really knew why. And the answer was so simple and it's just so amazing how much of a difference it can make. Colors are way more important than outlines and shapes. Both do make a realistic looking picture, but a correctly colored picture with misshaped figures will look much more realistic than a discolored picture with correct shapes. I'm just in awe of how powerful color and the use of color knowledge is in creating art.
My STAC Art project is proof of how much I've learned (and have yet to learn). Ha! My tree isn't brown! It looks like a real tree. My grass isn't green. It is a lot of brown actually.
One of the most fascinating things to me is that mixing the color brown into a color will create a totally different effect than mixing it's opposite color to make a brownish color. Using the opposite color makes a truer, realer, more naturalistic looking color. For example, when making the grass, instead of just mixing brown into the green, I mixed some red as well as brown. The resulting color looks more like grass and less like...mud. Which is odd, because opposite colors make muddy colors, I think. But just adding a tiny bit makes such a lovely difference while still keeping that green strong and potent.
My knowledge of color theory will greatly influence my art, whether it's painting, photography, or even film. I'm kind of excited to experiment with it in disciplines outside of painting. And I can't wait to learn more about it in STAC. I'm not sucking up either. I'm totally interested in this. Thanks :)

Kontroll

This was a pretty neat movie. I give it credit just for achieving simultaneous uniqueness and greatness amongst all modern movies. Lately, I'm seeing the same movie over and over again. And although it may be interesting, it can't be THAT interesting.
But this movie is different.
I love how there's so many interpretations of all the events in the film. One of my most recent areas of fascination is whether Buschu is the killer or not. At first, I didn't think so because they were physically portrayed as two different bodies. Then after some class discussion, I thought that he might be because it makes symbolic sense and it makes it a little more interesting in a different way. But after even more discussion, I came to the conclusion that it doesn't really have to be a black or white interpretation. The movie is entirely symbolic with parts of it that are based off realistic events and actions. If instead of looking at it as a realistic piece with hints of symbolism, you look at it in the way that I described, you can get a much different analysis of it. It's really interesting.
The way I see it, Buschu is his own character as is everyone else. The Pusher is this symbol of violence, intolerance, anger, frustration, and authority within everyone in the film. The film focuses more on how the pusher is apparent in Buschu at the time. Before Buschu, it was apparent in Leci (I think that was his name?). After the scene where Leci cuts the guy's throat, Buschu, if I'm not mistaken, goes to sleep and we follow his dream sequence through the tunnel, where he meets the Pusher. This is a symbol of him meeting his own newly apparent violence, intolerance, anger, frustration, and authority that Leci once had. Once these emotions are dealt with, they get passed on to the next person. Leci dealt with his by taking it out on a nasty Metro rider (murder = Hell). Buschu ends up releasing it through letting go of the environment that caused all of these emotions (Heaven).

Magazine Idea

For the Magazine, I was thinking of writing a photo-inclusive article on how to manipulate photography to make pictures of people more appealing. I've noticed that people don't really know how to take pictures, and consequently, the people in their photos end up looking a lot worse than they could. So I want to write about and show techniques that people can use with simple point and shoots to make their photography look a million times better.

Filming on Friday

This was awesome. It was such an interesting way to create a film! One of my favorite things was the fact that everyone in the group was able to contribute ideas based on the structure and rules of the process. I can clearly point out things from the final film and say, "Leah suggested that, Cassie did this, Doug wanted that, Jack came up with that, Nick decided that, I told them to do that...." It's just awesome because I feel like it was truly a group effort and the people I worked with I found to work really well with--which was unexpected, but incredibly cool. I would love to do more of these. I hope the future ones live up to these ones, ha.

Hans Hofmann: the abstract expressionism master

He was born in 1880 (before Jackson Pollock) and died in 1966. He was famous for his push pull theory which is a 3 dimensional illusion created by 2 dimensional shapes. For example:





































He was focused on nature, positive and negative space, and geometric shapes.
His work was taken well by society, but never made any sort of art movement.
He was considered a synthesist because he combined Synthetic Cubist methods and concepts of Cezanne, Kandinsky, and Picasso.
He opened up his own art schools in New York and Massachusetts and taught many students who went on to be abstract expressionists like himself.

Music (re-write)

Original Poem: Music by Rainer Maria Rilke
Take me by the hand;
it's so easy for you, Angel,
for you are the road
even while being immobile.

You see, I'm scared no one
here will look for me again;
I couldn't make use of
whatever was given,

so they abandoned me.
At first the solitude
charmed me like a prelude,
but so much music wounded me.





My re-write:


Lead me
You know where you are
Because you're everywhere on the road
without moving at all

Listen--I fear I'll get lost
and no one will care
because I was inefficient
I failed them.

So they left me alone.
The solitude was comfortable,
an overture of consolation,
but i was wounded by the tune.

Recipe Deliciousness.

My signature dish....

Spicy Pickled Leah Rice

Procedure:
Remove all appendages with a large butcher knife.
Boil all parts in a 30-gallon cauldron of vinegar at a high flame.
After the appendages have been boiling for 35-45 minutes, turn off the flame and let the appendages sit over-night in the vinegar.
The next day, remove the appendages from the vinegar. Let them stand for 25 minutes.
In a separate 30-gallon cauldron, boil water.
Add 25 pounds of white rice to the boiling water. Let boil until rice is tender. (about 45 minutes)
After 25 minutes out of the vinegar, dice the appendages into small 1' by 1' squares.
Serve diced appendages over hot rice and douse in Franks Hot Sauce and mounds of fresh chili peppers.




http://xkcd.com/30/

My favorite pictures

I like this picture of Leah best because it doesn't look posed--it looks like raw laughter. The naturalness of the picture is powerful.




























This picture is the best because it looks quite candid. And the facial expression looks kind of ambiguous.




















This picture is captivating. It asks a lot of questions. The facial expression, the eye contact with whatever, and the suspicious grin is really intriguing.
































This picture is my favorite because the smile is really genuine.


















This picture is the best because I don't really know what's going on. Although it almost looks like I'm interrupting an amusing thought process. It's intriguing.





























I like this one because it looks like she's about to talk to me--and she was talking to the photographer. But if I didn't know that, i suppose i wouldn't have guessed. maybe it's good because it's natural.























I like this one because it's subtle. The grin is there, but it's not.



























This photo is kind of ambiguous. but kind of predictable at the same time. but i still am drawn to it.
























I enjoy this because it's super candid and it's the most raw picture of all of them.




























I like this one because he's actaully smiling. Like actually.























I like this picture because it's soft and very subtle. It's like the lullaby of pictures.































This picture is nice because it looks real and candid. I seem to be liking those.
























This picture has a lot of character. I don't mean that i can tell what Jack is like from this picture. I mean that the picture and the expression have a lot of density.


























The smile is real in this one.



























The expression in this one is unintentionally strong.




























The smile is subtle and the expression looks best.



























This one's best because the smile's huge and great.

























This picture is the best because his features are softened and it looks subtle and nice.



























I like this one because i had to like a picture of myself and this one didn't make me gag that much.

























I like this picture best because it is very intimate because of how close-up it is, and the smile is genuine, and the picture allows/makes her share it.


























This picture is best because Nina's smile is so enthusiastic!






























I like this one because the expression is subtle and the lighting of the picture came out well and flattering.






















If the background of this picture were to be eliminated, i would like this one best because of Nick's bodily position and facial expression--he looks like he knows he's up to no good.

























This one is best because it appears as though she's really letting herself smile naturally.





























This one is best because she has a nice smile and the angle at which the picture was taken was flattering.




























I like this one because it looks like she's about to curse.
























I like this picture best because her smile is very subtle and the lighting creates an interesting picture.


























I like this picture best because the smile is mischievous and cute.





























This picture is the best because of the huge smile that is real.

























I like this one because it's the classic Dina face and the facial expression is lovely.