My experience with sharing my last
short for this class was interesting for many reasons. I’ve thought a lot about
how nervous I felt in sharing my last piece which felt raw and very imperfect
to me. It made me feel exposed, and after really enjoying the other
assignments, my piece felt inadequate, and I didn’t want to show it to anybody.
Fortunately, I was forced to. The experience made me realize that even though I
can always improve, I should be more willing to share my work so that I can get
feedback and continue to improve. And with that process some people may
actually enjoy at least some of what I have to share.
This piece
is about how during my life fear and vulnerability have prevented me from
sharing my talents, trying new things, and meeting new people. The protagonist
is put on the spot, and her anxiety takes the form of a ghoul who chases her.
Ultimately, he has no real power over her, but she still removes herself far
from a situation in which she shares her talents.
In the
beginning when the protagonist is asked to play her viola, I used close ups to
show how she felt claustrophobic and uncomfortable. I tried to keep shots like
this throughout the film. When the
creature first appears, I wanted to show him creeping up behind her because
when confronted with this type of anxiety it feels like somebody is always
looking over your shoulder. I used atonal music to not only show the fear and
discomfort the protagonist felt, but also to indicate how she feels that she
might sound playing the viola in front of somebody else.
In the end
with the wide shot, I wanted to indicate how this fear keeps her feeling alone
and to express the regret at letting the fear take over and missing out on what
might have been an enjoyable experience otherwise.
I wish I would have been able to utilize
flat vs. deep space more, and I think in the future I will focus more on
choosing a location that suits the shot list I have planned. Overall, while I
don’t think that my piece is fully discernable, I feel that I captured some of
the emotions I had hoped to.
So this morning I burnt an omelette. I was very disappointed in my breakfast, but when I finished, I realized that the smoke had created an absolutely beautiful image in my living room. I quickly grabbed my phone to capture the moment. I love how the light coming in helps to deepen the image and how on this plane the swirls add variety and flavor. I love that the light and smoke are both given personality and shape and almost become their own characters here.
In this photo, I was playing around with my own shadow to see what kind of interesting space I might be able to create. I really like how this photo creates some ambiguous space because of the few shape and colors that are available to help the viewer discern where it might be. My shadow is actually cast at an angle on the ground in front of my house, but in the photo it looks like it could be on a wall looking straight on at me.
Similar to my last post, this photo was also an experiment in shapes and lines. I had noticed when I was laying down on my couch how the angle of the wall corner would distort depending on how I was sitting. I also like the series of rectangles and squares that I saw in this image. So I moved around a lot to capture the image that I wanted. I love the three main rectangular shapes in the background: we have the warm-colored red wall, then the dark doorway next to it which give us more depth, and then the door next to that, which has a white border around it. However, the several rectangles throughout the image kind of make it more flat or at least ambiguous.
I was sitting at work when I accidentally turned my front camera on. My phone was on top of the table, and I thought that the particular way it was looking up was really interesting. It gave some really cool textures and I thought that the way that the lines in this photo played with each other was very interesting. I also love the way that the shapes around the lights kind of blend together and how the lights themselves are parallel. My favorite part though is just how the plane is slightly shifted, adding just a touch of perspective to the image.
I ran into this little dude when i was walking to class this morning. I love snails a lot, since for whatever reason we didn't have them where I grew up (we mostly had slugs). Anyway, I obviously wanted to make the snail the focal point of this photo and so I tried to use the lines in the photograph to point to him. I wasn't completely successful, but I'm still happy with this photograph I got. At first it was hard to get him in focus as well, but I think the textures and the colors in the background really make him stand out. I feel like he's the hero in his own story. Plus he's just really cool.
Marble Hornets is an interactive web series created by Joseph Delage and Troy Wagner. Delage and Wagner were just film students when they browsed the Something Awful forums and found a thread called "Create Paranormal Images". Here they found a new creature created by user Victor Surge. It was a little monster that would soon be known as Slender Man.
The duo immediately set off to create a little video tie-in to the stories that fans of Slender Man were creating. However, their new web series started to take a life of its own. As the found footage medium continued to unravel a complex story, Delage and Wagner used the tools common to internet-savvy college students to make the story more interactive than ever before. The YouTube channel itself was part of the story: The protagonist, Jay, uploaded videos to the account as a record of his findings. A cryptic rival YouTube account called "totheark" started posting creepy responses. Jay interacted with fans on Twitter, thanking them for helping him discover clues. As mysterious and supernatural forces became involved, his Twitter account was "hacked" within the story.
Marble Hornets is an underrated story that is a prime example of how new media has the potential to revolutionize storytelling.
2) Operation Doomsday - by M.F. Doom
Operation Doomsday was recommended to me by a trusted musician friend. Boy, was it a good recommendation. I'm a big fan of hip-hop, but admittedly, I have a lot to learn about the history of the genre. When I found this, it exposed me to a side of it that I had never experienced. M.F. Doom speaks to me in ways that I never thought a rapper would be able to. While its clear that he has some life experiences very different than mine, what stands out to me is that Doom is a total nerd.
First of all, his very persona is based off of the Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom. Throughout the album, clips from a 60s Fantastic Four are used to help tell his story. The album is a beautiful collage of pop culture. Everything from remixing the Beatles' "Glass Onion" to a song called "Zoinks", which remixes background music from Scooby-Doo. Doom explains his life by pointing to the media he's consumed, which is almost exactly how I perceive my own life.
What I really appreciate is that by remixing the media that he obviously loves, Doom creates a completely new meaning out of it. This meaning is an honest and authentic look into his life.
3) The Muppet Show
How can you not love the Muppets? I loved Sesame Street more than any other kids show, and that love carried over when my sister won a copy of Muppet Treasure Island in a Disney Magazine sweepstakes. Naturally then, one of the first DVD sets I ever bought was the first season of the Muppet Show on DVD. I love the combination of chaotic humor and respect for artistry that the show has. One minute, giant purple monsters will devour Miss Piggy, and the next minute, Floyd will play a heartfelt cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."
The Muppet Show doesn't rely on cheap jokes, but creates truly endearing characters. We laugh alongside them, feel genuine emotions with them, and that's all due to the incredible genius of their creator, Jim Henson. Henson was one of the world's hardest workers, with great expectations for himself and others, and relentless optimism. That optimism and joy has helped me through lots of hard times. Thank goodness for the Muppets.
4) Abbey Road by the Beatles
Okay, so I've mentioned the Beatles already a couple times in here. Why shouldn't I? They're simply the greatest band of all time. No question. The other day I had a facebook friend post, "How long has it been since you listened to Abbey Road? The answer is too long. Listen to it now." What a way to go out for the Beatles. The emotion and passion in George Harrison's simple guitar solo in "Something" is palpable. I weep when I listen to Paul's gentle melody in "Golden Slumbers" that shifts to a powerful belt. The alternating solos in "The End" perfectly sum up an amazing but all-too-short career for the lads from Liverpool.
Everybody truly gets a chance to show their best talents and variety in this album. We get funny and fun songs such as "Octopus's Garden" and "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" to the serious and haunting "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". We get pure imagination and dream-like lyrics in "The Sun King". Overall, this album is a complex and yet instantly familiar piece of artwork. It never gets old because its a timeless collection of some of the greatest talent and genius that this world has ever known.
5) The Fisher King by Terry Gilliam
So in the spring when I was taking 241, Jeff recommended this film to me to give me some ideas that would help me develop my story. What I found was an absolutely profound story that spoke to me on oh so many levels. It's a story about a man seeking redemption for indirectly causing a terrible tragedy. After finding himself in a deep depression, Jack Lucas decides to help a crazy homeless man as penance for his messy past. He finds that it will be much more complicated than he'd imagined, as the homeless man, beautifully played by Robin Williams, is seeking for the Holy Grail.
The film is honest and raw in the horrible things that happen in the world and how selfish all of us are at different times in our lives. But what I love is that it's also honest about the good that exists in the world and how it shows the contrasts between those absolutely sweet moments, and the moments of fear and despair that are also all too familiar to us. The crowning moment of the film is the above monologue, in which Robin Williams teaches us some eternal truths. "By very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." Terry Gilliam beautifully teaches true principals about the atonement.
6) Twin Peaks by David Lynch
Twin Peaks is so good! I started watching it and at first I saw nothing more than a drama-filled soap opera. But it quickly became so much more. David Lynch gives his traditional surrealism to create a truly unique tone and aesthetic that would be immeasurably important to the future of storytelling in television. One of the central themes is given by one of the characters at a time of great danger: "I guess you could say that about most things in life...it's not so bad as long as you can keep the fear from your mind."
Even though Twin Peaks experiences its fair share of darkness and evil spirits, the supernatural elements of the show strengthened my faith and encourage me to be a force for good in the world. Much like the hardworking, obedient, pleasant, and optimistic Special Agent Dale Cooper is always there with a smile and a slice of cherry pie, I want to be there listening with my spiritual ears and always ready to lend a hand to those who require my service. Plus, the music and production design of the show are just absolutely astounding.
7) How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found by Sara Nickerson
Not nearly enough people have heard of this book. In fact, I think nobody has. I only got this book because it was on a book order in elementary school and it sounded creepy. And it definitely was. To be honest, I don't remember many of the details about this book, but I remember how it made me feel. There was suspense at every page, and a sense of fear and dread at the grotesque and macabre images it suggested.
From what I remember of the plot, it was your basic story of a young girl moving into a creepy old house that her family inherited. You know, your basic Goosebumps storyline. However, it unraveled into a unique and scary story about an uncle who faked his own death after being so obsessed with rats that his body started changing into some kind of rat-human. The rat-human-uncle started keeping track of his life by creating graphic novels, which become the book within the book. The weirdness and creepiness of it captured me, and surely is part of my fascination with such things today.
8) Sunday in the Park with George
To be honest, I don't fully understand this play. I don't understand a lot of it. I watched a recording of it for the first time last semester. It's very dense and covers so much in such a short period of time. What I do know is that it goes into depth about what it feels like to be an artist.
I guess I've always loved the painting that this is based on because of my love for the famous Chicago Art Museum scene in Ferris Beuller's Day Off. At any rate, I relate so much to George and his modern counterpart and how inadequate they feel at times and yet how powerful they feel at other times when they know what they're doing is coming from the heart. The music by Stephen Sondheim is beautiful as always and a great preview for what we would get later in Into the Woods.
The cast is impeccable and conveys so much emotion, especially Mandy Patinkin. In the above clip, his voice is just absolutely stunning.
9) BoJack Horseman
If you'd asked me a few months ago if I would list BoJack Horseman as one of the really cool things that I was obsessed with, I wouldn't believe you. Seeing a few previews, I had assumed that it was just a crass substance-less comedy ala Family Guy. However, when I gave the first season a chance, I found it to be much deeper than the simple critique of Hollywood that I thought it might be. What I found was a complex story about addiction and self-destruction. It asks important questions, such as how can one pull oneself out of a pattern of self-destruction when nobody believes in you? What happens when you have every desire to change, but your addictions and habits completely overcome you? You can't change until you want to, and you can't want to change when you're caught up in your bad habits.
BoJack is a frustrating protagonist, but he's one that we continue to root for. He makes some inexcusable decisions, but we can't help but notice his inner cries for help. How can he receive that help if he keeps pushing everybody away? I love the theme song to this show, because as one YouTuber pointed out, the saxophone represents the painful whinny of a horse. Although BoJack is silent on the outside, he's calling out as passionately as that saxophone.
10) Comedy Bang Bang! (The Podcast)
Every week I can't wait to tune into the newest episode of the Comedy Bang Bang podcast. Hosted by Scott Aukerman, the show is a combination of talk show elements and improvisation. Comedians appear as either themselves or as characters such as Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, Ho-Ho the Naughty Elf, or the Time Keeper (who is really just a watch repairman). I love how naturally these comedians slip into their characters, but I know better that this is a result of a lifetime of comedy and probably many times when they've been booed off stage.
I love how creative people collaborate and can create something new that kind of takes on a life of its own. The characters build off of one another and Scott is a fantastic host who helps the comedians stretch and push and create their own mythos around their own characters. Incidentally, the show is actually very feminist. Sometimes the show has groups of only women and they are hilarious. Plus, it's just dang funny.
I really like the ceiling of the place where I live. Today I wanted to play around with the lines in the living room. I love the perpendicular lines of the wood paneling from the walls up to the ceiling as well as the bannister up on the second floor. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything that we talked about in class today, but even though I don't completely understand everything about space, it's definitely made me think differently about how I look at the world around me.
I took this photograph when I was at the TMA social. I walked out to the water and was impressed by how pretty a tiny little space could look. At first it was difficult to try to show how beautiful everything was, but then I decided to try to capture it from a different angle. I had been trying to take a picture of the creek straight on, and that just wasn't working. It wasn't until I started focusing on the trees that I captured everything. Here we get to see the rocks, trees, grass, and water. They kind of blend together to capture almost an abstract, Pollock like image, especially near the top.
One of the first things that I did when I received this
first assignment was go to my old family videos. I wasn’t sure exactly what
kind of story I wanted to tell. But as I watched the old videos I stared
feeling some very specific things. Although at first I felt that they were
unrelated and distracting me, I soon had to start keeping a journal of what I
was feeling. What I found was that there were some consistent themes that could
be helpful in trying to tell an honest story. I found that as I watched these
films, I looked at my past self and felt guilty. In these videos, I was a cute
and innocent three year old, and all I could think of was how I felt that I had
betrayed myself and my family by making all the mistakes I have in the twenty
years since.
However, I
felt that intellectually I knew better than that. So I went to the scriptures
and prayed and had a really interesting experience. I felt prompted that I
could take the time to learn from my past and that while I won’t get my
innocence back, that’s kind of the point of this life. We’re supposed to come
here, make a bunch of mistakes, and then learn how to do things better. To go
back to my innocent self would be to cheat myself of the growing experiences on
earth. So I need no longer fear “the grinder” or the personal hell I choose to
inflict upon myself. That’s inside of me. I can choose to be better and follow
the plan of growth that I feel like God has for me.
As far as
some of the technical decisions that would help me tell this story, I was fortunate
enough to spend the weekend with my family at a wedding. I interviewed my
brother and sister about the bedtime stories that we would tell each other and
tried to gather as many details as possible. Meanwhile, I recalled some
specific things like VCR tracking, types of fonts, and the 4:3 aspect ratio
that would help be a physical representation of the aesthetics of my childhood.
I tried to reflect the types of comedies my siblings and I would watch as well
as what kind of film we might make if we were kids again.
I wish I had more time to focus on
little details that would perfect it, but I certainly had a great time making
this film with my siblings, and I really felt like for a moment we had as much
fun as we did back then, but with new perspective and experience granted to us
as we now navigate our adult lives.
