I believe when you apply this movie to our generation the meaning changes, but indeed there is a meaning, and with that, an effect on the people who watch it.
This is a movie that analyzes relationships on a personal level and not just on the surface. We see Jim's family interact with him. We see the possible product attitude that kids can develop when parents are so oppressive. I would argue in this day and age that Jim acts the way he acts (not saying that it is good or bad) because his parents are on the controlling side. His mom decides to move whenever she feels like it or whenever Jim screws up. This would definitely create a unique environment for a child to grow up in.
On the other hand, people probably would probably say that the parents are not being harsh enough. This is because teens are being rebellious and depicted as immature. This is understandable considering how society felt about their youth at that time.
There is something unusual about the process of becoming an adult. Teens are finding themselves and when they lost it can be seen that the succumb to conformity in any generation and in any environment. We see the kids in this movie conforming with the rest of the school. Everyone is following Buzz and not even Buzz knows where he is headed (ironically it is off a cliff). Buzz even says he doesn't know why he is doing this but "you gotta do somethin".
This movie is definitely relateable in terms of situation and environment. The writing is kind of awkward and the meaning mysterious, but in the end the setting is very real feeling, even though it was 60 years ago.
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Friday, October 25, 2013
MYST #3 Anime Exploration!
For this post I decided to watch an anime movie. I am not very familiar with the realm of animation but I thought that I would give it a chance!
I chose to watch a movie From the DragonBall Z series. These movies come from what is said to be the most famous manga (comic) series of all time. There are 13 movies in total and the one I chose is called Cooler's Revenge. In this movie Cooler is an alien who has come to get his revenge on Goku (the main character) because he killed his brother Frieza. Goku is a very kind and gentle person but he also does what needs to be done for justice. Goku is also an alien but he has lived on earth ever since he was a little boy. He comes from a warrior race called the Sayians. His brother and him were apparently on the same level in terms of strength, but Coolers has now found a new form that is even stronger. Now Goku will have to find a way to defeat the monster.
It is interesting to see how real the animation people can make the outside look so real. I was actually very impressed. The detail of the environment was very cool. They have to create every frame that is seen in the movie and there were any different settings so they had to make a lot of them! The effort was definitely there from that stand point.
some cool effects that I saw were when the characters would shoot their "ki" at one another. Goku's special technique was called "kamehameha!". This was a very powerful blue beam of light that he used to defeat Cooler. Another cool one was when he transformed into a "supersayian". His hair turned golden and there was also a gold aura surveying his body.
The lighting was very similar to that of the real world. The sketches were darker for the more serious ones, and when he saves the day and all is well, the sun comes out and the birds are chirping!
The music that went along with the fighting and action scenes were pretty cool. They were like a rock and roll version of their own theme song. This was very unique to start with and I thought it played better than it would have if they had played something like hells bells or back in black.
The voices were really good! As it turns out the voice of Goku is also the voice of another character called King Kai. But their voices are completely different! I would have never known that unless i had read it for myself. They are so spot on with their voices it's freaky! It sounds nothing like their voices in real life and yet they are so believable!
The character Goku seems to be the superman of Japan. it was very interesting to see what they consider a hero. To be honest, I thought he was a better character than superman. This character was much more fleshed out and the back story was much more complex which made it way more interesting for the audience members. props to creator and writer, Akira Toriama for created such a cool character! In the end, the good guy wins and that's what we want to see! But what makes a great movie is when we think that the good guy might lose (and it's believable) and then he comes out on top.
I give it 3 1/2 out of 5.
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I chose to watch a movie From the DragonBall Z series. These movies come from what is said to be the most famous manga (comic) series of all time. There are 13 movies in total and the one I chose is called Cooler's Revenge. In this movie Cooler is an alien who has come to get his revenge on Goku (the main character) because he killed his brother Frieza. Goku is a very kind and gentle person but he also does what needs to be done for justice. Goku is also an alien but he has lived on earth ever since he was a little boy. He comes from a warrior race called the Sayians. His brother and him were apparently on the same level in terms of strength, but Coolers has now found a new form that is even stronger. Now Goku will have to find a way to defeat the monster.
It is interesting to see how real the animation people can make the outside look so real. I was actually very impressed. The detail of the environment was very cool. They have to create every frame that is seen in the movie and there were any different settings so they had to make a lot of them! The effort was definitely there from that stand point.
some cool effects that I saw were when the characters would shoot their "ki" at one another. Goku's special technique was called "kamehameha!". This was a very powerful blue beam of light that he used to defeat Cooler. Another cool one was when he transformed into a "supersayian". His hair turned golden and there was also a gold aura surveying his body.
The lighting was very similar to that of the real world. The sketches were darker for the more serious ones, and when he saves the day and all is well, the sun comes out and the birds are chirping!
The music that went along with the fighting and action scenes were pretty cool. They were like a rock and roll version of their own theme song. This was very unique to start with and I thought it played better than it would have if they had played something like hells bells or back in black.
The voices were really good! As it turns out the voice of Goku is also the voice of another character called King Kai. But their voices are completely different! I would have never known that unless i had read it for myself. They are so spot on with their voices it's freaky! It sounds nothing like their voices in real life and yet they are so believable!
The character Goku seems to be the superman of Japan. it was very interesting to see what they consider a hero. To be honest, I thought he was a better character than superman. This character was much more fleshed out and the back story was much more complex which made it way more interesting for the audience members. props to creator and writer, Akira Toriama for created such a cool character! In the end, the good guy wins and that's what we want to see! But what makes a great movie is when we think that the good guy might lose (and it's believable) and then he comes out on top.
I give it 3 1/2 out of 5.
MYST #2 Moneyball
Moneyball.. I was a little skeptical at first..
Having Brad Pitt play a former athlete who now is the general manger for the Oakland A's was not the ideal pick in my mind. I was thinking that he should stick with playing the cool, mysterious guy that gets the girl in the end. But the promise that those four stars gave along with my love for baseball led me to choosing this as my second Movie in My Spare Time.
I am going to have to agree with the critics rating of four stars on this movie. I think that all elements were very well handled including cinematography, sound, lighting, directing, and acting.
The Cinematography does not need to be noticeable for this kind of movie, it just needs to show us what is happening. In a movie like gravity, on the other hand, is something that is very precise and very important. In a movie like this, there are just a lot of over the shoulder shots to show conversation. very simple. I must point out two job well dones though. One would be the cut away to the real season of the Oakland A's from the movie itself. This movie shows the magic season of the Oakland A's in 2002 when they won 20 games in a row. For the 20th game they won on a walk off home-run, they cut to the actual game footage of the team and them crowding home plate. It got very difficult to tell which was the movie and which was the footage... So cool!
The second strong showing of cinematography was the walk-off home-run. WOW! This was definitely the best shot of the entire movie and it truly encapsulated the magnitude of the moment. This was a cool clip I found:)
A cool sound effect that I heard was at the cutaway. They cut all sound out from the crowd and just showed the guys going nuts and the announcer from the actual game. There were also some moments when Brad Pitt was by himself and he was listening to the game because he didn't like watching the games. They had a shot of his face and even though the only sound being made in the room was the radio, it felt like it was secondary to his inner-thoughts. They did a good job of not making it too loud, as to not distract from what was really happening with the character.
The locker room of the Oakland A's was used a lot in this movie. But every time we entered it as an audience, the lighting was slightly different. This is because the lighting crew is trying to convey the connotation of the moment. When the players and the team were doing well, there was a bright lighting in the room. When they were down in the dumps or a tough decision was being made, there was a dim lighting.
I enjoyed the acting of both Jonah hill and Brad Pitt. I thought they played off each other very well. It was almost as if Pitt was the mentor to Hill and then it switched because Hill had so much to teach Pitt. They ended up learning so much from each other which really was just teaching us.
I would say that the directing had that much of a presence in this movie. There were not many moments where I thought to myself that I liked the choices that the director made. Sometimes when you have a crew and actors like the director had here, you have to just let it fly!
Overall this movie was very solid. The critics hit it on the nail. four stars out of 5 is more than fair. They told a simple story and created a spell that entrapped us all.
Here are some of my favorite scenes!
Having Brad Pitt play a former athlete who now is the general manger for the Oakland A's was not the ideal pick in my mind. I was thinking that he should stick with playing the cool, mysterious guy that gets the girl in the end. But the promise that those four stars gave along with my love for baseball led me to choosing this as my second Movie in My Spare Time.
I am going to have to agree with the critics rating of four stars on this movie. I think that all elements were very well handled including cinematography, sound, lighting, directing, and acting.
The Cinematography does not need to be noticeable for this kind of movie, it just needs to show us what is happening. In a movie like gravity, on the other hand, is something that is very precise and very important. In a movie like this, there are just a lot of over the shoulder shots to show conversation. very simple. I must point out two job well dones though. One would be the cut away to the real season of the Oakland A's from the movie itself. This movie shows the magic season of the Oakland A's in 2002 when they won 20 games in a row. For the 20th game they won on a walk off home-run, they cut to the actual game footage of the team and them crowding home plate. It got very difficult to tell which was the movie and which was the footage... So cool!
The second strong showing of cinematography was the walk-off home-run. WOW! This was definitely the best shot of the entire movie and it truly encapsulated the magnitude of the moment. This was a cool clip I found:)
A cool sound effect that I heard was at the cutaway. They cut all sound out from the crowd and just showed the guys going nuts and the announcer from the actual game. There were also some moments when Brad Pitt was by himself and he was listening to the game because he didn't like watching the games. They had a shot of his face and even though the only sound being made in the room was the radio, it felt like it was secondary to his inner-thoughts. They did a good job of not making it too loud, as to not distract from what was really happening with the character.
The locker room of the Oakland A's was used a lot in this movie. But every time we entered it as an audience, the lighting was slightly different. This is because the lighting crew is trying to convey the connotation of the moment. When the players and the team were doing well, there was a bright lighting in the room. When they were down in the dumps or a tough decision was being made, there was a dim lighting.
I enjoyed the acting of both Jonah hill and Brad Pitt. I thought they played off each other very well. It was almost as if Pitt was the mentor to Hill and then it switched because Hill had so much to teach Pitt. They ended up learning so much from each other which really was just teaching us.
I would say that the directing had that much of a presence in this movie. There were not many moments where I thought to myself that I liked the choices that the director made. Sometimes when you have a crew and actors like the director had here, you have to just let it fly!
Overall this movie was very solid. The critics hit it on the nail. four stars out of 5 is more than fair. They told a simple story and created a spell that entrapped us all.
Here are some of my favorite scenes!
Friday, October 18, 2013
1935 movie creation! Come and see the patriotic feel good: "Rock Bottom" for only 5 cents!
A team of intellectuals gathered during 10th period film studies to create... Rock Bottom!!
Rock Bottom is a story of greed, perspective, and love. Overall, this is a feel good Romantic Comedy that seeks both laughter and sympathy from its audience. We see the journey of Frank, played by Gary Cooper, and his early success in life as a banker. As we know, in 1935 bankers were not thought of as the good guys to say the least. Nonetheless, Frank finds much success in what he does until one day when he is fired! The bank cannot afford to keep paying all of their employees, and even though he has emotional ties with the people at his bank, they let him go. As Frank is enduring this struggle to find a new job, he runs into an old friend from high school. This friend is none other than Vivian, his love from high school played by Claudette Colbert. Vivian is a single blue collar mother fighting to provide her kids with a decent life (which will attract an audience, as most people in 1935 are in this situation). The two sides of blue collar and white collar are mixed together as the two begin to fall in love. By the end of the movie we are hoping that the audience feels good about where they are in life. Ironically, we have doing a low budget film and we are taking the side of the blue collar worker (who in 1935 probably didn't make a lot of money) and sending a message to say that they should be proud to be a blue collared worker and they should be proud to be an American!
A helper in mix would be Maxwell, Vivian's mentor. Maxwell, played by Sam Jaffe is also a blue collar man and has been from the very start. He is a hard working man and is always on the look out for Vivian's best interest. We have chosen this cast because they are all from Columbia pictures and they have all worked with Frank Capra before. We wanted Frank to be our director because we like the way he handles the interactions with the characters. He does a great job with the positioning of his actors. You can see the leadership within the great timing of the actors with their lines.
Of course this team would not be complete without the help of Joseph Walker, a cinematographer from the ASC (American society of Cinematographers) who has had a history working with Mr. Capra. His variance of distance is just the right amount from what we've seen. We really like the way he can mix in close-ups and long shots in the same scene while still having that continuous effect. This is definitely a movie that has to flow from scene to scene and even within scenes because of movement of setting.
For the Hays code, we will be abiding by the rules. There should not be any dispute on whether or not our movie is too scandalous for the public eye. The biggest step we would take towards breaking that rule is the scene where Frank and Vivian share a milkshake. We feel that this is perfectly appropriate.
Special thanks to all that voted! Hope to see you in theaters!!
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Formal Film Studies #1
For my Formal Film Study I have chosen to take a slightly different approach in the picking of my movies. I
have decided to watch movies that star Paul Giamatti. At first, I did this because he is one of my favorite
actors, and yet I had only seen him in a handful of movies. Paul has the ability to grasp the sincerity of a
moment in an instant, just by giving a show stopping stare or stroke of his magnificent beard.
Paul Giamatti was born on June 6th, 1967 and is the youngest of three. He has one sister and one brother,
both of whom have indulged themselves in the delight of the arts. Paul has a mother who was an actress
before marrying Dr. Bart Giamatti who was the commissioner of Major League Baseball for six months before his untimely death. (all of this bio info came from IMDb)The three movies that I have decided to formally critique are Sideways, Duets, and Barney's Version. As
expected, all three were excellent. The interesting thing about these three movies is that Paul seems to play a very similar character in all three of these movies. One can easily deduce that there is depression apparent in all his characters throughout these motion pictures. In each, Paul plays a middle aged man who just can't seem to keep a relationship together. Though these movies are dark at times, given the nature of his characters, these movies can get dark at times. But Paul never fails to bring back the balance with some comic relief or passionate monologue/song. Here's an example! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlKHz3wzyM
In this fun clip, Paul Giamatti mixes his humorous character singing with Andre Braugher's talented vocals.
I noticed in all of these movies special camera angles that gave the moment a sense of anticipation. I liked the cinematography in the scene in Sideways when Paul's character Miles is getting the news about his new book. He is on the phone finding out whether or not his book is going to be published and as this is happening he is walking farther and farther away from the camera. When he receives the crushing news that his book would not be published, he stops right before the shadow ends in the sunlight. I thought this emphasized the blow he just took.
The message that I received by the end of all of these movies were surprising close to each other. They all meet at the point of depression and hardship, but all three have a kind of encouraging yet open ended ending. If the message of these movies had to be broken down into a catch phrase I would say it was "Don't give up!". It really is as simple as that! his character just has to find a way to keep going and the characters around him are trying help him achieve this goal.
Each film had a different kind of sound to it. Sideways had a very 50s sounding soundtrack. A lot of the time it would be a simple trumpet just bouncing in and out of scenes. This went perfectly with the two crazy characters of Miles and Jack, running around causing trouble. Barney's Version on the other hand, has a lot of piano and strings playing in the background. This made his movie much more elegant feeling than Sideways, which in my opinion were two very similar movies.
Sideways being one of Giamatti's most prestigious pieces, grossed 71 million dollars. Duets, a modest 12 million, and Barney's Version (the best of the three), a measly 7.5 million. None of these movies were ground breaking in terms of their sales, but an argument can certainly be made for groundbreaking production. The directors and crew behind the scenes did a great job of capturing moments when needed but not trying to do too much. They weren't moving the camera so much or flickering the lights on and off so quickly that it made you dizzy and/or uncomfortable. They let the professional grade actors do their thing from a medium view throughout with just a few long shots and close-ups when necessary.
To give a view of the most popular, Sideways, David Ansen said, "Sideways stays resolutely life-size. And that, in this age of hype and hyperventilation, may be the most radical thing about it". 96% on Rotten Tomatoes!!!
have decided to watch movies that star Paul Giamatti. At first, I did this because he is one of my favorite
actors, and yet I had only seen him in a handful of movies. Paul has the ability to grasp the sincerity of a
moment in an instant, just by giving a show stopping stare or stroke of his magnificent beard.
Paul Giamatti was born on June 6th, 1967 and is the youngest of three. He has one sister and one brother,
both of whom have indulged themselves in the delight of the arts. Paul has a mother who was an actress
before marrying Dr. Bart Giamatti who was the commissioner of Major League Baseball for six months before his untimely death. (all of this bio info came from IMDb)The three movies that I have decided to formally critique are Sideways, Duets, and Barney's Version. As
expected, all three were excellent. The interesting thing about these three movies is that Paul seems to play a very similar character in all three of these movies. One can easily deduce that there is depression apparent in all his characters throughout these motion pictures. In each, Paul plays a middle aged man who just can't seem to keep a relationship together. Though these movies are dark at times, given the nature of his characters, these movies can get dark at times. But Paul never fails to bring back the balance with some comic relief or passionate monologue/song. Here's an example! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMlKHz3wzyM
In this fun clip, Paul Giamatti mixes his humorous character singing with Andre Braugher's talented vocals.
I noticed in all of these movies special camera angles that gave the moment a sense of anticipation. I liked the cinematography in the scene in Sideways when Paul's character Miles is getting the news about his new book. He is on the phone finding out whether or not his book is going to be published and as this is happening he is walking farther and farther away from the camera. When he receives the crushing news that his book would not be published, he stops right before the shadow ends in the sunlight. I thought this emphasized the blow he just took.
The message that I received by the end of all of these movies were surprising close to each other. They all meet at the point of depression and hardship, but all three have a kind of encouraging yet open ended ending. If the message of these movies had to be broken down into a catch phrase I would say it was "Don't give up!". It really is as simple as that! his character just has to find a way to keep going and the characters around him are trying help him achieve this goal.
Each film had a different kind of sound to it. Sideways had a very 50s sounding soundtrack. A lot of the time it would be a simple trumpet just bouncing in and out of scenes. This went perfectly with the two crazy characters of Miles and Jack, running around causing trouble. Barney's Version on the other hand, has a lot of piano and strings playing in the background. This made his movie much more elegant feeling than Sideways, which in my opinion were two very similar movies.
Sideways being one of Giamatti's most prestigious pieces, grossed 71 million dollars. Duets, a modest 12 million, and Barney's Version (the best of the three), a measly 7.5 million. None of these movies were ground breaking in terms of their sales, but an argument can certainly be made for groundbreaking production. The directors and crew behind the scenes did a great job of capturing moments when needed but not trying to do too much. They weren't moving the camera so much or flickering the lights on and off so quickly that it made you dizzy and/or uncomfortable. They let the professional grade actors do their thing from a medium view throughout with just a few long shots and close-ups when necessary.
To give a view of the most popular, Sideways, David Ansen said, "Sideways stays resolutely life-size. And that, in this age of hype and hyperventilation, may be the most radical thing about it". 96% on Rotten Tomatoes!!!
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