For my project I made a video about the california drought. My family visits yosemite valley for a weekend every year. This year I noticed the effects of the drought and decided to make a movie about it. Thank you for watching!

Although I didn’t completely fulfill the requirements of the assignment, I decided to take a slightly more experimental path with my project. I made a film that shot almost every activity in my week, from making faces at my friends in the bathroom mirror, to racing sailboats, most everything is in there. I hope you enjoy:

American Sniper is an incredibly hard hitting film politically and emotionally. War, like many other things in American culture, is something we have all romanticized. War is not glorious or triumphant, war is not proud or moral, and war is certainly not easy or clean. American Sniper reminds us of the terrible, muddy, destruction that is war and the aftermath for cities, innocent bystanders, soldiers and their families.

To create the feeling of complete destruction of the soldier’s moral, director, Clint Eastwood, uses drab colors and uninteresting lighting. While this occasionally makes the film boring to look at, it certainly conveys the emotional drainage of being at war. The dialogues leave much about what each character is thinking to the viewer’s imagination. While this is at times frustrating, and I did yearn for more character insight, I think it is true to the militaristic culture in which the film takes place. The film includes fantastically staged action scenes which, frankly, didn’t interest me all that much, possibly a personal preference. The 24 frames per second and 2.35:1 ratio are nothing extraordinary either.

While this film may be like many others in the military action drama, it certainly carries a larger message and illuminates the dark burdens that we place on the many men and women that serve our country. While many argue that this movie conveyed an overly pro-war attitude, I would have to firmly disagree. The culture of the army is certainly more combat ready and has to ensure the soldiers will support the mission at all costs. So while this movie does an adept job at recreating these emotions, I felt very solidified in my own personal anti-war views coming out of the movie. My reasoning being that this movie swiftly portrayed almost every Iraqi as an enemy. There were few “innocent bystander” Iraqis, whom had fallen victim to circumstance. While this could be viewed as pro-war propaganda, I found it racist and infuriating that the armed forces have such a strong culture of “us vs them” mentality. Additionally, I found the portrayal of PTSD in the soldiers immensely saddening. The movie portrayed the extremely negative effects of war on soldiers bodies, minds and families. This made me feel upset at the prospect of even sending young Americans off to war. The point of view in this film was certainly in a military mindset, but it is a true story about the military. I think in the case of movies such as these, it is up to the viewer to discern how the movie is portraying both the positive and negative aspects of the film.

This is an art piece I created to portray the darkness that emanates from the gun (representing war):

This is my autobiography film that was made earlier in the year. I wanted to use my room to give insight on who I am and the types of things I like and do.

1. What are some things that matter to you personally in your life?—My family is very important to me as well as close friends, because these should be people that are going to be with you through thick and thin and will always be willing to help you out. Dance as well as baseball is also important to me because they represent ways to de-stress and express myself.
2. What are some things that matter to you concerning your immediate community?— Gentrification in the mission, the deaths of countless people of color, the abuse immigrants suffer trying to cross the border looking for a better life, the injustices all people face caused by the greedy people in power.
3. What are some things that matter to you globally?— All of the issues above can be connected to issues globally, they all relate and can be found in other places across the globe. One thing more globally though is how we are harming mother nature and our planet.
4. Are any of these connected and how?—They are all connected someway or another.

Film: Colores Unidos

Fury (2014, rated R) was directed by David Ayer, starring Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Logan Lerman, Michael Peña, and Jon Bernthal.  The film is set in Germany on April, 1945 during World War II, following a five-man crew of soldiers from the United States as they set out on a risky mission in an American tank.  This action packed movie is gory and extremely intense.  Personally, I enjoyed it very much as it’s camera movement and visual effects also impressed me.  Even though Fury has extensive amounts of profanity, violence, anger, hate, and multiple sexual references, it is simply acknowledging what war is really like.  Many of the scenes display blood, gore, bullets, etc. that many people may find disturbing, but it is what soldiers actually put up with and experience.

One particular scene captured the intensity of tanks marvelously.  A Nazi tank was firing heavy ammunition at the Americans, and the effects used were amazing; sound played a big role, as the tank round came whizzing past the camera, causing a soldier to literally explode.

Not only does Fury focus on war, it also presents a theme of the loss of innocence that young men are put up to.  The five-man crew includes one young private drafted to the war.  With no experience, he is thrown into the deep end as the audience follows his dramatic change that eventually leads to him shooting down groups of Nazi men with machine guns.

the art work that I tried to create:

1. Storyboard for the movie Bleu. Created using NeoNotes.

2. My short-film Nocte Herba. 

For the documentary, I watched Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory. It is a documentary about the effects music has on people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. I thoroughly enjoyed this documentary, as music is a big part of my life and I had always wondered about the effects it has on our brains.

Here is the link to their website http://www.aliveinside.us/

The other projects I am proud of are the autobiography https://vimeo.com/118779609

and the film analysis.

“Why are identities so often put into boxes? What, of all the barriers that divide humanity, can be viewed as illusions? Though we may have different identities, what about them can bring us together?”

These are two of the three films that I made in Bay Area Cinema, and though there are certainly mistakes that I would have rectified had I known about them, I’m relatively pleased with both of these works, and am glad to get an opportunity to share them.   The first film is an Autobiographical work about staying up late, and insomnia.  The second film is about food, and my family.  Enjoy!

Autobiography:  http://youtu.be/KvNoMYFhvOo

Media that Matters:  http://youtu.be/91QVsvDAzx4