For my final documentary, I explored the stigma that surrounds mental illness.

We received an assignment to make a short documentary about something that matters to us personally, and I chose to make mine about my school’s modern dance program, interviewing our teachers and fellow dancers.

Earlier in the class, we were tasked with viewing a film in theaters, then reviewing it and responding creatively. I watched “Timbuktu” and did a photo shoot in homage. See the assignment here.

 

American Sniper

 

Critique:

I was mostly disappointed by the 2014 film American Sniper, directed by Clint Eastwood and originating in the US.  Though, to be honest, I didn’t have incredibly high expectations for it in the first place, being a film about the “most elite sniper in history”.  The film lacked subtlety, depth, good pacing, and was rather political in its presentation, taking away from the personal stakes it was trying to achieve.  For a film trying to talk about PTSD, or at least the immense stress of combat, they focused far too much on how skilled and elite the protagonist was.  At the end of the movie, Chris Kyle gets over his problems without any real difficulty or explanation, problems that boil down to noble heroic man-pain – “I couldn’t save everyone!  I’m so sad!”  His flaws aren’t explored enough, and his good sides come off as generic, especially when the film tries to blatantly tug our emotional strings by showing him as a family man.  In addition, this movie comes off as really racist, and really pro-Iraq War, which I had personal beef with.  Almost every Iraqui they meet is essentially an evil enemy, who must be defeated at all costs.  The seemingly kind man who invites the soldiers over for dinner is actually a terrorist.  The woman and child walking on the street are suicide bombers.  It goes on.

With regards to technical elements, I also found myself disappointed.  The editing is sloppy, with countless amounts of unnecessary repetition, overlong fight scenes, and time skip-filled pacing that comes off as half-asleep and bleary, which is how I felt by the time the film was over.  The cinematography was very uninteresting, with very standard Middle-East-war conventions, with stark high-key lighting that was almost blinding (with absurdly dim night scenes), and a color palette full of sandy beige and brown dirt, combining to make a visual style that was rather hard on the eyes.  The same could be said of the costumes, which were either indistinguishable army uniforms, or indistinguishable civilian clothes.  There seemed to be a fair bit of deep space used, especially during sniper scenes, when the protagonist and his targets would be so far away.  The frame rate and aspect ratios were nothing special, 24 fps and 2.35:1 respectively.  These all do come together and give a powerful tense atmosphere to everything that happens, but that’s about all it amounts to.

It is very clear whose points of view are being told in this story: Chris Kyles, especially due to its source material, an autobiography.  Vulnerability is shown, but not deep flaws, including Kyle’s bigoted stance towards Islam, and his tendency to repeatedly lie about his accomplishments.  The war is always presented as good, and necessary, and the fights have far too much visual pizzazz to be dark.  This is no Apocalypse Now.  This is a very singular point of view.

 

Storyboard:

Duration:  0:04.

Shot Size:  LS.

Angle:  hi <

Movement:  None.

Notes:  This is a standard high-POV long shot to establish the opening scene of the film, and the setting in which it’s taking place.  Note the high, dominant position of the sniper, who will soon pass judgment on the two people who come out of the building.  The color palette is mostly a dull grey, and the bits of color spotted throughout are chaotic, disparate.

Duration:  0:16.

Shot Size:  CU.

Angle:  Eye level.

Movement:  Pan Right.

Notes:  In this shot, our perspective starts on the gun, before moving right to get our first look at the protagonist, Chris Kyle.  This very clearly frames Kyle as someone inherently tied to, and probably defined, by his weapon.  It is the method through which he views the scene, and interacts with the other subjects in it, so naturally it’s important.  The lingering length of the shot is similar to the rest of the movie, which takes a deliberate, disparate pace to things.

 

Duration:  0:03.

Shot Size:  MS.

Angle:  Eye level.

Movement:  Hand Held Shot.

Notes:  This shot clearly establishes the door, one of the key parts of the scene, giving us further information on the setting, and clearly riveting it for the tense action up ahead.  The blue color of the door stands out among the rest of the scene, giving it greater importance in the shot.

 

Duration:  0:04.

Shot Size:  CU.

Angle:  Eye level.

Movement:  None.

Notes:  This shot begins a repetitive, if effective sequence of shots from the same relative angle, giving is this up-close, personal look at Kyle, his gun, and his reactions to the events surrounding him.  This is probably my favorite scene in the movie, because it’s doing what the rest of the film should have done – shown him making difficult, traumatic judgment calls, and exploring the both intimate and distant relationship between him and his enemies.  There are a lot of repetitions of this shot that aren’t in this storyboard, for the sake of being concise.

 

Duration:  0:06.

Shot Size:  CU.

Angle:  Eye level.

Movement:  POV Shot.

Notes:  Here, we see a potential antagonist for Kyle, with a cell phone, viewed through his deadly, tunnel-vision position of power.  This is an interesting relationship between characters, done effectively, because the sniper can see him, but he can’t see the sniper, and neither of them really knows what the other is doing.  This makes the communication one-sided, and deeply limited.

 

Duration:  0:05.

Shot Size:  CU.

Angle:  hi <

Movement:  POV shot.

Notes:  This shot is similar to the previous one, but many of the effects are amplified.  Chris Kyle is now in a higher position than them, looking down and judging whether they are enemies or not.  He has a great deal power in this scene, with the ability to kill or not kill, but also a great deal of stress as a result.  Once again the communication is one-sided and limited, showing things from Kyle’s bigoted soldier’s perspective.

 

Duration:  0:02.

Shot Size:  MS.

Angle:  lo <

Movement:  Pan right.

Notes:  This, and couple other shots in the scene, show the two potential antagonist from the American Ground soldier’s perspective, once again neglecting to show the woman and child’s views.  From here, they’re not small, they’re looming and dangerous, on the same level as them.  This shows us the people that Kyle is looking out for, and the danger they may be in.

 

Duration:  0:02.

Shot Size:  CU.

Angle:  Eye level.

Movement:  Zoom.

Notes:  As the scene progresses, and the tension mounts, the shots get shorter and shorter, back and forth between Kyle and his target, as the ticking clock begins to mount, and the decision must be made.  Everything builds up to whether he will shoot or not, and in this we can see him once again framed by his weapon, which takes up far more of the frame than him, and dominates the scene more.

 

Duration:  0:02.

Shot Size:  ECU.

Angle:  Eye level.

Movement:  None.

Notes:  Once again, though not all the shots are presented in this storyboard, their length continues to get shorter and shorter, focusing more and more on the weapons carried by the Iraqis, and the sniper.  This takes that to an extreme, focusing clearly on the Kyle’s gun, and the anticipation of whether he is going to fire it.

 

Notes: Duration:  0:02.

Shot Size:  CU.

Angle:  hi <

Movement:  POV Shot.

Notes:  This final shot in the scene tracks the little boy from the sniper’s perspective, his carried a key element in the scene.  The shots are extremely short, the music is high, and the tension is almost at breaking point, before the scene cuts away to a flashback, and depriving us of an easy emotional conclusion, at least for the present.

Focus Critique

Focus, directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, is a Drama – Romance film about the lives of a con artist, Nicky (Will Smith), and his understudy, Jess (Margot Robbie). Throughout the movie we enjoy many twists and turns to the plot that make the movie exciting to watch, but at times stray the movie away from its plot, direction and ironically focus. The first 45 minutes of the movie were in essence plotless and did little for the film. There were a few moments where we were introduced to the characters and a little groundwork for the future of the movie was laid down, but overall it was wasted time that could have been better spent on the main portion of the plot.

Another issue in the movie was the transition between the first 45 minutes and the final portion of the movie. Or lack therefore of. The main issue here is that the first part of the movie felt like it had very little to do with the second part of the film. Most of the supporting characters have changed, the setting takes place in a different country, the job has changed and is more high pressure. With that being said, little is done to help the viewer become accustomed to this change. Little to nothing is known about the missing characters from earlier in the film. The same is to be said about the lives of the main character. We know next to nothing about the main characters lives leading up to our reintroduction into their lives as well as how they got to where they. This gives it a feel as if we are just being thrown back into their life without knowing who the characters are anymore or what has happened since we last saw them. The absence of any types of flashbacks or clues as to what happened in the past reinforces the notion of not knowing anything that is going on in the movie, effectively leaving the viewer lost and confused.

Whose points of views are being told in this story?

We mainly get the point of the main character, Nicky, who is played by Will Smith. From his point of view we see how he works and all the strategies/ tactics they use. Another prominent point of view in the movie is that of the supporting character, Jess, played by Margot Robbie. This is more of a contradictory point of view from the main characters as we get to see her emotions when he leaves, and when it seems as if they are on different sides.In the end though their points of view are very similar. One thing I wish we had seen more of though was the point of view of those who they were stealing from. One thing I did not like was that they were mainly stealing from the middle class people who roam the streets. Basically I saw myself as one of those people they could have been stealing from. I think it would have been more powerful or better if they had been stealing from the rich and wealthy who can afford the loss of a couple million better than the lower middle class who are devastated after losing a thousand dollars. Another problem I had with the film was the fact that the money they were stealing was not being given to anybody and basically was just taken for their own good. This created a dilemma in my conscience, as I subconsciously wanted to side with the main character’s  because of the camera angles and the fact that we are made to love and usually have empathy and compassion for the character. At the same time I realized that there was no reason for me to side with the main characters as they were criminals who steal from the non-wealthy and help nobody but themselves. A good illustration of what is wrong with the world today.

Photoshopped Art:

This is obviously a picture of a watch, which is one of the most commonly stolen items in the plot and one of the ways the two main characters get to know each other.  I chose to take a picture of my cousins gold-watch, and played around with lighting and other color-effects.

 

 

 

 

 

Focus:

• Directed by: John Requa, Glenn Ficarra

• Made in: 2015

• Other technical aspects: Used Final Cut Pro X

• Country of Origin: United States of America

 

 

Tashi’s Turbine 

Please click on the image or the text above to see my review of the film Tashi’s Turbine.

Artwork 

Please click on the image or the text above to see my artwork inspired by the film Tashi’s Turbine.

This live-action remake of Cinderella was released on February 13, 2015. The film was directed by Kenneth Branaghm, and it was shot in Buckinghamshire, England. Disney remained very loyal to the original animated version of Cinderella; in fact Mark Romanek was supposed to be director, but because he had a dark version in mind, he was replaced by Branaghm. Costume design was the aspect of the mise-en-scene that impressed me the most. Sandy Powell, who is a three-time Oscar winner, was in charge of the costumes. Each costume served as a mirror to the characters’ personalities. The stepsisters, for example, wear strident colored dresses that are ridiculously accessorized. In addition they sport tight, pompous curls and excessive make-up. Their dresses reflect their obnoxious attitude and reveal the ugliness of their souls. Ella, on the other hand, wears simple sky-blue dresses, natural looking make-up, and loosely braided curls. The most important costume of the film is Ella’s ball dress. Powell said she “wanted her to look like she was floating, like a watercolor painting”. The final product is composed of more than a dozen fine layers of fabric, more than 270 yards of it too, and around 10,000 crystals. It captures Powell’s intentions perfectly, and makes for some of the movie’s most beautiful scenes.

Though it was not my choice to watch Cinderella, I enjoyed it. As with all fairy tales it was rather superficial, but adequate for its target audience. Looking at it as such, a children’s movie, I can appreciate it more. Every shot was charged with beautiful seemingly natural light, enchanting decor and floral motifs, and expressive costumes.

Whose points of views are being told in this story?

Mainly, the story is told from Ella’s point of view. It offers small insights into other character’s thoughts, such as the explanation for Lady Tremaine’s bitterness.  It approaches the theme of abuse in a very subtle way, and sends a simple message about the importance of love, kindness,courage, and forgiveness.

For the art I made a drawing with watercolor and ink. 

 

 

Film, animation and alternative film and video has been a stalwart of Bay Area culture from Muybridge to Silent Film and from Pixar to the Prelinger Archive. In this course we will explore the history of the moving image and it’s cultural impact in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as create our own imaginative responses to the ideas and concepts in the course.

Students will get a chance to study films, technologies, philosophies and ideas related to the manipulation of time as well as create their own art, videos and visual journal entries. Topics will include a wide variety of cinematic genres and motion picture technologies. Students will learn interdisciplinary skills related to their own independent filmmaking in tandem with film and cultural studies. Students will be expected to make connections with larger social, political and cultural forces and be interested in independently creating artworks, visual journal entries and film and animation.

During our face-to-face sessions we may be meeting filmmakers, exploring museums, cinemas, archives, film festivals and places of cinematic industry in the prolific bay area arts culture. Tea and discussion will follow. Students will need access to a digital still camera and be able to upload images to the Internet. Students will need to have some knowledge of video editing and have access to basic video editing software, a digital video camera/tripod combination and will need access to basic art supplies.

Bay Area BlendEd Consortium:  http://www.blendedconsortium.org