Monday, January 24, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Blog 2
Blog number 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mUuZ6i5CAw
The story is about a red wolf named Murmon, his species is raised in captivity. They have forgotten how to howl and have been raised in captivity and almost extinct. They are released into the wild, Murmon goes on a journey to find his howl. On his journey he eats a deer who tells him that his howl is something you just do, not something you try. He then kills the deer and eats it. He feels the deers spirt inside him afterward as the deer gives him energy. He then looks and sees a hunter with a gun, and then sees a fire and goes into the fire and a pack of hunters dancing. Then the hunters become his fellow pack and the fire a rock, as Murmon is standing by the moon howling to the ski. He relates this story to his article by saying that to find our howl we may have to go from hell and back and sacrifice everything that they want.
Blog 1b
The Article by Ditkoff had many valid points in my opinion. His article was about about how inspiration comes about, and it brought up many valid points. I found it interesting that each part of the article explained exercises on how one can achieve inspiration. Overall the article seems pretty good, my only criticism is that it seems to think that you can make breakthrough ideas happen. I think that sometimes breakthrough ideas just happen. You can’t do certain exercises, it just happens. When breaking down the article and looking at three sections I look at. One of the exercises; immerse yourself is a very good on in my opinion. First off I think this is good because many times people can be inspired to do things based on things that others have done. Also immersing yourself in your craft gives you a blend of different viewpoints and facts. That can lead one to mixing different ideas together and creating new breakthrough ideas from these. To become completely self absorbed in what you do is immersion. One can have a much better chance of being inspired by being around certain elements all the time. Although I do not think it guarantees anything it makes the chances of it happening much better. I would immerse myself with other people and view the works of others as well. I would watch independent films and mainstream ones and go into creative sessions with other people I know. That is how I would make myself immersed.
The one that I think is very good as well is taking a break. Sometimes the harder you try for something the farther the way it goes away from you. That is why I think that taking a nice long break is a very good idea. Just going for a walk or doing something were you are not around technology is the best. Sometimes media activity can not be counted as a break. Something with out being connected could be the best thing in my opinion. If I was taking a break I would go for a walk, or sit on a park bench or get some food, or just relax and watch my favorite movie. I would make sure to have a pen and notepad handy but not plan to use them. You can not plan inspiration. Breakthroughs can not be forced as well. Then Ditkoff also has one that says to brainstorm. The classic example, its interesting that it is not at the beginning. I think brainstorm is good but sometimes it only goes so far. The only problem I have with brainstorm is that I feel like it can be considered a combination of many of these different pieces of advice such as hangout with a diverse group of people or use creative thinking skills and techniques. When you do these though you do not sit down and say, I am going to brainstorm. The exchange of ideas and opinions however could be considered brainstorming. Brainstorming is not as specific. If I were to brainstorm 80% of the time I would do it with a group of people, I think it helps when you have you other people. Sometimes however it is better to be by yourself for self reflection as Well.
What is the topic of your next group brainstorm? Who will you invite? Who will facilitate? When? For me my next group brainstorm topic will be, what should our movie be about? This will be during the 48 hour-shoot. This is an event talking place from Feb 4-6 where a team is given a genre, a prop and line of dialogue. We get everything at 5:30 friday and we have to have a dvd of our film turned in by 5:30 pm on sunday. Basically we have to write a script shoot our 5 minute movie and edit all within the weekend. The people at this brainstorm will consit of our production crew and some of our actors, so 9 or 10 people. We are thinking that the location of this brainstorm will be in one of the group rooms in Alden Library and then somewhere else after midnight. I will most likely not get any sleep at all during this shoot. None of our main crew will get a lot if any sleep. I think it will be a really good experience though and I will learn a lot about it. I am the Director on the shoot.
Blog 1a
I am the kind of creative person who wants to create works that both move and inspire people. The kind of thing that sticks with people, and unconscious becomes a part of there style. That is the way to last with someone forever. Many creative people have influenced me as a creative person. There are three that come to the forefront of mind however that have especially influenced me. They are the Coen brothers, Stanley Kubrick and Stephen Spielberg.
The Coen brothers have been writing there own scripts for their films since the start of their career. This has given their movies a unique style, not the usual Hollywood formula. Not every plot line is resolved in a Coen film, and many times we don’t the certain fate of some characters. If too much is wrapped up though then the film can start have that formula feel. The trademark of almost all of the Coen’s films though is the dark comedy which they employ. I take this scene from the Coens breakthrough film Fargo as a perfect example of how Coen’s perfectly mix darkness with humor. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qWFhDvURLg. Many people are killed in Fargo. The humor however is a great release to the tension of all the killing. The wood chipper scene also shows how the Coens used tension and release. As Marge is slowly coming around the corner we kinda see someone doing something, but we are not sure yet. Then Marge, the police officer tries to scream at him but he can’t here him. This ads to the tension and it is released once he starts to run away, because it is then we know Marge will triumph. This is just one example of how tension and release is used in Fargo and in the Coens film. The main thing that watching Coen brothers films have taught me is to always and try have your own style to thing. That is something I have admired about their films. They have their own unique feel about them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhXJcfczNIc . This scene is a great example of Subjectivity and Objectivity. For the entire film we have seen Anton (the customer) killing people meaninglessly and for no reason. When one just looks at the scene objectively we see a gas clerk and Anton talking, and Anton telling him to flip a coin, and when he says what he has to gain from the coin flip he says everything. What does he mean when he says everything? Objectively it could be money, his business or some secret. When one looks at this scene subjectively one can see that it is fate that rules this scene. Anton says You know what date is on this coin? 1958. It's been traveling 22 yrs to get here. And now it's here. And it's either heads or tails, and you have to say. CALL IT"". Fate is the subjective thing that can be drawn from this scene, and is one of the scenes of the film. Anton is saying how it is fate that the coin is here that it was meant to be here. Themes are the greatest aspect of Coen brother movies.
When I get out of school my main ambition is to become a director of photography. When it come to cinematography one director come to mind as a great source of inspiration. Stanley Kubrick, often considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. His films are marked by the great craft each shot has and by the stark reality on which Kubrick presents. I take this scene from one of Kubricks most well known films http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFVyAjj3Bs0&feature=related. The tracking scenes with Danny on the his bike were considered groundbreaking at the time of the films release, and visually the entire scene is expertly crafted. The scene is also is a great example of contrast and affinity. When Danny first comes around the corner we see the girls saying come to come and play. This image is disturbing all in its own and very weird. To fill on the context there is not supposed to be anyone in the lodge besides Danny his mother and father. As they say come play with us we suddenly see an image of the two girls bloody bodies on the ground, with an axe by it. Then flash back to a less intense image of the two girls saying come play with us. Then flashing back to the girls saying come play with us Danny it then flashes back to the bodies two more times before it ends. This is standard work by Kubrick, who is a master at these things.
Friday, January 7, 2011
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