Last Film 2 class Fall 2012

Hello guys!

I just wanted to tell you that I had so much fun working with you this semester. I am so glad that i got to know you.

The films that we made together were so much fun, and I am so looking forward to keep in touch with all of you.

Here is our lovely picture with our awesome shirts.

Thanks for all the awesomeness!

Anna Karenina by Joe Wright (2012)

Musical stage is the main background for the movie, and trying to present how musicals would present their story on a single stage. Because it is still a film, so the space of staging is using more than just the regular stages we see in concerts. The traditional audience seating area, the back stage and even the sealing were also used as part of the film.

Many of the switching frames are change by having actors turning circles with camera following with their turning, in the mean time having other actors change the background stage. It is so calculated that the changes are also part of the story that we need to see the transfer of space to know being in the different part of the story. There are also many direct cuts from one to another, but because of the brilliance of dancing while switching the seen, those did not stand out for me.

The screen is so beautifully present, there is no way I could have complete see everything, so planning to go back and see it again!

Top Gear U.K. by Andy Wilman and Jeremy Clarkson (2003-present)

Top Gear is one of the only reality television show that drives me mad. Many of the reality use comedy lighting, and with the same plot over and over without too much of a change. In Top Gear lighting isn’t too much different from the other reality shows when the seen is inside of the studio, but even with shots kept switching in the studio. Three casting members would always lead the audience from one to another, or distract the audience with sound so the swift between casting would not be out of place.

The beginning of Top Gear was very focus on showing cars, on giving opinion to rare luxury sports cars and putting celebrities behind a reasonably priced car. After few seasons, the show starting with many of the challenges to compete between public transportation to driving from England to South of France as the start, and got much more outdoor shooting there is for this show.  During the bright sun, cloudy day, raining, to complete darkness, with all different kind of climate, of course the camera would need to be treating in very differently.  

During all of the sunny or cloudy days, camera men always uses different tones of blue filters, to make the bright light much cooler to present the sharpness of the background and car itself. Sometimes the filter is from dark on the top to lighter tone at the bottom. With darkness, the camera will be the night vision and much more like a swat team following one another.

Though out many of the outdoors shooting, tripod was often use from the other end of street corner to shoot the coming car. Editing of cuts are also very sharp on the decisions, all the Top Gear seasons, personally have never felt an cut that could have be shorter. Since it is a reality show after all, there are also acting involved. It isn’t very hard some of the possibility those three casting are acting; however, the editing, shots, and sound are trying so hard for audience to focus on the subject they are acting out. It creates a kind of humour as the style for the show.

All of the shots from indoors to outdoors may not be anything new to reality television, but each presented screen are with an extra bit of care in it. By watching the show, could feel the whole crew is working as a team, with well thought ideas and the position of the camera to not only document it but also to impress the beauty and ability of the cars to audience. 

The Other Son by Lorraine Levy

The characters in The Other Son communicate with each other in French, English, Hebrew, and Arabic. This many different languages featured in the film represents the points of connection and disconnection the members of both families experience. The situations and relationships in which these languages are spoken adds tension to the movie. It was not always obvious which language two or more characters would use to communicate. Language was also a device to demonstrate certain character's development in reaching out to another, apologizing, making friends, etc. For example, Yassin and Joseph's fathers speak in English to each other, and the most we see them talk is about Israeli-Palestinian fighting, bombing, and politics. English, a language with a particular political alignment and agency, is their only common language. They speak it awkwardly, in my point of view as a native speaker. This awkwardness is brilliant -it fills the soundscape with tense pauses, mumbles and slurs. It becomes clear how difficult it is for the families to attempt to share anything (space, experiences, each other). There are beautiful subtleties in this use of language that tell the audience about the characters' relationships.

A prominent kind of shot in this film is like the photo above. There are  two figures shown together to show some unity and agreement. This is contrasted with shots where the pair is not together and positioned at the same height level. The agreement between the two married couples dissolves as the mother's accept the news and the fathers struggle against it. Thus the shot where two figures share the frame's space changes to be of the two women or the two sons -not the typical family structure seen more in the beginning of the film.

The still above is a wider version of this tense shot. The two couples are in their distinct pairs, and are further distinguished by the slight diagonal of the computer screen and the bookshelf in the background.  Even the colors of their clothes, the contrast between the light colors on the left and the darker clothes on the right, represent the differences between the families and highlight the tension in this scene.

I suggest going to see it. I don't want to share much of the story here.

A Gifted Man by Susannah Grant (2012)

This television show is absolutely boring for the decision the director had made for shots, cuts and sound. The angles of shots are nothing particularly eye catching, other than the Maserati the main character were driving in the Pilot, which despaired without explanation. Cuts are simply only from one character to another, can’t remember any special part of it. One of the choices of sound was horrible; the song’s lyric was singing about his father passed away, and the script is about his dead wife return to him.

Perhaps, all those money on the car, the interiors and the clothing, the time and money should be spending more on finding the identity of the show. Many of the shot’s style could easily be related to another famous show, and most of them are already shown in Polite; examples of the copies are from House, Lie To Me, and White Collar. It feels like the reason of making this show is just for some extra cash during this dry season.

Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist's Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets

Over the break, I went to MoMa to see Quay brother’s production, and they are mostly focus on stop-motion films. It is a commonly known now, which takes massive amount of time to produce a short film. Lucky, I was able to sit down on few of the many films that are present in the museum. Even though doll characters are without facial expression, Quay brothers use other elements to have the figure as alive as possible. It was with careful and moveable staging, so without moving the camera, they could have the figure move into different environment, and this is only one of the tricks they did.

One of their film, a dance film that draws most of my attention while I was there. The flow of the dance film was so smooth from one shot to another, perhaps is the dance that was beautifully in the film got most of my attention. But the story was so direct and clear even the shot was jumping back and force between all of the characters. And that was the moment I was asked to leave the closing museum.

Bernie (2011)

Over the Thanksgiving break I watched the movie Bernie, directed by Richard Linklater, and starring Jack Black, Shirley McLaine, and Matthew McConaughey.  The film is based on a true story about a murder in a small town in east Texas.  In the film Jack Black plays Bernie, a sweet man well liked by everyone in town.  Bernie is the perfect Christian, always helping everyone out.  Shirley McLaine plays Marjorie, an old bitch.  This horrible old woman is detested by everyone and was even sued by her own granddaughter.  In the film, Bernie befriends Marjorie but the friendship quickly become a one-sided, manipulative relationship.  One afternoon when he can no longer handle Marjorie's bossy demeanor, Bernie snaps and shoots Marjorie four times in the back.  Horrified by his own actions, Bernie then hides Marjorie's body in her freezer.  The murder remains undiscovered for nine months (because nobody else visits Marjorie) and when the old woman's body is finally found by the police Bernie admits immediately to the murder.

More disturbing than the idea of shooting an old woman four times and hiding her in a freezer, is the fact that nobody in this small Texas town wants to arrest Bernie.  Many citizen flat out deny that Bernie is the murderer, despite his own confession, and those who do think he shot Marjorie really don't mind because they love Bernie and never cared for Marjorie in the first place.  It is astounding to me that a known murderer can be so easily forgiven, and yet the film makes this forgiveness seem almost natural. After killing Marjorie, Bernie uses her extensive funds to buy people cars and houses.  He helps the local school and renovates the church.  Even after the gruesome murder, Bernie continues to help other people and never uses Marjorie's money for his own gain.

Most of the movie is shot in the form of interviews with town citizens.  While the viewer does witness the murder and Bernie's court case, most of the time we are introduced to Bernie and Marjorie through the stories told by other town members.  This film technique was interesting, because it made the film feel almost like a documentary.  Unfortunately, I also think this interview technique slowed the film down, and I would have enjoyed the movie more if it had been at a slightly faster pace.

Overall, I would recommend this film, but be prepared for a creepy experience.  Knowing that this murder occurred in real life, and that an actual town wanted to ignore a dead woman's body found in a freezer is a disturbing thought.

Anemic Cinema, Marcel Duchamp

Anemic Cinema is a film made by Marcel Duchamp in 1926.  It is a black and white silent film lasting about five minutes which shows a variety of spinning spiral forms.  The images rotate between geometrical spiral forms which spin clockwise, and spirals of French text which spin counterclockwise. 

After watching this film I decided to read a little bit about its production.  Duchamp made a series of these spinning works and referred to them as Rotoreliefs.  To create his images, Duchamp would create his circular/spiral designs on cardboard and then play them on a turntable.  The spinning motion of the spirals makes the designs feel almost three-dimensional (like one of the endless cylindrical pits in Star Wars).  The spirals of French text are puns and other forms of wordplay written by Duchamp.  I can't actually read French, but here are the texts from the film:

• "Bains de gros thé pour grains de beauté sans trop de bengué." 
• "L'enfant qui tète est un souffleur de chair chaude et n'aime pas le chou-fleur de serre-chaude."
• "Si je te donne un sou, me donneras-tu une paire de ciseaux?"
• "On demande des moustiques domestiques (demi-stock) pour la cure d'azote sur la côte d'azur."
• "Inceste ou passion de famille, à coups trop tirés."
• "Esquivons les ecchymoses des Esquimaux aux mots exquis."
• "Avez-vous déjà mis la moëlle de l'épée dans le poêle de l'aimée?"
• "Parmi nos articles de quincaillerie paresseuse, nous recommandons le robinet qui s'arrête de couler quand on ne l'écoute pas."
• "L'aspirant habite Javel et moi j'avais l'habite en spirale."

Overall the film is very simple.  All of the shots are composed in the same way without any camera movement or change in focus.  However, despite the simplicity of the film, there is an addictive element to it.  I've just watched it several times.  While the French text is unappealing to me (I just don't understand it) the optical illusions created by the spinning circular patterns are mesmerizing.

Perfect Sense by David Mackenzie (2011)

The director (David Mackenzie) likes to have actors walking into the frame or out of it in the movie. While actors are in the frame, the images are often cut into ¼, 1/3 or ½ and act from one of the divide blocks, instead of the whole screen. It gives viewers a better knowledge on actors surrounding environment they are in.

One of David’s technique on locating the camera that attracted my attention the most, was when the camera sets on front of the bicycle and have one of the actors took the bike, with the frame shook as how a bike should. From the shaking shots, could tell those are digital cameras instead of film cameras.

Image was not the only part where David played with, due to the script of Perfect Sense. The director was also manipulated sounds, to create pre-intense moments of the possibility of next striking lost of human sense. The lost of smell, taste, hearing, than sight, by the time of deaf, audience are experience the same when characters goes deaf. Without the ability to sync the sound that is suppose to be hear in the shoots. The complete silence were only temporary, and music were play in the background, which I cannot remember what the music was, but the frighting images.

Since at the last part is lost of sight, I believe it isn’t hard for film students to know how the director presents it. However, there were narrate gives audience the imagination of the continue image; in the same time, hint the audience there are more than four of the sense (smell, taste, hearing and sight) that could be the next of the sense they lose. 

Monsieur Lazhar

I'm trying to think of some way I can talk about the film aspects of this movie that matter and give the movie meaning. But when I was watching it I barely noticed really interesting, meaningful types of shots or interesting montages. For the most part, not much was new to me. Shots of children playing in the snowy playground were from far away and slightly above -a gaze of a distant spectator. Many shots of Monsieur Lazhar, whose past is slightly mysterious and whose present thoughts and emotions are not  explicitly expressed (except for his suggestions to the principal about how to help his class deal with their grief) are close ups in profile. Many shots show the relationship between M. Lazhar and his students by the contrast of their heights, reflecting a divide, or his getting on their level to demonstrate unity. I don't think this film used the medium in any special way to convey his emotions.

There was one moment, though, that stands out to me still as being subtle and strong. We see M. Lazhar walking down the stairs from dinner with a fellow teacher. The camera watches the back of his neck -so that I imagine his eyes staring at the african violets he is holding. He walks so slowly -two feet per step -that he seems drunk. The length of the shot adds to its tension -it is long enough for me to question if he's going to fall down the stairs. There is plenty of time for me to wonder what is going on in his head and how he is feeling. The next shot cuts to his front as he's standing still on the stairs. We can finally see his face, so I can assess how he's feeling. He looks sad, anguished, as if he did not know how to feel about going over to have dinner with this teacher (who finds him interesting, and maybe likes him, and maybe he likes her too -subtly). The shots do not suggest that he is simply miserable. There is a question in the two shots together -how is he changing (moving on)? The african violets he is holding, given to him by the other teacher, signify hope, spring, and healing, and more. I think these two shots show M. Lazhar in a moment of transition -or this is the moment where a spurt of personal growth begins.

Un Lac, Philippe Grandrieux

I want to know more about the creation of the sound element. I do not remember if Grandrieux discussed how he recorded sound after shooting -did they record in the same spaces? How did they affect the sound to make is so intense?

There was a moment where Alexi is sleeping and we hear his breathing and snoring -this sound overwhelms others that might be in the space. The visuals are nearly black, the room is so dark. There is a soft warm color of the out of focus close up hand. Of course the image and sound do not match up. Instead they are connected together by their meaning and emotional resonance. Maybe this sound and image are two different expressions of the same meaning. They are both intimate, abstracted and about human connection and closeness.

The visual elements of darkness, close ups of faces (with tears) and hands the darkness and touching and much of these close ups being out of focus do not capture any character's vision or sense of their world. I think the blurriness and obscurity suggest physical sensations. I mean, a close up of an out of focus hand, warm in color and dark, leads me away from the hand itself to the blood, the movement of blood in veins - the hum of being alive. ( I wrote that the night I saw it -so I believe my reactions come from true feelings formed in response to the film --now it seems a little like I'm just trying to make up something meaningful -but then, it seemed accurate.)

(this image isn't quite what I'm talking about -but it is dark and sparse, so the hands become something else...... just look at it)

Cosmetic Emergency

A second film I saw at the Spectral Evidence film series was Cosmetic Emergency, by Martha Colburn.  In my opinion, this film was by far the most cohesive piece shown in the series.  Colburn explores the issue of beauty and plastic surgery through this stop motion piece, which builds and then resolves before coming to a close.  The film critiques the use of plastic surgery focusing first on women in the media, then on the cosmetic surgeries of soldiers and their families, and finally on the portrayal of beauty in old paintings.

The film begins with a critique of women in the media, and the prominence of cosmetic surgery to achieve stereotypical expectations of beauty.  I very much enjoyed the style of Colburn's painting and how the paints intermittently covered and revealed the women's forms below.  This section of the film was the least interesting to me because I feel that this issue is addressed so frequently, but I still enjoyed seeing Colburn's portrayal of the issue.

The film then went on to critique the rise of cosmetic surgeries in the families of American soldiers.  Colburn claims that such surgeries are compensated by the US government and began to use her stop motion painting to transform images of war into fields of nude women.  While I had never heard of such medical compensation before, this practice struck me as bizarre.  It is one thing to obtain correctional cosmetic surgery to eliminate scars and burns caused in war; it is quite another to provide liposuction and nose jobs for service members.

In the final segment of her film, Colburn moved away from the media and service members and focused instead on the portrayal of beauty in classical paintings.  This critique of famous works of art struck me as much more original than Colburn's previous clips.  I wish that Colburn and elaborated even more on the idea of paintings, as this part of the film was the shortest, and to me the most interesting.

Heritage

This past Tuesday I saw Heritage, a film by Cate Giordano, at the Brattle Theater's series Spectral Evidence.  This was a very strange movie and while I felt that certain themes were being explored, I'm not really sure what the movie as a whole was trying to portray.

There was certainly an element of religion, especially cults.  The blue faced tribe felt extremist from the beginning of the film, and was seen through a negative, critical lens.  At times the ridiculousness of this group felt humorous, while at other moments the cult struck me as terrifying in their commitment to such archaic beliefs.  There was also a second religious thread in the film: the search for the white buffalo.  While the religion associated with the white buffalo felt more grounded, it too demonstrated a form of obsession and irrationality.  Overall, I believe the film was critiquing religious practices.

Another interesting element of this film was the idea of multiple personalities, or how an individual can change into another person.  Cate, acting in her own film, portrayed three different characters in the movie:  Beau, Ruby, and the preacher.  Seeing the same actor take on three different roles made me question the relationships between the characters.  Especially after we discover that Ruby (played by Cate) is a figment of Beau's imagination, I began to wonder if all three characters were on some level the same person.

Heritage was certainly a bizarre film but while many aspects of it confused me, the movie also made me laugh multiple times.  There is a strange, inexplicable humor to the film, from the actors' stylized "bad" performances, to images of humans pretending to be buffalo.  When I stopped trying to understand the film and let myself enjoy the craziness, I found parts of Heritage to be quite entertaining.

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont (Dan Ireland, 2006)

Lighting on some of the conversations shots between actors are surprise off, seems the light meters only use on one of the characters in the conversation. Which of course mean, either they forgot or got too lazy reading the changing sunlight. As the pictures towards the later part of the film, the lighting got better as if the people in charge are also learning the lighting with our class.

Since the film is focus on an elderly lady, there is only a part of the film with more alarming shots, which present in faster cuts, such as fast moving cars or building to building. The rest are longer shots and the spaces are mostly indoors which means, the controlling lights with better exposures for the film. 

Spinning’ (Eusebio Pastrana, 2007)

A film with characters that are trying to live positive in their life, which they are there for each other no matter who you are. Characters emotions were directly present in front of the camera, without layers of silence to cover them.

Although, through out the film are full of colorful colors and acting casually as daily story. The editing wasn’t completely satisfying for me at all, it does look very casual, and some cuts felt they weren’t carefully being edited, even though I believe they do. And there are also some moving shots were suddenly over expose due to direct sunshine without filter, which makes me wonder the reason for picking those are either over expose or moving shots doesn’t seem to be on purpose.

"Will you Dance For Me," Ori Gersht (2nd posting)

I am sad that I just accidentally deleted this post and cannot seem to get it back! I DO HAVE PROOF THAT I WROTE IT THOUGH -(a screen shot I took from a window opened before I deleted the post by mistake). So here's that proof. I hope you all read it when it existed in its entirety. (it was pretty good too I think... darn.)

Girl, Interrupted

Girl, Interrupted is a film directed by James Mangold starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie.  In the film Susanna (Ryder) is institutionalized in a women's mental hospital.  The movie follows Susanna through her time in the hospital and her interactions with the other girls there.  All the girls in this movie had moments when they seemed like "normal" girls I would have found in my own high school, and then underneath they were all really emotionally messed up.  One girl is ridiculously skinny due to eating disorders.  Jolie's character knows just what to do to make everyone around her sad and upset (and at one point, commit suicide).  Susanna is a sex addict, amongst other things.

It seems strange to me though that all of these problems are considered normal when displayed to a slightly lesser degree.  Tons of high school girls have body issues, and food issues, and low self confidence.  Or hurt people who care about them.  Or sleep around.  Girl, Interrupted takes normal problems, accentuates them, and then locks up the girls who are suffering in an asylum to help them get better.  In the film, Susanna is portrayed as getting better.  However Jolie's character, Lisa, never does.

I only found out after watching this movie that Girl, Interrupted is based on a book by Susanna Kaysen about the eighteen months she really did spend in a mental hospital in the 1960s.  While this movie already had an emotional impact for me, it was scary to realize that the film I thought was fictional was actually based on someone's life.

Mostly Martha (Sandra Nettelbeck, 2001)

In the movie is present it as many of the European movies, very calm and clear what is present (at least the one I saw). However the connection of this movie made me re-watched it few times just to make sure I caught the moments where I love.

Particularly, in the last chapter 14 (around 1&1/2 hours from the beginning) when Martha (the main character) walks into the restaurant kitchen alone, prepare for evening customers. A close shot of her standing in the kitchen alone than when she kept looking up, suddenly her coworker is walking into the frame behind her as the kitchen have been working as normal for a while. The cut wasn’t very hard to find, however it was a perfect decoy for me to miss, when Martha was breaking the fourth wall.

The cut between her being alone and her co-worker walking behind her was when Martha looks steadily at us; that is where the cut was. If it wasn’t a bit of the expose on the left side of the screen, I can say it was a perfect cut. This is only one of the examples of the cut; there are so many great once, which would leave it to whoever is interest in the movie.