Breaking Bad

With the conclusion of the show's fifth season last Sunday, creator Vince Gilligan has yet again left his audience feeling anxious, excited, and maybe even a bit sick for what is to come. I don't want to give anything away, but I will go ahead and make a bold statement: Breaking Bad is the best show on television. First of all, it is shot beautifully- often featuring creative transitions, disturbingly violent montages set to upbeat music, time-lapses and wide shots of the barren New Mexico desertscape. The way it is shot even gives it almost a cinematic quality. More importantly, all of the main characters are equally complex, going through their own transformations as each season progresses. Each episode is darker and more intense than the last, somehow all without going too far or jumping the shark. I admire Vince Gilligan's dedication to the storyline of his main character, Walter White, a once-sympathetic awkward high school teacher turned meth kingpin and ruthless killer. In a recent interview Gilligan said that for the final season he plans to fulfill the show's constant need of "shock and surprise and showmanship," and that he plans to "carry that through to the bitter end- if indeed it is a bitter end." Clearly, Gilligan is not one to tie things up with the conventional "happy" ending, and is unafraid to confront what might be at the end of the dark direction we've been heading in. Breaking Bad is not only an endlessly entertaining, well-crafted show, it also leaves the us looking at the big picture, and questioning the idea of morality itself. How far should one go to "protect" his family? How far can one push his luck before finally being caught? Is Walt beoming a total sociopath? I guess my final thought is: I'm scared for next season.

Childrens Hospital

Lately I have been watching "Childrens Hospital," Rob Corddry's comedy on the Adult. Each episode is about 11 minutes long, but in that short time span, the large ensemble cast packs as many jokes as possible. The humor is very dark and absurd, so it's not for everyone.

The show is a parody of hospital dramas such as "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scrubs." Corddry's show is actually filmed on the same sets as the latter show, a fact that one of the character's references in one episode, an example of the show's meta-humor. The show is about a group of doctors and nurses, most of whom have slept with one another, a parody of the many relationships doctors have in melodramatic hospital dramas. Characters include Blake Downs, a clown doctor who believes in the healing power of laughter, The Chief, the head of the hospital who is part Cherokee, which explains her name, and Sy, a hospital administrator played by Henry "The Fonz" Winkler. The show has great guest stars, including Jon Hamm, Ed Begley Jr., Nick Offerman, and Michael Cera as the voice of the PA system.

Together, the team of doctors face challenges like quicksand, amnesia viruses, Death (played by Michael McKean), criminally insane children, heat waves prompting a "Do the Right Thing" parody, crampt living situations, cancer guns, and Big Pharma. The show also messes around with format; one episode is a fake-live episode, while another one takes place in the 1970s.

Most of the jokes are throwaway lines, such as "Time of death: 9pm, 8 Central." It's hard to describe, so here's a clip, but it doesn't really do the show justice.

Mark Wahlberg shoots stuff.

Mark Wahlberg is, in my opinion, one of the great actors in modern cinema today. The Departed, The Fighter, Ted, The Italian Job, Four Brothers. All fantastic movies and fantastic acting jobs (at least, in my opinion. Maybe others would disagree). And I don't think its always easy to stand out as a great actor in the world of action movies, where flashy special effects and explosions make up for what's lacking in the story and talent of the actors. Marky Mark still manages to shine.

"Shooter" is the story of Bob Lee Swagger (yes, 'Swagger'), a marksman living secluded in exile after a failed mission left one of his partners and best friends dead. He is recruited by the US Government via Colonel Isaac Johnson (Danny Glover) to help stop an assassination attempt of the president. However, Swagger doesn't realize that he is soon to be double-crossed by the very country he risked his life for, and framed as the would-be killer. After surviving the double-cross, Swagger goes on the run from the police. Using his special training and skills with a firearm (or in this case many, many, many firearms), he hunts down the real shooter and tries to find out who exactly set him up and why.

Sounds pretty cool, eh? Yeah I thought so too. "Shooter" was one of those movies that looks great on paper but just fails to deliver what I hoped for with the story. I found it to be pretty damn predictable and cheesy. Not to mention, Danny Glover and the majority of the supporting cast just stinks up something awful with their performances. The portrayal of the corrupt head-honchos of US intelligence  was way too cliche. I just wasn't convinced that the actors were really consuming themselves in their roles. They seemed to just play their roles to the most basic characteristics. Not enough feeling, not enough emotion.

And seriously....Mark Wahlberg's characters name is Swagger? Where the hell did they come up with that one?

I wouldn't call it one of Marky Mark's best performances either. But this is one of those movies that really does a GREAT job of making up for the places it lacks in, ... with
ACTION ACTION ACTION ACTION ACTION. 

Any scene where Swagger was wielding a gun was pure excitement. He pops headshots on guys from thousands of yards away, takes out like 20 dudes without getting a single scratch on him. This may be typical of any action movie. But they did it damn well. "Shooter" receives praise from me for its kick ass action sequences.

-Nick

"Bang Bang, Fingernails tapping, beyond scared"

As a child, I had a built-in babysitter. This babysitter happened to be my teenage sister, who spent most of the time on the phone with her boyfriend or chatting on the computer. Of all the times I was left alone with her and my two year old brother, one night sticks out in my mind.  I was eight years old and our cousin Crystal came over to keep Ashley, my sister, company. As we were sitting at the dinning room table, finishing dinner, my sister let out a large scream and bolted from the table down to her bedroom. Crystal ran after her.  I sat there clueless, as I tried to decipher the chaos.

I picked my brother up and headed towards the hallway. As I was walking into Ashley's room, banging came from the back door. I was frozen. The door was shaking, as if someone was on the other side trying to get in. I ran into Ashley's room in a panic. She was shaking. I asked her what was wrong and she told me she saw the long fingernails of a woman tapping on the front window in the kitchen. As you can imagine, I was a pretty terrified little girl. The banging then stopped and we waited in the room with door locked. We called our parents and they immediately came rushing home. My mother was sick with the idea of anything happening to us, and my father searched the fallen snow for footprints or tire tracks. He found nothing.

To this day, I am still unsure of the events that unfolded that night. I sometimes wonder if I had let my imagination get the best of me, or if I was feeding into the fear that my sister had expressed. After that night, we were never left in Ashley's care again.  My father was convinced this was a case of our imaginations getting the best of us, but I can still picture the image of the backdoor in my head. 

Best,

Brie

Inja

I recently watched the short film Inja (Australian for "Dog") and found it to be very interesting. It was nominated for an Oscar in the Live Action Short Film category at the 75th Annual Academy Awards and I came across it while watch a collection of shorts. The film exposes racism and the idea that "the white man is boss." I will skip the summary and let you watch it yourself in the link I posted below, but what I really took away from this film was how much emotion it evoked for me; I was in tears by the end. Although I am a woman and an animal lover (double strike in the emotional department), I am not one to cry during films. The fact that this piece caused such an emotional reaction fascinates me. Why did it upset me? I have come to the conclusion that it was the ending that got me. The ending, where the dog has hatred for the boy who has had nothing but love for him, was all too familiar. The dog was mislead by the white man to believe that black was bad. Without ever giving a second chance, the dog that once loved the boy, growled and despised him. This happens in society. Some people despise those different from them because they are conditioned to feel that way. Society conditions us to look with pity on those that have disabilities, to want to normalize those that are different, to hate who our family and friends hate, and to question those who refuse to conform. This film raised many issues in my mind. The hatred the dog had for the boy, and the loyalty he had for the white man can be applied to so many situations in present day society.



Inja

Shots!

Alright! Let's do some Shots! NO, not those kinds of shots, Films shots! (It's not the weekend yet kids!)

Today, in class we spoke about the importance of shots and frame. Ever since we discussed this in fiction field 1, a year ago (time flies), I've payed closer attention to the films I watch and I note the placement of the characters. Sometimes, it helps me understand a little better of what's going on in the film. Have you ever watched a film where you were completely lost? Most people at that point shut it off and never return. I try harder to understand, I like to give em' a chance! They could explain everything later! Anyways, I found sometimes I'll try to interoperate the choice of the camera position, movement or even the placement of props, or the placement of the character's themselves.
In the shot above, The camera frame shows you exactly what the character is looking at, it also shows through camera angle how much bigger this creature is in comparison to the character, possibly imposing a threat. The fact that it's raining makes it harder for the character to run and hide, it gives us a symbolic sense of nature's wrath, unfortunate events etc.

This shot is much less distressing! I would interpret this shot to mean that these character's are getting closer either as friends or as lovers. Judging by the closeness of their bodies and given other cliche shots like this, I would bet that their next action is that they look at each other intimately.

For this shot I suppose you could say the same. Again it's very close and intimate. There's a feeling of safety even in a dangerous position. The expressions of the characters are a combination of amazement and admiration.


Another concept we were touching upon when talking about the way people used to watch film and the way we progressed from where we came from, is the concept that Hitchcock called the Kuleshov effect!

There is also an importance to not letting anything foreign be in the photograph. Set decorating is VERY important. Last year on the Market our art department team made a character who was a religious freak and very uptight person with very intense secrets. We transformed a girl's room from a girly bed room in to a dark, organized, bedroom with a ton of religious symbols everywhere. It looked like an ENTIRELY different place when we got through with it and if you pick the right people to do it, it really doesn't take too long. Here's an example of a set that was designed in the french film OSS 117: Lost in Rio:

The film takes place in the 60's and as you can see, nothing here is out of place or misrepresenting even though the movie was made in 2009! Not one thing in this frame is out of context nor is it distracting. You want things (props, set dec., etc.) to be appropriate but not distracting. I think this room sets up a mood of the scene as well as being absorbing/ believable. 

I have more to talk about but I'll save it for next week! Hope you all enjoy the rest of the week! 

Ta Ta for now!

-Lucy Lynne' Hall

Second place is first to lose.

At the age of five my parents signed me up for out local rec swim team. Little did I know I would continue to competitively swim for the next 13 years of my life. The six-word sentence that I came up with was, Second place is first to lose.  Typically there are 8 swimmers to an event and the top 3 times wins either a ribbon or a medal. Over the years as we all got older and the races began to become a bit more serious the same statement would always play through my head; Second place is first to lose.  Second place as a child was such an exciting thing because it still meant that you beat 6 other girls. As the years go by and you are in the top heat racing for the last open seat to swim at states, second place is the worst possible thing you could get. In a swimmers eyes second place means that all those countless hours spent in the pool morning and night seem to be a waste. It is the most devastating moment when you’ve just finished your race, rip your goggles off your face, and look at the time bored only to find that you were milliseconds away from receiving the gold. At this moment in time you have to accept that you were the first to lose.

- Tori

GAMER

My first official blog EVER! And it involves Gerard Butler, I guess that makes me somewhat cool. This past weekend I purchased Gamer from the Walmart $5 bin. It was either this or Scooby Doo goes to Mexico and I get jealous when I see a dog going to more places thn I have been so I went with Gamer. Even though I've seen this movie before, I didn't watch it through a film aesthetic eye. This time I decided to do so and a bunch of questions rushed through my head. The effects, the budget, the hours that went into making one scene. At the start of the movie, Butler is seen running through what seems to be an abandoned warehouse and as he runs up the stairs there are at least 7 camera angels that catches him going up the stairs. 7! I guess when you do action packed films you have to capture all of those angles to make it seem like the action is going in a lot faster motion then it really is.  Everything was also being blown up. EVERYTHING! The budget for the movie must be quite large to be able to blow up as many cars as they did, which is crazy because i'm still paying off my car! Throughout the movie I had trouble distinguishing what was effects and what was real, I think I have that with every film though. In todays technological age, anything can be an effect. Overall I enjoyed the movie even though I was watching it from a different perspective. Im sure Scooby Doo didn't have much fun in Mexico anyway. 

Soup du Jour

     Hello.  I am a lover of food and I always like trying new things.  Going out to different restaurants in new places is a hobby of mine and I always like to experience new tastes.  You can imagine the excitement I felt the first time I saw downtown Ithaca.  One consistent with my love of food is soup.  Soup has been one of my favorite foods for all my life.  Not chicken noodle, not beef stew, not chili, but all kinds of soup.  I love them all, well almost them all.
     I have recently started cooking soups at home.  Last fall I made a delicious pumpkin apple soup for thanksgiving which got rave remarks from friends and family (I'm sure some were just being nice).  Luckily, I am able to keep my passion for soup with me at school because our dining halls make great soups.
    To end this blog I will let you all know what some of my favorite soups are even though you probably aren't that interested.  My favorites include french onion, chili, my mom's mushroom barely, and pasta fagioli.  These soups are my favorites because I have had them at specific restaurants and they are amazing there, and because I get them consistently and it's always good.
     I hope to continue my passion for soup throughout my life.  I want to cook new soups and try to blends of flavors.  To me, there is nothing better than sitting at a restaurant with people you love and starting the meal off with a good cup of soup.

"We heard noises downstairs at midnight."

This story for me is about the universal fear of the unknown. When I was young, I would be easily scared by noises that came from an unknown source, especially at night. However, I would prematurely fear them. Maybe my father was coming home late at night from work, and it was not a burglar breaking into my apartment. For others, it could Santa Clause leaving gifts, and not a serial killer looking for victims. I want this story to give a feeling that we have to fear the unknown in our own homes sometimes and it can be really scary. Our imaginations get the best of us and our fear grows until we find the source of the sound. You can never know if we should fear the sound's source until we find out for ourselves.

- Harrison

6 word story and other such wonderful topics

I thought for a while about this assignment and I wanted to bring in something very complex and yet simple. One of my inspirations was a recent funeral I attended. The preacher quoted a scripture that caught my attention and made me cry like a baby. The scripture was John 11:35; Jesus Wept. To understand that a symbol of such great influence among people for hundreds of years and to see him humbled for the grieving sisters of Lazarus, to understand that he knew and felt the pain that they were feeling is very deep and I decided to take it and make it something more modernly understood.

My six word story is:
"The King wept with his people."

This reminded me of the scene in The King's Speech. In the scene I speak of, the queen comforts the king as he weeps. It's a scene where the audience begins to feel a mutual feeling of the weight of the world and a man in complete frustration and nerves. Almost a feeling of release. I wish I could find the particular scene on YouTube, however even if I did it probably wouldn't do it justice. It's a great film and it's a must see, for sure. I have personally made a list of my favorite films from the past three years (that I've seen). The King's Speech came in at number twelve out of my (currently) 119 films.

I found a little clip of the film in this montage of the story line on YouTube.

For now Ta Ta!

-Lucy Lynne' Hall

It all comes crashing down

“Jeter banned, baseballs integrity in doubt.”

What I wanted to tell was my version of what a worst case scenario for baseball would be. All my life I have been a die hard Yankee fan even though I live in New England. Growing up baseball was always a special game to me. It’s what my friends and I would talk about, we were all on the same team that my friend’s dad and my own dad would coach; It connected us as a community. To me growing up in the heart of the steroid era has taken its toll on the game. With players coming out almost by the day the sport has taken a huge hit for me. I always have said that if it ever came out the Derek Jeter did PEDs then I would drop the sport all together. Jeter has been my baseball idol growing up, he has always represented the right way to play the game. This “story” that I wrote proves that in six simple words baseball a game that I have loved for so long can come crashing down.  

Hershey Parked

                                                       "Big van, door closes, no candy."

I wanted to come up with a short story that had a punchy ending. I really enjoyed this assignment and the creativity it allowed. This style of writing really shows the bare essentials needed for any story; a beginning, a middle, and an end. I made sure I opened the story with a very visual setting, something simple and familiar. For the middle I added the action of story without giving too much away. I then concluded with two words that not only ended the story, but hopefully took the reader by surprise.

The Woodmans

I'm a sucker for a good documentary. One night over the summer I was perusing the documentaries available on Netflix Instant when I came across one particularly intriguing PBS doc called "The Woodmans." Though this is obviously non-fiction, I still thought it was quite interesting and wanted to share.

Directed by C. Scott Willis, "The Woodmans" tells the inspiring but tragic story of Francesca Woodman, the daughter of well-known artists George and Betty Woodman. Francesca developed her own artistic talent at an early age through photography and experimental video. She is known for her style of blurry, black and white photographs, often nude self-portraits. Her photographs have a beautiful but gritty and haunting quality to them and look like what one would see in a contemporary high fashion magazine spread. One of her childhood friends even described her style as "something you would see in an Urban Outfitters catalog today." However, despite her talent, photography did not have the same popularity in the '70s as it does today. Throughout her short career, Francesca's struggled with depression and the fact that she did not receive the artistic recognition she thought she deserved. At age 22, Francesca killed herself. More than 30 years later, the art community is still fascinated by her work and story.

The most interesting part of this documentary for me was not just Francesca's own story, but that of her father, mother, and brother, all insanely dedicated artists who admit they feel somewhat overshadowed by Francesca's legacy as they have always struggled for their own personal artistic recognition. The AV Club hits the nail on the head in their review of the film, highlighting the strange family dynamic of The Woodmans when they say that during the film Francesca's father George "frankly asserts that one of the reasons he loved his daughter was that she was the kind of passionate person who would try something as drastic as suicide." This sentiment alone speaks to how much the entire family values and dedicates themselves to art. This film was definitely worth the watch- it not only opened my eyes to Francesca Woodman's art, but also made me question what it means to be a true artist. How far should one go for the sake of art? Is there room for family/significant others in the context of the art world? To what extent, if any, do you have to be "tortured" to be a great artist?

"The Sloth Made Some Smart Investments"

It may be a homework assignment, or it may just be the most tantalizing six word story you've ever heard. Regardless, "The Sloth Made Some Smart Investments" conjures a heart-wrenching tale of an unlikely hero. Who is this Sloth? How is he capable of making investments? And what financial secrets does he know that I could use to increase my own personal wealth?

I honestly don't know, but I'm sure these questions and more are sure to follow as Mr. Sloth takes on the stock market, checking his E-Trade while eating lunch, and being smart with his daily spending as he saves for the future.

-nickp

Six Word Story

I thought long and hard for the assignment and I came up with this:

"Keep running, the knife knows all."

After I came up with this, the creativity kept following. I thought of a short movie idea where the point of view of the movie is from a knife. So it would begin either in a knife block or hanging from a knife rack. A woman enters the kitchen and starts preparing a meal, so the audience would move with the knife (i.e. chopping vegetables). Eventually a scuffle happens and the woman stabs someone with the knife, so you would see the point of view of the knife going into the body (and the audience would be able to see organs). The woman freaks out and formulates an exit strategy and eventually the knife is buried along with the body.

It's a very loose concept and a very abstract idea. In other words it's a beginning.

Cinderhella?!

Hey guys,
       Over the summer, I watched a lot of interesting movies, ranging from fantastic to terrible. Admittedly, I enjoy watching low budget films to critique the style of the director, or lack of, and to laugh at some bad acting. My mother brought home a movie that she found at a local Redbox; it was called "Detention." My mother assumed it was a horror film, and I had assumed it would be terrible.

    Fortunately for us, it wasn't unbearable. "Detention" is a comedic horror film that tells the story of high school co-eds who are being stalked by their favorite horror film character, Cinderhella. They are forced to battle a time warp of the 90's, a crazed killer, and build a time machine out of the school's mascot, all while serving Saturday detention. Josh Hutcherson stars as Clapton Davis, the under-appreciated heartthrob who battles with his high school principal, played by Dane Cook. "Detention," directed by commercial director Joseph Kahn, surprised me with a decent production level and creative story.

           Between the fast paced music in the opening credits and the development of quirky and angst-filled characters, this movie immediately interested me. I expected to find a horrible mess of bad acting and terrible production quality. Instead, I was surprised to find witty dialogue and a variety of complex characters.  Like any co-ed movie, you have a jock, a rich girl, a confused and sexually frustrated teen, and, of course, the girl who is in love with her best friend.

 I'll admit that the characters are a bit cliché, but the story requires your full attention. One of my favorite parts of the film was the director's use of flashbacks to tell the backstories of the characters. There are several points throughout the film that are confusing but the plot comes together in the end. Kahn does an excellent job of tying multiple story lines together to form a solid conclusion once the movie is over.
         Overall, I was surprised by this movie and would recommend it to any film student. Even though it is not at the highest level of production and lacks A-list celebrities, it was a decent film. The creative dialogue in combination with an interesting mix of characters kept me interested. Kahn made this film watchable with unusual camera shots and tons of graphics. With that being said, here's the trailer. Enjoy.

Peace,
Brie

"The Master"

Recently I have been hearing alot about a movie called "The Master," a movie about a drifter, played by Jouquin Phoenix, who, after World War II, become involved with a charismatic man who leads a religious group known as "The Cause." Paul Thomas Anderson, director of "There Will Be Blood" wrote and directed this film. I am huge fan of both "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," so I am very excited for this new film, especially because it features Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams, two of my favorite actors currently working in film. 

The movie will definitely be talked about as Hoffman's character, Lancaster Dodd, is said to be inspired by L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of the controversial religion, Scientology. The movie should be interesting and will definitely be an important topic in entertainment news this coming fall as many people in the entertainment industry are members of Scientology. I also find cults very fascinating because I think the idea of someone gaining followers using only charisma is so interesting, even when this person has really out-there ideas.

I think this is a well done trailer because it gives information about the movie's beginning, middle, and end, but yet there is a lot of room for guessing what will actually happen in the movie. It includes shots and audio clips that tell you about different parts of the story, while also showing off the great cinematography and music that Anderson's movies are known for. 

The trailer starts with a montage of Phoenix's character, Freddie, trying to assimilate back into society, and then going right into Freddie meeting Dodd. The trailer's music turns into a rhythmic beat as Freddie seems to get more involved with the Dodd's people.  Dodd is confronted about his ideas and the word "cult" is mentioned. Soon, some of the characters become more agressive and the rhythm stops, and the music goes into a nice song from the period as different voice overs can be heard, giving an idea about the conflict in "The Master". 

Hopefully this movie will be really good, and looking at Anderson's track record, it should be.

Testing! Testing!

Haven't used Blogger in months so I'm testing it out to see if it works!! By the way for those of you who don't know, I'm Lucy Hall! Good Luck this semester y'all!!
-Lucy Lynne' Hall

WELCOME!

Welcome everyone!. The following project structure is intended to provide you with a methodology to be both specific and help you track the progress and meet your milestones. Since individual projects vary widely some points might not apply. However, you can use it as a roadmap to define/clarify your goals and go back to it frequently and methodically.

It has four distinct phases:

DISCOVERY

This phase helps you understand the big picture and the opportunity to achieve the main goals of your project; to take an idea from conception to completion in the most effective manner.

Brainstorming, sketch scenarios, analysis and feasibility assessments.

Define the requirements, scope, timeline, budget (your time and resources) and benchmarks for the project.

Synthesis:

• Produce a final script with the discovery result.
• Develop a production plan and a storyboard.
• Present a timeline and a budget estimate.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes! invent associations, structures, forms, silences, sounds.

DESIGN

During this phase, create the look and feel of the story. Develop the story requirements, the creative components, the technical design and the infrastructure that supports the project.

Creative Design:

• Storyline and character creation
• Script
• Storyboard
• Art Direction
• Audio Design
• Production Design

Technical Design:

• Equipment requirements
• Set/backgrounds/location/plates
• Lighting diagrams
• Special efx design
• Models, costumes and makeup

PRE-PRODUCTION

Develop and integrate all the creative, technical and information components.

• Research, research, research!
• Location Scouting
• Set design
• Casting
• Graphics, 3D video/audio production needs
• Technical integration

PRODUCTION

• Lighting
• Rehearsals
• Systems testing
• Problem resolution 
• Cinematography
• Sound

POST-PRODUCTION

• Media Management
• Editing
• Sound Mixing
• Color Correction
• VFX
• Title Design

DEPLOYMENT

Live environment:

• Projection
• Audience Test performance and feedback

• Implement promotion/communication strategies

Showtime!

That's all folks!

1-Quality: the true nature of things, the peculiar and essential character

All Illustrations custom made by Rich Powell