The All American High School Film Festival

I spent last weekend in New York City volunteering for the first annual All American High School Film Festival, held in the AMC Theatre in Times Square. This festival gives high school students a chance to showcase their talent by submitting short films, documentaries, music videos, PSAs, etc. It was all started by the filmmaker Andrew Jenks, whose films have been distributed by HBO and ESPN. You also may know his documentary series, 'World of Jenks.' The festival got over 1,000 submissions, and the judges included: Edward Burns, Dylan McDermott, Morgan Spurlock, Diablo Cody, Danny Rose, Kristen Stewart, Carlton Cuse, Andrew Jenks (obviously), and Henry Winkler.


Friday night was opening remarks, a performance by the talented singer, Kait Weston, and the east coast premiere of the new Romeo and Juliet movie, directed by Carlo Carlei and screenplay by Julian Fellowes (creator of Downton Abbey). On Saturday, there were screenings of all the student films that made it into the festival. I had the pleasure of sitting in on some screenings, and wow, were they impressive.





They also had a college fair with representatives from different colleges as well as a panel discussion by many wonderful producers/directors in the industry for the high school students to check out.


The award ceremony was Saturday night, which was very exciting. Ed Burns and Dylan McDermott both spoke words of wisdom and had great advice for everyone trying to make it into the industry. Dylan McDermott was especially inspirational. He complimented every person who submitted something, saying that as humans, we have a need to create. And if you "follow that need to create, you can never go wrong. Then you can never give up. And I hope everyone in this room follows their dream, and never gives up."

On Sunday, they screened all the winning films. The winning film from each category can be found here.


I would highly recommend watching the best overall film, Paradigm by Stephen Boyer:




And the winner of best cinematography, Rokt Lax by Lukas Dong:



The winners received amazing prizes, including scholarships, trips to meet important producers and other industry professionals, editing software, a $300 Fandango gift card, and much more.

The All American High School Film Festival was a wonderful experience, and I'm really excited about what the future holds for this festival. It can only grow and get better. The high school students were very inspirational. It just goes to show that anyone can tell a great story.

Check out their website, Facebook page, or twitter for more information on the festival.

Shooting on a Budget

Before college I never had the equipment, knowledge, or courage to create films. I was always scared to put myself out there and accept criticism. However now that I am at college I have friends that drive me and the resources to create beautiful pictures. Over the past two summers I decided to start building my arsenal of camera equipment. The summer before freshmen year I bought a GoPro Hero 2 and this past summer I bought a Canon Rebel T3i which came with a 18-55mm lens kit. I now find myself wanting to expand my accessories but wanting to make sure I get my money's worth. I feel as though this lack of equipment is somewhat holding me back when it shouldn't be because in the end I will find myself getting quality shots as long as I just keep filming. I have started to follow a few photography and DSLR film blogs to try and learn how to get better shots and perhaps stumble upon some equipment deals. When scrolling through the blogs I found one post called "Working with Less (or, Get Out There and Shoot."  This post is all about making the most of what you have. David Kong, the author of the post and creator of Portrait of Macerata, an impeccable video portrait, talks about how when he was traveling he only had his backup camera yet he still created a professional video with less then 1000 dollars worth of equipment. Before going any further watch the video David Kong made below.

As you can see this is a beautiful video. What interested me so much was that it was very simple and done with inexpensive equipment but it looks like it was shot with a 5D Mk3. In actuality it was shot with a Canon T2i. This fact really excited me because I have a T3i. I figure if I put enough effort into it I can make a video very similar to it. The next part of the blog post is a video of David Kong going through each piece of equipment in detail and how he used it. It helped me learn about some accessories I will find useful in many situations and I should make the investment in. This is a series that David Kong does and I plan on following very closely.
The biggest point I'm trying to make from this point is that money doesn't make quality, and also the only way I am going to get better is if I learn more about my camera and I can do simply by using it more and more. I plan to try and make an effort to film anything at least once a week hopefully more. I hope you enjoyed this post and just remember the more you shoot the better you'll get.

To see the original blog post visit the link below.
Working with Less Part 1

Shot Designer Application

              Due to posting in Arturo's Motion Graphics & Animation class I am always looking for new technology associated with cinematography and its challenges.  This week I would like to talk about an application called Shot Designer. Shot Designer is an application available for both iPad and iPhone in the iTunes app store that allows the individual to create lighting, camera movements and even blocking movements on a floor plan. This sort of floor plan set up can be used along with storyboards to significantly help create the story, especially with a production team with many different elements and view points. As we are recently discovering these issues  working with our own production teams on the short films, I feel an application such as this could be a tool for our projects.  Additionally a major feature that improves this technology is the ability for the program to sync multiple members of your production team.

            While the application is free on the iTunes app store for only $19.99 you get the pro upgrade that provides for features such as exporting, saving and printing scenes and also a desktop version of the software. The app maybe in the beginning stages of its development nonetheless this can be a great tool when on the run or even for a short film.  Here is another picture example of the app...

Insane Base Jumping and Great Camera Work

      Recently on Youtube, I saw a video titled "Insane Base Jumping, Falling with Style". The colors in the shots immediately caught my eye. My original thought was that it seemed as if it could be a car commercial because of how illuminating and bright the colors of the car and background were. Turns out Ford made this video happen by sponsoring the team. Anyways, I was mainly interested in how they got such cool shots of the individuals falling or jumping off the bridge or hot air balloon. Turns out Devin Graham, one of the main cinematographers for the video, said he simply used a Go-Scope with a GroPro connected to it. A Go-Scope is basically a pole you can get at any length, that you can use for a shot that you may not be capable of getting otherwise. 

        

      Certain shots that he got with this Go-Scope made it seem as if the viewer is falling with the base jumper. It is truly amazing. The aesthetic values on this piece is phenomenal. With all the light being natural and from the sun, the colors that the landscape gives off in each shot is breathe taking. It truly does look so beautiful it could be fake. The electronic music that goes along with the video is by Overwork, and fits perfectly with the continuous falling and landing. I think this video is extremely well done and definitely goes to show that even the toughest of shots can be achieved.   

Youtube now contains an audio library of free music

We have encountered the same problem at some point; you search for a video and by the time you finally find the exact video you were looking for, it has been removed due to some copyright infringement of the audio. Youtube realizes that this is a problem and is now trying to do something about it.

Youtube now contains an audio library of royalty free tracks to choose from. Currently there are only 150, but I'm sure it is growing daily. These songs are available for any use, not just Youtube videos. They can be downloaded forever to your computer as an Mp3 file.

Although this is an awesome tool for anyone in the media industry, it still has major flaws. 150 is a relatively small number, even for a free audio library. The songs can only be played with a start and stop button, with no option for skipping to another part of the song.

Obviously a paid service would better streamline the process of selecting an audio file, but lets be honest, who pays for music anymore? This is an awesome resource that I am very excited about using in the future, and I'm sure Youtube will be providing frequent updates to the library and video process.

http://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary?feature=blog

"Gravity" is out of this world

"Gravity" has no limits

Gravity is a 3-D space drama film starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as surviving astronauts from a damaged space shuttle. Bio-medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone, played by Bullock, is a Mission Specialist on her first space shuttle mission, accompanied by veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski played by George Clooney, who is commanding his final expedition. 

Gravity had its world premiere at the 70th Venice International Film Festival on August 28, where it received universal acclaim from critics and audiences, praising the acting, direction, screenplay, cinematography, visual effects, production design, the use of 3D, and Steven Price's musical score.

It is very interesting how they filmed this movie because it is so focused/centered around special effects. When I saw commercials for this film it did not intrigue my interest, however, it has been receiving great reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 98% and viewers loved the 3-D aspect. 

The film was directed by five time Oscar nominee Alfonso Cuaron and cinematography was done by Emmanuel Lubezki. The two worked well together and produced a film that is extremely hard to make. 

The film uses long, uninterrupted shots that create suspense and drama. The acting in this film is also incredibly hard, as they acted in front of a green screen and had to create the atmosphere mentally. This is a well done film and pushes the limits of the film world. 

Do You Know Who Your Living With

The Blacklist is an American drama series the aired in NBC September 23.  Staring James Spader, Megan Boone, and Harry Lennix. Raymond "Red" Reddington, played by James Spader, is one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, he surrenders at FBI Headquaters in Washington, D.C.. He claims the FBI has similar interests to him, that is, getting rid of dangerous criminals and terrorists. Reddington will co-operate, but insists he will speak only to Elizabeth Keen, a rookie FBI profiler.  Keen questions Reddington's sudden interest in her, despite his claim she is very special. After the FBI brings down a terrorist he provided information on, Reddington reveals that this terrorist is only the first of many. In the last two decades, he's made a list of criminals and terrorists he believes matter the most; a list the FBI doesn't know exists. Reddington calls it "The Blacklist".
This show reminds me very much of the Silence of the Lambs mixed with White Collar and potentially Borne spy movies. It's exciting full of  surprises and is one of the top new TV shows out. It's a must see!

Film Adaptations: Memento

Christopher Nolan achieves an interweaving film adaptation from his brother, Jonathan Nolan’s, short story, Memento Mori.  The main narrative of Memento is shown in color and this narrative goes in reverse chronological order.  The black and white narrative is then told in chronological order.  These two narratives are a sujet narrative consideration and each one helps the audience receive a new piece of information about the task at hand.  This allows Nolan to play with our perceptions of the characters. At the beginning their motivations seem very clear, but at the end we just can not be sure.  Christopher Nolan does an excellent job of taking material directly from his brother’s short story and implementing the imagery in his film.  He takes the images of staircases, needles, and in many cases, what’s going on in Lenny’s head from the short story and recreates the vision through specific scenes in Memento.

Murders

The short story is full of subtle clues hinting that Earl is on a murder spree. The vague, subtle hints in the short story are translated into dialogue and narration in the film, making the premise of the story clearer – that he has been manipulated into murdering many men under the impression that they are his wife’s killer. Through dialogue and Christopher’s addition of the character Teddy, it is explained to us that Lenny is a serial killer, even though he doesn’t know he is. In both works, Earl/Lenny manipulates himself through the use of notes and tattoos. Since he cannot remember what he’s doing most of the time, his notes tell him he is on a mission to kill a man. Throughout the short story, there are many subtle indications that Earl has killed before, and what his motives are in doing so. Since time does not pass for him, neither does his grief and anger for his wife’s death. This never-ending feeling of the same emotions urge him to avenge his wife’s killer. And so this becomes his purpose in his new life. Without someone to find and kill, he has no purpose. And so he continues to find and kill men in a continuous cycle that he cannot remember. The short story discretely conveys this, while the film makes it more obvious.

Tattoos

In the short story, Earl uses tattoos as permanent reminders to himself about his mission. His tattoos serve as lists of his accomplishments regarding his investigation and things he still has left to do. They include facts about the man he is searching for. This is true for both the short story and the film. In the film, we are given a visual of his tattooed body and can read the tattoos for ourselves as Lenny reads them. The film uses the tattoos as a strong method of manipulation into searching for a murderer. Lenny believes anything that is written on his body. It is the easiest way for him to lie to himself. The film adds some tattoos not mentioned in the short story, once again clearing up some indirect things that raise questions in the short story. Not only does Lenny permanently mark himself with lethal lies, he also displays one indicator of his lies on his bicep. “Memory is treachery.” This tattoo is not part of the literary work, but it is a direct reference to the theme of the story – memory is untrustworthy.

Short Term 12

On a recent trip to Cinemapolis I decided to see Short Term 12. Before seeing it I had heard very little of this film until a friend gave me rave reviews. The film follows Brie Larson as Grace, a woman in her 20's working at a foster care facility for troubled children. The film itself felt very small, each scene rarely focusing on more than two characters at a time, yet had fantastic performances by the entire cast. The cinematography of Short Term 12 used a very interesting filter and lens giving the film the look as if it was shot with an Instagram filter, yet this does not take away from it. The handheld adds to the intimacy of the story being told. Larson's character shows a real connection and understanding of the children staying at Short Term 12. We too become attached to the children as we learn bits and pieces of their backstories and how they ended up at the home. There were many parts in the film where I was worried they would veer off into a more cliche storyline, but the film avoided those and kept the story focused on where it needed to be. Though the kids at Short Term 12 may have lost or are no longer with their families, they've found a new one in each other and all those who inhabit Short Term 12.

Log Gamma: The Shooting Mode Made for "Fixing it in Post"

Sierra, X-Pro II, Lo-Fi, Earlybird, Inkwell, Kelvin. Many of you recognize these color/luminance filters by name thanks to the well-known photo-sharing app; Instagram. Quite recently, I stumbled upon the realization that the photos posted on sites like Twitter,  Tumblr, and even Facebook are, more often than not, corrected for color and/or luminance. When did it become natural for us to accept pictures like this: 

Or this:

When in reality the scene probably looked more like this:

With the rise in color filters for photography, the increase in more dramatic video coloring was bound to follow. I mean, isn't video just a culmination of stills anyway? Despite this, editing color and luminance in post for video can prove slightly more difficult than editing for individual photos. For instance, most cameras' default settings are set to record only the bare minimum of information needed. (This is to reduce the size of the file; increasing the space on your SD card.) However, by failing to record the camera's full dynamic range, the amount of color, luminance, and contrast manipulation available to the editor is greatly depleted. This is where log gamma comes in.

Found on most modern-day digital cameras, log gamma offers the DP the option to shoot a scene as flat (color and luminance wise) as possible. Receiving footage shot in log gamma is pretty much an editor's dream come true; especially when consistent color throughout is essential to the piece. 

Here you can see the increased amount of information recorded when shooting in "Canon Log" (flat) as opposed to shooting in the camera's "Normal 1"  default settings.

The red gamma log line takes substantially longer to reach the top of the graph illustrating the increased amount of information recorded. 

Unfortunately, there's a catch. While the final, edited footage shot in log gamma often looks incredible, the images you see on the camera beforehand don't. At all. Think shooting with a JVC-100 before you know anything about lighting and/or white balancing. 

Here's a before and after shot of flat footage:

I don't know about you, but I don't think I could ever feel comfortable handing an editor video that looked anything like the picture on the left. Even if I knew that the ends would justify the means. To me, shooting in log gamma is like saying, "I'll fix it in post", before you even run into production problems. (Side-note: There are no production problems that cannot be fixed. Probably. So I've been told.) In conclusion, shooting in log gamma can greatly enhance the quality of your film. It is up to the DP to decide whether she can wait for the editor to reveal the beauty of her shots.

Voice Over (2011)

Recently I watched a short film titled Voice Over, directed by Martin Rosete and written by Luiso Berdejo. The main reason why I was so interested in this film is because it contains so many different settings all within 10 minutes, and balances between them perfectly. The film contains no dialogue, only voice over from what appears to be the "voice of God." In each setting (a man who crash landed on a distant planet, an amputee in combat in a war, and a sailor trapped underwater) the individual has three minutes to save themselves, whether it be getting oxygen, blowing up a bridge, or untying a knot which drags them down.

Since our videos have to be around 10 minutes, this video gave me a lot of inspiration for the amount of scope you can include in a movie that is rather short. I was blown away at how tense the film made me feel simply from a voice over reminding the viewer how much time they have left until they die. One thing I noticed is that for each individual, the stakes got higher toward the end of the film, seriously drawing me to the edge of my seat, only to be taken aback by the twist at the end, which I won't reveal. It's funny how you can watch a full length movie which has hours to build up character development, and it still will not captivate you as much as a short length film such as Voice Over.

The rise and fall of the Rock-afire Explosion

This is the Chuck-E-Cheese animatronic band. 

Known today for being creepy and broken, this band sits at the back of many Chuck-E-Cheese franchises. But it wasn't always this way. In fact, the Chuck-E-Cheese band (known also as "Studio-C") isn't the Chuck-E-Cheese band at all! They're actually another band that's been dismantled and put back together with a new coating of cloth and paint. Who is this original animatronic band? Well, to answer that question we'll need to travel back in time, to the 1980s. 

Enter Showbiz Pizza place, an establishment created to be an arcade mixed with a pizza parlor, and every kid's dream. And within the flashing lights, loud kids, and greasy pizza, sat Showbiz's crown jewel: The Rock-afire Explosion.

Singing a mixture of original music and covers of popular songs, the Rock-afire set Showbiz above the rest. But times got tough, and Showbix ended up getting bought by its rival, Chuck-E-Cheese's. But the Rock-afire's creator, Aaron Fechter felt that he had poured too much of his heart and soul into his creation to give them up. 

So the Rock-afire fell into obscurity, and the remaining bands were converted into the Chuck-E-Cheese bands we know today. (This is partially why they look so freaky, as they are the result of mixing and matching different parts from the Rock-afire, then dressed up totally differently. That, and the fact that maintenance for such a contraption is costly and many of the parts were custom built for band.)

But the Rock-afire are not forgotten! 

Their rise and fall from glory is beautifully captured in this documentary, aptly named "The Rock-afire Explosion"

The trailer for the fantastic documentary. 

I think the Rock-afire are due for a comeback, and on Youtube, they are already making a splash performing more recent music, programmed by Fetcher himself. 

The work that goes into making each character sing and move with the music is nothing short of impressing. See for yourself!  

Moonrise Kingdom Open Title Sequence

The opening sequence of Moonrise Kingdom is an absolutely brilliant use of cinematic elements that ultimately creates the persona of the film. The use of the pan in the first few shots gives the film a synergy feel as the music and visuals come together to make a playful introduction. A major emphasize I have been focusing on lately is attention to set design, color palates and character appearances, this film does a great job establishing the mood with its opening shots. Additionally throughout the film the focus on screen area, vectors and framing is overwhelmingly apparent. Another interesting aspect of this film is how even the yellow text at the opening was picked due to the location being in New England.  The type of font they chose was an older type than the time being portrayed due to the old school vibe of New England which the production team deemed was not as trendy opposed to a populated region of the country, therefore New England due to its slow changing environment it would take longer to adopt even simple trends such as text. As I am working as the art director in my production team for our short student film I have found that finding references such as this opening title sequence is huge to the success of our films look and feel. I learn so much about small details such as the font example, set design and many other insights from these videos. Lastly these are cinematic techniques that can be manipulated and pieced back together to ultimately play a key role in our student film and future films alike.

click on this link to watch the opening title sequence...
Moonrise Kingdom (2012) — Art of the Title

Single Point Perspective

Film and photography by definition are a two dimensional medium. They are flat. Half of our jobs as film makers is to break that view and bring our audience into the picture as if it is happening right in front of them.One of the ways we can do this is by changing the perspective of the shot, adding depth of field to our image. One specific technique for adding depth of field is using a single point perspective. For those who don't know what single point perspective is, think about standing in the center of a railroad track and watching it disappear into the distance.
One of the greatest film makers of all time used single point perspective in many of his films. Stanley Kubrick has been regarded as one of the best directors in the history of film. His films include, The Shinning, Full Metal Jacket, A Space Odyssey 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and many more.The single point perspective is apparent in all of these films. But what I have been taught many times is don't make a symmetrical shot. Set the eye line just off from center. By watching great film makers we see that being the best, means breaking all the rules.

Kubrick // One-Point Perspective from kogonada on Vimeo.

Vice Media

For as long as I have been watching TV I have always had a dislike for news stories. Fictional stories just have always appealed to me more. I feel entertainment should be a way to escape from reality, and news just brings all of the troubles of the world right into your living room. However regarding news there is one magazine that I can stand and that is, Vice. Vice is a magazine company which puts an entirely different spin on the news. I am a big fan of the videos that Vice Media produces and puts on their YouTube Channel. The type of videos that are produced are features about a lot of different, risqué material. There are a lot of different stories about drugs, violence, even cannibalism. What I like about Vice so much is the fact that the staff really puts themselves out there to be able to tell the story in the best way possible. For example one video I watched was an interview with a Hitman for hire. The interview consisted of the staff from Vice filming the Hitman in the back seat of a car and asking him questions about why he kills people for a living. To be in the same car as a professional killer must not be the most comfortable situation one could put themselves in, but Vice did to cover the story not matter how unsettling it is. I really suggest you watch this, it is much different then what you see on CNN every night.

 Vice recently also started to make what are called "Vice Shorts." Vice shorts are more on the side of fiction rather than non-fiction. Like the news that Vice covers these videos are a little bizarre but are put together well and very interesting. The first short that I saw was called "The Ellington Kid." The first thing I saw was that at the beginning of this short it says based on a true story (sort of). I thought this was very cool considering what we are doing in class. I believe that this video was inspired by a new story/urban legend. It not only sparked some ideas but it is also an interesting story. Please take some time to watch this video, and also subscribe to Vice, the company produces some really awesome things.

Hayao Miyazaki and Spirited Away

The former editor of Marvel Comics, Carl Potts, talked to Ithaca College on Wednesday night. He briefly mentioned Hayao Miyazaki, referencing his great films. Miyazaki's amazing films include Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and more. I wanted to go further into the specific movie, Spirited Away.

Miyazaki is an amazing Japanese film director, animator, artist, producer, and screenwriter. His animation will take your breath away, just as much as his charming stories will.

Spirited Away (2001) centers around a 10 year old girl, who is sulking about moving to the suburbs. She unknowingly stumbles into a world ruled by gods, witches, monsters. Her parents are turned into pigs while eating an enormous amount of food that they're not sure if they are allowed to eat. Thus begins her journey to find her parents and make them human again. She befriends a boy who brings her to this bathhouse for magical creatures, where she gets a job.

The entire screenplay is masterfully written. The characters and settings, whether they are frightening or endearing, are beautifully drawn. This film, as well as all of his films, is full of adventure, mystery, and wit. He does not write typical "evil" characters; nothing is black and white.


I highly recommend any of his films. Don't expect the animation to be the same as classic Disney, it's a completely different style. Look for the wonderful settings, charming characters, and creative writing. You won't be disappointed.

Hold On, We're Going Home

So one of my favorite artists is Drake, who recently released his new album "Nothing Was The Same" and one of the songs is called "Just hold on, we're going home". Listening to the song it is very upbeat, happy and just a sweet love story. However, I just watched the music video and it is completely different than what I would have ever thought it to be. It is set in 1985 and features Drake's "fiancee", who gets captured by a group of men while in her home. Things take a turn for the worst and Drake receives the call that his girl is in distress.

A majority of the music video is a gun fight between Drake's crew and the men who captured his fiancee. The video is not that creative, and has very stereotypical shots. The storyline does not match the song well and I did not enjoy watching it. I love the song, but the music video is an odd concept and was not believable for me. The special effects are not good, as the explosions are utterly and apparently fake.

This wanna be action-packed gangster revenge remake unfortunetly does not work for me. The shots cut on the beat and the introduction of the music video is way too long for my taste.

Here is the video, take a look:

How to create an "empty" time lapse

First, watch this video.

The Day Wonderland Stood Still... from Bruce W. Berry Jr on Vimeo.

Now I don't know about you, but when I first saw that video my mind was blown. How could someone create a time lapse video in such a busy city without having any signs of life in it. I racked my brain for the little knowledge of time lapses it has, but came up empty. After heavy thinking I decided it was time to turn to the google. I stumbled upon a blog post that helped me understand the time lapse video a lot better, and also gave me inspiration to go out and shoot my own. I'll summarize it below, but if you want to find out more you can do so here.

First, go out and shoot a normal time lapse. Most of the effect is done in post. When shooting the lapse just try to shoot it during a low traffic time.

Then, when editing, you should have enough shots that every part of the traffic area (sidewalks, roads, walkways ect.) should be empty in at least one shot. Layer the photos over each other so that there is never any signs of human life.

Finally just put those layers over the time lapse video and it should work.

For more information follow this link, they do a much better job explaining than I do.

http://rossching.com/running-on-empty

And here is one last time lapse video.

Running on Empty from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch is not your typical American Drama

 For a gender class my freshmen year I had to watch an American Musical drama called Hedwig and the Angry Inch, made in 2001. Now this film is definitely as confusing an strange as its title. The story is actually based off a German transgendered singer in a rock band. The main plot was about the German man, Hansel who loved another man but was not allowed to marry him because the law demanded they be a man a woman. So Hansel had a sex change surgery and her mother gave her her own name "Hedwig", along with her passport. The surgery was botched and left her with an "angry inch" of flesh between her legs, hence the title of the film.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, they chose to flee to America. When they got there Luther left Hedwig. She dealt with this pain by forming a rock band. The dynamic of the band was pretty interesting. The bandmates would take turns making out with Hedwig, on stage and even behind close doors. It was all very strange and uncomfortable to watch, at least from my perspective.

        My favorite part of the movie, was how they incorporated the moving mythical, cartoon animations with in the musical scenes. The mythology that Hedwig believed in was very interesting on its own. She believed that when you are born, you are born a whole but at some point you are split in half and later in life you meet your other half. The rock songs that she sings are mostly about this myth and her longing of her other half. When she performs, there are many different cuts to these mythical drawings. 

        This film won the Best Director and Audience Awards at the Sundance Film Festival. The director was John Cameron Mitchell who also played the main role of Hedwig. Although I felt like the main storyline and very graphic songs were a little explicit, over all the after effects, bright color palette, flashbacks, and camera work were done very well. You definitely felt Hedwig's pain throughout the whole movie.