Auteur Theory Documentary - George Lucas and Star Wars

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Graphic Organizer- Info graphic: Advanced Editing Notes

Location as Character

Location

Camp Loma Mar - forest in the morning

List of 2-3 Emotions we would like to capture:

- Peace
- Calm
- serenity

Minimum of 10 shots "dream shots" you would like to capture or experiment with that addresses the "mood" or "feeling" of the location.
- negative space with trees
- low angles at trees
- rack focus on minute detail
- macro shot of bug/plant
- graphic match of trees
- ELS
- Rule of Thirds
- Lines
- Texture
- Negative Space

Realism/Classical/Formalism

Realism 
Realism is all about showing the truth. This is done by not altering the sequence in any way. One of the conventions use to do this is the lengthy duration of a shot. A shot is, many times, held for a long period of time; longer than it is necessary to convey a message. It would be incorrect to say that a shot is always stationary because the camera itself could be moving for a long time. This form of editing derives from the earliest days of filmmaking. Filmmakers only captured real life events. Nothing was dramatized. One of the earliest examples is Louis Lumière's 50 second short film Arrival of the Train. The Munich Abendzeitung (a German newspaper) stated that "at the time, people, appalled by Arrival of the Train, were said to have leaped from their chairs" (source). Lotte H. Eisner, a French film critic, was quoted saying that "the spectators in the Grand Café involuntarily threw themselves back in their seats in fright, because Lumière's giant locomotive pulling into the station seemingly ran toward them." One thing that can be taken out of this is that many times, realism can terrify audiences. Sometimes we are not used to seeing an event happen from a different perspective that a camera can show. We get terrified by the familiar as easily the unfamiliar.




A great example of the usage of realism in a film is Children of Men. In this scene from the movie, the characters are moving in their car when they are suddenly attacked by a mob of people. Not having seen the movie myself, this shot alone gets the audience invested in the characters by creating "real" danger. I say "shot" because it was all done in one single take, without any edits. The danger feels real to even those who only watch this scene because you are part of the action. Nothing takes you out of the car itself (not until the ending at least). When the woman gets shot, it is instant. The shock on the faces of the characters is also immediate. Deep focus is used to keep everything in focus and keeping all of the action visible. The intricate camera movements change the shot from close up to medium shot, to over the shoulder, to long shot to point of view shot and so on. Furthermore, there is no score playing in the background. Any noticeable music that is playing is coming out of the car, which helps to enhance the realism of the scene. The director, Alfonso Cuarón, loves to use realism in his films. The most recent one I saw was Gravity and if I recalled correctly, the very first visible "cut" was made after almost 20 minutes into the move.

Classicism 

Classicism condenses all of the action without leaving any crucial information out. It is quick and right to the point. This is the style of editing used in most productions. It tries the tell the story the best way possible and focuses only on the characters rather than the filmmaker's techniques. For this reason, any edits made in the sequence cannot be a distraction in any way. Every cut is used to enhance the emotion of the scene. This form of editing is directly linked to classic Hollywood. 

The perfect example of classicism in action is when you don't even see the cut happen. This scene from Schindler's List is a great example of keeping the filmmaker's technique to him/herself and focusing on the action at hand. With every cut, the tension increases. Every cut reveals something new in terms of the characters or the emotion. Every single cut is disguised. For example, between 0:11 and 0:17 in the clip, the jump cut is almost non-existent. When the officer turns around to talk to the Jewish man under his command, the audience's eyes automatically turn to that man. For this reason, the cut between the two shots is not very noticeable. Something similar happens again at between 2:28 and 2:32. In this specific shot, it eventually turns from an over the shoulder to a close up. Again, the cut was made specially to heighten the emotion in the scene. This last shot specifically shows the frustration of the officer in his failed attempts to kill the Jewish worker. There is clear cause and effect. The effect is the release of the officer's anger at 2:43 when he finally just hits the man. Again, the shot changes; this time it becomes a long shot which also brings relief to the audience along with the poor Jewish worker.

Formalism 

Formalism is the director's style to bend reality. Formalist directors don't want to preserve reality; they want to show the world through their own eyes or the eyes of a character. Most of the time, formalist shots,scenes, or sequences make no sense to the common person so they can come off as a bit disturbing, but sometimes they can be beautiful in their own way.

 

When I think of good visual directors, one of the first people who come to mind is Zack Snyder. He's the man behind movies such as 300, Man of Steel, and Watchmen. Although 300 did this before the slow motion used in Watchmen stands out the most in its storytelling. Snyder uses his directorial techniques in  this opening montage from the movie to provide some back-story into the characters of Watchmen. Snyder bends time with slow motion and an effect called "bullet time" to allow the audience to take in the all the information being thrown at the screen. In this formalist sequence, the passage of time connects with letting go of the past as the heroes transform from great figures to nothing more miserable people. The camera movements are intricate, yet slow in order to show the world of Watchmen. Although this montage lacks the conventional jump cuts and fast edits as made famous by the Odessa Step montage sequence from Battleship Potemkin, it is a montage nonetheless. In contrast to that, this sequence is slow yet it still blurs reality. It still serves its purpose of having an emotional impact. The audience goes from feeling like being on top of the world to being despised, hated, and feeling worthless.

Contemporary Media Analysis

1. What does the media say about the world we live in?

I could have been very graphic with this picture, but
that would defeat the purpose of my argument of the
acceptance of violence. 

The media can do its best to represent the world we live in, but it can never be a complete and real representation of the world we live in. That being said, if I had to pick one thing that I think the media is saying about us, I would say that media says that we love violence. Not only seen through the films and TV shows, it also references violence happening in real life. There were talks about Syria and whistle blowers in multiple presentations. People are not sure if someone should be classified as a hero or an enemy. Our media glorifies war and violence and we love it. That is completely obvious after a close inspection of the box office from the previous years. There is a reason the top 100 highest grossing movies of all time (as seen here ) primarily consists of violence filled movies. I find it shocking that most of these movies came out in the last decade. This just goes to show our world's obsession with violence today.

2. Do you notice any one trend that keeps resurfacing through multiple media forms?

One of the trend that resurfaces in different forms of media and also was present in the presentations was the concept of "blurred lines." Although it was only one group who put emphasis on this, multiple groups talked about enough that it should be mentions. Media today cannot put into just black or white areas. No longer do we live in a time where movies and TV shows make the "bad guy" full on evil or the "good guy" the perfect human being. Although this has been happening over the years, it is more common now than ever before. TV shows today explore deeply troubled protagonists who have gotten themselves in some sort of trouble because of their own doing. So many TV shows have not dived into the troubled mind of a character like they today in shows such as 24, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Supernatural, Game of Thrones, Justified, The Walking Dead and so on. The protagonist is no longer an all-knowing being whose troubles are over by the end of the episode. TV shows have become more cinematic than ever before and therefore are in deep competition with film.

Another common trend that came up was the acceptance of violence. Men kill other men to show that killing other men in wrong. Okay, it may not be that simple. But, still. A majority of the highest grossing films of the past years (especially those who past the $1 billion mark) have been action movies. One of the movies that comes to mind is The Avengers. Don't get me wrong, I loved that movie...on my first watching. Second time around, I realized how much mindless action there was in the movie. The final battle, although incredibly epic and put on a grand scale, fell flat because there was no fallout from the fights. The heroes were barely getting injured. I just didn't feel like I should be fearing for these character because I was thinking something along the lines of "they can't kill him. They still need this character to milk out some more cash." Similarly, Man of Steel had the same issues, but I was bothered by it just on my first watching.

One group mentioned that media loves to expose American stupidity. Even though that may be true to an extent, it is somewhat misleading. Some people love to see something "stupid" once in a while. This could refer to shows like Here Come Honey Boo Boo where a family is exploited (they seem fairly oblivious to the impact of what they say), specifically the daughter. This is reality TV show and it adds to the conversation of stupidity. However, it would be incorrect to just say American stupidity. Stupidity exists everywhere. It's just that the media has exploited it here in the States more than anywhere else in the world. Also, it is a false representation of society. It only goes to heighten the stereotype that Americans and fat and dumb. As Gino's group mentioned, many times the people on the show are told to act a certain way simply to get the shot the filmmakers want to get...and here is was thinking that THIS IS REALITY TELEVISION. I guess even our sense of reality is falsified in media today.

3. What do you see as the best and worst of what media portrays?

The media can do its best to influence society, but it can never represent it as a whole. That is where the major fault for the media lies; it exaggerates human interests. There are channels, TV shows, video games, and movies for every type of audience. Most of the reality TV shows, which as apparently supposed to show events happening in some real person's life, shows fake people. Shows like Keeping Up With the Kardashians does have real people, but these people are so not grounded to reality that they are living in their own world. Most people don't live their lives like the Kardashians do because most people don't have so much money. Additionally, the family rarely faces big issues and they usually just become bitter over small things like Kim not feeling like talking to anyone. In that sense, this show (Along with many many more) shows the worst of of media's portrayal.

One of the best thing media has started to portray today is a general acceptance of all kinds of people. By that I am referring to all the LGBT people in the world. Shows like Glee are leading the way in this cultural change where acceptance in not just preached, but also acted upon. In TV Shows and movies, the LGBT group is represented more and more. That, I believe, is one of the best things media has done today with its portrayal of society today.

4. Where do you see yourself contributing to the conversation?

My group talked about the acceptance of violence over sexuality, specifically in American culture. We live in a world where it is unacceptable for a child to see someone's butt, but being literally ripped apart from limb to limb is a little more acceptable. As mentioned, European TV shows are more lenient on expressing sexuality than showing extreme violence. Although women are shown to wear very minimal clothing in much of American media, it is still frowned upon if any sexual acts are shown. A documentary called This Film is Not Yet Rated, made an attempt to look inside the MPAA which includes members who control what the rating for every single movie will be. The documentary explains that they say that they are trying to protect children with this, but they associations accepts violence far more easily than they accept sex. Because of this, filmmakers who wanted their films to be rated R get NC-17 and many theaters refuse to play them. Due to this, all the hard work the filmmakers put into their film goes down the drain simply because the MPAA says the content was too graphic. The media could potentially play a powerful role here by exploring this issue. 

Top 5 Films of All Time!

Warning: I will be overusing gifs....this entire year. 

Asking someone, especially students studying film, what their favorite movie of all time is will almost always never get a direct response. "How can I choose one?" "There are so many masterpieces." yada yada. In reality, I'd say the same thing too, but since I'm pressed for points, I can come up with at least 5 movies that I can always watch and watch and never get bored of.

Be aware that this list is in no particular order.



The very first movie that popped in my head was Back to the Future. Some people don't exactly enjoy the trilogy and regard the first movie as a classic. I'm not one of those people. I agree that they aren't as well polished, nor do they have such a new and exciting concept as the first, I love every single movie in the trilogy. I really hope Hollywood doesn't go ahead and decide to reboot it. If it does, one of the things that needs to remain is the charm of the movie. Today, everyone is going after the Nolan grittiness. Every movie doesn't need to be dark people...The original film has a certain nostalgia factor that still hits you even if you weren't living in the 80s or the 50s. I simply adore the 1950s time period. I'll watch any movie taking place in the 50s if it has that nostalgia attached to it. While not everyone can recall going back in time, we can all relate to the stories from the moral implications during the pursuit of sciences to bullies to forbidden love. Plus it has a simple heart filled message: "If you put your mind to it you can accomplish anything." The best part about the movie is that it still stands today. Marty Mcfly has defined pop culture and for that reason the movie is still relevant today.

It's still cool to have a delorean and rock those future nikes from Back to the Future 2









Kick-Ass is a fairly recent movie. (HEY, recent movies can be good too. Those old directors can't always dwell on the past. There is a whole new generation growing up with movies like this rather than Citizen Kane). This is one of those instances where I believe that the movie improves on the original comic book. I head this from a certain youtuber (Comicbookgirl19) and I'd agree completely. Here we go again, this movie is different from the hundreds of other superhero movies coming out today because it is colorful in terms of story as well as visuals. Comic books are supposed to be full of color (well Batman doesn't count or Punisher or some more but you get the point). Even though it's colorful and seems cheerful at first glance, does that mean this movie isn't realistic? NO. This is the most realistic superhero movie I've ever seen. It seriously looks at what would happen if a normal guy went out and tried to be a superhero. Well, he'd get his "ass kicked" right? (get it? I'm sorry). In fact, the lovable character of Dave, AKA Kick-Ass, is quickly beaten and left for death. With instances like this, this movie explores the dark side of the normal person. Would you just stand and watch someone being mugged or would you do actually get in there and stop it. Most likely than not, we wouldn't do anything. Still, Kick-Ass DOES something which is admirably about the character. He gets beat up over and over again and he realizes he's way out of league, but that doesn't stop him from fighting for the good of society. The action scenes in the movie are crazy good and even Nick Cage brings his A-game.



 You know what, there is a reason everyone is trying to bank off of the success of the Dark Knight trilogy. Christopher Nolan is a genius and his vision of the rebooted Batman has made Batman cool again. No longer is Batman given silly weapons and sidekicks. This movie is looked from the perceptive of what Batman would be like if he existed in the real world (okay given that Nolan's world in Batman isn't EXACTLY the same as ours). Not only is this a great superhero movie, it is a tremendous political drama. The best thing going for this film in my opinion, Heath Ledger's depiction of the Joker. Again, just like Batman, the Joker isn't a silly joke any longer. He has upgraded to a psychotic monster who just want "to watch the world burn." Although Batman Begins isn't the best demo reel for Nolan's action scenes, he improves on cinematography in the Dark Knight as well as with the script. This film is arguably one of the most quoted films of all time. Also, you admire Nolan's decision to use film instead of digital to shoot a superhero film. That is simply non-existent today.





I'm basically a sucker for heart-felt movies. By that I don't really mean romantic comedies (although some can be really good), I mean movies that leave an emotional impact on me long after I'm done watching them. If that movie can include both comedy and serious moments with an interesting story, I'm all in. This is why The Truman Show is one of my all-time favorite movies. I saw it for the first time on Netflix when I had nothing else to watch, but this movie just stuck with me. It takes a look at the issue of privacy as well as the idea of one's control of own destiny. Truman lives in a world that he believes to be real, but every single person is his life is an actor. Every single life decision in his life has made for him. He has a "seemingly perfect life," but it makes you wonder "Do I really want a perfect life like this?" This might possibly be Jim Carrey's best movie.  His performance is brilliant. There is a tragic undertone to the film. Truman can have anything we wants in his life, except the he really can't. All he wants is the love of his life; he just wants a REAL emotional connection because he begins to pick up on everyone being a phony. It's incredibly interesting to see Truman's desperation to discover the truth and he is constantly just being denied and manipulated, and you can't help but feel for the guy.




Even considering that I haven't many of the greatest films ever made, it was still tough coming up with this list, but for my final selection I'll say Forest Gump is among the best movies I've seen. Again, this is one of those movies that I never skip if it is playing on TV. I find movies like this, that tell fictional life stories, very interesting. This include movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Shawshank Redemption. I'm not double dipping here. I'm admitting that Forest Gump is my top choice among those films. The most interesting aspect of the film is the main character, Forest. He is likable, caring, honest, and just good human being. As it spans generations, the film covers a multitude of issues on American such as race, bullies, war, and so on. However, the theme of love remains constant throughout the film. I guess the best way I can describe it is by saying the film has heart. Forest Gump is a story of an underdog. We love the underdog. That's why we keep cheering for him and even learn to appreciate his naivete. Because of this it is amazing to see him succeed in the way he does. Not only that, I really do appreciate the amount of complex visual effects they filmmakers used to further the storytelling. They even went as far as to use real footage from Birth of Nation ( click here to learn more about that) and integration Forest's great grandfather. If I start talking about Tom Hank's brilliant performance, I won't stop talking so I'll end it here.
 

What makes a great film?

Ahhhh....the blog posts. So they begin once again...

For me, a film can be considered a good film in many different ways. Realistically speaking, there are no set rules for what makes a good film, there is secret recipe to a good movie; everything is subjective.

I went to see Transformer: Dark of the Moon in an IMAX theater and 20 minutes in, I just wanted to get up and leave. I know for a fact that I'm not alone on this one. Still, this movie raked in over $1.12 billion dollars worldwide. So how can a movie that so many people despised make so much money? Well, that's because there are the same amount of people, if not more, who loved this movie and went to see it 2-3 times (like my cousin who was the one who dragged me with him).  This reinforces the idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder which can certainly be applied to film.

That being said, there are certain aspects a film could have that could not only keep be interested, but also be an actual good movie. This can be applied to short films as well.

Firstly, the protagonist(s) should be a dynamic character. By that I mean, he/she should have transformed in some way by the end of the story. I'm sorry for doing this, but I have to reference Breaking Bad again. I understand that this isn't a film, but it is has a cinematic tone. Think of it like a movie franchise which comes out with a sequel after sequel, but each sequel only improves on the past movies. Vince Gilligan, the creator and main writer of the show, stated that we went into the show with the intention of taking this character, Walter White, from Mr. Chips to Scarface. This is exactly what the creators have done. Every single character in the show, not just Walter, is evolving in some way. No character is the same or thinks the same way as the time they were introduced in the show. This constant evolution keeps me interesting in the characters. If I'm interesting the characters, then I'm usually willing to let the story slide a little bid. However in the case of Breaking Bad, there is a combination of brilliant story telling with excellent characters all thanks. I believe that if you start with an interesting character, the story will come to you because once you understand your own creation, you can start taking it to places the viewer will find interesting. Last year, this is one aspect, I did not focus on. All the characters in my short films were one-dimensional and unrelatable which made the whole story rather boring to watch. In the case of Walter White, he is relatable because he as redeeming qualities. He's truly most interested in providing for and protecting his family. No matter how far off he goes off-course of being only in the business of cooking crystal meth for his medical bills and future of his family, the viewers thinks back and says that Walt is a good guy. The character is changing for the bad, but the viewer's interest in him always keep him on their side (most of them at least at this point). A character cannot be always good or always bad....he/she must be a combination of both. Being flawed is part of being a human.

"From Mr. Chips to Scarface"




Characters are great and all, but I cannot stress the importance of a good story. The story can be as simple as possible, but it has to be enganing. It has to keep the viewer interested in watching the movie. In the case of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, all it did for me was provide eye candy and big explosions with lots of action which was only fun was a total of 10 minutes. Heck, I can't even remember what the story was about. (something about changing Earth to Cybertron). This is also a feature lacked in my short films last year. The story was always so convoluted that viewers lost interest in everything.

The Black Hole is a great example of a very short film with an idea so simple that it's genius. Not only that, in the little times provided for the story, the filmmakers are able to make us (the viewers) question human morality, abuse of powers, and natural greed. We get all that from a guy who finds a mini black hole in a paper. Not only that, it teaches us a lesson. I suggest you watch it yourself since it's only about 3 minutes long.

Finally, I'd like to add that there should be an emotional investment and connection in the film. The filmmakers, which all the tools available to them such as cinematography, gear, props, music/score etc., should make me feel a certain way at the end. Sometimes, a happy ending isn't always the best way to go for this. For example, (SPOILER ALERT FOR FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) Every single football movie I've seen revolves around a band of misfits or outcasts from society who join together to stand for themselves and their cause until they finally win at the end. In Friday Night Lights, however, all of the hard work of all of the characters and their losses are not paid off because that's just life. It's based on a real story so it makes it that much more believable that everyone wasn't having the time of their lives at every turn. It's a realistic look at the obsession of football culture from a perspective of a town who lives and breathes high school football.
In the clip above, everything comes together for the team and it seems like that their last chance at a state championship is tangible. Then, quickly it's all brought to an end. Throughout the movie, you are complelety invested in the characters and their lives outside of football that it results in an emotional reaction. Even if you don't ball your eyes out, there is an emotional impact that sticks. All of this is heightened by the tools available to the filmmakers especially the camera movements/shots along with the music.

Again, I'd like to point out that picking "What makes a great film" is highly subjective and there are no specific ways that you could create a perfect film.