Blog #6 Extra Credit

The two images from the film, Finding Nemo, utilize a variety of techniques that give each image a certain feel.  In the first image, the bright light protruding out of the fishes head focuses your attention on the action of the scene.  The shadow behind the fish acts as the background, and suggests that the fish are in the deep sea.  The use of  lighting in this scene seems to act as a metaphor of good and evil.  In the second picture, the focus seems to be on their eyes, which are extremely white.  The entire image is brightly light which gives the scene a pleasant mood.  The lighting techniques in each scene are quite different, and by doing each scene gives the audience different moods.  The artist also incorporated several different aspects of color in each scene too. In the first image, the dark value of the right side deeply contrasts the desaturated light of the left side.  This difference within the image focuses the audiences attention on the fish.  Also, the dark ugly colors of the monster fish add to its hideousness. The second image used a complimentary color scheme, since the main characters are primarily blue and orange. Unlike the first image, this picture incorporated heavily saturated colors, which gave the scene a blissful feel.  These two images from the same animated film were able to effectively convey different meanings through variations of color and lighting techniques.

Blog #5

In this scene from the movie titled “Collateral” the director follows the director generally follows the rule of thirds.  In the first shot the main characters is taking up the right third of the frame while the car is taking up the left.  In the second shot the main characters backside is in the left third of the frame while the two thugs are in the right third of the frame.  The director follows this rule throughout the rest of the scene as well.    The director also follows the 30 degrees rule in this scene as well. The 30 degree rule states that when changing camera angles the angle must change atleast 30 degrees to avoid a jump cut. While then scene transitions between the shot of the main character and the thugs the camera rotates approximately 180 degrees.  This angle change makes the audiences feel as if they are switching points of view between the thugs and the main character.  Finally the director also follows the 180 degree rule as well.  This rule states that all camera angles must stay within a 180 degree arch.  The director barely meets this guideline because he switches the camera angle a complete 180 degrees between shots, but the camera does stay within this arch.  The director followed all three of these rules to depict different point of views in the scene.  The result was an exciting scene that captured the audiences attention.  The way the director shoots the scene you would initially expect the main character to be in danger.  However the end result of the scene contrasts this idea.  This aspect really makes for a surprising outcome.  Overall I would say the directing skills were superb in this particular scene.

Blog #5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiqwF_Y9S5Q

 

Blog #6

A scene from a great movie called Goodfellas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pQ6fd6iO_c&feature=related

This scene titled “never bust a wise guys balls” from Goodfellas contains some strong thematic elements.  The theme of this movie may be that you should never disrespect a mobster. Mobsters are often ruthless killers that will commit heinous murders with little remorse.  This is shown in the scene when Tommy murders Billy for publicly embarrassing him.  Tommy’s fellow gangsters buy Billy drinks to keep him at the bar and get him drunk, while Tommy gets a gun.  Tommy sucker punches Billy then shoots him in the face.  This scene didactically teaches the audience not to mess with the mob, because it shows you what happened to Billy.

The space used by the director in this scene helps to depict the theme of the movie.  The scene is shot in a dimly light bar, and the characters are wearing suits and smoking cigarettes.  The costuming, setting, and character dialogue hint that plot is taking place in the 90's.  Along with space, the rhythm of the scene reinforced the idea that you should not mess with a mobster.  The tension in the scene begins to rise as Tommy and Billy have verbal confrontation.  At the height of the argument Tommy storms out of the bar, and the tension is released.  Once you the think conflict is resolved Tommy comes back into the bar and sucker punches Billy.  The tension continues to rise while Tommy and another mobster begin beating
Billy to death.  The Tension is finally released when Tommy shoots Billy in the head, and brings this awful crime to a cold end.  This abrupt killing shows that mobsters have such crime filled lies, that murder is a common occurrence.  Mobsters have each others backs and are willing to go to great lengths to protect their infamous reputation.  This scene has a dark theme that actively shows the audience the sinful life of a gangster.

Blog #4

Walk this way- Aerosmith
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UFFa1HbFfA

Listening Framework

Tempo - Fast
Source- The rhythm comes from the electric guitar and the drums
Groove- The edgy guitar and fast paced vocals give the song the iconic rock and roll feel.
Instrumentation- The electric guitar and vocals drive the song while the drum and bass act as a background.
Structure- Guitar riff- vocal verse- Guitar riff- vocal verse- chrous- guitar solo- guitar riff- vocal verse- guitar riff- vocal verse- chorus- guitar solo- guitar solo
Emotional Architecture- The repeated guitar riff gives the song a high tempo right from the beginning and throughout the song. The fast past vocals and guitar solos also add to this high energy song.
Height- The guitar is more high pitched during the guitar riffs and solos and more low pitch during the vocal verses.
Width- The song does not pan left to right
Depth- The vocals and the electric guitar are the loudest instruments in the song, while the bass and drums serve as the background.

Walk this Way- Aerosmith ft. Run DMC

Listening Framework

Tempo - Fast

Source- The rhythm comes from the electric guitar and the drums

Groove- The rock and rock sound mixed with hip hop lyrics made for and different and exciting sound.

Instrumentation- The electric guitar and vocals drive the song while the drum and bass act as a background.

Structure- Hip hop Intro- main guitar riff- lyrics- main guitar riff - lyrics - chorus - guitar solo- main guitar riff- lyrics- main guitar riff- lyrics- chorus- main guitar riff- guitar solo
Emotional Architecture- The intro with the turntables give begin the song with a hip-hop feel.  The energy picks up with the guitar riffs.  The vocals by Steven Tyler are more intense in this cover version.

Height- The guitar is more high pitched during the guitar riffs and solos and more low pitch during the vocal verses.

Width- The song does not pan left to right

Depth- The vocals and the electric guitar are the loudest instruments in the song, while the bass and drums serve as the background.

The two versions of Aerosmith original song “Walk This Way” are very similar pieces of music overall.  Lyrically the songs are identical, however there are some slight variations in the two pieces. A couple of the verses in the second song are covered by Run DMC.  The verses are still very similar though because of Steven Tyler’s rap style delivery in the original piece.  The verses sung by Tyler in the second version are slightly different as well.  His voice is much more high pitched in the chorus giving the cover version a more intense sound.  In both versions the songs contained a high speed rhythm.  Also both songs had identical organization and instrumentation, except for the addition of the turntables in the beginning of the cover version. The instruments used in both versions were an electric guitar, bass, drums, and vocals.  Neither song gives a sense of width, because neither version pans left or right throughout the song. As for depth. The vocals and the electric guitar are the loudest instruments in the song, while the bass and drums serve as the background in both songs. Of the two versions I prefer the cover version by Run DMC because I like hip-hop feel he brings to the song.  Although the lyrics were identical I prefer the rap genre rather the rock and roll sound.

Blog #2

http://changethis.com/manifesto/show/51.01.YourHowl

Flaum tells the story of an endangered red wolve during the 1970’s. Only 14 wolves remained and were put in captivity. After years of captivity, the wolves forgot how to howl.  In an experiment, their offspring were released in the wild.  The leader was Mumon.  He had to find his howl, so he and his pack could survive.  After killing his first deer, he felt both extremely grateful, yet also ashamed for taking the deers life.  Shortly after Mumon was killed by a tribe. Mumon’s spirit lived on as the tribe celebrated his death with chanting and dancing.  The tribe’s emotions after killing the red wolve, were very similar to Mumons after he had killed the deer.

Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. Vince Lombardi 

I like this quote because it relates to my competitive nature.  When he says winning is a habit he suggest, that well prepared teams have who are ready to compete, have a “habit” of winning.  He also adds humor by applying this same principle to losing.  Teams that lack motivation and talent will have a habit of losing.  This idea separates the great teams in the league from the worst.  Furthermore, good habits are the key to success, while bad habits can really bring you down.   Making smart choices every day will habitually lead you into success. However, if you continually make unproductive decisions you will likely fail.

Golf

Im a laid back person but I can also be competitive, and I believe the sport of golf represents this.  I also value my independence, and with golf there is nobody but yourself to blame for a bad shot.  I like to golf to take my mind off of everyday worries and focus on my swing.

You swing your best when you have the fewest things to think about. 
- Bobby Jones