Q: As we progress though the film, "The Hurt Locker," how is the idea of realism being used for this movie? What kind of effects do you think this has on viewers?
A: I think realism is used quite a lot though out this film. Of course I have never been in any of the situations that real soldiers have been in, so I could not say that out of experience. But, from what I have herd and read about the movie; it is said that it portrays an overwhelming sense of realism. It shows this in the high tension situations the actors are put into. When being a part of a bomb squad you never really know how your day will go. Any moment should be their last, and I think the actors bring this to the screen in a way that is completely believable. Another is the emotional trauma that a person can sustain for being forced into high rise situations. Like when the soldiers are ambushed in the desert, or when their comrade steps on a bomb and is there one second and gone the next. See that type of thing has to do a number on someone, and in this film they show glimpses of the turmoil people face.
I think this film, for me always, is made to make the viewer uncomfortable. It's a good movie don't get me wrong, but watching the events it shows is not an enjoyable thing. When you think about it in terms of this really happening to someone, it makes me feel horrible. I don't know how people go through things like that and come home to a "normal" life. I truly think the men and women who serve this country are amazing and deserve to be recognized.
Q: What do you think your biggest take away is from this class? What would be a suggestion to make the class better for next year?
A: I think my biggest take away from this class is that i have learned to look at movies a different way. To think about how accurate something is, and how and why it was made the way it was. I learned to look at movies with a different take. Not just the entertainment part, but also the meanings that are behind the words and actions. I understand how much work goes into creating a movie no just from the director, but also from the production stand point. I can see what makes some movies different from others in the was that they are assembled and produced. My suggestion to you is that maybe have a broader diversity of movies to analyze. Old classics, independent, foreign, blockbuster, and ect. could bring a broader understanding of how movies developed over time and what makes a great movie.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
More Than One Mode
Q: Nichols writes, "The fact that there is more than one mode of documentary film strongly suggests that the representation of reality is not an objective, cut-and-dried affair. Although there may be only one historical world, and even if certain facts about it can be agreed upon as objectively true, the ways of seeing and representing that world, like the ways of interpreting it, vary considerably."
Based on this statement, blog about what exactly you think this means and how the 6 modes of documentary film factor into this idea.
A: Well, what this means to me is going to be different then what in means to everyone else. We are all unique people and think of things in very different ways. Much like the way I can interpret this question differently than anyone else; a viewer or director can do the same with the meaning of documentary. With that being said there is also the consideration of what type of mode the documentary is filmed in. There are some modes that leave the meaning behind the film completely up to the viewer, and others that are a little more straight forward. A picture of a person looking out a window can inflict many different feelings upon a viewer, if no one is there to tell them what the person is doing or thinking. That can be changed when a narrator tells a story over the picture, than a specific meaning can be given in that situation.
Documentaries are not only meant to make the viewer interpret things in their own way, but they are also here to inform and persuade. If you take for example any Expository documentaries, they are largely here to persuade the viewer to think a certain why about something. It may be to get the viewer to side with the director on a certain issue, or it may just be to inform the viewer or a view they may have never thought of before. Reflexive documentaries, on the other hand, tell a completely different story. They have the soul purpose of making the viewer question everything they see. The whole point of a Reflexive documentary is to contradict it's self and make the view question a validity of the whole film. If you ask me, this type can get very confusing.
Other types of documentaries deal with letting the cameras just role, and catch everything that happens in front of them. Observational and Participatory documentaries are two very different styles, but have one thing in common, the directors keep the cameras rolling all the time. Even if the finish product does not contain that sense of continuity, the cameras were always capturing what was happening in real time. Nothing in these documentaries were found footage or reenactments. They where real time of things that really unfolded in front of that camera lens.
With so many different types of documentaries out there for a film maker to choose from it makes sense that documentaries are not just a "cut-and-dried affair." Film makers have a wide verity of ways to allow their viewers to interpret their films. This increases that creative expression that a filmmaker can bestow upon his audience. He can lead them along a certain path, deeply confuse and incise them, or leave it up to the viewer to decide what something may or may not mean. In any words, the possibilities are endless and ever changing for documentary film makers.
Based on this statement, blog about what exactly you think this means and how the 6 modes of documentary film factor into this idea.
A: Well, what this means to me is going to be different then what in means to everyone else. We are all unique people and think of things in very different ways. Much like the way I can interpret this question differently than anyone else; a viewer or director can do the same with the meaning of documentary. With that being said there is also the consideration of what type of mode the documentary is filmed in. There are some modes that leave the meaning behind the film completely up to the viewer, and others that are a little more straight forward. A picture of a person looking out a window can inflict many different feelings upon a viewer, if no one is there to tell them what the person is doing or thinking. That can be changed when a narrator tells a story over the picture, than a specific meaning can be given in that situation.
Documentaries are not only meant to make the viewer interpret things in their own way, but they are also here to inform and persuade. If you take for example any Expository documentaries, they are largely here to persuade the viewer to think a certain why about something. It may be to get the viewer to side with the director on a certain issue, or it may just be to inform the viewer or a view they may have never thought of before. Reflexive documentaries, on the other hand, tell a completely different story. They have the soul purpose of making the viewer question everything they see. The whole point of a Reflexive documentary is to contradict it's self and make the view question a validity of the whole film. If you ask me, this type can get very confusing.
Other types of documentaries deal with letting the cameras just role, and catch everything that happens in front of them. Observational and Participatory documentaries are two very different styles, but have one thing in common, the directors keep the cameras rolling all the time. Even if the finish product does not contain that sense of continuity, the cameras were always capturing what was happening in real time. Nothing in these documentaries were found footage or reenactments. They where real time of things that really unfolded in front of that camera lens.
With so many different types of documentaries out there for a film maker to choose from it makes sense that documentaries are not just a "cut-and-dried affair." Film makers have a wide verity of ways to allow their viewers to interpret their films. This increases that creative expression that a filmmaker can bestow upon his audience. He can lead them along a certain path, deeply confuse and incise them, or leave it up to the viewer to decide what something may or may not mean. In any words, the possibilities are endless and ever changing for documentary film makers.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
An Attentive Viewer
Q. In our book, Nichols writes, " An Attentive viewer must also be familiar with the repertoire of choices a director faces to recognize her decisions as choices rather than as simply the product of the camera's mechanical ability". What do you thing Nichols is tying to say in the statement and what are your thoughts?
A. I think what Nichols is trying to say is that the director has the power to make the audience feel the emotional weight of all the choices presented to the characters of a film. Wether it is presenting the choice in question with growing suspense such as at the end of The Dark Knight (2008); where two separate ships are pitted against each other - one filled with civilians and the other with prisoners. Both ships are packed to the brim with explosives, and both contain a button that will detonate the other; the heaviness of the choice these people are faced with looms over everyone's heads. With a limited amount of time no one (not even the viewer) knows who will push the button that will ultimately end hundreds of people's lives. A director can also present a choice that will tare at a person's heart strings such as in Nichols's own example Sophie's Choice (1982); where a young women is forced, by a Nazi officer, to choose which two of her four children to save from certain doom at a concentration camp.
The director has the power to create an atmosphere where the character is visually struggling with what they think is right and wrong; this helps to create a amazingly strong connection with the viewer. A director has the power to shape a film to bring a person to their knees in sorrow, or to the edge of their seats in suspense. Directors have an enormous amount of choices to make as to how they want to present their content, and an attentive viewer should be aware of that.
A. I think what Nichols is trying to say is that the director has the power to make the audience feel the emotional weight of all the choices presented to the characters of a film. Wether it is presenting the choice in question with growing suspense such as at the end of The Dark Knight (2008); where two separate ships are pitted against each other - one filled with civilians and the other with prisoners. Both ships are packed to the brim with explosives, and both contain a button that will detonate the other; the heaviness of the choice these people are faced with looms over everyone's heads. With a limited amount of time no one (not even the viewer) knows who will push the button that will ultimately end hundreds of people's lives. A director can also present a choice that will tare at a person's heart strings such as in Nichols's own example Sophie's Choice (1982); where a young women is forced, by a Nazi officer, to choose which two of her four children to save from certain doom at a concentration camp.
The director has the power to create an atmosphere where the character is visually struggling with what they think is right and wrong; this helps to create a amazingly strong connection with the viewer. A director has the power to shape a film to bring a person to their knees in sorrow, or to the edge of their seats in suspense. Directors have an enormous amount of choices to make as to how they want to present their content, and an attentive viewer should be aware of that.
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Studying the Subject of Film
After reading the first chapter of Engaging Cinema, I must say that I am really excited to dive into the actual content of this class. I think it is going to be very intriguing to watch our line up of films and compare them to the real world events that they try to depict. It's not just that I'm excited to see; it's the director's own twist on the content of the film I really want to analyze. I want to see how they change a film from the real story to a version that appeals to the audience - I want to really understand what makes a Hollywood film a climatic "master piece." Sometimes when watching a film the feeling of reality just drops away, and all that is left is how the picture on the screen makes you feel. I would love to get an insight into how directors do this to people, and I'm hopping this class will do that for me.
It's an interesting concept of saying that movies can be a "social danger" or a "social benefit." It's no surprise that movies sometimes inspire real life crimes. I mean some films could almost be considered step by step crime manuals. Many movies have actually spawned copy-cat crimes all over the world. Movies like Fight Club (1999) inspired many young American boys to crate their own "fight clubs," and A Clockwork Orange (1970) inspired so many crimes that it was removed from British distribution. But I don't believe movies can be blamed for all the social distress in our times, sometimes movies have an amazing social message. The movie To Kill a Mocking Bird (1962) brought to light the social issues of the black and white segregation; at a time in our history when the issue was a hot topic. Movies are not all good, but they are not all bad either. It may just go to show what power a person can have when you put a camera in their hands and a social following to match.
Resources:
WatchMojo.com, , prod. Top 10 Real-Life Crimes Inspired by Movies and TV. Youtube.com, 2013. Web. 25 Jan 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0u5zQNtQE0>.
It's an interesting concept of saying that movies can be a "social danger" or a "social benefit." It's no surprise that movies sometimes inspire real life crimes. I mean some films could almost be considered step by step crime manuals. Many movies have actually spawned copy-cat crimes all over the world. Movies like Fight Club (1999) inspired many young American boys to crate their own "fight clubs," and A Clockwork Orange (1970) inspired so many crimes that it was removed from British distribution. But I don't believe movies can be blamed for all the social distress in our times, sometimes movies have an amazing social message. The movie To Kill a Mocking Bird (1962) brought to light the social issues of the black and white segregation; at a time in our history when the issue was a hot topic. Movies are not all good, but they are not all bad either. It may just go to show what power a person can have when you put a camera in their hands and a social following to match.
Resources:
WatchMojo.com, , prod. Top 10 Real-Life Crimes Inspired by Movies and TV. Youtube.com, 2013. Web. 25 Jan 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0u5zQNtQE0>.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
First Thoughts of History Through Film
Q. What are your thoughts about taking the class History through Film? What do you hope to get out of this class and what strength do you bring to the class that will help us all progress forward as we learn?
A. I am really hoping this class will be exciting and an awesome learning experience; not just about history but about films as well. I would really like to get an understanding of how Hollywood changes films from their original stories. This class, I'm hoping, will help me gain a better understanding of the film industry -- considering how I am hoping to go in to a career involving film. I actually really enjoy learning about history, and learning through film is a different way of tiring to understand it. I have watched a lot of historical films and hope I can bring good discussion into the class room.
A. I am really hoping this class will be exciting and an awesome learning experience; not just about history but about films as well. I would really like to get an understanding of how Hollywood changes films from their original stories. This class, I'm hoping, will help me gain a better understanding of the film industry -- considering how I am hoping to go in to a career involving film. I actually really enjoy learning about history, and learning through film is a different way of tiring to understand it. I have watched a lot of historical films and hope I can bring good discussion into the class room.
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