4/21

Beckett on Film. This is the first time I have seen these films. I liked watching them because they are different, a cross between experimental and narrative, but some of them were disturbing. Act without Words is successful with causing the viewers, or at least me, to being frustrated. I can only watch it so much until the absurdity becomes too much. I began to think about why I can only take so much of these types of films. Am I only capable of enjoying certain types of films based upon my past experience with watching films with my family? My interests and disinterests stem from my childhood experiences. Would a child enjoy experimental films more if they grew up watching them?

4/14

Being a film major, I already have already seen various films from different time periods and styles. Even though I have seen so many films, this was my first experience with Charlie Chaplin. I never thought about the serious issues Keaton and Chaplin tackle through their comedic performances. I have never compared the two either. I began to think about the ways comedic movies have changed from the past to the present. It seems that there is a bigger emphasis on one-liners and crude humor now. The silent films required expressive movement to portray the emotions and story, so the actors had to focus on their body than their words like today’s actors. In some ways, I believe that actors in earlier decades had more wit that many of today’s actors because of the lack of voice. Famous comedians today gain their fame from making jokes on stage and moving up to television or film. Some of the most famous comedians like Robin Williams or Billy Crystal have distinct voices which gave them their popularity. They would most likely not be in the same position if they lived 80 years ago. There are so many actors who would never have been in movies without sound because they have little or no expression.
The downfall with sound is the lack of emphasis on movement and personality. Many of the actors and actresses today have little or no character in their expressions because they are more focused on the words they say than how they say them. If sound was taken away from most of the popular Hollywood movies today, they would be boring.

Spoken Word Poet/SLAM poet (4/15)

There was another spoken word poet who came in the past which was my first time to see that type of a performance. Now that I have seen another poet in a similar category, I can compare the two. The last man spoke more about social issues and some of the music industry today while the recent poet used humor as a basis for most of his pieces. There were only two poems that I can recall which were more serious. One of them sounded very personal because it was about a failed relationship he had with a past girlfriend who did not feel the same for him as he felt for her. Many of the metaphors he used were ones that I would never think about using in my writing which made it so interesting to listen to. He used his size and food for a majority of his humor which made me think about our culture. Because the media portrays obesity as something to make fun of, people are used to laughing at “fat jokes” or obese people. The poet used his weight to make the audience laugh most of the time. We feel like an outcast if we do not laugh with society, so we naturally join the audience. This is also why we feel the need to make fun of ourselves. If we describe ourselves as perfect, we will be an outcast. Americans feel the needs to discuss self-issues to fit in with the rest of the imperfect crowds who do not fit society’s standards usually created by the media.

The Buddhism Convocation (4/15)

I have always wondered about the eastern religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, etc. Growing up in a reasonably conservative Christian environment, I was sheltered from a majority of the other religions. We studied them in high school but not in detail. I only knew a few Jewish and Catholic people who went to my school, so that was my closest experience to any non-Protestant religions. All of the popular religious groups I ever noticed were usually affiliated with the Presbyterian or Methodist church.
When I first walked in they were chanting a prayer which sounded so unique. There was a wooden display with a paper and light inside with a Buddhist prayer written in a specific type of Japanese dialect. Apparently, there are many different sects of Buddhism which may speak different dialects and use different formats or ceremonies of meetings. I thought it was unique that there is not one specific hold day like Sunday in the Christian religions, and the religion is so open to a variety of people. The speaker, who was a transgender, shared her story about growing up in a conservative Christian household and dealing with her inner battles about who she was. The people in this group welcomed and accepted her with open arms and did not preach to her about sins and hell. The question and answer forum which followed helped explain some questions I had like the language spoken and the various forms of the religion. It sounds like the Christian religion in that there are many forms with one common base. I would be interested in exploring the religion further.

Irish Folk Singers (4/16)

I loved the two men’s performance! It reminded me of hearing my dad playing his Irish folk tapes in his side room of our house. My father lived in Ireland for about 6 months before he married and always has a story about some incident which happened to him from driving his motorcycle across the countryside to meeting and staying with families. He also told me about the varying accents across the country which the two singers brought up. I could tell the Cork accent as soon as I sat down to listen. I had never seen an Irish act in person, so I thoroughly enjoyed their performance. I also learned about the Irish festival in Northern Louisiana which I never knew existed. The performance was proof of the tradition of stories being told through songs. Many of the popular songs in America are about one relationship or sexual desires while their songs had history, romance, and comedy. The two men expressed the emotions of the song through movement and facial expressions to portray the meaning of the song. I would love to see more acts from people from other countries. It also would have been nice to have a conversation with them about their tours and experiences.

4/7

I realize that I have been growing up during a time where Music Videos are seen almost as often as films which attract teenagers and other people in my generation. I look at music videos as a combination of experimental films and short television shows. This is a way to sell experimental films as a form of popular culture. It reminds about our topic on consumer culture. We, as a country, base ourselves on our economic structure, capitalism. Everything is competition and has a price. Even art is a part of the structure, and music videos are a prime example of the music industry combining using art as a form of business. The artists compete for the “top spot” on MTV shows like TRL (Total Request Live) and shows on VH1. One way bands compete for the number one spot is through music videos. Every band or music artist is trying to either use a unique and controversial idea which no one has used before or they use sex and love to tell stories in a video. Madonna is a common example of a controversial film where she also uses her sexuality to sell the videos. Many of the rap artists today rely solely of sexuality to sell their music. This represents how music videos have evolved from seeing the artists dance, to unusual and controversial visual representations, to half-naked women dancing around in a bar. There are still many artists who use symbolism and artistic representations for their music videos, but there are fewer of these videos than the others.

4/1-Classical Hollywood Cinema

The first film that came to my mind when we were discussing the Classical Hollywood Cinema was the movie Casablanca. I remember discussing it in film history. It was one of the earlier and prime examples of Classical Hollywood Cinema because it follows the rules of continuity editing like the 180 degree line, star system, mise-en-scene, and plot. I believe that there is a current rise of independent films because the public is looking for new storylines and film techniques with fewer predictable endings. The beginning of film genres created expectation for the audience. People went to see romantic comedies with Cary Grant or film noirs/suspense films to see the femme fatale.

Terror's Advocate

At first I had no idea what to expect about this film. I heard it was about a lawyer for terrorists, but that did not narrow down the possible focuses of the documentary. Parts of the film were difficult to follow because there were numerous names, years, and organizations spoken about throughout the film. I wish that the editor cut down the film by an hour, but the talking heads combined with the numberous names made the film hard to follow. I did think it was interesting to hear about the battles between Algeria and France directly and indirectly. I never knew that there was so much tension between the two countries.

3/24-Photomontages

After discussing photomontages, I thought about my brief work with Adobe Photoshop. I worked for a photo paper company for several summers, and the last summer I learned a little about how Photoshop works. With new technology, art in every form is re-inventing itself. Photographers are always trying to be different and unique, and thus change a traditional photo into a more complicated image with symbols and metaphors. When photographic artists like Hannah Hoch created their pieces, it was more difficult because several photos would have to be developed and superimposed by hand. With technology, laying photos is easily done. Because it is easier and more common to make collages today, it seems like it is not viewed as important as it was years ago. I realize that in the art world, you can only become famous if you attempt to create pieces which no one has ever seen before. In other words, one must start a new movement or at least be one of the co-creators to become famous and make a decent living.

3/10, lower class

Many of the images we studied reminded me about some of the propaganda documentaries I have seen in other classes. During the great Depression in the United States’ President Roosevelt started a variety of programs to help different groups like the Tennessee Valley Association. I have seen documentaries made, like The River, to sell these groups as propaganda to show the work the government is doing to help the economic situation. These photographs we saw in class show the emotion and depression of the people in lower class by focusing on them rather than on the country as a whole or large group of people. We, as the viewers, feel close to the subject because they are looking straight at us in many cases. The background of many of the photographs makes it credible because it looks real rather than a backdrop. Images such as these helped show the public how the lower class lives.

3/3-The Body

I thought our discussions about Robert Mapplethorpe were interesting because his portraits reminded me about several statues from Greek history like Octavius and Augustus. His photographs of the African-American male looked similar to the ancient marble statues yet his skin color was black. In this way, Mapplethorpe brings back the Greek form of sculpture into more modern times. Knowing Mapplethorpe’s sexual association, I wondered if he might have had a relationship with this man because it seems that he has several photographs of him. I begin to wonder what every photographer’s relationship is with their subjects. Sometimes it is easier to tell than others through the name of the piece, but other times it is more difficult. It is the same way with paintings. I wonder why artists choose to paint certain people or places over others. Mapplethorpe also has his subjects lay or stand in specific positions which appear to be either statuesque or sexual.

2/25

Some of the shots that stood out the most to me were the photographs of Denver. My home, Dallas, has been and still is growing rapidly. The rural areas used to be so much closer, and there was much less traffic before the suburbs grew. A store that may be ten minutes away can take twice as long to get to because of the growth. The natural beauty of the land is gone with the invasion of mass crowds of people. This contrasts so much with Ansel Adams’s photographs of the west. One shows America as a vast country with grand mountains and beautiful rivers while Robert Adams represents America as a country being destroyed by people removing its natural beauty. It makes me question where the constant building will end.

2/19

I am excited about studying photography because I know very little about historical photographers. I worked at a photo paper company for many summers, so I know about modern-day photographs and Adobe Photoshop. I have discovered my favorite portrait photographer, Cindy Sherman. She brings film and photography together by portraying a character. Because each of her photographs has a different character in a different setting, I like to see and compare each one of her photographs. That is one exhibit I would travel anywhere to see. By using herself as the subject, she makes each photograph strong by giving it meaning through representation. The fact that it is the same woman in every photograph has meaning in itself. One woman can have many faces and look physically different from day to day but be the exact same woman otherwise.
Her photographs raise feminist questions like what natural beauty is and who is the woman behind the appearance. Sherman portrays different classes of women (lower to upper) and has a realistic expression to each one. She makes the viewer think about how we look at women in film by having one still shot at a specific angle. In several of her photographs, the camera looks up to her and gives her a sense of power. There is a photograph where Sherman portrays a dead woman, and the camera looks down at her. This focuses more on her dead gaze out rather than our gaze at her.

Week 1/21

In discussing perpective, the first idea that comes into my head has to do with the different perspectives of film (subjective, objective, and bird's eye view). Filmmakers use different angles and point of views for different effects. A landscape or bird's-eye-view shot may be used as an establishing shot in a film to display the general location (city, train or cars, farm or city, etc.). An objective view makes the viewer feel like they are a part of the film with the actor speaking to them. A subjective view may be used at different angles (looking down upon or up to) with the characters in the film. Doing so can either give or take power away from the character and present them in an perspective the director wants you to see him/her as. This is very similar to the way an artist paints a picture in a desired perspective.
We have been discussing the realism of documentary films. It is impossible to completely portray history because a camera lense can only show so much. Modern technology can never fully reproduce a moment in time for a specific individual. For example, a documentary about the life of a tribe in Ecuador will only show parts of their life at a time as the director or cameraman see it. We will not have the ability to turn around to see what is behind the camera. We can try to back away and focus the lense on one family or part of the group, but the camera can not catch the total surroundings or feelings of the atmosphere there. A documentary can also be edited to fit the beliefs of the filmmaker; the film can only be so authentic.

Week of Jan. 28th

I was unable to see the film Paris Je T'aime, but I have seen it before in theaters. It was definitely different from what I expected, but it was a very unique way to represent different point of views of one city. There was a complete mixture of editing and filming techniques which made the film both aesthetically pleasing as well as disturbing depending on the parts of the movie. The abrupt change in types of film, like the change to the vampire clip, bothered me a little because it was quite different from the story before and after it. It would be like having a photography or painting exhibit with one piece from each artist placed next to each other in one enclosed room. We compare and contrast the pieces starting with color and size because that sticks out the most. With film, we compare the different film shorts by color and sound because that is what is more apparent with film.
Each film portrays different perspectives of Paris. We see the lives of people who live in Paris, people visiting Paris, and a mythological couple (vampires) in Paris. The combination of these varying stories represents the different types of cultural point of views of love, specifically in Paris.

Week of Feb. 4th

Andy Warhol is the name which I thought about as we discussed postmodernism and pop culture because his art was a combination of the two. His images of Marilyn Monroe take an already existing popular image of a star and give it new perspective. He did the same with store products. Advertising is a form of business which uses art as medium to sell a product or company name. Warhol takes the Campbell’s Soup can and uses different colors to display it. By taking an already existing image and putting a new look on it, we have different ways to look at an old image in a new way.
Even though collages are different, I believe they can have a similar effect. By taking images that exist in magazines or other photographs and combining them with each other, they create a new meaning. I have made collages before with teen magazines, and the final piece looks like images which or culture pushes us to look and act like. This is why the media is criticized for the ideal body appearance. The images of the ‘beautiful woman or man’ are pushed in our faces through advertising and other products which “will make us perfect.” The presentation of old images in a new form is a self-reflexive form of art which makes the viewer question what is beauty and art.

Alejandro's Short Films

I was so happy to see someone from Centenary College of Louisiana get into USC grad school. I actually e-mailed their Graduate Admissions office my senior year in high school to see if they would accept anyone from Centenary. However, I was beginning to think that grad school is not worth the time and money after talking to some people. Hearing Alejandro's experience gave me a better idea about the projects they do. I had thought that they only critique movies, and you never get experience. I have a positive view of film grad school again.
My favorite project was his black and white film, Pituco. He was able to have so much depth and meaning in a short film which I am currently struggling with in the film classes here. The casting was well done and his explanation gives me an idea of how to look for actors in the future. If he returned with more film, I would definately go to see them.

Week 1/14

The reading for this week analyzes how we look at pictures and photographs and read them. Every person thinks differently, so each individual will interpret a picture somewhat differently from another. We can create pictures to manipulate a viewers attention, but the individual will read the image based on their personal life experiences. There are basic ways to see a picture where a group of people can agree on the purpose of a picture or photograph. For example, if a company like McDonalds shows an ad for their happy meals and fun toys that come with it, they are most likely trying to sell their image and product to children. We can make general assumptions, but any details will differ from person to person.

One of the best ways to analyze a picture would be to break down every detail first, and then puti it all together again. Then one can look at the overal picture and see how all of the details come together to create a meaning. One of the paintings I observed was the Mona Lisa at the website from our syllabus. The articles breaks down te paintings into several categories like physical condition, colors used, field od depth, facial expression, location of background of painting, etc. It gave me a whole new outlook of the painting I never really paid attention to before. I always looked at the woman and her expression and what it means to me and then stop there. Now I realize how interesting the other parts of the art are and it changes my overall outlook on the piece.

TEST

This is a test blog.