Music Dystopia trailer

I found this sound clip on freesound.org. It is creative commons, so we can use it in our production. I like this clip because it evokes a very calm feeling in the listener. I feel as if this would work very well with the beginning of our trailer, when the protagonist is exercising her creativity and the environment is calm. It will be a sharp contrast to the rest of the trailer, which is what we wanted with the introduction.




This sound could offer the sense of contrast after the birdsongs, as it has an intense and overbearing feeling that is important to convey about the society's government. I also like how it grows louder and more intense over time, adding to the dramatic effect.


After these two clips, which would likely begin the trailer, we might want a more dynamic beat to go along with action scenes and make it more exciting, as well as fitting in with the quick cuts between shots we will be utilizing.

Title shot - sunflower seeds on the ground after game
First shot - someone throwing a ball into the backstop
Second shot - team talking between games
Third shot - ball on the mound between games
Fourth shot - putting up hair
Fifth shot - taking up bases

I used a Sony DSC-HX1 to shoot the video. I edited with iMovie '11, and the editing process went smoothly after I figured out how to import the footage.

I think my 5x5 turned out really well. I thought I used a good variety of shots and different techniques while creating it. It shows a lot of the down moments between games and after them, and I think it's very honest footage and a good representation of the spirit of the game.

For the next video challenge I think we should do a short video showing us doing something in our daily lives from an impersonal point of view. I think that would be interesting to do and to watch.

Movie Trailer Review - V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta. James McTeigue. R. 2005.
In a dystopian world, there exists a movement against the government in the form of a fighter named V (Hugo Weaving), a man trying to exact revenge for a disaster caused by the government which left him disfigured, and his gang of rebels. When Evey (Natalie Portman) becomes caught up in their schemes, she must determine whether her loyalty lies with the rebel movement or the government.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y36B71wnEq0&feature=fvwrel

V for Vendetta is an exemplary trailer because it includes suspense as well as important technical elements including film techniques such as transitions and coloration weaved throughout the building of plot and setting. The trailer opens with the main character, an average girl names Evey caught up in a much larger plot, refusing to betray someone named "V", under the threat that she will die without revealing his whereabouts. This introduction pulls the viewer in as soon as the trailer begins, creating suspense. Many questions are left open early on, including who this girl is, who she is being questioned by, who "V" is, and why she refuses to betray him. Many of these questions are not answered in the trailer, so as not to spoil the plot, which adds suspense and also makes the viewer want to watch the movie more. The fighting scenes and the exposure to the plot reveal just enough information to leave the viewer intrigued, but not so much that the viewer becomes bored. The setting also becomes more clear throughout the trailer's progression, as the voice-over and the characters describe the horrors of their situation.  V is shown as a leader of the rebel movement, but not much is revealed about his personality, leading the viewer to wonder what his relationship with Evey is, and why she becomes so dedicated to him after being captured by the government. While these elements make it interesting, the flow of the trailer is created by choppy transitions and building music, which add a feeling of tension and desperation. The coloration of the trailer is also dark, which adds to the gloomy effect of the dystopian world that V is fighting against. This trailer is very interesting because it does not become clear throughout it which characters are morally sound and which are not. V is shown only fighting, not helping people who are being hurt by society. It raises the question for the viewer of whether he has trustworthy motives. I think the beginning was one of the strongest points in the trailer, and I would like to include a starting scene like that in our trailer in order to gain the audience's attention. I also liked the idea of the short clips with the loud short beats of the music, creating a mood. The most important thing that I understood after watching this trailer is that it's good to leave some questions open throughout it, in order to captivate the viewer.

Learning Through Blogs

The article "Preparing Students to Learn Without Us" is about the idea that soon, with the abundant access to the internet among young people, teaching through that medium will become inevitable. It covers both the advantages and disadvantages of this development, ultimately giving instructions to the reader about what to do and what to avoid while conducting research through blogging. 

In the article, the author wrote, "personalizing learning means allowing students to choose their own paths through the curriculum," which was a quote that really spoke to me because this is the way I have always viewed the ideal of learning: having access to the tools necessary to succeed in doing whatever personally suits you, and what will help you learn and grow as a person. Standardizing curriculum is a concept that has never made sense to me in the way that education works in the United States. 

I like the idea of using the blogs to connect with others working on projects like the ones we're doing, because it adds another perspective. It's interesting to learn through both your teacher, your peers, and other sources, because you can find a variety of viewpoints on any one issue, which I find fascinating. 

I'm interested in writing and directing films in this class, so those might be things I could research through blogging. 

(Diigo isn't working on my computer right now for some reason, so I'll get the annotations up sometime this weekend, probably Monday.)

Diigo Movie Review Annotation Assignment

Movie Review

The movie I read a review of was The Amazing Spiderman, published in The New York Times by Manohla Dargis.

Dargis opens by introducing the history of Spiderman: the past movies, the comic books, and the reception that both have received. This is a theme that continues throughout the review as Dargis repeatedly compares and contrasts the new movie to the old. The review takes a lot of time talking about the past of the franchise and not much on the movie itself. When the review does speak about the new movie, it is mainly a plot synopsis, with added critiques of most changes. The author spends a little time lamenting the lack of acting expertise, but almost entirely forgets to talk about the cinematic aspects of the production, which are critiqued in their one line as superfluous and cheesy.

The review is written in a serious tone, but as though the author intends to be masking their personal opinion on the film while making slight digs at it. The reviewer does not recommend the film, although they do not explicitly state that. The reviewer does not rate the movie nor give away its ending.

I think that one of the major problems with the cinematic analyses last year was that we had to answer specific questions, and we weren't so much writing a review as talking about the various aspects of the film in relation to history and writing techniques. It was rather dull. It would be more interesting if we could choose any movie that we wanted to watch and be given the freedom to write a review focusing on what we wished to write about.

Filmmaking Introduction Post

Hello, my name is Katherine and this is my CAP 10 blog. I like traveling, music, and softball. I'm most interested in directing film because I like telling people what to do and bringing a vision to life. My favorite film projects were my Individual Media Project in eighth grade, where I was allowed to write, direct, and edit a short film on any topic. I decided to make mine about Alice In Wonderland, one of my favorite books. I loved this project because it allowed me to do anything I wanted, and I was given total creative control. Another project that I enjoyed was the New York Documentary Project, also in eighth grade, where we went to New York City for a week and conducted an interview with an artist, later making it into a documentary about the connection between art and its setting, in this case the city. We were given a lot of freedom to roam around the city and take b-roll, and I thought it was a lot of fun. I did all the editing in my group, and I also took a lot of the b-roll that we used.

Some ideas I have for using our blogs this year:

• We could use them to share our film projects once they're complete
• We could use them to brainstorm ideas for projects with our classmates and give each other advice on them
• We could use them to reflect on our projects