Life of Love, Love of Life

Pre Production

My Original Goal

My original goal was to capture Love in its many different forms.  I wanted to show that Love can be many things:  it can take many shapes, and it can not simply be defined by a single definition.  I wanted to show a lifetime of Love, how throughout a person’s life, the Love they feel towards different people and new people they meet grows and strengthens.  For example, when a mother and father hold their newborn child for the first time they instantly are overwhelmed with a sense of uncompromising, immeasurable, never-ending Love for their child that will grow and develop as their child does.  Similarly, when a couple, destined to marry, meets for the first time, they might experience “Love at first sight.”  Yet, on the other hand, some future life-partners meet for the first time, and they may feel nothing at all; however, as they spend time together their feelings towards each other mature until they can call it Love.  There is also the kind of Love we are born into, such as the Love of our family members, parents or siblings.  We do not choose our family; yet, they become our very best friends and we Love them very much.

Inspiration

I came up with this concept because the word Love, and more-so the emotions connected with Love, fascinate me.  I feel as though my generation throws around the word Love too much in situations where it does not deserved to be used.  I wanted to show Love in its pure forms, like Young Love – teen lovers holding hands – or Passionate Love – a couple’s feet sticking out of the sheets as they are entwined in bed or Sibling Love – brothers that have all grown up together and spent a lifetime by each others’ sides.  These are the pure forms of Love I intended to capture and display for the class and Professor Williams.

My true inspiration comes from the closeness I have with my family, especially my Mom and Dad.  I grew up very close to my parents and I Love them very much.  When I tell my parents I Love them I truly and honestly feel and know that I Love them with all my heart.  I Love them because they Love me without question and without reservation.  This is why I have never felt comfortable with people throwing around the word Love.  I feel that every time they do, it takes away from the times they say it and truly mean it.  This is why I now only use the word Love when I truly mean it.  I knew that I could do this project using my family as my subjects because they have always shown me the Love I was trying to depict in my photographs, and what better time to take these photos then when my entire family was gathered together for Thanksgiving.

For our family Thanksgiving is a special time.  We celebrate and enjoy the family we have and remember the family we no longer have with us.  This year, I knew my brother, Tyler, would be with us, as well as my little cousins, my newly wed Aunt and Uncle and my new cousin, Farima, two of my Dad’s other brothers, my mother’s sister and her children.  There would be some much Love around that I knew it would be the perfect time to capture all different types of Love, and I was right.

Production

Executing the Plan

Carrying out my original plan was not as easy as I envisioned.  The setting was my house on Thanksgiving Day, with 25 members of my extended family present.  The event was perfect for gathering everyone in one place.  However, the sheer number of people, including children, often proved chaotic.

Difficulties

It was difficult getting everyone to sit still (or stand still, as it turned out) for the “Family Love” photo.  I planned on taking this photo around the dining room table but was unable to do so because the layout of the room, the maximum distance I could reach from the room and the camera lens would not allow me to get everyone in the shot.  I switched locations to the kitchen which allowed me to get everyone in the photo.

I explained my project to everyone and made it clear that I wanted to take some posed photos and candid shots.  The candid shots were difficult because someone was always in the wrong spot, someone would walk in front of me as I took the photo or one or more of my subjects “disappeared” by the time I selected the camera settings.  Some of the posed photos were too stiff and the lighting wasn’t always the best.  Often times, from across the room, I would see my little cousins playing with their mom or my Dad and his brothers joking around but by the time I wiggled through the array furniture and family members the moment was lost.

I borrowed a camera for the project and I wasn’t all that familiar with its operation by the time Thanksgiving rolled around.  I took photos using both manual settings and the automatic setting to ensure that if I didn’t get it right, the camera would.  I took 215 photos in total and managed to squeeze out nine that I considered acceptable for this project.  From those 9 I choose the 7 I thought best encompassed my overall goal of exhibiting Love in its many forms.

Production Time

Guests arrived at noon and most people left around 9 pm.  I took photos throughout the day.  My subjects were my family members – Mom and Dad, my Brother, Aunts, Uncles, first and second Cousins and our four-legged family members, Harley and Domino.

Materials

I used a Canon EOS D60, with a Tamaron lens to take the photos.  The D60 is a digital SLR that shoots at film speeds from 100 to 800.  The camera batteries were old and had to be recharged several times.  This slowed up shooting.

I edited the photos using Photoshop Elements 2.  The photos were printed on Kodak Premium Picture Paper using an HP Office jet Pro L7555 printer.

For the matting I went to the local AC Moore back home and purchased two 22” x 28” foam boards and eight 8” x 10” mats.  This was one more than I needed, just in case one didn’t turn out right.

Execution vs. Objectives

I think I achieved my objective – to capture different types of Love in a photo essay.  However, I did make some changes from my original plan.  I originally intended to do nine photos and then display them all in a large frame.  However, I decided against this due to the size and shape of affordable frames.  Also, I originally planned to present nine (9) photos, because nine (9) would have been symmetrical in a large rectangular frame (3 rows or 3).  Another factor I originally planned on was to have the outer 8 pictures in black and white and the center picture – which would have been “Family Love” to be in color.  However, once I looked at all the photographs I had taken I felt as though the number of pictures the original display (nine) would take away from the overall emotion in each individual picture.  So instead of framing all the pictures in one massive frame, I decided to mat each one, individually, and very carefully order them to tell the story of a Life of Love.

In addition, I decided to print my center photo in black and white like the rest of my photographs, rather than print it in color as I contemplated during pre-production.  I did this for several reasons.  First, the center photo depicts Family Love and encompasses all my family members.  The many different colors in the photo of shirts, dresses, furniture, labels, reflections all clash, fade, and pop – I wanted the attention of the viewers to be drawn to the many different personalities and emotions of the people in the photo, not the vivid display of conflicting colors.  Without the colors, all the chaos, noise, and rush of the family gathering is washed away and all that is left to emphasize is the sheer fun and joyful emotions that create Family Love.  The photo reminds me of a quilt of many different happy faces and warm feelings sewn together by Love.

I chose black and white for the rest of the photos, which also depict Love.  However, in these photos the Love is more quiet and personal, more one-on-one, depicting Young Love or Sibling Love or Puppy Love.  I think the black and white takes away all the noise and distractions, and allows the viewer to focus on the individual type of love portrayed in each picture, leading up to Family Love.

Post Production

The post-production phase of the project consisted of downloading, editing, printing and mounting the photos.

Downloading

I downloaded my photos using Photoshop Elements 2.  Viewing the photos was a humbling experience.  The problems included out of focus pictures, wrong lighting, intended subject only partially in the photo, someone’s hand blocking the flash and overexposed subjects.  Some of the photos were good, but did not depict the subject of Love.  Other photos depicted Love, but were so overexposed that I could not use them.

Editing

I was able to fix some of the lighting issues as well as cropping out unwanted parts of photos with Photoshop.  I was also able to experiment with different effects and color values, which ultimately convinced me to use black and white for all the pictures.  Rather than simply making each photograph black and white I tried a variety of different effects to the photo first and then “removed” the color.  I later learned that printing in “maximum greytones” enhances the “black and white” of the photo.  Although these effects are subtle, I found this really worked great for certain pictures like Sibling Love – in which I first made sepia and then turned black and white – or New Love – which I made black and white but kept only the rings gold and added a small shadow around the outside of the picture.  I did the editing over a period of three days.  Each time I went back to the photos, I made a slight change, until I was satisfied with the final version.  I believe the final result conveys what I wanted to achieve – a photo essay depicting various forms of Love.

Printing

This was another humbling experience that proves that what you see on your computer monitor is not necessarily what you get in print.  I learned how important PC monitor color calibration is and that more often than not photos print two to three times darker than they appear on your monitor (at least on my monitor).  This turned out to be an expensive proposition as I printed several copies of the same photo until I could adjust the color or black and white to where I want it to be.

A good printer and photo quality paper also contribute to the sharpness of the photo and vibrancy of the colors and contrast of black and white.

Mounting

I laid out the photos on the floor and decided on the final layout.  I wanted the pictures to tell a story, to show a lifetime of Love and how Love can grow and change and expand.  I wanted the order of the photos to portray the fact that the word “Love” is not a simple definition for an emotion we feel, but it can be all different kinds of emotions felt by all different types of people.  8×10 mats were on sale Thanksgiving week and I got a good deal on the ones I liked – plain, yet very professional looking.

My biggest success was telling the story of Love, or at least a small part of Love’s story.  I started with a young couple holding hands, shot low from the back.  This shot is followed immediately by the older coupler with their hands overlapping and wearing wedding rings.  This was to show the transition of Love, how over the years it evolves and strengthens to the next level.  Next, I arrange the couple in bed, with their legs intertwined and their feet poking out of the covers.  This again demonstrates another step in the journey of Love.  Next, I carefully positioned the photo I call “True Love”.  Where to arrange this picture was one of my greatest challenges, as I thoroughly liked it and wanted to place it where I could do it justice.  Originally I planned on putting it at the very beginning, like the birth of the child so would be the birth of Love at the beginning of the journey of Love and thus at the beginning of the photo essay.  However, I don’t feel as though this is where Love starts, and I had to show that there is real Love long before and leading up to when a baby is born and a mother and fathers Love for their newborn child is True Love.  Therefore, I placed this photo in the center of all the photographs, in the center of all the Love.  \\

Next, I chose Puppy Love, which could have a number of different meanings – like when children form a liking towards one another – yet in this case it’s showing the Love or “emotion: that a pet toward a human.  Next, I placed Sibling Love in the photo of my Father and tow of brothers.  We can see the similarities between the three men and at the same time we can see the warm bond between them that can only develop from a lifetime of shared memories and childhood events.  I feel as though Sibling Love was the perfect forerunner into Family Love, which displays the entire family gathered together in Love for a Thanksgiving celebration.  Family Love encompasses all the other types of Love between husbands and wives, parents and their children, brothers and sister, and cousins to cousins.

My biggest disappointment was that I could not photograph everything!  There was just so much going on in all the excitement and commotion of the family gathered at once that there was just too many things happening to capture it all.  Sometimes I saw great shot from across the room, but by the time I got there it was gone.  Other times, I took superb shoot; however, it did not incorporate the central theme of Love.

I enjoyed the project for a number of reasons.  It was great fun to be the one behind the camera that Thanksgiving Day and especially viewing all the pictures after almost everyone had left that night.  What made the project even more enjoy was that I was home and the subjects were my relatives.  After I had taken most of my pictures, edited them, printed them, and matted them it was like I had a little picture of home and of my family that I could take back to school with me and display to the class.  Also, one of the best parts might be this Christmas, when most of my family will be together again and I can set up my photo essay and display it to my family – except, unlike in class, this time the viewers will also have been the subjects.

Another factor that really made this photo essay enjoyable was the subject matter – Love – my original idea.  I know that as an individual I have gained a better understanding, as well as a greater appreciation for Love, and I hope that all that view my work do as well.  From the start this was my original intention and now – after almost completing the project – I truly feel I have accomplished my goal.

I would do another Photo Essay, but I would do some things differently.  First, I would be more familiar with the equipment I was using.  Second, when it comes to photographing people, I think I prefer portraits or one-subject photos, rather than photos involving lots of people.

~Michael Brown

Life Of Love

"Young Love"

"New Love"

.

"Passionate Love"

"True Love"

.

"Puppy Love"

"Sibling Love"

Love Of Life

"Family Love"

LIFE OF LOVE, LOVE OF LIFE

Format – Photo Essay – how will it be presented – Length? What size? How many? etc.

Photo Essay: 7+ related photographs.  They will be presented in high quality printed photograph form.  There will be no less than 7 photos, but possibly a few additional.  The photos will be printed on high quality 8X10 photo paper on a professional printer.

Concept/Theme – What’s your idea?

My idea is to capture the many different types and emotions of Love in photographs.  I believe there are different kinds of “Love” and I will try to emulate the main ones.  For example the Love between a husband and a wife is very different from the Love that two friends feel for each other.

1. True Love
2. Family Love
3. Friendship Love
4. Passionate Love
5. Fathers’ Love
6. Mothers’ Love
7. Siblings’ Love
8. New Love
9. Old Love
10.Young Love
11.Puppy Love
12.Future Love

Purpose/Intent – What is the purpose for your piece?    Why is it relevant in today’s world?

The purpose of my piece is to express a happy, positive side of mankind’s strongest emotion in its my facets, Love!  It’s intent is to bring to realization the word “Love.”  For it is only a word, an English word given to something we feel, and, to quote the great William Shakespeare, “a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”  It is easy to say “I love you” and I feel as though the term is thrown around far too much in our society today.  So much so, that to some its value has been demoralized and misunderstood.  Sometimes we here mere acquaintances just telling each other it to be silly or a young couple going through ups and downs using it obsessively.  It is in cases such as these that the honest and true definition of Love is lost.  Love, True Love, is something that needs to be taken more seriously.  I want everyone who views my piece to be taken back and think from a new perspective of Love, or for my piece to further establish their own strong feelings towards this magical emotion.  I would like the audience to say to them selves, “Wow, I never really saw the different Loves of the World like that before!”  I intend to depict Love in its many different forms and by doing so show all who view my work that the term Love, if used proper, can encompass a range of emotions between individuals that is truly unlike anything else.

Production Plan – How are you going to execute it? What days are you going to shoot, edit, refine?  Who are your actors, subjects going to be? What images will you use?  What kind of preparation and research have you conducted?

What are some expected issues you might face?

I plan to execute the shooting over the Thanksgiving Break.  This will be the perfect opportunity as I will be home with my Parents for the first time in almost a month.  In addition much of my extend family will be visiting for our Thanksgiving celebration.  There is no better opportunity to capture an array of Love than at a large family gathering, especially Thanksgiving.  This will give me less than a week to capture, edit, print, compose, arrange, and frame all the shoots I need, however this should be enough time because I really want to take these photographs “in the moment.”  I want to literally capture the essence and feeling of that exact moment in an image that can live on.  At first I will announce to all my friends and family my plans, as well as the parameters of this assignment, then when applicable I would like to take the photographs without asking anyone to do or act in a specific way.  In doing to it will truly bring life to the photographs and emulate something real, as apposed to a falsified image, because in the end I am absolutely trying to avoid the falsification of True Love.  I want the “Love” expressed in each picture to be authentic and thus not fabricated by me, as the photographer.  If a couple is kissing in the photograph, It needs to be a real kiss, an honest kiss, a loving kiss; if siblings have their arms around each other smiling then that is the Love I want to portray at that moment.  I would prefer not to call the individuals in my photographs “actors or actresses” because I don’t want them to be acting.  For my family and friends to be perfect subjects I want them to be themselves, as if they are completely unaware I am even in the room with a camera.  Yet at the same time there is a wide range of problems that can occur; most of which would be technical, such as the printer running out of ink, the store not having just the right frame style and size I intended, the camera I will be using could malfunction or the batteries could not hold their charge.  However through diligence and possibly many hours of problem solving to fix something so small yet crucial to the overall quality of this piece I will prevail against all odds.  I have prepared this list of the major types of Love by researching how common people feel.  I have done this by ask family, friends, peers, professors, acquaintances, and complete strangers what, “They Think Love Is.”  Some said it was between a husband and a wife, some said it was between a mother and her son, some said it was between a father and his daughter, some said it was about passion, some said it was about emotion, some said it was about trust and loyalty and commitment; while other simply said it was between a Man and a Women, pure and simple.  My idea is to capture this all, and more.

*PHOTO ESSAY – you should have a STORY BOARD or list of images that you intend/hope to capture.

These are the many facets of Love I have found to be most prevalent without overlapping one another:

1. True Love à A Mother, Father, and Their New Born
2. Family Love à My entire family at the dinner table
3. Friendship Love à Best friend, always their for each other
4. Passionate Love à A couple kissing, or their feet at the end of a bed
5. Fathers’ Love à A Father and his child
6. Mothers’ Love à A Mother and her child
7. Siblings’ Love à Siblings embracing
8. New Love à My newly wed Uncle and Aunt
9. Old Love à My older neighbors
10.Young Love à Teenage lovers
11.Puppy Love à Child with cute & cuddly doggies?
12.Future Love à Possibly younger lovers photographed from behind holding hands?

Inspiration – How did you come up with this?  Why is it important to you?

***WHO OR WHAT INFLUENCES YOUR WORK – You must provide some background and significant information of this person or inspiration in general, name their body of work and how and why this PERSON/THEME influences your final creative project.

I have a big family and we are all very close and at family gathers there is a great sense of warmth, comfort, and of coarse Love!  Especially between My Parents and I.  There are no two other people I am as close to, or will ever be as close to, as My Parents.  This is where my inspiration has steamed and grown from.  Growing up I have always been very close with My Parent and when I was home I would spend a majority of my time with them.  Going away to College has only made our bond stronger and my homecomings even more special.  My family is on the larger side and we almost always spend the holidays together.  I cannot express how much I am looking forward to being home this Thanksgiving.  This is where I got the sensational idea to use this opportunity of real family coming together to capture the True essence of Love.  Then I thought of broadening the topic to each form of Love.  Looking at the many different relationships in my family and friends coming from many different places around The World I had discovered the Perfect blend of the many different types of Love.  For example, my Uncle just recently got married.  He and his new wife will be there; this emulates “New Love.”  My neighbors and close friends, who are in their later years and have been married for a long time, will be there; they depict “Old Love.”  My Dad has 7 brothers, those of which, that are alive, will be there; and this encapsulates “Sibling Love.”  And so on.  I plan on making the most powerful imagine of all to be the photograph of my entire family and all my closest friends all gathered around the dinner table at once.  I want this to be the center picture in which, just like all my family members around the dinner table, all the other pictures will surround this one image, Truly encompassing the ‘surrounding’ feeling of Love.

Expected Outcome/Prediction – What do you hope your end result will be?, etc.  Who is your intended audience, how will they react?

The expected outcome will be 7+ photographs in one very large picture frame.  In the center will be the photograph of my entire family and all my closets friends surrounding the long dinner table, “Family Love.”  This picture will be printed larger than the rest of the photographs and place directly in the center of this large frame, which will encompass all of the photographs.  Then surrounding this main idea of “Family Love” will be each of the other Elements of Love in a circular/oval formation, giving the audience a very linear, symmetrical effect.  I want the audiences main focus to be on the obvious, and most prevalent picture of “Family Love” then as their eyes move circularly around the pictures that border this main image the story will unfold of the Elements of Love. The circular pattern of the picture around “Family Love” is extremely important because this shape never ends, it will continuous flow from one depiction to the next, showing how Real Love is a never end cycle.  As the viewers eyes are first encumbered by the slightly larger, busier image of “Family Love” and then follow the natural clockwise motion of the rest of the images I want them to feel a deep sense a warmth and compassion, happiness and joy, all of the same feelings that overwhelm me when I am home for the first time and all I want is for every moment never to end.  And that, in the moment, is True Love.

The term “Third Cinema” – or Tercer Cine, in Spanish – was developed in the 1960s and 1970s Latin American Film Movement to describe a new type anti-consumerism, non-big business type of movie.  According to Solanas and Getino’s manifesto their exist three categories that movies can be depicted as.  There is, “First Cinema,” which is the elaborate Hollywood creation of a film that is meant to entertain the majorities while producing the greatest box-office sales.  Then comes “Second Cinema,” which are the European artistic style films; however, their goal is to convey the personal beliefs of the amateur director in charge of the film.  While, on the contrary, Solanas and Getino have established a definition for the last kind of film, “Third Cinema,” in which the conglomerate, profiteering views of Hollywood are completely rejected and the director does not view the film as a means of personal expression but as a vehicle of truth and inspiration that will appeal to the masses.  This was seen in the recent independent box-office smash hit, “Slum Dog Millionaire,” and it is being seen in the winner of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Prize, “The Maid.”  “The Maid,” filmed in 2008 and directed by Sebastian Silva, portrays the story of a live-in maid that has worked for the Valdes family for 23 consecutive years.  Hispanic actress, Catalina Saavedra, boldly executes the main role of the maid, Raquel.  The movie focuses on Raquel’s struggle to possess an identity, as she is not really a member of the Valdes family, yet at the same time she is not merely “just” the house-maid.  Thus Catalina Saavedra depicts a women trapped in a life torn between the family that has welcomed her and the daily, never-ending cycle of work she must complete for them.  This life that Raquel has grown accustom to, day in and day out, becomes increasingly vulnerable with the arrival of a new maid – hired by the Valdes family to merely, “help her out with things around the house.”  Once this new maid – and then later on in the movie, another new maid – begin to working along side Raquel in the Valdes’ house-hold, Raquel creates an array of debacles to torment these new “threats” to her way of life.  From locking all the doors and having the new maid scale the side of the house to engaging in an all out brawl – maid vs. maid – hair pulling and brooms flying, Raquel makes life in the Valdes house unbearable for everyone.  However, despite her recent catastrophes, the thought of firing Raquel does not cross Mrs. Valdes mind until it is suggested to her, after all, 23 years of faithful service has basically ordained Raquel as a member of the family.

This movie is unique in that it contained no placement advertising and showed very little brand names.  This further distinguishes “The Maid” into the category of “Third Cinema” because that entire movie was about showing a different kind of lifestyle to individuals, or perhaps portraying emotions that the viewers themselves can relate to.

Another key factor that differentiates “The Maid” as a “Third Cinema” film is the fact that it was shot using cameras that appear to be consumer-grade video, which attributes to the washed-out look of the coolers throughout the film.  Although one can not be certain without speaking to the director first-hand, this was probably due to the fact that “The Maid” was a lower budget films and this style and quality of footage was due to the lack of capital backing this film.

One of the most interesting topics that Solanas and Getino argue is that “traditional exhibition models also need to be avoided: the films should be screened clandestinely, both in order to avoid censorship and commercial networks, but also so that the viewer must take a risk to see them.^” I found this quote on the requirements of a “Third Cinema” film particularly amusing because as a class – we all ventured off campus, boarded the underground metro system, emerged onto streets of DC unfamiliar to the majority of us – all to see this totally new film, in a theater that specializes in foreign block-buster, that most of us had never heard of before!  That in and of itself makes Sebastian Silva’s, “The Maid,” a “Third Cinema” film according to Latin American film revolutionists Solanas and Getino.

Work Cited

“Third Cinema.”  CC-Wiki.  The Latin American Film Movement, 16 April 2009.  Web. 18 November 2009.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Cinema

Marzano, Nicola.  “Third Cinema Today.”  Offscreen.com.  ISSN.  Past Issues: Volume 33, Issue 6, Article 2.  1997-2009.  18 November 2009.

http://www.offscreen.com/biblio/pages/essays/third_cinema_today/

"To Kill A Balloon" Movie Poster By Michael Brown

Visual trickery can be used to sum up the marvelous collage of images portrayed on the movie poster Terminator Salvation, which was released in The United States on May 21^st 2009.  This new release, staring Christian Bale, as the destine hero John Connor, has been long awaited and highly anticipated.  When one first views this movie poster we appear to see a type of robotic, skull head, which, of the years has become been a famous symbol associated with the film.  Especially, the well know red glow in the robots eyes.  However, as we look more closely we see that the skull, robot face is made up of an aerial view of a city that lay in ruins and the ‘red glow’ of the skull, robots eyes are accomplished with smoldering pits of fire burning through the city.  This immediately reveals some foreshadowing for what might come in the movie.  What’s fascinating about the poster is how fabulously crafted the designers of this movie poster blended the subliminal message of the Terminator skull in the desolate city.  First, they mapped out the basic outlines of its face by using an interconnected series of roads running throughout the landscape of the city.  Next, they used square and rectangular (shoot from above) shaped buildings to portray his teeth and sinister smile; as well a rows of buildings side by side to represent its open nasal cavity, just like a human skull with no skin.  And finally, the genius idea to craft the flaming eyes by using, what appears to be, smoldering craters formed by massive explosions.

Across the top of the movie poster is intricately placed a very simple, yet gripping tag line, “The End Begins.”  This sure accomplishes its goals, the goal of all movie posters, to draw in a potential moviegoer and posses them to see the film and tell family and friends to as well.  The text used to choreograph the title: Terminator Salvation, mimic the etched and shredded look of the desolate city, matching perfectly and truly trying together the entire poster.  Because the words are so well matched the eye flows neatly and nicely to them, informing us of the name of the “Coming Soon.”

The genre of Termination Salvation falls under action, adventure, as well as Sci-Fi, Thriller. The story is set in post-apocalyptic 2018, in which John Connor is the man fated to lead the human resistance against Skynet and its army of Terminators. But the future Connor was raised to believe in is altered in part by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row. Connor must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future, or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus both embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.

TERMINATOR SALVATION Movie Poster

This documentary style film accurately represents the ‘Third Cinema’ method of filmmaking.  Although not shoot in regions like Africa, Asia, or Latin America, where most Third Cinema films are typically filmed, Taylor’s film depicts a lifestyle that may be unfamiliar to the majority of middle-class American citizens yet it occurs each day, right in our very own backyard.  Taylor takes us on a unique journey as she documents the lives of two Puerto Rica brothers that converted to Muslim while living in a mainly Spanish ghetto in urban America.

Being original Puerto Rica and converting to Muslim religion the Perez family shocked.  ”I brought my boys up in Catholic schools. I worked two jobs to do that. … It’s kind of confusing for us, but we accept it. My kids are all drug free now, they don’t drink and they don’t smoke!” says Hamza Perez’s mother.  Despite the differences and unfamiliarity of Muslim beliefs Hamza and Sulihma have full support from their family.

Hamza and his brother continue to represent their heritage by making appearances at local Puerto Rican dance clubs and rap about their struggles of miss representation as well as growing up confused, ill educated, held down by “the man,” dealing drugs, and conflicting with the police.  Hamza and Sulihma also appear on local radio stations to broadcast their raps and address their concerns for their society and people.

Just as the article describes Third Cinema films as portraying an adoption of an independence and an opposition against commercial genre, Hamza Perez has a very strong stance against corporate America.  At one of his talks with a local school he describes to kids the dangers of big business and a commercialized America, making the analogy of “pimps and hoes.”  He depicts the United States as the “head pimp” and by working for him you become nothing more than a “hoe” for big corporate America, also know as working for “the man.”

The author of Third Cinema Today addressed a fear of Third Cinema films losing their momentum in the mainstream media world.  Well, Nicola Marzanohis would certainly be glad to know that in a diverse and politically driven environment like American University in Washington, D.C. these ‘Third Cinema’ movies have not died down.  In fact they are in full force and widely celebrated.  The screening of Taylor’s, “New Muslim Cool” was packed with egger viewers, their wasn’t a seat left in the theater and student and professors alike lined the walls to see.

Hamza and Sulihmas’ social reality was that they were drug abusers and drug dealers, they lived in a negatively influence landscape and were headed down a exceedingly dire path.  Converting to Muslim “saved [their] lives.”  Since converting they have both become “clean” and sober.  Hamza continues to voice his influence beliefs on the community by going to local schools and gives presentations on the negative effects drugs and the importance of hard work and staying in school.  Hamza also goes to the projects in which he used to deal drug and meets with old friends to help they get/stay clean and sober.

Currently this Puerto Rican-American, rapper, former drug dealer, turned Muslim, Hamza Perez, has started a new religious community on the tough North Side of Pittsburgh taking his message of faith to other young people through hard-hitting hip-hop music, in an America that never stops changing.

At first my partner, Meghan Chapman, and I brainstormed our possibilities for our 60 second Lumiere film.  We simply did not want to just set it up somewhere and capture 60 seconds of randomness; we want it to be different and creative.  To avoid creating just another plain, boring 60 seconds of soundless film we wanted to have the main “focus” of the scene to be going on out of frame.  This would keep the views more interested because it creates an element of unknown and thus allows each individual viewer to develop their own interoperate what they believe is going on out of the camera frame.  This keeps viewers interested throughout the scene.

We started off with a lot of ideas, for instance filming a showerhead at neutral angel, with is typically set higher that most people’s eye level, then have the subject turn on the water (out of the camera shot), then enter the shower and wash their hair, then rinse their hair out, and step out of the shower and turn off the water.  Since the camera angle would be above the subjects head we would only see their hair and the top of their head, creating so mystery.

Original we wanted to do a similar scene to what we turned in, a low angle shot of a bed that begins to bounce, the camera angel would be low, shooting up at the bed and the frame would cut out just before the top of the bed, blocking the audiences view from seeing what is going on in the bed.  This is more like a psychological mind test for the views; some may immediately think the act of sexual-intercourse was taking place on the bed, and others may think something entirely different.  Instead of the 1 male and then 2 females stepping out of the bed we planned to have a bunch of little kids jump down off the bed.  Transforming what some views thought to be a very adult acting into the playful, simple fun of little kids jumping on the bed.  This would certainly come as a surprise to those with the dirty minds in the audience because of the actual act taking place is so dramatically different from what they ‘assumed’ what going on out of camera shot.

However, since we are on a College Campus (the greatest in the World) we could not use kids as our subjects, thus altering our idea to what we handed in.  As repeatedly noted in class, the other little ‘problem’ we ran into was the fact that our male actor, namely myself, has no hair on his legs.  Without the simple explanation that I am competing 2 BodyBuilding shows within the next month and waxing your legs is necessary, some viewers in the class thought that their were indeed 3 girls in the bed, not 1 male and 2 females.  Now it would only be an excuse to say that the angel only captured from my feet to tops of my knees, and that I am sodium loading in preparation for my contests, or the fact that I was in the scene for less than 6 second, but thank you all for reminding me that I need to work on my calves.

In the end I feel good about our film, I do not like how a very small portion of the top of the bed can be seen in the upper right corning of the film.  However, I do like the fact that when viewed, or at least in our College classroom environment, our film spanked a lot of controversy as well as different opinions in what was going on in the bed.  This is exactly what we intended and in doing to I believe we accomplish our goal of leaving what is out of the screen shot the main focus of the film.

“The Dog Goes… Nom Nom.”

By Hannah Ford & Emmet McGregor

Awesome!  I really liked this a lot because I believe it combined the classical style of Lumiere and the new-age style of a “youtube” video.  Undoubtedly this video was fashioned after, or at least inspired by, the resent youtube hot video “The Cat Goes… Nom Nom,” in which a small, very cute cat is filmed eating a can of cat food, as he does so he makes an adorable Nom Nom Noming sound.  Since sound was not used by Lumiere we don’t have that element of the senses, however, because of the title we know exactly what is going to happen and for the first 11 seconds I felt as though everyone in our class audience was wait, sitting at the edges of our seats, in anticipation of what we all knew was to come.  Also the name, “The Dog Goes… Nom Nom,” contributes to the overall Mise-en-scène of the film.

Another very enjoyable, and unpredictable, part of this short film was that after the dog had devoured the first piece of pizza he dips back down under the table and then immediately pops back up to quickly consume the next piece!  I found this hilarious and it really added to the film, and the fact the fact that this was most likely completely unplanned made it even more entertaining and defines the Mise-en-scène.

I really liked their use of using action going on out of screen shot, just as we did.  Before the first time the dog pops up the majority of views begin to anticipate she/he is going to come from under the table, thus drawing our focus right to the center of the screen and the pizza, left unguarded on the open counter.

Silence of the Lambs – Part 11 “The End” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM_KgPAZrYU&feature=related

Dominant: Our eyes are first attracted to Jodie Foster’s (Clarice Starling’s) eyes.  When the murder, Jame “Buffalo Bill” Gumb (played by Ted Levine), cuts the power, thus shutting of all the lights and leaving the basement pitch black.  Through the screen shot of his night vision goggles Jodie Foster’s eyes are illuminated and shine in the darkness.

Lighting Key: This scene is extremely unique because there is no artificial light being used.  The scene is shot almost completely through the perspective of night vision.  This creates the washed out look of Jodie Foster’s face and other reflective sources.

Shot and Camera Proxemics: For Jodie Foster the type of shoot flips back and forth between close up and medium close up.  For Buffalo Bill the type of shot you’d is an extreme closeup.

Angle: The camera angle focused on Buffalo Bill is a neutral shot.  The camere angle on Jodie Foster is through Buffalo Bills perspective so its slightly downward.

Color Values: The 2 dominant colors conflicting in this scene are: green, to show the audience that we are looking through Buffalo Bill’s eyes as he uses night vision goggles, and black, which is the prevailing color when depicting Buffalo Bill.  This is symbolic of his extreme evil and sick darkness.

Lens/Filter/Stock: The green filter in the night vision scene further emulates the suspense of the scene.  It distorts the image because it makes the entire scene darker.

Subsidiary Contrasts: The extreme close up of Buffalo Bill, breathing heavy and wearing the night vision goggles functions as the main eye-stop, because of the suspense of the situation.  We, as the audience, know that the killer is right in front of her but Jodie Foster cannot see him, creating the ultimate thrill.

Density: This is the climax of the movie, the biggest scene right before the conclusion.  All of information is packed into this scene because we finally discover how the killer is, where he is hiding, where he is keeping the girl, and if he is going to kill Jodie Foster.

Composition: Both characters are dimensionally spaced very close to each other, so close in fact that Buffalo Bill can reach out and touch her, as we see he almost does.  This underlying design is to depict how twisted Buffalo Bill is because he’s toying with her, watching her right in front of him, her eye’s helpless in the darkness.

Form: There is a clear window that closes in the frame.  The audience understands when we are looking through Buffalo Bills perspective because there is a box around the frame indicating the goggles around his head.

Framing: The characters are shoot very close; there is no room for them to move around.  The shots of Buffalo Bill are right in his face, so close we can hear his breath; we know he is savoring his moment of power in his own twisted way.  The shots of Jodie Foster are also framed close, she trips over debris, powerless to the darkness of the pitch black basement.