This Will Be First

Here's a really interesting video. I've only watched the first part for the animation, which is the precursor to my semester project in dynamic imaging II. It ends 2:17 Enjoy.

"Are You Ready for the Rapture"

Artist: Steve Jablonsky

Film Analysis: The Last Laugh

Der Letzte Mann, The Last Laugh, was one of the films that portrayed what is called extreme realism. This theme specifically was introduced in the 1920s as a part of the German Expressionist movement. It was created during World War I due to the banning of foreign films. In Der Letze Mann, Director F. W. Murnau, did the unthinkable by having a silent film with no title cards; this challenged the audience to completely focus on the detail within the frames. Many German films in this time period beginning, in the early 1910s, used props and environments to enhance its dramatic styles.

This process ended up being very successful for most films during this movement such as Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari). The director, Robert Wiene used many angular designs to create a very weird and unsettling world. As dramatic as Wiene’s scenery was, Murnau created the same type unsettling feeling by capturing the intense and sometimes unsettling expressions on the face of the Bellhop. Towards the end of the film, where we see the Bellhop in the bathroom against the back wall, Murnau uses the single light from the light box to give a heavy contrasted look to enhance the devestation of the bellhop.

Murnau takes this common story of a man in his most noble position, who later crumbles into his pit of shame, and magnifies it so that the viewer becomes personally intrigued with the life of the character. In the beginning of the film, we literally see the Bellhop in his most glorious state. Where he takes pride in his appearance, as well as his job. However, it isn’t until we’ve met in the office of the hotel manager where we see him physically transform from into the state of self-worthlessness. This one scene alone is the height and the center point of the characters transformation.

The Bellhop does his best to convince himself that he is right to continue in his bellhop duties by picking up the suitcase in the corner of the office where he miserable fails to hold it in the air. As this suitcase tumbles to the ground, so does the Bellhop, along with his self-pride and dignity. At this fall, we see his appearance go from tamed, to out of control and is on a steady decline throughout the film. This is also where he crosses over into a state of desperation and as he walks down the hall of shame. This is literally depicted as he is being escorted down the hallway with his head hanging down as he passes the people eyeing him from the window. The Bellhop has now officially fallen into a state where he realizes that he has ultimately failed himself. Where he is separated from his most prized possession, his uniform.

Later on, he chooses to steal back his uniform, as it seems to hold the power of the former Bellhops success and happiness. While we see him with this uniform, an alleged accomplishment does nothing but unsettle the viewer and we watch buildings lean in over him. However, the former Bellhop returns his jacket, as if he finally accepts his demotion. Murnau used close up shots and a focused lighting to drastically to enhance the intense facial expressions by the Bellhop.

Also, by working with a lot of close up and medium shots, the entire character transformation becomes much more personal to the viewer.

In Response to WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2012

So, I have high hopes for myself and this up coming week. The goal is to have my character completely fleshed out as well a general script completed. All of the beginning, middle and end problems solved. I am also planning on gathering ideas for potential shooting locations. 

There was also one important factor that was mentioned to me, and that was how am I going to show the internal struggle of this character....I'm really not sure at this point, but I am working towards finding a way to make this character's transformation clear.

This semester I want to challenge my story capabilities through character development. I also want the environment to react to the character while he is going through these changes. A television show I really enjoyed, Awake, pulled this off nicely, in the since that as the main character moved through dream and reality, the environment would drop clues in both worlds to help him solve a case and ultimately help him understand why he was living in two worlds.



Specifically for my project I will be dealing more with the ideal self and the actual self, and how our actual selves are constantly working to become our ideal self. From this idea, I started to explore how our expectations very seldom add up to our upcoming realities. This clip from 500 Days of Summer goes in the direction of what I am personally interested in, however, I will intercut between the two instead of splitting the screen.

The character I have come up with is a young guy named John, who through a series of events overcomes his social anxiety. He does not have the disorder to the extreme, but just enough to cause him to battle within himself before going into anything new or with a group of people. I am currently working on developing John a bit more because I want the things he interacts with to change as he morphs into his ideal man, a confident, social, ambitious version of himself. One thing that we see him battle with is his fidgety twitches. Whenever John becomes worked up about an idea or event, we see his hands constantly twitch, over the course of the piece, we watch him struggle to stop this fidgetyness and develop into his more confident self.

Shared Screen

begins at :55

The actor plays two roles both on screen at the same time.
The entire piece is pretty funny so feel free to watch that as well.

Also included in The Parent Trap, where this technique was the foundation of the movie,
and was successfully done.

In Response to WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 2012

Being that today is the first day I was very excited to see several new faces for cinema II as well as new faces in the entry level class. I've been trying to come up with a theme for this semester, especially since we only have one project, but I do want to work on some technical challenges throughout the semester to continue improving my skills. I'm not entirely sure as to what my theme will be for this semester but I have an idea of the format I'll be playing off of. It will consist of intercuts between the reality and the expectations, and I do not want it to be obvious to the viewer which on is which. A technical challenge I want to master is having one person shown as two distinct characters in the same frame. This is especially challenging because the set up has to be 100% along with the filming and then editing needs to be spot on. My goal, is that I can successfully pull it off. I will later post some examples to show you what I mean.