Journal 13 - Week of April 23rd

This week we had a guest lecture Sharon Lockhart in class with us. I found her in-class presentation on the most part was interesting. I felt like I related with her when she showed us the pictures that has influenced the films she had made. Because, I like her, am influenced by images I see everyday to create film ideas. And not only images, but also stories and ideas. For example, my friend and I who is also in this class, came up with an idea to write about two women who act like they are the only thing in the world that matters: they do what they want, they sleep with whom they want to, they could not care a less and in the end get theirs. This is idea came from a film like this called "Daisies". It was a from the Czech Republic during the 1960s. Great film, but I want to make mine darker. Ideas like this is always influencing my direction and how go about in heading that direction. It is interesting how someone could look at a picture and spin a whole tale around it to tell a story. The best example I can think of right now is of how Pirates of the Caribbean franchise started because of a roller coaster ride at an amusement park. It is now a multi million dollar franchise.

Journal 12 - Week of April 16th

This week we had a change of scenery with class because it was held in the Union Theater located in the, well you guessed it, the union! I like the theater there, I have seen many films there and find it homely I guess because it is our schools theater. This week we watched the film "Hamilton" by Bresson Porterfield. It is claimed to be shot like Nathaniel Dorsky's film "Variations". I do see how people compare this film with Dorsky's. They are both shot in 16mm and color, the only difference being that Porterfield's has a script. The color that is brought out in both films with the 16mm camera; there is something about it that attracts me. It would be like using the shots that Dorsky filmed and adding people to the locations with a script and you would get Porterfield's "Hamilton". Even having nice shots, I feel this film is very slow paced. In Dorsky's it is the shot length that is slow and in Porterfield's it is the length between people talking and the scenes. Even though this film was slow paced, I did feel a connection with this film because I to just recently had a baby with a girl who is not my girlfriend. She is a friend, but I feel she wants more than that with me and the only thing I can offer is my love for our daughter and to be there as the father. The girl in this film with the child that looks 4 months old or so, I feel for her. She seems lonely and sad, and wants the guy to connect with her. I feel I am walking around just like her, knowing I have this beautiful daughter, but also that my life has changed extremely. I feel my life has slowed down and is sometime slow paced. In the end of "Hamiliton" the boy and girl do not end up together and I feel that is the right thing for them. Some people are just meant not to be together.

Journal 11 - Week of April 9th

The only words that come to my mind with the films we saw this week is disturbing and feminism. Well where can we start with the word disturbing? Is it because I saw women spreading their menstrual blood using tampons all over the film or was it the act of women gathering around to publicly urinate on each other? When I came into class this week I was not prepared to see what I saw on the screen. I do not care if Jennifer said it had to do with acts of the animal side of humans, to rebel against society or a political stand. To me what I saw was smut and I did not find it experimental at all. She seemed very rude at the lecture hall and a witch of a person on film. If I had to chose out of the three sections we saw it would have been her dream sequence. But still in that, she thought of her self as queen. I feel this woman thinks very highly of herself. And I am not saying that is bad, but she does not have to be rude and stubborn about it. Now the word feminism, was it? I guess it was to show that women were more than what they were represented back then when the film was made. Maybe to show they had an animal side like men? Maybe to show that they had rights also? I really can't find a reason why they would subject themselves to do that. Anyways overall I was not really interested in the film and the smut scenes did not provoke me to tell anyone about this film, unless I had to say I saw something disgusting today...

Journal 10 - Week of April 2nd

Word of the day: Politics. I dislike politics immensely and I am not saying I do not follow them. I do feel the issues that are presented with politics are important to our way of life and society. But I feel every time they are brought up, people get angry discussing them. No one ever agrees if they are on different sides of the issue. The films we saw in regarding politics I found were rather boring. Politics to me are important, but I rather not discuss them. I only find anger and resentment when I talk and discuss politics. I am not surprised that I did not like this film by Jackie Goss because I really was not interested in her film we saw earlier in the semester. I understand that she is trying to show how to fix the world that seems so messed up. So much chaos and disaster happen in the world today. And I feel people try to hide their eyes away from the pain that occurs so much in the world. It is like if people do not see it then it must not exist, but it does and won't go away. Films to show this pain I feel do not reach the world as they should because this is what happening. Jackie Goss tried, but I feel did not succeed. Just like the info commercials on helping suffering children. Does that money even make it to them? You have no idea, and that is why I dislike those so called opportunities to help 3rd world countries. So what do we do? Do we keep hiding our eyes from what we don't want to see or do we step up to the plate and start taking actions? That is all I have to say about this subject...

Journal 9 - Week of March 28th

This week we saw a different medium of film. One I have not seen since I was a little kid and it did not have an impact on me like this when I was a kid. Vladmir came up with a unique way of story telling using view masters to show pictures while telling unique stories. She showed us four short stories using the view masters to show us pictures that went along with the stories. I thought they way she came up with this idea was original, but it did not catch my attention like it did everyone else. I thought the stories she came up with were very original. The one about the big machinery that magically appeared in certain locations. Usually you would find the story kind of dumb, but the way it is presented and the music that went along with it, gave it a mysterious feeling. The other one I enjoyed was the last one about the man, the train and the deer. When it came to the part where you were clicking the view master super fast was sort of funny because the whole time every click was in sync and then at that point it was numerous clicking sounds that sounded out of order throughout the lecture hall. Did I have a feeling of independence with using my own personal view master to watch this? Not really because we were told when to change the pictures to view the next one and we were told what we were listening to. All together it was interesting to partake in, but I would never go further into this to see more.

Journal 8 - Week of March 12th

Camera Obscura! Well going into this, I had no idea what to expect from this. First, I did not know what camera obscura was. Second, I didn't know what to expect from the presentation that we were going to. And third, I didn't know what my reaction was going to be with what I saw because I had no idea what I was going to be seeing. So, I get there and I am told to go through the black drape. I enter into darkness and go the wrong way! My eyes finally adjust to the dark and I see people standing the opposite way looking at something on the other side of the wall. I hurry over and scoot my way in to focus my eyes on what people were watching. I finally realize this is camera obscura. The idea of camera obscura, I find, is very interesting. How he takes cameras and records the outside to shine it on the wall on the inside in an abstract way. I am still confused on how it all works, but I think Ethan Jackson has something interesting going on. What I liked most about the camera obscura that he set up for us at Kenilworth was that we could see people arriving there that was part of our class. Because I realized moments before I entered people were seeing me on the wall because I parked right in front of where he was recording! I found that humorous because I was acting goofy outside and my class saw that. I liked the presentation he gave about how he created a huge project from an old church. He casted the obscura across the ceiling of the old church which showed skies, clouds, sun, trees and tips of buildings. Overall it was an interesting project to see and I really enjoyed it.

Journal 7 - Week of March 5th

We have the midterm coming up and I am kind of nervous. I don't know what to expect from this midterm and how we are going to be tested on information. I guess I am going to go over all the readings we have had and the films we have seen. This exam could go either way, positive or negative for me. I don't have much to write about this week because of the exam coming up, so I am going to reflect on what I have enjoyed this semester and what I have disliked because it is the middle of the semester. My favorite weeks had to be weeks two and three with the films we saw during them. During week two we saw films like "Variations" and "Clear Blue Sky" which I liked a lot and could relate to them because I made films like them, but not as long. During week three we saw very disturbing films that intrigued my "other" side me that is more dark. I think these types of films are unique in a way that they show a darker side to the human life that people don't always experience. A few things that I did not like during this semester was the silent and verrrryyyy sllllloooowwww films that put me to sleep. I wouldn't call these experimental films. They aren't really stretching the imagination and experimenting. Anyone can go out and shoot life, and make it real boring.

Here are some unique films that intrigue me:

*Stay
*Brick
*Memento
*Alize
*Spun


Good luck all on exams. Bye.