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.

Journal 6 - Week of Feb 26th

Not much happened this week in lecture besides having a visiting guest speaker by the name of Laura Marks. There was no assigned reading this week, so instead of trying to come up with something to think and write about, I am going to put a scene of my movie that I am writing in here to see some people's reaction. It is not finished, but it is a scene that I like very much and actually came to me when we were in 201 lecture. It was when Carl was showing the difference between 24 fps to 16 fps. The room was completely dark and the only light was coming from the blank, white frames that he was showing to make us see the difference. Every person in the room looked like a silhouette and so did Carl when he stood up there talking to us. I could see his movement and I could hear his voice, but I couldn't see him. It kinda felt surreal when this was happening. So I developed a scene kind of around this that I have explained. Here is the opening of the scene before the dialogue:

Scene 10:

Knowing that he has to find some answers before he ends up somewhere else unpredicted, Alan sits down and takes a rest. Alan wonders how long it has been since he has actually slept. Time here, where ever here is, does not exist. At least he has come to that conclusion because night can turn to day with the shut of an eye, it could be raining and then around the corner there is sunshine. There is no sense of time, but Alan does know he is tired, so it must mean he hasn't slept in awhile. He slowly rests on the park bench and soon is fast asleep. He then wakes up and already knows he is in a different location. Alan is not surprised, just tired of it all. He looks up and then realizes that this location is familiar to him. He has once been here in the past, but can't put a finger on how he knows it. He slowly gets up because his body is stiff from the uncomfortable sleep and heads in direction of the building he is looking at. He then notices that he had classes in psych here years back. There is a booming voice that he hears from the lecture hall and it is starting to get cold, so he decides to enter the building. Alan starts off towards the entrance, opens the door to darkness and precedes to walk in...

That is a beginning of a scene that I have shared. I wonder if it got people questioning whats next or what not. Anyways time for work, have a great day everyone.

Journal 5 - Week of Feb 19th

D'Est can be summed up as two hours of silence that had no impression on my life what so ever. I don't mean to be harsh, but I guess I can back up my self by saying that this has nothing to do with my history of life. I know that can sound stubborn, but it really took time before my life started. It has more to do with the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the life that was exposed in East Germany that was hidden for awhile. I think they called it the iron curtain because we could never see over there and the U.S was afraid that they were making nuclear weapons over there. But it turns out nothing was really going on over there behind the wall. When watching the movie, besides being slow, it was very depressing to me. It showed the hardships in the grainy visions and also in the faces of people. It showed a struggle that they couldn't over come. It made me think of how much struggle there is in the world today. You think we would learn from an event like this in the past...