Dystopia Trailer Update

Hello again.

Our most recent project has been to create a trailer for our own "original" dystopia story.  I say original like that because every dystopia story ever written has the same plot.  Fact.

But back to the topic at hand.  So far, my group's script has been going swimmingly.  Since I have been awarded he prestigious title of scriptwriter in chief, it is my job and duty to inform the masses of what the script looks like so far.

We use the first few shots to depict the society in which the story takes place.  These are mainly long to medium shots of factory employees hard at work.  After that, we slowly take the time to introduce the rest of the dystopian elements present in the story.  We we also use a commercial for the miracle drug "Bonum" that the story is based around as a means of establishing the setting.

The story is told using as little narration as possible.  There is no text used, and the characters are barely heard talking at all.  The only time dialogue is used is in  a brief exchange between the two main characters, which serves as a means of increasing the tension.

We have about 8 to 10 scenes in our script.

Straight bawrse signing out.

5x5

Clips used:

• Carrying amplifyer
• Carrying effects pedal 
• Carrying cord
• Carrying bass
• Turning on amp and playing bass

My 5x5 was shot with a Fujifilm s400 and edited in Adobe Premiere.  I did not run into any real problems when filming or editing.

I am pleased with how it turned out, although I went over the tie limit by about 2 seconds.

While it can be fun to make bite-sized video projects, it would be cool if our next individual project could be something bigger, like a 5 minute short or something.     

Dystopia Trailer Analysis

1984. Michael Radford. 1984. Rated R

In a futuristic dystopian society, the democratic Britain we know today has been overthrown by a socialist party called Ingsoc.  Now, in an effort to regain his freedom, average joe Winston Smith attempts to rebel against the government by having an affair with co-worker Julia.

The 1984 trailer does a very good job of conveying the dysopian setting through it's use of cinematographic techniques.  First of all, the music used is very ominous and has a heavy bass, which creates a tense, suspenseful mood.  On top of that, the use of predominately dark, gloomy colors and shots of wrecked buildings help to establish the dystopian setting.  Finally, most of the shots used are either close-ups or medium close-ups, which pulls the viewer in and makes them feel as if they are experiencing the same emotions as the protagonist.  For my dystopian trailer, i will probably use similar techniques.  In particular, i will use ominous music, close-ups, and bleak colors to convey the setting and set the mood.     

Learning on that thing I use for youtube and facebook

I just read an article called "Words Without Walls: Learning Well With Others," and figured I would share my thoughts with you.  Just kidding, it's an assignment.  But back to the topic at hand.

The article is about how new methods of teaching that fully incorporate use of the internet are now possible, but are being overlooked.  In the authors opinion, teaching in the classroom setting is becoming quickly obsolete, now that student's have the ability and the resources to learn the same material in whatever way suits them best.  All the knowledge and expertise found on the internet should be taken advantage of and utilized by schools, something which has only been happening in few select classes.  As the author puts it, "For educators and the schools in which they teach, the challenges of this moment are significant. Our ability to learn whatever we want, whenever we want, from whomever we want is rendering the linear, age-grouped, teacher-guided curriculum less and less relevant."

While the article was interesting, it wasn't anything I hadn't heard of before, so nothing about it took me by surprise.  I was surprised, however, when the author talks about how an eleven year old "community volunteer and blogger" has a large audience of people from all over the world.  It's mentioned in passing, as if it's not a big deal.  I was surprised because, as any frequenter of the internet knows, kids as young as eleven don't usually have a large audience unless it's a group of people mocking them.

The article is pertinent to what we are doing in class because as far as I can tell, we're trying to establish a classroom environment both in class and on the web.  I have had teachers who have tried this before, but they either lost interest or just slowly stopped trying to use the internet to teach.  Not to sound pessimistic, or anything.  I have high hopes for this one.

I'd be interested in learning more about film history.

Post over.

Here's the article

Annotated Movie Review

The movie review that I read was a review of "Battleship" written by Christopher Orr.  Orr is the principle film critic for theAtlantic, a popular website for news and movie reviews.  The first part of the review was mainly a summary of the movie, in which the author did not give his opinion.  The second part, however, he gave his take on the acting, cinematography, and literary aspects of the movie.  It does not focus on one aspect of the film in particular, though Orr barely mentions the acting.  The review is written in a casual tone, and the author employs sarcasm frequently in order to support his points.  Overall, Orr seems to find the film rather mediocre.

Our quarterly movie review should follow a basic structure, because without one it is hard to determine how to grade them.  The structure should be something like:

• Plot summary
• Literary aspects
• Dramatic aspects
• Cinematic aspects
• Recommendation     

 Here's the annotated movie review

Nice to meet you

Hi there.

Today, I was surfing the interwebs when I stumbled across this website.  Which brings me to my next point.

I'm Nico.  My age doesn't really matter.  I'd have to say that my favorite aspect of film making is editing.  Why should I listen to this amateurish fool, you ask?  Well, I have quite the resume.  I've loved film making for as long as I can remember.  From when I was about six, I would make movies with my neighbors.  I went to a magnet middle school almost expressly for the film program, and then went on to do the same for high school.

 All this means that I have done a lot of film projects over the years, so it's hard to pick a favorite, although I'd have to say it was the Individual Media Project, or IMP, that I did in the eighth grade.  I was very proud of it because I had to write, direct, film, and edit the entire thing myself.  In hindsight, it was pretty bad.

We could use these blogs for any of the following:

• Communicating our ideas for Change Projects
• Writing reflections on projects and assignments
• Probing into the minds of other CAP students

Well, that's all I have to say.

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