Far Thee Well

Last blog post!
I've really enjoyed this class and it made me sad to think I won't get to do this again! I've really enjoyed the films we've watched (animation and live action). I also have loved the discussions throughout the class and the reading of each others blogs. Its helped me to explore different ideas of various artists as well as my classmates and to really broaden out my 'horizons'. With all that said, I'll miss it, I'll miss it all and I hope everyone has a wonderful break! Enjoy it while you can. (don't die during finals either.) Heres some happy gifs for your time.

Documentaries

I'm going to bring it back. Yes, I know. "Why more documentaries?" Well, I just want to blog on why I think I'd like to make one someday.

So first off you meet some pretty incredible people. Lots of them. And you get to learn their story and follow them with where they are going for a time. So who wouldn't want to do that? I find that incredibly desirable, personally.
Also, I love that most of the documentaries we watched weren't high quality films. Sure high quality productions give amazing sights, but I feel that by doing that it might take away from story. Sure if the equipment's open to you, by all means use it. But don't make that the top priority. Theres a beauty in simply taking a camera and a recorder and following someone wherever they go.
As a person who doesn't think that they will become a screen writer, it sounds wonderful to have a story already in front of you. A real story too, which is another thing I love. Of course you have to play with it a bit, and find how to tell it, but the basics are there for you. Also, you can decide how you want to tell the story.

1984

1984 is a book by George Orwell that is in a dystopian setting. I realize its not a film but it is a form media, and has been made into film.

Anyhow, there was one part that I thought was interesting. The main character of the story has a friend whose job is to erase words from the english dictionary. The idea would be that they would keep the word "good" and delete the word "bad" and instead just say "un good" therefore simplifying the english language. This new form of english is called "NewSpeak." The purpose is so that people would soon lose the ability to express how they felt, and then lose the layers to any emotion; in hopes that people would become emotionless and never revolt against "Big Brother."

I thought it was interesting how he portrayed this idea in the book, and it made me realize how important language is. Of course this blog doesn't give it justice on how important it is, and how well Orwell goes to explain what a simplified language could do but I thought I'd blog anyways. 

Lee Pace

My friends teased me about posting on Lee Pace, so naturally I felt inclined to share his immense talent with you all in their honor;

First off, Lee Pace is an actor of whom some of you may know. He's known in the DMA world but not so much outside of it. He's a 6'5, beautifully constructed man (with green eyes) and can play almost any role thats given him. Like really this man has serious talent that I just cannot get over. 

So lets just look at a few roles he's done, shall we?

SO you all have probably seen the Hobbit. He was Thranduil. Yeah. Majestic, I know.  How you'll get
past this gif is beyond me.

Annnnd now we'll move onto Pushing Daisies where he played a bashfully sweet pie maker. He's said this character was most like himself. People who worked with him said the same thing. So he's a pretty nice guy apparently. 

Moving on to a frightening role of his. Ronan from Guardians of the Galaxy. Bet that surprised most of you. Like how to you go from sunshine and rainbows, to darkness and..... well I guess death! 

He was also in Twilight, surprisingly, and was the only reason I actually sat down to watch one of those films.  He made a fabulous vampire, as you all can see. 

And lastly, Steven Spielberg thought he was amazing enough to place him in his film Lincoln. 

Well look at all those faces. Hard to imagine that they're all the same man in makeup or costume. Pretty amazing, huh. And this is not even half of the role he's done. I just didn't want to make this blog post super long, so I could only use a few. And honestly he's adorable! 

So theres a fangirl post for you. Wasn't intended. Just kind of happened. 

Live Action v Animation

Despite what everyone assumes about live action folk, I am a film production major and I LOVE animation. It seems as though if you are a film major you automatically hate animation. While this is true for some people, its not true for all. Animation is something I'm not gifted in, but I can look at and really appreciate. It's tough complicated work and can create something so beautiful.

I've heard the argument of why would anyone bother going through the trouble, but there's something magical in animation that film can't always capture. It's not just in the fantasy images either; ordinary everyday life thats animated is so extraordinary. I love the different illustrations and styles of artists as well. Sometimes the stories are goofy and strange but they're still fun and enjoyable! So before dissing something as stupid or pointless, or perhaps just not your cup of tea, endorse yourself anyway and find the beauty in it. Because most the time there is some, you're just to ignorant to see it. 

Sour Death Balls

So I just posted about how I loved the films where we get to see peoples reactions to different things and it reminded me of the Sour Death Balls video we watched at the beginning of the semester!  I laughed so hard. Also, the lady who did this film is the documentarian Jessica Yu and was in the film we watched about documentaries. So thats cool.

The First Day of My Life

So I really loved this video when we watched it. It made me tear up a bit, I don't know why. But I loved seeing all the different people and how they reacted to listening to the song and its lyrics. I wish more people would do things like this, because I love seeing these kind of reactions. I suppose they did it wouldn't be quite as special.

Presentations

Well then, time to cram in those blog posts.

I wanted to blog a response a response to the presentations, just because why on earth not!

SO, for the first one (which I believe was Shelby's) I thought was fairly interesting. I have not seen the films or read the book so at first I was a little weirded out, but the questions A square was asking in the clips are questions I myself have asked before. So I thought it was interesting how the writer used dimensions as a way to ask these tougher questions.

The second Presentation: To be honest I've only seen Eragon out of the all of the "club" films that were presented. I hadn't ever heard of such a thing as club films so that was kind of interesting to learn about. They look hilarious to watch but I don't really watch things if I don't think they are worth my time. I have so little of it you know, time.  Anyways, I respect that the presenter likes them and was passionate enough to do her presentation on them.

The third one: I loved every minute of it. The video that Jacob played made me very happy, because kind of like his point, I love music in movies! I thought his presentation was extremely interesting and I was never bored.

And Joe. Oh Joe.
I hate to admit I found it interesting and highly entertaining.
But in any case,
you're full of Bullshit. ;)

(I'm posting the image of Murtagh because he was the only thing they got right in the film. Annnnnnd because he was my eight-year-old self crush. Still love him to this day.)

Music Video

So most everyone was sharing their favorite music videos and the ones they thought we weird and interesting, SO I wanted to share my favorite.

And I just found this video from one of my favorite artists and really loved it for the visual shots and things they got. It was simple.

Essay Quiz 2#

My post is going to be about the film "Strings" by Wendy Tilby

There were lots of beautiful things to this film that I absolutely loved. One thing is that it wasn't perfect, it wasn't a pixar-quality film (though its not like it could have been, seeing as cgi wasn't really an option) but it was still so lovely. We read about how instead of focusing on the quality of the animation we should focus on the story. The film had no dialogue and yet we still felt sorry for the lonely old woman, and excited and slightly intrigued when her and the elderly gentlemen were in each others presence. The whole time I was drawn in to what was about to happen, though the story was very slow paced and I knew what was about to happen.

I don't know if this was intended or not by the animator, but even though it ended and they didn't end up together, in a way they kinda did. Or at least the animator left it open for you to decide if they did. Why I think this might have been her intention is because the old man left his cufflink upstairs, letting you know the old woman will eventually have to go downstairs and return it to him. Also the old man, after having the knowledge that the old woman took a bath while listening to his music, went downstairs and played music despite the chaos because he knew she liked to listen to him.

It made me excited and warm inside, and to be embarrassingly honest I imagined how their next encounter might go, and how it might progress after that. And all of that happened because the director brilliantly let me decide.
She also left a subtle moment of tension when the elderly man pulled up his sock and the old lady watched him. I have no idea why, but it was so interestingly intriguing, and I found it incredible.

So yes, I really loved that film.

Its not about the Technology

So I read "Technology and the Evolution of StoryTelling" and I have to say its some pretty inspiring stuff.
In the reading John Lasseter talks about how animators (and filmmakers should keep this in mind as well) shouldn't focus on the technical side of movie making, but on the character and story side of it. And I loved that, because no matter how odd or well done a film is, if I connect with the characters or the story then it doesn't matter. Because whether or not the creators have the resources, if they connect with the audience then they'll aways have the audience coming back for more. And they'll move people.
In live action film already Ive seen how much people care about equipment. How new or improved it is, or if its the best DSLR on the market. And thats ok (obviously if you don't create something well done then no one will take it seriously) but I think filmmakers, especially as of late, don't focus on their characters or the story they are trying to tell.

I just wanted to share my favorite snippet from the reading. So here it is:  "But I went back to my traditional training I had learned from my mentors — Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, and the great Disney animators that were still working at the studio when I started there — and the fundamentals of animation they kept talking about. Ollie Johnston would turn to me and I was expecting something about arcs and lines and silhouette value and all that stuff.

He would turn and say, “John, what’s the character thinking?”

Ollie Johnston would turn to me and I was expecting something about arcs and lines and silhouette value and all that stuff.

He would turn and say, “John, what’s the character thinking?” It was amazing to me, just that simple statement. It was not about the drawing." John Lasseter "Technology and the Evolution of StoryTelling"

Un Jour

So the film "Un Jour" was extremely beautiful to me so I wanted to write a post on it.

I'm not going to lie, when the film first started I had no idea what was going on and was extremely weirded out. It wasn't until she dropped the groceries and he picked them up did I understand what Marie Paccou was getting at. After I figured that out, the film made me smile and I thoroughly enjoyed watching their happy content interactions with each other. 

Then that moment came where she stood up with a gaping hole in the middle of her, and my heart fell through my feet. 

It really hit me, and judging from the faces and reactions from the rest of the woman in class, it hit them too. It was the oddest illustration I've ever come across (and it definitely weirded me out) but it is the only one that was able to relate to a whole crowd of women. I can't say that I have had the same experience as the woman in the film, a lot of us haven't, but some part of me knew exactly how she felt. And in the weirdest way I could really relate to her. I truly could understand her pain. 

Can Children Understand?

Ok, so there were a few individuals in class today that suggested the short film "Duel" was too deep or too difficult for children to understand, and that there were many films that wouldn't be worth the time to show to children, not because of the content, but because they couldn't understand it. While I disagree with that statement wholly, I would like to point out that even if it was hard for them to understand it would beg them to ask questions. 

"No matter how young they are, children are deeply concerned with so-called eternal questions" I.B Singer 

"The role of the television is not to replace families and teachers as the chief influence on children in our society. But television, viewed selectively and in moderation, can encourage children to discuss, wonder about, and even read about new things. Above all, it can lead them to ask questions." Peggy Charren 'Changing Television: Why the Right Does It Wrong' 

I completely agree that we should be careful of what our children watch, and how much as well. But I don't believe that they shouldn't be exposed to something merely because they can't comprehend it.

All the movies or books that I consider worthwhile or excellent, I didn't quite understand all of it, if any of it. And they made me ask questions. It made me do research on this thing or idea that I could not comprehend or had no knowledge of. It expanded my mind, it made me see things differently, and it was only after my questions were answered did that happen. 

So if we want children to learn, if we want them to grow in the right way, then I think its good for them to be exposed to things that they don't quite understand yet. They will only begin to understand, when they find that they don't. 

Tragedy and the Child

"Or they may mean (2) that we must try to keep out of his mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil. If they mean the first I agree with them: but not if they mean the second. The second would indeed be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is born to the OGPU and the atomic bomb. Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage." C. S. Lewis On Three ways of writing for Children 

In todays culture and media we mostly try to steer children from tragedy, death, and anything that will scare or rile them up. Now, of course there is a line to where you can't drown a child in it, but most parents try to hide such things from their children and filter everything to such an unnecessary degree.
If we hide death from children, they won't know what true courage is. They won't know what it is to look their enemies in the eye and battle to what might be their heroic death! Also, they won't know what it is to run away from the enemy in cowardice shame and fear. When they do figure it out they'll be more sorrowful over the concept of death than the deceased. Fairy-tales can't and won't reflect adventure in anyones life if the individual hasn't been rooted in understanding them.

Also, why does my generation long so much for the child hood they have lost?
One reason, I believe, is that they have lost the Fairy-Tale lens to look through at life and the magic that comes with it. They look at tragedy and can't find the beauty in it. They want to go back to the child who was happily oblivious to life's responsibilities and that looked at everything like it was the gateway to another secret world.  The truth is, if every could maintain that view of the world and never grow up, we would all be some pretty amazing people. There wouldn't be anybody who I wouldn't want to sit and listen to talk about anything in general.

Inexpressible feeling

So in in someones blogpost, I believe it was Alana's, she talked about wanting to remember a feeling she had from an old scene in a Tv show. She couldn't remember it and it made her distraught. She also mentioned that because of these feelings we create art.
I really loved that and felt a lot of connection to it.

There have been many rare moments in my life where I get these feelings I can't explain and after a long time of trying to hold onto them, I decided to write them down. So I have this little "Thought book" or whatever you want to call it, where I jot things down that I love, hate, or felt moments of inexpressible feeling. This ranges from, smell, sound, pictures of random things that appeal to me, certain pages of books or quotes and much more.

All these little things in life, to me, are what fuel creativity and art. I find myself wanting to recreate that smell of perfume that I love (which makes me think of something but I just don't know what!?) through photographs or film. How I will capture the smell on film, I don't know, but I know I want to. I know that I need to.
I write things down to help me remember what I don't remember. I have this hope that if I feel some type of way again, I can whip out the book and know why. Sure I won't know what I am feeling, but at least I'll know why. And I'll know that it is satisfying in the most unsatisfying way, and I'll try so hard to recreate the feelings I can't explain.
Perhaps, like always, I will never feel the same way about something again. But its beautiful to know that it did, at one time, make me feel something. And that at one time, I was moved by awe and wonder over it.
In my childhood there were many moments where I remember loving something, and then when I came back to it later, not remember why; or I knew why but it didn't feel the same. I used to look drastically for old toys and books that I used to read at the Library, JUST to get those feelings back. And the most disappointing thing was when I finally obtained it, and it no longer had the magic.
Maybe thats why God calls us to be like the child. The magic never ends, the beauty never stops, and the inexpressible feelings never go away.

And because I was so Happy, I cried.

Have you ever been so happy that you cried? Laughed till the tears came flooding from your eyes?

Felt the cold hands of despair on every side, and then saw something so beautiful, filled with so much awe that you had to sit down and weep because it made you feel so happy, if only for that moment?

The world can be a very dark and lonely place, and when something comedic or blissful ensues by chance (or not) in the midst of darkness, the extreme feeling of satisfaction and comfort can overwhelm us and make us feel like we could just about explode. 

And we do! 

In tears of Joy.

Like Buechner said, joy is unexpected. It is unforeseeable, we have no idea when it will show up. But when it does, we find that it feels almost better than when it was constantly present, because for once we fully understand its value. 

 

Two quotes from the last chapter of 'Telling the Truth, The gospel as FairyTale' stuck out to me as I was reading it and I wanted to share them because I thought they were rather lovely. 

"Yet the tears that come to our eyes at the joy of the fairy tale are nevertheless essentially joyous tears because what we have caught a glimpse of, however fleeting, is Joy itself, the triumph if not of goodness, at least of hope. And I do not think it is entirely fanciful to say that it is not only in fairy tales that we have glimpsed it" pg. 83

"It is really two impossible things that happen because happiness is not only inevitable, it is also endless. Joy happens, to use Tolkien's word, and the fairy tale where it happens is not a world where everything is sweetness and light. It is not Disney Land where everything is kept spotless and all the garbage is trundled away through underground passages beneath the sunny streets. On the contrary, the world where this Joy happens is as full of darkness as our own world, and that is why when it happens it is as poignant as grief and can bring tears to our eyes. It can bring tears to our eyes because it might so easily not have happened, and because there are the wicked ones to whom it does not happen, and just because there are some to whom it does not happen, it happens in a world where those who live happily ever after must do so in a world where though happiness is both inevitable and endless, darkness persists because happiness is not universal." pg. 82

"Tragic Comedians"

In class today, we discussed briefly about how comedians are, for the most part, tragic people. The example being Robin Williams.

Last week I come across this passage and wrote it down in my thought book, so when we got on that subject today I was pretty tickled.

"They are joking not because they are merry, but because they are not; out of the emptiness of the heart the mouth speaketh."
G.K Chesterton Heretics : On smart Novelists and the Smart Set  pg. 112

"For a hearty laugh it is necessary to have touched the heart. I do not know why touching the heart should always be connected only with the idea of touching it to compassion or a sense of distress. The heart can be touched to joy and triumph; the heart can be touched to amusement. But all our comedians are tragic comedians. These later fashionable writers are so pessimistic in bone and marrow that they never seem able to imagine the heart having any concern with mirth. When they speak of the heart, they always mean the pangs and disappointments of the emotional life. When they say that a man’s heart is in the right place, they mean, apparently, that it is in his boots. Our ethical societies understand fellowship, but they do not understand good fellowship. Similarly, our wits understand talk, but not what Dr. Johnson called a good talk. In order to have, like Dr. Johnson, a good talk, it is emphatically necessary to be, like Dr. Johnson, a good man — to have friendship and honour and an abysmal tenderness. Above all, it is necessary to be openly and indecently humane, to confess with fulness all the primary pities and fears of Adam. Johnson was a clear-headed humorous man, and therefore he did not mind talking seriously about religion. Johnson was a brave man, one of the bravest that ever walked, and therefore he did not mind avowing to any one his consuming fear of death."
G.K Chesterton Heretics : On smart Novelists and the Smart Set  pg. 113-114

It is my belief that the funniest people have often experienced the most tragedies. I have seen plenty of people who are hilarious! They know where and when to throw the perfect joke, they have people coughing up food, choking on drinks, and laughing till they have tears streaming down their face.
But then you see them at other moments and its like seeing a comedian on stage after the audience has left and they're just sitting on their stool alone. They are sorrowful. They are tragic. They are poor-naked-wretches. And they know it, they understand.

People who have experienced tragedy, know what is it to be truly joyful. Or at least they know how precious that feeling is because that feeling had been so distant from them at one time. Perhaps it is because they are so far from feeling joy, that they decide to crack a good joke.

 "-But all our comedians are tragic comedians."

The Gospel as Tragedy - Part II

I obviously have more I would like to state on the chapter. This will not have anything to do with the last film we watched in class but I will say that I think there isn't much to be said. I felt the video itself was very self explanatory and the fact that I could all go on and on about how much it disturbed me goes hand in hand with what Buechner said about silence. It was horrendous, it was horrid, but what are you going to do, other than talk about how it disturbed you? So because we all realize how much it does disturb each one of us and we all don't know how we can do anything I believe its best to sit in silence and ponder these kind of productions. Also these reasons don't open up for any discussion.

Back to the chapter. 

I mentioned in my last blog post about the poor naked wretches Buechner claims us to be and how I agree with his statement. But one thing I forgot to add is how Buechner said we cannot endure to much nakedness as we cannot endure too much silence. Because silence strips us to reveal what we hate most about ourselves. Or it could reveal how much we love about ourselves and how much we hate that (Hence the last blog post).There are so many places I could go with this because it covers almost everything, but I'm just going to choose one and run with it. 

When talking with a lot of other freshman on why they are here and what they are most excited about, almost everyone has answered that they are here for a fresh start to get rid of what was behind them. 

In college don't fool yourself into thinking you are getting a fresh start. I understand you want to have a new face for college so that maybe things will be different but you can't just change everything you are orientation weekend.  Don't pretend the hardships in your past or the trials at home didn't or aren't happening, and haven't affected you in some way. They have, and it changes and affects you all through life. The sooner you accept it the sooner you'll be able to move past it all instead of spending your life hiding it. 

To become clothed, in a sense, we must become naked willingly first.

This doesn't go to say that you should share your ongoing and past trials with everybody if anybody; there is a time and a place. 

I just think it means coming to terms with yourself. Realizing you are a poor naked wretch.

Telling yourself the Truth. 

The Gospel as Tragedy

I have a lot of things I would like to say about "The Gospel as Tragedy" but I'm not sure how or in what order they shall come, so bare with me.

Buechner brings forth the hard truth that we are all, in a sense, poor naked wretches. I highly agree with him. We sometimes try to build ourselves up by thinking we know who we are, but then reality hits us. We look into the mirror and see the horrid, naked, and pitiless creature staring directly back at us. 

I don't think it is because we have lost all sight of who we really are. I think it is because we have most truly seen ourselves. We acknowledge that we are gifted, skilled and talented, but now see it in a different light. We realize that it is pointless. No matter how good we are, someone will be better; and even so why does it matter? 

Why does it matter that we have talents, that we can express our ideas through art, because in the end who are we? Who are we that anyone should care. 

We are no one.

Oh wait, no we're not. We are children of God. We are designed to glorify God. Whether it be through music, film, art, your job or whatever, the end goal is supposed to be to glorify God.

When you use your abilities to glorify man (most likely yourself) it is then pointless. Worthless. It makes me wonder what keeps godless people going. They have goals they are trying to meet, but when they have achieved them, what then? Even if the whole world knows their name, in the end what happens? They can look at a beautiful sunset and acknowledge its beauty, but what is its beauty for? What is the point of its beauty? Why should they care? 

Oliviasnyder DM115 INTRO

Hello all,
My name is Olivia Snyder and I am a freshman here at Huntington University as a film major. Since I have been homeschooled all my life,  going to class and having professors is very new to me; but I am very excited! I grew up in Van Wert, Ohio where I rode tractors with my dad and helped pack lunches for farmers with my mom. No, we did not have any farm animals. Music has played a big role in my life, I took piano for eight years, singing lessons (only a little) and sang on the worship team at my church. I'm not super picky with what genre of music I listen to but I really love listening to film scores, and prefer folk/americana music like Sufjan Stevens, Josh Garrels and the Avett Brothers. As a film major I obviously love movies. A few of my favorite directors being Christopher Nolan and Tarsem Singh. The picture I chose is from two years ago when I had decided to use my makeup talents to create something terrifying rather than beautiful. It was my first try at Special FX makeup using tissues and glue as my materials which are what I still use to this day. I used to regularly update a blog about nothing in particular, but that was a very long time ago. So this is going to be interesting getting back into blogging, and I look forward to it.