Blog Assignment 7

          The two images I chose were from Toy Story 3 and Wall-E, I will be comparing and contrasting the color and lighting of these images. The hue and brightness in Toy Story 3 involves a lot of color, bright, vibrant colors, lots of greens, yellows, etc. and the brightness surrounds the characters. The sun is shining and it pokes through the trees and hits their faces; which are more indicative of its subject matter, which are family and togetherness as well as unity and teamwork. Then there is the hue and brightness in Wall-E which is pretty monochromatic, mostly drab, earthy tones like brown and white and grey; and as far as brightness goes the setting is pretty dark but the characters themselves stand out, specifically the white new robot; which works because it’s a movie about a desolate earth and a lone robot that is presumably completely alone in the world and his discovery of life. Then you’ve got the saturation of Toy Story three which is very heavy, the entire thing is deep colors that represent the liveliness in the movie. In Wall-E, the saturation is very low and the colors are extremely pale, representing the emptiness in this movie. Next there is the lighting in each film. In Wall-E there are a lot of shadows, mostly in the background to give the mysterious nature of the land. In Toy Story 3 the shadows are more used to highlight the characters than anything, give them a more realistic and natural look as well as drawing attention to the emotion in their face. All of this creates a mood in Toy Story that is very emotional, whether that is nostalgia, happiness, sadness or acceptance it’s all there. In Wall-E the mood leans more towards uncertainty and fear, but also hopefulness when you see the random spots of brightness on Wall-E and the other robot. This is all used to symbolize loneliness and the ever-changing landscapes of our lives and ultimately hope. In Toy Story the symbolism is more about moving forward, looking toward the future and accepting that things change. 

Blog Assignment 6

There are three basic rules when directing a scene, the 180 degree rule, the 30 degree rules, and the rule of thirds. In this scene from Step Brothers the director, Adam McKay, successfully used all of them in one way or another. The scene is of Brennan Huff and Dale Doback doing karate in their garage. McKay does well to follow the 180 degree rule by constantly changing the shot and thus moving the line. It allows him to get any shot he wants without violating the rule and maintains a consistent look across the entirety of the scene. He does this by using the 30 degree rules. His camera movements all stay within the thirty degree range and this gives us a good idea of the space and atmosphere in the setting. He does however violate the 30 percent rule by doing jump cuts. For example, when it cuts to a close-up of the boards and Dale’s fist breaking them. Then, later he does the same with a close up of Dale and a board again. These shots are good because they give the idea that the action is fast-paced and fun rather than showing them actually setting up each of their stunts. Finally there is the rule of thirds which McKay uses in a few of the shots: the shot of Brennan and the Doritos as well as the breaking multiple boards’ scene. Brennan is placed on the far left third and the Doritos on the far right, this allows us to see both images and recognize a relationship between them. Same with the boards’ scene and Dale, his fist comes in the far right third while the boards rest in the rest of the screen, implying a relationship. All in all McKay mostly follows the rules but when he broke them he did so to develop continuity and humor in the scene, which is important, as it is a comedy. 

Blog Assignment 5

Arctic Monkeys

Kate Nash

                The two songs I did were, “Fluorescent Adolescent” by Arctic Monkeys and Kate Nash’s cover of that same song.  Even though they are essentially the same song they are very different in a number of ways.  The lyrics are exactly the same, which tends to be the case in covers, however the pacing and use of the lyrics is different in each song. In the Kate Nash version the tempo of her recital is much faster in comparison to the Arctic Monkey version. That tends to be the main difference in the song just in general, but I’m getting ahead of myself; let’s start with the instrumentation. In the Arctic Monkeys version it is heavily driven by drums, bass and guitar. Similarly, in the Kate Nash version it is driven by drums but there is no bass, instead they utilize piano and guitar and Nash’s more powerful vocals to push the song. The performances are also a bit different because Nash’s version was done live where as the Arctic Monkeys version was a studio recording, this definitely gives the advantage to the Arctic Monkeys as far as quality goes. This allows there intensity and pitch to be a lot sharper, although, given the circumstances Kate Nash is really able to make due with her situation. Not to mention, the instrumentation can be tweaked for the recorded version whereas with the Nash version it all has to just be done right and thus the overlap is greater, but, in my opinion, helps the sound for this type of song because it is supposed to feel cluttered and loud and fast. That is the main difference, the speed; the Arctic Monkeys have a much slower more methodical pace and Nash just kicks the tempo up to eleven and has the voice to keep up.  The organization is very similar too, as it is a cover, but the layering is a bit different. While both songs focus hard on the drums, Nash focuses more on vocals next and I think the Arctic Monkeys focuses more on guitar secondarily. Overall, I think I like the Nash version better because the song strikes me as a more fast-paced song and I think her voice has a better ability to carry the song.

Blog Assignment 8

View the clip here.

             I think the theme of this movie is the randomness of life and how we are all interconnected through that randomness. It is exemplified in Vincent and Jules talk about God, but perhaps better shown through the accidental murder of Marvin, their passenger. His death is so abrupt and unprovoked it really gives the sense of randomness of life. It’s affect on Jules and Vincent and their boss is where the interconnectedness comes in. The theme is active as you really have to draw these conclusions yourself, it isn’t stated or spelled out for you but more hinted at through their conversation and subsequent actions.

            The two aspects I think were most used in this clip were rhythm and space.  The rhythm of the scene was relatively slow paced; it does quick cuts between Jules and Vincent as they speak back and forth. The camera stays in the same place, just a close-up of each of them as they speak. It gives the idea of simultaneity, a connection between two friends having an argument. This is also achieved through the use of contrast and affinity as the two men are dressed exactly the same and the only difference is their skin color. Then you have Marvin who is completely different. That is, until Vincent turns to ask the third passenger his opinion when his gun goes off. This violently changes the pacing and is a good example of tension and release. You didn’t even realize there was tension until the sudden release when the gun goes off; it also introduces the random aspect that I was speaking on. The rhythm is now changed to a much more fast-paced as they are just shown in a two-shot capturing them both at the same time and they go back and forth shouting. This introduces the idea of how random events can completely change our world. Then we have the space; it is a relatively small area, a car. The way they are all grouped together in the car give the idea of connectedness, but Marvin is shot in a blur, which gives the idea of distance. This all comes around to give the impression that even though there may be distance between us we are still connected in various ways.