Showing posts with label Film School Notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Film School Notes. Show all posts

Jan 30, 2010

Old Film School Slides: Vol. 4

This is the last of the film school slide volumes. Look over the images once more and think to yourself about what the story or scene behind them might be and share it if you like.  As I've expressed, this is a great exercise for a variety of technically based (film experience related) reasons, but it's also just a great way to wake up your brain.

#11 - Truck
Old truck with Saskatchewan plates, what's the owner like or where is he or she?


#6 - Waffle Ceiling
Mad Men office space or space office for mad men?


#1 - Window
Sask. Legislature, maybe a stately home even, who's inside?


#16 - Papers
A million old stories, a lost message, stacks of old observations . . . find something.


Jan 29, 2010

Old Film School Slides: Vol. 3

And we continue with my film school still frame exercise. What's the story behind these images? What kind of movie would these be from? What's the scene? Do they connect with one another somehow? These were all things we were asked when assigned this project back in the introductory class to the film program. I may have taken the images, but the beauty of the project is that they are what you make of them.

#10 - Alley Building
Lens flares, over-exposed, a back alley entrance - quirky address or seedy meeting place.


#14 - Government House
Historic home, government grounds, modern day or early 20th century?


#7 - Caution
Foreshadowing. What's going on here - crime scene, painting, leaky roof?


#15 - Tree Lined Road
Drive to a hospital or prison in the country - a stately manor perhaps?


Jan 28, 2010

Old Film School Slides: Vol. 2

In continuation of the images I posted yesterday, here are several more slides from the same film school photography assignment.  Several of these images were never used in class, so coming across them again after years in a box has me redefining their meaning.  The idea behind the project was to consider possible scenes or stories related to the image, as though it was a still frame from a feature film.  What do you see?

#2 - Pentax
My friend Ward. Shooting each others portrait at the same time - what happened to the picture of me I wonder?


#8 - Fountain
Dimly lit, beads of water collecting - someone else was just here.


#5 - Bowling Alley
A time gone by, abandoned, nostalgic, what's inside?


#9 - Utility Closet
Shades of yellow and orange, full shelves, hidden supplies, someones collection.

Jan 27, 2010

Old Film School Slides: Vol. 1

A movie, technically speaking, is simply a series of still images played at 24 frames per second to create the illusion of movement. This fact proved to be the central theme of my very first production class and the inspiration behind many of the projects that we were assigned in the winter semester of 2003. Working with the Pentax K1000 (still camera) we were instructed to capture images and then create a back story, soundscape, song, or any cinematic embellishment we wished, to add another layer to the images.

I vaguely remember what I did, but stumbling on to these slides again was a treat. It brings back a lot of memories to see how 7 years ago I was just beginning to explore my love of urban texture and depth - bricks, concrete, peeling paint, retro settings in a modern context, etc. This influence is evident in several of my projects, most notably, Urban Jazz from that same year.


If you imagine these slides as a single frame in a feature film, it's actually a great creative exercise (hence the assignment) to picture what might be going on - Where are we going? What is this leading to? What does the image say about the theme, style, genre? I have my own notes on how I accented these images, but I'll leave it to you to come up with your own stories.

#12 - Western Furs
Bold text, patterned windows, bellowing smoke, canted angle to emphasize scale - this is the cold city.




#3 - Piano
Stylized text with Canadian reference, short depth of field - foreshadowing for Keys perhaps?


#13 - Hang Up
Abandoned, desolate, no answer . . .


#4 - The Red Light
Industrial elements, a bright spot of color - welcoming or foreboding?


Feb 18, 2008

Spliced: Documentary, Media & Iraq

I was going through some old files on my computer today and came across this article I wrote for the university newspaper back in the fall of 2005. There are probably three times as many films about the Iraq war out there now, most recently I watched No End in Sight and Iraq in Fragments, but there are still no easy explanations regarding the chaos occurring over there; no easy solutions either. Here's what I wrote back then:



Our perception of the world, likely now more than ever, is a result of a media induced society that aims at unleashing our empathy on those who have undergone some experience. It sounds vague, but let us not kid ourselves, anything can be news. This is the first lesson in understanding bias.

Perhaps you’re tired of reading, watching, or hearing about Iraq, but I have to admit that my own ambivalence towards what was happening over there was lifted after watching several documentaries. More than changing my views on Iraq, which wasn’t really my intent, they helped me to refine my views on the media.

The first documentary I watched was Control Room (2004), which provides insight into the infamous Al Jazeera network, and the perception of the war created by both Middle Eastern and American coverage.

After about a half an hour of watching I started to realize that I really had no idea what was going on in Iraq, or the middle east for that matter. I became conscious to the fact that my entire view of the war had been shaped by heated debates and broadcasts that often played the Americans as struggling heroes and the Iraqis as victims or lunatics.

Even worse, I realized that most Westerners who are not directly linked to the conflict are probably having their minds made up in much the same way.

Directed by Jehane Noujaim, Control Room is filmed in Iraq and focuses on many of the media correspondents and military spokespeople located there. It’s a real eye opener that delves into the problems of open and honest media when anyone can access it. However, the films real strong point is it’s realistic, no nonsense Iraqi perspective that allows you to come to your own conclusion about what you may be watching on the nightly news.

Of course, Michael Moore has to come up when talking about Iraq because of his latest release Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004). This film takes an entirely different approach, because it’s strength and perhaps it’s flaw, is to inform through entertainment.

I have to admit that I became emotionally revved after seeing Moore’s film and was determined that Bush was wrong, the war was wrong, and Americans were crazy. But, regardless of your viewpoint, Fahrenheit’s real power is it’s ability to spawn discussion.

I’ve been with people who never expressed an opinion about the war, and after seeing this film, wouldn’t shut up about it.

Michael Moore has adopted a sketchy reputation for altering facts for the sake of making arguments. For that reason my eyes opened a little wider when I ran across Alan Peterson’s Fahrenhype 9/11 (2004).

Now I’m not saying who’s right and who’s wrong here, because in my opinion the truth lies somewhere between these two films. Moore is clearly a democrat and Peterson a republican, but from Peterson’s lesser known film I was amazed at hearing how some of the people who were in Moore’s film actually felt.

Ultimately these three films share very different opinions that are expressed in equally different ways. Although each of these films make great arguments, what I really got from these experiences was the reasoning to never accept easy answers.

Media is simply communication altered by perspective. The purpose and logic seems black and white. Although, at one time so did war, and yet here we are living in a world where buses, hotels and skyscrapers are targets and still most people don‘t understand why.

The answers are complicated, but the information is out there.

The good news is that if you’ve reached this point in my article you’ve at least attempted to understand another viewpoint. And for the sake of what I’m trying to say, that’s a good start.