In the class on Monday we watched we had a guest filmmaker come, Sharon Lockhart, she showed us her film, Goshogaoka,color,sound, 16mm. A film she had made in Japan while living in a small town there. She said she had gotten inspiered when she had passed a gym and saw the girls on the basketball team practicing, Sharon Lockhart watched them for three months observing and learning as much as she could about them. As she described to the class during our brief Q&A with her before the showing, she had said that inorder to film the girls she had to go through a gauntlet of buracracy and that she felt that she had gotten alot of polite no's. After we were able to ask her breif questions and were about to watch her film she had to leave to go film something for her new film about the disaperance of the lunch room in America; it sounded like an interesting film and that there would be plenty of history to work with, however it did feel a lil rude that she would be there to show us her film but leave to go do something else.
I had talked with Carl after and he had told me that yeah it was a bit wierd considering she was a professior her self and that you would think she would be better then the way she was but that was the impression i got. But anyway, when the film finally started it was something different then before. There was one stationary camera that was set in the center of the gym the background was a stage with red curtins covering the open area of the stage and the rest was a modern gym desigen, that brought back a feeling of how it looke dlike in highschool, middleschool, or grade school. It is interesting to think that when you hear Japan you most likly think wonderful Arcutechture or something different as far as what we would see but it is all very much the same.
However what is not the same is the interaction, the way the team would practice or go about their average practice which was very close yet very different the way a team will practice in America. The main thing that struck me the most with the girls as i watched them go about their average practice for them was the way the walked on the lines of the gym floor, the focus and meditation it really takes to dedicate to being on a team, playing in a sport, was something of a miss. Usually when you see a team practice it is very much like PT in the army, you constatly move, go ove rplays, condition,condition,condition. There usually isn't a time to slow down and take in your surroundings; however this is a major seperation from Japaness culture and American culture.
Another thing that got me was the way the girls would message each other after practice, that says to me how close they really are when it comes to being a team player. You have to be pretty close with your teammates to let them that close to you and help you relaxe after a hard work out. There wasn't anything erotic about it or dirty but there was something very different about it. The main thing that kept getting my attention was that the girls really didn't seem to care about being on a camera, they were focused on the team and doing what have done every day beofre, as apposed to American girls who would most likly want to show how special and great there are over the team.
As we watched the film we saw that the camera never moved, there was no enphosis on action or pointing out the stars of the team, it was all about watch these well organized, disaplined girls as they do what they do everyday. Sharon Lockhart would let a whole deck go before ending a sequence, there was no dissolve or fade, just hard cuts as the film went from one deck to the next of raw unedited film. And when you saw the girl go off screen the camera wouldn't be able to show us what was going on so there was an elemint of mystic in what weren't we being shown what was going on off camera. I found that got my attention when i was watching this film because it made me wonder what face did the girls allow them selves to have out of veiw of the camera, were they more tierd or boared then they let show of camera, did they hate knowing that many people would see them screw up if it happened and raised their anxiety, turning this practice into a stressful day.
Was there pressure from the community put on the girls to not screw up, show everyone how organized and dissapline our culture is compared to everyone elses, if you fail you will bring shame upon your family and your selves? maybe abit over dramatic on that last part i know, but Japaness culture has a high standard as far as honor and bring shame goes. As i watched this film i coulded but help check my watch every few minutes, because lets face it the film dragged and watching a basketball team practice was just not somwething to hold my attention for to long. It was especially hard to not notice that the girls really didn't have much individuality when it came to their apperiance, for the most part they had the same hair, face, bodys and it just felt like i am seeing clones in millitary fasion go about their practice. AM i making a StarWars implication? possible, but even i am not sure about that one.
Over all i thought the film was OK, i know what i hate and i didn't hate this but i also wouldn't say that this film was, THE GREATEST FUCKEN FILM OF ALL TIME!!!!! but in the end it was ok.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Matthew Porterfield's "Hamilton"
As we started class today Carl showed us a movie by Jonas Mekas, "Notes on the Circus", This was a movie that Jonas Mekas had made in 1966 and was color, sound, 16mm. What Carl actually showed us was from a bigger film,"Waldon" by Jonas Mekas. But ,"Notes on a Circus", was a gathering on images from a circus that Jonas Mekas filmed and he put them at different speeds over the one song. It was a nice introduiction to time and and how things can be so different and uncertain when there isn't a clock around to tell you the time or you can't rely on your own perception to know what realioty you are in or what is going on. And in a way that is how i think Carl was trying to prep us for the observation of time and reality for the movie that ,"Hamilton". All together i liked this film that Jonas Mekas had made, it was entertaining, puzziling, and interesting how all he did was mess with the speed of the film to mess with time while the only sound, a sonf by unknown, was pretty much the only guide we had to keep us in check as to what was going on before us.
In class on Monday we went to the UWM Union Theater to veiw the full length feature film, "Hamilton", Color, Sound, 16mm. Made by Matthew Porterfield, this film was about time. This film was shot in Baltimore, MD during the summer. Carl told us that Matthew Porterfield was a former film student who dropped out of NYU's film school and gathered about 50,000$ to film ,'Hamilton". When Carl told us this it made me think about Kevin Smith and how he droped out of film school gathered up some money and went on to make, "Clerks", which is one of my favorite movies.
This also made me wonder where / how could i get 50,000$, for a film of mine? But as Carl went on to explane more about Matthew Porterfield's movie, Hamilton", he said that Matthew Porterfield look's up to a french filmmaker ,Robert Bresson. Who say's that non acting actors are best. in so many words. Carl had toled us that Matthew Porterfield considers his film, "a silent film" and as we watched you got that impression because yes there was diolauge but not an entier amount, and the rest of the movie was mostly visual gems, much like the way Dorsky films.
In the film ,"Hamilton", there was no real scense of time or family connection. when i say family connection i mean that there were two african -american girls with a white grandmother and what seemed to be a latin-american ,"step daughter" and i say that losly; how had a child with the white grandmothers white son. So all you can really tell is that they are a family and in the end i guess that is all that really matters . As the film went on from start to finish thought the only real scense of time that i could tell was that all of this happened within the span of a day or so.
The slight plot of the movie was that the latin -american girl who had the child with the white grandmothers son was leaving town" tomorrow" for location unknown for a few months. and that most everybody involved thought that the white boy should spend more time with the girl and his child. This story felt like to me something you would see on the WB or on an after school special, with a warning to kids about teen pregnancy. But Matthew Porterfield did not make ,"Hamilton" this way. Because there was no warnign and no authoritative voice or message at the end saying so. In the end of, "Hamilton", the girl leaves with her baby to location unknown, and the guy is riding his bike carring flowers in his hand while another younger boy rides bikes with him. Then the movie ends, we never do know who the flowers are given to, or where the girl goes. but there does seem to be this little message at the end that the saying," it's never to late!" , doesn't seem to apply to every situation.
Overall i did like ,"Hamilton", i thought that it was an alright movie, that Matthew Porterfield put alot of work into and i do think that it was a good experiment becaue it didn't give the audiance closure, there wasn't great star power or woderful acting but, the actors fit there part as far as setting tone and place in the movie. And the visual shots of the movie were wonderful overall.
In class on Monday we went to the UWM Union Theater to veiw the full length feature film, "Hamilton", Color, Sound, 16mm. Made by Matthew Porterfield, this film was about time. This film was shot in Baltimore, MD during the summer. Carl told us that Matthew Porterfield was a former film student who dropped out of NYU's film school and gathered about 50,000$ to film ,'Hamilton". When Carl told us this it made me think about Kevin Smith and how he droped out of film school gathered up some money and went on to make, "Clerks", which is one of my favorite movies.
This also made me wonder where / how could i get 50,000$, for a film of mine? But as Carl went on to explane more about Matthew Porterfield's movie, Hamilton", he said that Matthew Porterfield look's up to a french filmmaker ,Robert Bresson. Who say's that non acting actors are best. in so many words. Carl had toled us that Matthew Porterfield considers his film, "a silent film" and as we watched you got that impression because yes there was diolauge but not an entier amount, and the rest of the movie was mostly visual gems, much like the way Dorsky films.
In the film ,"Hamilton", there was no real scense of time or family connection. when i say family connection i mean that there were two african -american girls with a white grandmother and what seemed to be a latin-american ,"step daughter" and i say that losly; how had a child with the white grandmothers white son. So all you can really tell is that they are a family and in the end i guess that is all that really matters . As the film went on from start to finish thought the only real scense of time that i could tell was that all of this happened within the span of a day or so.
The slight plot of the movie was that the latin -american girl who had the child with the white grandmothers son was leaving town" tomorrow" for location unknown for a few months. and that most everybody involved thought that the white boy should spend more time with the girl and his child. This story felt like to me something you would see on the WB or on an after school special, with a warning to kids about teen pregnancy. But Matthew Porterfield did not make ,"Hamilton" this way. Because there was no warnign and no authoritative voice or message at the end saying so. In the end of, "Hamilton", the girl leaves with her baby to location unknown, and the guy is riding his bike carring flowers in his hand while another younger boy rides bikes with him. Then the movie ends, we never do know who the flowers are given to, or where the girl goes. but there does seem to be this little message at the end that the saying," it's never to late!" , doesn't seem to apply to every situation.
Overall i did like ,"Hamilton", i thought that it was an alright movie, that Matthew Porterfield put alot of work into and i do think that it was a good experiment becaue it didn't give the audiance closure, there wasn't great star power or woderful acting but, the actors fit there part as far as setting tone and place in the movie. And the visual shots of the movie were wonderful overall.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Jennifer Montgomery
For this class we had a guest speaker come to present some films she had made. When class started Carl started right away talking about Jennifer Montgomery as we were getting ready to view the films she had brought for us. What i really got from Jennifer Montgomery was that she was obssesed with super 8 film, she teaches film, and she was presenting a showing in Milwaukee this week.
To start off the day Jennifer Montgomery showed us a student spoff film, that was made in 1995, "How To Use Equipment" It showed the relationship of equipment to the user's. I wasn't to sure what Jennifer Montgomery was trying to get us to think about or what she was trying to say with this film, but i guess all things considerd it was just a warm up film to get us ready for the day.
The next film we viewed was "Age 12, Love With A Little L" , before we watched this film Jennifer Montgomery talked a lil bit about it, she described it as dirty, sexual, role circles, psycho social dinamics. Jennifer Montgomery manufactured the psychadelic look of the film in the end of this film, she "embrassed it to show control", TERRITORIAL PISSINGS, in this film we saw a shot of a girl removing her under wear from under her skirt and pissing on a roof until she was done then she pulled her underwear back up and walk out of view. marking her terf so to speak!
Power, relationships between girls, "tweens", fragmented. Lassie = Porky's Joke. In this film we saw a girl on all fours acting and sounding like a dog, being trained by another trainer type girl , giving commands. I can't really explain it but when i saw that scene in the movie it made me think of the scene from Porky's when they show the the two gym teachers having sex and it is revealed to the audiance why she is called LASSY by the other male teachers at the school. I had thought that Jennifer may have been make a play on that scene or did with out knowing it, because when i had asked her about it she didn't even know that Porky's was a movie. So I guess that was more of a happy/joke for my enjoyment. This movie had alot going on in it, and to be sure i wasn't really sure what else to get out of it . This film wasn't the most shocking film i had ever scene but it had it's moments, it wasn't the oddest film i had ever scene but i it had it's moments,
The last film that we saw i liked a lil bit more then ,"Age 12, Love With A Little L", and this film, Notes of the Death of Kodachrome", dv,video, super8 film. This film was about Jennifer Montgomery reconnecting with old friends by asking for old equipment back that had been borrowed for years. In the film Jennifer traveled to San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland. The film went on as Jennifer Montgomery reconnected with had reconnected with her friends had gotten most of her stuff back, until we come to the last friend and she reveals to fim on camera this dream she had way back in 1986 and that it had stuck with her, and then she showed us this in her film. I asked her about her dream after the class was over and she had said she had gotten everything in the dream froma friend, the footage of the puppets was something she had filmed when she worked at a theater, and the advice she recommended for filming something that or a dream was to wait ten years and really give it thought to understand what it is and then if you still want to film it and show it then you should go do it. I thought that it was a big step for anyone to do, to film a dream you had and then show your audiance what was going on in your head as you dreamed, really put your self out there. Like i said before I liked this film a lil bit better then ,Age 12..., After the class was over and i was able to talk with Jennifer Montgomery a while, I thought about everything, the class, the screenings, talking with Jennifer Montgomery & just in general what i got out of it. I am still thinking about the anwsers to these questions, and overall i feel i am glad i was able to see these screenings and with what i said above i think that is all i have to say about Jennifer Montgomery's showing.
To start off the day Jennifer Montgomery showed us a student spoff film, that was made in 1995, "How To Use Equipment" It showed the relationship of equipment to the user's. I wasn't to sure what Jennifer Montgomery was trying to get us to think about or what she was trying to say with this film, but i guess all things considerd it was just a warm up film to get us ready for the day.
The next film we viewed was "Age 12, Love With A Little L" , before we watched this film Jennifer Montgomery talked a lil bit about it, she described it as dirty, sexual, role circles, psycho social dinamics. Jennifer Montgomery manufactured the psychadelic look of the film in the end of this film, she "embrassed it to show control", TERRITORIAL PISSINGS, in this film we saw a shot of a girl removing her under wear from under her skirt and pissing on a roof until she was done then she pulled her underwear back up and walk out of view. marking her terf so to speak!
Power, relationships between girls, "tweens", fragmented. Lassie = Porky's Joke. In this film we saw a girl on all fours acting and sounding like a dog, being trained by another
The last film that we saw i liked a lil bit more then ,"Age 12, Love With A Little L", and this film, Notes of the Death of Kodachrome", dv,video, super8 film. This film was about Jennifer Montgomery reconnecting with old friends by asking for old equipment back that had been borrowed for years. In the film Jennifer traveled to San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland. The film went on as Jennifer Montgomery reconnected with had reconnected with her friends had gotten most of her stuff back, until we come to the last friend and she reveals to fim on camera this dream she had way back in 1986 and that it had stuck with her, and then she showed us this in her film. I asked her about her dream after the class was over and she had said she had gotten everything in the dream froma friend, the footage of the puppets was something she had filmed when she worked at a theater, and the advice she recommended for filming something that or a dream was to wait ten years and really give it thought to understand what it is and then if you still want to film it and show it then you should go do it. I thought that it was a big step for anyone to do, to film a dream you had and then show your audiance what was going on in your head as you dreamed, really put your self out there. Like i said before I liked this film a lil bit better then ,Age 12..., After the class was over and i was able to talk with Jennifer Montgomery a while, I thought about everything, the class, the screenings, talking with Jennifer Montgomery & just in general what i got out of it. I am still thinking about the anwsers to these questions, and overall i feel i am glad i was able to see these screenings and with what i said above i think that is all i have to say about Jennifer Montgomery's showing.
Jean Genet in Chicago/ Jacqueline Goss, When A Stranger Comes to Town/ & More Then Meets the Eye: Remaking Jane Fonda
A lil information about Jean Genet that Carl presented to us before we started the viewings for the day. Jean Genet 1910-1986, theif, prostitute, vagabond, prisoner, homosexual, saint, novelist, playwrite, filmmaker, advocat, activist. "He eludes lables, gives simpithy to those without power. " One of the most admired French writers. One of Jean Genet's films "UN CHAT D'AMOUR" (1950) A short film by Genet set in prison about depression, two men who have never seen each other, yet there cells are right next to each other and the pine after each other yet they can never be together. " The past is modifyed by memorie."
Frederic Moffet - "Jean Genet in Chicago" : B& W film, in French, English subtitles.
This film both used stock footage from news reels and tv specials about the events that occured at the Democratic convention in Chicago 1968; And actors who wore paper masks of who the repressented in the film. I did not know to much about the events of Chicago 1968, but it was a real eye-opener to see young hippie getting beaten for camping in a park illegally by the citys police. The looks on the cops face as they brought down their billy clubs in rage at the young activists was a shock to see, yet see young hippies turning over cars and starting fires in the city and park also kept watching because it made me wonder during the whole movie, why my dad said the 60's were the best time to be alive. I liked this piece because i think it presented a piece of our countrys history in a way that could only be done and that was by viewing actual events of what happened in Chicago 1968.
More Then Meets the Eye: Remaking Jane Fonda by Scott Stark.
He exercises to Jane Fonda, started as a spoff film of Jane Fondas then moved to more of a tribute film, a reflection on Jane Fonda's political statments on the vietnam war and her own bio about growing up. This replaced the spectical of Scott Stark working out in his corney gray gym pants and red long sleve shirt to Jane Fonda's working out tape. As we watched the movie i saw that personal facts about Jane Fonda were presented horizontally on the screen and her political views of the vietnam war were presented vertically on the screen in the film. I didn't know that Jane Fonda was so politically active during vietnam and then the 1980's roled around and she became a work out celeb. When you think about the amount of time spent on this film and the amount of work that Scott Starks put into this film, it kind of makes you wonder how good of an artist you really have to be to be able to make a spoff fun. Even when we saw him working out to the video in all of the different locations it was fun instead of annoying because i am not so sure that he was going for a cheap laugh but to present how serious Jane Fonda felt about the vietnam war, her personal battles with her own body, and her own up coming with her work out videos.
The last video we viewed for the day was , " A Stranger Comes To Town" By Jacqueline Goss. An animated Documentry, Jacqueline Goss was the filmmaker responsible for There There Square" . In this film Jacqueline Goss interviewed 6 people about their experiance coming to America. Through Animation, and using Machinima through the game, "World of War craft". In this film the interviewies were never scene in person, only through animation or through their avatare they created for the game. This was an interesting way to shoot the film, but i felt as though the movie wasn't finished. I don't know if Jacqueline Goss said what she wanted to get out or if she was trying to say something else that i wasn't picking up on. But for the most part i got the feeling that for an outsider to come into America now adays you are made to feel alien because of the security blanket we have wrapped around our selves. I like Jacqueline Goss's work but as far as this movie went i thought that it made some good points but was a bit novel in it's approach but this film needs some more work.
Frederic Moffet - "Jean Genet in Chicago" : B& W film, in French, English subtitles.
This film both used stock footage from news reels and tv specials about the events that occured at the Democratic convention in Chicago 1968; And actors who wore paper masks of who the repressented in the film. I did not know to much about the events of Chicago 1968, but it was a real eye-opener to see young hippie getting beaten for camping in a park illegally by the citys police. The looks on the cops face as they brought down their billy clubs in rage at the young activists was a shock to see, yet see young hippies turning over cars and starting fires in the city and park also kept watching because it made me wonder during the whole movie, why my dad said the 60's were the best time to be alive. I liked this piece because i think it presented a piece of our countrys history in a way that could only be done and that was by viewing actual events of what happened in Chicago 1968.
More Then Meets the Eye: Remaking Jane Fonda by Scott Stark.
He exercises to Jane Fonda, started as a spoff film of Jane Fondas then moved to more of a tribute film, a reflection on Jane Fonda's political statments on the vietnam war and her own bio about growing up. This replaced the spectical of Scott Stark working out in his corney gray gym pants and red long sleve shirt to Jane Fonda's working out tape. As we watched the movie i saw that personal facts about Jane Fonda were presented horizontally on the screen and her political views of the vietnam war were presented vertically on the screen in the film. I didn't know that Jane Fonda was so politically active during vietnam and then the 1980's roled around and she became a work out celeb. When you think about the amount of time spent on this film and the amount of work that Scott Starks put into this film, it kind of makes you wonder how good of an artist you really have to be to be able to make a spoff fun. Even when we saw him working out to the video in all of the different locations it was fun instead of annoying because i am not so sure that he was going for a cheap laugh but to present how serious Jane Fonda felt about the vietnam war, her personal battles with her own body, and her own up coming with her work out videos.
The last video we viewed for the day was , " A Stranger Comes To Town" By Jacqueline Goss. An animated Documentry, Jacqueline Goss was the filmmaker responsible for There There Square" . In this film Jacqueline Goss interviewed 6 people about their experiance coming to America. Through Animation, and using Machinima through the game, "World of War craft". In this film the interviewies were never scene in person, only through animation or through their avatare they created for the game. This was an interesting way to shoot the film, but i felt as though the movie wasn't finished. I don't know if Jacqueline Goss said what she wanted to get out or if she was trying to say something else that i wasn't picking up on. But for the most part i got the feeling that for an outsider to come into America now adays you are made to feel alien because of the security blanket we have wrapped around our selves. I like Jacqueline Goss's work but as far as this movie went i thought that it made some good points but was a bit novel in it's approach but this film needs some more work.
Fun with View Master's/ Vladimir
View Master story telling over 4 disks & audio played on a jam box with "bings" or other noises to signle to the audiance when to change to the next "slide" of the show.
The first story about a cockroach ; "Stanley the cockroach" benevolance & menevolence of the upper worl. The echoed voice of the narrater ,Stanley, Ventures out from the bottom of the refrigerator to the much bigger worl of the house the refrigerator stands. Stanley meets a human for the first time and is chased off back to under the refrigerator. The human who now knows he has a bug problem puts sticky traps under the frige and our adventurer, Stanley, is trapped. Stanley's fellow cockroaches help him by removing his legs so that he can be free from the sticky trap. Long behold, Stanley, is aided by his friends and he is able to grow his legs back and Stanley is able to explore more. This wonderful story was one of 4 that we veiwed on the Viewmasters in class. The next 3 were "The Public Life of Jeremiah Barnes", "Fear & Trembling", & "Morgan tobort". The two storys that i picked as my favorite for the day was The public Life of Jeremiah Barnes. I asked Vladimir was this story based on true events and she said no, but it was a great story; one that i enjoyed very much so. The main thing that i liked the most about Vladimir's stories was that these storys weren't to simple, to abstract, or overly complicated.
I think that Vladimir knows how to get the attention of her audiance and it is a novel approach to get her audiance to interact and actually be part of the action. Through out the whole class i was interested, often catching myself not being able to wait till the next moment of the story. The way that Vladimir presents her showings are very impressive for any artist to undertake, It was very impressive to know that Vladimir was the one who filmed, and cut every piece of film and make every single disk for the showing. This was one of my most favorite showings of the year and i was proude i was able to be apart of it.
The first story about a cockroach ; "Stanley the cockroach" benevolance & menevolence of the upper worl. The echoed voice of the narrater ,Stanley, Ventures out from the bottom of the refrigerator to the much bigger worl of the house the refrigerator stands. Stanley meets a human for the first time and is chased off back to under the refrigerator. The human who now knows he has a bug problem puts sticky traps under the frige and our adventurer, Stanley, is trapped. Stanley's fellow cockroaches help him by removing his legs so that he can be free from the sticky trap. Long behold, Stanley, is aided by his friends and he is able to grow his legs back and Stanley is able to explore more. This wonderful story was one of 4 that we veiwed on the Viewmasters in class. The next 3 were "The Public Life of Jeremiah Barnes", "Fear & Trembling", & "Morgan tobort". The two storys that i picked as my favorite for the day was The public Life of Jeremiah Barnes. I asked Vladimir was this story based on true events and she said no, but it was a great story; one that i enjoyed very much so. The main thing that i liked the most about Vladimir's stories was that these storys weren't to simple, to abstract, or overly complicated.
I think that Vladimir knows how to get the attention of her audiance and it is a novel approach to get her audiance to interact and actually be part of the action. Through out the whole class i was interested, often catching myself not being able to wait till the next moment of the story. The way that Vladimir presents her showings are very impressive for any artist to undertake, It was very impressive to know that Vladimir was the one who filmed, and cut every piece of film and make every single disk for the showing. This was one of my most favorite showings of the year and i was proude i was able to be apart of it.
Camera Obscura
Well folks it has been a while since i have bloged but here i am back on track, i guess the idea of blogging/ leaving a journal of sorts messes with my paranoia just a lil bit, but it must be done for school so here it goes.
Etham Jackson's Camera Obscura exhibit was one of the most interesting screenings i have scene this semester by far. When he introduced to us of thin pieces of lenses, garbage bags, painters low tack tape, a moveable wall, and sunlight to truly make something great. I was wondering why it was that he stayed away from single main shots when filming from a "hole" of course but then again it was pretty cool with the results. The main thing that caught my attention was when the clouds were projected on the cieling wwas one for all intensive purposes the main thing that caught my eye at the show. I had a great time at the show and was impressed with how Ethan Jackson could show us what he saw through a camera.
Etham Jackson's Camera Obscura exhibit was one of the most interesting screenings i have scene this semester by far. When he introduced to us of thin pieces of lenses, garbage bags, painters low tack tape, a moveable wall, and sunlight to truly make something great. I was wondering why it was that he stayed away from single main shots when filming from a "hole" of course but then again it was pretty cool with the results. The main thing that caught my attention was when the clouds were projected on the cieling wwas one for all intensive purposes the main thing that caught my eye at the show. I had a great time at the show and was impressed with how Ethan Jackson could show us what he saw through a camera.
Monday, February 26, 2007
Monday 02/26/ 07 Films Featuring a visit from Laura Marks
Today i was ten minutes late for class so when i walked in to class it was dark and in the middle of a showing. From what i was able to findout from the end of the first film and what Laura Marks was saying was that it was a film about finding a letter in the ground. The letter that was hidden inside of a mortor shell; I saw a guy hitting the shell with a hammer and thought it would blow up, how odd it felt to me that a group of people stood around while this man hit a possible active mortor shell with a hammer. It was reveled that inside was a letter, that i had guessed the guys were diggin for in the first place. I wished i had gotten the name of the film and it's creator but i brought a new perspective to me. At the end of the showing Laura Marks talked about an olive tree that the filmmaker talked about cutting down but wouldn't because it would be removing the familys livly hood, at this time i was still unclear as to what she was talking about, thats what i get for being late to class, right?
The next film that Laura Marks showed us was an animatted short by another filmmaker, again i didnot get to record the name of the animator but it was an interesting short film called, "The Sadman" this short was featured on leboniese tv. This piece is a representative of what life in bayrouth is like; that the leboniese people are very welcoming, hospitable to others. But there is always this underlying feeling of sadness. In the film it features a man that we see every day walking home from work, it cuts to him going down to most likly his apartment, where he is shown washing his face in the sink and it is revealed that he losses his face, so he draws a a happy face to replace it. The next day we see the same thing until he washes his face again except that the water turned to sand, the next scene is hime covered in sand much like a sand version of a snow man with a happy face but this crubbles and we are faced with the sad man again. Next day we see the same thign again except that when the man goes to the sink no water comes out and he he starts to cry, his tears fill his apartment. We see in the end that the man has bottled his happyness almost like he is waiting for it to be ready to unlesh so he can enjoy it like some kind of perfect "canned goods".
The next film that was introduced to us by Laura Marks was a film made in the 90's, that was released over the internet, i once again wasn't able to record the filmmakers name but his film "Dead Time" was an excellent movie. This film featured a city cut off from every escape to the outside except for the internet which was available, sometimes. Laura Marks said to the class today that this filmmakers movie and others were alot like, "messages in bottles", cast out over the internet to those that would watch. In the end of the film we see the ruins of the city from it being bombed, ontop of a roof was the filmmaker him self wearing a, Superman shirt, I found this a bit ironic and the line that he said in the shot was that, he wished he could have raised his fist in the air but he didn't because he lost his sense of humor, I talked to Laura Marks after and she agreed. I mentioned what i thought to her; that when we see the Superman symbol it is identifyed with power, or strength and that when the filmmaker was wearing that but said that, he would have raised his fist but lost his sense of humor, that is took the power away from that and that seemed to fit the mood a very lost sense of power, or stability. Laura Marks told me that she was there when that city was bombed and that is how she felt, lost and unimpowerd. It was great to talk with her, even though it was only for a few moments, but to get that kind of insight from another filmmaker was an experiance of it's own.
The next film that Laura Marks showed us was an animatted short by another filmmaker, again i didnot get to record the name of the animator but it was an interesting short film called, "The Sadman" this short was featured on leboniese tv. This piece is a representative of what life in bayrouth is like; that the leboniese people are very welcoming, hospitable to others. But there is always this underlying feeling of sadness. In the film it features a man that we see every day walking home from work, it cuts to him going down to most likly his apartment, where he is shown washing his face in the sink and it is revealed that he losses his face, so he draws a a happy face to replace it. The next day we see the same thing until he washes his face again except that the water turned to sand, the next scene is hime covered in sand much like a sand version of a snow man with a happy face but this crubbles and we are faced with the sad man again. Next day we see the same thign again except that when the man goes to the sink no water comes out and he he starts to cry, his tears fill his apartment. We see in the end that the man has bottled his happyness almost like he is waiting for it to be ready to unlesh so he can enjoy it like some kind of perfect "canned goods".
The next film that was introduced to us by Laura Marks was a film made in the 90's, that was released over the internet, i once again wasn't able to record the filmmakers name but his film "Dead Time" was an excellent movie. This film featured a city cut off from every escape to the outside except for the internet which was available, sometimes. Laura Marks said to the class today that this filmmakers movie and others were alot like, "messages in bottles", cast out over the internet to those that would watch. In the end of the film we see the ruins of the city from it being bombed, ontop of a roof was the filmmaker him self wearing a, Superman shirt, I found this a bit ironic and the line that he said in the shot was that, he wished he could have raised his fist in the air but he didn't because he lost his sense of humor, I talked to Laura Marks after and she agreed. I mentioned what i thought to her; that when we see the Superman symbol it is identifyed with power, or strength and that when the filmmaker was wearing that but said that, he would have raised his fist but lost his sense of humor, that is took the power away from that and that seemed to fit the mood a very lost sense of power, or stability. Laura Marks told me that she was there when that city was bombed and that is how she felt, lost and unimpowerd. It was great to talk with her, even though it was only for a few moments, but to get that kind of insight from another filmmaker was an experiance of it's own.
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