2 or 3 things

Although I am not sure I would consider it my favorite film we have watched this semester, I did really enjoy Godard’s film. I really liked that it had such a natural feel to it. This natural feel is probably due to the fact that he improved rather than staged the film. I feel like an improved film would be much more genuine simply because you can develop it as you go and you are not set to one specific path. The main character, Julitette really fascinated me and almost depressed me. When people picture their life from a young age, noone imagines that they will grow up to become a part time prostitute housewife and I cannot imagine what that would do to a person’s sense of self worth. She just becomes completely cold and indifferent to the world as a sort of coping mechanism and this indifference begins to seep into all aspects of her life. A technique employed in the film that I really enjoyed was that of the whispering voice over. Godard’s philosophies on language and life as he becomes the “I” mentioned in the title. These opinions and philosophies greatly contrast the cold indifference of Juliette. I like the film because it is the first film in a while that has elicited any sort of strong emotion from me in the form of my sympathy for Juliette.

Dos o tres cosas...

I may prefer Spanish over French, but I loved Godard’s film. Something about it was very aesthetically pleasing, but I’m unable to point out just what it was. My favorite part of the film was the scenes when Juliette paid a visit to her husband at the garage where he worked. I especially enjoyed this part for two reasons, the first of which refers back the point someone made in class on Tuesday (Katharine, I think) about how the scene highlighted an all-important fact. It is the one point in the film when it becomes obvious that Juliette loves Robert. They kiss hello and goodbye and she turns back to face the road with a smile. The moment was like a priceless gem for her, randomly found in the midst of a particularly dusty and dreary day. Secondly, the narrator proceeds to step back and ask the audience how we can ever really be sure we saw the “right” thing, the more important details of the sequence which are absolutely necessary. How can we ever be sure that we should not have focused on the leaves of the nearby trees rustling in the wind, or the insistent and eager tone of the car’s horn as Juliette screeches around the corner into the garage? Is there really a “right” thing to see, and if so, should is it better to see what was right for Juliette, the filmmaker, or each of us in the audience. And whose fault is it if we fail to see what is “right”?

crossing boundaries

To me, the most intriguing thing I found about "2 or 3 things I know about her" is the fact that it sort of crossed the boundaries between the mainstream, art cinema, and the avant-garde. Alot of people have expressed that this was one of their favorite movies, and I think that this is because it was much more conventional and familiar than the fiercely artistically innovations of the early avant-garde that are often much less pleasant and alot more difficult to watch. I think there is something to Professor Langston's theory that the real avant-garde died in 1967..."2 or 3 things..." seems much more reminiscent of our independent cinema today than the experimentalism of previous avant-garde periods. While I enjoyed the film and some of its messages, I found it fairly self-indulgent and overly philosophical. Still, Godard's evolution from "Breathless" to here in just a few years is pretty fascinating, and the endeavor to express himself so differently through something more of a cinematic essay than a narrative film is still certainly noteworthy.

Juliette

“Two or Three Things…” may have taken over the top spot as my favorite film we’ve viewed. I really enjoyed that this piece was different from other pieces we’ve seen, but it was able to keep my attention. Godard found a way to stand out from other filmmakers without putting me to sleep. Juliette was an intriguing character that I really wanted to understand. Honestly, how could a married prostitute not be interesting? The fact that she has many different levels is what really caught my eye. She loves her husband, does the best she can with her children and tries to bring in money for her family by selling sexual favors. Yet while all this is going on, she manages to expose another side of herself to the audience that is almost philosophical in nature. Whether she is in a high end clothing store or sitting in bed with her husband, viewers are shown her thoughts. The audience can detect that she is obviously quite an intellectual person because her quandaries are unanswerable. “What if we said that blue was actually green?” There is no correct answer to this question because it is just another one of life’s “what ifs.”

Of all the films we have seen so far, I enjoyed 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her the most. It seemed very accessible to me and had more of a storyline than the majority of the films we've seen. I loved Juliette's character, and when we started talking about her in class I felt inclined to come to her defense. Granted, I do think that a good amount of her philisophical rantings were just her trying to be deeper. Apart from these though, I think she was just trying to do the best she could, and staying relatively positive about her situation. She had to be a hooker, but she did it with class and style, she loved her husband, was a relatively good mother, and even though she was in the business of prostitution she never seemed to lose her dignity. I think one of the main reasons she felt the need to make "deep" observations and opinions about the world all of the time was that it was an effort to over-compensate for her lackluster life situation. She had to keep her dignity and sense of self somehow, and she did that through her thoughts.

Independent Film

I believe that 2 or 3 things is most similar to the genre of independent film. It lacks many of the avant-garde quotients and has a budget that was far superior to other avant-garde films. This film was produced through a studio and used actors as opposed to real-life people. While it lacks real structure in the modern sense of the word, 2 or 3 things is far more narrative and strucutred than say Anticipation of the Night or Dog Star Man. Two or Three Things I Know About Her resembles a modern independent film moreso than a classic avant-garde film.

This film is an interesting look into not only the life of Juliette, but also into the structure of the city of Paris and the changes that the city is going through. Godard is trying to explain his 2 or 3 beliefs about Paris by contrasting the changes in the city to the daily life of a whore. He believes that the city is sacrificing morals in order to "survive" just as Juliette is prostituting herself in order to support her family. He is against the new construction, and thinks the high rises are a "dirty" stain on the beautiful history of the city of Paris.

Godard

First off, as with any initial thoughts on the films we've seen, I was wondering what was the significance in the title 2 or 3 things i know about her. There's a distinct level of ambiguity and uncertainty that is present in the title that also pervades throughout the film. It hints at the fact that though there may be some quantifiable way of characterizing Paris/Juliette, there is no way to describe the entire persona.

Mainly, this is because of the shifting nature of Paris/Juliette. Juliette's thoughts are projected to the viewer in and out of diegetic conversation. I don't know if we can consider her drawn out speeches that break the 4th wall non-diegetic necessarily but they are definitely outside of the story in some way. Still, the speeches are somehow still a part of the world of the film and the things she says bear a lot of weight despite the rambling way in which they are presented.

To me, this seems to be a kind of parody on philosophy, though I'm not entirely sure if that was the intention of Godard. He said he wrote as he produced the film and that also presents the kind of genius that Godard can apparently just crap out at any time. There's no denying that it's very pretentious but that in itself may be a statement, that perhaps Paris and Juliette are simply pretentious and underneath their facades of superior fashion or taste there lies a decaying society and woman.
There is so much to say about this film but I'm tired so there it is.

2 or 3 things

-----I can really see this film being called an independent film by today's standards.

I started thinking about the question from Tuesday's class it is really interesting to note how these two films (2 or 3 things and Man with a Movie Camera) really represent the city itself. While the movie Man with a movie camera really showed me the beauty of a coexisting community 2 or 3 things showed a sad city whoring itself to capitalism. I can say one thing while Man with a Movie Camera showed different faces of the city with excellent detail I felt as if 2 or 3 things made an effort to show different aspects of the city(Juliette) but fails to do so in an effective way.

dEUX ou TrOIs

This was a great film; no doubt it was relatable on many levels. Godard’s ambiguity as to which “her” he’s referring to just ads to the likeability of this film because he allows the audience to interpret his films purpose in so many ways. What I liked about this film was its presentation; it reminded me a lot of the film The Great Gatsby because both incorporate lots of vivid colors, and dramatic imagery. They also incorporate scenes that are very different, but remain connected by a common landmark or point of reflection. For example, the billboard in The Great Gatsby is similar to the crane in Two or Three Things I Know About Her.

I rarely remember characters names the first time I watch a film but I vividly remember the character Paulette; elle était si adorable; I honestly feel as if I related with her thoughts more than any other character throughout the film. I can’t pinpoint it now, but her attitude and reflection upon her day reminded me a lot about how I look at things sometimes.

Lastly, one of my favorite scenes was the one in the coffee shop when juliette’s husband was conversing with that random lady. I thought it was extremely clever cause hse was being a flirt but got shot down when she was challenged over what I assume were her intensions. When she was asked to repeat the phrase, I really thought she would, but she was the perfect representation of the immaturity of people when it comes to talking about sex. If you are willing to do it and parade yourself in front of others, then you shouldn’t be afraid to talk about it. Juliette’s husband’s statement was extremely valid and not inappropriate whatsoever but it was still a challenge for her to repeat it, and I found that unfortunate. [p.s. it was quite funny how they had a big busted lady playing pinball very aggressively when the talk was getting heated, and tamer when the topic was fizzling down.]

Good Film!!!

Godard Two or Three Things I know About Her

I immensely enjoyed Godard's film "Two or Three Things I Know About Her." There was something especially poignant about how she would reminiscing something philosophical and then end it. She would muse on about an observation in a vague voice. What especially intrigued me was how Juliette would appear to be talking to her audience, but the other characters would not take notice of her conversation. On screen, she could be seen as speaking directly to the viewer watching the film. Though, in general, one could see that Juliette seemed numbed, nonchalant, and cynical about her situation around her. It was as if she had become a victim of post World War II French society. She is a prostitute, yes, but a classy prostitute. She was so submissive of the circumstances in her life. In addition, it appeared as if Juliette was never at any time riled up during the film. She also gives a whiff of self-pity. However, I enjoyed the monologues that she would give as well as the whispered monologues given by Godard himself. There was also something especially interesting about the segment with her reading out what her child had written about the compatability between girls and boys. There just always seemed to be something elusive about Juliette that always escaped me, something that I could not quite put my finger on.

-Michael

Impressions...

I enjoyed Godard’s Two or Three Things I Know About Her because of its unique style that is not quite avant-garde, but no mainstream either. In the reading for today, Godard mentioned the term ‘complexes’ that relate to an individual, society, and the things that influence them. I see how this relates to the film as it is a portrayal of how Paris is changed because of capitalism and how individuals, such as Juliette, have to change their lifestyles in order to fit with modern society. The scenes of the construction and Juliette’s monologues to the camera and her philosophical viewpoints were insightful and relatable to her life. I’m not sure if this is one of the first films to use this talking to the camera technique, as I know that Alfie uses it too and it came out a year earlier. But I would like to say that although other recent films have used this technique that doesn’t make a film that used it first any less experimental or significant.

I also liked the cinematographic and editing techniques used throughout the film. I noticed they were not consistent throughout the film, such as how some scenes included camera pans and others didn’t. In the scene where Juliette’s son comes in her room and talks about his dream, I was bothered by the fact that the camera would only show one of them in the shot, although they were in the same room. This was also used in the café scene with Robert and the woman. Although they were talking only one of them would be shown at a time. I think this technique relates to the detached and indifferent feelings that the characters, especially Juliette, portray.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

To be honest, as soon as Luc-Godard's 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her started, I was afraid I was in for a very long screening. But that feeling of weariness evaporated for me as soon as Juliette was introduced. I think Juliette, through her alienation, made this film one of the most tragic that we have watched this entire year. As other people have mentioned, I saw Juliette as a metaphor for the city of Paris itself. She is beautiful, but bored with her beauty, using it only in a detached, calculating manner-- to make a living through prostitution. It seems to me that Luc-Godard believed that Paris was becoming tragic by whoring itself to the modern world through development and thereby betraying its spirit with chilling disinterest. I think that all of the women in this film represent different aspects of Paris in the face of heightening modernization. Many of them seem oppressed, sometimes in subtle, sometimes in obvious ways; for example, when Juliette's husband casually grabs the book away from her when she says she does not agree with what it says and, instead of encouraging her to think, tells her to read something else. Juliette promptly picks up a fashion magazine (which could once again serve as a metaphor for Paris itself).

I also agree that at times it seemed like Juliette was spewing pseudo-philosophy that really had little relevance, but I think this may be because the format (of speaking philosophic inner dialogue to the camera) introduced in this film has been so frequently imitated, therefore leaving me kind of jaded to something that was really quite effective.

Two or Three Things

Two or Three Things I Know About Her was a really interesting insight into Paris in that time period as well as the prostitution trade. It was very definitely not avant-garde, but as a member of the new-wave, it was still something new. With the characters speaking directly to the camera in the midst of an activity, it offered an insight into everyone's thoughts that you wouldn't get if you simply watched them go about their business. Juliette is a prostitute, and you would just label her as a prostitute and delve no further into her personality (though there really wasn't much personality in her). When she speaks, you fall into a trance, as she seems to know exactly what she's talking about, and it's all so deep sounding! You figure she knows where it's at. My favorite part of the movie is when Juliette's son comes in to talk about his dream. He seems so young, yet he sounds so smart and when he describes his dream it seems like it could really happen, coming from such an innocent little child.

2 or 3 things

I thought that "2 or 3 things I know about her" was an attempt to reveal somewhat how little we know about the world. In the beginning, when the voiceovers began, Godard tells us a few simplistic facts about Juliette, which somehow got drilled into all of our brains. Throughout the film he exposes that Juliette is in fact much more than this. She is a mother, a prostitute, a wife, a philosopher... etc. She is a multifaceted person that cannot be fully understood by a few facts or glimpses.

I think this plays well into the idea described as "her" being Paris: a city can be glimpsed at, visited, and even lived in but it is difficult for one to know all there is in the city and all the sides it has.

This also plays into the modern, political ideals of French New Wave. How is it possible for one person to observe a thing and fully understand it? I think that is what the film was attepmting to explore.

two or three things

It was sort of refreshing to see a movie that looked like a modern film. Not that I don't enjoy black and white, or animation, or anything in any of the movies we've seen previously, but I'd almost forgotten how color transformed film into what it is now. This movie had that 1960s feel about it, in the colors, the hair, the clothes...everything. It felt like a movie.

That being said, it still felt very new wave, avant-garde. There was definitely a factor in the vague plot, the inter- and aside dialogues, the whispering narrator, that brought this more modern-looking film back to the classic avant-garde roots we have been exploring all semester.

I really liked the different dialogues we see. I liked that the characters spoke their thoughts as well as their actual words. It gave the film a surreal sort of aura while also advancing the knowledge of the characters' background.

I speculated throughout the film exactly who "her" might be without ever really coming up with a solution. At first, I thought perhaps it was women in general. Maybe French women specifically. Just before putting this blog up, I read Tyler's comment about how 'her' might be France in general, which I really agree with. I think it's a story not only about the French women we see but about the city, the country, the time that they live in.

Two or Three Things

I agree with Seannie in that the "her" in the film seems to be just as much (if not more) about France as it is about Juliette. Apparently in France at this time there was a trend of middle class French women becoming prostitutes in order to supplement the family income, which I think is interesting because Juliette's story is not necessarily unique. "Two or Three Things" is as much a social piece of film as it is a philisophical one.

That being said, I really enjoyed the way the characters interacted with the audience directly through the camera. It made every thing seem so personal, but at the same time it kept reminding you that you were watching a film. There didn't seem to be a replication of reality here. I also enjoyed the narrator in the film; he kept focus during confusing aspects of the film and provided structure.

2 or 3 Things I know about her was interesting, to say the very least. The breathy whisper of the narrator was highly irritating to me at first, but as I became intrigued by the philosophical statements he made, I began to look forward to each whispered intertitle. Also, the random philosophical statements made by the characters kept me thinking and alert throughout the film, because I never knew when there would be an abrupt change in conversation or dialogue that did not logically flow. The abrupt shots of industrialism and construction made their point, and pretty much had me hating constructing by the end of the film, because the development was always juxtaposed next to natural, beautiful things such as a blue sky with slowly moving clouds, or a broad, clear blue river. Speaking of colors, red, blue, yellow, and white dominated the film. I'm still figuring out why, but I can imagine white and yellow symbolize purity and filth, both physical (construction) and moral (the prostitution). Red is passionate, and many of the characters seemed to lack passion, especially Juliette. However, I think Juliette purposefully lays aside her passion and chooses indifference in order to protect herself from feeling shame, guilt, disappointment, and other negative emotions. She is not completely happy with her social status and lifestyle, but would rather not complain and simply accept things the way that they are. Possibly, blue represents the complacency of the characters in the film, or the stagnant situation of many of the lower class citizens of France. Juliette is rather calm throughout the film, letting nothing affect her so much that she physically shows it. Overall, I liked the film, but disliked the stereotypical portrayals of men and women. I am sure that there is a deeper meaning behind that also, which I have yet to learn of.

Independent film?

2 or 3 Things I Know about Her was a very interesting film. It did not feel “avant-garde” and perhaps it wasn’t. I mean at the beginning of the year you said that it died in 1967 and though this film was made in 1966 what’s to say it still isn’t. It lies in the category of French New Wave, which was all about psychological expressionism and was unlike many other avant-garde films in that it had high budgets and lived more in the mainstream culture. But did avant-garde die or were people just keener to the ideas posed. I believe it was simply evolving to fit thoughts of this time period and creating a more widely accepted genre. O’Pray says it was called counter-cinema and I believe that to mean that these directors wished to go against the grain of typical Hollywood films much like independent films of today. 2 or 3 Things I Know about Her had the same feel as independent films of recent years like Amelie in that they both feature monologues to the camera and wish to go beyond what people say to delve into their thoughts and psychological stirrings. I really enjoy this type of cinema because it gives you enough information to think about and allows you to build upon it unlike the other avant-garde films which provide little back story and the mainstream genre which shoves information and its anticipated reactions down your throat.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

Personally, this is probably one of my favorite films we've seen so far. Although it sometimes seemed like Juilette was sometimes fluffing up the camera with psuedo-philosophy, often what she had to say was really quite interesting and thoughtful. The idea that maybe things were named incorrectly from the beginning was particularly one that stuck with me. I also enjoyed the way the actors were able to step away from the scene and comment about it from an outside perspective, it was an interesting technique employed, and really added to the experimental nature of the film, I believe. The ideas about prostitution really struck me as well. I don't think Godard only wanted to make the point that desperate women will willinging sell their body, but that any person in desperate situation will sell themselves in some way, even if that way is frowned upon and must be covertly carried out, in order to get by, or in order present themselves in the way they want. In a way, this film was very much about the way people wished to be seen by others, and what they must do to keep up that appearance. Overall though, even though I still left the screening rather confused, I enjoyed the film alot.

JL Godard, You So Crazy

I really liked 2 or 3 Things I know About Her, but my feelings for it are pretty divided. For one thing, Jean Luc Godard interviews almost exactly like how the characters in this movie talk:



So there's that video if you guys want to watch it.

As much as I like the idea of people speaking their own thoughts as well as interacting with other characters, Juliette and her ennui/ her indifference really got on my nerves after awhile. I can understand it at the end of the day, when she realizes that she'll be doing the same thing over and over again until she dies, but in the middle it lags. I just want to slap her, really. It reminds me way too much of high school emo kids whining about the world at large.

In a larger sense, I felt like Godard was trying to convey how people are dissatisfied with lives in a post-industrial society, especially using examples like the new high rises and the Vietnam War to emphasize the characters' expressed thoughts about the drudgery in their lives. There' s a general sensation of disconnection with people, especially when seen in one of the restaurant scenes, when the conversations are mostly cut off, showing one person for the majority of the conversation. Especially when Juliette's husband is speaking to that one woman, who again shows another woman expressing ennui, then showing complete frustration when someone talks to her.

But that's a main risk when having characters really speak honestly is that the audience will not fully embrace them. Their philosophical thoughts spoken out loud are interesting, although rather disconnected as a whole... but that's also how they occur, in a rather disconnected surprising circumstance.

2 ou 3 choses que je sais d'elle

You know how nouns have a specific gender in French? Well, I was thinking about the ambiguous title of Godard's film. Perhaps we are mistaking the "her" or "elle" in the title for Juliette Jeanson. Perhaps it is simpler than that. Perhaps he is actually referring to the city of Paris itself. Eh, I suppose that's not where the importance lies anyway.

I really enjoyed this one. It was thought provoking, and probed into many ideas that have been plaguing my mind recently. It was obviously the most accessible of the films we've seen thus far, which is probably one of the biggest signs that this wasn't truly an avant-garde film, but more of a film from a school of thought resultant from avant-garde influences. One of my favorite parts was whenever people would turn their heads and divulge to the audience random details about themselves or their lives. This technique really brought the characters to life, and reminded me of one of my favorite films, Amelie.

2 or 3 things I know about "2 or 3 things I know about her"

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her by Jean-Luc Godard is much different than any other film that we’ve viewed thus far. I really enjoyed the bits of philosophical thoughts paired with stunning images. It amazes me how crisp and vibrant the film is. I’m not sure if it was edited, remastered, or just filmed in high quality, but it appeared beyond its time and added to its aesthetic. There are two scenes that stick out in my mind for their aesthetic and their poignancy within the film. The first scene is the one in which Juliette is at the diner watching a man drink his coffee and smoke. There are a few extended shots of the man’s coffee, detail shots on the contents of his cup. First the coffee swirls rapidly and then it slows down, but he agitates it again with his spoon. Next, it shows the foam in the coffee condensing in the center and then slowly dissolving away. I think that this image is very mesmerizing as well as meaningful. My interpretation is that it represents Paris. The hustle and bustle is a routine which swirls around the city, given new life by agitation such as political or cultural activity. The condensing is representative of the movement into the much-hated apartment monstrosities, which slowly affects humanity (the dissolving foam.) The second scene is the one in which Juliette is standing in the middle of a block of these apartments spewing some philosophical speech towards the camera. The camera revolves, showing the block that she is standing in. The main colors blocks of the buildings (blue, dark gray, light gray) match the color blocks on her dress. There are also two large blocks of orange on a building to her right which seem to be particularly important. I feel that her dress matching the buildings shows her deep ties to the Paris, as a citizen and worker of it and also as a metaphor for it within the movie. The bright orange may be representative of the apartments as a “stain” on Paris, a visual nuisance. A screen cap from this second scene is posted below, so you can relate to what I’m talking about somewhat easier.

Going to college

I’ve chosen for my essay to explore the idea of homesickness as it pertains to the transition between ‘home’ and college. I think I’m going to title it “Going to College.” I just want to explain my interpretation of going to college vs. how I thought my feelings would be about it. College is intimidating, difficult and scary, whereas the place you left was everything you knew. I’m going to use footage that I gathered while I was home and footage from here in Chapel Hill of things I find relevant to my idea. I think I’m going to use a voice over of my experiences with the transition. The editing is where, I think, the largest impact on the final product will be produced. I’m going to use relevant sound bytes such as the interview, as well as the odd conversation here and there that end up being significant. I plan to use a few bytes from a few songs that I feel really hit the point home with their tone and word-choice. The editing will sync the pace of the clips and pictures with the sound clips for digetic sound and emphasis and flow. I want there to be an emotional understanding of what going to college means to a person and their experiences, not for their career. College is a milestone that, while it has a lot of sad meaning, is irreversible and can only be accepted in order to go on.

.F.E.T.

"Cure the Crisis"
My film essay tackles the complex crisis currently undergoing in Darfur. My main motivation for creating this film is my complete opposition of the struggles people in Darfur have been forced to endure. I want to document issues that have occurred thus far, focusing on the unfortunate genocidal aspect of the overall crisis. My emphasis will be placed on presenting the story of the crisis origins and statistics about the horrific outcomes that have and continue to ail the city. My cinematographic focus is not very strong, only because I’m unable to document my own footage for my film. However, since imagery is extremely important to me because I feel it is the most effective way to influence spectators emotionally, I plan on using images and possibly footage that others have taken. In order to get my point across I also plan on incorporating piano renditions of songs that challenge government and its politics. Overall I just want to instill a sense of obligation to help in any way possible. I want to motivate the films audience to sympathize with the oppressed and attempt to make a difference. Awareness of the issue is the first step to creating change and that is what I want to provide in order to “Cure the Crisis”.

Film Essay Treatment

My essay will inspect and explore what is ordinary and what can make ordinary things be considered extraordinary. The tentative title for my film is currently What is Ordinary? As it reflects the general idea I am trying to explore. I will first interview people about what they consider to be the most ordinary object in their dorm room and explore the answers given. I will then attempt to show the objects in a different light as to make them appear to be extraordinary. I will accomplish this through various cinematographic techniques such as interesting and unusual angles, and editing techniques such as cuts between objects and reverse motion so as to show the objects from a different perspective and maybe in an environment where it is not typically used or in a way it is not typically used. I will also ask what they consider to be the most extraordinary object in their dorm and compare the differences between the items mentioned. For the third part of my essay I will monologue in front of the camera about the differences I found between the objects and what I established about what can make an object ordinary or extraordinary.

On the Brink (The Verge) Tension and Suspense-A Moment of Insight

On the Brink (The Verge) Tension and Suspense-A Moment of Insight

According to the dictionary, tension is defined as a “state of suspense, a balance between and interplay of opposing elements or tendencies.” From this tension and state of suspense, I wish to elevate my film essay to the brink, the verge of the moment. There will be both a before and after the moment. Before the moment, the suspense before the brink will be heightened and the tension stretched to its limits. From the moment before a soccer ball is hit into a goal to the moment before the basketball shoots through the hoop, I will be using a variety of sport scenes to explore objectively what tension encompasses. Likewise, there will be before shot before the soccer ball is hit and an after shot when the soccer ball hits the net. In this case, the tension is the interplay between two opposing players or teams. In addition, I will include a special segment featuring the tension between Duke and Carolina in the arena of basketball.
I shall approach the filming of tension through using cinematic techniques such as zoom in, zoom out, slow motion, and fast motion. Editing is another imperative component to my film essay. During the editing portion, I will be using flashback, jump-cuts, some looping, a ditch tilt, and possibly some montage. In addition, there will be close-ups and inter titles. I will also be including a certain amount of found footage from the internet to include in my film essay. The preceding cinematic techniques are not all inclusive and may include multiple photographs from my camera. Utilizing all these cinematic techniques, my film will seek to explore the juxtaposition of tension among two opposing elements to the point that a moment of insight will be illuminated.

-Michael

treatment

For my video essay, --roughly entitled "Interpretations of Fear"--- I shall explore the nature of man’s emotion of fear. We may all agree that a reaction of fear cannot normally be produced without some sort of stimulus, but I wish to delve into the question of why we so often become afraid without logical cause, when there is no apparent threat to our well-being in our surroundings. Why can we be visually stimulated to irrationally sense an unnerving danger that simply does not exist? I want to include a few interviews asking my peers to divulge certain phobias, not the kind that would produce an outright scream, but rather those that cause a distinct chill to run down their backs. My video essay will contain numerous images that will hopefully evoke a subtle sense of fear. For contrast, I will juxtapose these images with footage of more traditional and universal fright scenes. To help set the rhythm and further convey the irrationality of this, I will include audio and visual footage of footsteps quickening their pace. I am composing my essay using still photographs occasionally broken up by film footage captured by myself, or taken from YouTube. I am toying with the idea of adding clips from some Alfred Hitchcock films, which have been my main source of inspiration.

Treatment

We Came, We Saw, We Conquered
My film essay will explore the basic ideas of conflict, and how/why people are drawn to something that is generally perceived as a negative force. We as humans like to see ourselves as creators and makers of progress. Many of us like to think of ourselves as peaceful people. Conflict is generally regarded as a disruptive force. But our lives are dominated by conflict in many ways. My film essay will explore why this is and hopefully uncover an answer or at least provide theories for this and other questions.
The first step in my film essay will be to establish the fact that there is an attraction between people and conflict. This will include footage of the pit preacher and the people who surround him, footage either showing or taken from various forms of media such as video games, film, and the news. I also wish to show the competition in school and work and sports as just another outlet for conflict and seeking domination over others. I will expand the idea of personal conflict to that of a larger scale such as war and global politics. I will likely establish these ideas through montage and the use of spoken and inter-title speech. I will also juxtapose these things against images of peace such as a serene lake or garden and make them seem boring and bland to prove my point. Likely there will be some intentional (and maybe unintentional) humor involved in showing these images against each other.
After establishing the fact, I wish to seek out the cause for why this is through interviews. I will film people and interview them in different scenarios depending on the questions asked. Why is there a need for competition in sports? How does excessive violence entertain? I will ask these kinds of questions to people in appropriate settings such as while playing sports, debating with each other, or playing video games. My outcome may vary slightly but I hope to show that people are attracted to conflict because it encourages motivation and progress and ambition despite its disruptive capabilities.

Noesis in Confidence

The word that I chose to focus my video essay around was “divination.” Divination (most often considered the practice of foretelling the future through the reading of omens) has many connotations, many of which are historical and supernatural in nature, but I’m choosing to focus on the word as a sense of knowing—a gut feeling or intuitive perception. The word in the title “noesis” is a term from ancient Greek philosophy that refers to "understanding as the ability to sense, or know something, immediately." My film examines that unusual insight as a means of heightening self-confidence. It argues that following your “instincts,” those inexplicable feelings you have in a given situation is for the best. The topic itself is personal, so I will work from my own experience and it will be introspective. The basic setting will alternate between outside around campus and inside my house in Brooklyn—I will be exploring my own space and environment. In terms of cinematography, I will cover a more overarching concept of the word “divination.” I will create alternate states of reality and switch between them to investigate the relationship between objectivity and subjectivity in relation to divination—this will include the contrast between day and night. I will also incorporate the more historical and supernatural aspects of the word into the audio portion of the video essay. For example, I will read from an essay by Lucian from the 2^nd century called “Alexander the False Prophet” which dismisses the art of divination, but will bring to light an important counter argument. I will include the moon as a visual motif as well as images of the night sky that connect to the practice of astrology and its dianoic counterpart, astronomy. I will conduct interviews, but they will most likely be audio rather than audiovisual. It’s still very much in the works, but the basic idea I want to convey is that listening to and considering gut feelings can be a great tool in developing a person’s confidence.

Treatment

For my film I plan to explore the question of why different churches feel different for different people. My first week here at UNC I went to the Episcopal Church here on campus and realized that it didn't have the same vibe as my church back home and I'm very interested in exploring why this is. I am planning on having a lot of shots of churches-both inside and out-in the film and I will try to express the different feelings evoked by the churches in the different shots. I will be interviewing a number of people for this film, including church goers, religion professors, and priests. I'm hoping to get a few different opinions on why churches are different and be able to juxtapose these to create a kind of collage of the answer. In the background in certain parts of the film I will have "church music." I'm trying to get a few different kinds, as music is definitely a factor in the feeling of churches. I plan on emailing people in addition to in-person interviews, so part of the film will be their words being read by me. I don't have a title for my film yet, and I would appreciate any suggestions anyone has to offer.

Déjà vu: A Phenomena of the Mind

My film is exploring déjà vu, the experience of thinking that a new situation has occurred before, although the exact circumstances of the previous encounter are uncertain. My film will focus on two or three of the different theories on why déjà vu occurs; most likely the hologram theory, memories from other sources theory, and dual processing theory. I will use interview clips of individuals and focus on how these individuals’ experiences support each theory and how it may be possible that all the theories do account for déjà vu, but in different situations. I will use intertitles to introduce each interview and its related theory. For each theory, I will use visual images and sounds related to the theory to show what an individual may experience as they experience déjà vu. For example, the hologram theory says déjà vu happens when some detail in the current environment is similar to some remnant of a past memory and our brain recreates an entire scene from that fragment. So I will show a scene (using found footage) with music playing, and then I will show a different scene with the same music playing and show how an individual senses this confusion, possibly through brief images of the initial scene. I especially want to capture the sense of familiarity and eeriness associated with déjà vu.

The disconnect of perception

For my film essay, I plan on exploring the concept of (for lack of a better word) persona. I’m not really interested in “persona” in terms of style or overall appearance but rather the disconnect between what people feel they project and how others interpret them. I want to explore what’s lost in translation and the inevitability of misinterpretation. I haven’t really narrowed my focus yet—I’m not sure whether I want to discuss an individual person or if I want to make it more general. Regardless, I plan to use a lot of photographs and some semblance of animation in my film. I’m going to take a series of photographs (either of an individual or more random, inanimate objects) and show them on film as they are briefly. Then I’m going to start to draw over them, at times correctly and at others distorting the image, and taking photographs at various stages so it will be possible to see the evolution of the misconception. Initially, the traces will only vary slightly from the actual image, but as the film progresses, so will the divide between reality and perception. I realize I probably won’t be able to fill four minutes with this idea, so I’ll probably have to add another visual element, probably other examples of warped perception (i.e. prisms, reflections, shadows). The working title of my film is “Persona” (for obvious reasons) as this is the best single word I can think of to summarize my topic. I’m still not wholly satisfied with that word however, as I fell it has implications other than those I’m going for, so the title may change.

Synesthesia

As of now, I have no working title for my film. In today's society we often take for granted what our senses are perceiving. We are so used to actions and sound going hand in hand, i.e lighting followed by thunder or a movie. I think this is the reason why we are sometimes feel so uneasy while watching a silent film. In my movie I will explore synesthesia and its relation to cinema. It is interesting to note that both the word and cinema came about in the same year! And if we think about it isn't a movie or any visual sensation accompanied by sound a form of synesthesia? Well.... we'll have to find out later.
For the most part I will be using Richter's Rhythm 21 and shifting into various scenes some complemented by sound some without. After that I will play sounds with no visual aid. My goal is to shed light into this misconception that we, for the most part, have picked up. Music videos and video games have pretty much hard-wired our brain to perceive and action as solely one thing when in reality it can be two or three different senses working hand in hand.

Stylistically Solo

My idea is to explore the idea of an "individual style" here at UNC and whether one can conform to societal norms and still express themselves in some unique way. I want to focus on aspects of people's 'look', such as clothing, makeup, hair, etc. I want to explore this idea with interviews of students who stand out from other students. An example of this would be someone who is wearing radically different clothing than everyone else, or someone with hair that is dyed a non-natural hair color. I also want to juxtapose these interviews with interviews of students who don't immediately jump out as 'different' and ask them what they think about their personal style. I would also like to include some interviews with people who conform to our stereotype of that group of people, e.g. a frat brother in short yellow shorts with docksiders and a bow tie on. The film will mainly be comprised of these interviews. There will also be some montages of still images with music in the background. These images will be juxtaposing individualistic style vs. conformist style. The title of this film will be Stylistically Solo, or at least thats the idea right now.

LOVE

My film essay called (tentatively) “What is love?” is going to delve into the many facets of love, specifically romantic. I look into the way love feels through visual interpretations of the emotion, as well as touch on the typical signs that we attribute to love. Also with the help of close friends and family I have constructed a list of terms associated with love that will help define love past the generic Oxford English Dictionary definition. In order to portray this through a film essay I will have to film quintessential things in life that define love; including, leaves blowing in the wind, spinning like a heart does when it flutters for another, exclamations of love publicly, butterflies, and just the simple sound of a heart beating. On top of many of these moments I plan to overlay dialogue of people defining love or clarifying how they knew their significant other was in love with them. To expand on my points I’ll use clips from classic TV and movie couples that depict the love I wish to depict. These clips will be able to connect with the audience/reader because the love stories shown will be known to most of the audience as timeless stories of true love.

Going Green

Recently, the idea of “going green” has been everywhere. This seemingly simplistic method of making one’s life more environmentally friendly has become one of the hottest trends in America. Yet, as history and common sense have come to prove, fads fade quickly. It is this short attention span for the effort to be kinder to the earth that I plan to investigate in my film essay. I want to take a closer look at the difference between people’s words and their actual actions. To do this, I plan to do a montage of stills that contrasts humans and the earth. In order to bring the focus closer to Chapel Hill, I will conduct interviews with campus organizations such as the student environmental action coalition. I would also like to obtain some found footage relating to my topic that I could mess around with. To better portray my stance that what people say and what they do don’t match up, I have enlisted the help of my roommate to possibly do some acting. Hopefully, I will create music that includes random sounds, bits of songs and also appropriate periods of silence. To end the piece, I have a few ideas that should make for a memorable closing, but I don’t want to ruin the surprise.

To Be a Transcendentalist Today -- Stew Boss

My working title right now is To Be a Transcendentalist Today. I am basically trying to explore and take a position on the ideas of classic transcendentalism and the views of writers like Emerson and Thoreau who instigated the original movement, and discuss how they apply to have applied to modern society and how they can exist today for us. I went back to Charlotte the other weekend and met up with my old English teacher and Transcendental Club reader who for a long time taught a British Romantics course and is somewhat of an expert on the subject. I interviewed him and got a lot of audio and some video of him talking in the woods behind his house. I've used his thoughts and views to kind of direct the movie. In putting my movie together I've sort of bookended the film with video of him. Then I have continued with some natural scenery footage paired with audio; after that I've combined alot of found footage and photography of more well-known modern figures and art that have brought transcendentalism into the modern day,including sources such as "Into the Wild", Maclolm X, guerilla gardening, Emma Goldman, MLK, Angela Davis, Really Really Free Markets, and Akira Kurosawa's film "Dreams." Very different sources all made to relate. More natural scenery and flipping through transcendental literature, where the movement really began, and discussion/vizualization of Emerson's "transparent eyeball" philosophy. Then more video of my teacher, then passing trees with audio that wraps up all the ideas discussed in what it means to achieve a sense of transcendence in our own lives. I've edited some of my footage to give it a more luminous, transcendent vibe with some of the iMovie video settings like "Glow" and "Heat Wave" and I've tried to combine the audio and video elements so that while they may not be exactly related they are at least roughly close together so that the people watching the movie might see how transcendentalism can be interpreted in different ways than they may have previously thought.

Yup, it's a Treatment

"The Unwritten Life"

My title is my topic. The Unwritten Life is that part of people that can't be recorded. We know that it exists, but it's not something that could be readily expressed with what we leave recorded. I'm going to divide my essay into three parts: The Written Life, the Unwritten Life, and Why the Unwritten Life Matters.

To explore the Written Life, I am planning on a montage of objects that I consider a part of them: ID numbers, blogs, facebook pages, fingerprints, biographies.

The Unwritten Life is tenatively going to be explored with some scripted scenes and interviews. It's going to have people in it, while the previous section was using mainly objects. They will be seen separately. If there is more than one person shown within a frame, they don't interact much.

Why the Unwritten Life Matters is supposed to wrap the film up as a whole. More people, but they're interacting with others instead of with the camera. I would hope to express the relation between the Unwritten Life with creativity, art, thoughts and ideas.

My friend Katie is going to help me by composing the music.

Treatment--Jade Palmer

I'm not sure what to name my film yet, but for now we'll call it "Source of Emotions". In essence it is about where emotions come from, in relation to dance and music. It explores this quote from my past dance teacher: "Dancing to me is the physical manifestation of what I am feeling inside. Therefore, dance doesn't make me feel anything. Rather, it gives me an outlet to express whatever emotion I am experiencing." -- Mr. Patten. I would like to prove, through my film, that dance and music CAN invoke emotions, and also be a means for expressing emotions at the same time. I will begin the film with clips of dancers teaching/helping one another, and switch back and forth a few times between them and clips of musicians playing their instruments, showing their reactions and emotions. I may insert a few intertitles of quotes from Hans Richter's essay concerning feeling and movement. Next Mr. Patten's quote. Then clips of interviews of random people, speaking about where they believe emotions come from. To really illustrate my exploration, I will include silent shots of dancers performing, so that their emotions and expressions may be emphasized, and then I will transition to shots of them performing with sound, with verbal expression of emotion. I will fade in the audio file of an interview with a guitarist and fade out the sound of the dancers, with the dance scene still going. The interview clip will pertain to dance as well as the guitarist, to show the connection between dance and music. Cut to scene of interview with guitarist. Next, fade in audio file of interview with pianist over still shot of guitarist, and then cut to scene of interview with pianist, and flip back and forth between interview clips and clips of her playing piano. Cut to quickly changing clips of her expressions and emotions, placed over track of her playing piano. The film will finish out with the chorus of a song sung and played by the guitarist, while increasingly brief clips of dancers and musicians' expressions and emotions are flashed before audience's eyes. At the end of the chorus, the guitarist's face will appear on the screen and stay there, showing his reaction to the performance and allowing the audience to put a face with the performer. As far as my cinematographic approach goes, I hope to invoke emotion in my audience (you all) with the images and sound in the film to help prove my point, that dance and music invoke emotion, in addition to expressing it. I plan to use montage in order to overlap different sound files and images. With the interviews of random people, I will most likely use a 'talking heads' method and extract the sound of my questions as interviewer. With the musicians and dancers, I may leave the sound of me asking questions in as long as it is necessary. Transition will be important because I want the sound files to flow smootly together, and I want the film overall to be aesthetically pleasing, like a performance, and graduate in intensity from beginning to end, leaving the audience, hopefully, satisfied, or hungry for more!

TREATMENT

My film essay is tentatively titled “Pattern” but I really want to think of something more creative, perhaps something to do with pattern itself. I am focusing on specific facets of pattern – routine, rhythm, pattern in the sense of repetition and order, and the disruption of pattern. I will focus on each of the first three as separate pieces, with intertitles announcing their respective explorations. Routine will be explored through images (filming of a repetitive daily schedule) and related sounds (repetitive narrative, “over and over and over”, “again. again. again.”) Rhythm will be explored through images (day-to-day activity of city creating “rhythm of city”, soldiers marching in rhythm) and related sounds (rhythmic music, heartbeat.) Pattern in the sense of repetition and order will be explored through images (textile/printed pattern, observed patterns in nature/architecture/etc, “1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3” image/symbol concept) and related sounds (“1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3” sound concept.) Lastly, I will combine images and themes from the former three sections to introduce the breaking of pattern section. I hope to repeat images at a quickening pace to (hopefully) induce a negative attitude towards them and bring up simultaneous feelings of congestion/complication and monotony/sameness in pattern. Here I will include questions exploring how and why the facets of pattern can become congested and monotonous, the implications of this, and why it may become important to break pattern. I will also hopefully provide sound bites from interviews that give interpretive and subjective responses to these questions. I will end with images and sounds that suggest pattern being broken or disrupted. These images and sounds will relate to sounds and images that were explored in other sections in order to make critical connections (heart beat slowing, dissonant sound, irregular image sequencing, change in schedule, marching out of rhythm.) I may or may not end with additional exploration of what comes of the breaking of pattern through questions/answers or image/sound themes. I would like to leave it somewhat open ended, if this is appropriate. I plan to use as many images and sounds that I film and produce myself as possible. It seems that certain items (marching soldiers, heartbeat, etc) will be easier to access/better in quality if I use found footage and sound bites from YouTube and such, so I will most likely do that. I believe that my essay’s aesthetic will rely more on its editing than its cinematography, therefore I will probably simplify the cinematography and put emphasis on editing.

Treatment

"Archetypical"
Throughout history it has been proven that every human, despite religion, education, or any other aspect, could recognize certain figures, certain ideas, that we all subconciously have shared since the beginning of time. These archetypes are what remind us we are not as different from each other as we may think. My film is going to try express how every person can recognize these figures, and how that connects us as humans. I am hoping to use shots of many different people in conjunction with universal images everyone can experience such as the sky, as well as using found footage to present famous examples of the major archetypes such as the shadow, the hero, and the wise old man. For these I will probably use characters such as Voldemort, Superman, and Mr. Miyagi respectively, making it clear how common these ideas are among us. Throughout my film I will use quotes from Carl Jung (the man who created to concept of archetypes) and his research, both spoken and as intertitles, to make the actual definition clear, and a nice addition to my extended version which will hopefully add that universal connection that cannot always be felt when simply reading about them.

treatment

title: the man

The idea I want to explore in my film is freedom. Specifically, I hope to explore how freedom must be obtained from a personal desire. The main focus of my film is to explore the development of autonomous government and how it must come from within. I want to compare the independence movement in the U.S. with those in Vietnam, Korea, Iran, and elsewhere. I am going to splice film clips from the United States independence movement with those of more modern independence movements. With each clip I want to establish a parallel, such as the U.S. mobilizing troops switching to a clip of Vietnamese troops, but the main goal will be to show that the more modern independence movements have all been puppet governments set up from the outside. The clips will speed up and become shorter in duration as the film goes on so as to establish an atmosphere of panic. Finally, the last scene will show the success of the U.S. troops in establishing their democracy coupled with the failures of the puppet governments set up by the U.S. in the other nations. This will conclude with a giant oil spill, symbolizing the mess that has been created because of this intervention. I want to get student and perhaps teacher voiceovers throughout the film to gather comments on the lack of a solution to the damage that has been done. I also will perhaps dub in some music interludes from freedom tunes, and I want to include the song 99 red balloons.

treatment!

My film essay, entitled CMNCN looks into the deevloution of written communication. I plan on using still shots and scrolling shots, along with tonal music that I'll create to create the movie. First, I look at what happened to the written word. It begins with a visual timeline, moving from pages classic literature to twitters and texts. The former will be narrated, people reading the pages being shot. It will overlap as the time goes on, eventually ending with the sound of clicking keys once we reach the age of twitters and texting. Next, I've shot rows of old, dusty library books with copyrights dating no later than 1940 as a beginning shot, over which I'll have a narration. Then, I begin to look at why this deevolution has occurred. This will feature shots of groups on phones, on laptops, etc. with a voice-over of student interviews about who is to blame. In the end, it is left for each of us to decide who is to blame; I'm hoping to get some found footage of book burnings to use as an ending of sorts.

Treatment

Title: Sentirse: (in Spanish it means “to feel”)
The focus of my video essay will be on what it means to feel, and how that makes us human. It will explore and compare evidence of feeling in many different animals, most notably the contrast and comparisons between primates and humans. There will be clips, taken from a documentary named “Ape Genius” and a few youtube clips showing the wide range of ape emotions including sorrow and happiness, as well as a few human characteristics, like playfulness and friendship. The ape clips will be meshed with clips taken from youtube, as well as film I’ve gathered, portraying human emotions. I hope to include sound bytes from students and professors explaining their ideas of animal vs. human emotion, as well as interviews from my friends recounting particularly emotional moments in their lives. I will juxtapose the sound clips with the visual images. For instance, if a friend is telling me about how much they love their sister, I will show infant chimpanzees playing in a river together so that the human and ape emotions appear very similar. I want to show that our emotions, which we often feel are explicitly human, are shared with other creatures not that much different from ourselves. I will close the film out with clips of humans from a variety of cultures and countries in suffering, so that my conclusion is: If we are capable of relating to other species through our emotions, should we not be able to relate to our fellow man better? Should we not help? These clips I will take from youtube videos of commercials for international aid programs. I am also toying with the idea of tying the whole video together through images of hands, primate and humans, as they express emotion and language. Maybe there will be a short clip of someone hand writing an emotion, like love with a pencil and paper. There is a great video by a band I really like, The Rocket Summer’s “Do you Feel?” where people open up their palms to ask “Do you Feel?” or say “I feel.” And I might use clips from that video.

Video Essay Treatment: "Definite Reality"

My apologies for the incredible length. I'll probably end up cutting back quite a quantity of what you see here.

The film essay I'm working on takes a look at two basic types of physical form in our every day environment: natural versus mechanical. The question is: what is dependable and true? What is it that composes our physical reality? Through aspects of each that will be explored in my essay, I will portray the conclusion that nature is true and unchanging, and machinery, though it is utilized in our world to help us accomplish tasks, is subject to malfunctioning. Machinery and synthetic devices represent a false reality that can at times obscure one’s understanding of the world.

This seems like a straightforward and obvious statement. So why am I focusing on it? We are natural and organic ourselves, yet we have created tools and technology out of our own instinctive survival methods and human ingenuity. The creation of tools depends on human mind power, owing the mechanical world's existence to that of the organic world.

The content of my film will focus on their various manifestations of the two types of existence around campus. I’m going to demonstrate that they both insinuate themselves into an important role in our lives. Organic and untamed forces of nature seem to be strong and uncontrollable things; we are generally subject to their intensity and unpredictability. However, there is a constant and unrelenting rhythm in nature and life. This can be seen in many things- from the changing of the tides, the inevitable coming of night, and our own mortality.

I want to first portray how nature exists and plays a role in our lives on campus. For this, I will show a time lapse clip of the sun rising and setting on campus, clouds moving, a plant growing and dying, and perhaps put together clips of people of varying ages to portray the idea of aging. I’ll probably intersperse this with footage of trees and foliage on campus. I want to reveal the constant nature of life, and how our lives reflect that same rhythm found in nature. The main idea of this part is to show that life and laws of nature are constant. I will also use other repetitive natural sounds such as the buzzing of locusts, the beating of a human heart, and the sound of someone breathing heavily. I will probably set this to clips of other things that happen cyclically in nature, such as the coming and going of tides, the explosion of geysers, and the eruption of volcanoes. I will intersperse the clips of these things in nature with things on campus that happen cyclically, such as people walking around campus, entering and leaving bathrooms, buying coffee, studying, and working out. This will also be set to the repetitive nature sounds, and maybe other nature sounds like wind blowing, trees rustling, and animals making sounds.

A transition between showing the two aspects of life will be my portraying them united on campus in a visual way—showing scenes where both manmade and naturally occurring things come together in a symbolic sense- mostly focusing on the juxtaposition of forms and shapes related to each. I’m thinking of showing something as simple as leaves that have fallen on a brick sidewalk, because that does unite the two concepts in a visually symbolic way. The bricks represent the manmade structure representative of technology and society, which thus have unnaturally straight and rigid lines, and the leaves carry the curvilinear, organic lines representative of nature.

I’m going to portray various examples of machinery that are placed in our lives. I'm going to include examples such as cellular phones, computers much like the one you’re using, elevators, escalators, calculators and so forth. The rigid nature of these devices suggests reliability. I intend to discredit this suggestion. I will portray the inconsistencies of machines and technology on campus. I'm going to include a clip of a famous "blue screen" when a computer freezes, footage of actual computer problems on campus, and maybe other things such as broken cell phones and iPods. Some sounds I'll use include sounds of circuit bending, beeping of computers that are processing an error, and probably the sound of a computer generated voice narrator. I'm not sure what else I will include, probably other clips from outside sources showing examples of faulty technology, like incorrect computer translations and misleading GPS directions. I’m also going to show famous clips of computers going haywire in popular culture (such as HAL from 2001 a Space Odyssey).

The point I'm trying to make: there are two aspects of physical existence, organic and mechanical. Though we often rely on our own technology and believe it to be more consistent than unpredictable nature, I am out to prove the contrary. Machines are to be portrayed as synthetic and unreliable, and the most consistent things we can depend on in life are the inevitable laws of nature. I hope to personify this idea throughout the film with different effects (lightening and darkening clips so as to mirror sunrise and sunset and imitate the circadian rhythm) The rhythm of nature will be contrasted with intentional blips and malfunctions within the film itself to bring forth the idea of technology's inconsistencies.

Barn Owl, Night Killer

Do any of you listen to Sufjan Stevens? I just found Kenneth Anger's Fireworks set to his song, Barn Owl, Night Killer. It fit surprisingly well. Take a look if you have time. It made me for one reassess it.

A Man and His Dog

A Man and His Dog was really interesting to watch. I really enjoyed the composition of the lines and their ever-changing nature. The mere fact that it was only a moving sketch made the figures that appeared for half-seconds that much more enjoyable. You were constantly looking for something recognizable. At one point there was a sort of Aztec temple, but it was then obscured by the frame. As was mentioned in the reading, Breer simply used the title to be somewhat ironical, and I appreciate that. Who says that a video must have a story line? "A Man and His Dog Out for Air" seems like a harmless thing that can be so easily given a cohesive storyline, but in searching for it in a mess of lines, you realize how attached you've become to plot and not art.

Vocabulary

Okay, so let's split up this vocabulary! There are 96 terms; how many of us are there, about 22? If so, if we all define 6 terms we should have everything covered. I claim the last six, under "Miscellanea", because I figure anyone who has already started on the terms hasn't gotten to the end yet. Also, I'd like to point you guys in the direction of a website I found called http://www.inpoint.org/pdf/LanguageofFilm06.pdf I stumbled upon it while writing my last film essay, and I'm not sure if it includes specific terms from our list, but it includes lots of good terms, which might be good to throw in along with the ones we already have, and it just makes film much easier to understand. ( It helped me.) Hope you guys jump on the splitting up vocab bandwagon!

Jade

Something About Everything

Robert Breer is a video collage artist. His film Recreation and A Man and his Dog Out for Air were thoroughly entertaining. Recreation incorporated so much colorful imagery presented in a fast paced manner…I found it extremely alluring and my favorite clips were the ones of a banana, and cat randomly incorporated into other preexisting shots/ If not for Robert Breer, there would not be a “Genius of Love”…so Breer is awesome…what’s with Brakhage…he just rubbed me the wrong way film after film after film. By the time we made it through Dog Star Man I felt like I was losing my mind and I just wanted to explode…I wanted to through a chair at the screen [literally] as the lightening like occurrences were featured at the end of the film…it was just so frustrating to sit there feeling like I was being manipulated visually…the only scenes I enjoyed were the ones featured in Anticipation of the Night that depicted the motions we see as we ride in cars [i.e. passing trees by]; that always fascinates me when I zone-out during road trips. Finally, An Intercourse was so confusing; were they together or not. One moment I thought they were in love, next moment I thought she hated him and he was a wuss about it, and then I got the feeling it was a one-night-stand. I don’t know what was going on other than “intercourse” and confusion. I did appreciate the moments when the two characters shared [fully clothed] sentiments in the kitchen. It seemed genuine and romantic in the superficial sense, but I still found it alluring and worth recognition. I just don’t get Brakhage..yeah yeah lots of symbolism, but seriously I wouldn’t watch his films unless I was extremely mellowed out to the point I didn’t care what I was watching….


Today 10/15/09
So I wrote this a while back and I just realized how angry I was…Brakhage isn’t that bad, but I really couldn’t stand the dizziness factor of his films…I feel like he was clever in a B.S. sorta way…but that’s life…you get lucky sometimes!

Re Creation

I really like the idea of the Breer's film title having a double meaning. Although many of the objects shown in raid succession were items used for recreation, I also think that the film represented his metamorphosis from a painter to a film maker. Breer started working on animation films in 1952 so Recreation was relatively early in his animation career. In our readings from Tuesday, Breer talked about how different painting and film are, and how that techniques that worked to evoke certain feelings in a painting are completely ineffective when used in film. Breer's exploration and mastery of the two mediums is impressive and we as film students should count ourselves lucky to be able to see the process of his change.

Last Week

I really liked both of the short films that we saw last thursday. Robert Breer's use of color, shape, and rhythm was really intriguing to me. Especially with "Recreation," the fast pace and bright colors paired with the strange nonsensical voice over kept me actively involved with the film for the entire duration (which admittedly wasn't that long, but I feel like I could've watched much, much more) I may or may not have been "seeing" during the film, as I was strangely happy and I felt the sensory overload that Breer intended. The ultimate goal of pleasure was reached with me. Breer's less colorful and slower piece "A Man and His Dog Out For Air" was also really enjoyable to me. The simple flow of shapes in and out of each other in a very organic and fluid manner was really relaxing. I like that these films were not geared toward having a deeper meaning. It seems like we were allowed to see the playful, fun side of art instead of the dense and intellectual side for once. In that way I guess they really are like Felix the Cat: nonsensical and fun. Not to say that these films don't have any intellectual merit, because they obviously do or we wouldn't be studying them. I also thought it was interesting that we made the comparison in class between Breer and artists like Eggeling, because I had the opposite reaction to "Symphonie Diagonale" I thought it was dull and life less. Its weird how experimenting with shape, size and rhythm in a film can yield such different results.

Recreation v Re-creation

After viewing Robert Breer’s Recreation for the first time, my head was spinning. There were just too many images for me to take in at one time, and my brain was on overload. When we watched the piece again in class, I couldn’t help but wonder how Breer jammed so much information into such a short time span. For a film that only lasted two minutes, it provided an enormous amount of material to discuss. For example, what connection, if any, did the title or the narration have to the images that flashed across the screen? After analyzing the title of the piece, our class was able to decipher this double entendre. Breer’s intentionally ambiguous choice can be taken as either a fun loving, light hearted interpretation of leisurely images or as a sort of rebellion against the norm that showcases the need for rebirth. When this double meaning title is taken into account, it is no surprise that Noel Burch’s words are just as puzzling. It turns out that his French narration is nothing more than a nonsense poem that barely relates to the objects at all. This defiant stand against sensible stories is a an honorary salute to both abstract filmmakers and avant-gardists alike.

I enjoyed both of short Breer’s films we watched last week overall. Although I do have to say the first one, Recreation, did stress me out a bit. I would have liked to see what each of the objects were before they left the screen and with the intense screen I just got overwhelmed and five more had flashed across the screen before I had time to figure out what the first had been. I spent the whole time trying to make sense of the objects and dig for some connection that could possibly provide some meaning and was left in the dark. As I later found out through the reading, it was not really supposed to make sense in the first place… awesome. Also all of the crazy colors flashing just provided a really intense atmosphere that ultimately left me stressed. I enjoyed the pace of Man with his Dog out for Air much more. The motions were much more fluid as opposed to choppy and in your face. The lines took their time flowing across the screen and morphing gracefully from one form into the next. This calmer pace was relaxing and almost mesmerizing as it drew me in to an almost trance-like state.

I think I can readily admit that "Anticipation of the Night" and "Dog Star Man" by Stan Brakhage were two of the most visually stunning films we have watched this entire semester. However, they nevertheless felt pretty endless and I found myself wondering with frustration what they could possibly be about. To me, they just seemed like alot of beautiful visual effects without any real meaning behind them. I obviously need to give Brakhage more credit than this, however-- clearly he had something in mind when he made these films. Maybe I should start doing the reading before I blog.

"Wedlock House", on the other hand, seemed much more comprehensible to me. It really stood out from Brakhage's other two films both because of its accessibility and because of its visual elements (the stark black and white images contrasted strongly with the lush colors of the other two films). It was still beautiful, but it seemed less like a series of semi-random images and more like a fairly cohesive story line. It relayed a sort of high-pitched excitement over wedlock that bordered on the uncomfortable. The other films, with the overload of stunning visuals, also made me semi-uncomfortable, but I'm not sure why. They reminded me of a Goya painting that Sister Wendy (the art history nun) talked about in a video once:


Sister Wendy talked about how this painting was actually really disturbing because it looks like the light, although beautiful, is curdling somehow and turning sinister and that all you need for proof is the look of fear on the dog's face. Brakhage's films reminded me in the same manner that beauty can be sinister.