Movie Highlight: Looper

To keep this blog active, I will be regularly trying to highlight significant movies, shows, games, music and whatever. Just for fun.

This post, I will highlight Rian Johnson's Looper. Set in the near future, we follow Joseph Gordon-Levitt as a hitman who eliminates targets sent back to him by a mob in the future. Things change when one of his targets turns out to be his future self. A lot more happens I do not want to spoil.

Right now, I am championing this film to hopefully get an Original Screenplay nomination at the Oscars. It has so much creativity and genuinely engaging elements in the script that even a few gripes I have are not enough to detract heavily. A very fun time travel movie.

Check out the trailer and a few standout scenes below to get an idea:

Looper Official Trailer (the first and best of the film's trailers IMO)

TK Clip (Introduces Looper's version of Biotics or The Force or whatever you want to call it)

 Seth's Death (Practically no blood or gore, but still rather shocking)

Aging Montage (Shows how Bruce Willis comes to be his version of the character for the rest of the film)

The Rainmaker Revealed (A very shocking scene for more than one reason **SOME SPOILERS Only see if you know or don't mind** )

Fireside Chat Artist's Statement

            When dealing with the stories of our lives, we want to convey them with the tone that best suits what is being shared. For the story I chose, I didn’t have any form of angst, drama or sorrow tied to the experience. The story is a genuinely happy moment in my life and I wanted to communicate that not only in my story telling but also in my visual. With that in mind, I created the presentation that was shown at the event.

            The idea for the stick figures came from a friend, but I think it actually really suited what I wanted to do. The story is a part of my childhood and it is a very simple story as much as I had a relatively simple childhood. In one way, it communicates the effect of memory. I imagined what it would be like if my fourth grade version of myself attempted to draw the events to the best of his ability. As I have demonstrated, my fourth grade self is no Rembrandt. In another way though, I wanted it to be genuine in its simplicity. This is supposed to be a very humble story and with that I wanted a humble presentation.

            As for the performance, I wanted the piece to be genuine yet leaning to a comedic bent. I didn’t want this to just make a testimony meeting out of it and I didn’t want any emotionally heavy stuff. It is a fun story to tell people and I wanted to make it fun. I rehearsed it several times to try and pinpoint lines I could tie specifically to certain slides. Funny comments, specific descriptions and other details were worked and reworked to make the flow of the piece more organic. In the end, I wanted the aim for something that would edify through happier emotions than the more weighty things.

Concerned Citizen Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbMbtXBMmhU&feature=plcp

Artistic Statement: A Concerned Citizen

Being a concerned citizen does not have to mean just giving stuff to people. Sometimes it is just as important to know HOW to give or how we can improve how we help. This wasn’t the concept we expected going into the interview, but it was just right for making a compelling and insightful little documentary. It is having things develop naturally like this that makes developing our artistic vision more interesting.
One thing we wanted to do with our presentation is invite a calm and reflective environment for the audience and the speaker. Thankfully, the speaker had such an environment in the house she was staying at. Partly this served us because it was easy to access, but we felt it really served the tone of the narrative. When we think of someone who does service for communities, we picture a humble home and lifestyle that reflects their work. Complimented by the unflashy lighting and leisure flow of the editing, we hoped that the setting of the piece set the tone well.
However, this does not mean we just wanted to do a “gather around for story time” video either. As sweet and calm as the speaker and environment are, there is still a sense of fun to the things she does to help in Bolivia and the other countries they did work for. To reflect this, we added a few creative choices into the mix. One of those choices was the Latin music in the background. It is just subtle enough to not be distracting, but light hearted enough to add some enthusiasm. The other big choice was the inclusion of some lighter moments from the taping. Jordan’s hands serving as a clapper, some of the speaker’s comments, some moments where she can just laugh, etc. It not only rounds her as a character, but it adds depth and personality to the narrative.
Ultimately, all of these decisions and manipulations of the film are to portray an honest picture of the speaker. She is a very humble person. She is a funny and lighthearted person. She is informative. Through the way we assembled it, we wanted to give respect not only to the advice she gives on how to do service well, but respect to her as a concerned citizen.

Protest Poster

Artist's Statement

            As much as social media has helped me to reconnect to people around the world, I do have a bone to pick with it. Not just for the actual use of social media in today’s culture, but for the insane amount of venues available to engage in social media. Not only does it feel counterproductive to our ability to actually connect to other individuals, but it is just an annoyance that the success of one good social outlet spawned thousands of imitators trying to snatch its money. So, I decided to use that for my protest poster.

            If you have an axe to grind against something, you need to know your enemy. So I took to the source of the issue, the Internet, and studied about the social media rage. Obviously, social media has been around much longer than we think. Sites like MySpace have been in circulation since the early 2000’s. However, the continued rise of social media sites and the success of Facebook changed the climate into a rougly $2 billion that has increased Internet felonies and distorted dating to make people feel “closer” to people online better than face to face.

            The key thing I wanted to do is give a certain visual layout to the poster. The background is intentionally black and empty to tie into the intentionally red text’s ironic title. The icons are arranged in a neat little order to try and imitate structure, though the gaps and cracks in-between are apparent. The icons are all that is shown for most of the sites represented, since most people are familiar with a site just by the logo alone. This creates an idea of building blocks or pillars if you want to go by the title. Yet there is no base, nothing behind it and no supports around it. It is a system of pillars with a weak foundation.

            I posted this on my Facebook account hoping to discuss this further with other friends. Unfortunately, the post received zero comments. Disheartening perhaps, but perhaps this fuels my idea. People are so used to the use of social media for dating and interaction that they don’t want to agree to dissention. I will still try to gauge opinions on it, but for now I stand alone in discussing it.

Web Spinna

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Haunted Sky - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1vjTJTRn48

Moon Atmosphere- http://margaretnoble.net/blog/sounds-from-the-moon-b/

Heartbeat- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHBk80JiBo8

Regan Alien Invasion- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfejBpD_wm4 (0:02)

Signs Sounds- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADqLmzqeH6M

District 9 Board- http://www.soundboard.com/sb/District_9_movie

Japanese Scientist Alien Invasion- www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpaIWPmiS5w (:10)

Preparing for alien invasion- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6aUrqSagog (1:18) to (1:51)

Starry Night- http://vimeo.com/29582860

Artist's Statement

            The Internet is a crazy, complex and incredibly fascinating place.  It is able to provide loads of information, hours of amusement and immense amounts of work for those looking for it. Who would have thought, however, that the Internet could become a place for creating art just as much as posting it? Through this webspinna, I was able to see the endless possibilities of using the Internet’s media tools to create a wide variety of art forms.

            The biggest thing I wanted to sell with my webspinna was atmosphere. With a topic like alien invasion, we should feel like there is a growing sense of dread and paranoia accompanying it. However, music alone should not be the source for this. I wanted the dialogue and conversations to build upon each other to heighten the tension. Starting from speculation of invasion to preparing for military action, each bit of dialogue builds up to the inevitable climax. It’s almost like writing a musical piece.

            Researching the audio to be used was quite a challenge. In the end, I decided to focus on YouTube links for two reasons. For one very easy reason, it is because it satisfied many of my immediate needs. However, I also wanted the challenge of coordinating each piece of audio and clicking them at exactly the right moment. With practice and patience, I planned and decided when to start each file and when to just let the ambient sound play. Playing a sound at the right time really made a difference for how the piece as a whole worked.

            While there isn’t a huge message in this piece, I do feel it does have practical application historically. When I picked the Reagan piece, it seriously reminded me of the paranoia times of his era. In those days and the decades of the cold war preceding it, this sort of paranoia and dread was actually very common. So it inspired me to try and pluck those chords of that time and evoke those base emotions we have today and seek application in our own lives.

Media Specificity

 

My Comic Strip: Just Read a Book

http://www.stripcreator.com/comics/jjzgamer/546356

Artist Statement

           Comics are a peculiarity for reading in general. Whether they come as strips or full-blown graphic novels, there is a fine balance of visual and written storytelling that needs to be met. While the art can take the steering wheel on many stories, there needs to be a balance where the words can compliment the visual. Having said that, can a comic work when the words are the dominant driving force? This is what my comic hopes to test for the medium. Though I did use a comic application from the Internet since I cannot draw, the intent of my strip should be clear regardless.

            One of the important elements for this work was making sure that the art had was how it is portrayed here. The generator allowed for all kinds of variations in characters and background, but the point I wanted to make required the art to be stagnant. Is it still a comic if there is no action present in the scene? The words explain everything about his feelings, thereby superseding the tell factor over the show. We have seen comics use dense literary language like Alan Moore’s most famous books or comic strips Calvin and Hobbes, but they also had moving images. So do the words really carry weight when it is just a guy on a bench?

            In a way, this is both praise and criticism to the medium of comic writing. For one thing, comics are somewhat the gateway between movies and literature in that it follows many of their similar principles. It requires multiple layers of storytelling so if you can communicate from both a visual and written standpoint, you get the best of both worlds. Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Ghost World and many other comics are powerful because they allow for strong writing on top of vivid, expressive and well-framed images. It creates a world as the writer and artist sees it while allowing enough room for the audience to fill the gaps.

            However, it also shows some of the shortcomings of writing for a comic versus a book or a movie. On one end of the spectrum, many writers shun actual writing to let non-stop kinetic imagery tell the story. Look at any local comic store and you will see many examples of this in the popular trades. On the other hand, some writers have the story take so much precedence you wonder why it wasn’t just a book. I point a finger at Persepolis not that it is a bad comic by any means, but it feels like it could have easily just been a memoir given the subject matter and writing.

            I personally feel comics, like gaming and other “subgenres” or entertainment, can be a serious art medium. When we see how the components of the medium work together, we understand what can be accomplished. I can only hope that Gabe from Penny Arcade is fine with his avatar being used here to help make my point.

Social Media Adaptation

The Official YouTubeChannel:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8VvK43f3jyvCI8EB4j_GUw?feature=CAQQwRs%3D

Artists Statement

Group: Aubrey Clark, Camlyn Giddins, Jason Richey, Justin Zarian

Our literary work was Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Within that work, we found the Creature’s experience most intriguing. His journey basically compiles the learning experience of a baby, child, adolescent and finally he develops into an adult, and a tormented one at that.

To recreate the Creature’s experience, we decided to create and gather images and audio. The story behind it all is Frankenstein creating this being from human remains as well as machinery. The images coming from one of the Creature’s eyes, which is a camera. The audio coming from Dr. Frankenstein’s recorder.  

The social media aspect went through many phases.  We first wanted to use Soundcloud and Instagram, but later realized that Youtube would be a good way to combine both audio and pictures in one.  Youtube also allowed us to incorporate the captain character from the book and create a context in which he found and shared these tapes. In the books, Captain Robert Walton was a narrator, telling these stories to his sister in letters. We found it appropriate that he help tell this story over a social media site and created a profile based on his character.

Artistically, we wanted to show the progression of the Creature’s character. The photos and audio also reflect this progression, as far as quality of the images and sound go. His speech and contemplation also improve.

One of the hardest things to do in this class is to curb creativity and focus it in order to not spend a ton of time doing things that are too big for a week long project. This was probably the worst one for that.  A few of us constantly found ourselves wanting to tell the WHOLE story of Frankenstein, but this daunting task led to frustration.  We had to set limits. Even within those limits though, there was plenty of room for spontaneity. We decided to end the entries with something open ended. We didn’t want to recreate the whole story. We thought it would allow for more thoughts and comments to end with themes like Frankenstein’s abandon, or what is a monster?, what is beauty?, why do we react the way we do to ugliness?, what’s in a name?    

We ended up separating the responsibilities, having the guys in charge of audio and the girls in charge of pictures.  While this seemed a good idea at first since we couldn’t find a time to work all together, it caused a bit of a problem as the we didn’t really communicate what each was doing.  Thus when we met up, the guys had recorded something different than what the girls had taken pictures of.  In the end it worked out, but I think if we had had the opportunity to work side by side more it would’ve been easier.  

We didn’t realize how interactive and Facebook-like Google+ is. There is so much room for the interaction, evolution, and instantaneous aspect we talked about in class. In creating our Youtube account for Robert Walton, we found several ways that his character could be more visible and involved. If we gave ourselves more time, we definitely could make it more expansive.

If we were to spend more time on this project, there is room (with all of the class adaptations really) to make a more abstract adaptation. We kept close to the book overall, but toyed around with the idea of straying. Perhaps we can create an account of a boy, in a foreign land, abandoned by his dad, etc. This is a lot like the TV show Once Upon a Time. As the show illustrates though, this can get complicated... but then again, it only gets as complicated as the ‘writers’ want it.