11/7/2011

Physiology:

1. Sex- male
2. Age- mid-20s
3. Height and Weight- 2 feet, 50 lbs
4. Hair- bald, Eyes- yellow, Skin- green and slimy
5. Posture- upright, rigid
6. Appearance- a squid with a brown shirt
7. Defects- bald
8. Heredity- from a family of squids, brother Squilliam

Sociology:

1. Class- lower class
2. Occupation- cashier at Krusty Krab
3. Education- some art school
4. Home life- lives alone in a stone head
5. Religion- n/a
6. Race, nationality- invertebrate
7. Place in community- unappreciated artistry
8. Political affiliations- n/a
9. Amusements, Hobbies- painting, clarinet, and the arts

Psychology:

1. Sex life, Moral Standards- naïve and innocent
2. Personal premise, ambition- wants to be something she is not (chocolate cake)
3. Frustrations, chief disappointments- she is not chocolate cake
4. Temperament- timid, passive, innocent, fragile
5. Attitude toward life- passive, content with job
6. Complexes- inferior to chocolate cake
7. Extrovert, Introvert, Ambivert- introvert
8. Abilities- cleaning
9. Qualities- cleaning
10. I.Q.- n/a

10/24/2011

Without is a very unconventional film, to say the least. It is a film about a girl named Joslyn who is hired to play babysitter for a disabled, mute, elderly man. She is hired by a quasi-atomic family that lives pretty much in the middle of nowhere. As the main character spends more time in a completely isolated and anti-social environment, she begins to show subtle signs of mental collapse. The movie is very unsettling because it is difficult to latch on to the tone of it. It switches between suspense, dark comedy, and horror at times. This ambiguity is reflective of Joslyn's inability to remain attached to her reality as every day presents a new facet of her inner struggles with love, mistrust, death, and solitude.

Egri mentions premise. This is the assumption that the most 'effective' stories follow a changing dynamic in storyline, and presenting a thesis, antithesis, synthesis, and dialectic. All of this is basically to keep the story in check so that the storyline can remain ever-changing and interesting. In Without, the storyline is rather disguised. To the naked eye, the entire film is about Joslyn becoming bored and slightly delusional. But through an applied analysis of premise, I believe it is a commentary on the human psychology. It shows how Joslyn is constantly met with a new problem or issue, most of which are rather distressing in their randomness and lack of connection. She constantly faces a new enemy, but with no strengths in sanity to fall back on, especially with external influences such as the death of her girlfriend and her lack of social connectivity (no internet).

Egri also mentions character bone structure. This is the complex that makes up the character in terms of mental, physical, and contextual traits. This plays a very important part in Without, as Joslyn faces a number of changes to her structure in these three ways. Her mental structure could be seen as a primary focus of the movie: her mental stability has a gradual decrease throughout the entire movie. For example, she begins to question her surroundings and sanity when she awakes with her phone in different spots on different mornings. Her background plays a part as well. Her origin is not discussed much in the movie, but it is safe to assume that she is not used to her situation which is depicted in the film: solitude, unfamiliarity, and debilitated communication.

10/17/2011

Just about every famous or even slightly substantial story in the history of literature all have one thing in common. A storyline that is interesting; interesting meaning being capable of holding an audiences attention. While what is or isn't 'capable' can be much debated, the fact still stands true that a story is interesting in some context, some time, or some place. The entire tales velocity, manipulation, development, and dynamic to keep the audience engaged. Without change, there would be nothing substantial to keep track of. Without slope, there is no ski.

Vogler asserts that all stories need this 'character arc' in order for them to be compelling. I do agree with this statement entirely. Without a storyline is changing at least somewhat, then the story will come across as mundane and predictable. This is undesirable to read or watch because this is ordinary stuff. Egri also asserts that the arc is a crucial matter in a story's consistency.

To further explain character arc, an example is helpful. In the film Se7en, Somerset is a detective who is nearing his retirement. In the beginning of the story, he is a rather cynical, but grounded individual. He is humble though and still faithful to his precinct. However, after dealing with the sudden Se7en killer, he seems to have reached his final actualization. He is content with his leaving, but he also seems to be a changed man. He still remains cynical, but he ends up retiring wiser and slightly troubled.

10/3/2011

I enjoyed the story by the girl wearing navy (?) about her brother with autism. I did not get to find her name after class as I had to leave promptly. The whole story is substantial because, not only does it follow a very well balanced storyline and allude to the Heroes Journey, but it is an uncommon story. It could easily be made into a short film because it has such a simple, yet profound lesson to be learned: never assume, know what you're looking for. The only thing I would recommend is that she develop the characters a bit more and introduce the relationship of herself and her brother a bit more beforehand

FIL2030: Week 3

Many conventional Hollywood movies all aim for a simple construction and plot. They are often meant to tell a story, usually in an entertaining way that is in vogue at the time of production. Many Hollywood films are stricken with popular storylines and well-known celebrities. The editing styles of these films is often easily digestible and efficient so as to entertain the audience while keeping them interested and not confused.

In Soviet cinema, things are very different though. It is safe to say that Soviet cinema is certainly more function over fashion. Soviet cinema was almost like an exploitation of the available technology rather than an actual attempt at proper storytelling and entertaining. Most Soviet cinema was rather stark and cold, as a matter of fact. It often included propaganda films which were used to prove something or convey a particular idea through whatever means possible. The Soviet Union was shrouded in darkness at the time anyways with the rise of communism and the Cold War. This was reflected in it's articulate, straight-forward editing style.

FIL1007: Week 1

Back in high school, we used to have an annual school competition, generically called Battle Of The Bands. I had always been a fan of the shows even before I was in high school. I was attending each BOTB even as a bight-eyed, bushy-tailed middle schooler. Ever since I went to the first one in '05, I knew I was going to be on that stage within a few years. I didn't care how, when, or who I was up there with. I was determined to play my music loud to an auditorium full of teenagers who would think I was totally awesome for making all this cutting edge music right in front of them. Everyone would respect me as the super talented musician who looked really hot standing in front of a table of drum machines and cables.

So it's just turned the new year of 2009, demo CD's are due soon, very soon. I turned in the 7 track demo of ruddy, blippy musical compositions which I had labored over for an unnecessary amount of time. Rumor has it that the students and teachers responsible for assessing the submissions had a good laugh at the novel, ambiguous, and entirely unfamiliar aural productions. Never the mind, I thought, it's gunna sound so cool live. So within a couple weeks, it's showtime (yes, I somehow made the cut, okay, something about a lack of interest in other applicants or something) and I find myself on that stage in front of about 500 high schoolers, judgement pathos full throttle. I'm wondering, "The fuck have I gotten myself into, these people don't even listen to this type of music". Nevertheless, I stand there and hammer out my 15 minute set of abstract, but danceable beats. I am met with a half-assed, it's-proper-etiquette-to-applaud-every-act applause. I am even more distressed by the lack of response and admiration upon my return to school the next day (not to mention a less-than-desirable ranking by the judges of the Battle).

Fast forward to 2011, and I am back with a vengeance. Two years of lackluster BOTB's, it's my senior year and, dammit, I'm about to be cool. I am much more prepared this time around and apparently electronic music has become vaguely acceptable to the masses now. The days leading up to my third and final BOTB were filled with considerable anticipation of my performance. "Oh yeah, I heard about it from last year, you play that oontz oontz oontz type stuff, right?" "My friends told me it's cool to experience high," "Well, it's better than all the cover bands,".

So this is it, the show is tonight. Here lies ahead the grand finale to my journey of relevance and artistry (lol jk, it's just high school). I take the stage and am met with an unbelievable roar from the crowd. I look up in shock only to find that the entire audience is an ocean of freshly cracked glowsticks. A smile terrorizes my face and I quickly give up on trying to hide it. This means they like it, right? Hopefully? Anyways, I start the intro sequence and slowly filter in the minimal synthesizer arpeggio. The next quarter hour is a game of charades between the stage and the house. Every high and low in the music is dynamically mirrored by my spectators. Adrenaline ramps off of climaxes and pools in breakdowns. I have made these people my puppets. I bring the music to a crescendo and end my set. Everyone explodes into fantastic applause and I bow to my peers. The rest of my night is guided by the strongest high I had yet to experience; a high of accomplishment that no chemistry could simulate.

After the following week of admiration and mix CD requests, it had become abundantly clear to me that what I had initially wanted had always been present. I was never really in it for acceptance. I never cared about getting into the top three. I never wanted the shoddy $100 reward. I wanted that sense of knowing that I had invoked a memory in these people. I created a feeling that they would never have experienced otherwise. I had efficiently shared a strong piece of my passion to the people I had known for years and dealt with everyday. That was something priceless. As long as I know that, years from now, someone will think back about that guy that played that wild set and reflect upon it, in a good or bad way, doesn't matter which. It is so easy to get wrapped up in the objectivity of things, and it is wise to get subjective. Let things go with the flow, be okay with the way things are, and realize that you will get what you want, just not always in the format or means that you anticipated.

As a parallel, there is an episode of Spongebob Squarepants in which the squirrel character named Sandy makes a decision to return to her home of Texas. Supposedly, this is in order to reattain a feeling of comfort and belonging. As she proceeds to take her penultimate exit, she finally becomes aware of everyone's attempts to keep her in Bikini Bottom. Through this, she realizes that what she was looking for had been with her the whole time. It was the crisis that brought things into perspective for her and made her realize that a relocation was not going to reaffirm her existence, but rather a simple reassessment.