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Please God, Put Me In A Cage
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Scene Analysis: There Will Be Blood
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Sunday, May 15, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Museum Of The Moving Image Trip
The one exhibit I enjoyed the most was the full length presentation of 1903's The Great Train Robbery by Edwin S. Porter. My reason for loving this presentation is the surroundings with which it is placed. In the museum there were video game exhibits, special effects exhibits, virtual movement exhibits and many more. While watching the film, I realized that simple bare bones film making like Porter's is what made any and all of these modern developments possible.
Something simple like cross -cutting in The Great Train Robbery really put the history of cinema into perspective. This simple tool has been fueling narrative films for the last 100 plus years. Furthermore, Porter developed this concept in 1903, years before groundbreaking narrative films such as Birth Of A Nation appeared.
Moreover, Porter set the tone early for what audiences want to see. A placard in the viewing room boasted how grand of a success The Great Train Robbery was. I would like to think this film was a precursor to the blockbuster. Porter established that spectacle and innovation were key to reeling in audiences; a fact that is still true today. Porter put his camera on top of a moving train and allowed the action to unfold on top of it. For a contemporary audience, this must have been leap years beyond Avatar in terms of spectacle. The gun fight in the woods was also rather effective. Here, the audience is clearly not on a set, but in the heart of the action as it is happening.
For the non-initiated, I would recommend a full viewing of The Great Train Robbery as a must. Viewing the other exhibits without seeing this film is like trying to be a rock star without first learning how to play guitar. While the costume designs and computer graphics exhibits were all great, it was the innovations of Edwin S. Porter in 1903 that truly were impressive.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Stamp Art Makes Me Feel Like I'm The Only Girl In The World
My description: As a male adolescent, I idolized Ric Flair. It's not difficult to understand why a young male would look up to a self proclaimed "Limousine ridin', jet flyin', kiss stealin', wheelin' dealin', son of a gun. He was and still is the most decorated fake athlete of all time. The stamp acts as an edifice built on the foundation of the Ric Flair character.
Pretentious description: Does the original ambition of the American dream still exist as our national ethos? I tend to think not. Ric Flair represents the modern American dream. A student of Machiavelli, Flair achieves success at any cost. While consistently a heel (villain) throughout his boundless career, Flair consistently showered in the springs of victory with a vast array of loathsome trickery and deceit. Regardless of method, Flair's success was unquestionable as he rose to and beyond fame, fortune and glory. Ric Flair eventually became applauded for his abhorrent in ring actions. The sixteen time world champion was successful and self-aware. As he would state: "To be the man, you've got to beat the man." "To be the man..." the new and true American dream. Underneath the American flag, robed grappler and limousine, I placed a faint image. This image I took myself while in the Middle East. The image provides all the non-Championship gold color in the stamp. In our present day context, this stamp presents a link between both sides in the "War on Terror." I particularly like how the stamp is in fact from from the US of A, but only the word "COUNTRY" stands prominent. Decadence does not just belong to its obvious owners. Perhaps in an unfortunate sense, humans are more alike then we would like to admit.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Day In The Life Of Hunter College
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
An Artist Statment
Armed with nothing more than a small notepad and pen in my back pocket, I find myself in daily battle with the seemingly ordinary and mundane hoping to find fresh comedic treasure. When home, I attempt to take such relics and craft them into stories, concepts, sketches or even just jokes. I do use a Macbook and Final Draft, and thus must apologize for trying to portray myself as a savage scribe. My current favorite outlet for such musings is spec television scripts. I do quite enjoy attempting to fit a complete story into a 22-minute space. When it comes to writing television, I do prefer laugh-track sitcoms even if they are somewhat outdated.
My inclination to write comedy of any sort began in high school. As I watched film and television's portrayal of American high school students, I began to feel disenfranchised. My high school experience was possibly the furthest from that of Dawson Leery of Dawson's Creek. Having no knowledge of screenwriting whatsoever, I began to write a story based on my life in high school. My tale consisted of an overweight adolescent with a “jew fro” trying to obtain alcohol and girls. When Superbad came out in 2007, I saw the film six times in theaters simply because I could not believe how close it was to my story. Despite the setback, the minute I began writing, I was instantly hooked.
Comedic writing is surely my preference. I do prefer crude humor but not in the sense of being over the top. Judd Apatow is currently and has been a huge inspiration as his films and television shows often feature very crude humor, yet we still find the characters saying such things to be rather endearing. When writing for television or film, I attempt to find that organic dialogue which Apatow thrives at. Because of the nature of my writing, relationships are often a major source of inspiration and material. I attempt to strip relationships down to their rawest principles and procure comedy.