Children of Men

   First off, I would like to honestly say I did not watch the whole movie. The website given wasn’t free at least not for me; I wasn’t going to download their software. So, I saw multiple clips and read the plot online. I also took into account the opinions of other classmates to make my opinion a well developed one. But, out of all this I feel what Zizek was saying about the relationship between the foreground and background of the film, Children of Men was true.

  To me, Zizek was right when it came to this particular movie. The background was so relevant; the way London was shown. The poverty, oppression that lies in the background ties each clip together. I did not watch the film in consecutive clips, yet there was a consistent vibe.  It was a dark, cold, and lonely feeling. I saw the clips: http://www.ovguide.com/video/children-of-men-kee-reveals-that-she-is-pregnant-922ca39ce10036bafd11828f66c1b87c, http://www.ovguide.com/video/children-of-men-its-a-girl-922ca39ce10036bafd11828f03f9ce3c, http://www.ovguide.com/video/children-of-men-theo-gets-kee-to-safety-922ca39ce10036bafd11828f0fc5342c, http://www.ovguide.com/video/children-of-men-cafe-bomb-blast-922ca39ce10036bafd11828f2b69002d, http://www.ovguide.com/video/children-of-men-2006-miracle-cease-fire-922ca39ce10064fbfd115897c109f109, http://www.ovguide.com/video/children-of-men-2006-luke-murders-jasper-922ca39ce10064fbfd11789705112187.

       It makes sense that the background is so significant, because the specific mission for Kee to give birth safely would make no sense in another situation. Or, wouldn’t seem like such a task if it were set in a happier time. Plus, it adds dimension to each character such as Theo. Look at the circumstances he is under because of what society has come to? Maybe Theo is helping Kee for Kee, or maybe he has hope for continuing life as a species, or maybe he is helping her because he lost his own son, Dylan? The reason why I’m giving so much emphasis on the Foreground (this character) is because there would be no interest in the foreground (in my opinion) if the back ground wasn’t so detailed. For example, specifically in the “miracle, cease fire” scene Kee and Theo are in a decaying building and as they are carefully waking through the crowded halls you hear a woman sing and hum an almost morbid melody in attempts to calm, or worship the baby. As the crowd is hiding from the bullets, their faces and hand gestures all show emotion of praise to this life as they reach to touch a baby who is so innocent. As all this realization of potential hope is released, a man dies in the background from a bullet; expressing that there is still brutality in this world. But, when Kee, Theo, and the baby encounter the soldiers, those men stopped and stared with awe and respect. This moment was so profound. There was barely any dialog and transition in plot at this moment. But, this was the scene that exposed the foundation of a universal truth; that life will go on even when we feel like the world is ending. (This film almost depicted that literally.) This scene shows a commonality among people on mankind level, children are cherished because they are symbols of life; all that is good/innocent in life, and the fact we as people are one with one another; the generation we produce are in a way an extension of ourselves ( at least on a species level). Children represent continuation.  

          To sum it up Zizek was right about this particular movie, but to be honest I haven’t really seen another movie that does this as successfully. The AS is emphasized; although the technical aspects such as shots, lighting, sound, and camera angles were all stimulating the dialog was boring and a little slow at times. This movie seems interesting enough, but I’m not going to waste money and buy it on demand. It seems like the kind of film I’ll wait to see on showtime for free. =)

ELEVATOR CONFESSIONS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ai5ABdhLMhM

If heaven was a place on earth

I could hear the choir sing now....

Childhood memories...

Love you Ms. Doubtfire... I'll keep your face with me always! hahaha

Cameras

Museum of the Moving Images

  I can honestly say that I'm very naive to the world of film production. Besides the courses offered at Hunter I just stuck to makeup and holding the boom mic. However, the trip to the Museum of Moving Images helped me to understand how film and television developed. And, all the intricate details necessary in making a film. Costume, makeup, and set design were always something I've been into, so visiting those sections felt like I was seeing an old friend; excited, nervous, but genuinely happy. The real virtuality section of the museum was amusing, it showed a glimpse into the near future on how people are starting to and will interact with video games and films. The idea of switching perspectives and perceptions is amazing and can be a useful influence on how the director wants the audience member to view the film.
         The history of film showed the basic mechanics of film and television that is still used today. It's about speed, light, and moment of rest. This relates to everything we have been learning in class about motion pictures not really being motion. But, they are just individual pictures that are sequentially viewed one after another at a fast speed, so the moment of rest is not visible to the naked eye. And, light is the key illuminator, it manipulates how we see everything; whether it is far, near, blurry, clear...etc. A flip book demo I participated helped me understand this concept. As a group we danced around in front of a camera for a couple of seconds and the processor broke the images down into intervals of moments which revealed how we ( as the objects of the picture) were moving in each individual section to form this fluid visual. It was quite awesome, I like seeing how the basic concept of motion was broken down in this reverse order.
      Another demo I participated in was the audio booth; I spoke over Jack Black's character in School of Rock. (I wasn't very good, the timing was bad). But, honestly it was the most entertaining part of the whole museum. Voice and sound are not only apart of a scene or character, but they could stand independent as a scene or character. The time, effort and intricate detail enhance how the concept/message is communicated to the audience. As we experience a film we don't realize the causalities within it. For example,  I had no idea that in the movie Titanic the sounds of  a riffle, a soda can crunching, and an elephants cry were all used to dramatize the devastation. I guess life really is like the movies... in the most distorted way!
     The progression of television and all is functions are complexly intertwined with American culture. The way televisions and camera were designed reflected the consumer, or the purpose of its function as an item. The design of television went from large concealed pieces that looked like furniture, to being the center of the room; almost viewed like a work of art. As for cameras, we went from hand cranked, to self automated, and smaller and more portable with each coming year. So, this makes me think... is culture really being influence by current technologies? Or, is culture influencing the development of technology? Do we need smaller, faster, flatter, pieces of technology to suit our lifestyles? Or, are our lifestyles in desperate need of these new formats and functions of technology?  I'm not sure ... what do you think?   

Laura Poitras

I don't know much about media, or how to properly evaluate a film just yet...

All I know is... It moved me.

 I was one of around twenty audience members eager to see a festival winning documentary and even more thrilled to meet its creator.

You can tell she was nervous. Her eyes wandered from viewer to viewer as she politely smiled a warm smile. The experience started off with hesitation from both sides; the creator and audience. Once the clips rolled the interaction amongst us felt second nature.

       A girl and two adults, all of Arabic decent calmly conversed when all of a sudden, BOOM! A sound of monstrous proportion explodes. The adolescent girl runs toward the sound, the outside light. It's another grenade, one of many that day and days to follow. The scene cuts back to an Arabic woman sitting steadily on the couch. The woman tried to swat a fly as if it was the only nuisance bothering her at that moment in time. As I sat there watching this clip I couldn't help but wonder how do the subjects grow immune to the sound, the worry? How is there adaptation? Especially for Ms. Poitras, who is not native to the environment at all. This raised a question of emotional attachment and ethics. How could Ms. Poitras maintain filming at such a startling time?  And, had she ever get emotionally attached to the subjects she filmed?  When I asked these questions she explained that as a film maker you want to get your message across and of course she was disturbed by the grenades. But, eventually on a shallow level she grew immune to the sound too. She told us the most emotional part was when the nephew of the protagonist was kidnapped for ransom. She gave whatever little money she could provide. This lead to a conversation about her approaches to creating a film such as this. She stated she liked to work alone and that being alone enabled her to get as much access as she did for this specific project.  She said she was amazed at the opportunities that presented itself to her. If she was in America or under the military’s care at their unit she would have never witness such event as an arms deal. In taking precaution towards her families’s concern she wrote a letter that was given to a military official in case anything was to happen to her. I started to realize the seriousness of her ambition, to put her own life in jeopardy, and to expose the truth about the two men bound to Al Qaeda. This clip showed me life outside my own little world. And, brought up the subconscious concerns I had for a close friend of mine. She is Palestinian and her family lives very close to the border of Israel. I was worried about her worries, which focused on her family and their danger during the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

     A Clip that touched me even more was from the short, O'Say can you see? The scene she showed portrayed peoples' reaction to the gapping whole where the world trade center use to be. Goose bumps covered my skin and my eyes filled up with water as I watched. I remembered it all too well. I was in middle school waiting for class to start and all of a sudden I hear frantic noise across the hall. Some other students and I ran to that classroom to see what was going on. It was smoke, clouds of smoke. We were on the other side of the water. We were too far to see details but close enough to smell the ash for weeks. I remember that month; my backyard was a collection of Mr. Trump’s papers and other various works of the businesses that flourished there. The faces that Ms. Poitras captured made me reflect on a time when we had no choice but to be united as a Nation.  It made me wish we didn't have to suffer that much to achieve unity.

   The discussion was close to over; I concluded that the nervous smile she had in the beginning projected great words of wisdom. The last question I asked was if there was any advice she could give to a student like me who is just starting out in documentary films.  I can’t recite the exact saying word for word, but the message still rang clear. It summed up to; just try, just keep on going even if you feel like you're not quite ready as a videographer. You can hire someone who will do that, just keep on going to find out your own ways of working. You'll figure it out.

I think I’m going to take her advice. Thank you Ms. Poitras.