blog 6

The two images from SpongeBob Squarepants capture different moods with different techniques.  Both pictures use light and color to show motivation and meaning.  Both pictures have very little movement, but the point is emphasized nonetheless.  The subject and shot of both images is nearly identical as well.  Since the images are from the same show, the color pallet is nearly identical; the only difference is brightness and saturation.  However ridiculous the color scheme, the shade of yellow in both pictures tell of different moods.

            The first picture shows the subject lit from above with some intensity.  It suggests power and importance.  Spongebob is bright, the focus of not only the audience, but the fictional audience as well.  The background carries almost no brightness, giving depth and drawing no attention.  The sole shadow lies directly below the subject.  This eliminates the feeling of a skewed view and gives a scale of proportion.  The only perceivable movement in the picture is SpongeBob’s face.  Strong stance lines indicate a fixed pose.  Curved facial features however suggest movement and current motivation.  Along with the commanding lighting, emotional facial features show importance.  Surrounding this in red also calls attention to the matter.  There are strong parallel lines in the back.  This shows some urgency in the situation.  The entire context of the shot effectively conveys all aspects of the situation that matter to the audience. 

            The second picture makes good use of the rule of thirds.  There is much less saturation in the picture which gives it a softer feel.  The foreground is lit only slightly brighter then the back.  It appears to be early in the morning; colors do no appear to there fullest yet.  Strong lines indicate direction and intention.  Movement is absent from the picture however.  Light appears to be from the left, showing that the character is addressing not the light source itself, but rather what the light appears to be illuminating.  Unlike the first picture, moods seem to be less tense, rather joyous maybe.  Rather then urgency, we get a sense of hiatus.  The only driving force here is SpongeBob’s reaction.  Almost all straight lines are lined up by the rule of thirds, which cause the grouped curved lines of the subjects face to become the center focus for the shot, as should be.    

blog 5

The rooftop scene of The Room appears amateur due to lack of following the basic rules.  Both the rule of thirds, and the 30 degrees rule are broken often.  The 180 was not violated though, the scene remained mostly focused in a single direction.  The entire scene consists of a conversation between two talent.  There is little action in the scene aside from slow character movement.  The only motivation of the shots is to show dialogue and reactions.  The framing of the shots is too wide on character close ups, we never get a real sense of connection during the scene. 

            Often the medium to close shots centers the subject with horizontal lines through the middle.  Often the shots consist of half of one substance and half of another.  This creates less of a relationship with the screen then following the rule of thirds.  Since there are very defined lines within the set, it’s interesting that the rule is not used more often.  Only the wide shots effectively make use of the formula.  Since the scene is obviously trying to convey stress and confusion, the lack of emotional connection due to wide framing do an effective job of masking this. 

            The scene often is very close to jump cutting.  A true jump cut is never fully made, however pointless cutting often brings the same feel.  While the scene progresses, the shots vary from a 2 shot to a 1 shot and slightly different lengths but identical angles.  Had a full zoom been used the shots would not appear so abrupt and jolting.  This is executed successfully a few times to track character movement however.  While many cuts appear random, much of the conversation is tracked effectively.  What little action that happens throughout the scene is conveyed and never vague.  The director obvious was using multiple cameras in a set environment, so all of the movement is shot from one side of the scene.  This shows the spacing rather well.  

blog 4

Such Great Heights - Postal Service

Such Great Heights - Iron and Wine

 The Postal Service made a beautiful, emotional song out of Such Great Heights.  The cover, by Iron and Wine, is no less so.  The two songs attempt to capture a similar emotion, but go about it in very different ways.  Every aspect of the song is different, from tempo to arrangement.  The Postal Service has a much fuller sound, with more instruments.  The various sounds are mostly synthetic however, aside from the vocals.  The tempo is almost twice as fast as the cover, giving it a much peppier and younger feel.  The organization of the song is simply layers of sound added onto loops.  The melody of the song is almost fully driven by the lyrics because all other sounds are adding to the beat. 

            In Iron and Wine’s cover of Such Great Heights, the tempo is slowed dramatically.  Every texture is stripped, apart from the vocals and a single guitar.  The song maintains constant growing intensity, with no drastic jumps forward or back.  The shill highs and impossible lows are exchanged for a single driving melody, which also sets the rhythm and tempo.  The emotional architecture feels much greater, even though the songs been slowed and lessened.  The lyrics have greater intensity and a slightly more varying melody.  The timbre sounds less refined and smoky.  As a whole the song feels like it carries much more weight. 

            The song was written about undying, passionate love.  It has beautiful meaning and is emotionally manipulative.  The Postal service has a consistent upbeat tempo.  The result in a rushed feeling, not how true love should feel.  The lack of real instruments lacks the authentic feel as well emotional feel.  As a whole the piece feels oddly juvenile for a song about lifetime commitment.  The slow pacing of Sam Beams version feels more thought out and authentic, a sole man and his instrument singing of love.  The lack of percussion adds to the sincerity.  There is little to distract from the solemnity of the vocals.  The gradual build draws you in at an almost unperceivable rate.  While both versions of the song are amazing, the cover simply captures the sole of the song with much more success.   

LISTENING FRAMEWORK - Postal Service

(SIMPLIFIED)

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

Fast

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

synthetic drums

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

energetic, emotional, happy

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

synthetic drums

Structure/Organization [how is the song built?  Order, patterns, etc.]

repetition with its beat, with layers added in during different parts

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

the song grows from start to finish

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

- Height [high and low of frequency]

a constant low frequency is heard throughout

- Width [stereo panning left/right]

no panning

- Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

very loud, many sounds at some points

LISTENING FRAMEWORK - Iron and Wine

(SIMPLIFIED)

LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

Slow

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

strumming of guitar 

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Slow and sincere, deep

LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

Guitar

Structure/Organization [how is the song built?  Order, patterns, etc.]

Single instrument with one vocal

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

remains consistent until the end

LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

- Height [high and low of frequency]

does not vary greatly

- Width [stereo panning left/right]

no panning

- Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

2 sources of sound, soft and quiet

blog 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQ4KzClb1C4

This rooftop scene is horribly written and acted, and thusly very entertaining.  The scenes space and movement is very minimal, even though the scene lasts two minutes.  There is little character movement, and the emotion that is trying to be conveyed doesn’t work.  The voice acting voids all dialogue of emotion and motivation.  The scene doesn’t offer much space, only two seats and the corner of a rooftop.   The cameras do focus on the points of interest, however that is expected and is barely picked up on.   The characters movements seem awkward and scripted.  There appears to be no improvisation of familiarity with the script. 

            The time in the scene is also interesting.  The dialogue in the scene is short worded and quick.  The speed at which it is exchanged, and thusly the scene goes, is fast, however the location never changes and nothing seems accomplished, so the scene feels long.  This subjective time ultimately leaves a negative feeling towards the scene.  The characters are loosely introduced however.  We learn some back-story and motivations of the two main characters.  There is also mystery in the scene that foreshadows obvious plot points.  Camera shots are lackluster and basic; they focus where they need to when they need to. 

http://changethis.com/

Nick Thomas wrote a story of fear and boundaries.  According to the author, it centered on a lion, which, no matter how hard he tries, cannot escape a cage.  He bounds from cage to cage, never once showing any success for his actions.  The story, however repetitive, has deep underlying meanings.  It shows someone who cannot accept himself and continuously shies away from the larger issue.   There is no progress or growth in the story, a forever doomed character.  The story contradicts nicely with Find Your Howl because of its opposite conclusions.  Mumon broke through his cage and grew to what he needed to be, while the lion could not.  

Paul Del Gesso

Eric Williams

MDIA 203

25 September 2011

“I did porn stars, I did drugs, I had my own TV show and then I did what all the people in America wish they could do - I told my boss to f*** off.  Then it was gone, in one fiery public flame out. And it was only when the smoke cleared, I realized just how lucky I am. Even after all that I still have a family that loves me. They have seen me in jail, they have seen me rushed to emergency rooms, they've seen me dragged to court, but seeing me on basic cable would kill them.  I am done with winning because I have already won. This roast may be over, but I'm Charlie Sheen. In here burns an internal fire.  I just have to remember to keep it away from a crack pipe.” Charlie Sheen

            The recent roast of Charlie Sheen lead to many laughs and memorable quotes.  The ending monologue however, by Charlie himself, was left echoing in my head.  The quote is much more motivating then creatively inspiring, however the motivation I feel is to be as creative as I can.  Charlie’s adult life is essentially summed up in one paragraph.   Under normal circumstances the majority of the text would be taken negatively, with harsh repercussions and hatred toward the speaker.

            Despite the negative connotation that quote has, the resounding feeling of the quote is success worthy of respect.  Such credibility has been given to Sheen because of his track record.  His life has been founded on the shoulders of people who are paid and recognized for their ability to be creative.  The work that is produced is so respected that it can raise people to alleged invincibility.  That alone, sounds rewarding enough to push me to new levels of creativity.  The potential stardom getting things right can produce inspires me.  I can only hope for such success in the creative world of motion pictures.  To cause people to overlook such “bad” without realizing it is a unique power.  By controlling the emotions of the public through creatively manipulating an actor to seem relatable and respectable, you have conquered the world.

            Another inspiring aspect of the quote is the underlying theme of money.  By referencing such luxuries like porn stars and drugs, Sheen is hinting to his fortune.  Having a TV show and movies under your belt obviously amasses good amounts of money.  Finding success in the industry through creativity has its amazing financial benefits.  My ultimate hopes in life are to become both recognized and wealthy.  To write successfully, amazing creativity needs to be applied.  The reward appears to be well worth the risk, which helps motivate me in innovative ways.  Even better, as Charlie later points out, working for network has exponentially more money in it, making basic cable not meet his standards.  The chance to create a premise and work for network requires ingenuity and merit.  The quote speaks to me in a way that says being creative for network (e.g. Sheen’s boss) sequesters so much capital that firing the highest paid and most watched man on television isn’t even a financial problem.  

            Being renowned for your ability to entertain apparently allows crazy lifestyles to be lived almost repercussion free.  The chance to have so much fun without being judged negatively seems almost too good to be true.  The lifestyle is normally never worth the risk.  To reverse this to the point where it seems almost required seems intriguing.  Carefree fun, no matter how crazy, appeals to me deeply, but only with deserved success seems possible. 

            All of these best-case scenarios drive me to be as creatively successful as I can.  I want to be recognized and admired for my ability to tell a story.  The money that is attached to that also speaks motivationally to me.  I hope to have recognition combined with wealth one day, as an ultimate goal.  If these things can be achieved, the lifestyle that can come along side is an added bonus.  After hearing this, I want to strive to be as creative as I can.