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Film Review #9

This week I watched a short film called "The Most Beautiful Thing." The film is about a socially rejected high school boy with no friends and his discovery of a girl he develops feelings for that he wants to ask to prom. The beginning of the film shows the boy going through his day alone and sad. The next day while waiting at the train stop, the boy sees a girl that he finds attractive and says hello. The girl doesn't respond to his greeting, so he says hello again. The girl then realizes he is talking to her and scrambles to find a piece of paper in her bag, before writing on it that she is deaf. The next few scenes in the film show those two becoming very good friends. You are also able to see the boy developing feelings for her. After the montage of happiness, the boy is prepared to ask his new friend to prom, but sees what he believes is another guy kissing her, and backs out. This happens twice before the boy begins to avoid the girl. At the end of the film, the two run into each other in the hallway and it is revealed that the girl didn't actually kiss anyone else. The boy then asks her to prom is in sign language... I thought this short film was very true to its title. The story was very beautiful. It appeared to be filmed on a handheld camera the entire time, which gave the film an intimate quality. I really liked this film and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a sweet short film that might make them tear up.


Watch it Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP8psM4LWXk

Shutter Speed and Aperture

5 Shot Story: An Eggstremely Horrifying Breakfast

The End

Film Review #8

This week I watched a comedic music video by The Lonely Island entitled, "Threw It On The Ground." The song is a narrative about a man that goes through his day throwing things on the ground out suspicion that everyone he encounters is trying to invite to be a part of "the system." The song wasn't intended to be very serious, which allowed for a very fun music video to accompany it. With the song being written in the form of a narration, the video was made as a visual to what was being said, meaning everything that happens in the song is depicted in  the video, verbatim  That might normally cause a video to be pretty boring, however in "Threw It On The Ground" every time the protagonist threw something on the ground, there was a close up of it hitting the ground in slow motion. That made the music video a bit more dramatic and a lot more interesting to watch rather than if it was all shot in real time. When something was thrown on the ground in the chorus, the pace and rhythm changed in a way that flowed with the slow motion footage better than the original music would have. This drew more attention to the objects being thrown while simultaneously highlighting the drama and comedy in the music video. I'm a fan of The Lonely Island and I like this music video just as much as I like their others. It is very funny and it doesn't make too much sense. I wouldn't recommend this music video to anyone with a short tolerance for silliness, but everyone else should totally watch it. 

Film Review #7

Today I re watched an animated short film called "Twisted".This film is about a guy that tries to straighten out his dog's curly tail several different ways. Although he tries many tactics, his dog's tail curls right back up. At the end of the film the guy gets a second dog in the mail with an even curlier tail. The animation used in the film is very stylized and clay like, but it works with the simplicity of the short film. The camera movements are very fluid and the music matches the film's content and pace very well. It is a very cute and silly short film and I would totally recommend it to anyone. 

The Auguste and Louis Lumière Brothers

Auguste and Louis Lumière were two French brothers that were very influential in the development in film and photography. Their father owned a buisines that sold and munufactored photography equipment, so they were raised in a technological environment which aided their interest in such subjects. The Lumière brothers created many short films in their time and are even credited with the first public film screening in 1895.

In order to screen their films, the Lumière brothers invented a machine called the Cinematograph. This device was developed based off of the principles of the kinetoscope, however the Lumière brothers strived to create a device without the flaws of the kinetoscope and with better resolution images. The Cinematograph became very popular across the world, because it was very light (it weighed only 16 LBS) and doubled as a motion camera and film projector. It was a very efficient invention.