Holiday themes within

    If you're like me, there's a list of holiday movies that are essential to watch this time of year! Rudolph the Red Nosed Raindeer, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Scrooged are a few.  But unfortunetely the holiday movies are the same plots and themes rehashed over and over again. SO if you want to watch some fun movies that you haven't seen (or seen in a while) I remembered a few that have underlying holiday themes for some odd reason or another! 

   I linked the movies to IMDB in case people haven't seen some of them and want more info. Enjoy!

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First Blood (Rambo) 

Lethal Weapon

Batman Returns

Ghostbusters 2

Trading Places

Trapped in Paradise

Die Hard

 

Apple Christmas Commercial

APPLE is at again. This years christmas commercial is so clever, I just had to share it with you guys. Although the new iphone 4s isnt as awesome as many people thought it was gonna be this commercial makes me rethink purchasing the phone this holiday season. How about you? I really love how they made siri usable for even Santa and its really funny without losing sight of the product (which alot of comedic commercials have a tendency to do). A+ once again for apples ad campaign i have no idea how they keep doing it. GENIUS.

On another note I really had an amazing time with you all this semester. I just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Love
Ivannah

To Kill a Mockingbird

To Kill A Mockingbird was based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning book. It was one of my favorite books of all time. The movie basically tells the story of Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), a widowed lawyer from Alabama, who defends a young black man who is on trial for the rape of a white woman. It is told through the eyes of Scout (Mary Badham) his six-year-old daughter.

At first the story seems to tell the story of her childhood, how she and her brother Jem (Philip Alford) and Dil (John Megna) spend their free time together. Then she proceeds to talk about all of the different people that make up the small town in Alabama where the story takes place and of course about the trail of Tom Robinson (Brock Peters). The movie shows Atticus follows his principles when he is chosen to defend a black man in light of the fact that most of the people believe he is guilty just because of the color of his skin.

I liked that the film was done in black and white and that the music chosen for the background really highlights what is going on in the movie. The film also follows the book very closely which I thought was important for the story telling process. It is a movie that I would highly recommend. It is a true classic.

bordom for me=watching movies

So this past weekend was a terrible bore for me aside from filming on sunday. Friday and Saturday I watched a whole bunch of movies. I figured I'd blog on each one. Here I go;

Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas: This was one of my favorite movies growing up, created by Jim Hansen and his muppets. I hadn't watched it in year and noticed that it was on Netflix so needless to say I watched it with out hesitation. I even found myself almost unfamiliar with the story line. I also giggled several times at the silly lines said by characters in the film I think my favorite characters were: Chuck Stoat and Wendell Porcupine!

Untold Stories of Columbine: This was just a TV coverage of Darrell Scott (Rachel Scott's Father). Rachel Scot was the first to die on Columbine. Darrell told of his daughter's story of her life and her death and covered some of the events prior durring and after columbine, how his family dealt with the loss and how they believe God was preparing them for this unfortunate event in their lives. He also Covered how his son was also there on the say his sister died as he witnessed Isaiah Shoels, and Cassie Bernall's deaths. The two kids on either side of him were both shot but he was spared by pretending to have been shot. On his way out of the building he passed his sister's body and never knew it was her. The stories he shared were heart warming and very touching. I cried a couple of times. Especially at the part where he mentioned them being on Oprah.

Columbine: Understanding Why: This was a date line show about the events of columbine as detectives began searching out answers to all the questions. I didn't necessarily agree with their up-bringing of the media because It almost had nothing to do with the media they consumed (it wasn't their influence as much as it was just their way of expressing violence to hold them over until their planned date and times.) I think what got them was the bullying more than anything, the stupid thing is that they killed all the kids that were being bullied not the bullies themselves. (Not that anyone SHOULD have been killed) Their "cause" was a failure because they killed kids who were just like themselves but perhaps this wasn't by accident. Who knows I'd rather not be inside their heads. However I'm all for preventing this kind of thing from ever happening again.

Nosferatu: This was a 1920's horror flick about the vampire Nosferatu and his victims. I thought it was very interesting not only to see a silent film from the 20's but also to see the evolution of vampires in film. The acting was also adorable!

Zero Day: This was also a film about Columbine. So I went on a Columbine kick after this movie. I would certainly recommend this film if you enjoy feeling your heart pound out of your chest. I don't believe they used any real footage at all from Columbine but they certainly made you feel like you were there to see the entire event. It also touched on subjects that were of fact in the true story. Such as the fact that they had made underground videos, they never planned on killing themselves, their first plan failed, and in the underground footage of this event they told their parents "this wasn't your fault we love you". By the end of the film I was at the edge of my seat and my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it. In my book, If a film can do that to you it's a success. This film is now number 68/ 89.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Unearthly: This was a hoot! I love MST3!

this is just a sample of MST3000!

Scream: Silly and a terrible Horror film but it was kind of a classic for our generation so I watched it for a little laugh. I don't think this one's in my fav's list.

year in film

has anyone seen this yet, i just saw it and i really liked it. This guy gen 1 mashed up 230 movies into a 5 minute youtube video, he does a great job with the music and he take some of the best shots in some movies that you might have over looked and just blends them together so well. It may reach its high point early and change tone a little but it comes back in the end. anyway i thought this was really cool and it reminds me of the old toonami promos that did this kind of mashing

Stefon

SNL has had a lot of popular recurring characters over the years- The Church Lady, John Belushi as the Samurai, the Coneheads etc. The most recent character that seems to have gained a lot of popularity is Bill Hader as Stefon on Weekend Update. Stefon gives advice for the hottest clubs in the city to go to. However, Hader usually can't get through this character without laughing at his own ridiculousness which is when the audience gets most excited. And with each appearance the applause gets louder every time Seth introduces him. In this interview even he talks about how he can't make it through an appearance without cracking up:

Bro's Music video/end of the world!

Just so everyone can share in my agony.... my hard drive just crashed... WOOOOOO. Yup you guessed it... our project's on it!!! The good people of master control are keeping it overnight to salvage my files... pray for us people, pray!

On to other things... my step-brother Tony and his band InAshton released a music video a few weeks ago that I thought I'd share with you all (he's the lead guitar)...

I love the song and thought the video came out great! The actress kinda looks like Zoe Saldana... but she's not haha my step-bro promises! I really liked the special effects like the fire and broken glass... it definitely took the video to the next level. I wonder what we could do with it if given the raw footage.... hmmm maybe I'll ask him for it one day!

video co pilot

so in class Arturo told me about video co pilot and i guess everyone else knows about it but its pretty cool
and not as time consuming as i would have thought. most of the effect work has been done  for you and it just opens a bunch of possibilities for you to mess with. here are some samples






those were all people that used video copilot to make there productions the tutorials are all on his website so check it out

some are long some are shorter but check it out

http://www.videocopilot.net/

Blue Mountain State

   A tv show on Spike that I recently got hooked on is called Blue Mountain State.  The show is about a fictitous college and their once amazing football team that is now in rough shape.  The show is actually only about 10% football and 90% what happens off the field.  This makes it a racy, completely unrealistic show about college experiences...similar to the American Pie films.  Most of the time the cast is partying and doing various team-building exercises that go completely wrong.  The core characters have GREAT personalities and it was an amazing casting job on their part.  One of the main actors (Thad) was an American Idol finalist a few years ago as well.  So if you like outrageous and vulgar shows this may be a new one for you, however I don't suggest sitting around and watching it with your entire family over the holidays!

Ithaca Audio

I stumbled across this the other day somewhere on vimeo. This little sound company appears to be based out of Ithaca. I think its a pretty neat way to use to the internet to market themselves, kind of like what Arturo was talking about. Some of these live mixes have hundreds of thousands of views. Does anybody know these guys personally?

Inception

Inception written and directed by Christopher Nolan is a story about a man name Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio, who is a thief who has mastered the technological art of stealing valuable secrets from deep with the subconscious during the dream state. He knows that when someone is unconscious the mind is most vulnerable, so it is easy to get to the secrets people are holding onto. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in a tricky new world of corporate espionage, it has also made him an international criminal. This could cost him everything that he has ever loved in the world. Then he gets a chance to get his life back, but only if he can create the most impossible-inception. Instead of stealing someone's secrets he has to commit the perfect crime, Cobb and his team of specialists Arthur and Ariadne (Joseph Gorden-Levitt and Ellen Page) have to pull off the reverse: they plan to plant an idea in the persons subconscious instead of extracting their thoughts. If they are successful this could be the perfect crime, but it is a dangerous task no amount of careful planning can prepare Cobb and his people for the vicious enemy that seems to be one step ahead of them and who seems to have the ability to calculate their every move.

The story is very fast-paced and Cobb has to deal with his own feelings and thoughts about the world of deception he has been creating. He also has to take into consideration that as his plan becomes more complex, his own dreams begin to present themselves into the dreams. Soon the question becomes what is part of a dream and what is true reality.

I watched this quick paced film once and I realized that I needed to watch it again because I missed many things that were happening along the storyline. I would recommend it, but I think that it can be confusing at times. If you like techno drama this is the film to see.

References:
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Ariadne auf Naxos (1988) (TV), Following (1998), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Batman Begins (2005), Paprika (2006), La Vie en Rose (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Shutter Island (2010)

The Stop Motion Movie That Never Was

Personally, I have always had an incredible love for stop motion animation. I have all of the Wallace and Gromit shorts on my phone, and have usernames under at least 4 different stop-motion online forums. There is something so magical about how organic the medium is. That is why, about 4 years ago, I set out to make my own stop motion animation film.

The film was called "The Day Job," and it covered a protagonist's first and only day at his new job in a waffle factory. I had storyboarded it, created the puppets, and even constructed the entire waffle factory set. However, other priorities soon overtook my time, and hand animating several hundred frames took a back seat to homework.

Here are some of the pieces of test footage I could recover:

This was a test of gaining an acceptable depth of field, which I had an incredibly hard time doing, without basic knowledge of how depth of field is established.

This is a test of animating the Waffle Omni-Whomper 2000. Basically, it was a waffle iron that I adorned with K'nex, cardboard, paint, and a broken smoke detector. I still have it in my room back home, along with my clay puppets.

One day, I would love to finish this project, as I am pretty sure I still have the original pieces. The passion is still there, and I would love to apply what I now know to film making to completing this project.

Best show on television

Hands down, the best show on television at lest in my view, is AMC's Mad Men. it really isn't even close. Before we get to Mad Men, it's pretty incredible what AMC has managed to do over the last five years in terms of picking up and airing critically acclaimed shows. Whether it's the walking dead, breaking bad, or mad men, the quality of AMC's shows are on par with those of HBO, Showtime, and the major networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC. Moving onto Mad Men though, what an amazing show. For those of you who haven't had the good fortune of seeing it yet, the show, which will be entering its fifth season in March, follows the lives of advertising executives in New York City in the 1960's.The show is witty, dark, mysterious, and the most well put together show on television. I began watching the show with father and he said it was like a time machine back to the 1960's. The show has won outstanding drama series at the Emmy awards the last four years, no small feat by any measure. The show is available from start to finish on netflix, but I must warn you, once you start, it is nearly impossible to stop. Enjoy, an get hooked, just like I did.
Here is the promo for season season one.

Muppets are Communists

There are a lot of concerns about media literacy and critical thinking in kids these days, because they spend so much time immersed in the media and are exposed to a lot of violence and messages about race and world issues. This is something I am really interested in, and I love listening to these people argue about communism, the evil of Liberals and their evil motives, and...the Muppets. The creators of the latest movie have defended themselves, saying in this article, "Cable news is 24 hours long so you have to fill it up with something. No, the Muppets are not communist. And the character of Tex Richman is not an allegory for capitalism in any way. The character is called Tex Richman."

The world amazes me, every single day. Remind me to never work at FOX news.

21 Jump Street

So this weekend I saw The Sitter- which was okay. It reminded me a lot a Superbad and just replaced Michael Cera's part with three kids. But anyways I was pretty interested in the trailers before the movie.

One was 21 Jump Street featuring a skinny, blonde Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. I'm super excited about this pairing cause it's so bizarre. And I'm thinking this is going to be better than The Sitter because Jonah is going to have someone funnier to play off of (because the kids in The Sitter were so-so) and Channing Tatum, while not as raunchy or as funny as Jonah at all has the potential to be really good at this. What's also exciting about this movie is that Nick Offerman from Parks and Recreation plays the boss of Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum and I have no doubt that he will do as good a job in this movie as he does in Parks and Rec every week. And I know really little about the original show 21 Jump Street with Johnny Depp but apparently this new movie strays far from the original show. And I also found out that the directors of this: Chris Miller and Phil Lord were producers on Awesometown (for any hardcore Lonely Island fans like myself) and thought that was pretty exciting.

Vlogging and cameras

I know several people who have tried to start video blogs (Ok...those people have been me), but there's always the problem of how to seem natural on camera. When watching vlogs of people like Philip DeFranco and the Vlog Brothers, you can see that they treat the camera just as a person that they're talking to, not like a camera. Here's a video of John Green being comfortable in front of a camera.

So for those of us that might get a little camera shy, here's an article that gives tips on becoming more comfortable. It's simple things like practicing what you're going to say (but not too much), being able to ramble, and just remembering to breathe. So maybe all of you (and me) will be able to act natural now!

Lighting

With all of the formal rules about lighting, and the... (let's be nice) limited lighting choices in the studios, I forgot how much fun lighting can be! This past Thursday and Friday I was the assistant lighting designer for the Ithacappella show, which meant driving to Rochester to pick up equipment, setting all of the lights and working on effects, and helping my good friend Andrew (who was the LD) come up with concepts for the different songs they performed. We used lights I'd never worked with before (5R Pro Intelligent Movers, Atomic 3000 Strobes, Chauvet COLORado LED pars) and we created and tested new effects. (While this didn't work entirely well in the concert, we created lasers using the same projector that was used for the video screens. The mirrors on top of the screens reflected the projection back across the haze and over the audience.) I also got to try my hand at a new lighting console, the Road Hog Full Boar. It's entirely touch screen, and much easier to use than the 140+ dimmers we usually use in the Emerson Suites.
My main job as lighting assistant was to be in charge of the video effects. We created the video projections in Final Cut by creating a matte that would only show the images where the screens were placed on stage. Same for matting a box for the laser mirrors.
But all in all the concert was a huge success (I was not expecting a full house of 600+ people...) And 21+ hours of work (on <6 hours of sleep) later, I finally got to go back to bed.

Trusses, strobes, and video screens

Road Hog and Final Cut with the matte

Haze allowed us to see the light beam being cast from any source, especially the projector

Hugo

I WATCHED HUGO! It made it to not only my top ten as I expected in my favorites list, but it is now my 4th favorite movie of all time. I've only seen a few predictions so far and so far not all of them have had Hugo winning any oscars but the ones I have seen with Hugo winning an Oscar are pretty darn sure of it. rating it at a 5-star rating. All of my film fans love it to death. Just as I expected I absolutely LOVED this movie any one reading this blog and is even the slightest bit interested in the film world needs to see this film. Honestly I was teary-eyed the ENTIRE time I watched this film. That is soooo hard to do for me. The one down-fall that I could see was a little bit of disbelief in some of the acting (possibly some over acting). But despite that everything went with out a hitch. I saw it in 3D but I'm sure seeing it in any theater would be equally amazing! Please Please Please go see it!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

     This movie had a lot of problems getting enough money to film, and for good reason.  If I told you that I wanted to make a feature film about an institutionalized man, only during his time while in the institution, you would think I was the crazy one.  How could this be a good film, there is no action, there are no love interests or bad guys.   The story does not sound like the kind of movie that would be remotely interesting.  Yet the movie is fantastic.  It is amazing to watch this man simply get into the lives of institutionalized people who are in a routine and shake their lives up.  It has great character development and the viewer actually knows each of the characters by the end of the movie.  It all happens in about three locations and most of it is them just sitting in a circle, yet it is engaging, it makes you want to know what is going to happen, and how these very different and very extreme personalities can fit together.  It is fun to see how this story was written and how it was converted from the book, there is a lot to be said for a writer that can externalize so many emotions and ideas that are primarily internal (Lawrence Hauben, Bo Goldman, screenplay writers).  Its a great movie, bottom line, watch it.

The Doctor Is In

So this semester I finally got into a TV show that many of my friends have been pestering me to watch for years - Doctor Who. I was hesitant at first to be honest. A show about aliens just didn't seem like it would appeal to me, but I've quickly fallen in love with it.

For those who don't know, Doctor Who is about a 900 year old Time Lord (that's a kind of alien) who travels around time and space with a human companion in a blue police box. If you're someone who hasn't really seen it, this may seem like a super odd concept...which it is. It has been on television ever since 1963, which is pretty cool. My Dad actually saw the very first episode as it was being broadcasted live (he's British, so it makes sense). In the old Doctor Who the special effects were pretty adorable...meaning terrible, but hey, it was the 1960s! Here's the first part of the very first episode.

Thankfully in the new series (which returned in 2005 after a 9 year hiatus) the special effects are better. They're not always superb, but they try.

Sometimes this show is pure brilliance! Great stories, scary monsters, witty dialogue, and superb acting, but when it's bad it's pretty terrible. But Whovians (which is what super fans of the show are called) love to pick apart the episodes and find plot holes and just discuss the show for hours. I do that.

The tenth doctor, David Tennant, is arguably the best doctor thus far. Here's a clip of one of my favorite moments with him.

All in all, this is strangely one of my favorite shows. It took me a few episodes to get into it, but now I can't imagine my life without the doctor and his blue box. It sounds strange that a show that can be as hokey as this one has had such a big impact on my life, but it has. I strongly encourage everyone to watch at least a little!