Airline Safety Videos Takes Flight with New Trend

Over the past decade, airlines have decided to spice up their flights by producing safety videos with new twists. Now, instead of smiling stewardesses and boring diagrams, several airline companies have come up with creative ways to tell you how to correctly buckle your seatbelt.

This video, produced by Virgin America in 2007, began the steady trend of attempting to entertainment their audiences, rather than just preach safety to a crowd of sleeping or frustrated flyers. It's dry humor and doodle-like design are thanks to Anomoly, a branding firm and the video's animators, Gordon P. Clark, Nick Hewitt, and Mike Overbeck.

After the launch of this quirky animation, Delta Airlines and Air New Zealand joined in the fun. In 2011, Air New Zealand released a video featuring none other than Richard Simmons. Starting out as a normal safety video, we are pleasantly surprised when a fully decked out Simmons struts center stage with his jubilant crew not far behind. A good tactic by Air New Zealand, knowing it takes a special person to ignore Simmons' charisma.

My personal favorites are from this year, from Delta and Virgin America. Delta takes us back to the 80s with their retro take on airplane safety. Sporting mullets, neon and recognizable icons such as Alf and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Airplane! anyone?), the confused passengers demonstrate how to use modern safety technology on the plane.

Virgin America's latest video takes the cake for me. Starring youtube sensation Todrick Hall by director Jon M. Chu, this video is another turning point for safety videos around the world. The entire production is a music video, complete with clever lyrics and amazing dance moves from the cast without losing the educational purpose. After this, I'm excited to see what the following years of safety videos have to offer.

Last but not least, this ridiculous safety video from Air New Zealand has nerds everywhere booking flights to the country where Middle Earth was set. Using their connection with the film trilogy Lord of the Rings, Air New Zealand came out with a video in 2012 featuring our favorite characters from the movies struggling to follow safety instructions. There's even cameos from Sir Peter Jackson himself, and the ever loveable Gollum.

No matter how awesome or awful these safety videos are, anything's better than the dry, snooze worthy videos that came before. Keep up the good work guys.

The Golden Age of Special Effects.

We live in an age of CGI. Hollywood studios have been finding that it is a lot easier to CGI a bunch of enemies or explosions or anything in action and Sci-Fi films. Unfortunately I am one of those people that have not really enjoyed these transitions. Almost all of my favorite action and fantasy films took place in the mid-2000's. Lord of the Rings, Kingdom of Heaven, Mask of Zorro, The Bourne Trilogy. These films had a sense of realism to them that a lot of the more modern action films don't.

Although I thoroughly enjoyed The Hobbit, an Unexpected Journey, the excessive use of animation really took me out of some of the scenes. There were scenes that were exclusively CGI and since I knew it was all CGI, all suspense was immediately taken out of the scene. I think the reason why I enjoyed the big budget action films of the 2000's was because special effects were not good enough at that point to completely shoot a scene, but could only be used to enhance scene. Give them that extra something if you will. For an example I have added two scenes, both from director Peter Jackson, one from the Hobbit done completely in CGI and one from The Fellowship of the Ring, decide for yourself which one has more tension.

Hopefully, you agree with my opinion that the second clip is much better. Mainly because of the lack of frame cluttering. It's almost as if Peter Jackson told the animators to put as much stuff in the frame as possible. This excessive animation really makes it difficult for me at least to get personally involved in the scene. The sad part is, is that a scene shot in a forest with a bunch of guys in costume did so much more for me than and thousands of dollars of animation could.

I am going to bring up a point here that might cause some contention. As some of my classmates have already stated, they really did not like the film Pacific Rim, and while by no means did I think it was a great film. I found it to be very enjoyable and worth the money I spent in the theater (mainly cause I didn't watch it in 3D). Now obviously this film relies on CGI like it is nobody's business, but the thing I found interesting after looking a bit further into the making of the film was that director Benicio Del Toro made a conscious effort to make the cockpits of the Jaegers a real set and the enhance it with CGI. Here is a clip about building the set.

 

 

Now I thought that was pretty amazing. Especially because of the lack of necessity. They were already making an extremely CGI heavy set, Del Toro could have just as easily had the actors put in a green screen environment and done everything in post, but he said no. I want to add a sense of realism in an otherwise unrealistic film. This went as far as to make real functioning pilot suits and helmets. 

Well for those of you who have stuck through this whole post and watched all the videos and listened to all my wild comments I say thank you. I always appreciate a good debate, so if someone has a conflicting idea I'd love to hear their arguments. After all, we're here to learn.

The Wilhelm Scream

Like many of us in this class I am a huge movie buff. I enjoy watching movies almost to a fault, and one thing that I am very good at is remembering lines and scenes. Mainly because I watch films again and again. This is why I wanted to clue some of you in on arguably the most famous sound effect in movie history. The Wilhelm Scream. This sound effect is a stock sound effect that has been used in over 200 films, usually to represent someone dying. Whether you've noticed it before or not, you have undoubtably heard it if you have seen films like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Saving Private Ryan, and even animated films like Toy Story and Hercules.

The sound effect is credited as first being used in the 1953 films The Charge at Feather River, it gets it's name from the character, Wilhelm, who gets shot by an arrow. Since then it has become sort of a running gag among some movie directors. Most notably George Lucas, Quentin Tarantino, and Peter Jackson, who pretty much use it in every film.

The thing that I find so funny about it is that the director's are making a conscious choice to include this sound effect in their film. I originally thought it might just be a coincidence, but the sound effect is used in too many movies for nobody to know. Christ it has it's own Wikipedia post  for it.

However if you still don't believe me, here are two videos dedicated solely to the use of the Wilhelm scream.

... And the other one.

Hope you enjoyed it.

Positive Posting

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000105 EndHTML:0000003660 StartFragment:0000001432 EndFragment:0000003624

While continuously pointing out the flaws in mediocre movies is enjoyable, being so negative all the time is depressing. Therefore this blog I shall attempt the impossible and write positively about an adaptation.

Last blog I gave my general opinion on adaptations, for the most part they’re not that good (especially the remakes of comic series (with very few exceptions)). This usually has to do with the story (basically the most important aspect of the movie) being utterly unfaithful to the original source material, or just not being creative enough to really bother seeing. However there is an exception to every rule and in my case I find “The Lord of The Rings (originally written by J. R. R. Tolkien)” movie series (directed by Peter Jackson) to be an exceptional example of what adaptations can be if they’re done right.

I have this opinion of this set of adaptations for several reasons. Firstly the cinematography is breath taking. The Shire is pretty much exactly what I pictured when I first read the books, Rivendell is beautiful (which is to be expected), Moria is an incredibly creepy underground labyrinth, ect. The design of the supernatural beings, the Ringwraiths, Orcs, Trolls, Ents, ect, is just plain good. The music is epic, the characters are great (Sam is my favorite) I could go on. But what I like most about these movies is the story.

Frankly it’s just done well. Partially because the right people were found to play the main characters. Also partially because redundant characters from the books (e.g. Tom Bombadil) have been removed. Lastly there is also the pro that the movie doesn’t take two chapters to describe something that could be said in a paragraph. Or in film terms, a few minutes and several good close ups, wide shots, tracking shots, panning shots, ect.

The Hobbit Review

Last night I attended the midnight premiere of "The Hobbit". I arrived at the theaters at around 11:00 PM to make sure I got a good seat and then waited for an hour for 15 minutes of previews to start. After this the movie finally started and then it finished up at around 3 AM.

Needless to say, it was a long night.

The Hobbit begins with scenes highly reminiscent of "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"; in fact, early on in the movie there is a scene that is an exact recreation of a scene from The Fellowship of the Ring.  This was fun, and people who have been longtime fans of the films will appreciate this.

The introduction to the movie is long. I would guess we don't start our adventure until close to 30 minutes into the movie. I've never had a problem with long introductions, but for some people, this may have been a bit too much. The story progresses very fluidly I felt, but there were so many subplots that you sometimes got lost in all the was happening. Also, this "impending doom" that was coming to Middle Earth was a topic that kept getting brought up, but everyone knows what this is, so I'm not sure why this message kept getting repeated.

Acting-wise, the cast is stellar. I can't think of a single performance that disappointed me. All the dwarves were casted wonderfully, Martin Freeman as Bilbo was perfect, and Ian McKellen returns to play the role that got him an Oscar. There were other cameos that may have been unnecessary in this movie, but their presence pleased fans and added to the story overall.

The cinematography was fantastic. I was drooling over the beautiful extreme wides portraying the landscapes and mountainous region of middle-earth. The fluidity of the cinematography is evident is every aspect of this movie. We seamlessly flow between the wides showing our adventurers traveling and the close-ups showing the true emotions on the character's faces. The film even uses several long takes that really show the great pacing that the actors had, even before they were being cut around.

Peter Jackson did a wonderful job on his latest return to Middle Earth, and quite honestly, I can't picture anyone else making these movies any more. He is really staying true to the feel of the Lord of the Rings movies while also keeping in mind the whimsical nature that is portrayed in The Hobbit.

Overall, I'd have to say this is a must watch for anyone who has been to Middle Earth before. Technically, this movie is almost flawless, and even the slow story is damn good. Go see it.

PS- I watched it in 3D. Really well made and seamless 3D, however, I'd save the extra $5 and watch it in 2D.

The Hobbit

As we get closer and closer to december 16th, all i hear about these days is The Hobbit. It seems that the day this movie comes out Park is going to explode with excited film students ready for the next installment of JRR Tolkiens saga. All throughout production, the crew has been releasing progress video's, showing each step of the process in making this behemoth of a production. As someone who is extremely interested in this as a career path, these video's are like crack to me. In these video's they show a lot. They don't show to much of anything actually finished but they show almost every specific department working. This was incredible. I loved watching the entire crew work. It really made me appreciate all of the work that is going into this film. There are so many people working on this, it is incredible. However there is one thing that bother's me about these videos. A lot of the shots that they show being shot, are done on green screens or done with motion capture technology. I did not mind the fact that they have been using green screen's or mocap technology until i had seen some of the actual scenes. Granted i have not seen much yet because most of the scenes are being held until the actual film comes out but of the scenes i have seen so far, a lot of it looks fake. Now i know this is a fictional universe where there are lots of things that don't actually exist but there are still parts of it that i am not entirely sure about it. I am still planning on seeing the film and i am extremely excited for it but i am a bit worried that in this day and age of hyped up 3D technology and other weird gimmicks coming out with every new film, i am worried about what The Hobbit is going to look like. Hopefully i am not disappointed.

A Game of Thrones and The Hobbit

I recently just finished The Hobbit and started A Storm of Swords, the third book in A Song of Ice and Fire.  The Hobbit also recently had its worldwide premiere in New Zealand and is due out nationwide on December 14th and the third season of A Game of Thrones is set to air starting 3/31/13.  I like many other people are thrilled about both.

The trailer looks fantastic and I really like the songs the dwarves sing.   It gives me goosebumps.  Game of Thrones hasn't released a full trailer for the season yet, but they did release a teaser.

Since the Hobbit is now three movies I am very interested in how they are going to do it since it is not a very long book.  I have heard that they are going to follow Gandalf on some of his adventures and I would assume some time will be spent connecting it to Lord of the Rings.   The two things I am really excited to see are Gollum and the final battle.  In the book the Final battle consists of many different species and I can't wait to see how Peter Jackson brings the battle together.

When I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire last summer everyone told me that the third book or Storm of Swords was the best one in the series.  Now that I am finally there I am especially excited that I will finish reading it so close to the start of the third season.  As the war between the Stark's, Lannister's and Stannis start to heat up and Daenery's gets more powerful and Jon Snow learns more about the wildings I think this will be the perfect book and season.

The Hidden Magic: Music

Over the last week, my health has gotten worse. I hate to say it, but I think I am one of the lucky ones who caught the viral infection that is sneaking its way across campus. The wonderful thing about being sick though, is that my time for watching movies and TV shows has almost doubled. Inevitably, during my many viewings I would start to dose off. I may have been half conscious, but I could always tell what was going on in the films and shows, not based on what I could see, but on what I could hear.

I don't only mean the dialogue or the recorded sound effects, although those are obviously very important. No, I'm talking about the power of music. Think about your favorite movie, or your favorite scene. Now try to imagine that scene without the background music. Isn't that a strange thought? It is something that is almost always overlooked, yet without it, the context of the movie doesn't seem quite complete. 

Now, I danced for about nine years and I played piano for about five years. I love music. I think everyone does, but what I loved about music was how, when I was dancing or even playing piano, I was able to feel the music inside me and move me in a way that let me express the heart of the song. Something about music hits us in our core and allows us to feel emotions. Who would have thought that combining sounds, raising or lowering the levels, and tempo would allow us to feel so much? With music, we are giving almost a sixth sense, or a 4D quality to our visual or movie experience. I believe it is because we can relate to what is happening through the notes. We all have some kind of device that we use to listen to music. When do you listen to music? In the car? In the morning as you are getting ready? Walking to class? When you are doing homework? Music has become such a part of our lives that it is easily overlooked. Sometimes we even hear soundtracks to our own lives. So, if music is such a huge part of our everyday life, it only makes sense that it should also be present in the movies and shows we watch. 

Last week I wrote about Lord of the Rings, and I will use it as an example again. The music in that film is astounding. It was written in such a way that it literally brings you into Middle Earth and traps you there with its interweaving melodies and harmonies. Other movies like Avatar, Narnia, Harry Potter, and The Hunger Games have similar qualities. Movies and shows that take place in our world and our times have more modern music performed by modern artists that fits the film genre. This extends even to books. I have read several commentaries from modern authors about the music that inspired their stories. When I sit down to write my own story I'm always playing some kind of celtic or other instrumental music that helps me to see or create the story that I am writing. 

Music is a part of the world, from the birds in the trees to the notes playing through your headphones. The next time you watch a movie or show, listen for the underlying music or film score. Sometimes that music can tell a story all on its own. 

~ Amber Capogrossi

A Return to Middle Earth

3 months, or 13 weeks, or 91 days. However you want to look at it, December is fast approaching. No, I'm not counting down to what many believe will be the end of the world. Lord of the Rings fans will know exactly what I'm counting down to... the release date of The Hobbit (Part 1)! Exactly three months from today, there will be huge lines in the theaters, with popcorn exploding from the seams and soda slurped up huge, plastic straws. All will be waiting impatiently for the movie to start.

December 14, 2012. A young Bilbo Baggins will be begin his own journey down a dangerous and exciting road. A road that will eventually send fate hurling his own nephew, Frodo, into a perilous journey as well. This is a story that is very near and dear to my heart. The Hobbit by Tolkien was the first fantasy book I ever read. My dad, the source from which I draw my love of everything fantasy and sci-fi, handed Tolkien's book to me when I was eleven and told me that it was a story worth reading over and over again. So I read it, and I loved it. I continued the story by following up with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I was an avid reader since then. I read books that ranged from the Shannara Series by Terry Brooks to Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. At this point in my short life, my refrain had commonly become, "The book is always better than the movie." When I saw The Lord of the Rings directed by Peter Jackson, my whole world was shaken.

Not only was the story preserved in the films, but it was done in such a way that the beloved characters I saw in my mind were there before my very eyes. It is hard to find another movie that can actually sit so close to their paper and ink counterpart. I am still an avid reader and believe me when I say that the only other movie that I have seen is The Hunger Games directed by Gary Ross. In The Lord of the Rings, the whole of Middle Earth was there; it was almost tangible to my imagination. This was such an amazing feat that required so much talent on the part of both the cast and the crew. The acting was so superb, the visuals were perfect, the story was intriguing, character development was fantastic, this movie was and is truly a classic.

I was so drawn into this film, that at the age of fourteen, I watched all of the Behind the Scenes footage that came with the extended versions of the films. Again, my life was utterly changed. I fell in love with everything that is FILM. From learning about the make-up to the intricate creation of the miniatures, to the development of the different cultures through costumes, to the creation of all the magical creatures, to how they actually built the sets, to location scouting, the list can go on and on with how much I absorbed. It opened my eyes to a way to make the worlds I read about in books "come alive" in our reality in some way. It was at this point that I found a dream that resides so strong in my heart that it feels as if my entire being is going to explode. This is how I became so passionate about acting, and from there, about what happens behind the camera too. For the discovery of my passion, I have to thank all who were involved in the making of these fabulous films.

Peter Jackson is and forever will be one of my favorite directors. So many of his films, including King Kong, have kept me sitting on the edge of my seat and allowed me to escape into worlds and times that I can only do through reading books most of the time. Such is the depth with which his films are created. Every detail must be and is as perfect as can be. My favorite book series is the Green Rider series written by Kristen Britain. If anyone ever tries to make these fabulous books into movies, I would  hope that it would be Peter Jackson, because they deserve the best.

I encourage any who have not seen The Lord of the Rings to borrow the film from someone. It is an experience that shouldn't be missed. I can't wait for The Hobbit! Someone said to me the other day, "Yes, but they have a lot to live up to after Lord of the Rings." I agree, but I trust that both the cast and crew will be able to pull it off. If you haven't seen the trailer yet, it is below:
~ posted by Amber Capogrossi

A Surprised Movie Addict

On my trip to Virginia Beach this summer, I was squished into the backseat of my mom's Buick with my two nieces. With their iPods an inch away from their faces and their headphones softly leaking music and dialogue, I watched as their eyes filled with wonder and disappeared into whatever world their movies were taking them. I can not even begin to tell you how many times I caught them watching  The Lorax or Puss In Boots. That is the funny thing about children. They can sit through an hour to an hour and a half long movie, turn around to their parents and say, "Can I watch it again?" At one point during our twelve hour car ride I whispered to my mom and my brother, "I can't believe they are watching that movie again!" My brother, who is twelve years older than me, just laughed. He continued to recount how when I was their age I did the same exact thing with my movies at home. Well. That put me in my place for certain. I recalled going through my old picture books and seeing some pictures of my four or five year old self, laying on the floor staring up at the moving pictures on the TV. 

I loved watching movies when I was young, and as the years flew by, that love never vanished. I eventually developed a passion for reading novels (I read fifteen or sixteen different ones this summer!), but I never get tired of movies. Even television shows, although I'm a little picky when it comes to this kind of entertainment. When I was little, and today as well, I was quite an oddity I think. Instead of waking up in the morning and putting on cartoons, I would put the channel to TVLand. I loved Get Smart, I Dream of Genie, I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, Bonanza, MacGyver, and the list goes on and on. 

By the time I was a senior in High School, I thought that I had a pretty good movie and TV show library in my head. I had even watched the Behind the Scenes footage from Lord of the Rings (my favorite movie) directed by Peter Jackson, and I think by then, even Behind the Scenes from Avatar directed by James Cameron, and many others. Then my world was completely changed by one thing. Netflix. Not only did Netflix have a billion movies and shows I hadn't seen (or heard of) that you could rent, it also allowed you to stream some of those movies right online! It was thanks to this discovery that by my freshman year in college I was a pro at browsing through Netflix in search of my new favorite movie. This is still my addiction today. Recently, I have gotten hooked on movies set in 19th century England, such as North and South directed by Brian Percival, Pride and Prejudice (the 1980 TV miniseries), Mansfield Park (1999) directed by Patricia Rozema, and again, the list could go on and on. I have also watched different TV shows on Netflix including Downton Abbey, Lost, and Robin Hood (2006 TV series). 

By this point in my life, I was again content with my new expanded range of movies and shows. I had even enjoyed Charlie Chaplin when I went with my friend to France. We stayed with her grandparents in Antibes, and her grandfather loved Charlie Chaplin. My friend translated later of course, but her grandfather said that Charlie Chaplin was the best because it didn't matter what language you speak, everyone can understand and laugh along. He was right. I also took a course called Bollywood while I was in college, and we watched films ranging from Jab We Met (which I recommend because it is amazing!) directed by Imtiaz Ali to I've Loved You So Long (another great movie!) directed by Philippe Claudel. 

Yet, I am continually shocked by how small my knowledge of movies is still. Even though I watch movies on Netflix all the time, (Seriously, sometimes I watch three movies in a row. Don't worry I still have a life.) somehow I am still in the dark when it comes to the classics. In class this week we were asked if we had seen several different films for examples. I don't think I raised my hand once. This was such an eye opener for me. 

So, since I am heading into a career where it is important to know and see other people's work, I have decided to watch as many movies on the list that Professor Sinclair provided for us on the blog page. Through all this I have learned that it doesn't matter how many movies or TV series you have watched, you will never have seen enough. The learning process never stops throughout life. Just like my nieces, I have to be prepared to watch, watch and watch some more. Not only for entertainment, but in order to learn and become more knowledgeable. 

~Amber Capogrossi