Russian Ark

Russian Ark is a film directed by Aleksandr Sokurov that was filmed in one shot. The storyline of the film is a guided walk around Russia's Winter Palace, touching on small portions of Russia's history.

This is a film that in my opinion is not the most cohesive story, but what it lacks in communication, it makes up for in choreography. The entire film was shot in a single take, this means that each other the actors seen on the screen had to be at the right place at the right time, and had no room for error. Truly remarkable.

The camera operator was fitted with a Steady-cam rig and the entirety of his camera movement course was longer than 2 miles. The run time of the film is 99 minutes. This was no easy task, but
Tilman Büttner was up for the challenge.

The movie while scened in one take did take a total of 2 try to perfect, which anyone who has been on set would know that this is almost unbelievable. Russian Ark was able to pull it off however and also made a great film as well. 

While I am not personally a major lover of this work, I do respect its creation and think that there is something truly beautiful about its uniqueness. The film took on a challenge that seemed almost impossible to execute with such a large production and made it look easy. 

 

My overall review of the film is a 6/10 

While this isn't very high, 

I still think it is something everyone should

try and make time for.  

Why Am I In Media?

A lot of friends and family at home always used to ask me "What got you interested in radio and television?" or "Why are you a TVR major." Some people think it started in high school radio, others when I was honing my craft at a tiny bench in Brandywine Little League. It certainly wasn't the hours I spent speaking into a tape recorder in front of the television.

I haven't told a whole lot of people this, but I owe everything to Black Entertainment Television (BET.) I never had a ton of friends growing up in an inner city elementary school. I always heard the other kids talking about some new music video they saw on 106 and Park. One afternoon, in an attempt to be cool, I decided to switch over to Channel 33 to see what all the fuss was about.

Rather then pay attention to what everyone in my school thought was good music, I was completely blown away by the editing and choreography of the hip hop music videos. It got to a point where I was addicted. There are a few in particular that specifically blew my mind, which I posted below.

I personally think music videos are the hardest thing in media to produce. Most of them have a lot of quick cuts. The singers often have to double as actors, mouthing the words of the song at the exact pace it was recorded. Hip hop videos are especially tough, as there is often a lot of fast talking and interesting lighting techniques. I realize now that most of them aren't very well made and have obvious flaws, but I thank the BET channel for helping me choose a career path.

Here are my top five favorites from that era:

5. Tha Block is Hot- Lil Wayne featuring Juvenile and B.G. (1999)

4. Back That Azz Up- Juvenile featuring Mannie Fresh and Lil Wayne (1999)

3. Neva Eva- Trillville featuring Lil Scrappy and Lil Jon (2003)

2. Number One Stunna- Big Tymers (2000)

1. (and most influential) Dipset (Santana's Town)- Juelz Santana featuring Cam'ron (2003)

Choreography or the dance in the mind

(As my other post finally appeared, I am copying what I tried to post here)

The reading about choreography was interesting. The images that come with it simply marvelous. I always consider dancing as one of the most beautiful forms of art. I find the work of the choreographer between similar the the one of a maestro. But the difference that I usually acknowledge is that the choreographer needs to visualize the art in the mind. Then I think that even the dancers need to be able to represent what the choreographer has in mind and be able to work as a group to demonstrate it. While musicians can simply play together it is rarely possible for dancers to deliver a beautiful results without knowing each other then having a visual conception of the rendering.

One of my favorite dance is Haitian folklore. It is a dance through which what is the true Haitian culture shows in force. Choreographers need to be detailed as many type of Haitian folkore can be differentiated by some movements. I have posted a video of one of our famous choreographer Jean Guy Saintus.