Triarch Media and Me

         I have been so happy with this semester learning new and awesome things to do with media and the interactions that it has on audiences. The projects in class have been fun and have taught me a lot but I have probably learned the most working with Josiah on the videos we have made for his youtube channel, Triarch Media.

We have made/making four videos for his channel, each bringing new and menacing challenges to the projects. From making a quick 40 second video to making a 4 minute and 45 second video I have learned so many things.

There has been so much gain in knowledge for me learning how best to convey a story to effect the audience and try making the story either more convincing or even more insane based off of story telling. 

I have been on camera, acted, and edited in these videos and it has been a fun time collaborating with others and learning new ways to look at storytelling. The amount of time has also been huge as between the four videos it will be something like 60 hours I have worked either on set or in post to make these videos happen. 

I have been very happy with the look and feel of these videos and I am very proud of the pieces I have made along with Josiah and my friends. For the first time in my life I am very happy with the the people I am surrounded with to help make videos and it just makes me so happy. So thanks to all those who worked on sets with me and thank you Josiah for the opportunity to make these great videos with you. Hope you all get all your blogs done in time, it has been fun.

My Three Music Videos

#1- War Photographer:

This had to be my favorite music video shown in class as it had a very unique style and was pretty cool going along with music. The animation was very fun and it threw a lot of things at you that were unexpected especially towards the end with the giant robots. It is also one of my favorites because of the fact that it was done by one guy, that is just so cool and inspirational to me. Plus I enjoyed the music and comedy of the music with the band and such.

#2- Dumb Ways To Die:

First off the tune is super catchy and I love that but I know after hearing it way to much I wouldn’t even like it at all which is funny to me. I really like the simplicity of the animation but also how important it was to do it in that way were it is very kid friendly. The message is in a way serious but played out so playful, I love it. Just overall a fun and informative video.

#3- Sometimes The Stars:

The Animation in this video is so fluid and beautiful. I love the music and its’ meaningful lyrics by themselves. The world that this animation lives in is very interesting and symbolic to the lyrics. The atmosphere was immersive and really made you wonder about the meaning in it all. I just absolutely loved it. 

The Chicago International Children's Film Festival

A long time ago in a weekend sweetly remembered I was in the land of Chicago for my very first ever film festival. I was so excited to have an opportunity to see films from around the globe in a manner of a few short days.

The experience did not disappoint as I was able to view somewhere around 50 or 60 short films both animation and live action. There were such a variety of styles in both the animation and live action. Some tried to be funny as they told their story while others told a compelling story with an underlining big question such as death.

Some of the most memorable short films for me was Emmeline, which followed the story of a girl different from every one else who tried to fit in the world, also Air Balloon Circus, a Canadian made short film about a little girl with extraordinary power that was a delight to watch. The coolest thing about going to this festival was that we had the chance to actually meet the director of Air Balloon Circus as well as a couple of creators of another short film from Brazil. It was just fantastic to see this wonderfully made piece of art and then be able to talk about it with the makers, I had never experienced that before.

The festival really was a wonder and if it is possible I will go again every year. Their was such beautiful stories told and it really motivated me to want to be better at the art myself, to try and push myself as far as I can our medium and make the best stuff I can possibly make. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I am so glad that I got to have such a great weekend.

Proximity: A FilmRiot Short

         Proximity was created by a Youtube channel called FilmRiot. It is a 10 minute short film that was written and filmed in about five days.

            This short is an inspiration as the makers were actually intending to make a twenty minute film but some financial things fell through last minute so instead because they already had some of the equipment they created a new script and made this film.

The cool thing about FilmRiot is that they show the independent and learning filmmaker the whole process from preproduction to postproduction with behind the scenes and just talking about the things they had to go through to accomplish this task.

Proximity itself is very cool and a well put together short. A very interesting sub-plot that you don’t realize truly existed until the very end. A kind of psychological action thriller as the best I can describe it.

The look is very cool with a nice grainy look to it. The acting is surprisingly good for a short film in my opinion as well as the fighting scenes being well choreographed.

It’s a very cool short and you should see it and also check out FimRiot’s other stuff as their whole channel is dedicated to teaching filmmakers how to be better at everything they do making films which is very nice to know especially for us students. 

The Hurt Locker (It's For Real)

A few years ago The Hurt Locker came out and my dad recommended it to me after he had seen it because my uncle (his brother) had recommended it to him.

The Hurt Locker follows three men in Iraq who are part of an explosive deposal unit. We watch as they go about there day to day lives having to deal with situations and finding solutions very quickly and safely such as deactivating bombs. 

The story is told in an almost documentary style as we are immersed into their lives in Iraq and how the handle events and things that happen to them. It is a very good movie and very informative because of how accurate the movie is to how it was going over to Iraq in the army.

My uncle who had told my dad to watch this did so because he believes it to be a very accurate depiction of the life and events that happen when over in Iraq. My uncle did two tours (years) in Iraq with the army and knows full well in better detail than any of us could know what happened over there.

For a nice informative narrative of being in Iraq here you go, watch this one.

Avatar: The Last Airbender (No Not The Stupid Movie)

One of the greatest television shows I have ever seen would have to be Avatar: The Last Airbender. 

First off I want to say that this is a blog about the series not the stupid movie that was TERRIBLE...just thought you should know.

Shown on Nickelodeon, Avatar went three seasons long and even recently got a second series based in the same world. The story of this series heavily relied on the depth of the characters we got to watch develop and grow over time. Some of the most interesting and most appealing characters in this series were not the main characters but the supporting roles. Having a story done this way allows the secondary characters to emphasize things done by the main characters and shows how much the story really mattered as someone had to take the time to think of these wonderful characters. 

As most semi-children more teenish shows go there is action as certain people in this world can bend the elements of the world such as fire, water, earth, and air. The action is fun and exciting but is not the main point of the show. The humor is also sometimes very cheesy but can be very refreshing when many dramatic things are going on in the story and shows how people would probably act in such situations, trying to lighten the mood. 

I haven’t said a whole lot about the actual story but I will say that watching this show will not disappoint as you come to know and love the characters and closely watch them grow. So please if you can go out of your way and take a nice long look at Avatar: The Last Airbender (again just for safeties sake I am not referring to the movie but the television series.) 

School Days- An Interesting Anime To Say The Least

School Days anime has to be one of my most favorite/hated animes ever seen by my eyes. 

How and why might this be possible you may ask? Because this anime rips your heart out by your butt and then shoves it down your throat and in only 13 episodes! I want to explain my inner aches about this but I don’t want spoilage to happen for anyone. 

I will say that it follows the life of a group of high school students as they make decisions that extremely effect their lives. The first 4 episodes or so are nice, the next 3 or 4 start to change with very interesting twists, and then the last few episodes go on and decide to give you a nice mindf***ing. (Sorry for the language but that is what it does to you.)

So overall its a very interesting anime that likes to mess with your head while you really see the dark side of people as they make selfish decisions. 

Well if you want to watch a heck of an anime and then question why you did take a look at School Days and please try and enjoy.

300

I want a man movie, a manly man movie, a movie with lots of kickbuttness and blood and gore and man things.

Thank goodness 300 delivers all of that for me. 300 is about how the Spartans held back the Persians back in Greece a long time ago. It’s called 300 because 300 soldiers from Sparta battled against countless Persians. This is just an awesome underdog type story with a small but very brave group go up to the odds that aren’t in their favor and spit on them. (hehe) 

300 is a very visually pleasing movie with cool perspectives and slow-mo used during action to emphasize the gruesome battles that take place. It has a very gritty and real look and feel about the whole movie as we are right in the mix of this mini war. 

I am a lover of underdog stories and 300 versus countless definitely counts. It’s fun to watch as the small group of soldiers use battle tested strategies to out kill their opponents time and again. To see such bravery is also very compelling as a story to see a group do their duty together for the better of all in the Greece, not just their own city-state. 

Go watch this movie men! And women (lots of topless ripped men) haha, really anyone, it’s a great watch but I will say that if you aren’t one for blood, guts, gore, or nudity then maybe stay away from it. 

Eragon

When I first saw Eragon, I loved it, the dragons, the battles, the love interest, the mentor, and almost everything else about it. Then when I heard that it was based on a book I was skeptical and didn’t read it for years. Once I did I unfortunately now had second thoughts on the movie I had once loved.

Everything we view as good or bad is all based on our perspective and reading Eragon gave me a new perspective on the movie that immediately had me disappointed with the adaptation. The story in the book was much more complete and overall better which is to be expected but there were major parts of the book that were completely re-imagined in the movie that were saddening. The saddest part of the changes is that the story could never truly continue into sequel films because the first movie went off track enough to were the first movie and second book in the series could never line up unless many changes were made. 

It is one of the most nervous times for book lovers when one of their favorite books is being made into a movie. The possibility that a story so close to your heart could be viewed on screen is just magical but at the same time there is usually disappointment as the movie never seems to fully grasp you the same way as the books. 

All that being said Eragon is a good movie on it’s own but not a very good adaptation of the book. I would definitely recommend the books however, it’s called the Inheritance Cycle for those of you who don’t know, and four books in all.    

Law Abiding Citizen

One of my favorite psychological crime thrillers I have ever seen has to be Law Abiding Citizen. 

Law Abiding Citizen is about a father/husband whose wife and daughter are killed by two burglars. One of the burglars was dropped of all charges for testifying against the burglar who had killed both the wife and daughter. The father/husband was extremely upset that one of the perpetrators was getting off clean. Years later he goes on a crime spree killing people to prove a point to the criminal justice system that they need to do whatever it takes to stop criminals. 

The story is very compelling as we watch this man who you believe has every right for what he is doing kill people to prove a point to the justice system. I love the way this story is told as we don’t always know what is going on or what is going to happen because of his state of mind, it seems that he will do anything to prove his point. In this movie you are almost rooting for this man who has lost his loved ones as he is going off on a killing spree. 

For those of you who love movies that keeps you guessing while having a solid compelling story you will love Law Abiding Citizen. Also any psychological thriller lovers you would absolutely love this movie. Everyone else should watch this movie as well because it brings our criminal justice system into question and points out major defects of the system. (I don’t know how accurate they are portrayed but it seems to be on the money to me.)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Last December one of my most anticipated movies came to theaters all around the world. I was looking forward to seeing the adaptation of The Hobbit to the screen by Peter Jackson after the great success of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 

With the great Lord of the Rings movies’ gritty and realistic look implanted in my head ready to view The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey I was unfortunately disappointed with what I viewed in the theater on that day. 

The Hobbit was a fantasy movie to the fullest with colorful landscapes and vivid cgi characters that took away from the realism I was expecting. The playfulness showed on the screen was something that was controversial to the feel and look of The Lord of the Rings. My biggest complaint I have is that the goblins all done in cgi with vibrant green skin and how unreal they felt. Compared to the goblins we saw in The Fellowship of the Ring these cgi goblins seemed friendly and reasonable. 

I hope that everyone else who has seen it enjoyed it but I did not enjoy it nearly enough to say I wanted to see the next two. I am very skeptical of the new one coming out: The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug but hope very much that it is better than the first although the trailers have not helped my skepticism. 

The Lord of The Rings Trilogy (from the books to the movies)

In my opinion one of the best combinations of books brought to the screen that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing has to be The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 

These three movies that follow a ragtag group of hobbits, men, elves, and a dwarf (while running into various other human type creatures and beasts) started out as masterful books. Brought to the screen by director Peter Jackson The Lord of the Rings Trilogy came alive to old and new Lord of the Rings lovers alike. I love both the books and the movies based off of the books.

I would like to point out that yes I believe that The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was put onto the screen better than most book to movie combos but I also recognize that the books had been around for somewhere around 80 years before creating for a lot of thought to be dumped into the development of the movies. That time allowed for many people to poke around with the idea of creating movies out of the original books, for example the animated movies created in sometime around the 1970’s. As well as the massive amount of paintings that had been done by artist over the years that helped get a head start on the conceptual vision of the movie. The movies were outstandingly done but had one of the greatest head starts for making a movie.

All that being said The Lord of the Rings Trilogy was greatly made not only from books but the movies themselves were well made, so if you haven’t seen then please go watch them.

The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling

I would like to ask for five or six minutes of your time please. There is a wonderful stop motion animation short that you should watch right now called The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling. The story is very good and the animation quite simple. This is a great example for how like we have talked about in class that having great looking animation or “good” looking things isn’t always necessary. It really is the story and how it is told that matters not the look of it.

The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling follows the story of a man named Ivor. Ivor lived in an apartment in a tall building and one day he accidentally dropped one of his plant pots out the window. He watched as it smashed into many pieces on the ground far below. This frightened him and planted fear into his mind of falling out the window himself one day. Do to this event he makes a major life decision to move somewhere “safer” for his own sake.

This type of event occurred a few times, each different but with the same result of Ivor making a very drastic and rash decision. Fear is a powerful thing and can drive us to do many things. The Man Who Was Afraid of Falling does a very nice job in showing what humans will do once fear has entered their mind. We need to not be afraid to live life and understand that things happen around us, sometimes they are bad things but there are also good things and we will miss them if we are only focused on the bad.

The Hell's Kitchen for Quiz #2

The Hell’s Kitchen is a beautiful animation short that we got to see in class. I truly loved this short as it was a very simple idea and simply put. It had one very long shot starting out static until slowing moving up along the city sky light and going into the scratch on film with music.

This short can be seen as a tragedy as the characters are just going through life and because of random happenings they find death. Death could be right around the corner for any of us, we just don’t know it yet. The Hell’s Kitchen shows many deaths that started with just one incident creating a chain of reactions. This shows as well that any choice or thing we do in life can start a chain that can lead to who knows what. I feel like I am overanalyzing this to an extent but at the same time The Hell’s Kitchen conveyed this to me as I watched it. 

The last part of the video saluting those that first started creating animations by scratching on the film I also believe to be tragedy. It was a very significant thing they did by putting that in and creating it. Sometimes we as humans forget so easily who started what we do, who made it possible for the things we do, who really had the passion and took the time to start this art form. It was a very noble act of the creators to add in the scratch film animation at the end. 

I just overall loved the animation at the beginning but then was in awe at just all of the video, especially the scratch on film animation. just a fantastic piece.

Blood Brother

        Blood Brother is a documentary film that follows Rocky Braat as he goes through the high and lows of life while living in India volunteering at a HIV orphanage over the course of a few years.

The film shows the struggles that Rocky has to go through while having to take care of many Indian children as they get sick and go though troubles in their lives’. Rocky is very emotional about what he does and it makes for a very emotional and impactful film. 

As documentary style films go Blood Brother is very unique as it was shot by Rocky’s good friend Steven. This made it feel more personal as Steven would ask Rocky questions behind the camera and it felt like Rocky was talking to you personally. Being there as the camera also felt so much more natural as it was like we were seeing Rocky’s life through Steven’s eyes as he was visiting his friend. I truly enjoyed this documentary as the visuals truly interacted with the story and boosted the whole experience of the film. 

Just over the past few documentaries I have seen I have come to appreciate the art so much more than ever before. I now want to say that I think that documentaries have to be one of the most labor intensive filming jobs as you have to spend months if not years filming just to create a short hour and a half film that probably wont do the story you are covering its full justice. They would have to be so dedicated to stick with it for so long and I truly appreciated the work done for this film. 

For those of you who did not go to the showing in the MCA, shame on you (not really) but if you didn’t go you should try and somehow watch it. It is an amazing story and a wonderful film. So yeah, watch it!

 

Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)

     I have rarely watched any anime movies, I watched a lot of series but I wanted to try out an anime movie. I had seen a few anime movies before and they were good but The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was a fantastic movie and is now one of my favorite anime and also just one of my favorite movies overall.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is about just that, a girl who leapt through time. It follows the main character who figures out that she can time travel to her past events and then jump back to what was her present time. I have always loved time travel movies and this has to be one of the best ones I have seen. 

The anime style is pretty basic but is done very well, so it is visually appealing but nothing over the top. The most interesting visuals is when she travels through time she has to run and fall or stumble to basically trip back in time. As she does this it shows this giant like computer code world where all the time codes are floating around. 

She uses these time jumps for selfish reasons and there are many consequences for this. The story really drives in the fact that whatever you do has consequences and she figures that out, too late I will say as her life starts crumbling around her the more she time travels. She ends up finding out that there is a limit to her time travel and she is very worried close to the end if she can fix anything or everything.

I have been very vague about the story because I do not like to spoil anything. That being said this is a definite must watch in my book and you really should try and take the time and watch this wonderful movie that you will throughly enjoy. 

Atonement

I have finally watched Atonement the other night, I have been wanting to watch it for over a year now. Luckily I found it in the DMA library on Becker 3rd and I was very happy. 

Atonement is a romance drama type movie but is very unique. It is somewhat similar to (500) Days of Summer as it is a romance movie of sorts but has a very interesting story telling technique used. Atonement is set in the time just before WWII and during WWII, it tells the story of two lovers who have a hard time staying together as very many complications come out of nowhere. 

The cinematography used is so beautiful with many jib or crane shots used as well as some very powerful long shots. One long shot in particular is when one of the main characters, Robbie, is in France during WWII and it follows him and a few of the people from his troop walking around all of the battle worn troops of England along the beach. The shot was 6 minutes long and it was so beautifully done and is so emotionally powerful for the movie. 

Overall Atonement was a very interesting romance movie that I believe anyone could enjoy as their is longing for love in the movie but also a search for the truth and telling the truth. There is very much a suspenseful thriller type feel to the movie. The story is so well made and really I can’t say much that this movie made me cringe at. It kept my interest throughout the movie and was just amazing.

I recommend this movie to anyone and everyone because of it’s compelling story, wonderful visuals and unique storytelling. I would say that you need to go out of your way to see this movie don’t just wait until an opportunity presents itself.

My Switchfoot Day

        On Wednesday October 2nd I had an amazing day helping out with an interview and I got to see an awesome documentary about the band: Switchfoot. 

I started out getting to be a grip for an interview with two members of Switchfoot that day at 2pm. I helped set up equipment and held the boom pole during the interview. The interview was with Chad (the drummer that has been with the band since the beginning) and Drew (guitarist/base player who has been with the band since around 2005). It was interesting to be there during the interview as they were asked questions about their documentary film: Fading West. What was more interesting was that I was going to the concert that night to see the screening of the movie and listening to them play their music. 

After the interview I already had an idea of what the movie was going to be about and I was very much looking forward to it. That night I saw the documentary of Switchfoot called Fading West. It followed the band as they toured around the world, visiting Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and South Africa. You watch as they play sets at these sights, surf everywhere, and visit remarkable places. 

The documentary was very entertaining and kept my attention the whole time. I was very surprised at this but very happy. The way it was shot was a basic documentary style but the band also had their own film camera they used and there were many very cool slow-mo and fast-mo shots throughout the movie. I have been listening to this band for many years and have never known the band members’ names or anything about them but after this movie I know so much about them and their story which makes listening to their music all that more powerful to me.

I would recommend this documentary to anyone really because it not only shows this band but it shows them with their family and creates a very beautiful story. You connect with these people and learn about their lives. So if you get the chance watch Fading West.

Black Rock Shooter

      Black Rock Shooter is an anime which aired in 2012. It follows the story of a group of girls in school together as they face painful struggles of life. The twist is that it is discovered that there is a world where girls take on the pain and torment of life for those in the real world. Basically some sort of alternate reality connected to the real world where there is an alternate person who takes on your pain, interesting thought right? Well the other thing about this world is that the girls fight which is there way of accepting and dealing pain from the real world into theirs. 

I very much like this anime for its anime style and story. The colors are very important in Black Rock Shooter and it shows by the way the characters and the alternate world are shown with either very dark or very vibrant colors depending on the situation. The story goes along never really explaining too much until the very end which keeps you interested throughout the whole series (it is only 8 episodes). At the same time the show barely holds on to you in a way as you partly almost give up on finding out what is really going on.

The way that the anime jumps back and forth between the real world and the alternate one is very interestingly timed. Most of the time it makes sense as in the real world a character is going through some torment and then it will jump over to the alternate world where their other self is fighting someone and getting hurt. This creates very dynamic scenes and plays well on screen. Other times it will start in the alternate world or randomly cut to it and it wont make sense at first why it is happening but in the end it does.

Overall Black Rock Shooter is a very interesting anime with great animation and a story that keeps you guessing. I would recommend it to most as I know some people would probably not like it all that much because it is done so differently than most anything. Still if you got some free time and don’t know what to do I think you should give Black Rock Shooter a try.