It's A Wonderful Life - 1946

Winter Break assignment

Over break, please watch these very interesting outtakes form the Side By Side film we watched a trailer for earlier in the year. A ton to ponder for anyone who:

1. is interested in a career in film.
2. is interested in film.

12/12/12

The critique re-writes, due to rampant mid-December sickness (besides the normal afflictions of Senioritsis), have been post-poned until Monday, December 17th. You're welcome, slackers.

Check out #ohsfi for some inspiration!

Homework for 12/11/12

Please read the first page and a little bit (until the chapter break entitled only "2" in Stephen King's Danse Macabre Chapter 3: The Tale of the Tarot. Write Journal #11as a reaction to this philosophy. Consider the following questions:

1. What does King mean by the fact that "the Ghost" is the "Mississippi (river) of the horror archetype,"?

2. Discuss the grandfather metaphor at the end of the chapter, what point is he trying to make?

3. Discuss his thesis that Dr. Jekyll...Hyde, Dracula and Frankenstein are the "roots of modern horror." Or consider it in terms of The Vampire, The Werewolf and the thing with no name....what are some modern examples?

No you do not HAVE to answer all three or even any, I am just trying to promote discourse.

Very artful and cool 2012 mash-up

The reveal 

Social Aspects of TV & FLIGHT

Tonight, please listen to this piece by NPR on Robert Zemeckis, the director Flight and other amazing, well-loved movies. 

Anatomy of a Scene -- "Hitchcock"

Life of Pi

Check out how they made the tiger in Life of Pi look so real http://nyti.ms/QOf0PW #FalconFilm

More about Film Writing...from Dartmouth College

Think Beyond the Frame

So far, we've been advising you to consider the formal aspects of a film's composition. However, as we pointed out earlier, you can write about film in several ways. Sometimes you will want to "think beyond the frame," and to consider questions about how the film was made, its historical context, and so on. For example, ask yourself:

Film Viewing Notes...More

I researched this after pondering your questions from the end of last week. Should help provide a basis if you need one.

Please...

Don't forget to take notes on the film....pretty please?

Writing Now!

Each student in the class has been arranged into one of three designations 3 through 1.

The Groups:
1. Taylor, Sade, Petusky & Brent
2. Dom, Lanir, Chris D, Sammi & Garret
3. Ryan, Heckmann, Justin & Rachel
4. LaCerra, Fursin, Ralph Martin & Brooke
5. Heitzer, Jess, Bobby, Zach & Ciera
6. Brandon, Connie, Abbie, Lynch & Keith

We will kick things off with a peer editing activity in which groups meet and each member reads her essay aloud to the other members of the group. The point of this will be to share ideas about the essays, and foster discussion on how each has succeeded or failed to do what the assignment evinces.

Next Week

Monday: Bring your college essay day....we will do peer editing and time with Costal.

Those of you who either do not have one or don't want to participate will work on editing your critique.

Tuesday: Making sharper points through evidence: lecture and activity...You will have an essay assigned over Thanksgiving break. Be warned. 

Bela

http://www.openculture.com/2012/10/bela_lugosi_discusses_his_drug_habit_as_he_leaves_the_hospital_in_1955.html

Wrecking It

http://www.npr.org/2012/10/28/163259416/john-c-reilly-wrecks-it-in-ralph

It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be gray, and it's gonna last you the rest of your life

Coming back 5 years later, I'm especially proud that my portrait of Weisback and Costal still has a place of honor.

Didn't I Just Say This? Costal's Genius and Journal #9

Read this article from The NY Times. It reiterates a point I have made many, many times in class. Do you agree with the author's thesis? Further I am very interested in your thoughts on MacFarlane and the Oscars in general.  

"The Comedy"

I have been intrigued by this film. Seems to embody the generational concepts we have discussed in class (but we were applying to zombies, not to the more explicit idea of a dark comedy character sketch). I think it would be an excellent "philosophical" companion to DOS, but there is a lot of talk of "being shocked" and "disturbed" by the film. On one hand, that's the kind of "avant gard" art that the film institute aims to expose you to. On the other hand, it seems way too explicit for a high school class. So....I dunno. See if it's your cup of tea. I don't think we will watch it in class, but I do think it's worth keeping an eye on. I need to see it first. For now, here's a trailer and an interview (I love the filmmakers in this clip, but the interviewers stiiiiiinks).

Fun with Diagetic and Non-Diagetic

The Game: Press Conference #1

First, Journal #7: Listen to this NPR report on the changing trends in television. Weigh in on this trend. How does it affect your life? Which of these products do you use/like/dislike? Which will be "the future of TV?" Why or why not?

Today's Film trailers coming out in THE GAME:

Fritz Lang's M (1931)

10/18 & 10/19:  Viewing M

The first film about a serial killer set against the poverty and despair of Weimar Berlin.  When this film was released the Nazis held the second most seats in the German Reichstag or Parliament in 1931, and this film's sinister brooding elements foreshadows the rise of Hitler and the destruction of Germany - along with most of Europe.  Three years after this film was released Fritz Lang arrives in America and is one of the key influences in the development of film noir.  If you were scared watching The Silence of the Lambs or Psycho it all starts with this film.

Whose Up for Pooling Our Money and Donating?

The Goon!

Now Here's Dedication to German Expressionism

If I Were You...Which, Of Course, I'm Not

If I were you instead of me. If I were sitting on buckets of time, a youthful countenance and some disposable income. If I had a girlfriend instead of a wife. If I rolled with a big gaggle of loud, single friends instead of a big gaggle of loud, single kids...I might consider going to the movies all three nights of this weekend. Here's what I would go see:

1. Argo: As I said in class, I have not seen this much early Oscar buzz since Slumdog Millionaire, which was a fine film, but not my favorite of that year. Affleck has yet to make a bad film. Also, I find him to be one of Hollywood's most likable men. I root for him to succeed. I don't know if that makes me naieve or stupid or what...but I, well, I just like him. I liiike him.

The Questions meant to inspire writing on "The Lottery"

1. Were you surprised by the ending of the story? If not, at what point did you know what was going to happen? How does
Jackson start to foreshadow the ending in paragraphs 2 and 3? Conversely, how does Jackson lull us into thinking that this is
just an ordinary story with an ordinary town?

More Information on Fritz Lang

German Expressionism had a huge influence on film and Fritz Lang was a key director of the movement.  Lang and other German Expressionist directors laid the foundation for the film noir and horror genres; influencing Welles, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Burton and more.  Here's more information on Fritz Lang:

http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/lang/

Metropolis (in case you miss some)

Please watch any episodes you missed in class.

Metropolis + Radiohead part 1 from Chris Ayers on Vimeo.

Right After Metropolis: Lang & Yorke: The Synchronicity

I provided some resources for those of you who found this fascinating. There is a rumored synchronicity between Metropolis and Radiohead's Kid A that is further explained on the link at the bottom of this post. Below you can also find an embedded link to the Kid A album in its entirety. For your further reference and/or enjoyment.

http://dugrionodirgunden.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-03-07T15%3A22%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=10

Reading Assignments for Genocide Celebration Weekend

'Tis the season to be going to the movies. The award movie season opened with the Toronto Film Festival. A great primer for the "movies to watch" this awards season is Roger Ebert's journal from the festival, conveniently linked in five easy installments below:


http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2012/09/toronto_1_good_films_are_back_.html

Pleasantville

Pleasantville Homework - Questions Due on Monday 10/1 (use chart for help)
      Monday - Reviews on Pleasantville and Powerpoint
                     - Writing Assignment Due Friday 10/5

Journals #5: Another St. Vincent video

We've Got to See This...ASAP!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Rr1l1NgQH4s#!

Society & TV #1: TV pre 1950s

This clip evinces the vaudevillian style of 1940s television. The "fade" shot at the end, however, shows that already, production was flirting with the "new" possibilities of broadcast media.



Things to consider:

1. The cities included in NBC network (location)
2. Why did the man from Albuquerque call? What do they mean "film in Memphis?"
3. Notice how all advertisements were incorporated INTO the programming?
4. Who's Howdy's voice?
5. Imagine watching people tack cities onto a wooden board....TODAY.



Things to consider:

1. Time.
2. Testimonial.
3. Audio.
4. Visuals.
5. Special note about deodorant and toothpaste commercials
6. social significance of automaker's commercial.

Writing the Review

How to write a good film review (courtesy of Film Education's Young Film Critics Competition)

As you are watching the film, be prepared to make notes. It’s much easier to write a review if you have some notes about the key scenes and characters to remind you.

1. 1. Focus on explaining how you were entertained by the film.

Journal #2: Six Dull Movie Recipe Cliches: Create Yr Own

http://www.flavorwire.com/312728/movie-recipes-how-to-make-6-cliched-types-of-films

Journal #1: Shot Choice & Weird...but cool...music videos

Local Film Events

The Lynne Theatre in Cape May is hosting a Buster Keaton silent film viewing with live organ music! Culture! Right here in SJ!

Welcome Class of 2013!

Welcome to the Film Institute...We are so happy you are here! You are now a part of Oakcrest's most popular and longest running Small Learning Community. Here at the FI, we strive to bring you a solid, multi-disciplinary, college preparatory education through the examination and creation of film. We have tons to learn, so let's jump right in!

1. Citizen Kane: Highly and almost universally regarded as the most important and most critically acclaimed American film of all time, we will bookend our course with Orson Welles' opus. In other words, it will be the first and last film we watch. The first time we watch it, beginning later this week, we will say and do nothing. We will not preface it. We will not provide historical context. We will simply show it. Why? Because I am interested to see how much (or how little) you recognize it as great cinema now...and well, I bet you could figure out my motives.

2. How to Take Notes in Film. This is an art-form quite unlike anything its literary or acadmeic counterparts. Here is some advice from Bryn Mawr College that I find useful. Reading this and being prepared to discuss it some time this week is your first homework assignment, besides printing your syllabus and the survey.

Film is a Visual, Literary Art

Please remember that journals are due Tuesday...Enjoy Memorial Day Weekend.

What I have been saying class for years...except now from people who other people listen to

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/college-educated-workers-gaining-jobs-high-school-grads-losing-them/

Run Away

In fiction, a McGuffin is a plot device in the form of some pursued goal, desired object or other motivator that the protagonist is willing to do or sacrafice anything to pursue. Often, there is little or no narrative explanation as to why the object is desirable. In CITIZEN KANE, "rosebud" is a McGuffin. In PULP FICTION, the briefcase.

College Collage

http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/04/18/150846845/from-silicon-valley-a-new-approach-to-education

Journal J: "Tell Michael it was business, I always liked him."

Before returning to the film today, I'd like you to use your journal to explore the idea of one of the films' mantras: "It's business, not personal." Provide some examples of how and why this line is so important to the trilogy and explain ultimately, why this is such an important concept to the mafia. It is my contention that this concept can only be viewed with irony, as in the the end, their mantra does not, and arguably, CANNOT be true. Please speak to this in your journal.

Journal H: Sting, Eternal Sunshine and Existentialism

The Stranger In-Class Essay Test

You may use the book, and any additional, compiled resources to answer the essay of your choice:

1. Providing close textual analysis, describe ways in which Meursault is a stranger to society, to himself, and to his natural environment. For each element, provide at least one specific textual example.

2. Analyze the use of sensory details (imagery) in The Stranger. How do sensory details and setting contribute to the characterization of Meursault? Provide at least three examples of how each serves to expain Mersault in terms of his existentialism.

In addition to this in-class essay, there will be an oral component of assessment for The Stranger on Monday, April 2nd.

This American Life retraction

http://costalap.blogspot.com/2012/03/this-american-life-retraction-journals.html

KONY 2012

You all have probably seen this floating around Facebook and Twitter, but this is definitely worth watching, if only for the appreciation of how it's filmed.

But there is also this. What are your thoughts?

Oscar Luncheon with the Falcon

Well, tonight's the night. As I write this, I am enjoying a small pigeon for luncheon in my Mays Landing nest. We give the servants off on Oscar Day. It's the least we can do. I have servants because my nest is in the bourgeois part of Hamilton Township....which is right by...well....you know where....um....yea....right there.

Here's my final 2012 Academy Award observations.

There has never been a year in which the Falcon and the Academy seemingly agree so much. Maybe that means tonight will be filled with upsets. Oh, who are we kidding...the Oscars are as predictable as a Weisback midterm. These will be the winners with the Falcon's "talon of approval."

Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, BEGINNERS. Performance of the Year. Plummer's gay dad is an "everyman," struggling with identity and mortality. Despite the complexities of his actions, he is apologetic, but also unyielding in his embrace of one last chance to live the life he's dreamed of. Plummer peppers the doomed character with a lovable panache that makes the audience deeply mourn the character's passing.

BUT...flirting with nuns are still not cool.

Who Got Hosed: No one. I wasn't impressed with Ryan Gosling, Patton Oswald...Nick Nolte or Jonas Hill for that matter. It's Plummer, and then everyone else.

Best Actress: Viola Davis, THE HELP
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, THE HELP

From the moment these women hit the screen, there is an authenticity and genuineness that punctuates their performances. They demand attention. Their chutzpah makes the film enjoyable.

That said. THE HELP is not as good as the sum of its parts. The plot is somewhat cartoonish with its over-simplified view of Jim Crow Mississippi.  nderstand, human teenagers, that these women would've been lynched for their crimes in the real Jackson. Don't kid yourself. The dangers were more real than THE HELP suggests. Poop pie would've resulted in certain death, or at least a heck of a lot more than being condescended by Ron Howard's hot daughter.

THE HELP was cute, but don't mistake this for any real representation of the horrors of Jim Crow.Here's an Oscar winning film that got it closer to right:



Hosed Actresses: Shailene Woodley. I didn't know she was in some lame ABC Family (or whatever) show when she stole some scenes from George Clooney in THE DESCENDENTS. All I knew was that she honestly evoked the instability and uncertainty of a teenager caught between a mother's memory and the reality of that mother's transgressions. It's hard to learn our parents are actual people...flawed and regretful. Woodley's maturation is the film is her acceptance of this truth for both parents. One is still alive, and her new-found respect for Clooney's Matt King is the source of the film's hope. Her performance deserved recognition.



Well that's it, human teenagers. Watch the Oscars...but only on your iPads or other approved Apple product. Until next year, be brave, drive slowly and watch overhead! For...

Falcon's Best Director/Best Actor

Falcon is whack???? What!? How dare you?! Whack? Seriously? 1987 called and wants its insult back.

And what's this business about the Falcon being Joe Costal? I gave that joker a "Falcon Punch" just for the comparison. If you have yet to receive a Falcon punch...it can be aranged...sike! But my talons are rather bodacious...darn you 80s slang...infectious like the spanish flu. And by that I mean it only infects characters who are inconvenient to plot progression (Little Downton Abbey humor for ya!).



In the New York Times, YA queen Judy Blume said the following about Tree of Life:

I can tell you the ones on the list, I did love “The Descendants,” and I liked “The Help.” I loved “Midnight in Paris,” I loved “Moneyball,” I enjoyed “War Horse.” The only one that truly made me furious was “Tree of Life.” I don’t like pretension, and I found it very pretentious. [But] you know what I liked about that movie? I loved the little family drama that was inside it, the scene of Jessica Chastain jumping on the bed with the little boys when the husband was out of town. I thought, this is the movie I wish I was here seeing.


Oh Judy...you've been looking into my soul since I was a Fourth Grade Nothing...

Now on to the picks...

BEST DIRECTOR: I think I made my case pretty clear in the last post.

The Falcon picks: ALEXANDER PAYNE, for THE DESCENDENTS
Who will win: MICHAEL HAZANAVICIUS. Who does deserve a ton of credit for getting a film like this off the ground in a Hollywood where teenage wizards, teenage vampires, teenage pirates, teenage werewolves and robots that eat teenagers round out the highest grossing films. That's why my new film about a teenage leprechaun who is married to a teenage mermaid, but then the mermaid gets amnesia and has to try and fall in love with the leprechaun all over again although she is being courted by a pack of teenage unicorn (starring Lucky from Lucky Charms, Katy Perry and Sir Ben Kingsley) will be a smash.
Who got hosed: MIKE MILLS...BEGINNERS (see last post)

BEST ACTOR:

The Falcon picks: JEAN DUJARDIN
Who will win: JEAN DUJARDIN

Ok, although I expounded the virtues of George Clooney in the previous post, but the year belongs to JEAN DUJARDIN. His face, yes, just his face...his smile, his eyes...carried THE ARTIST. His expressions infused it with more charm and grace than Weisback riding a lion.

His performance set a tone. It communicated an ease of manner. He was having fun, and his performance invited the audience to join. A great performance feels "live." Like the artist is there in the room with the audience.

Hollywood has been calling THE ARTIST "a love letter to its past." DUJARDIN was the love. The last time an actor so captivated me with a single performance was Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday in Tombstone. 

The Falcon picks: JEAN DUJARDIN
Who will win: JEAN DUJARDIN
Who got hosed: Michael Fassbender...look into it.

The Falcon's Guide to Best Picture / Best Director for the 84th Academy Awards

Hello young humans! It is I! The Film Falcon...sorry I have not been around as much as I would like, there are lots of little Falcon chicks in the ol' nest this year. Plus, the recession has hit birds of prey especially hard. You see, we have been recruited by your human Apple Computer corporation, because of our strong, pigeon shredding talons (Talon Productions? Get it?), to serve as a fleet of product shippers. FedEx be warned! I spent the Fall in a Chinese labor camp, being trained to deliver iPads down the chimneys of all middle class American homes. It's ok. They pay later. They always do.

Apple is so pleased with my work that they have given me a special perk...A DAY OFF (on every 5th Sunday of the month) Yay!

Next year, I hope to become a watcher Falcon...specially trained to poop on the cars of all PC users. I look forward to checking in with you from one of four, beautiful Apple Falcon training "campuses" in Guadalajara, Port-Au-Prince, Mogadishu or...the third moon of Mars...martians are great workers because of all those hands.

I have no hands.

Anywho...not to worry...a terrible economy, crumbling infrastructure and imminent doom at the suffocating hands of global warming won't stop the cleavage-tastic, dress-up fun of....THE OSCARS! So fire up your slave-labor device of choice....it's time for my annual picks and predictions.



The Falcon's Best Picture Nom Order:
1. The Descendants
2. The Artist
3. Moneyball
4. The Tree of Life
5. Midnight in Paris
6. The Help
7. Hugo

DNS: Extremely Loud or Warhorse

Best Picture:

The Falcon picks: THE DESCENDANTS. This is the first time George Clooney has played a character NOT based on George Clooney. Well, at least since The Facts of Life. His other leading role this year, as a Democratic hopeful turned Clinton-esq moral screw-up in The Ides of March is being called George Clooney for President in non-English speaking countries.

Also...Alexander Payne, the film's director, has masterminded the art of coaxing understated performances from larger than life leading men. He notoriously casts them as pathetic, yet somehow lovable, losers. From Broderick's doomed innocence as Mr. McCallister (Election...a film that single-handedly made me walk away from teaching for a while) to Nicholson's cathartic break-down as Schmidt (About Schmidt), it just works!



Clooney is innerly-manic, yet outwardly stoic in that way that only middle-aged white men with lots of money can accomplish. Everyone points to his "Payne-moment" as when he awkwardly runs down the hill in flip-flops. I prefer the hospital bed catharsis scene.

Payne loves to make grown men break down. Big Hollywood stars, too! And I love it. The result is always a little bit corny....true. But it's also sad, and awkward, and funny--in the way that all facets of the human condition are. THE DESCENDENTS is complicated in the way life is complicated. And yet, joyful in the tiny ways life can be joyful, if you are aware enough to let it. That's what a Best Picture should make us feel.

Oh and Nick Krause as the punchable, inappropriate Hawaiian boyfriend is one of the year's biggest scene stealers.





What will win: THE ARTIST. Why? Because Oscar gets it wrong more often than people think. Yes, I'm talking to you The King's Speech.


Also, this movie is sheer joy. It's delightfully buoyant and light in each tapping step. The music. The shots. The facial expressions. Jean Dujardin's eyebrows could've been considered for the Best Supporting Actor category. Berenice Bejo sweats sweetness. The way the camera tricks the audience into suspense in that by-gone Hal Roach kind of way...ooh la la...the French are gonna leave Hollywood with some extra baggage weight fees.



THE ARTIST is a very strong movie, and maybe a deserving winner of another year, but....

It's a silent film! Did you hear that? No talking! Silent! AND black and white. Overkill. So what? Maybe it's my own fault that I was over the film's primary gimmick before the first turn of the reel. But I was, and the problem with THE ARTIST is that once you get over the nostalgia, what do you have?

It's like when the Jets wear their old New York Titans uniforms. It's cool for that one game because, it's, well, different...new...fresh. But if I had to judge it on the criteria of any other uniform. It's not nearly as nice as the Jets' regular uniforms.

This is how I felt about The Artist. It was fun, but the gimmick drags the way Monopoly drags when all the properties are bought. I found it high on schmaltz and low on substance.

Accuse me of being a sucker for characterization. You'd be right. I want a rich, nuanced story anchored by smart, engrossing dialogue. I like movies that sound like Aaron Sorkin and Quentin Tarantino have a maladjusted love child and send him to apprentice on The Howard Stern show. I have never understood why people want movies that sound like real life. Have you ever had a conversation with someone in real life? Seldom worth $10. Maybe I just hang with the wrong crowd.

THE ARTIST is ultimately a romantic comedy, but the romance seemed under-cooked and rushed. Like an after-thought to the kitschy silent gags and slick camera-work. The plot arch is redundant and oversimplified.

Michel Hazanavicius, the director, leans too much on Orson Welles for my liking. Shot after shot is lifted directly from the pioneering visual story-telling of Citizen Kane, which is not a silent movie. The connection between the two movies is well documented, and almost every interview with Hazanavicius alludes to Kane.

Mockery is flattery and all that, and I know every director steals. But, it's too noticeable here. Silent romance is not such a novelty, America. Why should I care that this big-time silent movie happens to be a great romance. The greatest romantic comedy ever to grace the big screen happens to be a silent movie. Rent Chaplin's City Lights to see true love without dialogue. 





Hosed Non-Mention: BEGINNERS. A crossroad between the hope, salvation of love and the devastating emptiness of death. Director Mike Mills accomplishes a slow burn of a film. By the time the happy ending comes, it feels like a relief rather than a cliche. Thank god they found one another. These two don't deserve more grief. Mills is steady, disciplined with the quirky abstract interludes that dot and fragment  the film's narrative. By juxtaposition, similar interludes run rampant through Terrence Mallik's TREE OF LIFE. In BEGINNERS they serve to accentuate the plot, tying real-life episodes and artistic brainstorms into the story. In TREE OF LIFE, similar interludes seem to distract and bewilder the audience away from the gorgeously shot story about Brad Pitt's family. Ewan McGregor plays the reticent, damaged son of a recently outted and more recently deceased Christopher Plummer. They run a clinic on acting. Shame on you, Academy!

Oh, and the dog is cooler than the dog from THE ARTIST...nuff said!

"Beat Weisback Oscar Challenge" Results are in!!

Round 2 Results:

Weisback = 39

Larry and the Agape 'Fikis = 28

The Losers = 21

Walkin Parsnip Gobblers = 19

Aluminum Twinkie Carousel = 14

Half-Pitch Consigs = 13

Count Huggie Twizzlers = 9 (ELIMINATED)

CURRENT STANDINGS:

Weisback = EVEN

Larry and the Agape 'FikisMonkeys = -10

Walkin Parsnip Gobblers = -14

Half-Pitch Consigs = -15

Aluminum Twinkie Carousel = -16

The Losers =  -17

Tomorrow's quiz will only run period 9/10 so get here on time! 5 points to the team who is seated and ready first! Round 3 will eliminate 2 teams!

Hugo = periods 11 & 12

Our Oscar Pool....Due Friday

http://oscars.nytimes.com/ballot/?from=1ytxeprr&s=ag39457e

Week in Film

Please read this article for class tomorrow.

Please finish part one of The Stranger for Friday.

Academy Awards Debate 2012

http://oscar.go.com/nominees/

In the link above, you will find the movies up for awards. However, have we ever stopped to think about who wins? Or the more important question, why? A little over five thousand "Academy Members" vote via secret ballot on their OPINION of what makes one movie better than all the rest or what makes one actor better than all the rest. Isn't this subject to bias? Even if it were just the general public, bias would flood the awards regardless.

http://www.indiewire.com/article/2012_oscar_predictions

Above is an independant site run by fans, for fans. It is predictions of winners based on what solely movie lovers think. Those who criticize, review, and actively watch movies are within this site. To get a better grasp on what movies are considered by the cinematic public, view above.

Journal C

Please write journal C on this interesting interview with the writer and star of 50/50.

Due Thursday, February 9th

Chapter One of Camus' The Stranger.

Before we begin watching on Tuesday, a quick introduction to existentialism...something like this:

Existentialism2

View more PowerPoint from t0nywilliams

Journal B

One of the most interesting things said in the Orson Welles' documentary is that "the only winner in the fight between Welles and Hearst is the film." Considering the universal appeal of the film, if Orson Welles were to truly return from the grave, do you think he would do anything differently. Defend your answer using the documentary and your own opinion.

Journal A

Notes for the Week of January 30th

1. Please return Huck Finn if you have not already done so.

2. Unfortunately, I need to ask that new journaling notebooks or looseleaf is established in class, and I can only promise to TRY and protect this batch from the abyss.

3. Please CHECK and regularly register with this blog...as assignments will be posted often. As The Oscars get closer, the Falcon might be making more regular landings...be sure you can join the conversation.

4. Journal A: Listen to then comment on what you learned from this interview, especially in light of our viewing of Midnight in Paris.

Midterm Study Guide

Based on the run time of The Help, Mr. Weisback and I have decided to omit the criticism portion of the midterm. The remaining test will be an open notes and book short-answer test with a wide variety of questions and options for the test-taker. You may come in to class tomorrow with IMDB generated cheat sheets on the characters, themes, etc of each film. Here is a run-down of what to expect.

Mandatory questions will require a working knowledge of the following: The Help, Do the Right Thing, and the films of Frank Capra.

The Road to Midterms

Tomorrow: Hard Copies of Tree of Life supporting materials and China analysis paper hard copies due tomorrow

Midterms: 9/10: entire institute views The Help, 11 or 12 (on student discretion) come to 229 or 228 to take written portion

Written portion breakdown: 1/3 = critique of Moneyball, Paris at Midnight or The Help, 1/3 = short answers on The Help in relation to other films this year, 1/3 = short answers on the concepts discussed in film this year

Class on Thursday, Jan 19 & Friday, Jan 20: Moneyball / Midnight in Paris. Any student who is not finished with their media project and needs class time to wrap shooting or edit (at discretion and under direction of Lockwood/Thomas) may do so during the films, but MUST receive permission from Costal or Weisback before leaving class.

The film criticism step 2

This is the information discussed in class for unveiling the thematic importance of your own criticism writing.

The basic formula is: WHAT - HOW - WHY!

In other words, WHAT is it in the film that evinces the theme. Be sure there is more than one, and that it covers both CONTENT and METHOD. For example, the scene in which George Bailey harrowingly appeals to his mom is content. Stewart's facial expressions within the scene is method.

1. Choose a theme (one phrase to several sentences).

2. Show how that scene is depicted (one to five examples of content AND method).

3. Why is that theme important to us as a society (paragraph or so).

Screenwriting New Book

About Screenwriter John Logan

http://www.npr.org/2012/01/01/144546063/screenwriter-john-logans-very-good-year

Listen to for homework, and prepare to discuss today.

Capra Time!

Well it's Capra time. Remember when we watch Capra's films to keep in mind his idealized vision of America. Keep looking for his portrayals of individualism vs. collective, small town vs. big city, selflessness vs. selfishness, and truth vs. deception. His vision of America is still the reason for people wanting to come here. In our time of rampant consumerism, greed and materialism, Capra's films are a refreshing reminder of the values that make us truly compassionate and human. Was America ever the 'shining city on the hill' as Capra's films depict, or was this all just surreal or fake visions of America that were never true? Remember that Capra created some great propaganda films during WWII. Capra doesn't show an actual reality of the past - we all know America hasn't been perfect, blameless, and innocent, but he shows us a vision of what America should be: a nation of honest, hard-working, self-sacrificing and generous people, united with common dreams. In Capra's films people are never means to an end - they are the end. What we have today is at the other end of the spectrum - a nightmare vision completely opposite of Capra's principles. Check out what is happening on Wall Street, health care, foreclosures, etc. It seems that we have become one huge Potterville. Where are all the Jefferson Smiths, George Baileys and Longfellow Deeds? Is Capra's dream dead?

Life In A Day

It's been ages since I've been on this but being in fashion school not many people really look at films the way we used to when I was a senior in FI. But my friends and I came across this film produced by Ridley Scott which, I believe, has such a great concept. I know that the film institute would have great interest in films like these. It's interesting to think about how the shots are all filmed by different people yet through editing it still came along very nicely. Hope you guys enjoy it!

All the best,

Yann