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FYOS Events

FYOS Event 1

At the beginning of the semester, I went to a comedy show at the Tate center. Three comemdians from Comedy Central performed, and it was interesting to see how each one of them used a different style of comedy to get across to the crowd. It was also interesting to see how they used comedy as a style of rhetoric to not only entertain, but relay some morals to the crowd. This event was really fun, and a great break from classes.

FYOS Event 2

The second FYOS even that I went to was a dance performance by a student dance company called Pamoja, put on at the civic center. Pamoja is a mostly African American dance company, so it was interesting to see how they used their own style of dance, to relay a message, this one being about love. The performance incorporated a variety of love songs, as the whole show revolved around a love story between a man and a woman. The show was very entertaining, and I’m glad that I got the opportunity to go.

FYOS Event 3

The third event I went to was Greek Grind. Greek Grind is a dance show, put on by various sororities, in order to raise money for charity. It was really fun to see all the choreographed dances, in addition to knowing that all of the money is going to charity. I’m pretty sure this even is annual, so I recommend everyone going to it next year!

Doodlebug

With this short being directed by Christopher Nolan, it was a little predictable, and about halfway through it I had pretty much figured the ending out. With that, it was still a good film. I really liked how Nolan sort of made everything quiet, except for the ticking of the clock. That definitely added a lot of tension and suspense. The background music and the film being in black in white both added to it, making it sort of creepy/scary. This guy was definitely going crazy, as he was so focused on killing what he thought was a bug, then when he realized it was him, he still killed it! One thing to point out, is that he seemed to be very uncoordinated and had terrible aim. Oh, and what’s up with that weird dance he does at about 2:10?

P.S. I saw this short on the related videos and I really liked it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5_Msrdg3Hk&feature=related

Post-It Love & Bean Cake

Post-It Love:

I loved this film. As a guy, I thought it was very cute. I loved the geeky aspect that the director incorporated into in by setting it in an office with two seemingly introverted and shy characters meeting each other and falling in love. It was very adorable how they both tried to out-do each other. It seemed very high school-esque like asking someone to prom. The director did a good job with the subtleness between the two characters, while still creating some romantic tension. The subtleness included the way they would each throw glances at each other, or how they were both doing the exact same thing at the beginning. I also really enjoyed the very mellow mood create by the soft, quirky background music. This short did a good job showing that a film doesn’t have to be sad and dramatic to be powerful. It was short and cute, and maybe it was showing that life shouldn’t be taken so seriously. Take a break and have some fun, be cute and spontaneous. I also really appreciate the time taken to produce the post-it art; that was really cool!

Bean Cake:

This film wasn’t my favorite, but I liked it because it was happy and fairly short. I really related to the main character because I know what it’s like to be the new kid on the first day of class. He seemed to uncomfortable, but when he was called out in front of the whole class, he speaks his mind instead of doing something fit in. I really liked that about him. As the film continues, he is struggling between bean cakes and the emperor, when finally he realizes sometimes you just have to nod your head and say yes, to please higher authority. I thought it was great that he got the girl to try the bean cake at the end to show her how good they are. However, she then asks him what he likes better: her or the bean cakes. He seems torn between the two, and he doesn’t answer. It seems as if he likes the bean cake more, but he knows what he should answer. The girl isn’t offended, but she thinks it’s funny. All in all I think this film was pretty good, and these last two films are a good break from serious films of late.

Cashback

I really enjoyed this film, and it seemed to make the most sense out of most that we have watched. It’s about a group of grocery store clerks and their struggle to pass the time during an eight-hour workday. The film is narrated by the main character, Ben, who is an art student, seemingly unhappy with his job. The film also follows three of Ben’s coworkers and his boss. This film seems to point toward a theme of doing what you love versus loving what you do. It’s obvious that Ben loves art, so to pass time at his grocery store job, he uses art as an outlet. He imagines being in a situation where time is frozen, then he mentally undresses the female shoppers, and sketches them. At first this seems a bit creepy, but as Ben begins to explain this strange obsession, it begins to come clear that he simply appreciated the beauty and mystery of the women’s bodies. The film doesn’t go to great depths in developing the other characters, but there are two “risk taking” guys that always seem to get in trouble. These two guys pass time by making work as fun as possible, and it seems like they actually enjoy their job; well at least they enjoy the risk-taking trouble making that they do. Then there are also two more characters: Sharon and the store manager. The manager likes to boss everyone around and he flirts with Sharon, while Sharon simply blocks everything out, and I mean everything. She covers up all the clocks, doesn’t talk to customers or employees. All of these characters use a different way to try to love what they do, or at least make it through the day.

bennettbecca-blog

robertpmann-blog

bennettbecca:

I liked how throughout this film we were discovering what had happened at the same time the main character was.

I don't really agree with you on this part. A lot of the time, there are obvious clues that allow us to figure out what happened way before the man character does. For example, at the very beginning there is a deer crossing sign, which foreshadows that the deer caused the accident. Also, we see that there is a rather large hole in his helmet, leading us to believe that he injured his head pretty badly.

Morning Fall

I didn’t really like this short very much. It’s about a man trying to recover from a motorcycle accident and find his way back to his wife/girlfriend. It starts out with a serious of shots of a sunny morning in the mountains. One of the snots is of a deer crossing sign, and after watching at a second time, I realized how ironic this is, because the film points to a deer as the cause of this main character’s motorcycle accident. When the man wakes up, he is in a panic, and it seems like he doesn’t really know what’s going on. His first instinct is to smoke a cigarette, but he doesn’t have a lighter so he walks around, hoping to find his motorcycle. When he finds it, he searches through a saddle bad in order to find a lighter. He comes across a hair brush, and sort of stares at it for a second, but it seems like his desire for a cigarette is too much, and he casts it aside. When I watched it the first time, this is when it struck me that something is not right. The brush is obviously not his, so where is the owner of it. Would that be his wife/girlfriend, and was she involved in the accident? Finally, he finds a lighter, but oh no! He has lost his cigarettes. Poor guy.. Well he eventually gets picked up and calls his wife/girlfriend to let her know that he’s okay. Then it switches to a shot of what we assume to be his girlfriend/wife, laying facedown, eyes-open, and appearing to be dead. Next to her is a cell phone that is ringing.

I don’t like this film because of the main character. He seems to be more focused on smoking a cigarette than in figuring out what happened. Now, this was obviously the director’s choice. Maybe he wrote it this way to highlight that in times of distress, people’s true characters come out? This guy seems like he would just rather the comfort of nicotine, than to actually figure out what happened in his accident. Watching this film made me feel sad for the wife/girlfriend, but not for him. It also left me a bit confused and disoriented, just like the main character.

The Lunch Date by Adam Davidson

Until the very end of this film, I did not like it at all. I found it to be very boring, and I felt detached from the main character the whole time. The lady seemed very racially/socioeconomically uncomfortable with the situation she was in. She seemed very out of place, and I guess the filmmaker and actress both did great jobs in doing this. I don’t think it was a poorly made film, it just wasn’t for me. The fact that it was shot in black and white, in addition to the jazz music, did a great job of setting the film in an earlier time period when racial issues were more prevalent. I also think the black and white setting did a lot to highlight the race issue, because it is exactly what it is; black and white. When the lady finally realized that she was mistaken, I thought she would have a change of heart, but this did not happen. She was merely relieved that she had found her baggage. This was obvious when she turned a blind eye to a poor beggar in the train station. This film and the first had an obvious correlation; in that they both had a sudden, comedic twist in the end. However, I really enjoyed the first movie, while this one was not very good, in my opinion. Props to the director, however, as he did a great job with producing this film.

Gridlock (Fait d'hiver) by Dirk Beliën

Wow. I absolutely loved this short. It had me on the edge of my seat throughout the whole thing, nervous and heartbroken for the man, until the very end, where I suddenly found myself laughing. At, first I was a bit skeptical of this film, because of the ironic beachy music playing during a snow-storm. I had a feeling that the movie would have an ironic ending. Then as the man character sits in traffic and appears to develop road rage, I find myself becoming not too fond of him. The way he screams and yells in German, along with him taking a bunch of prescription pills, just makes him seem like an evil character. However, once he finds out his wife is sleeping with an unknown “uncle wim,” I suddenly found myself feeling terrible for him. Then as he continues to find out that his actions directed toward his daughter killed his wife and the “uncle wim,” I am completely wrapped up in the story line and the main character. By this point, I have totally forgotten my skepticism of the plot, and I genuinely believe what is happening; props to the director on that. As the film comes to a close, and the man realizes that he called the wrong number, I was somewhat relieved for the man and I was actually laughing at the fact. However, I wonder what happened to the man, daughter and the two dead adulterers. My one criticism of this film is the daughter’s insensitivity to the whole situation. I’m not too sure as to why the director decided to make her character seem so robotic and in emotional. If she had been more emotionally outraged to the situation, I think it would have made the story seem a bit more believable. All in all, I really enjoyed this film because of the dramatic and funny twist it had at the end of a very believable plotline.

The Crush

This film was a classic love story; it’s as simple as it gets. A nice boy falls in love with an innocent girl; however the girl loves a rebellious jerk of a guy. They are arranged to get married and then the nice boy wins the girl’s love back. In this movie, however, the boy is quite literally a boy, while the girl is his second grade teacher and she’s engaged to marry a real jerk. When the boy finds out about this, he is heartbroken. He challenges the fiancé to a duel and the fiancé takes it very likely. When it comes time to duel, the boy has what seems like a real pistol. He gets the fiancé to admit that he doesn’t actually love the teacher. The boy becomes the hero, rescuing his love from the evil and terrible fiancé. In the end though, the boy realizes that he doesn’t love her anymore, and moves on. It was so tragic yet simple. I thought the film was very well developed and it had me hanging into every scene.

After reading this it all makes sense! I didn't even think of this film as being a metaphor for the Vietnam War. I should have probably looked into it a little more before dismissing it as simply creepy and disturbing. Although, I dont see how you adored this film..

whatbecomesofus:

The Big Shave by Martin Scorsese

Is it wrong that I adored this short? Yes, it was creepy, sadistic and sad, but it was creative and brilliantly produced. When I finished, my eyes were glued to the screen; I was begging for more. Disgust is the general reaction to a man cutting his arteries open and bleeding out, but here the viewer is drawn and grasped by this brutality.

The first concept that the viewer notices is the color scheme of the short. The first scenes are close up shots of the clean, crisp whites and silvers of a shiny, sparkling bathroom. As soon as the music starts, the viewer is drawn to evaluate the perfection of the bathroom along with the “suave” song. My mind diverts to the cliché set of a toiletry commercial. When the dreamboat walks into the bathroom and begins to shave, I still am imagining the commercials of today— using Proactiv is sexy! Shaving your legs is fun! Using Scope is a phenomenal experience! And then, queue the slow motion repeated scene of this hunk taking his shirt off, my assumptions were seemingly right on target in the belief that this was a satire. The blood was a funny, albeit evil, way to rain on the parade of those cheesy commercials.

However, there was so much about this film I did not understand.

Upon more research, I discovered that this is otherwise known as “Viet ’67” and is extremely metaphorical for the US’s involvement in the Vietnam War. I connect those dots. The man goes to the bathroom to clean up as the US began helping Vietnam to fix and clean up the problems. As the first attempts occur, everything is seemingly fine and dandy, but it appears that the US keeps causing more pain and affliction as they attempt to clean up and solve dilemmas more and more. The ultimate pain the man gives himself is that of death. That is a very powerful statement if this video is truly about the United States’ continued to involvement in the toxic Vietnam War.

The viewer would gain none of this insight without the color changes and emotions of the actor. When blood first appears, it is a clashing red against the white (possibly the United States’ innocence in this war?). It is startling and shocking to see against the perfected white of the bathroom. Yet, as more and more blood begins to spill out, which is quite unexpected by the viewer, the symbolic white of the bathroom begins to fade. The gruesome and gory image of a blood covered man, the once hunky dreamboat, is branded in the viewer’s mind as the short comes to a close. His reaction to the continued bleeding and cutting was also quite haunting. He remained cold and emotionless through the whole experience. There was a moment where the viewer sees a tear in the crevice of his eye, but other than that, the only emotion that the viewer regularly sees is the force with which the man shaves himself and his cold stare.

This short film was intriguing, dark and mysterious, and, although I cannot truly understand what it signifies, I am very drawn to the idea that it is up for interpretation. If I hadn’t discovered the second title, I would have thought it was supposed to be comical and mocking. Now, with further knowledge, the short is sad, deeply metaphorical, and disturbingly pertinent to society.

The Big Shave

I just finished watching The Big Shave and I did not like it at all! It was, in my opinion, very creepy and very gruesome. I don’t like looking at blood or open wounds, so when the boy started to cut himself with the razor, I was tempted to stop the film immediately. However, as I was required to watch the film, I reluctantly finished watching it. This film starts off with a boy walking into a pristine, white bathroom, as jazz music is being played in the background. As he is getting ready to shave his face, he is pays close attention to covering his whole chin with shaving cream. He continues to shave, and it seems as if he’s doing a very good job. He appears to be very careful and smooth with his shaving. Then when he’s done, he adds another layer of shaving cream, which struck me as very odd. He starts to reshave his smooth face and blood immediately begins to trickle down his cheek. At this point, I figured it was just an accident and I begin to relate with him, because that happens to me way too often. His shaving seems to turn into blatant cutting of his face, and it becomes apparent that he’s doing this on purpose. Soon his entire chin and neck are covered in blood and it’s all running down into the sink. This depressing and creepy self-mutilation is capped off with the boy bringing the razor across his throat, almost as if he’s trying to slit his throat. This film was very confusing, and I didn’t seem to understand the point of it. I just thought it was disturbing and gross.

The film that I found, Logorama, is an animated film made entirely of corporate logos and mascots. While it is quite long, about 16 minutes, it really captured my attention due to the Pulp Fiction-esque plot line. I also found it very interesting that the director managed to create a whole short film using mostly recognizable logos. It was really cool how the film managed to incorporate many cultural references, and it also shows us how obsessed we are with corporate branding.

inhollysopinion

robertpmann-blog

I definitely agree with you in wanting the couple to live happily ever after. I felt so bad for the woman when she found out it was fake! Although, your alternate ending is quite morbid! I really liked your take on the opening shot of the woman's feet. I've never really thought about analyzing someone by the way they walk. Thanks for the interesting and new perspective!

inhollysopinion:

The first thing that caught my attention was the opening shot of her feet. This is one of my favorite shots in movies. I just find it interesting that you can tell what a person is feeling by the way they walk. It was an interesting feeling because the beginning of the film did not make you...

I'll Wait For The Next One

I just finished watching the short film, I’ll Wait for the Next One, and it really grabbed my attention because it was a very emotional film in my opinion. This film starts out with the focus on a seemingly unhappy woman walking into a train station. I immediately knew that this film would have something to do with love, because the woman longingly stares at a kissing couple on the escalator. From this moment, I assumed that the woman was single and rather unhappy with her current love live. Once she gets on the train, the focus immediately shifts to a man who is talking to the rest of the passengers. This man introduces himself as Antoine, a 29 year old single Frenchman looking for a woman to fall in love with. As he’s talking to the crowd, the shot switches back to the woman often, and it is evident that she is becoming very attracted to Antoine. As the viewer, I begin to feel sympathetic for Antoine, as he argues his case for love with a heckling passenger. I supported his quest for love and I hoped that the woman would hop off the train and join her new love. Once the train stops, the woman bolts off the train, only to turn around and find that Antoine is not joining her. To her dismay, Antoine mentions that his speech was merely a sketch, and the train speeds off into the distance. The woman looks down with defeat and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. In seconds, this film went from a happy, feel-good story, to a story of despair and hopelessness. This film did a great job of developing the two main characters very quickly and also grabbing the viewer’s emotions. After thinking about the movie for a little, I actually feel a bit tricked myself, because I believed that the two passengers would fall in love and lives happily ever after, but I guess that’s what makes it a good movie.

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