Blog Assignment #8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lX50Lh2Iec&feature=relmfu

I think the theme to this movie is not knowing what you’ve got until it’s gone. It’s actively told to the audience. That theme is obviously exemplified in this scene by the actions of the main character, Jim Carrey. He is chasing after his girlfriend Clementine because he’s decided to have a procedure to have her erased from his memory. Only when he realizes that he still loves her, does he try to stop the process. It’s clear he’s trying to stop the process because he’s chasing after her and trying to get her to come with him so that they can hide from the memory erasers.

The movement within the scene reiterates the theme of the film. The main character is chasing after her because he no longer wants to erase her from his memory. Which then transfers into the theme of not knowing what you want until its gone. The scene consists of mostly simple movement when the car drives forward or when Carrey walks back and forth on the sidewalk multiple times. This action creates the feel of chasing someone also connecting to the theme of not knowing what you’ve got until its gone. The lines within the scene are horizontal. Specifically when Clementine is walking down the first sidewalk, the object behind her has horizontal lines on it which guides the audience and the camera eye to what is coming ahead; the point in which Carrey won’t be able to drive his car to follow her anymore. Once we get to the second sidewalk, we see more actual horizontal lines on the door and on the sign of the grocery story, again pointing in the direction of where Clementine is going. It helps that these lines are horizontal because when the line of movement switches and the whole scene is backwards, the horizontal lines are still following Clementine’s movements. By switching the movement of the scene, it helps to create a feeling of confusion and being lost, helping to reiterate the theme of not knowing what you’ve got until it’s gone or specifically for this scene, what it will be like once it’s actually gone. The scene then switches back to the two guys erasing the memory and this switch is part of tension and release. We feel tension while we are seeing Clementine and Joel’s chase scene, then switching to the “funny guys” we feel a relief from tension. In this scene, you are also being told didactically that he wants Clementine to stop walking away and get in the car. I.e. He realizes he wants her back because she’d gone. They are actively showing us the realization of what is gone and going back and forth between the chase of getting what you want and not getting it. 

Blog assignment #7

            The movie Wall-E is about a robot that goes about his everyday life with his job, but wants so much more. One day, a new robot comes into his life and he knows instantly that she is the one that he wants. Because these robots are from two different worlds, one can assume these contrasting worlds would be more obviously portrayed by incorporating different elements for each world. The first contrasting element of this film is obviously color. As is portrayed in the above images, one picture is very clearly meant to be a blue hue, while the other picture is meant to have a yellow, golden hue. The color differentiation is used to show how different the two worlds are. The golden yellow color is used to represent earth while the blue color is used to represent space. Not only are these colors different, but also they are close to opposite on the color wheel; only further confirmation that the two worlds differ. The artist who drew these pictures decided to give both worlds value, meaning that the pictures would be monochromatic and would have elements of black in them as opposed to being saturated, which would make the pictures have elements of white in them. Along with that, the artist made sure that for the “earth world” he put the darker colors in the back and the brighter colors in the front not only to show where the light was coming from, but to also draw the audience’s attention to what he thought was important. For the “space world” the artist does the same by making the background colors darker and the front images lighter. However, to keep it obvious that the worlds were different, he made sure to have the “space world’s” background fade to lighter blue. For the lighting of the pictures, especially the first, he made sure that when making the light appear to be coming from in front of Wall-e, to make the shadows behind him. The lighting and color of this picture create a sort of eerie mood to the world; almost ominous really. When the camera pans out to the whole earth, it is evident that when picking the golden yellow colors, the exact intent was to create an ominous feel. For the “space world” picture, the colors and lighting chosen were intended to create a blissful, happy, calm feeling. Especially in the picture chosen. At this time in the movie, Wall-e and Eve are both safe from harm. When using these colors and lighting, there is a sub-conscious confirmation of calm. 

Blog Assignment #6

For each scene of this clip, the director definitely followed the 180 Rule. Most of the scenes “lines” that are established are between Scott and Todd. The camera successfully stays on the right side of that line. There is a time when Envy enters the scene and a new line is drawn. It almost appears that the director cross the line, but a character speaks off screen. Towards the end of the clip, two vegan cops enter the scene to take away Todd’s vegan powers because he broke the vegan rules. When they enter the scene, a new line is drawn between Todd and the cops negating the previous line created between Scott and Todd. For the entirety of the cops presence in the scene, the camera, again successfully, stays on the right side of the line. As far as the Rule of Thirds goes, the director did not break this rule. At one point in the movie clip, the camera is focused on Scott because he is the one talking. He is in the first third or the shot. When the camera then cuts to Todd, he is also in the first third of the shot, thus following the rule of thirds. This happens again with regards to envy. When Scott is talking to Todd he is seen in the third third of the shot. The next thing we hear is Envy coming in and giving her two cents. Although she is on the move, she begins her move with being in the third third of the shot. Once again, fulfilling the Rule of Thirds. The director also successfully follows the 30 Rule. Towards the beginning of the scene, Todd is the one speaking and the camera shot is a close up shot. The next shot we see is a wide shot, thus fulfilling the 30 Rule. 

Blog assignment #5

Anna Sun -Walk the Moon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SpdJzecQvc

LISTENING FRAMEWORK
(SIMPLIFIED)
LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm) 
Tempo [slow, medium, fast]
allegro--> The tempo for this song is relatively fast 


Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]
The tempo originates from the drum set it the background. 


Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]
The groove of this song is upbeat and more indy. Heavy on the the deeper drums. 


LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement)
Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]
The instruments driving this song are the drum set and the background and the electric guitar. 


Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]
The structure of this song is a very simple structure. It goes verse 1, verse 2, chorus, verse 3, bridge, bridge and it's over. 


Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]
The song builds and builds until you get to the bridge and the song then gets less intense, building up again to the end of the song. 


LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality) Balance 
Height [high and low of frequency]
There is little height created with the occasional electric guitar solo where the guitar is only about an octave higher than the rest of the song. 


Width [stereo panning left/right]
Little to even width within this song. 


Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness] 
Not too many layers of instruments. The chorus of the song starts off with just deep drums in the background during the "anna sun" part and then it goes into just the drum set and guitar. Then eventually adding in base and deep drums. 


We Are Young- Fun
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fun+we+are+young&oq=fun+&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_sm=3&gs_upl=11625l13197l0l15370l4l4l0l0l0l0l151l398l3.1l4l0

LISTENING FRAMEWORK
(SIMPLIFIED)
LISTENING PHASE 1 (Rhythm) 
Tempo [slow, medium, fast]
Moderato. Its fairly moderate. 


Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]
For the beginning of the song, the source is from the base drum on the drum set and is then taken over by the snare drum on the drum set and the piano. For the rest of the song, it is fueled by the drum set and piano. 


Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]
Soft rock, a little jazzy. 


LISTENING PHASE 2 (Arrangement) 
Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]
The drums in the background and the piano. 


Structure/Organization [how is the song built? Order, patterns, etc.]
Verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, Bridge 1, Bridge 2, chorus, beginning of verse 1. 


Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]
This song has similar architecture to the first song. It builds to the bridge, dies down a little, build more to end, and then ends softly. 


LISTENING PHASE 3 (Sound Quality) Balance
Height [high and low of frequency]
This song has great height. The song is a lower pitch, however throughout the entire song, the piano is added in an octave higher creating more height. 


Width [stereo panning left/right]
This song has even width. 


Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness] 
This song mainly consists of the drum set in the background, the piano, and the voices. 

The two songs I chose were Anna Sun by Walk the Moon and We Are Young by Fun. Anna Sun is much faster compare to We Are Young. However, for each song the source is the same. It comes from the drum set. Although We Are Young is also driven by the piano. The groove for both songs is not the same. They both have a different feel to them. Anna Sun is infinitely more of an “indy” song with deep drums in the background driving the tempo of the song. We Are Young, while also being fueled by the drums, has more of a soft rock feel to it. These songs also have similar instrumentation. The first includes a small amount, the only ones I can distinguish being the drums, base guitar, and electric guitar. The second song includes the exact same instruments, they are just used in a different way. The first song uses more of the base drum throughout the song, the second is more of the snare drum. As far as the structure of these songs, they are again different. While the first song is relatively simple with just a verse, chorus “back-and-forth”, the second includes two bridges within the song. The emotional architecture of each song is again similar because they both build in intensity twice within the song. They both also end with a sweeter, softer ending. As far as which song I prefer, Anna Sun is my personal preference. I personally prefer more “indy” music and I think this song is more unique than the other. The drums in the background really add to the personality of the song. I also enjoy the fact that the second song is more upbeat and it has a happier message to it. Anna Sun is more about overcoming unhappiness and living life with your friends while the majority of We Are Young is talking about scars and hardships until you get to the chorus when the lead singer finally starts talking about how everything up until that point has no significance because, tonight, We Are Young.