in keeping with my post on bad films how about a post on bad commercials . by this i mean local commercial. specifically commercials from rhet and link. these two have taken the idea of a bad commercial and made a killing on producing them. from catchy jingles about a car wash to a piece on a furniature store that caters to all racial needs these two have an eye for bad commercials that make an impact. 

lunch break

this is one of my favorite short films (sadly i couldnt find a video or picture for it) it is a great film about how unimportant dialog is. this is a about a woman who goes into a busy train terminal and she orders a salad at a resturant and she goes off to get silverwear and returns to find a homeless man eating her salad. appaled she takes it and eats some. they go back and forth until she realizes that it wasnt her booth and she ate this mans salad while she was judging him. this film is powerful in that it is told with no dialog what so ever. this film won countless awards without ever needed a word said.
yes dialog can move a story along but it isnt truly necessary in good story telling.

b films

Bad film. When done correctly bad film become the best films. Troll 2 is undisputedly the worst film ever made. Now the stars of the movie are more popular than ever and are in such demand for movie conventions that they have to turn some down. If you don’t believe me than believe the numbers. The Sci fi channel ( sorry I refuse to cave and call it syfy) has a huge line up of “bad film” each bringing more viewers than the one before it. the mega shark seires is one of their biggest with such wonderful films as mega shark and giant octopus, even my favorite sharktopus. Why do we love these movies? Personally I feel that since we know they are bad we can turn off the inner film critic and just enjoy the awful special effects and worse dialog.

shivering in scranton

At the time of writing this I was freezing my toes off to help with a film in Scranton. Its cold, its windy, its slow and boy o boy its cold. This sums up my days of helping on a senior project in Scranton. The film is a WWII film. And I now know that nothing in any class can prepare you for the work that takes  place on a real set. Learning all new terms and being thrown in sink or swim is a great experience. It’s a learn or get out environment and I loved every minute. Never knew what was next, building a fake leg to be blown off a person, helping make a rig to blow a guys brains out.  Even seeing some upper level film makers in action was a learning process. If you haven’t yet get on a set and get some experience  the class room can only teach so much.

More Christmas than Mcdonalds Holiday Pie

Ive been super busy recently ( for a while) and fell out of posting on here but I have been writing things for the blog as they have come. I have some 20 posts typed up and yet to be posted so they will be up soon! Lets start with this one.

            Why I love Christmas movies. I love that Christmas movies Christmas specials are some of the few movies that are truly timeless. I know of no other movie genre that falls so easily into tradition. That’s what these movies have become. National traditions. We all know them and we all love them (for the most part) these films are able to pull at our hearts and even remind us of a happy time in our lives.  As film makers we need to learn from these special works and realize that sometimes something simple can make the most difference with the viewers. Sure making Christmas films may seem like selling out but they still make people happy and you can make plenty of money with them. Or maybe we could find out why they are so loved and apply that to our own films. Or who knows maybe just sit back and enjoy this holiday season.

once upon a time

Have more exciting words ever been placed together? these words sum up our past with stories our parents would tell us. it excites our present because it tells of a place where our problems can be left behind. and it makes our future hopeful in that maybe one day we could live our favorite stories.
 these words are synonymous with the fantasy genre, a genre of story that when taken to film can wisk us off to a magical kingdom full of myth and fairys.my floor just began a huge undertaking in the world of the Film watchers. tonight we start the Lord of the Rings and will watch them all through finals week.
these films stand as a beacon to the film maker inside of me as to what i wish i could do.

films like these take us into a deep world that i dont know if a script writer could make. film like these make me believe that script writers will not be able to weave a story as deep as one of these and maybe thats why novel writers are always needed. what do you think? do you think that novelist will always remain vital to the film world?

why I dont enjoy super hero movies.

Growing up i was( and still am) what some would call a geek, a nerd, a dork or any number of things you can think of. this stemmed mostly from my obsession over comic books. i can tell you most any characters back story, i can explain to you why DC is better than Marvel at every level( BTW if you dont read comic books dont bother arguing otherwise). this passion didnt originate with watching Saturday morning cartoons or old superhero movies. this passion came from sheer happenstance. i merely discovered my brothers collection of comic books and then started my own, now my collection contains more than 2000 comic book issues and over 100 trade paper backs ( dont worry you wont need to know what that means for this blog.)

                                   (For some idea of my collection each of theses boxes hold 100 comic issues, i have filled 20 of them)
so knowing this people naturally assume that comic book characters are simple one sided do-gooders that they knew from the Justice league. and thats why people were so shocked when the Dark Knight came out. in the comic book world though we knew batman as far darker than even that film showed.
just as you dont like movies based on your favorite books because they leave things out so too do I hate comic book movies. its not that they are bad, or poorly directed. its that the depth of character dosent exist in the films.
many people think that the newest iteration of the Joker was terrifying. im here to tell you that no matter how scary you though it was for that pencil to vanish in the film the true character of the joker would make even that clown cringe.
for those of you who play Arkham city know the character the oracle. most of you dont know why she simply sits in the batcave. her story is one of the darkest joker tales ever spun. she is Commissioner Gordon's daughter. she was kidnapped, rapped, and finally the joker put a gun to the base of her spine and shot her, paralyzing her from the waist down. all with her father being forced to watch. there exists an evil so dark in his character that will never make it to the big screen. this lack of depth of characterization is why i dont enjoy super hero movies.

Spread the Word to end The Word

Since the middle of my high school career ive been following this movement know as Spread the Word to End The Word. the word in question is Retard. im curious as to how this term has come to mean anything you think is dumb or useless. case in point " this movie is so retarded".  yes retarded. a word that by its true definition medically is used to describe a disorder that is beyond a person control. and now people feel its ok to take this word for a group of people with something outside of their control. when it comes down to it retarded is nothing more than a slur. in fact its worse than a simple slur. when a racist person says niger they are talking to a person. all they are doing is using the word niger to describe a person.
whenever someone uses retarded they take it even further, they take it past the point of the word niger. they are taking a word that applies to a group of people and then changing the meaning even further becuse they apply this word to mean that something is stupid and useless. so i urge you the next time you dare use the word to say something is stupid i want you to realize that you are calling autistic people , people with down syndrome, and any other physical or mental retardation stupid and useless. to me someone who calls something retarded is far worse than anyone who address a black man as a niger.

how to make a decent movie horrible

every night the guys on the floor watch a movie, and typically have a theme. well its october so our theme is baseball, nothing against the nations past time but ive never been big on baseball movies.
the other night the debate raged over what baseball movie to watch, i was abnormally quiet. then Rookie of the Year was brought up. Ok this is a movie i grew up on so i can enjoy this i thought. apparntly my younger self was a horrible judge of film.

this movie is alright, wholly unbelievable, but its alright. that was until the worst piece of cinematography came on sceen, ive seen troll 2 i know bad cinematography but this was horrible. its a cheesy shot that completely ruined the entire film for me and all the guys on the floor. and here it is

sure, dosent look horrible but in the context of the film this cheesy piece of crap destroyed any joy i felt in the film. he has just one the world series and is playing a pick up game of ball with his friends and suddenly <Epic lame fist pump!> this shot happened. bad CGI twinkle and everything. Gag me with a spoon ( 90s film deserves 90s insult)

so i urge you all as filmmakers to watch this film and please learn from it. do it for the children

the man who planted trees

i would like to say since im a live action DMA student i dont like the animations we have been watching because it isnt my focus. as ive seen other students (many live action students) be moved by the animations we have watched i know that my excuse holds no ground. so the reason must be something  wrong deep in my soul. that was until we watched the man who planted trees. i dont know if it was the fact that it had a narrator to make the story move along or what, but i loved this film, this foreign film, this foreign animation film.

as the film started in its typical "artsy" style i was put off yet again, and im sorry to say the first 5 mins i watched while on my laptop not entirely focusing, and then i got caught growing to like the narrator, and the fact that we had one. soon my laptop was shut, was i really watching an artsy animation? and enjoying it? interesting.

as the story progressed i was hoping it was true, but there was a part of me that knew it wasnt. growing up in a family of loggers you learn a thing or 2 about growing trees,and sadly oak trees just dont grow in the desert. neither do birch for that matter, but this story had even me falling for its suspension of disbelief. i began to see what changes trees brought, but the message of this film wasnt "hippy Dippy" love trees and youll be happy. it was more about what power one man can have when he chooses to do something. and reguardless of if this story about a man making the world better with tress resonates or not with you, the fact that one man can change so much should.

where was leeper?

once upon a time there was a professor at university, this may not seem so strange but this profssor had a secret, from a young age he was cursed to never be able to visit a party for the rest of his life ( this happens you tick off the wrong sprite). though he knew the curse existed he always did his best to fight it and try and press his luck anyway by attempting to scury off to the party before the curse could notice. as we all know sadly this isnt how curses work.
Well the time of the Dowdens midnight study break was upon him once again. knowing how his wonderful students would love to see him there he set off in the night to try and make the party this year.
as he left home he could feel the cool autumn breeze blowing, maybe it was blowing to let that wicked sprite know he was setting out for the party once again. in years past wicked monsters have destroyed his car before he could get to the party so this year he knew he would park on campus as to make the awful magic curse think he was only going into the school to set up for a day of teaching. as he parked his car he noticed a sever lack of evil monsters, he was in the clear this could be his year. he slowly made his way around the lake, he could see the party in full swing, he could make it this was his year!
as he rounded the final curve of the lake something horrible happened, the lake began to bubble, the wind slowed down, a frightful smell began to waft off the lake (worse than usual) and the professor know this sadly wasnt his year. the lake demon arose with such might that the waters of the lake flooded the campus and the demon reached down and grabbed the professor and with all his might threw him back to his house, to land on his front steps to the professors house. sadly the curse was still there and this just wasnt his year.

Selfish Giant

Being of a different mindset of the norm seems to be a DMA thing, however its odd being on the minority side in a DMA class. Mitch Hedberg once said i remixed the remix and it was back to normal. Thats how i often feel in class sometimes when we vote on things, in no way take this to mean i dont enjoy being different.
 Today in class (whoops its 12:21 am so i guess yesterday) we elected to hear a new story instead of finishing a story we had started earlier. I guess some prefectionist side of me slipped out ( as you can tell by my lack of proper punctuation this dosent slip out often,  hipster kitty says proper grammar is too mainstream) but alas it slipped out and i actually felt like i had to finish the Selfish Giant story, let me tell you know you who havent read it are missing out ( thanks to prof. i read the story in his voice, not a bad thing though).
 i dont want to give too much away  because im sure we finish it in class at some pending date, but i must say i was glad when it ended and i got to see the circle complete. i hate when story lines get over played and emotions repeat so it was a lovely change to see that death in this story wasnt a sad moment, and it wasnt a feeling of happiness that the bad guy got what he deserved either.

 all in all i would highly recommend reading it before we do in class because its truly a wonderful piece of art. its rare to walk away from a story now and days and call it art so cherish those tales that so enthrall your heart or imagination like this story did for me.

Doctor Satire

satire. this is one of the most difficult forms of artwork to produce, you have to be able to be subtle yet still show your audience your point of view. i feel great satire can be watched and enjoyed even without seeing the satire.

one of my favorite and arguably the best satire films is Doctor Strangelove. this is an older film that takes place during the cold war and ultimately leads to the end of the world because of nations freaking out about all the others. most importantly of all this film can still feel relevant today, i suppose its odd that a film about the horrors of Mutually Assured Destruction can remain powerful today.

inspiration

when most people think to an inspirational film they think of uplifting happy stories i.e Facing the Giants. With DMA students inspiration can be something completely different, to me to be inspired takes a director that is cunning and clever. i find no greater inspiration than The Evil Dead. To those of you who know it i am in fact talking about that campy B horror movie staring none other than Mr. Bruce Campbell ( my favorite actor, ill get more into that later). its odd to tell people im inspired by what most people consider a verry bad movie, however reading Bruce Campell's biography showed me how amazing this film is.
    This film is extremely low budget yet still has gone on to become incredibly famous, for those of you who dont know this film is directed by Sam Rami the same director as Spider Man and Drag Me to Hell. in all honesty i would say im more inspired by his ingenuity than the film its self( still love the film). the ammount of ingenuity in this film is crazy, for the opening shot he is holding the camera over a lake while he is canoeing down it. he implements his custom camera rigs all over, my favorite being the VasOcam. the VasOcam is a rig that he uses to follow the actors as they run through the woods. he does this by coating a board in Vaseline and sliding the camera down it. it seems almost every scene has his own special touch and effects, as DMA students i urge all of you to watch this campy B movie and be inspired much the same as i was.

DMA may be more than you think it is.

Well after a few issues I'm finally up and running on the blog here. a little bit of background will help you all understand a little bit more about me and my digital media passions.as many of you can probably relate to growing up i loved films a little bit more than all the other kids and they never understood why. to me watching a film is about more than simply the suspension of disblief when you feel like youre a part of the film, for me film was the untimate was someone was able to share a story with as many people as possible in a beautiful and daring way.
 while live action film is my biggest passion im here to share my favorite piece of digital media with you. my favorite piece of digital media tells an amazing story of valor and courage in the face of extreme danger, but its also much more. this piece of media tells of the importance of protecting the earth and avoiding pollution. it tells a great story of a father and a son reunited even after the father is presumed dead. its a story of ultimate good defeating ultimate evil (as it should be!). the piece of digital media i am referring to is Star Fox 64. yes, a video game. more importantly a video game that helped shaped my childhood. a game that was the only link me and my older brother had when we were younger.
 this game connected with me at the time more than any other movie, how often do you finish a movie and feel like you personally saved the entire universe? this is what video games are about, telling a cinematic story line with a higher level of user involvement than any film ever could.

when i say i have a passion for digital media it extends to all forms of the art.