Video Haiku

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http://www.youtube.com/user/PolinaEisenberg?feature=mhee

Here is a link for our video Haiku that for some reason is not showing up on my blog. I hope it works.

Anyways, this project was interesting in that it was reactive and spontaneous. I didn't know what to expect. Polina, Chris, and I, worked together and shot different shots reacting from the previous person's take. I think Chris started. He took a shot of the boots coming. And then Polina and I each took shots of traffic coming and going from the Hunter walkways over Lexington avenue. Then more shots of the boots coming and going, and of traffic coming and going. We then tried to add in shots of the traffic lights, to begin and end the film. Green to start. Yellow in the middle. Red to stop the film at the end.

I liked combining our creative ideas and not communicating them through words but through the camera. This was my first true taste of using a video camera to create a narrative and was an interesting way to start.

I learned that film and the hand of the director or camera person is as much as creative process as writing or painting. The camera is the brush or pencil, and instead of paper, the film, or digital information is the medium that stores the creative ideas.

semester

I enjoyed the class. The section was the most useful to me because it allowed my to learn computer and editing skills that I am not good at. I also enjoyed the projects that we worked on individually and in groups. It was also nice working with different people with different visions and personalities.

I took the class to learn more about film, and although I did not enjoy the lectures on blogging and digital media, it was probably useful to learn about. However, I think the class tried to cover too much information and topics. I think it should focus on either the film aspects or the digital media aspects so students can choose their interests accordingly. I know that many people differed from me and took the class to learn about the more technical stuff. I am very glad I took this class and it was probably perfect for me since I was forced to learn things that I wouldn't have otherwise, however, I think my biggest criticism is the lack of focus in subject material.

Opening Sequence

The ‘Thin Red Line’, written and directed by Terrence Malick, is one of my favorite
films. Although the screenplay was written by Malick, the original inspiration came from the
novel of the same name by James Jones. The movie is a powerful piece of art that leaves me in
awe and confusion every time I watch it. The powerful voice over, imagery, and non-traditional
plot structure is very unique and are the elements that make this film so successful.
The opening sequence of the film is very indicative of the style of the rest of the movie.
In regards to the plot and story of the film, and how this scene moves the movie forward, it is
vague. Overall, the movie has a very fragmented and follows no comprehensible narrative
structure. As Martin Scorsese describes this style, “...you could come in the middle of it, you can
watch it. It's almost like an endless picture. It has no beginning and no end”. Most importantly,
the film is ultimately about a theme and complex ideas, rather than a plot with strong
momentum. The idea of the film is of war and nature, and their complex relationship with each
other and the subjects involved with both of them(people, plants, animals, violence, etc.)
Before the first image of the film begins, the low sound of an orchestra bass comes in
softly, followed by higher and higher stringed instruments getting gradually louder. This goes
well with the first image which is a close up of a crocodile on the edge of a slimy swamp. Sand
and leaves from high above trees line the edge as the crocodile slides in the algae covered liquid.
It is dark, indicating that it is in the heavy growth of a jungle or forest. The creature sinks in and
creeps off, its eyes and body just above the surface, giving an ominous feel. The camera zooms
in to the head of the reptile. The effect of this shot already brings to mind nature and also
suggests something more evil and ominous just below the surface, as in the alligator. It finally
sinks below the surface. Along with a fade of the instrumental sound.
The next image is a fade into a large tree on the bottom of a rain forest. The sound gently
fades out to the sound of the forest such as birds. It is a closer shot of the bottom of this large
tree, with beams of light coming from above. This contrasts the previous image, showing a
heavenly gentle light compared to the large reptile.
This shot is short and cuts to a low angle shot looking directly up from the bottom of the
forest to the canopy. The trees block most of the light but beams find their way down toward the
camera. The camera rotates, giving a sense of wonder and awe toward nature, coinciding with a
voice over of, “what’s this war in the heart of nature?... why does nature vie with itself?...the
land contend with the sea?” These questions, combined with the strong imagery set up the film’s
dreamlike tone and voice right away.
The shot then fades to another small tree with a vine climbing up its trunk. The camera
starts low and tilts higher, following this vine. The vine can be symbolic for many things.
Perhaps man ‘strangling’ nature. The image compliments the voice over. This is a direct image
of nature’s conflict within itself. The camera tilts further upward with the ambient sound of
nature fading into faint ineligible singing. The scene again fades to another low angle shot of a
large tree with a huge base of roots. The voice says, “Is there an avenging power in nature?”
This quick shot then fades again to a similar tree with open space above. It is the sky
around it, open and free, but also alone, different from all the shots before. It is brighter, open
from the canopy of the forest. The light in all of the sequence is very natural to the surroundings.
The voice again comes in, “Not one power, but two?”. He could be talking about nature and god.
The voices of the song get louder, foreshadowing the introduction of people, and the scene fades
to two native children working to get food out of nuts along a beach.
The next shots are of this group of people on the beach of Guadalcanal. They are working
together, young and old, playing games. The singing rises more dramatically and the camera
looks up at kids swimming down from above the surface of the ocean. They float and swim
around the coral playfully. The camera dances and floats around them giving the viewer the
feeling that they are with the children.
Then, the camera looks at the surface of the clear green-blue water and tilts and pans over
to a young American soldier, happily paddling a small carved out canoe. He appears happy and
carefree, but also out of place in this world that was just introduced.
Another shot follows of a naked boy carrying a fishing pole in the shallow waters of the
island and then back to the soldier, who happily observes another fishing boat pass him. The film
cuts to a group of women and children cleaning and playing in a small lake or pond.
The final shot of the sequence and beginning of the next scene is of the soldier standing
alone, apparently looking at and observing the people. Although he is nonthreatening, he is also
out of place.

At this point all music stops and the only noise is ambient. Overall, the ending shots
were shorter than the first couple, almost as if intention was to warm up the audience.
Without getting too much into the rest of the film, the opening sequence is very similar to
the following scenes with its dreamlike images and voice over. The images and voice over and
action along with dialogue all complement and contradict each other to add to the meaning. This
is a style that Malick has used in previous films. Malick studied philosophy, which comes as no
surprise because the ‘Thin Red Line’ is very philosophical. His two films before this, ‘Badlands’
and ‘Days of Heaven’, produced many years before also used experimental editing and strong
imagery used with voice over. This has been his style from the beginning so ‘The Thin Red
Line’ came to no surprise to many who knew of his earlier work. These movies however, were
made many years earlier, before Malick disappeared for a couple decades.
This film has had a very positive response from many critics as well as negative by some.
Martin Scorsese said it was one of his top three favorite films of the decade. Other critics
describe it as “dreamlike” and others describe it as “hallucinatory”. Roger Ebert, who I
generally disagree with on much, said, “...an almost hallucinatory sense of displacement, as the
actors struggle for realism, and the movie's point of view hovers above them like a high school
kid all filled with big questions. My guess is that any veteran of the actual battle of Guadalcanal
would describe this movie with an eight-letter word much beloved in the Army.” Although I
disagree with his negative criticism, I agree with his prediction that veterans would not describe
the movie favorably.
Malick creates the film in a way that has the feel of an anti-war Vietnam type movie. The
movie is not favorable to war, and shows not great heroes or cowards in the traditional sense.
This goes against pretty much every other WWII movies that I know of. I also believe that this
was an intentional and smart idea by the director.
I have recently been watching the documentary, ‘The War’, by Ken Burns. This powerful
documentary goes over the horrible period in history that the world endured. Most soldiers
interviewed express the same sentiment that this war was absolutely necessary no matter what
the cost was. Necessary is the key word as most wars are not described in this way. ‘The Thin
Red Line’ although not very political or ideological, shows that although the war may have been
necessary, it was war nonetheless, and horrible things happens and are done, one both sides of
the line. If Malick used Vietnam, or Korea, or pretty much any other war, more of a stigma
would have been attached from the very beginning.
Malick never tries to force a certain interpretation. It is confusing, vague, concrete, and
unique, just like the subject matter. Nature, war, people, plants, animals, life, death, these are all
words that come to min. I am not very good at putting a concrete explanation to anything, and I
hope my description of this film is not too vague and unspecific. However, I think my general
intuition of good art and films is strong, and whenever I watch this film I have an extremely
strong emotional response. I have read other responses from critics, and I do not hold them too
closely, for I think the strongest part of this film is that it can be interpreted in so many ways. I
don’t think anybody will see the same film.

These boots were made for walkin'
This was a fun project. I learned a lot by doing and I think this is so much more useful than reading about things and one of the best parts of this class.
Polina, Chris, and I, took inspiration from our original 'Haiku' to make this small film. We decided to stick with the boots that we used before and show them going all over Hunter. We would show a typical day with little obstacles along the way, going through different school landmarks, etc. This was our vision anyway.

The biggest thing I learned by doing this project is the difficulty in translating a original vision into a completed form. Yes, we took shots of the boots all around Hunter, but many of our original ideas did not work out. Such as we wanted the boots to slip on a banana peel at one point and other little things like that. We took as many shots as we could in the little amount of time and hoped for the best.

However, due to lack of computer literacy, and some technical problems, the actual editing was difficult. It took a while just to get the music on the video. The most successful thing we accomplished very quickly which was ordering a rough cut of shots. We however, were not able to do any finer editing or rearrange the music to fit more rythmically.

Right before we presented I was a little nervous and feeling that it would be a disaster. However, we went on an played it and all of us in the group were pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went. Yes, it had flaws, and it wasn't exactly how we pictured it in the beginning, but with our creativity along the way, and a with little luck a final successful video was created and presented. This was the biggest success.

The project was a learning experience. Next time I will know how difficult it is to put ideas into digital images and have them translate to the audience the way they were intended. Also, I realize I need to learn more about computers and editing if I want to pursue making films. Overall, it was a very positive learning experience and Chris and Polina were great to work with

file://localhost/Network/Servers/edam.hunter.cuny.edu/Volumes/undergraduate2/UGrad_accounts2/roew/Desktop/polina3.mov

One of the demonstrations that I participated in at the Museum of the Moving Image
was with the first video game. The demonstration showed how simple and flawed the first video
games were.
One of the most interesting things I discovered was the amount of flaws in the game.
The first producers of this game didn’t have anything to base the design off of so it had many
problems. Obviously, gaming and controls would be expected to evolve significantly, but some
of the most obvious things, that people take for granted, hadn’t even been thought of. For
example, the game which was basically ping pong, didn’t have boundaries around the screen.
The “paddle” like squares could be controlled off the screen, and even to the opposing side of
the screen. Also, the ball, which was served from one side to the other, could go off of the
screen. This problem was soon solved in games like pong, in which the ball bounces of the side
of the screen and has other constraints that add to the gaming experience.
Another issue that seems obvious is the simplicity in the controls. The old game had
many controls that made it overly complicated. It had two knobs that controlled the x and y axis,
and another knob to turn the ball’s direction as it floated. It was a little too complicated and non-
intuitive for a game that seems so simple now.
Also, was the issue with scoring. There was no obvious winner or loser or way of
keeping score. I guess one could have come up with their own method but it was not built into
the game which would have been more convenient.
This game was flawed and simple but it is amazing considering it was the first. This
prototype was developed in 1968 and eventually it was made into Magnovox Odyssey in 1972,
which was the first home video console. Some of these flaws that I discussed before were fixed
and transformed into the 1972 consumer model.
This gaming console eventually evolved into devices such as Atari and Nintendo and
later Playstations and x-boxes. It is amazing how much has changed in a relatively short time
period. The thing that still is the most profound thing that I discovered from the demonstration is
how much I have taken for granted in modern gaming devices. Although I don’t use them very
much, they are very easy to use and relatively flawless as far as I am concerned. I am sure they
will continue to evolve but probably at a slower pace.

This is one of my favorite ads. Nike in general has ads that are very appealing to
me. They have an extremely strong ad campaign that has allowed them to lead the sports
apparel industry. Many people, including myself at times, view Nike as a superior brand-even
though it’s products have the same quality and functionality of other brands- , because of it’s
advertisements and it’s effect on the conscious.
This image is particularly appealing and at the same time controversial. Wayne Rooney,
one of the best soccer players in the world, is posed in a very intimidating way. I’m sure this
has had the effect of increasing passion for his fans, as well as increasing the hate that many
opposing fans have toward him. Soccer, or football, is a sport that contains so much passion,
especially outside of the U.S.
Specifically, the image provokes many thoughts because of Rooney’s body position.
This is obviously a similarity between Jesus, and Crucifixion. The “blood” like substance
crossing his body also ads to this effect. Especially since the red contrasts with the paleness
This is interesting because football is treated like a religion in much of the world.
Rooney is screaming, angry, strong, and intimidating. The viewer is instantly drawn
in to this intense energy that the ad portrays. This shows his personality. There is something
beautiful about it, and Rooney, is probably one of the most physically unattractive athletes there
is. He is far from the David Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo. But it is his passion and talent
that have drawn him so many fans.
The ad stands out. Rooney is centered directly, and the stark white background and
simplicity of it all give the image more meaning. Everything in it is necessary.
This works very well with the Nike image. They have always had the image of
counter-culture and independence, and managed to distance themselves from the corporate
image. “Just do it”, has become one of the most powerful slogans ever. It is simply displayed
in the bottom right corner of the ad, out of the way of the bigger picture. This just do it and the
swoosh have become of the most recognizable advertisements in the world. Just do it is a good
motto for everybody, and life in general, and nike wants the consumer to feel this passion and
strength and power that Rooney has.