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Caroline’s Response to an Art Film

I am responding the “Un Chien Andalou,” a film by Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali. It was Dali’s first film and was released in 1929. It was very weird and interesting because it had strange and sometimes disturbing images, yet was silent. This only added to the eeriness of the film. There is kind of a lot of violence, such as a severed hand, a woman’s eye getting sliced by a razor, a man having a bicycling accident, a man getting shot, and a woman getting hit by a car. There are also dead animal carcasses, ants, and a moth shown in the film. Another unsettling factor is that the timeline of the film is completely displaced and all over the board, which makes the plot very confusing. Another somewhat confusing aspect is that they used the same actor to portray two different characters in the film, which just added to the mayhem. It is definitely a surrealist film.

2010 05 14 caroline Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Mohammad Free Write on Art Film “Blood and Sand”

I saw the movie ” Spartacus blood and sand ” directed by Grady Hall and Rick Jacobson. The movie takes place in Rome where the setting is filled with all types of art and architecture. The problem in the movie is forced slavery. Slaves used to fight each other and for entertainment for rich people. The art that is used in the movie is mostly carved into the beautiful architecture of the city in rome. Buildings, Statues, and art done to their bodies. The main idea of the movie is low class people are used to fight each other and women are used for pleasure. These slaves must fight until ones death and must keep going to become more than gladiator. He must become a legend.  I liked this movie because it made me interested in Roman Art and their sense of art. It was a wonderful experience mainly because of the way the movie was design and the settings it took place in.

2010 05 14 mohammad Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Mohammad response to “cinematic storytelling”.

The five editing techniques by Pudovkin: simultaneity, symbolism, parallelism, contrast, and light motif are very helpful through clearly explaining the topic of film editing. throughout all of the elements in filming, the most interesting part was about intercutting because many action movies and horror movies consists of this element. Many movies, one for example, Ninja from 2009 had this suspense of intercutting witch kept the viewers more interested in what would happen next until the main conflict with open up in the movie.

2010 05 14 mohammad Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Response to Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is a great classic movie! I love the way that the scenes are set up. It totally love the way it changes the dynamics of how you see the ending of the movie. I think that the editing of the movie is great…and really helps sets up Taratino’s overall message. One of the shots of the movie that I really dug was the shot of Mia Wallace overdosing on heroine. The up close shot on her face….was amazing.

Something else that I like about the movie is the witty dialog. here’s plenty of sharp, sassy, profane dialogue, and there are plenty of acute, funny references to pop culture, though the talk sometimes delays the action, and the references sometimes seem self-consciously arch.

2010 04 28 maketa Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Sofia Falcon’s response to the Tim Burton Exhibit

The exhibit was interesting, even though I’ve never been a terribly huge fan of Tim Burton, mostly in regard to his animations. Understandably, a lot of his films, particularly the animated ones, have attracted the cliche misfit teenager and that whole culture has overdone the whole thing with merchandise, etc. so the associations I have with Tim Burton are unfortunately shaped by that. I, am however, fond of some of this films (Edward Scissor Hands, Big Fish) so it was interesting to see the sketches and models for those. I also thought his Asian version of Hansel and Gretle was an interesting interpretation and departure from the Aryan version, especially considering it was made for the Disney Channel. It’s just interesting to consider it in that context. I liked the fact that the museum decided to exhibit his journals and doodles from when he was a child and his notebooks from when he was in art school. To be so popular to have your art history notes displayed in a glass case at the MoMA is an achievement. I liked a lot of his drawings, which is interesting since I’m not a fan of this animations and they are obviously based off his drawings. The different absurd characters and creatures just have more charm on paper. His imagination really comes across in the retrospective and although I don’t absolutely love all of his works and the culture around them, it was definitely interesting to see the way he evolved as an artist, which is always interesting.

2010 04 21 sofia Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Caroline’s Response to the Tim Burton Exhibit

Since I have been wanting to visit the Tim Burton exhibit at the MoMA for quite a while now, I was excited to finally get to explore it. Not only did it display his drawings and sketches, but also prototypes of many of his characters and sculptures, which was very interesting to me because I didn’t know he did sculptures. It was also really cool that it showed many of the costumes and props used in some of his biggest movies; there was even a life-sized Johnny Depp mannequin dressed in the original Edward Scissorhands getup.

As would be expected, the exhibit as a whole conveyed his dark, twisted, and creative style, but through his sketches and prototypes, the viewer was able to see his creative process, which I found very intriguing. It was also really neat to get to see his sketchbooks and diaries from his youth. My favorite thing I saw at the exhibit was probably his version of “Hansel and Gretel.” This was his first film for Disney, and was definitely not the innocent and cute story you would expect. It was a very bizarre take on the classic fairytale. The main characters were not the German-looking kids you would expect, but were actually Asian children. The colors were very very bright and it was very apparent that he added his own dynamics and recognizably dark and cartoonish style. The exhibit as a whole was and insightful and visually entertaining walk through the mind and creative processes of Tim Burton.

2010 04 21 caroline Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Tim Burton Exhibit Response

Honestly, this has been my third time visiting the Tim Burton Exhibit.  That being said, I really enjoyed getting the chance to walk through it all over again.  My personal favorite part of the exhibit was the Jack sculpture with all the different expressions around him.  Looking at that, it’s really amazing to think about the amounts of effort put into those kinds of films and how difficult it is to get a character to merely change expressions or talk.  I also really enjoyed browsing his storyboards, specifically of The Nightmare Before Christmas.  It’s really interesting that many of the works hanging on the walls were just silly little poems or doodles clearly ripped out of a sketchbook.  What’s really amazing is that most of the artwork is pretty old, so when he did it, he really had no clue that it’d be hanging in a museum some day; to him, it was just a doodle in a sketchbook.  It was really nostalgic browsing through most of his pieces depicting The Nightmare Before Christmas, Beetlejuice, and even the outfit of Edward Scissorhands.  The Tim Burton exhibit is perhaps one of the most interesting museum exhibits I’ve been to in a long while, needless to say it was interesting enough that I found myself visiting three separate times.

2010 04 21 allison Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Elizabeth’s Response to Tim Burton Exhibition

Tim Burton’s exhibition in the MOMA was a twisted, dark display of his past and present, which was expected. This past week was the second time I have visited the exhibition. Both times I was interested in his personal voice and style in his work. It was interesting to see how his style developed over time. The setup showed drawings from his sketchbook as a kid along with writings he had done over the years. I enjoyed reading his thoughts because it helped me as the viewer to connect to what he was displaying. One of his first films done for Disney was a Hansel and Gredle. You see in this movie his bizarre perspective of this child’s tale. The colors in the film were very saturated and unreal yet magical. His style is simple in the sense that there isn’t a lot to figures, but what is there is fascinating. It was remarkable to see the actual figures used in his movies. They appear so be quite live size but in person they’re no more then one foot tall. I believe that most of his sketches were a great way to show his idea and the characters in his filmed were a good illustration of his creative ideas. I found that he likes the use a lot of the same actors/actresses in his film such as Johnny Depp, and I find that to just be an adding factor to his personal voice as an artist. His work has always been for children’s entertainment, which is interesting because overall I find his work to be dark and somewhat creepy. All in all I find Tim Burton to be an interesting character. You know when it is his work, which is a great accomplishment he has made for himself. He can take an ordinary story and turn it into a visual masterpiece. I thought the exhibition was a good way to display his development as an artist and filmmaker over the many years of his life, and I look forward to see what he will come up with in the near future.

2010 04 21 elizabeth Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Artistic Film: Brazil

The film that I watched was Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. I had heard about it for years but I never gave it a chance. From having been told that it was a movie about a futuristic world and that it was made in the 1980’s made it seem like it was going to be like Robo-Cop, The Running Man or Terminator – action movies with a synth-happy sound track, which is a simple way to destroy any movies artistic integrity. However after Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, my attitude towards Brazil changed, thinking that it may not be a commercial action flick after all. So a week ago I put the movie in my dvd player and the opening theme music assured me that this film exceptional from any film of its time. Another great attribute about that opening theme song is that it is the only song that is played within the movie, which is symbolic of the conformity and subordination of the people with in the film. The strongest aspect of the film was its mise en scene. The setting composed of massive and dreary sky scrapers decorated with thousands of tubes and wires, and the futuristic technology that had no regard of design, for examples the computers that were small screens with magnifying lenses over top of them with a mess of wires connected to what looked like old typewriters. The environment of the the film seemed to depict sort of a second industrial revolution, in which all these new appliances and gadgets were created to simplify the average persons life, but no one found any real reason for them yet.
Another aspect of the film that one could tell was unique to Terry Gilliam was the dialogue. Brazil was a film with a very formidable topic of big brother, but that did not stop the writers from adding humorous conversation. Terry Gilliam’s first works in film being Monty Python there are several instances in Brazil that seem like they could have been lost cousins of some of the Monty Python skits. A lot of Monty Python skits deal with the absurdity of everyday life and small talk. You are able to see such conversations with in Brazil, for example when to police men are talking in the back of the squad car about how hot their suits get. They talk of this frivolous topic for an exaggerated amount of time, to the point when it begins to get amusing.

2010 04 21 nathan Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink

Tim Burton

The Tim Burton exhibit just got me frustrated. To begin with I am not the biggest Tim Burton fan, I didn’t see Alice in Wonderland on its opening weekend. But I do enjoy several of his movies: Ed Wood, Edward Scissor Hands, Mars Attacks, and Beetle Juice. Other than these movies, I’m not too crazy about the guy’s work. But walking into the exhibit and observing all of the work that the man has created since he was a child just seemed overwhelming. It seemed that the man never stopped making things and this hypothesis made me feel that I had not accomplished that many things. I was frustrated to see that he had made some cute little films while he was about fourteen years old. I thought to myself, “How come I never did that?” What was I doing when I was a kid that prevented me from making movies, one of the most fun things in the world. So after walking through the exhibit once, seeing his numerous sketch books and his short that he did for the disney channel, the whole thing was frustrating, but it was a frustration that inspired me to make something. Also I enjoyed seeing the diagram of a martian from mars attacks.
I walked into the William Kentridge a little while after that, for the soul purpose that I never heard of the man and I just wanted to expand my knowledge of artist. But first I had to pass that shitty performance art exhibit by what ever her name is. That piece seemed like the most typical avant garde bull shit. When television shows and cartoons make fun of modern art, that was the kind of exhibit they depict. Any way after seeing five minutes of one of Kentridge’s videos, it had the same effect on me as Burton’s. I just wanted to leave and go make something. This frustrating, almost envious inspiration happens to me a lot when visiting museums. That night when I got home, my ambition to create was immediately suffocated when I realized that I had an art history paper to write. This is the usual case, I want to make things but the things I need to make will never benefit me as an artist, like making essays.

2010 04 21 nathan Uncategorized Comments (0) Permalink