CURATION

Youtube Movie review channels

I understand the idea of a Youtube video as an art form that is worth analyzing sounds completely stupid, especially given the stigma of the youtuber in recent years.

However, there is a thriving underground world of independent movie makers and "connoisseurs" (a generous term) who make a living analyzing films. Usually, the films they choose are really bad, and that's because it makes for an interesting video to watch a smug journalist break away from their levelheaded persona to be angry at a poorly made film.

That being said, as difficult as they may seem to take seriously, they do have an awful lot to offer.
It's really pretty enriching to listen to a careful, well-thought-out essay on why a movie works or doesn't work. As a student in the film discipline, it's a nice, convenient way to learn more.

Bob dylan assessment thing

1. This piece is extremely stylistic. It's written in a very unusual way given the nature of the content. It's chronological, and is explored in mini chapters marked with roman numerals. That aside, the actual story being told is pretty disturbing. It seems to be about a man suffering very badly from post traumatic stress and an abusive personality disorder written form the point of view of his wife/spouse/girlfriend. That is, at least for some of it. It switches between point-of-view from chapter to chapter. The inclusion of Bob Dylan was frankly lost upon me. That may be because I haven't quite had time to digest it yet. The exploration of how Bob Dylan "transformed" seemed important, but perhaps I need to know more about Dylan's life to really know what that was in reference to. Overall, I come away from the reading confused, the story of this gentlemen's life (or six gentlemen's and women's lives for all i know) is fractured and depressing.

2. WELL not really much. Sorry. This article was written in an extremely confusing way. I'm sure whoever wrote it still won an award from someone who is far smarter than me. There was a part at the beginning about how this guy lost his temper, and the way it was described is actually familiar to me a little bit. I've been angry before. Perhaps not homicidally, definitely not enough so to gun a bunch of strangers down through a windshield. The parts that described the man manipulating his wife made sense? I have limited experience with abusive personality disorders, I've definitely read a whole lot about them. That's all that I really "connected" to. Again, this article was written in a pretty cryptic way. Perhaps another article on a similar topic that wasn't written by freakin' Andy Warhol would do this class some good, it's 8:30 in the morning and a selection of these students are still learning English for God's sake!

3.In all honesty, this writing is almost formatted as a screenplay. It's confusing when written, but i think if i were to be turned into a short film with Bob Dylan playing in the background, it might be relatively successful. For whatever the article is trying to convey, I feel like it would be clearer if it were a film.

LONG FORM TELEVISION: STRANGER THINGS

"Stranger things" is a pretty thrilling series.

It's is well-written, emotionally impactful, and implements a very well-appropriated and popular '80s aesthetic in its visuals. What's not to like?

If I'm being honest, long form television is something I just don't really have the attention span for. That's why so many popular TV shows in the past never really got me hooked. With series like "Breaking Bad", "Bates Motel", "The Walking Dead", or "Game of thrones", I knew they were good, I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and watch them. This is still kinda the case for "Stranger things", but not enough for me not to want to see more of it. More on that later.

To start, I'll share my experience watching the show. The whole time I was watching, I was thinking to myself "This isn't particularly original, but it's definitely entertaining enough for me not to care." I don't mean to be snobby about originality. I appreciate experimentation, but I guess it's risky on a TV project when there are too many people relying on the creators not to do anything that will put their getting paid at risk.

That being said, I don't want to make anybody think "Stranger Things" is some cookie-cutter rehash of a familiar concept and execution. The adrenaline-moments, for one, never feel too melodramatic, yet they're still extremely engaging. Watching television dramas always made me question why the writing was so goddamn dumb when it came to fights between characters. I assume it's a way for the writers to let their audience know that they need to be paying attention, but its unnecessary and condescending.

An example was a fight between two characters, Jonathan and Steve. Screenshots wouldn't do it any justice, but it was refreshing to see a fight that wasn't just "yo-mamma" jokes or dumb catch phrases. It honestly felt like I was watching a fight between two real people. They also beat the hell out of each other, no-holds-barred. I loved it.

There's far more I could go into, but I don't want to spoil anything.

Anyways, as for what I noticed about the medium: I noticed a lot. In long-form television, it's usually pretty obvious. Each episode ends on a cliffhanger or leaves unanswered questions, there's a high contrast between adrenaline moments and relief, comic or otherwise. If I can sum it up in any way, I would just say that it keeps you hooked. It's like how at a casino they do all this corrupt psychological shit to keep people "addicted".

I wouldn't be surprised normally, but the series is hosted on Netflix, so I was even more not surprised. That being said, I was definitely able to "Give in" to the enticing siren calls. It was a series that was different enough for me not to feel like an idiot while i got invested in it, and i wasn't feeling like I was stretching to say that it was a "must watch". I think, given that it was hosted on the internet, it also was great bait for the meme crowd. Watching the logo for the TV show be parodied by my facebook friends using a website hosted by the creators of the show made it all the more fun to watch. As evil as it feels for these TV shows to bend over backwards keeping you addicted, it's a bit redeeming to realize that it's just creating a common interest. It's a platform that many people can unify under.

Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp was a very interesting read for me. From the start, I expected it to be really cynical and tragic, but it's like an adult, arthouse version of "Calvin and Hobbes". All the characters are portrayed in a slightly derogatory way, but very superficially. Once you get past the intentional misspellings of the words to read like an exaggerated accent, the characters are all pretty charming and likable. For some reason I was expecting it to be really ugly, bitter, and suicide inducing.

Honestly, the ending was kind of disappointing. With everything that had been put into the story, I kind of wished the message hadn't been so straightforward and, if i'm being honest, sophomoric. I think they disappointment I felt by seeing the characters get wasted in an asteroid impact was intentional, but even then, the concept and thesis feels uninspiring. I will admit that the way the piece was written certainly made me think pretty hard about what was being said. My first impressions of the story were written above.

Overall, I think I'm not terribly impressed with the message of this piece. I think, if a friend of mine made this, I would definitely be very impressed by the sophisticated visual style, and the effort put into making all of the characters really good and lovable. Framing this piece as a hitchcock-esque masterpiece makes me expect more form it I think. What I will say, though, is that where it falls short seems to open a different level of enjoyment for me. It definitely had a thesis and story arch, and the story seemed to focus on it, and that's good. What I like so much, though, is that the objective in writing this story, was to first construct a cast of very deep characters with interesting backgrounds and flaws. They all exist in a very pleasing story that ends with a meteor impact (spoilers).

Wes Anderson: A very self-conscious man

This week, I watched The Fantastic Mr. Fox, a film by Wes Anderson. I had previously seen two of his works, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, and Moonrise Kingdom. It turns out that a main character in The Fantastic Mr. Fox, Cousin Kristofferson, was voiced by Wes's brother, Eric Chase Anderson. I was surprised by the unconventional casting of a sibling among bigger names, but also not surprised at all. Kristofferson's speaking voice is so typical of the self-conscious, yet extremely brilliant and successful art-nerd. Of the many great artists I've met personally, there is a group of them that could be blood-related, and they all speak exactly like Cousin Kristofferson; Very clearly and confidently, but while still sounding somewhat nervous, vulnerable, and insecure. They always dress themselves like a nerdy cartoon character, but are nothing like the nerd archetype in television and movies; in that they are always extremely popular and well-liked. Even beyond the mannerisms, their voices are extremely similar. In case you thought, by this point, that I had misunderstood the meaning of "voice" in this discussion, here's where I'm going with all this. Wes Anderson's filmmaking is exactly that of the aforementioned group--somebody who is very self-conscious, but very self-aware.

My distinction between self-consciousness and self-awareness may be confusing, so I will explain; self-consciousness is an undue awareness of oneself, appearance, or one's actions. What someone who is very self-conscious will struggle with is feeling everything they do in a very inflated, negative way. They will feel people scrutinizing them very harshly, when really, nobody is looking. Alternatively, what somebody who is very self-aware will NOT struggle with is taking that projected scrutiny harshly. They will have overcome a feeling of insecurity brought on by self consciousness by taking the things they are self-conscious about into consideration, working with them, asking themselves questions, and answering them. They are very rounded and complete, they have become their own reference-guide for the world. They understand how they are really viewed by others, and know that they don't mind all that much.

What this has to do with Wes anderson's filmmaking can be seen very clearly in the visuals. In this shot for example:
 
The movement of the characters through the frame works with the dialogue and story arch of the scene. Kristofferson (right) begins on the far right side of the frame and talks to a very highly-placed Ash (top). After Ash yells at Kristofferson, he lays on the floor, but is graphically placed underneath the table. This placement makes him look trapped, and beaten (below)
At this point, Kristofferson starts to cry. Ash points his flashlight at him to inspect, and feels some measure of sympathy. At this point, he climbs down the ladder, turns on the trainset and they both reside together at the bottom left-corner of the frame. 

Proximity and placement are two principles that are in use here, and this is much of Wes Anderson's style. The characters are in one place at the beginning of the shot, and move to another at the resolution. This approach is actually quite minimal, but also very successful and likable. If I am being quite honest, the ease with which it can be analyzed makes you feel pretty smart. It is in all of Wes Anderson's films. The success of this style, however, is not just the simple novelty of turning anybody into an astute art critic. It is a result of Anderson's passion for effective visuals in his films. He is somebody who aspires to be a filmmaker that uses the medium to its fullest, and does so by concocting a go-to method to compose his shots. This kind self-reliance and confidence is very familiar in the world of cool, smart, successful nerds that I mentioned earlier.

Anyways, analyzing the visuals in a Wes Anderson movie is kind of low-hanging fruit. A common theme among the protagonists in the three movies I watched is that they are all very self-committed and seem to have bloated egos that remain even through the resolution. Seve Zissou is a marine biologist that wants to kill a shark that killed his friend. He puts himself and others at risk to do so. Mr. Fox is a confident criminal mastermind who wants to steal from three extremely wealthy farmers. He put himself and others at risk to do so. comparing Sam, from Moonrise kingdom to the other two feels like a stretch, but he still is technically putting himself and others at risk to pursue his love. All of them include stop motion in some measure and seem equally cynical and Noire. They're all kind of bouncy and goofy, but still dark and profound.

Overall, I think Wes Anderson Stands out and has very likable films for the reasons I mentioned above.

GOOSE FATHER SHORT FILM­­

VISUAL CUES PRIORITIES

1.     Introduction to Gilho being lonely in his apartment

a.      Establishing shot of apartment

b.     Camera focuses on family photos

c.      Gilho going about his lonely life.

d.     Advertises his need of an assistant.

2.     Wuesong is introduced with the goose in front of Gilho’s apartment.

a.      Cut to Wuesong making breakfast for Gilho.

b.     Scene dedicated to conversation between the two men

c.      Reveal Wuesong’s past and the reason as to why he has a goose.

3.     Gilho and Wuesong go out on a Kareoke night

a.      Show friendship between the two men.

b.     They both get tipsy with the alcohol intake.

c.      Gilho and Wuesong almost kiss, but Gilho slaps him.

d.     Wuesong runs away crying.

4.     Gilho returns to his sad apartment and skips work because of sad events

a.      Parallel editing between Gilho and Wuesong

b.     Gilho stares at the sunset outside his balcony

c.      Wuesong walks around the city with his goose with no destination in mind

d.     They both miss each other.

5.     Gilho goes out with friends at a Korean bar

a.      Show Gilho  having fun with friends, but clearly still has wuesong in his thoughts.

b.     Gilho returns to the apartment with one drunk friend (Taeyeong)

6.     Gilho and taeyeong surprisingly finds Wuesong inside the apartment cooking a meal.

a.      Taeyeong screws with the goose until the goose bites him

b.     Wuesong panics and patches him up.

c.      They decide to go to sleep.

7.     Wuesong wakes up in the middle of Daeboreum (full moon night)

a.      He finds his mother on the balcony

b.     Intimate moment between boy and mother.

c.      Gilho wakes up as well and is surprised to see the goose was really his mother all along.

d.     Gilho and Wuesong decide to kiss in this magical moment and the screen fades to black.

PROLOGUE

ON this day, Twenty years ago, it was January 22nd in the year of our lord, 1997. It would be later this year, on the evening of September 10th,  that a *young man named Jeffrey Shea was born to his Mother, Carole Lesley Shea, and his Father, William Peter Shea Sr. He would be the youngest of Four sons, his brothers being William Peter Shea Jr., Jonathan Tucker Shea, and Robert Moore shea. 

I can definitely look back on being born as a pretty big deal for me. I'm not being melodramatic when I say that everything about my life changed once I was born. I would rate the experience at 4/5 lullabies about stars.

Some time after I was born, and had lived for some time, My two parents came together and decided that it would be a good idea to get a divorce.

After much divorcing and time passed, I then lived in two different houses, one, My Dad's, and the other, My Mom's.

I believe it was because of this that I was raised a certain way. My two parents, suddenly forced to take control of their own lives and responsibilities instead of sharing them, became more like older siblings that I lived with than parents. It probably didn't make a huge difference, but I can't really be sure. I think it made them a bit more honest with me and my brothers, which is something I value. Ultimately, I ended up with two very loving parents who were preoccupied for most of the time, and three mischievous-as-hell older brothers who I spent most of my time around.


I think my parents' divorce effected my two oldest brothers far more than me or my third oldest brother. They were both older, and more mentally cognizant during "the thick of it". Truthfully, I prefer to avoid being melodramatic about it. If not only because it wasn't a huge deal emotionally for me, I don't like taking these ice-breaker activities to dump out my purse.

We were largely unsupervised, either being at home while our mom was at work, or out and around while our dad worked from home. We prowled around our neighborhoods like a miscreant pack of wolves. We watched TV that was rated above our age demographic, lit fireworks in our yard, and tainted the quaint neighborhood youths with our rich vocabulary of swear-words.

I will admit that as a child I was kind of a bastard. I had friends who's houses I would go to, but more often than not, just to eat their food. Looking back, I commend my resourcefulness, because I was hungry, but the slyness is not lost upon me.

Anyway, after much smoke-bombing trash cans and time passed, I began to develop an interest in the arts.

As a child, I loved storytelling. In pursuit of these interests, I owned and either broke or lost a number of Cameras, and drew on every sheet of many reams of 8.5x11 paper. I would either have been making a film with friends, or creating an entire comic book about my own cartoon characters. Many of the stories I told through these mediums were 100% mayhem. If it was something I filmed, It would just be a showcase of some practical or digitally composited film effect, like an explosion, or a rudimentary dummy flying off a house roof. If it were a comic, it was about a human/cat hybrid stopping a giant explosion or something.

  After many cameras broken, household printers running empty, and time passed I ended up sort of making a career of my skills.









* I wasn't born a young man, i was born a little baby.