I enjoyed the films about God and stuff, but I was more entertained by the prospective students doing eye rolls as their parents trailed in behind them. I've never envisioned myself making films with christian themes such as The Apostle or Cinema Paradiso, even though I know that's the core idea of this class. I don't think I'm called to make my own films, especially not ones where I'd subtly share about my faith. I think I still have a lot more growing to do as a christian before I take on that task. But I'm still young, and who knows what God will lead me to do in my career.

The clip from The Apostle was really enjoyable because it played on the humorous relationship between the boy and the preacher with their raised voices and italian language. I was involved in the clip, and the storyline intrigued me, so I plan on watching the full movie in the near future (hopefully this weekend).

I'm still deciding whether I'm up to the challenge of being a christian in the film industry. I would much rather work on the next mainstream film and keep my mouth shut, but I know that I'll have the responsibility to live out my faith if I get the opportunity. Leeper closed by saying that christians should have a quieter, learned influence on others, rather than an in-your-face-I-know-everything approach. It's up to us if we as christians are to have a say in the film industry.

Documentary Filmmaking in Life Today

Documentary is a style of filmmaking I absolutely admire and adore. Working in documentary filmmaking is a career path I actually would like to pursue. Year after year I am always infatuated with the new doc features released and I especially love doc shorts as they bring a very different visual style that opposes that of a traditional documentary view. Ever since I watched the film Nanook of the North I knew that documentary is something I want to pursue and work in. More recently I have been a HUGE fan of the documentary The Act of Killing. Joshua Oppenheimer is an absolute idol of mine and I respect his work greatly. Next year a companion piece to The Act of Killing is being released titled The Look of Silence and it focuses on the victims of the murders in The Act of Killing. If you are unfamiliar with what I am talking about, The Act of Killing is on Netflix (both the theatrical cut and the directors cut). It is such a powerful and important film, Oppenheimer unearthed a genocide that is widely unknown and misunderstood. As a result of both of these films, Oppenheimer can no longer return to Indonesia as he would have to fear for his safety from the government. Many of the crew members on the making of the film actually remain anonymous to this day to protect themselves. That may sound like a dangerous life, but it is for the love of the art and the love of humanity. This is something I am definitely looking forward to working in and cannot wait to start working in documentary even more.

The Walking Dead

     I have watched the show The Walking Dead ever since its release date and have been keeping up with each episode of the show throughout its four seasons and into its fifth season. The very first episode of the first season does a fantastic job of leaving you with a cliff hanger and I have been faithfully watching ever since. In my opinion the show has gone down over the seasons however do to the writers' willingness to kill off main characters at any point without. While this makes those episodes extremely tense and interesting, this also means the episodes after tend to lack because that character is no longer a part of the story. At times the story also seems to minimize the risk that the zombies pose by making almost all of the later season's conflicts associated with other living people. Countless times the main group of characters we are following faces off against other groups in a fight to the death. While a little of this is fine and possible even necessary, I think it takes away from the story when their conflicts tend to overshadow the zombies altogether. If not for these flaws I feel that The Walking Dead could have been one of the best shows on televisions and one of the best I have ever seen.  

I am Officially Whelmed

After today's class, I can say I am officially whelmed. (10 points to anyone who gets the reference). But after some of the stuff we watched today, my mind was finally blown again. I've been relatively just entertained, amused, and bored in class lately, but today brought everything back up to speed.

The first few we watched, Cinema Paradiso, On the Water Front, and The Apostle, were all very interesting. I've never heard of, or seen any of them before. The imagery and use of the bell was pretty ingenious in Cinema Paradiso, it representing both his life in the clergy and his appeals in the movies. On the Water Front had a really awesome speech, different, but really cool. I can slightly relate to the Apostle - I've seen Pentecostal preachers before, they can be kinda scary, but I've also been to a black church before in the middle of Philadelphia on a missions trip. That was quite an experience and honestly really fun. My group was the minority in the room, people were giving us weird looks because we had no idea how the church worked, and it was loud and people were on their feet dancing around. At my home church, people just sit there and occasionally laugh, pretty different, but interesting none the less.

Then that last film, Tree of Life, just blew my mind. The imagery mixed with the voice over and the sound - holy crap is that some powerful stuff. It completely boggles my mind when I think of or see imagery portraying the heavens or creation in that sense. It's really hard to describe because we don't have the right Earthly words for it, but I'm in awe with that stuff and it just makes you feel transcended. Powerful, powerful stuff.

I can't even begin to describe this.

So I am now officially whelmed again in this class.

visit day

Holy sausages today was very normal, apart from all the prospective students, and the whole sitting next to someone’s mom, that was awkward. How about those clips though, really enjoyed listening to that one about the mafia and that preacher that monologue was crazy good it was powerful and struck deep cords. It wasn't just like Jesus man, it was you should be ashamed look what you have done to God's children and thus to God. 

That crazy video about the churches with the people yelling Jesus was a bit different to me, I have never before seen something quite like that. No real discerning message just strong worship of the Messiah at extreme volumes for extended periods of time. It was certainly different, not my personal taste but interesting.

The retelling of Job was so beautiful, I fully wanted to see the rest of the film, I would have not minded the long ten minute full intro because that was some of the most beautiful CGI (at least I think, don’t really know much about it) I have seen. It was very artistic, and I would have definitely been interested in the parodied elements concerning the films closeness to Job

oh also female Jesus... cuz i need a picture

Vlogging with Disabilities

The line in the documentary that stood out to me was that if a person has a phone in their pocket, then anyone could make a documentary film. Oddly the film makers showed phones that had no cameras, but that’s beside the point. That statement seems to have only gotten truer. (I feel like that’s not a word, but I’m going to roll with it.) With smart phones, people actually have a camera in their pocket that can take photos and videos and be immediately uploaded online for people to see.

Before I started watching specific vloggers and youtubers, I had a very narrow view of physical disabilities. I was one of those people who thought that if you can’t see it, it must not exist. I automatically assumed that if someone parked in a handicap spot and looked young and healthy then they must be a liar.

Then I started following two specific people: NerdCubed and KaeyiDreams. Nerdcubed has an auto immune disorder called ME (it’s also called chronic fatigue syndrome) that makes it so whenever he sleeps his body and mind don’t actually get the rest that he needs. This can lead him to periods of time when his immune system shuts down and he gets incredibly sick.

Kaeyi also has ME, along with a chronic pain disorder called fibromyalgia. On the vlogging channel she runs with her boyfriend (called InTheLittleDream) she talks about her illnesses. She has a couple videos that go through her process of being diagnosed and some others where she talks about how she has to change her lifestyle to accommodate her medication and pain. Recently she’s posted videos detailing the struggle she has with doctors trying to get them to see to any medical problems she may have; they tend to shrug off any of her pain as a symptom of her fibromyalgia pain, even if it’s pain she doesn't normally experience.

Because of these two and many other vloggers with various mental and physical disabilities, I have a much better understanding of how broad and hidden disabilities can be. Plus I have resources that these vloggers will sometimes give out to give to a friend who is going through her own diagnosis process for a chronic pain disorder.

These experiences that vloggers share with their subscribers allows people to see the world from this new perspective and try to understand what life must be like for these people. Like documentaries, they share their life and experiences. Some do it through skits and mockery, others do it through pointing a camera at themselves and just talking. Either way, they stay true (or a bit exaggerated for comedy) to their own experience. 

Documentaries

Documentaries have always been important to me. I'm not really sure why, but they've always seemed interesting to me. Personally I love ones that tackle controversial issues like activism. That probably has something to do with the fact that my dad was an activist. He was very involved in the American Indian Movement, which as a national organization was put on the FBI watch list. Many radical organizations were put on that list in the 70s, which is when they were most active. 

I have a poster for a documentary hanging in my room. The Documentary is called Incident at Ogala. It is the story of Leonard Peltier. In 1975, 2 FBI agents were killed in a shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation. This occoured only a few weeks after the Occupation of Wounded Knee, which was a peaceful protest where we occupied wounded knee to remember the famous battle. The Documentary tells the story of what really happened that day, and how Leonard Peltier was falsely accused.

The poster actually belonged to my dad, but I took it when I went through his old posters over the summer.

Documentaries are important. They show lives that we might not get to see normally, and they raise awareness for issues that the general public doesn’t tend to think about. In a way, documentaries are their own kind of activism. They come in and show what is really happening, and can be built in a way that exposes things people may not have thought about, or that they were misinformed about by mainstream media.

Viewing God Through the Lens of a Camera

I was so happy to get back to live action filmmaking in class today. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching the animated films this semester, but live action is where my heart truly is. Watching these films today made me realize that the medium of film is one of the closest ways we can portray the glory and power of God. That final film we watched, The Tree of Life, really just showed the raw, unexplainable power of God during creation. I think you would be hard pressed to find someone who could watch that and remain unmoved by it. I certainly felt incredibly insignificant after watching it.

            I also think that the same thing can be said about Prince of Egypt. You want to talk about showing God’s majesty and unmatchable power, watch the parting of the Red Sea scene. I agree with Professor Leeper, you get chills when you see the shadow of the whale in the water. I think the animation of that scene is absolutely beautiful, and it is no wonder that film is so well remembered. Again, I think it is very possible to incorporate these amazing Biblical stories into films. It is how you incorporate those stories that is key.    

Super Size Me

     I'm not a huge fan of documentaries and have only seen a handful of them all they way through. One of the most memorable documentaries I have seen has been Super Size Me because of its more lighthearted nature and its extremely interesting plot. This film is so captivating because just about everyone has had McDonald's and almost everyone who has eaten there has found something that they like to eat there.

                             

     At first the idea of eating at McDonald's everyday might seem appealing, but as we soon find out, the health concerns and dietary risks far outweigh the initial appeal. One part of the trial that made it all the more difficult was that Morgan Spurlock had to "super-size" his meal anytime one of the McDonald's employee asked him if he would like to. This only added to the health risks/problems and at one time Spurlock's doctor told him he had to quit doing this diet or he could face major health repercussions. The reason this documentary stuck out to me over others was because of its relevance and the sheer magnitude of the task that Spurlock decided to put himself through. I think this documentary serves as a good reminder of the negatives of eating too much fast food and its definitely worth the watch.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

I think Professor Leeper will appreciate this post considering how much he loves Japanese culture and film.

About a week ago I watched Jiro Dream’s of Sushi and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!!!! It is probably one of my top 5 favorite documentaries. It documents the life of Jiro an amazing way, and it contains amazing picture and an amazing message. That message being, and I quote.

“Once you decide on your occupation you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill.”

I love this because I find it to be so true today, because to many people complain about their job. I mean you have the choice to do what ever you want to do and yet decide to do job’s that they hate. Another line in this movie that got to me and kind of explains this is something one of the shrimp dealers said.

“These days the first thing people want is an easy Job. Then, they want lots of free time. And then, they want lots of money. But they aren’t thinking of building their skills.”

I highly recommend that everyone watches this.

Tree of life

I’ve seen the tree of life about a year or so ago. It is an incredibly long and tedious movie, but it is well worth it. I found it to be very similar to Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey. This is because it contains long elaborate scenes that don’t always have music to go along with them. In this sense it caused me to think more about the meaning behind the story.

To be honest I never really noticed the connections to Job in the bible until class today. It makes me happy to see that the bible can be portrayed in such a… unique and creative way. I’m not saying that it’s bad, if you mistook my tone there. It is absolutely brilliant.  

On top of all this the film is absolutely beautiful picture wise. They made the story seem so realistic and genuine. In some ways it caused me to connect to it more because it was written to take place in a more current time period. The everyday life that is taking place in this film is represented in a more artistic way that many people don’t have the patients to watch.

But that’s what I love.