Blog Assignment #8

The main theme in I Am Legend is never give up, no matter how bad your circumstances may be there is always hope. In this scene he is bathing his dog while listening to Bob Marley’s Don’t Worry Be Happy. That by its self shows strong thematic meaning because of the songs lyrics. He then proceeds to shut the blinds and cover the windows as the song continues to play. This signifies that he is hopeful about surviving his circumstances. I would say this didactic because the entire movie he talks about survival and making it to the safe village, which implies the theme.

There are quite a few elements that lead me to the theme through out the scene. First, is the use of lines, as he walks up to the window the lines shown on the glass convey he is separated from the outside world. Also when he shuts the doors in front of the window it shows the vertical lines created by shadows once again showing his isolation. Secondly, the rhythm in the scene also demonstrates the theme. The song in the background is what enforces the rhythm which as I mentions before lyrically explains the situation and theme of the movie, because it saying to not worry about where you are now and to be happy in the present because anything is possible. Lastly, tension and release is used at a key point in the scene. When the alarm goes off and the song fades out the tension build extremely, because as a viewer it brings you back to realizing the reality of his life, and that he has a time limit for everyday activities. Then he snaps back and the release happens as he goes around shutting doors and covering windows to avoid the nightfall and being spotted by the creatures. As an audience member you can then relax because he is safe for the time being. All of the elements together help demonstrate the theme through out this scene, along with various others through out the entire film to convey the theme of survival through anything.

Blog Assignment #7

The two animations I chose to compare are Up and Monsters Inc , both of which are my favorites! They however have contrast between their animation styles that I would like to discuss.

            First, color is one major difference between the two. In Monsters Inc the hues are al based off greens and blues mostly, at least in this photo. As for the saturation I find Monsters Inc to be very saturated in this picture particularly because the light is shinning right on the characters making the colors more intense. They stand out more because their characters colors are very bright and the room around them is all black making them pop and come to life more. There is obviously strong brightness because of the spotlight shinning on them which like I said makes the scene come alive more. As for Up there is a very color scheme. However, if you just look at the characters themselves they are wearing very dual colors compared to their surroundings. The characters themselves are lighter dual colors making them saturated, but the surroundings are both saturated and unsaturated having more value. The colors are much more intense in the back ground making the scene have a lot of depth. The brightness its different than Monsters Inc because this is more of a natural sun light rather than a spot light.

            Secondly, lighting greatly impacts both pictures. In Up the lighting is natural which casts a shadow on the boy who is having a great time but keeps the old man in darkness. That demonstrates the mood of the scene because you can tell the older man is very annoyed and wants to keep moving forward wear as the boy is having a great time and is just basking in the sun light. The main symbol in this is the house at the top, which is lit because that is the symbol of “home” through out the movie. In Monsters Inc the major light is from the spot light shinning on them. This creates a shadow on the wall behind them. It also displays the mood of the scene and them being in fear of what ever is casting that light on them. I don’t however see a clear symbol being displayed in this exact picture. Both vary good animations with different creative techniques!

Blog Assignment #6

The first five shots of this scene don’t tell us very much of what is to come because they only take up about the first twenty seconds or so. However, the director used the 180-degree rule, the rule of thirds, and the 30 rule throughout the twenty-second span. 

            First I will go through the 180-degree rule. The camera as far as I can tell stays with the characters eyes. When she looks out the elevator gate the camera does. So the quick jumps from her to what is going on outside the gate are not jump cuts. They aren’t because they still stay on the 180-degree line of the character and the characters movements, and if you follow the characters movements or there eyes it cannot be considered a jump cut.

            Next the rule of thirds, which is also displayed well in the first five shots. When it is a close up of Ariadne she is always in the middle segments of the thirds or right on the line. When it is not her if it is an object outside the elevator that object is always with in the segment of thirds. When the shot of the hotel room is shown all of the major components are in between segments. For instance the knocked over chair is directly in the middle, which draws are attention immediately. Then as our eyes move to the outer segments we see the couch, which is key later in the scene and the brightly lit lamp also catching our attention.

            The rule of thirty is used quite a bit as wall but in a more subtle way. There are multiple close ups in the first five shots, Adriane’s face, the train, the buttons, and the room in the last shot. All of those would be jump cuts but because the director only used a 30 percent increase in zoom they flow better and make the shots smoother.

            I think the director did a great job of obeying all three rules and by doing so created a put together scene along with the entire movie. I thought his directing was impeccable and brilliantly done. I really enjoyed the movie! If it weren’t for the strong decisions he made I don’t think it would be as good.

Blog Assignment #5

For this song deconstruction blog I chose to compare Heartless by Kanye West to the cover version done by Kris Allen. I tried to think of an original song and cover that were done completely different while keeping some similarities through out. Kanye’s version has a tempo between moderate to allegro depending on either verse or chorus. He seems to sing the chorus slower than the verse because he is “rapping” the verse where as the chorus he is singing. The rhythm is coming from the beat if the drum, which I would guess, is from a synth.  The groove is very soulful and but intense at points. From what I can tell the instruments are synth based and there isn’t really a variety of them. The structure is  pretty basic the there is an intro/ chorus then verse 1- chorus-  verse 2- chorus- bridge- chorus.  The emotional architecture follows the organization because the emotion gets stronger through the chorus and drops again during the verse.  There isn’t very much height in this song because the pitch stays steady through the verse and goes up only a little in the chorus. As far as the width there is slight panning but nothing extremely noticeable. The depth is very boring because there isn’t any as far as instruments because they stay the same and the volume doesn’t change a lot.

            The version I like more of this song is Kris Allen’s cover. The tempo is andante to moderate. The source of rhythm comes from the backbeat of the drums, and the groove is very rhythmic and soulful but a different soulful than Kanye’s. The two prominent instruments are drums and guitar. However, there is a subtle violin in the back that gives it more depth. The structure is the exact same as the original but the emotional architecture is a little different because Kris gives it more emotion in the intro and verses. There is much more height and depth in this cover as well, which is the main reason I like it better! The original is too boring for me because Kanye doesn’t use height or depth, which makes the song less emotional and relatable.