finale project

finaleproject from mayenie jalloh on Vimeo.

Extra Credit

After watching Ricerche: three by Kerry Downy, a thought I had was why at the beginning of the ''non-fiction'' the interviewees who are students were silent for quite some time? Will it be safe to states that it's the filmmaker'signature? I also found it intriguing that the filmmaker said three was not a documentary, then where will it fit, if not a non fiction? Another thing that I have noticed is how the women were a bit 'shy' prior to the question related of their conception of feminism. Such thought provoking question lead to instantly creating a whole other setting, they now were at ease, almost not acknowledging the camera. Downy is influenced by Pier Paolo Pasolini,an Italian filmmaker. As a result she uses some of his techniques such as interviewing people in public environments,always as a group (family,neighborhood ) some of Pasolin's questions. One of the main topic is Sexuality versus other ideology such as sex ,identity, life-styles,beliefs etc... Downy investigate the idea behind one's conflict regarding sexuality based on your gender, race, sexual orientation. Moreover how in the present time, in a all- women's college think of the topic. A take away is an open minded and high tolerance when it comes to sexuality,which is quite different from back in the days. Close ups and pans of both the place and interviewees help the audience sense the excitement of the atmosphere,which is supported by the subject of the topic.

Blog 4

I watched Portrait of Jason by Shirley Clarke. Jason, a gay African works us throughout the journey of his renaissance, sharing his joy, frustration and excitement with the viewers as the film progresses. He is asked by the film maker, what does he do for a living? The close analysis on that scene is used to portrait his answer which is a change of mood. The filmmaker uses different shoots, revealing the severity on Jason’s expression. The extreme and medium close ups attest of the intensity of Jason’s annoyance, marked by the zoom in and out. The filmmaker plays with the lens; therefore details of the shots give deeper information to the audience While answering the question, Jason is playing with his fingers nervously, the extreme close up shows the audience the stress of his forehead. The camera’s light moves next to his phony smile and then suddenly to the level of speed in his speech. Clearly, there is a change of tone, revealing an increase of nervousness. The camera zooms in on his face, and he starts answering the question, the audience notices that the prior zoom in is becoming a zoom out. The lens of the camera points at his facial manner, body language, and tone of his voice. Both the meaning and diversity of the shots of the filmmaker help convey messages. The material and techniques used by the filmmaker allowed the audience to sympathize with Jason’s narration. Also most of the scene ends up by either a blur or a blank black image.

Extra Credit:the Art of the Real at Lincoln Center

On Tuesday, April 15^th I went to see a non-fiction
film, Suitcase
of Love and Shame, by Jane Gillooly at the Art of the Real at Lincoln Center. It was a great experience for me as a
media maker. I was able to learn how creativity in Media contributes on constructing
great work, as the one I saw.

  One
of the no common approaches used by the author is that, at the very beginning
of her journey of the production of Suitcase
of Love and Shame, the artiste found the story on eBay. She
won the bid for $100 on the suit case in which 60hours of raw material was on. In
it there was a recorded love interaction, a love affair between Tom and
Jeannie.

Then the film maker decided not to tell the story of
the two lovers, but instead to tell the stories of a man and a woman who are
having a love affair, half century ago, in the 60’s .She works on the film
without respecting the chronologies of the story as it was presented in the suit
case. Instead she went by cherry picking
in order to see which team works together for what she had in mind. She was
able to reach her goal which is to produce a collection of history that talk
about a personal history over a period of time, here it was from 1962 to 1966.

The technologies
used are background sounds, music, different shot based on the image, many long
and medium close ups. Imageries were used by adding them or just using the one
on the raw material. Sometimes in the film, the music and sound are cut. She
played with it so that the audience can be aware of how image and sound
relationship can be developing as a structure.

All of it adds on
the filmmaker idea of how she imagined the scenario. She also omits most of the
material, on purpose because she said most of it was a repetition, very
similar: lot of breaking up and getting back together. She was inventing the
film. She cut the 60h into less than one hour.

Museum of the Movie Image

One of things the thing I have learned at the Museum of the Moving Image is that moving image does not apply to film and television,but also to video games.I was able during my visit to see some of the material used during the production of Media. I see how in order to do a movie,there must be a great coordination behind the scene,between the actor,the lighting,the make up artist.it is really a team work.I also learn that cinematographer work with the director. The funny thing is that I thought there were no such word in English,cinema being a french word. In french it mean the producer/ director,i found it to be very interesting.I also found very interesting the Automatic Dialogue Replace,which is how when a movie is shot in russian,one used that material to make it seem like it is shot in english, it does the transition.The process can be very challenging because the actor need to be as fast as the speaking character.Also i learned how watching a movie without sounds effect very much affect the meaning of the film.We watched Titanic without sound effect and it takes a lot out of it.The audience per se cannot feel sorry to the character or a scene,there is no emotion,no sympathy without the sound effect,.On the other hand with it,it become engaging,intense.

Blog#2 Soundwalk

Today I decided to take a walk at Best Buy at 86 & Lexg. I had to pick up my laptop, that way I killed two bird with one stone. As I walked my way in the store,i heard ''Wake me up'' by Avicci played at a moderate level. I headed at the Geek Squad platform. I used the stairs to get to the lower level where they had their section. In front of me, i heard two agents of Best Buy and Geek Squad conversing about the next big sale. It will be couple months ahead,they will shop at a very low rate. Considering the sale, and in addition of the discount they already have. As my feet touch the last stair,my attention is quickly shifted as I heard a girl bursting out loud. I heard her begging her parents to get her the PSP 3000 Mega. I walked pass them getting closer to the Geek Squad spot. I finally arrived at the reception desk,i wrote my name on the keyboard paper and sat,waiting for my turn. At my left I heard an ongoing conversation,it is a group of teenagers speaking in Spanish. Two rows behind me, an adult couple is speaking as well. They spoke loud because of the music,therefore i can hear them. They are talking about which restaurant to go for lunch;it is a french conversation. After a while,my name is called,i am in front of the agent,yet again,i heard: the endless noise of the phone ringing,the interaction between the agents and the customers,both presents and over the phone. After a quarter ,i heard another agent saying to the lady next to me:''thanks for shopping with us”,while I am still waiting....