Archival Footage

This clip has a lot of good shots of big fires. We could use the fires shown at 2:26, 2:32, 2:40, and 3:02-3:12, without the audio. We also plan to use archival footage of mobs and soldiers. The shots of fires and mobs will be used at the beginning of our trailer during a sequence of short shots that help create the dystopian premise of our trailer.

Movie Trailer

In Time. Andrew Niccol. PG-13. 2011

After being gifted more than 100 years, Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) travels out of the ghetto to New Greenwich and tries to bring down the time system with the help of Sylvia Weis (Amanda Seyfried), the daughter of the rich Phillipe Weiss (Vincent Kartheiser). The two are pursued by the Timekeeper (Cillian Murphy) as they attempt to redistribute time evenly throughout the districts. 

The action-packed trailer for In Time gives an effective overview of the plot using text, dialogue, and music. The entire first half of the trailer is used to develop the movie's premise that citizens live in a dehumanized state where time is the new currency. Text gives the audience background information about the society, helping the viewer understand what is happening during the trailer. The music throughout the trailer creates a sense of urgency, its volume increasing until the gunshot that ends the trailer. Short clips from the movie keep the trailer exciting, and captivates the audience. The fast pace also adds to the intensity of the trailer. For my dystopian trailer to stay interesting, my group will need to keep each shot short, as longer shots tend to be boring for the viewer. I will use text at the beginning of the trailer, similar to In Time's trailer, to establish the film's setting. Using techniques similar to those used in In Time's trailer will help my group create an exciting trailer for our Dystopia project.

5x5

1. Kerry hitting
2. Annie taking a ball
3. Play at third
4. Kara's bunt
5. Allie's hit, Annie running home

To create this 5x5, I used a Canon PowerShot SD850 IS. I edited it using iMovie. While I was editing my project, the of my clips' audio was not playing on iMovie, but when I uploaded it to YouTube it was there.
I am fairly pleased with my 5x5. The audio in it is really bad though, as is the quality (it's pretty pixelated).
For our next independent film challenge, we could make another short film. It could tell a story, and have a time limit like the 5x5. We could creatively tell a story using a similar format.

Online Learning

The article "World Without Wall: Learning Well with Others" by Will Richardson discusses the expansion of the classroom to a global internet learning community. In the "Collaboration Age," students are able to access and share information on any topic they are interested in on the internet. Richardson believes that teachers need to "reconsider our roles in students' lives, to think of ourselves as connectors first and experts second." He hopes that children will be able to learn from each other more than they have in the past, sharing ideas on blogs. I find the quote above interesting because it suggests completely redefining teachers' roles in their students' learning. 

I think, however, that so much online learning could potentially distance teachers from students. I find classroom time to be much more rewarding that time spent researching alone, and would not want to lose this time or replace it with more individual online activities. I did however find it amazing how much of a difference Laura Stockholm made with her blog. I am interested in learning about editing techniques for film, and could subscribe to blogs discussing editing. Blogs are good ways to share ideas, but I would not want to focus my education around online learning.

500 Days of Summer

Writer Anthony O. Scott, from the New York Times, seems pleasantly surprised by 500 Days of Summer's creatively organized plot. He starts off by giving his opinion of the movie, as well as the movie's theme that love can be confusing, and can fail in the end, but still be a good experience. Most of the review focuses on summarizing the plot of the movie, although Scott does spend some time discussing the actors and the cinematography. He likes Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt together, but wishes that Marc Webb had developed the character Summer in to a complete character. Scott felt that her character lacked depth.
For our quarterly movie review, I think that we should only have a basic structure to follow, allowing some freedom as far as organization goes. We could just be required to discuss the three aspects of film, giving us the chance to decide what to write about based on what we find important during the film. I also don't think that the reviews should be too long, as most movie goers want a short, concise review to read, not an essay.

First Post

I chose this picture because I really wish that I could sit on a cloud. The immensity of the sky is also impossible for me to grasp (but fun to try to think about).

My name is Andrea and I am sophomore in CAP. I really like dark chocolate... especially in chocolate chip pancakes...I would probably eat them everyday if I could... I like hiking and climbing mountains  and I really want to learn how to sail this summer. I play softball a lot and I did indoor track last year (which was actually a sport involving a lot of exercise). I like the actual filming part of the filmmaking process and believe that cinematographers are very unappreciated. I also never learned how to use Final Cut Pro and can't edit movies...and I'm a terrible actor...

My only film experience was during the CAP TV studios class second semester last year. My favorite project last year was the Info-flow show open project. We were able to do whatever we wanted, and did not have to make extremely long films (they were supposed to be around 30 seconds long). I helped film the show open, but could not really help edit it. I've never really done any long film projects.

We could use these blogs as a way to discuss group projects or provide feedback for teachers about assignments we've done. I chose this picture because I really wish that I could sit on a cloud. The immensity of the sky is also impossible for me to grasp (but fun to try to think about).