Short Documentary Blog Post

For this blog, I decided to watch the True Life Documentary called "Resist the Power: Saudi Arabia".

Narrative

I found that this documentary had a very interesting narrative that would really appeal to a Western audience, for it shows four people or groups of people who are very similar to the normal middle class American teenager that cannot do the same very basic, almost rudimentary things that American teenagers know are commonplace and generally accepted for themselves. This documentary tailors itself to its younger audience by showing the oppression in Saudi Arabia by showing the actions young Americans take for granted being banned in Saudi Arabia, each of the four stories in the documentary showing struggles varying in importance to the general society and with varying levels of success in resistance, but all held together by the common thread of youth empowerment in any situation, indicative of the overarching issues in Saudi Arabia despite the levity of the issue at hand. The issue of a young man, Aziz, searching for a girlfriend to meet up with from Facebook seems really light, not important to the grand scheme of things, but the documentary shows how even his small resistance is important, for the narrative focuses much on the world around Aziz and the other subjects that are affecting his actions, surprising to the Western audience, like how young men can't go into the mall without their family being their with them, preventing Aziz from meeting up with a girl.

Some issues are shown to be more important in the "grand scale," like the work of Ahmed trying to get women to be able to be a part of city meetings and giving back to the poor people in Jeddah.

Of course, it is not like we get more emphasis on this aspect in the narrative because the narrative emphasizes all of the different stories, not just focusing on one, trying to create a more balanced issue, focusing on the important as well as the not so important according to general ideas.

The narrative usually involves switching between all four stories, basically switching 2 or 3 times for the beginning, middle and end of each story, to keep them matching to make a flowing story between the 4 stories. There is a lot of narration with characters doing some simple actions that does not distract much, combined with dialogue. The narrative ends very hopefully.

The narrative is lead by each of the characters for their own story, only with an overarching narrator to introduce the situation at the begining; its kind of weird not to have the narrator finish the story off, but it works for the set-up of the narrative itself, ending on the voice of each of the youth on their own, a vestige of their power, an important part of the theme of empowerment throughout.

Camera Work

The camera work can be shaky at times, when they are in a situation like a dialogue or something, like when Aziz is talking to the guard or when the band, Breeze of the Dying, is getting kicked out of the concert in Bahrain.

Much of the rest of the time, the shots are relatively fluid, with shots of what the characters do in their lives, like a slightly less planned movie, only slightly shaky, but only at times. A lot of the hopeful ideas, especially at the end, are developed by showing the characters walking towards a symbolic statue, like bicycle that Fatima walks by while talking about her plans for the future.You only really see talking heads at the beginning, in order to establish the characters and their voices and their conflicts.

Editing/Sound Design

Like I said before, the stories are intercut between each other at about three or so points, edited in order to keep the stories and the entire piece flowing. The editing intercuts dialogue, talking heads and narrative while seeing the actions of the characters that correspond to the narration/story, keeping the story interesting and the viewer involved because of the changing situations of speaking and action. I liked the sequence where we see Fatima narrating and then talking the store owner; the type of action is varied between us watching what she is doing while narrating and an actual dialogue that affects her efforts in her part of the documentary.

The sound design focuses much on the stereotypical Arabian music, but it works for the piece because it keeps it throughout, and kind of even works in its contrast to the metal band's music, showing just how much they are going against the norms of their region. Also, the music is a bit more adapted to the youthful vibe of the documentary, with some western influence, and is constant throughout, all of the music matching the rest throughout the rest of the piece. Sometimes its varies a bit with some dissonant music.

Youth Commission Documentary

Purpose: To inform people of what the Youth Commission is and what they do for the community.

Contacts: Lynsie and Seren-Youth Commission Coordinators, Youth Commissioners, veteran/co-chair Jessica, a new person (?), board and commissions member, policy track member

Questions:

“What was last year’s project/ your project last yr? (or other past projects)”

-“What made you guys chose this/these?”

What is this year’s project?

-What made you guys choose this?

Questions to YC members: Why did you decide to do Youth Commission and why did you continue with it?

What is the funnest thing you guys have ever done together and what’s the story behind that?

What is the best inside joke you guys have?

Overall Flow:

1. Show the setting in which the Youth Commission is based + Explain Commission

2. Explain past/current projects

3. Have people explain why in commission/serving it

4. Any Jokes/Fun Times

5. Conclusion

Script with Intro and Closing:

[Note: all interview shots are established before B-roll when they are answering question for the first time, then is unnecessary; MCU with speaker on right for all shots, sitting down preferably]

[Ask interviewees to answer in complete sentences]

B-roll of building, using the tricky elevator (maybe joke shot of trying to get into elevator quickly; sound edited for convenience and jest, explanation in words on screen), Coupa, lingering on it on way to the office, the office itself, the quirks, the noisy windows, also the public meetings, the dome building in Redwood City to signify government, mostly ELS, some CU on quirks, LS and CU on elevator.

VO: “A bank building in the middle of San Mateo seems like a strange place to put a non-profit, possibly even ironic, but yet here resides the Youth Commission. Here, up a creepy elevator that closes even as you are still walking through it, is a program run by the Youth Development Initiative to empower youth through its programs and nurture their growth. The Youth Commission has existed since 1993 and is an officially sanctioned San Mateo County Commission that meets in the Redwood City Supervisors’ meeting room for public meetings and in this office in San Mateo next to some inexplicable business. What is Coupa anyways? Regardless, in this building is where much of the actions happen for the Youth Commission.”

Have Advisors answer questions about “What is the structure of the Youth Commission?”

VO: Over the past 17 years of the Youth Commission’s existence, the Commission has evolved into an organization that has students either individually or in a group produce an annual project that benefits the community on a certain project.

Have people answer Question about “What was last year’s project/ your project last yr? (or other past projects)”

-“What made you guys chose this/these?”

­B-roll of magazine, depressed people in pictures, Gunn H.S., etc

What is this year’s project?

-What made you guys/you choose this?

B-roll-Alco-pops in liquor stores, party cups, % alcohol in alco-pops and other liquor, $ of water or some other drink vs. alcohol, panning over alco=pops, CU or ECU for all.

VO: Perhaps students originally came to the Youth Commission to garner community service hours to pump up their college apps, but for many that’s not the only reason they have stayed.

Crescendo of Music (inspirational type) B-roll of meetings, magazines, working together, up and out ice-breakers

Questions to YC members: Why did you decide to do Youth Commission and why did you continue with it? Advisors: Why did you chose to work with the Youth Commission?

VO: Of Course, this group has fun too; it is a bunch of teenagers all together.

B-roll: The group doing an activity, a teenager leading an activity (i.e. in icebreaker, team building activity, like at public meeting probably), LS, MCU on teenagers, activities

What is the funnest thing you guys have ever done together and what’s the story behind that?

What is the best inside joke you guys have? (Nick and the apple juice, acting as a pterodactyl)

VO: As is apparent, the Youth Commission is making a difference in our community, regardless of whether or not you see it as large or small.

B-roll: Everyone together, camera leaving the building, showing the grand area of the public meeting.

Baraka (Not Obama)

(The Inspiration For Both Avatars)

Introduction and General Analysis

Baraka is a "silent" movie made in 1992 about the different parts of the world, their physical features and their cultures in general. It contains no dialogue, forcing the viewer to focus on the screen and the sometimes eerie sound design. My general view on this film is that it is like an "acid trip" of sorts that is meant to highlight the beauty in the diversity of our world and how in this diversity we can still be quite connected. It also has a message about how our modern society sometimes fails to see the beauty of the past and our surroundings and keeps on moving in a flurry around it to go on with our "progress", like when the monk walks through the street of that Asian city and everyone just walks around him, paying little head or just being annoyed by his presence.

Also, the environment is affected by progress in the way that the movie shows many amazing sights of the environment in the movie at the beginning but then moves on to more cityscapes and even trees being cut down and hills being blown up. I like the message conveyed and I feel that the movie is quite trippy, but it is interesting to note the "naturalist" ideology behind the film and how some of the movie's messages seem almost outdated, if not just out of current vogue. It is about the negative effects of modernization and deforestation (as well as general environment abuse), which are topics that are still important today, but now such issues seem more "commercialized", as if they are such a part of life, like "going green" that they are almost unnoticeable, but this movie brings up such issues again, instead of about things like the evils of the exploitation of natural resources by world powers like in Avatar, a movie with a similar earthy tone that is more recent. Later on in the movie it involves more of the negative effects on humans with the depiction of genocide in a genuinely scary way, focusing not on the actions of the genocide but instead what has been left behind, emphasizing the humanity of each person killed by showing their photographs. I am not sure what the end of the movie is, so it is hard to judge what exactly I believe the film makers want us to take away from the movie as a whole, but I think they want to inspire an appreciation for life and perhaps give some insight and hope for how we can change the world for the better through increased unity as people as a whole, not just as separate cultures.

(some of #3 is mentioned in this part)

Questions Answered

1. I think that the movie is named Baraka because the film seems to be meant to give a "breath" of fresh air into the human culture, as is to tell people to take a deep breath and look at the world around you in such a time of globalization and modernization. This is sort of like how the monkey at the beginning looks very contemplative; the shot lingers on the monkey for a very long, almost uncomfortable time, forcing us to take the "strange" situation in, to "breathe in" the atmosphere. This long moment is trying to make us breathe and contemplate our lives in comparison to everyone else in the movie, to take time to respect the world for what it is and enjoy the differences around you and step back from "progress" for a little while seems to be the message in this movie. Also, progress is not always progress, for in our modern time we have been able to cause much destruction with our "progress" in technology, like genocide and the destruction of the environment. The title really shows an ancient mysticism, the awe of life that has always existed on earth because of its amazingly good and horrible attributes.

2. It is representing a critique of the modern world for it is kind of saying that we live our lives at too fast of a pace, too out of reach of nature. A lot more time is spent on shots of people in more traditional environments, a lot of time spent on each of their individual faces for the most native people. As the movie starts to get further away from traditional environments, like in the slum parts of the city where people do stop and think for a while, are more "slow going" like the more traditional people, less time is spent on their individual faces; we spend more time on their faces in groups, but that time spent is still less time that the time spent on the faces of the people in more traditional groups. In the big cities, mostly New York we see much less of the individual, with the shots time lapsed really fast to place no focus on one individual person but instead the flurry of the collective. There is no time spent on the individual or even small groups; this demonstrates how disconnected the "modern " world is from person to person.

3. I think I have basically explained this before.

4. This absence of dialogue is really important because it means that there are no subtitles, that everyone in the world can see the same film presented in the same way, weeding out the subjective translations and meanings of words. It also brings everyone together in way that it speaks in a way most people no matter where they are from or their education level is: through pictures.

5. Culture and city often involve a lot of people, a lot of rich contrasting colors while the nature involves cool colors with little contrasting colors; it is of course very natural. In both, there is sometimes a lot of movement, like with the clouds and the people in New York, and but often there is not, like in the water reflecting the sky and the people staring at the screen. The main contrast in movement is the sometimes people will move a lot and in very coordinated ways, like with those Asian men and their coordinated movement that probably helped inspire the similar movement in the movie Avatar.

6. This juxtaposition of the monk after all of the cigarette packing seems to show how modern industry, modern society, has taken a departure from the past, from the culture of the past, and now leaves it behind and ignores it, even if it is still an inexorable part of society. Spirituality is still present despite the flurry of modern day and it has the ability to coexist and should be accepted, but sometimes people are "too busy" to do so.

7. This representation of the poor shows us that much of the world is poor, no matter where they come from. It is something that is shared across countries, but it is not a good thing like much of what the world shares in its diversity of culture and race.

8. Much of the music seems to echo, as if the tracks are played "into" each other, a nice use of stereo it would seem (I am not sure if that is correct, it just seems to be so). The music where the people were all singing in their own languages stood out to me, for it was eerie since I did not understand it and it was very booming and echoing in the way that I mentioned before. The transitions were really nice when it went from a lot of movement to no movement, like all of the men swaying all together like in Avatar then suddenly changing to a still mountain/volcano top with only a bit of movement pulling into the mountain from the side. As a side note throughout the movie I really liked the way the camera kind of moved in on the side of the still pictures, like with that one white or tan building towards the beginning of the movie; it is more interesting that moving straight into the shot (it is revealed more artistically).

9. We probably watched this film because it was somewhat trippy and it forces you to focus on its editing style and "background" sound design. I am not sure what you mean by vision, but I guess if a more traditional movie wanted to imitate the effect of this movie. it could do it to some extent, but more of the traditional barriers like language and the subtlety of meaning of words in each culture, but a similar effect could be made with a protagonist touring the countries, but that also leaves less of the scenarios up to the viewer to interpret. A sense of awe could still be made, for the cinematography is still amazing in any movie, so it would still affect that attraction to nature all humans have. I think that I still do want to travel, but I would probably still chose more commercial places, which is not exactly what this movie is trying to emphasize.

Conclusion

Baraka is a movie that has power in its epic undertaking, but simple basic idea: show the world as it has been and how it is. In this idea it succeeds. I wonder how the "sequel" Samsara will be, with the changes in this world since 1992.

Box of Love-The Critique

Introduction

This is my film critique for my group with Crystal x2 about our movie Box of Love. This movie is about a homeless man who finds a love interest in an unexpected way after his dreams are crushed by the “perfect” woman. The story was a change from our normal suspense movies and it was really interesting using all of the different techniques based on the romantic comedy Amelie and the genre as a whole.

Script/ Narrative Story

There is a clear 3-act story in this movie, for it sets up a character that watches everyone else and is all alone, but then he sees a girl he is attracted to, thus setting up the maze of trying to please her, then being rejected into ignominy, only to be brought up by a new, better love interest in the end, creating a feeling of fulfillment. This movie really shows the theme of how one needs to look beyond outside appearances to get at the core personality of a person. Appearances are misleading; Frascuello finds love in the form of a grimy homeless person like himself, not a pretty rich girl. This is not to say that love is only found within ones own “kind” or rich people are horrible, but instead that sometimes one finds love where they least expect it. The characters are always in character; Frascuello may seem overly cynical at the beginning, but that just explains his readiness for a change in his life, to feel a true connection to someone else. The other characters are less dynamic, but they show that they are not always as they seem based on appearances. The dialogue is really not an issue, for we use no dialogue; we tried a voice over, but that did not really fit within the narrative arc of the story that shows more than it tells. Dialogue would just weigh down the flow of the story that depends much on the acting of the characters. The climax is reasonably original, for it is perhaps not expected from the beginning that another female character would come in, though it may be expected that the pretty girl would reject Frascuello.

Casting

All of the actors in this film are effective for their roles, especially for the main characters. Martin is always a versatile actor who can handle the fickle mood changes of Frascuello, from cynical to ecstatic. Jennifer’s portrayal of the rich girl works well with her clear confidence and intense facial expressions, as well as her whole look. Savannah is a good Ajuna, the homeless woman, for she is humble enough acting and shy, like the character of Ajuna should be. All the minor characters were fine, but Stephanie’s fat girl was a bit unconvincing, but it was kind of hard to stuff her face like that, so it is somewhat excusable. All of the characters look different enough with different features, like the sharpness of Jen and the softness of Savannah, each matching their respective characters.

Acting

As previously mentioned, most of the actors fit their roles really well, being convincing in both look and action. Frascuello is very endearing, as is Ajuna as far as we experience her presence, so we really care about what happens to them; the coldness of the other characters emphasizes the warmness within these characters, making the viewer like them more. The main characters stay in character the same way throughout the movie. The wardrobe and make up is really convincing and holds up throughout the movie; this movie depends a lot on the wardrobe of the characters. Frascuello and Ajuna are both homeless people and if they were all completely clean, their roles would be unconvincing; the dirt on their faces and their tattered clothing help bring their characters to life. Conversely, the prim and proper clothing of the rich girl and her boyfriend are important to showing their contrast to the other two.

Sound

All of the sounds are appropriately placed for proximity, but this issue rarely comes up. The background music probably calls attention to itself in the way that it is very varied from rap to instrumental music. Also, there is the issue that I may have some randomly placed music, like the water splash, but that is meant to place emphasis on the humiliation of Frascuello when he is pushed down by the boyfriend. The music may not always be the most appropriate for the situation, but that is used to make the situation comical, to various effects at times. The ending music is definitely my favorite part through, for it layers over quite well.

Staging and Props

The set designs really do capture the quirky feeling of the movie, especially in the coffee shop, for it shows the life of young city dwellers, and the field, for it shows a contrast to that city life, the concrete jungle. The park at the end is still a nice area, for it was in a nice position with the sun shining to emphasize the epiphany that Frascuello reached with Ajuna, but it was hard to film in at times because of its small size. Its sparseness does, however, place the emphasis on the relationship between the two. Sometimes there was an issue filming the falling motion in parking lot area around the bank, for there was a pole in the way of the action for the most part. There is enough visual separation between characters in the background for the most part, even in the crowded coffee shop, for the characters are wearing distinct clothes with some different colors. Any issues with time period are essentially null in this case, for the film takes place in the present day.

Lighting

The lighting is generally good; there are no major lapses other than the issues that we had with shadows. The major issue with the shadows was in the field because we had to make sure to maintain the 180 degree line and everything to make the match action transition from the scene by the parking lot. There were shadows of the camera and boom mike due to the position of the sun at the time, so therefore any of the shots that go over to Jen have a lot of mike shadow. It was hard trying to edit around this, so this was the major issue out of any of the lighting. Most of the lighting was outside and it worked relatively well, maybe even quite well. It was reasonably consistent and it produced a nice outline on the characters when the sun shined behind them in the park bench scene and a bit of the running through the meadows scene, emphasizing the feel-good nature of the film in that part of the story, casting the characters in a benign light. The sunset came at a very convenient time in those cases.

Titles and Credits

I think that the titles are reasonably appropriate for the movie; it is a nice and light template with modern sounding opening music. The opening represents the way how nature is a welcome escape to the urban jungle that Frascuello faces everyday of his life, the harsh realities of life. The lake and pasture background of the opener really shows how Frascuello choosing the natural beauty and appeal of Ajuna and the forest will make his life much better. It is support to be a bit cheesy, so it is. I think that it is reasonably legible, but it does go by in small script, so some of the actors’ names may be hard to read. The closing is more legible.

Camera Operation

We do indeed pay attention to the 180 line and how to set up shots, having a few nice foreground, midground and background shots that make the shot more interesting. The one pan that we really have in the movie is well motivated, for it shows a sudden realization in Frascuello that the chocolate box could be of some use to him. The camera movements are rarely noticeable, though the camera is a bit shaky sometimes because we rarely use the tripod.

Sound

There may be some issues in volume between shots, like when I accidentally put the volume down a little bit lower than the other similar tracks, but it is not that noticeable. There are only two lapses in the loops that I was having a lot of trouble trying to get rid of, one less noticeable than the other. The one at the beginning with the drinker was not too bad, but the one at the end where the music is ready to fade into the other track at the right moment, the way I connected the two tracks repeated the same few notes, which provides a discontinuity in the music that otherwise fits the scene well. The audio may be a little too varied, but that is supposed to fit the quirky nature of the film.

Editing

I think that the cuts are quite motivated in most cases, trying the move the story at a watchable pace, like how I used quick cuts in the dream sequence with gradual fades to try and hide the shadow mistakes, but also to make the sequence more dream-like, then using no fade to create a stark sense of being thrown back into the harsh urban reality again. Some of my cuts in general are a bit too long, especially at the beginning, but it is not overly noticeable. We could have had a few more reaction shots to show what the characters were thinking at the time, especially at the time when Frascuello snaps out of his dream, for we don’t see a close up that might have explained the feelings of the rich girl and Frascuello, providing a good contrast in their close-ups. Based on the footage that we shot, I believe that the way I edited the story it tells enough without being too long for the most part; it is only about 4:30 long this time. I also avoided issues like jump cuts and tried to avoid as many continuity errors as possible (that were not intended), which seems to have almost completely worked, but I may have missed a few things. The editing style is reasonably smooth, so it is only noticeable when I planned it to be (like in the part where the perspective of the couple at the end goes from their backs to their fronts to show how they are moving forward), so I think that it is fine for the most part.

Conclusion

Overall, I thought it was interesting to make a movie with a happy ending and overall positive tone. It has its own “quirks” so to speak, but it was interesting to do the sound design for it, but I would like to make a track that is a bit more congruous across the work with better sound layering and possibly some better ambiance.