Screen Arts 31/10

Citizen Kane

I keep hearing this title over and over and had no idea what it is about. After a little research though I can see why there is so much hype around it.

The story revolves around a loaded newspaper publisher that dies and in researching Citizen Kanes final word of Rosebud, the reporter retells Kane's life story. Orson Welles based the main character on a stereotype of real life Chicago characters in the newspaper industry and business tycoons. I found the final plot twist a funny yet fitting way to end the movie as well.

Behind The Scenes BSA106

Due to having issues with compressing my screen recordings, I have instead uploaded them to youtube for your viewing pleasure. I hope you are entertained by my interesting animation methods, please don't judge me lol.

Digital animation: https://youtu.be/triFPt7Xbbw
Scanned Images: https://youtu.be/ZThkbaSDvSM
Photographs: https://youtu.be/8H3srLDK6FM

Screen Arts 26/9

Missed class due to a coding workshop

Screen Arts 10/10

Finishing The Blair Witch project, and watching Being John Malkovich. Good chance to use class time for working on my projects. This weekend is going to be hectic, but I believe I can do it.

Screen Arts 9/10

300: Rise of an Empire

I loved the original 300, so was looking forward to seeing the sequel. Sadly however the storyline is rather minimal, and there seems to be a focus on the 3D and CGI elements. Now dont get me wrong, this movie would have looked awesome in the theatre with 3D glasses but coming off netflix its not enough to make up for the storyline. It was good to see some nods to the original in the cast, and with flashbacks but Im still partial to the Spartans not the Athenians. I believe this movie strayed a lot further from the actual historical battles also.

Queen Gorgo, King Leonidas' wife now in charge of Sparta due to the kings sacrifice at the gates.

https://img.cinemablend.com/cb/d/3/e/6/2/4/d3e62467f7e798c212df3a19d6b88be6221dc838c0ab590b037adb9546f06928.jpg

Artemisia, a greek woman betrayed by her country at a young age, raised and trained by the Persians and seeking revenge on Greece. I included her because she is a total badass.

http://barrystrauss.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/300-rise-of-an-empire-eva-green-2.jpg

Screen Arts 2/10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c4IoCA5fY0

Bleach

This anime revolves around a young guy that suddenly gets dropped into the world of Death Gods and souls. Based in a Japan type town, he doesnt fit the norm in that he has orange hair, and can see/talk to ghosts. The anime has 366 episodes with a range of story arcs following the lead character Ichigo as he fights for his world and his friends, growing as a person along the way.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZjE0YjVjODQtZGY2NS00MDcyLThhMDAtZGQwMTZiOWNmNjRiXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTA4NzY1MzY@._V1_.jpg

Screen Arts 3/10

1990's Film

This decade is the "Golden Age" for black cinema, "independent" films and  the emergence of an LGBT movement. Independent film is a film/short film that isnt produced in the major studios.

 Miramax Films was created by Harvey and Bob Weinstein in 1979. Before it was acquired by Disney in 1993, it was the leading independent film company. The Weinsteins left in 2005 and formed The Weinstein company. Films include The Piano, Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting.

The Sundance Film Festival was founded by Robert Redford in 1981 as a way to boost storytelling. The first festival was in 1985, spending 10 days showcasing independent films. In 2018 3,901 feature length films were submitted and only 110 were chosen to be shown.

Examples of some 90's classics.

Slacker(1990) directed by Richard Linklater

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTg2Nzg3Mjg5OF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTYwNDY3OTk4._V1_.jpg

My Own Private Idaho(1991) directed by Gus van Sant

https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,h_1248,w_2220/f_auto,q_auto,w_1100/v1555320510/shape/mentalfloss/idahohed.jpg

The Crying Game(1992) directed by Neil Jordan

https://deepfocusreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/cryinggame7.jpg

Reservoir Dogs(1992) written and directed by Quentin Tarantino

https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/sites/default/files/styles/header_image/public/8.%20Reservoir%20Dogs%20-%20CREDIT%20Lionsgate.jpg?itok=RgsMEF3G

El Mariarchi(1992) written and directed by Robert Rodriguez

https://images2.static-bluray.com/reviews/3684_1.jpg

Heavenly Creatures(1994) directed by Peter Jackson

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZWIxZTUwYjItYzViNC00MmY5LTgxODMtMzA2MjFkY2M0YjA0XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDY2NzgwOTE@._V1_.jpg

I never knew this was based on a real murder in christchurch until I looked a little deeper into it. I think its really cool that Peter Jackson used the actual locations for his re-telling.

Clerks(1994) directed by Kevin Smith

https://media.nbcwashington.com/images/1200*675/clerkdeathsmith.jpg

Very very funny, although I prefer Clerks 2 and Mallrats more. Kevin Smith was smart in making his character have very little dialogue, giving him all the time to concentrate on directing the group of movies the way he wanted them.

Kids(1995) directed by Larry Clark

https://filmsdeconstructed.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/kids-1995-03-g.jpg?w=1108&h=737&crop=1

Seven(1995) directed by David Fincher

https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,g_auto,h_1248,w_2220/f_auto,q_auto,w_1100/v1555387638/shape/mentalfloss/seven_primary.jpg

The Usual Suspects(1995) directed by Bryan Singer

https://fsmedia.imgix.net/3a/c6/79/13/e200/44c2/a6aa/da2b6e7fe749/usual-suspects-thumbnail.jpeg?rect=70%2C84%2C1727%2C864&auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&w=650

Every time I see a reminder of this movie, all I can think about was a behind the scenes video I saw in which Benicio Del Toro admitted to dropping numerous potent farts in this scene much to the dismay of the director, as many shots were ruined due to the actors reactions.

Scream(1996) directed by Wes Craven

https://filmschoolrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/billy-1024x599-700x525.jpg

Absolute classic, Skeet Ulrich was a heartthrob and for the 90's the style of horror fit. Of course no-one can mention Scream without thinking about Scary Movie and the sequels!

Swingers(1996) directed by Doug Liman

https://theporkchopexpressblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/swingers.jpg?w=600&h=400&crop=1

Bound(1996) directed by The Wachowskis

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/414uarsjrxL.jpg

Boogie Nights(1997) directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

https://www.gcfilmfestival.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/GCFF19_BurleighBrewing_BoogieNights-1.jpg

The Big Lebowski(1998) directed by Ethan and Joel Coen

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V0aDEvmf5u0/maxresdefault.jpg

It was rather shocking to see Jeff Bridges in this role, as I am used to only seeing him in more serious roles like Tron and Iron Man.

Velvet Goldmine(1998) directed by Todd Haynes

https://akns-images.eonline.com/eol_images/Entire_Site/20181131/rs_1024x759-181231102325-1024-velvet-goldmine.cm.123118.jpg

Being John Malkovich(1999) directed by Spike Jonze

https://www.kinok.ch/medium/download/width/500/xMedium/4337

Election(1999) directed by Alexander Payne

https://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/images/9351-475f26b61e8c9fe13ac7f33df95b6507/Current_29335id_139_medium.jpg

The Blair Witch Project(1999) directed by Eduardo Sanchez and David Myrick

https://spectrumculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/blairwitch.jpg

Research how blair witch was made and whether it would still be possible to do today.

I think today the general internet user is far more skeptical of what they see, so the reality aspect of this movie would not be nearly as successful. As a known fictional horror movie however I believe it would still find success because the horror genre never goes out of fashion. I do believe however that there would be more issue taken with the treatment of the actors if a production team attempted to immerse them in the same way. Whether thats me being cynical or people in general becoming way to precious in this day and age, I am not sure.

Screen Arts 5/9

Project Resources

10

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_art

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHvvihFqxrM 1991 short film by Chel White using a mono-colour copier to create the image sequences.

Jolie Ruin - https://jolieruin-art.tumblr.com/post/186357595768/xerox-art-by-jolie-ruin




Rebecca Cofa blog post - https://rebeccalistonart.tumblr.com/post/45254618618/for-team-7-here-are-some-examples-of



George Hajian - https://blacktoner.tumblr.com/post/173509313724/7-may-2-2018-21x42cm-george-hajian



101 Dalmatians - The New Era of Disney Animation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWwU8jd04-I

Wiseguss Illustration - Shortcut to Paper Animation using a photocopy machine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=690PYfFQxdk

Screen Arts 3/9

Watched this week: Jupiter Ascending (1995) - https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/jupiter-ascending/#gallery

What a campy, cliche movie! Standard boy saves girl, girl falls in love, boy denies it then admits it later on, cue happy ending. Visually it has a lot of stunning CGI backgrounds, but the cgi around the actors seems a little 1990's quality imo.

Directed by the Wachowski brothers, you can definitely see elements of The Matrix in the action sequences and its nice to see Sean Bean actually survive a movie for once. Mila Kunis is ok as the female lead, but I think the story restricted her a bit. Bonus eye candy is Channing Tatum running around in guyliner with obligatory shirtless moments.

Overall its one of those movies you can just chuck on and veg out to without having to think too hard while watching it.

Screen Arts 4/9

Finally watched hedgehog in the Fog by Yuri Norstein. What a cute little kids tale about getting lost, and the magic of exploring the unknown. The animation is a beautiful crossover of realistic and cartoon style which fits the short story that Yuri wrote.

Hedgehog in the Fog - Yuri Norstein 1975
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS5mxXtStOY

Screen Arts 29/8

1980's Films and Games

Toru Iwatani created Pac-Man in 1980. A version of this was the first arcade game to be ported to home console. Ma. Pac-Man became the best-selling arcade game of all time in 1982. The working title of Puck Man was changed so americans couldn't change the p to f on the cabinets.



On-Line Systems was co-founded in 1980 by Roberta Williams and her husband Ken. The first PC graphic game Mystery House was designed by Roberta. She went on to make the first animated 3D adventure game in 1984 called King's Quest. This series sold millions of copies and had 8 games in the series. Her 1995 game Phantasmagoria had a $4mill budget, took 2yrs to develop and sold over 1mill copies.



Donkey Kong by Shigeru Miyamoto was released in 1981. This introduced "Jump Man' which was an early version of Mario from Super Mario.



I remember this from my childhood! Endless fun.

Centipede was developed for Atari in 1981, and was a huge hit particularly with the female player base.(One of the first to achieve this) Dona Bailey programmed the game and Ed Logg designed it.



1982 was when the movie Tron was released by Disney as a way to tap the video game trend. The Last Starfighter(1984), Wargames(1983) and The Wizard(1989) also tried to get in on the trend. Balle Midway released an arcade game in 1982, based on scenes from the movie. Atari release E.T to tie in with the movie in 1982. The developer Howard Warshaw had 5.5 weeks to design and make the game so it was ready for christmas. It was most likely this reason that it is still cited as one of the worst video games ever. The worldwide video game industry had a huge slump in 1983, with consoles losing 90% of their value. The majority of the blame is placed on the E.T video game.



Nintendo released the Famicom(Family Computer Console) in 1983. By the end of the decade, 37% of Japanese homes had one. Nintendo had to wait 2yrs to release it in USA due to the crash. It was renamed Nintendo Entertainment System upon its US release. M.U.L.E by Dan Bunten was a big push for multiplayer games.

Tetris was created in 1984 by a russian mathematician called Alexey Pajitnov. 1989 saw many companies claiming the distribution and creation rights of the software. The Soviet government actually held the rights, and licensed them to Atari(Arcade) and Nintendo(Handheld/Console). These two companies sued each other back and forth for years. Nintendo developed the Game Boy in 1988 and got the rights to bundle Tetris with the Game Boy instead of Super Mario Bros. 1985 saw Nintendo revive the US video game industry with its NES. ¡https://tetris.com/play-tetris

I have spent many years playing tetris, the latest variation is Tetris Blitz which gives you 2mins to get as many points as possible using bonuses and line clears.



1986 saw educational software Reader Rabbit get introduced to the market. CD's in the 90's helped the market survive until the internet arrived and crashed it again. Andrew Bradfield from Dunedin developed  Laser Hawk for the Atari 800, Harvey Kong Tin designed the graphics and it came on 4 floppy disks.



Legend of Zelda, Dungeons and Dragons, and Leisure Suit Larry thrust Fantasy RPG into the mainstream in 1987. 1989 saw Joe Madden Football bring realism to computer games. 1989 was the year of the Game boy, helping to attract non-traditional gamers due to the fact that it came with Tetris. It was discontinued in 2003, after selling 118.69 million units worldwide. The Nintendo Power Glove was also released in 1989, enabling a hand gesture interaction to move their characters. Due to limitations and crappy resolution, this product failed commercially although Nintendo persevered and release the Wiimote in 2006. Dillon Markey is a stop-motion animator that rewired his glove to use bluetooth to communicate with the stop motion software, helping him animate more efficiently.



 The 1980s was when Hollywood introduced "High Concept" films. Designed for broad mass appeal they were stylish, stereotypical characters and highly promotional. They used prototypes from 1970's, Jaws, Alien and Star wars. Producer Don Simpson and his partner Jerry Bruckheimer are the ones credited with the high Concept Film creation. Many of the films were aimed at teenagers/pre-teens ie Revenge of the Nerds and Screw Balls.



John Hughes was responsible for a lot of "coming of age" films like Sixteen Candles, Breakfast Club and Weird Science. The 1980's was also when the Sequel explosion occurred.



John Carpenters film Halloween(1978) was so successful that it caused a horror movie revival in the 80's.

Love the Die Hard series, Bruce Willis is great as the lead role.

I have watched all 5 of these throughout my childhood, they always seemed have a much longer runtime back then than they actually have.

I hadnt seen the original Tron until we watched it in class, but I enjoyed the re-make including the Jeff Bridges cameo in a different role.

I watched Dirty Dancing for the first time a few weeks ago, it was definitely not what I expected. Far less scandalous than I thought.

Police Academy with Michael Winslow will always be a favourite comedy series. Its a shame they all havent been remastered yet.

Howard the Duck appeared as a Marvel comic character in 1977. Disney threatened to sue due to the resemblance to Donald Duck. Marvel circumvented this by giving him pants. 1986 saw Universal make a Howard the Duck film produced by George Lucas, it was considered one of the worst big-budget films ever made.



Tim Burton's Batman in 1989 opened the door for the current day superhero movie boom. This film was notable in that it followed the comic book character more than the earlier films. It had a budget of $35mill, the film made $411mill, and $750mill in merch.



1980s in NZ saw Goodbye Pork Pie(1981), Smash Palace(1982), Utu(1983), The Quiet Earth(1985) and Meet the Feebles(1989).