Smu Production 1 Fall 2017

     The readings for class were quite fascinating due to the dual perspectives that were provided. On the one hand, we have Andre Bazin, the father of the french new wave movement of the late 50's and early 60's, explaining how cinema can be utilized as a sort of valid documentation of truth (this is more than likely due to the rising popularity of the cinema-verité at the time), but on the other hand, we've got Dziga Vertov, a Russian film director and theorist who, along with his fellow Soviet theoreticians like Eisenstein and Kuleshov, were setting the concepts that would eventually shape what we consider modern cinema today, explaining how it can do the exact opposite: deceiving the eye; carrying the torch that Méliès brothers started that established cinema as a sort of giant illusion.     So who was right? Well, they both were. Both of these elements were carried on throughout the late 20th century and are still utilized in modern cinema today...

The first article by Vertov sees the camera as its own entity. The author clearly believe humans are imperfect, but because of that, they can make a camera, another better version of the human eye, become perfect. In doing so film will no longer be copying a script it will in turn create its own script and go by its own standards. By perfecting the eye that records the information the information can then become perfect. The camera eye is not caught up in human imperfection, it has no feelings yet it sees all feelings everyone else expresses. It is painting the canvas with an unbiased view. The second article by Bazin agrees with the first in that they both see film as art, however Bazin, believes we need to look back to humans instead of looking away from them to perfect film. Instead of using machinery he talks about the great beginning of art which then became film. He talks about the human body being fundamental in the creation of the art of today. Which I agree with very much, se...

These two readings explored the significance of photography and paintings. Dziga Vertov says that the main thing in film is sensory exploration of the world. The kino-eye is used to explore the chaos of visual aspects that fill space. The kino-eye lives and moves in time and space, as it gathers information. This shows how our eye sight is fixed, but we will always be able to improve our technology, especially cameras. Andre Bazin Talk about realism and perspective as shown in medieval arts. Cinema is often interpreted as a language. People can construct different meanings of images through different angles and settings in nature.

In these two readings, the importance of cinema and photography was explored. Dziga Vertov said the main and essential thing in film is the sensory exploration of the world through film. More perfect than the human eye, the kino-eye is used to explore the chaos of visual aspects that fill space. The kino-eye lives and moves in time and space, as it gathers information in a complete different manner than the human eye. I found this very interesting because it shows how we cannot improve the making of our eyes, but can endlessly perfect the camera. Andre Bazin talks about medieval art and different theories with realism and perspective. Cinema is often interpreted as a language, as you can construct different meanings of images through different angles and settings in nature.

Alec Gilman I assisted on Conrad Li's shoot "Baffled". I benefitted from the experience in multiple ways such as learning new techniques and seeing first hand the passion directors have for a project. Although there was a lot of down time, I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend as a member of the team. This project helped me learn how much of a commitment that production can be and I am grateful for that. My job was a production assistant and that mostly entailed getting things the director needed and helping open and move pieces around.

The reading ultimately left me with a feeling of pride, allowing me to not feel foolish for considering cinema a stylized form of art, similar to sculpting and painting. Any fool who considers the filmmaking process trivial and lackluster must consider the complexities of making a film. There's certain mechanics and a science behind it that most take for granted, such as the construction of narrative, and the readings beautifully illustrate that storytelling isn't as simple as it may seem.

In "Narrative as a Formal System," Bordwell exemplifies how each separate part of a film--plot and story, cause and effect, time, space, openings and closings, and the narrator--work together to form a successful narrative. It was very interesting for me to learn about the narrative form of a film and how a story comes together as it is something that I have never gave much thought to. The art of making a film is far more complicated than I thought. Bordwell raised many fascinating points, but what I found most fascinating was how parallelism was used in Citizen Kane . Even though I have never seen the film Citizen Kane, I was able to learn that parallelism in a narrative "allows both lines of action to develop simultaneously in similar directions." I personally have never realized that parallelism can be present in films, and if the viewer isn't actively reading the film, they probably are not going to realize that parallelism present either. Overall, ...

This informative article dives into depth over narration, plot, cause and effect, space, time, and many other aspects in creating a story with a new perspective. Personally, I have never really analyzed narrative construction and the things filmmakers think about when writing a story, but this article really opened my eyes about production and filmmaking. Bordwell mentions viewers' anticipations going into a film frequently in the article. Because stories are all around us, spectators approach narrative films with definite expectations. It was interesting to think about what we assume about plot and characters before even watching a movie. As spectators watch, films shape their expectations by bringing curiosity, suspense, and surprise. Also, I had no idea that parallelism is used among characters, settings, situations, and times. It was super interesting learning about the use of parallelism in Hoop Dreams , and how it made the documentary more complex. Some new terms for me were...

As an individual who believes everything has a reason or purpose I agree strongly with the article as it states, a narrative helps people make sense of the world. It makes me think back to Ancient Greece when people could not explain the feeling of love so they conjured up the idea of Eros, with his magic bow and Aphrodite with her beauty. It makes me think of when people could not understand why storms ragged, why droughts shriveled crops, and why people were able to self-heal wounds. The Ancient Greeks took characters and fitted the actions of natural phenomenons with something their minds could comprehend such as Zeus throwing lighting bolts out of anger, Poseidon being stingy with his precious water, or Prometheus stealing the ability to heal and giving it to humans. People want to believe in a higher power and in order to make that myth a reality they make up and tell countless stories that become so wide spread it's unclear if they are fiction or not. That's all everythi...

Bordwell´s Narrative of a Formal System Bordwell´s explanation of principles of narrative construction are extremely comprehensive since he uses great examples to make his points clear. It is truly fascinating to learn how to  "read" films and see how automated our perception and interpretation of film is. A film might not make sense to you if you missed the first part and just see a few incoherent scenes in a progressed stadium or sometimes incoherence is the true purpose of a film and is deliberately chosen by the film maker BUT there are automated processes we learned and that help us understanding a storyline. Film as the embodiment of narration and engagement of the viewer in a dynamic activity paired with our specific expectations with which we approach a film illustrates our need or desire for watching movies with the hope of being emotionally transformed. Seeing film as a continuum, a closed entity which is called diagesis including the total world of the story act...

Arman Jeddy  Production 1  Professor Morris                  There are many different aspects when it comes to storytelling. Many of which are described in the recent readings. What I found most interesting was the topic of "Parallelism". I have seen many different uses of it, but never really thought too much of. Especially in that context. One example of this use would be in the animated film "Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox". In this film Barry Allen travels back in time, which as a result changes the course of the present. In this new reality, most major superheroes such as Wonder Woman and Aquaman are villains who are at war with each other. Superman is locked away and being experimented on by the government, while Bruce Wayne never becomes the Batman. This film portrays parallelism very well, by showing the huge contrast these heroes become compared to their counterparts. Other topics that I found important...

Welcome to Film Production 1 at SMU! This will be our course blog, where you will respond to certain articles you will be assigned to read. Please post your responses to the articles, not a summary of the article, but what it made you think and feel, observations you have about some of the points raised in the article, and feel free to post images or link videos that are relevant to the conversation about we will have about the article. Looking forward to a great semester!