Week of Jan.25-Jan.31

This week in Film Study I learned about the art of cinematography. Cinematography is the art of making motion pictures. More specifically I would like to talk about the use of light in the motion pictures. This is because I feel like this is the most important topic I have learned this week.

The use of light can make or break a scene. For instance a properly lit scene can in theory convey all the feelings that the director wants without any words. However a badly lit scene can and will cause the audience to not be able to follow what is going in the scene and confuse everybody. That is the ultimate fear of a cinematographer and a director in general.

One movie that I feel has really good lighting is Django Unchained, a film I reached during the course of the week. One scene in particular that I feel exemplifies this notion of good lighting is when we first get the chance to meet Django at the beginning of the film. In it Dr. Schultz played by Christoph Waltz is looking for a slave from the Karucken plantation, who happens to be Django himself. However the audience is able to know this because of the lighting that Tarantino uses to identify Django. When Schultz is asking the salves which one is from the Karucken plantation and the camera goes to a shot of the slaves, Django is slightly silhouetted by a back light. We as an audience are able to deduce that this salve is a major player in the story because of the way that he is lit. This is also important because the scene itself is set at night in the 1800s so the only source of light are oil lamps that the Peck brothers(slavers) kept with them. So the slight illumination of Django is a stark difference to the overall blackness of the night.

Another movie that I feel has really good lighting is Schindler’s List. This movie is just on another level than other modern movies because it is in black and white. When films are in black and white the story telling is conveyed not in colors but in the lighting itself. Throughout the film, Oskar Schindler’s face is usually veiled in shadow with a high light to dark ration. This is used to symbolize the various complexities of his character and how he struggles with being a good man during the time of the Nazis. Another thing this film does right in terms of lighting is the ability to establish certain characters in such a way that they seem important. For instance in the scene when Schindler is trying to bargain with Goeth, an important official in the Nazi Party. In it Goeth is illuminated in such a way that it establishes him as the leader of the group. He is also illuminated in such a way that the shadows show his ruthless side and his ruthlessness in general.

So in conclusion, lighting is of the more important concepts of cinematography because it can make or break a scene. Good lighting can stick with us and be an important storytelling technique. Bad lighting on the other hand can and will break a scene causing it to become confusing.

.

Week of Jan.19-22

The topic of this week’s blog is introductions since this is my first one. My name is Justin Hamilton but you probably knew that from just looking at my blog name. I was born on February 8th, 2000 so that means that now I am 15 years old, almost 16 in about 3 weeks. My interests include video games, history, and movies. I am involved in the Drama program at Saint X, not as an actor but as a behind the scenes guy who builds the set and does all of the set changes and such. I am also involved in WSTX on occasion and the History Club. I aspire to be a pilot when I get out of college.

Now that all of the information that you could read from a Wikipedia entry about me is out of the way, I would like to tell why I chose to take this class. One of the major reasons is because this and acting were the only two classes I could find that didn’t have any written tests or quizzes which was a plus. However that is not the whole story as to why I took this class. The big reason why is because I love movies. I love to watch them and I love to critique them. However I don’t like to write them because I don’t have that much creativity and spare time. Something about movies I love is the escapism that they provide. Take Lord of the Rings for example. Even though that is also a very successful book series, it also makes a great trilogy of movies. Through the scenery and costumes I am able to escape from our world and be transported to Middle-Earth and follow Frodo and Sam on their epic-journey to destroy the One-Ring.

Another reason I like movies is similar to the first reason. It allows me to see a story from the protagonist’s eyes. A movie that comes to mind is Forrest Gump. In it the audience is able to see how Forrest’s dumb luck and overall good nature get him into many situations that we as normal can only dream of. We are able to see the journey that he goes through from early childhood all the way to when his son goes to school in the same place he did.

The last reason that I like movies is a bit exclusive to one genre, history and historical fiction. I like being able to see a story I have only read about in history come to lie. For instance a recent movie that I saw this weekend was The Last Emperor about the life and times of Puyi, the last Qing Emperor and the last Son of Heaven. Even though it is three hours, it really doesn’t feel like it. The story keeps you engaged and the protagonist, even though he is royalty is easily relatable in his quest for freedom during his time in the Forbidden City and his want for a better life for his country during turbulent times. My only complaint and it really isn’t a complaint is that it’s not in the native Chinese with subtitles. Even though it is a bit excessive, I really do like it when movies go for the extra layer of authenticity with language.

In conclusion, I really feel like movies in general are a good way of story-telling and are able to convey emotions unlike other media like books or just a television show. I also feel like this class will allow me to appreciate movies more fully and be able to critique them better.The topic of this week’s blog is introductions since this is my first one. My name is Justin Hamilton but you probably knew that from just looking at my blog name. I was born on February 8th, 2000 so that means that now I am 15 years old, almost 16 in about 3 weeks. My interests include video games, history, and movies. I am involved in the Drama program at Saint X, not as an actor but as a behind the scenes guy who builds the set and does all of the set changes and such. I am also involved in WSTX on occasion and the History Club. I aspire to be a pilot when I get out of college.