Final Project

"Last Minute"

Final FIlm from nour saudi on Vimeo.

Blog #4

For this assignment, I chose a scene from BBC's "Sherlock" in which the villain, Moriarty, breaks into several different high security vaults using only his phone. Moriarty is portrayed in the series as a highly whimsical, unpredictable, and ultimately feared man. In this scene, through the use of contrast and music/sound effects, Moriarty's power and intelligence is shown.

The scene opens with a long shot of Moriarty's body, arms raised, standing in front of the crown jewels. Classical music is playing. Already, we get a sense of power and victory. A cut to the headquarters shows close ups of frantic, sped up movements such as a man's arm spilling coffee and quickly dialing someone, and a woman's feet walking really fast. This cut in contrast to the very relaxed, slow motion of Moriarty's scene signifies his power. 

Throughout the scene, the music is building up, creating a sense of quickness and urgency. The cut to Moriarty taking his time to write on the glass casing contrasts the government scenes. The camera moves in a very fluid and circular motion, almost as if it were dancing to the classical music playing and mimics the way Moriarty gracefully moves about the glass, creating an atmosphere of whimsy and playfulness, contrasting the urgency and seriousness of the government officials. 

Moriarty's scenes juxtaposed with the cops are much slower and more fluid. When he finally breaks the glass, it's shown in slow motion as the music intensifies, creating a sense of high excitement. When the cops finally enter the vault, the song ends, and the camera zooms into a close up of Moriarty as he sits in the throne, wearing the crown jewels. This image paired with classical music blaring to an end illustrates Moriarty's victory over the officials and solidifies him as a "king." 

The editing and composition of this scene creates an atmosphere of high energy and intensity. By including lots of fast cuts between Moriarty and the police, we can see his power. The contrast between his calmness versus their panic creates a mood of uncertainty and suspense, as we don't know if they will reach him in time. With the cop scenes, we get lots of closeups on their feet and hands, things that create action, to show how fast they're moving to catch Moriarty. The shots of the police are much shorter because it creates more movement and quickness, while Moriarty's scenes are longer and slower, to create a more flowing and serene feel. 

Extra Credit- Aronson Awards

The Aronson Awards were held in the Roosevelt House on April 28th. The event was really inspirational because of the amazing advocacy journalists that were there to receive awards and give speeches. It was eye-opening to listen to stories about fighting for social justice. One of the journalists, Alexander Mallis, made a film called "After Trayvon." The film explores racism in Brooklyn, following Trayvon Martin's death which was nationally reported on, just a day after George Zimmerman's trial. Young black man are interviewed in the film and speak about being stopped in their own neighborhood just because they live in a white neighborhood. The creator of the film admitted his own racism when he first moved to Brooklyn, after feeling uncomfortable when walking down the street past black men on their stoop, admitting he wouldn't have felt the same way had they been white. I thought that was a really gritty and jarring thing to explore and report on.

David Carr was also in attendance to receive the Career Achievement Award, and gave an inspiring speech about how he went from homeless to working for the NY Times through hard work and perseverance. Andrea Elliot received an award for an amazing piece she wrote for the New York Times called "Invisible Child" that spoke about the life of a homeless 11-year old girl in NY. Her award particularly stood out to me because I remember reading her piece when it was first published and being so moved to learn about this inspiring child Dasani.

The night was really inspiring because it focused on people who all had one common goal: to give a voice to people who may otherwise not be heard. As a media student with an interest in writing and journalism, I found it amazingly encouraging and motivating to see a room full of journalists who are always trying to make a change and uphold justice.

Extra Credit- Tribeca

The Tribeca Film Festival is a great place for film lovers of all genres, across all mediums, and from different countries all over the world. Not only do you get to see films that are brand new, many even having their first premieres at Tribeca, but many films host Q&As afterwards as well. The director of the film is often in attendance, and is available to answer any burning questions you may have about the film you just watched, or even the filmmaking process in general.

The film I saw at Tribeca was a horror movie called "Extraterrestrial" directed by The Vicious Brothers. I was excited to watch this movie because I had already known these directors from a previous movie they've done called "Grave Encounters." As a massive horror fan, I was really excited that the directors would be there to speak to the audience after their movie played. 

Q&As with the filmmakers are really enlightening because not only do you learn more about the film, story wise, but you learn a lot about filmmaking in general. One thing that I discovered from this Q&A was how lengthy the filmmaking process actually is. Often times we watch a film as a form of entertainment without actually realizing how every single piece, from the lighting, to the set, to the actors and the script, have all come together over time to create this visual narrative. I was surprised to hear from The Vicious Brothers that the ending of Extraterrestrial was actually decided at the last minute. They said that they'd gone through 4 or 5 different endings before spontaneously settling on the one we watched. Even though they said they had a storyboard and had plotted the entire movie, it still wasn't concrete, because storytelling is often fluid and changing. That made me appreciate film a lot more, because while storyboarding and planning are crucial to filming, it's nice to know that going with the flow can work just as well. 

I also realized from the directors how hard it can be to actually make a movie. Even though The Vicious Brothers had success with their first movie, which garnered a small cult following, it didn't guarantee their next film's development. As fun and creative as film can be, there's still a business side to it, and often times without funding or producers, it's a no go. They were really hopeful about their film however, which was inspiring to me. I really enjoyed my time at the Q&A and gaining more insight into the filmmaking world.

MOMI

The Museum of the Moving Image is a place I'd definitely return to. There are just too many extraordinary displays to see in one hour. I really appreciate how the tour takes you through moving image chronologically. Looking at the oldest devices, like the zoetrope, was actually eye-opening. I knew how these inventions worked, using speed to create the illusion of movement, but I never really connected it with film. I realized even film is creating the illusion of movement, using really high speeds to make it seem like a real visual. I realized that's why films need such a high sample rate of 48 kHz.

One of my favorite exhibits was the room with the carousal of clay sculptures. In plain view, you can see each one is just slightly different from the other. But the cool thing was that with strobe lights on, it appears like a moving image of a hand catching a balloon and it splatting on the floor. I was fascinated by how the lighting affected the image so much.

I was most at home when we visited the props and puppets exhibit. I loved seeing the actual sculptures used in some of my favorite movies. I've always read about Regan's head spinning in The Exorcist being a fake sculpture of the character, but seeing the actual one in person was awesome. I appreciate tech and behind the scenes crew a lot more, they create some spectacularly realistic and well done props, like the legs used in Black Swan. Even sound editors do some really detailed and amazing work. The amount of tracking and editing needed to make one scene in Titanic sound realistic and in sync with the picture was just incredible. I definitely left the museum more interested in what work is done behind the screen.

Audio Portrait

A Walk Through Grymes Hill

First thing you hear walking through Grymes Hill in Staten Island is the wind. The wind is always there, always swirling and whooshing, reminding you of its existence. It gives life to this place, and reminds you that the neighborhood is a living, breathing, thing. That’s just the background noise, like the sound of your own breath.

As I walked down the hill onto the always-busy Richmond Road, first thing I heard were the cars. Cars beeping, pushing one another to move forward at a green light. Cars zooming by, one after another, creating a blur of traffic. Besides car horns, other sound signals can be heard around the neighborhood, like the sound of people talking. Richmond Road in the afternoon is filled with students, on bus stops and street corners, shouting to one another about “going this way” or “seeing each other tomorrow.” Conversations fill the streets constantly. A barbershop on the corner always has people on its stoop, laughing or talking or playing music from their double-parked cars. You can always hear the birds as well, tweeting and chirping from their high perches all along the neighborhood.

In Grymes hill, there are soundmarks that you will always hear. One of these is the honking of boats. Although the neighborhood is not close to the water, the sound of the boats is so loud that it can be heard from here. Another soundmark you will almost always hear every few minutes is a siren. Whether from a police car or a fire truck, sirens are always blazing. There is a firehouse close by, so these sirens have become soundmarks in this neighborhood. All of these sounds come together perfectly, creating a unique harmony of serenity and intensity that is Grymes Hill.