2001: A Space Odyssey

2001: A Space Odyssey was a very intriguing and interesting movie even though it had some slow parts, I really enjoyed it. The shots were mesmerizing and like nothing I've seen before. I love the shot where Dave is running through the ship and the camera is following behind him. In this part it makes it seem as though he is running in a circle even upside down and the ship goes on infinitely. Another interesting part was where a woman was walking upside down to get to another hallway.

After watching it I honestly had no idea what happened through any of the movie and had to look up the meaning behind it. Thee are many different meanings with each part of the movie and everyone had their own interpretation of it. During the Jupiter mission Hal the computer views the men as "matiness machines" and they are at the end of their evolution. Even for part of the film they show what the ship looks like through Hals POV. I think this part could mean that machines are taking over the world and humans don't really matter any more. Basically, I think they are saying that all humans do is work for machines. Then, the computer Hal makes a mistake showing that there is still a need for humans and we are more than just machine operations.

Casablanca (1942)

Even though this is a very iconic film this was probably my last favorite film we have watched. If I paid more attention to it or maybe if I was older I would be able to understand it a little better. The reason it was not my favorite film was most of it was just middle aged men in suits talking to each other. I usually watch everything with subtitles so I can read what the characters are saying if I miss something an since we didn't watch it with subtitles it was very easy for me to loose interest and not pay attention to dialogue. There is great contrast in this film that gives it a "balance of grays, blacks, and whites" which is important in a film  with no color (Bordwell and Thompson 161). Casablanca was not only a very iconic film itself but it inspired another iconic film, Star Wars. One similarity between the two films is Ricks Café in Casablanca becomes the Cantina in Star wars. Another inspiration from Casablanca is Humphrey Bogart’s character is an "important model for Harrison Ford’s performance" (Robey 6). Even though I didn't love this film I will definitely go back and watch it gain and pay attention to the dialogue more in the future.
 

Citizen Kane (1941)

 Citizen Kane is about a reporter is assigned to decipher the last words of Kane (rosebud) through many people who knew him throughout time. Welles and the editors created patterns when editing this film. One pattern includes two similar scenes where "Kane seems to win public support" during his run for governor and campaign for Susan's opera singing (Bordwell and Thompson 322). The pattern in these two scenes are the alternating shots of the speaker and audience members or listeners. Another trick Wells did during editing this film was the shock cut. A shock cut "creates a jarring juxtaposition" which could include a crescendo in the music and graphic discontinuity  (Bordwell and Thompson 324). This film wasn't my favorite film of all time but I could definitely appreciate the wonderful shots and editing done in this film.

Mr. Robot (2015- )

Mr. Robot is about a computer programmer named Elliot Alderson. By day he works for a company that protects other companies from being hacked,  but by night he is a hacker. The thing that separates him from other hackers is he only has good intentions by doing it but  he soon finds himself getting into bad situations. While doing all of this he also struggles with many mental illnesses such as social anxiety and schizophrenia. This is one of the most interesting parts of the show because parts of it are filmed as if your in his brain and can hear his thoughts. In order to create this illusion Rami Malek (Elliot) has to do many voice overs. In one scene he over dosed on drugs and was in a lot of pain. In order to show this they filmed it with many cuts and from many angles. They then pieced them together and jumped from cut to cut very quickly showing many angles of his body  to make the situation seem more chaotic. Since this show is based on computers they need to film the computer a lot. I'm not exactly sure how they do it but I read that when filming people typing they actually jut pre type it and just backspace It then play it in reverse which I found Interesting. This show was extremely well written with many plot twists that will make you want to continue watching. After Finishing this show I can definitely tell why it won a golden globe.

Futureama (1999-2013)

Futurama is definitely the best show I've seen in a long time, I started it yesterday and I'm already on season 2 episode 8. I cant stop watching it its so addicting and super funny. The comedy in it isn't like any other shows I've seen, it genuinely makes me laugh and the jokes aren't inappropriate or cheesy like a lot of shows which is why I love it so much. It also makes a ton of references to real life and film. So far ive seen references from odd couple, harry potter, Charlie and the chocolate factory, Matilda, Star Trek, Charlie brown, Oliver twist and the Stranger. Futurama is an animated sci fi show about a guy named Fry who ends up in year 3000 and meets a robot named Bender along with other friends. Bender is probably my favorite character because he is a robot who is everything we don't want to be, he is an alcoholic emotionless, rude, thief but I love him.

This show is an example of an animated science fiction show. It shows iconography of science fiction because it has aliens, monsters, space, and it takes place in the future.  I read an article on how they created the show and basically the writers make a storyboard, then the actors do a table read and they "record it like a radio show" and  the writers make edits to the script (Meslow 6). After they have the voices recorded the animators draw out the animation and use digital editing to edit it.

Bobs Burgers Season 1 Episode 3 (2011)

Bobs Burgers is an animated sitcom about a family that owns a Burger restaurant. Season 1 episode 3 is the only episode I've seen so far but I really liked it. Some parts were dumb but I guess that's what makes it funny. In this particular episode a documentary maker comes to his restaurant and places a cow out front in order to make a statement about eating meat. I haven't really watched an animated show since the Sponge Bob days, but maybe ill continue watching this show because even though it was a little silly it was funny.

This television show is an animated show so I'm guessing they either used computer or drawing animation to create it. With an animated show instead of having actors they have to hire people to do voiceovers so people who act with their voice. The opening sequence is interesting, It starts with a burger, already foreshadowing the show and then they zoom out and add all of the characters and setting into the blank white canvas. To make something zoom out using animation you could use a flipbook drawing  where you draw the same image except each time you make it slightly smaller to zoom out.

Bill Cunningham New York (2010)

 

Bill Cunningham New York is a documentary about a New York fashion photographer who goes out on the streets of New York to take candid photos of people with an interesting sense of fashion to see what is trending in fashion that week. He then writes a column in The New York times about the fashion trend he notices that week. This documentary is more of a biographical documentary because it is based on Bill Cunningham's life and the interesting job he has. I found this documentary very interesting and inspiring because even though Bill is 86 years old he still is passionate about fashion and has the dive to wake up every morning to do what he does.

 

The crew for filming this documentary was probably not very big because the majority of it was someone following him around during his day and interviews. With a big crew it would be hard to get the footage they did because they wouldn't be able to follow him around filming him taking pictures because it would be difficult to get that many people in New York to do that. They showed a lot of the pictures he took on the streets and you can tell Bill is a very talented photographer because he has a great eye for good shots and the best angle that would show off an outfit the best.