Blog Revision: Free Choice

In this blog, I would like to consider some ideas and topics for my project blog essay. I am going to write my essay based on a film analysis of one of the movies that I watched and previously blogged about. My initial plan was to write my essay based on the movie Coraline because I really admire the artistic elements that create and make up the movie. However, I realized that artistic depictions and movie creation has absolutely nothing to do with my topic. Therefore, it would be best to base my essay on the children's film Paranorman. 

Paranorman would be a great movie for me to write about because it uses the genre of fantasy to alert its audience about bullying and it depicts ghosts and zombies in an inviting and comical way. These topics would be good for my thesis statement because the issue of bullying is extremely important due to the growing rate of suicide attempts and depression among school aged children and teens. The whole objective of the movie is to send this message out to children and provide a positive solution to the issue. Also, the movie depicts the ghosts and zombies in a way that seems to give the audience the message that they are not frightening. For example, all of the ghosts are friends of Norman and have comical outgoing personalities making them seem friendly instead of frightening. I think this aspect of the movie is important because it gives children the chance to be comfortable with characters such as ghosts who are usually depicted in dramatically intimidating ways.

-FairyTaleMovieQueen

A Homemade Sintel Advertisement

      This is advertising the short computer animated film Sintel. I went through the film, took pictures and arranged them chronologically from left to right, top to bottom. I used repetition in the photos and placed the title away from the center so that it's not the main focus. My main focus instead was displaying the character of Sintel and all of her emotions since I wrote about the importance of characters in fantasy and how they connect us to the unreal.

Sintel - Third Open Movie by Blender Foundation

Edward Scissorhands Poster

Behold the poster used to advertise the motion picture Edward Scissorhands. Is it just me or do elements in this picture clash? Here we have this mystical and enchanting blue background, a comforting snowy white and a cute rendition of a dinosaur in the background of the poster. With all those comforting innocent elements in the background, what do we have in the for front where the eye is immediately dragged? A dark, creepy mechanical creature with sharp blades as fingers! I love this rendition of the cover because it portrays the theme of the film perfectly! That this does not belong. From a non bias perspective of one who has yet to see the actual film, one might wonder what exactly this thing is doing in happy innocent wonderland over there! Obviously her is sullen and sad and does not seem to be having a good time by himself over there in the right hand corner of the poster.
-Jason London

Sintel

      This is a movie poster from the short animated film Sintel. The poster uses the separation and longing to be together of the girl and baby dragon to pose questions. Why are the separated? Why do they want to be together? Will they be together in the end? What's keeping them apart? The last question can easily be answer from the advertisement. A huge wicked dragon is between the two characters, looming over them and keeping them apart. The fear in the girl and little dragon's eyes suggest this film is about the struggle of reconnecting. This ad is successful by posing questions to get you interested.
      The title is centered and doesn't grab your attention. It instead implies that the film is more subtle and not in your face. The title is also short, suggesting that dialogue is not the main focus. The credits and website are typical of a movie poster, informing you exactly what this is advertising. There are no reviews or slogans present on the poster. They would only direct attention away from the struggle and depth the two desperate characters are facing.
      This movie poster encourages you to watch the film by displaying an image that tells the main plot of its story and gets you interested and concerned about its outcome.
   

Paranoran Movie Trailer

Paranorman Movie Trailer :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiRdf9crI7U
      The main purpose of the Paranorman movie trailer is to persuade an audience into seeing the movie. Like most movie trailers, this trailer highlights the main scenes of the movie to give its viewers a general idea of what the movie is suppose to be about. I believe one of Paranorman's main goals as a movie is to teach people lessons about bullying and mistreating others that are not like us because you never know when you may need them. This message is relayed through out the trailer with the tagline "You don't become a hero by being normal". The trailer also gives viewers a general idea of the movie's message by showing several scenes of Norman (the main character) being bullied by his sister and school kids but then showing a few scenes of how he will overcome the bullying and save the town from destructive zombies.
     In addition, there is also background music in the trailer which does not seem to be catchy. However, the background music is there to create suspense and draw the attention of the viewer.

                -FairyTaleMovieQueen

Almost Alice blog post 10

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZygF-Mj36c

       For This week I chose to present the formal elements of the song "Almost alice" by Avril Lavigne. In the beginning of the song there is a reverberated fanfare of dissonant and clashing pitches. The atonality suggests being taken out of the world we know and thrown in to a fantastical adventure. The striking beats of the bass drum and piano also suggest this notion. The music serves a psychological subtext to the sharp vocals of Lavigne. The orchestral aspect of the piece is affiliated with this same theme.  The strings are meant to represent a more aged and less modern representation of life, that we are not in the time that we normally are.  The harmonies are used as similar psychological subtext. The colors are very dark and contrasted, accenting the lighter parts of the screen. When Lavigne says the line "spinning around", the camera framing is rotating at 360 degrees to emphasize the notion of dizziness. The colors slowly begin to get lighter and lighter throughout the progression of the video. I believe this is meant to suggest that the reality that was originally believe to be the truth is not and the fantastical representation of this other worldly realm is the truth.

-Jason London

Fireflies

 

     Owl City's song, Fireflies, encompasses the ideas of childhood wonders and dreams. The lyrics and music give an alert subconscious vibe. It's chorus goes "I'd like to make myself believe that planet Earth turns slowly. It's hard to say that I'd rather stay awake when I'm asleep, 'cause everything is never as it seems when I fall asleep." The chorus' main points are time, sleep, and fantasy. The fact it seems like the Earth is rotating slowly suggests the irrelevancy of time, how time is nonexistent in dreams, how time is not restricting us. The slowed down time also implies that he wants to hold on to his childhood and the innocence that accompanies it. The desire to sleep instead of being awake invokes that feeling that sleeping and dreaming is in fact living and not the other way around.

      The music and instruments used in this song sound uncommon. Along with the voice, they really give the feeling of an upbeat exciting wonder. It seems to stimulate an active imagination which ties nicely into the idea of the song. I also feel that some of the instruments were used to mirror the sounds of the beeps and rings of childhood toys. The first and last times the chorus is sung the music takes a quiet, soft drum-like turn. I can't tell for sure if the music is repetitive as it feels like it changes ever so slightly over the course of the song.
      The music video itself uses many of those childhood toys, everything from little plastic robots to disco-balls. When ignoring the lyrics and focusing on the video I feel that the song is more about toys than sleep. That in his innocent mind, to him, the toys are really coming to life. But part of him feels that their animation is fleeting (like when the calculator writes goodbye or farewell). The video takes place entirely in his room and so much happens within that small of a space. Over the course of the video toys come out on the floor along with trains and a blimp. Near the end there is a whole bustling toy city in the center of his room. At the end all the toys and lights go away. I am torn between two ideas of why the toys left. They either left because he was waking up from a dream or growing up, or perhaps even both.
      My final interpretation of the song takes into consideration of the man at the keyboard's age. He seems far to old for a room like that (but then again that could just be him not letting go). I believe he lost his childhood and he is in constant longing to go back. The only way back is through his dreams.