A Song is Worth 1,000 Emotions

This video expresses the importance of music in film in regards to the emotional setting in which it is featured. This one particular song called “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star has been featured in numerous amounts of scenes from both film and TV shows. It has not just been used for one specific emotion like most songs in film are. This song has set the mood from a fight to an intimate moment to even discovering a deceased person. Just this one song can advocate that music in film is a legitimate and necessary art form because of the emotional guidance it performs for us.

Project Update 3.0

Today was a little difficult for me to work on my project because I didn’t have my computer with all of my work and notes on it. So instead of heavily editing today, I was able to find the last clips for my video that were giving me a hard time trying to locate. Now I can go through on iMovie and figure out the proper sequence of my video. I am still looking through and finding new ways to make the video a little more interesting because the song I chose is pretty long and tends to drag so I am thinking about whether or not I want to spice it up with a desktop documentary somehow or other technical features that could make it more appealing.

Project Update 2.0

I had a virus on my computer so before I could do anything I cleared that because it was prohibiting me from using certain applications on my computer that I needed for this project. However, I started ripping the scenes and started to figure out how long I want each to be, whether I want the audio or just have the song over each scene.

Project Update

I gave my oral presentation today and got some helpful feedback in terms of organization and editing which I will be using in my project.

Today I found the rest of the scenes where the song is played and categorized each movie and TV show accordingly. I converted the last bit of scenes that I am going to be using and have started outlining the sequence of my video. I am now ready to begin ripping the scenes and editing them together.

Final Project Storyboard

Structure: Supercut
Software: ClipConverter and iMovie

I am doing a Supercut on 1 particular overused song that has been used in movies/tv shows to express different emotions. The song I chose is “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star. The video will be approximately 4:55; the duration of the song. I am going to open up with a title card and the title I am leaning towards is “A Song is Worth a Thousand Emotions.” This song has been seen countless times in a variety of different movies/tv shows. I am going to show clips of each movie/show where the song is played to express that 1 song is not just used only in a sad scene or a particular mood of a movie, but in many different emotional settings. I am going to use clips from Starship Troopers, Angus, Break Up, Jawbreaker, Swept Away, Lord of War, Velodromo, Burlesque, End of Watch, Chasing Mavericks, The To Do List, My Mad Fat Diary, Roswell, Desperate Housewives, Th Following, Cold Case, CSI: Miami/New York, Hindsight, True Blood, Psych, Person of Interest, Daria, Love Bites, Fringe, Without a Trace, Medium, Suits, Alias, Swept Away and Gilmore Girls.

The order isn’t set in stone but I am going to categorize them by certain genres: death, intimate moments, tension between characters, fighting, etc.

I am going to start with the title card, then show the movie posters that the song was featured in chronologically from 1995-2013. Then I am going to play the different clips from both the movies and the TV shows where the song is played but within the categories to structure it and make it more evident.

Final Project Proposal

I want to focus on movie cliches in regards to plot twists and how they actually ruin the story rather than build it up. Some movies that I might use are the series of The Dark Knight Rises, Shutter Island and movies like the Star Wars franchise. I definitely want a title card in the beginning because I feel like it really helps with depicting what exactly is going to be conveyed in the rest of the video essay. I want to open up with a supercut of the movies that I choose with their cliched plot twists. Then I am going to pick anywhere from 2-3 main movies already showcased in the supercut to show clips of with a voice-over of why/how these common twists hinder the story’s true potential. I am going to mainly use iMovie and Final Cut in order to make this video essay.

(TIMELINE):

3/26/15: Finalize the movies I want to use and clips.

4/2/15: Oral presentation.

4/9/15: Cut for the supercut portion of the video.

4/16/15: Record voice-over and put clips in for the rest of the video that goes with the voice-over.

4/23/15: Layer the voice-over onto the clips and finish editing.

4/30/15: Showcase video essay.

Time: 5-7 minutes

Final Project Ideas

I have been toying with a couple ideas that I may want to use for my final project.

1. Cliches: With this possible idea I would depict the often overused cliches that we see time and time again in movies in relation to endings, relationships, character flaws, etc.

2. Misconceptions: With this idea I would discuss the common misconceptions portrayed in movies compared to the real world off screen. (places like college/school, science, action, etc.)

Supercut

I chose this Supercut that focuses on the common line used movie after movie, “I got a bad feeling about this.” What is so important about this cliche line and the reason it is used so often is because it foreshadows to some type of conflict that is going to occur. It sets the listener up to expect something to happen and draws their attention to want to see what is going to transpire.

Top 5 Films Desktop Documentary

Tony Zhou Critique

https://vimeo.com/94628727

In Tony Zhou’s video essay, “The Spielberg Oner-One Scene, One Shot,” he regards the way in which Director Steven Spielberg deviates from the modern day directing style of taking shot after shot. Instead, Zhou admires Spielberg’s specialty of capturing shots in one single long take.

Zhou opens up with a brief but informative explanation about what the term “oner” means while showing a clip as an example. This is especially important because for some who may not be familiar with movie jargon, they are able to appreciate the craft as well. Zhou has a very casual tone in this video essay; its laid back with bits of mouthy humor however is engaging and realistic. He lets subtle music play behind his voice to sort of just absorb the silence of the background and further enhance the tentativeness of the listeners. The music also allows for the shifting between the scene examples to flow easier rather than just watching shot after shot. Zhou also lets certain lines from the different scenes to be heard as another tool to break up the information he is acknowledging so that as a listener you aren’t bored or overwhelmed.

The motivation of this video essay is evident in the sense that he is putting this stylistic type of directing on a pedestal. He goes on to mention that although there are numerous amounts of directors that challenge the “oner,” Spielberg is the master in disguise. In a way he shames the aesthetic quality of shots that are projected in today’s digital age and appreciates the classical talents of Spielberg throughout the movie.

Although Zhou does not like every movie Spielberg has directed, he picks out particular details in each shot that he presents to showcase the many different camera shots and angles that are utilized in lengthy shots to depict certain aspects of the films. He does this by showing countless shots by Spielberg all framed differently. He recognizes that a lot of the lengthy shots are done with notion to the body movement and language of the actors. Zhou distinguishes how Spielberg’s oner shots reveal real emotion from the actors compared to green-screen emotions that we are given a lot of today.

Zhou utilizes masses amounts of tools throughout his video essay. He uses 25 films during the video to further express his point while offering many examples for each point he addresses to aid the listeners into fully grasping his concepts. Although the clips are sometimes swift, one can see that Zhou is adamant about getting his point across. He also uses his own voice-over as a way to make the video more personal and entertaining.

Towards the end especially, although throughout the video entirely, he makes note that Spielberg’s oner shots are almost seamlessly invisible because of the dexterity that goes into each specific one. Zhou praises Spielberg’s efforts and only wishes that more directors would evoke this technique more often.