photo essay for aesthetics class
song: Secret World by Akiyama Miki (OST Tactics)
pictures: quizilla.com/users/FlamingTigress
www.mindscenes.com/t4/aw8d76d54.html
tbp.smith.dropbear.id.au/.../
tiki-index.php?page=Angels
www.higherpraise.com/clipart/angels/angel66.htm
www.mysuicidalfate.zooms.../
www.isidore-of-seville.com/angels/22.html
fallangs.proboards31.com/index.cgi
www.cabalcity.com/angels/.../
RKF/Fallen_Angel_RKF.jpg
www.vertebrate.co.uk/tommy/randomacts/angel.html
www.elbenwaldforum.de/.../
cat/500
uzikingwillow.buzznet.com/user/photos/?id=3785556
www.cabalcity.com/angels/.../
Serra_Angel_Comic3_Guay.jpg
Featured Post
Popol Vuh: The Definitive Edition of the Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life and the Glories of Gods and Kings by Dennis Tedlock
This volume can be divided into two parts. First is the introduction of the Popol Vuh; second, the translation of the work itself. It is...
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Friday, February 02, 2007
Fire in the Hole!
It's not just a game.
Five years ago I could not sleep without playing even just one round of it. Five years ago, I walked through dark alleys and endured hunger just to get a taste of it. Five years ago, I could go head-to-head against the toughest gamers. It was the best thing the world has ever created. And it took me months to stop playing Counter-Strike.
It's not just a game.
Few people realize that virtual games are no different from books, music, movies and other forms of media and recreation. They all have the same function: an escape.
We watch television, listen to music and read because we want to experience what it's like to be in another world as a different person or place. I'm a CS addict, but I also know that life will be so boring without it.
There is an art in playing. All people have the ability to learn how to do it but not everyone can be good at it. Battle Realms and Generals require strategic and tactical skills. Counterstrike requires precision and speed. Like writing, you need to know the basic keys and through practice you learn different techniques. Like dancing, it requires flexibility of the mind (and hands). Like drawing and painting, you need to know what techniques or strategies will suit best in a given situation and to make most of the materials available.
So you see, it's not just a game.
Five years ago I could not sleep without playing even just one round of it. Five years ago, I walked through dark alleys and endured hunger just to get a taste of it. Five years ago, I could go head-to-head against the toughest gamers. It was the best thing the world has ever created. And it took me months to stop playing Counter-Strike.
It's not just a game.
Few people realize that virtual games are no different from books, music, movies and other forms of media and recreation. They all have the same function: an escape.
We watch television, listen to music and read because we want to experience what it's like to be in another world as a different person or place. I'm a CS addict, but I also know that life will be so boring without it.
There is an art in playing. All people have the ability to learn how to do it but not everyone can be good at it. Battle Realms and Generals require strategic and tactical skills. Counterstrike requires precision and speed. Like writing, you need to know the basic keys and through practice you learn different techniques. Like dancing, it requires flexibility of the mind (and hands). Like drawing and painting, you need to know what techniques or strategies will suit best in a given situation and to make most of the materials available.
So you see, it's not just a game.
Actors and Movies
Analysis of the movie "Babel" based on Stanley Cavell's "Audience, Actor, and Star" and Alexander Sesonske's "Space, Time, and Motion in Film"
Brad Pitt became famous as a screen actor when he played a starring role in the Dark Side of the Sun in 1988. Like most famous "stars" he is well-known in some of the roles he played in his movies. According to Cavell, "the screen actor is essentially not an actor at all: he is the subject of the study..." In popular culture the roles these stars have played are overshadowed by the fact that they played them. The audience knows immediately what to expect from the movie through the actors' names.The characters they play in the story are created by them, not unlike in plays where the characters roles have already been established.
In the example given in the essay, King Lear has been portrayed in flesh just like he is in the story. While in some movies, the roles are specifically made to fit a certain actor or the actor's personality is intertwined with the character he or she plays in the movie. The American tourist is not just Cate Blanchett's husband in the movie anymore but he is also the Brad Pitt who has played several roles in other movies at the same time. How he portrayed his role in Babel is a product of his experience and the writer's and director's concept of the role. The same thing goes for most screen actors. It is not only what the author creates but how real people are in real life.
* * *
Movies differ from drama in that a movie script is different in form and essence from the play in written form. Both can manipulate the sense of time and motion. But unlike the plays, movies can experiment with more techniques with the aid of visual symbols and music, including the dialogues and sound effects. Unlike other forms of literature, the transition from one time frame to another is easier in films because it uses different aspects of sense perception. A story can use description and narration but what usually takes less than a minute to show in a film is described in several sentences. The audience can focus on any part of the story in the movie depending on what elements are contained in the frame in front of them.
The Genbu of Heaven and the Oni-eating Tengu
I don't usually wake up before nine o'clock in the morning during weekends or vacation. If it wasn't for Abe no Yasuaki, the Genbu of Heaven and his green hair, I'd have spent my spare time playing Battle Realms and Generals.
The last time I watched anime was more than five years ago. The last characters I was interested with were Sanosuke of Samurai X and Ryu of Streetfighter.
Nothing about the story caught my attention. It was the animation that was superb. The fact that they have captured the spirit of the Heian Era was quite unusal for something that is usually associated with elementary kids. The clothes looked real. They were very detailed and beautifully rendered. They match the color of the hair and eyes of each character.
The music gives a different quality to the series. You can sense the power and the tension of the opposing forces.
* * *
I found Tactics very interesting for its story and animation. Haruka's mysterious side and his relationship to his master, Kantarou Ichinomiya, becomes obscured as the story unfolds (and is subject to different interpretations). It is not just their friendship that binds them together but the respect for the master-slave pact. Loyalty and friendship are constantly challenged.* * *
Akane's quest to save Kyo from the Oni Clan and Haruka's search for his past are not just kids' stuff. The first full-length animation (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) was not even made for the younger audience. There is more to anime than just their big, round eyes and cute hairstyles.* * *
It is a misconception that artists should recreate the world as they see it. Beyond the ordinary there is a different world of colors and shapes. What is ordinary is boring. Art should not just be a replica of what we see in front of us. What is ordinary should be made extraordinary.Expect me to be waking up early when a good series comes along.
The Second Sex?
Comment on the movie "In the Mood for Love" based on Laura Mulvey's "Woman as Image, Man as Bearer of the Look"
"The presence of a woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation."
Personally I never liked women in movies. Most of them are fragile, foolish and always in need of another person for help. I don't want to think of myself as that kind of woman and so I cannot identify with most of the female characters.
Women always have to look good. Li-zhen's sexuality is emphasized through close-up shots of erotic zones. The angles in some of the scenes have that voyeuristic quality. The viewers intrude their lives.Like most female characters, she is a passive counterpart to Chow. The male protagonist provides the actions of the story to keep it going. In the end, the woman was punished (sadism) and the audience are not even sure if she still lives with her husband.
The music adds to the overall mood of the story. It's slow and sensual, like the pace of the story. It also makes the audience feel that their relationship should be kept a secret.
Camera movements evoke feelings of loneliness and isolation, which the main characters have felt throughout the film. The growing passions and the characters' frustration forces them to accept that their feelings alone are not enough. They realized revenge was a mistake and that they were the victims of their own actions.
"The presence of a woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation."
Personally I never liked women in movies. Most of them are fragile, foolish and always in need of another person for help. I don't want to think of myself as that kind of woman and so I cannot identify with most of the female characters.
* * *
Women always have to look good. Li-zhen's sexuality is emphasized through close-up shots of erotic zones. The angles in some of the scenes have that voyeuristic quality. The viewers intrude their lives.Like most female characters, she is a passive counterpart to Chow. The male protagonist provides the actions of the story to keep it going. In the end, the woman was punished (sadism) and the audience are not even sure if she still lives with her husband.
The music adds to the overall mood of the story. It's slow and sensual, like the pace of the story. It also makes the audience feel that their relationship should be kept a secret.
Camera movements evoke feelings of loneliness and isolation, which the main characters have felt throughout the film. The growing passions and the characters' frustration forces them to accept that their feelings alone are not enough. They realized revenge was a mistake and that they were the victims of their own actions.
A Chaos of Appearances
AN ANALYSIS ON ORSON WELLES' "CITIZEN KANE"
PHOTOGRAPHY, MISE EN SCENE and MOVEMENT
Orson Welles' use of theatrical techniques in lightning has an unusual effect in the movie. Some shots exaggerate the symbolic features of the story such as separation and loneliness. The contrasts are very obvious and early in the film, the audience is provided with a foreshadowing of the protagonist's fate. The play of light and darkness overstates the contrasts in foreground and background, the textures and the characters' demeanor.
The positions of the characters also perform the same functions. What I like most about the film is that the director can place all the elements in the film without overshadowing the rest (the deep-focus shots for example). He can maximize the space making it possible for the audience to different characters at the same time.
The camera movements are very dynamic and give the audience another side of the story aside from the dialogues of the characters.
EDITING
The shifting of scenes are sometimes confusing since the story is not told in a chronological order and the points of view are constantly shifting. We see different sides of Charles Foster Kane depending on whose telling the story. But this technique (flashback) is very effective in establishing Kane's image as an enigmatic figure. Uncovering the story of his life will only lead to more questions than answers.
ACTING and DRAMA
I think Welles' portrayal of Kane was really good. His voice modulation is also appropriate in some shots like the series of breakfast scenes with his first wife Emily.
As for the rest of the cast, even if they were not well-known actors, their performance contributed a lot to the overall success of the film.
Welles regarded film as essentially a dramatic rather than a literary medium and is obvious in the lighting techniques he used throughout the film. By showing only the important elements needed in the scenes, the audience cannot miss a single action of the story.
STORY and LITERATURE
The word "Rosebud", although it seemed to be irrelevant to Kane's life, is a great way of to hook the audience for the unveiling of the story. They expect that the reporter's investigation will eventually reveal what it means. This nagging question from the very start provides the audience with something to look forward to as the story unfolds.
Like most classic tragedies, the downfall of Kane shows that power and influence has a price. His death poses a challenge to viewers to try and weigh the statements of the the other characters. We cannot be certain who is telling the truth. Each one has a different version of Kane and it is up to us to judge whether Kane made good or bad decisions or if he was just a victim of the circumstances.
IDEOLOGY and THEORY
Environment is a stronger force than heredity.
Perhaps it was the power. Or it was his failures that made him the person he was when he first appeared in the film on his deathbed holding the small crystal ball. As a young man he was very active and full of ambition, but reality shattered his illusions. By surrounding himself with important people he tried to fill this void. But in the end he became a lonely man, estranged from the rest of the world and bounded by the walls in Xanadu.
He remains a mysterious man until now.
PHOTOGRAPHY, MISE EN SCENE and MOVEMENT
Orson Welles' use of theatrical techniques in lightning has an unusual effect in the movie. Some shots exaggerate the symbolic features of the story such as separation and loneliness. The contrasts are very obvious and early in the film, the audience is provided with a foreshadowing of the protagonist's fate. The play of light and darkness overstates the contrasts in foreground and background, the textures and the characters' demeanor.
The positions of the characters also perform the same functions. What I like most about the film is that the director can place all the elements in the film without overshadowing the rest (the deep-focus shots for example). He can maximize the space making it possible for the audience to different characters at the same time.
The camera movements are very dynamic and give the audience another side of the story aside from the dialogues of the characters.
EDITING
The shifting of scenes are sometimes confusing since the story is not told in a chronological order and the points of view are constantly shifting. We see different sides of Charles Foster Kane depending on whose telling the story. But this technique (flashback) is very effective in establishing Kane's image as an enigmatic figure. Uncovering the story of his life will only lead to more questions than answers.
ACTING and DRAMA
I think Welles' portrayal of Kane was really good. His voice modulation is also appropriate in some shots like the series of breakfast scenes with his first wife Emily.
As for the rest of the cast, even if they were not well-known actors, their performance contributed a lot to the overall success of the film.
Welles regarded film as essentially a dramatic rather than a literary medium and is obvious in the lighting techniques he used throughout the film. By showing only the important elements needed in the scenes, the audience cannot miss a single action of the story.
STORY and LITERATURE
The word "Rosebud", although it seemed to be irrelevant to Kane's life, is a great way of to hook the audience for the unveiling of the story. They expect that the reporter's investigation will eventually reveal what it means. This nagging question from the very start provides the audience with something to look forward to as the story unfolds.
Like most classic tragedies, the downfall of Kane shows that power and influence has a price. His death poses a challenge to viewers to try and weigh the statements of the the other characters. We cannot be certain who is telling the truth. Each one has a different version of Kane and it is up to us to judge whether Kane made good or bad decisions or if he was just a victim of the circumstances.
IDEOLOGY and THEORY
Environment is a stronger force than heredity.
Perhaps it was the power. Or it was his failures that made him the person he was when he first appeared in the film on his deathbed holding the small crystal ball. As a young man he was very active and full of ambition, but reality shattered his illusions. By surrounding himself with important people he tried to fill this void. But in the end he became a lonely man, estranged from the rest of the world and bounded by the walls in Xanadu.
He remains a mysterious man until now.
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