Dystopian Trailer Poster

We were assigned to make a propaganda poster for our dystopian trailer with the option of using it in them or not. This is my group's poster. We chose to design it this way because we thought it effectively communicated some of the ideas behind our dystopian premise. For example, the social classes in our trailer will be divided through loss of their senses between the different classes. The poor can't see or hear the rich. This poster shows this through an eye with a businessman (or rich person) as the pupil. It's also blurred because tha helps show the idea that they're living in a perfect world. The font we chose looks somewhat post-apocalyptic or dystopian which is fitting for this assignment. I do not think we'll be using it in our actual trailer.



Dystopian Film Trailer Review/Critique

V for Vendetta . James McTeigue . R. 2005
When Great Britain becomes a totalitarian nation, a rebel, by the name of V (Hugo Weaving), starts a revolution, calling on the people of the country to help him revolt. He rescues a woman, Evey (Natalie Portman), to later find her to be a useful partner in crime.

A dystopia, by definition, is "an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one." (Google). V for Vendetta is a trailer that contains these aspects of a dystopia: a totalitarian society and a nation where many citizens were unhappy. The director conveys these ideas through the use of a speech given by the head of the government (1:16), and the use of montages displaying the government's power (i.e. 1:27).  The trailer is edited with a dark, grey/blue tone to show the dreariness of the situation. The language throughout the trailer is all very powerful and emotion-provoking. There are many quick flashes to keep the viewer on the edge of his or her seat, nervous for the people of the the nation in the movie. There are also many scenes of violence and chaos showing how horrific the place the dystopia takes place truly is. The director uses these and many other techniques to provide the qualifications for a dystopian story.

In my own dystopian trailer, I plan to use many different filming techniques to communicate the dystopian theme. I hope to color correct the footage to cool colors and darken and sharpen it to give it a grungy feel. I also want to film in contrasting environments to show the difference between the high and lows of society in our dystopia. I will use dramatic voiceovers of the main character to keep the viewer's attention through listening closely, as well as watching carefully. With these different techniques and others, my group's trailer has a lot of potential.

5x5 Video Project

1. A shot from an outlook of a town/village near El Salvador's capital, San Salvador
2. A shot of a fishing pier and market at a beach on the Pacific Ocean, south of the village Zaragoza
3. A shot of a wild, starving dog at the foot of "La Puerta del Diablo" translated to be "The Gate of the Devil"
4. A shot of some performers demonstrating traditional Salvadoran dances
5. A shot of a village on the way to the capital, San Salvador

For this video, I used the Canon EOS T2i with the 18-55mm kit lens. This was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5. The edit was simply compiling the clips, no color correction or changing the audio. Everything went smoothly, without any problems.

Personally, this 5x5 is probably as good as I could get with the limitations, but there are a few things that I would've preferred. The video itself is a bit grainy, and shaky, but it's handheld, what can one expect. I also  obviously, would've preferred to be able to color correct, etc.

For our next independent video project, I think it'd be interesting to have everyone make a video that displays some parts of their life, similar to a day in the life video. It could be hobbies, school life, etc.

For our third assignment, we've been told to find an expert on a topic we're interested in relating to our class.     It was required we read an article about subscribing and connecting to people through RSS Readers.

The article talks about the new methods of learning provided by the internet, called the "Collaboration Age" because it allowed students to collaborate with peers, and find experts on topics to learn from. This technology allows one to work with people from all over the world. Different websites or apps can be used to tag websites, write documents as a group, share media, and much more. These tools can prove very beneficial for students, but only if used correctly. This style of learning and teaching requires teachers to step back and rethink their role as a teacher: to be more of a connector than a knowledge provider. This new age would force kids to think about the content of what they're engaged in, whether it can be trusted. If controlled, this new teaching method could be one of the most effective ways to this day.

Annotations: http://diigo.com/0sx64

One of my favorite videos to date. Great cinematography, color correct, and editing, as well.

Today was my first day using the website/app Diigo. It lets you annotate on text and create tag lists.

The movie review was structured mainly around the plot, giving bits of information about the characters. It seemed to avoid the cinematic and dramatic aspects for the most part. The author seemed to be quite critical of the movie despite the popularity and recommendations among people. He first compared "Inception" to other movies about the mind and dreams and then gave his opinion. The review lacks recommendation.

I think for our film class's movie reviews, we could give a basic plot overview, discuss the main characters, setting, and cinematographic aspects, such as: angles, transitions, color grading, etc. Analyzing all the different aspects of a film will only better our understanding of movie-making and help improve our own videos.

See my annotations of a movie review of "Inception" by A.O. Scott of the New York Times.
"This Time the Dream's on Me"
http://diigo.com/0sswq

I'm Sam. I'm a sophomore at Blair. I do parkour and play cello. I have a sister who is a junior also in CAP. I'm really interested in cinematography and video editing. I'm a terrible actor and don't particularly like being in front of the camera. I recently bought myself a DSLR and edit using Adobe After Effects and Premiere Pro, however, in this class, we're using Final Cut Pro. I'm excited to learn a new program. I like the mechanics of filmmaking, as well as the accessories, lenses, and editing programs. I did two years in middle school of a film-making class and a semester in high school. Of the video-making I've done, it would be hard for me to choose one as a favorite because I often find myself unsatisfied with my work shortly after it's completed and I've never gotten to make videos on topics that particularly interest me.

We could use these blogs this year to express our opinions on our school assignments, update each other on how a project might be going, and share media we find to be fascinating and intriguing as inspiration for others.