Boyhood Atlantic Article

I found this article to be interesting since we discussed how very relatable "Boyhood" was. I never really thought about who it would and would not be relatable for. Hope the link below works, because my computer is not letting me test it.


http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2014/09/the-not-so-relateable-boyhood/379700/

I will not wear that hip hugger thing, mother. It makes me look really fat!

If you want to see what I feel is a truly independent film, check out Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story. The actors are Barbie dolls, and the film is a combination dramatization/documentary/biopic.

It can't be shown publicly due to a cease and desist order from the Carpenters estate. However, you can find it on YouTube.

Here is the link:

Superstar.

By the way, the title of this post is a line Karen speaks in the movie.

My Presentation on 3.1415936525 etc.

Gloria Diaz

Dr. Kaufmann

Genre Study in Film

Pi Presentation

16 June 2015

I saw this movie when it came out in 1998, but borrowed it from the library to refresh my memory. It is a remake of the 1917 Paul Wegener film, “der Golem und die Taenzerin” (Wallis). That translates to the Golem and the Dancer.

I consider the cinematography of this film particularly striking, because using grainy black and white film for this helps the viewer sharpen his or her focus of what’s being viewed. What I mean by that is we can be dazzled by color, as well as distracted by it. I suggest if you are trying to learn about photography, to first shoot subjects in black and white. With the absence of color, things like light and shadow and form will become more apparent. These are pictures of ordinary things, but in black and white, you’re not as distracted by the color, and you’re probably paying more attention to the shape of the stop sign and the letters.

                                          (Diaz).

                                            (Diaz).

The fire plug goes from a yellow on green contrast to a gray on black contrast. The shadows and bolts seem to pop out more.

          

With this film, the grainy black and white aspect of it lets us know off the bat this is not going to be the velvety smoothness of classic films from the golden age of Hollywood. I think that is meant literally as well as figuratively. New York is a very colorful place, and Chinatown is certainly colorful, but both the city and the neighborhood are shown in tones of black, white and gray. The graininess of the film adds to the discord that is the plot of the film. It will not be a smooth ride visually, yet, much like a car accident, we don’t want to look away. The graininess also gives a sort of surveillance camera quality to it, almost as if we are watching something we aren’t supposed to—a guy who is obsessed with something, and that something will destroy him.

The use of black and white also helps viewers feel (although in a limited way, we cannot really “know” how a character feels) the single-mindedness that Max has towards finding the pattern he is so sure of. Aranofsky has said filming in color “would have been less expensive” (Wallis). The black and white serves as sort of a visual tunnel—nothing and nobody else matters to Max right now. As anyone who struggles with OCD knows, being obsessed with a problem or issue can take a toll mentally. Max’s headaches are just one more frustration in a situation that seems to be getting worse.

We can’t get inside Max’s brain, but having a brain just sitting in a sink or on the steps of a subway station (as is shown in the film) gives us some insight as to what’s going on. Max is aware he’s pretty gifted, yet his brain doesn’t quite work right—he has terrible migraines and he has to take medicine. I think we all have times where we would like to erase painful memories, or at least rinse off our gray matter with some nice cool water. If you poke certain areas of the brain, you can get some pretty interesting reactions. When Max pokes the brain on the subway steps, he hears a loud train horn. If this brain were attached to a human, the person might kick his leg. Obviously, Max’s migraines are as big an obsession as finding the number to unlock the stock market patterns. Here’s a Far Side cartoon illustrating what happens when you mess with gray matter.

                                                    (Jerem6).

The game Max and Saul play is called Go. It’s been played for thousands of years, and a unique handicapping system allows players of widely different skills to enjoy an evenly balanced game (“What is Go?”)

Incidentally, the Millennium Force Roller Coaster theme music and the opening credit music for Pi sound remarkably alike. Very computer-esque, very techno. Fitting, since Pi was released in 1998 and MF was established in 2000. Listen for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ1sZSCz47w   (Pi trailer)

Here is the theme music for Millennium Force: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG2T_uYDMeM

Pi won the Director’s Award in 1998 at Sundance. However, critics didn’t like it. They didn’t like the way the math was used; they said it wasn’t believable (Wallis).

The film was released by Artisan Entertainment, which is now owned by Lions Gate, which purchased the company in 2003. Artisan is probably best known for the 1999 film, The Blair Witch Project (Bates).

Works Cited

Bates, James. “Lions Gate to Buy Artisan Entertainment.” Latimes.com. Los Angeles Times,

            28 Oct. 2003. Web. 16 June 2015.

Diaz, Gloria. Fireplugs. 2015. Photograph.

Diaz, Gloria. Stop Signs. 2015. Photograph.

Cedar Point Fanpage. “Millennium Force [HD] Theme/Station Music.” YouTube. YouTube,                      1 Jan. 2010. Web. 16 June 2015.

Jerem6. “Gary Larson on Pinterest.” Pinterest.com. Pinterest.com, n.d. Web. 18 June

            2015.

Visavedlatinv “Pi Trailer.” YouTube. YouTube, 30 Jul. 2006. Web. 16 June 2015.

Wallis, Frieder. “Analysis of Pi 1997, written and directed by Darren Aronofsky.”

            Aranofsky.tripod.com. Aranofsky.tripod.com, 23 Apr. 2001. Web. 17 June 2015.

“What is Go?” usgo.org. American Go Association, 2014. Web. 18 June 2015.

How To Make A Tarantino Film!

I found this video and thought everyone might get a kick out of it.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRodrZNAZYs

Swingers (1996): Background on Jon Favreau and Doug Liman

   Swingers, a 1996 comedic screenplay, was created by Jonathan Kolia Favreau. Favreau not only wrote the screenplay, but also played the leading role of Mike in the film. Interestingly enough, Swingers was a product of Favreau tinkering around with a gift from his father. He was given screenwriting software which eventually led him to creating the original script. This film was then picked up by director Doug Liman, son of well-known legal strategist Arthur Liman (“The Liman Identity”, n.d.).  Favreau later commented that Swingers made Liman become “Doug Liman, not Arthur Liman’s son” thus helping him establish himself as an individual (“The Liman Identity”, n.d.). Liman later went on to direct films such as Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the Bourne Identity (“The Liman Identity”, n.d.). Choosing Liman as director was a gamble on Favreau’s part because he had other “six figure offers” from celebrities such as Jason Priestley. He ultimately chose Liman because he promised to cast Favreau himself and pal Vince Vaughn as the leads, which ultimately kick-started both of their careers (Jewel, 2015). Swingers was made on a relatively low budget of around $200,000, which helps it fit in to the “Indie” category of going against the higher budget, commerce driven, mainstream films of the time. It was later distributed by Miramax and grossed nearly $1.1 million in art houses and cinema centers (“Jon Favreau”, 2015).

 Favreau is someone who did not necessarily set out to work in film, but film found him. He was born in 1966 in Queens, New York City as the only son of two school teachers. He attended the Bronx High School of Science and then went on to college at Queens College in 1984. Surprisingly, he chose to drop out of college when he was just credits away from receiving a degree. He instead decided to move to Chicago to focus on comedy and perform in improvisational theaters (Biography, IMDb, n.d.). In 1993 while in Chicago, Favreau became acquainted with Vaughn as they both were cast in the film Rudy. Favreau went on to appear as “Eric the Clown” in Seinfeld, which is where he had his big break into the television realm. After more small roles, he decided to write himself and Vaughn in to an original screenplay. He also co-produced the film and cast himself as the “luckless, struggling actor who is emotionally shattered after losing his girlfriend” (Biography, IMDb, n.d.). Vaughn was cast as his opposite, a “cool, worldly, and outgoing buddy” type. According to IMDb, these two specific roles went on to define both Favreau and Vaughn’s later careers in film.

Following Swingers, Favreau returned to a television role starring in Friends as “Monica’s” love interest “Pete Becker” (Biography, IMDb, n.d.). In 1999, he was featured in the Showtime biopic Ricky Marciano. His feature film directorial debut was with the movie Made “a Mafioso comedy” also starring Vaughn again (“Jon Favreau,” 2015). Interestingly enough, Favreau went on to work with Vaughn many additional times in popular movies such as The Break-Up, Four Christmases, and Couples Retreat (Biography, IMDb, n.d.). Favreau’s best known directorial role is likely with Will Ferrell’s popular comedy Elf, which has become a Christmas staple. In addition, he helped both produce and direct 2008’s Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. and 2010’s Iron Man 2 (Biography, IMDb, n.d.). These two films earned more than $1 billion combined at box offices worldwide (“Jon Favreau, 2011).

Aside from box office success, Favreau is married and a father to three young children (Biography, IMDb, n.d.). He is quoted as saying, “I thought I would be working on Wall Street my whole life. It was the go-go '80s; there were yellow ties. It was just an exciting moment. And although I wasn't involved in the trading side of things, I was still around that culture, and I ultimately decided it just wasn't for me” (“Jon Favreau”, 2015). That clear decision to walk away from academia truly fits with Favreau’s self-described personality of “being a lazy person by nature, but whom can go from lazy to obsessive if engaged” (“Jon Favreau”, 2015).

In conclusion, Favreau’s career success in acting, directing, writing, and producing were born out of his first original screenplay Swingers. This film currently sits at an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the “critics consensus” states that this film “made stars out of Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, while also establishing Doug Liman as a director to watch (Swingers, 2015).

 Works Cited

"Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 14 June 2015.

"Biography: Jon Favreau." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television. Web. 14 June 2015.

Jewel, Dan, and Anna David. "Swing And A Hit." People 46.22 (1996): 115. Academic Search Premier. Web. 15 June 2015

"Jon Favreau." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 13 June 2015.

"Swingers (1996)." Rotten Tomatoes. Web. 15 June 2015.

"The Liman Identity." NYMag.com. Web. 13 June 2015.

1994, Annus Mirabils of Independent Film

I sensationally claimed that I consider Pulp Fiction the last independent film, which is true in that after Miramax's incredible success, financially and critically, with the film, every studio wanted to get in the indie business--and all did with smaller dependents such as Fox Searchlight, Focus Features, Sony Pictures Classics, Paramount Vantage, etc.
      With less fanfare but more underground interest, though, a New Jersey convenience store clerk made a not-so-boring film about his boring job and in the process became an acclaimed auteur in the former vein of independent directors.
 
In the video above Smith talks to a film hopeful about his inspiration from Richard Linklater's route to film-making with his Slackers.  Smith, in turn, inspired other hopefuls to make their films themselves instead of waiting for some studio man to greenlight them.  One of those hopefuls was our next filmmaker--Jon Favreau, with his first film, Swingers.  Swingers, maybe not so surprisingly, became attached to Harvey Weinstein's Miramax--as was Clerks.
  By the way annus means year in Latin (and mirabilis, wonderful), in case you were wondering.