Flip Book

Here are some excepts from my flipbook. It ended up turning out well I think. It was drawn in a "Grapes of Wrath" book and was all about a grape that comes to life and eats people. It then turns back into and bundle of grapes and finally a glass of wine.

I listened to a radio broadcast on otr.com. It was Flash Gordon based on the comic. I can tell how important music was to drive the plot and dictate the mood. It served to make the story engaging to the audience. Many of the characters had very distinct voices or accents so that it was easy for the audience to know who was talking. The villain had a deep, sinister voice. Flash Gordon's voice was strong and confident. Sound effects like explosions were used whenever appropriate and the narrator filled in any information that was lost in the dialogue. So much was done in an effort to convey a story when simple visuals weren't there for the audience to see the action. It's almost hard to listen to having grown up in such a visual age where TV is much more common. I, like much of society today, have a harder time keeping my attention on something where visuals are not presented to me.

Sci-Fi

I finally finished my flip book project and am a little nervous to share it in class. My drawings aren't particularly good because I'm not much of an artist. I think the idea is good though. If I had it to do over again, I would use a different book that flips better. Last class we watched clips from various Sci Fi movies. On the scale of realism, almost all senses up to this point had been experimented with in film. The only thing left to do was break the fourth wall which separates the audience from what is going on in the film. This is what the film "Videodrome" was an example of. That seems to be what all the 3-D movies of today are trying to accomplish: making the audience feel apart of what's going on in the film. It's interesting to look at the futuristic technologies of movies such as "Artificial Intelligence" and "Minority Report" and how we can already sense that the idea that there will be screens everywhere is starting to be an accurate prediction.

Just Singin, Singin in the Rain

Last week's class was my first taste of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" and as I had been prepared for, it was indeed pretty twisted. The irony is overt in this film about young men hopped up on drugs that beat and kill innocent people and closes with the familiar cheery tune, "Singin in the Rain." Oddly humorous it's almost more disconcerting than had the music been dark because we immediately make the connection that just decades ago, this song is sung by a man who was "...happy again." The stark contrast between the music and the mood is just one of the few things that differentiates the classic hollywood movies of "Singin in the Rain" era from the edgier films of today like "A Clockwork Orange" and more recent ones. Also, a huge thing in film that has changed over the decades are the production codes that used to be very conservative back in the days of early hollywood movies. Actually camera shots of murder were not allowed so even suspense/horror film directors like Alfred Hitchcock had to find ways around explicitly showing murder. The amount of restrictions on films of that time vs. the amount of liberties directors now take with the subject matter of films today is mind boggling. This is due in large part to the events such as the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s and a great deal more experimenting with drugs. The altered psychedelic state of drug use could now be shown with cinematic advancement in color and special effects. "A Clockwork Orange" is proof that through the technology of film today, there is little left that can't be shown.

Film and More Opera

I watched "La Boheme" the other day for my Opera Paper. It was very similar to the musical Rent with a few differences in the relationships and occupations of some of its characters. La Boheme means "The Bohemians" or people who live an alternative lifestyle. I found it interesting that back in this century it was seen as against societal norms to be a painter or a poet. For the modern day rendition, Rent, the cast is made up of not only literally starving artists, but many of them are homosexual, one is a drag queen, one a stripper, one an in your face political activist and many are suffering from AIDS, rather than in La Boheme when there is only one character dying from sickness. I'm brainstorming ideas for the paper but am nervous about it. I'm not used to classes where I don't receive much direction or guidelines. I know that was Santiago's intent and that the paper is meant to push us to think outside the box. We'll see what I can come up with!
The other day's class was interesting. I didn't know about the concept of hand coloring in early early film, even before it was projected on a screen. It was beautiful! Also the Daguerre pictures were fascinating. I had no idea pictures of dead people were the precursor to film. Again, nervous about the flip book assignment but we'll see how it goes!

Musical Theater

This was my favorite class yet! I love musical theater and learning about how it has evolved throughout the past century. I remember learning all about Vaudeville and Burlesque as well as the minstrel shows and more recent musical theater productions in my "Development of Musical Theater" class, but I had forgotten much of it. I liked that in this class we talked more in depth about the cultural events that shaped the turn entertainment was taking, like how the strict rules and laws during the prohibition era led to the popularizing of jazz music, seeing as more and more people were visiting these underground clubs where the minorities were playing their culturally inspired music. Burlesque was a direct result of the brothels that were a very popular form of entertainment at the turn of the century. The increase in immigrants during WWI gave rise to a new melting pot of music as different cultures introduced new styles and instruments. Even today, musical theater is still a reflection of the times with shows like "Rent" that is based on an opera but deals with young adults batting with AIDS and La Cage a Faux that deals with gay relationships and acceptance. We even delved into the evolving technology of the shows, from the extravagant sets and costumes of the Burlesque era to the interactive setting of "Cabaret", the was the show was engineered visually was very important to the show's entertainment value. I'm so glad we watched clips from the PBS broadway series because it's so informative but never dull.

More on the Evolution of Operas

This class we talked more about some of the famous operas throughout the past few centuries and how they have evolved with the changing times: from Wagner to Strauss to the turn of the 20th century when the radical ideas of the time (ie Sigmund Freud and the Oedipus and Elektra Complex) played out in more bizarre operas such as the biblical story of Solome and her obsessive love for John the Baptist. It was interesting to be able to associate familiar opera tunes that I have heard countless times before with the opera they are actually from, such as the "Flower duet" from Lakme's Elektra.