POST #1: A CARTOON

The Fanatic Geek



The document we have here is a cartoon called The Fanatic Geek by Patrick Chapatte in 2008. It tackles the issue of technological progress slowing down the movie business.

What catches the eye at first sight is the Cannes logo we can see in the top left hand corner. The cartoon is made up of a drawing and a balloon. We can see a man, obviously a film director, who maybe looks a bit like Sean Penn with cow-boy boots and sunglasses, on the red carpet with a blond woman in a very fancy dress, signing an autograph to a fan of his. The fan is telling the director that he loves his movies and that he's pirated them all, meaning he didn't pay to watch them, doing illegal downloading by using the internet.

By drawing this cartoon, the author wants to show the world one of the downsides of the internet and technological progress.
He aims to criticize the "génération Y" as we call it in French, the generation of people born in the 90's who not only have easy access to all the new technology but grew up with them so can use them very easily. This generation doesn't go into stores to buy a CD or a movie on DVD to watch it at home on their TV. They just pirate them, which means download them for free and watch their movie on their computer. I think what the author is trying to say here is that this generation not only disrespects the art industry in general and slows it down by not buying anything, but it also cannot appreciate a good movie on a big screen with friends or family. The author is describing in only one cartoon a whole generation of loners who do not open themselves enough to the world.

I personally think it is very well thought and that the author found a good way to caricature this generation or the downsides of technological progress if you prefer because nowadays the internet and all this technological progress is seen like a blessing to our society while some sides of it are actually bad for it.

We can relate this document to the notion of progress because piracy is something we can do nowadays in the 21st century now that we have technological progress, which we didn't have in the 20th century. It shows how the progress of the movie industry for example is held down by technological progress, so this cartoon, in a way, represents 2 types of progress.

POST 17: SPACES & EXCHANGES: ON THE ROAD / CROSSING BORDERS

A road movie is a film genre in which the main characters leave home to travel from place to place, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. The term can still apply to scenarios where it can be a misnomer, such as when the plot of a film involves off-road travel.
he genre has its roots in spoken and written tales of epic journeys, such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid. The road film is a standard plot employed by screenwriters. It is a type of bildungsroman, a story in which the hero changes, grows or improves over the course of the story.
The on-the-road plot was used at the birth of American cinema but blossomed in the years after World War II, reflecting a boom in automobile production and the growth of youth culture. Even so, awareness of the "road picture" as a genre came only in the 1960s with Bonnie and Clyde and Easy Rider.

 

Paris, Texas (1984)

The ultimate 'road movie'

I think this film can illustrate the notion 'Spaces and Exchanges' by maybe showing how the man (in general) looks for himself in space, in different places then the places where he lives his everyday life, and by loosing the everyday routine. Here, in the opening scene, we can see a man in suit in the desert, apparently lost. It illustrates very well the topic of the man looking for something in his life by travelling from places to places.

Under the Same Moon (2007) 

A MOVIE ABOUT EMIGRATION / IMMIGRATION

UNDER THE SAME MOON (LA MISMA LUNA) tells the parallel stories of nine-year-old Carlitos and his mother, Rosario. In the hopes of providing a better life for her son, Rosario works illegally in the U.S. while her mother cares for Carlitos back in Mexico. Unexpected circumstances drive both Rosario and Carlitos to embark on their own journeys in a desperate attempt to reunite. Along the way, mother and son face challenges and obstacles but never lose hope that they will one day be together again.

This movie is about immigration from Mexico to the USA, which is a very common thing in America. Here, the notion is very well illustrated because the journey from a space (Mexico) to another very different space (the USA) is not just a car travel but a life journey for a little boy from Mexico and the exchanges of cultures in the movie (mexican-american) might be very interesting for the notion we study.

POST 16: Working in autonomy on song lyrics (and video)

For my post, i chose the song Empire State of Mind by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. Enjoy!

POST 15: How to Write a Screenplay: Script & Screenwriting Tips

Screenplay

OVERBLACK

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

The first notes of the song begins. (15')

FADE IN

EXT. STREET SIDEWALK-OVERCAST/CLOUDY DAY

A broken coffee cup is on the ground.

CAMERA ZOOMS BACKWARD enough to see the background.

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

The vocals start. (15'x2)

                                                             

CAMERA FRAMES a crumpled newspaper being blown down the street away. A pair of feet come into view, step on a piece of gum.

CAMERA ZOOMS BACKWARD to show the man in a FULL SHOT walking down the street with his head bent.

The street gets darker thanks to a SLOW FADE OUT

[Special effect]

INT. LIVING ROOM-DAY AFTERNOON 

A man in the background is lip-synching lines 6 and 7 of the song, while a couple is having an argument on the foreground, around a coffee cup. The man gets up abruptly and throws the coffee cup violently. He sweeps the coffee cup off the table, while he's standing, the cup ends up broken in pieces.

ZOOM FORWARD on the radio transistor, followed by a PAN SHOT to the right, to focus on the couple shaking hands. The man puts on his coat.

CUT TO:

EXT.-STREET-DAY

BLACK, which is the man's coat seen from the back. The man starts walking and passes by a stray dog that starts whining. Both of them stare at each other with an imploring look in their eyes.

MUSIC SOUNDTRACK

Chorus

  

CUT TO:

EXT. STREET-NIGHT

HIGH-ANGLE SHOT of the man walking alone in a dimly-lit street (turning his back to the camera?).

FADE OUT, credits.

Post 14 BIS: A Stan Ridgway song called 'Walking Home Alone' (1986)

So, finally, HERE is my worksheet on Stan Ridgway's Walkin Home Alone.

POST 12: MYTHS & HEROES: THE AMERICAN DREAM: NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!

The first document is a video: it is an extract from the musical West Side Story, written by Leonard Bernstein. It tells the story of a group of young portoricans who move from Puerto Rico to America. They live in the Upper West Side of New York, and are rivals with a gang of white youngsters, named The Jets. The portorican gang’s name is The Sharks. This scene takes place in the building where they live after a party where the Jets and the Sharks are together and a young portorican, Maria falls in love and dances with Tony, a jet. In the scene, the women and the men are fighting over a subject : life in America. The women are obviously very happy in their new country and the men start to enumerate all the bad things about America, and they actually seem to hate it. A kind of battle starts between the men and the women through a song and a choregraphy, which I find very nice, and also typical of this kind of musical, about life in America.The scene illustrates very well the concept of American dream because the women, led by Anita, are dreaming about their new life and telling all the good things about it : buying on credit, owning a washing machine, etc… The other side of the American dream is illustrated by the men who make fun of their girlfriends' dreams : they negate everything the girls say, talking about the life of immigrants in this country, who has no futur there : they say « better get rid of your accent » to the girls, in reference to their very strong hispanic accent. The girls are trying to give their life a fresh start in America, by, for example « changing » their names : when her boyfriends starts making fun of her with all her spanish names « josefina, margartia, etc… » , Anita gets upset and says « no, it’s PLAIN Anita now ».
All in all, this document illustrates very well one part of the American dream, about immigrants from all over the world coming to America for a fresh start and eventually get dillusioned by it.

~

The second document is a picture of the very famous american actress and singer Marilyn Monroe. Born Norma Jeane Mortenson on August 5th 1962, she was and will always be an icon of beauty, fame and glamor. She grew up in various foster homes subject to abuse and neglect. In a few years, she became a factory worker, a model and finally Hollywood's biggest star and sex symbol.

Marilyn is one of the best examples of a person who achieved the American dream: she started from the bottom and reached the top. She had everything, but we can see, in the story of her life, one of the downsides of this concept of American dream: even though she had everything a human beeing can get in life, in the material part, Marilyn didn't achieve the ultimate goal of the American dream: happiness. This huge star with a beautiful smile and everything women were dreaming of was unhappy and ended her life at the age of 36 years old.

The case of Marilyn shows that the American dream isn't just about money because the ultimate goal of this dream is happiness, and happiness can't be bought by money.

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To put it in a nutshell, i chose these two documents to illustrate the fact that even though the American Dream is (or maybe was) real, it has its downsides, like everything. I tried to show through this documents that people who dream to much or who get every material thing they want/can, can end up disapointed, unhappy and in the end they don't even achieve completely the American Dream because the ultimate goal of the dream is happiness, and material things can't bring this.

POST 11: MYTHS & HEROES: THE AMERICAN DREAM

 

This is a debate from the Arthur M. Blanck Foundation between a journalist and a guest, i presume. They are talking about the future of the American Dream, and the journalist is wondering wether this ideal is about opportunities, home ownership, economic betterment, education or expecting that the next generation's lives will be better than now. The guest answers by using a notion that the journalist did not mention: jobs. He explains that nowadays, "kids" are better prepared for jobs that aren't available, and who, when they are, don't have health care, retirement benefits or payed vacations. And so he wonders what America might have to do to give all the young generation the jobs they need, because jobs are the cornerstone of this American Dream.

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This video is the trailer of a movie called In America by Jim Sheridan. It tells the story of a family of Irish immigrants who got away from the police in their country and arrived in New York City. It embraces very well the concept of American Dream because they came to America to start from scratch after loosing a child. They meet a black man, their neighbour, who is an artist and a loner and who has AIDS. They also try to have another child but the mother could die and in America, any medical intervention including delivery, is very expensive.