My World: Oahu

The world that I want to represent is the one I used to live on Oahu. I lived there for most of my elementary school years so my perspective of the world I lived in there was quite a bit different from lets say my parents. The 40-mile by 70-mile island seemed like a huge world, as I was a young child.

Imagine a place where the weather is the same all of the time. It is 75 degrees with a 15-mile per hour wind all of the time, from spring to winter. The surroundings are constant. Kind of like an island stuck in time, except people come and go, build and destroy. The sunsets and sunrises are beautiful every day, and every one goes out to the shore to experience them at the same time. There is a lot of peace found in the environment and nature, but is quite different amongst the people. 

The island used to be controlled by the natives a long time ago, who were at peace for a while and maintained their beautiful land. But then new comers and conquerors began to arise, and destroyed the peace among the people. The new comers wanted the beauty of the island for themselves. Because of that initial conflict between the natives and colonists, there is still division today within the island. Although there are many descendants of the natives still living there, much of the new comers are in the controlling positions of the island. This division greatly affects the culture of the entire island. There are those that still follow the many old traditions preserving the island, and then those that revolve theirs around the profitability of the beauty found on the island. As far as spatially, the separation between the people isn’t seen on either side of a single line, but instead within different neighborhoods. The division is most apparent within the limited schools on the island, especially middle and high school. The younger people find ways to hurt each other because of unclear disagreements rather than focusing on how to find peace with one another.

One of the laws of the land is that descendants of new comers can come and go where and when they please, which most of the time more and more just come to fill up the small island. The descendants of the natives on the other hand, are not freely to come and go. Because it was their original home, they can only travel to and from neighboring islands, but cannot colonize on to the lands the new comers have come from. With this law set by the new comers, the tradition and culture of the natives will cease to exist in not too long.

Wes Anderson & Stefan Zweig

The piece I read of Stefan Zweig’s was In The Snow, which was his second story in The Collected Stories of Stefan Zweig. After seeing Grad Budapest Hotel and other works of Wes Anderson, it was fascinating connecting the dots and similarities between the two creators. With just reading this piece of Zweig’s, I was already able to distinguish elements Anderson may have taken from Zweig and applied it in his films. Comparing two types of authors over two different mediums is a unique opportunity, especially when they have multiple similarities. Of course if they were within the same medium, they would likely look and/or sound quite different based on the personal style in imagery or details. With that said, there are still apparent broad ideas that cross over between the two artists and their works.

            For example, both Anderson and Zweig are consistent in creating unusual and unique environments that are like no other and are never repeated in their work. They put a lot of effort in describing and creating these locations and worlds that could only fit in their story, and would not make any sense in any other.

            Some of the most original characters seen in films in the last couple decades have been found in Anderson’s films. There is no doubt that Zweig also shares this characteristic of characters. These unusual characters, their personalities and behaviors drive a lot of their stories in ways in which a lot of the time the audience wouldn’t not expect which brings new life to them. And although these characters seem very out of place and unreal in our standards, they completely embrace who they are and the world they live in without a fault.

            There are components of the narrative structures in their stories that are quite similar. The major similarity is the constant heightened and lowered drama moments found within the plot. A lot of stories and films try to keep decent gaps between the high and lows of the drama intensity, but not Anderson’s and Zweig’s. They go back and forth so often that it becomes humorous, and taken more lightly with a lot of overdramatic moments.

            One of the more popular techniques they both incorporate in their storytelling is the use of flashbacks. Both of them use them even to the extent where the audience can be confused which flashback they are still in or have the uncertainty of they’re in one or not. Although their use of them can be disorienting some times, it greatly widens the vastness of the world and time for them to play more with the story and get more ideas across.

My 10 Books

1. It's Not What You Think: Why Christianity Is About So Much More Than Going to Heaven When You Die by Jefferson Bethke

2. The Shining by Stephen King

3. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

4. The Bourne Supremacy by Robert Ludlum

5. The Martian by Andy Weir

6. The Children of Men by P.D. James

7. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

8. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkein

9. Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

10. The Forgotten God by Francis Chan

Film Auteur: Akira Kurosawa

The director that I watched three films is Akira Kurosawa. The three films of his that I watched were Hidden Fortress, Rashomon, and Dreams. Narrative and structure wise, the most straightforward but different film of the three is Hidden Fortress. Hidden Fortress had a more linear narrative than the two others. It is interesting looking at the structure of the three films because they are all different. The structure of Hidden Fortress follows a simple three-act structure following the journey of two peasants finding and protecting a princess. The structure of Rashomon has a present time that incorporates different point of views of a similar event. The main structure of Dreams is the inclusion of multiple short stories or events all put together with little to no connection between each.

Conceptually and structurally there are strong similarities between Dreams and Roshomon. Both films don’t have one long linear narrative. They both have of a lot of parts that are all somewhat connected or related to at least one other part. With these broken parts, Kurosawa opens out minds to a lot more questions and ideas as opposed to just being entertained guided by a simple story. In Roshomon, the audience questions the truth of a big story after getting the insight from different angles of it. The audience is questioning the meaning and purpose of each piece of the big story within Dreams.

A similarity between Roshomon and Hidden Fortress, and many of his other films is the use of the actor Toshiro Mifune. In Roshomon Mifune played an interesting character, the Bandit. His actions and thoughts were over exaggerated to replicate the behaviors of Japanese folklore. This character was quite different from the one he played in Hidden Fortress as the General. This character was more stoic, responsible, and strong than the Bandit character. Kurosawa had a good and long connection with Mifune, which is apparent in the diverse characters he entrusted him to play. They found strong chemistry with each other and knew what each other wanted and how to communicate it.

One similarity between all of them is his heavy use of all the creative tools and techniques in which to create a visual narrative. Not only are the scripts thought provoking and meaningful, but also they are masterfully conveyed visually. Kurosawa creates all of these worlds through incredible production design elements and revealing them through beautiful cinematography. The other huge element that he takes advantage of in the art of filmmaking is the use of editing, where he can create any idea he wants the audience to think and at any time he chooses just by placing all of the visual information in the order he wants.

Donalphant Trump

I find this picture unique and interesting for multiple reasons. The image of the elephant resembles Trump’s stature, behavior, and political position. His stature as a multibillionaire makes him a strong and prominent force within the political campaign. He has become like a huge elephant racing toward his competitors with his strong opinions and standings. He has the power of a raging elephant because of his personal power and wealth, which has been a major factor in separating him from the other candidates. Also coming in to the running he was like a quiet and peaceful force but has awakened with a great following and support as he is gaining fast on the others. Outside of the factors that relate to his running, his personality and attitude towards the election has resembles the image of the raging elephant. His most popular slogan talks about wanting to make America great again. He is pushing hard for patriotism, and saying radical things about only having Americans in the U.S. Like the picture with the flag behind it, Trump is defending his territory of America and wanting it to be strong like it was in the past decades, especially after World War 2. The most obvious symbol the elephant represents is the party in which he associates himself, the Republicans. The “charging elephant” does specify the specific image of Trump by showing him as the more radical and pushing Republican.

My Page on Media

My Voice in My Work

Most of my work is found in the medium of film. A common aspect found in a lot of my work is the idea of immersion. I often try to incorporate either dynamic movement and/ or lighting within my pieces. With the dynamic movement of the camera I try to make the audience feel more apart of the world they are viewing by moving their view around the characters as if they’re next to them. Also with camera movement I am able to show a lot more of the world in which these characters are apart of and therefore have the audience have a stronger connection and understanding to the world in the film. 

With dynamic lighting I am able to separate the audience’s world and the world of the characters. The lighting also helps grab the attention of the audience, and motivates them to find out more about this unique world. The lighting in my films often is changing as the characters mood or the tone changes to help bring the audience closer to the characters.

Assessment Short Story Response

1. One of the prominent symbols in the story is the idea of hidden identities. There are many real world examples of hidden identities, especially in relationships such as having a different personality or unique hobby when around others. Literature and films have taken hidden identities within relationships a step further by having the partner unaware of the other's occupation such as being a spy or criminal. This work takes it even a step further towards the extreme by having the boyfriend known as the most dangerous criminal by most of the world except his girlfriend. The secret identity symbol is also adapted by the girlfriend, being that her real name is Nebula, not Suzanne.

2. The story revolves around a relationship that may break, especially with the discovery of the couple's true identities. The part that I connect with the most is having been through a break up. Of course I don't relate to the extreme reasonings to break up as in the story, but I do relate to maturing in to some one else during a relationship. After getting in to college I matured quite a bit while my girlfriend stayed behind and didn't grow much after high school. I became more focused on my future career and life goals, and my time and attention with my girlfriend dwindled. My changes connect on a certain level of the boyfriend in the story which lead to the contemplation of breaking up.

3. The medium that I would adapt this story to would be film. I would have to make it a lot more visual rather than it just being text or voice on a screen. The main change I would make is that the message is a personal recording of the boyfriend talking into a camera. When he brings up a new apology, then we cut to a scene where the event in the past unrolls in front of us, usually leaving out the narration of the boyfriend. During the video monologue I would have her reaction seen frequently, whether it's yelling at the video or trying to make her way out of the room.

Adaptation of Vertigo Script

            After reading the script for Vertigo, there are quite a few ideas I have for the picture I would want to paint as the Director of Photography.  Before I paint a picture I want to gather all of the elements of the story that will give me hints to how I should create the image and look of the film. So the script is a mix of a mystery, psychological, and investigation. It also has elements of strong love and romantics, which ultimately drives a lot of the main character’s actions. It revolves greatly around one character and their fears and confusion.  The reader or audience doesn’t always know what is true and if the main character can see everything we do. It takes place in a busy and populated city. The antagonist to Scottie goes back and forth between his fear of heights, Madeline, and then Gavin.

            As far as a general basis for the look of the adaptation that I would want it to look like would be to look like a noir film. One of the main reasons I saw that is that the main character, Scottie is a policeman and for the most part it’s a murder mystery. Noir styled movies are generally detective films with high key lighting and dark shadows, not much in between. The noir style does a lot to emphasize the darkness of a criminalized cityscape. It allows a lot of people to blend in to the shadows and not be easily distinguishable to the detective as he searches for the perpetrator. What’s a bit different from the tone of this story is that it’s not a much of a search for a single person, but coming across new clues to a personal fear and a questionable event. So with the more psychological elements in this plot, I would not be so harsh on the noir look but still emulate it with less contrast.

            As for camera movement I would like to play a lot with the psychological confusion and fears of the deaths and heights. With the plot being highly focused on the POV of one person, I would be leaning toward having a lot of shots from the eyes of Scottie. When Scottie is in a rush and panic I would have the camera handheld as his POV. When there are great heights involved I would like to use a very wide angle to show the scale of his fear and his entire environment. Also for when he is piecing together different details I will have deep close ups on his face and eyes to show the reaction of this new knowledge.

            The last major piece of the picture I’d like to create from the cinematographer position is the color of the film. The subject matter of the film is dark and mysterious so I would definitely have a color pallet of dark blues, blacks, and greys with hints of red. I would want the hints of red to be for the hints Scottie finds as he uncovers his fears and confusion. The dark and dull colors also represent the unknown and the abyss at the bottom of the great heights.