This week’s class started off with a discussion of different movie techniques and how different directors apply these methods. We received a paper which described the different methods in which a camera shot could be captured and how the varying depth affects the emotion, frame and focus of the shot. First, we watched a western film to see how an object in the distance can go from a small figure to the main focal point of the frame. To gain further knowledge on this technique we viewed the opening scene to Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho”, which had the camera appear to fly from the sky in to the window if an apartment building. We looked at the work of director, Orson Wells, for perspective on the tracking shot which was used to create greater suspense for the select scene of the movie. Once again to further the understanding of this topic we watched Goodfella’s famous Copacabana scene, in which the scene follows the main characters through the club as they converse with various people. After viewing the various films, we began to watch the Billy Wilder film, “Ace in the Hole”, which focuses around a small town news reporter trying to make it big by creating a story out of a man who is entrapped in a cave.
After we watched the film we attended the CSI Gallery opening exhibit of refugees and their struggle. I was very confused as to what the performance art was about and felt that some of the photos and videos were out of place in the gallery. If the main point of the gallery was to be about the refugee life and its subsequent struggles this exhibit did not accurately represent it. Most of the pictures of people who had been displaced by war in the Middle East showed that refugee vibe but other photos in the exhibit did not.
-Jason Luna