Seminar Class 11/28/12

On wednesday, Professor Kahan invited a guest speaker to our class to discuss cinema and the aspects of putting a movie together. Our guest speaker was Professor Diaz and she teaches Cinema at CSI. Since I do not watch a lot of movies, I did not think I was going to enjoy the discussion. However, everything that Professor Diaz taught us was extremely interesting. There were even some aspects about movie making that I never knew existed.

The main theme of Professor Diaz’s discussion was based on the idea of mis-en-scene, the arrangement of people, places, and objects in a movie.  One part of the movie Manhattan where the mis-en-scene was very interesting was when Isaac and Mary were in Isaac’s apartment. Professor Diaz described that the wall barriers between Isaac and Mary was a form of mis-en-scene to foreshadow their separation due to their weak relationship. I thought it was really creative for the directors to use mis-en-scene in such a sneaky way.

Professor Diaz also showed the class various youtube videos on the creation of different sounds for movies. This truly amazed me. I never knew the different creative ways people made audio for the movie. One example shown in the video was how the dinosaur eggs cracked in the movie Jurassic Park. They used an ice cream cone to make the sound of the egg cracking and they also mushed a cantaloupe to make the sound of the substance inside the egg. It sounded perfectly! This was so cool to watch!

I actually really enjoyed Professor Diaz’s discussion. She helped me realize all of the work that is put into a movie to make it a great form of entertainment. Now, whenever I watch a movie, I will pay close attention to the small details that I never payed attention to before.

 

11.28.12

Today, Professor Diaz came in to talk about cinema. One pretty interesting thing Professor Diaz mentioned was that movies are just a bunch of pictures that are played at a fast speed, sort of like a flipbook. It is pretty amazing thinking about movies in that way. I really enjoyed her lecture because she taught us how to analyze all films. Even though I wasn’t too fond of Manhattan, I can respect why other people enjoy it through the mise-en-scéne.

During the analysis of Manhattan, I noticed so many things that I wasn’t paying attention to and missed when I watched it for the first time in class. I thought it was clever that the background was used to show how Isaac was separated from the other characters. Something so small as a picture frame shows Isaac’s separation from the other characters during the dinner scene in the beginning. The empty spaces in the scenes reflect the questions the characters don’t want to address such as “What is the meaning of life?” and “Is there a God?” These observations made me think of the movie in a deeper, more intellectual way that I didn’t before.

Today’s lecture has taught me that I can use everything in a movie to back up my opinion about it. Everything in the movie is put there, for a reason, just like the details in a novel so, anything can be used to support or refute an argument. I think this is why you begin to notice more and more about a movie each time you watch it. I know after today’s class I will be looking at every little detail in a movie to use as backup for my opinion.

-Amber G

11/28

Today, we learned about the ton of aspects of a movie’s mis-en-scene. We learned that we could use the many details in a film to argue our interpretation of it. There are way too many aspects for me to go into with this blog because we looked at so many aspects and we looked at a lot of different film clips from Manhattan to show how these aspects were employed, such as the camera choice of the movie, the lighting, different things in the background.

One that interested me the most was that there are so many little details that a director puts into a movie that the audience bypasses. One example of this is the separation of characters in scenes by very thin lines in the background that appear between them. This was seen in Manhattan when Mary and Yale were at the mall and you can see the very fine line separating them, while in the apartment scene with Issac and Mary they were separated by entire rooms. These details foreshadowed the distance in their relationships and showed who would end up being together in the end.

Important lighting was shown in the a scene in his Issac’s old apartment where there is a light shining directly on Tracy while the rest of the scene is dark, which shows her importance and foreshadow them being together. The movie was filmed in cinemascope in order to get the whole view of Manhattan’s skyline and emphasize the city’s beauty and importance. What really interested me too and it was something that I would have never picked up on was the fact that in every scene, the characters are off center to be symbolic of certain things. This is a employed a lot in Woody Allen movies. For example, the scene with Yale and his wife, is shot with them off center which symbolizes their off balance relationship and their off balance morals.

11/28/12 – Christian Siason

On Wednesday, we sat through a cinema lecture from Professor Diaz. I actually found it really interesting, though I expected to be bored out of my mind. I wouldn’t say that I watch a whole lot of movies, but when I do watch movies, I usually end up amazed at how they’re filmed. After Professor Diaz’s lecture, I have an even better understanding of the filming process.

We learned that cameras record movement at 24 frames per second – that is, cameras take 24 separate pictures in one second. Later we learned about different types of camera movement, like panorama (when the camera rotates from side to side), tilt (when the camera moves up and down), the dolly or tracking shot (when the camera moves along the ground, following the subject), and the crane shot (when the camera views the scene from behind). I’ve always found different points of view interesting when watching movies, and the way the camera moves is very important to making these points of view possible.

We also learned about continuity editing. A movie seeks to present a story and continuity editing, as the name would imply, ensures continuity in the story. It allows space, time, and action to flow over a series of shots and it condenses the action. If films weren’t edited for continuity, they would go on for ages, and would likely lose the audience’s attention. Films today are usually one and a half to two hours long, and I think that that’s the perfect length. It’s not too short that someone wouldn’t want to spend their money to go see it, and yet it’s not too long to bore them to death. Of course, some movies like The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers go way beyond that mark, but in cases such as those, the sheer amount of action is enough to keep the audience enthralled throughout.

I really appreciated learning about these things in class on Wednesday, and I think I want to take a cinema class at some point in the future now.

Stephanie Solanki, 11/26/12

On Monday’s class, we discussed the book we had to read called Catcher in the Rye. I had read this book as a freshman in high school and was not impressed at all. I think that I was not mature enough to understand the major concepts and appreciate Holden’s perspective just yet. I am so glad that I had to chance to revisit this book. Reading it as a freshman in college is a very different experience from reading it as a freshman in high school.

My favorite part of the book is about the museum. When Holden goes to the Museum of Natural History, he thinks about how everything inside stays the same. This is what he loves about museums; he feels like he can have faith that everything inside will be there forever. It something that he counts on. The outside world may change, and he may change, but the museum will always stay the same. I think this is a major part of the book. Holden has a hard time dealing with the changes that occur in his life. He hates when children grow up and he hates that he has to deal with growing up as well. He wishes that everything would stay frozen in time like it does in the museum.

I really like that this book is told from Holden’s perspective. Was Mr. Antolini really flirting with Holden, or was he just being paranoid? The reader must decide for his or herself because the narrator is an unreliable source. This quality makes the book very unique, and adds an incredible amount of depth to everything that happens. Did it simply happen the way it did, or was Holden adding his own opinion and flavor?

I am enjoying the assignment that I am writing. Creative writing assignments are always the most fun because I can use my imagination and make the assignment my own.

11/26/12 – Christian Siason

During class on Monday, we began to discuss Catcher in the Rye. I had never read the book in high school, though I’d heard it was a great book, and was excited to finally get to do so. Fortunately, it didn’t disappoint. It certainly lived up to its reputation of being a quality coming-of-age story.

The word “archetype” was brought up in class. Archetypes are like categories of characters that are commonly seen throughout literature, like the dumb blonde or the nerdy kid. However, Holden Caulfield, the main character of Catcher in the Rye, didn’t fit into any archetypes at the time of the book’s publication. J.D. Salinger effectively created a new archetype – the antihero. Holden was the book’s protagonist, but he wasn’t exactly a hero. He dropped out of schools left and right, stayed up late drinking and going to nightclubs while trying to act more mature than his age, and making himself look stupid at times. And yet his goal was to be “the catcher in the rye.” He wanted to stop children from losing their innocence. He did things that sometimes made him hard to root for, but at the same time it was also hard to root against him.

I think that this type of character is very interesting. One antihero that I can think of off the top of my head is Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series. He constantly antagonizes Harry throughout the series, but then we find out at the end that he had been secretly on his side, watching over him, albeit for his own selfish reason – he had been in love with Harry’s mother – rather than out of love for Harry. The fact that he loved Harry’s mother throughout the years made it so hard for many fans to hate him, even after all the abuse he put Harry through.

Before it was brought up in class, I’d seen antiheroes in literature before, but didn’t necessarily know what to classify them as. Now that I know the actual term for this archetype, I’m going to want to keep an eye out for more as I read more books in the future, because I really do like these antiheroes. They aren’t a straightforward fan favorite, and yet when it comes down to it, it’s really hard to root against them.

11/26

On Monday, we began our class with a discussion of Manhattan and then later “Catcher in the Rye”. We discussed the music in the film. The music wasn’t played much, but when it was, it represented certain milestones. In the beginning, the song “Rhapsody in Blue” was used, and it showed the typical fast life of New York. Another instance where the music was played, was when Isaac and his son spent a day together.

The next half of the class was a discussion about “Catcher in the Rye”. This was my first time reading the book, and I think it was an interesting read. However, I really didn’t see the symbolism as much until I began to discuss it with my friends. I started to see why certain objects held such an importance to Holden.   For example, I had no idea that Holden’s red hunting hat was a symbol of his alienation. After carefully rereading certain pages with this idea in mind, I started to see how this was possible. It protected him, and made him feel unique. The hat is also a symbol of Holden’s attachment to childhood—it’s the kind of goofy accessory that a proper adult wouldn’t wear. I was also fascinated to learn that Holden’s fixation on the ducks is also a symbol of his struggle with change and growing up. He wants things to stay the same, but the ducks prove that one must adapt to the environment, that one has to change in order to survive. At the same time, the duck’s offer hope: though they disappear each winter, they always reappear.

Overall, i thought that this discussion was very different from what I had in high school, and I look forward to hearing everyone’s modern day version of the book.

~ The Catcher in the Rye~11/26/12~

On Monday in class we reviewed The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  I read this book in Freshman year of High School and I wasn’t impressed.  At that time in my life I don’t feel that I was emotionally mature enough to fully understand the message of the novel.  Four years later I was excited to revisit this novel and examine it through my eighteen year old perspective.  After rereading this book, I can officially say that The Catcher in the Rye is one of my favorite novels.  Even though my life isn’t remotely close to Holden’s, with the exception of us both living in New York, I can relate to his questions and fears about life.  When I first read The Catcher in the Rye I was fourteen years old, and in many ways I was still a child, oblivious to the suffering around me.  Now I am eighteen years old and recently I’ve been yearning for my childhood blissful ignorance.  All of a sudden I find myself in Holden’s shoes, feeling like, I’m “…disappearing every time [I cross] a road.” (Chapter 1 page 5).

It may be because I’ve been conditioned to analyze everything, particularly pieces of literature, but I had a really fun time finding all of the extended metaphors, and symbolic messages hidden throughout the novel, which I had missed when I first read it.  My favorite metaphor that I found was about the streets.  Throughout the entire book Holden keeps talking about streets and milestones and growing up.  The street, is symbolic of his entrance to adulthood.  Every time he crosses a “road” he loses some of his childhood innocence, and that scares him more than anything. When he talks about the Museum of Natural History he says that, “The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right were it was. Nobody’d move….Nobody’d be different.  The only thing that would be different would be you.” (Chapter 16 Page 121).  The road image returns sporadically  throughout the novel, but become very prominent in the final chapters of the novel.  This is evident when Holden says, “Then I started doing something else. Every time I’d get to the end of a block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie.  I’d say to him, “Allie, don’t let me disappear…Please, Allie.” And then when I ‘d reach the other side of the street without disappearing, I’d thank him. Then it would start all over again as soon as I got to the next corner.” (Chapter 25 Page 198). Holden is afraid to grow up, he’s afraid to become an adult, to know too much, to lose all of his innocence.  Beyond all of these fears, Holden is most afraid that he has already passed the point of no return, and that he has lost all of his innocence.

Another part of this book which really resonated with me this time was Holden’s relationship with Phoebe. The name Phoebe, comes from the Greek name Phoibe which means “bright and pure”, and that is exactly what she represents for Holden.  Everything in his life is dark and ominous, his outlook on life has become very jaded and depressing, but Phoebe looks at life in a pure way.  I think that it is beautiful that, it is the innocent character, the pure one, who helps Holden finally cross the street at the end of the novel.  Phoebe is fearless, “…she ran right the hell across the street, without even looking to see if there were any cars coming.” (Chapter 25 Page 208), and the interesting thing about this, is that even after Phoebe fearlessly runs across the street, Holden still holds back.  He stays on his side of the street and the two of them walk in parallel paths on opposite sides of the street.  Finally though he crosses the street with her when they are leaving the zoo, and he accepts the reality of life and time and growing up while watching Phoebe ride the carousel.  The most heart wrenching line of book for me was when Phoebe gets off of the carousel, kisses Holden and then says, “It’s raining.  It’s starting to rain.” and Holden responds, “I know.”  He accepts it, and for the first time in the novel, he’s truly happy.

So even though I’m no Holden Caulfield, I can relate to his journey…but I may still need some help welcoming the rain.

~Naomi

11/26/12 – Swathi Satty

This Monday, we started discussing Catcher in the Rye which I have read as a freshman in High school. I always loved this book because of the many character flaws Holden had himself. And it was interesting to be able to compare my own analysis of Holden against is own thoughts which were very broadly shown within the novel.

We talked about the common slang of the 1950s and I noticed that the slang has drastically changed but hints of it still remained in today’s society. I like the fact that J.D Salinger made the book relatable even if the character’s thoughts might not be. I could clearly tell that this was intended for anyone to read because of the common slang terminology. I found it interesting that for a brief time, this book was actually banned for being read in schools because of its explicit sexual, profane and violent nature. But I’m glad it made it’s return because the character has so much depth that allows the readers to be easily fascinated. I’m looking forward to make my own version of a brief portion of the book because that helps us understand it even more.

We also briefly looked at Manhattan again. I realized just how a big a role music played in this film. Some of it created the fast paced lifestyle of New York which other pieces were romantic which was shown with the use of Rhapsody Blues in the very beginning of the song. This movie was perfect to our study of the arts of New York.

 

11.26.12

Today, we started talking about the Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I really enjoyed this novel. I find it surprising that Salinger was able to get this novel published in the early 1950s when things like sex were considered taboo. According to the American Library Association, the Catcher in the Rye is the second most challenged book, behind the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The novel has been banned and challenged from 1960 with the most recent case in 2009 for it’s profanity, sexual content, violence, and “moral issues”. I think children face much more profanity, sexual content, violence, and “moral issues” on television, the Internet, in music on the radio, and when playing video games.

In class, we discussed some of the slang and terminology used in the novel. I found it very interesting to see how people would talk back then, especially since movies during that time tried their best to make everything family friendly which this novel is definitely not. I think this novel is important because it shows people that not everyone was as proper or “square” in the fifties as we sometimes generalize in the present.

It also got my thinking about the changes in slang words even in the past five years. Five years ago, my friends and I would go around saying something was “phat” which meant it was cool. Nowadays, nobody says “phat”. A fairly recent slang word that arose in the past year is “tight”. If someone’s annoyed or angry, you can say that they’re “tight”.

– Amber G.