Class Week 7

I have to admit that I was pretty excited to talk about movies because I very much like them. One of the things said in class was about how movies are kind of the only truly modern art form because the medium was actually created fairly modernly. We did talk about the different inventions and such that led to the creation of film and such, but they really weren't the same medium. I really enjoyed watching the clips that marked the milestones in film like The Great Train Robbery and A Trip to the Moon. I think that I have seen the clip from the second one on Around the World in 80 Days, either that or it was something just like it. It is weird to think that one of these films was considered the first fantasy film and the other one was an "epic" narrative film, as it said in the book. The fantasy films of now are way different in their content and the film about the moon seems pretty tame in comparison. Although they lacked computer animation and a lot of the high tech stuff people expect and value now, they were really interesting. I can see how people would have been pretty shocked by the train film when there hadn't really been anything like it. In a way it would sort of the be like the suspense films of now. If compared directly it wouldn't be too bad, but for people who were brand new to the idea of moving pictures...

I also enjoyed learning more about the different shots that movie people use. I had never consciously thought about how they were used in film. Yet, when we looked at the picture of a man being filmed on an angle, I recognized that there was some one who was waking up or drugged or something like that even though I had never seen the movie. It was really helpful to see the different types of shots in action. They really helped me to recognize what I have seen in movies before. I think that one of my favorite shots is the match shot. At least, I really like it in Hours or whatever the show was called. The other day my family watched a show called Cloverfield. I'm going to pretty safely say that the filming technique was one of the most annoying I've ever seen used. It was completely in the point of view of whoever was holding the camera while Manhattan was being destroyed. Now, this wouldn't have been so bad if he had been a decent camera man, but as it was, the image was pretty much blurred the whole time. I guess that it was 'artistic,' but I'm really not a fan nor were the other people watching the movie with me. I hope that I will continue to be able to recognize the different film techniques so that I'll understand even more what the directors are trying to say.