EIGHT EIGHT EIGHT (8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPhse4WlgEA

Toy Story Trailer..

I realize this is a trailer, but I found it similar to a scene as it is made up of scenes. The idea I get is this film is targeted towards families, a movie Mom and Dad would take everyone too after going out for pizza. That theme is incredibly active – from the toys playing when people aren’t there (something about people’s imagination leaves them after they are 10, so this is obviously for the 10 and under), to the toys talking and the children’s birthday party. This theme is throughout, all the way to the end with the toy solider and the dog chasing the toys. Dog = family.

The rhythm of the trailer is very typical – it stays exciting and engaging enough to make you thirst to see more. The two minutes are supposed to make you want to view the two-hour version. The way it cuts from scene to scene, revealing enough plot info to awaken your interest but not enough for you to really understand what is going on. The tough part with a trailer is keeping it interesting throughout – they do a good job, and the rhythm of it is a big part of that. There are no ‘slow’ parts per se, which is critical. Consciously the film would (I assume) put a parent in a position where they might think “I’ll take my kids to that!” whereas subconsciously it might remind them of the innocence of childhood, hopefully their own childhood. The movement is mostly quick moving, short scenes, quick bits here and there – all very short, sweet and to the point. They leave you wanting more.

I especially like the overhead shot of the room in the beginning – you get an idea of a major ‘set’ in the movie if you will, they spend a lot of time there. When the shots aren’t close ups of Woody or Buzz, there is a lot of space in the shots. For example when they show the other toys, or the house, things like that. Otherwise all the focus is on Woody and Buzz – the main characters, again it is very logical and thought-out. The makers of the film intended it to be this way it wasn’t on accident. In conclusion, obviously the movie is considered one of the greatest of all time. I really enjoyed the trailer though, it made me want to see the movie again and analyzing it taught me a lot. Thank you!

 

blog SEVEN (#7)

Well, both of these pictures are from The Beatles’ movie “Yellow Submarine.” It was an animated film voiced by actors and released in 1968. I’ll start by discussing their movement. In the top picture the movement is definitely horizontal. If you see the film, the characters move in all directions but the ‘sea of holes’ is constantly forcing your eyes in a horizontal direction. The bottom picture on the other hand had us looking vertically up at the band (as helped with the rail thing, putting a vertical line there.) The bottom picture is also helped vertically as we can see all we need to in the center of the image – everything else is background, putting it at the forefront.

In terms of color the bottom one is obviously upbeat, happy, colorful. It’s very bright, and that helps to create a mood throughout those scenes. The top on the other hand is plain – that goofy looking character is called the “Nowhere Man” (after The Beatles song). He lives in a ‘sea of holes’ and is a nowhere man. So the plain black and white background gives us that feeling and knowledge – before the characters even speak, we know he is simple - black and white.

Lighting is similar to color – the bottom picture is very bright, very happy. The lighting gives us that feeling of joy, and the rainbow helps to pronounce the band in the front. To highlight them - it’s all thought out. The top one on the other hand is very plain – but this plain lighting also helps to highlight the band, as they are in color. So both pictures using totally different methods accomplish the same thing. For symbolism I’d say the bottom one symbolizes something good – that’s what I get out of the picture. The top one isn’t bad, or even negative, it’s just plain – which I am sure was their intention in making it. In fact in putting them on a plain background it shows their true colors (literally) and so it really makes our main characters look great for what they are, as there are no distractions in the background. Very cool, I hope you enjoyed reading it!

blog 6 (six)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6dm9rN6oTs (the scene, in case you want to view it!)

38 seconds shot..i'm sorry these drawing aren't the most wonderful thing to look at, i am insanely bad at this, hopefully my writing makes up for my art failure. thanks!

Overhead - the circles are the people, the messy thing is the fire, behind them is a Native American TP type of thing.

At 22 seconds the rule of thirds is used, the rule of thirds is used at every shot it seems and the 180 degree rule is not used as the camera stay in essentially the same position the entire time changing only it’s focus. The 30-degree rule is used as the camera shifts to focus on different characters – this is beneficial as they are all around a campfire. It was obvious to the maker’s of the film that the rule would work and improve their movie. The rule of thirds is practically always used, whether it is their cowboy hat(s) and beans that are at a point or intersection or a face. The shots are never boring, which is required of any serious film. This can be seen especially in any one of the last three shots: 31, 38 and 46 seconds. In fact the character’s heads are practically perfectly aligned with the rule of thirds lines.

In conclusion, I wouldn’t exactly say the director broke any rules; rather they found what would work for their artist vision and used what they needed to make what they wanted. They used the rules; the rules didn’t use them. I think that’s important to keep in mind – the rules are tools you can use to make your art. But if you strictly follow the rules, what you get probably won’t be too interesting. You have to get creative within the boundaries. The top people at a given field are at the top because they played within the rules but did something different. That is what I found here and I think that’s very important, in my view (no pun intended!). A great scene from a great movie, I hope you liked it (again I’m sorry about my drawing ability, the scenes took me forever!).