I'm wrapping up my 3rd and final unit of Ollywood. So far, I've studied pre production, production, and now I have a decent amount of knowledge of post production. In this unit, we studied the different components of post production. Sound is an important part of film production, I think in this unit, it was my favorite thing to learn about because it was so interesting. We also learned about editing the video, CGI, and the film score (which is basically the film's soundtrack). To put our skills to the test, my teacher assigned us a group test. This is when we got to make nano-films (15-30 sec. films) and we had to include all of the components of production, especially editing. We had to do that earlier in the course also, both times a really enjoyed doing it. For our last field experience, we got the opportunity to go to Morning Star, an investment company. The way that fit into our curriculum is that they have a video production studio. I got to meet and discuss with a a video producer and a motion graphics specialist. It was a really informing and inspiring field experience. Another cool thing that we learned about was film criticism theory and the different types of approaches you can take to reviewing a film.
Stand by Me, Rob Reiner, 1986
For each Action project of this class, I had to make a film review, so for my final Action project in Ollywood, we had to choose a movie on a list that my teacher gave us and analyze it. I chose Stand by me, directed by Rob Reiner. I had the option to review this film through many different lenses, such as feminist, auturist, or dualist. I'll be reviewing this film through a contextualist lens. That means that I will be looking at the bigger picture and symbolism within the film. How does this film mimic us and society as a whole? I believe that if you look closely enough, everyone has this experience. It can be the exact same one, almost getting hit by a train and finding a dead body or it can be something as simple as looking for your lucky quarter in the girls locker room but finding out something more meaningful in the process.
This was a very fun project. I think so far, this has got to be my favorite course that I have taken. I really admire directors, screenplay writers, actors and everyone else who helps the production of a film. I got the opportunity to learn so much about something that I already really liked. I think out of all 3 units, pre production was my favorite because I love the costume design and set design process. I’m also glad that i finally got the chance to watch Stand by me so I can finally understand all of the references.
I’m taking a course called Ollywood. in the class we combine all of the components of film from everywhere, hence the name ‘Ollywood’ as opposed to Hollywood or Bollywood. In the first unit we studied pre-production and I had to make a Wriiten critique on the 1976 interpretation of Carrie analyzing the pre-production. For my second unit, my classmates and I learned about the production of the film. The production includes things like acting, framing, angles, and lighting. For my Unit two action project, I got the opportunity to watch the 1960 film, Psycho. I worked with my partner, AS and we discussed the production of the film.
Here’s a link to her blog where you can find our video.
I would say that both my partner and I are film enthusiasts and we were really excited to make this video. I really enjoyed being able to discuss it with someone else and get her view on everything as well as seeing what we didn’t agree on. My partner did a very good job editing the video and I’m glad that we chose Psycho.
For my first elective term here at GCE, I'm taking a class called Ollywood. We're finishing up our first unit of the class. During this unit we went on a field experience to Lower Wacker Drive to expirience what it would be like for a location scout. We are currently learning about the pre-production aspects of film. Some things that we are discussing is set design, dialogue and inspiration. All three of those things have to do with the elements of film production that I got to learn about and John Yorke's spill on what makes a good screen play. For my first Ollywood Action Project I made a film critique for the 1976 adaptation of Carrie and I touch bases of everything that we discussed for the first unit.
Carrie: A Film Critique
Everyone’s familiar with the captivating stories of Stephen King that gives off an undertone of truth. The novel Carrie was the first of many published by King. According to King’s official website, it says that the inspiration of Carrie came from two girls that he knew from high school. The screenwriter, Lawrence D. Cohen made a draft for Carrie in about six weeks, which was very similar to the actual novel. That wasn't the only adaptation he wrote for Stephen King, he also wrote the script for IT. Brian De Palma in addition to being the director of Carrie, he was also the director of Scarface, Mission Impossible and many more. In an interview, Brian De Palma says that Psycho inspired Carrie in some factors.
The the 1976 film directed by Brian De Palma, Carrie is a riveting adaptation of Stephen King’s Novel. This film is chilling, twisting, and will leave you grateful for the mother that you already have. The plot of the story is like any other coming of age film, an outcast teenage girl reinvents herself and the jock boy realizes that she was beautiful all along, the girl becomes more comfortable in her skin and becomes prom queen. Except that in this film, what follows is not so ordinary. Carrie is a coming of age film gone wrong. The protagonist of the film is Carrie White, portrayed as Sissy Spacek is an isolated teenage girl who just wants someone to accept her and give her love. Her mother, the antagonist of the film, Margaret white portrayed as Piper Laurie who is abusive and very obsessive when it comes to her religion.
Carrie (1976) Prayer closet
In my opinion, if you missed the beginning of the film, it’s useless to watch the rest. You can almost automatically see that Carrie is an outcast. The setting is outside while a girls P.E class is happening. The uniforms give away that the film was not taking place in the modern day. I’m sure if you look at any old highschool film, you’ll see a similar costume for P.E. The teens are playing volleyball and if you look at Carrie’s awkward stance and her facial expressions of dread, it gives away the fact that she doesn’t fit in. Next in the girls locker room, an important scene of the film. While she is showering, Carrie starts her period for the first time. At the time she wasn’t aware of what this was and thought that she was dying. She then hysterically begs for help from her classmates, they laugh at her while she feels as if she is facing her last moments. Another important scene takes place in the principal's office, here is when the audience fist see’s the use of her powers. Carrie is frustrated with the principal mis-saying her name and flips the ash tray onto the floor using her telekinesis. Miss Collins intervenes and just tells her to go home. Being dismissed from school, she goes home. There she faces her mother who punishes her for getting her period by making her repeat biblical references and locks her into a closet, convinced that Carrie getting her period was brought on by sin. Inside is decorated with props like Jesus crucified and a candle with pictures of Jesus to ensure the closet to be seen as a prayer closet.
The house was a perfect setting for the Whites. The outside is gothic, old and continues on to the inside. You can tell that the inhabitants don’t care much for materialistic items. It’s simple and modest. The costumes of the Whites reflect the same as the house. I think that it stands out from the rest of the characters. Some may argue that the costume design of Carrie is a reflection of adolescence sexuality, and again, coming of age. In the beginning of the film, while in P.E, you can see Carrie’s costume is fitted differently than other girls. Her shirt appears too big going past her hips and untucked. The regular clothes that Carrie wears is also baggie and looks like Margret still picks out her clothes. She wears long, modest skirts throughout the movie. Her hair is rough and she uses it a a shield, messing it up when she’s distressed. This makes Carrie look childish or pre-pubescent compared to the other girls at school. It’s deliberate to be received as a virgin Mary type modesty. A dramatic moment for character development appears when we see Carrie getting ready for prom. We see Carrie in her broken mirror while getting ready for Prom. Her mom walks out of the shadows “I might’ve known it would be red” she says, Carrie corrects her, its a soft pink. I think this shows that she was still that innocent girl.
Later on in the movie, Margaret finds out that Carrie is going to prom and of course, detests it by hurting herself and taunting Carrie by telling her that “he’s not coming” or “they’re all going to laugh at you”, this describes Margaret's character well by showing how manipulative she is towards Carrie. Even then, Carrie was still trying to find maternal comfort in her mother but it doesn’t work. Carrie then goes against her mother and uses her telekinesis by overpowering her mother. This scene was also very interesting because it shows the vulnerability of Margaret and we as an audience haven't really seen that until now.
My favorite scene was Prom when Carrie got called to the stage because everything is so pretty, if you walked into the theater knowing nothing about the movie, you really can’t tell what’s happening next. Everyone’s clapping and the music and visuals are dreamy. It’s deceiving, the calm before the storm kind of. Then after that all of a sudden, she's covered in blood. Everything is silent and you can feel the tragedy in your heart. At that moment I didn't want to breath and it was almost as if I myself was in the audience. You can see what I mean in the within the first minute of this clip.
The protagonist of the film, Carrie has one desire overall. That desire is to be cared for. Carrie getting her period awakens that desire. That was the Inciting incident because not only in her life, in so many other young girls lives, that is what creates the bridge from being a girl to a woman. Most people, even if they don’t have friends, has family who loved them and had a home they can go home to and feel accepted. Carrie did not have that. She came home to the antagonist, the villain of her life. She didn’t even have a dad, he died when she was younger. The journey that Carrie took to pursue that desire was left undone due to the unexpected prom incident, which was the crisis, the moment that led up to the climax of the film. The Climax, the final showdown between protagonist and antagonist was the death of Margaret. In the end, she really didn’t find that love. Although the audience can see that Miss Collins cared for her, I don’t think Carrie was satisfied with that. I believe she just wanted a mom to love her and that’s probably what she needed too. Overall, I would say that this film was successful in pre-production.
For my Fall Humanities class, we studied rhetorical appeals such as ethos, logos, and pathos. Another thing that we focused on was the status quo and how people challenge it. The mayoral Candidate that I have to study is Amara Enyia and she is well over qualified to be Chicago's mayor for 2019. During this unit we visited the Chicago History Museum to view the Dr. MLK Jr exhibit to get ready for our action project (AP). The AP that was assigned this unit was to make a sort of exhibit for our candidates. My classmates and I were encouraged to use the medium of our choice and I decided to create a magazine based on Amara's Candidacy.
In my Magazine you will see an exert from an article about the Jason Van Dyke trial. Amara starts off her thoughts with a declarative statement. By doing so, she mentions how Chicago needs a public safety plan, which is one of her top priorities. Amara uses an imperative sentence when she said "Moreover, we must evaluate how our city budget prioritizes police infrastructure over the necessary investments in an inclusive economy, affordable housing, mental health services, and other components of thriving communities.", its an imperative sentence because she commands us to evaluate. In Amara's text on why she's running, she uses exemplification by explaining why Chicago metaphorically lives in two cities, which I found very interesting
Below, I've made a slideshow to show my magazine.
In my Humanities class: Rhetoric, our first unit was called Suppose. In this unit we studies all of the components of rhetoric. My teacher wanted us to focus on the Chicago mayoral election. During this unit, my classmates and I had two visits, one from Troy LaRaviere, who is a 2019 mayoral candidate. Troy talked to my class about his views on Chicago and what makes him stand out from other candidates. Our other visitor was Ted Miin, he came to my class to talk about peoples assembly's. My class is planning on putting one together so he came in to help us construct one. We also had an external field experience to a memorial of MLK at Marquette park, at the intersection of 67th and Pulaski. There we met Alia Bilal and she educated us on the history of that site.
For my action project, my class had to chose a candidate running in the 2019 election to look into. My candidate is Amara Enyia, she is a lawyer and activist with a phd. With our chosen candidate we have to make a script of them answering a question we made for them.
MW. Amara Enyia 2019. (2018)
Why do you feel like creating a public bank for the city is something you should focus on rather than other issues?
