Alyssa's Blogosphere

  Film 1: Roll Call I really like the concept for this film- a good old fashioned murder mystery! The introduction scene where everyone's names were displayed was really fun (I'm curious as to how they got a cop car?) and it set a cool, almost intimidating feel for the film and the cop character involved. The cowboy shot created tension- which was impressive. It felt like it could serve as a flash forward, or maybe a flashback we keep looking to as the film progresses. I do, however, have some gripes with the rest of it. The intro and the rest didn't really have the same vibe, which is okay considering the genre, but it felt like a very quick switch. Also, some of the acting choices were. Interesting. Obviously, I'm not expecting highschoolers to give the performance of a lifetime, but the scene was introducing out main characters, so I feel like there could have been more intentionality with it considering it would be important to the characterization. Film 2: New Ever...

           The AICE MediaStudies class requires a 2 minute long film opening to be submitted- though I had the option to work in a small group, I've decided that I would rather work alone on my short film opening for a few reasons. First- I'm not the best group worker. I feel more stressed working in a group than I ever do managing myself alone, and when I'm stressed, its 10 times harder to get any work done (because I just want to curl up and be alone for a while and... group deadlines and groupchats do not allow me any time to myself to recuperate.) Secondly, I know myself, and I know I am a severe control freak, especially when it comes to important things like a final project that require creative input. I don't want to become a jerk over how I feel something should look, or a complicated idea I want to translate, or even my preferences for aesthetics.      The third reason, though, and the most important to me, is the genre I want to wor...

      In class, we started to learn about mis-en-scene, and were given an assignment to discuss the mis-en-scene in any movie of our choice... I picked Coraline- that children's stop motion scary movie that gave everyone a temporary fear (or obsession with) buttons at one point. Coraline perfectly matches this season, as well- which of course I'll mention when I get to certain scenes and points I want to make!! Overall, it's one of my favorite movies- and it felt appropriate to talk about, because, not only is it the perfect fall film, it's also stop motion- which means absolutely everything in the frame is intentional- there are no accidental props or sounds, and everything is geared towards matching the story and the vibe of the overall film.     From the very beginning, Coraline gives us a very distinctly eerie, mysterious vibe. The opening scene to Coraline gives you the entire plot of the movie if you look closely enough- but the main things contributing to...