(#5) "This Is the End"

       Yes Mr. Frodo Baggins, yes it is. I think I can speak for most people and say that there were mixed feelings associated with this project. So...I'm going to break up this blog into two sections: the Good, the Bad, and the Presentation (if you don't get that reference, just at least pretend to get it). 

Let's start with the negative aspects of the Genius Project:

       Even though most of these spawn from my own procrastination, the Genius Project was very stressful. Like, I mean incredibly stressful. I found myself cramming a lot of the work in towards the end. And I know that we needed enough time to show progress in something, but this project just seemed so long and dragged out. And to be honest, this project has been exhausting. It's taken up so much time out of the already-little sleep I get and I'm overjoyed to be done with this.

And now onto the positive aspects of the Genius Project:

       My favorite aspect of this project was giving the kids the opportunity to try something new. Even though at times it was annoying, I'm glad that I was able to find a way to express my loves for films through paint. The amount of freedom we got during this project was good because school can often feel like a prison. Because it is. One of the many freedoms we got was to pursue anything we wanted, which was awesome. Also, it was so much better to write blogs in our own voices. I hate being forced into writing in a formal tone because it all feels so fake.

And finally, the presentation:

       Overall, I think the presentation went very well. When I walked into the audion, I was internally freaking out. Some of that freaking out externalized in the form of shaking, tapping, and saying, "Crap, crap, crap, I'm almost up, crap, crap". Leading up to my presentation, I couldn't help but think about how I was going to be on a stage with every single eye on me. It was just me, my Prezi, and my crappy paintings. It also didn't help that everyone before me did amazing. Yet, as soon as I started, the 4-5 minutes felt really relaxed. When I was writing my script, I tried to incorporate comedy and humor because if people were laughing, then it would help calm me down. Thank God they laughed because I think I would have just crumbled into a ball if they didn't and there was nothing but an awkward silence to fill the room.

       I'm just glad the presentation is over. I never got the chance to present my final script in front of someone so I was going in blind and without any real feedback. This kinda relates to my theory that the less you prepare, the better you do. Yeah, I know that sounds incredibly stupid, but it has worked out for me. I used to stress and practice about a week in advance, and it didn't really help because I was worrying too much. For this presentation, I finished my final script the night before. I have sort of attained this care-free mindset about the presentations and how I write them which has given me better results. But it's definitely not for everyone. 

       I could give a really sincere goodbye to my "blog followers", but I'm not because I don't like you. Any of you...I'm just kidding. It's been kinda fun and kinda not all at the same time, but it was definitely an experience I'm glad to have been a part of (even though I don't think I'd do it again). I would have liked to end this dramatically or meaningfully but I'm too tired to do that, so Ferris Bueller is gonna help me out.

My Final Movie Recommendation #10:

Title: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virture of Ignorance)

Director: Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu

Starring: Michael Keaton | Emma Stone | Edward Norton

Date Released: October 17th, 2014

Thank God I've Reached My "Final Destination"

So, major change in plans. You know how I said I was going to make four movie posters in the beginning, because you guys have been keeping up with my blog, right? Anyway, yeah....that's not happening anymore. I'm only doing three. Why you ask? Because I procrastinated horrendously and forgot about FBLA States so now I don't have any time to do a fourth poster. I barely even got my third poster done in time. As you freshmen can see, I am not a model sophomore and I would highly recommend to not do whatever I do. I'm currently writing this post-presentation because I had finished my third and final painting right before my presentation day (literally, I finished it the day beforehand). Sorry, it's late but it doesn't make any difference so without further a do, here's how the final minimal movie poster came to be.

Unlike my other posters, for the film The Deer Hunter, I’ve decided to combine two scenes into one poster due to their comparisons and contrasts. If you briefly skip over to the blog with the analysis I did for this movie, you can get a better understanding of the scenes and why I’m going to say what I’m about to say. My main goal was try to use the same images for both scenes with only slight differences creating an symmetry that would be both aesthetically pleasing and symbolic. To begin with, I decided that the background would be a fern green kinda color due to the repeated cinematography relating to nature and the forest. Because the revolver was the cause of conflict and suspense in both scenes, I felt that two revolver chambers would be perfect as the centerpiece: one with three bullets, the other with only one. As I was planning this out, I found that the poster seemed a bit empty and that there was a lot of open space which was bothering me. So, I chose to add deer antlers on the outside to add to the symmetry and aesthetic. I hope that anyone who has watched this iconic film will remember the feelings of suspense, thrill, and sadness through my painting.

Now, it was time to get to it, but before I walk through my painting process, I wanted to talk about brushes in this blog. So, with each painting step, I’ll let you know which brushes I used and why based on research.

The first step was the background, as usual. Because I am covering a large surface area, I chose the type of brush used to paint larger surfaces such as walls. It is made with polyester bristles because those work better with latex and acrylic paints whereas natural bristles are used more for oil-based paints. To be honest, this is my favorite part of the painting process because it is so relaxing and stress relieving and I don’t have to worry about it too much. Also, based on that Handy-Dandy Acrylic Made Easy: Getting Started Book, I have learned to take long brush strokes in order to cover as much area with each stroke and to evenly spread the paint.

      The next step was to paint the font. The title font used in this film was much harder to do because it was thinner than the others. Because I had to pay attention to detail, I used a liner brush and a flat-tipped brush so that I could get straight edges to make it look neater. Because I wanted to step up this painting and make it different, I decided to play with the font. The Deer Hunter is known to for is raw nature so I wanted to create a font that embodied that aspect. So...I decided to not fill in the font all the way to create a "scrapped" look. It's harder to explain so here's a picture:

      It was now time to paint the centerpiece and I started with the two revolvers. I wanted the one on the left to have three bullets and the one on the right to have one to symbolize the two scenes and their similarities/differences. In doing this, it also brings back suspenseful and tragic emotions as you remember the scenes. The other part of the center piece was the deer antlers which surrounded the two revolvers and were simply there to add to the aesthetic and symmetry. Because this poster was full of symmetry (the antlers/the revolvers), I stressed a lot about trying to get everything perfect, and overall, I think it turned out pretty good. For this part, I used a liner brush, a flat-tipped brush, and a Filbert brush because it has rounded tips. Here's the final product.

      I felt that the double meaning of the revolvers stepped up this painting. Unlike the other products I have created, I thought that I did a good job in portraying what Cimino had in mind when he was directing these two scenes. For me, suspenseful and tragic emotions fill within my head when I see the two revolvers with different amounts of bullets within them. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this painting has turned out. Even though this sounds basic, I really liked the green that was used because it helps to capture the mood of this film.
      We can also use this blog as an overall reflection for the painting process. Though I won't be painting like Monet any time soon (or ever), I have definitely become more comfortable with painting utensils as well as creating my own "masterpieces". I also have mixed emotions about this project. To be honest, it was very stressful to paint and at times, I wanted to punch something/someone. But, other times, it was very peaceful and stress relieving. All in all, I was glad to have chosen this project because I was able to work with movies in a different way.

Movie Recommendation #9:

Title: Chinatown

Director: Roman Polanski

Starring: Jack Nicholson | Faye Dunaway

Date Released: June 20th, 1974

Life Feels Like An "Apocalypse Now"

There comes a point when you're up all night when you're not even tired, you're just completely delirious and you feel more awake then ever. It's currently 4:47 AM on the Friday the vlog is due and I'm currently in that state of mind. I wish I would've chosen procrastination as my topic to pursue for this project 'cause I would've absolutely aced this thing. This blog post can act as a checkpoint/cumulative summary so far for those who haven't been keeping up with my blog, which is fine because I haven't been keeping up with yours either (sorry but it's the truth). So...it would be my greatest honor to courtly invite your fine selves (except for the freshmen, none of you are fine, y'all are all inferior) to hopefully have a few chuckles by watching my 2 A.M. vlog. By the way, I was joking about freshmen being inferior. You guys are awesome human beings and there is a reason you're in Gifted. Never forget that. Okay, enough with this deep and emotional shih tzu let's get onto the vlog.

 

Believe me, if there were no time constraints, I think I could’ve spent about 3 hours ranting. But, as you guys know, we only had 4 minutes and we actually had to, like, you know, like, talk about stuff. What a bummer…

Even though my cinematography is not Oscar-worthy and I just winged a single, 4-minute take, I think I vouch for the many Gifted students struggling with this project on top of their already gargantuan workload.

But in relation to the actual project, in 7 weeks I have gotten two posters done, and with two weeks left, I have to do two posters and prepare for the TED Talk. My work ethic doesn’t necessarily make sense, but I’ll get it done nonetheless (hopefully).

Well, thank you guys and gals, and a special thank you to Licata for keeping up with my blog about my slow and painful death and my weekly updates about my gradually deteriorating mind, body, and soul.

Movie Recommendation #8:
Title: Apocalypse Now
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Martin Sheen | Marlon Brando
Date Released: August 15th, 1979

"The Interview"

If you couldn’t tell from the time that this blog was posted, I have once again procrastinated the shih tzu out this project. If my expert hadn’t contacted me so quickly, I would have been royally screwed. And just to be clear, so you don’t think I’m worse of a student than I already am, I had an expert by the third blog. I just never contacted him….but the past is history so let’s just forget about my many, many, many, many faults during this project and move on.

So you guys can access the PDF of our email conversation, below this sentence is the link:

file://wsdhsms/19home/19mom/Documents/Genius%20Project%20Interview%20Doc.pdf

Just a little background, Vincent Vermeij (the graphic designer who makes minimal movie posters) was the main inspiration for this project. His posters and style embody minimalism and are simply amazing. To begin with, I would just like to let out a giant sigh of relief because if Mr. Vermeij hadn’t spoke English, it would have been a pain in the ass to translate it through Google (because we all know what a crappy thing that is).

Here is some of his work:

When I was brainstorming what to ask him, the main thing I wanted to take from this interview was to get insight into Mr. Vermeij’s process and how he is able to make such aesthetically beautiful and symbolic movie posters. Another thing that I valued was what his inspiration was because this helps me get into his mindset and how he makes his minimal movie posters.

After receiving and having read his response, one of the most prominent things I noticed was his light and joyous tone. Mr. Vermij seemed to really enjoy his work and his hobby of making movie posters. In the interview, he mentions on multiple occasions how I should try to have fun with this. In relation to this, he also talked about expression and identity on a few occasions. Just like any artist would say, Mr. Vermeij advised that I make my posters my own and stay original. Even though I went into this thinking about the process, I think the biggest thing I took away was to be passionate, do what you love, and to be you. Mr. Vermeij’s response seemed filled with life and energy and I think this inspired me even more to be more diligent with this and to possibly continue this after the Genius Project.

In addition to the emotion in his answers, the explanation of his process and his mindset was incredibly informative and helpful. Even though he repeats certain steps in his poster making process, Mr. Vermeij again mentioned the ideas of passion. He advised that I do movies that I really enjoyed and to act on my gut feelings when it comes to making the poster. I think that oftentimes, I am too caught up in trying to make the poster 100% perfect. Just like every other form of art, this is meant to be an expression of who I am and what I like. I plan to use this advice for my future posters, and I think that what Mr. Vermeij is saying can be applied to other aspects of my life because I tend to be very hesitant and meticulous.

Another interesting thing I took away was that Mr. Vermeij never really gave specific, concrete steps to making the perfect poster. He almost left it up to me to interpret movies how I wanted and just gave me some guidelines to follow and keep in mind.

Overall, I was really happy with the advice I got from this interview and I’m lucky that Mr. Vermeij was so friendly and motivating. As I paint two more posters, I will definitely try to take in Mr. Vermeij’s advice and apply it. I thought it was cool and interesting how even though I didn’t tell him I was painting and not graphically designing them, his advice is still applicable. In case you wanted to see more of his work, his website his below because I know I’m sure as hell going to buy some of his minimal movie posters.

chungkong.nl

Movie Recommendation #7:

Title: La Haine

Director: Mathieu Kassovitz

Starring: Vincent Cassel | Saïd Taghmaoui | Hubert Koundé

Date Released: September 1st, 1995

Sources:
chungkong.nl

It's Been A "Dog Day Afternoon"...And Night...And Life

At the beginning of this project, I actually thought that I would not procrastinate and get my work done diligently. Clearly, that has not worked out too well. I started out by following the deadlines I had laid out in the first blog, but I gradually got worse and worse. Now I’m a little more than a week away and I still have to paint two more posters and write up another analysis for a movie. Wish me luck ‘cause I’m sure as hell going to need it.

This is now my third movie analysis/minimization and I feel like I’m getting better and more efficient and condensing a movie into an image that can encompass the thematic messages. Because I can get this process done faster, it leaves me more time to spend painting.

This week’s movie is…

Title: The Deer Hunter

Director: Michael Cimino

Starring: Robert De Niro | Christopher Walken | Meryl Streep

Release Date: February 23rd, 1979

        This three-hour movie does not only contain one of the best acting performances ever, but Michael Cimino mastery is seen through the suspense built in each scene and the beautiful cinematography throughout the film. The director uses ideas of friendship, love, and trauma to show the effects of the Vietnam War and the bloodshed it has brought. The two main characters played by Christopher Walken and Robert De Niro had amazing and shocking character arcs throughout this war epic which makes it one of my favorite films of all time.

Step #1: Minimizing the Movie
        Just like before, I chose three scenes that were my favorite but also represented the movie in the best way. Below are the video clips for each scene
        (**WARNING: There is VIOLENCE AND BLOOD and the scenes may be DISTURBING**)
        (**There are also SPOILERS**)

• Three-Bullet Russian Roulette (This will work in Microsoft Edge, not Google Chrome)

• Chopin's Nocturne No. 6 Op. 15-3 

• One Last Shot (This will work in Microsoft Edge, not Google Chrome)

Step #1: Analyzing the Scenes
        Take a gander below for the analysis of these three scenes, but beware because there are spoilers:

• A friendship requires trust, and true friends will stay loyal to each other despite dire situations
• Throughout this 3 hour epic, the relationship between Michael (De Niro) and Nicki (Walken) is very prevelent and Cimino uses the Vietnam War to show the trials that these friends face. In this first scene, the two life-long friends become POW's in Vietnam, and their captors entertain themselves by forcing the prisoners to play Russian Roulette. Determined to get out, Michael decides to play with three bullets (thats a 50% chance of dying) in hopes to get a least two misses leaving 3/4 bullets left to use to shoot the Vietnamese. First off, the acting in this scene by both actors is absolutely phenominal, and they help to show the detrimental effects of the war through Nicki's resistence to play. Yet despite the odds, Michael and Nicki still have faith in each other. Even though they were on the brink of death, Nicki was able to trust Michael's plan. Their actions contrast with the other POW's in the previous scenes that bailed out and were punished. Their friendship is able to stand these tests to highlight the characteristics of a true friendship. This is one of the most suspenseful scenes and Cimino utilizes the lack of background noise to help build up that suspense which emphasizes the emotions and actions of the two main characters.
• The love and peace that your friends and your home can give you doesn't compare to anything else
• Right before Act II (The War Act) begins, Michael, Nicki, and their friends run into a bar and start spraying beer at each other to have some fun before they leave to Vietnam. The loud shouts are soon quieted by John's piano playing. Soon, the entire room is silent except for the beautiful and tranquil Chopin piece. The camera pans across the room to show everyone's faces in awe as they share this moment of calm before the storm. The atmosphere and mood of this scene is very uplifting because the director highlights the companionship of these men and this scene greatly contrasts with the war scenes that follow and their violent nature. The audience gets a very warm feeling from the music that matches the emotions of the characters in the scene. The multiple uses of tranquil scenes and violent scenes are used back and forth throughout the movie, and I think that Cimino's intention was to have the two types of scenes emphasize each other in order to highlight the companionship between the characters.
• Michael Cimino shows the effect of war trauma on a friendship and the darkness that can come from it
• The conclusion to this movie begins with Michael's trip back to Vietnam to find Nicki (who has been gone for some time). He finds him with trauma and a lack of memory due to his continual playing of Russian Roulette for gamblers to bet money. Michael's failed attempts to make Nicki remember forces him to play a game against his friend. This act shows a great amount of loyalty and love for his friend and this repeated situation of the two friends playing against each other seemed to hold much more weight in this scene that the other. As they take turns, the love and hope that Nicki will remember is clear in Michael's tone and his willingness to die for his friend. Nicki's cold, emotionless stare contrasts with Michael's sad and loving eyes to show the effect of trauma on soldiers and how it has affected these two friends. I think that Nicki's death is what makes this an anti-war film because Cimino tries to show how the Vietnam War has affected friends and families.

        Ok, so this was definitely the hardest decision I had to make out of the three movies I have done so far. All the scenes above were so meaningful and memorable and I think I spent an entire day trying to figure out what to do for this poster. Because it was such a tough choice, I decided to cheat a little bit and combine the two Russian Roulette Scenes. Although that might make it less minimal, the two scenes are very similar and mirror each other in many ways. I think that the change in mood/tone between the scenes and the different endings help to embody the ideas of companionship and the detrimental trauma caused by the Vietnam War. Exactly how I'll incorporate both scenes will be saved for the next blog post, but I definitely want to use images/objects that remind viewers of the suspense built and the triumph/sadness felt in both scenes.

        God, this was a great effin' movie. But anyway, look out for a blog this weekend for the painting because I'm behind schedule. Thanks for "keeping up with my project".

Movie Recommendation #6:

Title: Raging Bull

Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro | Joe Pesci

Date Released: December 19th, 1980

Sources:

http://www.impawards.com/1978/deer_hunter.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCW9NsrV6VM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuGSXflBoWU

I Guess You Could Say I'm The Next "Pollock"

Well...it's been a while since I've done a painting no thanks to my procrastination and the crap ton of work I've had recently. But, I am now done my second movie poster, and I am much more satisfied with this one than the last. Since you guy keep up with my blog on a weekly basis, you would know that I am making a poster for the Korea movie, Oldboy. You would also know that I am portraying the Tongue Cutting scene. Here's the process I went through.

First thang is first (yes, I meant to say thang, not thing): minimizing this scene. When I watch this movie, I tend to group the Tongue Cutting scene with those before it (if you watch it, you'll understand why) because the scene I chose is actually very brief, though it feels like ages due to the gruesome and cringy aspects of it. Not only is it brief, but in the last blog, I also explained the simple yet masterful camera angles that were used. I sort of wanted to mimic how the director showed this scene from a unique angle, but at the same time, I wanted to show the tongue so that whether or not you watched the movie, you can figure out what happened. I finally decided that I was going to paint scissors with dashed lines (sort of like the "cut here" thing) that lead to a tongue (most likely the emoji one because it is basic). It's basically a combination of these two images...

Through this poster, I want to help portray the determination of the main character and highlight the bloody aspects of this powerful scene.

Because my art skills match that of a pile of dirt, I knew that painting the tongue would be hard because you can’t just paint it a single shade of pink. There has to be some different shades in order to make it more 3-D. I turned to my Handy-Dandy Acrylic Made Easy: Getting Started Book to figure out how to step up my painting skills slightly. Using the color wheel, the book explained the basics of creating different shades of the same color by adding black and white. For the tongue, I would simply need different shades of pink so this definitely helped.

After having done that, I started off with the solid background. I went with black because this movie was incredibly dark and I feel that this would best match the tone and mood of the movie. I used the biggest brush I had so I’m not spending eons just working on the background (there is a picture of the brush below). The book I bought recommended using long strokes to make sure the paint spreads evenly and also to paint a second layer to ensure that everything looks full in color.

Once that was done, the next step was to paint the movie title, director, and actors. So my expert recently got back to me (recently as in this morning), and talked a lot about having my own identity as an artist and having some sort of trademark (I’ll post the interview later). Based on my first poster, I decided to go with the same style, meaning that at the top I would put the actors/actresses’ names and at the bottom would be the movie title and the director’s name. For the director’s name, I decided to use the formula of, “A (Director’s name) Film” as my own little thang (not thing, thang). To do this, I mimicked the font that was used during the opening credits to the movie.

After that, it was time to paint the centerpiece. Though the scissors were easy to get done, the tongue took much more time for me. To begin with, I made pink using red and white and then applied either white or black to make them darker or lighter. I decided to make a few different shades so I had options to work with. So this is what my tongue originally started as:

There is a fine example of my art skills (if I can even call them skills). Clearly, the tongue was missing something, and thanks to some advice from Justin Daniel Ryan (aka the Man with Three First Names), I was able to create a better looking tongue.

That was supposed to be the end of my painting, but something was nagging me. The painting was very mild and friendly to me, and it didn’t encompass the violent aspects of this scene and the film. That led me to attempt to splatter “blood” on the canvas using red paint in a messy way (almost like Pollock). I was kinda worried because if it turned out bad, then there was nothing I could do really to fix it.

Personally, I think it turned out pretty well. I think the messy look adds more to it and helps to better portray the scene. I am becoming more confident in my painting skills, especially after taking that risk with the splattering. One of the things I can work on is to be more spontaneous. I have always been a planner and will wait on things, and this often makes this painting process dragged out. It also causes me to second guess myself on certain things. I think that sometimes I need to just go with the flow and be more expressive than meticulous.

I also still feel like my paintings are very flat. Though for these types of posters it isn’t that big of a deal, I want to see if I can step up my painting in the next two posters by making things pop out more. But I am currently content with my art and I hope that you guys are liking them too.

Movie Recommendation #5:

Title: Inside Llewyn Davis

Director: The Coen Brothers

Starring: Oscar Isaac

Date Released: January 10th, 2014

Sources:
https://www.123rf.com/photo_23659211_scissors-with-cut-lines-isolated-on-white-background.html
http://emojipedia.org/tongue/

(#4) They say, "Life Is Beautiful"...It's Not...It Actually Sucks Right Now

Well, I’ve had nine days to work since the last blog, which is definitely the most time we’ve had in between two Day 6’s, and I have done…*drum roll please*…almost nothing!

And before I brief you this week’s procrastination, I would like to say on behalf of many of the sophomores, this month has been actual hell. I’m sure that many of the sophomores would agree that the amount and the difficulty of this month’s workload has surpassed all previous months of the school year. While a crappy work ethic definitely doesn’t help, the amount of cortisol released through my brain is absolutely redonkulous.

So, I was planning to watch and analyze a movie and then paint the poster this week, but although that didn’t happen, I did get some of it done

This week’s movie is….

Title: Oldboy

Director: Park Chan-Wook

Starring: Choi Min-Sik | Yoo Ji-Tae

Date Released: November 21st, 2003

In case you couldn’t tell by the names, this is a Korean movie. I watched this movie recently (early February), and it was one of the most psychotic and shocking movies I have seen. Not only was the plot unique and twisted, but the acting by Choi Min-Sik (a very famous Korean actor) was both breathtaking and powerful.

I’ve decided that I’m going to follow the same process I went through for the first movie in order to analyze and minimize this movie.

Step #1: Minimizing the Movie

I not only had to think about which scenes were the most memorable or entertaining, but also which best contributed to an overarching message or theme that the director was trying to express. With this in mind, I managed to choose only three scenes even though there were many more that could’ve made the list. Again, I will not be explaining these in detail so that I don’t spoil anything for you guys and gals.

(**WARNING: There may be explicit language and spoilers**)

(**THE FOLLOWING SCENES ARE VIOLENT AND GRAPHIC AND MAY BE DISTURBING. WATCH AT YOUR OWN RISK**)

• Ant Hallucination Scenes (This will work in Microsoft Edge, not Google Chrome) (Also, I could only find one video so I've given you a picture of the other)

• Hall Fight Scene (This will work in Microsoft Edge, not Google Chrome)

• Tongue Cutting Scene (I decided not to put the video in here because it is very disturbing and graphic and someone is going to watch it and report it and I’m going to get in trouble. Images also may have been too graphic so I'm leaving up to you to watch the movie and this amazing scene)

Step #2: Analyzing the Scenes

Below, I analyzed each of the three scenes for their individual themes and messages through my interpretation of the movie.

• The Ant Hallucinations represent the effect of loneliness and the desire to have a companion
• “Yeah, if you’re alone, you see ants”. This is a quote from the movie said by Mi-Do, a female character who encounters Oh Dae-Su and they become close friends/lovers. Both have been lonely for a while now. She claims that it is because ants move in groups and the desire to be accompanied by someone else manifests into these hallucinations. The darker tone in these scenes helps to better reveal the effect of isolation. This longing for love is repeated throughout the movie and it is the backbone of the conflict and psychotic nature within the film
• The world will try to stop you from reaching your end goal, but you must persevere
• Park Chan-Wook provides one of the more raw fight scenes in a while. In fact, you get a “Fight Club” kind of vibe from the dark and dirty hallway in which they fight and from the lack of flashy choreography. From the interesting, yet perfect, camera angle in which the camera pans parallel to the hallway by following Oh Dae-Su (the main character), the audience is able to see the long and painful journey he had to take to make it out of that hallway. Yet, Oh Dae-Su’s determination and grit is evident in how he manages to continue on through all the blows. This scene mirrors the movie which tells the story of Oh Dae-Su’s redemption and how he manages to push on despite having faced some of the most traumatizing experiences.
• A person is willing to take desperate measures in order to protect the ones they love
• There are two prevalent messages in what has become one of my favorite scenes of all time but I will only comment on one of them because the other might spoil this uniquely demented movie. Towards the end of the movie, Oh Dae-Su faces the antagonist in the film, and to show his desperation and sincerity, he cuts off his tongue with scissors in order to protect Mi-Do. Yet, Park Chan-Wook never actually shows the tongue getting cut off. The frame starts with a shot of Oh Dae-Su’s eyes and the insanity and desperation within them. It then pans across to his bloody hands which holds the scissors and for a what seem like ages, we cringely watch as Oh Dae-Su slowly closes the two finger holes of the scissors, mimicking the power and creativity of Tarantino’s Ear Cutting Scene in Reservoir Dogs. The director makes a masterful and symbolic choice of showing these things because it helps to emphasize the willingness of Oh Dae-Su and how he was able to clasp the scissor together in order to protect Mi-Do.

After an internal civil war over these scenes, I have chosen the Tongue Cutting Scene to be the basis of my minimal movie poster this week. This scene which only lasts a few seconds, has two main shot, and, no dialogue was packed with emotions I will never forget. I felt that the powerful and raw plotline had been building up to this scene where we see the basic and humble aspects of Oh Dae-Su’s character. This scene is not only hard for the stomach to handle, but it also embodies certain aspects of human nature and strips down everything to show us love, honor, and sacrifice in its bare form.

I was planning to get the painting done by this week but that didn’t happen. Clearly. So be ready for a bonus blog over the weekend about this painting.

Thank you to the three people who will probably read this.

Movie Recommendation #4:

Title: It’s Such A Beautiful Day

Director: Don Hertzfeldt

Starring: Don Hertzfeldt

Date Released: August 24, 2012

Sources:

https://youtu.be/lk4tQLPIgV0

https://youtu.be/VwIIDzrVVdc

https://perspectiveofawriter.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/goodjob-oldboy/

http://www.moviepostershop.com/oldboy-movie-poster-2003