(#2) "There Will Be Blood" By The End of This Project

Two things before I begin this blog written at 3:14 AM…

Numero Uno, I was planning to do research on minimalist art and some basic painting techniques, but I procrastinated and pushed all that for the weekend despite the fact that I was going to be spending all day Saturday and Sunday playing soccer at Yale University. So thanks to my stupidity, it is now 3 A.M. the night before the blog is due and I have come to the conclusion that the research is not getting done. So I’ll just do that next week when I actually start making the art.

Numero Dos, I would like to take 112 words to revise my outline for the next month. Like I said in my previous blog, I will be painting 3 movie posters, yet I didn’t really have a way to show progression and growth. So….I decided that I’m going to increase the detail/complexity of the painting over the course of the 3 posters but keeping it simplistic at the same time.

And another revision to my plan...because I couldn’t decide on 3 movie posters (as I planned), I’ve decided to make a total of 4 posters. So with the remaining cycles/blog posts, I will be doing watching a movie and painting each time.

Anyway...

This week I have chosen, watched, and analyzed a movie of my choice.

Here’s the basic info about the movie:

Title: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Director: Milos Forman

Starring: Jack Nicholson | Louise Fletcher | Will Sampson

Date Released: November 19th, 1975

The first time I watched this film, which was in December, I absolutely loved it, not just for the amazing performance by Jack Nicholson, but lovable characters and the uplifting yet oppressing plot line. I chose this movie to make into a poster not just because I loved it, but also because all the Gifted students probably have never seen or heard of this movie and I hope that they would all watch it someday and be in awe just as I was.

So in the process of condensing this 2 hour and 14 minute film into a single image/scene, I began with brainstorming my favorite scenes (in no particular order). I will not be explaining these in detail because I would hate to spoil anything from this movie because you will all watch it, right? So feel free to watch the scenes using the links below:

(**WARNING: There is explicit language and SPOILERS**)

• The Juicy Fruit Scene

• Imaginary World Series Commentary (This video will work in Microsoft Edge, not Chrome)

• McMurphy’s Shock Therapy (This video will work in Microsoft Edge, not Chrome)

After I had chosen 3 scenes, I began to analyze the movie for its thematic messages and symbols and how these scenes captured the overall message from the director (and the original author of the book). Here are the themes I came up with that correspond with each scene:

• The power that a small encounter/interaction can have on people and how they open up to reveal their true characters
• The initial shock and rush of emotions that I felt was amazing for such a simple scene and the silences between the lines were very powerful as you were left just as puzzled as Randle McMurphy (the main character in the film). The use Juicy Fruit was perfect as it added to the power of simplicity within this scene and overall, you were left with feelings of joy from the connection made within this simple minute.
• A desire to be a part of and accepted into society and how just the slightest amount of joy can be contagious
• One of the most uplifting scenes from the movie, Jack Nicholson brilliantly acts out a World Series commentary based on his own imagination. His joy becomes contagious and the next thing you know, the oppressive atmosphere caused by Nurse Ratched is immediately changed into one filled with excitement and life. This place full of outsiders all of a sudden feel and experience what society feels and that is what the World Series represents.
• The oppression that society places on the “insane”
• As the movie progresses, I realized that certain characters were not necessarily insane, but just misunderstood. In McMurphy’s case, he is one of the sane characters who tries to bring life and joy into a gloomy and lifeless place. Yet, no matter how hard he tries, the mental hospital shows the oppression society can place on these people. This scene caused cringe-filled emotions as I watched McMurphy’s wittiness and smile die within a second.

From this point, I tried to figure out which combination of scene+theme/symbol best encompassed the movie and its purpose. And the award for Best Scene Acordding to Me is...The Juicy Fruit Scene! Wait. There was a mistake. The winner is actually the World Series Commentary Scene. Get it. Because the Oscars were last night. And they messed up. I'm so tired and delirious right now. Sorry. The reasoning for this choice is because of the multitude of positive emotions felt through the pure and raw dialogue and great performance by Nicholson. I believe that this scene embodied McMurphy's character and his symbolic traits/actions and what he reveals about society and life in general.
I'm so tired right now I just want to sleep. Forever.
So, I will now be spending the next week researching and painting for my first movie poster. It will probably be pretty darn tootin' awful but at least that'll mean their is only one way to go.


Also, because I want you guys and gals to feel the joy and excitement I get from movies, I'm going to start giving movie recommendations each blog post for you to follow if you please.

Movie Recommendation #1:

Title: Reservoir Dogs

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Harvey Keitel | Tim Roth | Steve Buscemi

Date Released: October 23rd, 1992

P.S. This is my favorite movie of all time and the one that really got me into films and cinema

Sources:

https://youtu.be/-pZYU8OGO6Q
https://youtu.be/XI_4HtIJYDM
https://youtu.be/yQa_sg4zN88

(#1) "A New Hope" For My Art Skills

I personally don’t think I have an addiction or an issue, but my parents and friends would beg to differ. I guess watching 164 movies in the past 13 months is not necessarily normal among most people, but I don’t think this should be labeled as an “addiction”. This began in the beginning of 2016 as a mode of enjoyment, yet as my interest in cinema grew, so did my appreciation for it, and I began to not only see movies as entertainment, but as a form of art as well.

Unfortunately, I lack the skill to be the next Kubrick or Daniel Day-Lewis, yet for this project, I still wanted to do something that incorporated my love for the cinema.

At the same time, I wanted to do something that related to art. My father and his father are both incredibly artistic and I’ve kind of been a disappointment in following their footsteps (and if we’re being honest, I’m just a disappointment in every aspect of life).

Then, after a week of strenuous brainstorming with no substantial results, a project-saving neuron connection lit up in my hippocampus, despite my high levels of cortisol, reminding me of minimalist movie posters.

Take a gander below for examples of minimalist posters…

I had stumbled upon these before, and it’s almost like my passions as a movie-watcher and my aspirations to be artistic had a baby and out came minimalist movie posters.

Minimalism is a type of art in which an artist uses pared-down elements and values the power of simplicity. In addition to this, minimalism is a very open field of art, meaning that the interpretations of it can widely vary.

Minimalist movie posters are simply movie posters with little to no words, containing only a snapshot of a specific scene that can encompass the movie as a whole or tackle a specific theme/motif from the movie. Not only are they aesthetically appealing, but a quick glance can automatically trigger memories from watching that specific film and the emotions felt during that time.

For the next 6 weeks, I will be able to express my love for movies while simultaneously improving my art skill by learning this mode of art and applying it into the creation of simplistic movie posters.

Take another gander below for an overview of my plan:

Cycle 1: Research | Watch/analyze Movie #1

Cycle 2: Sketch and paint Movie Poster #1

Cycle 3: Watch/analyze Movie #2

Cycle 4: Sketch and paint Movie Poster #2

Cycle 5: Watch/analyze Movie #3

Cycle 6: Sketch and paint Movie Poster #3

This repeated cycle of minimizing an entire movie into a snapshot will help exercise the skills and mindset needed for minimalist painting, and during this time, I intend to improve my art and possibly take a different approach (depending on my research) for each poster. By the end of this long process, I hope to have somewhat mastered this specific form of art to use in the future. Or this could end up being a complete disaster just like everything else in my life right now. Hey, but at least I have an excuse to watch more movies.

Sources:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/260645897162862029/
http://collider.com/minimalist-posters-for-the-films-of-quentin-tarantino/