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

"My Left Foot" Has Better Painting Skills Than My Right Hand

IT’S ABOUT EFFIN’ TIME!

Because I’m sure that you either didn’t read my other blogs or forgot, I am minimizing the movie titled One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and I have chosen the “World Series Commentary” scene as the focal point of my painting (you can watch this scene in my 2nd blog)

I chose the blank TV as the single image/object on the poster because in the film, McMurphy is defeated by Nurse Ratched in the vote to decide whether or not the World Series would be watched. As he stares at the blank TV screen that isn’t functioning, you watch a grin spread across the main character’s face as he begins to shout imaginary commentary at nothing. The next thing you know, other patients begin to gather and join in the excitement sparked by a TV that is turned off and a desire to participate in American traditions.

That’s what I want. For people to see this movie poster and remember the uplifting emotions felt and the message that joy is contagious despite society’s oppressive nature.

Before I began painting, I read through the acrylic painting book I had mentioned in my previous blog. Because it is a book for beginners, it gave me introductory information on the types of brushes and blending colors and the color wheel to help me with my painting. The blending of colors was very important to me because I wasn't trying to spend a fafillion dollars on different shades of red or blue (by the way, art supplies are crazy expensive). It talked about making colors lighter or darker and how to manipulate a single color to get multiple different shades. I didn't feel the need to practice certain brush strokes or the blending of colors because my paintings are so simplistic, and to be honest, I just really wanted to get to painting a poster.

So when this project initially started and I came up with this idea, I went to Michael's to buy some basic art supplies such as canvases, a 15-set paintbrush kit (because I didn't know which ones I would need to use), and black and white acrylic paint. The rest of the supplies needed I could find in my house like a cup for water and a paper plate as a paint palette. When I figured out what I was painting, I bought some beige/gold colored paint.
I began my painting process by making a really quick sketch of what I had in mind which was recommended by my Handy-Dandy Acrylic Made Easy: Getting Started Book by Patti Mollica.

The first step my painting was to paint the background color, and in this case, it was white because the mental institute and the other settings in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest were very plain and lifeless and it wasn't until McMurphy came along was the place given life and energy.

And that was it. That's my minimal movie poster.

Just kidding. I wish...

Following that step, I then began to sketch the movie title, cast members, and director with pencil using the same font that was used for the original movie poster.

Then, I painted it.

It was now time to paint blank TV. Unlike other paintings where they may be more objects or more color blending, because my poster is basic and simplistic, it makes it easier for mistakes to be recognized so I tried to take a lot of time into making sure things were perfect. At first, I sketched the dimensions of the TV using a ruler and a pencil.

Then, I painted it.

The book I have been studying from recommends starting from the back and working towards the front so I started with a black base and then added the gold and grey parts afterwards.

TADA!!! My first movie poster is complete!

Overall, I was pretty content with this poster being that I have never really painted anything since 5th grade art class, but clearly I am not that artistic. I liked the way the title fonts turned out, but I wish I would’ve done a better job on the TV because it just seems “eh” to me. It also seems very 2-D which means that I'm going to have to research how to use shadow to possibly make the object/image pop out from the poster. The TV actually is really bad and it makes me angry every time I see it 'cause I probably could've done better. Also, the spacing for the director's name is really crammed so I'll definitely fix that for my next poster.
Though the process I went through seemed pretty simple, I took a lot of time to make sure everything was lined up and in the right dimensions (even though some of it didn’t turn out as symmetrical or proportional as I would’ve hoped). Luckily, because acrylic paint dries so quickly, I was able to finish this faster than it if would have been painted with oil paint. I hope that as I paint three more posters the quality will improve and so will the satisfaction that I get as well as the people who view it.

Movie Recommendation #3:

Title: Captain Fantastic

Director: Matt Ross

Starring: Viggo Mortensen

Date Released: July 8th, 2016

Sources:
http://maxseesmovies.blogspot.com/2011/04/33-one-flew-over-cuckoos-nest.html