Stand By Me

For unit 3 of my Ollywood class, we learned about post production, and mainly everything they add to the movie after everything has been filmed, CGI, film score, sound effects, and different approaches to movie reviewing. For the action project we had to create a podcast on a movie of our choice and I chose to do Stand By Me, because of how good and impacting it is on the audience. The purpose of his was to learn another approach we could use in reviewing a movie that we watched, and I thought it was super useful to me.

Script:

Hey everyone! Thank you for listening to my movie review channel, today I will be doing a movie made based by Stephen King’s book The Body, Stand by Me, a drama made in 1986!

I will be reviewing this movie through the generic approach, which mainly focuses on comparing it to other movies that are in the same genre and maybe movie concept.

I compared Stand By Me  to  The Breakfast Club, because they are both dramas that talk about how a group of  kids go on a small adventure and come out a different person. But both of these films  also took very different approaches to tell that story. The Breakfast Club focuses on a group of kids, who are not friends serving Saturday detention together and happening to find themselves in an adventure while Stand By Me follows a group of close-knit friend who seek out an adventure to pass their time.

These two 80s drama are similar in that they both talk about kids trying to deal with there parents and, trying to find where they belong. Through their adventures, the kids from The Breakfast Club and Stand By Me, learn more and more about themselves and each other.

Stand By Me is narrated by older Gordie Lachance who is writing a book about this summer adventure in Oregon. The movie starts with Gordie walking through his town and meeting up with his friends Chris and Teddy. Chris is the leader of the group and is known for being part of the bad family in the town. Teddy was similar where he was known for his father who almost burned Teddy’s ear off and was known for being crazy.When he enters they are playing cards and smoking and joking around. Then their friend Vern came in saying he had big news he overheard these guys talking about a dead body. The group end up going on an adventure where they share happy and sad moments. Each member of the group end up learning about themselves through their friends. In this adventure they had a lot obstacles but they were able to overcome them and come out as different people.

This movie in general was very well done. The film -editing was very well done. The whole movie used dialogue referent to cut back and forth between the present as Gordie was writing the book to the past, showing what he was writing about. The scene in which film cuts were used most effectively was when Gordie was in the little market buying snacks and they used a thought referent film cut, to flashback to a memory Gordie was having. The scene shows Gordie standing at the cash register and the cashier was talking about his brother, Dennis who passed away. The scene cuts to Gordie having a flashback of their family having dinner and his father only talking to Denny and ignoring him. I liked how this cut was used as a symbol of what Gordie’s life was like before and after that happened.

The film score was amazing in this movie, and I loved it because it might not be memorable but it fits so well with the adventure.  The composer of the film took simple songs and made it a fun kind of road trip song. My favorite scene was in the beginning of the film where the guys were hanging out in their tree house playing cards, smoking, and joking around, and Rockin’ Robin played to set a very nice and calm mood.I loved that scene!

The sound effects were also very well done and were used perfectly to make me feel like I was right there with them. The best use of sound effects was when they were crossing the bridge and the only sound you could hear was the rumbling of the train. As the train got louder, it really built up the suspense of the question, Are they going to make it?. That sound made me scream, “Run!” throughout that entire scene.

There was no CGI in this movie, I felt like if they used it the movie wouldn’t be real or as good as it was. They very well with out and it made the set they used was very well done, just like in The Breakfast Club, because they didn’t use CGI and that made it so much more real for the audience.

This movie gets 5 out 5 stars, because it used such a great soundtrack and how they used that music to seem adventurous when the song isn’t. Also the set design and everything was so beautiful and it could not have been redone.

Watch Stand by Me now and let it take you on the journey it did for me and just wait to be amazed!

Thank You for turning on my channel!

Matters & Manners

For the third unit of my Five Faces class, we looked at taking all the faces (Seer, Observer, Alchemist, Fool, and Sage) and using them to make a service project. For my idea, I thought it would be nice to make a comic strip that jokes about world matters so that it can raise awareness of those topics; also on the back I would put a website that someone could go to in order to learn more about the subject and possibly donate to those organizations, which were the Natural Resources Defense Council and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (organizations that help with world matters). I had a lot of different views on this service project, because when I started it was very frustrating as it was hard to figure out where I should put my comics without breaking the law. I found that putting them up in just random spots, like Starbucks poster boards and in Red Eye and Chicago Readers, was not really getting people’s attention. So on the second day I decided to just go to Starbucks and wait for people to come in and sit down so I could go up and talk to them. Some being really confused and some being super energetic. I liked the Starbucks I went to, because it had a lot of college students there who really understood what I was getting at. On the other hand, regular adults were either really confused or very interested about it. This surprised and pleased me because it reassured me that were going to look at the websites.  

NVA "Service Drawing" 2015. GCE

Now with this project I had to incorporate all the five faces. The picture above shows my Seer face, as I visualized the before, during , and after. For the Observer I went to popular places where people sit down or wait for something, like a grocery store and Starbucks, and once there I would hand out my cartoons or put them on poster boards. I made three comics in total and I basically made 75 copies of each. The public will benefit from my comic strips because with them they might start thinking about the world matters and how bad or serious they really are. Also on the back I would give a summary on the subject and a website they can use to help with the topic. I will use the Fool and humor to catch people’s attention, then I will interact with people to see their views on the matter. My main inspiration was Family Guy and how they have some knuckle-biting humor with certain world issues, and with that they get me thinking and wondering about that matter. I started thinking what if this same effect will happen with other people and not just me? A lot of people would protest and be forceful, where as I used my humor to grab the people's attention. I also used the Sage, by making it simple and fast to read, very straight to the point. If it gave a title to this project I would be Matters and Manner. I say that because it talks about big matters and acting upon it would show that someone has manners in some way.

The Observer + An Alchemist = One Genius

This course is about learning our Five Faces of genius and using them to create a service project. Unit 2 was about learning our Five Faces and what each one means, and we looked at a lot of examples to show what they can be like. For our action project we have to explain what the Five Faces are, what my faces are, list three people and list their dominant faces, and show how we can use these faces to create two ideas for what we can do for a service project. What I learned in this unit was what my Five Faces were and how I can become more well-rounded with each of them. I am most proud about how I was able to actually learn how to use the other Five Faces.

A Seer is someone who uses the power of visualizing everything around them, they shut their eyes and see everything and anything. An Observer is someone who looks at all the small details on something, or they notice things that aren’t easily able to seen, with that they will try to solve problems. An Alchemist is someone who uses other ideas to create his or her own, or combines two unrelated ideas into something brand new. A Fool is someone who uses humor and weaknesses to solve problems or come up with wild ideas. A Sage is someone who uses simplicity to solve problems and looks at historical facts for inspiration. My two most dominant faces are Observer and Alchemist, and my weaker faces are Seer, Fool, and a Sage.

I do agree with my survey, because I am very much like an Observer for the fact that I like to just look around and notice small things that many people don’t usually see. For example when I go home from school I will just look at the small details in the train and bus; or when I am driving I basically have to do the same to protect myself from any dangerous things around me. I do very much believe I am also an Alchemist, because I like to see examples in work and use them to create my own idea. For example with a homework assignment that makes me come up with something, I will have to look at other ideas to create my own; or when I am in a debate with a group of people I usually like to be a judge or someone who isn’t in it, because I like to listen to both sides instead of just sticking with one. I do think I am a Seer at times, but not all the time because I like to draw, but I can’t always envision what I want to draw; or I can’t always see something in my head. I don’t agree with being a Fool, because I don’t really like to use my weaknesses as an advantage and I won’t try to be absurd with my ideas. I don’t really agree with my least dominant face being Sage because I like to try to simplify things, such as math problems and I do really try to learn from history, and use those to help me make hard decisions.

I interviewed my father, and from what I saw from my interview he was very much like a Fool, because he likes to use his humor and absurdity to come up with crazy ideas. I do also see him as an Alchemist, because he likes to mix ideas from other people and he always has a new one. I think he shows his Fool through his Alchemist, because when he mixes ideas they turn out to be crazy. Since my interview was mainly “yes or no” answers, I thought I would show a question that was very important to me: “Do you care if your food touches?” I feel like this was a good question to ask to show if he was an Alchemist, because when food touches it can create a new taste that people find very good. (He said yes, also telling me how much of an Alchemist he is.)

NVA “AA and NVA” 2013. Chicago

One person we studied in class that I found very inspiring was Sam Walton, because he came up with an idea that was so smart. I believe he is an Alchemist because he combined the idea of a supermarket and a low key town, and mashed them to create Walmart, which is one of the biggest and most successful stores. Besides that I also see him as a Fool, because he took an idea that was seen as crazy and showed people how a supermarket could actually do very well in a low key area/town. “Celebrate your success. Find some humor in your failures.” - Sam Walton

“S. Robson Walton in 2011” Wikipedia. June 2, 2011

Someone who inspires me that we didn’t study in class is Seth MacFarlane, because he created a show that no one thought would be good, which later became the top-grossing show; this shows how incredibly smart he is. I believe he is a Fool, because he is very absurd when trying to get major problems in our world across and he helps people realize the truth about subjects. I see him as a Seer, because all of his shows are animated and I feel like he is someone who really likes to visualize all of his ideas, because all of what he believes in he will show in all his cartoons. “Believe it or not, I have the same success rate as anyone else. Sometimes you hit, sometimes you miss.” - Seth Macfarlane

Gage Skidmore “Seth Macfarlane” July 25, 2010. Wikicommons.

Now to use the Five Faces as a tool to make a better world, the matters I would like to tend to are helping to find more resources for our everyday lives and getting people to help the homeless. I would want to become a better Seer, by truly envisioning my ideas and making them into better solution. I definitely like to use my Observer skills to actually show people the little things that we need to focus on in this world that they might not have noticed otherwise. I want to strengthen my Sage side by trying to make my ideas for helping a lot more simple instead of complex; or to stop thinking of ideas that can become complex. For the Alchemist I want to get people to start mixing their ideas about the world and use them so everyone can make a difference. Lastly for Fool, I would like to try use my weaknesses as a strength and use more absurdity when coming up with my new crazy ideas.

For my first idea, I would like to use my Alchemist idea for getting a foundation where people donate any resources they don’t need anymore, and give them to the homeless. Money would also be donated and with that money we would work with other foundations to get the people of our world to start to look for different resources that we could use for fuel, power, and construction, so our society can keep on working. This shows the Alchemist face, because I am mixing different, ideas together that aren’t similar.

For my second idea, I would like to use my Fool idea for actually coming up with a cartoon that will appear in the daily paper and this will make jokes about our world problems. What this would do is actually spread the word of what we need to start doing to fix our world and make it a better way, by using humor to do so, and also being very absurd with big matters that people aren’t very aware of today.


References:

“Seth Macfarlane Biography” n.p. Bio. n.d.
“Sam Walton Biography” n.p. Bio. n.d.

Welcome to The Nic's Critiquing Show!

For our second unit in my class Ollywood, we learned mainly about different ways a film will use cinematography and all the different ways they use a camera. We also learned about how effective lighting can be, and all the different light they will use in certain scenes and how they will be set up. For the action project we had a partner that we both would pick a movie to watch and then make a film critique video about that movie. The movie I chose to do with my partner was Fruitvale Station , which was a wonderful movie. The purpose of this action project was to see what Siskel and Ebert, had to do when ever they created a film critique. I hope you enjoy!


NC & NVA Movie Critique from GCE Lab School on Vimeo.

References: 
Fruitvale Station. Perf. Michael B. Jordan. The Weinstein Company, 2013. Film.

Back To The Classics

For my new class Ollywood, we have so far learned about movies and why they are so special in a lot of different ways. The main topics we hit on were production design and costume design and how people really don’t think about how hard it can be to have the costumes made and to produce the movie. For our action project, I critiqued Back to the Future because I heard it was super good and I have never seen it before. Because I have not seen the movie before, I was able to watch and critique it with an open mind. The purpose of this was to see if a movie has a deeper meaning and what is the definition of one.

"Back to the Future" Graffiti Life. 2013. Wiki Commons

Back to the Future is a science-fiction, fantasy movie about a teenage boy who accidentally goes back in time and may have messed up his present. This film’s screenplay was written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, who also directed the film. It was produced by Bob Gale and Neil Canton. Bob Gale was inspired to write this movie when he found his dad’s old yearbook from when he was in high school, and wondered if he would have been friends with his dad if they grew up in the same time period. I believe that this movie also shows how technology has developed so much over the years which makes the future better, allowing us to use decayed food to power cars. Also the 1980s was a time where technology was growing and slowly getting better and more advanced.

Back to the Future takes place in 1985 and 1955 in Hill Valley, California, a fictional town that is very happy where bad things rarely happen. Hill Valley features a small park in the center surrounded by little shops and a nice diner where everyone goes to eat.This set was actual created in the parking lot of Universal Studios. They couldn't find anywhere that would be perfect for featuring a realistic a 1980s and a 1950s town, so the set-designers created their own.

This famous movie follows our protagonist, Marty McFly played by Michael J. Fox a teenager with a wild spark. His clothing are very modern for the time. He is seen mostly in a jean jacket and pants with his iconic orange vest over it and a white T-shirt under his jacket. The quote that best describes Marty is, “Wait Doc are you telling me it is 8:25?! Damn I’m late for school!” This quote shows that Marty is a slacker that is motivated by how own wild spark. He works with Dr. Brown aka Doc played by (Christopher Lloyd.) He is the one loony of the town whose work as an inventor and scientist is not really respected. He looks like a stereotypical crazy, mad scientist, with his hair up like he just got shocked and wears a lab coat.

The movie starts with Marty planning to go on a camping trip with his girlfriend and when he goes home to get his car, he sees that his father George played by Crispin Glover being yelled at by Biff played by Thomas F. Wilson. George is a science-fiction fan who can’t stand up for himself who is bullied by his longtime nemesis, Biff who is always trying to prove himself. As a highschool kid in 1950, Biff is dressed in casual clothing and as an adult in 1980, he is dressed  in a blazer and suit pants. But he looks really goofy in both time periods. The costume designer effectively showed Biff’s insecurities and his reasons to bully George through his costume. The quote that best describes Biff is, “Do realize what would happen if I hand in my reports in your handwriting, I would get fired. You wouldn’t want that to happen would you? Would You?!” This shows that Biff is a huge bully and will take advantage of people and try to always get his way.

Marty leaves the house to meet Doc at the mall where he sees that the Doc has turned a Delorean into a time machine. After a tragic incident in the Delorean, Marty gets himself stuck in 1955, where he meets his young mother Lorraine played by Lea Thompson and his young father. In 1985, Marty’s mom Lorraine is an alcoholic who does not approve of Marty’s wild spark or girls who chase boys. But, the young Lorraine we meet in 1955, has a wild spark of her own and spends her time chasing boys.  

After the time travel, Marty is afraid that his presence in the past will ruin his future; he does everything he can get his parents together in 1955 to ensure his own existence in 1985. Marty tries to get George to man-up and ask Lorraine to the dance where he knew his parents fell in love.The biggest problem now is that Lorraine has the hots for Marty! Marty and George devise a plan to get Lorraine to fall in love with George, all the while trying to keep Biff away from Lorraine.

My favorite scene involves one of Marty’s scheme to keep Biff away from Lorraine. Marty dresses up in a Hazmat suit and tells George that he is Darth Vader and that he comes from the planet, Vulcan. Next, we see George rush to Marty and tell him he needs to ask out Lorraine so his brain does not melt. Then, Marty starts to tell George how can get a girl to fall in love him, and we see George taking notes. They walk into a diner where Lorraine is talking to her friends and George tries to talk to her, but fails by stuttering and stammering. Then, Biff walks in and starts walking towards George, but Marty trips Biff to get him to stay away. Marty punches Biff and Marty escapes. This scene really shows how in 1950 it was a lot harder to ask a girl out and you had more obstacles created from other men.  It also shows how a bully will almost do anything to get his way.

After Marty is successful in getting his parents to the dance, he meets Doc so that he can return to 1985. The crisis occurs when Doc and Marty seem unable to get the Delorean to 88 mph which is the speed that is needed to time-travel.

Fortunately, Marty and Doc get back to 1985 and as the resolution, Marty awakes in his house in 1985 and everything is better than when he left. His parents are happy and back together, his brother is successful, his sister is dating, his mother skinny and rid of her drinking problem, and his father is a strong, independent man. Marty saw that he had his dream car and he was still going camping with the girl he was in love with. When they are about to kiss, we see the Doc in Delorean pop out and start talking about how they need to go to the future and fix the kids that his girlfriend and him are going to have; leading them on to their new adventure.

Overall, this movie was a great, the production design was impressive considering that it was made in a parking lot! The costumes and the acting really created realistic stories that would took place in the 1950s and 1980s. This is a must-see movie that will change how you view time travel. It makes you think about how what you do in the past it can really change the present. Michael J. Fox made Marty McFly a real character that we all know and love that made our childhoods.

References:

“Back to the Future” Futureperdia. n.d.

MOVIECLIPS Extras. “Back to the Future - Behind The Scenes - Set Design” 2012

The Creative Genius

For unit 1 of my new class called Five Faces of Genius, we learned about creativity and genius, as well as how similar/different they are. We also made a wall of pictures of people and things we find creative and or a genius; throughout the class we added to it after doing different assignments. For the action project we had to take people from the wall we made and find 3 patterns that connect them and with each pattern we had to identify 3 people that fit  those patterns. Next we had to pick a genius from that wall and explain why they might be considered  a genius or why they are creative. Last we had to talk about our creative side and what we find challenging in the world. The challenging part of this action project was finding the connections between different geniuses. The purpose of this project was to explore various creative people and what they do that makes them a creative person or a genius. Hope you enjoy reading about creativity!

Now creativity can’t be truly defined, but it will always be with us no matter what you do; anything can make you a creative person . Now I see three patterns that show up in diverse creative people or geniuses. First, they will make Childhood Influence (Seth MacFarlane, Eminem, Michael Jackson). I think that everything that someone becomes is because of what happened in their childhood; it affects all of our lives. With Seth, it is that he uses places that he has grown up around in his shows (Seth MacFarlane Bio) . With Eminem, he will always make music about his life from the past and how it affected him. With Michael, his dad always pushed him to be the best and he pushed himself to do better and he never forgot that and made everything he has made because of his childhood. Second, many geniuses have an English background (J.K. Rowling, E.L. James, Naomi Campbell). I think that is important, because the UK is very rich in art and they can affect people around them in various ways. This goes back to what I was saying earlier that where we grow up affects us and the UK can add a lot of influence, with all of its rich culture and I think that it’s strong foundation in the arts can lead to more geniuses (E.L. James Bio). Third, several geniuses grew up in a big city (Chance the Rapper, Kanye West, Flying Lotus). I think that a big city can make anyone into a creative person, because of what it has to offer to people, like all the different art works and styles that can inspire people.

“JKRowling Tales of Beedle the Bard” 2008. Internet: Flickr.

J.K. Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter series, and she is a very smart and creative person. She is a very talented writer that can make so many creative ideas, with her work she is very influential, and she is a hard worker that never gives up when there is an obstacle. She did have some obstacles before she was writer but if they had never happened she might have never written the books that so many people love. First of all she got divorced which put her in a dark place and then she had to take care of her daughter Jessica. Doing this alone she struggled with welfare and being able to provide for her daughter. The Harry Potter books are the only thing that kept her motivated and then the first three books, Sorcerers Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and Prisoner of Azkaban, all made her rich in three years. (1)

When it comes to my creative side, there are three things that could make a creative genius: I am a fast thinker, I can pick up lessons really quick, and I am very good with math. Now some things that can be problematic for me are that I have a tendency to think past my limit of resources, so I am often faced with having to change my idea. Now, because I can pick up on things easily and am a fast thinker, I usually think of another good idea that is sometimes better than what I originally had because the lack of resources make it more fun and creative. In an interview I was doing Maria Beniaris said, “Always look at something with a deeper meaning and not for what it is.” I use this quote to help me think of better ways to do something and be more creative with an artistic point of view. Something that our world is faced with today is focusing on matters that don’t need tending to. For example, we are not taking care of our Earth at all, by dumping so much garbage, polluting the air affecting the ozone layer and so on. I think because I can pick up on things fast I would be able to learn a few things that have to do with the environment and then use what I have learned to think of a way to get children aware of what is happening so that in the future we could use our technology to fix everything. From this idea, we would have a cleaner Earth and a good way to get rid of things without ruining our planet.  

References:

“J.K. Rowling Biography”, n.p. Bio. n.d. (1)

“E.L. James Biography” n.p. Bio. n.d. (2)

“Seth Macfarlane Biography” n.p. Bio n.d. (3)

Beniaris, Maria. 2014. Personal Interview

Overpopulation and Crime

For my last unit of my STEAM class Population, we learned about our population and how in 2050 it is estimated for there to be 10 billion people on earth. We also went over arithmetic and geometric sequences. Arithmetic is a sequence that uses addition and subtraction and geometric is when they use multiplication and division. Then, we went over different problems overpopulation might bring up like lack of food and water resources. Bringing me to the action project; we had to pick a topic that might become an issue with overpopulation. The issue I have chosen was crime and with this, I had to come up with a script to a comic strip on the issue. We also did the math together to see for ourselves on how many there would be exactly and we came up with 10,715,465,520. We used a geometric sequence because the number wasn't constant. This is a very good estimate, and something that could make the population higher is if we find more cures for diseases. What could lower it is if more diseases reach all around the world.

NVA "2050 population" 2014. Chicago

Mel, George "Crime" 2009. 

[Mark and Mary having dinner talking about different issues in the world, mainly crime at this point]

Mark: Hey, what do you think is the greatest cause of crime. I think it has to do with different things like politics or racism. (1)

Mary: Really? What about the overpopulation?

Mark: Not really because crime has to do with stuff that is happening around a person.

Mary: And you think overpopulation isn’t something that is happening around someone? Think about it, if we have an increase in people, then everyone is going have to fight for resources like food or water and might lead to thefts. Our lives would become a big competition. (2)

Mark: Maybe, but in the last couple of years crime has dropped 5% from 2008 to 2009, and if I’m not mistaken, population is always going up so that just makes that percentage grow. (3)

Mary: Yes, but think about it, the government would not be able to control our living conditions like they do now, meaning more crimes could happen, and the government wouldn't be able to do anything. That percentage just went down. (4)

[Mark looks around in the room]

Mark: I guess, because if the population did grow too much, this restaurant might not be here.

Mary: Don’t you see now... yes, maybe crime is caused by other factors but if so and the population grows, those problems would grow and cause more crime in an area. Crime and population affect each other all the time.

Mark: Hey Mary?

Mary: Yeah?

Mark: Can we move to the country side?

1. “Top 10 Causes of Crime” Inferix. Top Yaps. n.d.
2. “Effects of Human Population” n.p. Everything Connects. 2013
3. “A Crime Puzzle: Violent Crime Declines in America” Claude Fischer. Berkeley Blog. 2010
4. “Negative Effects on Overpopulation” n.p. Essay Forum. 2013