Group 1: Poultrygeist 2: Refried
Sequel to last summer's movie about a ghost chicken stalking people at the Tampa Theatre.
Slow mo entrance, low angle shot. Wills line delivery and removing glasses, referencing a movie? Maybe Dirty Harry or Bond? Parallel introductions for humor. Switching between two two-shots instead of one wide shot. Comic tone throughout. Chicken sound effect and shadow used to suggest monster. Tourist character frequently addresses the camera with a running commentary about the film. They are all constantly aware of the audience and their humor is self-referential. Extreme close-up on first victim's face, followed by dropping glasses in slow motion, accompanied by dramatic music. Ends with "Coming Summer 2008 - Poultrygeist 3: Burnt to a Crisp".
Group 2: Axe Effect
Parody of the Axe Effect Commercials in which a boy uses Axe body spray and then is pursued by girls. The manager of the theater hires a girl to go undercover to observe the girls who were supposed to be working. The boy is portayed by a girl. The undercover girl is disguised as a nerd. Star effect and slow tilt up and down of girl's body to show the contrast between nerd and non-nerd. It seems like the story may have shifted during the creation of the film.
Group 3 Harrietta Sculptor
The story of a girl wizard based on Harry Potter. Lightning scar on cheek. Tries to walk through wall. Used theater seats to simulate train. Radial wipe to signify passage of time? Audio problems throughout. Includes Harry Potter elements, like different classes, talking paintings, flying brooms, wands, etc. Chipmunk scene in darkness. Shadow and voice over suggests chipmunk. Outtakes over credits.
Group 4: The Making of 00Q: The Cloning Catastrophe
Behind the scenes documentary for another afternoon group project. Text on screen to show interviewer questions, coupled with music cue. They ask each actor about his or her character. Director considered making a spoof of Ghostbusters (a film from the 1980s), then considered a spoof of Indiana Jones (film series from the 80s and 90s), then thought of "Casino Royale" (a film from this year), which led him to this James Bond spoof. Interesting that most of the movies he considered spoofing were made before he was born. Videotaped play under credits.
Group 5: Monday Morning Coffee
Collection of TV parodies. The skits begin with a commercial for Hatchet Body Spray, parody of Axe. Standup comedian segment. Man-on-the-street interviews begining with two who don't answer. Third person responds "Paris" as a country. M. corrects her in his response.
Group 6: 00Q: The Cloning Catastrophe
Parody of a "James Bond" movie. The title is pronounced "double-oh cue". Slow motion walking. Voice over for cell phone caller. The way 00Q uses his cell phone communicates his character. Remote control miniature car used for 00Q's car, with revving sound effect. Exterior scenes in this movie are shot outside, which is more realistic and not typical. 00Q is wearing a lined leather jacket for the character, but it was very hot outside that day. On screen text to point out joke about 00Q burning his hand on metal from hot laser beam. 00Q is breaking into a theater in the flim reality, while the worker in the box office is clearly visible. A different camera angle would have hidden her.
James
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Since I randomly picked week one I will post comments / questions About the videos and summaries.
The Poultrygeist
1) The glasses seemed to me to be more of an uppity English move. And the "I do not belong here type."
2) Almost a Blair Witch type of commentary. Just with regular film instead of what they used in the Blair Witch
The Axe Effect
1) I liked this one because of its disjointedness. The girls were great.
2) The star effect was done recently in Design Star when Josh walked into view of the camera.
3) The story certainly did shift. It was almost as if the girls decided that the Axe commercial would not be enough and they reverted to a montage of different movie scenes that dealt with teen girl trauma.
Harrieta Sculptor
1) a definite take off on Harry Potter. Not being a Harry Potter fan I could not get into this.
2) Like the axe effect the outtakes (new word for us-- old word for bloopers)-- were present.
Side note--- Desi Arnaz Sr. chose to destroy the outtakes from I Love Lucy. Virtually none exist. he also helped create the three camera design for filming television shows. It was Lucille Ball's pregnancy with their daughter that made Arnaz come up with the idea of filming the show in front of a live audience. The network said no and Desi and Lucy said they would pay for the cost if they could have the rights to the films-- CBS agreed and the rest is syndication history.
Making of 00Q
Interesting that the student filmmaker did choose these films-- my comp II students must view a film made before 1980 and write a review comparing it to current film making techniques. It is awesome that this director did this on his own.
1) How much of the decision making belonged to the students? They seem very into the film and everything that goes on from thought to creation to viewing.
2) How long have we, as the motion picture public audience, been watching the "making of?" films. What a great idea these kids have.
Monday Morning coffee
1) Very David Lettermen / Jay Leno
2) A nice surprise away from the abuse / horror/ victimization, of the films to this point. Making people out be dumb can only be done by the people themselves. Just try watching Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader sometime.
00Q
1) That is hilarious that Kozdras / Welsh pronounced the name of the movie for us. When I first saw the title I was thinking Oh Oh Queue, then after seeing it I realized 007 and 00Q
2) I do not think they wanted to hide her. I think kids today are too smart for that. they were probably, like coffee, forcing a realization that some people are not too with it in this world.
3) Okay, I promise I did not laugh on purpose. But, it says in the summary-- "Exterior scenes in this movie are shot outside." I love it since I know what it means, but my students immediately said "that goes on the board." "On the board" has become a meme at my high school for anything said that is a misspeak or just does not make sense (i.e. do all Popes live until they die?") This memes has many rhizomes in that the Board has stretched from the original teacher's board to mine and other teacher's boards.
Post a Comment