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Panned by critics and didn’t even gain much of a profit to be even labelled as a flop. So how did such a horrible film actually gain a cult following?

Basically, The Room centres on Lisa having an affair with her fiancé’s best friend Mark in San Francisco. So why is The Room dubbed as the “worst film ever made?” Okay, to avoid spoilers I’ll just mention what you should expect:
– Plot holes
– Resolved conflicts minus the climax or even just the expansion of that conflict (huh? Exactly)
– Moody characters
– Uncomfortable and unnecessary sex scenes
– Repetition (“Oh hai Mark”)
– Weird idioms (“Keep your comments in your pocket”)

After its release in 2003, its reputation, coincidentally attracted the attention of the thriving GIF and YouTube culture. Instantaneously, a Room fandom was incarnated, as well as Tommy Wiseau’s portrayal, writing and direction being acknowledged. Moreover, with the help of a number of A-List celebrities, the film has birthed a computer game, a stage adaptation, numerous memes, parodies, some satirical scholarship, tell-all memoir, and regular screenings in various theatres across the world.

This cult following can be measured by how the audience can bond over a common interest in finding entertainment in the film (ironic or not). Even though Wiseau’s intention wasn’t to make a mockery out of his film, he was still able to attract / lure audiences from all over the world. Despite the negativity and ridicule, Wiseau embraces it as he would always say that “you can laugh, you can cry, you can express yourself, but please don’t hurt each other.”

So I really find this YouTube channel to be a great mix of being entertaining and informative. Mike Rugnetta’s fast paced delivery and visual wit draws in his audience throughout the entire seven minute video. In particular, he was able to explore the issue of copyright through a universally known song; Happy Birthday.

Who knew that the one song that has been translated in every language (even dialect) and has been performed by everyone at every birthday party is still under copyright law? Now owned by Warner Music Group, Happy Birthday is only in their grasp until 2030. But seriously though, I definitely agree that this as a breach on our universal culture, for the sake of a minuscule amount of revenue. But this one hundred plus year-old song is still being played publicly with barely anyone knowing that it is actually protected from the public profiting from it. So if people are treating such a song as if it’s in the public domain, well then why on Earth isn’t it? Why do corporations still need to gain a profit from it?

“My most violent film” – Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese’s 1993 film The Age of Innocence immerses the audience into the distinctive patterns of technique that exhibits the film’s style. Certain techniques in lighting, sound and camera are particularly salient and consistent throughout the entirety of the film.

Central to the narrative is Newland’s progressive love towards Ellen. Spotlighting coupled with silence occurs between Newland and Ellen’s interactions. Instances such as their conversation in during the Opera and the touching of Ellen’s hand invests the audience onto their developing love for each other in secrecy due to existing in their strictly conservative world. Furthermore, this blossoming romance and an insight of Newland’s psyche is represented through flowers. In particular, Newland would debate whether he were to purchase both Ellen and May yellow roses, thus a typical representation of romance, and in this context Newland’s conflict in deciding on his future.

Variations of narration is presented throughout the film. Along with the use of tracking shots, cranes and pans, the narration of an unknown woman provides the audience with an objective and informative context of the 1870s era. On the contrary, May’s letter to Newland is dictated through a monologue of her repeating the letter to the camera, thus providing a subjective perspective of Newland’s point of view.

Scorsese structures the narrative through Newland’s position in the social hierarchy of the 1870’s. Just like a majority of his films, Scorsese centres on a subject who possesses a middle power or is caught in the centre between rich and poor, or good and evil characters. Through Newland, the audience distinguishes the socially superior characters who determine what is social expected, from the outsiders who do not adhere to the social norms. Newland is caught between these characters and therefore instigates the exploration of these contrasting views.

I’ve been fortunate to be in a group who constantly come across interesting content and are willing to share to each other for inspiration and to make the most out of our essays. Below these audio and video essays provide my group and I have inspired us to consider even the smallest of details in providing the information and producing high quality outcomes.

Bradley came across NPR’s Episode 696 on the subject of class action. I know they say to “not to judge a book by its cover” but at first I was put off by the twenty-minute time frame and the exploration of such legal matters. But, I took a chance it was absolutely worth it! The progression of the narrative enticed me from the beginning with the use vox-pops and then progressing to casual commentary. Weaved in through the commentary is the use of an interview, where the guys would then provide pop-culture evidence in order for the audience to understand what the interviewee is talking about.

Every single Every Frame a Painting video by Tony Zhou is rich with inspiration. Not only does simplicity of voice narration guides the visual component along, but also unpacking and analysing a simple controlling idea within the span of seven to eight minutes. Zhou conversationally and meticulously takes his time to clearly explain and then provide examples (both visually and aurally), which allows the viewers to fully understand and digest what he’s saying. Its casual tone, consistent pace and simple controlling idea are what I hope we could produce for our Project Brief Four.

Courtesy of https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-gb/case-studies/jamie-oliver-youtube-case-study.html

In order to familiarise ourselves with researching on our annotated bibliographies, the topic of Jamie Oliver and celebrity chefs was the main focus in researching relevant sources. So where do we begin? Start off by establishing where you’re going to search:

• A quick Google search?
• His Twitter account?
• Hi website?
• Equella?
• RMIT Library search?

Next, what type of content are you hoping to find?

• Academic sources
• Books
• Journal articles
• Videos

So from that, what were the common topics throughout all these texts?

• The idea of masculinity within a domestic setting
• The culinary culture
• Popularity between other celebrity chefs: Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson etc.
• Class authenticity – the keeping of his cockney accent
• Social issues and debates: child obesity, sugar tax, school dinners
• From the kitchen to the cookbooks, the television show and the YouTube channel

As we can gather, a variety of sources apply to Jamie Oliver that a controlling idea or two can be developed for both an audio and video essay. One of the biggest things to consider is to what extent should the non-academic sources be used compared to the academic ones?

Sleep informs the audience about the various sleeping patterns of various creatures through an audio essay. What’s enjoyable about this audio essay, is its ability to entertain its young target audience through its conversational style of the narrator. The narrator propels the narration along with the use of responses from interviewees that is further enhanced by atmosphere sounds. Through differentiating the volume, the narrator is emphasised to progress the narrative along, however it can become overbearing and seems as though it interrupts the information that the interviewee provides.

Overall, Sleep provided a balance of being informative and entertaining and has definitely inspired our approach to the audio essay for Project Brief Four. Inspired through using a variety of elements that provides texture, such as narration, spot sounds, sound effects and atmosphere sounds that cleverly provide connotations to the context of sleep.

For Project Brief Four, Bradley, Emily and I were assigned with the topic of Texts and Narratives. Below I analyse one of the academic sources I’ve discovered as part of our research and annotated bibliography.

Chapter sixteen of Contemporary American Cinema exhibits the use of technology in providing spectacle to the narrative of contemporary Hollywood films as well as analyse the growth of sequels from its conception throughout Hollywood Blockbusters. Therefore, the writer argues the positive implications of innovative technology to aid in delivering a new dimension to narrative, while analysing how narrative adapts to particular genre conventions. Mainly relying on expert opinion, film theory and successful blockbuster hits, the writer reiterates and defends the superficiality of CGI and its relationship with reality.

Written in the early 2000s and exploring cinema from 1990s onwards, this chapter is outdated by eleven years and the analysis of contemporary American independent films could expand on their argument. However, it highlights how audience expectations have evolved overtime through narrative and criticisms by expert opinions. Furthermore, the topic of Audience could potentially lead to side-tracking of the controlling concept. Overall, this chapter is heavily on the opinion side rather than the factual, but does provide sufficient amount of reason and logic to consistently support the argument and be relevant on the assigned topic of Texts and Narrative.

Reference: Williams, LR, Hammond, M, & Dawson, B (2005), “Spectacle and Narrative in the Contemporary Blockbuster”, Contemporary American Cinema, McGraw-Hill Education, Maidenhead, pp. 334-349, 352

Courtesy of http://www.criticalcommons.org/Members/ccManager/clips/animated-gif-sequence-from-godards-vivre-sa-vie/view

At the beginning of the screening session, Dan encouraged us to perceive Jean-Luc Goddard’s 1962 French New Wave film Vivre Sa Vie from a critical perspective rather than a narrative point of view. So below I analyse particular scenes in the film where Goddard clearly emphasises his experimentation of diegetic sound with camera.

The opening sequence of a close-up of Nana’s head from different perspectives is coupled by the juxtaposing of silence and an almost deafening soundtrack. Although the transition between silence to a sudden increase in volume was quite jarring, Goddard managed to establish that relationship of sound with visual where the deafening soundtrack perceives the distance of the close-ups on the screen. Although it did extend for a lengthy amount of time, it did intrigue me into wanting to know about the silhouette subject on screen.

Goddard’s decision to solely rely on diegetic sound during the café scene involving Nana and her ex-husband, drowned out most of the dialogue amongst the background sounds of the café. If I were to watch the film without the subtitles, then I would’ve struggled to understand the conversation. In this sense, I guess it’s a fidelity of what we expect to hear in a realistic situation at a café.

Silence throughout Nana’s viewing of the Joan of Arc film was an obvious foreshadowing of her death at the conclusion of the film. I developed this personal attachment with Nana through the silence and the mirroring of close-ups and emotion when the camera would cut between Nana and Joan.

Put your passengers first. Drive Phone Free

I stumbled across this ad accidentally while I was scrolling through my news-feed. Unlike any of the other advertisements on T.V, it was the first I’ve ever come across to evoke such a humorous tone for a serious subject matter. Surely, the creativeness does ingrain into people’s minds, even to the extent of overshadowing the message of the ad itself.

Lionel Richie’s well-known Hello combined with slow-motion, close-ups and the concept itself offers a satirical approach to the romantic conventions without trying too hard. Anyway, enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wM75ulDRkhI

The potential for failure.

Okay so according to our workshop on Wednesday, in 1968 Spencer Silver and his collaborator Arty Fry (awesome names) intended to invent a super-strong adhesive for the aerospace industry. The outcome ended up being this weak adhesive agent called Acrylate Copolymer Microspheres but didn’t leave any form of residue when it was removed. After months turned into decades, the Post-It note was invented, but barely found any initial success. Flash-forward to today and the Post-It notes have become the one of the top five office supply products in the world.

So moral of the story and according to Group Flow, is that there is that potential for failure. However, failure shouldn’t be pessimistically tunnel visioned but instead viewed in a serendipity way. If it does potentially get to that stage where our shared intentions or goals weren’t met, then we should learn from that, know that our best was our full potential and may have different effect than what was planned (cliché I know, but it rings true).

Want to see more of the Post-It success story? Check out this rad vid below, and if you can, please try it at home.