Daily Archives: April 14, 2016

The Life Aquatic

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This was the first Wes Anderson film I’d seen before but I was familiar with his strikingly distinctive use of colour in Fantastic Mr.Fox. “The Life Aquatic with Zissou (2004)” has been my favourite so far out of all the screenings. The deadpan acting (“you’re supposed to be my son, right?”) and elevator music made me grin. On the topic of music; the use of Seu Jorge’s stripped down performances of David Bowie’s songs were so nostalgic and liberating, an excellent choice for the scenic voyages. I stayed until the end of the credits to hear it.

The colour, particularly its role in costume, really stood out to me. Team Zissou’s ridiculous garb of red beanies and baby blue overalls made them seem so united, like a family, so when Ned adopted the attire it was clear that he had become a member of the crew permanently. Team Zissou’s outrageous uniform contrasted with the more formal crew of Allistair Hennessey who wore plain whites. The staging choice of having them always stand so formally side by side made them seem like the refined nemesis. In the same way I noticed “the interns” were always standing side by side or huddled together so they became like a single character of the fumbling new guy.

The most memorable shot for me was the long tracking through the physical set of the ship. I was gaping through the whole thing because I couldn’t believe that they had built a whole cross section of the struture. I would like some albino dolphins in my basement now.

Usually I’m not a fan of the disunity of hybrid animation/live actions such as the lego movie, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Space Jam because my brain can’t comprehend combining the two worlds. But this film combined the stop motion animation so smoothly and not excessively with the actors. The sea horse in the glass caught me by suprise. I think the pops of colours such as in costume allowed the vibrant sea creatures to settle well in the frame.

Wk 4 reading;

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Roberts-Breslin, Jan. 2003, ‘Sound’ in Making media : foundations of sound and image production, Focal Press, Amsterdam ; London, pp. 115-144.

“Television has been called radio with pictures” 

A lot of the tv shows I watch are quite old, my favourite is Frasier which is a nostalgic slice of life show about a pompous radio psychiatrist and his family. The jokes are very dialogue heavy as the audio is dominant in creating meaning. Ironically I often treat this TV show (about a radio show) as if it REALLY IS a radio show, playing it in the background as I do work. I think that our dependence on soundtrack is a lot more obvious when it is absent. For example the laughing track in a sitcom. When it is missing the audience can become completely lost as to when the punchline has occurred,

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The absence of comedic timing detracts from the viewing experience of the whole show. A classic example of this is The Big Bang Theory. It is only obvious how much the humour depends on audio indicators until they are missing.

 

“sound by itself can encourage us to imagine visuals in our mind” 

I usually think in visuals so when I need to calm down I put on a rain soundtrack, which instantly clears my thoughts fogs my mind with the serene scene of dappling rain on a grey day.

The power of association is particularly potent when it comes to sound. Our memories are most closely linked to the temporal lobe, the cortex responsible for managing sound and its emotional impact. My favourite examples are the sinister motifs of The Dark Knight (2008) and Zodiac (2007). In both films a simple motif plays which the audience learns to associate with the antagonist. In The Dark Knight, a high pitched whining violin is utilised during the Joker’s scenes and when he is about to do something sadistic. The same technique in Zodiac is used differently where the foreboding piano plays during scenes where Zodiac the murderer isn’t present to creating the feeling of dread and anticipation that he may appear.

 

The machines

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On the jam packed peak hour train home, I’ve noticed an interesting trend that we all take part in. Everyone seemed to be in a meditative state, heads bowed and hand

Could help but think of these monks preying.

 

monks_chanting

 

WHAT IS MY POINT: smart phones are great but….. In a way being in constant contact with the media through a device like a smart phone has become religious. A lot of us wake up in the morning and the first thing we do is check our phones. We do it while we eat, get ready to sleep and carry it with us almost everywhere. How else would we stay spiritually- I mean socially connected. I often find myself relentlessly scrolling through some sort of feed, passively taking in all the contact, occasionally snorting a cat gif. This happens so often that I had to place Facebook blocking apps on my computer to direct my attention to actual work. As a media practitioner now though I now consider my constant browsing to be field research.

What worries me is that I often check my phone and slip into a meditative state; I stop critiquing and analysing what I see. After reading 1984, I’m paranoid about becoming brainwashed by What I’ve noticed is that when we spend time with friends in person we think in “likes.” We would rather take a photo of an interesting coffee mug than taste it for ourselves. How many likes is this trip worth? I could get at least 100 if I manage to catch a good sunset. My old friend invited me over, and to our disbelief- but not really- we found her younger sister holding a DP (Display picture) photoshoot. Now there were apparently three parts to this photo shoot; discussion of poses, actual taking of photos, then an intensive group chat board meeting about which would gain the most likes. She is was 16 and already strategically marketing herself. I look at my own dp with my quirky face and lack of “like” hauling aspects and think well damn. Using a smart phone to shoot a film has become real.

In my family my younger sister and I used to have internet curfews, blockers and even got roasted for having our eyes glued to our phones but that won’t stop us.