28 October 2009

Here is a list of what we were actually able to view over the past two classes:

Muybridge Sequential Photography

Glenroy

The Gardiner

The Kiss

Seminary Girls

The Whole Dam Family

Ben Hur, Book to Play to Film, Film, Epic

Voyage to the Moon

Great Train Robbery

San Fran earthquake

Little Nemo

Birth of a Nation

GWTW

Chaplin

Odessa Steps:

Eisenstein,

DePalma,

Woody Allen

Laurel and Hardy

Duck Soup

Bananas

Blazing Saddles

Ace Ventura

My Cousin Vinny

Metropolis – Young Frankenstein

Metropolis – Blade Runner

Snow White to Enchanted

Oz

Singin in the Rain

Life of Brian

Moulin Rouge

Hairspray

GWTW

Dirty Harry

Jaws

The Shining Johnny

The Shining Twins

Shawshank

Das Boot

Apocalypse

La Dolce Vita

Notting Hill

Deeds

Psycho

Bonds

Once Upon a Time in China

Fist of Fury sign break

Game of Death

Kill Bill

Shaolin soccer

Beauty and the Beast

Run Lola Run

Here is what is important about that viewing:

Muybridge set the precedent for creating motion pictures through his photographic sequences of animals and people in motion.  Yes, he did answer the question of whether a horse completely leaves the ground when it runs, it does.

Themes that exist in motion pictures have existed since its earliest days.  Plays, short comedy sketches and story telling existed long before the ability to record them and these are the traditions that underpin the content of motion pictures, in the early days and in the present.

The first motion picture story was a guy getting tricked by someone he knew and then delivering revenge to his tormentor.  The Lumiere Brothers created this story about the Gardener and it looks a lot like something we might see on a  Funny Video show or on YouTube today.

Sergei Eisentein created a distinctive grammar for storytelling with motion pictures.  His classic scene the Odessa steps has been homaged in many other movies, seriously and humorously.

Much of the comedy we enjoy today has not changed a great deal from the earliest days.

Fritz Lang  in Metropolis created a visual treat.  The shots are beautifully composed and interconnected.  Much of the acting is overdone and the story is very simplistic but the film is beautiful and has inspired many films after it.

Ultimately there are many ways to shoot many kinds of stories and all of them have not yet been tried.  One of the most interesting trends in the past twenty years has been film-makers manipulating the timeline in films.  The one piece I was able to show you, Run Lola Run or Lola Rennt, is a truly original film for its depiction of time and its mix of media that even includes sequential still photography.

Until the next time....

21 October 2009 - X Minutes of Film History

Here is the list of clips we have seen and we are going to be seeing.  As you can see we didn't get very far today so next week will be lots of great bits and pieces from film history...  The gray bits are clips I don't have yet.  I will have some by next week but our plate is full regardless.

X minutes of Film History

The Open – The Meaning of Life – Monty Python

Sequenced Still Images

1887 - Eadweard Muybeard-Sequential Still Images-“Animal Locomotion”

            Horse

            Cat

            Women Meeting

            Man

            Woman

Early Short Films

1894 – Glenroy Brothers Comic Boxing – Thomas Edison

1895 – The Gardener – Lumiere Brothers

1896 – The Kiss – Thomas Edison

1897 – Seminary Girls – Thomas Edison

The Evolution of Ben Hur

1899 – Ben Hur – The Play

1907 – Ben Hur – The First Movie

1925 – Ben Hur – The Silent Movie – Fred Niblo

1959 – Ben Hur – The Epic Movie – William Wyler

1902 – The Voyage to the Moon – George Melies

1903 – The Great Train Robbery – Edwin Porter

1905 – The Whole Dam Family – Thomas Edison

1906 – Aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake – American Biograph

1911 – Little Nemo – Winsor McCay

Reliving the Civil War

1915 – Birth of a Nation – DW Griffith

1939 – Gone with the Wind – George Cukor & Victor Fleming

1915 – Charlie Chaplin

1925 – Stachka (Strike) - Sergei Eisenstein

The Odessa Steps

1925 – Battleship Potemkin - Sergei Eisenstein

1987 – Untouchables – Brian DePalma

1971 – Bananas – Woody Allen

Physical Comedy

1927 – Laurel and Hardy – Hal Roach producer, Leo McCarey supervising director

1933 – Duck Soup – Leo MaCarey with Marx Brothers

1971 – Bananas – Woody Allen

1994 – Ace Ventura – Tom Shadyac with Jim Carrey

Verbal Comedy

1933 – Duck Soup – Marx Brothers

1971 – Bananas – Woody Allen

1992 – My Cousin Vinny – Jonathan Lynn with Joe Pesci & Marisa Tomei

The Mad Scientist and Visions of the Future

1927 – Metropolis – Fritz Lang

1931 – Frankenstein – James Whale

1974 – Young Frankenstein – Mel Brooks

1982 – Blade Runner – Ridley Scott (produced with Run Run Shaw)

1977 – Star Wars: Episode IV

Romantic Comedy

1934 – It Happened One Night – Frank Capra with Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert

1995 – French Kiss – Lawrence Kasdan

1999 – Notting Hill - Roger Michelle with Julie Roberts & Hugh Grant

Princess Power

1937 – Snow White –David Hand Supervising Director

2007 – Enchanted – Kevin Lima

Movie Musicals

1939 – The Wizard of Oz – Victor Fleming & King Vidor(Kansas)

1952 – Singing in the Rain – Stanley Donen with Gene Kelly & Donald O’Connor

1979 – The Life of Brian – Monty Python’s Flying Circus

2001 – Moulin Rouge – Baz Luhrmann

2007 – Hairspray – Adam Shankman

Great Lines

1939 – Gone with the Wind – George Cukor & Victor Fleming

1971 – Dirty Harry – Don Siegel with Clint Eastwood

1975 – Jaws – Steven Spielberg with Roy Scheider

1976 – Outlaw Josey Wales – Clint Eastwood

1980 – The Shining – Stanley Kubrick with Jack Nicholson

1987 – Predator – John McTiernan with Arnold Schwarzenegger

True Classics

1941 – Citizen Kane – Orson Welles

1946 – It’s a Wonderful Life – Frank Capra with Jimmy Stewart & Donna Reed

2003 – Bruce Almighty – Tom Shadyac with Jim Carrey

            Bert & Ernie

1979 – Apocalypse Now – Francis Ford Coppola with Robert Duvall

1981 – Das Boot – Wolfgang Petersen

The Master

1954 – Seven Samurai – Akira Kurosawa

1960 – The Magnificent Seven – John Sturges

1966 – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – Sergio Leone

1957 – Throne of Blood – Akira Kurosawa

1989 – Henry V – Kenneth Brannagh

1999 – Titus – Julie Taymor

Paprazzi

1960 – La Dolce Vita – Federico Fellini

1999 – Notting Hill – Roger Michelle with Julie Roberts & Hugh Grant

2002 – Deeds – Steven Brill with Adam Sandler and John McEnroe

1960 – Psycho – Alfred Hitchcock

The Bonds

1962 – Bond: Sean Connery

1967 – Bond: David Niven

1969 – Bond: George Lazenby

1979 – Bond: Roger Moore

1987 – Bond: Timothy Dalton

2002 – Bond: Pierce Brosnan

2006 – Bond: Daniel Craig

Venus emerging from the sea

1962 – Bond: Ursula Andress

2002 – Bond: Hallie Berrie

2006 – Bond: Daniel Craig

Wong Fei Hung

1991 – Once Upon A Time in China – Tsui Hark with Jet Li

1992 – Once Upon A Time in China – Tsui Hark with Jet Li

Bruce Lee

1971 – Fist of Fury – Lo Wei with Bruce Lee

1994 – Fist of Legend – Gordon Chan with Jet Li

1999 – The Matrix – Andy & Larry Wachowski

1973 - Enter the Dragon – Robert Clouse with Bruce Lee

1978 – Game of Death – Bruce Lee

2001 – Shaolin Soccer - Stephen Chow

1962 – To Kill A Mockingbird – Robert Mulligan with Gregory Peck

The Evil Computer

1968 – 2001: A space odyssey - Stanley Kubrick

2008 – Wall-e – Andrew Stanton

The Godfather

1972 – The Godfather - Francis Ford Coppola

1974 – The Godfather, Part 2 – - Francis Ford Coppola

Steven Spielberg

1975 – Jaws – Steven Spielberg

1993 – Jurassic Park – Steven Spielberg

2007 – Transformers – Michael Bay – Steven Spielberg, executive producer

Sinking Ships

1997 – Titanic – James Cameron

1979 – The Black Stallion - Francis Ford Coppola

Riding in Circles

1979 – The Black Stallion - Francis Ford Coppola

2005 – Dreamer – John Gatins

2003 – Seabiscuit – Gary Ross

1979 – Breaking Away – Peter Yates

Stephen King

1980 – The Shining - Stanley Kubrick

1994 – Shawshank Redemption – Frank Darabont

The Opening Scene

1981 – Road Warrior – George Miller

1960 – La Dolce Vita – Federico Fellini

1981 – Raiders of the Lost Ark – Steven Spielberg & George Lucas

Australian Action

1981 – Road Warrior – George Miller

1982 – The Man from Snowy River – George Miller

Budget Matters

1984 – Terminator 1 – James Cameron

1991 – Terminator 2 – James Cameron

And Now for Something Completely Different…

1983 – Meaning of Life – Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Locked in the 80s

1986 – Ferris Bueller – John Hughes with Matthew Broderick

Royalty: Real & Imagined

1987 – The Last Emperor – Bernardo Bertolucci

1987 – The Princess Bride – Rob Reiner

1988 – Die Hard –John McTiernan with Bruce Willis

Choices

1989 – Do The Right Thing – Spike Lee

1989 – The Last Crusade – Steven Spielberg

Digital Animation

1991 – Beauty and the Beast – Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise

1995 – Toy Story 1 – John Lasseter

1999 – Toy Story 2 – Lee Unkrich

1992 – Waynes World – Penelope Spheeris

1991 – Chung King Express – Wong Kar Wai

Time Matters

1994 – Pulp Fiction – Quentin Tarantino

1991 – Run Lola Run – Tom Tykwer

1993 – Groundhog Day – Harold Ramis

2000 – Memento – Christopher Nolan

Hong Kong moves West

1997 – Face/Off – John Woo

2002 – Infernal Affairs – Lau Wai Keung & Alan Mak

2006 – The Departed – Martin Scorsese

2003 – Pirates of the Caribbean – Gore Verbinski

2005 – Sin City – Robert Rodriguez & Frank Miller

2008 – Cloverfield – Matt Reeves

2008 – Slumdog Millionaire – Danny Boyle

The END

1983 – The Meaning of Life – Monty Python’s Flying Circus

until then...  be sure to get blogging and stay up with your blogs.

Absences:

Sara Wong

Calvin Ho

More than 15 minutes late:

Kevin Cheung

7 October 2009

Lots of ground covered from the 16th century to the 21st century in typography.

Here's what you need to take away:

The anatomy of type.

The classification of type.

You should never mix different typefaces from the same category of type in a single document.  It will look like a small mistake and that is a big mistake.  You can use multiple fonts within a single design but be sure that they do not come from the same category.

Also at the more practical end of typography be sure to remember that computerized bold, italic and underlining are based on mathematical calculations and not aesthetic needs of the font.  These can be fine for use in a letter or an academic paper but professional design requires professionally designed font families and the variations which are based on the character of the font.

In the history we once again saw the development of typography as a profession, a reversion to what appear to be more traditional renderings of words and letters in the 19th century and then, with Lewis Carroll, the embracing of letterforms as actual visual elements within communication design.  The words themselves became a part of visual design.  Typographers and graphic designers created memorable designs long before the advent of the computer.  With the coming of the computer the opportunity to become a typographer is available to nearly everyone.  What has also come with the advent of the computer is the need to find ways to startle and grab attention as exemplified by Stefan Sagmeister carving the words into his own flesh and then taking a picture of himself in 2000.

Some names to remember are:
     Caxton
     Durer
     Tory
     Caslon
     Bodoni
     Carroll
     El Litsitsky
     Sandberg
     Sagmeister

Some work to remember is:
    The type guides
    The William Blake Poem
    The Lewis Carroll Poem
    The Japanese Forest
    The Go Out Ad

I will be posting the images with names in the next day.  When it is posted I will make the title of this blog a link to the flash movie.

Attendance:
More than 15 minutes late to class:
     Henry
     Bonnie
     ChanFly
     Kevin
     Eddie
     Calvin
     Ester
     ChakChak
Absent:
    Rainbow
    Windy
    Graham
    Christy
    Candy