Media: SMART Objective

The topic that I have chosen for my final project is video review of the film Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) by Mike Nichols. This review will break down many of the film techniques that were used to create that picture.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966)

SMART Objective:

One of the main segments that I will include in my review will be camera angles; something that my last video review was lacking of. I will describe many types of shots used throughout the film (Eye Level Shot, Dutch Angle Shot, Bird's Eye Shot etc). Camera Angles play enormous role in the process of creating a film. Without even acknowledging it; they are of the main reasons why the viewer enjoys the film so much.

Creating an Action Plan.

In today's post I'm going to display the final result of the work that I have put with the help of Visme to create my Project Development Ideas.

The software turned to be very easy to use; I didn't have any troubles with creating my plan. The background pictures were downloaded from Unsplash, which is a great source for using the pictures in our work without worrying about copyrighting.

The final results that I have achieved with Visme were very satisfying. The plan is clear and includes the key points of what I will be working on in a near future while creating my review.

20 ideas in 20 minutes

 

1. The Golden Age of Hollywood - describing films from 20s do 60s

2. Katharine Hepburn - the influence on cinema, roles that have changed perspective on women shown in films, feminism, fight with racism (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner 1967)

3. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962) - review of the film, psychological aspects, tension caused by the music, sounds of the film, 90% of the plot recorded in the house; how to keep the viewer interested.

4. Films that were focused on psychological portrait of the character

5. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966) - review of the film, dialogs, work of the camera, plot twist, game theme, symbols

6. Films that are using ghosts/supernatural theme: Gaslight (1944), Hereditary (2018) etc

7. Books turned to films

8. Remakes for example: 4 versions of A Star is Born

9. Films war related

Welcome to Spring Term 2021!

 Welcome,

2021... somehow we made it. What I can only wish for is for a world to complete it's healing process. 2020 was exhausting to most of us. We had to struggle with a virus that was spreading across the globe. We have been through some lockdowns, ups and downs with this bloody disease. Things are looking better now. There are vaccines that are' being constantly injected to other people with the aim of defeating the virus. 

While being lockdowned I had the opportunity to re-watch some of my favourite film directors' works. In today's post I am going to describe the legacy of Darren Aronofsky.

Darren Aronofsky Photoshoot

The first time that I have been introduced to Darren Aronofsky work was in 2018. The first film that I have seen of him was Black Swan (2020). The movie came out in 2010 turning out to be massive box-office success earning 330 million dollars across the world with the budget of 13 million. It's the biggest box-office film from Darren Aronofsky till this day. Natalie Portman won an Oscar for Best Actress for her role of Nina Sayers.

Black Swan (2010) poster

The film tells the story of the ballet dancer who is struggling to get the part in the ''Swan Story'' play as a White Swan. In the play there are two swans, Black and White, the part that Nina (Natalie Portman) gets is a Black Swan. Throughout the film we witness how this character of Black Swan is taking over the main character. She looses herself and she goes crazy. She has many hallucinations that she is trying to fight with, but it seems that it is too late for her, she eventually becomes the Black Swan.

The film is very symbolic, it's not specifically about ballet, but about someone who is trying to achieve something in their life no matter the cost; they are willing to do anything just to get their way. The film shows the progression of obsession; unhealthy ambition.

The second film that I have watched of Darren's was Mother (2017). The film starts Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. Due to it's controversy and explicit content the film was banned in many theaters. It is one of these film that you either love or hate. 

Mother (2017) poster

The film is basically an interpretation of the Bible in the mind of Darren Aronofsky. The woman that has no name (Jennifer Lawrence) is portrayed as Mother Earth and The Man (Javier Bardem) turns out to be a God. In the film He is a writer and the crystal in his office is said to be a Forbidden Fruit. The house itself is a symbol of the Paradise. One time to the house comes a man (Ed Harris) that is believed to be the Adam, after couple of days there comes a woman (Michelle Pfeiffer); Eve. Later on comes their sons which are the allegory of Cain (Domnhall Gleeson) and Abel (Brian Gleeson). The older brother kills the younger one. The film ends with a massive explosion of the house (the earth). It is a symbol of people destroying the earth with pollution etc.

The last film of Darren Aronofsky that I have watched is Requiem For a Dream (2000). I have watched that production during the lockdown. The film established Darren as a major director. After that film his career blew up. He became recognizable internationally. 

Requiem For a Dream (2000) poster

The film tells the story of the people addicted to drugs from very different perspectives. There are 4 story lines, which are connected with each other. We have a main character; Harry Goldfarb (Jared Letto) who has a girlfriend called Marion (Jennifer Connelly) and a friend named Tyrone (Marlon Wayans). They are all addicted to drugs; weed, cocaine and heroin. One of the main characters is also

Harry's mother; Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) unlike them Sara becomes drug addict without even knowing that she is taking pills based on amphetamine. The reason Sara started to take these pills was to become slim and loose lots of weight. Her dream was to be on a television program and she believed she will be in one after being a victim to the scammers who told her that she will be a TV star after sending them her credit card.

The story ends tragically. Sara loses her mind, she is being sent to a mental hospital. Her son, Harry, looses his arm after the infection caused by the needle that he was using to inject himself a heroin shots. His girlfriend Marion looses her dignity after going to an orgy just to get some of the drugs. His friend Tyrone looses his freedom; he is being sent to jail because of the drug dealing. 

The film wrecked me mentally so much that I couldn't sleep for three hours straight after going to bed, I couldn't stop thinking about that film and how sad it was. The faith that Sara has faced seemed to be the most tragic storyline for me. She was a slave of the drugs without even knowing it. Her son was a drug addict so she would never take drugs intentionally; she was afraid of them so seeing her faith was truly heartbreaking. 

Requiem For a Dream Gif

References:

Black Swan (2010):

https://www.filmweb.pl/film/Czarny+%C5%82ab%C4%99d%C5%BA-2010-526137

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0947798/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Swan_(film)

Mother! (2017):

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5109784/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_4

https://www.filmweb.pl/film/mother-2017-760272

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother!

Requiem For a Dream (2000):

https://www.filmweb.pl/film/Requiem+dla+snu-2000-9136

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Requiem_for_a_Dream

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/

   

Digital Arts - Reflection

                                      In today's post I am going to describe my first experience at                                         Digital Arts Module

I was very happy when I saw that along EAP classes I will also have Digital Arts and Media classes, because art in general is something that I am interested in and I thought that I was going to learn a lot from this module and I did. I have learnt lots of helpful things.

What I really liked about this module were the tasks that we were asked to do. They were different from the tasks from other modules; for example at the first week we had to capture the sequence using our phone cameras. It definitely broke the standard type of school tasks, which usually are focusing on writing, while tasks from Digital Arts were more focused on the individuality and creativity. Other than capturing a sequence we were also asked to take a picture of ourselves for our WIX sites, which again was a pleasant difference from the standard homework.

One of the two main things that we had to do was to create a blog and a website. Through the 1st term of Digital Art we were shown many great ways to make sure that the blog and website will be created properly. So many useful tips were displayed to us and I have definitely made use out of them. I am really proud of the work that I have put into my blog and the website.

Thanks to this module I have discovered many helpful softwares like Windows Movie Maker, which helped me with creating my final project, but also WIX, which allowed me to create my own website, where I posted the final result of my project. Unsplash was another useful page that was shown to me during my Digital Arts classes, it allows you to use the pictures on your website or a page without worrying about copyrights.

Overall Digital Arts Module turned out to be a great life experience that I had a pleasure to be joining in. I learnt a lot and I will definitely make use out of the knowledge that I have been given during this module in the next term of my studies.

Feedback & Changes on my website

 In today's post I am going to show the result of the poll that I have posted on my website. The aim of the poll was to show me what should I change in my website.

When it came to my HOME page people in general agreed that this page does not need any changes. I was really happy with it. 

On the other hand my CONTACT page received mixed reviews, that made me think about applying some changes to it. I have decided to add mailbox that will directly email my mailbox without the need of displaying my persona email. 

I have chosen one of the contact forms and then customize it. I was very pleased when I saw the final results of my editing. I looks tidy and clear.

The final results:

Reflection on my Final Project.

 BLUE JASMINE VIDEO REVIEW - REFLECTION

(blue jasmine cast picture)

In today's post I am going to write about my opinion on the work that I have put to create video review of the film Blue Jasmine.

The video review is available to watch on my page:

Kajetan Pewniak Wix Website

The video review can be watched here:

Blue Jasmine - Video Review

After watching my video review I came to the conclusion that I have done a good job. I think that the review itself has everything that proper review should have. I wrote a script for 1000 words.

I have included multimedias, which I think that play enormous role in the video reviews. Those are the things that keep the viewer interested. I added couple of fragments from the movie, so that the viewer could see what I am talking about; for example when it came describing how great acting from Cate Blnachett was I included some fragments to show the viewer a piece of her acting performance from the movie. Other than that I included a photo of Cate Blanchett with her Oscar Award while I was speaking of that event and the achievements of that film. While talking about the soundtrack in the movie I have added the picture of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong as well.

I was happy with the editing too. I spent many hours cropping my clips to make them look good and the final product was pretty satisfying.

Though I think the video review is not that bad I was not pleased with the way that I was speaking. I was very stressed when I started recording myself I did not feel confident with doing so; I started to forget lines from the script so I had to re-do some of the shots. Also due to the stress I mispronounced some of the words and watching the review after posting it on the page I realize that and I was kind of embarrassed about that

But overall it was a great experience; it was my first video review that I have ever done and I think that I have succeeded in it.