Reflective essay

Being in a cluster this semester has been such a different but good experience for me. I didn't really know what to expect because i have never been in one, but it turned out to be exactly like high school for me, with the exception of the work load of course. I appreciated how it was easy to get the attention you needed from the professors, and they were almost always available to answer your questions and help you out. Before these classes, i was never the type to really analyze something in trying to find its deeper meaning and i found that it helped me a lot in changing that. I have to say that i enjoyed all my classes very much. With Louie's class on a Monday morning for 3 hours straight i thought i was going to die, but it turned out to be interesting and my incentive to actually wake up and get myself to class. This isn't my first college experience, but i have never met such an outgoing professor like Louie. He talks about anything with us like if we're his peers instead of his students, and is an intelligent man as well, i think people have a lot to learn from him about the media and society. In Dr.Smith's class i was able to let go of the fear of other people reading my work. I wasn't really open to the idea at first but then i just forced myself to get used it, it was my grade on the line after all. The blogs were actually very helpful in being able to share ideas and getting to read other peoples' work & getting feedback on your own. We wrote so much that way that it has also helped me improve my writing a bit, and I've appreciated that because i do actually like to write, so thanks for that. Last but not least, Dr.Rheuban's class. I feel like not that many people liked her class because she was went too deep into movies in trying to get us to point out the cinematic elements and motives behind them, but even though it was a bit overwhelming at times, i still enjoyed her class a lot and probably learned the MOST from that one. I love movies and it was cool to be able to learn their beginning and how it has evolved to modern times.
All in all this cluster has been very helpful to me in many ways. Ive had the opportunity to meet interesting people and professors that are there to help you when you need. Ive been able to stay focused on what I need to do and because of that i am where i want to be right now, with good grades and all :)

Final Blog 24

The movie, the Matrix, combined with the concept of an alternative reality existing, is indisputably challenging, especially when posed with the question of whether or not you'd rather continue living in the matrix or be pulled out. "Danahay and Reider argue that the Matrix is not really about a revolution and that the directors use lots of tricks to actually make us want to be in the Matrix"(Smith). With that being said, i'd have to agree. There are several different elements used in the film to make the matrix look desirable and more appealing to the audience than the actual real world.
For starters, the matrix is exactly like life as we see it now, everyday people going about their business off to work and engaging in normal interaction with others. In contrast to that, the real world is extremely futuristic, taken over by machines, and what appears to be very dull looking, boring, and lonely. With that alone, the audience is fed the illusion that the matrix, despite being real or not, is more enticing simply because it is identical to the world we live in now. Danahay and Reider claim that "if the Matrix had been shot in black and white, and the "real" world in the Nebuchadnezzar had been in color, perhaps then the revolutionary future for which the humans were fighting would have looked as bright and colorful.."(24). They could not be any more accurate with that claim solely because that difference would blatantly change wanting to live in the real world in contrast to living in the matrix. I doubt that anyone would find a black and white world any more appealing than a real and colorful one.
Another trick that the movie uses in order to lead the audience into wanting to be in the Matrix is all the special effects. All of the main characters have been pulled out of the Matrix, but every time they do plug back in, they are bound to no physical limits. They have ridiculous fighting skills which they can simply "upload" and learn, they can run fast, jump from incredible heights, and Neo can even dodge bullets. With those possibilities, who wouldn't want to be in the Matrix and have the opportunity to seriously kick someone's ass and run across walls? Being in the Matrix lends off this feeling of strength and power and leads you to believe that that's what will be handed to you once you're in it. The movie fails to put emphasis on the control the machines have over you and that everything in the Matrix is essentially NOT real. Yea Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus can do all these incredible things and are not "slaves" to the machines, but only because they have been pulled out and have the choice of when to go back in.
The movie "Sleep Dealers" is in many ways very similar to The Matrix. They both encompass the concept of an alternate reality, but Sleep Dealer is more about a working mexican who just wants to be able to provide for his family. The theme of labor is a major one in Sleep Dealer because the dominant factory to enter the virtual world is the only way the Mexicans can look for work. Regardless of the advanced technology available, the people and companies still choose to gather workers to do the work for them. The obvious main difference between The Matrix and Sleep Dealers is that the people living in the matrix are oblivious to that fact, and the workers in Sleep Dealers consciously choose to enter the virtual world. The Mexicans are considered the "working" class, maybe even a lower class, and the movie has emphasized it enough by setting it in a time and place where the Mexicans are not even allowed in this country anymore but are still providing labor.
Technology is a big part of both movies, but in contrast to The Matrix, the characters in Sleep Dealers don't try to fight against it, they work with it instead. In spite of it being placed in the future where machines and technology can basically take care of everything for you, Sleep Dealers points out that people still need to and are required to somehow work.

Blog23

What are Danahay and Reider's main arguments (their claims)? What sort of reasons and evidence do they use for support? Do you agree or disagree?

Dnahay and Reider's main arguments surround the idea of being "coppertops", being slaves to the workforce in relation to capitalism...

blog22

The movies the Matrix and eXistenZ are both controversial films that question the concept of reality in their own ways. There might be several argumentative points to this discussion, but for me, The Matrix takes the cake.
In the essay "Penetrating Keanu", Cynthia Freeland argues that The Matrix is no more than an "infantile" movie that teaches the audience nothing new and that the real message is behind the film eXistenZ. She claims that not only is it a sexist movie, but has no connection with the human body and flesh as it apparently does in eXistenZ. She goes on to say that the meaning of the movie is basically clouded by all the special effects incorporated into the film. On top of that she feels that Trinity's character is insignificant, not having the female role she'd desire, being a feminist and all, so ultimately eXistenZ gets named the better film.
The only thing i can say i agree with her on is that fact that we're given the illusion that Trinity is a strong independent character, when in fact, she just plays sidekick to Neo and his attempt to "save humanity". I'm not a feminist myself, but Freeland does make a point in saying that Trinity is nothing more than a "love interest" and "decorative". She's supposed to be this famous tough hacker, but beside fighting off an agent, we never really see her do much of anything else. Regardless of anything i still like the movie The Matrix and all the characters and their significance despite of anything Freeland says. She's holding eXistenZ at a much higher value simply because she believes it has a closer connection to the human body and our perception of reality, but it's really just her personal opinion which i mostly do not agree with.
I believe The Matrix is more culturally relevant on account of the strong reference it has to the development and use of technology. eXistenZ is based on this silly game that is manipulated through a rather gruesome looking "bioport", which i would never use had i the choice to, and the question of whether or not the events that took place in the movie were in fact reality or not were NEVER answered. With The Matrix, we at least know that it's a computer generated world and that in their real world, everyone is "asleep". Whether or not the characters themselves can tell if what they're experiencing is really real, at least we can, which i appreciate. I didn't like the fact that i wasted an hour and a half of my time watching a movie that i thought was going to be simplified in the end, I wont discredit the director for the effort of a "twist", but either way i still didn't like the movie or it's concept. Maybe it was because i simply didn't understand it, but i still felt it was pointless and would MOST definitely never say it was better than The Matrix.
Truthfully, i was about nine to ten years old when The Matrix came out, so i was mainly focused on all the special effects and the action of the movie, not it's philosophical insinuations. Now that i know and understand it's significance and the correlation it has to this society becoming mind slaves of technology, i can relate to it on a much deeper level. Freeland argues the difference between the films being the importance and distinction between reality and the "illusory reality", when if you ask me, you can't really distinguish that difference with eXistenZ because they don't blatantly declare their actual reality. I think most of Freeland's arguments would be justified had they been practical and had she had unbiased reasons. I don't think she can really make an argument on whether or not one movie valued or depicted reality in a much clearer form, because either way, both films were relating to very similar concepts.
The Matrix isn't the best movie in the world, but in comparison to eXistenZ, it's definitely a better choice for taking a 2hour and 16min vacation from your own reality into a world full of mind boggling questions !

blog 21

Goals for the day: gather some info and organize the website that i'm creating for my project.

Today I actually completed what i said i wanted to. I still need to add just a few more things, but it's mostly done as of now..

"Penetrating Keanu"

In the essay "Penetrating Keanu", Cynthia Freeland argues that The Matrix is no more than an "infantile" movie that teaches the audience nothing new and that the real message is behind the film eXistenZ. She claims that not only is it a sexist movie, but has no connection with the human body and flesh as it apparently does in eXistenZ. She goes on to say that the meaning of the movie is basically clouded by all the special effects incorporated into the film. On top of that she feels that Trinity's character is insignificant, not having the female role she'd desire, being a feminist and all, so ultimately eXistenZ gets named the better film.

The only thing i can say i agree with her on is that fact that we're given the illusion that Trinity is a strong independent character, when in fact, she just plays sidekick to Neo and his attempt to "save humanity". I'm not a feminist myself, but Freeland does make a point in saying that Trinity is nothing more than a "love interest" and "decorative". She's supposed to be this famous tough hacker, but beside fighting off an agent, we never really see her do much of anything else. Regardless of anything i still like the movie The Matrix and all the characters and their significance despite of anything Freeland says. She's holding eXistenZ at a much higher value simply because she believes it has a closer connection to the human body and our perception of reality, but it's really just her personal opinion which i mostly do not agree with.

nypl

For the game assignment that we were asked to do at the library of performing arts, i worked with Jenny Oh.
We decided to replicate the game of cranium..LIBRANIUM ;)
You wouldnt need to know any facts from the library or have visited it because all of the info would be on the cards and in the questions, as it would in cranium. It'll basically be a game based on facts and guessing through multiple choice answers, the educational part of the game is that even if you dont get it right and advance, you still get to learn something new. Since it is also the library of PERFORMING arts, the other categories of the game would involve you having to act, sing, dance or anything along those lines and have your partner and or team guess what or who you are trying to imitate..The game should be played by 2 or more teams(4 or more people), and the team to guess and correctly answer the most questions and advance to the end in the board first, wins!

blog 18

Im just going to get a little background on some reality shows, some steps in trying to create one& a little on the phenomenon/popularity of it. I dont really have to do much here because as of now what i need to be doing is working on gathering footage and stuff like that..

Blog17-Final project plan

So what i plan on doing is kind of scattered because i don't really have all my ideas organized, but it's a start. I'm thinking about doing something on the phenomenon of reality TV, researching what makes reality TV SO popular and what kind of reality shows people like to watch the most. I'm going to work on trying to recreate a short version of my reality show and dramatizing it and in creating characters. then maybe having the participators write out how they felt being recorded and made into what the "producers" want them to be. Its not really clear, like i said I'm just starting on an idea, I'll see if it really works out, but this is what i have planned for now.

The Matrix possibility

From my own personal experiences, it is very hard for me to say “do we or do we not live in the matrix?” I don’t really know, but I also agree with Nixon and the “possibility” of the matrix. From birth we know and have the belief that we are humans and this is the real world and all of our experiences are real, but there are moments sometimes when I stop and think, what really is real? Especially when movies like The Matrix come out and make us question our sense of reality even more. Like Nixon and the movie, it brings up the possibility that all of our beliefs are false because we don’t actually know something until we have experienced it, “If it is possible that a belief you have is false, then that belief is not one that you can say you really know” (29). Just because you think you know something does not make it true, even more when you have a slight doubt about it. There is a possibility that most of the things I personally believe in could in fact be false. Nixon gives the example of goblins being on the moon. Some might believe it, some might not, but we never actually know until we go up there and find out for ourselves. Because of that is why I refuse to ignore the possibility of us living in the matrix. Someone might tell me no you’re crazy, but we have never experienced anything outside of our own lives and perceptions of “reality”, so we don’t really know the chances of something else existing. In the movie, neo never knew he had been living in the matrix his whole life. Not until he was pulled out and experienced it for himself did he realize that a real world other than the one he already knew existed. So how do we know ourselves? I hate to think about it because there is a possibility for anything to happen or exist, especially if we have not seen or experienced it. “Things exist even when you’re not looking at them” (34). So with that said alone, it makes us wonder. Even with the world and life itself, we question God and the way the world came about. It’s a never-ending cycle of questions because none of us were there at the beginning of time, so we go on with what people tell us, but it does not mean it is true. Just now there are different religions, beliefs and some that don’t even believe in a god and so forth. So until there is some kind of evidence proving that the world and our reality is in fact real, I won’t discredit the possibility of it being figments of our imagination or the other way around. I don’t know anything in this world with certainty until I have seen it with my own eyes; therefore, do we live in the matrix? I have no idea.

Midterm paper draft

Im not tooo sure if whether or not i go off topic or if I'm changing my arguments, i thought i had everything laid out, until i started writing. I feel like i kind of don't know where I'm heading...so help?! ....oh and also not sure if I'm citing correctly, i DON'T want to be accused of plagiarism !!

Lizzette Reyes
Dr. Lucca
Media and Society
April 29, 2010
Mid-term Research paper
Realistically speaking, how many people in this day and age do not own a television set in their homes? Except for the extremely minute percentage of the population that do not own a television set, TV has become more than a source of entertainment for a countless number of people in America and around the world. Day by day we sit in front of the screen and allow ourselves to be induced and polluted by the irrelevant absurdity that gets aired. One might think that with all the obvious nonsense being televised, people would not be as susceptible and get pulled into watching it, but that’s not the case. To top it all off, the content being put into the television shows are only worsening and in effect, worsening our societies as well. TV strongly influences child development and eventually follows into their adolescence, affecting their perceptions on what is acceptable and provoking certain behavior. Among the many things watched on TV, the most popular shows tend to be the ones that aren't as necessarily appropriate for a particular age group. Specifically, materials containing comedy for a mature audience and or aggressive or promiscuous behavior. Studies have shown that aggressive and criminal behaviors have some kind of relation to having watched an excessive amount of television, especially from mostly watching violent programs. Despite the fact that there is a strong correlation between violent behaviors and spending too much time in front of the TV, there are several other factors that we cannot ignore that also pertain to a person growing up and becoming violent, like parenting skills.
Television was first widely introduced and distributed in the 1930’s and its creation was a vast success among plenty. Almost half of all households had a TV, and in the 1950’s, when color TVs came out, its popularity rose. The majority of the first television programs were comedy based like “Candid camera” or “I love Lucy” and very few were of any other genre. Eventually shows like “Lone ranger”, “Gunsmoke”, “Bonanza” and “Alfred Hitchcock presents” made its way in and broadened the range of television shows. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) has been around since the beginning, and was first organized to help prevent “indecent” material from being broadcasted to the public. The average hours, in which “appropriate” material was displayed, typically ran from 6am-10pm. There was some kind of censorship that was functional and there barely were any problems of unacceptable programs or material being aired. So where did it all go wrong? Society used to be so worried about sending out the wrong messages that even in shows like “I love Lucy”, the married couples would sleep in separate beds. Today, married couples are typically portrayed as not giving a damn about each other and having affairs with other people. The problem with that is that this is what us viewers find entertaining. No one wants to see anything “pure” anymore, everything has to have some kind of drama or thrill in order to keep us watching. Research shows that 44% of kids tend to watch different shows when parents are not around, and the most popular show amongst 9-12 year olds is “Desperate Housewives”(Facts and TV statistics), which in fact is not a kid’s show at all.
In addition to that, basically almost everything has some connection to sex. Even the advertisements and commercials are sending out messages that would be considered inappropriate for certain age groups to see. Marketing through commercials is the primary way to gain the customers’ attention. Back when there were very few TV shows to occupy time, it was the companies’ time to sell their products. One really popular ad that ran for about 18 years was for Winston cigarettes, “Winston tastes so good, like a cigarette should”(television advertisement). Eventually cigarette ads along with subliminal messages were banned from being aired. Again, what is the reason for allowing even worse material being released to the public today? There really isn’t an explanation as to why the content in TV shows have only worsened, but it is nonetheless affecting its viewers, specifically the younger ones.
The mind of a child is the most delicate thing, making the process of its development a very crucial time. Everything and anything a child interacts with will in due course have some sort of effect on them when they reach their older stages. A child in the toddler stages have not yet formed their sense of personal identities, therefore sitting them in front of a TV will cause them to imitate the behavior they see and lead them to think that that’s how they should be as well. Too much TV, even if educational, has the possibility of affecting the child’s brain development and even cause future problems, like developing ADHD (television and children). In relation to adolescents, TV is also a huge part of their generation and has influential effects on them, even if they are supposed to be more “advanced” than a child. Most teenagers understand that what they are seeing is fictional, but things such as reality shows can blur their own sense of reality even in the slightest way. Television can produce various effects on a group altogether; however, other aspects should be taken into consideration. Parents and society can take the easy route and point their fingers at TV and solely blame their child’s behavior on it, but truthfully TV is not an almighty brainwashing machine. Although an excessive amount of television can actually become a bad influence, other factors including their environment, natural tendencies, and other forms of media other than television may play a role in developing violent behavior.
“Not every child who watches a lot of violence or plays a lot of violent video games will grow up to be violent. Other forces must converge…” (L. Rowell Huesmann). One of the many debated points in psychology is the idea of nature vs. nurture, the idea of someone’s hereditary genes affecting their future personality and behavior, versus the environment they were raised in. This varies widely amongst each and every individual across the globe, therefore, making it almost impossible to merely blame only one facet out of countless possibilities. For example, someone who was abused as a child can possibly grow up to be violent or abusive themselves. The same can also happen to a child that doesn’t have both parents present, or witnessed a crime at a young age, or had been bullied at school. These scenarios can have a similar to an equal effect on kids just like the television is supposed to have. More possibilities could be that the child might even have a sort of mental illness or something like bipolar disorder, which can cause the child to act out without really having another cause or a sense of consequences for their actions. In relation to violence, “the biggest lesson we have learned from brain research is that violence is the result of a developmental process, a lifelong interaction between the brain and the environment” (Ramsland). This further emphasizes the idea that every interaction we have in our lives, not just solely watching TV, can play an important role in our future development.
Ultimately, it also all comes down to parenting; parents are the ones with the most control over their child’s matters until they are of the right age or responsible enough for their own actions.

Blog 14

Lizzette Reyes
Dr. Joyce Rhueban
American film
April 26, 2010

Sunrise Evaluation

The 1927 movie Sunrise was among many others to play a significant role in the development of film and movies. With its special effects and cinematic techniques, Sunrise became a well renowned film directed by F.W Murnau. After watching the film myself, it was not the film’s great use of special effects or camera angles that caught my eye, but the combination of the acting together with the lighting. Given that the movie is a silent film, the feeling of the movie depends highly on the acting style. The dramatized expressions and exaggerated emotions are very much needed to help the audience experience and sympathize with what the characters are feeling. In addition, the lighting also used in the film only further emphasizes their expressions and the mood. Without these two elements to the movie, it would be almost impossible to assume and understand the rollercoaster of emotions the characters experience throughout the film. I will show specific examples of how the actors used their facial expressions and body language to reveal their feelings, and how without that and the lighting used, it would be hard to grasp the emotion and feelings the characters are supposed to convey and interpret the intentions behind it.

Movies along with actors and actresses in the 1920s were rising with popularity. Most actors were former stage performers and their use of body language and melodramatic styles came in handy as they took roles in silent films. Specifically in expressionist films, the actors were required to exaggerate their expressions in order to illustrate the conflicts between the characters. Expressionism was not as popular in the U.S as it was in Europe, but it was a very successful style used in films for a while. Lighting is one of the major techniques used with the expressionist style, and it assists in emphasizing the mystery, importance, or battle between good and evil in any shot. With Sunrise in particular, throughout the movie there are several shots in which the lighting is manipulated in a distinctive manner in order to demonstrate the mood and director’s underlying intentions. From the beginning we are able to clearly see the contrasts between the characters and within them as well.

The first scene in which the acting style and lighting techniques clearly illustrate the emotions and conflicts with the characters is when the city mistress first presents the idea of killing his wife to the husband. The first shot is presented at a medium close up view on the characters, normal angle, and at a medium key lighting with high key highlights on their faces from the moonlight. In this scene the audience can immediately assume the forbidden relationship between the husband and the city woman. It’s a dark setting with subtle lighting from the moon to add mystery and highlight the expressions on their faces. When the mistress suggests to the husband to kill his wife, it immediately goes to a medium close up on his face, at a high angle, with high key lighting from the moon to emphasize the shock that made him draw back. The acting in these shots in particular is very valuable to the understanding of the struggle the husband briefly goes through. As soon as the mistress suggests murder, he immediately draws back with wide opened eyes and his hands pointed to himself as to say, “me?!” Then he pushes the woman off of him and they have a momentary fight as the woman is trying to get him to give in. Without these motions, there would hardly be a way to conclude that the man ever really weighed the consequences of the idea presented. It was dramatized in a sense in which the thoughts and decisions of the characters were clearly introduced.

The next scene that helps in accentuating the conflict of emotions within the characters with the acting style, is when the husband is about to kill his wife and then changes his mind. The first shot is viewed at a high angle, ¾ shot, and high key lighting from the sun. In the next couple of shots, the camera moves in from medium shots to close ups as the wife is becoming suspicious of the husband’s intentions. The husband never once picks up his head, so the wife has a worried look in her face as she tries to peek down and get a good look at her husband’s face. The acting in these shots help to build up the suspense for what’s about to happen, because we know what he’s about to do, but we don’t know how. In the seventh shot of this sequence you see the husband slowly get up and tower over the wife. He doesn’t make any immediate actions, but the wife puts her hands together as she pleads for her life as he gets closer. With no words we know that the wife has figured out her husband’s intentions and is begging for her life. After that it goes to a medium shot to the husband’s face as he thinks for two seconds and covers his face when he instantly regrets what he was about to do. We can physically see their thoughts acted out, therefore making it easier to understand the direction of the silent film.

A shot in which the lighting is clearly valuable, is in the church scene when the husband is begging for forgiveness. We see when he first breaks down and truly regrets his actions while he’s watching a couple getting married. He cries into his wife’s lap and there we can see her feel sorry for him. They move into a different spot where they’re leaning against a wall and the shot changes. It’s in a medium shot, normal angle, and the background is in low key lighting. In this shot in particular, the lighting helps to place some significance in it. They’re in a church, he’s begging for forgiveness, and small rays of the sun are peeking in through the window and highlighting the characters and their faces. Behind them is pretty dark but there’s sun shining on them, as to say they’re in the light, because that’s the moment in which the wife is consoling the husband instead and trying to tell him that everything is ok now. It might also have a tie to the fact that they’re in a church and the sun is a sign of light, purity, and forgiveness, not only from the wife, but maybe from god as well.

The next scene in which the acting adds suspense and allows interpretation for the characters’ thoughts and actions, is when the wife takes the husband to the barbershop. There is where a stranger flirts with the wife and the husband gets extremely upset. The husband could have easily left with his wife or told the man to leave her alone, but that’s not what he did. Instead, he slowly walks up to the man to make the audience wonder for a few seconds, “what is he going to do?” The camera goes into an extreme close up at a normal angle to show the husband slowly pull out a knife form his pocket. In the sixth shot of this sequence, it goes to a ¾ shot at a normal angle and somewhat medium key lighting. He keeps the suspense going as the man is showing a terrified expression and the husband gets closer, only to cut a flower off of him instead of his neck. The husband’s body language in this shot gives off signs of danger and intimidation, especially carrying a knife in his hand. It shows his character in wanting to protect what’s rightfully his, his wife. The lighting in this shot is also useful to it’s interpretation, because the lighting on the husband casts a shadow on the wall over the man sitting down, providing a sense of superiority as well as a dark and mysterious feeling to what he’s about to do.

Another scene where the acting is used to further heighten the comprehension of emotions conveyed in a shot is when the husband is out looking for his missing wife. He’s frantically running all over the place trying to get help from the town and you can clearly see the look of anxiety and fear on his face. The particular shot in which you can unmistakably identify the character’s frustration is filmed at a medium long shot, normal angle and at a low key lighting. It first gives you a view of the setting, the boats on the lake, and as it goes into a close up on the husband’s face, the look of fear intensifies as he’s losing hope of finding her. He specifically holds his hand to his mouth to illustrate him shouting for his wife, and his eyes widen to its fullest when he thinks he sees something. His body language demonstrates his level of desperation as he leans over the boat, almost touching the water, to show how badly he hopes to find his wife. From this we can conclude how much he loves his wife and how he is so determined to recover her.

The last scene that utilizes both acting and lighting to distinctly convey the emotions and conflicts between the characters, is when the husband goes to kill his mistress. At a medium long shot, the mistress goes to the door of the house as the man is about to step out. Here, the light is flushing out of the house, but the husband manages to be dark and difficult to see. He stands there with a murderous look, as his shadow is reflected on the floor and over the mistress that’s slightly below him. It presents him in a dark manner to illustrate his characteristics at the moment, vengeful and dangerous. He runs after her into a dark alley, where the long shot then focuses into a ¾ shot, and he catches up to her to begin choking her. Still at a ¾ shot frame, it moves into a high angle as the husband is over her choking her. The lighting is low key, with faint highlights of the moon on their faces. He’s furiously strangling her and the poor mistress can barely fight for her life. The setting is really dark, but it appears, when the nanny calls from the house, that it seems to brighten as the husband slowly rises and changes his persona. It almost shifts as the character himself all of a sudden has a change of heart.

Ultimately there are more than enough shots in this movie that fully demonstrate the valuable use of lighting and acting style. Taking into consideration that the film is silent, the acting provided combined with the lighting, were effective ways to allow room for interpretation of the characters and the erratic changes of their emotions and actions. Sunrise as a whole was a well structured movie, with various useful techniques, justifying its success and many positive critiques.

Sunrise draft

So far i have completed a full outline for my paper and wrote down all the examples i plan to use to back up my claim.I have already started writing and am into the second paragraph of the paper..."In this paper i will show specific examples of how the actors used facial expressions and body language to reveal their feelings, and explain how without that and the director's expressionist style, the film would lose it's emotional connection to the audience.

Research report

Today i started by researching a bit on the history of television and I was able to find a few sources with some good information. After that i noticed that i didn't really have an outline to guide me in knowing exactly what else i was going to research. In order for me to properly do a paper, especially a long research paper like this one, i have to have a guide or an outline to help me out, so that's what i worked on. I basically finished most of it so now i can move on comfortably in looking for more evidence to support my claim. I don't think i need help with anything, once i have all the information i think i need I'll be able to actually start writing my paper. Maybe when i get to that point, i might need some help, but until then i feel better now that i have an outline to work with.

Blog11

What did you say you were going to do?
I said that I was going to think of some ideas and organize them to help me in knowing the exact information I needed to research. I also said that if I had enough time I would begin my research.
What did you actually do?
I tried to generate a much stronger and clearer claim/thesis to help in giving me an outline more or less of what my paper was going to be arguing. I started organizing the intro and looking up a few sources to get going.
What do you need to do for the next class?
I need to have my ideas completely together and focus on gathering evidence to support my claim. Once I feel satisfied with whatever I collect, I'll be able to start writing my paper.

Why I said what I said to Cynthia's and Barry's posts

When I read both of their posts, at first I had to reread them. I understood more or less the points that they were trying to convey but at times it was very unclear. In Cynthia's post I thought that she focused too much on explaining the ad itself when it was pretty self explanatory. She had a good idea in terms of the message behind the ad, but it got lost a bit as she went on to repeat herself on the actual image. In Barry's post, it seemed as if he went back and forth on the ad and what it meant but it was somewhat unorganized and made it hard to understand. They both had really good ideas but i think they had the same problem in focusing too much on trying to describe the ad instead of its meaning, so their ideas were kind of overshadowed by that. I think being a stranger to the paper's topic did somewhat affect the way i responded simply because i didn't know exactly what they were supposed to do, but it wasn't that big of a deal. After this exercise i basically learned to just focus on what needed some work and highlight the good aspects of whatever it is they're writing. You don't want to just bash that person's work, you want to point out what they can improve on to make them better writers.

Blog 9

Thesis/Thesis statement: is a statement that is the basis for your research. In it you should include what you intend to prove and give your readers a sense of your viewpoint on the specific topic you’re asked to write about. It should also be something that can be argued.
Research: is the process in which you look through various forms of sources to get information on a certain subject. It isn’t just looking through a book to find one piece of information. Everything you gather should be able to give you a better understanding on the subject.
Argument: an argument could be a discussion that has different point of views to it. It can be persuasive and encourage you to collect facts to back up your point and make for a good and valid argument.
Claim: a claim is more of an assertive comment on your topic of discussion. Your claim is what you want to own and hold to be true. For example, “she claimed that he was telling the truth”.
Reason: is your explanation or justification for whatever it is you’re doing/saying, etc. Your reason is based on your personal opinions and or assumptions that lead you to develop a conclusion on something else.
Evidence: is your proof. It works to prove or disprove something by providing facts and making the truth evident. For example, in a court case, the prosecutor looks for and finds evidence that the defendant is a murderer because his prints are on the gun.
MLA citation style: is the Modern Language Association style. It’s used to cite and identify the sources you researched and used. It’s the form in how you order the sources in your bibliography or works cited list, typically in alphabetical order. There is a different format for each source depending on the one you use. For example, this is a list of the sources I used for this blog in MLA format:
"argument." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 06 Apr. 2010. .

"claim." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 06 Apr. 2010. .

"evidence." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 06 Apr. 2010. .
"Handouts and links :Thesis statements." The writing center. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr 2010. .

"reason." wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr 2010. .

"research." wikipedia. N.p., 2 Apr 2010. Web. 6 Apr 2010. .

"MLA Citation Examples written by HCC Library." Honolulu Community College Library. N.p., 09/20/04. Web. 6 Apr 2010. .

MOMI Scavenger hunt & Reflection

Browse through the excerpts about the displays, exhibits, pictures, etc.
1. How much is admission?
2. What year was "A fine madness" shot?
3. Look into "who does what in movies & television" on the computer, who hires the director?
4. Why is a supervising editor hired?
5. What is the music editor's job?
6. What floor are the classic video games located on?
7. Where would you find a picture of Shirley Temple?
8. On the wall of actors, what number is James Dean?
9. What were the average number of portraits William Walling shot per day in a period of 3 years?
10. How does a wig maker create a wig?
11. What movie is Al Pacino's lifemask taken from?
12. Who worked on Marlon Brando's plumper for "The Godfather"?
13. What material replaced layers of cotton and highly flammable collodian for makeup effects?
14. How many costumes can you try on in the Magic Mirror?
15. Name one director that was able to maintain their creative independence and be recognized as authors of their films?
16. Whose paintings inspired production designer Kristi Zea for the movie "Silence of the lambs"?
17. In what year did elaborate set designs begin to appear?
18. How many outfits are displayed from the movie "Chicago"?
19. Who played Gumby in a SNL skit?
20. How many outfits did Sarah Jessica Parker wear in "Honeymoon in Vegas"?
21. What company manufactures Barbie and Ken dolls?
22. What year was the first fan magazine created?
23. What year did the Star Wars: Return of the Jedi comic book release?
24. Who is the music composer for "The nightmare before Christmas"?
25. What movie did Jerry Goldsmith compose the music for in 1999?
26. How long is the "Great train robbery"?
27. Who directed the Great train robbery?
28. What is the name of the theater where they show movies everyday on the 2nd floor?
29. What year did the Roxy theatre open?
30. How much was it to watch a movie in the kinetoscope?
31. Who invented the kinetoscope?
32. What was the very first video arcade game?
33. Who founded Atari?
34. What year was Asteroids released?
35. How many arcade games can you play on the 2nd floor?
36. What is the name of Lyndon Johnson's presidential campaign commercial?
37. What is the important element to the Feral Fount?
38. Who invented the Feral Fount?
39. When was the first motion picture camera made?
40. How many different cameras are on display?
41. What year were the 35mm cameras used?
42. What did filmmakers use to help record sound?
43. How long is the "Building a Soundtrack" film?
44. What is the name of the original song used in the scene in "Twister"?
45. How many filmstrips can be found on the 3rd floor?
46. Who said "Films are fantasy and fantasy needs music"?
47. What is the 3rd and final stage in the film making process?
48. What is the purpose of a green screen?
49. Which popular horror movies are on display on the 3rd floor?
50. How many old fashioned TVs are on display?

My trip to the Museum of the Moving Image was very interesting and entertaining in my opinion. The whole film making process is a personal interest of mine and to have been able to learn about it all and look at some memorabilia and classic collections was cool. It was just very educational overall and entertaining at the same time with their little interactive exhibits. What i really found to leave me somewhat mesmerized was the Feral Fount. I felt like a little confused child as i looked at it, but i couldn't stop. I loved it and it was cool to have been challenged in that way to try and figure out how it worked before actually reading into it. It wasn't such a huge museum with a ton on display, but i guess for the people with a personal interest in it, it's a nice trip. I did have to end up going twice myself and i had the same reaction to it both times.

English class so far

In this class so far i have been pretty much enjoying what we're doing. I've never had to do blogs before and quite frankly its an interesting experience. I say that because for as longg as i can remember i have NEVER liked anyone at all to read my work! Anyone!..besides the teacher of course. I have always enjoyed writing but i dont know why i've always felt so protective of my work. Regardless of that now, ive gotten used to having to publicly publish my work and its not as bad as i thought, its a good learning experience. I like being able to read other people's work as well and giving and recieving insight. It provides room for constructive criticism and obviously it helps to become a better writer. Most of all i like the topics of discussion that we're given, most of it is opinion based so there really isnt a "right" or "wrong". Overall i like the class, and no complains so far! :)

The Matrix

The many ways of life and everything that surrounds us will always derive questions on the basis of our existence. What is our purpose here? How did we really get here? What does it all mean? Questions that will forever boggle our minds with frustration because there is no real answer to any of them. Fortunately for Neo in the film The Matrix, he received guidance from Morpheus, the oracle, and others around him to help him find his answers. What is reality? The world in which he lived in was not what he presumed it to be, instead, he was living in a false world (the matrix), and the real world was this gloomy place in which machines had taken over. There are many connections in the movie to those of philosophy and questions of life and reality. It’s hard to determine a “reality” in my opinion because we are all different as human beings and ones reality might not be the same to another. Others might not want to accept what is “real” as well and choose to stay unenlightened in the matrix. In that sense, it was very similar to the “allegory of the cave”, in where the one guy goes out to seek the truth and tries to instill his new found knowledge onto the others left in the dark. In the beginning that man is Morpheus, when he searches for Neo and pulls him out of the matrix to reveal to him the truth of his existence. In this situation it is very hard for me to say what I would truthfully do. Blue pill or red pill? The red pill is very tempting in the sense that I would uncover a new reality and have this new form of knowledge, but then again what is the actual reality in the matrix? A dark and scary place where the last humans alive are hiding from the machines. If it were put like that, then yea, why leave the matrix? Yes it’s a false world where you are being manipulated by a “greater” being, but what is the alternative to that? Either way I don’t think the matrix or its reality have any type of freedom. In the matrix you are controlled by the “agents”, and in the real world you have to be on the lookout for machines? I never had to really look at The Matrix in a philosophical way, but there are so many different possibilities and choices that it becomes confusing, which I think is the point, because that’s when we come up with all these questions concerning the meaning, existence, and reality. The only thing in the movie that I can connect to our real world is their whole concept on the difference of the two “realities”. I don’t really know if it can be a real comparison, but how different is their world from ours? Their reality is consumed by these machines that the humans built, yet they have taken over and they have to figure out a way to make it how it was before. Then there is the matrix where nobody is aware of what is really going on and they’re living in this picture perfect world. I can only say that some people maybe do live in “the matrix”, because they are ignoring the reality that is out there today, that our world really is consumed by machines. We aren’t necessarily hiding from them, but when will that time come? Because I do believe that one day it will. We depend on them WAY too much and there are only a handful of things that we do in life that does not require the assistance of technology. Ultimately what I think we can learn from this movie is that we need to wake up from the “matrix” and realize that we are letting ourselves become overpowered by machines. Sooner or later we will have to figure out a way to keep away from technology and start over from fresh, to reestablish the bond of human interaction.

Semester plan

I reviewed my syllabi for all my courses, and the work that needs to be done is pretty simple and spread out with what I think to be good enough time. Every week we are required to submit a blog for our English class, and very similarly answer a group of questions on blackboard with responses to other posts for our media and society class. For our American film class, we only have two written assignments that are due on the 23rd of March, and the 20th of April. We also have three tests that are on the 6th and 27th of April and the 25th of May. Finally, our final project for that class is due the 27th of May. Even though we have a lot of written assignments for our other two classes, we do however have a project as a midterm that is combined with our media and English class which due on the 19th of April. The final for that class, which is another project, is due on the last week of May. In terms of having to complete my assignments, I don’t see any upcoming problems that might affect me. I do in the near future see myself looking for a part time job, so until then I wont be absolutely positive on how that schedule might interfere with my school work, but either way I think I have been pacing myself pretty well and even with a job or other responsibilities to attend to, everything should be completed in due time. I don’t imagine any of the upcoming work to be any easier, but I am pretty confident in being able to put it all together, hopefully.

Truman syndrome

After researching the Truman syndrome, it basically comes down to being a mental illness in which the person believes they are being on surveillance at all times. They get the notion into their heads that for some reason everything that they do is staged and set up for their “make believe” life. I think that with the many forms of technology we have today, its very possible to feel as if you are being watched. With webcams, all these chatting opportunities, and candid camera shows, I can see why somebody might think that they would be a victim to one of those shows. It might sound strange but I do myself feel that way at times. I wouldn’t say I suffer from the “Truman syndrome”, but I am naturally a nervous person, so I get this feeling sometimes that maybe somehow somebody out there is watching me. But then again I absolutely hate the attention, so it could be just my subconscious playing around with me. I got my information from wise geek.com, and I guess it sounds pretty legit since I checked out a couple of other sites, like an article on CNN which explained the same symptoms and such. I wouldn’t trust just ANY site, but once I look around a few other articles that have the similar story, then it starts to sound more convincing, especially if its on a reliable news source like CNN. Its hard to trust just any site on the web since anybody can post whatever they please and can put things that are completely bogus, but I’m fairly confident in the articles I got my information from.

The truman show

While watching "The Truman Show", there were so many different thoughts and questions running through my head. The first thought that popped into my head was how could people be okay with themselves knowing that they were manipulating this poor and innocent man into believing that the life he was living was reality. The fact that it was the biggest thing in society and that absolutely everyone was into it and that no one stopped to question the morality of the idea was ridiculous. Obviously it's only a fictional story, but the situation can be compared to many real life circumstances in which a person is used for someone else's gain and entertainment. Personally I don’t believe it matters what the circumstances are, it isn’t morally correct to use someone’s life for your own benefit. Very similar to today and our hundreds of reality TV shows, the directors, producers, and even us viewers ourselves are using these reality stars just like they did Truman in the movie. The only difference between the Truman show and actual reality shows today would be that the people in the shows are aware of the fact that they’re being recorded. In my opinion having all these shows only imply that we are so bored with our own lives that people have to come up with sufficient pitches for another “entertaining” reality show. Truman’s life was completely manufactured to be “perfect”, but even with that illusion, as soon the doubts of its true reality settled in, his curiosity to the truth only intensified. If I were to be put into his situation, I might be torn on what to do. Even Truman himself at first was hesitant to accept that what he perceived to be reality could in fact be all made up. Thankfully there hasn’t been a instance in which I have had to question my reality, but what if it happened? I don’t know. The closest thing that I can compare it to is being lied to and then having to find out the truth. Even though I don’t think it’s as severe as learning your whole reality and existence is fake, but it still undeniably forces you to question the “truth” and whether or not to accept it as it is. If I lived in Seahaven and knew that it was a perfect and safe place and was still offered the choice to enter into another world, I think it might take a while but eventually I’d take it. Knowing that there is a whole new and different world out there that I know nothing about provides enough curiosity to go with it. In my opinion, the worst that can happen is just that I might not like what I see or learn. If that were the case, I could easily return to Seahaven and everything would return to “normal”. It all comes down to the notion of our free will in our lives. Each and every person on this earth has the ability to do whatever they please. Using the movie as an example, christof did everything he thought possible to prevent Truman from leaving Seahaven and being exposed to the truth, yet it didn’t stop him because he was truly determined to leave and see what it was that he had been missing out on. Truman’s triumph only shows that the role of free will is extremely powerful and if we really desire to acquire any kind of knowledge despite the circumstances, it is possible. Ultimately his situation is similar to that in “The Allegory of the Cave”, in where prisoners had the opportunity to leave the mock reality they believed in and be taken into the real world. Finally, it depends on the individual person because the one man that was forced out, was enlightened and accepted the new truth, yet when he tried to get the other prisoners out, they refused to follow despite the promising details. The role of free will in our lives is principally whatever we choose it be, just like Truman who decided to go on and progress with his.

Allegory of the Cave

“The allegory of the cave” summed up in my words is describing the story of a group of people, or society, in which one leaves what he has been shown to know and is exposed to new things and becomes enlightened with the outside world. It basically just explains how there was a real and different world beyond what these people knew and thought was real. Because they were nurtured in a specific environment and never shown to anything else, the fake shadows that were always displayed in front of them was their perception of reality. In my opinion I don’t think that Socrates believed that everyone’s reality was necessarily real. He implies that there is knowledge beyond our understanding that we won’t ever know exists if we refuse to go out and seek it. I have to say that I absolutely agree with his philosophy due to the fact that not everything we know is all that is out there. We grow up with a limited amount of knowledge depending on our education and if we decline to bring ourselves out and beyond that, there is a world that we will always remain ignorant to. It is all about the choice of wanting to acquire knowledge and if whether or not we are able to accept whatever the true reality is and what we decide to do with that knowledge in the end.

Cyborgs

In my own definition, a cyborg is a person that is so closely attached to technology and its advantages that it becomes a way of life and almost impossible to break. A person that wakes up every day to check their missed calls on their cell phone and go to the computer to check their email before they’ve even had their breakfast. Life becomes a challenge when technology breaks down and they find themselves having to leave the comfort of their home to resolve an issue personally rather than taking care of it online. Being that we live in a period where almost everything has become integrated with technology, it’s hard to say that being a cyborg is uncommon. Technology has taken over every aspect of our lives and if you refuse to follow up with it you will be left in the dark.
I myself would say that I am a cyborg and fully support the idea that life is somewhat frustrating without the technological advances that we have today. It is a part of my life and has become essential to my everyday activities. If we really think about it the technology that we have today has not been around for a long time, but we have become so attached and so used it in a shorter amount of time. As far as I can remember, when my mother first put a computer in our house, I would not want to do anything else. There wasn’t a such thing as playing board games anymore, if I wanted to play a game, I’d do it online. Today the uses of a computer are so much more indispensable and so easy that you can even look for and find a job from your computer desk. From personal experience, traveling and looking for a job is extremely time consuming and tiring when having to walk from place to place just to fill out paper applications. For me it has made everything simpler from being able to apply online, to being able to access my email from my phone when I don’t have access to a computer. Something as simple as a cell phone has become a life organizer and a portal to connect to the whole world. Sometimes people go beyond the extreme and refuse to use or do anything that does not involve technology to their advantage, and to most of us it is inevitable.