Blog Characterization

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntb6Kbh3NI8&feature=related

Film: Black Swan

Character: Nina Sayers

The film is about a ballet dancer named Nina Sayer who goes mad because she’s obsess with reaching perfection on her number as the black swan. The precise scene I will be focusing on it’s consider the climax of the story. Nina’s passion for the number of the black swan has made her insane to the point where she has been hallucinating. But now she discovers that she has stabbed herself and despite this she decides to continue with the scene and dance as the black swan.

The wardrobe of Nina is just like any ballet dances, but with a dominant color, white, which represents afterlife, peace, pureness. In addition, the body language in this scene is similar to the one throughout the entire film. She is tensed at first but suddenly she changes and relaxes because she realizes that she has a number next and that’s what matter the most to her. Her actions show the obsession Nina has with perfection because it’s part of her persona. The fact that she decides to ignore her condition and consciously puts her life at risk demonstrates how mentally affected she is by the desire of perfection.

The goal in this scene is to overcome the obstacle in order to give the performance of her life in the black swan number.

The character’s flaw is her obsession for perfection because as said once in the film perfection can’t be naturally reached. The obstacle is her mental and physical health; she’s literally bleeding and this could prevent her from going on stage and perform. Furthermore, her mental issues could intervene in her performance and make it a disaster.

The way Nina overcomes these obstacles is through the desire of performance and gives up her life. First, she forgets about the blood and what she’s going though, she concentrates on the performance and never loses focus of what her goal is. Finally, she chooses performing over her own life; she’s aware of the fact that if she doesn’t receive medical attention she could die, but she’s prepare to face the consequences and she is pleased at the end of the performance because in her perspective she “reached perfection”.

Reader Blog Post

Emerging Talent — The Surreal Imagery of Martin Marcisovsky

Chase Jarvis Blog Post http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2012/09/emerging-talent-the-surreal-imagery-of-martin-marcisovsky/

I read a blog post of Chase Jarvis about a photograph of Martin Marcisovsky and I found the interpretations very interesting . First of all the picture is very unique, but what I liked the most is that Jarvis talks about the photograph showing either isolation or complete connection with oneself. The dark elements support the claim of isolation, but in a different perspective the fact that there is no on else around implies the idea of self center moment. Additionally, Jarvis talks about how this image relates to science-fiction. Personally I think the graphics of the image portray this interpretation as well as the depth of the image. Overall I thought that Jarvis did a good simply, but effective analysis of this photograph because every interpretation has evidence to support such claim.

When You Find Me-Ten Themes

Character:

In this short-film the character of Lisle is presented a young innocent girl. She doesn't understand what is happening for that reason she believes she can find her mother. She's a good person who never meant to harm anyone, but her childish games kept her sister from saying goodbye to her mom. Her character remains the same as she grows up and that's why she understands that even though many years have happened it's her duty to tell her sister what happened that night.

Setting:

This story takes place in more than one setting, but in my opinion the setting of the airplane in the cemetery is key because that's where Lisle finds her mother. She finds an airplane, but she thinks is a star-ship that will take her to heaven. Additionally, when she and her sister are older they come back to this place and Aurora confesses what she told her mother. After this confession, she feel better and together they find peace.
Backstory:
The Backstory of this short-film is that Aurora is not really upset with her sister for not saying goodbye to their mom, but she's upset because she didn't apologize to her for the horrible things she said previously. In this picture you can see that there is a person in the middle, between her and her mother, which suggest their relationships was not the best at such time.

Goal:

The goal for both girls was to find their mother. For Lisle she wanted to find her because she couldn't accept that she was gone and that she would never be back. As for Aurora, she wanted to find her mother because she needed to ask for forgiveness and find peace to her soul. Both needed to see her for the last time and say goodbye. In the imagine to the right shows the two girls running towards the tree where their mother stands waiting for them.
Time:
The time of this story is out of this world. Since the plot focuses on the after life; Lisle thinks her mother went to heaven and she imagines how to get there at the picture to the left. Her sister explains that she doesn't really know where heaven is, she just know is far. This suggest that time exists beyond planet earth and that's what the director tries to portray through Lisle's imagination.

Relationship:

The relations between Aurora and Lisle is a sisterhood. They used to be very close when they were younger, but after their mother's death, they fell apart and until Lisle confesses what happened the night she got lost, they come closer again. On the picture to the right they're walking towards their mom's grave and there is light but shadows remain demonstrating how their relationship has been. They have had good and bad moments.
Obstacle:
On the image to the left we can appreciate the object that is in between Aurora and Lisle. The director uses it to highlight that there is an obstacle between them and it's Aurora's anger towards what at first seem her sister, but in reality towards herself. Aurora can't find peace because she didn't apologize to her mother, and Lisle can't find peace because she feels Aurora blames her for not saying goodbye to their mom.

Mood:

The mood of in the story is anger and pain. Aurora's character shows anger when she's a child, but what she really feels is pain and we discover that later when she's older. While Lisle only shows pain for losing her mom and making Aurora resent her. The mood of anger and pain dominate the entire short-film


Unknown:
The element of unknown is strongly used in the short-film as heaven. No one really knows where we go after we die or what is heaven, but in this story the tree represent heaven. Since it's a white big tree I think of it as the tree from where Eve got the apple of sin. Before biting the apple she was in a place full of love, peace, no evil and I think the director's view of heaven is returning to the place that existed before Eve committed the sin. This place called heaven is unknown.

 Discovery

This shot of Aurora shows the moment of discovery. She discovers that her mom heard what she told her that day at the hospital. But she also discovers that her mom knew she loved her. This moment of discovery is reflected on the medium shot of Aurora. 

10 Themes of Story Telling

Discovery
The woman in this image is discovering things as she is walking down the road. The darkness emphasizes that there are things to discover, for example how long is the road. It is a straight, direct angle which doesn't show the entire picture, but that's the idea. She is located in the middle of the rule of thirds and the reason for this is because she is not the main attention of the image, but what she's discovering is more important.









Mood
This image shows a happy mood. The lighting is bright and the color texture is dominated by a smooth white. This helps portray the content mood as well as the position of the camera. Since it's locate to the side of the baby it creates a side-angle allowing the image to have the baby's reflection too. The mirror is said to be a reflection of how people truly feel and the smile on the baby's face indicates her happiness. Finally there are no shadows suggesting there is no negativity vibe into the baby's life.

Backstory
The color represents the exact
situation in this image. The obscurity has a double entendre, it is dark because it's probably in the afternoon, but the backstory is that she is barring her mistreated dolls. She is probably going through some tough times, depression or even mental illness. The lighting show many shadows that tell the backstory of this image, which is well set up by the long shot.

Character
The colors of this picture is basically the element that helps define the character of the child. All the bright colors represent the spirit of a child; they're full of energy and fun. However, the lighting implies that there is a darkest side to this child, the shadow on the half of the face plus all the obscurity behind her indicate she's not completely pure, innocent. The Medium Close up and the way she's looking at the camera describe her unique character as well as all that was mention previously.

Goal
The dog is scared of the bubbles and his goal is to run away from them. The medium shot captures perfectly his emotions. There is rack focus, the dog and the bubbles are on focus while the background is blurry. There entire image is lighted evenly creating the sense that it's day time.

Obstacle
The obstacle in this image is the loneliness this baby turtle faces. He's alone in the beach and since he looks small and baby turtle he could be in danger. The long shot provokes the sense of how big the beach is and how small the turtle is.
There is low lighting indicating the night is about to take over. Everything is on focus.

Relationship

The relationship is with oneself. The water us used a mirror that shows you a reflection of yourself. Your relationship with your own persona. The lighting is interesting because it creates some shadows, but it's bright at the same time. The water in the image distorts the image and add a different perspective.

Setting
The lighting strongly dominated the setting of this picture. The bright white light illuminates the image, but similarly it brings darkness. It is contrasting white and black colors and creates a balanced setting. Only two colors, two options; good or evil.  Also given that is located in nature, the setting of the forest is different from the ideal forest people create in their heads.

Time
This image shows contrasts may elements such as light, focus,  and speed of time. The focus is in the man, but also in the train. The speed of the train is faster than the man's and even though they are so close, he missed the train by a small period of time. Time can go so fast (the train), but at the same time it can go slow (man). Additionally there light and darkness in this picture.

Unknown
The lighting dominates this image, it creates a deep meaning. The white light behind the woman is an unknown and the plants around her do not help solve the mystery. She's centered in the rule of thirds and the front angle suggest she's into nature.