Intro to Digital Media Arts

For this post, I wanted to reflect on the semester as a whole.  Coming into this class I was unsure about a lot of things.  To be honest, I did not even really want to take the class but I was forced to for my major and the fact that I was a transfer student and it is my first semester at Huntington.  Now looking back on the whole semester, this might have been one of my most productive classes.  Even though this is not my major, I can now see how media and what we as viewers are consuming has so much effect on how we live our lives.  Our discussions and the films that we watched in class only expanded my thought further and further.  I was really able to get in that deep critical thinking zone during these times.  Dr. Leeper did an excellent job teaching and guiding the course.  I would absolutely recommend this course to anyone that has not yet already taken it or if they are thinking about taking it.  It is not just a class where the teacher puts on a movie and you fall asleep.  This class will push you too your limits and will make you become an all around better student.  In conclusion, I truly enjoyed this semester of Intro to Digital Media Arts.

American Sniper

American Sniper starring Bradley Cooper send chills down my spine every time that I watch it.  Chris Kyle was the deadliest sniper in American history with a lot of confirmed kills.  The legacy that he left is like none other.  I read the book first and then when I saw that they were making it into a movie, I had to go and see it.  The first time I saw it I was so shocked because of how intense it was and how it ended up.  Rarely do I think that movies are better than the book, but I think that this movie might have been better than the book.  This is one of those scenarios that you just have to see visual to get the full appreciation out of it.  I have always found it hard to read about war because you do not get the same effect at all as watching it or seeing someone die or get shot.  This film was well produced and the characters all fit their role perfectly.  The actress that played Chris Kyle's wife showed so much emotion and distress when the father of her child was overseas for three tours.  Bradley Cooper did a great job as well because from my understanding Chris Kyle was by the book and did not have a great sense of humor or showed a lot of emotions.  In conclusion, I really enjoy watching this movie and I can not wait to watch it again in the near future.

Gridiron Gang

The Gridiron Gang is a film about a bunch of teenage boys that are sentenced to a correction center for doing crime in the streets.  The movie start Dwayne Johnson who is a perfect fit for the movie because he played football at the University of Miami (FL).  He is a very intense man and his character is too because he is dealing with criminals with little to no parental guidance.  Willie Weathers is the main character in the movie.  His cousin is killed in a drive by shooting and he losses it when he finds out.  Another guy that is in the correction center is from three blocks away and from the same street that killed Willie Weathers cousin.  They refer to themselves as 88's and 85's throughout the entire movie.  The two are constantly getting in fights because their two gangs that they come from are constantly killing each other.  Dwayne Johnson decides to make a football team to let them release some of their violence, but most importantly teach them some life lessons.  At the beginning the team is terrible, but then at the end of the movie they all come together and are one unit.  This movie is based on a true story and seeing some of the interviews of the real people at the end of the movie gave me chills.  I would recommend this film to anyone that has not seen it because it is a good work of art with good actors that teaches life lessons that everyone can benefit from.

Bloodline

Besides for The Walking Dead, the Netflix original series Bloodline is my favorite television show.  This mystery television series has you on the edge of your seat every single episode.  I began watching the show this past summer.  Each episode is an hour long and as of right now there are a total of 23 episodes.  When I saw the first episode, I was so addicted to it that I binged watch all 23 episodes in one week's time.  The storyline consists of a family that owns an Inn on the beach somewhere in Florida.  The parents are now elderly and there children are all grown up with kids of their own.  Three of the Rayburn's children are successful for the most part, but their oldest son Danny is not.  As the story unfolds, you come to see that Danny Rayburn has done some bad things in his past.  He has constantly run away and felt like an outcast his entire life.  When he comes back and try's to make things right again, people do not really want to give him a chance.  A lot of confrontation takes place and ultimately John Rayburn ends up killing his own brother Danny.  Now the three siblings are all involved because the other two tried to cover it up.  The show has two seasons right now and is planning to air a third season in May or June of 2017.  I am more than excited to watch it and I would recommend it to anyone that likes a show with a good storyline.  In conclusion, the show Bloodline is a great work and I can not wait to watch it again.

The Sandlot

 

I know that I have talked about having lots of "favorite" movies, but my favorite one of all time is without a doubt The Sandlot.  I first watched this movie when I was three years old and I am now 21 and still watch it every once in a while.  When I was a little boy, I dreamed of playing professional baseball.  This movie was so inspiring to me because I grew up playing in the back yard with my friends.  Growing up in a big baseball town in Cincinnati, Ohio, it was easy to say who my favorite player and team was.  Ken Griffey Jr. of the Cincinnati Reds was easily my favorite and I thought of him as Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez.  In the movie, a new kid moves to town.  The boy's nickname throughout the movie is Smalls and he does not know how to throw a baseball when he plays with the other guys for the first time.  He finally learns how to play a little bit and him and the guys play at this field every single day during the summer.  One day, Benny hits the ball so hard that the cover comes off of the ball and they do not have a ball to play with anymore.  Smalls tells them that he has one at home.  He goes and gets it and then someone hits a homerun over the fence.  Smalls then tells the other guys that his dad is going to kill him cause the ball was signed by Babe Ruth, the greatest baseball player to ever live.  The boys go on a journey to get the ball back and it is absolutely comical.  In conclusion, this movie will always have a huge impact on my life.

 

Blood Diamond

For my next post, I will be breaking down the movie Blood Diamond.  As you may be able to tell by now, I am a pretty big Leonardo DiCaprio fan.  This movie is another movie that is based on a true story, which makes it that much more emotional.  A civil war is taking place in Sierra Leone in the year 1999.  A group of rebels come in and raid a town in Africa that is at peace.  A fisherman is separated from his son and they are both put to work.  The son is roughly 10 years old, and the rebels are brain washing him along with other young African boys to be child soldiers.  They are forced to kill, work, and they are even given drugs.  Meanwhile, the boys father is now a slave for the rebels and is mining for diamonds in the lakes and hillsides of Sierra Leone.  Some men at the work camp try to steal the diamonds and they are shot in the head.  Right about this time, the fisherman reaches down and finds one of the biggest diamonds ever and hides it between his toes under the muddy water.  The rebel leader suspects something and searches him, but finds nothing.  He then goes to the bathroom and catches the fisherman hiding it, but then a U.S. air strike comes in and chaos occurs.  The fisherman eventually gets out and sells the diamond.  I enjoyed this film very much and the producers and actors did an amazing job with it.  Really made me aware of the situation and even feel like I was there witnessing it first hand.

 

The Departed

After watching "The Departed" I knew I had to instantly Blog on it.  This is one of the greatest movies that I have seen in awhile.  I knew it was a slightly older movie as it had come out in the early 2000s, but I had never seen it until this week.  In fact, I had never even heard of the movie until a few weeks ago.  I was working out one day and the song, "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" came on the radio.  I liked the song a lot and when I looked it up, I realized that it was the main soundtrack song for this movie.  I went out shopping on Black Friday and found it for $4 and came home and watched it.  I was absolutely stunned by the film.  It is about two guys, one is working for a drug dealer and pretends to be a cop to get more information while the other one is a cop and pretends to be working for the drug dealer to get more information on him so they can catch him.  The movie stars three amazing actors in Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, and Mark Wahlberg.  The film is filled with so much action, mystery, and suspense that I was locked in the entire time.  I would for sure recommend this movie to others and I believe it is an amazing work of art.

42

For this next post, I would like to write about a movie that has inspired me.  The movie "42" is about the life story of the first African American man to play professional baseball.  Jackie Robinson was signed to the Brooklyn Dodgers in the year 1946.  Up until this point in time, a black man had never played professional baseball.  There were separate leagues for African Americans and were referred to as "Negro Leagues" at the time.  Whites and Blacks were still segregated at the time and nobody wanted blacks to play professional baseball. That all changed when Branch Rickey signed Jackie.  The film does an outstanding job of portraying Jackie Robinson.  I know this because I play baseball and have studied and learned a lot about the game and specifically Jackie Robinson.  I try to put myself in his shoes and what it would have felt like to be him.  It is scientifically proven that the hardest thing to do in professional sports is to hit a baseball.  You must pick up the release point of the pitcher, what type of pitch he is throwing you, where it will be located when it reaches the plate, and approximately how fast it is coming.  Then, once it gets close enough it is almost a pure guess as to where it will end up because the naked eye can not relay a message to the brain that quickly.  Taking all this in to account and having the N word screamed at you and people telling you they were going to kill you, which he endured, would be nearly impossible to succeed at this sport.  In conclusion, the movie "42" does an amazing job of showing the struggles that Jackie Robinson endured so that baseball could be played by men of all races. 

Captain Phillips

I recently watched the movie Captain Phillips which stars Tom Hanks.  The movie which is about Somalian pirates taking over a cargo ship is based on a true story.  I can vividly remember when this actually happened in real life, so when the movie came out I went and watched it.  Tom Hanks does an absolutely fantastic job playing his role in the movie.  In the special features of the movie, there was an interview with him and the producer.  I later found out that in the movie that Tom Hanks had not met the cast members that were going to be playing the pirates.  By doing this, it created a more sense of panic and real fear in Hanks to be shown in the movie.  The more and more I think about it, the more sad I get about the entire situation. It must have been so terrible for those men on the cargo ship to experience that and be held captive like that.  At the same time, I almost feel sad for the pirates as well.  These men are coming from extremely poor lives in third world countries.  If they do not fight, steal, and scavenge, there is a good chance that they do not live.  Without this movie, I do not know if I would have thought about it as much and as in depth as I did.  The film did an excellent job of making people aware of the situation and what it would have felt like to be there.  In conclusion, Captain Phillips is a well produced movie to say the least.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Well since Christmas time is getting closer and closer, I figured that I would write about one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time.  Christmas Vacation starring Chevy Chase is not only one of my favorite Christmas movies, but one of my favorite movies in general.  In my family, it is a tradition that we watch this movie roughly 8 to 10 times between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I was three years old the first time I saw it with my parents and have watched it literally hundreds of times since then.  When people say that they can quote an entire movie, that is literally me with this one.  The movie is clearly a comedy, but the thing is that so many people I know that have seen it say that it reminds them of their dysfunctional family!  This makes me laugh because when I watch it I feel the struggles of the kids because I remember certain family members always causing trouble when we would get together and how annoyed I would get, but at the end of the day they are still family and I love them all so dearly.  In conclusion, Christmas Vacation is one of my favorite movies of all time and it is a well made comedy that can also teach life lessons.

300

I watched the movie 300 staring Gerard Butler recently.  I forgot how much I have seen this film.  When I was in middle school, I used to put this movie on every night to fall asleep too.  At the time, my parents were a little concerned because it is such a violent movie.  I tried to explain to them at the time that I just liked it because it was an action movie and we were also learning about it in my history class in school.  The fact that the movie is based off of something that actually took place in history marveled me.  Leonidas, the King of Sparta, leads a highly trained a very dangerous group of 300 men to take on thousands of Persians.  Now obviously there are some Hollywood effects in the movie, but for the most part the producer made the fighting look real.  People are beheaded and limbs get cut off throughout the entire movie.  When it takes place, it does not look cheesy or fake as I thought it might and as it does in other movies that involve fighting and killing.  In conclusion, I really enjoyed this work of art and would absolutely recommend it to anyone that has not yet seen it.

Jason Aldean - Tattoos on This Town Music Video

After watching this music video, this has me completely in my feels right about now.  Much like my last post, I love this song and listen to it all the time but I had never taken the time to watch the music video.  As I was watching it and hearing the music, it reminded me of so many times, feelings, and people in my life.  When the boy and girl begin to fall in love and they are just having a good old time in the summer in reminded me of the summer leading up to my junior year.  My parents were going through a divorce and my escape from it was hanging out with my friends and girlfriend out in the country just not worrying about a thing.  But as the music video went on, I began to get more and more emotional.  When the guy is going off to war and his girlfriend/wife is crying it made me realize and think about that situation more.  Like even though this is a Jason Aldean music video, this is a real scenario for people out there.  The woman becomes pregnant and the father of their child is killed in combat.  The mother has to raise this young boy by herself now.  The part that really hit me is at the very end when her son has his dad's hat on and looks at the engraving "I love you" on the tree.  When I finished watching it, I prayed not only for all of the brave men and woman that protect this country, but also for all the boys and girls that may never have got to meet their mother or father.  I can not image what that would be like.  In conclusion, this is a very powerful piece and it is super emotional as well.

Major Lazer - Original Don ft. The PartySquad Music Video

This music video struck me as quite odd when I watched it.  The music video lasts 2 minutes and 41 seconds and I probably watched it 10 times.  The more and more I watched it, the less sense I actually made of it.  I have heard the song before and I absolutely love the beat.  I guess I had a pre-conceived notion in my head about what the music video would be like before watching it.  The music video presents a young adolescent female and a young adolescent male that are dancing and waving around a sword and a knife.  Their is a very elderly woman and a dog sitting in the back yard watching them.  About half way through the music video, the elderly woman gets up and goes inside to get a large ax and gives it to the younger girl to dance with.  I literally have no idea what the meaning of this is or why the producer made it that way.  The only thing that I can think of is for viewers to have pure entertainment and laughter.  But then again, as we have talked about in class, producers do not always make things for other people sometimes.  Maybe he was producing a piece that reminded him of someone close to him or something that had value.  In conclusion, this music video in particular intrigued me a lot.  

Deadpool

In this post I will be discussing my favorite Marvel Studios production which is Deadpool.  Out of all of the films that Marvel Studios has produced, this is by far my favorite.  I am sure that others will read this and completely disagree with me, but I am not worried about it.  I truly enjoyed Ryan Reynolds acting throughout this movie.  Unlike other Marvel movies, this one used lots of comedy and interaction with the viewers.  What do I mean by this?  In Deadpool there are times when Reynolds will look directly at the camera and talk to the audience as if we are there on set.  The first time I watched this I was thrown off by it and was not sure if I liked it.  I had only experienced this one other time while watching a movie and it was The Hateful Eight.  As the film went on and it occurred a few more times, I began to get attached and focus in more on what was happening.  It was almost as if the producers used this tactic to really grab the audience's attention.  Overall, I enjoyed the film really well in result of this.

The graphic content was outstanding as well.  When Reynolds is locked in the craziest tanning bed of all time, he comes out and he is completely morphed into a disgusting looking creature.  This is why he must wear the full body suit.  The way they portrayed it and made it look so real and painful for him was fascinating.  I will never forget that scene and the look on his face as he is looking up through the glass begging for help.  In conclusion, Deadpool is one of my favorite films and I have seen it multiple times because of its amazing production techniques.

Pixar's For the Birds: Quiz 2

The short Pixar film For the Birds really caught my attention.  When I originally thought of Pixar films I thought of things like Toy Story and The Incredibles came to mind.  I never took in to account that Pixar was able to produce such a powerful, fun, and creative film that would only last three to four minutes.  I grew up watching these great Master pieces and I can vividly remember some of these short films being played in the previews at the theaters when I first went to go see them.  The simplicity that these short films have is unique, but the message that they send is absolutely incredible.  As we were watching them in class, I noticed that most of them do not have a lot of dialogue or characters speaking.  If you really think about it, this makes it even more fascinating that they are able to create something so beautiful without the use of words.

This corresponds with our reading, and after reading the various articles it makes so much more sense and clarity.  Pixar's magic comes from simply the storytelling itself.  Most of the time, these producers are making things that they themselves would be interested in viewing as well.  In the short film For the Birds all of the Birds come together on a wire.  After they are projected into the air and come down with no feathers, the birds begin to panic.  This creates laughter throughout the audience which shows that Pixar is not just in it to make money, but because they love bringing others joy.

Shutter Island

This past week I watched the movie Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  This may be one of my favorite movies of all time.  For those of you who have not seen the work of art, DiCaprio is a U.S. court Marshall that goes to an island full of the most mentally insane patients in the U.S.  He requests this case specifically because a man by the name of Andrew Laeddis set his apartment on fire and killed his wife.  DiCaprio or Edward Daniels in the movie starts to think that everyone that is working on the island is crazy and trying to make him stay there forever.  It turns out that Edward Daniels is in fact crazy himself.  He is Andrew Laeddis and killed his wife because she drowned their three children and he made up this story in his head to forgive himself. 

When this film ended, I sat there with my mouth open for about fifteen minutes straight.  I could not believe what the producer had done with this.  Throughout the entire movie the audience is convinced that DiCaprio is a U.S. court Marshall and that he is a sane person stuck on an insane island.  When the film reveals that he is the crazy one, it is like your mind begins to have a brain freeze.  This director of this film did an amazing job piecing it together and created a great work of art because of it.

The Walking Dead: Season 7, Episode 1

The first episode of season seven in the AMC series, The Walking Dead was one of the most intense episodes that the show has seen.  I am an avid viewer of this series and have seen every episode that has ever been made so I can attest to this.  The wait is finally over!  We found out who Negan killed and it was more than just one person.  The suspense was absolutely killing me, but after nearly six months of waiting we found out that both Glen and Eugene were killed off the show.

I would like to discuss the way in which both of these characters were killed.  Although The Walking Dead is a series about zombies and there is a lot of killing, some would argue that it is not as graphic as you think it may be.  That perception quickly changed for some people after viewing this episode.  Negan took a baseball bat wrapped in barb wire and crushed the two men's skulls in until their heads disappeared.  This was very graphic and left many viewers disgusted and gut wrenched.  When they show Glen after he is hit for the first time, his right eye is popping out of his skull.  The entire time I was watching this I was wondering why the director set it up this way.  Overall, the first episode of season seven in The Walking Dead was one for the books.

Serena

I am writing this reflection on the movie “Serena”.  In the movie, Bradley Cooper is in charge of a logging business in the Great Smoky Mountains.  The year is 1929 and Bradley Cooper meets a woman named Serena.  The two fall in love and end up getting married.  Soon after, Serena becomes pregnant with his child.  There is another woman in the town that has an infant boy.  It turns out that the boy is Bradley Cooper’s son that the two had out of wedlock.  Serena ends up having a miscarriage later in the movie and because vicious and envious of the other woman who is carrying around her husband’s child when she is left with nothing.

A widely controversial topic in today’s society is having sex and children out of wed lock.  The time that this movie is set in emphasizes this even more.  The church and people in the community frown upon it greatly.  Not to say that it is not the same today, but now-a-days it is slightly more accepted and tolerated by others.  We as Christians do not believe in this and are quick to judge those who are in this situation.  Overall, the movie “Serena” is a well written screenplay with great central themes.

Saving Private Ryan

Saving Private Ryan is without a doubt one of my favorite movies of all time.  I like movies that are based on true stories and are more non-fiction.  Tom Hanks is an amazing actor that has won tons of awards for his screenplay.  I as a viewer just love this movie because you get to experience so many different emotions much like in war.  You may be asking how I know this or how I can even say that knowing that fact that I have never been to war.  My grandfather and uncle as well as other members of my family have been to war and say that you get to see and experience everything both good and bad.  With me knowing this in the back of my head, it made me appreciate this work that much more.

When the troops are all staying in the church the one night, they all take a minute to "relax".  The one man begins to reminisce about when he was a little kid and his hard working mother just wanted to talk to him and see how is day was, but he would ignore her.  Later one, Vin Diesel is trying to save a little girl and is shot down by a sniper.  These are both examples of sad and emotionally tough times.  Overall, this is a great work of art that has won academy awards and is still heavily viewed today.

 

The Finest Hours

I watched the movie “The Finest Hours” starring Chris Pine this past weekend.  In the movie, Bernie (Chris Pine) is a member of the U.S. Coast guard and is stationed in Massachusetts.  Bernie meets a girl and falls madly in love with her and they both end up coming to the conclusion that they want to get married on April 16^th.  Since Bernie is a member of the Coast Guard, there are certain circumstances and rules that he must ask permission of his commanding officer to marry her.  When he goes to ask, his officer blows him off.  Bernie is then ordered to assemble a team to go rescue men on a sinking oil ship out in the unbearable storm.  The group of four men on the small boat save and bring back 32 men.

This film that is based on a true story is so well acted out.  The actors in this movie make the viewers feel their struggle and anguish throughout the entire thing.  This work of art is filled with action, drama, and suspense.  The fact that it is based on a true story makes viewers appreciate it that much more because it was portrayed in a way that you not only got a general understanding of the situation, but felt as if you were there yourself.