What HSM taught me

I watched high school musical one and two again the other weekend and can I say what an example of how far movie making has come. When you watch the movies right after each other you see that the first one is really grainy and washed out and the second one is more clear and vibrant. I think this really interesting because I don't think we realize just how far movie making has come even over the past sixteen years. It's incredible to think just how far we have come and just how much better things are becoming. I remember when 3D was something that rarely happened, now you look up a showing and its almost guaranteed to be shown in 3D at some point in the day. Film is a very rapid changing industry and its fun to watch.

My actual review on priceless - part 2

 I have been a loyal fan of For King and Country for five years and for three of those years waiting for this movie to come out. I had seen many previews but they did not give the movie enough justice as to how deep and eye opening it would be. Priceless is not just your typical Christian movie where someone gets saved and praise Jesus. This goes beyond the faith and shows that Sex Trafficking is alive and well in the United States. It shows that the view man has on women has drastically changed so much they will sell women nightly in order to earn some cash.  This movie will make you cry and honestly consider how you view others. It makes you think just how low will I go to satisfy myself even though it may cost someone else their innocence.

My actual review on Priceless - Part 1

You just needed money and the task seemed simple. Drive the truck through the night to the destination. No stopping and then you get paid, no questions asked.  Seemed simple until you fell asleep and ran off the road. You go around the truck to make sure nothing is damaged but then you hear a girl crying. What happens next changes your life forever.

This was just the start of For King and Country’s new movie Priceless.  Priceless is about a man, James who is in need of money  in hopes of regaining custody of his daughter. He embarks on a cross-country delivery for cash -- no questions asked. When he discovers that he is delivering two young women, the questions in his mind begin haunting him. When James finds, himself falling for one of the women, he becomes an unlikely hero and must fight to save the innocence and lives of both ladies.

Special Effects Makeup part 3

As for Hamilton’s future in special effects make-up he would love to move out to LA and work for horror films, his dream job would be to work for HBO or MARVEL Studios. He doesn’t just want to do this for the fame however,  he wants to use his gift in make-up as a way to evangelize to the horror community. Hamilton says

“God calls us to witness in different ways and I feel as though I am being called to witness to this community”

I encourage you to follow his journey on his Instagram page @aaronhamiltonmakeup. Hamilton did say he is also in the process of designing a website for his makeup.

“ I want to get others interested and I hope my art work does this. Special effects makeup is starting to die out as computer generation is taking over. I hope that this craft stays alive as there really isn’t anything like it.”

Special Effects Makeup part 2

Since then special effects makeup has grown from a hobby to a career choice. Hamilton just finished a “History of Horror” project. This project was a brief history of horror movies starting with the 1920 film The Cabinet of Dr. Caliagri and ending with The Conjuring 2. With each movie, he would create a makeup job that he saw fitting to the movie. He did this project because he wanted to show that horror films aren’t just blood and guts. He also did this big project because he wanted to challenge himself and test the limits to see just how far he could go with the materials he already has. Not only does Hamilton do make-up just for himself he also is very willing to help his classmates out in the film department with their senior films on campus.

Artist Spotlight - A article I wrote for the Huntingonian about effects makeup Part 1

Not often do you go to a festival and then come home and manage to replicate some of what you saw, this isn’t the case for Junior film student Aaron Hamilton however, Hamilton went to the 2012 Mask-fest in Indianapolis. This festival is a big gathering of horror fans that show off masks that they’ve made as well as fans of mask.  Hamilton says

“I remember coming across a blood covered baseball bat and when I picked it up, it was 100% made out of foam. I was so impressed with that bat that I contemplated buying it. It was a little out of my price range so I settled with a bottle of fake latex and stage blood. “

 Little did Hamilton know settling for the fake latex and stage blood would enter him into a world he would fall in love with. When he got back home from the festival he used what he bought and some of his Dad’s old makeup kit to create his very first burn.

Thank you For King and Country

"Why do you have a blog?"
"Why do I speak openly about my past? " 

These are two questions I've been asked for three years. 
Because I am Priceless 
and so are you. 

For King and Country your movie has reminded me why I started my ministry. (You guys are what influenced me)  It reminded me Why I'm in college and why my odd career path is going to be scary.  Most people know I'm a Broadcasting major but don't know why. 

The reason is God, you, and the generation after you. Why I am in broadcasting is because I want to start a worldwide ministry through media that promotes worth. I want every soul put on this earth to know they are priceless and they are cherished. It makes me sad seeing all the self- shaming, heartache, confusion etc. there is in the world because we ( including myself ) have forgotten that we are worth something. I want to show Gods love to a world of people who have forgotten it is there. 

So again, thank you For King and Country for influencing my life the past 5 years and for reminding me why I do what I do. 

Fighting for truth. 
Showing every girl she is a warrior. 

I want a friend like Keith

Keith is about a girl named Natalie who has it all, shes got the dream guy, successful tennis player, and a smart girl. This is all true until she gets Keith as her chemistry partner, little did she know he would turn her world upside down. Keith shows Natalie this way of life that she never knew was possible. He takes ordinary things and makes it fun but also is sure to hold back parts of himself to keep Natalie guess. Towards the end of the movie Natalie finds out the ultimate secret about Keith that changes everything. Once she finds this out everything about what she did with Keith throughout there time together makes sense.

This movie is one of my favorites because of  Keith's character. I wish I had a Keith in my life because he has this way of living life in a fun way. I wish sometimes I would be so uptight about school and just have fun with my friends and do weird things that aren't normal to the world. He takes the game of bowling to a whole new level that I won't spoil for you but makes me wish I could of come up with it. Keith is just a very original movie that makes you laugh and cry.

Fundamentals of Caring

Fundamentals of Caring is one of my favorite movies because of how real it is. Fundamentals of Caring is about a writer who becomes a disabled teens care giver after an unfortunate event. They eventually began to embark on on a journey to see everything on the teens bucket list. Now you may be thinking oh what a mushy movie actually it's not, it ends really funny and everything is funny in between. The movie begins with the teen messing with the adult into thinking he is dumb and can't understand anything, from there it's the teen messing with the adult in a lot of cruel ways but is really funny. This movie shows that just because you are disabled that doesn't mean you can't have fun and be a normal teen including finding a love interest of course. 

This movie is so interesting to me because in High School I worked in the special needs classroom and those kids taught me more about myself than I taught them. They made me realize that just because someone puts a label on you that you can't do something that doesn't mean you should give up. You should strive to go past what they say you can't do. 

Hairspray Live

Hairspray live really wasn't that impressive to me. Hairspray is one of my favorite Broadway shows of all time but honestly I wasn't impressed with this showing of it. A big reason I wasn't impressed was probably the casting choice. I think Ariana Grande being in this show was the dumbest decision you could make. Her voice has always not been one of my favorites because of how fake it sounds and it did not fit into the time and type of music in this musical. This show is placed in the 60's and Ariana Grande's voice is way to well as I said before fake. Her voice you can tell is messed with in the audio room and you really can tell in this musical.





Her voice is just not one for Broadway and especially for the 60's. Her voice immediately turned me off as soon as she started singing and it's sad that one voice can turn off a whole musical but it can. It also annoyed me at the end how they kind of made the show all about her by having her sing the last song, this show isn't about Ariande Grande it's about showing you can do anything no matter who you are or what you look like. The one good thing about her in this show is she had the most clothes on I've ever seen on her.

Short Term 12

I watched the rest of Short Term 12 the night after we watched it in class and I have to say I love this movie. Short Term 12 may be my new favorite movie because of how real it is.  The way Short Term 12 was written is so authentic and real. This movie makes you believe you are there and really lets you into the life of every character and just what they are feeling. It shows that these kids aren’t underprivileged these kids were raised my idiotic parents who aren’t stable and that’s not their fault. It opens yours eyes to the fact they didn’t ask to have the problems they have it just happened.

This movie really made me think about all the friends I’ve come in contact with in the past and how they had issues with people for no reason and just how maybe it was how they were treated at home why they respond in that way. Even in my own life I struggle a lot with anger and hiding my emotions because of the way my parents have responded to them before. It just makes that phrase everyone is fighting their own battle so real. 

How I Met Your Mother

I finished the TV series How I Met Your Mother recently and I just must say this show is planned out so well. During the entire show, you think the character is trying to find the love of his life which he does but in the end, you realize the entire show is about him and another character and their love story. This show is so neat because the director is fooling you the entire time without you even knowing which I think is genius. There are not enough shows out there that are carefully planned out from the beginning of the show to the very end of the show. 

I think every filmmaker trying to make a TV series should take notes from this one because have a big long story line is what kept me watching. I watched this series in three weeks simply because I wanted to know what the ultimate question who was the love of his life going to be when in reality the love of his life was right in front of me since the very first episode.  Its such a unique and clever way to get your audience hooked to your show that should be used more often. 

Hannah Montana Annoys Me

So the other night for fun I watched the Hannah Montana movie because I saw it was on Netflix. I must say this show and movie is stupid. Like this movie never aligned with the show. During the movie, she tells her town about how she is Hannah Montana and has a boyfriend and yet that never comes up in the season after the movie. This really ticks me off because if you are going make a movie from a show in the first place then why not make it apart of the show. There is no point in making a movie about a show if you aren’t going to align it with what happens before and after the movie. 

They did well with making sure it was aligned with what happened in the season before but after the movie you never hear of anything that happened during the movie. It’s really annoying because there were some key points during the movie that would have been relevant to the show and it actually would of made the show a lot better altogether. This is Disney we are talking about however, they tend to always do this when they make movies from shows, they can never seem to get continuing the show from the movie would make sense. 

Fuller House slowly getting better

I watched the second season of Fuller House and I must say I was a little more impressed. I was not impressed really at all with the first season of Fuller House because it didn’t feel like same as the original show Full House. Now you might think well duh it wasn’t the same it’s a different show well if you go and look at the articles leading up to the premiere they said we are bringing the show back therefore leading you to think it’s going to be like the old show. The ways it wasn’t like the old show is I wouldn’t call it necessarily kid friendly, there is a lot adult humor throughout the entire show that I don’t think I would want my kids hearing. The story line is annoyingly the same but the kid friendly show isn’t there anymore because of things said and the immodest clothes worn.

The reason I say the second season impressed me more was there was more of an original story line to it. In the first season, it just feels like a repeat of the old show story line but now it is starting to have its own feel. It’s still not family oriented I would say but clothes felt more appropriate in this season as opposed to the last. I haven’t lost all hope so hopefully season by season it will get better. 

Inside Out

Inside Out is an inside look of the brain. Inside out is kind of an old movie now but it quite interesting all together. This idea of that we have these special memories that make up who we are and memories that yeah are good but don’t make up much. This idea is curious to me because I don’t believe I agree with it. There are not specific memories in my life that make up who I am, it’s all my memories that make up who I am.  I didn’t just have just four experiences and boom that’s the end, I have multiple and most of them are bad.

Unlike the movie, I guess these experiences that make up who I am today aren’t all good, they are all honestly bad. I get where they were going with it I suppose but I don’t like how much it was focused on being happy like it’s not okay to feel any other emotion. This whole movie is about the “happy” emotion trying to prevent the other emotions from doing anything which I think is dumb to teach a child. Emotions aren’t a bad thing; the world keeps trying to teach children and adults that it is. God created emotions for a reason even if they don’t feel so great, they are a way to process through what’s going on in your life, pretending and avoiding your emotions isn’t going to get you anywhere. I just have well I guess you could say mixed emotions about film. 

Sweet and Vicious

 MTV came out with a new TV Series called Sweet and Vicious I just happened to stumble upon it this weekend and began watching it. This series is about two college girls who go and find boy’s that have raped girls and injure them to punish them for the wrong they have done. I love this show not because of how they react to the situation I don’t necessarily agree with it but what it does do it bring the awareness of rape cases that happen on college campuses. At the end of every episode they put up a number of a service that helps girls who have been raped and lets them know they are not alone.

It’s sad but true that people are starting to look by girls who say they have been raped. This show brings awareness to the fact of what I believe which is that if the boy who rapes you is a major part of a sports team he gets by with rape. This is a very controversial topic but just look in the news and you will see boys are basically just getting a slap on the wrist for harming a girl physically and emotionally all because they want sex. 

Imagination is key

Over the weekend, I watched the move “The Secret Life of Pets” for the first time since it came out on DVD. When watching in the theater I didn’t really catch just the amount of imagination that needed to happen for it to work. The amount of imagination that had to go into well I wonder what pets would do when we leave for our daily duties. One of my favorite parts of this film was they had a bird turn on a fan and then turn on the TV to plans flying and then the bird flying with them. I found this unique and an interesting way of thinking of what a bird would do when at home alone.

 

I don’t think I could have thought up all the things in this movie and I think it just shows how much working as a team can be effective. I imagine the creators of this movie all sitting in a room putting up a list of animals and just thinking what they might do when they are at work. I’m sure it was a really funny conversation and I wish I could have been a part of it to see the things they came up with that didn’t make the film. 

Trapped - Short Film

Trapped is about a teenage girl who is pregnant. During the entire film it’s like you are inside her mind, it makes you begin to think about what if I was in that positon. The film starts with her questioning why it happened to her, she even points out that when she was with this guy she never imagined this is where I would lead to. She stated “it felt so real and so right at the time” when talking about the boy and I couldn’t help but think how many times have I said that when referring to something I regret

It’s hard to think that when something feels so right it could end up being so wrong. Apart of my story is I went through a period where I only relied on guys to fulfill the love I so desired and not God. With every one of those guys I would convince myself it feels so right when it wasn’t. I knew it wasn’t right, I knew what I was doing wrong but for some reason once our brain hears those words “it felt right at the time” it seems everything is justify and it wasn’t our own fault causing us to feel like the girl in the short film felt, trapped. 

Do I miss you or your role in my life?

I Miss You is a short film by Beyond Tomorrow Films, this film is about a boy who is writing to his past girlfriend about how he misses her but I think the key element he says is “I miss loving someone and someone loving me back”. At the end of the film the last scene you see is him deleting the window and never letting the girl know how he really feels. This short film brings up this subject of when we say we miss someone from our past do we really miss them or miss the role they had in our life?

 

I find for me this is so true, I often want to text someone I haven’t talked to in a long time and see how they are doing. I will get to point I write the message out and then I delete it like the boy did to his email in the film, I delete it because as I’m writing I am then reminded that they are in the past for a reason and they need to stay there. I tend to be a person that will hold onto you no matter how many times you hurt me so if you are in my past you are there for a very good reason.  This whole idea of do we miss the person or their role is so curious to me. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4F5oD7G40ng

Finally a girl who saves herself, about time Disney.

Moana is a turn for Disney films, for the first time in a long time I sat there watching and didn’t feel like I was watching a Disney movie. Moana was very authentic and true to the culture it was portraying. Of course, as Disney has begun to do they had one liners making fun of some of their other films but one thing there wasn’t was romance. The aspect of there being no romance is, honestly, one of the big reasons I love it so much. I hate how Disney is telling children a man must protect the woman. I believe a big reason why when girls get older they tend to love so quickly is because of the movies we grew up on.

Not only do girls tend to love so quickly but we have these high expectations and feel we must rely on men to save us. We grow up on all these movies, stories, of men so brave and strong rescuing the girl from evil. We see what the movies say how a guy must be the one to save you from your problems and you can’t do it yourself. When in reality you will never find, a man like in the movies because they are a character, not real. Sorry if this is ruining your childhood but Prince Charming isn’t real, he’s not just going to come in and save you from your fears. Moana was so amazing because Disney finally got it right, women don’t need a man to save them, they can do it perfectly fine on their own.