Author: qharris24

McCloud’s ‘Time Frames’ Blog Post

,
qharris24

Scott McCloud’s visual essay made me think about the possibilities of time manipulation in digital cinema when he talked about the space between the panels being a “gutter”. From what I gathered from the comic is that the gutter is a moment where time is dictated by the reader. The gutter represents the moments after what we just saw, or in some cases could be guiding the flashback to a memory of the characters.

Movies that I can think of that do a good job at showcasing a manipulation of time are Inception by Christopher Nolan. The movie plays with the idea of dreams happening within dreams. In each dream time moves slower and slower.

There was also Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction film. The film used a disjointed narrative structure. The film used a timeline to help tie together stories that made the whole movie’s story.

There is also movies that have been iconically referenced like the Matrix. Where Neo is dodging bullets in slow motion. The slow motion was to represent the movement of time.

-Quincy Harris

Autumn Mist Blog Post

qharris24

Autumn Mist is an amazing French short film. It’s directed by Dimitri Krisanoff. It’s a 12 minute silent film that was released in 1929.

The main theme of the 12 minute movie is that a woman is left by her lover and is dealing with the emotions that follow her loss. There’s a lot of focus on her face conveying the emotion of hopelessness and sadness.

There’s a moment where it starts raining and the camera focuses on the rain hitting the ground. This moment shifts the tone to let the viewers know this is her physical manifestation of her emotions happening on scene. This is later backed up by the fact that when the sun comes out we see her shift from her dark thoughts to seeing the light. Both physically and metaphorically.

Overall this is a great example of how shots can convey emotions. The shots can tell just as much of a story as if someone was reading the words to the story to you.

Overall it was a great watch.

-Quincy Harris

Making Space Video

, ,
qharris24

I had some issues coming up with a concept or story that could help depict continuity editing. Though, I feel this video of me making and enjoying a cup of coffee worked with the overall technique needed for this video. I tried to keep the coffee mug in the same hand for every different walking scene. Also, I picked up the coffee mug using the same hand that I am walking and holding the coffee mug in for those scenes.

-Quincy

30 Second Day

qharris24

https://youtu.be/8N5O76oQCPQ

My 30 second day video I wanted to showcase my snow day off. Unfortunately due to the weather my tri-pod phone stand arrived late so I had to get creative with how I filmed my shots. I wanted to showcase time lapse shots of the day changing from morning to day and from day to night. The tasks in between are my usual chores such as doing the dishes, keeping up with laundry, and cooking dinner along with playing a video game. I am no professional when it comes to filming something like this, to be honest it was my first attempt at this idea. I think it was a cool exercise and I tried to incorporate a mixture of video filmed moments and still photos to tell the story.

-Quincy

A Film That Builds Sandcastles Using the Sands of Time: “Run Lola, Run”

, , ,
qharris24

Introduction:

The 1998 film “Run Lola Run” is a true work of cinematic magic. Director Tom Tykwer did a magnificent job directing this experimental thriller. Tykwer does a masterful job using this film to visually build sandcastles out of the sands of time.

Narrative Storytelling:

The film uses continuity rules to stitch together each scene. Tykwer does so in a way that makes you as the viewer feel like you’ve watched a story that had the good ending. Especially compared to the first two story outcomes for the characters.

Editing:

Franka Potente is the actress who plays Lola. She is tasked with getting to her boyfriend Manni before he changes their lives forever. The shots are edited in a way that makes you feel Lola’s sense of urgency. Shots of her running out of her apartment, down the street. She passes people on her mission and were shown different outcomes for most of them each time she hangs up the phone and starts the cycle again. Tykwer uses still images flashing on the screen to show us the outcomes of these people with quick flashes on the screen. The soundtracks also help build the scenes of Lola running.

Time:

Tykwer uses scenes to compress how time feels or stretch how long time feels. Each section of the film is 20 minutes. There are 3 different runs that Lola goes on while showing the time on the clock we also feel the time due to the clear starts and ends to each of the runs. Overall, this film has great passing that keeps you watching and involved in the story.

Conclusion:

“Run Lola Run” is a great showcase of what cinema can do for storytelling. The momentum of the story mixed with Lola’s determination to achieve her goal each time makes for an amazing tale. Tykwer made amazing editing choices to help tell this story. This film can be rewatched and still match the energy the first time it was viewed. An amazing film I’d recommend to anyone to check out at least once.

-Quincy Harris