Remix and Meme Forum Questions

Synthesize the readings. What are some common themes?

All of the 4 readings have a common theme: social media, viral popularity and the ability of anyone to make an adaption through a picture images, video clips and/or text and sound to make an argument. Before the internet, if something was filmed or published, the authors had to go through a rigorous process for the most part to have their work receive any kind of attention. Now with social media, YouTube, Vemio, etc, anyone can be an author. There are no longer that many hoops to jump through. I believe memes, meme culture and video remixes are just ways the common public makes a statement involving the many things they may not have control over. However, they do have control over one thing: what they publish or create on social media in response.

What is Kuhn’s main idea? How does it relate to adaptation, authorship and/or editing?

Due to the abundance of video hosting sites including Youtube, Vimeo and others, along with remixing tools available to the general public, video remix has taken on a world of it’s own. Kuhn believes that remix videos have been limited in their categorization because the ethics of cinematic theory have been placed on video remix, she believes looking at video remix through a rhetorical theory lens is more beneficial.  According to Kuhn, “a remix is a digital utterance expressed across the registers of the verbal, the aural, and the visual” (Kuhn, 2012, p. 3).

Kuhn believes that the roots of video remix arises in the Soviet montage approach associated with Dziga Vertov, Sergei Eisenstein, and Lev Kuleshov with montage and collages, but they focus on visuals. Kuhn belives that we mix in sound, you make an interplay between sound and visuals, and those are the differences.

I believe when a person is looking at a video remix, they are looking at a particular message the author wanted to get across. The author uses other peoples’ work, from the video(s) to the music, etc. and basically rearranges/edits them to give another point of view or argument. I believe video remix can be great educational tools but some of them you have to really consider the source. Video remixes can be just as biased as the person who made it, so I believe when viewing a remix you really need to have a understand of what the video remix is originally about and what point the author is trying to cross. Kuhn believes that a video remix provides a strategic digital argument, and remix cites, synthesizes and juxtaposes it’s sources (Kuhn, 2012).

I believe the video remix titled “We Want Your Soul” by Mr. Mondialisation is a great example of a video remix showing how corporate America looks to take over your thoughts and ideas (a.k.a soul) through advertising. Clips from hundred of commercials trying to sell product and giving people a certain way of thinking is paired with the chanting song “We Want Your Soul” by DJ Adam Freeland. I believe in this remix, it makes it seem as if people can’t even think for themselves, everything is mediated and driven by the media and advertising. We are always being told what to buy, what’s in style, how to act on TV and so on. Also, are lives are consumed by numbers, such as our credit card numbers, social security numbers, how much money we make, etc. Everything is dehumanized. “Here you are America, you are free to do as we tell you.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDiIxPO_r6M

3) What is Rintel’s main argument? How does it relate to issues of adaptation, authorship, and/or editing?

Through the use of social media, memes, images, either superimposed or pictures with a text style and white font, have been created to poke fun or voice opinions of the masses. Many memes are created in response to natural disasters, political and crises issues, and some just for humor. Rintel says there is some drawback with memes in the fact that many of them use copyrighted content. I believe the main argument for Rintel is that Internet memes have become a staple for people voicing their concerns and their right to freedom of speech.

When it comes to adaptation, authorship and editing, I believe that is pretty much the main definition of a meme. A person takes one picture and adds text to it to get a point across. The text can be humorous, educational, offensive, or just for laughs. One thing I did not realize is that there are actually websites dedicated to creating your own meme, and that they are very template. Anyone can make a meme and it can go viral within days.

My issues with memes is that they are so many of them, when are they going to stop? Honestly, until last week I did not really know the images I see all over social media actually had a name, a meme, I just knew they were super annoying and they are everything. I thought to myself, can anyone make a meme with photoshop? If that’s the case, these are silly.  Anyone can put any text on a picture they want and all of a sudden it’s supposed to be important, and funny? I think they are annoying.  Several years ago I saw the humor in them but now I try to ignore them at all costs, because as soon as a storm comes, you’ll see tons of superimposed images, if any law changes, here comes a string of random memes by random people, if a celebrity makes a bad move, they have thousands if not millions of their own memes the next day. I may make a general assumption here, but I feel that people who have time to sit and make memes and share them need to find something with more structure to do with their time.

What questions/critiques do you have about the articles this week?

My issues with both the Kuhn and Rintel article is that anyone with access to a computer can create and publicize any type of meme or video remix they want. I believe video remixes for the most part can have some educational value, but I think to get the most from a video remix a person needs to know all sides of the story. Video remixes and memes are just the general public’s way of making a statement, but for some reason I feel a little uneasy just watching something anyone can put together. I think you have to look at them with a more critiquing eye.

Internet memes- will they every go away or will people lose interest in them? Since they are so overwhelmingly popular now, I feel like at some point people will lose interest. I remember E-cards were popular in 2007, and now I have seen them less and less online.

Kuhn, Virgina. (2012). “The Rhetoric of Remix.” In “Fan/Remix Video,” edited by Francesca Coppa and Julie Levin Russo, special issue, Transformative Works and Cultures, no. 9. Doi:10.3983/twc.2012.0358

Rintel, S. (2011). Crises memes: The importance of templatability to internet culture and freedom of expression.

Documentary Forum

Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work

In this study Aufderheide et all takes a look at the ethical challenges filmmakers have when filming documentaries. In order to find these answers, they conduct interview sessions with several filmmakers, and I find it interesting that some choose to use their names in the interviews while others wished to remain anonymous. A few of the overriding ideas with human subjects where to not harm to the subjects, and to preemptively protect the subject.

It is particularly interesting to see how filmmakers would continue to film certain scenes, and then later decide to “edit” them a certain way or omit scenes in which might cast a bad light on the subject or even place them in legal trouble. One such filmmaker describes shooting a documentary of a company that employs illegal immigrants. The filmmaker still shot the documentary but left that fact out. They also did no call the police, they just left it alone.

Another issue documentary filmmakers come across is deciding whether or not to resell their images. Most agreed that it is a case-by-case basis depending on how the subject will be presented in the next project, another said that it is a way of bringing in revenue. Throughout the text, the filmmakers stressed to the subjects that they are not journalist, and they spend more time with the subjects in order to create a stronger relationship.

Also, when it comes to showing the subjects the films before it was finished, most of the filmmakers agreed they would never do that. The could only see the final product. One filmmaker said she never showed her subjects the current work, but in order to keep the trust she would show them her past work.

In the conclusion, Aufderheide et all say that documentarians in a large part feel a larger ethical obligation to tell a story that fiction filmmakers do not face because they have to tell a story that often was not meant to be told.

Documentary As Adaptation: An Intertextual Analysis of An Injury to One

Author Walker Metz takes one documentary, An Injury to One from 2002 and compares it other text, including a historical film, a play and a novel. Mets says the film is compared in profit to The Salt of the Earth in 1953, as it was both difficult to find funding for both films due to the nature of films. The style of the film, an Injury to One is compared to the play The Threepenny Opera from 1928 due to the photographs used and the narration. The novel “Red Harvest” (1929) also depicts the same story as an Injury to One, as it is inspired by the murder of Frank Little.

 An Injury to One depicts the story or Frank Little with very different film aesthetics, something that Metz says is hard to watch. It is meant to give more of a distinct political message, instead of drawing people in on a popular movie with fancy shots and colors. Comparisons of the songs used in An Injury to One are made to the songs in The Threepenny Opera.

The differences in Metz's work from Aufderheide et all is that Metz takes one particular film and compares it to three other texts. He analyzes the message and shows that while it is a documentary, it uses pieces from three other fictional works to tell the story. Aufderheide et all talk of the ethical nature of documentaries, and do not focus on one particular work.

Documentary-for-the-Other: Relationships, Ethics, and (Observational) Documentary

 Author Kate Nash takes the work of Emmanual Levinas as uses it as a guide for documentary scholars. She believes Levinas provides a framework that other filmmakers can base their documentary ethics from. According to Winston, documentaries and journalism seem to clash when the idea that a documentary should present unmediated access to the truth (Nash, 2011).

I believe the argument Nichols makes is very similar to Auderheide et all work, “Filmmakers have an obligation to minimize the harms associated [of the people} with documentary representation” (Nash, 2011, p. 226). I can see truth in all of the opinions Nash brings up, but I most closely agree to Maccarone who says a documentary is a film that attempts to tell a story as it happen from a particular perspective (Nash, 2011).

Another idea that Nash discusses is Pryluck’s belief that observational documentary overrides the rights of the participants and subjects them to humiliation, shame and indignity in the private good. However, in this type of documentary the subjects are being opened up to any kind of ridicule that even the filmmaker may not be aware.

Crumb The Documentary

Before the readings, I would of viewed Crumb as very strange and vulgar (even after the readings, I still do) maybe even to the point of a mental disorder. I think I would have a negative viewpoint of Robert Crumb just from his drawings, and how in depth the film goes into his sexual desires. After the readings, I was viewing the film through a more relationship perspective, including the relationship between Crumb and the director, and the various relationships with Crumb and the people in the documentary.

From the Nash and Auderheide et all readings, I don’t think Robert Crumb particularly cares how he is portrayed. He is a quirky guy, and that worked for him. I don’t believe he is hiding anything, and if people are fans of him that’s what they like about him. I do not believe many people could pull this off.

 I do wonder the ethical implications that are placed on his family, including his sisters and his children and wife. I think his children, particularly his daughter in the documentary may be too young to realize what exactly is going on. It is no doubt that Crumb’s work and beliefs are questionable to many people, but I can’t help but wonder what that will mean for his daughter as she grows older. Also, his obsession with sex in his drawings, what does that say about his family growing up as a child? What does this say about the women who shaped him, including his mother, first wife, current wife, etc? As I said before, obviously this does not matter to Crumb, but I believe it could adverse effects on those in his immediate family. I think with all documentaries you should take a look at all who are affected.

A few months ago I rented a documentary on a family, titled Stories We Tell by Sarah Polley. The youngest daughter (Sarah) presented a documentary on her family after her beloved mother passed away. There were several children in the family, however, Sarah, the youngest daughter was a surprise and throughout her childhood the other siblings joked that she was only their half sibling- that their mother had had an affair. As the daughter grew older, after the mother had passed away to terminal illness, she investigated the truth and found out who her biological father was. In doing so, she exposed the secrets of her family and confirmed that her mother had an affair. At the time of watching the documentary, I thought it was interesting and I was happy the daughter found out the truth, however in doing so she exposed the secrets of her family and even her deceased mother. I believe in documentaries, it’s almost as if some people gain for it while it causes pain for others.

I believe the same can be said for reality TV. Its all a matter of opinion and if the people involved care to be exposed. Some people will do anything for a shot at “fame” while others prefer to keep to themselves and not be judged.

Aufderheide, P., Jaszi, P., & Chandra, M. (2009). Honest truths: Documentary Filmmakers on ethical challenges in their work. Center for Social Media.

Metz, W. C. (n.d.). Documentary as adaptation. In Montana State University.

Nash, K. (2011). Documntary-for-the-other: Relationships, ethics and (observational) documentary. In Journal of Mass Media EthicsTaylor and Francis Group.

Zwigoff, T. (Director) (1994). Crumb [Web]. Retrieved from http://viooz.co/movies/4185-crumb-1994.html

Authorship Forum

According to Wimsatt and Beardsley, there are five propositions that enable a person to critique a poem, or written work. My interpretations of them are: The first is that a person creates a poem, the poem should not create intellect, or rewrite the wheel. Second, a poem is only successful if a critic understands what a poem is trying to accomplish, if he has to go outside the poem, it isn’t successful. Third, a poem must make sense for it to even work. If someone cannot understand the words, then it has no benefit. Fourth, a poem can be the creation of the author spoken with their beliefs, however a poem should be more objective. The author is just the creator, in order for it work, the speaker must be able to make sense of it. Finally, if an author ever writes a revision, it’s only because he is trying to write a better work than then previous one (Beardsley & Wimsatt, 1946).

According to Wimsatt and Beardsley, the intentional fallacy is created when a critic takes into consideration where the author is coming from when they create the work. This is creating a fallacy, a work should stand on it’s own and be able to have the message told without placing yourself in the author’s shoes. Critics create the intentional fallacy by understanding, or attempting to understand the state of mind of the author. According to Wimsatt and Beadsley, the author is only a biological act of interference (Beardsley & Wimsatt, 1946).

I have mixed feelings on the intentional fallacy. I understand that the poem should be objective in order for people to understand it, but where does creativity and imagination come in to play? Bearsley & Wimsatt compared the poem to a machine, and I believe the two are nothing alike. A poem is a work of art by the author so in a sense it can be left up to interpretation if that is what the author would like, but a machine only has one way to work. The two really cannot be compared.  I think in a poem, there is a flexibility with being creative and have the work left up to the readers interpretation, but perhaps when writing a novel or a more educational book, you have to be objective.

Stoddart - What are the origins of the auteur theory? What were some early critiques of this theory? How has the theory changed over time? How does the audience "author" a text?

Originally shaped by Andrew Sarris, auteur theory “values the personality of the director precisely because of the barriers to its expression” (Stoddart, 1995, p. 42). Sarris explained auteur theory through three different circles, which stood for the intersection between the auteur’s technique, style and interior meaning.  Basically, the author of the film is the director as they “create” the film and the message through their style of directing including camera angles, shooting style and technique. Acorrding to Alexis Carreiro, in Script to Screen Introduction, the auteur theory says that great films come from great directors, and they incorporate a signature style across their films.

An origin of the auteur theory according to Stoddart comes from the 1930’s when the social status of film was compared to an art form. “The first writings on film authorship constituted an attempt by French intellectuals to recuperate film from its designation as merely a commercial and industrial enterprise, to incorporate it into the ranks of classical art (Stoddart, 1995, p. 39)

An early critique of auteur theory, Stoddart says that Cahier’s claims of auteur status neglected the commercial and industrial origins of film production. The attention was paid to what made the director’s film personal and unique, and not what made films popular (Stoddart, 1995, p. 41).  Also, since the advent of the auteur theory, the theory has changed into more of a collaborative approach. According to Carreiro, collaborative authorship studies explore Hollywood filmmaking as a process among several key workers, including the directors, screenwriters, producers, cinematographers, etc. (Carreiro, 2010, p.  3)

I believe an audience author’s a text because they place themselves in it. When I read a text or watch a film, I become that character. I develop their sense of being and with each move in the plot I place myself in their situation.

(This question relates to Carreiro's article and will require you to look beyond the readings for your answer.) What key collaborations/collaborators (in film, tv, music, art, etc?) do you believe deserve co-author credit? Why? What empirical evidence would you use/gather to make this co-author argument?

As far as collaborations as film, I immediately thought back to the film Avatar. With all of it’s hype when it was released in 2009, all I heard was the name, James Cameron. Cameron was both the writer and director of the film, but with the style of cutting and editing, I would think the editor would deserve more credit as well. After researching the film Avatar, I finally found the editors were: James Cameron, Stephen E. Rivkin and John Refoua. Personally, I have never heard of the last two. From my understanding of what goes into the process of creating a film, and the fact that Avatar was such a blockbuster and the first of it’s kind, I would think there should be recognition to the editing role. James Cameron takes over all of it since he was the writer and director, but he is also listed as a co-editor, pretty much taking all of the credit for the film. For my understanding of how the editors and directors collaborate together to make the film, I think it may be a little far fetched that he was given then title of co-editor as well. If that’s the case, then are all directors titled co-editors also?

Also, in the music field, there are a lot of collaborations that simply don’t even give credit to the other person in the song. For example, Flo Rida’s hit song “Right Round” released in 2009 with Ke$sha vocals. At the time of the release, Ke$sha was not credited although her voice is throughout the song.

 What questions/critiques do the readings raise for you?

As far as critiques from the readings, I do not fully agree with the intentional fallacy in regards to a poem. I think a poem can by very subjective, similar to a piece of art. Some people will understand it, some won’t, and other can take different things from it. People are not wired to think the same. I also raise the question, where does the screenwriter come into play on a film? I would think where the film idea was originally conceived, and the writer would have a huge collaboration to the work as well. As Carreiro stated, it seems the director is the one everyone answers to, so that is why the director is the most known, besides the actors, in the film.

References

Beardsley, M. C., & Wimsatt, W. K. (1946). The intentional fallacy.

Carreiro, A. (2010). Script-to-Screen: Film Editing and Collaborative Authorship During the Hollywood Renaissance.Austin, TX

Stoddart, H. (1995). Auteurism and film authorship theory. In J. Hallows & M. Jancovich (Eds.), Approaches to Popular Film.New York, New York: Manchester University Press.

Storyboard Assignment: The Greatest Accessory of Them All

Original Text Description	Shooting Script, example	Analysis
[Poem] “People care too much, how their hair looks..”	Shot 1- Medium Long Shot. The voiceover of a young girl saying the lines. The scene is shot in a middle school girl’s bathroom, middle of the day. There are about 5 girls looking in the long mirror, combing and teasing their hair, some applying lipstick. They are all dressed in jeans, jeans skirts, with colorful tops but the focus is not on their clothes.	This frame is meant to depict the amount of attention girls place on looks, as they are shown primping and fixing their hair in the high school bathroom. It’s a medium length shot so several girls can be shown from the waist up fixing their hair. The crowded bathroom shot is to emphasize how many girls place the need to look a certain way as a high priority. It is also emphasizing that while they are supposed to be in school to learn, here they are fixing their hair in the bathroom.
[Poem] “…or their clothes.”	Shot 2: V/O of young girl. Wide Shot: Women’s Boutique Clothing Store, middle of the day with plenty of lighting coming through the windows. It pans the store to show the amount of trendy, colorful clothes and jewelry throughout the store. It focuses in on one girl, about 13 years old with brown hair, in the back of the store looking in the mirror, trying on a dress with long sleeves in a chevron black and white pattern. She spins in the mirror and smiles, but keeps looking at the price tag.	This frame is shot wide and pans to show the entire store. It is a trendy, boutique with clothes ranging anywhere from $50 and up to pretty expensive. It is the type of boutique that appeals to young women and girls, ages 13 to mid 30s primarily. When it zooms in on the girl trying on the chevron dress, her twirling in the dress in the mirror signifies how much she really wants the dress, but as she constantly looks at the price tag, her expression changes. She realizes the dress is too expensive, but perhaps she is really trying to fit in at school or to impress someone.
[Poem] “..they don’t care about what matters..”	Shot 3- V/O of young girl. Medium shot of rows of magazines in the store, featuring beautiful women on the covers, with tag lines of “how to look your best, how to have better sex, how to tone and shape your butt, etc”	In this shot, “they” represents media and the fashion industry. It is meant to show a colorful array of magazines that target young women and girls. It is meant to show what many girls are subjected to seeing as ideal, and the various headlines show what “they” portray as important and what matters…looking your best, having better sex, and toning your body.
[Poem] “..the soul.”	Shot 4: V/O of young girl. Close up of the young girl’s face as she is looking down, skimming through a magazine at that store the she has picked up. Her brown hair is slightly covering her face, and she has a blank store flipping through the magazine.	This frame is to signify that the voice over that we have been hearing throughout the scenes, and the girl in shot 2 and 3 is that of the girl in this shot. She is about 13 years old, and the shot is close up to give a glimpse of her emotions. Her face is blank, and her hair is covering part of her face, while she is looking down towards the magazine she is holding. This is to signify a lot of emotions in this girl’s face, perhaps that she is insecure about what she is seeing in the magazine. The close up shot is also to look deeper in the character, so you can feel what she is feeling. You can sense the anxiety and the angst.
[Poem] ‘The soul is what truly matters, that thing that is deep inside.”	Shot 5: V/O of young girl (this is the voice of the girl shown in shot 4) Wide shot, outside overlooking a field in the countryside, with a large tree with bare branches extending. The wind blows through the stalks in the field, creating a peaceful sound. It is sunset, so there is a serene orange glow cast over the field and the tree. The girl is seen standing in the middle of the field, middle of the frame and the tree is to the right of her. Her back is facing the shot. The wind blows her brown hair, and the blousy green long sleeve top she is wearing with a flowing long white skirt. Her arms are extended behind her.	This frame is to show a very peaceful and serene countryside. The girl has her back towards the shot, and that is so we can understand she is taking in the peaceful environment. It is as if she has escaped the hustle of school and the pressures to look a certain way, and she is hear alone in the countryside, with nothing but her thoughts. This frame is also to signify that there is more to a person than just an outward appearance. It shows a lot of inward thinking and reflection for the young girl, as she is starting to come into herself as a young woman.
[Poem] “The soul is always fashionable, no matter what the season is.]	Shot 6: V/O of young girl. Medium close up from the right side of the girl’s face. She is still outside as in the previous shot, this is just zoomed in on her face at this angle. The sun is setting at such a point towards the camera that is cast a warm, yellow glow throughout the back and side of the shot. The wind is still blowing through her hair, and she has a slight smile on her face as she takes in all of the elements of this beautiful countryside.	This frame shows the close up of her face as she smiles and breathes in the fresh air. You can sense her happiness and acceptance of herself.
[Poem] “The soul is something that changes color a million times…”	Shot 7: V/O of young girl. Wide shot, same outdoor setting, it is sun set, the wind is still rustling the stalks in the field. The girl is seen walking away from the camera up a slight hill, the wind is blowing her brown hair back towards the camera. Her loose green long sleeved shirt and long white skirt are blowing back towards the camera. She has her right hand outstretched, slightly touching the stalks the wind has blown towards her as she continues to walk along.	This frame shows her walking away from the camera. The walking away symbolizes change throughout a person’s life. She is moving from one stage of her life to another. The wind blowing the stalks as she walks by, and she reaches out gracefully to touch them is very peaceful and signifies her oneness and acceptance with nature.
[Poem] “From when you are born..”	Shot 8: V/O of young girl. Medium long shot, the girl is sitting down on a dark brown sofa, but you can barely see it. The scene is semi shot is over her shoulder, but angled to the right so you can still see the side of her face and her expression. Due to her sitting, you can see her wearing jeans and white sweater, she has a photo album in her lap, her face is solemn, and she is looking at a picture of a baby girl, with brown hair. The baby is probably a few days old, in a white dress, and is crying in the picture.	This frame shows the young girl looking through a family photo album at a picture of herself as a baby. It is important to note that the girl is wearing a white sweater, and in the baby picture she has a white dress on. This is connecting the two, and the audience should be able to make the connection that the girl is looking back at a picture of herself as a baby.
[Poem] “To when you die”	Shot 9: V/O of young girl. Medium shot, same setting as previous frame, camera is angled over the girl’s shoulder, but in closer where you can see more of her hands. You can see her brown hair in the frame on the left side, and you can see her hands closing the photo album. The photo album is white and has gold accents, and you can tell it has aged.	This frame is shot over the girl’s shoulder from her point of view. The closing of the family album is to signify that life does end. The photo album is meant to depict that life is full of memories and experiences, and that once we are gone, that is all that is left. This frame signifies death, but in a peaceful way.
[Poem] “My soul is yellow today, because I am happy inside.”	Shot 10: V/O of young girl. Close Up of girl’s face, is it evident she is outside due to the yellow hue in the shot. She is smiling and looking down at something, and has her hair pulled back in a pony tail. She is wearing a green shirt that you can just see the hints of.	This frame is just showing that she is happy, and she is smiling down at something but we are not sure of yet.
	Shot 11: Reverse shot,  medium close up. There is a young tabby cat that you can tell is looking out on a balcony in the sun. The cat is looking up, appearing to be looking at her owner, the young girl.	In the frame we find out what the girl is smiling and looking down at. She is a cat lover, and her cats make her happy. This shot also signifies the sweet innocence of animals.
[Poem] “On Wednesday my soul was green, because I envied another girl.”	Shot 12: V/O of young girl. Medium shot, over the girl’s shoulder. You can see her brown hair is down, in the left corner of the frame, and she has on a green long sleeved shirt. She is looking on a computer screen of a young blonde girl’s Facebook page.  She is scrolling though this girl’s Facebook feed, and sees this blonde girl appearing in many beautiful photographs with nice clothes and accessories, and her hair is perfectly styled everytime.	In this frame, the girl is frivolously scrolling through the blonde girl’s Facebook feed. You can tell she is jealous as she scrolls through the pictures of this beautiful blonde girl and how fast she is going through the Facebook feed. I chose to show jealously this way because this is how many young girls these days see jealousy. They are able to access social media sites, which can add to the problem.
[Poem] “The soul by far is the best accessory you can have..”	Shot 13: V/O of young girl. Wide shot, panning. The girl gets up from the computer at her desk in her room and walks to what appears to be her closet and looks in. After looking in the closet, which we do not see what is in there, she goes back to her desk and opens her computer.	This frame is meant to show emotion in the girl. After viewing the one girl’s Facebook feed and seeing the beautiful clothes and accessories, she decides to go to her closet and look at what clothes and purses are in there. This is to signify that the girl is comparing herself. After a second, she closes the closet door and sits back at her desk, realizing that she is being silly and letting senseless thoughts get the best of her.
	Shot 14: Close up, over the girl’s shoulder as she sits at the computer and opens up a blank Microsoft Word document and begins typing.	In this frame, the girl appears to have regained her senses, and is sitting at her computer and beings typing.
[Poem] “..and that’s what they should write in the magazines.”	Shot 15: V/O of young girl. Extreme close up, but only of the cursor moving across the Word Document as the girl begins writing an article on self-image and the media, and the soul, titled “The Greatest Accessory of them All.”	This frame signifies that the girl wants to write about self image, and she perhaps wants to change the way young girls think. It is an extreme close up, but only of the word document so you can see the letters type out across the screen. This signifies that the girl has learned a great deal and has done a lot of inward reflecting. Once she begins typing, you realize the girl is the author of the poem.

Visuals 

 Shot 11


       



 Shot 15





 Poem written by Junita Thiessen.


Thiessen, J. (2009, November). The greatest accessory of them all. Retrieved from http://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poem/the-greatest-accessory-of-them-all

Theory of Adaptation Forum

Adaptations are not new to our time, even Shakespeare transferred the stories of his culture to plays (Hutcheon, 2013, p.2).  It has been argued numerous times that adaptions take away from the original intent of the story or can even change the plot. There are some that argue the written word is sacred, and placing that on film denotes the value of it (Hutcheon, 2013).

With Hutcheon’s theory of adaption, she believes there is a certain appeal about adaptations. “Part of this pleasure, I want to argue, comes simply with repetition from variation, from the comfort of ritual combined with the piquancy of surprise” (Hutcheon, 2013, p.4). When there already is a film, or story that has great success and already has a following, it would seem to draw more people in to view another version of that story, whether it be a play, or spin-off or any other form of entertainment. If people are familiar with the plot, changing the way the story is seen visually would make sense.

I particularly like the example of The Lion King. As a child, it was one of my favorite movies. Now that has been turned into musicals and plays, I really want to go see the play. To me, it helps knowing the originally story so I can follow what is happening in the play as well. According to Hutcheon, adapters are aiming simply to reproduce the adapted text. Hutcheon always brings up the definition of adapt, which means to adjust a work and make it suitable for the different types of audiences.

To Hutcheon, there are three processes of an adaption. First, an adaption can be shift in medium, as in the example I gave above with The Lion King movie made into a musical play. Second, there is a process of creation, or recreation of the work based on a person’s particular interpretation of the work. Third, an adaptation can be interchangeable with other works we have at the time. “Most theories of adaption assume, however, that the story is the common denominator, the core of what is transposed across different media and different ways” (Hutcheon, 2013, p. 10).

The book The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl and the movie written and directed by Wes Anderson have some very different features. With the book by Dahl, the family of foxes live in a hole and survive completely off Mr. Fox’s hunting, or “stealing” capabilities every night. The movie has all of the animals taking on more human attributes, especially with the different jobs they hold. They seem more like a regular human family. At the urgings of Mrs. Fox, Mr. Fox stops stealing and holds a regular job. He moves his wife and son out of a hole and buys prime real estate in a tree. It isn’t until he realizes he wants to do more with his life that he decides to return to his stealing ways, but he must be very sneaky so his wife doesn’t find out.

While the plot line in the movie primarily follows the book, there are some other noticeable differences. The characters in the movie are more brash towards each other than the book. Also, in the book, Mr. Fox’s tail that was shot off will grow back, however in the movie it is mentioned that it won’t. Instead of having several little foxes that are brothers as in the book, there is only one son and a nephew that is just staying for a short period with the foxes.

Based on Hutcheon’s theory of adaption, I think the move The Fantastic Mr. Fox is a great adaption of the book. It’s is based off the book, but in order to make it into an animated film up to todays standards, key elements are added in. I loved the personification of the animals in the film, it seemed much like a traditional human family, especially with the different jobs each animal has and with their ability to buy houses, etc. 

Director Wes Carpenter took the book by Dahl, used the based story line and acknowledging the work, was creating and transformed it to movie and added specific elements that would appeal to today’s audience, and while he changed the content and the order of events from the book, he still followed the basic storyline. I feel it is a successful adaption of the book, but as always, I like to read the book first before I watch it to make sure I fully understand the plotline of the movie.

Anderson, W. (Director) (2009). The fantastic mr. fox [DVD].

Dahl, Roald, and Donald Chaffin. Fantastic Mr. Fox. New York: Knopf, 1970. Print.

Hutcheon, L. (2013). A theory of adaptation. (2nd ed.). New York, New York: Routledge.

Theories of Editing Forum

Both of the readings, Film, Form and Culture by Robert Kolker and The Technique of Film & Video Editing by Ken Dancyger go into detail about the history of film editing, as well as describing the different types of cuts and editing techniques. While both of texts are pretty parallel, Kolker takes a more systematic approach and describes the different techniques of editing by title. He goes into great detail and provides examples of scenes, but only describes them in a literal sense. Dancyger’s brings up many of the same examples, but I find his text easier to read and understand, and I appreciate that he provides more visuals of stills to illustrate.

Kolker goes into great detail about the Russian Revolution of 1917 and describes a style of filmmaking that breaks the rules of the classical Hollywood Style. Several artists, including Sergei Eisenstein, developed a montage style of editing which takes the raw material of the shot, and turns it into a statement charged with meaning (Kolker, 1999, p. 44).

In my opinion, the documentary The Cutting Edge: The Magic Of Movie Editing really helps to explain the ideas of editing and the history of it. By interviewing different directors and editors, the documentary really sets the tone that the film is actually made in the cutting room. I found it interesting the while I recognized most of the names of the directors; I didn’t recognize any of the editors. Historically, editors were really the silent part of the film. As filmmaking becomes more advanced and includes sound as while as different types of shot, the films begin to really play on Gillian Rose’s three critical elements of visual methodology. A scene that would otherwise be basic, could be made into a more emotional scene by holding the frames on close up’s on the face longer, and by rearranging the sequence of frames.

As the style of editing advances, if an editor really wants to place emphasis on a scene and make the audience feel threatened or scared, or emotionally charged with the characters, they have certain ways of cutting the shot that actually makes the audience feel they are actually the character. They make it feel real for the audience. I believe that is what makes movies films so appealing for everyone, we can take a step out of our lines and be in another time or place, in another story, and feel someone else’s happiness or pain. I believe this happens without us as an audience even realizing it, and it’s really taken Rose’s theory of metacognition, or “thinking about one’s own thinking” for this to make sense. To me films are so simple, and I can feel the emotion and intensity just like the characters, but before this class and researching editing, I didn’t realize how much the editing process plays a huge role in that.

When it comes to film and form and mise-en-scene, I have learned that every scene, every cut on a film has a meaning and has been done on purpose. In the documentary, several directors describe that extending a cut by just two more frames, literally that are less than second in real-time, can drastically change the meaning of the shot.

As I have said before, I never thought much about the editing process. I thought that and editor would just condense the film into the allotted amount of time, but I never thought much about how much impact deleting just two frames from a scene can have on the scene itself. I never realized that an editor is the one who can extend an emotionally charged gaze from one character to another, thus allowing the audience to really feel the heat of the moment. I thought all of this was done in the original shooting process of the film. After this week’s readings, I was really left thinking about the talent, or if there really is talent, in the actors and actresses themselves. It seems they are the ones saying the lines, but the editor is really who helps make the film appeal to audiences.

I had the pleasure of watching Lee Daniels’ The Butler this week, and throughout this week’s reading, I couldn’t help but think of all the montages displaying in this film.  Due to the film’s nature, they are all emotionally charged, but the scene at the dinner table is very explosive. Without being too much of spoiler to those who have not seen the film, the father works as butler for the president. His son, Louis, does not believe in his father’s work and has taken on a prominent role in the Freedom Riders, later on, as this secene shoes, he is active member in the Black Panther Party. In this scene, Lois has not been home in several years, and he suddenly returns home to dinner with his girlfriend and family. You can tell there is tension early on and you can see it build with every word, as the father and mother try to have civil conversation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA087uP9qxw

Dancyger, K. (2013). Constructive editing and heightened realism. In The Technique of Film and Video EditingTaylor and Francis Group.

Kolker, R. (1999). Formal structure: how films tell their stories. In P. Butcher (Ed.), Film, Form and CultureThe McCraw-Hill Companies.