Summer Hits You Need To See! Pt2

Welcome back guys to our look at this summer's upcoming films that you need to see. So lets not dilly dally and get right into it.

A movie I am really looking forward to personally is How To Train Your Dragon 2. The sequel to Dreamwork's successful animated films and TV series is looking to take a darker approach to the universe then taken before. This all the while as the rich, deep world is looked into more (for those of you who haven't seen the first movie or television series or read the original book series I highly suggest both to those who enjoy nice story and world creation.) Anyway years event the events of the first movie and TV series, the characters are now young adults dealing with taking up the mantel of leadership and facing the idea that this power of the dragon's they've controlled to protect them is not something special that only they have.

Next we have a Guardians of The Galaxy. This movie is another addition to the Marvel universe but will be strange to those not already accustomed to it and only used to the regular Marvel films. Guardians of The Galaxy is a Marvel series that is more of a comedy or parody of what heros are. It's far more comedy based and will almost feel like a parody but its really the story of byronic heros.

And finally we have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or TMNT. This reboot to the franchise is the first live action production its had in a long time. And who better to relaunch a franchise then Michael Bay himself (who also got Megan Fox to come in on his new franchise like last time.) While we don't know the exact premise of the movie we know there will be ninjas, pizza and if Bay has anything to say about it, explosions.


Anyway guys that's all I got for you. Maybe there are some movies I didn't mention that you plan on seeing and if so let me know! And check out last week's part 1 if you missed it. 

Summer Hits You Need To See! Pt1

Summer is right around the corner and thus it is appropriate to star talking about to the summer hits you should be getting ready to see, so lets get right into it!

First we have Edge of Tomorrow. Now briefly this movie gives the general audience 3 things it loves. Action/Sci-Fi, great visuals and Tom Cruise. The story is about a soldier who somehow obtains a power that resets him back to a specific time of his life every time he dies. He then uses this power to train again and again to become stronger and help figure out how to defeat the alien threat to civilization.

After that we have the sequel, wittingly named 22 Jump Street (as if that took much thought). Anyway in this sequel the boys, after impressing their boss so much by their work, are being sent of to college. And after seeing how well off they were spoofing high school life, just imagine how well spoofing college with be with all of its stereotypes and tropes. Although with it now being in college you can expect the humor to probably be even more cruder and adult audience oriented.

And finally for today we have Transformers Age of Extinction. With this movie being a semi reboot for the franchise, by removing all the older cast and characters like Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, Michael Bay is probably looking to take on a bit of a different feel for the series. Now personally I've never had a problem with the Transformers movies, in fact I own them all on DVD, but since the last one felt almost like a Call of Duty movie with giant robots, it'd be nice for a little mix up. Of course the biggest selling point to fans of the franchise is the introduction of one of the most fan favorite characters from the series, the Dinobots.

Anyway makes sure to check out all the trailers I left for you and come back next week as we continue listing off some of the summer movies you need to see!

News Casting It's Meh

Everyone watches the news. We use it to get information on whats going on in the world all the time. But to me, news production isn't anything exciting. Whenever I'm watching the news it feels like everything is very plain and boring. And no it's not that shots are bad, or the subject is boring, but it doesn't feel like any passion or love is put into it. I believe only through narratives can you get the raw kind of emotion and feeling that really draws one into something. With news it very straightforward. This is what you say, heres some basic footage to report it and lets call it a day. Not to discredit people who do the news, because I can only imagine the stresses of producing that every day and that it must take a lot of talent, I just don't see how people could be passionate about it and able to put their heart into making it. My belief has always been, if you don't love something, who will, so personally I can never expect to work in news casting, because if I don't love making it, who will love watching it?

Internet Vs Traditional

What is up guys, today I wanted to talk a little bit about an idea that has been on my mind, being the pros and cons of internet video production vs going into traditional telivision or movie production. Now this is more of a way to vent ideas I have been having on the subject and is for you to make your own opinions. So first lets start with web videos. The biggest thing is that you don't have investors or an oversight company telling you what you can or cannot make. All the creative freedom is given to you to make what you could ever want. You also have the ability to then found a company based on your productions which can lead on to do more then just internet exclusive content. Plus you can begin with as big or small of a production team and/or space as you want. However there is of course a main problem of getting enough funding. Where as with traditional television and movies that is less of a problem because you would be working for a studio or network. Also they already have the ability to recruit talented staff and equipment. Also you work woudl already be put force to a huge audience on television and theaters and of course you'd have the steady pay income where as with internet content it would depend on how well your content performs. Of course there are downsides too, like the fact you have to obey people like investors, a board of directors, and the market your movie or station is aiming at. So what do you guys think? Is there some pros or cons I missed. Let me know and come back next week!

Captain America Winter KICKASS

So let me tell you, Captain America Winter Soldier was amazing! It was by far one of the best films Marvel has made. The movie from just a production and plot perspective is phenomenal and would be great even if it was just a sort of stand alone spy sort of film. The film itself bases it's strong points among realism it's based in, plot development/twists and of course the awesome visuals. They made sure to make every piece of unrealistic technology or objects based in realistic manner. For instance, Falcon's wing pack was redesign to match the realism of how hang gliders operate, as opposed to its much more unconventional design in the original comics. Also they are able to grasp concepts in the film, such as fears of the unknown, how much freedom we as the public have and many more to instill a sense of understanding of the protagonists' motivation out side of just having side of good and evil. I suggest anyone who can go should see this film because you will not regret it in the least.

The Importance Of Scenery

The scenery in a movie or show is a very important piece of telling your stories. You always want to be using the scenery to help better covey your emotions or foreshadow events. For instance as colors get darker in your background you can assume that something bad is about to happen. As another example in Poe's story "The Fall of The House of Usher" the house represents the character's mind, looking stable except for a crack running down it. The scenery here is representing the character's mind to show that while he looks like he is ok the truth is that he is really having mental problems. It is also important when thinking about your scenery that it compliments your characters. Both in color and business, the scenery should not take attention away from the characters during focal points of action, plot or dialogue.

Preparing A Studio Shoot

Hey guys, it is time for another blog post. So last Friday I directed my first studio show. I knew what a lot of obstacles and challenges would be from watching other shows get directed. I decided that planning and crew knowledge would be very important to the overall shooting to prevent frustration, arguing among crew and too many retakes. So to do this I made sure to involve most of my crew in different parts of preparing for the show, both as help and to educate them for the shoot itself. For example I had Aaron, who would be one of my camera ops, help me with set construction so he would get a feel for the environment while on camera and the kind of shots he could take while on camera. I had Wyatt, who was my technical director, look over my script and package for opinions and criticism but also to familiarize himself with the content so he was in a better position to assist me as my technical director. Also I made sure to have a solid run through of the show before shooting and have crew meeting leading up to the shoot to keep everyone up to date. Plus since the subejct was foreign to my host I set aside time during and after school to speak with him and read through the script to help make his time on camera feel more natural. Overall I was very pleased with how it turned out. As with most things you do we hit a snag or two, but because of the preparation we did we were able to overcome them easily and have the shoot go smoothly.

What's The Deal With Comedy!?

The other night I got to go see Jerry Seinfeld do stand up. It's been a while since I got to see him do stand up and I forgot how great it was. But why is it that people like watching Jerry Seinfeld do stand up? I think it's because his jokes are about stuff people can relate to and have truth to them. They're all about things or situations that happen to you in everyday life. And they aren't mean spirited like some comics, you won't ever hear him making fun of people like calling people fat or ugly. He picks out truths in our everyday habits and makes them the focal points, drawing focus to things we don't usually focus on or view or actions as. This is very important to take notice of. With such a plethora of comedy shows on television, especially ones focused on family life, it is an important tool to be able to use to have a successful show.

What Commercial Will You Make?

So advertising is everywhere you go someone is going to try to sell you something. It could be a car, some food, an experience of some sorts but no matter what advertising is the name of the game. Billboards, radio spots, commercials they're all around you. What exactly is it that separates your local car dealer commercials from that of a company like Pepsi? It's that they're able to hit important points in there advertisements. While a place like a local sandwich shop will do more to tell you about their business while a company like Pepsi will instead target your heart strings or make something exciting. and why is this? Because they're already a big established company, you already know who Pepsi is so instead of telling you more about their company they start relating their company and products to the kinds of feelings they want you to have when you think of them or their products. And this is why you see more artistic or entertaining commercials from them. They the artistic commercial does better then an informative commercial because it sticks in your mind more usually, but for business that are new or trying to grow it's better to be informative. If a commercial sticks in someone's mind about a place or thing they know nothing about, then you haven't accomplished anything. So always decide when you're about to make a commercial what is it you need to accomplish, inform the public or keep them in your mind.

Success Is How You See It

When somebody makes a TV show or a movie they want to know they have made a great product, but how do you determine greatness? There are many different ways to determine this is critics. You can always read about what people think in the news paper, on the internet or even watch critics on TV. However this mite not be the best way to get a feel for how good of a job you've done. You can obviously take a look at it from a numbers perspective, whether that is ticket sales, box office rankings, or amount of time spent in the box office. Some people determine the success of what they made off the impact it had. It may not have made as much money as other shows or movies but it had such a great influence on people or has a really great following. And others would base it off of awards they've received. Obviously every year you have lots of award shows that recognize shows that did really great in their nominated categories. In this case they value the opinion of the members of the academy or who ever is apart of the voting/judging pool. So what do you look at to determine success? Think about that next time you start a project.

Effective Super Bowl Advertising

As most of you know, unless of course you've been living under a rock, this Sunday was The Super Bowl. Of course this is known for two things, football and commercials. After watching many of these commercials I figured out there are three main approaches to making a successful and memorable Super Bowl commercial. The first is the animal approach. This is using animal talent to be as cute or comical as possible. It's best to make it reference to current culture, like the ostrich in the Doritos commercial referencing the surprised ostrich. The next of course is cute kids. Anytime you have a kid doing something funny, adorable, innocent or even mean, it doesn't just seem to be funny but also pulls at your heartstrings. Finally there is doing the unthinkable. This is usually using a concept or having an ending that wouldn't have been thought of because it seems to stupid but you give it the pay off to be fantastic. This is probably the hardest thing to pull off but still achievable. So what do you guys think of the commercials this year, let me know. Anyway see you all next week.

Scheduling, The First Step To Successes

This week I won't be talking about the entertainment industry specifically but something that pertains to every aspect of life and that is scheduling. Scheduling is always and important part of completely any set of tasks. After receiving my show assignment for tech I had to go and do massive scheduling for the month of February. Between my show, Greenfields project, musical rehearsal and tournaments, I knew I needed to plan ahead extensively. So first thing I had to do was pull together all my schedules and calenders. Then I had to compile all the dates that I had already filled and deduce when I had time to shoot for my show and for Greenfields. Then I had to double check with other people involved to make sure they were available for those dates too and what dates they wouldn't be available for. By scheduling I can make sure I have everything I need to do planned out and leave extra time in case something unexpected happens. With scheduling I prevent myself from worrying about due dates and when I will fit in stuff. Plus if I do need to reschedule or squeeze something in, a quick peak at my schedule will allow me to figure out if and when I have the time to do so. So to wrap up I suggest everyone practices scheduling in their life. It may be annoying at times but the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Also the more stuff you naturally schedule when receiving assignments or make plans, the easier it is to compile everything together into one big schedule.

Summer Wars, A Must See For Everyone

There are millions of movies out there. Every movie is somebody's attempt to convey emotions, ideas and story to it's viewing audience. Today I would like to talk about one of my favorite films of all time and one I feel conveys everything the creator wanted, in a way that very few others have been able to. So without further ado... 

Now the first thing you'll notice is that it appears to have two different animations styles, a cartoonish one and a more serious or normal one. This is because the movie's plot takes place in a society where most people depend on the internet for there normal lives and even put most their privileges online. So when showing stuff in the online world, the director decided to use a more digital animation style to accommodate the idea of this online world and avatars people used in it. As for the movie's plot, the story is about a normal high school boy named Kenji, who after loosing his chance to represent Japan in the math olympics by a small error, thought he'd be spending his summer vacation as a code monkey for Oz, the social hub of the internet. However all that changes when a school girl friend Natsuki barges in to hire him for a summer job out in the country. Once arriving at her great grandmother's house it's revealed that she hired Kenji to pretend to be her boy friend at her great grandmother's birthday so she could be happy knowing Natsuki had someone nice to look after her, as she has been experiencing heart problems. After much resistance Kenji agrees to stay and go along with the plan. But thats all you get, you'll have to watch to see what happens. 

Anyway lets move onto why this movie is amazing. The first and biggest point is the characters and how they exemplify family. Natsuki has an extremely big family that is seen throughout the film. It is the way the characters are written and conveyed through their voice actors. When watching the movie you can feel the emotions shown between each character, whether its joy, sadness, hate or any other emotion. You also get a feel watching the movie that this is how family's these days are, its not faked like you see families in a lot of films, you can really believe the performance through the writing and acting and it doesn't feel like a performance. This also speaks to me because of the huge extended family I have and I can't help but be reminded of my entire family when watching the film.

Next is the artistic design of this film. Not only is the animation beautiful from its stunning nature shots, to its rough and touch smack downs, the animation is extremely fluent and compliments the style extremely well. Also the music for this film is great. It really wraps you up the scene and even by itself the original sound track is amazing to listen to all on its own and I listen to it regularly. 

Also the movie has won numerous awards over the years since it's release and is the perfect follow up movie for its director, Mamoru Hosoda, from his last great film "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time". So in all this movie is so moving and I would HIGHLY recommend anyone who hasn't watch summer wars to at least watch it once in your life.