Louis IV's Blogspot : 2013

Monday, December 23, 2013

7 Days Of Funk Video Contest 2nd Entry by Louis IV

7 Days of Funk

video contest

Friday, December 20, 2013

A breakdown of the film American Beauty

American Beauty is a film directed by Sam Mendes that tells the story of an American family living in the suburbs dealing with family issues. The mise-en-scene of this film truly is amazing and can be very much appreciated by any film lover. The brilliant foreshadowing, the unique edit cuts to scenes, and the use of music/sound effects to convey emotions is absolutely divine. The interaction between characters, and the intertwining of their lives is genius and very well artistically thoughtout. Each main character has a rich back-story, and lots of personality traits are showcased in order for audiences to fully understand who these characters are. American Beauty examines self worth, self-motivations, love, hate, desires, regrets, passions, life and death; American Beauty asks you to question your own existence, to truly question why you are motivated to do the things you do or to question what it is you yourself honestly and whole heartedly desire.

I wouldn’t say this is a soundtrack driven film, because the acting is phenomenal, but the music used in the film is very resonating, and after viewing the film once a viewer will most definitely make emotional connections with the main theme music in this film. For example, the intro and outro song are the same. The song is a soft acapella piece and when first heard, I believe, is meant to establish a warm euphoric feeling for the viewers while the actor’s credits appear over a black screen. However, the first initial shot of the daughter (Jane) being filmed by someone while she talks of her disgust for her father and she reveals her desire to kill him. This is Mendes’s first example of foreshadowing (in the first few minutes!, brilliant) and it allows the audience to make assumptions of what is too happen later on and to fathers character as well as the daughters character ;and it leaves us wondering who the camera man is filming this deadly confession.

Following the euphoric music, we are led into an establishing wide angle aerial shot of the suburbia area where the family dwells accompanied with the films signature theme music which appears multiple times when the main actor (Lester) has his “moments of blissfulness”. Along with the wide-angle shot and theme music, Lester, begins to talk introducing himself and his mundane existence while foreshadowing his own demise. The main theme music is very iconic for me after viewing this film more than twice it becomes apparent the music is very much a staple and main component for achieving emotional scenes. Without the use of the iconic theme music, much of the scene’s would not make sense, but due to the calculated and proper placement of the music it becomes very powerful and memorable.

The use of alternative camera views due to the character that attracts Lester’s daughter, Ricky, is unbelievably delightful and the depth of Ricky’s persona is truly intriguing in my opinion. Ricky’s character has an intense stare, and maybe this is due to his use of a potent marijuana, but the ideas that Ricky presents are simply sublime in the sense that he seems to always make complete sense and maintain a somewhat cool attitude. Ricky becomes Lesters dealer in youth, his role model and supplier of what could have been stony possibilities; but ultimately proves positive on Lester’s life and outlook on life for awhile. One could argue the reason why Lester is still smiling when he dies is because he is still high, but the intense scene in which Ricky stares into Lester’s dead eyes and bloody red head for an awkward but sublime moment of “American beauty” we are introduced to another moment of pure depth into Ricky’s overall intellect much like the infamous scene in which Ricky shows Jane the recording of a paper bag blowing around in the wind. When I originally viewed this film at a younger age, the scene with the bag made no sense to me, but now maybe due to my majority this scene holds some much truth because I understand what Ricky is seeing when he watches the bag blown around by the earths endless and spontaneous possibilities. There is a saying I believe Ricky and Lester both use at separate points which goes along the lines of something involving there being to much love in the world to handle, and that you should basically enjoy as much of it as you can but don’t stress out about being happy.

Ricky’s father is a whole new perspective; the point of view assumed by the main characters is much different in terms of life experience and ultimately the personalities; but Ricky and his dad’s relationship almost presents a male perspective on being apart of a sort of suburban nightmare similar to the one Jane is experiencing, One could say Sam Mendes’s American Beauty is a film about two families, but of course Ricky’s family is not the main ingredient but an ingredient that adds to the overall message and flavor of this film. Ricky’s dad, Col. Frank Fitts, is a man who has held a powerful and well respect position throughout his life and lives on a very intense regiment (due to his past military background); which consists of being a candidate for the most over protective and randomly spontaneously weird antics (Nazi memorabilia, and contradictive gay impulses). I really liked the intense interactions with Rick and his father Col Fitts, the father son beat downs and verbal slapping, because I felt as if this was a more intense approach of parental discipline type scenes verses the single slap which Jane experiences from her mother.

The use of color and metaphors is definitely purely artistic and original, Mendes applies the intense affect of Red to illuminate themes such as lust, betrayal, and vanity among many others; which is truly the idea of Mendes’s use red, he wanted audiences to question why was it shown her particularly and what is the significance of the roses around the house, or the roses which come out of Jane’s friends cheerleading top. Among the multiple times red makes its appearance in this film it is so artistically put in it that is makes me smile, I undoubtedly loved the endless possibilities red created for my mind to interpret.

Ultimately this film is about people trying to be happy, and non more so than the mother, Carolyn, and arguably though thanks to unbelievable writing all of the Burnham family is all basically equally miserable but the mom has her own unique way of masking her frustration (the over use of roses surrounding the front of the house). There are precise moments in which the sound is edited to allow audiences to predict scenarios due to the association of the recognizable theme music also tied to Lester’s fantasies of Jane’s friend Angela, who is Lester’s young fantasy girl.

Critical Analysis of the film Performance by Louis Francavilla IV

Performance

Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, Performance stars Mick Jagger (Turner), James Fox (Chas), Anita Pallenberg (Pherber), Mechele Breton (Lucy), Johnny Shannon (Harry Flowers) in a very ideologically centered and psychoanalytical film, which questions societies roles on gender, self-identity, and violence in general while also reflecting the rampant times that were the late sixties early seventies. I choose to single out the listed characters above because I feel these are the most significant characters although that is not to say there aren’t any other important characters in the film because there are of course, but due to the size of the research paper the listed choices above have more impact on the overall meaning of the film. James Fox and Mick Jagger are so great in these roles, and you can see the intimate value of having a small cast because the interactions between Fox and Jagger is excellent, and it is also apparent that Jagger and Pallenberg have a good standing relationship because it shows in the realism of it all.

The intro of the film is very much a mobster flick, and has every theme and type cast that a British mobster film would have, but later the film becomes a sort of psychedelic mind game of trippy visuals with colorful surroundings due to beautiful paintings on the surrounding walls of Turners home. The viewer is often left to imagine what the director is trying to say (to imagine their own interpretations), rather than the viewer easily knowing what is being communicated. The entire films meaning is based upon the viewers interpretations of scenes; this can be most recognized at the very end of the film because the ending is not at all spelled out to leave an audience with any meaning or resolution, in my opinion. The audience is left to try and decide why the ending took place, and later in this paper I will discuss my theories on what the ending was trying to communicate. This film has elements of a gangster film, but it explores the human psyche much more both in cognitive elements with lighting and cool editing or with ideas presented by unique characters in unique situations. The atmosphere and amazing acting invites audiences to so much more than just violence and mobsters, but it delves deep into the consciousness and begs the viewer to question sexuality and gender roles in their own habitats. Performance takes place in London and the whole film is shot in London so the overall feeling is very European, but can easily be relatable to anyone in the world through the lovely auteurs touch of Cammell and Roeg. The first initial scenes of the film are quite violent, and Fox plays a ruthless thug who seems to be down to do anything Harry Flowers tells him.

Harry Flowers, played by Johnny Shannon in his first acting gig and was actually originally Fox’s speech coach, is such a good representation of a British mobster, and his goons visually fit the part as well. Harry Flowers character has a bit of eeriness to him, because due to the scenes in which we see Flowers the audience can assume he is a man of power, but what makes him creepy is he is always smiling, and even at some points will look straight into the camera (he is basically the only one who does that). Perhaps Flowers acknowledging the camera gives the audience a sense of his overall power and control, because after all Chas is on the run trying to avoid him for good reason. The overall plot is very Some Like It Hot style but there is no comedy in this film, rather the intro scenes with Chas are very gritty, it is not until we get to Turner’s house that the film becomes the sexually consciousness and its themes go more into psychoanalytical and cognitive.

It was no surprise upon further research after watching the film one time that I happened to hear that this film was delayed upon release due to its suggestive scenes and bad editing according to Sanford Lieberson, the producer for the film, the original cut of Performance was “a great cinematic disaster” on a documentary titled Influence and Controversy: Making ‘Performance’. It was interesting to later find out that Donald Cammell re-edited the film to its final version, with the help of Frank Mazzola, additional editor to the film.

The editing style of this film is unbelievable and very unique, I say this because when someone is watching this movie a lot of the edits and transitions come as a surprise in my opinion. In fact Rodger Ebert can be found critiquing the editing style of this film at rodgerebert.com to the tune of “it tries too hard and doesn’t pace itself to let its effects sink in” and as I do respect Ebert’s opinion I have to strongly disagree and say the editing style is timeless. The editing style, in my opinion, is very much like a Quentin Tarantino type film (maybe Tarantino gained some influence from this film…) mainly because the fast transitions between scenes and choice of scenes are very gangster movie-ish, and gritty/raw. The way in which Performance was edited together is cinematically brilliant, in my opinion, I truly loved the self reflexive moments when Harry Flowers (the boss mob guy) would randomly stare into the camera; one scene in particular is when Harry Flowers learns of Chas murdering his friend, and motions for all his goons to leave the room and turns around and smiles towards the camera and says “my bath is running”. I don’t necessarily know why this scene was put in perhaps to de-intensify the violent nature of Harry Flowers and his mob or to maintain the eeriness about Harry Flowers. Nevertheless, this film is filled with unusual edit cuts which you would not find in a classic Hollywood narrative, often times the effects and edit cuts are used to create a psychedelic atmosphere especially once inside Turner’s home. From the very intro scene the shots which are used appear to me to be unusual to say the least, I always felt like the cameraman was trying to shoot with angles that are not common in Hollywood narrative films, for example when Chas is calling one of his mates he is inside a red phone booth, and as he walks out of it the camera stays in position but zooms in past the red phone booth to focus on a posted sign; this I shot was quite interesting and unusual in my opinion.

The soundtrack in the beginning of the film uses electric noises, non-natural sounds like a synthesizer; to create a chaotic atmosphere as the audience watches Chas do his dirty work. This was especially nice for me, because right away I assumed this film was not going to follow a lot of the cinematic norms many films do, for example the intro music is so random and strange at first one might wonder if they’re TV is working. Overall, I appreciated the electric noises, because I really feel like it compliments the anarchy that is going on in the scenes as Chas pours acid on a persons car and shaves a mans head or during fight scenes, or during any kind of violence at the beginning of the film featuring Chas there seems to be some sort of crazy or abrupt sounds to indicate chaos. The spotting selection of music is masterful and devised perfectly for each character, as their personality would entail. So while they show Chas first, the music is electric made and very chaotic, but as Chas is trying to escape the city we begin to hear a bluesy electric guitar playing, which I absolutely loved because for me this was an indicator that Mick Jagger was going to be making his appearance soon. I liked the soundtrack when Chas is at Turners home, because the guitar becomes acoustic and there is no more electric guitar, yet a bohemian naturalist sounding guitar provides in helping create the lifestyle of Turner and his two ladies in their stellar pad. The initial song that is playing when Chas is looking around Turners house is titled “Wake Up Nigger” by The Last Poets, this choice of music was indented to try and put you in the mindset of Jagger and his ladies euphoric and righteous mindset. Although they are not black, the prejudice of anyone who chooses to be different is very similar to the racism towards black people because each is a judgment of one’s character based upon appearances.

The direct sound of Mick Jagger on guitar when he plays “Sympathy for the devil” is so rock and roll, and really lets you see Turner’s characters artistic side. Also the sort of randomly placed music video type scene in which Jagger sings a song “Memo For T (Turner’s Song) is a bit off putting but the message is basically what Turners character is all about, Before he sings the song Turner says a famous quote that may justify why he himself is so mad, “The only performance that makes it, that makes it all the way, is the one that achieves madness”. Jagger’s musical influence is very noticeable in the film even before the music video; the sort of bluesy rock and roll sound is totally of Rolling Stones influence.

Jagger and his lady friends are perfect symbols of the flower children of the sixties and seventies due to their alternative lifestyle to which is predicted through the scenes that takes place in Turners home. The mellow music along with the stunningly impressive production design of Turner’s home, decorated so elaborate and psychedelically to please to viewers wondering eye, is stacked full of random art. However, upon watching the documentary Influence and Controversy: Making ‘Performance’ the art is not random in fact Cammell and Roeg applied their creative design and knowledge of art to create the wonderful surroundings of Turner’s home. One particular artist is Bacon whose paintings can be seen all throughout the house. In one particular scene, and a very random one at that in my opinion, two oddly dressed men walk into Turners home and begin talking to Turner about a painting on the wall; the painting is a Bacon piece and Turner ends the scene by announcing to the gentlemen that he doesn’t like it and has no money for the painting. The influence of the director’s love for art creates such a cool atmosphere for Jagger’s character (Turner) to thrive in, and the audience can really gasp the sense of how truly out there Turner is by not only watching his antics but also observing his weird, but totally groovy art collection. There is obvious contrast between the main characters, gangsters meets rock star, straight edge, meets hippie, but there are scenes and editing techniques that visually allow audiences to make the assumptions that the main characters are the same person.

Through cross over shots and transparently placing faces over faces through editing, or using mirrors to show two faces as one create the idea one person, one consciousness. This contrast between characters not only ideologically examines people and their roles in society, but also allows the audience to see how each character interacts differently to their surrounds drawing a very distinct line between Jagger’s character and Fox’s character. James Fox plays Chas who is a crazy mobster who appears to have no remorse for anyone and ends up being on the run after he kills an old childhood. Chas overhears a black guitarist talking about an empty apartment (sort of looks like a hippie Jimmi Hendrix type) and pursues the location and manages to hide out for a day at the location. Mick Jagger plays Turner, who is a retired rock star looking to regain his star quality and the owner of Chas’s desired hideout pad. Once these two characters meet the film begins depicting themes of self-identity, gender roles, and societies roles of people in general. Turner, who is referred to as being both a man and women by one of his girlfriends, is very in touch with his feminine side and this can be seen by the way he carries himself, but also the way he dresses and his eye mascara. Chas, could not be more opposite than Turner and this fact is made apparent in a scene in which Pheber (Anita Pailenberg) is attempting to see how feminine Chas really is by teasing him and trying to make him release his inner women to which Chas replies in a rather freaked out way and acts offended at the idea. Chas’s reaction is ideologically what an audience member would come to expect from a straight shooter like Chas, although he is a dangerous thug, he is a man’s man and is not as comfortable with stretching his sexual boundaries as Turner appears to be.

The main chemistry and motif lies between the dialogue and interactions of Chas and Turner, they could not be more different from one another, and this allows for a great tension between the two of them. The obvious visual difference of the two main characters is painfully obvious, because Chas dresses like a businessman/gangster, while Turner dresses like a hippie rock star, or as Chas calls Turner in the film a “beatnik”. “Your going to be a funny geezer when you older”, said Chas to Turner in one of the first initial scenes of their meeting. Both main characters personalities and lifestyles are directly ideological for the times in which this film was made, for example, Turner is a classic representation of a seventies rock star, or a bohemian person of the seventies, and Chas is a representation of a well suited gangster who dresses like a businessman. In essence, Turner and Chas are a good representation of the type of men who made up a majority of England’s population during the rolling seventies, and could essentially represent any culture in the world at any given time (because in most cases, people are either straight edge and proper (like Chas) or they are more free spirited (like Turner). Of course my assumption of how people were in London in the seventies are is purely based on what I have seen on films and is very black and white, but I believe it is safe to say that Turner and Chas were created to represent a larger majority of personalities in London. Both characters are very different, but both characters kind of live similar lives in the sense that they are very charismatic and free spirited, although they couldn’t be more different.

From a feministic point of view women are sort of objects in this film, however there is a higher intellectual thought and idea of two sexual identities for a person, a reoccurring theme of asexuality (we are both, female and male). For example through cross cutting and image pressing there are scenes which draw on this very idea of asexuality visually, and the infamous mirror illusion in which the shot shows Turner’s face alongside Pheber’s face with the use of a mirror suggest this as well. There is a scene when Turner and his lady friends are taking a bath and Turner asks them “should I wash my hair”, and he waves his long hair around. To conservative Britain and America longhaired people in the sixties and seventies seemed to always be “hippies” or “beatniks” and this scene basically introduces Turner’s and his ladies as a three set and what a better way inside a tub. Anita Pailenberg’s character, Pheber, is basically Turner’s female opposite, and although the does not have sex with Chas; she sort of sexually takes control of him in an epic scene of gender identity and roles. In a close textual analysis of the scenes when Chas is alone with Turner and Pheber during the time when he is trying to disguise himself for his new passport picture showcases how Chas is beginning to transform to be like Turner and Pheber; they dress Chas in a series of outfits until they end with him with a long haired wig on. Prior to this scene Pheber gave Chas mushrooms so he is sedated leaving him vulnerable. From a feminist point of view Pheber is a take charge women, and when she is in bed with Chas she is very much in control, however when Lucy gets in bed with him, Chas has a little more control of the situation and even calls her out for having a “boyish” body type. I think the directors purposely picked Lucy’s character to have this body type, because in many scenes with Turner and Chas they are being compared for their personalities and the same can be said with Turner’s ladies both are women yet one is a little more feminine in body type while the other sort of resembles a boy. The way in which Mick Jagger’s character Turner is dressed and carries him self is not masculine, but has a touch of femininity, and this was of course on purpose to show that Turner is much more in tune with him women instincts then close minded Chas. During the scene with Chas and Pheber in bed, they discuss gender roles and the idea that Turner is both female and male, in which Pheber begins taunting Chas to try and bring out his inner women, to which Chas is not enthusiastic. This convo alone after close textual analysis will prove that the film makers wanted the audience to question sexuality and societies norms and regulations, the film questions where is the line drawn between a male and female?

In a close textual analysis of the final scene in this film when the mobsters find Chas at Turner’s home, during the time in which Chas shoots Turner in the head after a short conversation and as we see Harry Flowers pull away in the car there is a glimpse of what the audience thinks is Chas but actually it is Turners face. So, throughout the film there are moment when Turner and Chas come face to face and sort of stare one another down, there is even cross edit cuts to converge their faces, all of this is used to create the illusion or possibility that they are the same person. There are some scenes where Chas wears a wig, and Turner slicks his hair back another indication that the two lads are morphing into each other merely by their presence and influence or is it a deeper psychological reason. Turner insists to Chas that he wants to get inside Chas’s head, which initially Turner and Chas don’t get off on the right foot but as time goes on it seems they grow fond of one another. Why the comparison of the two?, what is the overall meaning? I am not sure, I was very confused with the ending I had to re watch it a few times to come to my conclusion. Basically, in the final scene Turner and Chas complete a body switch, possibly during the whole film the scenes could be indicating that a transformation is happening, perhaps each scene where Chas interacts with his new house mates is the next step in the transformation. When Chas shoots Turner in the head, the camera follows the bullet down Turners head and it hits a picture inside his head, perhaps killing his artistic side and evolving him into a gangster like Chas. The ending to this film is very open ended an audience member can walk away with their own interpretation of what happened rather than be spoon-fed the ending.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

my newest music

freestyle

my reverberation page

Mahalo Hawai'i

my newest short film

Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Goonies - This is OUR time

This is probably one of the most memorable scenes in film from my childhood; even to this day I still recite this unforgettable scene ...

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Hulu's Original Series The Wrong Mans is GREAT!

I just had to make this blog post because I have found a great new British show which is exclusive on Hulu called The Wrong Mans. TWMs has such a great concept, in a nut shell, a man witness's a car crash and comes to obtain a cell phone which inevitablely gets him involved with the kidnapping of a women/.hostage situation. The man who finds the phone is joined by his buddy who both live somewhat boring lives, so they take this random coincidence with a lot of passion. TMWs is a comedy and action with some suspense and in my opinion is a very well put together and clever TV show which truly has me wanting to watch more and more. I definitely reccommed The Wrong Mans and I also recommend Hulu due its exclusive TV shows and accessibility.

Watch 1st episode for FREE!

Monday, November 18, 2013

Doritos Commercial for Superbowl Competition

Here is my first submission for the 2013 Doritos commercial SuperBowl challenge! watch and rate it on DORITOS

T. Mills - Loud (Live at El Rey Theater)

Been following this guy since he started making music on myspace from his laptop, he has come a long way!

Check out T.Mills with his unique sound blending of hip hop and pop music.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

No More Breaking Bad, More Sons Of Anarchy

Now that Breaking Bad had been long over and celebrated, at least I still have a badass show to continue watching which is Sons Of Anarchy; and if your a true fan you call it "sons" now for short.

Just like Breaking Bad, Sons is just as compelling and brilliant with story telling and just as exciting to watch. Sons has been around a little longer than Breaking Bad, but I still chose Breaking Bad as my all time favorite show. However, Sons is such a great show it is a very close second to being my all time favorite.

From the cast, story, and action Sons gives its viewer a beautiful balance of drama and action every week, and all the while maintains its unique theme of a motor cycle gang's dark and dangerous lifestyle. I recommend Sons to anyone who was or is a fan of Breaking Bad, and I encourage people who think they don't like Sons to give it another viewing chance, because it is such an excellent show.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

My Favorite Youtubers

Here are two of my all time favorite youtube users who are always making new videos that will engage and educated anyones mind on the most recent world news and sciences. Both youtubers have an extensive history and fan base, as well as multiple other channels in which they focus on certain topics such as video game news, Earth sciences, and popular culture.

Phillip Defranco, is a weekly news show where he presents the top news stories he felt were most important that day and he gives you very accurate information for each story including links to further expand.

Michael (Vsauce) is probably one of the smartest guys I have ever heard talk. His youtube consists of science and discovery in all possible ways. Basically Michael takes simple subjects poses philosophical questions about them (like Names, Bombs, History) and goes into depth to better understand and evaluate their meaning.

I usually always come away with interesting facts after I watch just one of any of these guys videos.