The Kid Stays in the Picture Review

I don't know about anyone else but this was my first time watching this film. Wow. I love films like this because they have a way of taking your attention and running with it. Nothing felt overdone in anyway and the fact that the images popped up and moved with the screen really fit what was going on. It added such depth to the overall story told by Mr. Evans. This is what I want to achieve with my content. I want to pull them in through simplistic techniques that add such raw content. Even though there were images used over and over in some scenes you could never really grow tired of what was being done because of the context they were being put in to. Bravo.

Three Possible Research Topics

Idea One:
I would really like to make a great intro movie that grabbed the viewer's attention and allowed for some level of interaction. So maybe blending after effects with flash. Could essentially make something like this but have the user control it just a little. That may be a little too much to think about.

Idea Two:
I thought it would be cool to take a MF DOOM song or any artist for that matter and create a nice video that corresponds to the lyrics and the rhythm. It could be really abstract and elegant or very out there and funky. Sort of like these videos.

lujon from vivian k on Vimeo.

Idea Three:
I want to make a really crazy commercial that is full of texture and crazy motion.
Examples : http://www.behance.net/Gallery/CARTOON-NETWORK-ID-_quotHALLOWEEN-SPECIAL_quot/158703

Orange Brand Video from Karolina Kret on Vimeo.

The Ken Burns Effect

Ah Sir Ken Burns. I remember watching his civil war and jazz series with my parents growing up. I could never put a finger on what he was famous for until art school. I didn't really understand how panning, zooming, and sliding transitions were so innovating at the time. I just thought that a computer did the work of the filmmaker and that was it. I recently watched an interview with Ken Burns on his technique and his thoughts about movies. I thought it was pretty good and it gave a great understanding into how he achieved said effects and the extra emotional pull it had on viewers.

Video:

In the Realms of the Unreal Review

I watched this film some time ago when I was a part of Society of Illustrators and they hosted big indie film nights. What always strikes me is the amount of work he did over a lifetime and the crap he went through growing up that made him dream up of these characters. The effects most definitely give life to his characters (the Vivian girls) and their adventures through war. Some of the imagery sort of gets to you especially the girls since they are sort of guys also. I don't know.....but what I do know is that the visuals being enhanced like they were just made everything seem like a storybook come to life. Like a refined kandinsky. Such a deep touching tale about Henry Darger and the world that occupied his apartment space/mind. Sadly the world never got to meet the man before he died.