Gotta Love The Foreign Films

This is a movie I made for German class. I thought I'd show it off and try to boost the view counter on Youtube. It's my German rap; the lyrics and music are my own (with another kid). If you're in for a good laugh, take the comments on the bottom and put them through any German to English translator. The movie didn't go well with the actual German people, but you can learn some good burns from it.

My Movie, My Musical, My Fun

I don’t think people can truly appreciate the “art of film” until they try making a movie themselves. Thanks to various school assignments I think most students have at least participated in a movie project. Unfortunately, movie assignments from school are rarely much fun because they’re too structured and must actually be (gulp) educational. But that should not deter people from making movies for their own enjoyment. You’ll find that when you unleash you’re creativity, there’s no shortage of good ideas for making movies. To show you what I mean, and to maybe work up some hype for myself, I’m using this journal as the first preview of my latest project: The Michael Vick Musical.

For those of you that don’t know (click here for more info), Michael Vick was the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons. He is currently due to go on trial this winter for various charges of animal cruelty. Vick had been sponsoring and competing in dog fights at his house. Since then, he has lost all of his sponsorships, he has been suspended indefinitely from the NFL, and odds are he’s going to be sent to prison.

The musical I’m making is meant to capture the pain of the Falcons’ fans caused by the Michael Vick scandal. It’s the story of two hardcore fans and how they deal with the disappointment of lost dreams and a fallen “hero”. Vick will not be cast into the movie, but we will ceaselessly make fun of him.

Now although I’m calling this a musical, I’m not writing a full score of music for the movie. I’m using a mix of popular sad songs and playing those over the movie (whether or not that’s exactly legal…). Some of them will be lip synced and some of them will be used to capture the mood of the scene. The list is as follows:

Bad Day by Daniel Powter
Far Away by Nickelback
So Long, So Long by Dashboard Confessional
Hemorrhage (In My Hands) by Fuel
Better That We Break by Maroon 5
Stab My Back by All-American Rejects
How To Save A Life by The Fray
Everybody Hurts by R.E.M.
Love Hurts by Nazareth
Hide And Seek by Imogen Heap

Most of these songs are really recycled, have been overplayed, and are washed up. However, that’s exactly the look I’m going for.

So far I’ve finished editing the last scene of the movie. I still have to film the whole beginning… It’s a fun movie and I’ve been able to shape it the way I want it without having to fulfill any grading requirements. If you’re reading this and are interested, the movie will probably make its way to YouTube once everything is finished.

Journal #1: Saving Private Ryan From Reviewers

In a true masterpiece, it should only take a few minutes for film viewers to be drawn into a “great” movie. Although I’ve watched more movie clips in class over the past two weeks than I can count with two hands, only one of them truly stuck out to me: “Saving Private Ryan”. Upon reading Kenneth Turan’s review (published in the Los Angeles Times) I was unexpectedly shocked to find out he did not enjoy the same things I did. Both of us can agree that “Saving Private Ryan” is one of Spielberg’s masterpieces, but Turan came to that conclusion for different reasons than I did. Turan writes than “Ryan’s” greatest strengths are its battle sequences.

A powerful and impressive milestone in the realistic depiction of combat, Saving
Private Ryan is as much an experience we live through as a film we watch on
screen.

I agree a war movie would be lacking without terrific battle scenes. “Saving Private Ryan” does not have that problem, as it does an excellent job of capturing the confusion, terror, and chaos of war. But while the fighting certainly adds excitement and realism to the movie, this is only half of what makes “Saving Private Ryan” a masterpiece. Turan obsesses with the accurate presentation of combat and the realistic gore. He describes in detail of soldiers catching on fire or men with their intestines hanging out but at times his writing sounds like that of a gitty thirteen-year-old boy. This can easily be misinterpreted by readers making them think that the movie is shallow beyond it’s ability to thrill. What drew me into the story was the dynamic between the characters and how Spielberg portrayed them as normal people cast into roles they didn’t want. Turan disregards this and claims the movie has a poor script.

As the squad moves through crises toward the elusive Pvt. Ryan, what impacts us
most are invariably scenes of action: sometimes fire fights, sometimes
unexpected deaths, but never the dialogue the men trade. Just as the soldiers
speculate that Capt. Miller has been artfully reassembled from old body parts,
so "Private Ryan's" script has been put together from familiar and shopworn
material.

He overlooks the fact that the soldiers in “Saving Private Ryan” are regular Joe’s plucked from the streets and thrown into combat. Captain Miller is an 8th grade English teacher. He isn’t supposed to enlighten the audience to the meaning of life; he’s a soldier who’s fighting to stay alive. The dialogue between the soldiers is written to capture what people actually say on the battlefield. I find it hypocritical that Turan applauds the realism in the combat scenes, but can’t appreciate the realism in the dialogue. Perhaps someone needs to explain to Turan that a war story is as much about the people in the war as it is the war itself.

Hypocrisy aside, Turan and I can both agree that “Saving Private Ryan” is a testament to Spielberg’s skill as a director.

"Saving Private Ryan" is a startling reminder of exactly how spectacular a
director Spielberg can be when he allows himself to be challenged by a subject
(in this case World War II) that pushes against his limits.

I was unaware, and was somewhat shocked to find out, that Spielberg was the director behind “Saving Private Ryan”. I am guilty of having written him off as a kid’s director whose greatest work was E.T. This discovery is certainly exciting for me as I am now eager to explore what other movies bear the Spielberg name.