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- Critique Talk
Amélie
Wednesday, October 15, 2008, 11:08
Film Review: Amélie
Amélie is a 2-hour long French film. It tells the story of a shy waitress who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. This film has won many acclaimed awards worldwide.
The film started out with Amélie's childhood, as she found herself with a pair of parents that are distant and without any friends. Left alone to amuse herself, Amélie developed an unusually active imagination.
Amélie is a 2-hour long French film. It tells the story of a shy waitress who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. This film has won many acclaimed awards worldwide.
The film started out with Amélie's childhood, as she found herself with a pair of parents that are distant and without any friends. Left alone to amuse herself, Amélie developed an unusually active imagination.
Her life changed on the day that Princess Diana died. After hearing the news of her death on television, Amelie dropped her perfume bottle cap, knocking loose a bathroom wall tile. Behind the loose tile she finds an old metal box of childhood memorabilia hidden by a boy who lived in her apartment decades ago. Fascinated by the find, she resolved to track down the now-grown man who put it there and return it
Later on, Amélie found out potential romance when she was met an attractive-looking stranger: a quirky young man who collects the discarded photographs of strangers from passport photo booths. One day, she found a photo album which he dropped it in the street. Being shy, she played a cat and mouse game with him around Paris before eventually anonymously returning his treasured album. However, romance was complicated and Amélie decided not to go about finding love in a simple manner.
I found the plot extremely hilarious. Right from the beginning, there was this part where Amélie “took revenge” on her neighbour by pulling in and out his television cables. Her neighbour was left tearing his hair out because the television image would blur at the critical parts of the programme. (He was watching a soccer match. Every time there was a goal, the image would blur. When it resumed, the goal had already been scored.) The plot was skillfully crafted—suspense built up, all tension released at the punch line. I laughed at every joke made in the film.
The camera techniques used by the director were skilful. When the camera was focused on the character, for example, Amélie, every detail of her was captured. From her facial expressions to her lip movements, everything was crystal-clear. I also caught a wicked glint in her eyes in some of her scenes.
The types of audio were not only well chosen and synchronized but, also consistent. I noticed that whenever Amélie was on-screen, a certain tune played by the accordion was always present. Even without looking sometimes, whenever I heard the tune, I could visualize Amélie in the scene.
Indeed, Amélie is one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve seen for a long time. I strongly recommendation to watch this movie– catch it at the cinema if you still can – a beautiful film that refrains from overstating its gleeful optimism.
Labels: Jerry
Alien Song
Sunday, October 12, 2008, 01:17
This is a classic piece of animation created by Victor Navone, which eventually led him to become an animator in Pixar.http://www.strimoo.com/video/10723847/Alien-Song-Dailymotion.html
The most prominent principle of animation in "Alien Song" is Exaggeration (although all 12 were incorporated), which is needed for animation because perfect imitation of reality can look static and dull. In "Alien Song", the character is the centre of attraction, so much exaggeration is needed to convey the message across.
Non-verbals play a huge role in "Alien Song" mainly due to exaggeration. Victor employs much use of kinesics: hand gestures as emblems (the very first pose depicting despair and clenching of fists during "i grew strong") and illustrators (lifting hand to signify "back from outer space", palms out during "i learnt how to get along"). These gestures and body movements are used throughout the animation.
Even though the character has only one eye, it is able to convey emotion effectively. Squinting of the eye depicts cynicism. Closing the eye during "i was petrified" paints a vivid image of fear, and opening the eye wide during "I will survive" hints the climax of the animation. The facial expressions complement the eye's behavior using secondary animation (which is also one of the 12 principles of animation): for instance, the head tilting and the antenna wriggling. All these small movements are crucial; without them the animation would not be as impactful.
Though the character is clearly lip-synching, there is certain paralanguage in Alien Song. For instance when the tone gets cynical during "i spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong", complemented by the kinesics and eye expressions gives the impression that the character is indeed feeling cynical, especially to viewers who are not familiar with the original song.
Proxemics also play a vital role. At the beginning of the animation, the camera slowly zooms in to focus on the character. First we get to see the full view of the character before the song starts. During the 2nd verse (with the disco beat) when the character starts walking, it gives the impression that the character is coming closer and getting more excited as the song progresses. At the end the camera zooms out to get a full view of the final view of the character...
All these non-verbal cues harmonize together to give maximum effect. At the end of the animation, the character gets floored by a giant disco ball. Perhaps somebody has got so affected by the character as the animation climaxes, and thus decided to put a stop to it. According to Victor, he is "not a big fan of disco, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity for a little comic irony".
Abrupt ending-wise aside, i think this is a very good piece to analyze non-verbal cues.
Labels: Jerry
The Photoshop Effect
Saturday, October 4, 2008, 21:00
This video discusses about digital retouching using Adobe Photoshop.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YP31r70_QNM
We shall now analyze the different communicative aspects of the video.
For the uninitiated, some of the tools used are: healing brush for the sunspots (as described in the video), color dodge to saturate the eye pupils (to make them brighter), color burn tool to desaturate the teeth (to whiten them), and cloning stamp to remove skin blemishes. After all these adjustments, the "Liquify" filter is applied to warp pixels. That's when the magic happens.
Tim Lynch, the digital photographer, explained how digital retouching has taken over the world, and demonstrated how digital retouching was being done. There is a certain element of pathos in his speech, and he used non-verbals highlighted on certain points of digital retouching ("thinner waist, thicker waist" etc.) using hand gestures. His speech was fluent and he maintained eye-contact with the reporter throughout the interview.
This is sharp contrast with Alexis Beck, the clinical nutritionalist. Throughout the interview, her eyes seemed to be gazing all over the place, and her speech was halting. This gives the impression that she wasn't very prepared for the interview, or that she wasn't sure what was politically correct to say.
The listening aspect is also considered in the video. It tries to capture attention right at the beginning (by showing a photo-shoot), and limiting the use of technical jargon (by Tim). At the end it ends on a cliffhanger, as the video fades out with a question left unanswered. This helps to make a informative documentary memorable.
In conclusion, I feel that the video has sufficiently brought across the message about the topic of digital retouching by using interviewees with contrasting styles, and applying elements to aid the listening aspect of communication.
Labels: Jerry