Jesse Mamary's Blog

Final Vis Lit project

jmamary — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:02:16 +0000

My final assignment for my Sociology class

jmamary — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 21:52:40 +0000

I’m taking Views of the Third World for sociology this year at American University and for our final project assignment we were asked to edit a video for a cause that we chose earlier this semester. I chose the profound issue of Human Trafficking and Slavery. The video is in a public service announcement format. I searched for videos on Youtube and searched for facts that would help create the video. I enjoyed making the project and the class was entertaining and also quite challenging. Slavery is extremely prevalent today and I hope more people become aware of this growing dilemma. Please leave feedback as it is much appreciated.

enjoy

movie

jmamary — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:37:34 +0000

movie made for visual literacy

assignment re-do

jmamary — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:55:17 +0000

Jesse, Chris and Sam,
I understand that you first made the video with the impression that it had to be one single story. I will give you my comments regardless of that, for the purpose of this exercise. I see that you have put extra effort into editing a 2nd video and will take that into consideration.

-Your first shot works.
-As mentioned in class your 2nd shot is too wide to be a medium shot and I would rather you chose colors that are saturated in your subject instead of just increasing the saturation in the camera or in post.
-Same thing for your 3rd shot, it starts by being a Full shot or Wide shot and then transitions into a Medium shot at best but it’s nowhere near a Medium Close Up
-your 4th shot is good as well, but why not cut before the camera gets all shaky?
-5th shot is good, but again, you should have cut before the camera starts to move.
-6th shot works very well.
-7th shot works.
Overall good job.
Total: 85+ 3 pts for creating the 2nd video = 88/100

Casablanca Scene Analysis

jmamary — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:29:58 +0000

Casablanca (1942) Sam playing piano for Llsa.

The scene opens with Llsa sitting in the club with Sam, the pianist. The camera angles are static and unoriginal. This demonstrates the essence of classic Hollywood cinema. The angles are dynamic and the cuts are abrupt and timely in order to portray a classic dialogue segment. The lighting is appropriate to give the nightclub setting, as it was shot in black and white. The composition of the shots delivers an acute perspective of the two subjects conversing with each other. The camera is steady until Rick enters the shot in which case the camera trucks with his direction towards Llsa and Sam. The most impressive shot in the sequence is when the camera cuts to Rick as he enters; shows Sam playing the piano; and then the as the camera leads Rick towards Sam, the camera frames the two subjects perfectly. The acting is well known for being some of Hollywood’s greatest. Humphrey Bogart portrays a stern man who runs the show as Ingrid Bergman quite nicely portrays the sweetheart love interest of Bogart’s character. Dooley Wilson plays Sam, the pianist and he plays a character who basically plays the piano minding his own business yet has a full awareness of what is going on around him, and has a full knowledge of information. The editing in this scene particularly is quite normal and standard for a Hollywood film. The subject in this scene is quite interesting. Llsa is curious about Rick’s whereabouts and Rick is quite displeased about Sam’s piano playing.

1 CU Static woman talking to pianist; 11 seconds

Side view woman and Sam conversing

2 CU Static woman paying attention to music; 9 seconds

She is moving along with the piano music

3 MS over the shoulder conversation while playing piano; 3sc

Cut straight to shot one

4 CU Dialogue between the two; 15 seconds

Cut straight to close up of pianist

5 CU of woman’s reaction; 10 seconds of dialogue

Cut back to pianist

6 CU of pianist dialogue continues; 3 seconds

Cut back to woman

7 CU of woman more dialogue continues; 9 seconds

Cut back to pianist

8 MS of pianist over the shoulder playing piano; 2 seconds

Cut to woman

9 XCU of woman humming along to the piano; 2 seconds

Cut to pianist

10 CU over the shoulder between two subjects; 6 seconds

Continue the pattern of cuts until the scene ends

11 WS Man enters the room and approaches the subjects; 5 seconds

12 MS dolly shot follows male subject to the two subjects.

Visual Literacy shot assignment

jmamary — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:05:08 +0000

First Video made for Visual Literacy

jmamary — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:48:56 +0000

Lupe Fiasco Concert Poster final

jmamary — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:44:44 +0000

Concert Poster revisited

jmamary — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:38:22 +0000

Upon completing my poster I received some great feedback from my professor as well as other students in the class. It was clear that my approach with the title was supposed to look somewhat like graffiti, when in actuality it just became difficult to read. I used the paint brush to touch over the title so “Lupe Fiasco” becomes more clear. Also, somebody mentioned in class having the Washington monument form the “I” of Featuring, I decided to see what it looked like and felt that it drastically improved the flow of the poster. Last, I previously had a blue box around Washington DC. Initially the background was yellow, and the blue contrasted perfectly until I placed a gradient background of blue which made the box blend in. I chose to put a red box to replace the blue box, and change the font to give it a more fun feel. When I first made the picture I wanted to have an american flag as the background of Lupe Fiasco’s face, but did not know how to negotiate it. I decided the best way to do it would be to create a new layer behind Lupe and hand paint a flag and I am satisfied with the result. I appreciate the comments and suggestions and I am much more pleased with the outcome of the final poster.

Title Sequence

jmamary — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:16:17 +0000

I chose the title sequence to the film “Thank you for Smoking”. Designed by Gareth Smith, the opening sequence is an entertaining preview for the satirical film about the tobacco industry and lobbyists. The song is one of the first aspects which appealed to me; it provides a comically entertaining feel, while hundreds of cigarette packs are being cycled through. This title sequence is very well put together because it inserts information and the actual titles, as labels on the cigarette packages. Upon doing further research on the title sequence, I learned that one of the main design concepts was the use of ‘gold and red, and bold graphic lines and shapes’, according to a review on Forget the film, watch the titles. Each actor and actress has their own pack of cigarettes in the title sequence, which serve to introduce some sort of background personality. We notice Katie Holmes’ pack appears to be a vintage royal cigarette fit for a classy woman. The colors are flat and classic which bring the viewer to the time where cigarettes represented being cool and classy; Rather than today’s bright colored packages which bring about the images of death and cancer. Gareth uses many lines which travel between each image, and portray a third dimension to the title sequence. Gareth gives motion to some of the designs on the cigarette packs as if the aspects were able to move about the package. It would be difficult to change the title sequence because I saw the movie in 2005 and always remembered the originality of the sequence.