Thoughts on the short film "The Lift"

At first I didn't really know what to think about it, I didn't know how someone could make a Documentary about a lift somewhat interesting but I did get on the wrong end of the stick with this. It's apparently it's about people taking the lift and noting down how many times they use that lift everyday, some people use it once others use it more than three times a day and something along those lines. I really have to hand it to the production team who pulled this off, this is something I couldn't do, I personally don't like taking the lift it's small, cramped and can break down at any minute I just don't like them at all. But what I found interesting was what the people had to say, some was sad, some was funny and others where strange though what i found amusing in the documentary was the lady and the drunk man in the lift he left and she turned to the camera and pull quite a funny face as she was about to say "That man was weird!" Quite a interesting documentary, something I wasn't really expecting!

Thoughts On Ted Lectures and The First Day Of Cress

During today's workshop we viewed three to four short lectures from the website called TED. From what i can remember there was a interesting lecture about putting friends in a jar, I can't remember how he has done it but he may of used a projector to make it seem like they are stuck inside the jars and i am sure he has told his friends to do a few actions. Also another thing i would like to talk about is a project by Noah Kalina he is a photographer but the project he has done which caught my attention was his self portraits, Noah took photos of himself everyday for the last twelve years. This is the project in question.

I thought that this was pretty amazing, sticking to a project for almost twelve years, i would like to do something like this but there might be a high chance of me missing a day for some reason. Though also it is interesting to see someone change slowly before your eyes and see how they grew/turned into that particular person. Which leads me on to the next project i would like to talk about, just today as a group we have been told to document cress, viewing it everyday and see what and how it changes, I would like to present to you Day 1.

As i made my way back home from Homebase in Newark, which i might add i had an adventure trying to find a single packet of cress seeds. I don't really have much to report on at the minute since they are only just been planted this afternoon but as you can see they are sitting in damp cotton wool and somewhat slowly growing. I have also taken a 34 second video of the seeds, i plan on adding all of the videos at the end and add it with music.

Thoughts On Waltz with Bashir

The Documentary "Waltz With Bashir" was created by a Israeli writer and director, Ari Folman. It is a animated film based around Folman on his search to recover his lost memories from the 1982 Lebanon War. In the mother language of the film goes by "Vals Im Bashir" ( ואלס עם באשיר ). The film was released in 2008 and earning the sum of $11,125,849. The whole film is in Hebrew but English, German, French and many other subtitles where included. "Dispite the popularity of the film, it was officially banned in Lebanon" (Wikipedia) The trailer is accompanied by PIL & Johnny Rotten - This Is Not A Love Song

As for my thoughts on the Documentary film itself, i personally thought the animation was beyond amazing! I really do admire the artwork, though it was quite interesting to finally view a Documentary that isn't in English for a change it was a really nice change. Though i never really understood the nudity scenes, mainly the woman climbing into the boat, I really had no idea what was happening or what she meant to be. I found it quite interesting is that we learn about what happens behind the news stories on the television, we learn about things we never knew about the Lebanon war. However the whole war and terror did really terrify me, I didn't see it as a cartoon, I didn't see it as a film, I saw it as real life and it really hit me from the moment it all started. I have amazing and wonderful friends in Israel and seeing them become soldiers really does make me worry. This was a striking yet magnificent film.


~ Film Posters

~ A interview with Ari Folman from Black Tree Media

Thoughts On The Film Tarnation

Tarnation is a documentary film by Jonathan Caouette. Jonathan tells us about his life and his mother who is mentally ill mother, Renee. We see 20 years of footage, photographs and answer machine calls. He lived his early years in Houston, Texas but later moved to New York City at the age of 25. The film entered the market in 2003 earning the sum of $1,162,014. So my thoughts on the film, I really did feel shocked and quite emotional over it and at parts i could relate to him, though having a ill mother i do have a father that guides me. With some of the slightly coloured toned photographs and music was quite terrifying but it does give you an idea how he felt around that period of time. I would like to comment on some of the transitions in the film, the only one i am going to complain about is the repetitive flashing transitions, they where too frequent and i was slowly getting slightly dizzy from it and if any longer it would be quite nauseating for me. Also the film contains a lot of on screen text to read and at points i couldn't read all of it, i would persoanlly prefer someone narrating what needs to be said rather than reading. Towards the end of the film we see his mother singing about a pumpkin, at this point i wasn't too sure if she was being humorous or something else but i felt that scene went on a little bit too long, it did make me feel slightly uncomfortable again it does bring back a memory from my own life. In seriousness, it's a powerful film. "Your greatest creation is the life you lead."

• Film Trailer