Single Choice : Many Lives

May 3, 2010 was the premier of a feature length documentary entitled, “Single Choice: Many Lives.” It was written and directed by Anne Catherine Hundhausen. From the start of the documentary, it seemed to me, as the topic in discussion was the journey a woman faces artificial insemination, but as the film continued, the plot became more and more complex. The single story line unfolded into nine various characters with stories all too real.
Half an hour before the premiere of “Single Choice: Many Lives,” there was a wonderful reception with cheeses and wines. All the talent was there sharing stories of accomplishment with the soon-to-be-audience members. Judging by everyone’s seemingly delighted faces, it was safe to assume that both audience and talent were thrilled to be taking part in the premiere.
Once all the cheese has been eaten and the wine drunk, we listened to a short speech by one of the directors followed by a thank you from the director, who also graduated from Hunter College. The film began and the title rolled. As I kept watching the feature length documentary, I began to acknowledge the skill and labor that was put in to create this film. Starting with what seems like a relatively simple issue – in this case, artificial insemination - she slowly and artfully reveals layer after layer of nuance and complexity.
I thoroughly enjoyed the film and give it two thumbs up. I know it takes a lot of energy and dedication to create a major film from just a spark of an idea. It is very difficult for me to point out a single part of the movie because I thought everything was so well made but I feel as though the film lacked a point of view. As the end credits began rolling, I couldn’t understand my emotion. I mean, I knew it was very well made and put together but I wasn’t sure which side of the debate I should be on. In my opinion, the plot was just a little bit dry.

My Media 150 Class

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My Media 150 class has been an epic experience. The lectures have been very informative and the labs were very hands on. Through all the ups and downs, I’ve learned many things having to do with camera composition, lighting placements, and photoshop.

I feel that I have learned the most from the labs because I learn a lot better when I’m working hands-on with equipment rather than just reading about it from a textbook. ­­I definitely have a better understanding of photoshop and feel confident in being able to work with it at home or elsewhere in the future. Also, if I ever find myself on a set, I can be confident that if someone asks me to set up the lighting, I can do so without any hesitation. I wouldn’t need to ask the director how to make it work!

One thing that I felt wasn’t strong enough was the review for the exams. Basically, the professor would tell us to study for the exam by reviewing the lecture slides that are posted online. He did not tell us what to review or what to reread. It creates a lot of stress when studying for the midterm and final because I just get overwhelmed with readings and lectures to the point of exhaustion. It would be a lot better if the professor would give us an outline of what will be on the exam.

Overall, I think the Media 150 class was very informative, very interesting, and an experience worth having for all newcomers. I can now confidently pick up a camera and know what the inside looks like and how it functions because I know better than to think it’s just a point and shoot. I believe that all media will one day clash together to form a synergy like no other. And until then, I will remain headstrong in the direction of film and hope for the best out of life.

Design I Like

There are a lot of things I find interesting and compelling about the design scheme of Quentin Tarentino’s “Kill Bill” films. This poster advertisement perfectly captures the comic book aesthetic of violence: violence that is stylized and aesthetisized, made beautiful in a way. The poster uses very few colors: bright yellow, bright blood red, big black boldfaced (very legible) typography. The design is extremely simple, and I think that makes it more powerful. The image of an assassin proudly displaying her weapon of choice is strong enough that the poster would be overwhelmed by a lot of other visual flourishing. The simplicity of the image and typography, the highly saturated colors, and the sharp contrast are all elements that make this poster visually engaging. Its overall message is accessible to the viewer. The woman is making direct eye contact with us - and she’s wearing a yellow jumpsuit! She’s a femme fatale, and femme fatales have demanded our attention since the dawn of American media. Whether you feel positively or negatively about the poster’s aesthetization of violence, the image strongly demands your attention regardless. Whether you're a wannabe sniper or a peace&lover, either way the advertisement has succeeded in its task, because it has made you look.



While the poster portrays its subject as a perpetrator of violence, the image seems to exude its own aesthetic code and ideas about what is beautiful. The violence portrayed in the design is an expression, like the way a painter expresses him/herself on canvas or a dancer expresses him/herself through movement. The dynamic in this Kill Bill poster – between the perpetration of violence and strong artistic vision – suggests that art permeates all aspects of life, including the domain of violence. Blood and guts are a part of Quentin Tarantino’s aesthetic ideal. The poster portrays this alternative aesthetic code with the effect of demonstrating that there’s no such thing as objective beauty. As the cliché goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

What I See

A friend recommended that I watch Francis Ford Coppola’s film Youth Without Youth, so I checked it out, and I think it’s a great example of a film in which its creators were able to convey a lot of the story’s thematic elements through various technical methods. It’s often said that the first five minutes of a film reveals a lot about the film as a whole, and I find this to be very true for Youth Without Youth. The opening sequence is a dream: inner gears of a small pocket watch are grinding, accompanied by rhythmic ticking. The hands on a clock move backwards as the superimposed written words “past/future” move across the screen. A woman’s face becomes a graphic match with a human skull. In the first scene, as much of the rest of the film, there is a soft yet incessant ticking. Already in the first few minutes of the film, cinematographic techniques have disoriented us, and our notion of forward linear time has been challenged. Youth Without Youth continually challenges our preconceived notions of time and consciousness. By the end of the film, the protagonist Dominic doesn’t even know if he’s awake or if he’s dreaming. The technical style of the film deliberately creates a hazy line between dream and reality, which neither the characters nor the audience can confidently distinguish between. Ultimately I think that the message or feeling that the filmmakers were trying to convey through various technical methods in Youth Without Youth is this: “Things are not as they appear.”