"Come back to me."

This unit in the Ollywood class called “Post-Production.” We learned about the main elements of film production: lighting, camera angles, and acting, we also learned how to put a film together, and what its like to edit a film also. We had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about this process, he works in the film industry, and he really went into detail on what it’s all about. For this last AP we had to pick a movie and analyze it and also make a podcast, so we can expresses what we thought about it. The movie that I choice was “Atonement.” I picked this movie because it really caught my eye, and I love movies that are based in the 1930’s, I also thought it was be interesting to critique a movie like Atonement.

I learned so much throughout this course, and since I took this class every time I watch a movie, I always pay attention to the angles, and the special effects. I think its so cool that I know all of this information about movies, and I know the true meaning of what its like to make them. What I enjoy most about this project and course was all the movie I got to watch, new ones and old ones. What I thought was challenging was trying to remember all the names to specific names of editing, and angles. Overall this course was amazing, and I would love to take it again.

                                                                 Created by JV, 2015*

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

This unit in the Ollywood class is called “Production”. We learned about the main elements of film production: lighting, camera angles, and acting. We practiced analyzing these techniques by watching different movies in class, and this action project, we were asked to produce a movie critique video. I was paired with a classmate named NOA; the movie that we picked is Beetlejuice. We picked this movie because we both grew up watching it, and thought it would be fun analyzing and presenting a movie critique of it. What I found most challenging about this action project was the actual filming; it was hard talking in front of a camera, but I’m sure I can work on it and now I have a better sense of how actors feel . What I enjoyed most about this project is how the movie critique came together and how well me and NOA worked together. The video is serious, yet funny and very informative. I hope people enjoy it!

Citations: 

Beetlejuice. Dir. Tim Burton. Perf. Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton. Touchstone, 1994. DVD.

Hamamura, Michiko. Banana Boat (Day O). SoundCloud, 2014. MP3.

When You're Sad, Eat Cake!

Marie Antoinette: A Film Critique

For my elective this term I am taking a class called Ollywood, which teaches me about the production elements of camera angles, and how to critique movies. The first action project for this term was to pick a movie and critique it based upon some of its pre-production elements. I chose to review Marie Antoinette who is played by Kirsten Dunst, one of my favorite actresses. What I found most challenging about this project was critiquing the movie because I had to pay attention to specific certain things, and that was so hard because I just wanted to watch the movie. What I enjoyed most was finding a new movie that I love.

"Let them eat cake" by onscreenfashion.com.

Sofia Coppola is the screenplay writer and director of Marie Antoinette (2006), the movie is,  very creative, flashy, fashionable, and adorable production design throughout. The movie starts off with a 14 year old royal Austrian girl, named Marie who is leaving her own country to live with her new fiance, French Prince Louis XVl. She’s scared because she is leaving her family behind to go to a country that she knows nothing about! Plus she is marrying a prince whom she has never met, after only having seen a picture of him. She ends up marrying Prince Louis, and is getting used to her new royal life-style. The man responsible for her marriage is Louis XV, the current king of France, who is Louis XIV's grandfather. The king has a mistress named Madame du Barry, who has a very wild personality, with her dark lipstick, which is why the film’s costume designers dress du Barry in wild colored dresses, and high stilettos. No female royalty like her because they see her as trash and a favorite of the King. In her bold, seductive clothing, du Barry asks “Why do they look at me that way?” After the old King of France died, Louis XVl became king making Marie Antoinette the new queen. At this time, Marie was still trying to conceive a child with her husband, but he didn't seem attracted to her in that way. This increasingly frustrated the queen who would say to her friends, “Letting everyone down would be my greatest unhappiness.” From this quote, it is clear that Marie cared about what her people wanted, and wanted to make everyone around her happy. France wanted their king and queen to create an empire to be ruled by future royalty, so finally, after seven years of marriage, Marie and Louis had their first child--a girl named, Marie Therese.

Marie and Louis wasted so much money throughout their lives as royals, instead of helping the masses of people in their own country, who were literally starving. Instead of improving the lives of her people, Marie would hire famous designers to make her dresses, heels, and she would also have a makeup artist do her hair and makeup. Her dresses are pastel colors like baby pink, duck egg and mint green, which matched the interiors of her house and the variety of cakes, and macaroons. She always had the most fabulous and expensive dresses in the movie, and would also buy dresses for her friends. Marie and her crew would have so many different kinds of treats and desserts; they would throw huge parties and just have fun. Louis would also spend money on games and going out with his friends. My favorite scene in the movie is when Marie is purchasing all of the luxury items she can, trying on hundreds of dresses, shoes, and even costume wings and eating tons of cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and chocolates. I love how music is playing in the background of the scene, without it having a lot of dialogue (throughout the whole movie), just showing a lot of facial expressions and activity in this scene. I think this lack of constant talking between the characters made the movie interesting because you don’t need the characters to speak a lot to understand and see what's going on. I love how you just get to watch Marie indulge her own lavish life, not worrying about anything but herself. I love how she is so innocent and just wants happiness for ” everyone” in her circle of rich friends.

The set design for the movie was perfect because it was actually filmed in France, at the Palace of Versailles where Marie and Louis actually lived. I think that Coppola’s use of the real French palace made the movie really come together. The costume design was amazing as well. When I think of the 1700-1800's, I think of big, fancy dresses, fun accessories like wings, and the women looking beautiful, and that is exactly what Marie Antoinette showed. Marie room was so big, with floral wall paper, a queen-sized bed, and a huge chandelier hanging in the middle of the room. The room had a door that led to another room, where Marie and her friends would have tea parties. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie! It was amazing getting to watch and just see Coppola’s vision of what Marie Antoinette’s life was really like!