Long Test on October 2

We will have a long test this coming October 2, 2015 (Friday), 6pm-7pm. The venue will be Room F513G, 5th Floor Finster Hall. The coverage of the long test will be the articles on film editing and the "Cutting Edge" documentary.

Kindly download the following for your long test preparations:

The Art of Editing
It took a long time to discover the importance of imaginative editing in films. In the beginning, the film was considered as one continuous whole and not as an assemblage of fragments. For instance, the French filmmaker, George Melies and his American counterpart Edwin Porter, set their cameras in front of the action and let them record things as they happened.


But it was Edwin Porter who made a bold step towards the art of editing when he inserted a previously shot footage within a larger film. And in 1915, David Griffith, the Father of American Films, discovered that only part of the action was needed to be shown onscreen. (Read more.)

Soviet Montage
Montage served a different purpose and has several meanings in the context of film and is not exclusively used to refer to Soviet Montage. It is used as a synonym of editing. In Hollywood cinema it means to edit a concentrated sequence using a series of short shots as brief transitions to create the effect of the passage of time or movement over large distances or for expressionistic moods and representation of symbolic meanings. Contrary to the conventional styles and movements, the soviet filmmakers was stepping away from a common narrative structure and adapting what has come to be called "Soviet Montage". This new theory of editing was invented by Sergei Eisenstein and then adopted by a few other Russian filmmakers. Eisenstein, however, was the one who discovered its potential and first put it to work to make the people in the audience think whatever he wanted them to think of. “Thematic” or Soviet Montage was achieved arranging striking juxtapositions of individual shots to suggest an idea that goes beyond meanings within an individual shot. It is called collision montage as sequences create significant effects mainly through editing. Its rejection of the forms and conventions of the dominant Hollywood entertainment cinemas have inspired many filmmakers to challenge the styles by creating films which emphasizes on the editing which aims to shatter the illusionistic storytelling and seamless continuity cultivated by Classical Hollywood. (Read more.)

Five Principles of Editing
As a new industry grew, practitioners raced to understand this amazing new medium and how it worked. Back then there was no precedent and there were no rules about how a shot should look or how a piece should be edited together. Sound familiar? But the early filmmakers did such a good job of understanding the medium, by the end of the 1920s the basic tenets had been laid down – and are still used by us today. (Read more.)







The Cutting Edge (from YouTube) - a copy of this can be obtained from the beadle, Karen Bañas.

Artist PollyNor and the Male Gaze

Artist PollyNor Talks Art, Her Take on Modern Female Sexuality, and the Male Gaze

London-based illustrator Polly Norton, or PollyNor, as she goes by, considers the modern girl and her life as inspiration for her work. Quirky and frank, her illustrations are a change from the usual fare of objectified women we see every day, everywhere. She says of her art, “I am questioning the ubiquitous male vision (of women),” and offers an “alternative view on sexuality, relationships and emotions from a modern-day female perspective.”

She derives her inspiration for her artwork from “funny texts, angry tweets, memes and selfies” as well as “girl chat.” She graduated from Loughborough University in 2011, and says that her illustrations often begin with a “line of dialogue or image in mind” and then puts her vision to paper, and then digitally colours it. When it comes to the subject of her work, she says, “If you were to write a piece about your feelings on gender issues you would have shit loads of comments calling you out over every detail and people writing insults at you in capital letters YOU ARE SO WRONG U FEMNAZI, I BET YOU ARE FAT, NOBODY WANTS TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU - GET OVER IT. People take what they want from an image but words are very concrete.”


Read more.

PollyNor's Website

Heneral Luna Film Viewing ( Requirement)

For this coming Saturday class, 19 September 2015, we will watch Heneral Luna (2015) at SM City Davao (Ecoland). The schedules of the film showing for Ateneo de Davao Univesity are the following:

19 September 2015 (Saturday)
9-11am: First Year Students
1-3pm: Second Year Students
4-6pm: 3rd-4th Year Students

For our class, we are scheduled at 4pm-6pm film viewing slot. Please be at the cinema floor before the scheduled viewing. As what I understood, Cinema 1 to 6 during those block time shows are open for us. Just bring your school identification cards. SM Cinemas are giving 50% discount for the tickets. I will be there at Cinema 1 at 4pm, see you!

Kindly read this Study Guide for your film review: http://henerallunathemovie.com/files/Heneral-Luna-Study-Guide.pdf

Synopsis

Joven (Arron Villaflor), a young journalist interviews General Antonio Luna (John Arcilla) as he prepares for battle. The newly formed cabinet of President Emilio Aguinaldo (Mon Confiado) is divided on the issue of American presence in Manila. Felipe Buencamino (Nonie Buencamino) and Pedro Paterno (Leo Martinez) harbor pro-American sentiments while Apolinario Mabini (Epy Quizon) and General Luna take a militant stand and advocate nothing less than independence. General Luna urges the cabinet to authorize a pre-emptive strike on the Americans while their land forces have not yet arrived. President Aguinaldo tells the cabinet that there is nothing to worry about because the Americans promised him that their sole purpose in going to the Philippines is to help the revolutionaries win freedom from their Spanish overlords. As politics divide the Filipino leaders, the Americans take Intramuros after a mock battle with the Spaniards.

General Luna and his trusted comrades – General Jose Alejandrino (Alvin Anson), Colonel Francisco “Paco” Roman (Joem Bascon), Captain Eduardo Rusca (Archie Alemania), Captain Jose Bernal (Alex Medina), and Colonel Manuel Bernal (Art Acuña) embark on an arduous campaign against the wellequipped, well-trained and more experienced American troops that are terrorizing the local population.

Despite the disadvantages, General Luna rallies his troops to fight in the trenches in defense of freedom. American military officials recognize General Luna as a most worthy adversary. In the middle of an intense battle, General Luna asks for reinforcements from the Kawit Brigade but Captain Pedro Janolino (Ketchup Eusebio) refuses to obey because the order did not come from President Aguinaldo. Angered by the stubbornness of the Kawit soldiers, General Luna reprimands Captain Janolino and humiliates him in front of them. Luna declares his infamous Article One, which states that all men who refuse to follow orders shall be shot without the benefit of a trial in a military court. Captain Pedro Janolino and General Tomas Mascardo (Lorenz Martinez) approaches President Aguinaldo to complain about General Luna’s brusqueness. This complaint notwithstanding, Apolinario Mabini counsels President Aguinaldo to support General Luna’s war plan that involves digging trenches in strategic locations and drawing the American forces to the North.

In the midst of war, the cabinet members continue to argue on the official stand of the government. General Luna flares up as Felipe Buencamino discusses the autonomy proposal of the Americans. He orders the arrest of pro-autonomy cabinet members. President Aguinaldo is torn: he is aware that politicians and businessmen want to get rid of the fiery general but the execution of the Bonifacio brothers still bothers him. General Luna’s campaign is undermined by cabinet members who are willing to strike a deal with the Americans, officials who receive orders only from President Aguinaldo, and the general lack of discipline of soldiers. General Mascardo blatantly opposes General Luna’s order for reinforcements. While the two generals clash, the American forces continue to advance steadily as the other Filipino generals like Gregorio del Pilar (Paulo Avelino) lose strength.

General Luna is advised by the women in his life to take care. Isabel (Mylene Dizon) loves him but knows that their responsibilities in the war are more important than their feelings. Doña Laureana Luna y Novicio (Bing Pimentel), his mother, remind him of better days and warns her son about the alleged plot on his life. General Luna is summoned by telegram to the President’s headquarters in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. He discovers upon arrival that President Aguinaldo had already left. Only Felipe Buencamino is in the office and they exchange heated words. When General Luna investigates a single shot fired outside, he encounters soldiers from the Kawit Brigade who attack him. General Luna suffered more than thirty wounds and was valiant until his bloody end (http://henerallunathemovie.com/).