What inspires me?

Welcome back, today we are discussing what inspires me. Or are we?

I have no inclination to what it is that inspires me to do whatever it is I do... I have an undying dream of succeeding in what I do in life, no matter what it is. When I was in elementary school it was making the A+ Honor Roll. In high school, it was excelling in sports and school. Now, it is to graduate with a degree and become a functioning member of society.

I would not venture to say I have a certain specific inspiration for seeking my media production degree, for I really have many. Like I said, I want to be succesful in a field I enjoy, I want to be able to provide for myself and others, and give a little bit of myself to everyone when I come into contact with them... This quote for example, exudes what I would consider inspiration to achieve my goals:

"I love being alive and will be the best man I possibly can. I will take love wherever I find it and offer it to everyone who will take it. I will seek knowledge from those wiser and teach those who wish to learn from me."

-- Duane Allman's Epitaph

It is hard for me to say what exactly inspires me visually to a point. I know what types of shots or genres I enjoy to see so that may be something that influences my approach behind the camera. But, I consider myself to be more of a shooting from the sleeve type of thinker, I like having somewhat of a preset plan in my head of what I want to achieve then just go out and do it without much thinking or reason than other me thinking it will look right. Some of my favorite movies are old gangster classics and film noir but then again I enjoy more modern day horror and thriller movies...

As long as we are talking about what inspires me, or lack there of, I think it is important for me to mention what music means to me... In a sense, music really inspires most everything I do in life. I am always listening to music of all kinds... I have my favorites like The Grateful Dead, Widespread Panic, and Phish. But I also listen to funk, jam, bluegrass, electronica, house, rap, r and b, jazz from all kinds of artists like James Brown, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Kings of Leon, Yonder Mountain, Railroad Earth, Jay-Z, Prince, Disco Biscuits, etc, etc, and I could go on and on... So music plays a pivitol role in my life.

Some of my favorite pieces of "art" is album art off CDs from some of favorite bands. I would like to share those and my favorite quote from a few:

1.)

Quote, from "Built to Last" by The Grateful Dead: "There are times when you get hit upon, Try hard but you cannot give, Other times you'd gladly part, With what you need to live, Don't waste the breath to save your face, When you have done your best, And even more is asked of you, Let fate decide the rest."

2.)

Quote from "A Kiss Before I Go" by Ryan Adams: "And the pain in the morning comes as easy as it goes. Can't find the truth in a house of lies. And you can't see tomorrow with yesterday's eyes. One shot, one beer and a place where nobody cries."

3.)

Quote from "God Save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols: "When there's no future. How can there be sin. We're the flowers in the dustbin. We're the poison in your human machine. We're the future you're future."

4.)

Quote from Bob Dylan's song "Goin' to Acapulco" on The Basement Tapes album: "It's a wicked life but what the hell. The stars ain't fallin' down. I'm standing outside the Taj Mahal. I don't see no one around."

Okay, I tried to explore this topic. Hope you enjoyed reading everything and be sure to check out the movies and bands I mentioned in this blog.

Peace, love, and happieness to all.

--BB

Look dem purrty picshures...

So, here we are again. I am little late on this but I was shooting by tribute to A Boy Named Sue lastnight which was a little time consuming and I wont be long here because I am about to go edit into a masterpiece which I figure I'll post here once done. And don't mind this little image to the left here, I just thought it a nice take on the idea of a boy named sue...

So, lets get started:

This image right here is from the flim noir mood I would say. I think it is lit very nicely with the high single key light (kinda gives it the street light on a dark street feel). It gives you enough light to see the brim of the hat all the way around but completely shadowing his eyes and facial features. The light also gives way to the cigarette in his hand. It may or may not be lit but it creates what seems to be the focal point of the image. I really like this type of shot because film noir classics are some of my favorite movies.

Next:

This was just an image I found on the intrawebs and thought it was pretty cool. It looks really overexposed at the top, so much that it is completely white until you begin to see the edge of the water on the horizon. I love the use of the sun as it shines through the opening made between her arm and torso... another thing I liked was how her body cast a shadow on the bottom of the image giving it a extremely vast contrast from the top of the image.

Annnddddd thennnnnnn:

This is an image my friend took this past spring break in destin, fl... That is my hand right there and I have always loved this image. It was a nice sunset on our first night there and there were a bunch of us on the beach for the sunset. I really like this because the sun setting in the background creates a sweet back light. It really makes the peace pop off the image causing it to be the focal point.

....

Some other examples of stills I like are:

John Bell of Widespread Panic...

LeBron James 23

Iron Bowl [36-0]... Can't get prettier than that.

View of FL coast from space...

Rainbow on Black and white....

QUOTE OF THE DAY is from The Deer Hunter (which Kate needs to see):

Michael: Every time he comes up, he's got no knife, he's got no jacket, he's got no pants, he's got no boots. All he's got is that stupid gun he carries around like John Wayne.

Apocolypse Now, Opening Scene: Breakdown

So, as I sit here on my Labor Day wondering what to do... I remember that I have my blog to do and that it is due tomorrow. So, with it being a day of labor rememberance, lets labor.

For my breakdown today, I have chosen the first 2 or so minutes of one of my all time favorite flicks, Apocolypse Now.

First off I had to learn how to screenshot on PC as I am used to doing it in the video lab on the mac's with the screengrab, but I think I got it down. So here it goes...

The opening scene is set in Vietnam... you cant hear anything until about ten seconds in you begin to hear what sounds like helicopters in the distance...
A chopper passes by and your thoughts are confirmed... The scene is held in this still shot as the area around it begins to see changes...

After the chopper passes by, you see the dust settle and napalm rise up to the point that it consumes the screen and becomes the only visible thing on screen. Also, around the :30 mark, the music of The Doors' The End begins playing. This change in the color of the Vietnamese landscape to the bright orange glow of the napalm is dynamic shift in perception and focal point. To go along with the change in scene, the music creates a different feeling amongst the viewers with the dreariness of the words and Jim Morrison's voice. (A truly fitting song for the opening scene of this movie!)

You continue to hear the music and the choppers in the background as the napalm continues to rise. Then at the 1:10 mark, the bombs are dropped and we are reminded of the damage done in Vietnam. This chilling reminder is stunning but the viewer is still unaware of exactly the are seeing for the hold on the scene has remained the same through the first minute and fifteen seconds... leaving the viewer on edge to find out what is going on.

So, the carnage continues and you see all of the destruction being done. But I feel the story is not only told viually at this point but also audibly. Read the lyrics from The End and you can really feel what is going on. They go as follows: "This is the end. Beautiful friend. This is the end. My only friend, the end."

This next scene comes at the 1:42 mark. The battle scene fades and there becomes a duel image layout with the first scene we have been seeing going on in the background but now the image Capt. Williard is intertwined with the shot and you see him laying in bed thinking (or dreaming) and you become disassociated as a viewer. You now begin to think that you are seeing his dreams as he lays in bed or is it flashbacks to his first tour of duty? You just dont know.

I love this scene because Martin Sheen's face is upside down on screen allowing it to be the focal point but not distract too much from the battle still raging in the background. The lighting falls where his eyes are lit and you can see the cold grayness in them. As he smokes his cigarette the billowing smoke creates a foggy POV and really just establishes a nice shot.

For the last scene, I would like to use the image of Capt. Williard still upside down on screen but with the image of his ceiling fan in the background. This scene creates the sense that the sound of helicopters we heard earlier was just his fan the whole time and it was just a dream.

My screenshot does not really do it justice, but I promise it is more clear in the movie and it creates said feelings I mentioned.

OKAY, so that was my attempt at a scene breakdown so I hope you enjoyed it. I know I could talk more about the lighting and what not but I dont fully understand all aspects of achieving certain "looks" with different lighting, but hey, thats why we have Dr. R to teach us.

So, since we are on the topic of Apocolypse Now... I will use the first words uttered by Capt. Williard as my routine quote:

Williard: "Saigon... shit; I'm still only in Saigon... Every time I think I'm gonna wake up back in the jungle."

Thanks for coming out folks. Have a great day. Peace.

-BB