God, Bush and "The West Wing"

I was warmly moved by episode 14 of The West Wing. Aethetically speaking, I was really taken by the uses of the Hebrew hymn at different places in the episode and what it meant for forgiveness. I enjoyed the rapid-fire dialogue and the tracking shots throughout the office, but I was reminded of some parodies of the show and thus found this technique humourous. In terms of writing, I thought the characters where developed very richly in terms of dialogue, especially by what name or title they chose to address each other. Lastly, I was shocked by the show’s success with delivering gripping monologues and talking about religion without being moralizing or condescending.

Being Catholic, I find this statement to be entirely consistent with my own experience. While I find the hegemonic nature of the Catholic Church to most of the time be a nurturing mother and trustworthy guide in moral and secular waters, quite frankly, they are sometimes just plain wrong and outdated. The scene where Jed is counseled by his priest, but acts independently of him is, I think, a perfect exposition of this. Personally, I think the Catholic Church should help to guide its members, but as Cardinal Newman said, “the first pope is your conscience.” Sometimes, declaration or age-old laws simply cannot grasp the complexity of the human experience day-in and day-out. In those times, a Catholic should act with the help of the Church, but also own their own will in accord with their conscience.

I think that a network could air The West Wing in post-9/11 America because the media gained the power to comment on and lead the zeitgeist. Americans grew increasingly bipolar in their attitudes toward the president and the government’s ability to lead a nation in the time of despair and to respond to a natural catastrophe. Basically, it finally became cool to criticize the government. I honestly cannot think of a modern TV programme that comments on Obama in the way that The West Wing comments on Bush. The only series I think comes close is the portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans as seen in David Simon’s Treme. New Orleans in Treme often conveys a hopeful portrait of some post-racial America.

Violence...For Real.

“Baghdad ER” was simply harrowing. But, aside from being compelling for 60 minutes, the documentary left me reflecting on the nature of violence in film. That sounds a bit lofty, I know, but I found myself looking away from parts of “Baghdad ER.” I’m not squeamish by any means. I love horror films and have seen some pretty intense violence and gore portrayed on screen, but few things as disturbing as the carnage portrayed in “Baghdad ER.”

What’s that about? My first hypothesis is that graphic violence in fiction is of a different nature than violence in non-fiction. That is to say, a horror film has different goals and tone than a documentary. Strings and strings of gratuitously gory horror sequels don’t disturb me, rather, they often amuse or thrill me. What’s the difference? Why is it okay to see a man’s penis eaten off by pirahna’s but so much harder to see a medical amputation of an I.E.D. victim?

Because the events of “Baghdad ER” are real. I think it’s that simple. When I watch Freddy Krueger dice horny teenagers in “Nightmare of Elm Street” I know I’m watching deliberately moralizing fiction. Obviously, there really isn’t a man in a sweater and hat that haunts kids in their dreams and kills them. On the other hand, when an Iraqi civilian looses his leg because of battle, I’m watching something that really happens. This man is not a character in a film devised for my amusement. He is real. This violence interrupted his own life and his scarred for it.

The most disquieting part of “Baghdad ER” that really drives home my point is when an American soldier dies on camera. Again, in countless horror films or Bond films, the body counts are in the triple digits and no one thinks twice about it. But, when one real person dies on camera, one feels dirty or perverse for having seen it, because of the nature of television as a medium of entertainment.

With that said, I think the discernable difference between fiction and non-fiction films that can entirely warp the viewing experience is the nature the film is serving. Is it to enlighten, to inspire, to entertain? Or is it to document? The two exist within the same medium, making it at once dangerous and undeniably powerful.

Commercial

Here is the link to my 30-sec commercial about Wikipedia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXmb2EfaoRY

-tj

Just a Minute

Here is the link to my 1-minute movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYs8pndVL9s

-TJ

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Bridging the GAPS in Commercials

TJ Keeley

On Commercials

A.     The advertising objective of the Gap was to inform its potential shoppers that the company was undergoing a makeover, or as they phrase it in the commercial “the all-new Gap is coming.” The commercial dramatized that the renovation was sparked by the customers and was thus a reaction to their desires, by literally showing them chaotically destroy an old Gap store.

B.     The commercial follows the basic three-act structure of a short film. I suppose the genre is silent comedy. The power in its form of communication is the way the violence and mayhem escalates into a sort of action film complete with its own score.

C.     Selling.

D.    National.

E.     The idea meant to be left in the audiences mind is that Gap is revamping its approach to style and advertising to meet the needs of and to respond to the demands of the customers.

F.     The commercial’s target audience were potential shoppers at Gap stores. Based on the director and tone of the film, I think they were shooting for a younger, hipper, crowd so to speak – maybe late teens and early twenties.

G.     The theme is that destruction is fun. The concept is literalizing a stores renovation and exaggerating it to epic proportions.

H.    The visual language is a frantic, action film complete with shaky camera work, and quick editing.

Damaging Acts

The first episode of the series Damages, is broken up into four acts that are separated by commercial breaks. Each of the acts ends with a beat, a semi-climactic moment where the plot twists or the momentum of the episode changes.

The episode begins with a pre-credits teaser. After the credits, the episode shifts back in time 6 months to tell the events leading up to what was seen in the teaser. This is the hook. Who is this woman? What is she running from? Where is she running to? Why is she bleeding? Who did this to her? All of these questions are unraveled throughout the episode.

The episode rewinds to her finding a job at a law firm. She really wants to work for Glenn Close, but rejects an interview because it interferes with her sister’s wedding. At the end of this act, Glenn Close dramatically shows up at the wedding and hires her anyway. This is the end of the act.

Another act climaxes around the time when the protagonist’s sister is being tormented and when the protagonist comes up with a theory for why she was hired. We are later told that theory was false, and her sister agrees to testify as the key witness. This beat acts as a counter to one’s which came before it. While we got suspense from thinking that maybe the protagonist was hired only to deliver her sister as the key witness, we are relieved when told otherwise.

The end of the episode marks the end of the final act. It is revealed that the protagonist’s suspicions were indeed accurate as to why she was hired. Though the episode wraps up everything that happened in that given time, telling us who the woman at the beginning was, what happened to her, and why she was running, it ends on a beat making us want more. It raises questions about Glenn Close’s character when it is revealed was terrorizing the protagonist’s sister to get her to talk.

Techniques of Drama in "The Wire"

I watched "The Immaculate Election" from ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and "Backwash" from THE WIRE. But, given the assignment, I will discuss THE WIRE more at length.

I must admit from the get-go here that though The Wire is a truly incredible television show, I find it incredibly hard to analyze simply because there is so much going on – so many characters and story lines that last several episodes – that one often can’t fully appreciate it until many episodes later. With that said, here goes.

In the “Backwash” episode of The Wire, the main characters were Stringer Bell and Frank Sobatka. Most of the episode was told through their relative points-of-view (with the exception of a few scenes). Lt. Daniels was another main character in this episode, but the plot didn’t seem to deal as much with him as with the other two.

In one scene, much of the exposition about what the characters were thinking and feeling came out through glances. The scene was D’Angelo’s funeral. There is a lot more going on here plot-wise, but I’ll save the words. While one man sang at the funeral, the camera watched the looks exchanged between Horse Face and Stringer Bell and his people. This highlighted who knew what was really going on in regards to D’s death.

The mood and tone of the episode are bleak, but with a sort of cynicism. Some very dark things happen involving some very troubled and conflicted characters, but the episode maintains a very gallows sense of humour.

There were many ticking bombs in the episode, but one got a sense that they are still ticking on into future episodes.

The “big moment” occurred when one of Frank Sobotka’s men got severely injured on the docks. Frank spent much of the episode enraged that new technology was going to change the business his family grew up in and take jobs away from his sons, and this all climaxed when one of his men had his leg shattered by a box.

"Deadwood" and "Arrested Development" Hooks, Lines and Teasers

I watched the “In God We Trust” episode of Arrested Development and the “Complications” episode of Deadwood.

            In “In God We Trust,” there was no traditional teaser, like there usually is before the credits in Arrested Development. Instead, the episode jumped straight into the first scene of the first act after the credits. The hook seemed, then, to be in that first scene. The hook, the part that drew the audience into the central conflicts of the episode, involved the ineptitude of the family lawyer, Barry Zuckercorn and his revelation that George Sr. would be let out of prison for one afternoon, in order to perform in the “living classics.” In this scene, that hook interacts with other elements that set up the episode’s main conflicts: Lucille’s bitterness about Michael’s and Lindsay’s closeness and the question of who will play Adam in the painting re-enactment. All the beats in each of the three acts contribute to these main storylines.

            In “Complications,” again, there seemed to be no teaser in the episode. Unlike Arrested Development, though, this was in keeping with David Milch’s screenplay structure in all the episodes of Deadwood. They simply start with the credits and then go straight into the first scene of the first act. One major difference I noticed between the two genres was that Arrested Development was very self-contained and episodic while Deadwood played more like a chapter out of a book. One would not be too lost watching that episode of Arrested Development (maybe some confusion about a few characters or inside jokes). On the contrary, if one had not seen the first 1.5 season of Deadwood, they would be completely lost. The hook of the episode seemed to be Al Swearengen’s recovery from his operation involving the removal of his kidney stones. The first scene reveals Al’s stubbornness to mend properly and obsession to return to the affairs of running his saloon. It also indicates that the episode will continue to develop the relationships between Al and those around him. He insists to the Doc that he not reveal to anyone that he had a stroke. His stubbornness conflicts with the Doc’s insistence that he get well properly and “not put a fucking clock on this.” It’s a battle of will’s between the characters, both with their reputations and values on the line. We sense that Doc really cares about Al’s getting better while Al only obsesses over his reputation and the money he’ll make when he returns to health.

The Rules of "30 Rock" and "Arrested Development"

I found both sitcoms to follow the 3-act structure and using the commercial breaks as a skeleton. In both pieces, the characters knew what their goal of the episode would be by the 5 and 7 minute marks ("Rock" was a bit longer than "AD"). By the first commercial break, Liz Lemon knew she had to find a way to incorporate the GE ad into her show without sacrificing the integrity of it (Try new Diet Snapple! It tastes just like regular Snapple), and Michael Bluth realized that he needed to lighten up on George Michael and not teach him lessons like his father did.

"30 Rock" defined its setup with the 2.30 minute cold opening featuring self-contained jokes, but also hinting at the conflict of the episode.

In "AD," the complication of the plot arrives when Michael, wanting to let George Michael be free a bit, finds out he is trying to score pot and disapproves. Michael then plots to "teach him a lesson." In "30 Rock," the complication comes around the same time, the latter part of the second act, when Liz learns from Jonathan that Jack simply cannot act (he needed 142 takes and a 5-day shoot for a taped commercial).

The suspense and surprise of both episodes arrived in the mid-third acts, about the time of the climax. Liz is forced to get Jack to act somehow, yet we still doubt that he can pull it off with the last minute script changes. Michael plans an elaborate fake arrest involving stripper cops that goes very wrong. Both of these events directly confront the objectives of the protagonist. Liz must give Jack a "pump-up" speech or risk the integrity of her show, and Michael and struggles to grasp how much freedom to give George Michael and how much to still father him.

Lastly, one thing I noticed about both shows, but especially about "AD," was the series of conflicts involving other characters. In "30 Rock," Jenna and Tracy have minor conflicts and objectives that fill out the episode but don't directly play with the main goal of the episode. In "AD," nearly all the characters (at least 6 of them) have minor arcs in the episode, complete with goals and objectives. A very ensemble piece. These objectives, though, (especially of the main character's) reach relatively high stakes for comedy. Michael is sensitive about his parenting, as we know he has been since his wife died, and Liz struggles to maintain control of her show, while not being too controlling.

Character in "Romeo" and "Lisa"

In “My Name Is Lisa,” the opening scene reveals that the goal of Lisa’s character is to escape her responsibility. She clicks to start her video blog and to leave the world defined by the frame. This drives the plot. Later in the film, Lisa faces tension against the film’s antagonist, her mother’s dementia, when she is called to either be proactive or reactive. Lisa is pulled between trying to escape via her video blog and taking on the role of a mother. She is asked to switch from daughter to mother. It is much harder to get a grasp of her mother’s character because she suffers from (presumably) dementia and changes attitudes much in the film. Based on the opening shot, though, she seems to be a very caring mother, bringing Lisa lunch, very encouraging, saying “you tell ‘em” about Lisa’s blog, and maybe a bit protective.

In “Sometimes Romeo Is Sad,” the two main characters are Mike and Margot. Margot is fragile and quite sensitive to the point that she seems bitter. She frequently tells Mike what he “should” do and is very upfront about how she feels about his jail time and philosophy or lack there of. Her goal seems to be to get to know someone upfront and not have them “sneak up on her.” Mike, on the other hand, is more of a free spirit; gentle, cool (“wouldn’t look out of place on a motorcycle”) and comfortable (he very openly admits he was in jail and why). He has a dominating curiosity throughout the play. His maturing and free-spiritedness combats Margot’s need for control. But there is something seductive about Mike to Margot’s desperation. She feels both a need to protect him (“you shouldn’t do drugs”) and, by the end of the play, a desire for him as a lover.

Aristotle's Main Elements in "My Name Is Lisa"

In a mere seven minutes, the short film "My Name Is Lisa" demonstrates Aristotle's six main elements: plot, character, idea, spectacle, diction and music.

The plot of the “My Name is Lisa” is quite simple. Instead of employing an intensive narrative, the film plays more like a “slice of life” piece, with hardly a driving goal, but rather offering a glimpse of the life of its main character and how she will grow. The film is told possibly non-chronologically, using Lisa’s video blog as a sort of first-person narration. The narration intercut with events in her life surrounding her relationship with her mother serve to comment on her life and add insight into Lisa’s character.

Lisa changes throughout the three-act structure in her dealing with her mother. At first, when facing the difficulties and frustrations her mother provides, she seems to ignore her. Later, Lisa reacts angrily, shouting her frustrations at her mother. Finally, she finds a patient way to cope with the difficulties while still loving and engaging her.

The character of the mother is important to the idea/theme/premise of “My Name Is Lisa,” especially in the way she is revealed. The themes of the film involve look closer at your surroundings, observing their complexities, and finding a comic resolution. The mother seems at first to be a sort of comic relief character. Later, the audience gets more insight into her mental/psychological condition. Finally, we’re provided with the resolution that this is not an obstacle to joy, but a merely a finer detail in life.

I suppose the most lasting spectacle or impression the film achieves is an emotional one. The event involving the relationship between a mother and daughter is a very human one, filled with sadness, but surprised by joy.

Two aspects of the diction in the film stand out most for me. First is the repeated line “My Name Is Lisa.” The first time it is spoken, the character is proudly announcing it to the viewer of her video blog (and the film). The second time, it takes on completely different meaning; she is pleading to her mother and trying to make her remember who she is. The second interesting use is the presence of literature to comment on the action and themes of the film: the reading of “Huck Finn.”

And finally, the music in “My Name Is Lisa” guides the flow of the film. The film as a rhythm that keeps the pacing rather quick, but never frantic. The music is a very simple piano theme that repeats, as a sort of cue or motif, suggesting emotions portrayed in the pictures, but never forcing them. It really complements the film.