Posts

Turkish Cinema and the Recep Ivedik films

Nicholas Meyer It has been said that Turkey’s largest cities, like Istanbul and Antalya, are truly global cities, in that they have a unique mix of western, oriental, and Muslim cultures. Despite this eclectic group of cultural influences, there is a generally accepted way to act in professional high-class settings. The most respected members of Turkish society seem to be the upper class, such as wealthy businessmen, high ranking government employees, successful doctors, and high-level bankers. It is generally accepted that the more successful and higher class an individual is, the more western they are. This typically means they can speak another language, have some familiarity with western customs, and have international connections for their profession.  The Turkish middle and lower class are generally small business owners and service workers. These classes are much larger and are generally seen as “more Turkish”, or at the very least, seen as less western. The urban lower ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Male Protagonists and Disney Traditionalism

Nicholas Meyer Male Protagonists and Disney Traditionalism Disney’s animated films have often been criticized for reinforcing or promoting traditional or conservative values. Many Disney movies feature male protagonists or supporting characters, who start the movie as morally grey or only serving his own self-interests. As the story progresses, the male protagonist’s arc pushes him away from his selfish behavior and more towards the traditional ideal male role-model. Many male characters start out as self-serving, impulsive, and arrogant. By the end of the film, they end up as more stable, ideal men, usually after a sacrifice or grand gesture of maturity and selflessness. This trope dates back to as early as Lady and the Tramp and is found in films as recent as Tangled .  Characters like Tramp, Jim Hawkins, Flynn Rider, Aladdin, and others all start in a place of self-serving freedom. Their arc is usually directly related to forming a relationship with a female character, or t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Plans for next Semester

Nicholas Meyer FST 201 Blog: Plans for Next Semester Next Semester As of now, I am currently signed up to have a 15-hour work week with various classes ranging from gen eds, to just general interests. Unfortunately, due to my late signup date, I was only able to sign up for one film class, being Screenwriting with Professor Monahan. I'm still working to try and get into more film classes, however, I'm very happy I was able to get into a screenwriting class as that is what I am most interested in doing. Outside of class, I will continue with my work on TealTv's Sea series, as I have found it to be very enjoyable as well as beneficial to my talents. Outside of school, I am currently writing a short film that I would like to shoot, edit, and finish before the end of next semester's time.  It's not an overly ambitious or large production, so I am confident I will be able to finish it and add the experience to my resume.
Post a Comment
Read more

Cucalorus Response

Nicholas Meyer FST 201 Cucalorus Responses The Kevin Situation:  The first screening I viewed was a short film called "The Kevin Situation" which follows a conversation between four roommates about how they plan to kill their fifth roommates. This 5 minute short was a dark, and somewhat awkward comedy, most of which is simply a conversation between four of the roommates. While I really liked the short's premise and tone, I think it could've worked better in a format longer than 5 minutes. The idea of four roommates killing their fifth roommate is a fairly broad premise and limiting it to a single conversation around a dinner table was a waste of a genuinely funny premise. The main problem with The Kevin Situation isn't the small scale for the large premise, but the weird inconsistent sense of humor. While the short is clearly going for a dark, semi-awkward style of humor, mainly relying on the character's banter and interpersonal dynamics as the sourc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Assignment #8: Master Shot Editing experience

Nicholas Meyer FST 201 Blog Assignment #8: Post about the editing experience on the master shot scene project. When planning out and filming our master shot scene, we shot in the mindset of trying to make editing as easy and efficient as possible. We did this by filming shots multiple times, as well as filming many insert shots for the sake of having them. As the sound operator, I tried to make the editor's job easier by starting to record when the director called "rolling" instead of "action". By doing this, I was able to record the director reading off the slate, therefore all the information about the shot was in the first few seconds of each audio recording. I did this so that when our editor was going through all our audio recordings, she would be able to easily label and compiled all of the files, as opposed to having to listen to each one all the way through and make a guess about where each file goes. The hardest part about editing is having ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Previsualization material

Nicholas Meyer FST 201 Blog #6 Previsualization Material Post about the experience of making previsualization materials – how were they helpful?  What was the most difficult of the pre-planning   Pre-planning and making previsualization materials was somewhat of a challenge, but definitely worth the extra work. With the documentary project, filming sometimes felt like shooting from the hip, as we didn't pre-plan, or sketch out our shots or have a full plan on how it was all going to look. By planning out our shots and the visual aesthetic, our master shot project is going to look much more consistent and professional. The most difficult part of making the previsualization materials was , as a group, getting on the same page creatively. During our meetings and communications, we were all very open-minded to each other's ideas, as we all got along very well, however, the script gave us a lot of room to be creative. This was both a good and bad thing; good in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Master Shot Ideas

Nicholas Meyer Master Shot Ideas  For my role in the Master Shot Project, I am working as the sound operator. I am interested to work with the sound equipment and in premiere to create something unique for our project, as well as to learn more about how it works and how to do it properly. In terms of where my group and I are going to go with the script, I'm not sure yet, but I'm interested to bounce ideas off them and come up with a plan on how to handle it. I think it would be fun or at least interesting to have a wide variety of contrast between the two characters, both in terms of how they look and in how they deliver their lines. I would also like to experiment with the aesthetic of the shots and try and give the piece an unusual and unique visual style. In terms how specifically my group and I are going to execute this, I'm not sure, but I know for certain that I want our project to have a unique look and feel, different from the other projects in the class. 
Post a Comment
Read more