Week 6: Wrap Up

Another lackluster week. Sorry folks. Things just keep coming up. It wasn't a total failure though.

I opened this week with a viewing of "Evil Dead 2", a film which I very much enjoyed.  There's also notes that I took while watching the film in that post, if you want to see my thought process while watching movies. I'm not interesting never pay attention to me.

Next up I actually released some worthwhile content with my Juniors Abroad video that I finally got around to finishing. I'm very happy with this and have watched it several times since releasing it. One of the good parts of this project is that it gives me an excuse to go back and finish stuff that I've been meaning to get around to. If you just click on one link in this post, let it be this one.

I also want to give a quick heads up/shout out. Today I saw the movie Arrival and it was very very good. It was one of the best movies I've seen in theatres and a near flawless film in my dumb and bad opinion. If you like science fiction go see this. Or if you have good taste, like me, go see this.

It's late and I'm in my bed so I don't wanna get up and roll my dice, so I'm gonna come back and update this post tomorrow morning with my rolls. Luckily no one reads this blog so that'll be fine.


EDIT:

Okay, here's the rolls:

5, 13, 2, 16, 15.

That's "Analyze one of my favorite songs", "Video Essay", "Watch a movie I’ve never seen and review it ", "Record one Podcast", "Shoot something, anything and edit it ". Well well well. Heads up, I'm filming stuff Tuesday and Wednesday so I'll be busy, but hopefully I'll get a theory activity knocked out.

Peace.

Week 6 - Shoot Anything and Edit It - Juniors Abroad 2K15

This one is a bit of a cheat. I shot all of the footage two years ago and had it half edited already. But I thought it was time that I get around to finishing it. But hey, if I didn't cheat this week, you wouldn't have gotten anything.

After every spring semester my alma mater (lmao wut) gives the opportunity for Juniors to go on one of a handful of trips abroad. I chose to go on the "Seville, Spain to London, England" trip with four of my friends and a bunch of randos who we eventually befriended. It was a really good time full of good memories. This vid gives me fuzzy feelings. I hope you like it.

The style of edit I chose was pretty much dictated by a couple things. 1) I knew I wanted to use the song "Americans Abroad" by Against Me, cause duh; 2) I had over 300 clips, and if I wanted to give each of them a spotlight the video would be like a half hour long. So I made this thing choppy as all get out. The second song/half of the video came from needing to make the video longer, and also giving it a more personal touch. In my old age I've gotten soft. Anyway, maybe some day I'll make a longer style video? But seeing as it took me a year and a half to even get this five minute video out, I wouldn't hold my breath.

I could probably do several posts recounting the memories of this trip. And hey maybe I will. Also, we spent like five days in London but I got lazy and stopped filming everything. Which is a bummer cause London was a good time.

I'll go ahead and dedicate this post to the boys. <3

Week 6: Watch a Movie I've Never Seen/Film Notes - Evil Dead 2

Sorry for the lack of posts it's been a hell of a week. But let's get down to business.

I was very excited to watch this film, it was basically the reason I watched "The Evil Dead". And I did mostly love this film. There was a bit of a lull, I felt, towards the late middle of the film that kind of brought me out of it, but ultimately this film is just a joy. I also need to do another re-watch I feel.

The beginning of this film is pretty confusing, I had to have it clarified afterwards. It's basically a retelling of the first film, minus all the supporting characters. It moves really quick and doesn't make a lot of sense if you're coming straight from the first movie like me. I don't really understand why Raimi did it that way, if he wanted this movie to be a standalone why call it "Evil Dead 2". But who cares, it moves pretty quick and after a couple minutes we're right where "ED" left off. Ash is possessed, but is cured as the sun is out. He tries to leave but, as we remember from the first film, the bridge is out. He flees back to the cabin, where he's assaulted by Linda's head, who bites his hand, leading to it being possessed. Ash cuts the hand off and starts losing his mind, in one of the greatest scenes in the film. Soon, the daughter of the professor who owns the cabin shows up with her boyf and two rednecks. They think he murdered the professor, but soon learn the truth as the professors wife comes back to life in the basement. Much like the first movie everyone dies off slowly until it's Ash and what's her name. Ash is saved by the power of love and together he and what's her name defeat the darkness. Ash is sent back in time and the movie ends.

This movie is really really good. Immediately this film shows the style that made me love the last bit of "ED". There are really interesting long takes, wacky zooms, etc. This film has a very kinetic camera that I really, really love. Also, Bruce Campbell really leans into a wackier style of acting which makes him way more interesting and fun to watch than the first. Also we get an actual backstory that ties into the film and I know leads into the next. The cinematography it seriously so so good and fits so well with the slapstick style that the film takes on.

The film is... ambitious when it comes to it's effects. The stop motion is sometimes decent, sometimes bad. Now the thing is, this is a low budget 80's film, you kinda know it's not gonna look great. And some of it does look fine. I think that this all kinda adds to the charm of the film, so it's fine.

I dunno. It's a good movie and now I'm looking forward to "Army of Darkness", and probably going through more of Raimi's movies.

Part two of this post is posting the notes I took during the film. There are a lot.

Huh. I ended that really suddenly. Oh well!