Ashley

Hunter Elevator from Ashley Z on Vimeo .

A Simple Favor (2018) The scene that I chose to evaluate is from the movie, “A Simple Favor,” which stars Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively (shown in this scene), and is directed by Paul Feig. This particular video shows Emily (played by Blake Lively) and her sister in a very traumatic scene, as Emily forcefully drowns her own sister. The scene opens up with Emily’s sister in the water seemingly persisting her to come into the lake. The camera continually gets reaction shots from Emily to Emily’s sister and so forth. Emily takes off her clothes to jump into the lake with her sister, and a long shot is taken of more than half of the lake. It captures some grass from one side of the lake, in addition to the large pine trees on the other side of the lake. Emily and her sister are in the shot as well; however, they are miniscule figures. This long shot was taken to give an idea of the space surrounding, while also showing that nobody is around them. Additionally, the

I thoroughly enjoyed the HK/NY Borders Film Exchange. Being that some of my great-grandparents are from Hong Kong themselves, and I was born in New York, I found that seeing the two different cultures present in one segment was inspiring, and in a way, connecting myself to my own roots. Seeing so many different films was fun and made me realize how I could create an intimate experience with some of the personal things I’ve gone through. The film ‘A Thousand Words’ focuses on a family in Harlem accepting that the grandmother has dementia struck me hard, as I personally had to deal with my grandmother progressively developing dementia, and forgetting who I was, despite a previous close relationship. The film ‘The Little Red Ball’ depicts a red ball against a colorless world. There is a boy in the film who is colorless as well. I think that the boy is sad as he is growing up and is no longer a kid. This reminded me of ‘The Girl in Red – Schindler’s List (1993)’, where

Crystal Swan focuses on Velya, a young adult who longs to leave her country to go to America to become a DJ. She carries the typical feelings of someone who longs to acquire what they believe is the glamorous American dream: anxiety, hope, and great excitement. Along with longing for this difficult music career, the viewer can see that music itself plays an important role in the film. The viewer hears Velya herself listening to music while she’s waiting, which reminds me of her waiting and wishing to have her musical dreams come true, and to see the birthplace of house music in Chicago. On the bus, she is called a freak, and instantly puts her headphones on to block the sound out. This shows how music is used as her own escape from reality and drama. She learns that coming to America is not so easy, as she worries about the issue of previous poverty may cost her to not be able to get her visa. Ironically, what inhibits her from getting her visa is her own mista

Kazuhiro Soda’s Ten Commandments were created as a result of his frustration when working under people and feeling uncomfortable with his work. One of his “commandments” includes (Number 5) ‘Shoot for as long as possible.’ This can be vital, as this allows the cameraman to have plenty of footage to work from and can also capture the continuity of the scene. For instance, when shooting a documentary or a film on a person’s point of view, continuity is important; as humans we perceive reality as a continuous thing and when capturing something that is real, fluidity helps create a more immersive experience. This commandment also gives ample opportunity to select the best scene to edit. More experimental films would emerge if Soda’s guiding were to be set in place for the filmmaker. For observational films such as the ones Soda creates, I feel like these rules are great. However, it is important for the content creator to identify point(s) of interest or the video