Blog #8: Scene Deconstruction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=zY7Kg6BlNec

The theme of this particular scene is that with experience comes wisdom. In the scene Shu Lien, a legendary swordsman, and Jen, an empress with a lot of potential duke it out to see who’s stronger and in turn will decide who will make the decision about Jen’s life which seems to have taken a turn for the worst. Jen is using the legendary sword the Green Destiny which complements her skills and makes her formidable to Shu Lien but without the sword she is a novice incapable of making sound decisions whereas Shu Lien is much older, has more experience, and has had to make hard decisions her whole life.  

In the scene the uses of shape and movement reiterate the theme. The use of shape is used with the use of different weapons. The use of different weapons in a skillful manner signifies more experience and maturity which signifies wisdom as well because it takes a lot of time, patience, and skill to use multiple weapons. In the scene Shu Lien the older more mature legendary swordsman wields multiple weapons of different sizes and shapes in her fight against Jen while Jen relies heavily on the Green Destiny sword. Not only does Shu Lien wield the weapons but each weapon she uses shows formidability against the Green Destiny,that belongs to the legendary swordsman Li Mu Bai, which proves that it’s not the weapon that makes the swordsman it’s the swordsman that makes the sword. Thus, Jen clear difficulty at competing against each weapon’s signifies two things: one; Shu Lien is more experienced meaning she’s wiser and Jen should listen to her suggestions, two; Jen is very inexperienced meaning little wisdom and should listen to Shu Lien.   Movement also reiterates the theme because the Shu Lien is very powerful, tight, and steady with her movements as she attacks Jen, while Jen is very loose and wobbly with hers. This is easy seen as Shu Lien masterfully handles her multiple weapons with ease and as the Green Destiny shakes back and forth in Jens hand as she battles. The differences in movement signifies that Shu Lien one again is more skillful and experienced and therefore wiser. This is confirmed when Shu Lien wins the fight and spares Jen and as Jen ungratefully cuts Shu Lien with a sneaky and defiant move of the sword Green Destiny.  

Blog #7: Animation Deconstruction

         
 In the photo of Eric Cartman (left) his skin has an orange hue and his cloths exhibit a split- complementary color scheme with the colors red, yellow, and blue almost opposite on the color wheel. The colors of the room are monochromatic showing the same color with different value and saturation of the couch and wall paint. In the photo of Spongebob Squarepants (right) his skin color is a yellow hue and has monochromatic tones from the air holes which have a lower value making them darker. His outfit is analogous exhibiting analogous colors of brown and red which are colors next to each other on the color wheel. The background colors in Spongebob’s scene are split-complementary and also show some monochromatic tones in the green wood on the floor. The combination of both scenes shows parallel action because they are both eating at the same time in the shots but are in different locations. Eric Cartman has overlapping action because it seems like his eyes are fixated on something. So maybe he is watching television or looking at something else in front of him. There is also overlapping action between the chewing of the food and him putting food in his mouth. Whereas in Spongebob’s shot there is overlapping action because his mouth is open and empty to receive the food, his focus is given to the krabby patty in his hand, and his hand is moving the krabby patty in which he is about to consume. Weight in shown in the shot of Eric Cartman because him sitting on the couch, not floating, and there are cheesy poofs crumbs on his clothing. In the Spongebob shot weight is shown because his is standing on the floor and the plates that he has finished pile on the table instead of the air in the Krusty Krab.

Blog #6: Storyboard Imitation

In the “Ratatouille trailer,” Ratatouille is shot running out of a French restaurant toward the back door in the kitchen while escaping deadly chefs who try to kill him to obtain primo cheese and not garbage. The director does follow the 180 degree result by establishing a horizontal line in the kitchen across the counter within the first and second shots of the scene in the kitchen cutting them in half and moving within a 180 degree arc of the line.  A new line is established after the character, Ratatouille, changes this movements from the across the kitchen to the left to towards the camera or front of the kitchen to establish a new line in the 4^th shot, and then establishes another 180 degree line in the 5^th shot when he no longer relies on the kitchen counters for cover and runs in the open.  The 180 degree rule was also used as the camera dollies from right to left in shots 2 and 3 as he running and hiding under the kitchen counters. The Rule of Thirds is also obeyed because Ratatouille is strategically place on the intersections of both the vertical and horizontal lines specifically at the 1^st and 3^rd intersections. The director also addresses the 30 degree rule by panning the camera at least 30 degrees in shots 1 through 3 and increasing the size of Ratatouille by at least 30 percent in shots 3 through 4 going from a wide shot of him running to a medium shot of him running. Lastly he uses the 30 degree rule decreasing the size of Ratatouille by at least 30 percent going from a wide shot to an extreme wide shot in shot 3,4, and 5.  All 5 shots obeyed either the 180 degree rule, Rule of thirds, or 30 degree rule. This allowed for the shots to cut well together in the scene and prevent the director from using a jump cut which would have only necessary if these rules weren’t followed.

Blog#5: Sound Deconstruction

Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbkCVXQSAIo&feature=related  
Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QaI-M9sxW4

Listening Framework

Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You”  

Listening Phase 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

Medium

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

The lead and rhythm guitarists

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Soulful

Listening Phase 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

Guitar, bass, drum set, fiddle(strings), piano

Structure/Organization [how is the song built?  Order, patterns, etc.]

Intro verse 1 chorus verse 2 chorus verse 3 chorus  

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

Strait Forward- emotion starts low and then builds to a climax then comes back down

 

Listening Phase 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

-       Height [high and low of frequency]

Fairly static. The frequencies are mostly high with the guitars, piano, stings, and vocals but drop down to low frequencies during verses to build emotion

-       Width [stereo panning left/right]

Most of the panning is done with the guitars where the lead guitar dominates the left ear while the rhythm guitar dominates the right ear.

-       Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

Most of the instruments seem to be balanced except vocals which are louder than the instruments. Also the guitars and strings are brought out more than the bass and drum set. 

Listening Framework

Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”

Listening Phase 1 (Rhythm)

Tempo [slow, medium, fast]

Medium

Source [where is the rhythm coming from?]

The source of the rhythm is the vocalist Whitney Houston who is driving the music.

Groove [describe how the personality of the rhythm]

Soulful

Listening Phase 2 (Arrangement)

Instrumentation [which instruments drive the song?]

Guitar, strings(orchestra), electric piano, bass, drum set, saxophone(solo)

Structure/Organization [how is the song built?  Order, patterns, etc.]

verse 1 chorus verse 2 chorus solo verse 3 chorus

 

Emotional Architecture [Draw how the song build and drop?]

 The emotion starts low then builds pretty much till the end and then drop off

Listening Phase 3 (Sound Quality)

Balance

-       Height [high and low of frequency]

The electric piano, base, and drum set occupy low frequencies while strings, guitar, vocals and saxophone occupy mostly high frequencies. Some of the low frequencies switch to high when building emotion. At the end of the songs the songs key goes a half step up making all the frequencies higher.

-       Width [stereo panning left/right]

There is no panning

-       Depth [layers of instruments - via loudness]

All the instruments are pretty balanced except for the saxophone that sticks out during the solos and strings stick out as well, while vocals definitely dominate the piece. All instruments get louder during the emotion build.  

 Comparison

Dolly Parton wrote and originally sung the song, “I Will Always Love You.” The song was originally a popular country song and became an alma mater for aspiring female country singers. But Whitney Houston covered the song and made it even more popular and had become a career maker for her. She originally covered the song for the movie bodyguard, and the song was later played at her funeral. Both songs have nearly identical Listening Phase one, but Listening Phase two and three are significantly different from song to song. In Listening Phase one, rhythm, both Dolly Parton’s original song and Whitney Houston’s cover are fairly consistent. The tempo’s in the songs are medium, not to slow and not too fast, and each has a very soulful or tragic groove to them. The one difference in Listening Phase one is the source of the rhythm. The guitars lead the rhythm of Dolly Parton’s original song, while Whitney Houston’s vocals are the major rhythmic lead. In Listening Phase two, arrangement, Dolly’s and Houston’s songs have some definite differences.  Dolly’s song contains a guitar, piano, drum set, bass, and fiddles, while Whitney’s song contains the same but the piano is electric, a saxophone is used, and the fiddle is almost a full orchestra containing multiple string instruments.  Also the structures of the songs are contrasting. Dolly song structure starts with an introduction then verse one, chorus, verse 2, verse 3, and finally chorus, while Whitney’s song structure starts with verse one with no introduction and contains a saxophone solo before verse 3. But the emotional architecture of both songs are the same as it starts low then builds to a climax then come back down.  In Listening Phase three, sound quality, Dolly’s and Houston songs can be differentiated. In terms of frequencies they both are fairly static with certain instruments including the guitar and strings standing out during the emotional build. But Whitney’s song contains the saxophone solo which mostly occupies higher frequencies and her song also has a key change which moves all instruments and vocals to a higher frequency. Dolly’s song utilizes panning with the lead guitar in the left ear while the rhythm guitar occupies the right. Whitney’s song does not contain width. As far as depth in Doll’s song her voice is in balance with the other instruments, but as far as instruments go the guitars and fiddles is louder than the piano, drum set, and bass. While in Whitney’s song her vocals out power everything and the guitar, orchestra, and saxophone are much louder than the drum set, bass, and electric piano. I think the Whitney Houston’s song is better than Dolly’s. It gives more emphasis to the person, vocals, which relates to audiences more because it emphasizes the lyrics, groove, and emotion of the song- heartache.