The Movie Vertigo

Like many of the movies on the list to watch for this class, it didn't get very high ratings on my netflix cue, which is probably why I had to watch it on three separate days to get all the way through it. All that aside though, the movie's plot was a bit too repetitive. All of the sound in movies from Alfred Hitchcock (crow sounds & in this movie, the music) is a bit obnoxious and repetitive. The idea was interesting in science fiction, but unrealistic. The first issue being that no person would be completely unaware of a single car following them for so many hours and days at a time. Also, the relationship events that occurred were severely unlikely. Married women do not simply decide to have an affair with a man they meet for the first time, and unmarried women wouldn't put up with being turned into someone from a man's past relationship.

Another thing about this movie was that it dragged on for far too long. There were far too many stops along the way to get to the main point. Something that should have been done and over in an hour or an hour and a half was dragged out for over two hours. All in all, this was not my favorite film.

Introduction & Movie By Any Means Necessary

Monologue: Danger Phobe

Script (I'll learn how to write scripts better later, I'm guessing)

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Narrator: [Reading Newspaper. Glances at camera, and begins to turn away, but sees something and turns back to the screen slowly]

“What do you want?”

[looks back a paper for a moment and pauses, but then continues to speak]

“I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is still no. No to mountain climbing, and almost certain death. No to dealing with those stupid monkeys, and their idea of a ‘bon-fire.’ That so-called nature camp is a death trap!”

[Turns toward camera and continues on rant] “Hell, I can see the trees going up in flames already!”

“And if that isn’t enough, you still have to fly on a plane to get there. Did you know, there are over eighteen different ways for a plane to bite the dirt, and ultimately get you killed?”

[Forgets about newspaper and begins to rant to camera.]

“You’re pilot can be intoxicated! The plane can be too heavy, or you can fly into a volcano… or have a mechanical error… or be hijacked… or have engine failure… or poor weather… or a mid-air explosion… strike power lines, have a tree collision, a take-off failure, lightning strike, microbursts, engine fire, propeller failure, wing stalling, structure failure, or landing error! Or if you’re really unlucky, you could just disappear! It’s that Bermuda Triangle! Sure… they say it’s a myth, but how does anyone really know? Have you been to the Bermuda Triangle?”

[Pauses, raising an eye brow and nodding]

“Didn’t think so.”

[Turns back to newspaper]

“No, I think I’ll just stay here, in my home where it’s safe.”

[ruffles newspaper and falls silent. Suddenly lights go out.]

“Where’s that fuse box?”

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Project 1 - By any means necessary. Basically, I found myself in a bit of a hole for this project. I was hoping that this would clear up my severe case of writer's block that I've been experiencing lately, but I don't think it did a whole lot.

As a story, I'm mildly pleased. It irritates me that I haven't been able to come up with anything truly inspiring. I know I can write better than this. As for filming, I used iMovie. I understand how to use Quicktime now, but for this particular piece, I think filming at home was a better choice, both for the setting and to medicate my nerves. I debated whether or not to take this movie into Photoshop, but decided that all I really needed to do to it was to warm up the lighting, which could be done in iMovie.

The editing was a bit choppy. I originally made a bunch of takes with my glasses on, but the glare from the computer screen would have made for a difficult editing job, so I decided to do a few takes without my glasses. The overall mood seemed to change a bit towards what I was going for, so with the fact that it solved the glare problem, I decided to use the shots when I had no glasses.

I'm not entirely happy with my work quite yet, but I believe I will feel more confident when I am not the one in front of the camera.