I'd like to hear any responses or thoughts you have regarding some of the film clips we watched in class this week. We should have a chance to watch more clips on the male-up day (May 9th) since we will have to have the exam on May 16th as originally scheduled. I'm hoping to show clips from
Sweetgrass,
Exit through the Gift Shop,
Wasteland, and some others.
Out of the clips we viewed in class yesterday, I really enjoyed winged migration. The shots were simply incredibly, how they were able to capture not only images of birds flying but scenes of beautiful backgrounds and formation. The film was aestheticaly pleasing to the eye.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Troll Hunter, although we discussed it briefly in class, I agree that the use of special effects were well adapted and fit in very well with the background and scenery within the film. There was no over the top "hollywood" type effects which made it seem much more realistic as opposed to films like Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity that are also "found footage" films
in response to sam, i understand Cloverfield having "hollywood type effects", but paranormal activity? the use of effects in that movie are slim to none!
ReplyDeletebut thats not here nor there.
I thought Troll Hunter was really well done though. The story was quite original and there was a nice balance between special effects and the use of the unknown to scare its audience. I also enjoyed the amount of small laughs here and there, that added a nice light touch to the feel of the movie.
I thought it was interesting how they did add the typical bad choices by the main characters for the horror genre though, although it irks me, it was a nice touch that kept the story rolling.
What I like about Troll Hunter (and others like it) is that they stay true to the genre but take it to the next level. They use the found footage theme and take advantage of it. There isn't a need for outrageous special effects because it is supposed to look unprofessional, allowing the CGI to look realistic without nearly as much effort. Troll Hunger uses this concept and suspend our disbelief with ease.
ReplyDeleteI do wish we had watched more American Mystic. The stories were fascinating and shot beautifully. The soundtrack played with the spiritual theme of the piece fairly well too.
I am fascinated with Winged Migration; I'm dying to see it in its entirety. I love nature documentaries (mainly because of the beautiful cinematography used) and was in awe with the shots they used. I'm still baffled as to how they got some of those shots, like when the birds are flying in formation about the clouds; that was unbelievable. Troll Hunter was also very interesting; it reminded me of a better thought out version of Instead of the monsters being aliens, the story was based off Norwegian folklore. That would be like if American filmmakers made a verite style documentary about Big Foot or Scottish filmmakers making a film about the Loch Ness Monster.
ReplyDelete-Dino Davaros
Winged Migration was so visually stunning. I think by having such limited narration the images became more powerful. You were focused on seeing rather than listening. I would be interested in seeing more of Troll Hunter, just because from our culture the idea of trolls being real seems so far fetched. Whereas something like the Blair Witch Project, where the "evil force" could be just a crazy person in the woods, seems more believable. I would also have liked to see more of American Mystic. Religion is something people believe so strongly in, and it is also interesting to see an individuals relationship with something like that.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed what we watched of Trollhunter which was extremely surprising to me because I swore I was going to hate it. I am anxious to have some free time to sit down and finish watching it. Although it is considered a "found footage" / Hollywood Documentary, I never really saw it as a documentary of any type, for my whole viewing experience I saw it as a movie. It definitely held my attention and like I said I can't wait to finish watching it.
ReplyDeleteWinged Migration was a beautiful piece to watch. It is amazing that technology exists where a camera can get that close to a bird flying and not disrupt it. Visually stunning.
American Mystic was not holding my interest as much as the other clips that we screened that day however, perhaps if I had seen a bit more it would have gotten my attention.
I am currently (at this very moment) watching Capturing the Friedmans. I'm only about a half an hour in and I cannot understand how a family who has been through such horrific events could sit there and talk about this and say it did not happen. My heart goes out to Mrs. Friedman because she seems so naive and so innocent that she had no clue that her husband was committing such acts. And the fact that some of these students had no idea that their fellow classmate were being raped and abused by Arnold and Jesse Friedman is harrowing. Although I am not yet finished with this documentary, I am having a hard time watching this film because it occurred rather closely to my hometown and there truly are people in this world like Arnold Friedman who prey on young children.
Troll hunter I have to say was one of my favorite movies that we were able to see clips of that day. I thought I wasn't going to enjoy it because I was not a huge fan of Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield. I get motion sickness pretty easily when it comes to movies, but Troll hunter I was able to watch. In the first 45 minutes were were able to watch, I was captivated because they used a "fairy tale" and actually made you learn different aspects of that fairy tale. When you're younger, you hear about the troll under the bridge or the trolls who make plants grow, but these trolls were of a whole different type. I enjoyed the way they were filming it as a way to expose the truth about troll to the public. Hans wanted people to know that his job is one that he has to do and does not enjoy. Unlike the Blair Witch Project, it wasn't just these filmmakers lost in the woods trying to find something that did not exist, they were guided by someone who knew the truth about what lies in the forest. I was extremely upset when we didn't get to watch the end that I had to go home and watch it off netflix. The ending was the best and I don't want to say why just in case someone reading this hasn't finished watching it. Troll hunter was definitely one of the best "Hollywood Documentaries"/ found footage because the special effects were amazing. They were able to make the trolls look like they actually belonged in these areas and a part of you actually wanted them to. This film was one of my favorites we have seen in class.
ReplyDeleteI thought Troll Hunter was highly entertaining. Even though we didn't watch it in its entirety, it is probably one of the best I have seen so far. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. The special effects were really good despite it not being a major film. When I first started watching it, I was expecting to not see any trolls, thinking that this was a low budget fake documentary. Adding the special effects is what made the film, and I feel like it would not have been as good without it.
ReplyDeleteI actually enjoyed the film on the flight of migration of the birds. I have always had a love for animals and i thought that this documentary was fascinating. I especially loved seeing birds i didnt even know existed like that bird that bloated itself up. It was pretty cool. I was also surprised at the movie troll hunter. When i see films like that i think of late night SyFy Channel specials. But this one was surprisingly engaging and the special effects gave the film a sort of authentic feel. The American Mystic grabbed my attention as well although i wasnt able to get a great feel for the scope of these peoples beliefs and practices. I feel like it would be an interesting documentary to watch.
ReplyDeleteI really liked Trollhunter as well. I feel that it captivated my attention right from the start. I like this "found footage" documentary better than Blair Witch because it adds the use of special effects. I feel like I'm watching a movie, which makes me want to watch the film even more. I personally feel that the actors in Blair Witch were good, but the actors in Trollhunter were better. Their performance seemed a little bit more believeable to me. I also really enjoyed the cinematography in Winged Migration. Normally I don't find it interesting to watch documentaries of this type, but I did enjoy what we watched of this one. I will probably try and take the time to fully watch some of these documentaries since the clips were interesting and left me wanting to watch more.
ReplyDeleteTroll hunter was a movie i heard about before it came out so i was eager to finally see some of it for the first time in class last week. comparing this movie to Blair witch, i see that this film isn't as "raw" as Blair witch is meaning shakier camera angles, etc. troll hunter also had CGI Special effects, and they didn't feel cheesy or unreal at all. im not sure if it was because those shots were either at night or seen through a night vision lense, but it worked.
ReplyDeletewinged migration really didn't interest me at first , but as i started watching it, im thinking to myself, "how the hell did they get those shots on camera?" it was really impressive and gauged my interest for the time being. those angles are nothing like Ive sen before in documentary film.
-mike crocker
I wish we could have just watched Winged Migration all semester long. It's beautiful, the shots they got and the angels are amazing and the audio is simply beautiful. I can't wait to watch the whole thing.
ReplyDeleteWatching Trollhunter was a surprising experience because I generally don't like horror movies at all (I had never seen the Blair Witch Project before). I am Norwegian, so the fact that it is set in Norway caught my attention, but the actor who plays the trollhunter is so captivating and convincing that he just makes the film. It's more of a comedy than a horror film to me simply because they make classic mistakes and also because of the dumb Polish jokes. I plan to watch the rest on Netflix.
My friend had been trying to get me to watch Trollhunter for at least a few months before we watched it in class, but I never got around to it. I mean, with a name like "Trollhunter," I was apprehensive to say the least. So it sat on my Netflix queue indefinitely.
ReplyDeleteWhen we watched the film in class, I loved it. So much so that I watched the rest immediately after class. I was surprised by how much I liked it, but it did so many things right. While it does have some similarities with the Blair Witch, I feel that Trollhunter was more reminiscent of Cloverfield because of the special effects utilized. While they are similar, Trollhunter is much better than Cloverfield (which was absolutely terrible in my opinion) mainly because it did not take itself as seriously. While most films of this sort try to be as realistic as possible, Trollhunter realized that nobody is going to believe trolls are real. This gave them the freedom to satirize the found footage genre and make an entertaining movie that otherwise may have been like any other.