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THE BALLAD OF CLEOPATRA

On April 27, 2017, The Lumineers released a 24 minute video on their VEVO channel. This video is a compilation of four music videos released by the band between February 11- November 17, 2016, with additional clips, filling in the pieces of the storyline that carries throughout. The songs released as their own music videos are:

1.“Ophelia”

2.“Cleopatra”

3. “Sleep on the Floor”

4.“Angela” (& “Patience” an instrumental)

However, the 24 minute cut also includes My Eyes, and Patience is relocated to follow My Eyes, which is how it is heard on the album. 

THE STORY LINE

The videos follow Cleopatra as she reminisces in her past, thinking of all the things that she has done, and all she would’ve done differently. This song (and video series), is based on a real person that Wesley Shultz, the lead singer, met while riding in her taxi in Georgia. He said, 

It's inspired by a true story about a female taxi driver who, when she was younger, was proposed to. But her father had just passed away, so she didn't give her boyfriend an answer. So he left the village broken-hearted and rejected and never returned again. He was her great love and she wouldn't wash the footprints off the floor after he had left.

The lyrics of Cleopatra are as follows:

I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress When you knelt by my mattress, and asked for my hand But I was sad you asked it, as I laid in a black dress With my father in a casket, I had no plans And I left the footprints, the mud stained on the carpet And it hardened like my heart did when you left town But I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant Damn your wife, I'd be your mistress just to have you around But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I'll be on time While the church discouraged, any lust that burned within me Yes my flesh, it was my currency, but I held true So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you But I was late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I'll be on time And the only gifts from my Lord were a birth and a divorce But I've read this script and the costume fits, so I'll play my part I was Cleopatra, I was taller than the rafters But that's all in the past now, gone with the wind Now a nurse in white shoes leads me back to my guestroom It's a bed and a bathroom And a place for the end I won't be late for this, late for that, late for the love of my life And when I die alone, when I die alone, when I die I'll be on time

The Lumineers use this story and apply it to the other songs featured in the video. Whether or not the songs themselves follow a cohesive story line is up for debate, but Cleopatra is the protagonist for all of the songs in the video (other than “Ophelia”, which is about the band themselves). “Cleopatra” shows her at age 55, “Sleep on the Floor” at age 25, “Angela” at age 35, and “My Eyes” at age 75. 

OPHELIA

The first music video released from the new album was “Ophelia”. This video isn’t directly connected to the story of Cleopatra, but it does introduce some concepts that become important in the videos that follow. The first important concept being the body splitting that happens for the first time at 0:41. This is seen throughout the video series, and I interpret it as separating where you are physically with where you are mentally. Daydreaming is a common theme that is carried through in each video which is represented visually with this body splitting. The other concept that is in all of the original videos, but not “The Ballad of Cleopatra” is the changing of aspect ratio to symbolize the difference between real life and fantasy. When the black bars are visible, the world around is boring or mundane for the protagonist. To me, this is a representation of feeling stuck in your life, and like you’re letting your life live you. The Lumineers have said that this song is about being distracted by fame,

“Ophelia” is a vague reference to people falling in love with fame. That spotlight can seem like an endless buffet, but in reality, you’re just shiny, bright, and new to people for a quick moment—and then you have the rest of your life to live.

At around 1:00 in the video, Wesley Shultz exits the concert hall and starts doing his little dance in the streets, and at this moment the aspect ratio changes.

At the end of the video, the aspect ratio closes back in again as his fantasy is over. The two usually happen within a couple seconds of each other, first the body splitting and then the aspect ratio change. I think that using these visual symbols helps the audience to track what’s real and what’s imagination. Like I said before, they opt out of using the aspect ratio change in the full 24 minute video, most likely because it would look odd and choppy to have see the size of frame changing every couple of minutes, even though they do it very smoothy (I didn’t even notice it until this project and I’ve seen all of these videos a handful of times- each). 

The music video to “Ophelia” sets up the rest of the series quite nicely, but it also works as a stand-alone. The original video has no ties to the plot, but in “The Ballad of Cleopatra” there’s an extension to the end which shows Wesley Shultz getting into Cleopatra’s cab, and she drives him to The Three Ladies Motel, a location that we see several times in the series. A nice little easter egg considering the series focuses on Cleopatra at 3 ages (the 75 year old only featured briefly at the end). Side note, I could watch Wesley’s awkward dancing for hours.

CLEOPATRA

This video was released on July 7, 2016, making it the second video posted from the newest album.  “Cleopatra” is the video that introduces the audience to Cleopatra at the 4 different stages of her life. This video starts at the aforementioned Three Ladies Motel. Cleopatra starts her day as a taxi driver, and in the backseat we see people in all walks of life, but three of these people are Cleopatra herself. When this video first came out, it wasn’t confirmed that all four women were Cleopatra, but I was so excited to notice the similarities between these characters. The most obvious, to me anyway, was the 25 year old Cleopatra who enters the cab with the love of her life. At the time that she is shown in the cab the lyrics talk about her being proposed to right around the time of her father’s funeral when she was young. A pregnant 35 year old Cleopatra also enters the cab in the very beginning of the video. Additionally we see a 75 year old Cleopatra in the yellow cardigan. We also see other characters who will reappear in the series, most notably Anthony, the young man with the 25 year old Cleopatra, but also the male nurse who takes care of 75 year old Cleopatra, and the husband of 35 year old Cleopatra, Julius.

Since I pointed it out, I’m hoping that you saw the aspect ratio changes occurring at 0:32 and 3:30, as well as the body splitting that happened at the end of the video, when we saw one Cleopatra join her son and ex husband inside their home, and the real Cleopatra reenter her taxi. 

Despite the uptempo and happy vibe the song presents, the lyrics are quite sad, and express deep regret and longing for a different life. One of the lines of this song that perfectly represents the series is:

So I drive a taxi, and the traffic distracts me From the strangers in my backseat, they remind me of you

With each new person who enters her cab, Cleopatra is reminded of the life she could have lived if she had made different decisions. Even the chorus is very haunting, “When I die alone I’ll be on time”. She feels like she missed out on all the important things in life, but inevitably will die regardless of her feeling like her life was unfulfilling. 

This song reminds us to take risks, and get what we want out of life. Live life with #noragrets.

ANGELA

The music video for Angela was released on September 13, 2016. This part of the story is about 35 year old and pregnant Cleopatra. This video has a much simpler concept than Cleopatra. She wakes up in the middle of the night, gets out of bed, and one half of her leaves her husband, going for a drive by herself. This song and video is about escapism, and having the courage to leave a negative environment.  For Cleopatra, that means escaping her failing marriage, even if only for a day. One of the lines in the song Cleopatra is:

And the only gifts from my Lord were a birth and a divorce

With the video series it can be inferred that the birth is of her son, and the divorce is between her and her husband Julius. While very simple, this video says a lot about the state of their marriage. It seems as though she has the time of her life alone, just dancing in a parking lot, instead of waking up next to her husband, and father of her unborn son. Another subtle detail that speaks volumes, happens at the end of the video. She falls asleep in the hotel room with a big smile on her face, and when she wakes up that smile slowly fades. The dream is over, she returns to reality, and the aspect ratio closes back in on her.

Also, this video probably has the most seamless aspect ratio change, to the point that you don’t even notice it, even when looking for it. It took me quite a few viewings to see exactly where it was changing.

SLEEP ON THE FLOOR

This is by far my favourite music video of them all. I think it may also be my favourite song of the ones that were featured in this series. Sleep on the Floor was released on November 17, 2016. This video combines beautiful shots, with a breathtaking colour palette, which are accompanied by a compelling storyline, and a great song. It contrasts the urgency of young love with the reality of living on the road. I think that the vibrant colours of this video show how fond Cleopatra is of her youth and how beautiful her relationship with Antony was before she let him slip away. While this is all a fantasy, the colours are vivid showing how honest and pure this dream is to Cleopatra. The song itself is about a road trip, just as the video depicts, but it’s also about choosing each other in hard times.

If the sun don't shine on me today If the subways flood and bridges break Jesus Christ can't save me tonight Put on your dress, yes wear something nice Decide on me, yea decide on us Oh, oh, oh, Illinois, Illinois

The video and song are so heartwarming until the end, when you realize she stayed home the whole time. A line that is both spoken and sang in the song is 

Cause if we don't leave this town We might never make it out

She stayed. And she never made it out.

The final POV shot shows something described in the song Cleopatra.

And I left the footprints, the mud stained on the carpet And it hardened like my heart did when you left town

The stain remains as a constant reminder of what she missed out on by letting Antony leave her behind after her father’s funeral. It serves as the only symbol of their once unbreakable love.

The video is filled with so many beautiful moments, and so I’m just going to leave them here in gif form instead of over-explaining them and ruining the moment.

THE CLUES

There are a few major giveaways that the different women in every video are one and the same. The first of these details is the scar that appears on Cleopatra’s left cheek. I think this was a real scar on the 25 year old Cleopatra, that they used to their benefit instead of covering up.

The second clue that the viewer gets is the wave tattoo that the 25 year old Cleopatra gets in the Sleep on the Floor video. It doesn’t appear until the Angela video, but by that point, the tattoo is like a final confirmation that they are the same person.

And obviously the biggest clue of all is THE LYRICS! Listening closely to the lyrics of Cleopatra would allow for anyone to see the storyline that is carried throughout the videos in the series. From the funeral, to the mud stains, to the baby, to the divorce it’s all found in the lyrics of Cleopatra. 

THE LUMINEERS’ PRESENCE

The Lumineers found clever ways to insert themselves into the story of each music video. Due to the complex storyline, there isn’t much room for them to be standing and playing for the camera if it doesn’t advance the plot. We see them very briefy in the Cleopatra video as Cleopatra makes eye contact with Neyla while waiting for her son at the airport.

We see them performing in the Angela music video, only to later realize that this is the same party that they’re playing at in the Sleep on the Floor video, and a young Cleopatra and Antony are even visible.

We see similar shots of the party in the Sleep on the Floor video, but we also see Cleopatra meet the band.

Of course, the Ophelia video is mostly composed of the band playing, but other than that, the story of Cleopatra takes priority, which I think is really cool.

THE BALLAD OF CLEOPATRA

Finally, I give you The Ballad of Cleopatra. I do encourage you to watch it all the way through, but the new conclusion to the story starts at 18:05. However, there are little filler clips that make the story more cohesive throughout. Disclaimer: I always cry at the hallway shot, so get ready for the epic conclusion.

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THE MAKING OF A DISNEY CHANNEL STAR

The Disney Channel, and other teen networks like it, namely Nickelodeon, have mastered the art of creating a teen icon. Throughout my childhood I ate it all up right from the shiny Disney Channel spoon. I saw this happen so often. They would take a young kid, and, in any order, put them on a T.V. show, release their debut album, give them their own movie and throw them out on a world tour, all over the course of a few years.

THE PIONEERS (THE MOUSEKETEERS)

The pioneers of this program are of course, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, as well as the many others who performed on the Mickey Mouse Club. I wouldn’t say that these stars follow the modern formula, but nonetheless they owe the start of their career to the mouse. At only 12 years old the two, Britney and Justin, were performing for millions all thanks to Disney. Some of the others from the MMC pursued a career in acting such as Keri Russell and Ryan Gosling, and Christina Aguilera was also featured on the show in the same year.

The main difference between this era of Disney Stardom and the current, is that these kids were all only featured on this T.V. show, and solely as musical artists. The kids of today must do it all, on many different programs, in order to get that teen icon status that these kids got from being on the MMC got back in the 90s.

THE ORIGIN OF THE MODERN MOUSE FORMULA

Some of the first stars who follow the modern formula of a Disney Channel teen icon are Hilary Duff and Raven Symone. Hilary Duff’s Disney career beginning in 2001, and Raven-Symone’s not long after with the launch of her T.V. show in 2003.

LIZZIE MCGUIRE (2001)

Hilary Duff was only 13 when she was cast as Lizzie McGuire. Prior to the Disney Channel, Hilary was cast in small television roles or commercials, but Lizzie McGuire shot her right up to teen stardom. Just one year after Lizzie McGuire premiered, Duff released her first album, starred in her first movie, Cadet Kelly, and scored two more leading roles in The Lizzie McGuire Movie and Agent Cody Banks the following year. When her contract with Disney Channel was over she continued acting, starring in 6 more movies by 2006. By 2007, Hilary Duff had released 3 more albums with Hollywood Records (owned by Disney). She did 4 tours, 3 of which were world tours, over the course of 5 years with the last one ending in early 2008. She additionally made guest appearances on shows such as George Lopez and Frasier. With the help of The Disney Channel, Hilary Duff’s career skyrocketed overnight, but the bad news is that it had nowhere to go but down. Nowadays we don’t hear much from Hilary Duff, although she still is acting in both television and film. Regardless, she was nothing short of a teen icon (and my idol) for the duration of her contract with Disney. 

THAT’S SO RAVEN (2003)

Raven-Symone got her big break playing Raven Baxter on That’s So Raven in 2003. Prior to Disney, she could be found on The Cosby Show and Hangin’ With Mister Cooper, or seen on the big screen in Dr. Doolittle. She appeared in a handful of Disney Channel shows starting in 1999, but it was That’s So Raven that really turned her into a star. It was the top Disney Channel show, being the longest running and highest rated at the time. Merchandising alone has accounted for $400 million in Disney’s pocket. In 2003, when That’s So Raven was first released, she also starred in a Disney Channel Original Movie, The Cheetah Girls. This film led to 2 sequels as well as a world tour for Raven- Symone. Raven had an established music career before Disney, with two studio albums to her name by age 14, but after her success on T.V. she signed with Hollywood Records. She released six albums with Disney’s record labels over just four years. That’s So Raven is also the first Disney Channel show to get a spin-off, with Cory in The House premiering in 2007, and just last year another sequel was released called Raven’s Home. Raven’s Home stars Raven-Symone alongside her former co-star Anneliese van der Pol, now living together as single moms. Raven hasn’t really done much outside of Disney Channel, only making brief appearances on T.V. shows such as Empire, Black-ish, and Master of None. She also appeared as a co-host of The View in 2015, but since has landed right back on Disney Channel starring in Raven’ Home and an animated series called Big City Greens now airing on Disney Channel. At 32, she has been working for the Disney Channel for 19 years, that’s as long as I’ve been alive.

TODAY’S TALENT

The real reason I wanted to make this post is because of the recent Disney Channel stars who are often handed a career in something they aren’t necessarily good at. They may start out as an actor and make their way into the music industry like Selena Gomez, or they could have an established music career and be offered a leading role in movies or T.V. shows, like the Jonas Brothers. Regardless of what they enter the Disney Channel doing, it’s pretty safe to say that by the time they leave, they will be doing it all.

WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE (2007)

Selena Gomez broke-out with her role of Alex Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place. She started working with Disney a year earlier, performing in small roles on Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Hannah Montana, but scored her own starring role in 2007. The following year she signed a contract of her own with Hollywood Records, having no prior experience with music, other than recording the theme song for Wizards of Waverly Place. She has recorded 4/5 of her albums with Hollywood Records, and toured all of these albums as well. Even when I was young, I remember hearing her first single and thinking that her voice wasn’t anything to go crazy over, but her songs were still very catchy. Of course every new Selena Gomez song would be plastered all over Disney Channel and heard on commercial breaks every single day. She starred in two Disney Channel Original Movies, Princess Protection Program (alongside Demi Lovato), and Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie. Don’t get me wrong, at the time I was absolutely obsessed with all of this, the T.V. show, the movies, the music, I mean, I totally cried at the finale of Wizards of Waverly Place. But as I get older I realize that Gomez really does not have any mind blowing talent, and her vocals are mediocre at best. I was so overexposed to the same few Disney Channel stars that I never questioned whether or not they were even good at what they do, it didn’t matter, because they were all that I would be seeing anyways. Most of them are very talented at at least one of the things they do on the Disney Channel, but some are simply average at them all, and still get to benefit from the Disney Channel stardom. Selena Gomez seems to be focusing more on her music these days, but has two upcoming movies set to be released this year and next. One thing that strikes me as very odd is that a lot of her fans seem to agree that she doesn’t have an outstanding voice, but still loyally support her music (what?). Below is a video of Selena Gomez performing live. It’s not like this is just a bad day for her, or an outlier, most of her live performances resemble this one, or are worse. I just don’t get it. How does she still have a thriving music career?

THE CROSS PROMOTION

This is no doubt this was one of the tools that Disney used the most to sell us on these stars. We would see them everywhere. As I mentioned above, they would always play the music of their stars on commercial breaks. This could be songs from their movies, such as Push It To The Limit from Jump In!, or We Rock from Camp Rock, or they could be songs by the stars of their T.V. shows, like Potential Breakup Song by Aly & AJ (Aly who starred on Phil of the Future, Burnin’ Up by The Jonas Brothers (who starred in Camp Rock, as well as their own show Jonas), or Nobody’s Perfect by Hannah Montana. Not only that, but every couple of years or so Disney Channel would do cross-over episodes. I’ll never forget how excited I got when “That’s So Suite Life of Hannah Montana” would come on my T.V.. This was a way of promoting all three T.V. shows at the same time, and they would usually build up the anticipation to these episodes weeks before they aired.

Sometimes other stars would just randomly appear in episodes with no explanation. Like that time that The Jonas Brothers performed in a Hannah Montana Episode:

Or the time Selena Gomez was on Sonny With a Chance:

Not only were random appearances common, but plenty of stars would have recurring roles on several different T.V. shows. Debby Ryan for example starred in Suite Life on Deck, Jessie and Girl Meets World.

Zendaya was featured in not only Shake It Up, but A.N.T. Farm and K.C. Undercover as well.

Bridgit Mendler starred in Good Luck Charlie, but had additional recurring roles on Wizards of Waverly Place and Jonas.

And this doesn’t even include all of the Disney Channel Original Movies that they all starred in as well! Between the T.V. shows, movies, and music, Disney Channel was and is plastered with the same familiar faces day in and day out. As a matter of fact, I remember it was always really weird to me when a new show started airing on Disney Channel. I would think “Who is this new person? They’re definitely not as cool as Miley, or Hilary” or whoever was the biggest star at the time. But inevitably they would be crafted into the next big thing, and you would hear their new single on the commercial break the very next day. Each new performer would become an icon to the incoming generation of viewers, and the cycle keeps repeating itself, with kids dominating the channel now that I have never even heard of.

THE SCANDALS

It’s no secret that most of the kids who make the transition out of Disney Channel and into mainstream entertainment are often scrutinized by the public for their “scandalous” behaviour. Disney makes sure that its stars maintain a “wholesome” image while they are employed by their company, so when these stars break free from Disney, it’s not uncommon for them to drastically change their look. 

THE JONAS BROTHERS

I read an article around a month ago that Joe Jonas did for Vulture.com. In it, he talked about some of the pressure he was under to maintain his image for Disney Channel.

I had to shave every day because they wanted me to pretend like I was 16 when I was 20 (when the show was done, I cut my hair off and grew as much of a beard as I could). We went along with it at the time, because we thought Disney was our only real shot, and we were terrified that it could all be taken away from us at any moment.

He also talked about the scandal regarding The Jonas Brothers’ purity rings. 

But back then, we explained that we had made these promises to ourselves when we were younger. A few months later, it comes out that we’re in some cult and that we’re these little staged Mickey Mouse kids. People were coming up to us, saying, “Thank you so much, I’m waiting because you guys are, too!” And we just thought, No! That’s not what we’re about.

Because of our age, because of Disney, because of those rings, there were so many things throughout our career that we had to sugarcoat. If a lyric was slightly sexual, someone at the record company would tell us we had to change it. It could be the most innocent reference, like “I’m alone in a room with you,” and it would have to go. It felt like we couldn’t be creative, so we stopped listening to them and just started handing shit in.

We decided to take the rings off a few years ago. I lost my virginity when I was 20. I did other stuff before then, but I was sexually active at 20. I’m glad I waited for the right person, because you look back and you go, “That girl was batshit crazy. I’m glad I didn’t go there.”

It was such a big deal to the world when The Jonas Brothers took off their purity rings, but it was nothing but a personal choice from the beginning. It’s pretty sick and twisted what the media just HAS to know about. Joe Jonas said, “Now I know that I don’t have to answer any questions I don’t want to. Like, why do you even care about my 15-year-old brother’s sex life”. 

The article talked about other pressures the brothers faced from gaining extreme popularity at such a young age, and is very interesting if you wanted to give the rest a read: http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/joe-jonas-talks-jonas-brothers.html

DEMI LOVATO

Demi Lovato gained lots of media attention when she put herself into a rehab center in 2010 after a physical altercation with a backup dancer on The Jonas Brothers tour. She, according to People, “‘decided to seek medical care for her physical and emotional issues at a treatment center,’ says the source, adding, ‘she is not in drug rehab.’” Her image, unlike other teen stars, had always been very clean and this was her first notable scandal at 18 years old. It was later revealed that Demi also struggled with alcohol and substance abuse and she checked into a sober house in 2013. She said:

Something I've never talked about before, but with my drug use I could hide it to where I would sneak drugs. I couldn't go without 30 minutes to an hour without cocaine and I would bring it on airplanes.

Demi was struggling with depression, eating disorders and addiction throughout her time on Disney, but somehow managed to maintain her clean image. I had no idea about her struggle with addiction until doing some research for this post. I also found it very interesting that Demi is still signed with Hollywood Records. Most Disney stars switch record labels once they stop appearing on Disney Channel, but to this day Demi Lovato is still releasing music under Disney’s label.

MILEY CYRUS

This photo of Miley Cyrus surfaced when she was 15 years old in 2008. This was during the peak of Hannah Montana, but recently resurfaced as Miley retracted her apology from back in 2008. She said on Jimmy Kimmel Live:

For me, when this photo was taken, and I know this will probably get turned around too, but when this photo was taken, my little sister [Noah] was here on set. She actually was sitting with [photographer] Annie Leibovitz taking photos too, when there was nothing sexualized about this on set. And it was everyone else’s poisonous thoughts and minds that ended up turning this into something it wasn’t meant to be so I actually shouldn’t be ashamed, they should be.

Her image was tarnished, but she continued acting in Hannah Montana until the series wrapped in 2011. 

Her brand while she was on Disney Channel was certainly not as squeaky clean as most are, but her transition into adulthood was still shocking to the world. When she was 18, Can’t Be Tamed was released, accompanied by the music video featuring a much more mature Cyrus. Later on in that same year a video was released of Miley smoking Salvia, but this was only the beginning. Who could possibly forget the foam finger incident of the 2013 VMAs. 

This was the gif that made me the least uncomfortable. Miley’s albums Bangerz and Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz feautured lyrics ridden with drug references and a sexualized Miley in her music videos. 

There was a point that nothing that she did would shock the world, until about a year ago, when Miley revealed on The Tonight Show that she had become sober to focus more on her creative projects with a clear mind. Now her music has taken on more folk-pop-rock vibes and I personally, am loving it. My dad too, I bought him her new album for Christmas. During her takeover of The Tonight Show back in October, Miley paid musical tribute to both the victims of the tragic Las Vegas shooting, as well as the death of Tom Petty. 

I’ve gotten a little off track here, but I think that it’s important to note that it finally seems as though she’s making music for herself now. Not for Disney Channel, not to prove a point, but for her own love and passion for the art. 

These “major scandals” are all the result of treating these artists like babies for too long, in my opinion anyway. These changes seem so drastic because on Disney Channel everyone is supposed to act suitable for young viewers, regardless of whether they’re actually approaching 20 years old themselves. We see them as kids for so long that when they act their real age it’s shocking. Another thing to keep in mind is that they all grew up in the public eye, with constant pressure to look a certain way and always say the right thing. And then when they break free from Disney and can finally do what they want, they’re seen as “rebellious” and “wild”. It happens with so many young kids too, who have no idea what they’re getting themselves into at the start of their contracts. 

WOULD I TRADE MY LIFE TO BE A TEEN ICON?

Short answer: absolutely not. I remember when I used to watch all of the shows mentioned above and desperately just want to be friends with all of these teen icons. I fantasized about being famous and hanging out with Zack and Cody, or Troy and Gabriella after filming a movie together. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve come to realize that the Disney Channel is nothing but a trap. Essentially you either land yourself in some big controversy after ending your contract, or you are stuck there forever acting in fluffy kids shows, or you’re not in the industry at all. Not to mention how exhausting it would be to be acting in a T.V. show, while recording an album, while filming a new movie, and also touring your last album all at the same time. And when you inevitably grow up, your life on Disney Channel is over (for most anyway). It may look like tons of fun from the outside, especially as a kid, but I’ll leave you with this video of an exhausted Hilary Duff doing her Disney Channel promo. Just look at how much fun she’s having!

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ROUND II OF THE MINI REFUSE (HAHA THIS JOKE STILL ISN’T FUNNY)

PART I: BLACK MIRROR//SAN JUNIPERO

While I was a fan of all of the Black Mirror episodes that we covered in class, this one really stood out to me. Not because it was scary, or sad, but because it was shockingly happy and sweet. The first episode of Black Mirror that I ever saw was Shut Up and Dance, and if I’m being honest it was scary. I watched it late at night at a sleepover, and it was essentially the equivalent of watching a horror or thriller movie for me. That’s the atmosphere of most of Black Mirror’s episodes. But San Junipero has an overwhelmingly positive energy, especially compared to the others. I’m sure most of us have thought about what life would be like if we grew up in a different decade, and the technology in this reality makes that possible- sort of. I really loved this take on immortality, because it really does seem like something that could be possible in the future. I also think that this episode posed an interesting question to its audience: if you had the opportunity to live forever, would you take it? They make it look so appealing! You can live in whatever decade you want, potentially with your loved ones, in a place where you don’t have to worry about anything. When I was younger, and this is gonna get morbid for a second, I always thought that I wanted to die young. But life is unpredictable! I might meet a person that I want to be with forever tomorrow. Or maybe I already know that person. Or maybe we won’t even have a choice of whether or not we want to live forever in the future! The point is, nobody knows what tomorrow holds and that’s part of what makes this episode so cool. 

Another thing that I wanted to talk about is the 80s aesthetic throughout the episode. Throwing it back to the 80s has become increasingly popular in modern media, with Stranger Things, The Goldbergs, Freaks and Geeks, The Americans, the list goes on, and I love it. I’m one of those annoying teenagers who constantly says “man, I just belong in a different generation”, and the 80s, while not my top pick, have always been very attractive to me. Performing in The Wedding Singer  this year also opened up my eyes to how fun 80s style really is. It was really refreshing to have a Black Mirror episode take place primarily in the 80s, especially when they are usually set in the not-so-distant future. Additionally, I loved the LGBTQ representation in this episode. I also thought that Yorkie’s story was one that a lot of people would be able to relate to, especially in older generations. Many don’t act on their sexuality for their whole lives out of fear of being publicly shamed, and Yorkie’s story is a perfect example that it’s never too late to pursue what you love. Good job Black Mirror, you made me cry instead of jump, at least for one episode.

(get ready for lots of gifs, after that gif comment in class)

PART II: THE KILLING JOKE 

It’s no secret that I am not Batman’s biggest fan, but I really did enjoy this comic. Prior to this unit I was 100% team John Green on this debate. Batman doesn’t even have any powers what’s so great about him anyway?!?!

I still keep some of my opinions from BB (before Batman), for example, I still think that Batman would be nothing without his villains, especially the Joker, but I now think that I understand why people love him so much. No one person is purely good or purely evil, and that’s what Batman is all about, in my eyes anyway. I also like the way that Batman is depicted in this comic, especially compared to The Dark Knight Returns. Batman in this version is much more focused on actually helping people as opposed to “fighting his inner darkness”. The Killing Joke Batman is a Batman that I can get behind. He still has his dramatic voice overs, but they aren’t so ridiculously over the top and cheesy. I also really like the art work of The Killing Joke, and the panels are way easier to follow. AND THOSE MOVIE LIKE TRANSITIONS! For someone not too familiar with comics, the cinematic approach made reading The Killing Joke much more enjoyable for me.

I mentioned that I still believe that The Joker is the real star of Batman, and I think that this particular comic strengthens that argument. The reader gets a sense of how evil he really is, but also the extent of his sanity. He’s chosen insanity to avoid dealing with his trauma, and the reader is more sympathetic to the Joker because of this. “Ignorance is bliss”, and the Joker is really just this common saying to an extreme. He would rather not feel anything at all than feel the pain that he was subjected to in his life, and I think that everyone can understand that, regardless of whether or not they agree with his choice. I particularly love the quote “I’ve demonstrated there’s no difference between me and everyone else! All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day”. 

PART III: THE SHINING

I did see this movie before we watched it in class, and I watched it again after, but I really valued the discussion that came from our group screening. I wanted to watch The Shining because of its “classic” status, and it also helps that it’s ranked #60 on IMDb’s top rated films. In fact on IMDb, the tagline that’s posted is “a masterpiece of modern horror”. As soon as the word masterpiece is tied to something, there’s a 99% chance I’m going to want to check it out, yes I’m a pretentious snob like that. 

I think part of the reason that I love this movie is that I’m not one who’s immediately turned off by a complicated and ambiguous story line, in fact it intrigues me. The Shining was like this year’s Psycho for me. It checked off all of the things that I would want from a movie: a unique score, dedication to character, innovative shots, and a plot that makes you think. Having a recognizable score is an amazing feat in filmmaking, and I think that The Shining accomplished that. Sure, you probably wouldn’t be able to hum a few bars like you could Jaws, or Star Wars, but you know it when you hear it, and knowing it when I heard it landed me a quick chat on twitter with one of my favourite social media personalities. It’s pretty crazy to me that Jonah Green was mentioned in my very first blog post over 2 years ago, and I’m still an active supporter of him to this day. Jonah has stopped posting regular videos, but over the past few weeks he has been doing nightly livestreams where he’s been talking about some more thought provoking topics that people in the comments suggest. During one of these streams he walked through a room where someone was watching a movie, and I caught just a couple seconds of what sounded like The Shining. A couple of hours after the stream he tweeted that he would be chatting with people for a little bit while watching some horror movies, and what happened next is as follows:

(probably what my face looked like after that exchange // side note: how is Jack Nicholson’s face so simultaneously hilarious & horrifying??)

In summary I’d like to thank Kubrick, Mr. Edwards, and the Academy for this award. In all seriousness, this was cool, but really it’s a testament to the power of film! I’ve only seen this movie 3 times but I was able to recognize it from a small audio clip! That’s how you know you’re doing something right. The classic Kubrick ambiguity of this movie only makes me want to watch it again and again. The characters are so defined and fully realized that I would definitely be extremely uncomfortable around Nicholson in real life, or want to give Duvall a hug. The amount of continuous tracking shots made me so excited (I mean, Birdman is one of my favourite movies if that tells you anything). I’m not a horror movie junkie by any means, but this is a movie I know I will continue to enjoy for years. To finish off this section let’s take a listen to that bit of the score that I’ve been going on about shall we? (skip to about 3:58)

PART IV: GENGHIS KHAN

My favourite, everyone’s favourite. It’s finally made it’s return.

This is probably one of my favourite music videos of all time. When my good pal Lacy sent it to me and said “we should learn the dance”, I’m gonna be honest I wasn’t expecting too much. Little did I know that opening up that link would have such an impact on my life. 

If this weren’t sent to me, I can almost guarantee I would’ve never stumbled upon the masterpiece of Genghis Khan (the video, not the cruel emperor). Honestly though, all jokes aside, I think this is a great video for a few reasons. 

1. That dance sequence really is spectacular, 10/10 choreography 

2. It showcases a family with two dads in a normal (ish) way

3. Catchy tune 

4. The song is much more meaningful alongside the video component

5. Face jewelry??

6. Visually pleasing shots with that 80s vibe again

7. Singing and dancing guards! Especially the little penguin flap move starting at 2:32

8. The best dance move ever at 2:55

9. Edwards put it on our grade eleven exam, which made me feel so much better after having an emotional break down from being late

10. The song never got too popular, so I don’t hate it for being overplayed 

As a gift to the world, I cut a particular clip which is my favourite part of the whole video, so I hope you like it.

PART V: EDWARDS

Here we go. What a crazy journey we’ve been on together, am I right ladies? I totally copied Brynne with this one, but there’s no other way I’d rather finish off this post. Edwards, we’ve been sharin’ laughs together since ‘13, how crazy is that? Back when I was obsessed with Grey’s Anatomy and the bottoms of your jeans weren’t ripped to shreds. Man those were the days. One thing that I won’t forget from grade nine is getting an essay back after you marked it and seeing scribbles all over the front page. My first thought was “wow, that bad?” but it turned out it was just the art of your son who wanted to help you mark. To tell the truth, I think you probably added a couple chicken scratches for your own satisfaction, but that’s beside the point.

Sadly, I’ve only got two other chicken scrath- I mean yearbook signatures from you (what was grade nine &ten me thinking??) but they’re pure gold.

I don’t think I’ll ever live down this Grey’s Anatomy thing, but don’t worry, I’m not cringing as hard as Kepner is about it.  Also, you’re eating your words now huh? You WISH I didn’t take your grade 12 class, you gotta be careful what you put out into the universe!

I’m only kidding, I know I’m your favourite student, and yes, I know that you can’t reply to this post to deny it. I really just wanted to give you the shoutout that you deserve for putting up with me for 5 WHOLE YEARS. Think of all the time you could have saved only marking normal-length blog posts instead of the novels that you get from me. Think of all of that time you could’ve spent making fun of other kids instead of just me (and Brynne obviously, you are ruthless with that one). Think of all of the laughter that you’d have accumulated within you because you weren’t exposed my quick wit and hilarious jokes. I wanted to thank you for always being there to share a laugh, a new video, or a difficult conversation. You’ve done so much for so many students and I know that I will never forget the impact you’ve had on my life as not only a teacher, but a role model. I actually remember the first day of high school, I was doing a tour of the building with my link crew leaders and as we were walking through the english hallway one of them asked, “Do any of you have Mr. Edwards this year?”. I looked down at my timetable and sure enough, there you were for second period english. They then said something like “Aw he’s an awesome teacher, you’re gonna love him”, but that was such an understatement. I know that I will be added to the bottom of the never ending list of kids who comes back to visit you, but I don’t mind. You’ll be at the top of my list of teachers who inspired me to be unapologetically myself, and that’s something I can’t thank you for enough. 

Alright, we’ve made it to that part of the post where I talk about the best Viral Friday submissions and I’m very proud to say that the class actually liked my picks this year. So, since I don’t have to fight anyone, I can simply appreciate the best submissions from the whole class (my own included obviously)

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I don’t believe another Viral Friday video has ever made me cry before, thus auctioneers rapping is the ultimate winner.

I never submitted this video, but it deserves to live on my blog forever. Thank you Lonely Island and thank you 2008.

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THE BOSS LEVEL

My first thought for an epic final confrontation scene was obviously Whiplash (2015), but considering that that scene has been discussed twice already on this blog I think I should give something else a shot.  

Since the release of the sequel is fast approaching, I wanna take a look at The Incredibles (2004). 

THE ORIGIN STORY

To start at the very beginning, I love the backstory of the villain who calls himself Syndrome. Throughout his childhood he adored Mr. Incredible, but when meeting him in real life wasn’t what he expected, he couldn’t help but be bitter about it, and superheroes in general. Buddy Pine somehow lands himself in the passenger seat of Bob “Mr. Incredible” Parr’s front seat, and he is very eager to lend a helping hand. Buddy calls himself “Incrediboy” and is desperate to be Mr. Incredible’s sidekick. To his surprise, he is thrown out of Mr. Incredible’s car and told from Mr. Incredible that, “I work alone”. 

When Buddy shows up during a confrontation with “Bomb Voyage”, he is once again told by Mr. Incredible to go home, and that he works alone. Buddy is desperate to show Mr. Incredible that he would make a great sidekick, and tries to show him the flight technology that he developed himself, to which Mr. Incredible responds “Fly home Buddy��.

I really like this backstory, because even in real life, lots of people who absolutely despise someone, were once a big fan. A lot of the hatred in our world comes from being disappointed by people that we look up to, and a couple of examples of this from real life come to mind. The first being Mark David Chapman, the Beatles fan who idolized, and murdered John Lennon. He was a big Lennon fan until Lennon made a statement that “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus”. This was the turning point when Chapman began to fantasize about murdering Lennon. Another that comes to mind is Bobby Burns, a youtuber who made a hate video about fellow youtuber Shane Dawson. Shane asked Bobby if he would be willing to do a series with him about why he made the video, and Bobby agreed. The series was called “Confronting My Hater”, and in one of the videos they posted together, Bobby admitted that he was a huge fan of Shane, and that he had been watching his videos for years. He made the video because Shane started to make very shallow and meaningless content, which Bobby couldn’t get behind. These are, of course, two very different examples, but I think that they demonstrate that a lot of hate and antagonistic behaviour in the real world stems from an intense passion and love for someone. 

THE FINAL FIGHT

Alright, on to the final confrontation. Now technically, this confrontation is between Jack Jack and Syndrome, but I think that one of the main themes of this movie is that it’s better to work as a team, and that’s exactly what The Incredibles do in this scene. When the family returns home from defeating Syndrome’s “Omnidroid” (robot), they find him holding Jack Jack, threatening to kidnap him and raise him as his own sidekick. 

Prior to this scene, the family is unaware of Jack Jack’s powers, so when Syndrome begins to fly up to his jet with Jack Jack in arms, they assume that he will need saving. Jack Jack finally demonstrates what he can do, and if it weren’t for his shapeshifting abilities, The Incredibles wouldn’t have been able to finally defeat Syndrome. He prevented Syndrome from successfully escaping for long enough that his family could think of a way to save him and defeat the villain at the same time. In this final confrontation, almost the whole family uses their powers to save the day (Dash excluded). This further proves that The Incredibles all have to count on each other to succeed. They wouldn’t have been able to defeat Syndrome without Mr. Incredible’s strength, Elastagirl’s flexibility, Violet’s force fields and invisibility, Dash’s speed (throughout the entire film but not in this particular moment), and Jack Jack’s shape shifting.  From the beginning, Mr. Incredible states “I work alone”, but by the end of the film he realizes that it’s not a bad thing to need the help of others. 

THE FUTURE OF THE INCREDIBLES

The conflict is resolved between The Incredibles and their nemesis Syndrome when Syndrome is sucked up into the jets by his cape. However, just because Syndrome is dead doesn’t mean that there won’t be more crime to fight and villains to defeat, as a family. Just because the villain is defeated, that doesn’t mean that evil as a whole is defeated. The entire movie built up to this battle with Syndrome, but at the very end, after all The Incredibles went through, a new villain reveals himself. And without hesitation, The Incredibles suit up and prepare to defeat their new enemy together (even Jack Jack!).

I personally can’t wait for the sequel to this childhood favourite of mine. Will it pick back up right where it left off? Will we see the full extent of Jack Jack’s powers? Is the villain of this film just as great as the villain of the first? We’ll find out on June 15th!

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WHEREFORE ART THOU ZOMBIE-O

Warm Bodies (2013) is a modern retelling of the classic story of Romeo and Juliet. It takes place in a post apocalyptic world where a zombie outbreak has claimed most of the world’s population. “R” is our Romeo, a zombie who wanders around his airport-home, looking to make a connection with anyone that thinks about more than eating brains. Julie is the daughter of Colonel Grigio, the leader of the human survivors, and a military man who will do just about anything to abolish the zombies. 

PLOT SIMILARITIES 

Julie goes out on a mission with a small group including her boyfriend Perry and best friend Nora, (reimagined Paris & Nurse from the original story), to look for medical supplies beyond the wall of their gated human society. This is where they run into R, along with a group of “corpses” hunting for food. The videos below are two clips from this scene (sorry I couldn’t find the whole thing in one clip).

During this raid, R kills Perry, just as Romeo kills Paris in the play, although I’m pretty sure that Romeo doesn’t save Paris’s brain to eat for later (and this doesn’t happen right in the beginning of the play). In Warm Bodies, when zombies eat brains they are able to see all of their victims memories, allowing for them to feel a little more human again. When R sees Julie, his heart beats for the first time, and he instantly feels the need to protect her.  R feels “love at first sight” exactly how it is expressed in the play, but the same is not true for Julie, who simply sees a monster who just killed her boyfriend.

Later on in the film, Warm Bodies recreates the iconic balcony scene. R has snuck inside the walls to see Julie again, despite the high probability that he will be killed for doing so. Of course they don’t talk as much as in the original scene, since R can only mutter a few words at a time, but the contents of the scene are essentially the same. 

Julie tells R that coming to see her is incredibly dangerous because of who he is, and who her family is, just like the original. But the star crossed lovers can’t bear to be apart (a faint “aww” from the audience). Despite the worlds that they both come from, they find comfort in each other’s company, which eventually blooms into romance. They need each other. Julie physically needs him, to protect her from the other zombies that want to kill her while she’s beyond the safety of the wall, and R needs Julie emotionally, as their emotional contact is the key to him regaining humanity. 

Of course, just like the play there is what appears to be a tragic double suicide scene at first. R wraps Julie in his arms as they jump off the edge of the building to get away from the “bonies” (the zombies beyond repair). However, R does this to protect Julie and she lands on top of him in a small pool of water, and this is the final act of selflessness that brings him back to life.

At the end of this clip, R is shot in the chest by Julie’s father, which is the final straw in proving that corpses can, in fact, turn human again. R starts bleeding from his wound, which is something that the zombies are unable to do, because of their lack of heart beat. After everyone puts down their weapons, the movement to end the war between humans and zombies begins. The end of this war is paralleled in the play when the Capulets and Montagues end their feud after the tragic death of Romeo and Juliet. The human race begins teaching the corpses how to live normally (and love) again, and together they defeat the bonies who are beyond healing. The wall in the city comes crashing down and the world is saved from the zombie apocalypse, or at least this nameless city is. 

MY OWN THOUGHTS 

I really have a soft spot for this movie. It obviously wasn’t a box office hit, but I enjoyed it in grade eight when it came out, and I still enjoy it now. Of course it is a very loose adaptation, only taking a few key plot points and characters from the original story, but I think it is successful in bringing new life (or death) into the story. Warm Bodies takes out most of the fluffy romance and adds comedy and bad-assery in its place. It’s different enough from Romeo and Juliet that you barely even notice the similarities when watching it for the first time. Yet it takes all of the things that make the original play amazing and puts it’s own unique twist on it.Yes it’s completely unrealistic for a girl to fall in love with a zombie, but that’s just it, IT’S A ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE REALISTIC. I’ve never really been into the zombie thing, no I’ve never seen The Walking Dead, but something about the balance of comedy, romance, horror and action really keeps me invested in this movie, even years after seeing it for the first time. I’m sure my love of Nicholas Hoult might have something to do with that, but have you looked at his eyes? There are a lot of hilarious one liners in this movie, mostly coming from “M”, the zombie version of Mercutio, that I really appreciate.  Some say Warm Bodies is like another Twilight, but the difference is that it doesn’t take itself seriously. In general, it’s pretty self aware, and constantly makes jokes about how far fetched the whole plot is. No matter how many people tell me they dislike this movie, I can’t help but defend it. I love it, and so did my grade eight teacher when we watched it on the way to Quebec City (one of his all time favourites is The Glass Menagerie, so he fangirled when he saw John Malkovich as Julie’s father). Show some respect for the (un)dead, and give this movie a shot, but not in the head.

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DAMIEN CHAZELLE

Damien Chazelle would be considered by many an up and coming auteur. Although only 3 feature films have been produced under his direction, he has been given writing credits for an additional 3 major motion pictures. He was involved in the screenplay for The Last Exorcism Part II (2013), The Grand Piano (2013), and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), all of which, you’ll notice, fall into the horror/thriller genre. These writing pieces are very different, both in content and in style, from his own films. Damien’s feature films that I will be discussing at length are Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009), Whiplash (2014), and La La Land (2016). 

But first, about the auteur. He was born January 19, 1985 (another legendary Capricorn like myself) and grew up in Providence, New Jersey. He loved filmmaking in his youth, but throughout his teenage years he also struggled to be a jazz drummer, which would eventually inspire the story of Whiplash. Damien graduated from a film program at Harvard, where he first met Justin Hurwitz. The two were roommates, but worked collaboratively in film, and still do almost 10 years later. Hurwitz is responsible for the score and soundtrack of all three films Chazelle has both written and directed. The pair work seamlessly together, and a beautiful score has become a recognizable characteristic in any of Chazelle’s films. 

Now, I would like to give some background information on the films to be discussed further in this post.

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009)

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench follows Guy, a jazz trumpeter, and Madeline, a girl trying to figure out how to live on her own for the first time, on their personal journeys right after their break up. Through musical numbers and dance sequences, we see the two live their separate lives, but each seem like they’re just dully going through the motions of life without each other. Guy becomes dissatisfied in his current relationship with Elena, and actively tries to find and reconnect with Madeline. By chance, Guy and Madeline run into each other on a street corner and catch up with each other. Just as fate would have it, Guy wins her back with a piece he composed for her on his trumpet. A very cute ending for a couple that we don’t really see in the same room together for the entire movie. This film was originally made as Chazelle’s thesis while studying at Harvard, and it premiered to audiences at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2009. This movie, with its plot and musical sequences definitely feels like a first draft for La La Land. And as it turns out, that’s exactly what it was. The same story was reimagined 7 years later, and is Chazelle’s most successful film to date, but more on that later.

Whiplash (2015)

Whiplash tells the story of Andrew Neiman, a freshman at Shaffer Conservatory of Music (a fictional Julliard). He is in a practice room trying to perfect a new drum skill when Mr. Terence Fletcher barges through the door. Fletcher is known as the terrifying but brilliant conductor of the studio jazz band at Shaffer. Throughout the film, we watch Neiman struggle to overcome Fletcher’s scare tactics in hopes to pursue his passion for percussion. Chazelle has stated in interviews that this story is somewhat auto-biographical as he also had a hard-ass music teacher when he was a jazz drummer. However, unlike Andrew Neiman, he did let his teacher get to him in a sense as he decided to go down a different career path (but look how well that turned out for him!). This is one of my top five favourite films, La La Land being another, and if you’ve ever been in a music class this is a must see. Even if you haven’t stepped foot in a music room there is something you will love about this movie, as long as you don’t mind the foul language that Fletcher is often spewing. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars (Best Picture being one of them), and won Best Supporting Actor (J.K. Simmons), Best Achievement in Film Editing, and Best Achievement in Sound Mixing. 

La La Land (2016)

La La Land is the best known of Chazelle’s films, dominating the Oscars and Golden Globes, tying for the most nominated film in Oscar history with 14 nominations. Although it became a meme after being wrongfully announced as the Best Picture winner, it is still (in my eyes) a beautiful film. Paying homage to classic movie musicals, La La Land follows two aspiring artists trying to make it in L.A. Mia is an actress who is still waiting for her big break, whereas Sebastian is a pianist trying to save Jazz. When they first meet, they can’t stand each other. The second time they meet, they still can’t stand each other. Eventually, they grow fond of one another, but the movie explores the hardships of their relationship as they constantly have to choose between their passions and each other. Once again, this is one of my favourite films, but for different reasons than Whiplash is one of my favourites. I love the story and acting in Whiplash, but La La Land is simply beautiful to me, in all aspects. It’s aesthetically powerful, the music is dreamy, and the location is breathtaking. In a story driven by the Los Angeles lifestyle, seeing the real sights of the city adds so much to the viewing experience. One of my favourite things for a film to do is shoot on location, and La La Land does just that. 

Now that we know the basics of all three movies, let’s jump into the similarities.

THEMATIC CONTENT

To me, these movies all share stories of making a choice of whether or not to follow your passion over everything else. The external factors change in all three movies, but they all boil down to the same question the protagonists must answer: Would you choose your passion over everything?

 In Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, it seems as though Guy must choose between his music career and his relationships with both Madeline and Elena. Throughout the movie, Guy always seems to choose his trumpet over everything. It seems to be the reason him and Madeline break up in the beginning, and the cause of many arguments between him and Elena. Guy thinks that he must choose between his relationships with people and his music, but it turns out that isn’t exactly the case. Ultimately, he chooses both his passion and his relationship with Madeline, and he even wins her back playing a piece he composed for her on his trumpet. In this story, Guy doesn’t have to choose his passion over everything, he can have it both ways.

 In Whiplash, Andrew must be fully committed to his passion in order to let Fletcher’s harsh words roll over his shoulder.  Fletcher’s classroom is not for the weak of heart, and one has to be strong enough and confident enough in their musical ability to not let Fletcher discourage them from continuing their studies. In the middle of the film, Andrew does let Fletcher get the best of him, and even tackles him onstage, getting himself expelled from Shaffer. He thinks this is the end of his music career, and aims to end Fletcher’s career as well to put an end to his tormenting of other students. When he runs into Fletcher in the city, Andrew agrees to perform with one of his studio bands again, for a very important, career-determining festival. When it turns out this was all a trick to humiliate him, Andrew must once again choose if he will follow his passion no matter the odds that are stacked up against him. Of course, he triumphantly defies Fletcher once again, and delivers an incredible performance. Despite all of the pressure put on him by Fletcher, Andrew chooses to pursue percussion because it is what he loves. No matter the physical, emotional, and mental stress he knows that his life would be far less interesting without drums.

In La La Land, Sebastian and Mia are constantly being torn between their own individual careers and each other. Sebastian’s dream is to open his own jazz club, and Mia is looking for success in acting wherever she can get it. Their relationship begins to crumble as they both pursue their dreams on their own. Sebastian joins a modern pop-jazz fusion band, very different from his own style, and begins touring the country, as Mia works on her one woman show. Mia becomes frustrated with Sebastian for abandoning his dreams for the money of his now very popular band, but he argues that Mia just liked him better when he was unsuccessful because it made her feel better about her own unsuccessful career. The performance of Mia’s one woman show is very unsuccessful, and Sebastian himself didn’t end up coming because he was doing a photoshoot for the band. Mia breaks off the relationship, but not long after Sebastian tracks her down because and agent who was at her show wants her to audition for a movie. They put their differences aside, and Mia lands the role, meaning she will be leaving to film in France. The two part ways, but as we see in the end, they had to sacrifice their relationship in order for both of them to fulfill their dreams. They couldn’t hold each other back from what they love most, even if that means they can’t be together, which in my eyes is a true testament to how much they really did love each other. 

FINAL PERFORMANCE

All three movies end with an epic performance sequence from the protagonist. Since these films are all driven by music, there is a lot of suspense surrounding the final on screen performances of Guy, Andrew and Sebastian. They are all used as different devices to conclude the movies. 

In Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, Guy uses his trumpet to win back the heart of Madeline, giving a heartwarming end (or beginning) to their love story. When he learns that Madeline is planning on moving to NYC, Guy goes searching for her in hopes to change her mind. He looks for her in all of her common locations but comes up short. When they by some twist of fate run into each other on the sidewalk, Guy knows this is his chance to finally reconnect. In a time where Guy feels as though his words aren’t getting through to her, he resorts to music to do all the talking.

(please excuse the bad audio quality and sub par video quality, I had to upload this myself from a screen recording on my laptop as there are minimal clips from this movie available online)

In Whiplash, Andrew’s final performance is one of defiance and passion. Prior to the beginning of this clip, Fletcher tricks Andrew onstage in front of thousands. He told Andrew that they would be playing the same charts that they played in studio band at Shaffer, but they were actually playing pieces Andrew had never heard. He tries his best to improvise through the song, but it doesn’t go well, humiliating Andrew in front of hundreds of talent scouts that could lift his career off the ground. He runs off stage in embarrassment, into the arms of his father, who tells him that it’s okay and that he tried his best. But that isn’t good enough for Andrew, he runs back onstage to his place behind the kit, and that is when this clip begins. 

My favourite part of this entire scene is when the cymbal falls over and Fletcher rushes to pick it up. This to me is a symbol of respect coming from Fletcher, the man who always demands respect but rarely dishes it out himself. I can’t help but have a massive grin on my face every single time I watch this scene, it’s so satisfying.

Finally, in La La Land, Sebastian’s final performance takes the viewer through a sequence of what could have been. Five years after Sebastian and Mia’s romance has come to an end, Mia and her present day husband stroll into a jazz club, which turns out to be “Seb’s”, which was Mia’s pick for the name of Sebastian’s club. As Sebastian plays “Mia and Sebastian’s Theme”, we relive some of their memories together, but each memory ends differently than the original. This sequence shows what could have happened if Sebastian sacrificed his own dream for Mia’s and supported her throughout every step of her career. This final scene is very bittersweet. We see what their lives could’ve been like had they chosen each other, but we know that in the end they were only meant to push each other closer to their own personal goals.

I found the video below online, which compares the endings of Whiplash and La La Land. It outlines the formula that Chazelle seems to use when developing the endings of his films, and while it isn’t featured in the video, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench shares many of the same similarities. Instead of focusing on the musical aspect that I touched on, it explains deeper the emotional depth of each scene, and the similar storytelling methods that Chazelle uses such as the “negative false climax” and the “positive false climax”. When compared side by side, you can really see Damien Chazelle’s style coming through in both sequences, and Guy and Madeline is no exception. (As shown below, Guy and Madeline also ends with the same nonverbal close ups between the leading characters).

EXTREME CLOSEUPS ON INSTRUMENTS

If there’s one thing Chazelle loves, it’s a good close up during performance sequences. Almost any time there is an instrument being played on camera, you’re going to see it incredibly close up. Not only that, but in big band performances, Chazelle often includes really fast cuts between those instruments, so the audience is seeing probably four new instruments per second. Here are a few examples from all three movies that I did my best to screenshot, keep in mind most of these were taken from only one scene in each movie. 

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench:

Whiplash:

La La Land:

Using these shots really helps establish the focus of each of these scenes which is the music. The visuals are meant to compliment what you’re hearing as opposed to distract. You’ll also notice that many of the shots are different even though the same instrument is being captured. Other than the “directly in the trumpet bell” shot, the viewer gets to see the same instruments from many different and interesting angles.

WHIP PAN SHOT

Another frequently used shot in Chazelle’s repertoire is the “whip-pan” shot. This is when the camera pans between two points of interest in the scene, usually on opposite sides of the room, incredibly fast, and all in one take. This shot is used during performance sequences in all three films, and in La La Land and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench it is used to cut between tap dancing and the playing of instruments. I personally think that this is a really cool shot, because the timing has to be perfect for it to work effectively. I encourage you to watch at least the last 30 seconds of this video because it shows a behind the scenes clip of the filming of this shot from La La Land and it is pretty crazy how they shot it. The exact shots that I’m referring to happen at 0:47-1:05, 1:53-2:17, and 4:00 to 4:50.

USE OF COLOUR

Something you may have picked up on throughout this post is the different colour palettes of each movie. Of course the most obvious example is Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, as it was shot in black and white, but all three movies have a couple of colours that are used frequently throughout the film. Many have different theories about what these colours represent in each film, but at the very least they’re so aesthetically pleasing!

As I said before, Guy and Madeline was shot in black and white, on 16mm film. I think that the colour, or lack thereof, represents the bland simplicity of both Guy and Madeline’s lifestyles. This isn’t a story of a student at the top music school in the country like Whiplash,  or the story of two starving artists trying to make it in sunny L.A. like La La Land. It’s simply the story of two people who break up, go about their lives, and then get back together. There are long sequences of people riding the subway, working at a diner, cooking dinner, it is all very mundane. This film is quite raw, and the black and white plays a large part in this. Chazelle casted non-actors in this movie, meaning that they are essentially playing versions of themselves. Because of this, their performances are all very pure and grounded, which is once again reflected in the lack of colour. There’s nothing flashy about this film, it is all just very real, and the black and white film captures that rawness.  In addition, shooting in black and white was another way to demonstrate gratitude to all of the classic musicals that Guy and Madeline was inspired by.

As you may have noticed, Whiplash uses a lot of yellow and warm lighting to contrast the harsh and intimidating character of Terence Fletcher. Whenever Andrew is around Fletcher there are a lot of yellows, oranges and reds at play, giving the scene a very warm look, which is the exact opposite of the content in each of these scenes. The contrast allows for the acting to shine in these scenes; the lighting and colouring is doing nothing to set the atmosphere so the actors have to. However, in the scenes where Andrew isn’t around Fletcher, or stressed about him, there is a lot more greens and blues that come through. 

I would say that these greens represent the parts of the storyline that aren’t about the conflict between Fletcher and Andrew, but rather the conflict between Andrew and himself. For example, in the shot above Andrew is going on his first date with Nicole, and he doesn’t know how to talk about anything other than music. His obsession with impressing Fletcher and succeeding in music takes over and leads to their breakup, because he tells Nicole that she’s nothing more than a distraction to him. 

While Andrew is playing for Fletcher in this scene, it’s not about impressing him, it’s more about Andrew realizing when enough is enough. He was just in a terrible car accident, but still rushed to the jazz fest because if he wasn’t there on time he would lose his part. He was bleeding all over the drum kit, but still tries to continue. Once again the question comes up, what is the cost of your dreams? 

Finally, in La La Land, we obviously see an abundance of purples in pinks. However, the movie is very colourful in general, and showcases a bunch of different colours throughout the film. I saw a great video about someone’s theories of what each colour represents throughout the film, but sadly I can only share the link to it because I’m at my video embed max for this post. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPAf3a0XYNk&t=7s

It discusses how they believe that the purples and other secondary colours represent Sebastian and Mia together, whereas the primary colours represent them being apart, as well as the “perfect” Hollywood glamour. In the scenes where the two are closest emotionally the secondary colours take the forefront such as the tap dance scene pictured above, as well as the scenes pictured below. 

Whereas in scenes where the two are disconnected the primary colours are what stand out to the eye.

I do like this interpretation of colour in the film because it’s easy to follow and makes sense. Other people believe that each colour represents its own idea, but that becomes pretty hard to follow throughout the film. Once again, even if these colours represent nothing, they’re just so beautiful to look at so A+ Damien Chazelle. 

YA LIKE JAZZ?

Finally, probably the most obvious similarity between these three films, they all tell a story of jazz. Damien Chazelle, along with all of our protagonists, believe that jazz is a dying art. As stated before, Chazelle was a jazz drummer in high school, and so he has a lingering love for the music even though he pursued a career in film instead. All of our main characters come under scrutiny for being so in love with a dying art, but all remain loyal to jazz throughout the movie. Even Mia, who doesn’t like jazz at the beginning of La La Land, begins to appreciate it under Sebastian’s mentorship. Chazelle been critiqued for the story of “jazz needing a white saviour” but I think it’s more about everyone appreciating the art for what it is. An interesting thing that I found while doing research is that the actors in both Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench and Whiplash who play musicians, aren’t actors at all. Both of these movies cast musicians who can actually play their instruments on set which adds so much more authenticity to both movies in my eyes. This proves that it really is about the music, and not just some fluffy story about some guy who played jazz sometimes. Even with La La Land, Ryan Gosling learned how to play piano in just 3 months, so that most of the shots of him playing would actually be him and not a double. Same goes for Miles Teller in Whiplash, he has been playing the drums since he was 15 years old, which I would imagine helped him land a role in the movie. Finally in Guy in Madeline on a Park Bench, Jason Palmer, who played Guy isn’t an actor but a full time jazz trumpeter. I find it admirable that Chazelle would use real musicians in all of his movies, because it really doesn’t make any sense to me to have non-musicians playing these intensive roles.

If you made it this far, I think you would agree with me that Damien Chazelle is in fact a brilliant auteur, and my favourite director/screenwriter. All of the films analyzed above were both written and directed by Chazelle, which I would imagine is very difficult to do for an up and coming director. His movies all speak to me, and they have become some of my all time favourites. Chazelle is releasing a film this year that will interrupt the jazz narrative that he has become known for, and additionally the movie is not written by him. However the film, First Man, does star Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong. Other than Ryan Gosling I can’t imagine First Man would have much in common with La La Land, let alone Whiplash and Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, but I also feel like Chazelle will carry his shot preferences and technical elements with him into a new genre. Damien Chazelle is becoming more and more recognizable in the film industry and I can’t imagine we’ll be getting rid of him anytime soon.

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DON’T COMPARE APPLES TO ORANGES

My opinion on adaptations has changed over the years. I think this is because I’ve grown to love film just as much as I love literature. As a kid, I read books from all the big teen franchises, like The Twilight Saga, The Hunger Games, Mortal Instruments, Divergent, Maze Runner, you get the picture. 

(I know, Twilight???? Seriously???)

My friends and I were always so excited for the new adaptation to hit theatres, but every time after the lights came back on, we were in one way or another disappointed. 

“How could they change that detail?” 

“How could they cut out that character?” 

“What? That never happened in the book!”

These are all things that would likely come out of our mouths after seeing the newest must-see-book-to-movie-adaptation. I was always so mad that the movie wasn’t exactly like the book that I loved so much. 

As time has gone on, I now wonder why I would ever pay money to see a movie I hoped would be identical to a book I’ve already read. In a way, in reading a book, you already get to watch the movie version, except it’s playing in your head. When I see an adaptation now, I go in wondering what the filmmakers interpreted differently that I did. What did they think was important? What characters really impact the story? Going in with an open mind has made the process much more enjoyable for me.

Of course, I still think that the major conflict and plot points should stay the same, but everything else is fair game. With major franchises and teen sagas, it’s more difficult to have full creative control, because if one too many things are changed there could be major backlash from loyal fans, but I still think that filmmakers should be able to recreate the story in their own vision. 

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

Call Me By Your Name (2017) is a movie that I watched recently, that was beautifully adapted from a book of the same name by André Aciman. I haven’t yet read the novel, but the movie has stuck with me since I watched it almost 3 weeks ago. The movie was nominated for 4 Oscars and won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. With this critical success, I was curious as to whether the author was happy with how the movie turned out or not. I found an article of an interview the author did with Vanity Fair, where he described his thought on the adaptation. He had this to say of his first arrival on the movie set:

“Right away, I knew that very little in the film would correspond to my novel and, like any author, was wistfully resigned to watching my story morph under someone else’s vision.”

I’m sure any author would be a little bit apprehensive at the thought of someone else interpreting their work and presenting it in their own vision, but at the same time, it’s so interesting that someone can tell the same story in a completely different way. 

Even though Aciman was watching from the sidelines, noticing every detail different than what he first imagined, he saw the beauty of film in front of him.

“For me, the message was clear: film cuts and trims with savage brevity, where a shrug or an intercepted glance or a nervous pause between two words can lay bare the heart in ways written prose is far more nuanced and needs more time and space on the page. But the thing is, I couldn’t write silence. I couldn’t measure pauses and breaths and the most elusive yet expressive body language.”

There are so many things that you can do in film that you just can’t do in a novel, and the author realized that. Although many things were different from the film to the novel, particularly the final scene, Aciman knew that these were still his characters, and the themes of his story were still being expressed, just in a different way than he originally imagined. 

“I recall that when discussing his plans for the film, Guadagnino had told me that he would end the film with a shot of young Elio weeping before the camera. My heart sank. This was not at all what I had envisaged for the ending. The last  pages of my novel sought to capture the lovers 20 years later as they reconnect and tell each other that, despite the years, they’ve forgotten nothing. When I finally saw the film at the Berlin International Film festival, I was stunned. The ending captured the very spirit of the novel I had written in ways that I could never have imagined or anticipated, and as for the music, it resonated with the love of the two young men, so much so that the final scene with Elio and Sufjan’s song stayed with me long, long after I walked out of the movie theater and, as happens so rarely, into the next morning and the evening after that.”

Above is that final scene. If you haven’t seen the movie sorry for the spoiler but this scene was utterly heartbreaking. It encompasses the feelings of loss and isolation that everyone feels at some point in their life, and when watching this scene those familiar feelings come rushing back.

Although the film is different from the novel, the beauty of both can be appreciated. Just as the other said there are things that you can do in film that don’t translate to literature. You can’t write silence. On the flip side, there are things you can do in writing that you can’t in film. You can’t hear the voice of the narrator throughout the whole movie, and all of their innermost thoughts. Sure there’s voice overs and POV shots, but those aren’t the same as seeing everything from one character’s eyes.

13 REASONS WHY

The second adaptation I want to talk about is the TV series 13 Reasons Why (2017). While very controversial even to this day, as we approach the release of the second season, this series made a very large impact on the world for a while, and it was all based on the novel written by Jay Asher. I read this book at some time in elementary school, and while it was pretty devastating to read, I forgot about it not too long after. The book didn’t have a lasting impact on me, and I forgot all about Hannah Baker’s story until the announcement that it was being made into a Netflix Original Series. 

In the series the audience is able to see a lot more of the other characters, other than just Clay and Hannah. They get to know the motivations of other characters and why they do the terrible things that they do. In presenting the story this way the audience is able to see how Hannah’s suicide impacts everyone, and not just her and Clay. I think that this portrayal is more honest. In reality, even the people who hate your guts would be impacted severely by your absence. I also think that it is much harder to watch the series than it is to read the book. Seeing these graphic scenes has a certain impact that I don’t know is possible to achieve in writing. 

The opposite of the norm is true to in this adaptation. There seems to be so much more detail in the series than the book. We get to see so much more depth in the secondary characters than ever is described in the book. Lots of extra things happen in the show that don’t happen in the book which, again, has a greater impact on audiences. One of the most controversial scenes in the show, Hannah’s suicide scene, never even happened in the book. In the novel, Hannah commits suicide by swallowing pills, but in the series, Hannah is instead graphically shown putting a razor to her arms, bleeding out in the bathtub. The series also shows more of what happens to the other characters after Hannah’s suicide, and its repercussions. Such as another character’s suicide attempt, another contemplating a school shooting from being bullied relentlessly about his part in Hannah’s suicide, etc. This interpretation brings even more taboo issues into the show, and allowed for it to spark an even larger discussion after its release. 

The show made waves. While the show never would’ve been made if not for the novel, the series surpasses the novel in so many ways. The author of the book is very proud of the series and has no anger toward the producers for changing details, as he understands that it took his words to a whole new level, and allowed for the story to reach a much larger audience.

While I did the very thing I said not to do, and compared the book to the adaptation, I wanted to show that they are different enough that they can be considered as separate from each other. They can be enjoyed separately. They both shine in different ways, and it is possible to respect the creators of both for their storytelling methods.

THE SHINING

Finally, what we all came for, The Shining (1980). 

At this point it’s pretty much common knowledge that Stephen King hated this adaptation when it was released. It can be assumed that this is because it is so different from his original novel. I have never read the novel, but in reading up on the topic I see why King may be angry at the adaptation of his piece. I read in an article that “Kubrick’s movie is less an adaptation and more of an interpretation,” and I would agree with that statement. I honestly think that’s the way that it should be. Why would you want to see a film with the exact same characters, doing the exact same things, wrapping up in the exact same way. 

Kubrick changed the characters in a way that would be more suitable for film and the time constraint associated with it. In the novel, the reader is able to see Jack Torrance’s soft side, and the part of him that doesn’t want to succumb to his addiction. He has more redeeming qualities in the novel, but I think that Kubrick wanted a physical villain and an antagonist other than the hotel itself. He wanted the audience to loathe Jack Torrance and be uneasy at the sight of him from the beginning of the movie. In doing this, every time Jack is around another character the audience wonders if he’s going to finally snap. The movie wouldn’t be as scary if we weren’t equally as scared of Jack as we are the hotel. 

A famous changed detail from the book to the movie is the ending. In King’s version, the hotel is burned down, but in Kubrick’s it freezes. Again, I think that this contributes to the horror of the movie. If the hotel burns down it is sending a message that the scary times are over, it’ll all be okay, the bad thing is gone, but in Jack freezing instead, the threat is still lurking, capable of thawing and wreaking havoc once again. This works for the film medium, but for a novel the readers might want something more conclusive. Of course the inconclusive ending does follow Kubrick’s style, as it is another question left unanswered at the end of the film. Both the burning and freezing of the Overlook Hotel make for a great ending, and they can both be respected by readers and audiences alike.

King and Kubrick are both artists, and nobody should try to say that one’s version of the story is better. They are simply different interpretations of the same characters, each story horrifying in its own way. They can be enjoyed as separate entities, and I think that’s what most filmmakers hope for when releasing a movie. They want it to be their work just as much as the original author’s.

WRAPPING UP

Books and movies (and television for that matter) are completely different mediums, and adaptations shouldn’t be ridiculed for every single detail that is different from what happened in the book. I think that when making an adaptation the novel should be your general outline, but you can jump off and explore new ideas from there. If you don’t want your favourite book to be wrecked by an adaptation then perhaps you should go in with an open mind, and be willing to see the story told from a new perspective. If you can’t do that then it might be better not to see adapted screenplays at all. Respect what authors do with their own characters, and respect what filmmakers make their characters do differently. It’s all art, people. 

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GOT NERVE?

ARE YOU A WATCHER OR A PLAYER?

The sleepover classic truth or dare, taken to the next level. In Nerve (2016), Vee decides that she is through with watching her life pass her by and signs up to be a player in the dangerous game taking NYC teens by storm. The game has two categories: Watcher or Player. Players complete dares decided by the watchers, and the two players with the most watchers by the end of the regulation compete against each other in the final round. In order for a dare to count it has to be filmed and broadcast directly from the player’s phone within the time limit set by the watchers. By completing dares players win cash which is wired directly to their accounts from the game. The only way to be disqualified from the game is to fail or bail, and in doing so you forfeit all of your winnings. Finally, the most important rule of the game is Snitches Get Stitches. If a player reports the game to authorities they will face unknown consequences. 

INCOMING MESSAGE

Nerve sends several signals to the youth of today about the media. I’m sure many teens saw the movie, or saw the trailers and thought Wow! Free money and followers? Sign me up! But as the film progresses, one begins to wonder whether losing all of the money to their name, or losing their life is worth the cash, fame and followers. 

A clear message of Nerve is that nothing that we post on social media is private. In signing up to play, you give the game access to all of your personal information. All of this information is gathered from your social media accounts: friends, likes, photos, Nerve knows everything there is to know. It uses your interests, your friends, and your fears against you. Vee’s friend Sydney is afraid of heights, so naturally she is dared to cross a ladder propped between the windows of two high rise buildings. Vee’s favourite book is To the Lighthouse, as stated by her Facebook page, and so the game gives that book to Ian, who she meets on her first dare, in order to bring the two of them together in the game. The same could be said about our world. With a few clicks the average joe can find a lot of information on anyone. We post our lives on social media to share our fun adventures with the world, but in doing so we are sharing details that could be dangerous in the wrong hands.

The game also tracks the players’ location at all times. Anyone logged in to Nerve can see where a player is at any given moment. This is to encourage watchers to film player’s dares and broadcast them live for everyone to see.This happens several times throughout the movie. Another player is often dared to mess with Vee and Ian. He takes their clothes when they are in the dressing room of a fancy store, he supplies them with the blindfold they require to drive Ian’s motorcycle without him being able to see, and he even punches Vee in the face. He is able to easily access their location through the game.Teens don’t even question this incredible breach of privacy, as they are so concentrated on what they have to gain from playing Nerve. This can be paralleled in our own world. Social media services use our location to show our friends the cool places we are and things that we’re doing. On snapchat we share our location so that our friends can see our bitmojis having fun. We can see when people are together, where they’re hanging out, and with snapchat stories, what they’re doing. Most teens don’t update or even check their privacy settings, making this information available to anyone who has them added as a friend.

We check in on facebook, tag our location on instagram, the list goes on. We don’t think about the dangerous things that could happen as a result. Sure, all of our friends can see the cool things that were up to, but on the other hand people who aren’t friends can potentially have the same luxury. Yikes!

Finally, the last message that I pulled out of Nerve, is that teens are desensitized from horrific things because of the media.The game can only exist if there are people watching, and up until the end, the game reaches a massive audience. Nobody stops watching, even as the stunts become more dangerous, and death is possible. The watchers, who are mostly teens and younger, are so desensitized that they don’t seem to care about the prospect of death to people their age, and the players risk their lives for the cash and fame without a second thought. The dares go from classic and innocent, like eating dog food, to dangerous and life-threatening, like lying down on train tracks and letting a train pass over you.

You can see the flow of comments on the screen before the dare starts, and I watched it in slow motion just to be positive, and not a single watcher tells him to stop. They all want to see him go through with the dare even if it’s fatal. None of them seem to care that this is a real person, since they’re used to seeing things like this on tv, or in movies. This reminds me of some of the things that Youtubers do these days. They do dangerous things in their videos with the hopes of something happening so that they can get it on camera and share it with the world. And the subscribers continue to flow in, further encouraging them to do stunts as it gets them the most views and followers. I wanted to insert clip from a David Dobrik video of him cutting his hand open while tossing wine bottles, but it does have a lot of blood, and I don’t want anyone passing out because of my blog.

Teens don’t realize that these are people, not actors, and for the most part (with a few exceptions) these stunts are real and not special effects. In Nerve, people seem to be encouraging the more deadly dares, because hey, if someone dies, at least they were among the first to see it. We’re so desensitized from blood, gore, and death, that these same things in real life don’t really seem to bother us anymore.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, I would have to say that I agree with the messages presented in Nerve. I know that as a teen myself, I am the target audience for this movie, and it did change my perspective on a few things. I realize that I have these same tendencies as the characters in the movie. I post about the things that I like on the internet, I share my location on snapchat, geotag my pictures on instagram, and I watch this gory content across many platforms. It really seems that people will do just about anything for internet fame in our world today. This movie is really effective because the universe it creates is so realistic. It seems very possible that a game like this could come out in the next few years, and like the responsible teen I am, I would not participate. 

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WHY I CRY AT AUDITION VIDEOS

For years I have watched singing/talent competition shows. When I was a kid I remember watching these shows on T.V., in hopes that one day I would walk across the stage and sing for the judges myself. First it was American Idol, I saw star after star walk across the stage and move on to have an amazing career afterwords. I’m not sure when the switch happens, but America’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, The Voice, and The X Factor took off, and the same thing was happening to artists moving on from these shows. But my favourite part of these shows isn’t the finale, or voting for a winner, my favourite part has always been the auditions. There is such an element of nervousness and wonder in all of the contestants when they audition for the first time. I love seeing how humble and genuine contestants are when they make it through to the next round. There is also the fact that this is the time when there are no expectations of the contestants, and they are able to 100% surprise the judges and the audience. There’s no pressure to outdo their last performance and there’s nothing to top, it’s just the artists putting themselves out there.

I still haven’t answered the question, why do I cry at this? Well, as I have been involved and interested in music all my life, I see how much these auditions mean to these people. Their entire life (or so it seems) revolves around this audition, and they always have so much of themselves invested. I’m the kind of person that becomes really moved by music or art of any kind, and seeing this kind of art, along with the emotion built up on top of it just pushes me over the edge. I see all of these people on stage just living their dreams, doing what they’re meant to do, and living in the best moment of their life. My question is how do you not cry? Of course some of the contestants have very devastating or emotional backstories, but even moving past them, their performances is where their perspective on life really shines through. I seldom will become emotional during the montage of their story and how they got to where they are now, it is during their time on stage that I find myself tearing up. 

So here we go: for each of the following videos I will give it a Kassidy Cries Rating from 1-10 (although I did cry at all of these or else they wouldn’t make the list) and then give the breaking moment, as well as an explanation of what aspect of the video got to me. I’ll also write the time that the performer starts singing so you can skip ahead if you want. So let’s get emotional!

NUMBER ONE: JAMES ARTHUR (3:30)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 6 

Breaking Point: I had goosebumps throughout his whole performance but I would say that the point that truly brought me over was when it cuts to his parents, specifically his dad starting around 5:00.

Whether or not you listened to his backstory, you can feel the passion coming through this boy. You can tell that he has been waiting his whole life to be performing on this stage, he puts everything that he has into his performance. He leaves everything on the stage, and communicates all of his feelings to the whole audience. Everybody in the room I’m sure could feel the pain behind his vocals and strumming at 4:50. This is a person who you know that they have always had music as an escape. On stage it doesn’t matter where he came from, what he looks like, what people think of him, he is only his music, which is beautiful. He took a song which is nothing more than a crappy dance track and turned it into something with feeling and a story behind it. Plus in addition his vocals are amazing just to throw it out there. I would definitely buy a CD of his without question, and he went on to win his season of X factor. 

NUMBER TWO: THE EDGAR FAMILY (0:58)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 2

Breaking Point: (1:49) whole family harmonies 

This video I don’t find as much of a tear-jerker, but even still the first time I watched it I couldn’t help myself. I think that their voices compliment each other very well (I mean obviously since they’re a family) and the song choice is a really good representation of who they are. They are very positive about their situation and you can tell how optimistic they all are. They know that they can do better for themselves despite what people may think of them. You know from watching that they don’t know where they would be without each other, and I think that they gave a beautiful performance. They prove that no matter how many people try to tear you apart you can always make it through if you stick together.

NUMBER THREE: BARS AND MELODY (2:39)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 9 

Breaking Point: 3:25 and again at 5:51, as soon as he starts his rapping verse it is clear that this really means so much to them, “Please help me God, I feel so alone. I’m just a kid, how can I take it on my own?” This sets the tone for the entire song. This boy at 13 year old is writing such complex poetic lyrics- “I didn’t ask to be born but now I have to pay”

The first time I ever saw this video I’m pretty sure that I sobbed. A lot. I mean, as you’ll see, kids with a lot of talent is a recurring theme throughout my audition choices because they just tug on the heart strings. You see how much potential and life they have in front of them, and they don’t wanna miss a single second of the glory. It’s just unbelievable to see the creativity and passion at a young age and to see the struggles from the perspective of a kid or teenager. It’s also a little hard to see someone so young with such real problems, but so uplifting that they have turned those problems into art. The reason behind the tears is most definitely the lyrics in this case. I absolutely love this duo and they went on to place third in their year of Britain’s Got Talent.

NUMBER FOUR: CASSADEE POPE 

Kassidy Cries Rating: 3

Breaking Point: 1:07 her reaction to the four chair turnaround

This is one of the videos where absolutely no backstory is given, and yet I end up in tears. This is a perfect example of the kind of passion that I’m talking about, passion to the point where you see her on stage and know that she is loving every second and living her dream. This is Cassadee Pope and she was my favourite on the voice in her season. I actually watched this season from start to finish and I was in awe of her. She got better and better with each performance and went on to win the entire show. She never lost what you see in this video; her ability to share a story, and her humble attitude. My favourite part of this video is that you can actually hear her singing through a smile the second that the first three judges simultaneously turn around. Her town changes and you can see how she kind of lets loose and just has fun because she knows that she doesn't have to worry anymore. When the fourth chair turns around you can clearly see the joy and wonder on her face, and that to me is priceless. One of the things that I love the most about these videos is the moment that the performer realizes that they are special and that they are talented. It is a little sad that that validation has to come from judges but it is amazing to see that epiphany on stage. 

NUMBER FIVE: LAURA BRETAN (2:44)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 8

Breaking Point: honestly the moment that she starts singing, break number 2 is the high note at 4:10- the first doubt and then happiness as she hits it, break number 3 is when the golden buzzer is pressed.

Once again, we have a younger person following their passion at such a young age. In this video it’s clear how humbled and unsure that this performer is. She doesn’t know her talent just yet and she hasn't yet discovered the influence that she has on people. One of my favourite parts of this video and many others is the point when the audience first starts clapping and cheering for the performer.  This is the moment when the performer gets a sense of relief and it confirms that their talent is real. It’s one thing to have your parents always tell you that you’re amazing, but having that validation from a live audience of thousands of people shows the performer that they do have a place in the industry and that they can follow their dreams if they want to. This video also shows how people can overcome their fears through music. Even the most terribly shy people can come onto the show and sing like they've never sung before. Like Simon said, she came on stage and everyone was thinking that she can barely speak how could she sing in front of thousands of people? And then she started singing, and shocked everybody in that room. You can see the joy all over her face, and the genuine surprise at the people loving her so much. Even if you aren’t a fan of opera you can tell  that she has talent especially at 13 years old. 

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NUMBER SIX: JOSH DANIEL (2:06)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 10... full out sob every time I’ve seen it thus far.

Breaking Point: seeing Simon emotionally react, wiping a tear at 3:36. This is the point that I commence my sob. 

I highly suggest starting this one from the beginning, although it is long. I think it is necessary to truly understand where the lyrics (even though they aren’t his) are coming from. Josh Daniel really has the power to transform lyrics into having a way more emotional meaning. This is a love song that was transformed into a eulogy of sorts. I think that any performance meaningful enough to make even Simon Cowell cry is noteworthy, and certainly more than emotional enough to make me cry. Every word rolls off of his tongue with more meaning than the last, and that is unbelievable to me. It is a major gift to have the ability to tell any story and connect to lyrics and make them your own. The same thing was a major reason that Cassadee Pope won the voice. Unfortunately Josh Daniel didn’t make it to the live shows of X Factor, but he recently scored a well deserved record deal with Jay Z’s label. Everytime that I watch this video it seems as though I cry harder, and once again it isn’t necessarily the backstory, it’s the presence of that story when he sings. You can feel the pain behind every line and even without hearing the full story you would know that this song means something very special to him. This performance has become very important to me and I have so much respect for people who interpret lyrics to fit their situation as it is something that has carried me through a lot. 

All of this is of course on top of his flawless vocals, which are smooth and clear. He has beautiful tone and clarity to his voice that is so pleasing to listen to. 10/10.

NUMBER SEVEN: HARRISON CRAIG (2:48)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 1

Breaking Point: seeing his little brother all teary eyed at 4:00

To be completely honest this is an example of one where the story is the basis for all of the emotion, and I totally think that he does have a beautiful and inspiring story, but this one doesn’t really get to me. This is a boy who definitely knows his talent and isn’t surprised when any of them turn around. He does have a nice voice but there are a couple of issues, but his story is so inspiring that people really adore him (and I’m not discouraging that by any means). Before the coaches know of his stutter I think it’s mostly that he has a big voice especially coming out of a a young, attractive boy that impresses them. It is pretty insane to think that a boy with a very intense stutter. This makes it on the list since it did get to me, and it is a very inspiring story. He went on to win his season of The Voice Australia and has since produced two studio albums.

NUMBER EIGHT: SAL VALENTINETTI (3:07)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 7

Breaking point: The first time I watched, I’m pretty sure within the first line I was crying already.

If you were to watch the whole thing you would see that this is a contestant very confident and comfortable with himself. In a lot of other cases this can make the performer seem very cocky and arrogant, but in Sal’s case he is so charming. You can tell that even though he has the confidence and determination, he still has some childlike wonder as well. One of the most amazing parts of this audition for me is the facial expressions that he makes when each judge says yes, and the overwhelming happiness when he gets the golden buzzer. You can really tell that under the facade or stage persona he really, truly, cares very deeply about this and as he says at the end “Today is the first day of the rest of my life” . Behind all the confidence is still a young adult seeking validation, and he is genuinely so excited and surprised to receive that validation from the judges. Besides this, he is a delight to watch on stage, since Sal is full of humour and energy. On the vocal side of things, there’s no question that he has impeccable tone and pitch. Probably one of my favourite audition videos to watch as it’s full of happiness and light (especially compared to some of the more heart-wrenching others on this list)

NUMBER NINE: LOUISA JOHNSON (1:55)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 4

Breaking Point: seeing her break down near the end and the audience go nuts at around 3:22

The craziest thing about Louisa to me is that she is the same age as me (in this video at least). A 17 year old girl who literally says that this exact moment has been her dream forever, not “being a star”, but auditioning for the X Factor. This totally shines through during her performance. There are a couple pitch issues but her passion and character are beyond there. She has originality and above all else RANGE. The RANGE on this girl is unreal. Louisa makes up for some of the things that she may lack with soul and stylistic elements, and she gives a very powerful performance. The element of surprise definitely also had something to do with it. She went onstage very nervous, shaking, could barely talk, and came out with an incredibly powerful riff to set the tone for her entire performance, and really, her time on the show. She went on to win the entire season of X Factor at 17. I mean it makes me feel a little bad about not getting out there to do it myself. But it’s inspiring as well, if Louisa can do it, so can I!

NUMBER TEN: GRACE VANDERWAAL (0:50)

Kassidy Cries Rating: 8.5

Breaking Point: Shot of her mom crying at 1:48

Wow. Just wow. This video is going viral all around the internet, and for good reason. This is probably the sweetest, cutest, most talented 12 year old girl that stage has ever seen. The best word to describe Grace is simply, original. Everything about her, from her song, to her voice, to her personality, to her yellow pants even, she is 100% unique and herself. It is rare to see a 12 year old confident in who they are, and even remotely know exactly who they are at such a young age. She has a strong sense of character- and this character is so humble and endearing. Grace says so many cliches in this video but coming out of her mouth they feel so believable and real. I really think that Grace is going to go so far in this competition because she has the heart and the talent to do it. Once again she shows such modesty and I love that you can read everything on her face. The genuine surprise at everyone cheering after the second line, the appreciation she has both for herself and for the audience when she belts at the end, and so on. You can really tell that she doesn’t want this moment to end. As she walks off of the stage she keeps her head turned to the audience the whole time as if as soon as she leaves it will all be over. Grace is living her dream, every single second that she spends onstage. I have become a huge fan of her and I’m so excited to see her all over the place in the future. I have so much respect for her and I’m jealous (in a good way) that she is such a cool and talented 12 year old. 

STILL CRYING ON THE INSIDE

Throughout the viewings of all these videos (and the ones that didn't make the list), I found that certain editing techniques worked better for bringing the tears out of me. I thought that America’s Got Talent and X Factor had the best strategies, and this all comes down to the editing. First, shots of the performer walking onstage for the first time and talking with the judges. From there, there is some sort of cue to dive into their backstory. This is then the montage of the whole audition day, or extra footage and photos. Then it cuts back to the performer on stage ready to start their song. I found this effective because it allows for the audience to care a little bit and get a sense of who they are before jumping into their backstory. I think that the montage bit can be really boring and feel like it drags on too long a lot of the time, but in introducing the performer before hand it makes it feel shorter. I also found that they choose effective clips to show of the family while the act is going on. They don’t seem to just show the family for the sake of showing the family. They really pick the moments that count and that will make the viewer the most emotional. Seeing the reactions of others, which you can see is the breaking point for almost all of my video choices, is crucial in telling the viewer that it’s okay for them to react the same way, and even encourage it. The more emotionally invested that a viewer gets in the show, the more likely they are to continue watching it, thus making more mulah. Do I feel bad that my emotions are being picked at for money? A little, but I like getting emotional alone in my bedroom. 

I hope that you enjoyed this entirely too long sharing of my emotions because I really had a lot of fun picking out the videos to use and thinking about what it was that really made me cry about each of them. But of course for every great performance, there’s probably three terrible ones so here is the most viral bad audition that I saw in looking for the best. Let’s lighten up the mood with some classic Ablisa. It has over 97 million views and is from the X Factor UK:

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BONUS NUMBER ELEVEN:

My only comment on this one is wow. Also #friendshipgoals.

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THE MINI REFUSE (haha get it)

PART I: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I really enjoyed this movie. It is a movie that I would watch in my spare time; to me it is in the same boat with Birdman, Whiplash and Inception, three of my favourite movies. I really like the detail put into this movie, and just thinking of the continuity required makes my head hurt a little. I really enjoyed the story line,  I think that it was quite thought provoking. A lot of people say that they’ve done things “they wish they could forget”, but what would the world be like if we actually could make ourselves forget these things? I know that I live life under the philosophy of #noragrets but would other people seriously erase a whole person from their life if a relationship ended badly? I honestly don’t know, and that’s what makes this movie so interesting. It really makes me question humanity and where we may be going as a society and what we value.

 I also am the kind of person who really likes THOROUGHLY watching a movie and learning all kinds of trivia about it while I watch it. I always feel the need to know everything about a movie. So here is some fun trivia about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that I think really adds to the viewing experience: 

When Kate Winslet punches Jim Carrey in the train scene, it was improvised and the reaction is 100% genuine. 

The scene with two Joel’s was actually done the amateur way, with no special effects, Jim Carrey simply had to remove his hat and jacket and switch places to create the effect. 

There were no digital effects for “baby Joel”, the director used forced perspective, similar to how Lord of the Rings was filmed.

All of Clementine’s hair colours were wigs since they would film multiple scenes in spread parts of the movie in one day. 

PART II: DATING NAKED

Scandalous! Dating NAKED you say? Reality TV has always been a sort of guilty pleasure for me. Even before I knew what that meant, I knew that when I was 10 watching The Bachelor that it was so entirely stupid. Dating Naked is no exception but I did thoroughly enjoy watching it in class. So much so that I (shamefully) went home that night and watched the rest of the season. It is an addictive thing, it’s not my fault they make it so intriguing! Once I start something, whether it be movies, TV or books, I have to find out what happens, so in this case, I watched it all in one night, and let me tell you, what a twist ending! No spoilers for Edwards but you’ll never believe who Kerri turns down! I do actually like the overdramatic situations that the contestants are put in, it makes the episodes more comedic and entertaining although they aren’t always realistic (who makes butt moulds of each other on a first date???? or any date for that matter what the heck). I was expecting the show to be a little different, but I still enjoyed it as I sat alone in guilt. It also kind of helped me to take myself a little less seriously. I tend to make myself out to be this totally artistic mind who only appreciates movies and TV of some sort of great cinematic genius, but it is nice to watch some mindless reality every once in a while. 

What I’m like on the outside:

On the inside: 

PART III: MEMENTO

I usually can find something that I like about a movie but I honestly hated Memento. I enjoyed pretty much everything else in media studies this year but I just hated watching this movie. I thought that it was bland, boring and completely predictable. The only thing that made the movie slightly interesting was the reverse chronological order. If the movie moved forward in time it would be a total disaster and flopped. Some people really liked it but I just was not one of those people. It may have been the fact that there was absolutely no visual stimulation for me, the colouring of the movie seemed just as bland as his character and I couldn’t be bothered with trying to connect to his character. He was 100% the kind of person that I hate in life, the purposefully ignorant and it made me very angry watching him make these ignorant decisions. The audience is meant to feel bad for him but I was too pissed off to care about his condition. If that makes me a bad person, well good thing it’s just a movie then. I’m kind of upset that Christopher Nolan couldn’t win me over this time, as I said before Inception is one of my favourite movies. Then again, maybe Christopher Nolan movies are kind of a hit-or-miss for me, since I wasn’t very fond of The Dark Knight either, and that movie is very critically acclaimed as well. I think that it has to do with the protagonist. If the protagonist of a movie seems in any way bland to me, I lose all interest in enjoying the movie, which is really a shame. What’s a sure-fire way to know that I didn’t like it? I didn’t even look at the IMDb page while watching it, and that’s a big deal for me. 

Who knows though, maybe I just need to watch it by myself in it’s entirety. Maybe I was subconsciously just being an edgy teen and going against the class’s consensus just to be different. But I highly doubt it, I hated this movie. Wish that I could have closed my eyes and forgotten about it to be honest! 

                                                      ROASTED

PART IV: WINNEBAGO MAN

My favourite, and America’s favourite, angry salesman!! Jack Rebney is an icon in my eyes. Anybody who can become viral before the internet even existed deserves some sort of award honestly. Not only was I thoroughly entertained with the video itself, (Dana and I actually just watched the whole thing again lol), I really enjoyed the documentary as well. As I said I love trivia, and if this documentary didn’t exist I would be left with so many questions about the Winnebago man. I would look for answers that wouldn’t be there, so I am so thankful it exists. I really enjoyed getting to know the man behind the maniac in the video. It was also nice but at the same time a little sad to see that he was exactly the same in real life. Honesty of character is always the questions when it comes to viral videos. Is that what they’re really like? Is this an actor? But Jack Rebney proves through this documentary that he is an honest, brutally honest, guy. The sad part is that he has isolated himself from having positive relationships with other people, but I think that having Ben around to film the documentary was really good for him. Ben wasn’t afraid to tell Jack what he was thinking either, and although it led to some conflict, Jack felt that he could trust Ben, resulting in him telling his stories in all of their honesty. 

I wish so badly that I could meet this man just to say that I have met a legend, and a viral video pioneer. I know that if I’m ever sad I can just search the internet for a very angry old man and I will instantly feel better! 

Jack is just so quotable and although I can’t say many of these quotes in public, you bet your bottom dollar that they come out at home in my room, or in my head in the middle of class. 

PART V: PSYCHO

I was so happy to get the chance to watch a classic in media studies. Even in our film class we didn’t get the chance to talk about many classic films that really paved the path for so many others. I was so interested in Psycho that when I was watching it at home I was having one of my filmmaker appreciation chats with a friend who is also interested in film and everything that goes into making one. 

Psycho was a movie that I thought about for a few days after watching it. I couldn’t believe how modern so many of the techniques were before the technology was around to make those things easy. On the trivia-o-meter, psycho was a total 10/10. We talked about a lot of the trivia in class, so I won’t repeat it here, but I read trivia for that movie for hours. The symbolism and foreshadowing was so outstanding and I was never bored watching it. Another thing very important to me in a movie is score and soundtrack, and psycho is obviously iconic for these things. Not even the shower sound effects, just the background score throughout the movie had me feeling exactly what the characters were. If you’re feeling up to it, give it a full listen and you can imagine what is happening in the scene with each different movement.

The risks taken in this movie prove how ahead of his time Hitchcock was as a director. He had a vision that burst through the standards of the time period and it obviously payed off for him. Another very important thing mentioned in my text message is the sense of character. Not only Norman Bates’ either. Even though she dies in the middle the audience gets a very strong idea of who Marion is as a person, her values, her goals, etc. 

I’m so happy that I got to cross a classic off of my list in media studies, and this was likely one of my favourite things that we studied this semester, so thank you! It made me happier than Marion’s shower made her! Well... until... you know.

This is the end of my mini-reviews, I hope that they made you as happy as this lady and her chewbacca mask! (I don’t care that the class never votes for my viral friday videos, I think that they are hilarious, so here is a quick showcase of my best choices)

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INDIE FOLK

I have found that my taste in music has been heavily influenced by my dad over the years. If you were to stick twenty parent/child duos into a room and questioned their taste in music, it wouldn’t take long to figure out where I came from. He has introduced me to many genres of music over the years, but the one that stuck the most was what I call Folk Alternative, but what apparently is actually called Indie Folk.

Influences

Indie Folk is thought to have emerged in the late 90′s/early 00′s. Coming off of the 80′s and 90′s with a more technology focused sound (synthesizers), Indie Folk tries to reconnect to a more natural, authentic, home grown style of sound. “Indie” is (quite obviously) short for independent, and these bands and artists less produced sound fits this description. Most Indie Folk bands all accredit Bob Dylan as major influences to their music. Bob Dylan truly incorporates thought provoking lyrics with an interesting not-your-average voice which have become very important aspects to indie folk music. An important part of indie folk is returning to the roots of music, to a time before the production was the most important part. Many indie folk bands release 100% live versions of their songs in one take. This, I find, makes the music feel more raw and real, as opposed to song that obviously relies on auto tune and other correctors. Besides Bob Dylan, I would say that the influences of indie folk recording style are really any artists that emerged before the 70′s. Although the style and instrumentation may be different, the recording style is very basic and natural. Simon and Garfunkel also contributed to the shaping of the genre, as their lyrics follow the indie folk classifications, and they also perform acoustically. Indie folk tends to adapt the same principles as folk music, but in a more modern way. 

One of Bob Dylan’s most famous songs and a major influence on folk music in terms of lyrics as well as melody and instrumentation

A very popular Simon & Garfunkel song which demonstrates the acoustic recording style and storytelling nature of folk music. Mumford and Sons covered this song on their second album Babel.

Elements

Since indie folk is heavily reliant on an organic acoustic sound, many instruments are used. The most commonly used instruments of the genre are acoustic guitar, double bass, cello, violin, drums, piano, mandolin, banjo, some use a bit of electric guitar and usually the lead singer has a unique sounding voice that is easily distinguishable among others. It is very common for there to also be heartwarming harmonies throughout the song for indie folk bands. As mentioned before, lyrics are also a major component to classify a band as indie folk. The lyrics usually (there are exceptions) tell a story, and are either very relatable or incorporate a deeper meaning. This has become my favourite genre as I really appreciate lyrics that have more to them than the direct meaning. Every story is applicable to emotions that every human being feels sometimes, and these stories are expressed in a beautiful way. 

Bands Putting the Elements to Use:

MUMFORD & SONS:

No shocker here Mumford & Sons makes another appearance on my blog. Mumford and Sons, I think, can be credited with the popularity of indie folk in today’s society. They really took off after the release of their first album Sigh No More in 2009. One of the Mumford & Sons trademarks is the unique voice of Marcus Mumford. Like I was talking about earlier, indie folk bands are characterized by the voice of their lead singer, and Marcus Mumford probably has one of the top three most recognizable voices that I’ve ever heard. Aside from vocals, they are very well known for their poetic lyrics and form. Their songs (especially on the Babel album) start soft and quiet, have a really intense middle part and then end soft and understated. Songs like The Cave and Little Lion Men from their first album Sigh No More really interested people with their dark yet relatable lyrics. One of the more peaceful songs that I love and fits the criteria of an indie folk from Sigh No More is called Awake My Soul. (there’s no official video)

This song starts with the lyrics:

How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes, I struggle to find any truth in your lies. And now my heart stumbles on things I don’t know. My weakness I feel I must finally show. 

I personally can relate to these lyrics as I’m sure many others can. This is about the struggles of going through a relationship or having a “crush” on someone that may not necessarily be entirely interested at the moment. This seems like the story of my life half of the time, but I think that this song has a beautiful way of making it feel okay, and that it’s only the beginning. It’s about having faith in who you invest your time in. 

Besides the lyrics, the instrumentation fits the style perfectly with the use of acoustic guitar, double bass, banjo and kick drum. It is calming and acoustic, just what you expect from an indie folk song.

Mumford & Sons has gotten a lot of backlash from their latest full length album Wilder Mind. Some fans are angry because they think that they have strayed away from their roots and what makes them the band that they are. But I think that while some aspects have changed, and in some songs these changes are more radical than others, they are still the same indie folk band. Realistically the only things that have changed are the acoustic changed to electric and a more prominent drum beat. The lyrics still have the same poetry, and Marcus Mumford has not changed his voice. I do see that a few of the songs have some stylistic changes that would be considered closer to alternative, but there are still plenty of songs that still fit their original genre. One of my favourites from this album is Cold Arms. 

This song has some melancholy lyrics and once again it makes me feel a little bit emotional when I listen to it. 

In my cold arms you don’t sleep, in my cold arms your fear beats, in my cold arms you stay.

THE LUMINEERS:

The Lumineers are a band from Denver, Colarado who released their debut album only in 2012, and since the release fans were patiently waiting to hear more from them for 4 years. Finally, this year Cleopatra was released and I cannot tell you how happy this made me. Their second album didn’t disappoint as they released 15 totally new songs. These songs all have their own personality, and I can say with 100% confidence that I love each and everyone of them in different ways. The Lumineers’ sound is composed of acoustic guitar, cello, piano, drums, and the voice of Wesley Shultz. The Lumineers’ songs tend to be much less intense than those of Mumford & Sons; they are all quite peaceful to listen to. Once again, The Lumineers are known for their storytelling and the content of these stories range from heartbreak, to war, to a story told by a taxi driver. This taxi song is actually the title track Cleopatra, and it’s lyrics are so clever and complex yet flow so nicely together. It has become one of my favourite songs from the album, although there are many others that I am equally fond of. 

I would say that Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers are the most likely indie folk bands that would be heard on the radio, but there are also so many other gems that I will briefly mention here as well. 

THE HEAD AND THE HEART:

This is a lesser known band, but I think that they are worth the mention, and so I will mention them because it’s my blog and I make the rules. The Head and the Heart are an indie folk band from Seattle, Washington. They have been on the scene since 2009, and their most popular song was featured in the trailer for Sliver Linings Playbook. I like their music because their songs are much more happy sounding than that of a typical indie folk band. Since most indie folk songs tell stories, most of the time these stories are sadder as they want deeper meanings to the lyrics, but The Head and the Heart keep their songs more upbeat and easy listening. Since I’m now at my video max I will put a link in here of Lost In My Mind, the trailer feature. 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjoA4nYBD5U 

I could honestly go on forever about all of the bands I listen to but since I’ve hit my video limit I better not. 

THE STYLE

The last thing that I will talk about in this post is the only common theme that carries through almost every indie folk band (other than instrumentation), and this is the fashion that goes with the genre. This style has become very trendy across the world and it is becoming cool to look more “rustic” like these bands do. It almost is like a hillbilly chique I would say. The hair and beards as well as collared shirts, suspenders and denim has become increasingly popular in men especially in photography, and I think that it comes from the artists of this genre. 

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DETENTION (2011)

Detention, although not the best movie ever made, is rich with different genres as well as elements of metafiction.

The movie starts with a character, Taylor Fisher, speaking directly to the camera. It follows her around her morning, as she wakes up and eats breakfast, and throughout this process she is talking as if she has an audience, although her family doesn’t acknowledge that people are there at all. 

Besides Taylor, throughout the movie other characters make reference to the fact that they’re in a movie, and play with the fourth wall. 

In terms of genre-bending, detention is full of it. At the beginning of the movie, the audience is almost led to believe that it is a documentary (or at least mockumentary) of a teenage girl who wants to be popular and famous. 

But all of this changes when a figure appears in her bedroom, slices her throat, and pushes her out the window to land on the car with her mom inside. This then leads the audience to believe they are watching a horror movie. 

Throughout the movie this murderer poses a threat to the student body, especially to Riley, who nobody believes is pretty or popular enough to be the target of the murderers fascination. 

In addition to horror many of the characters provide comedic performances, bringing in the comedy genre to the movie. Riley is constantly spouting sarcastic comments, as well as some other characters with their own jokes, or their comedic personalities. 

Detention also plays with the teen/romance genre a lot. It makes fun of these movies, while still falling under that genre as well. Riley is the classic teenage underdog story, a wacky girl trying to fit in. Throughout the movie the audience knows that Riley is “in love” with Clapton, and the ending can be predicted from there... Even without the romance in consideration, in one scene Detention seems to mock The Breakfast Club, with all of the different teen stereotypes locked in detention. 

If all of those genres aren’t enough, Detention even throws in some sci-fi. The movie takes a twist and includes time-travel, aliens, and body-switching. This all results in Ione’s mother being in her body in the present day, although her mind is stuck in the 90′s (along with her wardrobe). 

If that isn’t enough genres for one movie, I don’t know where to send you! So to wrap up I think that Detention is a teenage rom-com horror sci-fi. If you don’t believe a movie could achieve so many here is the official IMDb genre of the movie:

I did cut off the 5.8 rating of the movie, but don’t let that discourage you from watching it. Detention is a movie that always makes you think, and what you’re thinking is probably “what the hell am I watching”. 

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Fire & the Flood

Starring: Hayden Taylor-Broadley Brynne Heath Directed/Filmed/Edited by: Kassidy Anderson

This is our music video to the song Fire and the Flood by Vance Joy. Our interpretation of the song is that after the loss of the loved one, the narrator of the song still feels their presence in their everyday life. 

You’re the fire and the flood and I always feel you in my blood

Within the other lines of the song, we tried to sync up shots that reflect the lyrics of the song, for example: 

I’ve been getting used to waking up with you

Lyrics are heard with the shots of them lying down

Since we met I feel a lightness in my step

Matches up with a shot of our protagonist walking

Anywhere I go there you are

Syncs with the shot of his wife in the reflection of the car

We also thought that the clearest, and most artistic way that we could portray the plot of the song would be through the death of a loved one, in this case, his wife. It is the most visually pleasing to have shots of this man visiting the grave of his wife, rather than showing a break up or something else that would cause the absence of her from his life. 

We also liked the idea of having a slow reveal that he was actually walking to a graveyard, this makes the shots of him in the cemetery much more emotional than if we had made it so that the audience knew that she had died all along. 

The biggest visual decision that was made once we had thought out our plot line was the choice to make the present-day in black and white, and his flashbacks in colour. We thought that this was obviously symbolic of the colour and happiness being lost from his life with the loss of his wife. The transition from black and white into colour at the end symbolizes that the man is learning to move on from this loss, and start accepting happiness again. 

We also wanted to show the protagonist doing very menial tasks to show that he is very unattached from his current lifestyle. All of his work and home tasks seem very pointless and not worthwhile in contrast to the life that he had before. He is shown doing things such as making his bed, which seems to take a lot of effort. Everything that he does seems boring compared to the other everyday things that he did with his wife/girlfriend. 

Overall, I think that we did what we set out to do, which was to make an artistic music video for a great song! (that lens flare though)

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Whispers In The Dark

Whispers In the Dark by Mumford & Sons (2013) 

CONSTRUCTING REALITY

The reality in this video is portraying the bustling lives of musicians, or any another performing artist. I think that this is realistic in a sense, but there is absolutely no way that they would walk on stage less than a minute after they arrived at the venue, but I don’t think that is the point. I think that it is meant to show the excitement and busyness of this lifestyle, and how it feels like nothing ever stops; once one task is finished, they smoothly flow into the next without skipping a beat. The video doesn’t follow my interpretation of the lyrics exactly, but it does capture the song’s vibe of living in the moment, and doing what feels right at that point in time. The final lyrics of the song repeat “Let’s live while we are young”, and I think that was the main concept for the video. I think that the video definitely fits under Mumford & Sons style, because I don’t think that a really over-produced typical pop music video, with a really obvious storyline would suit their music; they let their lyrics tell the story as opposed to creating a new meaning of the song through video. The music video to this song is very simple in it’s “plot line”, while still being very visually pleasing and having an artistic feel. It’s not an intricate plot, it simply follows the musicians on their way to a concert, but the shot choices, and the fact that they used a 4-way cross cut still makes it interesting to watch. 

CODES AND CONVENTIONS

I think that the video for this song reflects the general type of person that listens to their music. The decision to make a 4 person cross cut video speaks on its own. It takes on a specific “aesthetic”, or “art” that would be appreciated by the “old soul” type of person that typically listens to Mumford & Sons. The actual shots in these videos use a lot of colour schemes, and shift of focus which also reflect a more artistic audience that will pick up on how these things look and make them feel, and these things fit under the umbrella of an alternative music video. Another part of this video includes something in every Mumford & Sons video that I have seen (maybe?), which is a shot/shots of them performing on stage for a live audience. This has become something that I expect when I watch one of their videos, and is definitely a characteristic of their videos. 

An interesting part of this video is that it follows people with 4 different lifestyles or character traits.  We have in one corner the biker-guy who is living a free life however he wants, to the right we have the unreliable guy who is always late, or forgets about the plans that he has made, just below him we find the artistic guy, taking photos by the water, with artistic shots of his double bass that he is carrying to the show, and finally the clean cut/businessman type who has to dress down for the concert. Since the alternative genre is so vast and can be subdivided into so many categories, I think that this video is trying to make sure that there as at least one person that a viewer can connect with, if not more. I think that this fits as a code/convention because the biggest thing with alternative artists is inclusivity and trying to connect with the people who seem to be outcast. 

The video also plays with the appearance of typical folk/alternative artists. The whole story of the “clean cut” member in the bottom left corner is that he is dressing down to fit the look of the band. That includes wearing distressed or wrinkled collared shirts, jeans with the cuffs rolled up, fixing his gelled hair to make it messy, and applying a fake scruffy beard (as the other three all of some form of scruffy facial hair as opposed to his sculpted moustache). 

CREEDS

In terms of the message that this video is sending, it definitely glamourizes the lives that they lead while on tour. Although the band in this video are playing  characters (to an extent), the video is still about the exciting and fun journey it is to arrive at their show and perform. Each section of the story seems exciting and fun in it’s own regard, and it doesn’t show the long and boring days of travel that it would take to get to the next venue for example. 

By having 4 different types of people, they are sending the message that music and other art forms are for anyone and everyone, and everyone has a place. In the same respect, the video hints that music requires everybody to come together, and that when they do, it is a magical experience for everyone. No matter what walk of life you come from, if everybody works together we can create something beautiful with one another. 

It also makes it seem as though the music industry is always moving, none of the people in the video are ever entirely stopped, something is always happening and moving in each shot. This represents how fast paced everything in music and pop culture is, and how it is constantly changing and going in different directions. 

COMMERCIAL

My favourite thing about Mumford & Sons is that they have their own original distinctive sound that I would be able to identify no matter what. I think that the video follows the same suit, because unlike the goal of most music videos I don’t think that it’s trying to sell the song at all. I get two different emotions when I listen to the song on it’s own compared to when I watch the video. The song to me sounds more like desperation, and putting in the last stitch effort to save a relationship, and it is about making mistakes. Whereas I find the video to make it feel more about living in the moment, enjoying your life, and loving what you do. This video isn’t trying to directly portray the lyrics of the song, or a certain emotion that the song is supposed to make you feel, I think that it is it’s own separate thing, and isn’t meant to be associated fully with the song. This is a video made basically to look pretty, and maybe give a look into what they’re lives are like, or what they do outside of the time that they are seen onstage. It is a video for the fans, and I think that even their music is for the fans, the goal of it isn’t to wind up being a radio hit, or a common anthem. Other than what I consider their only true singles “I Will Wait” and “Believe”, the people who don’t consider themselves as fans wouldn’t recognize their other songs. Which can’t be said about pop artists, because even if we don’t like him we can’t escape from the latest Justin Bieber song, whether it’s the radio, or someone around you singing it. Even reading a few of the comments on the video on youtube, I saw people talking about the specific band members by name, which is an indication that they are fans of the band. This video would definitely appeal to a fan of Mumford & Sons, or to someone who is just looking for a more simple but still visually effective music video. Since it is so common for the music video to be the band performing on stage for at least sections of it, you probably wouldn’t go online and think “Oh I just have to see the new Mumford & Sons music video”, because at this point we know the gist of what we’re going to get, and that there won’t be any professional actors bringing together a detailed story line. It will most likely just be the band doing their thing. 

DO I LIKE IT?

Absolutely I enjoy this video, and I think that it is a good music video, but I don’t look to Mumford & Sons to make shocking or groundbreaking music videos. If anything the only reason I would click on one of their music videos is to have something else to look at then the play and pause button on iTunes. This band isn’t really about the image (although they still have the country-looking vibe), it’s about the music, and I think that they’re music videos are just something fun to do to switch up their work day a little bit. I don’t think that it’s ever stressful to come up with a new and super creative or inventive video, because it isn’t the most important thing in their career. I just love Mumford & Sons and I don’t really care what video is put out, I just want to listen to the music and think about the lyrics, because to me, lyrics are the most important part of any song, but I also tend to love an acoustic guitar, so the two make the perfect and ideal music match for me.