#it’s a ballet but there are also movies you can watch to grasp the concept if that helps

[violetshideout]

Hi! Just wanted to add to your post here a bit so I hope this doesn’t come off as rude!!

Just a few things I want to add here with the Swan Lake story. Like every story there are many versions of this story one with a happier ending and another with a darkish ending.

The ballet version typically goes like this

The prince, Siegfried, on his birthday is given a crossbow from his mother the Queen. He is also met with many women who are suitable to be married to him. However the prince denies them as he does not love any of them. He essentially only wishes to marry only who he loves. After being left alone in a depressed mood he decides to chase after a flock of swans to relieve his depressed state.

After running after the swans he enters an enchanted forest and encounters Rothbart. He realizes this is an evil sorcerer and prepares his crossbow to shoot. At this time the white swan, Odette, as a human steps in front of Rothbart and stops Siegfried from shooting. This is when she introduces herself as the Swan Queen and explains to Siegfried that she and her friends have been cursed. With the only time they are able to be human is between midnight and dawn. As well as telling him that the only way to break this curse is for him to marry her and give her his love and to never swear his love to another.

Siegfried having a “love at first sight” moment swears her his loyalty and love. However their love is interrupted by Rothbart and dawn comes. Returning to swans Siegfried is left alone and he returns to his palace. Now the time for his ball has arrived. The Queen once again introduces many lovely ladies to Siegfried. However he declines them proclaiming he loves only Odette and she would be the one he marries. Enters Rothbart with his daughter the black swan, Odile, who is disguised by a spell to look exactly like Odette.

However this is where it changes. (Just need to mention again there is no wrong story. I just want to give a bit more storyline incase you not anyone else is confused!) the endings changes depending on where you see it or where you hear it. This one I believe is what many places follow.

Rothbart’s plan being to trick Siegfried into proclaiming his love to Odile therefore breaking his promise to Odette. Which would keep Odette under his spell. Odile while dancing with Siegfried successfully seduces him into proclaiming his love to her and not Odette. Visions of Odette appear and it’s revealed that he proclaimed his love to another. Overcome with guilt he chases after Odette back to the lake they met at. However it is all too late.

Back at the lake Odette is in agony explaining to her friends the betrayal she’s experienced. Siegfried shows up and begs Odette for forgiveness. Odette forgives him but as mentioned it’s too late and their love is doomed. Rothbart appears once more and begins to take Odette away from Siegfried with his magic. In a one last goodbye Odette embraces Siegfried succumbs to the curse. In the end throws herself into the lake/off a cliff. Essentially ending her life and breaking the curse. There Siegfried is left alone in despair like her was in the beginning of the story when he received his crossbow.

As mentioned there are many different endings some darker. With the couple ending their lives together to break the curse. Others with a happier ending. Like the one you’ve mentioned above. (Your specific one being the one that I was introduced as a kid which started my love for Swan Lake) where they defeat Rothbart and his daughter and live happily ever after.

To respond to your questions at the end

It’s never revealed why she was cursed in the first place but many tales show Odette to be a princess who is this pure and graceful figure who is loved by many. The same goes for Odile, she’s never fully fleshed out. But it’s meant to be implied that she is also evil like her father. She’s represented with being evil with themes of seduction and malice.

I’m not exactly sure if there’s a reason for his doing this other than the typical reasons for villains. But hey! We can only hope there is truly a good reason. I’m also unsure that they’ll follow the story with the details.

Swan Lake

For those of you who are not familiar with this story, I will give my interpretation. I only read it one time, so I didn't remember the names. But these are just details, right. So you know, it's not a fairy tale, it's a ballet. And… only yesterday I found out the story behind it. I watched it a couple of times and mostly enjoyed the music. It's very beautiful, magical even.

So… There is a prince who has reached marriageable age. His mother arranged a ball for him to choose a bride. But… He doesn't wanna get married, he's too young and free-spirited.

At night, he went for a walk in the forest (where else to go at night) and suddenly witnessed the transformation of a white swan into a beautiful woman. They talked for a while, and she explained that she had been cursed by an evil magician. She is a swan during the day and at night she's became a women (I have to say, it's very convenient, isn't it? No need to work, no need to take care of the house… Is it really a curse?). He promised to kill the magician to save her. But the curse requires the man to fall in love with her with all his heart (traditionally, but I don't think gender matters here). This only recently free-spirited prince swears eternal love to her.

An evil magician, in order to separate the lovers (no, really, they just met, where did such love come from?), brings his daughter to the ball, who looks exactly like a white swan. The prince introduced her to his mother as his future wife. The magician is happy, if the prince breaks his promise to the white swan, she will die (mister, what is your problem? You've already turned her into a bird, why do you wanna kill her? And if you wanna kill her, why didn't you do it in the first place? Again… a very odd villain's logic). But… The prince saw no one but the white swan, so he didn't break his promise. The wizard attacks the prince in pure rage and dies.

The curse is broken. Happy ending.

I feel sorry for the magician's daughter. She was nothing to the prince and, obviously, to her father as well. And in the end, she just disappeared into the background. It's so cruel. And who is the true victim here?

So in Villains our twins represent this poor thing. I can already feel the sad vibes of an unloved children coming from them…

And Darius is an evil magician. So maybe they at least explain why he hates this swan so much? What had she done to him to deserve this? There must be a good reason. At least, I hope there is...

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[rachelfaasfibers]

Reading as Resistance: Gendered Messages in Literature and Media

By: Laraine Wallowitz (2004)

 

“I wanted them to understand that reading a text from a feminist perspective changes their understanding of its meaning, that literature and media both reflect and create images of femininity and masculinity, and that readers project their own assumptions about gender onto a text.” (page 26)

Wallowitz is speaking on the topic of how teaching Women’s Studies to high school students give them ideas of how to view gender stereotypes and how to become aware of them through life. With having his students read in a “feminist” perspective, the students are able to become more aware of subtle and strong signs of gender stereotyping throughout a day to day basis. This could be from what they read in school, on the internet, social media, television and many other contributing factors. With this, they can determine perhaps what they have experienced in life. I find that when I was growing up, often times I would lean towards the color pink for example, was that my decision or was their underlying factors that caused me to gravitate toward that color specifically.

“Empowering students by teaching them how to read the “word and the world” (Freire and Macedo) necessitates a new way of thinking about English instruction.” (page 26)

This goes in line with reading in a feminist perspective. I find that just because I read something from class, does not necessarily mean that I have to have the same assumptions that that specific text has. With this in mind, one is able to refer to past learnings and experiences with reading the “words” of the text through their own lens of the world. With reading the world, this goes align with how Wallowitz strives to get his students to understand how the world has labeled genders. It is important that we not only learn about the past, with understanding where stereotypes stemmed from, but also how we have challenged those ideas, embracing that times are changing and women and men are starting to be seen more as equals rather.

“Without a broadened sense of the variety of texts that create and reflect notions of gender, students, like Laurie, make false assumptions both about the texts they interact with and about themselves.” (page 27)

This emphasizes how we cannot simply rely on traditional or academic text, but to the world around us in the media, advertisements, clothing, film, art and anything that is relevant and popular to this day and age. Much, if not all of what I have learned in studio art and art history classes, relates with what is going on in the world. Either this is from reading articles from a variety of art historians, to creating my own art in the studio. With being mindful of the world around me and connecting what I have learned in and out of school in terms of art has allowed me to focus more on own experiences and how I am an individual in the world.  Art work, just like scholarly articles, stands in place as a source that people can rely on in the future to understand the past. It is important for people to grasp the importance of not only traditional learnings of text, but as well as the media and the arts.

 

‘’One of my objectives for the unit was to teach them how our notions of femininity and masculinity are socially and culturally constructed by the music we listen to, the books we read, the television we watch, and the stories we heard growing up.” (page 27)

Growing up, I remember going into Target and seeing all the toys, naturally being gravitated to the “girls” aisle that was pink and purple. At that time, I played with dolls, wore the color pink often, and took ballet classes. I did not see this as a gender stereotyped way of life until understanding roots of gender and how women and men were seen in the past and how they are today. The boys aisle at Target had cars, things to build, and toys guns and weaponry. As a kid, the differences were no big deal to me, for some toys were for girls and some were for boys. I learned this growing up with advertisements on TV with young girls playing with dolls and boys playing with cars and building with Legos. Now, I understand that this was all caused by the construction of our culture and how people expected genders to act.  

“Students quickly learned that characters who do not fit stereotypic images of men and women are read as abnormal.” (page 27)

I think that the fact that the students recognized this, is a large step for they are understanding a point of view that does not align with how they feel perhaps. Times have changes immensely, even within the past twenty years of my life. People are starting to see these stereotypes for what they are and beginning to challenge it. It is okay if a person who is labeled as a girl wants to visit the blue Target aisle if that is what they prefer. Same goes for any person, and today that is not seen as terribly abnormal but still is an issue that people will face for years to come, for it is different than the normal that has been shown in the past.

“Personal narrative provides another opportunity for students to explore the connection between gender bias and environment.” (page 27)

Understanding the background of a person, specifically yourself, helps understand how the environment around you impacted your personal growth. With this, one can pick a part instances in their life could have been impacted by gender bias. Did I take interest in dance because it seemed “girly” and fitting to me? Was my favorite color pink because someone told me it was, or did I make that decision on my own? It is interesting to think about, for your childhood impacts your growth heavily, and these gender ideals surrounded us one hundred percent of the time.

‘’Once students have a better understanding of the ways in which environmental factors, such as childhood and family culture, influence concepts of gender, they are ready to recognize subtle (and not-so-subtle) messages in literature and media.’’ (page 28)

I find that now that I am more aware of gender stereotypes, I can interpret and understand certain movies from the past in a different way. As a kid, it was normal for the girl in the story, normally a princess, would need help from the prince in some form to fulfill their life. Most plots went along with this, and that did not seem bad. But now understanding how needy and gentle these women were, and how they were seen as characters girls looked up to, is extremely concerning. Today many people see that it is important to raise their children, no matter the gender, strong and independent. This staggers away from the traditional way a young girl should act or behave, but it is challenging the past ideas. This is why I believe this quote is important for it explains the importance that students understand the influences around them.

“Folktales serve several important functions in a society that include projecting values and expressing a culture’s taboos and anxieties.” (page 28)

I find this important for it speaks on the topic of girls, princesses, and fairytales and how they impact the values that children embrace at young ages. Wallowitz speaks about discussing Cinderella, and how she is seen as a house maid, staying indoors and does not have much say in her life. Yet, young girls are inspired by her, for in the end she is happy with her prince and that is all she needs. These stories have been passed down from generation to generation, so this is often seen as a normal way of life. Due to this, it is hard for people to escape the past and look into the future for a more understanding way of life. Recently, women have made more leaps in regard to education, accomplishments and success, leading us to making the genders more equal. There have been more movies and music artists for instance in recent times that highlight women in a powerful way, meaning that this is how many want to view women today and recognize them for.

“Casey, who read ��The Birthmark” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, discovered how women are objectified in literature and noted the narrator’s unfair comparison of his wife to a flawless statue, an ideal impossible for her to achieve.” (page 29)

This quote shows that students understand how certain ideals that were pressed onto women, were impossible to do and how that was disturbing to them. No one wants to be told what to do, how to dress, who to like, and so on. Yet people are gravitated to the normal and often times do not see that. There have always been standards of women and how they are meant to look and act, but these change over time. This impacts many by social media (who is popular, where they shop, what they eat, and so on). People nowadays have the capability to alter their images of their bodies they post on social media for instance, because they want to be seen like the famous people who look a certain way. They feel their body is not good enough for the standards that are held for women today. Clearly this is an ongoing problem that does not seem to be going away anytime soon, we just need to learn how to understand and grow.

[anonthenullifier]

You think Tommy and Billy would eventually ask Wanda about their Uncle who's picture they see on display?

Yes, they definitely would, probably sooner than Wanda would like. It could go something like this:

Wanda rounds the corner to find Vision’s legs dangling from the ceiling. With a shrug she sidesteps his calves, sending a whip of scarlet along the back of his knees as she keeps vacuuming, head bobbing along with her music. A few seconds go by before there’s an indistinguishable grumble in the periphery of her thoughts. Her hand inches up to remove her headphones as she turns towards her husband, “What was that?”

“They,” he aggressively points up where he had just been dangling, “need to get out of this house before they break all our furniture.”

Wanda glances up towards what sounds like a herd of elephants attempting ballet in a crowded antique store, “That’s why I’m just drowning it out,” an earbud waves limply through the air, “so long as they don’t need the ER, I say we leave them be.” 

“We could go sledding—“

With a pointed, exaggerated turn Wanda faces the window, the snow whizzing by so quickly it looks like they installed a white curtain outside. “You really think we should go out in that?” 

Vision draws his frustration in with a deep inhale and she can feel him mentally counting, a technique he never needed until a couple years ago when potty training the boys went sideways real fast. “No, but we need to find them something soon.” He doesn’t add in the or else they’ll break everything but it resides in the tired droop of his eyes. They’ve already watched a movie, played games, and attempted crafts, which went so successfully they are now cleaning to rid the house of every last speck of glitter in existence. 

“Maybe once it slows down a bit we can head over to the compound and they can run around the training gym? ”

Finally Vision exhales, “I suppose that could work as long as we remove all weaponry and the road is drivable.” 

Wanda flashes him a grin and slides her headphones back on, steps following the beat as she moves into the living room. This peacefulness, as always, is short lived, a “Mooommmm!” coming from upstairs that is stunningly clear even with her music. Scarlet forms around her phone, pausing the song as she waits to see if it’s a call of distress, anger, victimhood, or actual emergency. “Moommm!” It’s none of those options, this one a scream of discovery that goes along with a blue streak whizzing down the stairs, followed by the thudding of Billy’s slower run. “Mom! Mom! Look what I found!”

Wanda reaches out, her, “Let me see,” a little terrified since the last time he was this excited she found herself holding the curled up carcass of a cockroach.

Tommy hands over a non-bug like rectangle (thankfully), a beaming smile gracing his lips, always brimming with vim at finding something new to ask them about. “It was on your dresser.”

“How many times have we informed you to not climb on the dresser?”  Vision’s stern voice is getting better, this one forceful enough that Tommy’s smile falters for a moment, though it doesn’t dissolve completely. 

“It fell while Tommy was running.” Billy’s attempt at saving them from a scolding is admirable but not helpful. 

Tommy puffs up his chest, chin lifting in redemption, “See dad, no climbing.” 

“Perhaps we need to have a new discussion of the parameters of playing upstairs.” Wanda tries hard to keep her face impassive, never wanting the boys to see how entertaining she finds it when they go toe to toe with Vision since it would only lead to more insubordination.  At the same time, the dresser is a much bigger sticking point to her husband than her, given she has fond memories of getting into trouble like this when she was a kid.

Just like Pietro, Tommy always knows how to weasel his way out of discussions about parameters, pointing at her hand with a, “Who is that?”

She looks down, having forgotten why the boys joined them, and all at once her lungs stop working, the impishness of her own twin’s face taking her in. “It’s um,” she’s mentioned Pietro to them  before, in passing, never directly because she doesn’t know how to explain his absence, truthfully she’s never wanted to do so, going so far as to grieve each anniversary in quiet, waiting until the boys are asleep to curl into Vision’s arms.

“That is your late Uncle Pietro.” Vision tries to be helpful, she knows he means well, but his use of late wedges its sharp point into her scars. 

Their sons share a look before Billy turns towards Vision, a discerning slant to his mouth, “When was he supposed to get here?”

“Oh, I, um,” Vision looks to her for guidance but she’s out of it, still trying desperately to control her own breathing. The explanation he offers is halting, each word fumbling along his tongue as it comes out. “Late, in this usage, deals with the concept of, um, death.”

Death they’ve talked about with the twins, as best they could, the questions starting around their fourth birthday when they watched the Lion King. Vision has read whole books on the matter, confidently informed her of how all they have to do is cover the subconcepts of death.  Selfishly, it’s a minor relief to watch him freeze up, to see that even he doesn’t find these conversations easy. But there’s a difference in discussing why the cockroach isn’t coming back or why the flowers had to be thrown out or even why an animated lion cub is crying than why a person in a photograph isn’t going to come to dinner. Wanda struggles to clarify anything, offering a quiet, “He died a long time ago,” while her mind reminds her it’s been almost ten years even if right now it still feels like 12 days. 

“How about we sit down?” her husband’s hand is gentle on her shoulder, guiding Wanda towards the couch, where she takes the right side, Vision the left, and the boys share the middle. Thankfully Vision reaches out along the top of the cushions, entangling his fingers with her own, rooting her to the present. “Do you recall what we have discussed about death?”

The atmosphere of the room dips to match what it must feel like outside, which is not too different from the bite of admonishment when Billy or Tommy have pushed too many buttons. Wanda hopes to quell the discomfort wrapping its bony arms around them, “You aren’t in trouble.”

Billy’s lips tighten into a grim determination, his thoughts flying past until he pulls something out. “Death is when things stop working,” nonfunctionality the first subconcept Vision read about, the one most easily grasped by young minds. 

“Right, so Pietro’s,” Wanda struggles under the memory, the feel of his body tumbling and heart stopping just as strong today as it was a decade ago, “body stopped working a long time ago, while we were on a mission.”

Vision squeezes her hand and it helps, lifting her from the weightlessness of recollection. His attempt at explaining the concept further is also appreciated, “Once a body stops functioning, it cannot come back.” The statement is said as if it is an easy, uncomplicated topic, when in fact it is one even she and Vision have trouble talking about together, both of them having died at least once already and yet they are here and Pietro is not, the world a fickle, unforgiving place where the universality of death is muddled and contradictory. “So unfortunately, he will not be coming back.”  

This deflates the room, neither of the boys willing to look at them, their still developing minds attempting to figure out what to do with this new piece of information, 5 far too young, at least to her, to grapple with these thoughts if it’s not necessary. Wanda tries to ease the conversation back towards the picture, answer the original question so they can think of better times. “Pietro was my twin,” this word perks them up, their eyes locking on to her as she hands the picture of her and Pietro back to Tommy, “he and I were just like the two of you, we did everything together, had the same birthday, got into a lot of trouble climbing on dressers. Pietro even had super speed, just like Tommy.” 

Billy’s eyes slide to his twin, their hands having found each other at some point, “And Uncle Pietro will never come back?”

“No.” The way the boys look at each other, the whitening of their knuckles as they no doubt consider an existence alone, makes her want to tell them about souls and heaven, finding each other again, inform them that sometimes when the wind blows past her on a particularly gusty day, she wonders if it’s Pietro. But she isn’t sure if she actually believes all that and all the books and advice, all the conversations she and Vision have had about covering this topic with their children, all of it says to be direct at this age, that they are concrete thinkers too easily confused by abstractions of hope. Instead Wanda lets go of Vision’s hand and sinks into the couch, just enough for her to wrap her arm around Billy and Tommy’s backs, “But I still love him and I still think about him all the time. We all die eventually, so we just have to hold on to what made us happy and never forget each other.”

Even this might be too much for them, neither Billy nor Tommy responding, only Vision does anything, his fingers tracing her tricep. Then Tommy’s face knots up, “Does that mean you and dad will die too?”

Death is inevitable, sure, you might get a few deaths, but eventually there are no more loopholes, even for supposedly indestructible synthezoids and reality warping witches. So the easy answer is yes, yet it seems an awful response. Wanda meets Vision’s eyes over the brown and white curls separating them, begging him to figure out a good response because she can’t muster one. Vision phases downwards, bringing himself to the same level as the twins, and closes the open parenthesis of their hug, “We will, but your mother and I are very careful and do our best to remain safe. We plan to be with you for a very very long time.”

“Well that’s good then,” Tommy shrugs away his worry, returning to an earlier comment, “you said Uncle Pietro ran really fast?”

Wanda grins, relief washing over her now that the conversation is turning in a new direction, “Super fast.”

“Was he faster than me?”

If Pietro ever met another speedster, Wanda knows this is the first question he’d ask, “I don’t think you’re faster than him yet,” Tommy frowns, petulant in the face of any perceived loss, “but I think you will be eventually,” now he smiles and Wanda decides perhaps their afternoon can be spent in the past, so she begins to tell them all about Uncle Pietro, relieved, more than broken, at the way their laughter sounds so much like his.

[404-403-error]

Day 8:  The Power of Music

I wouldn’t know anything about music, but these are my go to songs whenever I need to feel something.

Tomaso Albinoni: Adagio, whenever I need to feel something ironic, sad, but still beautiful. The story of the song Bolero itself is incredibly interesting for me. If you just google “Albinoni Adagio”, you’d find a history of music fraud in the classics. The music originally biographed by Remo Giazotto, but popular by Albinoni with his “Adagio in G minor for strings and organ”, when the original version by Giazotto was pure only with Baroque piano. Also trivia, If you ever watched the movie Manchester by the Sea, you’d find this song played in the background during the house-on-fire scene. I learned the word adagio means slow tempo in ballet when I was 6 or 7. The whole scene in the movie Manchester by the Sea with the music Adagio gives different meanings. With the whole classical music fraud scandal, the fire scene, the slowmo. It gives me the creeps.

Lin-Immanuel Miranda: Satisfied, from Hamilton: The Musical. The music is an upbeat rap-hiphop-rnb song in a musical. I repeat. A GODDANG MUSICAL. Hamilton: The Musical has the most mind-blowing concept of a musical I’ve ever seen in my entire life. I was laughing, crying, I got goosebumps, every feeling you can name, make a checklist, and checked em all up. But the song Satisfied in particular, tattooed into my soul. I always describe myself as a greedy person, and this song’s lyric, the stage play, the character that raps the song, boye oh boye I lost for world. It’s just *chef’s kiss*.

Loco: It Takes Time, whenever I need to calm myself the fuck up. The melody is soothing while the lyric’s telling you to be in no rush. It tells me there’s someone that’s also having a hard time, feeling like this I’m in a race, and falling behind. I keep asking is being in pain or being hurt will ever become a past tense or it already became a lifestyle. One in particular line in the lyric got me.

“I'm just looking at the clock, how much does it take to endure the pain?”

Agust D: So Far Away, whenever I feel useless and need to cry my eyes out, let myself be vulnerable. When I feel useless and need someone that feels as useless as me. Also, the song cursed a lot in Korean, nothing wins me more than a sad song with an attitude.

“ That’s right, fuck, I live because I can’t die but I don’t have anything I want to do. I’m in so much pain and loneliness but people around me“

“ I hope things disappear. I hope my damn self disappears “

These two verses always got me sobbing like a maniac. Read the full translation here.

Paramore: Misguided Ghost, whenever I feel like I need some time off from everything.

“ And pain is just a simple compromise so we can get what we want out of it “

The thing about this song, I always know I’ll be back but after I’m gone for awhile. I need to be away. From routines, my hobbies, my identity, everything, before I came to acknowledge the pain I shelved for too long, I feel like exploding. And that’s the thing about feeling, if you keep brushing it off, it’ll explode when you’re not even ready. That shit is way more painful than you’d ever anticipated.

6Black: One Way (ft. T-Pain), whenever I wanna feel sexy and confident about my sexuality. The song makes me feel powerful and sexy since the song itself talks nothing but sex, lol. This song is also my go to song whenever I need to dance some things out to feel better. I can dance to the lyric, the beat, rhythm, even melody. It’s just that rich.

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Snow (Hey Oh), whenever I feel lost my grip on my reality and my identity. When I need a grasp of everything in life, or be exact, whenever I feel suicidal.

“Come to believe that I better not leave before I get my chance to ride. When it's killing me, what do I really need, all that I need to look inside“

That part in particular always makes me think about me, my place in the universe, my life in general. Though, most of the time I feel a pang in my chest whenever I need to listen to this song, it reminds me to breathe again. It’s liberating, in some ways.

Pink Guy: STFU, whenever I’m pissed at something and/or someone. Yes, it’s Shut The Fuck Up. The whole lyric is about mocking someone or curse at someone, just because, with acoustic guitar, full of sarcasm. Nothing less, nothing more.

Fall Out Boy: Just One Yesterday, whenever I feel like I need to remorse about something and/or someone, but I just... don’t. When should feel apologetic, but just can’t. When I feel like a burden to someone, but I just don’t care.

“I know I'm bad news, I saved it all for you“

Nothing’s Carved In Stone: Out of Control, whenever I miss someone I haven’t seen or hang out in awhile, whenever I feel like I need some company. Yes, this song is the second opening song of anime Psycho-Pass.

“'Cause I feel I can always show my everything to you, if this moment was for me“

This part of the lyric gives me so much insurance that someone will listen to me. Someone would come over if I invited them. Someone will spend their time with me. I used to have that kind of someone, but they just slip away. Cause let me tell you, friendship or any type of relationship can slip away right before our eyes. But the person who’s in the know is gonna be the one that sinks into the silent sadness. And just like that, people grew apart.

The power of music? It brings out the truest and the most honest version of yourself.

[lefilmdujour]

Another 500th movie celebration

My Tumblr just reached the 1000 movies mark, so I figured it’s time I write something about my last 2 and a half years of movie viewings and recommend 50 more movies out of the ones I’ve seen since the last 500th movie celebration.

Times have been strange in the last couple of years, and my movie habits have reflected it. There have been times when watching films was all I would do, but there have also been moments of complete disconnection from the medium. I went from watching several movies every day to spending months avoiding anything to do with sitting through a movie. 

Part of it had to do with the space I share with my demons, but mostly there has been a change of pace. My laptop died, it took me months to get another one only to also die on me. On the other hand, an enormous chunk of my viewings have been in cinemas or squats, which is a very positive change but led me to watch more recent films in detriment of classics or ancient underappreciated gems. I also got my first TV in over a decade this month, and my very first Netflix account last week, so I may be exploring streaming a bit more, although so far I am not finding the experience  at all satisfying. All pointless excuses since I went through 500+ movies in a little over two years, which is not bad at all.

It was hard to pick only 50 movies this time, and the list would have probably looked a little different if I did it tomorrow. Regardless, here are 50 movies I recommend, and why. Random order, all deserving of love and attention.

Ghost World (Terry Zwigoff) - This movie is unfairly  ignored in the best comic book adaptation lists out there on the internet. The opening scene is memorable, the soundtrack is a lesson in early Blues, and the characters are quirky and well written.

Hate (Mathieu Kassovitz) - An absolute classic about the class system in France and its tendency to end up in riots. Beautiful shot and highly quotable. Saw it a few times, the last of them with a live score from Asian Dub Foundation. One of the greats.

Audition (Takashi Miike) - Whenever I’m asked about my favorite horror movie, I tend to fall back on this one. Audition is very slow, starting out soft but with an underlying tension that builds until the absolutely gut-wrenching finale that makes us question our own sanity. Brilliant subversion of the “hear, don’t see” rule, just the though of some of the sounds used in the most graphic scenes still send shivers down my spine.

Kedi (Ceyda Torun) - A Turkish documentary about street cats, what’s there not to like?

Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Park Chan-wook) - The third in the loosely-connected Vengeance trilogy by Park Chan-wook, and my favorite of the bunch, especially the Fade to Black and White edition, in which the movie very gradually loses color as the violence grows. A visual masterpiece.

Paterson (Jim Jarmusch) - The poetry of routine. Adam Driver is one hell of an actor.

Love Me If You Dare (Yann Samuell) - Two people that obviously love each other but are not mature enough to follow it through. Frustrating. Beautiful. Made me sob.

The Exterminating Angel (Luis Buñuel) - I am realizing that a good part of this list deals with frustration. A group of people finds themselves unable to leave a party for no apparent reason. Buñuel is a genious in surrealism, I have yet to watch most of his Mexican period.

The Mutants (Teresa Villaverde) - Kids on the run from themselves. Strong visuals, very moving interactions at times. A hard but very rewarding watch. Teresa Villaverde’s entire filmography also gets a seal of approval.

Bad Education (Pedro Almodóvar) - A movie about sexuality and problematic relationships, taken to unbelievable extremes.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu (Cristi Puiu) - The adventures of Mr. Lazarescu as he struggles to find help for the sudden pain he feels and ends up being passed on from hospital to hospital. Felt very real. Sold as a comedy, but I found it terrifying. 

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos) - A classic greek tragedy brought to the modern age. My favorite Lanthimos film, ranking slightly below Dogtooth. The deadpan acting and the unnerving sound serves as wonderful misdirection.

It’s Such a Beautiful Day (Don Hertzfeldt) - Three shorts stitched together to create a confusing, philosophical, absurd, funny and deep masterpiece. The animation skills of Don Hertzfeldt needs more recognition.

Amores Perros (Alejandro González Iñárritu) - A movie so good it didn’t even had an English name. Three tales of love, violence and loss, all linked by a dog.

Endless Poetry (Alejandro Jodorowsky) - Jodorowsky’s romanticized auto-biography, played by his own sons.Bohemian and poetic.

The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Theodor Dreyer) - Show this movie to someone who refuses to watch silent movies. The acting is so impactful and emotional, and the use of close ups was highly unusual for the time. A 90-plus years old masterpiece.

Everything is Illuminated (Liev Schreiber) - Sunflowers.

Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan) - I have a soft spot for war movies, as to remind myself how brutal people can be to their fellow man and how meaningless the concept of nations truly is. This movie in particular achieves greatness due to its usage of sound, the best I’ve heard in recent memory.

Vagabond (Agnès Varda) - Be careful of what you wish for yourself, you may end up frozen and miserable in a ditch (spoilers for literally the first few seconds of the film).

Stroszek (Werner Herzog) - I know Herzog mostly through his documentaries. His voice brings me the feeling of a deranged grandpa sharing stories of a reality tainted by dementia. I have yet to explore his fiction work in-depth, and this has been my starting point. Stroszek is bleak and desperate but humor still shines through it at times. Ian Curtis allegedly hung himself after watching it. Not sure if this story is real, but it once more feeds into the Herzog myth.

HyperNormalization (Adam Curtis) - Put together through found footage and newscasts, HyperNormalization is an unforgiving study on how we got to where we currently are. Fake becomes real. Trust is an abandoned concept. “They've undermined our confidence in the news that we are reading/And they make us fight each other with our faces buried deep inside our phones”, as AJJ sings in Normalization Blues. Which you should also check out.

Chicken with Plums (Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud) - A man decides to die, so he goes to bed and waits. An apparent simple plot that uncovers a world of beauty and poetry, as life passes slowly through the man’s eyes.

The Florida Project (Sam Baker) - William Dafoe was born to play the role of a motel manager. He is so natural in his role that I think he would actually be great in that job. The rest of the movie is great too, but his performance is the highlight for me.

Lucky (John Carroll Lynch) - Speaking of great performances, Lucky is Harry Dean Stanton’s final movie and a great send off. IMDB describes it best: “The spiritual journey of a ninety-year-old atheist.“

Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders) - More Harry Dean Stanton. The desert plays a more than decorative role in this wonderful movie, representing the emptiness that comes from estrangement. A story about reunion and all that can come from it.

On Chesil Beach (Dominic Cooke) - I sometimes cry in movies, but this one shook me to the core. A play on expectations and reactions and their devastating impact on relationships. We all fuck up sometimes. Try not to fuck up like these characters did, not on that level, you will never be able to make up for it.

The Royal Tenenbaums (Wes Anderson) - An absolute classic. A movie about the concept of family.

No Country for Old Men (Coen Brothers) - Murder mysteries and bad haircuts.

Dawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison) - I highly recommend this documentary for anyone who professes their love for cinema. The story of how hundreds of lost silent movies were preserved though sheer luck and human stupidity. Seeing these damaged frames coming back to life is truly magical.

Mandy (Panos Cosmatos) - Some films turn into cult experiences through the years, some selected few are already born that way. Mandy is a psychedelic freak-out and Nicholas Cage fits like a glove in its weirdness. If you didn’t catch it while in cinemas, you’re already missing out on the full experience. Mandy is filled with film grain, which adds to the hallucinogenic experience with its continuous movement, a feature that does not translate when transferred to a digital medium. 

City of God (Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund) - A masterpiece of Brazilian cinema, very meaningful and relatable if you grew up in a similar environment. One of the most quotable films in my memory, something that gets lost in translation if you don’t speak Portuguese. My Tumblr is mostly pictures because I “só sei lê só as figura”.

Loro (Paolo Sorrentino) - On the topic of languages, I watched this Italian movie with Dutch subtitles, by mistake. It is actually an interesting exercise, watching something without fully grasping every word and letting your mind patch the pieces together to make a coherent narrative. Impressive cinematography, amazing script. I learned a lot about corruption, not everyone has a price. I also learned I can speak Italian now.

Roma (Alfonso Cuarón) - Beautiful shot, every frame of it can be turned into a picture. Roma is about the meaning of family, seen from the eyes of someone who will never be part of it. A lot of people considered this movie boring and pointless. These people probably have maids at home.

Bad Times at the El Royale (Drew Goddard) - Engaging heist movie, well developed characters, amazing soundtrack.

Melancholia (Lars von Trier) - The World is coming to an end and the date and time has been announced. How would you react to these news? Would it matter?

Climax (Gaspar Noé) - A very scary experience, equal parts trippy and evil like all Gaspar Noé’s movies. A dark ballet that that shocks and confuses the senses. Dante’s Inferno.

Fish Tank (Andrea Arnold) - A strong story about ambitions, neglect and survival. Katie Jarvis is very realistic in her performance, a little too much judging by her history after the movie.

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (Ana Lily Amirpour) - An Iranian feminist movie about vampirism and records. Watched it with live score from The Black Heart Rebellion for extra cool points.

Another Day of Life (Raul de la Fuente & Damian Nenow) - Based on Ryszard Kapuściński‘s autobiography, Another Day of Life consists of rotoscopic animation sprinkled with interviews. A look at the Cold War in the African continent, and an important watch for everyone, especially Portuguese and Angolan nationals.

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino) - Rich in dialogues and paced very slowly until the insane climax, this is probably the best Tarantino film after Pulp Fiction. Filled to the brim with cinematic references, it’s a delight to all film nerds. Looking forward for an Bud Spencer/Terrence Hill film adaption with Leonardo Dicaprio and Brad Pitt after this.

The Beach Bum (Harmony Korine) - Google’s top voted tags: Boring. Mindless. Cringe-Worthy. Forgettable. Slow. Illogical. Looks like this movie didn’t resonate well with the audiences, but then again Harmony Korine’s stuff is not for the masses. I personally think this is one of his best movies, a true exercise on nihilism. The main character is lovable and detestable in equal parts, and every action is pointless. Such is life, the only meaning it has is attributed by yourself.

The Mirror (Andrei Tarkovsky) - A man reflects on his life. Memories tend to get fuzzy, conflicting and confusing. More like a poem than a narrative. A dreamy masterpiece.

The Spirit of the Beehive (Víctor Erice) - The most charming child of this list, she couldn’t memorize the names of the characters she interacted with so they were changed to the names of the actual actors. The innocence of childhood in dark times.

A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence (Roy Andersson) - A series of absurd vignettes connected by a pair of novelty items salesmen and their struggle to bring a smile to a grey World. Slow, but humorous and delightful. An unconventional and memorable ride.

Man Bites Dog (Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel & Benoît Poelvoorde) - Fake documentary about a serial killer. Heavy, gruesome and hard to watch, despite the false sense of humor in some scenes.A glimpse at the darkness of human nature.

Tangerine (Sean Baker) - Shot with cell phones. A story about love, gender and friendship. Funny, sad, touching.

The Guilty (Gustav Möller) - Focused on a shift of an emergency dispatcher, the camera focuses only on his face and phone interactions with the callers.A very effective thriller, its setting leads us to create our own narratives just to subvert them at the most unexpected times.

Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski) - Loosely inspired in Pawlikowski’s parents, Cold War is a beautiful love story set against impossible odds. Powerful and heartbreaking. 

Parasite (Bong Joon-ho) - Poor family scams rich family. Rich family takes advantage of poor family. Everybody feeds off of everyone. Drama/Comedy/Thriller/Horror/Romance about control, delivered in a masterclass on cinematic rhythm. Best film of its year for me.

The Straight Story (David Lynch) - More than the fact that this movie is radically different than the remaining Lynch work, The Straight Story is a wonderful exercise in pacing and storytelling. Mr. Straight’s stories allow us to fill in the blanks with our imagination, and their impact in him is also felt in us. An underappreciated gem in its apparent simplicity.

Thank you very much for reading.

[theconservativebrief]

Bodies have limits, and dance kicks at them, trying to make the impossible look easy. The sounds of that effort are often masked by music, so it’s easy at times to forget the physicality of the dancers — to miss the thuds, the squeaks of sweaty skin skidding on the floor, the gasping and panting for breath.

Suspiria foregrounds that corporeality, mixing it with elements of the inexplicable, and the result is horrifying, maddening, transfixing, transcendent. It’s the most ambitious and unsettling and confounding and cathartic movie I’ve seen this year, with some of the most disturbing images I’ve ever seen in a movie, at once bone-cracking body horror par excellence, meditation on women’s power and history, tale of ancient occultish matricide, and worthy homage to the decades-old movie that inspired it.

It resists efforts at making “sense,” though there are plenty of keys strewn throughout to unlock its many secrets. But you’ll want to make sense of it anyhow.

Inspired by Dario Argento’s 1977 film by the same name — which, in turn, was inspired by Thomas De Quincey’s opium-fueled 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis — this incarnation of Suspiria, directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), feels like new flesh molded around old bones and lit on fire.

Less remake, more regeneration, Guadagnino’s Suspiria retains its predecessor’s setting and setup — a prestigious German dance school run by a shadowy coven — but digs its hooks into elements that Argento’s film floated past. The result is something much scarier, more chilling, more menacing, and absolutely, wholly its own.

The ladies of the company at dinner. Amazon Studios

Guadagnino decided in concert with screenwriter David Kajganich (with whom he worked on 2015’s A Bigger Splash) to set his film in 1977, the same year Argento’s film was released. It begins when Patricia (Chloë Grace Moretz), shaking and disturbed, stumbles into the office of her psychiatrist Dr. Jozef Klemperer (played by “Lutz Ebersdorf,” but actually Tilda Swinton under convincing layers of prosthetics and cosmetics).

Patricia tells Dr. Klemperer that the Markos Dance Academy, where she has been studying, is run by a coven of witches, and leaves behind a satchel of her journals, in which she’s scribbled about the “Three Mothers”: Mater Suspiriorum (Mother of Sighs), Mater Tenebrarum (Mother of Darkness), and Mater Lachrymarum (Mother of Tears). Klemperer is sure Patricia is just delusional.

Then Patricia disappears. And Klemperer, growing suspicious, decides to investigate what’s happening at Markos.

The day following Patricia’s visit, ingenue Susie Bannion (Dakota Johnson) arrives from the Midwest to study at the famed German dance school and live in its dormitories with the other dancers, as in Argento’s original film. She meets Sara (Mia Goth), a wealthy student who was close to Patricia and is devastated by her disappearance.

Excited at first to be among her dancing idols, Susie soon realizes that something not quite right is going on, and the more she digs, the closer she gets to danger.

But while the original film was about Susie (Suzy, in Argento’s version) trying to escape the clutches of the dance mistresses in a ballet school, this is something much different. In this film, the dance company performs contemporary dance. It has moved from Freiburg to Berlin, a city that in 1977 was divided by a wall between the East and the West, as well as between older Germans who wished to forget what had happened only decades earlier during the War and younger Germans who insisted it must be remembered.

Susie’s arrival coincides with the German Autumn, when a series of terror attacks throughout the year culminated in several key events: The Red Army Faction kidnapped and murdered Hanns Martin Schleyer, head of the country’s main business association; three members of the Baader-Meinhof group died by suicide in prison; and a Lufthansa passenger jet was liberated days after being hijacked on the tarmac in Mogadishu. The country was on high alert.

Tilda Swinton in Suspiria. Amazon Studios

This all forms the backdrop of Suspiria, the swirling chaos spotted in the background on radios and TV news broadcasts. In the foreground is Susie’s integration into the academy, headed by the mysterious Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton again), with whom Susie — who was raised in a Mennonite community in Ohio — has been quietly obsessed for years, watching films of the company’s dances so many times that she knows the parts by heart already.

The school is led by a series of matrons and populated by lithe young dancers, all trained to perform Blanc’s angular, powerful form of dance. And though the young woman is mostly untrained, Madame Blanc spots Susie’s talent instantly.

That becomes important when Olga (Elena Fokina), incensed at Madame Blanc’s suggestion that Patricia didn’t disappear, but left the academy to join the RAF, storms out of the academy. Blanc permits Susie to fill Olga’s spot in an upcoming production and — touching her gently — imbues her with some kind of preternatural power of dance that also, in a (literal) twist, turns out to be Olga’s undoing.

That’s merely where Susie’s evolution begins. And where Argento’s film had the character trying to escape, Guadagnino’s does anything but that. Instead, Susie is drawn deeper into what’s going on at Markos, and Suspiria builds nightmarishly, exploding into a wild, blood-soaked climax that solves few mysteries — but hints at many others.

Suspiria is more about dream logic than real logic, more web than timeline. That it starts the year Argento’s film was released feels right: The spirit that animates that one feels reborn in this one which, in a sense, is its point — a spirit of rebellion and subversion against authoritarian powers, particularly patriarchal ones. Female energy and crafty women working in secret, it suggests, are responsible for keeping the world’s creative heart beating, even while skirmishes and wars and insurrections fight to beat it down.

That its name and eventually its mythology are tied up with the idea of “supirium” makes sense, then — though in Latin the words “suspirium” (sighs or forceful breaths) and “spiritus” (the spirit) are separate, for most of ancient times the concepts of breath and spirit, or life force, were tied up together.

The same word is used for both throughout the Bible, for instance, in both Hebrew and Greek. Concepts like prana and qi (or chi) are also linked to both breath and spirit or life force. Breath starts life, and it ends when the breath is gone.

The Markos company performs. Amazon Studios

In Suspiria that life-giving force is carried by women, particularly by the Three Mothers of Sighs, Darkness, and Tears, and by those who serve them — including in the dance academy. So the film is rife with symbolism about nationalism (the dance the Markos group is performing is one that Blanc created in the wake of the war, meaningfully called “Volk,” or “people”), about women’s power against men (who in this film are often at the mercy of the dance academy mistresses once they step in its doors), and — perhaps most troublingly — about the complexity of that power yielded by women against one another.

And so I agree with other critics that I would have liked to have seen a Suspiria written and directed by a woman who was as deeply affected by the story as Guadagnino clearly was, and as willing to get tangled up in it and not try to untie it all. Perhaps we’ll get that version in the future.

In the meantime, though, it’s impossible to ignore how skillfully Guadagnino dove into the material and came up with something all his own. Argento’s version of the story is noted not so much for its storytelling — which can be lightweight and campy at times — as for its visual style, which pulses with bright and bold colors, wild lighting, and surreal camera angles.

Guadagnino largely sidesteps those for most of the movie, rendering a muted Berlin in greys and browns, and when he finally slips into Argento’s visual style it’s all the more terrifying by contrast. Argento enlisted the Italian band Goblin for his film’s iconic soundtrack; Guadagnino brought in Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who delivers an eerie score.

And by leaving lots of plot threads tangled and unexplained, this Suspiria leaves us with far more unease. Dance and horror became allies long ago, when early ballets in the courts of kings and queens often involved stories about witches and deities, werewolves and spirits. Many of the most famous ballets in repertoire today are, essentially, horror stories — about broken-hearted swan-women, about princes imprisoned in wooden dolls, about women dancing men or themselves to death.

Dakota Johnson in Suspiria. Amazon Studios

In movies like Black Swan, filmmakers cannily turn the implied horror of these stories into horror films about women’s bodies and the history of dance, the pain and discomfort experienced en route to flawless performance, the exacting and sometimes abusive choreographers, and the rules that artists want and need to break.

That the new Suspiria is set among a contemporary dance troupe in a Berlin recovering from a war, grasped by an imposed rule, cowering from terror attacks, and grappling with its own sordid history makes for a perfect place to explore those same motifs.

And by its enigmatic end, Suspiria is troubling and grim and yet strangely mirthful, having opened wounds without much interest in closing them. This is not a film you untangle; it’s a movie you feel. That will drive some mad. For others, it will feel something like ecstasy.

Suspiria opens in theaters on October 26.

Original Source -> Suspiria reimagines a cult classic as a bone-cracking tale of women, power, and pain

via The Conservative Brief

[takenews-blog1]

Pixvana raises $14M from Vulcan, Microsoft, top VC firms for VR production platform

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/pixvana-raises-14m-from-vulcan-microsoft-top-vc-firms-for-vr-production-platform/

Pixvana raises $14M from Vulcan, Microsoft, top VC firms for VR production platform

Madrona Enterprise Group traders watch Pixvana’s pitch in digital actuality. (Photograph by way of Pixvana)

What higher technique to pitch a digital or augmented actuality startup concept than to strap a bunch of headsets on the heads of enterprise capitalists and switch a fundamental presentation into an immersive expertise that demonstrates the potential of your organization’s expertise?

That’s what Pixvana did — and it labored.

The Seattle startup in the present day introduced a $14 million Collection A funding led by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital, with participation from new traders like Raine Ventures, Microsoft Ventures, Cisco Investments, and Hearst Ventures. Earlier backer Madrona Enterprise Group, which led the corporate’s $6 million seed spherical, additionally joined.

Pixvana has developed a cloud-based end-to-end platform referred to as SPIN Studio that helps digital actuality filmmakers edit, course of, and ship video at 8K decision. Many storytellers are pressured to make use of desktop instruments that weren’t constructed with VR in thoughts, creating issues like lengthy rendering occasions, restricted modifying capabilities, and less-than-ideal decision. Pixvana’s SPIN Studio makes use of cloud infrastructure and VR-centric modifying software program designed from the bottom up. Early prospects vary from sports activities groups to eating places to media corporations which are beginning to movie and produce VR content material.

Pixvana, based in late 2015, calls its software program “the platform for XR storytelling,” which encompasses digital actuality, augmented actuality, 360-video, and different next-generation video experiences.

“There’s super alternative within the XR video area and it’s clear that excellent content material and storytelling instruments will outline this new medium,” Stuart Nagae, common associate at Vulcan Capital, mentioned in a press release. “We expect that Pixvana has a rare crew that actually understands tips on how to ship cinematic, immersive experiences in XR and may construct a SaaS enterprise at scale.”

To grasp Pixvana’s underlying expertise, it’s greatest to look at content material in digital actuality. Pixvana CEO Forest Key knew this, in order he went to pitch the corporate’s concept to greater than 50 traders for the Collection A spherical, he introduced headsets with him and confirmed a model of the video under — basically a pitch baked right into a VR expertise from Pixvana’s workplace.

Key instructed GeekWire conventional technique to pitch traders can be to indicate a PowerPoint presentation after which transfer to a VR demo.

“We discovered that once you try this, somebody goes out and in and simply tries slightly,” he mentioned in an interview at Pixvana’s HQ in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood. “They don’t actually expertise it.”

As a substitute, Pixvana needed traders to immerse themselves with the video, which exhibits clips from Seattle Sounders matches; ballet performances; restaurant excursions; and extra, all to show the sort and high quality of content material that Pixvana helps create.

Key, who beforehand bought Seattle lodge advertising startup Buuteeq to Priceline in 2014, would ask traders what they noticed — many famous the soccer or ballet.

“I’d inform them that the primary factor they noticed was a 15-minute company presentation,” Key mentioned. “They form of received misplaced in it.”

And that was the purpose — to indicate traders how Pixvana’s software program permits any storyteller to supply “XR” content material.

“It was a technique to differentiate,” Key famous. “It labored in a manner the place we received to place our cash the place our mouth is and use our personal expertise.”

Key detailed the making of the pitch video in a weblog publish right here.

Whereas Pixvana could have a sturdy platform for “XR” storytelling, it stays to be seen if digital and augmented actuality reaches mainstream customers regardless of the hype and funding within the trade over the previous few years.

Key tells traders that Pixvana gained’t single-handedly create a mass marketplace for VR — that will probably be as much as tech giants like Fb, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, Sony, and others.

However the CEO likes the place his 24-person firm is positioned. Key mentioned that from the start, he and his co-founders predicted 2020 for a breakout yr for XR storytelling. The CEO pointed to the continued growth of cheaper and higher high quality headsets.

“We love our timing,” Key added. “If the market was actually huge already, we’d be too late. I really feel like we’re proper about the place we wish to be for optimum doable market worth creation. After all I’d like there to be extra headsets and for our expertise to be extra full, however the reality is, it’s slightly extra of a marathon than it’s a dash.”

Because it raised its preliminary seed spherical two years in the past, Pixvana has added big-name buyer companions like Valve and expanded to extra platforms like Home windows Combined Actuality whereas including options to its software program.

Now the extra money infusion will assist the corporate go to market. Key mentioned he will get collectively often with CEOs from different Seattle-based VR startups they usually all agree that these “subsequent two or three years is the place it will get actually fascinating.”

“We’re barely getting going as an trade, however we’re not barely getting going as a expertise play,” Key added. “Pixvana has a really fascinating expertise stack and we’re very properly positioned as leaders on this a part of the market.”

The standard of Pixvana’s Collection A traders can also be notable, with corporations like Microsoft and Cisco getting concerned. Buyers are clearly nonetheless excited concerning the potential of VR; VentureBeat famous that investments in leisure VR is up 79 % over the previous yr.

“We’re very excited to be working with this set of investor companions — collectively they carry a collective ardour for VR and experience in constructing and scaling applied sciences which are elementary to the immersive media future in VR and AR,” Key mentioned.

Although Key’s final firm was concerned with on-line lodge reserving, he spent chunk of previous few many years working in digital media. After finding out movie historical past at UCLA, he began his profession at Lucasfilm on the visible results crew earlier than transferring on to locations like Adobe and Microsoft the place he helped develop necessary web-based video applied sciences like Flash and Silverlight.

Key’s co-founders have spectacular resumes, too, with experience in software program platforms, visible results, video manufacturing, codecs, and content material creation. Chief Know-how Officer and Inventive Director Scott Squires is a widely known Sci-Tech Academy Award winner recognized for his visible results work and likewise a veteran of Lucasfilm. Chief Product Officer Invoice Hensler was beforehand the senior director of engineering at Apple the place he labored on photograph apps and imaging applied sciences, whereas VP of Product Administration Sean Safreed is the co-founder of movie and video software program startup Purple Large.

Pixvana, a Seattle 10 firm in 2016, is certainly one of many new up-and-coming digital actuality startups within the Seattle space. Others embrace Pluto VR, HaptX, VRStudios, VREAL, Endeavor One, Nullspace VR, Towards Gravity, Visible Vocal, and several other others. These are along with bigger corporations like Microsoft, Valve, HTC, and Oculus that are also creating digital and augmented actuality applied sciences within the area.

[viscomyaz-blog]

Evaluation

For this project my research started with looking at ballet itself, before this project I’d never considered ballet as something i’d go watch and I only knew it for what traditional ballet is so I thought I’d look at ballet that would also interest the target audience like chroma or movies as ballet. Poster design has also been a focus of research as posters are part of the final outcomes so looking at different layouts and styles is key to design something that is creative, practical and also fits to the brief. To begin with I came up with 5 different concepts as in the previous project I hadn’t really generated enough ideas to work with and I didn’t want to be short of ideas again. These concepts were all different and could each be taken down many routes which put me in a great position in that I had a vast selection of ideas - which i drew out in thumbnail sketches. After selecting one concept (the concept of ballet going extinct) I researched into animal extinction campaigns as well as animal welfare and climate change looking at poster design within the campaigns and generating more visual ideas to see where this concept can go. I then came up with the idea of a sort of ‘life after ballet’ scenario: what would ballet dancers so after ballet is dead? The three main ideas for the posters were: a dancer in jail, a dancer own the job centre and one begging in an alley. These scenes are over-exaggerated and ridiculous but I think that’s what is going to appeal to the target audience as ballet is perceived as a very intimidating and serious event so why not make a joke out of it and lighten it up a little to try and attract a younger audience to show it’s not what they thought. To play on the ridiculous feel to my poster idea I thought of putting classical looking ballet dancers in those situations, maybe have the characters vintage looking so they’d resemble those funny vintage-styled birthday cards. The inspiration for my animation was humour, I wanted it to match the themes of my posters so I made the ballet dancer pace up around the outside of the job centre as if she’s waiting for some one to save her. It adds a sort of time constraint to it like ‘how can you keep her here, quick save her’. I also had exaggerated sound effects to emphasise this and I think it looks and sounds rather effective.

The ideas for this project have changed vastly as I started out with the extinction of ballet dancers and evolved that into dancers on the dole. My poster designs have gone from a dancer plopped outside a job centre google image to a collage-like composition with text and imagery placed thoughtfully. I’ve experimented with placement a lot as that is one of the main features of posters and is very noticeable if it’s completely wrong so I’ve worked hard to make sure the compositions of my posters are balanced. Margins is another area I’ve learnt to be more considerate of as I had a habit of placing my text and logo too close to the edge of the page which affected legibility as well as my tight kerning habit which I resolved by adding more space.

Compared to the last project I have definitely managed my time a lot better considering for the last hand in I still had quite a few blog posts to do but I am practically finished well before the deadline for this one. For this project I made sure I went and sat down and did the work and not got distracted.

After getting feedback in crits and tutorials I made sure I made the changes suggested in order to better my posters; I cropped down two of my background images to result in them working better with the text and imagery as they were getting lost in how much unnecessary space there was. Feedback also helped with the composition of my posters; where the headline and strapline went as on a couple of my posters I wasn’t sure what looked 100% right when it came to the placement of the text. Tutorials were good for poster refinement too: help with text being too close to the edge and the narrowing down of the small print on my posters too.

The main area that needs more practice is After effects. The three workshops were really helpful as I would not be able to create the animation without them but I’m still not as skilled at animating as I want to be as I found it quite hard to achieve the effects I wanted without searching youtube for tutorials. To improve on this I could watch some more tutorials on youtube or even lynda.com.

This unit of study has helped with my design skills with compositions and layout and that margins are a great start when poster designing. I have also have an increased know-how without photoshop and the dreaded pen-tool for some reason I just could not grasp; as well as placing imagery in situ too. After effects has been the main new skill learnt as I started out with pretty much no prior knowledge of it. I’m still not even a solid 30% sure how to do a lot of things but its certainly an improvement of no knowledge and I’m sure within future projects a more complex array of techniques and skills will be taught. 

There are only a few minor improvements I would make to my final outcomes; for the posters I would make the punctuation on the strapline consistent as I noticed whilst sticking the two halves together only one has a semi-colon and the other two have commas. I’d also experiment more with imagery and type as I just settled for what looked good at first and didn’t really consider anything else; this is something I’d change for the next project. Animation wise I’d make the music fade out at the end and maybe get a little more complex with the dancer’s movement and try and make her dance. Overall I am very pleased with how my outcomes turned out, especially the animation considering I hadn't been using the program for long.