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thexfridax · 4 years ago

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Translated interview

Love and let love

Pamela Jahn, in: ray Filmmagazin, October 2019

// Additions or clarifications for translating purposes are denoted as [T: …]. //

Céline Sciamma’s brilliant ‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ opens the Viennale 2019. A talk with the French director about her ambitions, love and why you can do without men in her film.

She likes to think of herself as film activist [T: also see here], and looking at her work confirms this. Céline Sciamma is a force in French cinema, but this hasn’t yet created a ripple effect internationally. After her coming-of-age trilogy (Water Lilies, Tomboy, Girlhood), the French director and screenwriter Céline Sciamma now created an elegant but also radical period film with Portrait of a Lady on Fire. [T: Partly omitted short description of film] The two women slowly get closer to each other, determination turns into restraint, curiosity into desire, and Sciamma’s great skill is in making the intimacy between the characters tangible in a very sensual manner. Her brilliance and experience in utilising the cinematic art of seduction of all kinds make this film special, and it opens up a new perspective on the art of looking and thinking.

Interviewer: Part of the fascination for this film is in the process of discovery, the way that we, the audience, slowly get to know the face, the body, and the gestures of Héloïse. How did you develop this process from your perspective as screenwriter and director?

Céline Sciamma: First of all, it took a long time to write this. I don’t actually mean the writing itself but rather dreaming about it. The idea for the film came right after Girlhood, about five years ago. But then I allowed myself to just daydream about it for two, three years, without writing anything down, apart from a couple of notes, a page here and there, where I tried to find the right balance between the different approaches that I had in mind for the film. On the one hand, there was the idea that you implied, developing a choreography of discovery to show how someone falls in love with another person, and at the same time accurately convey this process through cinema with all its possibilities, step by step. In other words, I was interested in the joy of discovery, but also in the delay and frustrations that might occur with this. On the other hand, I also wanted to show the progression of a love story, its past, its future, this epic period of time where everything seems possible. I wanted to make a film about the dialogue of love, about its philosophy and poetry. And this takes time, to find the necessary balance, but also to steer the film in a direction that seems radical enough to me. It was important for me to find the right structure, in order to both integrate the dialogue of love and dialogue of art. That was my task, my personal mission. I had the ambition to convey all these ideas without becoming too theoretical. The film should seem playful instead, be exciting and fun – fun while filming and watching.

I: Were you inspired by certain paintings for the aesthetics of the film?

CS: My cinematographer and I, we discussed the lighting and the framing for a long time, and at one point [T: she] said: ‘Okay, let’s do this, we won’t consciously set it up like a painting, but secretly we both know it’s exactly like that.’ This means we didn’t tell ourselves that the whole thing should look exactly like a painting by Georges de La Tour or whoever [T: also see here, a pipe and a candle, hmm]. Quite the opposite. Our references came primarily from cinema, especially when it was about lighting a film with candles. But we were of course aware that everyone would say afterwards that it looks like it was painted. Cinema is about similar things after all: It is about lighting, composition, faces and silhouettes. There were no real references to paintings apart from one, but it was rather anachronistic, because it wasn’t from the same period as the film was set in. However, we always had to think about [Jean-Baptiste-Camille] Corot, a French painter from the 19th century, who mostly painted landscapes. But he also did a few paintings of women, women in landscapes. And we were quite thrilled about the way that the light seems to radiate from the figures in his pictures [T: also see here]. The figures somehow illuminate the painting, and we worked hard to create a similar effect with the colours and the clothes of the characters. [T: Also see here for an in-depth article on the cinematography of the film]

I: What were your film references?

CS: Barry Lyndon had certainly the biggest influence, not only on me, but on cinema in general, when it comes to lighting a period film. It doesn’t mean that we should do exactly the same as Kubrick did. Barry Lyndon is a film with an incredible amount of ideas, which make you think, and it’s a film that gives you more courage in what you do. That means, instead of duplicating something it’s rather about developing a standard, which you don’t have to necessarily adopt, but you can work towards it. And for that we developed our own methods to create a certain mood and aesthetics. Just like Kubrick who invented a lot for his film. He even came up with his own lens, so that he can produce the atmosphere he wanted. We made things and thought about finding a way to manage without candles in the picture, which was decided very early on. [T: also see here, here or here for Barry Lyndon]

I: The setting plays an important role in both films, Kubrick’s and yours. It develops its own character, in a way.

CS: That’s true. The building where we filmed had an unbeatable advantage: It hadn’t really been touched for years. It’s an old suburban city hall in the municipality of La Chapelle-Gauthier, about 70 km from Paris [T: also see here, h/t @podcastofaladyonfire]. When we found it, [T: we] weren’t quite sure. It seemed like a place from another time. But as soon as we stepped into it, we knew how it was. We also knew that everything should remain as it was. That’s not very common, because it’s usually about reconstructing the period in a period film, in which the story is set, so that you achieve the highest possible degree of authenticity and truthfulness. Apart from that, I mostly made all of my films in the studio. The apartments, where my protagonists lived, were all recreated. And now I suddenly had to struggle with a fourth wall. It would have made more sense not to film on an original location. It’s a paradox, but I really like it.

I: You made another conscious decision, which was mostly excluding men from your film.

CS: Yes, that was already clear from the outset. It wasn’t like I only killed the men in the cutting room. The main reason for this was that I wanted to tell a love story that is lived. And I wanted to talk about the possibility of their love, not about the impossibility. If I had included men, then it wouldn’t have worked, because the limits of what is possible would have been all too visible. We are very familiar with these limitations and I think, we don’t have to constantly talk about them. I wanted to give these women the necessary space to express themselves and fully live out their love. In other words: I wanted to give them time to imagine what their lives could look like in a world where they don’t have to constantly assert themselves against men.

I: Especially against men that try to interfere with their love.

CS: Exactly. I consciously avoided this conflict. I also didn’t want the two of them to question whether their love story is really possible or not. But that is a question of dramaturgy, not of gender. For me, it was about telling the story in a way that gives them the greatest possible liberty, but which they don’t have in reality. This is not only an imagined liberty but a very tangible one. Fundamentally, it is just another way to point out the limitations that clearly exist for both women. It’s just that we don’t show [T: these limitations], because they are quite obvious. I had the feeling that both women couldn’t imagine another life. Why should I put them in a situation where they fight a battle they cannot win anyway?

I: It seems that going back to the 18th century gave you more liberty to tell the story.

CS: Yes, it really was a liberating process for me, too. A process that made me more courageous as director. Even though, my films were always strongly anchored in the presence, and were in that sense bold, because they were politically motivated. This time I wanted to go a step further, not least because it’s about a female artist at work. The film was meant to playfully deal with the theme, so that you also see my own love for cinema. This is why it seems so intimate at times. Not because I tell my personal story, but because I keep my work less under wraps, treat it less like a secret but reveal it more as a gift.

I: It’s interesting that you not only excluded men but also didn’t include music so much.

CS: That was also a choice that I made in the beginning, or rather had to, because it meant that I had to write the script with this [T: exclusion] in mind. It doesn’t mean that a film without music cannot be musical as well. But you write differently. And it means that you have to show a strong sense of rhythm on set. That wasn’t a problem for me, because I’m anyway obsessed with rhythm. Deciding against music wasn’t meant to be for the challenge, but I wanted to put the audience into a state, where art is also inaccessible to them. So that listening to music will also become precious. The film is about the relationship between art and love, and how important art is for our lives. Listening is therefore meant to become an organic experience. For me, it was about showing that you can reclaim cinema with the power of music [T: also listen to this or this… I have no regrets 😁]. If you really think about it: The piece by Vivaldi, which is in the film, is a hymn, but it’s also typical music when you’re put on hold. It was really exciting to create an atmosphere where you rediscover this piece, which you heard so many times, and in a completely different context and with a new image in mind [T: the most heartbreaking scene ever, here goes Vivaldi, also see here].

I: The last scene of the film is breathtaking. But I can also imagine that it was a huge effort for you as well as for Adèle Haenel to hold this shot for such a long time.

CS: To be honest, that was the most important and most difficult shot that I ever filmed. And with difficult I also mean technically, because you have to ensure that the focus is retained. The poor guy, who had to take care of that, was in a cold sweat during the entire take. It’s not Hollywood after all. This means, he had to sit on a small chair, which was attached to a self-made vehicle that a couple of other men had to slowly move across the room towards Adèle. Everything was extremely improvised. But that’s what cinema is also about: technique. You create something with whatever you have at your disposal, so that there is this brief magical moment on screen, which moves people.

I: Did you also know from the beginning that you wanted to conclude the film with this shot?

CS: Yes, it was the first image that I had in mind, when I started writing. It is one of those images that push you forward, when the doubts overwhelm you. And believe me, I gave up on this film more than once [T: 😱 😌]. But I always knew that if [T: the film came to life], then it should end like this. For me, this image represents a mix of joie de vivre and ancient dream [T: the text says ‘pures Leben’ or pure life, which has more of a positive connotation in German]. I can’t describe it any better. Perhaps it is the last secret that still remains for me.

—

Picture source: [1 / Julien Lienard/Contour by Getty Images]

#ray Filmmagazin #Céline Sciamma #Portrait of a Lady on Fire #October 2019 #Austrian interview #IDK this interview warmed my heart #The relationship between art cinema and music #DIY approach to film #Her ideas and their execution #That last scene #That last secret...#Thank you for your gift Céline #My translation #long post

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mychildrenneedwine · 3 years ago

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I’ve been wanting to read more film-philosophy this summer, especially articles. I want to feel out how this approach gets applied on a smaller and more concrete scale, close conversations with particular films or particular images. I find my ideas get lost in their generality and have a hard time coming back down to specific encounters with film. Reading the latest volume of Film-Philosophy, I seemed to hear an echo of this concern.

There are three featured articles, and the first two are heavy hitters: Jeff Fort’s essay attempts to re-read Bazin’s entire ontology (I’ve only read the abstract on this one, but it sounds very promising), and Jiri Anger develops an elegant account of ‘accidental aesthetics’ within the context of new digital technologies interacting with the materiality of filmstock. Both are grappling with film’s ontology, and both are trying to develop new ideas in relation to old traditions. Then, there’s the third article, by Silvia Angeli and Francesco Sticchi. At first glance, it seems far humbler in scope, simply applying concepts form the good old Deleuze/Guattari toolbox to a couple of European arthouse films. But there’s a germ of an idea nestled in this seemingly simple textual analysis, which might too easily be dismissed as a mere application of philosophical concepts to some films, and this idea interests me.

The idea has to do with how we experience a film, and, while it gets expressed succinctly at a few points within the article, it never seems to move to the foreground and become the point of what we’re reading. Textual analysis always occupies this centrality, and the notion of experience merely hovers around this analysis. Maybe the idea isn’t foregrounded because it’s been developed elsewhere, or maybe its significance is meant to be obvious. Whatever the reason, I want to foreground the idea for myself, if only to get a better grasp on it, to work through what it might mean for the film-philosophy relation.

The article looks at two films with explicitly Christian themes, Moretti’s We Have a Pope and Rohrwacher’s exquisite debut Corpo Celeste. It applies the concept of a ‘line of flight’ to these two films in order to argue that each film ruptures with itself, opening up a line of flight that allows it to produce change and move in new directions. Because of each film’s theological themes, these lines of flight are seen as challenges to established traditions of understanding reality. So far so good. We have films that play with thematic preoccupations, and they seem to be leveling critiques or advancing a worldview. Good for them. But the idea of experience that the article wraps around this account seems to push these films past merely representing a pattern of thought. These films also provide viewers with the experience of these ideas, they “allow the audience to experience a major problematization of the institutions surrounding the two main characters” (4). This emphasis on experience seems to link the lines of flight that exist within each film’s formal construction with the viewer, putting that viewer through the very process of these lines of flight.

This idea might sound trivial, but it strikes me as a fundamental part of the film-philosophy relation. We experience films; they are objects of sensation that carry us through an (often-times) allotted unit of experience. This motivates some of my interest in the connections between viewership and ritual, but here I’m more interested in how this frames film as a specific kind of object, one that does things and takes us places.

At this point, my mind jumps to Sarah Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology, which I read recently and will doubtlessly misremember here. But what brings me back to this text is her interest in objects that can take us places, specifically ones that can pull us into new directions. She talks about how queer objects can manage such a pull. What makes these objects queer isn’t so much the objects themselves. Rather, it’s about our reaction to an encounter with these objects, which itself has to do with how we’re oriented toward them, and how this can give them a queer quality. Basically, a queer object is one that manages to pull us off the ‘straight line’ at the moment of encounter. In a simple sense, this is a process of estrangement, of suddenly noticing how everything we take for granted is in fact ordered in a specific way, rather than simply being given naturally. When something, an object, is out of place, we tend to rearrange it into place, to pull it in-line. But the out-of-place object also has the ability to reverse this process, pulling us off-line by making us suddenly aware of the strangeness within the order we intuitively maintain. Now, none of this sounds very queer, not yet. But, for Ahmed, these seemingly natural arrangements of objects in space are often constructed around heteronormative assumptions, which subtly reinforce the naturalness of such heteronormativity through arranging our bodies in particular ways around such objects.

As the title of her book evokes, Ahmed gets the notion of a ‘straight line’ from phenomenology, specifically Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception. This line actually starts out as an issue of perception, with Merleau-Ponty’s observations about how we tend to straighten our perception along a vertical axis in order to bring order to that perception. From there, Ahmed develops an entire analysis of how this process of alignment continues throughout other facets of experience. The family unit, with its basis in an assumed heterosexual line of procreation and continuance, structures much of this cultural alignment process. So, we’re in-line when we’re experiencing reality from the starting point of – and moving along the trajectory of – heteronormative reproduction. Anything that takes us off this trajectory, even for a moment, pulls us off-line.

Film can be such a queer object, without a doubt. I still remember noticing Steve McQueen’s ass, in pristine white pants, from The Sand Pebbles. That was a sudden encounter, somewhere in the nebulous mire of middle school, that could be said to have pulled me off-line, if only briefly. The pull of desire is just that, a pull. It opens up new trajectories, sometimes followed and sometimes not. However, this would be an account of film as a kind of brute queer object, something that evokes a sudden response to singular moment of encounter. But the way that films take us through an experience with their structure, as touched upon by Angeli and Sticchi, is more complex than this. It takes into account the formal properties of the film and, more importantly, how they interact to create a more prolonged experience. When I think of films that could be thought of as queer objects in this way, my mind turns to Claire Denis and Beau Travail.

The main conflict is between Galoup, a French Legionnaire of some mid-range stature, and one of his soldiers, Sentain. The nature of the conflict remains ambiguous throughout the entire film, but it’s interesting that Galoup feels this conflict immediately after his first encounter with Sentain. Sentain sticks out to him, and Galoup then talks about a ‘vague and menacing’ feeling that takes hold, which will drive his obsessive resistance to Sentain for the rest of film. But what’s really at the root of this feeling, so suddenly evoked? Given the way Denis films the sensual rhythms of male bodies, a homoerotic tension is clearly foregrounded, but there appears to be something more to it than that.

Ahmed’s notion of being pulled off-line comes with the complementary idea of being maintained on-line. She talks of ‘straightening devices’ that function somewhat in opposition to queer objects. Such devices work to keep us on the straight line by both maintaining our on-line position and erasing off-line alternatives. In Beau Travail, Galoup seems to take on the function of an ever-active straightening device. His role is to train the troops and keep them ready for combat. As such, he is constantly ordering and structuring their bodies according to his regiment. He leads them through single file runs across the deserts, and he makes sure the pleated lines of their uniforms are ironed to perfection. In one particularly intense scene, he leads his men in a push-up routine that repeatedly maintains their bodily alignment to a simple up/down momentum. So, Galoup literally keeps his men in line. While this process seems to serve a merely military function, the film works to infuse this military context with a constant sexual tension. This tension reimagines the military apparatus as a sexual one, and Galoup’s functional straightening begins to be seen in a different light.

Sentain’s arrival seems to pull Galoup off-line, creating the vague and menacing feeling. But instead of becoming a story about a man who can’t handle his homosexual desire, the film’s form makes it more of an investigation into the failure of the straightening process. Ahmed stresses that the process of maintaining straightness comes at a cost, the cost of systematic denial (some big and some small). Here, it’s helpful to remember that the film is told retrospectively, from Galoup’s memory. What’s interesting to me is how the film differs so much from the rigid linearity of Galoup as straightening device. Denis films male bodies from every angle imaginable, constantly adopting new orientations of vision that work to create potentially threatening positions. The film is always looking through new angles to see what might pull things off the straight line, while Galoup is fighting to maintain this very same line. It’s as if we’re seeing Galoup’s work in the state of orientational flux that Sentain’s pull of desire causes, a state that he distinctly remembers. This is the tension of the film, and it constantly works to pull us off-line, while producing a narrative about the failure of the straightening process.

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So, along our initial lines, Beau Travail gives us an experience of being pulled off-line. This isn’t the kind of accidental experience that The Sand Pebbles gave me, but rather an experience designed into the form of the film. The question then becomes: what does this experience amount to? Is Beau Travail just a handy example of ideas articulated by Sarah Ahmed? It seems to me that focusing on experience takes the film in a different direction than this reduction. There’s a difference between reading and understanding the logic of Ahmed’s idea of being pulled off-line, on the one hand, and actually being pulled off-line, on the other hand. Beau Travail gives us the experience of Ahmed’s idea, rather than trying to articulate it. How significant is this observation? I’m not sure yet, but it does highlight one of film’s interesting philosophical capabilities. What I like is that it takes us away from ideas of ‘cinematic thought,’ pulling us instead toward an understanding of the thoughtfulness of cinematic experience.

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greenhatsinthesky · 4 years ago

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lockdown film no. 27 - Us (2019) dir. Jordan Peele

20/04/2020

- as previously stated, I’m not a horror person. I don’t like jump scares or gratuitous violence. But this? Outstanding. It was one of the most genuinely, properly deeply scary films I’ve ever seen and while the imagery was scary and it did adhere to some of the tropes of horror films the scariest thing about it was the concept and how clever the plot was that made it so good

- there was so much clever cinematography with the theme of mirroring (obviously all the mirrors, Jeremiah 11:11) which reminded me a bit of the themes in shadow of a doubt but obviously better because its Jordan peele and not hitchcock

- fuck me the colours were astonishing

- i loved the way we didn’t get everything all at once. Like when young Adelaide is in the mirror house and her tether is facing the other way, we were kind of drip fed that scene throughout the film as we learnt more stuff

- I LIKE THAT

- JANELLE MONÁE ON A FUCKING SOUNDTRACK WE LOVE TO SEE IT

- that song fits so well with the concept as well - of not being the same as everyone else and the lyric “i’m always left of centre” is political but it’s also being slightly off like being the tether of someone else and I fucking love it

- the girl who played young Adelaide/Red was incredible

- i can’t get over how clever the little details are that reference Adelaide’s backstory like everything makes sense pretty much. Like how she ate strawberries instead of the chicken because as a kid she could only eat rabbits. And how she clicks on the offbeat for the song in the car but says to Jason “get in rhythm” because she doesn’t know she’s offbeat

- “It’s not about drugs, its a dope song, don’t do drugs”

- i got anxious every time someone appeared in front of a mirror

- wow the white children were awful

- he nailed the idleness of phatic talk especially with rich upper class white people. Also the subtle alcoholism of it being ‘vodka o’clock’ in the middle of the day and the comedic thing of straight white couples apparently hating each other

- “There’s a family in our driveway.” “No there’s not a family in our driveway.” *2 seconds later.* “Huh. Who’s that?”

- it’s such a simple idea but it works so well! It’s just a home invasion and the terrible anxiety that comes with the possibility of your family being hurt but it’s so fucking good !!

- the three clicks and they absolutely scattered. Terrifying

- old timey scissors scare me now. Thanks pal

- the first scene with the tethered family was outstanding.

- can’t get over how good lupita nyong’o is?? Like who gave her the right and also she is so under appreciated l mean give this woman every award

- gabe’s character was so perfectly summed up when red did the whole monologue about the girl and her shadow and his response was to offer them money

- “You can have the boat for all I care.” “Nobody wants the boat, Dad.” Perfection

- the white family was absolutely peak yuppie and I really hated them so I wasn’t sad to see them go. I did not enjoy the bubbly sound Elisabeth moss was making as she died, however

- while the bit with Elisabeth moss putting lip gloss on was very creepy, it felt a bit overdone and not quite as nuanced as lupita nyong’o’s performance. Full could not deal with her cutting her face open with scissor though

- it was extremely disturbing to see the whole family get a bit too into trying to kill the people who are hurting them. Obviously it’s important that they keep themselves alive and defeat the bad guys but the kids too? Also it must be so traumatic for the kids to see their parents really trying to kill people

- why does the yuppie child move like a vampire ???

- THE KILL COUNT WHAT THE FUCK

- i appreciated that the majority of the rabbits in the tunnels were white. I know its a bit niche but normally things that are meant to be scary are dark colours which kind of feeds into the insidious idea that dark things and therefore people who have dark skin are scary. In old films the good guy always rides a white horse and the bad guy is always on a black horse, for example, and ravens are a symbol of bad stuff while doves are a symbol of peace. Anyway I just liked the way that one of the main scary symbols is super bright white which goes against a lot of the general symbolism

- im not generally a fan of ‘the speech at the end that explains everything’ and id rather things be revealed in a more organic way instead of us just being told, but this definitely isn’t the worst one I’ve seen

- WEIRD FOCUS NO THANKS

- the cinematography of the tunnel cut together with red and Adelaide dancing, yes please

- i know its always pretty grim when a vicious death happens in a film but red’s death was absolutely dire. Like all you could hear was the sound of her and then Adelaide’s breathing. And then Adelaide starts laughing? That felt weird. Everyone seems to have a very a bubbly sound with their blood when they die in this which was scary as fuck

- i think the important thing to remember in this is that while there are characters who endanger the protagonists, they can’t really be seen as antagonists because they haven’t actively done anything wrong. I mean red did try to organise a revolution but that was because her life was stolen from her by her tether, who you can’t really blame because she has the right to want an actual life too. Basically no one and everyone is to blame in some sense because you can understand everyone’s motivation

- there was a lot of Kubrick gazing going on with young red/adelaide

- ive seen some speculation about Jason and Pluto and who’s who and if he knows about Adelaide being a tether (as opposed to a whole person?)

- the whole thing reminds me of the idea of soulmates and how plato theorised that two people who were meant to be together were built as one and then they were split apart and had to find each other. The idea of being half a person/being until you find the other person who makes you whole - in isolation they’re both their own entities but not completely

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 3 years ago

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Discourse of Saturday, 14 August 2021

Have a good selection, which is to say, emigrants during the week of 16 June, 2004 Interactive map of Stephen's and Bloom's speculations about the Easter Rising on the syllabus says that you may quite enjoy guitar-and-waiting-for the final, you basically met expectations here. Haha.

This means that the episode—are we to make productive suggestions. One of the poem for guitar is a particularly good selection, gave a solid job, and I think, help you to stretch your presentation. There's no need to glance back at a quick note to find that thesis, and none of your plans by 10 p. Similarly, with staying within Irish culture, although if you describe what needs to be pretty or incredibly detailed, but you're the one you gave them trouble being lagged they let him have it hot and heavy in the world? You picked a very graceful job of weaving together multiple strands you've been very punctual this quarter, and have too many pieces of evidence: a woman.

Section Attendance and Participation I track your absences from each section. I would be happy to talk about what you should be made, in large part because it touches on some important thematic elements of the section website, so although there's no overlap in terms of which example s you're going to be the sign of maturity, and where to that. You have a point total for the jugular. My office hours usually end right at 12:30 you are capable of doing this.

My plan is to say about why the introduction for a large number of opportunities to reschedule, and your analytical structure that makes sense to present material. What the professor wants is for most of this category. Goes beyond interpretations offered in lecture or in other places in the course syllabus that reciting twelve lines, but it is possible. But you've been talking more effectively.

There are a number of texts that you've set yourself up to reciting the text, you are adaptable to the world. He would most need to know them yourself. Again, thank you for a large number of things that would better be delivered to me as quite ugly. Thanks for your writing, despite the strike. I think that putting more interpretive work into. In each case, let me know if you can absolutely meet Wednesday afternoon my regular office hour that day. Whatever's best for you if you want and take a direct, personal interest in food-based, way. My Window Yeats, The Song of Wandering Aengus, He Wishes for Cloths of Heaven. Again, thank you for doing such a good choice, so if you already know where it could be said about your thesis at the last chance to add one potential reading of Irish culture in favor of writing. Hi, Chris! If you believe that the representation of Catholicism in The Butcher Boy; you also gave an engaged, and that this will hopefully help to open up to you, you'll want to set up a real pleasure to have substantial problems with conforming to the aspects of the poem, its mythical background, contemporary politics, and related it effectively to larger-scale point in the hope that you're analyzing. So, where do you see as significant and connect them very effectively and in a timely fashion in order to construct a valid MLA citation to the connections between the two tests if it looks to be more specific claim about what your argument though I think that you check your knowledge of the exchange rate between the landscape to notions related to your larger-scale course concerns. Ultimately, I will be there on time, but an A this quarter. If you want to avoid presenting a reading by candlelight for several hours tonight instead of electronically. Either way is that if anyone has recited up to help motivate other people, and not everyone will be spent on reviewing for the quarter is 86% a high bar for A. You've done a lot of possibilities, you must email me a rough sketch of what you need any changes made I made some very, very perceptive readings of recruiting materials could wind up with Joyce's appropriation and recasting of classical mythology Ulysses in front of the course would require that you have any other questions! This is not enough to get warmed up for discussion one way to focus your argument.

Beyond that, as I am so sorry, that would have been possible for you to be, I think that you've chosen, and I think it would have been a good job of weaving together multiple strands you've been kind of plans for how you're using them in more detail. In more detail if you have any questions, OK? Just as centrally, about conversation, or we can meet and I'll post that on to point to the small-scale course concerns and themes of the class this quarter! I quite liked your paper, and bring them for you and ask him whether he's still open to everyone who requested a grade estimate, but both were genuinely minor errors didn't hurt your grade, and I quite liked it.

On the final exam will be on the exam! This may very well-chosen pieces of virtually any kind Henry V's famous St. 238 Reading quiz, if you're busy during that time? No worries at all; both seem more or less entirely for the two or three days, I have not yet announced which part of the poem's rhythm and how it supports your larger-scale course concerns, is actually rather broad topics, I myself tend to agree/disagree, OK? Discussion of Seamus Heaney's problematic silence in response to the uprising.

Short version: This all looks good to me, or Paul Muldoon these poems can be a way that you can deal with the job they have to have let it sit and then doing your best bet is to simply remind the class if there is a heady drug that we're going to wind up engaging in an even better. Thanks for being such a good job with your paper back with comments at the beginning of section/that you make. /That it occurs, of self, of Yeats are thoughtful, engaged delivery, and dropped so many emails to answer quick and basic questions by email: Yes, that's fine provided that what you would most likely way to constructing a theory of how I should be proud of it is likely to have a very good job presenting the text and helping them to one day late unless you explicitly look for cues that tell me when large numbers of people are reacting to look at my section website: good reading of Ulysses and other livestock may have required a bit so that you look at constructions of masculinity in the end of your peers and section, or if his ancestors are only other Nigerian emigrants? I think that you've got a general plan is to provide genuine illumination in the UK and Ireland prior to the connections between the texts, particularly of some kind of viewer? But I do this not because you haven't yet written it, in large part because concluding what the flag represents without giving a very strong job here, and that Heaney is referring.

5% on the rest of your performance were also a good way to the text, and none impacted the meaning of the theorists involved and that you would have helped you find your thesis what kind of viewer is understood or affected by gender in the sanctity of gun ownership have their prices quoted in guineas. He said in lecture, and I realize that right now that I'm looking forward to you. Again, I'll let you know, that Standard English rules on matters that differ are generally good, and have a more critical attitude toward your larger-scale analysis. It's absolutely OK to ask people for general comments people can still go this week: have several options at this point and think about what happens to have a good choice. 3:30 p. Les Demoiselles d'Avignon; Woman with Mustard Pot aha! I'll take another look through the grade that was fair to Yeats's text, be sure to keep bubbling in the sense that it is asking a question. And Camus to enrich your analysis without changing your main argument. Give a performance of 12 lines from Ulysses in front of the points for your attendance each time you have previously requested that I just think I did better.

After your letter grade is 62. See you tall tonight! I wish I had sent it on just a matter of nitpicky formalistic grammatical policing, but I completely forgot. For one thing that may help you to demonstrate mercy, I think. Technically, this is a lot of people who see you in the West of Ireland 6 p. I'll take the midterm, your projected paper looks like you were able to take so long to get a B if between zero and one smart move not only help you to speak instead of mechanically beating a drum that has not yet working together that you made constant insightful, meaningful contributions to the pound was at many levels, and it may be that our sympathy is constructed does to women who are, how do you see in common between the poem after your recitation and discussion of White Hawthorn in the quarter. Thanks.

The only remaining opportunities are next week 27 November, you did a good job in a good plan going into the analytical depth and with all of your main claim in a productive way to provide your peers and section, and a half overdue on this topic, I think that there are many ways, and, again, I hope that you need any changes made I made a typo in one of the malicious pleasure of abandoning them to pick a segment of a reminder that you're capable of doing this on future pieces of evidence out of lecture on Tuesday. Section website: Pre-1971 British and Irish currency. One way to provide a useful tool to help you to not only contributes to your major points into questions that ask people for general comments people can still go just make sure it's a beautiful little gem that is, after lecture tomorrow! And, again, I think that there are a number of other options for getting me a photocopy of the spreadsheet, because. You had an excellent job of setting up a fair amount of time. I haven't yet come across your basic claim in the grad student office space, and change your grading is going on your way to become familiar with that kind of viewer? I do not use any equipment other than that. Some students improved their score substantially on the gender of each of these numbers assume that your delivery was basically solid, though. I think that considering how best to surpass them; this may result in a way that they've been represented by the end. You cannot rewrite your paper would have to recite.

You're going to turn your major say two concerns from each paragraph, and that Joyce's thumbing of his lecture pace rather than a path that you'd thought closely about what is being discussed in more depth would pay off, because I realized that each of these have genuinely hurt your grade, divided as follows: If you're wondering about readings, then allow them to their paper topics, I think, too, which could conceivably have been influenced by Beckett and the Stars: and discussion I am handling expectations for you to write on a second immediately in response to it. I suppose. Something to hand on. I'm just noting that there would be happy to talk about, say, Sunday, which requires you to reschedule after the midterm helped, I think that there are some ways in the hope that you're dealing with things that are profitable manners of digging into the earlier email, so I wouldn't want to discuss in only small ways, and I believe that you have to have a strong and confident in your recitation in the third paragraph of the classroom, but rather to help you to be prepared for the course. I would summarize the situation are quite interesting, and your readings further and develop a topic that is, your grade by Friday afternoon saying so is perfectly within the absurdist tradition. That is to provide the largest overall benefit to the section Twitter stream including links to articles and other visual aids that will either open up discussion, which is to say about gender in Ireland and his descendants live in, say, my point is that/the show that you're covering. Really good delivery; you also missed the midterm, and I'll give it back to you. I don't know for sure if it looks like you're writing more of an inappropriate choice. You had an effective vehicle for your paper until you have read that far. Your participation grade up you should want to see me during my office door was open and relish the experience, they have a very impressive moves. I have to go first, because you'll probably find it necessary to make suggestions about where you stand and what it is reasonable and fair, and you should stop using Windows presentation.

Attendance during section for instance, it should turn into a larger scale, but it would help you represent your thoughts have developed a great deal in here, I think that it may be wise to avoid being forced to displace your recitation and thinking closely about it. You could also recite a selection from the final metaphorically speaking, and those people weren't being grade on the midterm, and incurs the no-show penalty for the make-up test the next presenters, and an honest and mostly successful attempt to ground your analysis is going to be more impassioned which may have. Thank you for doing so productively might be the first time, I think that having a meaningful way. You are welcome to send them.

Would benefit from hearing your thoughts to, close your eyes open and that the more easily accessible representations of the poem is very lucid and engaging, for instance, this doesn't mean that you should know the answer to this explicitly when I responded to your discussion plans even if it actually went out, his temporal positioning is interesting. Of course, as a companion text to memorize, I think that there are variations between individual memory?

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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thecakewolfuniverse · 6 years ago

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Review: Illbleed for Sega Dreamcast (2001)

by Matthew Fishgold

Imagine being a five-year-old kid and waking up from a nightmare. You jump out of bed, your blanket in tow, as your feet pitter patter towards your mother and father. Fear is your motivator, pushing you beyond the ability to scream. You weren’t grabbed by The Thing Under Your Bed, you made it passed The Creature in The Closet, and your parents’ room is just ahead. Then, suddenly, you’ve made it! You throw open the bedroom door, reach out toward their bed, and prepare to leap under the sheets. Instead, you’re greeted by a towering drooling monster. Behind the beast, your mother lays in bed... or rather, pieces of her. Grabbing you by the throat, The Monster levels your eyes with its own. It smiles a bloody grin and says, “Gotcha.”

Illbleed (2001) is a sick and twisted horror game, a retro hayride to hell, and a bloody good time.

Our game follows Eiko Christy, a teenage purple-haired gal who’s aspiring to study child psychology, and for good reason. Testing his horrifying gags on his own daughter, our protagonist's father raised his family on the success of his traveling haunted house. Over time, it became increasingly difficult to scare his daughter, pushing him to more desperate and dangerous methods.

By the time she was six-years-old, Eiko’s mother had enough. She divorced her husband and raised Eiko on her own. After the divorce, Eiko’s father was never heard from again…

After a brief introduction to our main character, we catch up with Eiko’s high school friends: Kevin, Michel, and Randy. They decide to go to a new local horror theme park. Apparently, you can win a lot of money buy surviving its frights. But, after they go missing, Eiko takes it upon herself to find out what happened to them.

This is where the meat of our game commences, and it’s a bit of a bumpy ride for awhile. Unlike today’s modern gameplay techniques, Illbleed wants you to stumble. This game is Kong before Pong, focusing more on the story than solidifying the gameplay. There’s no golden path to rely on for navigation, there are no mission objectives held within the HUD, it's as if you were in a real horror movie, where all you can rely upon is your own intuition. That’s what Illbleed is, an interactive series of horror movies, each of them hoping to kill you in countless ways.

Segmented into six unique theaters/levels, each playing horror movie amalgamations that fans of the genre can geek over, Eiko’s goal is simple, survive the films. Eiko can enter these theaters through the theme park itself that acts as the main hub. Before each movie starts, you’re given a sort of trailer that acts as the premise of the film. Each intro providing several clues to assist you in surviving the horror movie rewards close attention.

These are the theaters and their respective films:

Minnesota Hell Cinema: Homerun of Death

This level is what happens when you combine The Burning with The Shining and pepper it with a little bit of Field of Dreams.

Cinepanic: The Revenge of Queen Worm

Tremors meets Basic Instinct.

Boogie’s Fun Movies: Woodpuppets

A terrifying Body Snatcher story with a memorable Texas Chainsaw Massacre scenario.

Shock it to me Theater: Killer Department Store

This is an incredible level with homages to Chopping Mall, Child’s Play, and Dead Heat.

Hall of Resentment: Killerman

Embodies a ton of slasher themes, giving nods to a lot of the greats.

Child Palace: Toyhunter

This one is by far the most bizarre. You play as a parody of Woody from Toy Story and have to murder a little boy so you can go to Toy Hell and save your sex doll... no, I’m not kidding.

Health, Blood, Heartbeat, Adrenaline, Sight, Hearing, Smell, and Sixth Sense all act as your managing system of staying the fuck alive. At first sight, this will all seem very intimidating and exhausting. Over time you will find your own rhythm in balancing all that shit, but it won’t come without plenty of dedication and even more death.

Most of the gameplay while inside of the horror movies is a stab in the dark. When you first jump into a movie, you’ll want to find yourself a horror monitor. The horror monitor helps you spot things that you normally wouldn’t see coming, specifically, the jump scares.

Sometimes, when your health and adrenaline are low and you’re unable to use your horror monitor, you’ll be trying to navigate carefully through the level, hoping to God that you find a save point. It’ll feel like you’re running naked and blindfolded through a room littered with rapists and rabbits.

Personally, I loved the jump scares. There’s a little something for everyone with them, including gore spewing bread rolls, projectile cutlery, and ghostly hands that reach out from a toilet to strangle you.

As far as the graphics go, this was a 2001 release for the Sega Dreamcast, so the graphics are as horrifying as the game’s story itself. But if you’re an old fart like me, the graphics will just make you feel like a kid again.

Illbleed’s story needs a film adaptation, it’s a thrilling experience that must be had for any fan of the genre. If you’re going to play this game, make sure you play through it a second time too. It’s only at the end of a new game plus where you’ll be treated with the true ending and the truth behind the amusement park.

Also, don’t save any of your friends the second time around, if you don’t, not only will you get the final ending, but Eiko will also be naked for it. How many games let you fight the final boss in the buff? (Cakebitch editor’s note: Fucking hell, the rampant sexist bullshit.) Fuck, this game is amazing.

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recentanimenews · 7 years ago

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5 Reasons Why You Should Watch the "March Comes in Like a Lion" Anime

By ZeroReq011

March Comes in Like a Lion just recently came out of its 3-week hiatus and won this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards category for “Best Continuing Series.” If you’re curious about the show but need just a little more persuading before dropping into this 2 season anime, I have 5 reasons for why you should dive in.

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The Art

Animated by Studio Shaft, the emotions that the characters of March Comes in Like a Lion experience are brought into visual resplendence. Words like “glad,” “sad,” and “mad” may not be enough to authentically capture what people are feeling at a given moment. Poets have answered this challenge by turning to figuratively to colorful, striking, and otherwise imagery for adequate description. They let the moods that these images conjure up in the onlooker speak for themselves. In that sense, Shaft have been poetic vision-istas in this show, heightening the emotional drama with displays of intense storms, suffocating depths, damning flames, claustrophobic lighting, baub-ly-lit environments, monochrome colors, sharp colors, color juxtapositions, and other abstract, impressionistic, minimalist, and surreal artwork to demonstrate how happily, wretchedly, and furiously any character is feeling at any one time.

The OPs and EDs

March Comes in Like a Lion’s OPs and EDs are all fabulously engaging, courtesy of its musical artists and Studio Shaft. They not only set the mood for audiences going into the main story. They also share their own little stories that foreshadows the the challenges and development of the show’s protagonist, Rei Kiriyama.

In lieu of a cour or two’s worth of episodes, the show packs these OPs and EDs with visual metaphors that evolve with the highs and lows of their songs, expressing much meaning with little time. In Ruann’s “I Am Standing,” the ED begins with a raindrop framing effect combined with a monochrome color scheme and melancholic opening ballad. As the melody begins picking up in rhythm and pitch, the ED slowly transitions from claustrophobic raindrops to a more open-air but rain-streaked background as waves of increasingly blue tint ocean sweep through the screen. The singer crescendos into a different musical key to an explosion of flying white birds and vibrant watercolor rainbows. The rain’s gone. A formerly black-and-white stenciled Rei transitions into a vibrantly colored version of himself after being juxtaposed to vibrantly colored snapshots of the Kawamoto sisters.

In addition, the figurative language of the earlier OPs and EDs inform the later ones in a form of progression that reflects Rei’s characterization and evolution. For instance, in Bump of Chicken’s “Answer,” Rei is surrounded by the suffocation of watery depths. In YUKI’s “Flag wo Tateru,” Rei is running on top of rivers.

The Shogi

A recurring gag in the show is the number of goofily sensationalist promotions the Shogi Association does to attract attention and sponsors for its sport. To the casual observer, playing shogi even competitively can look super mundane: two gentlemen positioned over a wooden board, moving pieces of wood back-and-forth for several hours. March Comes in Like a Lion overcomes this challenge by making the game into a psychological thriller. The strategies and tactics employed by players are windows into their personalities, motivations, aspirations, and doubts. Combined with the show’s visual and musical direction, it turns game matches into evocative experiences.

The Story

Those evocative experiences make the shogi compelling, even if viewers know little about the sport themselves. In contrast to the carved character pieces of chess, the painted calligraphy pieces of shogi make the latter sport that more difficult to understand for people without some understanding of Japanese. What’s completely universal about what the shogi sport of March Comes Like a Lion manages to convey is the humanity of its characters.

The show’s players are animated by anxiety, and its themes deal with managing depression.

The weight of expectations bears down on their shoulders, brought onto their backs by others and themselves. They want to be independent, to not disappoint, to discover themselves. The spirit of defiance that radiates from its notable players to achieve and avoid are expressed through this seemingly mundane board game called shogi. It is expressed not only through their skill. It is also expressed through their emotions and their temerity.

The Life Lessons

The drive to become a professional player can be all too dehumanizing if taken too far though, locked in a dark room doing nothing save studying for the next matches. From the very beginning, the show introduces Kawamoto sisters into Rei’s life. The show also dedicates a significant portion of Rei’s screen time to his life at school, with his teacher and his clubmates. More than just a sports anime, March Comes in Like a Lion is a coming-of-age story, where an emotionally stunted character learns to connect with others, and other characters growing up learn how to navigate emotionally challenging situations. The show just concluded a wonderful subplot on bullying, but there are plenty of other satisfying and inspiring arcs to look forward to as well.

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A social scientist and history buff who dabbles in creative writing and anime analysis every now and again. If you’d like to get in touch with him or are interested in reading more of his works, ZeroReq011 has a Twitter you can follow and runs a Blog called Therefore It Is.

Watch March Comes in Like a Lion Now on Crunchyroll!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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nkajima · 7 years ago

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I’ve translated Sexy Zone’s interview in the latest issue of TVnavi SMILE! As it is my first translation project and I’m still learning Japanese, there are bound to be some inaccuracies and mistakes. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy this interview! I had a lot of fun translating it and look forward to posting more of my translations.

Credits for the original scans are to yoshiko_mama on LJ!

Sexy Zone has released their single ‘Gyutto’, the theme song for the drama ‘Wagahai no Heya de Aru’ starring Kikuchi Fuma. From these five people with sharp feelings and senses, we received their confessions and views on their work and motivations.

Q. What was a recent moment where you felt warm or healed?

Marius: I was healed when I watched the news about the pandas at Ueno Zoo. But because I was watching it for a while, I guess I felt somewhat sorry for them. Later at a big retail store, I bought about four cheap and soft cushions. Because they were so fluffy and I put them on top of the sofa, I felt so comfortable even by myself. I thought about watching my favorite drama and while I was watching, I didn’t realize that I fell asleep. When I noticed it was something like 2 AM in the morning, I said ‘Oh no, I have to brush my teeth’. I was troubled because it was too comfortable (lol).

Shori: Because I’m a little embarrassed about being healed, I honestly do not want to say much as a guy (lol). Well, I guess it’s the parakeet I own named ‘Ki’. Because she’s lonely, if I take her out of the bird cage, she goes on my shoulder and always follows me. It didn’t feel like I worked hard to tame her, since the beginning she follows me. Well, I’m certainly healed (lol).

Sou: When I work with Marius, I feel warm and healed. Even if Marius doesn’t concentrate and I get a little irritated, I still fawn over him and feel that he’s cute and I forgive everything (lol). When I say things like ‘Marius is cute today, too~’, he cutely replies with ‘Sou-chan, thank you~’. Because this kind of thing seems like Marius, even if he’s becoming more and more of an adult, I want this Marius as he is now always.

Fuma: We went to an elementary school to record the PV for our new song ‘Gyutto’, and there were notices for the PV screening telling fathers, mothers, and friends to ‘Please come and see it’. When I picked up one such notice, a child had written ‘If you can, please come and see it.’ I was almost crying because of such kindness. When I was 4 years old, it was such an ordinary feeling for my parents to come see me (lol). Because I saw that as I’m now becoming an adult, I thought it was a caring and kind child and it healed me.

Kento: I went to see an original animated American movie, but, ah….is it okay if I only talk about movies? Anyways…I was healed by the cuteness of the leading actress (lol)! She is a princess who grew up on an island with only women, but one day, she meets a lost pilot who changes her life. When the two of them are about to kiss, the scene is zoomed out. Somehow, this becomes more effective than directly showing the kiss. I don’t know why, but I was strangely healed.

Q. What is something you’ve received recently that motivated you?

Shori: I guess it’s Mr. Children’s single ‘himawari’. The songs are awesome, and I watched a documentary that comes with the CD. It shows how Sakurai (Kazutoshi) san makes songs, and things like how the members of Mr. Children produce those songs and thus their production process is followed. I’ve always liked Mr. Children. I somehow thought Sakurai-san was the center of the group, but in reality, all four members work together. They would say, ‘Okay, let’s try changing the drums a little bit’, and the instruments are changed. Then the bass is also slightly changed to match the rhythm, and the small details are steadily adjusted by the four members. All the members of the band become able to derive one sound. Because that was the first time I became aware of this, it was fun and I learned a lot.

Sou: If it’s other than Johnny’s, I watch overseas artists’ performances that I think would be good to draw motivation from. Right now, I’m watching overseas dramas. People from overseas, and Marius too, their gestures are amazing. It’s because of their expressive ability. If it’s in a drama it will be exaggerated, but because on stage you’re asked for it, when I watch overseas performances I think I can make some use of the stage.

Marius: The other day when I went to Harajuku for shopping, a huge crowd of people were lined up to buy a brand’s collaboration bag. It felt like you couldn’t go through the road at all. Although it’s an incredibly popular brand, the more I think about it, everyone wanted that one bag, and I thought it was amazing that hundreds of people were lined up. The power that “thing” has is enough to attract everyone into making them believe they like it. I am not a “thing”, but I’d like to think I have that kind of charm. And Sexy Zone also. I feel that I do my own shopping after deciding the basics. I go shopping slowly, but if I have no time, I look at a store’s stock in advance and buy things only by fitting the size.

Kento: The other day, I cried in a movie theater after a long time. Originally, I wanted to watch a film by Tsukikawa Sho, who was the same director as ‘Kurosaki-kun no Iinari ni Nante Naranai’, and by chance my friend recommended it to me, saying “It was good so you should go see it”. The heroine’s indescribable idol feeling contrasted with the main hero’s real feeling. Already then, the main hero’s feeling of emptiness is really painful….my heart was pained. I still have not been able to meet the director, but I want to tell him soon that it was awesome!!!

Fuma: I was motivated by Eito-niisan’s (Kanjani 8) live performance. 50 minutes after the opening, I was surprised that it become an all-band performance. They really didn’t move from the stage, and because I like bands it was cool. When I want to see them, they made a mistake, but then the members laughed after. They said, “Sorry, sorry, let’s try one more time!”, and then decided to completely start over from the beginning. I got goosebumps from wondering if there was ever a living feeling like this seen in Johnny’s live performances so far. The feeling of the members and the fans was also really nice. After that, they came out with completely sparkling costumes as if it was the opening once more. The non-moving band was intense, and it seemed that the audience was getting really excited because a part of them was kept in suspense.

Q. What is something you’ve learned in a recent work?

Shori: As expected it’s my ‘Summer Paradise’ live performance. It was hard for me to make, so I learned a lot. Since I had been making the original draft since May while on tour with Sexy Zone, I wondered if it was possible to complete it. Creating a live performance is sometimes fun or painful, but either way it’s normal to have both feelings. I think that in work it’s also basic.

Sou: In specific terms, although it’s difficult, it’s more fun to do something with goals in mind so I become aware that I’m trying to create tasks one by one and clear them. For example, on a variety show communication is important, so first you remember the names of the performers, and then you speak on your own accord, and if you act frankly it becomes easier to speak on the show. In that case, it would be good if I can get a chance to do this. Since I already know the position of where I stand in the group, it’s a question as to how I can make use of it and respond to myself. But if I go overboard in trying to be funny, it becomes a type that’s not funny at all (lol). I normally try to challenge myself as much as possible, and when the members pick up on it at an irrelevant time, I guess it becomes something like flowers blooming (lol)?

Marius: I saw Shori-kun’s Summer Paradise concert and his balance was amazing and easy to see. I didn’t get tired like at an ordinary concert, and I felt refreshed while watching it. Every segment flowed with the selected songs, making a concert where it’s easy to see the direction of its course. Unlike I imagined, I became really energetic. For our concerts also, I discussed how to skillfully combine my ideas with Sou-chan’s and I learned a lot.

Q. What are you learning on set of your movie ‘Miseinen Dake Kodomo Janai’?

Kento: Director Hanabusa’s stance on set is truly amazing. I’m learning a lot from him, or perhaps I should say I’ve completely fallen in love with him (lol). Before filming, he always comes to the makeup room where the cast is preparing. ‘How are you today? Nao-kun (my character’s name) how are you?’, he tells me. And then, while explaining the scene we’re to shoot that day, he tells us in the kitchen how he wants to film the scene. His sincere attitude in approaching his work is cool, and he’s also really funny and makes us laugh a lot. I’m learning a lot through his personality and his way of creating an atmosphere on set. I love you, Director Hanabusa!

Q. What are you learning on set of your leading drama ‘Wagahai no Heya de Aru’?

Fuma: Because I’m by myself in the drama I have a lot of lines, and although I managed to get two episodes in my head before we started filming, I shot one episode in two days and just like that I’ve exhausted my memory (lol). In the morning I memorize my lines, and then again during lunch breaks, and also during my evening breaks. It’s a drama, but it’s also an everyday challenge on the limit of my memorization ability (lol).

#sexy zone #shori sato #matsushima sou #marius yo #kikuchi fuma #nakajima kento #translations

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cjostrander · 7 years ago

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Versailles: Self titled

: Hello everyone; i was thinking for today’s anniversary review i wanted to do something Japanese that i hadn’t really focused much on. I still have D’espairsray’s Mirror album to do but when you take the time to write a whole review and have it delete on you; finding the motivation to do it again is hard. Dir en Grey, Mucc, and The Gazette have reviews for anniversary status but they were either ridiculously long or not really intriguing enough to scratch off yet. Angelo’s Retina is on the list and will likely be done soon even if it’s a toss in album but I noticed Versailles has one up for review that is five years old. It is currently their latest by them; so it is actually a promo review as well; which is a nice treat. The band broke up for awhile after this release so that the singer Kamijo could embark on a solo career; but for some reason they decided to come back a few years later. I haven’t heard about anything new besides a greatest hits album; so it may just be for touring; but who knows. I’ve done their debut album Noble by the way and found it to actually be a very nice surprise for a symphonic metal band. If you like 80′s style thrash with the cultural taste of European symphonic metal; then this band will be a very good pick for you. I do suggest checking out their album Noble since that was a very solid album from them. Everything else i’m still fresh too. Let’s get started and see how this album stacks up!

Prelude: So we begin this album off with a brief minute and a half instrumental opener; which is a bit uncommon for this band if you judge by the typical length of their tracks. Coming across a ten minute song wouldn’t be a surprise as you venture through their work. When you look at this one; unfortunately it is literally the same opener that they used on their debut album noble. It still retains that thematic and moving instrumental tension which will be solid for a first time listener; but if you pick up on its copy and paste format; then it shows off as very lazy on their behalf. It perhaps shows off either a sense of tension of lack of general interest on the band’s part during this recording; which could help explain why they took a few years off. That’s not totally understandable since their work is very complex and ambitious with yearly releases at the time. This luckily will not be scored due to its role as an interlude type piece; but that clear lazy touch doesn’t start things off on a positive note for long term fans. If you are new by all means still give it a shot since its still a very nice instrumental and classically fresh as well. 0/0

Rose (Single): The album will hit you with both singles early on and Kamijo enters with some tense sounding English verses; while the guitars provide a steady support. They then shift into a rather moving instrumental segment which will do a nice job of helping you to forget the early prelude track exists. The vocals take on a rather cheerful tone and return to their Japanese lyrics which will help to give his voice a rather soothing texture while still retaining the momentum that the instrumentals deliver. The drums provide more of a support role while the guitars hold the spotlight in terms of instrumental awe. The choir effects and subtle choir verse will do well to spice things up a little further before the solos arrive to really get things going. Those choir vocals definitely add further complexity as well while the solo adds in a strong sense of technicality with ease. Overall a pretty good piece that may be a bit familiar to their fanbase but still contains a decent show of strength for a new listener to get into. 8/10

Rhapshody of the Darkness (Single): This second and final single begins with a French aristocrat like organ/key segment which will play to their cosmetic themes quite nicely. Kamijo enters with a layered vocal delivery which displays a rather strong sense of power to get the ball moving. The strings do very well at emphasizing the classical traits in the song and Kamijo infuses emotional ballad elements that will do very well at getting the listener up an moving; while taking the time to really think about what’s going on in the song. The bass makes subtle appearance underneath the aggressive drum beats and quick guitar riffs. The backing vocals infuse a few growl vocals before the instrumentals take on a more aggressive tone for a bit. It fits nicely with the song title and helps to paint a rather ambitious picture before the instrumentals develop a back and forth approach between tense darkness and beautiful melodies where hope is the main element that breaks through the darkness in it. This one is actually a really good single piece and would be a good live piece to come across. It also brings more a stronger sense of substance than the previous song did even though its a half minute shorter. Definitely suggest checking out a music video if they have one! 9/10

Edge of the World: This one begins with very aggressive guitar riffs and powerful drum bashing; which has more of an industrial metal tinge to it. The vocals change themselves up quite nicely and actually remind me a bit of D’espairsray’s style. The guitars deliver some rather engaging breakdown segments that help to gear this song up quite effectively for a mosh pit to break out. This will help the band to appeal better to a standard metal fanbase while still remembering to infuse it with symphonic elements during the chorus. The chorus is rather beautiful and brings strings in for added support; that enables Kamijo to deliver a fitting combination of beautiful melodies and firm power for the listener to rather engaged by. The solo manages to come across rather nicely as well which leads into a rather thematic string segment; which would make for a rather nice music video as well. They definitely still have their ambitious elements in their songwriting still and didn’t let that lazy copy/paste moment during the prelude cause the album’s other songs to suffer. 9/10

Illusion: Keys and synth beats begin this song with a soothing pop like atmosphere. The guitars arrive to give it a rather pleasing atmosphere that may remind you of early Dir en Grey before they went further into their metal direction. The vocals arrive smooth and firm with a rather calming melody; which will do a decent job of keeping some freshness in the album; so that it doesn’t become too bloated for the listener to continue on. The guitars continue to do a good job of keeping a solid degree of energy and the bass rumbles along rather soothingly with a subtle jazz flair. This little flair works nicely with the keys and helps to ensure that the regular pace verses come across smoothly without losing any flow. Towards the end strings arrive to liven things up a little further and Kamijo uses them to further push his vocal power a bit more before returning to that peaceful chorus to conclude this song. This definitely has a slightly more straightforward feeling than the previous songs; but that is going to help out a lot as the album continues on; since their ambition can sometimes run the risk of going overboard at times. 8.5/10

Ayakashi: The bass and oriental riffs begin this one with a very cultured and religious vibe which resonates nicely with a firm rhythm guitar foundation. The drums join in and elevate things quite nicely before Kamijo arrives. He takes on a familiar delivery but when combined with backing vocal harmonies they give him the complexity that he needs to make this song really stand out on the album. They cleverly space out the oriental instrumentals to give the song a nice texture and keep the instrumentals feeling meaningful and free of repetition. This would be a rather nice piece to see being done live due to its fresher and more unique elements. This all helps to give it a more religious feeling that resonates rather complexly with their more drawn out material while being careful not to come off as their easygoing offering by far. Next song is going to be a long listen though so be prepared. 9/10

Created Beauty: This is the longest song by far surprisingly at 10 minutes long. It beats all the other five and six minutes songs easily i run time and will definitely be one that sticks out lengthwise; by time you finish this album. It starts off a bit soft with a melodic vocal presence; low bass rumbles; soothing keys and then ventures into a more climatic guitar build up. The strings stand out rather firmly and will be very pleasant to focus on as the guitars gradually wind themselves up with melodic power chords. It then shifts to a blissful piano segment where Kamijo really delivers his voice in a very beautiful way. It creates a very thought provoking sense of emotion and will shift the song towards a ballad direction the beginning may of lead you to believe. The slowness of it seems very purposeful and doesn’t appear to have the listener checking to see how far along this song actually is. It does well to know when to spice things up further slightly more commanding yet careful guitar riffs and prominent string melodies. This one flows by smoothly and while it maintains a fair level of consistency it is a good piece to sit and relax to during your listen. It refreshes the listener a nice bit and hopefully will allow the next four songs to pass by enjoyably. 9/10

Holy Grail Amoroso: Strings begin the song with a very romantic oriental flair. It is very complex and beautiful to the ear. I find this being a very smart follow up to the previous song because it builds on it very nicely without over killing the tone. The guitars and drums enter it after awhile infuse it with a further dose of romantic bliss; but with a little power hidden behind it. The keys float nicely in the background with the strings and the bass riffs rumble along rather soothingly for the listener to unwind to. This appears to be an instrumental track and it is actually a very nicely surprise with how solid of a listen it is. The timing passes by at a decent pace and you don’t find yourself wondering when it’s going to end. Really curious what the next couple songs bring. 9/10

Brave: Guitars and string bring back the teeth and ferocity on this one. The drums infuse a high dose of bashing that is a bit hidden by the prominent raw rhythm from the guitars. The vocals come across with melodic verses that find themselves overdone by the raw presence of the guitars at times. It keeps things moving at a quick and fluid pace; so hopefully the listener will be able to appreciate those elements in this song as it progresses. Personally i find this to be one of the weaker toss-in tracks; but hopefully its goal is to simply speed things up before stronger tracks arrive to close the album. The solos are still very nice highlights on this one so make sure to pay attention to them when they appear. 8/10

Truth: Guitars begin with a standard thrash format while the keys infuse it with a nice sense of melodic charm. It still feels a little repetitive in comparison to previous fast tempo work; but Kamijo arrives quickly and his vocals succeed in giving it a fresher texture over time. The drums keep a steady bash beat while the guitars as always; continue to dominate the instrumental field; only sharing when the classical instruments arrive. On this one the strings and keys spend a fair deal of their time in the background; so it seems to served an acceptable role of gradually winding down this album before the finale track arrives. The solos are nice as well so make sure to pay attention to it when it arrives. The softer vocal melodies do a good job of infusing emotion into the song which actually helps to freshen it up a bit for a rather pleasant closing. 8/10

Sympathia: This closing track is actually a reworked track off of their debut ep Lyrical Symphony and it actually served as the closer on that one too. I would suggest calling that another copy and past effect but maybe they were already planning to go on break (assuming for good at the time) and wanted to close their final album with something from their beginning work. Actually gives it a nice context when looked at in the manner and will hopefully strike a deep sense of inner meaning on the listener’s part. Keys begin it softly with a very enchanting sense of beauty and i’m sure the listener will approach it with a nice sense of enjoyment. The keys then give way to a climatic guitar and drum instrumental. The drums actually stick out a bit with their prominent cymbal bashing. Kamijo enters with a slow yet powerful vocal delivery and works hard to infuse it with a strong sense of beauty. The guitars gradually shift towards a more tense rhythm format as Kamijo ventures on. He eases up whenever the strings arrive to add in a classical softness and romantic sense of beauty. It contains a decent feeling of farewell that could make for a potential concert closer and certainly does that job closing this album. I haven’t heard the original version; so i can’t really compare but i’m sure this version has only added to the strength in it. 8.5/10

Overall album rating: 8.6/10

Damn almost scored a B+. This was a nice surprise to sit through today since i was expecting it to feel a lot more drawn out and bloated than Noble was. I suggest checking this one out and seeing how it works for you because it contains a high sense of substance and complexity. Luckily now that band will have a little more of a presence on my blog; so it makes this extra worthwhile today. This will probably be the last review for the month; so next month is going to be it for anniversary reviews on this year’s list. I will still try and scratch off as much as possible so don’t worry if i miss any or get lazy on you. Plenty of time to get them down the road.

*Reviewer’s Pick*

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calorieworkouts · 5 years ago

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The dance of life

This 'athletic musician' shares his approach to staying healthy in mind, body and spirit

Derek Hough is recognized by several for his popular attribute functions on the struck TELEVISION programs World of Dance and Dancing With the Stars. He credits his lifelong sense of inquisitiveness and hunger to discover new points with leading him to his career success as well as to an energetic, healthy and balanced as well as fulfilling life.

Discovering a passion

From a young age, Hough was always finding out. Born in Sandy, Utah, in the Salt Lake City location, he is one of five kids-- including his sibling, Julianne, who learnt dance with him as well as with whom he still teams up and explores. He bears in mind that his family was always actively developing. "We were always in lessons maturing, either karate courses, or swimming lessons, or art course, or dancing courses certainly, as well as drum lessons as well." shares Hough. "So I was constantly finding out, as well as for me it instilled a feeling of curiosity as well as cravings to find out, which has actually rollovered."

" My pals would have new playthings as well as devices of all kinds as well as I wanted them," states Hough. "My mother would certainly say, 'we'll make it' and also we would certainly use plywood and also draw things out then saw it out-- truly making stuff. It brought out my creative side."

That imaginative passion brought about his initial intro to the arts-- playing drums in a Coastline Boys tribute band when he was just 8 years of ages. The band messed around the neighborhood as well as at the Utah Region Fair. "Being a drummer I found out rhythm, which rhythm became my structure," he says.

That foundation aided Hough choose up dance reasonably quickly, and also it didn't take long for him to discover he liked it. This realization brought back early memories of dance with his household. His grandparents were all dancers, and also his moms and dads satisfied while on a ballroom dance team in university, so it was the continuation of a family members tradition. "Individuals ask me 'When did you begin dance?' as well as it ends up I would certainly been dancing as long as I could bear in mind. I consider home video clips where I was 2 years old as well as we were having dancing events in our living-room as a household."

A sense of community

Ironically, though, Hough confesses that he was "type of dragged" into formally studying dancing. "I didn't actually desire to go at initially. Yet I had this coach, he was a truly trendy guy, and after that it opened up a neighborhood for me, a sense of belonging." He (and also, later, Julianne) wound up relocating to London at age 12 to study with expert trainers, as well as there he tossed himself into a strenuous program of practicing and visiting, making every effort to boost his skills and win competitions. "We were circumnavigating, going to New york city, mosting likely to Hawaii-- as well as being a youngster from Utah I resembled, 'Wow, this is incredible!' That was definitely a revelation, that I really enjoyed it. I turned something I really did not want to do into recognizing and finding an interest."

One thing Hough specifically loves is exactly how the understanding of dancing has altered due to the fact that of the appeal of television programs like Dancing With the Stars and World of Dance, and also just how they have actually opened up dancing for even more people. "They have revealed the athleticism as well as effort, and have educated people, especially men, about it. You know, One Decade ago I could have stated, 'Hey, did you see that Paso Doble?' and individuals would certainly have been like 'What? Exactly what is that?' Currently they're like, wow, I enjoyed that gaucho, or that flamenco action. It has been great for dancing."

He also sees more individuals understanding just how physically requiring dance could be. A term Hough commonly utilizes to clarify his craft is that professional dancers are "creative professional athletes." He claims, "When I'm dancing, I don't just dance, I'm really training as well, in addition to dance. To do particular steps, to be fast with those twitch muscular tissues, and the stamina, that security, that core, that rhythm, the isolations-- I indicate there's so much that goes into it, from the main muscle teams to the ones you have actually never ever become aware of. It's a full-body thing. "

Not just that, however Hough states customers value the narration element and also feeling within dancing. "Several of my fondest memories of creating routines on Dancing With the Stars are of people connecting and also going, you know, that really influenced me to call my mommy, or I have actually experienced this, this sense of broken heart, and it was actually cathartic to view that. I really did not feel like I was alone, I seemed like I experienced it with you," he states. "So it's an actually attractive thing, as well as for me it has actually been an absolute enjoyment, it's been a delight to see the evolution of the appeal as well as the standing as well as gratitude of dancing over the previous years."

The ‘prize' of service

" A large change in me directly is that for years I was a rival. It was always regarding being the very best, regarding winning-- that was my fuel. And after that one time I was in my home, taking a look at all these prizes, and I was like, wow, that's really great-- then I assumed, but why do I still really feel not met?" It ends up that functioning with others, coaching and also training, was the new fuel Hough needed. "It was a huge change for me, and also it actually boiled down to service. For me, it's the fulfillment aspect of it-- the sharing of ideas, or helping as well as bringing someone up, bringing their confidence up, or seeing that light take place in their eyes where they go, 'Wow, I can do that!'" Hough understood that, rather than winning more trophies or being the most effective, those were now the minutes that actually loaded him up.

" That emphasis, that transition for me has really opened a great deal of great things in my life, and also it's far more satisfying. On Globe of Dance, these professional dancers, these professional athletes, I really desire to aim to motivate and motivate them and not simply evaluate them but in order to help them on their trip."

Gratitude is likewise a secret, claims Hough. "We hear it a great deal, but it holds true-- you can't actually be in a fearful or upset state if you remain in gratitude, they can't live concurrently. For me, the second I start having expectations, expecting exactly how the globe ought to act, or anticipating exactly how my household or friends should be, or whatever it could be, to simply transform the assumptions for admiration. If I all of a sudden simply begin valuing, even if something is terrible, well, just how can I appreciate this? In that moment, it alters the entire video game.

" Just the other day we were shooting and also I was sitting there like, this is such a terrific job, this is so outstanding, this is so much fun seeing these amazing professional dancers. I have been in that setting several times because I was 12 years of ages, being judged on the dance floor, as well as you're functioning so hard, as well as so my gratitude and my concern for them out on that particular floor is overruning. And to view them, their skills, as well as their heart, as well as their reaction to will they make it via-- I simply like that."

" Simply start moving! Don't be hard on yourself or judge on your own. Activity is in our DNA, all of us."

Derek's tips for staying fit

Hough credits his family members, specifically his mommy, with grounding him healthy and also nutrition. "I recognized as I grew older just how successful she was when it involved healthy routines, as well as natural and health foods and points like that. She showed us from a young age concerning particular foods to consume and just what to keep away from," he says.

He hears his body as well as focuses on just what makes him react, whether it's just what provides him energy or exactly what makes him really feel slow-moving or inflamed.

Fresh food helps him stay concentrated and also sharp, not only literally but also psychologically. "It's so crucial, particularly when you need to attempt to produce something as well as choreograph. There's absolutely nothing worse compared to attempting to create something when your brain is not completely triggered."

One trick he makes use of is to utilize the power of organization. He on a regular basis drinks what he calls "swamp water," which is a super-greens formula he mixes with water. "I associated enjoyment to it, and in fact conditioned myself to like it. It was practically like I was drinking energy, I was consuming alcohol light, I was consuming emphasis ... that's the association I put with it, and also it gave me a lot power and so much clearness, and my skin removed up."

Greens in general are Hough's essential. "Any kind of meal I have, I have to have a large quantity of eco-friendlies. That's the theme throughout whatever I have. So if I'm having salmon, or a little chicken, or perhaps a little red meat, whatever it may be, there's constantly an abundance of environment-friendlies offered. Asparagus, broccoli-- all the great stuff."

To maintain himself favorable as well as determined, he seeks wisdom every day with reading or hearing a motivating speaker or podcast. "There's so much info, with social media sites as well as just media in general. You obtain this ding, this alert, this occurred as well as before you understand it, your mind is pirated. It's like we're filled with information however depriving for knowledge. So it's basically picking and choosing the important things I want to have actually entered my mind as well as absorb."

If he does discover himself with thoughts and also sensations he does not such as, he says, "The initial point to do is move. It's altering my physiology, altering my body, changing the method I'm holding myself. Transforming my body modifications my outlook."

Hough says the way to advance in anything is to challenge yourself to do hard things. "It's like exercising," he says, "like lifting a weight. Simply like you need to press against something hard to create muscle mass, you need resistance to produce growth. We require those obstacles, so welcome them-- they're a present in order to help you grow."

Dance! Hough claims that frequently individuals obtain frightened off by the word "dancing" since they've established limitations on themselves regarding what they can not do. "Simply begin relocating!" he says. "Do not be hard on yourself or judge yourself. Movement remains in our DNA, all of us. If you consider a child, even before they could stroll they're bobbing their heads, returning as well as forth. When you obtain outside your comfort zone, you constantly appear inspired and also sensation terrific. Dancing is a fantastic form of exercise as well as it's also great for your spirit."

Tweet @derekhough and also @hlmsmag and his #SamsClubMag story.

#exercise #health #weight

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uclavapae · 8 years ago

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Amorette Muzingo | Teaching Artist of January, 2017

Q: How did you discover your interest in the arts and how did you know that it was something that you wanted to pursue professionally, as an artist or as an artist teacher?

A: Growing up in an intimidatingly artistic family, it wasn’t ever a question to not pursue the arts; if that makes sense. The success of my father, my aunts, my uncles, and everyone else motivated me to stand alongside them in my artistic endeavors. The path I had chosen was quite bumpy - I went from fervently pursuing the arts/music from age 9 to abandoning the idea of art school altogether in my senior year of high school. I then enrolled in community college, where I began studying art history, almost dropped out, and then was accepted here at UCLA to study Art History. I came across VAPAE towards the end of my first year at UCLA and the classes that I took revitalized the passion I had at such a young age. I feel like VAPAE is a space where I can utilize my skills and background knowledge of the arts and child care while embracing that I’m a 12 year old trapped in a 23 year old’s body.

Q: Describe what the young artists in your VAPAE afterschool arts program are working on and the process they’re using.

A: Since we work with such a unique population, we really wanted to have curriculums that best suit the needs and interests of the girls at Aviva. With so many complex and diverse situations in the room, we developed a curriculum called The Art of Mindfulness, Tea, and Sanctuary. Every class began with a tea ceremony, in which we would sit at a table in a circle, pour tea for one another, and give appreciative comments to those around us. This established the most fantastic sense of community - the girls were unafraid to try a myriad of projects - such as installation, book making, origami, ceramics, activist art, garlands, pillow making, and more. The girls essentially created their own space in which everything was hand-made by them - really instilling the sense of community and sanctuary. This upcoming quarter is really exciting. We’re going to be transitioning into a marriage of visual and digital arts - Aviva has this fantastic Digital Media Lab. The main process will be Digital Storytelling and Narratives - so stay tuned for animated masks, reflective journaling, music making, poetry, and more!

Q: Why is an enrichment opportunity like this important for those participating? What do they gain?

A: I have heard, first-hand, the gains of positivity and awareness that VAPAE programs have provided to our students. One of our girls had been frustrated with one of her other peers, and instead of reacting in a negative fashion, she said, “I really think that that girl would benefit from the art classes we have, it would be really good for her”. Our student was able to recognize the impact that we made in our classroom in just 10 weeks and had developed a more mindful and caring approach to a tough situation. Participants in VAPAE programs are a special kind of community - it’s the chance to really connect on a deeper level of creativity and growth, and is immensely inclusive. The daily rhythms of school can be overwhelming, but with VAPAE after school programs, it provides this space in which the students are able to be present in themselves and with others and are able to really create something incredible.

Q: Did you have an opportunity like this when you were a younger artist? If yes, how did it help shape your love of art? If no, in what ways could a program like this have helped you?

A: I did have an opportunity somewhat similar to VAPAE - it was an after school/weekend music program in Hollywood called School of Rock (fun fact, the movie was loosely based on the program). There, I was able to take drum lessons that were organized under a common artist or theme: David Bowie, Women Who Rock, etc. We would rehearse every week after school and at the end of the 10 weeks, we performed at venues such as The Roxy and The Troubadour. Although it helped me develop lifelong friendships and further my passion for music, the cost of the program was quite a difficult setback, and it was difficult to commute to Hollywood. I really, really favor the openness that VAPAE provides, regardless of economic status, race, gender, or geography.

Q: What has this experience as a teaching artist or arts facilitator taught you about yourself?

A: Wayne Kramer, famed musician and guest lecturer, once told our class, “I am always a humbled student”. I really try to embody that within every moment of my teaching - because I am still always learning. I have continued developing patience and flexibility - certain teaching strategies will sort of pop up in the moment and I’ve learned to embrace it. I’ve become more of a person who is content with being in the present, instead of constantly planning for the future (but finding a balance, of course!). Being a teaching artist has given me deeper connections to my students than I ever thought possible - and in return, my students teach me more than words could describe.

Q: What do you personally gain as a teaching artist, arts facilitator?

A: I still can’t believe that this is the work that I do - I never thought my work could be this fun. I have gained a HUGE sense of gratitude towards the amazing people I get to work alongside and to the students that I get to know. I also end up surprising myself with new skills that I learn, whether it be artistic or educational or anywhere in between. I truly never thought that I would be a teacher, but I gain a bit of confidence each day that I’m in the classroom because that is where I feel most comfortable.

Q: What are the benefits to you as a student/graduate in the UCLA VAPAE program? Was this program a good choice for you? If so, why?

A: Yes! Very, very good choice! Truthfully, a part of me resented the large size of UCLA and how there are so many people. VAPAE is where I found a second home, where I spent my Thursday nights. The educators in VAPAE are accessible and authentic, and the lessons I have learned in the classes I’ve taken have really shaped me to the person I’m growing into. I have had absolutely incredible opportunities in my time here, and it would not have been possible if it were not for my participation in VAPAE.

Q: Are there any anecdotes from your VAPAE Studio Sessions (or Arts Education Teaching Sequence) that stand out to you? Perhaps you had a break‐through with a student or saw some particularly noticeable growth in that student through this program, collaboration etc. Maybe something surprised you or made you think about art or teaching in a new way.

A: I believe that I used this as a sample video for my Arts Ed teaching sequence portfolio - but there was this moment where I had said a joke to the class while teaching, subsequently all began giggling, and the moment I brought them back to the lesson this massive silence fell upon the room. In that moment, I recognized that I alone had built not only a rapport with 35 6th graders, but had also gained their respect and intrigue. They were so inquisitive about the lesson that day, it was so amazing and satisfying that I felt I was on the right track.

Q: What are your short-term and long‐term career goals?

A: I think I have a hard time with this question because there is just so much that I would like to do, that I haven't figured out yet how to actually articulate it. However, I will try! I know that now I have graduated I would really like to return to my artistic and musical practices, as well as develop better foreign language skills. I studied Spanish for quite a while and feel it would be tremendously useful. I suppose those are my short term goals. As far as long term, I really see myself continuing in arts education - either involved with art therapy, or museum education, or working with incarcerated/marginalized youth. At this point, I'm excited and ready to try anything within the field.

#uclavapae #teachingartist

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limejuicer1862 · 5 years ago

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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews

I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.

The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.

Neal Zetter

Neal is an award-winning comedy performance poet, children’s author, and entertainer with a 25-year background in communication management and mentoring. He uses his interactive rhythmic, rhyming poetry to to develop literacy, confidence, creativity and communications skills in 3-103 yr olds, making words and language accessible for the least engaged whilst streeeeeeetching the most able.

Workshops & Performing

Most days Neal is found performing or running fun poetry writing or performance workshops in schools and libraries with children, teens, adults or families. He has worked in all 33 London Boroughs and many, many other UK cities. More challenging poetry projects have involved workshops for people with brain injury, mental health, drug and alcohol problems, offenders, those with learning difficulties, homeless, other special needs including not having English as a first language.

Neal also produces adult comedy performance poetry and has nearly 30 years of experience appearing at e.g. West End comedy clubs, the Royal Festival Hall, various festivals, in the centre circle of a League 2 football pitch (!) and even a funeral (!!). He ran his own spoken word-based comedy club (Word Down Walthamstow) 2009-13. Neal has compiled and hosted/compered shows with the likes of John Cooper Clarke, Attila the Stockbroker, Michael Rosen and shared bills with Harry Hill, Phil Jupitus, Mark Lamaar, Omid Djalili and more.

Books

Neal children’s comedy poetry books, all published by Troika, include:

For 6-13 year olds:

Gorilla Ballerina (A Book of Bonkers Animal Poems) – a collection of wacky poems about weird animals

Invasion of the Supervillains (Raps and Rhymes to Worry the Galaxy) – evil companion book to ‘Superheroes’ (below)

Yuck & Yum (A Feast of Funny Food Poems), with poetry pal Joshua Seigal

Here Comes the Superheroes (Raps and Rhymes to Save the Galaxy) – in the Reading Agency’s top 15 children’s poetry books

It’s Not Fine to Sit on a Porcupine – in BookTrust’s top 20 children’s poetry books

Bees in My Bananas – a Wishing Shelf Award winner

For 2-6 year olds:

SSSSNAP! Mister Shark

Odd Socks!

Due Sept 2020 and Sept 2021 for 6-13 year olds

When the Bell Goes (A Rapping Rhyming Trip through Childhood) – a semi-autobiographical poetry collection on the theme of childhood covering growing up, school and family life

Scared? (Poems from the Darker Side) – a collection of funny, and maybe a few more serious ones, about many aspects of fear

The Interview

1. When and why did you start writing poetry?

I wrote my first poem when I was six – a limerick which now appears in the intro to my first book, Bees in My Bananas. I always enjoyed making people laugh and have had an inbuilt sense of rhythm and rhyming for as long as I can remember. So I began writing poetry as naturally as some people learn a new language – there was no grand plan but I have never stopped writing poems since I was a tender year 2 student. And the poem?

There was an old lady from Hull And she bumped into a bull The bull said ‘Ow!” Bashed into a cow And the cow crashed into the wall!

Not a classic but Love Me Do was hardly the best Beatles song, just a fab start!

2. Who introduced you to poetry?

My Dad used to read to me in bed at night before I was able too. I especially liked the poems he read, the main two that stuck in my head were the classic Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss and The Train to Timbuctoo from Margaret Wise Brown (Google it – it’s a great single-poem book as is the aforementioned ‘Cat’). Both were beautifully rhythmic with strong rhyming and contained many new and exciting fun words, some made up and some that made no sense to me at all – but that’s the joy of poetry and reading!

3. How aware are and were you of the dominating presence of older poets traditional and contemporary?

Great question! Let me answer it in parts. When I I was a primary school child I wasn’t really aware of poets apart from Dr Seuss as mentioned in my earlier reply. I knew poems, but not so aware who wrote them.

In secondary school I studied Eng Lit to A Level and regularly had rows with my teacher over my frustration at studying Wordsworth, Coleridge, Gerard Manly Hopkins, Keats etc. I absolutely see they were fine poets but they didn’t speak to ME a teenager in 1970s London into punk rock, footy and left-wing politics. I needed to hear poems about those topics and the other things in my life. Of course she never agreed with me 😎.

(So, as I was musically inept, despite my love of it, I started to write song lyrics and worked with tune writers to construct songs In a (completely naff) local band (but we thought we were superstars). Bernie Taupin was my role model but I loved the Stones’ land Clash lyrics and Webber/Rice musicals.)

In my very late teens and beyond I started to write poems prolifically but I still could not name any poets of renown. My home-produced books (6) sold in less than three figures and that wasn’t enough as I needed to share my work, after all every poet is a communicator. I saw adverts in Time Out magazine for performance poetry clubs and comedy clubs in the West End and that’s where it all REALLY began for me. It was a scene and for the first time I got to meet and mix with other poets and learn how to produce the right kind of poems to entertain and engage an audience, as well as make them laugh. So, no longer in a vacuum, I compered for and performed with the likes of John Cooper Clarke (the Godfather of performance poetry!), Attila the Stockbroker, Porky the Poet (AKA Phil Jupitus) etc.

Nearly all the poets I’d met or read since my school days were older and, in 1989 when my performance career really started, I was very aware of their presence and influence – I looked up to them. Now I guess, 60 next week, I try to affect younger poets and those starting out in the same way: advising, encouraging and mentoring. And that’s something I really enjoy doing.

Maybe in 50 yrs time or less, my poetry will be as irrelevant to people then as the poets I studied at A Level were to me. And there will be nothing wrong with that. I get it!

3.1. What is the right kind of poem to engage and entertain?

One with a repetitive rhythm, strong rhyme and a chorus/repeated word/line. This works well with my children’s poetry (in class and on assemblies) and adult poetry (in clubs, at arts events etc). We call them ‘call and response’ poems in the trade or often I refer to them as ‘interactive’ and I should add the poems must be about a topic people can relate to in a voice and with words that speak to them.

4. What is your daily writing routine?

I don’t have one. I try to write at different times of the day, on different days of the week and in as many different places as possible. Doing that means there are no times I feel I am unable to write and that must be a good thing. I guess indie cafes are my favourite places but, as I don’t drive and travel by public transport, I do loads of writing on trains, tubes and buses. Other regular haunts are the British Library, Foyle’s Bookshop in Charing X Road and home of course

5. What motivates you to write?

I am very self-motivated when it comes to writing. I always feel I have something to say about things that other people will find interesting too. I am never stuck for ideas, have never experienced writers’ block and keep a long list of topics for future poems. I have written my next three books due out the next three Septembers am already planning more. And the ideas themselves come from keeping my ears and eyes constantly open and writing about What’s around me and my experiences e.g. people I meet, places I go to, things I hear on the news etc

6. How do the writers you read when you were young influence you today?

My influences are threefold:

The aforementioned Dr Seuss and Mary Wise Brown books inspired my rhythmic, rhyming and comedy poems. Other poets like Edward Lear and Spike Milligan did the same.

I have always had a love of music too as I explained so, as I used to write song lyrics it’s not surprising that my poems, as well as being very rhythmic and containing strong rhymes also have choruses and a strong use of repetition.

Finally, since before I could even read, I have had a love of superhero comics, especially Marvel. I used to look at the pictures when my brother collected them and when old enough to read myself I started avidly buying and collecting them myself and have never really stopped. In fact I bought this month’s new Marvel Avengers comic today. These streeeeetched my imagination, developed my vocab and taught me a lot about what was going on in the world around me e.g. politics, Vietnam Nam War, life/death, relationships, history, space and science etc. And of course this love of comics also inspired both my Superheroes and Supervillains poetry books. Keen comic fans will immediately spot some of the styles and influences from the 1960/70 Marvel and DC comics in particular. Without any doubt at all, if I never read these comics I would not have become a poet and author.

7. Whom of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?

As I read mainly blogs, auto-biogs, social history, popular science and other non-fiction my book choices are theme-led rather than author-led so I have not got too many favourites. However I especially like Bill Bryson, Mark Kermode, Jon Ronson and Malcolm Gladwell as they all have a fantastic writing style and a passion for their subject. The last four books I read are Van Gogh’s Ear, The Radium Girls, Chernobyl and A History of the World in 21 Women with many Marvel comics squeezed in between.

The poets I especially admire are the ones that have been on the scene for many years like Michael Rosen, Brian Moses, John Cooper Clarke and Benjamin Zephaniah – you have to take your hat off to them for the quality and quantity of their output. I hope I achieve at least equal longevity as I certainly want to continue what I do until I leave this planet.

8. Why do you write, as opposed to doing anything else?

I write because I must. A poet is what I am not what I do. So, while I might be able to lose interest In other hobbies, jobs and pastimes, I can never give up being a poet.

9What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”

Read, write, read, write, read, write adI infinitum. Like anything you wish to do well, the more you practise and immerse yourself in it the better you will get. And write from the heart about what you love, like, dislike and hate – about what you feel and what matters to you – and you will produce your best work.

8.1. Why write children’s books?

I write poetry for children, teens and adults but, to date, have only produced children’s books. This is because I make my living performing and running workshops in schools virtually every day so the book buyers are there in front of me. Most days end with a book sale with children I have worked with wanting a memento of the day, signed and dedicated. Given the above my writing is certainly weighted to the younger market especially as, sadly, not many teens or adults want to buy poetry books, even if they enjoy listening to poems for their age group.

9. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.

In my biog you will see details of the next two books I have due in Sept 2020 and 2021, both written. I am working on my 2022 poetry book now (the title is a secret!) and am looking at both an anthology of mixed poems and an EY/KS1 book for the near future.

Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Neal Zetter Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.

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autoirishlitdiscourses · 3 years ago

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Discourse of Saturday, 24 July 2021

Questions and answers from the second, and what positions do you see these ideas represented in the comparison is worthwhile to make any changes, it may just be that you would prepare for your grade is calculated as follows: If you are capable of this. Extra half percent, you're right on the clock and think carefully about at a coffee shop, I think that your grade.

You move over some important thematic issues to say here to be exchanged for it if you have received a boost of a letter grade is. Have a good job of contextualizing the novel drives home the unsettling conclusion that broadens and shows that you've got a good job of tracing some important points, though, and what they wanted to make abstract cognitive assessments without being so understanding. Give us a touch, too, that it would be a bit short. Again, please let me know if you show up and talking about why these are different kinds of people the characters are, and how you see them instantiated in the play, it will be, and there, really perceptive readings of all of your discussion in my box in the paper to say to i says in this direction would be for you for a more analytically incisive paper. I'm sorry to take so long to get back to some extent as you possibly can, OK? All in all. What kinds of people wrote on his paper, just over 87% in the class and is taking an opportunity for students in front of the alternatives—I can find out about it from being a good discussion for the week. You to, but afraid to shove more reading at you unless your medical condition mandates additional section absences, then a single college lecture?

/Missing section during the first three paragraph exactly of the B-81. These leaves you with feedback on your new topic if you have any other questions! Do you need to know what the boss says in the Ulysses lectures which, given Ulysses, Stephen mentions to Buck Mulligan that he will be distributed in lecture yesterday: The email addresses on the final exam. That's all that you could do a strong delivery overall. Good luck on the morning! If you're viewing this with a pen in your printed paper, and we can discuss your grade, divided as follows: If your percentage grade for the main characters is constructed by identifying them the main characters in order to be docking you points for section this quarter, which, given the sophistication that your ideas to each other in achieving that goal. Unfortunately, I don't know what's convenient. Keep an eye on a technicality. Got big then. For the sake of having them fresh in their junior year, but writing a novel about family troubles and perhaps by doing background reading on aspects of the people who wind up not promoting discussion in my box when you've done a number of excellent observations in your delivery; perfect textual accuracy; impassioned sense of the Irish as postcolonial subjects; probably others. I know what's going on by and make annotations as you can connect larger-scale themes to specific passages in question. Academic dishonesty in the 6 p. The Search for the edition of Opened Ground. Here are the only one freedom for' th' workin man: control; tomorrow night! Totally up to a specific point that you're essentially doing a genuinely excellent job! I've gestured toward, though not comprehensively—cleaning these up is a bit in the morning!

That's OK.

I'll see you next week! Your writing is very generous Chu—You have some very perceptive readings of several course texts this may not get in without waiting at 3:30 to discuss and haven't had enough coffee today. Each of you effectively boosted the other's grade while you are at getting the group. If you pick up absolutely every point. So, if you want me to. If it's all right with you that there aren't other very productive, because that's a pretty safe guess, that particular selection and delivered it accurately, and don't have an excellent delivery. Again, please let me know if you can't get to specifics. One is that the overall understanding of the section during Thanksgiving also counts for purposes of your discussion could have more to offer them to avoid responding directly to every comment, and you really have done some strong work on an assignment for next week if you get the other students in your delivery does not conform to the skin on her mind simply because it verges on nonsense in places, and will not wind up being quite receptive to discussion in relation to this? I think that a number of points ostensibly on the unnumbered page right after the meeting you'd have to declare immediately; you're now a month and a bit more I could tell you that your occasional assertions that you were comfortable using silence to motivate other people would probably be the sign of maturity, and one option from section 1 and one option from section that night, and this will hopefully help to define each of your grade later in your discussion of the play's rhythm in the text, and you're absolutely welcome to adapt it, make selections from other sources, though it was more lecture and section times and locations for my sections but don't care which, given Ulysses, but that's basically what it means to be one, but certainly not beyond you, we can meet at a coffee shop?

If this is absolutely nothing wrong with only picking, say, genuine misreadings. Ultimately, I think, but did not, let it motivate other people think about the relationship between your source texts, one productive move, too, so I abandoned my discussion of as close to ten minutes if you'd like. Let me know how many people wanted to be interpreting this broadly and not using it. I will not only contributes to your overall grade for the student's ideas.

Again, please leave the room, were engaged and participatory, as well. Again, I'm dying for it somewhat later by coming back and from section that you are one of the Artist As a Young Man, which is a lot of ways, and you've done a number of fingers at the last line. But moving up into the phrase Irish Rebellion: The question What is the only or best way to add a class without a big paperwork headache.

I'll see you next quarter. Incidentally, several students have ever worked with. How this construction of this offer to anyone else, which would have to know when you're up in, so I thought I was wondering whether we'll be having section during the early 20th centuries, though, #3, what produces his unusual narration? See Wikipedia's article Curragh p.

I'll see you next week 13 November On poems by Seamus Heaney, Requiem for the quarter by as much as possible. Take care of your argument as sophisticated as it could be. To be more fair to Yeats, The Stolen Child 5 p. You are absolutely capable of doing their recitations may wind up giving answers to these small-scale, but you added to the section they describe. It just needs to be fully successful. Hi! However, you basically need to make selections from it, mentally or out loud, when the Irish nation is portrayed as a useful skill, too, depending on time. You were clearly a bit before I go to the class, with your little bridie to be less able to avoid the outside world, on the other TAs for the purpose of helping to advance your central argument.

Going slightly later would take you into the abstract, all potentially productive ways that multiple texts, and your writing is lucid and enjoyable. Something I should be on the one he read would be ideal for me if this or in the third paragraph of the room, but I think that it had been set to music. Needing to study harder, but the more helpful my feedback will be spent on reviewing for the quarter when we talked earlier today, and what you'll drop if you have attended for attendance and participation; if you can't go over, and this is a really good reason for this particular assignment, and have not yet worked out for you at the top eight or so announcement to your other questions, OK?

Similar things could be squeezed in most ways, and some broader course concerns. Thanks for letting me know when and where it is that if someone else steals your thunder thematically, you should know the details of the three F's, but both were genuinely minor errors, and you structure your presentation. Absolutely. The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem performing The Butcher Boy, and modeling this for everyone is also quite short and contains some very, very general prompt, and you've done a good understanding of a small number of things would have been avoiding presenting conclusions in favor of asking questions that motivated good discussion point as might your others. I do not use GauchoSpace to calculate grades, discussed in the topic has been quite a good start here, and you incorporate the required texts in section. Ultimately, what are the similarities and differences, exactly, by the romance meta-critically about your own presuppositions in more depth. However, if you'd like. I realize that these people who see the world will know in advance of the whole class really was close to convenient and painless as possible, and ask people to engage in a college class, and converted the interior monologue into intelligible and articulate and the Dubliners-Finnegan's Wake mentioned in/Ulysses/is not a full recitation schedule in both my sections at that point, because: Thanksgiving is optional in the novel and brought up some important material provided an interpretive pathway into what Yeats wants to this, though it was due to my office after getting a why you can't get it graded as soon as you know that you've made matters in the first few paragraphs and think about how you can frame your argument from lecture on/Godot/has not always an easy task, as always, we can meet you last night looking back over a draft of a stretch. As I said in the future. One would be crucial to making your paper must be completed based on your way into the selection in the same grade. I'm just trying to suggest ways that you do a good idea in a number of recitations, that there should be on that without also pulling in the term. Have a good job of tracing developments in Irish literature, due to the aspects of your education, some of the work that you know you've got a general idea that will occasionally have reminders, announcements, and you have any of these terms explicitly in connections between the various settings in The Butcher Boy song on p. It is not productive about Fluther's point of causing interpretive difficulty for the class up very effectively to larger concerns.

So I'd like you.

I currently have a word with him? She knew from the concrete into the story if you'd like. There will be on that component of your life, you may contact UCSB's Title IX Compliance Office, the impossibility of meaningfully taking a heavy task: Judge Woolsey's decision that/the first place in the first people to talk about is some material that you were a lot of important themes in the early part of broad cultural changes in Irish literature, using established academic practices, which requires you to develop, so I wanted to discuss 2 before 1, because I'm not mad at any stage of the course at this stage of conceptualizing and writing a paper, but his personal experience it can do to be more comfortable with the disclaimer that much of the poem's rhythm and showed this in any reasonable person could disagree with you and the way that pays off more. The code that I've given it another way, especially of Yeats poem to memorize because of its lack of authorial framing in the best person to do both, that you are hopefully already memorizing. Let me know whether that's a pretty amazing group of students in the lead a discussion of What We Lost Paul Muldoon, Quoof McCabe Butcher Boy song 6 p. I'm looking forward to you. Please feel free to come talk to me. All of which parts of The Family Guy called Saving Private Brian, which is a smart decision. —I think that your paper this means, essentially, is to engage in discussion, but some students may not yet done the reading of the things I'm less than thrilled about with this by dropping into lecture mode if people aren't prepared, it's easier for me to say, Leopold Bloom or Francie Brady, his relationship with each other in regard to this offer to anyone else is doing so productively might be productive. Again, I'm sorry to take smaller cognitive leaps immediately, you don't have an excellent job with it. Thanks for your recitation, too. The Plough and the discussion, because I realized that your argument in a way that it looks like you're writing more of an A-range, I think that there are certainly welcome to cut peat, or didn't when you give a quiz. Let me know if you want to write your paper, you may leave your luggage during section, which is vitally important to the characteristics that you are a couple of ways. Reminder: section is actually doing and what will be given away on a big difference in how you're using the add code for that section; c their research paper was not his highest priority this quarter. I'm getting back to you. I felt occasionally that the person who was buried that morning in terrace she was in your final paper? Here is the only major topic that I may not be tolerated. One thing that I left them in section. Maybe the student engaging in an earlier discussion of Calypso, with Stephen's rather strained relationship with their wedding rings on, and you played a very thorough apparatus for reading the play itself; you also managed time well, actually, because poteen was illegal in Ireland at the end of the facts of Yeats's poem, delivered it in a printed copy in my office with the same part of the salient features of the word love to mean, and you had a good job of discussion. Good choice; I like, since I'm going to give you some feedback about what constitutes evidence, and I'll remove my copy of your material effectively and in a negative value judgment: that sexual desire that wraps in a way of taking the F word. Just a quick search. You picked a longer paper. Do you need to be posted to the group's silence in response to a secret resignation. Grade: A-—You've got a lot of ways that you detect. Of course, as documented in writing already: please remember that its structure was articulated more explicitly about what bird symbolism in general, I think that there are any changes made I will be held tomorrow SH 2635, and you picked to the section website. Still, I'm happy to do in leading a discussion of the room. We will be on campus tomorrow afternoon but have held off on writing back to eGrades when the Irish nationalism, and died after. The use of props and costuming was nice to meet, OK? You've got some really perceptive set of texts. It turns out that I can reschedule for Dec. In exchange, I think, are the song performances themselves, but do so as quickly as possible; if you fall back on it not perhaps rather the case, that it will help to ground your analysis. In particular, for instance, if you'd like. If it's all right with this number of things well, but they can take to be expressed in a way into a complex task and trace a clear cubist depiction of a historical text it just so happens that I really hope that the best night to do at the beginning, though not the case and I quite liked it. Think about what your grade is 62. It's been a clue, and this is reflected here, and listens to a copy of the larger structure of the right page on your own writing and thinking skills here, and I think that, going into the midterm was graded correctly. You picked a longer-than-required selection and recovered well and that everything is going to say that I show you as a whole.

You really do have a handout with thoughtful questions and comments that you yourself have done some very very hastily is generally not only done a lot of ways, you've done a lot of ways, and probably see parallels to Francie's narration, but it's up to 1. Sent me this long to get to all your material gracefully and in terms of the novel's plot and thematic development. I think you've got an interesting contemporary poet, and prejudicial or hate speech will not wind up satisfying any breadth requirements; but these are impressive moves. On interpretations that the paper just barely push you down to structural issues with your little darlin' bridie to be helpful during paper-grading rubric composed entirely of Samuel Beckett: The study of 'Ulysses' is, I think that your section self-esteem. You picked a very good questions and comments by dropping into lecture mode if people aren't prepared, it's easier for me to say and got the lowest score of all but the most important of which parts of your total grade for the course to pull you up out of the play's rhythm in the email but don't yet see a different text on a set of additional purposes, as one day late is slightly larger than the other side, I think that your basic idea is good for your thoughts might be Akira Lippit's recent Atomic Light: Shadow Optics. Must have been even more effectively saying exactly what is difficult selection to memorize because of this audio or video recording of your questions? Goes With Fergus, Song of the section Happy Thanksgiving!

Don't want to try harder on future writing. I absolutely understand that it's impossible to pass the class, then responded to your overall grade for the temptation offered to people by commodities and the English Language; Giorgio Agamben's Homo Sacer. Ultimately, you did a really strong job with a lot of similarities to yours, and what exactly is at any time without hurting their grade at the end of the Discussion Section Guidelines handout, which would have helped to have practiced a bit more would have most needed in order to receive a passing grade for the bus on your paper is not quite a nice touch, and you accomplished a lot of silences and retractions in your introduction and conclusion feel a bit nervous, but I felt like you know, and perhaps others as lenses into. A-range papers: These papers address the text you'll be stuck with it? I'm giving them some points for not doing so by 10 p. Hi! Hi! You've got some good ideas, and the section website: good reading of those works, we can meet at a bare minimum length if the maximum possible number of things going on as soon as possible, but I think the fairest grade to a copy for my records, and seemed to be on campus today, but it is ultimately up to you.

I hope you're feeling better soon.

It never compares, at the high end of the following characters in order to be, if you need to have particular specific takes on gender. So you can go on Tuesday, 3, and quite enjoyed reading it. If we're getting in Nausicaa and The Cook, the Christian symbolism of motherhood, those who haven't yet decided what order I'll call people in, and I quite liked it. The value quoted is the midterm during this optional session than will be Patrick Kavanagh's On Raglan Road 6 p.

697, p. More broadly, what is Mary likely to see your intelligence and critical acumen is taken to mean what it means this is a move Joyce was making in writing already: please take a look at the final exam, send me an email saying that you consult, including class, and so I did better. The Plough and the standard conventions of formal writing including appropriate grammar, punctuation problems, or. Another way to motivate discussion, depending on where you want to recite, OK? What he did on section one.

That's fine however, two things. As you probably still have plenty of time, so it hasn't hurt your grade, but will get back to you. Thanks for working so hard this quarter so far a very good job digging in to me. That is, after all are quite open-ended that people have prepared as your thesis statement will allow it to me, but I have a perceptive argument that your central argument? All of these are impressive moves. I just think that your texts; it sounds, because I necessarily agree with you that your recitation, please bring your luggage in my box when you've done a very strong because it prevents me from carrying annoyance at a performance of O'Casey's The Plough and the professor's reading of a particular orthodoxy of belief or that themes are reflected in course; explains basis for course grade. But you did a good presence in front of a novel by an Irishman. Thanks for being a nuanced critic of your elements work together in a single paper. Overall, you made changed the last day to drop by the rhythm-and micro-level English course should be motivated by nervousness, and got a lot in this regard I promise that I'm not in terms of which is entirely plausible if you have previously requested that I didn't think of anything to talk about is some material that you score at the final! I mean, here is to to think not about how you're feeling better! Whatever's best for your listeners. Also, before falling asleep, while sitting in my 6pm section for instance, you know that you've chosen, and what this paper, you're welcome to send a new document. It's perfectly OK to look closely for evidence. Ideally, you might think about what your overall discussion goals and points in the play, or in the morning! This is not a good set of arguments about a particular idea is going to be productive to look at what actually matters. I'm looking forward to your presentation out longer, I really did a number of excellent observations in your thesis statement into its final form until the end of the Flies, and that she's not telling the truth is very promising … and then making sure that you're dealing with it. This are comparatively small errors, etc. One percent/for leading an insightful, focused discussion about the offer, that proofreading and editing a bit more. Have a good one, which was true, in addition to reciting in section will have to choose something else, but will be recited by one line because I necessarily think that her suicide occurs when Francie runs away, which is not a bad move, which are quite perceptive. Either 1:00. Section issues? Hello, I think that there is a strong preference and I'll have to follow up a structure about masculine and feminine lines of inheritance that is also a complex and insightful analyses of a country Begins as attachment to our understanding of the paper. I posted to the larger-scale issues and weaves them gracefully without losing the momentum of your paper most needs at this point would be to have is a thinking process that will be in order to minimize disruption to other students, too, and setting a positive influence on your grade by Friday and I'll be around campus earlier if you're leaving town.

Aside from the rest of the group to read. Remember that your analytical exploration of Digging and other visual aids that will help you to providing an introduction to things that could have been is in range for the course to pull your grade more. Here's a breakdown on your paper. That audio clip is certainly OK. One of the quarter to get to all of which is to find ways to make real contributions in section tonight.

I think that the probability that she's not telling the truth is very lucid and very engaging, in The Walking Dead, which is an attempt to look at it with other students in the meantime or have any questions about how to draw out a number of presentations. What is the full text of Irish identity that has to be avoiding picking too many good ideas.

#Irish literature #automatically generated text #Patrick Mooney #Python #Markov chains

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musescore-com · 7 years ago

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MuseScorer of the month: Mike Magatagan

Yes, this project was supposed to be closed in December 2017, but as we’ve discovered more and more great composers and arrangers on MuseScore who really deserve to be featured, we decided to relaunch “MuseScorer of the month”! So, please meet Mike Magatagan - the MuseScorer of March 2018.

Mike is a software engineer by trade, living in Arizona (USA) with his wonderful and musically talented family. His kids can play all kinds of saxophones, and his wife plays handbells.

“Basically, I’m a computer geek who loves to solve problems. I have been developing software for the last 25+ years but have recently rekindled my love of music. I am relearning the piano and my first love - the pipe organ. I recently rediscovered the Viola (which I played for about 7 years in my youth) after about 35+ years.” That’s what he says about his musicianship.

Mike makes wonderful arrangements of baroque music for strings and other ensembles. Here is an interview with Mike Magatagan (M.M.) conducted by our staff member Alexander T. (A.T.):

A.T.: Why baroque? I mean, why did you choose that particular style/period for making scores?

M.M.: Baroque is a very meaningful genre for me. It just makes sense mathematically, stylistically and rhythmically. It is complex but not pretentious. I love the fluidity and forcefulness; it seems to cross so many arbitrary genre lines and gives so much insight into the development of other music forms.

A.T.: I’ve noticed that you uploaded a lot of great arrangements mostly for strings during this March. How did you manage to make such a large amount of scores (more than 40) during just one month and what was your purpose/motivation for making them?

M.M.: There is no magic here. I do have thousands of scores, consisting of arrangements, transcriptions and original compositions online at MuseScore.com, and I have several thousands of scores on my local computer that I have not yet published. This body of work is the culmination of many (many) years of effort using other (not MuseScore) music notation software. Since I discovered MuseScore (and the online site), I made it a goal to share at least one score a day and I have continued ever since. I didn’t initially develop scores for strings mainly because of the weak and cartoonish string SoundFont used by early versions of MuseScore. MuseScore’s sound quality has come a long way and feels more realistic in its depth and warmth. I favor strings probably from my early youth, when I played Violin and later Viola in a youth symphony. Many of my friends are string players, and I receive a disproportionate number of requests for string arrangements.

A.T.: Have you ever performed yourself, alone or with some ensemble, the arrangements you’ve made?

M.M.: This is a great question! Many of my arrangements were made just for me or for me in conjunction with my Church. My composition “Hallowed be Thy Name” was created specifically for a Church special-music ensemble where I played Piano and others played flute. Many of My Viola (2-part) pieces were created for myself (on Viola) and others on Harp or Piano. I intentionally “dumbed-down” the Viola to match my proficiency at that particular time in my learning timeline. MuseScore is an invaluable resource to allow a budding performer to practice alongside simulated instruments/orchestras. I use this capability often!

A.T.: Nice to hear that. What about some other musical groups playing your scores?

M.M.: I receive requests for arrangements daily. Competing projects don’t allow me to support all the requests but I have a special place in my heart for Church groups, school groups, non-profit support groups that provide music to hospitals, senior centers, etc… I have created mainly Piano, Organ, Handbell, and small ensemble (string quartet/quintet, woodwind & brass) arrangements for these groups. I don’t do this for profit and I have never accepted a cent for my work. Music belongs to the world, and I like to believe I am a willing participant in that co-op.

A.T.: Oh, I see, sounds great! Here is another question: you were talking about “many years of effort using other music notation software” before discovering MuseScore. So what made you stop searching for software and stick to MuseScore?

M.M.: When I first discovered MuseScore (I believe it was 1.2 or 1.3), it was as if a door opened and what was once difficult, became painless. Namely the ease with which I could pen a note and hear the effect. Having an online resource like MuseScore.com allowed me to share my creations with others in a way that I wanted it to be heard, and receive feedback in a collaborative way.

A.T.: Wow. It’s a great pleasure for the MuseScore staff members to know that. Ok…now, could you please tell me something about your composing/arranging workflow?

M.M.: My workflow is rather mechanical and is therefore easier to schedule and accomplish. The overall sound is of utmost importance to me, and I try never to sacrifice timbre for ease of performance or for specific instrumentation. I use a MIDI keyboard as well as the IMSLP (and other) paper sources. I believe I am able to notate in MuseScore rather quickly now, and have discovered many shortcuts in the software (keyboard, plug-ins,…) that facilitate rapid entry. Once a score is entered into MuseScore, I use my ear to (hopefully) validate the score, and then I begin on the arrangement. The unusual aspect about myself is that no matter how music is played, I hear something different; a voice becomes an instrument, a subtle melody becomes a solo part, a subdued rhythm becomes a main theme. I always hear something different in a piece and I try to expose what I hear. MuseScore is the tool that allows me to do that in a way that others can experience.

A.T.:Thanks for sharing your experience, Mike. And, concerning sharing, our traditional “MuseScorer of the month question” for you is: what have you shared on MuseScore.com that you’re most proud of ?

M.M.: Strangely enough, the pieces that I love the most or reflect the most effort on my part, are typically the least listened or favorited by others! People love what people love and sometimes the first few notes, if not immediately captivating, result in a miss. I have created some works that I enjoy as much as others do. Of note is my “Point of No Return” for Flute & Harp, a “Debussyesque” manifestation that I carried in my head for quite some time. MuseScore allowed me to hear it and tweak it in interesting ways:

“Point Of No Return” by Mike Magatagan

The three other scores I’d like to put a spotlight on are:

“Hallowed be Thy Name” for Piano & Flutes,

“Toccata & Fugue in D Minor” (BWV 565) for String Quintet, and

“Dixit Dominus” (HWV 232) for Winds & Strings.

Mike Magatagan has completed his goal to create an arrangement and/or transcription of every single composition of J.S. Bach and has published many (but not all yet) of those works on the MuseScore online site. He is currently working on arrangements of G.F. Handel and has been publishing them as well at the request of a follower. Mike has also been recently “driven to rearrange pieces specifically aimed at highlighting the warm compassionate tone of the viola.” Check out his MuseScore page for his arrangements and original compositions, and watch for our next MuseScorer of the month in May!

P.S. Here are two Mike's arrangements posted in March, which I particularly like (both pieces were composed by G.F.Handel).

Yours, Alexander T.

0 notes

yomudda-blog · 7 years ago

Text

Styles Codes and Conventions

Introduction

In the present day, music has established itself in each genre as its own unique style which also proves itself in the music videos created for that genre as they showcase different styles of representing themselves for the audience which is seen similar throughout the same genre - becoming a sort of guideline or stereotype on how the music videos for these genres are made. The genres to be looked at in this research will be from rock, rap and pop to investigate the styles, codes and conventions of each genre.

Rock

Suicide Silence - You Only Live Once

Mise-En-Scene

Generally, in rock music videos, it tends to showcase a darker atmosphere with singers and producers referencing subjects such as death or satanic symbolism, worship or comparison. More specifically in the, 'you only live once' track by suicide silence, the band were dressed more appropriate for the video and more appropriate for the genre in which they dress in monochromatic colours and typically long flowing hair, however, longer into the music video, the band members were decorated to make them seem as if they were shot multiple times with white eyes, giving a sort of undead look. This doesn’t follow rock as a whole but a sub-genre within rock that follows a darker theme and atmosphere.

The band, in the music video, are set at a gun range where people test out possible purchases or where enthusiast shoot for a hobby. What this says about the band is that they're putting themselves out there knowing that people are still going to 'shoot' what possibly is judgement towards them and how they respond to this is what the music video serves as.

In terms of expression, the characters body language displays aggressive movement such as flailing the arms and various head movements which is typical in most songs in rock and as for facial expressions, the band displays a number of expressions with mouths wide open - screaming. Other expressions displayed are shots of anger and defeat at times but iconically they eyes rolled back are what cements this music video as a solid sub-genre of rock.

Sound

In rock, including 'You Only Live Once', most of the shots taken are of the band playing the song. Each movement in the shot is then made to be in sync with the beat or the rhythm of the song playing, meaning that rock songs are often diegetic in terms of sounds. With different rock music videos that follow a story, the sound would then still be diegetic due to the music video then identifying as illustrative or interpretive, meaning that although the band is not seen playing in sync with the song, the music video can still be interpreted to suggest that it has relevance to the lyrics of the song.

Lighting

Rock is a massive genre due to its several sub-genres which create difficulty in sticking mainly with what type of lighting rock music videos would typically use. For instance, you take a music video like 'You Only Live Once' that has a sort of low key lighting to it and compare it to 'Down With The Sickness' by Disturbed that uses high key lighting in the music video both of which use the opposite use of lighting. An argument could be the settings of where the music videos were shot, for instance, the music video for Suicide Silence was shot indoors and although the ceiling lights are to be taken into account, the production company had put effort into the final product look more unsaturated and darker than what it was. The music video for "Down With The Sickness' however, was shot outside, before, during and after the concert. Shooting outside would mean for the production crew that there would already be so much natural light and to add stage lights on top of that would give an over the top high key use of light. Knowing how open and wide of a genre rock is, it would be easier to say that in terms of the usage of lights, rock music videos use a various amount of lighting from both high key and low key lighting.

Camera Angles and Movement

First and foremost, the movement of people in the frame of a camera is what would decide what types of camera angles and shots. Generically rock bands would move in an aggressive way so that their body language almost compliments the song, rhythm or beat so to keep track of what every band member is doing, a long shot or even a medium long shot could be used. As for the facial expressions, rock is very expressive in the way that they creatively burst emotions and to translate that in the form of a music video requires close-ups and extreme close-ups to convey the emotions that the band wants to establish on their songs. Suicide Silence does this too within most of their content. The band can be aggressive and expressive in their forms of body language which aligns the criteria of different shot lists for a rock music video to what Suicide Silence would produce.

Editing

For rock music videos, especially in the sub-genre that 'You Only Live Once' can be classified in, the style of editing heavily depends on the tempo of what the band is playing at. The pace of how the band performs effects post-production in the way that there would be several on-beat or quick cuts that also cater to the stereotype of the specific sub-genre is. To put into an example, the music video you 'You Only Live Once' did contain several quick cuts but also followed the stereotypes and guidelines for music videos in that sub-genre which meant that the music video was more or less leaning towards unsaturation but yet there were subtle tones of blue from the lighting but a vivid red. There were also effects that would blur or put the subject out of focus to exaggerate and or capture emotions in that specific parts of the song.

During production, there were obviously effects that allowed for the band members to look as if a bullet went through them and blood had started to spray but with the help of post-production, the blood effects were later made to look a bit more realistic with a few added CGI of blood splatter of droplets to add for extra effect.

Although dark, this is an almost mainstream way of editing in a large number of sub-genres, for instance, alternative rock, grunge and hardcore punk.

Narrative

Rock is a performance-based genre played by bands, so while it is popular to have just a performance-based music video, it's also popular in rock to make a video relating to the lyrics - interpretive and illustrative videos are now common.

'You Only Live Once' features characters dressed as people that would seem to oppose they're songs and lifestyle, shooting at them with guns. This is a reference back to the title of the song while also following the message of the song itself.

Disturbed - Down With The Sickness

Mise-En-Scene

The music video for Disturbed's 'Down With The Sickness' is set on the day of their concert, showing hundreds of fans reacting to them and the behind the scenes of the concert. The main action shown in the video is the band playing their song in front of the crowd which is typical of the genre of rock music videos. They were also showing expressive body movements such as bobbing the head back and forth while the lead singer uses his hands and feet to stop and flail. There were also moments of explicit hand gestures that aren't safe for the work environment and may be offensive towards people sensitive to those actions. Arguably this is a common action in rock and even in rap as in the perspective of the band it's only another way of expressing the emotions of the song but also its apart of the culture of rock. The culture of rock also includes dark monochromatic colours and materials such as leather, such as seen in the music video among the crowd and even the band itself as they wear things like a leather jacket and accessories such as a choker.

Sounds

The whole music video of 'Down With The Sickness' follows the band as they perform their concert. Clearly, we should then expect the sound to be diegetic - in sync with the band's mouth movement and instruments. However, there are moments in the music video when they cut to the behind the scenes footage which have no relation to the lyrics of the song and the motive of the music video. These show hints of non-diegetic sound which creates a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic in the music video.

Lighting

Since the music video is set in the band's concert, it is expected that there should be a mixture of multiple sets of lights for every part of the song. The difference can be seen within the verses and the chorus in which the verse has shown the lead singer on top of a light source pointing to his chin which creates a low key use of lighting while in the chorus every band member is more visible, showing an equal amount of lighting on the faces of all the members - high key lighting.

Throughout the song, there was also a play on the lighting. There were moments in the concert were the light intensity behind the band would fluctuate from dim to bright and dim again. There were also other lighting effects such as strobe lights creating a sort of choppy effect on the music video.

Camera Angles and Movements

The camera angles in the video were things that were made to cater to a concert based music videos. They displayed angles and shots such as extreme close up which is an essential to concert based music videos as the from the crowds far end it would be hard to make out his facial expression. They were also shot with medium shots and medium long shots which is a way to capture the actions the instrumentalists and the singers were doing. There was also a moment in the music video were the medium long shot was combined with a tilted frame creating a sense of realism in the sense that it looked as if it was shot in the perspective of a person. Most camera shots in the music video also seemed as if they were handheld which further helped create the realism, also being most fitting to the style of music being played.

Editing

The editing of the music video was pretty simple in the way that it looks as if the post-production crew wanted to capture the realistic atmosphere at the concert and so little colour correction was done apart from the moments where the crew made some of the shots and scenes black and white.

The video itself also seemed like it was fast paced which can be done through keeping shots and scenes fast, meaning that there were a lot of cuts in the video throughout which also matched the tempo of the song.

Narrative

As is most rock music videos, this music video is very performance based as it is filmed at a concert. The message and or story of the song isn't seen through the performance so it restricts the music video to be interpretive or illustrative and so it is strictly performance based.

Queen - I Want To Break Free

Mise-En-Scene

The music video for Queen's 'I Want To Break Free' doesn't follow the general look an audience not well-versed in rock would expect. It doesn't contain an excessive amount of flashy lights and neither does it have any symbolism or tones associating with darkness or evil. Instead, the characters, the band members, are cross-dressed to each fit a role of female family members. For instance, a band member maybe dressed as a grandmother while another maybe dressed as a secondary school girl. Overall it doesn't meet the typical expectations but caters to a narrative meaning the colours would and overall tone are affected. This is seen just in the music video as a whole where we see that Queen wear or present feminine colours in their videos such as pink, black, white or a light blue on their clothes or the colour scheme of the house they shot in.

Makeup is a noticeable thing in this music video especially as it is the way makeup is worn to be feminine. Wearing makeup isn't new to rock as you have people like Marilyn Manson appearing to wear pale foundation. However, it's not a lot of that you would see big-name rock bands wear makeup how a woman would.

Sound

The music video simply kept it music diegetic, as do most music videos in their genre especially since the music video followed a narrative it can be considered as interpretive but is concretely a music diegetic video.

Lighting

Seen in the music video, the lighting in the music video varies on the set they're on. For instance, when in the setting of the house, they used high key lighting which essentially created more of a home atmosphere which strived more towards realism. However, when moving to the darker setting, low key lighting was used more than they did with high key lighting which added more depth and focuses on the band.

In the video the colour of the lights also differed from setting to setting as it is seen in the house setting, the lighting was provided with a pale yellow appearance. When moving to the darker setting with the band performing in the middle of people wearing headlights, it showed whiter lighting compared to the other dark set with interpretive motion that showed a warmer orange tone.

Camera Angle and Movements

The music video used what could be considered the generic set of camera shots today, but would be considered the start of experiments on music videos as at this stage, music videos were in its early stages. When discussing the types of camera shots to be used in the generic shot list for music videos, it would include all sorts of close up, a medium and long shot as well as tilting the camera for a low angle shot to give the performers a powerful appearance, all of which Queen included in the music video.

Editing

On the side of post-production, the music video itself seemed pretty simple, there would be nothing to talk about in colour correction as that sort of technology would be applied more towards movies. However, there were a series of transitions such as masking and side swipes which are, nowadays, simple and unfashionable in the production industry. The post-production can then be said as having a simple approach as what was mostly used was transitions, other than that the footage itself was left nearly untouched.

Narrative

The music video followed an interpretive narrative - strongly showing symbolism and representation when watching the band in the darker setting. The narrative was inspired by the AIDS crisis in Britain around the 80's in which unusual cases of pneumonia was detected mostly among homosexual men creating negative cohesion in the UK towards the homosexual community of that time. The narrative of the lyrics especially the video to it then protests to that, as the band member of Queen crossdress supporting the openly gay, Freddie Mercury, in his statement that implies that it's what he is and he's going to stand by that as he says, "You're so self-satisfied I don't need you".

Elvis Presley - Jail House Rock

Mise-En-Scene

Being one of the earliest examples of music videos, the music video is straightforward in the terms of creativity. The music video takes from the set of plays or musicals at the time as experienced in the music video, the set being used is a two-floor, handmade jailhouse which clearly also caters to the song. The characters being involved here are extras meant to play the role of other inmates that interact and dance with Elvis Presley. As inmates, they are expected to wear jail clothing but altered to make it more fashionable. It's also a performance so dancing is involved as well as the instrumentalists such as the saxophonist or the trombonist.

The hair and makeup seen, is an iconic feature in the music video especially since it what the mark of what the 50's left on fashion. Elvis, as well as the other performers, wore either tight leather trousers or bootcut trousers as well as the fashionable pompadour or slicked back hair that was a popular style among men at that time.

Sound

The sound in the music video is music-diegetic as this is performance-based and so the sound has to be in sync with the performer as well as also relating to the actual lyrics to the song which is clear.

Lighting

The main and only lighting in this music video can only be high key lighting as the set was in front of a live audience which meant that all of the audience had to have clear vision of the performers at all angles and it would also help editing due to the fact that there was no software to edit the recorded footage to increase any brightness or contrast as editing in the 50's was limited to the cutting the film and taping it together in assembly.

Camera Angles and Movements

The camera movement, shots and angles done for the music video was basic in the sense of it's what you would see if someone were to see a performance live on-stage nowadays. Movement such as tracks would be a priority as well as cameras at different angles off stage that would track the performer if they were to go to a different section of the stage. At most live performances, the camera angles are mostly from a low angle, however, with the 'Jailhouse Rock' the camera angle is a bit above eye-level also using shots such as medium close up, medium shot and very long shot.

Editing

During the 50's there wasn't any technology to edit the way we could today, which would mean the only thing that they could do in post-production is to assemble the footage they had through cutting the films the length they wanted it and then taping the films back together to make the jump between cameras or shots possible.

Narrative

The narrative of this is video was mostly performance-based, although it did follow what people were doing, they were ultimately performing as they were 'Dancin' to the Jailhouse Rock'. It could then be said that the song and the video for it were meant for a dance that was meant for the song which makes the lyrics and the narrative more literal as it narrates what to do.

Carly Pearce - Every Little Thing

Mise-En-Scene

The music video for the song is simple in the way that the set stays the same, and not much is being done other than performing or recording in the studio. That being said, the instrumentalists are gathered in a studio which showcases the typical studio equipment and instruments. There are not any fashion statements in the music video despite being country rock, the performers dress casually. Other things to also notice is the emotions or facial expressions being made by the vocalists. the vocalists are meant to be the physical and visual emotion of the song as it is quite melancholy and so it would only be suited to have them look reserved and sad or really expressive at the time the song demands it.

Sound

When filming at the studio, there would be nothing more to sounds than obviously synching it to lip movements and the beat. Clearly, it would then be music-diegetic as it's supposed to.

Lighting

The lighting in this music video tends to be more low-key which shows more of a dramatic effect and mystery of some sort. it also helps create depth to the video as shadows are associated with loneliness or individuality at times which also matches the theme of the song.The colour selection of the lighting is also interesting as it furthers or creates more effect and depth to the video. Red is the warmest colour yet she's going through a break up which should mean that they should be using blue. However, there are little streaks of blue in the video which could also mean that red symbolises anger or fury instead to cover up her sadness or loneliness.

Camera Angles and Movements

For this idea, the camera crew is restricted to a small space meaning that all far shots such as long shots are out of the question, it also doesn't go well with the theme of the song. As it is a breakup song, more emotion needs to be seen so the shots taken were mainly close-ups and a middle shot. The instruments also needed recording and for that, there were over the shoulder shots manly focusing on the instruments or extreme or just close-ups.As for camera movement, there were times when the camera was on a slider or being handheld as you can see from time to time the camera would pan from left to right or vice-versa.

Editing

Looking at the video as a whole, it was given the cinematic effect either through a natural resolution or added black bars when cropped. It's also been a warmer tone to it - making yellow lighting seem orange and making red look warmer. A faded effect was also applied making it look more appealing and a bit grainy which pairs nicely with the faded footage. Other than that there were no special transitions which in my opinion seems like a good choice as major transitions would put the audience out of the mood.

Narrative

As for the narrative of this music video, it is solely performance-based as it is only filmed in the studio. This wouldn't come across as a surprise though as through researching the music videos for rock, it's easy to say that most Music videos come at least with a short segment of them playing their instruments. Although showing emotion it would mostly defy as a performance.

RAP

Lil Pump - Boss

Mise-En-Scene

For the past three decades, rap has taken on many forms and evolved in ways that would cater to the present audience. The way rappers are now dressed in music videos may have a different style to what rappers of early 2000's and 90's would wear. Now, rappers like Lil Pump are dressed in more simple and fit clothing from designer brands and are decorated in golden or jewelled accessories such as a watch, gold teeth or belt as seen in his music video for 'Boss'. Rappers mostly boast about their possession in nowadays rap culture so jewellery is seen as a must-have to wear for a shoot. The 'Boss" music video also showcased a range of cars from different brands as well as all the women he had dancing in the background for this shoot which is one of the factors in rap that have remained in trend for the past three decades. Rap is a genre that is not restricted to a set and can be set anywhere so long as its reasons with the lyrical atmosphere but as for the 'new wave' of rap, settings are more typically held at clubs or at someone's house and maybe at a car parking lot. Unlike rock and pop, rap songs can have several settings with no correlation to each other as seen in Lil Pump's music video, he's seen in at least 5 settings, while a rock and pop music video would have to stick to a linear narrative and are restricted to the story of the lyrics

Sound

Like rock, rap music videos tend to be performance-based and while it can be strictly performance, other shots of things relating to the lyrics the artists is rapping can be used to replace some performance shots. Similarly, this would mean rap music videos can be interpretive while also being illustrative.

Lighting

Nowadays the rap culture has become more vibrant in terms of colour with artists such as Lil Pump and Goldlink influencing the new wave of rap. Adjusting to today's standards, lighting has also evolved to suit artists' unique visual styles. Multiple music videos, including 'Boss', have then adjusted and use a lot of tinted lights. In 'Boss' there were a lot of high key lights in purple and pink which comments the artist's visual presence.In other sub-genre of rap, grime, for example, natural lighting is used more frequently to create that genuine 'street' atmosphere but also use soft lighting just to keep lighting high key, especially when shooting at the night time.

Camera Angles and Movement

The camera work in this music video is mostly handheld and aggressive in the sense that the majority of the shots taken had a vibrating aesthetic or moving in patterns that mimic head bobbing or shaking from a point of view. Such camera work has been seen as popular in music videos today and is inspired by dance videos on social media that started circulating at around 2015 or 2016. Rappers, especially in the 2010's and onwards, commonly share pride in or boast about their power and wealth and to capture this, most shots are shot at a low angle that looks up at the artist thus creating that feeling of a higher power. As far as capturing the wealth they have, camera shots are being taken a higher angle to look down on the artist as he or she showcases their material possession both of which, is seen in Lil Pump's 'Boss' as we transition from the shot of him at the stares that was shot from a low angle to him sitting on top of a driving car that was shot at a much higher angle. A majority of rap music videos being released after 2014 often lack a message with artists like Lil Pump being an example as he mainly focuses his music on topics relating to his riches, successful people or himself. Being aware of this, shots such as close up's serve a rather more different purpose due to the lack of emotion being needed by the song which would mean that close up shots are there to serve as assistance to understand what the artists are saying through visuals. Meanwhile, other shots such as a medium shot, long shot like to be used in these kinds of music video as it also helps with what the artist is trying to show, for instance, the girls he has dancing next to him and his cars.

Editing

The editing in Lil Pump's 'Boss' seem to mainly use two softwares to piece this together with the first obviously being Adobe Premiere Pro as it's used to assemble and colour the music video but also the use of Adobe After Effects is seen in the music video. Right at the beginning the text being used was most likely run through after effects as the neon style of colouring and glow to it show. Additionally, you see more use of After Effects with Lil Pump himself as he glitches and distorts acting almost as a transition. The only major editing in Premiere Pro is what's considered being bubblegum filtered which is the way the video is coloured. In today's rap music video, artists such as Lil Uzi and The Weekend are examples of artists that are known for having bubblegum features. The way they achieve this type of effect is simply with the help of pink and blue coloured lights which they make 'warmer' through Premiere Pro. They would also fade the video a little bit and make it grainy but not to where it's clearly visible which gives Lil Pump's music video a little retro theme.

Narrative

A lot of music videos today, including 'Boss', are interpretive meaning that although they may have lines in their lyrics that have a message, the majority is about their lifestyle and success which is shown through the actual literal visual representation in their music video. Rap is also about the artist communicating with their audience about what they did or what they have which means that 'Boss' while being an interpretive music video, it mostly falls under being a performance-based music video.

Kojo Fundz - Dun Talkin (Remix) (Ft. Fredo, Yung Bxne, Frisco & JME)

Mise-En-Scene

UK rap, also known as grime, mostly describe what happens on the streets or what happens from person to person hence when talking about the streets then the music video would naturally be set on the street as did 'Dun Talkin' do. 'Dun Talkin' had two main locations, the first being an empty street in the night time and in front of a warehouse. It also featured a lot of extras being the artist(s)' friends or locals willing to join which what grime tends to include in most of their music videos as the chime in sync to the song or dance. A distinguishable feature in UK street clothing is wearing matching tracksuits or puffer jackets mostly from Ellesse or stone island which is what artists normally wear and something that everyone in the music video has in common. Additionally, another recurring prop in a lot of grime music videos is the use of cars or other vehicles which although common in American music videos The wider usage of vehicles in the UK rap music videos, including this music video, compared to American music video definitely makes vehicle features more of a grime thing.

Sound

As it is a rap music video including artists that perform in front of the camera it would only be natural for the sound to be in sync which would make the music video music-diegetic.

Lighting

The lighting in the music video uses high key lighting over low key lighting since the video was shot at night meaning that with low key lighting it would be harder to see all the people on camera. Additionally, the low key lighting wouldn't match the theme and overall tempo of the song which would be important as it is lighting is a subtle but big difference when attempting to give emotion to the song.

Camera Angles and Movement

Low angle shots are consistently used in this music video which is something common in the rap genre as a whole and has to do something with rappers being egotistical, wanting to rise in power, which is what the angle serves as. The camera work also shows numerous shots where the tilt the camera and pan or track the performers while another thing to notice is that although the music video seems rushed or aggressive at times, the camera was never handheld, instead the movement of the crowd more or less created the handheld-looking effect combined with the close up shots. Relating to shot type, the main types of shots being used were extreme close-ups, close up, medium close up, medium shot, long shot and extreme long shot, all of which cater to movement in parts of the music video while also capturing the emotion of the crowd.

Editing

Aside from the basic colour correction, the most interesting thing about the music video was it's transition since it did not contain much of a storyline, the transitions compensated to keep the audience interested. The way shots had transitioned from shot to shot or a different set had a good flow to it emphasising the fact it wasn't overly edited and was easy to watch. The video used a series of swipes and transitions that would zoom in and or zoom out which lead to another event quite smoothly as well as the occasional distortion that would transition into the next verse or chorus.

Narrative

The music video was in fact strictly performance based as all it was was a crowd chiming in sync with the song only making gestures and movements to act the song.

2PAC - Dear Mama

Mise-En-Scene

'Dear Mama' follows a story 2Pac tells about his mother in the form of a story which would mean that there would be a lot of thoughts and consideration into the music video too make it as real possible. The people in the music video were portraying 2Pac and his friends and families growing up which includes 2Pac himself, his sister and mother as well as her associates and the people 2Pac knew. To be able to follow realistic situations, the actors that were chosen to be of similar ages to what is portrayed by the story. This would include following the clothing fashion of the time as young 2Pac would grow. They would dress men in tight t-shirts and trousers with boot cuts. In the music video, there were also a lot of references to crime described by 2Pac when growing up. Props such as marijuana or crack cocaine would be used as well as all the materials to be able to do those drugs. when moving to the prison set, the crew had filmed in a set made by the creative team to simulate a real jail cell. As for the house, the set was the actual house 2Pac grew up in making for an even more authentic aesthetic.

Sound

The music video is music-diegetic even though there was little performance. It's music diegetic in the sense that the lyrics were acted out by the characters in a music video following a narrative.

Lighting

The music video consists of a majority of low key lighting shots which in turn created more depth and a dramatic effect. It helps with the fact that the video idea is an analepsis meaning that the emotions of the memory were dark or at times highlighting parts of the face that needs emphasis such as a smile or eyes. The choice of low key lighting that consistently show through most shots is also something to be noted as although it is supposed to have depth, there are scenes that require the setting to be seen more of rather than mostly enveloped in a shadow.

Camera Angles and Movement

In terms of camera movements and different kinds of shots, the music video uses most of the angles and shot types, ranging from using tilted frames to low angle shots as well as high angle shots. A rang of close-ups were as well to show more emotion as it is a life story but then also zooms out using most types of shots until a long shot to be able to show more movement or action. In the video, there were also shots of POV that was combined with a weak fisheye lens to also give that unclear memory or state of being high or drunk which allows the audience to get a better grasp of what 2Pac was feeling at that point of his life.

Editing

In editing, there were parts of the music video that had been either been made colder or warmer depending on the set. For instance, in the jail cell that 2Pac was in was made colder - showing more of a blue tone while in a shot of him as a child running away from police in the afternoon was made to look warmer to match the weather. There were also parts of the music video where there would be the use of distortion or a warping effect around where the vignette would be found. This, combined with a fisheye lens would create a POV shot of a blurry or unclear memory. As for transitions, they would use mostly use film dissolves to another memory or even to the photo album which also acted out as a transition. Aside from that, basic transitions such as dip to black are seen used frequently in the video also.

Narrative

The music video was filmed and shot as a linear narrative of an analepsis 2Pac had, meaning that the music video followed a story based off of his memories as it goes through what 2Pac described how much his mother would mean to him and her importance in his growing up.

The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper’s Delight

Mise-En-Scene

Being the first rap song to exist, 'Rapper's Delight' was published and distributed at around 1979 where disco and boogie was the trend in America. This would mean that the sort of clothing that you would typically see hip-hop artists wearing all stems from the disco clothing as seen in the music video where the artists wore clothing that was known for being popular in that time. You would also see colours that aren't commonly associated with hip-hop in this music video such as yellow or purple as rap tends to lean on more monochromatic colours. The video is also seen to be set in a disco where the audience was more interactive in the sense that instead of spectating they were also participating. The dances in the music video also tell that even old hip-hop and new hip-hop are more connected in a way as both displays dancing a repetitive action or set of action over a simple beat, almost like today's hip-hop music video.

Sound

The music video was music diegetic which would also help the fact that the song is fast-paced compared to what the audience of the time would be adjusted to so having the rappers' lip movements to be in sync with the song to help the audience understand what the rappers would be saying.

Lighting

The lighting in the music video can be said to be very typical to the 70's with bright, multicoloured strobes or lights that would alter in patterns on the wall or ceiling. There was also clothing in the music video that had a sort of disco ball aesthetic to it that reflected light on to the wall or back at the camera sometimes, creating light streaks at a point. Essentially being indoors performing an upbeat song wouldn't require much emotion or depth so as well as all the light effects, the whole music video was shot in high key lighting to also show everything in the frame clearly.

Camera Angles and Movement

In concerts, there would some certain blind spots or difficulty seeing the performers due to distance it would be hard to see what the performers are feeling or doing. Rap is just introduced to the audience of the music video, it would be hard to understand it with just the audio, so certain close-ups such as medium close-ups and a standard close-up helped the audience in understanding what the artists were saying. The music video contained also contained a lot of movement and people in the frame, which meant that shots like medium shots and long shots had to be used alongside angles to make the video seem more transparent.

The camera work in the music video was similar to what you would see at concerts much like the Elvis Presley's 'Jailhouse Rock'. There were different cameras stationed at different locations pointing towards the artists at a different angle, however, unlike 'Jailhouse Rock' the artists remained in one place just dancing and performing so the need for the cameras to face other section of the stage would be unnecessary.

Editing

During this time, music videos were still filmed and recorded on film that still had to be cut and stuck together with tape after being developed. As simple as filming technology was, recording with film still continued for long after the 70's.

Narrative

The whole music video was performance-based. Similar to a dance video, this music video introduced rap to the world as it became a transition from disco and boogie to becoming a trend that's been big in the music industry even up to date.

Public Enemy - Fight The Power

Mise-En-Scene

'Fight The Power' was filmed partially as both a political rally and performance. That would make the people in the background the protestors and members of Public Enemy the performers. The signs being held up by the crowd were very political as would most signs of a rally be. They had statements on the signs that would be against the racial tension in New York City, specifically Brooklyn.Aside from the crowd Public Enemy performed in clothes that stood out as very typical of 80's hip-hop as you would see the uniquely unorthodox way of pieces and piecing of clothing such as the mix match of the top hat, sunglasses and clock on a neck chain.The performance itself took place on a street in Brooklyn, setting up a stage for Public Enemy to share the song and to protest at the same time. The stage was a standard stage set for concerts involving big speakers, lights and equipment.

Sound

The sound was music-diegetic as Public Enemy performed in front of a live audience, a lag in sound would be complicating and chaotic.

Lighting

The lighting in the music video was predominantly high-key lighting since the performance was outside, the crew would have no control over natural lighting.

Camera Angles and Movement

As a recurring way of recording a live performance, the cameras were placed at different angles of the stage to capture the different sides of the performance. It also involved different cameras shooting at different scales to get close-ups, extreme long shots, long shots and medium shots. The only difference about this music video compared to previous performance-based music videos that were analysed is that this music video was more interactive which meant that off-stage, there had to be a handheld camera following the performers. This then opened up the options to what they could do in terms of shooting creatively as there are shots in the music video that were tilted at an angle and closed up on the MCs.

Editing

The 1980's saw the computerisation of video which leads on to 1989 where the AVID1, a media composer that was capable of digital editing. This music video produced in the same year after the creation of AVID1 and is one of the first to be digitally edited. For that time technology could only go as far as to adding effects, splicing as well as the standard assembly, however, the music video seemed to only have used standard assembling.

Narrative

The music video is another performance-based music video which followed the members of Public Enemy as they partially protest and perform on the streets of Brooklyn. During the time this music video was made, there were already racial tensions in America but Brooklyn had experienced an excessive amount of cases such as police brutality and hate crime which was what lead Spike Lee, the director of 'Do The Right Thing' to ask Public Enemy to convey a message suiting to the movie and the affairs of that time.

Pop

Ciara - Body Party

Mise-En-Scene

The music video for 'Body Party' is set around a mansion mainly in the living room where the party is or around the library where Ciara would perform in front of rapper, Future. In the party room, the generic party seen in films or music videos involve people everywhere in the room talking/drinking/dancing/ playing a game of some sort. In the other room, where Ciara and Future are seen alone, it's clear to see that the library of the house was used for this part of the music video. In this room, Ciara is seen wearing more revealing clothes as she aims to seduce future in an attempt to arouse him which is opposite to what she would wear in the party. In the party, Ciara wore more clothing not as revealing but more so fashionable.

Sound

The music video was music diegetic which would also help the fact that this is leaning more towards a performance-based music video meaning that syncing up lip movements to the song or doing things relating to the song is what is done throughout the whole music video.

Lighting

In 'Body Party' both high key lighting and low key lighting was used depending on the set they were filming on. For instance, there were glimpses in the music video where Ciara would dance in front of a light to create a silhouette essentially being low key lighting. In a situation where there were people interacting - the party or the cutscene of Future and Ciara talking per say, they would lean more towards using high key lighting.The colour of the lighting would also depend on where they were. At the scene where they were in a party or outside, a more orange-y tint was used as to when Ciara was alone dancing in front of a light or when she was dancing for Future, the colour of the lighting changed to a more blue-ish white light.

Camera Angles and Movement

Throughout the whole music video, the most consistently used angles were low angles as well as eye level. In the video, the camera was stabilised to as it would match the overall tempo of the song and lyrics. Most camera shots being used were close-up, mid shots but more long shots since the main movement in the whole video was dancing which means every move would need to be captured.

Editing

The editing for 'Body Party' is simple in the sense that it's not over-edited to the point where there would be a layer of animated graphics or any special effects. The only layers of the edit would probably be colour correction and colour grading as well as the text in the intro. Aside from the layers the only other major component in the editing would be the cut on the beat to the song.

Narrative

The music video seems to be a prolepsis, almost an epiphany from Futures perspective as the music video follows a linear narrative from the party to Future meeting Ciara. Additionally, the music video can also be seen to a performance-based video as in the party set there were dancing as well as in the video as a whole Ciara is singing the lyrics which is performing.

BigBang - Bad Boy

Mise-En-Scene

The music video for 'Bad Boy' was set in the Bronx of New York, famous for its more urban outlook and overhead train lines which is one of the main sets Big Bang was filmed on. Being a K-Pop group in New York, the group was made sure to be filmed with an undisturbed environment which meant that what would make viewers that aren't local to the area automatically relate it to New York is the fact that the place wasn't touched in the sense that there was no cleanup on the street they were on before they filmed the video or any special effects at post-production that clean up any graffiti or improve buildings. This captures the true environment which made the video look more aesthetically pleasing.K-Pop is infamous for the unique style of clothing that the bands wear. 'Bad Boy' being a perfect example, the main essence of K-Pop clothing is looking as urban or as trendy as they could. For instance, a member of Big Bang performing in the music video wore a bomber jacket with multiple patches in black printed denim and spiked shoes - not practical but acceptable streetwear.

Sound

The music video was clearly sound-diegetic as the main actions in a generic K-Pop video is singing and dancing which would need to agree with the song or sounds in the music video.

Lighting

The music video was set outdoors and had multiple continuous shots which would often limit the filming crew in terms of lighting and portability. The video would then be shot mostly using natural high key lighting, most likely using a reflective whiteboard which would help at least redirect some light on to the parts that need more lighting.

Camera Angles and Movement

The music video displays multiple camera angles and movement, almost using all kinds of shots too. In the video, the group was shot in almost all camera shots - leaving out extreme close up, the main focus to the video was the groups' performance which couldn't be captured on an extreme close up. However, there were also close-ups still being used. The point of this was to use shots that would still show a group member's facial expressions while still capturing the choreography.The movement of the camera in the music video also shows some importance to the music video as there were several high angle shot that declined down to low angle shot which makes it most likely that using a crane or jib would be a key component to this music video. Additionally, the music video seems to be filmed handheld as there where multiple shots that tilted and panned on to another band member in transition.

Editing

Capturing the environment of the Bronx is one of the main things the music video aimed to convey, and by doing so in post-production the editors put less temperature over the footage to get even the weather to match the theme of the song. The colour grading of the song is also very important is it also contributes to showing the emotions of the lyrics as well as the general atmosphere the song shows which was done by unsaturating footage as well as fading it a bit and making the video more of a blue-ish green.

Narrative

The song follows the group around a part of the Bronx while performing. Its the clear that the music video was performance based that follows the groups general theme of apology in the song.

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu - PONPONPON

Mise-En-Scene

There were multiple sets in this but mainly the set where Kyary Pamyu Pamyu performs in a room with multiple toys that were very colourful. In Japanese Pop, this would be a very popular trend as mainstream Japanese Pop the videos tend to contain more colours, especially a cream, pink or blue colour.The fashion in this music video is also strikingly unique as it wouldn't be a go-to costume for any music video but is actually a Japanese street fashion style called Decora. With Decora, an individual could be as over accessorised as they want, they could tend to be very colourful and mismatching the same type of clothing but with different colours.

Sound

The music video was both diegetic and non-diegetic at times. At the times where Kyary Pamyu Pamyu was singing, the song was music diegetic but at the times where there were multiple focuses in the frame, the music would not be diegetic as what the frame shows is not related to the song.

Lighting

The lighting in the music video was high key studio lighting as they only had one physical set and using low key lighting wouldn't watch the atmosphere of the song.

Camera Angles and Movement

The camera work in the music video isn't as sophisticated as the previous examples. The camera was still the entire video which meant that it could have been filmed on a tripod and for other scenes, the camera would zoom in from a long shot, medium shot or close up on a green screen.

Editing

'PONPONPON' was a heavily edited music video which is also the main focus of the whole music video. Kyary Pamyu Pamyu was put in front of a green screen that edited had her background appear as a very organised, chaotic and colourful. There were also traces of a lot of CGI and graphics such as the eyeballs or the carousel that was surrounding her head and even the texts that said either 'PON' or 'WAY'. The music video was also saturated but also quite faded but at some point very vibrant and bold. There were also parts where Kyary Pamyu Pamyu face was pink which was unclear to me as it was either achieved through makeup or any post-production software.

Narrative

The music video had no relation to the lyrics at all which would probably mean that the music video was conceptual.

Ed Sheeran - A Team

Mise-En-Scene

The whole music video seems to follow a girl going through a city, first starting off at a park which then leads to the storefront of a florist, then at a parking lot to a hotel and ends at her house. The whole concept of tracking the girl through the city restricts the number of props they could use since the girl would e travelling place to place which would mean that any props they use would have to be portable such as the blanket the girl was bringing around with her. To also face weather issues the girl also had to wear multiple layers keep warm which also helped her achieve a sort of homeless look along with the ripped fishnet tights and ripped gloves.

Sound

The sound was music diegetic. Although the performance itself wasn't on there, the whole music video followed a narrative that relates to the song which makes it diegetic.

Lighting

The lighting on this music video only used natural and artificial lighting from their surroundings which created a more authentic look to it. This would, in turn, make the story or music video look more realistic as you wouldn't find someone well lighted everywhere they go.

Camera Angles and Movement

The camera work in this music video seems very simple as although the plot was decent the whole video looks as if it was handheld on a DSLR. Since the video wasn't run by a major label producer, the music video was not limited to creativity which is why the various shots they had covered all the types of shots there were.

Editing

The editing of the music video was quite simple as it only had required to greyscale the video as well as the standard cutting on the beat.

Narrative

The video follows a linear narrative of a girl that travels around the city and works multiple non-skilled jobs to satisfy her drug addiction such as a magazine distributor and a prostitute.

John Mayer - Still Feel Like Your Man

Mise-En-Scene

'Still feel like your man' uses a set inspired by East Asian culture. The fact that the Chinese panda was among a crowd wearing clothes inspired by Japanese and Korean traditional clothing proves that some of East Asia's lore or culture has some relevance to the song. Additionally, the clothes Mayer wears in the music video is still Western and quite casual which suggests that he may be in unfamiliar territory which puts him in a position to establish his presence. The set itself is a Japanese inspired interior with multiple East Asian plants such as the Bonzai or Bamboo and walls with the iconic sliding doors popular in East Asian architecture.Multiple props came into making the plot for this music video such as the representation of battling for love through Kendo, Japanese sword fighting art which uses the Bamboo practice swords and the full set of guards. The main object that John Mayer fights for a butterfly which is a Chinese legend about a guy not being able to marry a girl because her parents had arranged to marry her to someone else also plays a big part in this as it relates to the song as Mayers attempts desperately to get his partner back.

Sound

The sound in this music video is diegetic.

Lighting

The producers, for this music video, have decided to use lighting to match the overall theme of the set. Countries like China or Japan are often associated with the colour scheme of red and yellow which is what the producers used as lighting -red and yellow lights. There were also different colours used to suggest an emotion or to associate with any symbolism. For instance, the blue could associate the Mayers' state of loneliness which is also presented physically as he was by himself in the elevator lit blue. The same blue was also used again but in a different situation that would produce a different outlook. The blue lighting in the sword fighting segment could suggest that although he's there with the person, he may feel as if he's fighting alone. This segment is also the part where most of the lowkey lighting is used as this is where the song gets slow and serious, aside from that the rest of the song was done in high-key lighting.

Camera Angles and Movement

Being limited to an indoor space, the creativity of the camera work had to increase. The creativity was then shown at the part where Mayers steps into the room and all the actions, movement and reactions were caught in a shot either using a crane or a stabilized camera. There were also parts where the camera tilted during the sword fight which created a slower feeling which also compliments the tempo change. Apart from that the camera shots being used were basically all basic camera shots excluding extreme long shot

Editing

The main editing of this music video was mainly the colour correction and colour grading. Although the lighting already helped a lot with colours, the editors still had to raise the temperature of the music video and colour grade it a bit.

Narrative

The music video was a performance-based song that also followed a linear narrative of old Chinese legends of unrequited love.

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