Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life

This movie was funny and very well put together. I really enjoyed the deep colors that helped with the story. I noticed that most of the colors on Franz Kafka really gave his character a darker feel while he tried to write his book. I feel the color choices really helped define the different characters and create the right mood for each scene. I also feel that the comedy level was perfect for this style of film. There was just enough bright comedy, mixed with dark humor to really pull this film off in a captivating way. Again, I really enjoyed it!!!

La Jetee

So far, this has been the best short film that I have seen in our Short Script Analysis class. I have been the biggest fan of 12 Monkeys ever since it first came out and knowing that La Jetee was inspiration for that movie, I enjoyed it even more. I really enjoyed the still shots that made up majority of the film, except for the one shot of the female waking up in bed.

I believe the creativity level for this film was is still signifcantly high considering its originality. And the story was intriguing and easy to follow. And the premise that if time travel were possible, we would not be able to change what has already occured is how time travel seems it would actually work. Which leaves me wondering, if time travel were possible, would we even know?

Life Lessons, Life Without Zoe, and Oedipus Wrecks

Life Lesson was, to me, the best of the three short films that we watched. Life Lessons is about a artist needing his muse in order to create paintings for a deadline. Nick Nolte's character performance was amazing in that he was a very believable character. I, myself, have moments where I look for inspiration, whether it be a person or not.

Life Without Zoe seemed to be a kids movie for sure. It had its funny moments, but I feel that the director was trying to cram a lot of adult oriented actions into a kid's mindset which left the short film rather underdeveloped for me. I feel this could have been a better feature film instead of just a 40 minute short. This could have potenially given the director more time to have to story evolve a little bit better and really help the actors seem more believable.

After watching Qedipus wrecks, I could help but to think it was significantly "dry" humor. This short came across as a mixture between every Woody Allen movied and Ghostbusters. However, I did like most of the acting in this film, especially Woody Allen's character's mother. I do feel this would be a unbelievably bland film without her character involvement, even though she that old annoying mother figure.

An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge

This was a film I watched back in 7th grade for psychology class. As a young adult, I liked the film because of the story and how it was put together. After watching it again, almost 20 years later, I can really appreciate this short even more. To me, the story comes across as the ultimate "life flashing before your eyes" moment. There were many shots that I felt helped the story and almost make you want to start cheering for the main character to get away and live his life. But that would be too easy. And so, to see the film play out with the character losing his life at the end, makes it more devistating and you really feel sorry for him.

I really feel that b&w film can give a somber tone to a story such as this. The contrast value in this short film really helped give the mood for each shot. Again, I feel that it was a good short story.

PEEL: An Exercise of Discipline

After watching this short, I could not help but think that there wasn't behind the mindset of this film. I could easily see myself having been an annoying little child that had trouble dealing with my parents disciplining me.

But, as far as the story is concerned, I really didnt see any particular backstory that helped push the story forward. I actually got bored and was really hoping that something interesting would happen, and then.....nothing. I really felt that it was just bland. There were some shots that i really liked. But, with so little story (in my opinion), the good shots i liked did not make up for the lack of interest i had for the film.

George Lucas in Love

Although I did not watch this film in our class, I have seen it before and I really thought it was a good way to explore how George Lucas could have been inspired for his legacy films, Star Wars. I also like the "quirkyness" of George Lucas's character. All the way around, I feel this is a very original idea for a film. Now, if only George Lucas himself, can come up with another superb movie idea to re-captivate his audience....lol

The Great Train Robbery

This was an interesting film for its time. I really appreciate the different camera angles that were used in telling this train robbery story. And I can appreciate the use of color that was probably painted on each frame in order to give the audience a more vibrant look outside of the normal b&w films most people were use to. I also appreciate the character at the end breaking the fourth wall.