What I See- A New Type of Superhero

I recently saw the movie Kick-Ass, a story about an everyday high-school student who is in over his head when he decides to dress and act like a superhero. Kick-Ass has its fair share of cliché moments, as far as a superhero movies goes, however the movie has enough unique qualities to stand on its own in the superhero universe.

Since I began taking media classes, I have become increasingly aware of camera angles and how every scene of a movie is carefully crafted into the underlying vision. Kick-Ass is a superhero movie and with that comes back flips, guns, and action, all which is filmed at high speeds and is not particularly easy to shoot. However, I left the theater feeling completely entertained and transfixed by how each stunt was perfectly captured and presented for the audience to understand.

The film opens with a man in a costume standing on top of a skyscraper. Both high angle and low angles shots are used to capture both the man jumping off the building and the onlookers from the street. Within the movie the action is slowed down just enough for the audience to grasp what is going on. As the man jumped off the building he did so with finesse, almost appearing as if he would walk away from the fall unscathed.

At times, the film puts on the façade of being inside a comic book. There were transitions from live-action to a comic book drawing of the same shot. It is with these transitions the audience never forgets the main vision of the film: a comic-book movie.

The film encompasses just about every shot talked about in class, including wide-angle, close-up, long shot, panoramic view, tracking shot, etc. Some of my favorite scenes are when the pint-sized super-heroine took on the “bad guys” twice her size. The camera first establishes the location through a very wide shot focusing on all of the villains as well as the set, and then the camera zooms into a close up on the adolescent hero to establish her emotion in what she is going up against. As the action starts the film fluctuates from high-speed to slow motion, either focusing on a high kick or gunshot.

The movie has the main superhero action plot as well as the back-story of a teen boy trying to find his place. Both stories are handled quirkily and with entirely unorthodox methods. Still, the formula of Kick-Ass is the perfect blend of cliché and unconventional, making the movie a pleasant surprise.

Jimmy Fallon Experience

Recently I went to a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Since I live in Manhattan, a hobby of mine is watch as many television show tapings as possible. Being as I have a growing interest in media and television I figured that going to television tapings would allow me to watch what I have been learning in class first hand. Personally, sometimes I find that everything that goes on behind the scenes is a little more interesting than the show itself.

When I entered the set I was immediately bombarded by huge camera equipment. At times, the audience is completely blocked because of cameras. Some parts of the audience are blind to the entire set; for these areas, flat screen televisions are hanging in different areas of the ceiling. Also, microphones hang from the ceiling recording the laughter and applause that the audience gives in the duration of the taping. The studio is kept at a very low temperature; I read once inEntertainment Weekly that Jimmy Fallon sweats too much so they had to lower the temperature for his tapings.

Jimmy Fallon reads off cue cards as opposed to a teleprompter. During what would be commercial breaks, Fallon studies the cue cards for his next segment. He does not mess up that much so I assume that this method helps.

What was interesting to me is that there is a girl who walks around with a camera taking pictures of the show as it goes on. I later found out that this is what is called a set photographer, someone who takes pictures of all the action but is not directly involved in the taping. The set photographer is used to take pictures for publicity and just overall cataloging of the particular nights show.

Towards end of the show a bunch of people, myself included, were asked to stand behind the band that was performing that night. On the show I went to the band was Silversun Pickups. I stood on the upper right side of the stage, I was not really visible but that did not matter much to me.

I find that I learn better visually that I ever could by reading or studying a textbook. The tapings of these shows are free and give me a chance to watch and learn more about my potential major, media.

Below are some pictures that the set photographer took for the show:

The Museum of Moving Images

The Illusion of Film

The Museum of Moving Images is a showcase of artifacts and technology that presents an extensive look into the history of media. Throughout my trip to the museum the exhibits that focused on the illusion of film intrigued me. I was excited to see the equipment that led to the development of film. It was fascinating to realize how a thaumatrope, a small disk with a different image drawn on either side, contributed to the birth of cinema and animation. There was also a Zoetrope on display, which is a spinning cylinder with small slits that a viewer looks through and, as the cylinder spins, the pictures come together giving the false impression of one picture. I love how film is not one ongoing stream of video but actually just different pictures being displayed consecutively. The way in which the mind can be so easily manipulated is so fascinating.

Animation like film is just the succession of still images. In the museum there was an exhibit that taught me how to create my own stop-motion animation video; all that was needed was a camera and a few props. Sitting there I slowly created a two second animation, I had to take about twelve photos. I cannot image someone sitting in front of a desk with a camera barley moving props and taking thousands upon thousands of photographs for a feature length film. Even with all the technology America has today, stop-motion animation is still around. Recently, the movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox used stop-motion animation; the film garnered critical acclaim and even an Academy Award nomination.

I learned through the Museum of Moving Images that there is a certain discipline and patience needed in order to be involved in film. The museum is a fascinating place for beginners of the media field and experts alike.