Film
For this I choose to write about Titanic. I choose this movie because it is my favorite movie of all time and also one that I have most likely seen more than any other movie. I also think that this movie is groundbreaking for several reasons including that it was the first movie about the sinking of the Titanic and it also quickly become one of the most known love story classics. 
This film was created in 1997. It was directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. The film began to be filmed in 1995, when Cameron started shooting the footage of the actually RMS Titanic shipwreck. He decided to make this film because he had a fascination with shipwrecks and he wanted to convey the emotional message and thought that the tragedy of the film and the aspect of human lives lost would make this more emotional. At the time that this film was made, it was the most expensive movie ever made with a budget of $200 Million.It was a huge hit once it hit theaters, with being nominated for 14 Academy Awards and winning 11. It was also the first movie to reach the billion mark of initial worldwide gross income. It remained the highest grossing film of all time until 2010.
For those of you who are unaware of the story of the movie: It is about Rose, who is 17 at the time of boarding the ship, and is engaged as well. She boards the ship with her mother and the man she is engaged to. Her mother encouraged her to marry this man because of the finical state of their family. Rose is unhappy about the engagement but feels there is no way out. That is until she meets Jack. Jack won his ticket to the Titanic on a lucky hand of poker, and it only on the ship by pure luck. He is low class, and the opposite of what Rose is used to. They quickly fall in love, and she slowly understands what true love is and the power that it has on you.
James Cameron was the one who wrote the film and described it as “Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic”. I think he did well writing the movie. He wrote it well in the way that the characters are formed and how they act with each other. He waited until after shooting the footage of the shipwreck to began writing the screenplay. He wanted to be sure that he honored the people that did die on the Titanic, and therefore spent six months researching the ships original passengers.
I think that in the way that the camera moves in this movie is really important. Take the scene (Which may be the most famous in the movie) Where both Jack and Rose are on the end of the ship: 
The camera moves around them so that you can see them from different angles as well as see the ship and the sunset in the background. I think that this is important by showing them this way because it shows how magical the moment is. I think that the camera is using the medium shot for this because it is showing them from the waist up and is focusing on the two people, but also showing what is around them. This picture does not do this justice, so here is the youtube link to this section of the movie, the part that I am talking about occurs at 1:00.
youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrEzEkZJGIs]
Something else to consider in this same section of the movie is the transition. With this movie, there are several transitions both between different parts on the ship and also between times. The movie is told through the eyes of Rose as she is older and looking back on her younger years. At the end of this magical moment of the two of them, it starts to fade to the shipwreck footage before switching to the older version of Rose. I am unsure how I would describe this transition but I think it would be a mix of fade in-fade out and creative transitions with how it is shown. I made sure that this is at the end of the youtube clip, so that there can be a better understanding of what I am talking about.
As for talking about one of the not so main characters, this is kind of complicated because although they are not the main character, they still have a big part in the movie.
I choose to talk about Margaret Tobin Brown, who is also known as the unsinkable Molly Brown. She was played by Kathy Bates in the movie. The character is based off of one of the survivors of the Titanic. She boarded the ship in 1912 as a first class passenger, but other than that not much is known about her past I think that she is important in the movie for several reasons. I think for one, it is nice that she is based on a real life survivor that was on the ship. I also think it is interesting in the movie, that although she is first class like Rose and her family, she is nothing like Rose’s mother. She is down to earth and more than willing to give Jack a chance and even help him to win Rose’s heart. She took him to her room and gave him a tux that her son had so that he would have something to wear to dinner and continued to help him out when others tried to throw him to the wolves. That is the main reason why she is important in the movie, because she was the only person on Rose’s side that was trying to push them together and help them be together. She is shown in the second half of the movie being in the lifeboat and asking them to go back and look for survivors in the water because the boat was not full and they could still fit more. She was the only one on the boat that felt strongly enough about the other passengers to voice her mind and make them go back.
As for symbolism in this movie, that is a little more complicated. I think the number one thing that shows symbolism is the Heart of the Ocean neckless which is based off of the hope diamond. 
The first picture shows Rose, and her soon to be husband when he gave her the diamond, and the second is just a close up of the diamond. I think the diamond shows that Cal (the soon to be husband) thinks he is able to buy anything and he thinks he is able to buy Rose by giving her nice things. I think that it shows that he thinks he can show off how rich he is to everyone and this is just another way of showing that. He does not care if Rose likes it or not, he just wants everyone to know how rich he is. I also think the drawing in the film that Jack does of Rose shows some symbolism. 
I think that this is her way of showing Cal that she is on to him and she is not just another piece of art that he can hang on the wall and show his wealth with. She writes on a note on the picture “Now you can lock us both up in your safe”. She is showing that she knows he cares more about the diamond than he does her.
I think that many sound effects can be heard throughout the movie. When they hit the iceberg there are sound effects of the ship hitting it as well as it falling onto the deck of the ship. There is also sound effects of the water rushing through the ship as it is beginning to sink, just to name a few. I think a good example of when a Foley effect may have been used would be when they were at dinner and eating, they may have added in some sounds of forks touching the plates, or of glasses being set down.
Another thing that was hugely important to this movie, was the Celine Dion song “My Heart Will Go On”. This was written in secret by James Horner (Who was the composer for the soundtrack for the film) because Cameron did not want any songs in the movie with lyrics. After they had Celine Dion agree to preform it in a demo, Cameron finally agreed to have it in the movie. It soon became the theme song for the movie, and one that is always thought about. It is amazing how a song that was not supposed to even been in the movie became so popular and made it so much more magical.
Costumes is also something that played a huge role in this movie. I think it was shown well to represent the first class and the not so wealthy, which represented the differences between Rose and Jack.
In the first picture, we see Rose and how proper she is and neat. He hair is neat, and her clothes are perfect, where as in the lower picture of Jack, he is unmatched and rough and his hair looks like it hasn’t been brushed in ages. I think this can be seen through out the whole movie and is the main way you can tell the First Class and the Middle Class on the boat. The hair as well as the costumes can do this.
Lighting is important in film is important as well. I think one of the main scenes in which this is important is when Jack is drawing the picture of Rose as mentioned above in the blog as well. The picture is a very sensual part of the movie and the light in Rose’s room is dim which is making it all that more romantic and erotic. The dimness makes it look more relaxed and less like it is in a formal setting, which is important to make them both feel a little more relaxed with the situation that is going on. Another situation when the light is important is when the ship is sinking. It is dark of course, but between the light that is shown on the boat and the light of the moon it shows the darkness of the moment and how sad it is to everyone. It is chillingly cold and the light shows this. This both show Low Key brightness.
This movie has a ton of visual effects which is part of the reason that this movie had such a huge effect on movies to come. Digital smoke and water were added to make the sinking look more real. The movie also shows magical computer generated graphics by creating the unbelievable by breaking the ship in half and making it sink. You can also see how the effects are important when the people are falling off the ship and into the water. 
This movie is a very emotion movie. I have seen the movie countless times, including 3 times in theaters when it was re-released in 3D. Every time I seen the movie, I experience different emotions which is most of the reason why I love this movie. The emotions change throughout the movie as well. I feel passion, and love, and like there actually is such a thing as true love in the world when Jack and Rose fall in love. They are willing to do anything for each other, and they are also so challenging to each other. Jack pushes Rose to question her life and her values. Then by the time the ship starts to sink, the emotions change. I feel sad, and empty and things that words can not explain to see all those people that lost their lives. Honestly, the worst and most emotion part of the movie is in the end when the ship is still sinking and it shows the old couple in the bed together laying there, and the mother praying to her two young children. I can not watch this part and skip it whenever possible. I wish that I could put into words the way that scene makes me feel, but the closest I can get is a emptiness in the pit of my stomach.
Works Cited:
“The Best Scene in Titanic.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 29 July 2014.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrEzEkZJGIs
“Molly Brown.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 July 2014. Web. 29 July 2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Brown
“Titanic.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 29 July 2014.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/
“Titanic (1997 Film).” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 24 July 2014. Web. 29 July 2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(1997_film)
Post Modern Era
I enjoyed the post modern era for many reasons, one of which was because a lot of new things seemed to be going about. One of these things that I found interesting was the new way of art by taking pictures of normal, every day objects being arranged oddly, or simply being taken as they were found. There are several different artists that choose to do this.
The first artist that I will talk about is Andy Goldsworthy. He was born on July 26th 1956 in Cheshire. He studied fine art at both the Bradford College of Art and Preston Polytechnic, which is where he recieved his Bachelor of Arts degree. The things that are often included in Goldsworthy’s art are things that are found in nature such as icicles, mud, snow, flowers, twigs and stones. He is actually quoted on his work with nature “I think it’s incredibly brave to be working with flowers and leaves and petals. But I have to: I can’t edit the materials I work with. My remit is to work with nature as a whole” (Wikipedia). He has won many awards such as the North West Arts Award from 1979-1982 and again in 1986 and 1989.
This is titled “Pigeon Feathers” This was taken in Leeds, Yorkshire in August 1977. I think this is a good example of finding beauty in the every day objects. Some one else may have just walked right past the feather which were semi buried in the ground, But Goldsworthy, found this beautiful and knew that it was worth stopping and paying attention to. 
The next picture is another of Mr. Goldsworthy. This was is not quite is ‘untouched’. It is still something that is found within nature, but he had to wrap the rock in the petals and it was not exactly as he found it. It is still taking the simple things of life and changing them up a little bit and showing how beauty can be found in nature and the every day objects that we do not give second thoughts about when we walk by them.
This was created in Sidobre, France on the 6th of June 1989 and is titled “Boulder Wrapped in Poppy Petals“
The next picture is another of Mr. Goldsworthy. This one I was unable to find when it was taken, but it is my favorite of his and I could not help myself for putting it in here too. This one is titled “Black Stone, White Fog“. I think this one is simply breathtaking. I love how simple it is and the fog in the background makes it seem almost magical and like it should be in a movie. The black rock at first glance looked like a raven to me, but as I looked at it more and more I noticed it is a normal rock and something that chances are, I would take a picture of.
The next artist that I am going to talk about is Maya Lin. She was born on October 5th, 1959. She is both a American designer and is know for her work on sculptures. Her most famous work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial which is in Washington D.C. I have been there before and it was breathtaking. Not only for the artwork, but because of the meaning. It is one of those things that there are not words for. She was within one of the youngest at Yale University to graduate with an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts in 1987.
This is one of her pieces within her “Recycled Landscapes” exhibitions. which was created in 2009 and was in display in New York. She created the whole exhibit of recycled and old children’s toys and materials. I am unsure what this is actually made of, but it looks to me to be some sort of plastic. I think this was my favorite out of the exhibitions because to me, it is the prettiest. I like the white color and it reminds me of snow and ice.
This is another one of her works in the same exhibitions. I like this one as well. I used to always ask my dad for money so I could play the little machines in the store and see if I could win a prize, and they always came in these little balls. I think it is nice how she took something that would normally be thrown away, but instead she used them and put them all together to make something that looks better than they would apart. I am not so sure that I consider this art…to me anyway…but it is nice to find beauty in the normal, everyday objects.
Here is a picture of Lin’s exhibition.
The next artist (or Artists) that I will talk about are Christo and Jeanne-Claude. They were a married couple who created works of art involving the environment. Something that I found interesting about this couple is that when they flew, they flew in different planes so that if something happened to one of the planes and it crashed, than the other would be alive and able to continue their work. That is some serious passion!!!
They wanted to create a new new of seeing a well known landscape by sometimes doing something as simple as covering it with a sheet.
This is one is one of my favorites. 
It is titled “Surrounded Islands” It was done in the Biscayne Bay which is in greater Miami, Florida. It was created in 1980-83. 11 islands were surrounded with 6.5 million square feet of pink fabric that floated. I am unsure of why it was pick and I think it would have completely changed the picture if it was a different color. Although, with it being pink, I think it offset the blue and the greens of the island. I bet to someone that was unaware of what was going on, it would surprise them greatly to see random pink things floating in the bay.
This is another one of their works. This is the “Wrapped Coast”. It was done in Sydney, Australia in 1968-69. It was one million square feet, in Little Bay. I think this one is super interesting to look at. It looks almost as if it is not wrapped in fabric, but it is just really white rocks. I like the looks of it. I think it is pretty and showing the shapes in the rocks, that may have not been noticed without them being covered. There are many other wonderful pieces of art by this couple, and I hope that some of you take the time to look at more than the two I have shared. They also had a pretty famous “Umbrellas” Where they had different color umbrellas in Japan and in the USA. They were shown to represent the differences and similarities in the life and the use of land between the two countries.
I think this couple is has the artwork that is my favorite from this era. I think it is the simple beauty of things that they are bringing out that is magical. I think that all of the artists on this page find beauty in places that others may have never thought about. I would love to know why Christo and Jeanne-Claude thought it would be a good idea to cover things with fabric. It certainly worked.
Works Cited:
“Artworks | Realized Projects.” Christo and Jeanne-Claude. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 July 2014.
“Artist/Naturalist Andy Goldsworthy.” Artist/Naturalist Andy Goldsworthy. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 July 2014.
“Andy Goldsworthy.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 25 July 2014.
“Maya Lin.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 July 2014. Web. 23 July 2014.
“MAYA LIN STUDIO.” MAYA LIN STUDIO. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 July 2014.
Early Modern: The Influence of the great depression on art
I choose to talk about how the great depression had a effect on the visual arts such as paintings during the early modern era. I choose to do this topic because my father lived through the great depression and always talked about although he was little he remembers things being horrible, and hard for everyone. I think that something as big as the great depression in history would effect everything that was going on at the time and it is interesting to see how it was shown in art, and how looking back at these painting maybe we can understand more how people felt and what it was like to live through such a period.
The great depression was the “longest and most severe depression ever experienced by the industrialized modern world” (artsconnected). With something this big, of course it would have a impact on everything around. “50% of children did not have adequate food, shelter, or medical care” (artsconnected).
Also during this time, there was a lot of experimentation about art such as the artists searching for ways to reach the public more and on a new level that had not been reached before.
To start out, I will start with a picture and not a painting. I feel that by these picture it shows how horrible things really were.
This picture was taken by Dorothea Lange in 1936. It has become very famous, and is called “Migrant Mother“. This picture makes me feel sad not only for the mother but for the children as well. I choose to include this because it shows exactly what was going on during the time, It was a still new form of visual arts with photography. At this time, photography was becoming wide known and showing people how life looked. I think this is beautiful for the fact that I can not imagine what life would be like without a camera. I love taking pictures, and knowing that this was the start of something magical even though it was bad time in our American history.
To me, this picture shows the sadness and worry that this mother feels about worrying how to take care of her children, looking back at the statistic that 50% of children did not have adequate things to live, I can only imagine how this mother would feel during this time when she felt as though she was unable to protect the children that she loves. That is what I personally, see from this picture and it takes my breathe away by showing how hard times were during this period.
This is the next piece of art that I choose. To me this picture is almost as sad as the photography that we looked at above. This is titled “Refugees” and was painted by Leon Bibel in 1938. To me, this shows that the people are trying to move and find somewhere else to settle down where they can better provide for their children. The mother looks scared as does the older child. I also noticed the man and what appears to be him looking at a book trying to read the sign. This I noticed first off and thought that maybe he spoke a different language and was trying to use a book to help him read the sign and find out where his family was headed. The painting is almost dark to show the hard times that this family had seen and how they are trying their best to escape it and make a better life for their family. This is how I feel that a lot of families felt about their lives during the great depression. I think they all felt as though they needed to try to find something better during this hard time.
This is the next painting that I choose to look at. It was painted by Thomas Hart Benton in 1934. This is titled “The Ballad of the Jealous Lover of Lone Green Valley“.
I have some mixed feelings about this painting. I feel that is showing the time period of the great depression to be something different than it is viewed as others. I feel that this shows how things went wrong behind the scenes that not everyone knew about., I think this shows that the men in the front have faces that are hollowed and sad and also kind of scary. I think it shows that they are not well taken care of and are not working and spending their time playing cards and drinking (notice the brown jug that the man farthest right has). Now to the man and the woman in the back, they also look hollowed and hungry and very unhealthy. They are both skinny and have the scary faces as noted before. I think that this is showing that the man no longer cares about anything and is using the knife to make sure he can do what he wants with the woman without having to worry about anything in the world. I think this is sad and it is showing the nightmare that broke out when everyone felt that they had nothing else to loose. 
I think that all three of these pieces of visual art are completely different and show a different way of looking at the great depression. I think that all of them can help us learn more about the time and what it was life to live during that time and survive the living nightmare that many had to go through. As with any big historical period, it will shape everything around including how people view the world and how they interpret it to others. This was one of those times that changed everything in the world, and the arts are one way to look back and see how these things effected the relationship between people.
As a last piece to look at, this is “The Birthplace of Herbert Hoover, West Branch, Iowa” by Grant Wood in 1931. I think that this is completely different than the three above. This is a sign of hope. This is showing that no matter how bad things are at the time, there is hope and it will not be that way forever. That is how I see it. It is showing that there is something to hold on for and to wait because there will be a end in sight if you can hold on long enough. I think that this was something that was very important because it would help people now that this was not going to last forever and although it would change the world, the world is not a horrible place and it will be daylight again soon. 
Works Cited:
http://www.artsconnected.org/collection/146204/the-great-depression?print=true
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Wood
Rebekah Mitchell 