Emotions and Analysis of Film and Cinema

One of the last great films I have seen is “Any Given Sunday” directed by Oliver Stone and starring Al Pacino, Denis Quaid, and Jammie Fox. “Any Given Sunday” is a feature film I viewed on television at home and thoroughly enjoyed. Throughout the movie I was really pulled in and captivated by the film. Football appeals to me as a sports fan and Stone does an exemplary job of showing the nature of the sport in all aspects. The tension between the actors in certain parts of the film is mind gripping and the plot thickens as the film progresses. The film brings out the best of emotions in the viewers as shock, joy, and sadness are all conveyed. Almost every scene I was on the edge of my seat in suspense wondering what would happen next. The movie leaves a lasting vivid image in the viewer’s mind and is a great cinematic production. 

Stone’s film focuses on the reality and drama of a football team and its players. The aspects of greed, glory, fame, and a love of the game of football are shown throughout the film in one of Stone’s best films ever. The football team called the “Sharks” experience the drama of loosing their starting quarterback and an “old school” coach if you will, dealing with a new brash and arrogant quarterback taking over his team to make the playoffs. Stone uses classic Hollywood style to tell his story and show his film to the viewer. 

The film uses very little special effects since Oliver Stone wanted to create real images of the football players and real hits and tackles during the game. By shooting real images of football, the game and the action all come to life. However, Stone makes great use of shot duration, camera movement, montage, and sound. Shot duration is one of the biggest effects that Stone emphasis in his film. He creates long takes by showing the film to the viewer in slow motion at certain points and rapidly speeds up the action at other times to give a dramatic affect and to alert his audience that a pivotal point in the film is about to occur. 

Any Given Sunday” not only should be considered a great film but a memorable one as well. Unlike other memorable films that trace back to a character’s past history or important past events, this film should be considered “memorable” for the lasting images it instills on the viewer’s mind. One of the last scenes of the film depicts the quarterback running towards the goal line with the hopes and dreams of his team’s playoff chances riding on his back. As the quarterback, played by Jamie Foxx approaches the goal line to win the game, two huge tacklers stand in his way and seem determined to stop him. The film then uses an extreme close-up to depict the quarterback’s face, zooming in particularly on his eyes and the thoughts going through his mind. Then a flashback shot of the crowd and fans in the seats from the past is shown in a black and white faded image in the shot transition. As the shot returns to an extreme close-up of the quarterback, the image of him slowly dissolves into the background as it moves to one side of the screen while the image of the football coach appears side by side with the other image. Then the picture of the coach completely dissolves as the scene moves back to an extreme close-up of Jamie Foxx in the background with an image of a football player from years past diving and outstretched toward the goal line. As the scene progresses, a shot of lightning is used as a wipe to replace the image of the quarterback fading in the background. The crack and appearance of lightning fills the screen for a blink of the eye as the image of Jamie Foxx reappears, the screen once again going to a blur. Finally, the screen becomes clearer and focuses its full attention on the quarterback. The shot duration slows drastically for dramatic effect and seems to freeze in time. The quarterback slowly dives headfirst into the end-zone as the two defenders go airborne to stop him and collide head on with the quarterback. The film shows a replay of the action and zooms in as the camera angle is position low to the ground. As the sound effect of the collision is heard, background music is played in a high pitched melody. Meanwhile, the camera does a one hundred-eighty degree turn towards the coach and fans, in suspense waiting for the referee’s signal to see if it was the game winning score. After a brief moment the camera returns to the sight of the action where the crowd lets out a triumphant roar as the referee signals that the team has in fact scored to win the game. 

The film “Any Given Sunday” is truly a masterpiece and work of art. The director Oliver Stone does an outstanding job in his cinematography throughout the movie. He carefully planned all details of the film including the multitude of camera angles and shots during the film to make the action come alive. Stone’s film is truly a great and memorable cinematic production that leaves the viewer wrapped up in the movie

Anglin's Wedding Photography in Bend Oregon

Anglin’s Wedding Photography will preserve your wedding memories with their exceptional and incomparable talents. Jake and Shereen Anglin can create beauty on film that will last a lifetime! Together, they capture the sentiment of a couple’s once in a lifetime event, their wedding day. Anglin’s portraits are incredibly intimate and share a level unlike any other wedding photographers endeavors.

The level of intimacy captured and preserved on film between the bride and groom is unsurpassed and enduring. While viewing Anglin’s sample portraits from their website www.Anglins.com, you can almost feel the emotional and intimate nature of the wedding with the soft focus and moody lighting the Anglins use. For any couple, their wedding day can be the most anxious and exciting day of their lifetime together. Photographs of this moment should be intimate not only with the wedding party but should include seemingly simple fundamentals of the wedding such as the environment, the décor and guests.
No two weddings are identical because no two people are identical. Each wedding is as unique as you and the Anglin’s expose the individuality and style of your wedding portraits. On the website, a happy couple by the water is holding up a big Thank You sign; they really appreciate your business! The Anglin’s not only take the traditional wedding shots but they also create portraits with natural body movements with natural expressions that are difficult to do in posed portraits.

Their portraits are very detail oriented with great elemental compositions. Their photographs not only portray close-ups among the bride and groom, but they also capture the smallest minutiae of the wedding and their sample portraits show an assortment of close-ups of the wedding jewelry worn or the candles lit beside a wedding cake. Another precise photograph is of white chairs and the bride’s bouquet and in yet another, the bridal bouquet on the table with lit candles only further giving an artistic element captured on film. These are small moments the bride has dreamed about her whole life. Even when the lighting seems low they capture a well lit environment that exposes the low light elements and details with clarity. Their wedding portraits carry artistic appeal. Precise close-us of a wedding cake so detailed you can actually see the very crumbs and it is elegant and beautifully done. Their special effects portraits are luminous, vibrant and brilliant with pure clarity.

Anglin’s Photography is operated by the owners, Jake and Shereen Anglin and they are truly a wonderful dynamic team. They formulate a great portraiture plan to make the wedding day a very treasured and memorable event. In addition, the Anglin’s are great to work with and they have fantastic idea’s that can be incorporated individually for uniqueness in the photographs. They are a very charming and loveable pair with vibrant personalities that make you feel very relaxed, comfortable and welcomed even when the heat of the wedding day turns on. These photographers have an artistic flare not only capturing a moment in time on film for the newlyweds but they add artistic beauty and value to the portraiture package. Anglin’s Photography offers a wide range of pricing and package arrangements with both color and black and white portrait’s. They also do engagement portraiture and this could be an added bonus for the busy bride and groom. Anglin’s Photography in Bend Oregon is precise and experienced. Please visit their website at WWW.anglins.com for further information.

Five Great Art Deco Buildings in Los Angeles

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Los Angeles is not known for any one architectural style in particular.  It is a city that contains modern glass curtain skyscrapers and buildings that look like giant hot dogs.  But Los Angeles does have several of the best example of the Art Deco architectural style to be found anywhere.  Here is a guide to some of these sites not to be missed.

Pasadena City College, 1570 East Colorado Blvd., Pasadena

After an earthquake in 1933, building codes in California were updated to prevent structural damage from these inevitable natural shakes.  Pasadena Junior College, as it was known then, had to shut down its three major buildings for restructuring compliance.  These buildings had been named after early 20th century notables: Horace Mann, a social engineer attributed with conceiving the plan for our modern education system; Jane Addams, a proponent of the women's suffrage movement and co-recipient of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize, and; Dr. Louis Agassiz, a Harvard naturalist who proved the earth had an Ice Age.  None of these notables had any particular connection to Pasadena, or Los Angeles, for that matter.  When the school rededicated its buildings in 1937, it renamed these structures with the bland labels of Buildings C, D and E.  The campus may have lost some names, but it gained a dramatic new quad area.  With the help of funding from the Federal Administration of Public Works, Pasadena City College blossomed into an impressive Art Deco site which is still in evidence today.  The three main buildings are made even more impressive by the campus reflecting pools, or "mirror ponds" as the school refers to them.  This quad area makes a perfect photo opportunity.

Oviatt Building, 617 S. Olive Street, Los Angeles

This opulent structure was built in 1927 by the architectural firm of Walker & Eisen as the headquarters of Alexander & Oviatt, a high-end haberdashery of the day.  It was topped by a luxurious penthouse for owner James Oviatt.  It is reported that the forecourt of the lobby contained over 30 tons of glasswork by the famous French designer Rene Lalique.  Features such as the mailboxes, directory signs and elevator doors were custom created by Lalique.  Most of the glasswork has been sold, demolished or lost over the years.  But some of the original work remains, especially at the lobby column topping panels.  The original Alexander & Oviatt retail space has seen several incarnations of restaurants over the years, but still has the amazing Art Deco ceiling, fixtures and stair rails.  Mr. Oviatt's penthouse was a shrine to Art Deco.  It also dripped in Lalique glasswork and featured geometric parquet inlaid wood floors.  It was known for its terrace gardens, tennis courts, pool and artificial beach with imported sand and palm trees.  A great neon clock tower rises above the penthouse area, reminding us that the time of such meticulously crafted architecture has come and gone.

Eastern Columbia Building, 849 S. Broadway, Los Angeles

Perhaps the most prominent clock in the downtown Los Angeles area is the four-faced clock on the tower of the Eastern Columbia Building in the Broadway Theater District.  This monument to Art Deco was built in 1930 by architect Claud Beelman for Adolph Sieroty, who is not exactly a household name in Los Angeles today, but was the largest retailer of his time.  Sieroty owned both the Eastern Outfitting Company and the Columbia Outfitting Company, selling furnishings, appliances and clothing.  This building served as dual headquarters, with each company occupying opposite sides of the structure.   The structure is distinctive for its glossy turquoise colored terra cotta cladding and gold leaf detailing.  Art Deco motifs abound, with chevrons, stylized plants, zigzags and sunburst patterns.  Originally, the building was meant to accommodate mixed use, with office space above a retail pedestrian arcade.  Sieroty's son remodeled in 1956 to pure office space.  The building experienced refurbishing in the 1980s, and is currently being convered to accommodate residential units.

Southern California Edison Company Building, 601 W. 5th Street, Los Angeles

Everything about this building says it it the home of a major utility company.  The entrance to the limestone and terra cotta structure features Art Deco friezes of allegorical figures rendered by sculptor Merrell Gage in symbolic representation of light, power and hydroelectric energy.  Inside the lobby, a huge mural by Hugo Ballin tells the story of the Edison Company as the alchemist that magically turns water into power.  It is titled "The Apotheosis of Power."  The dramatic punch of this structure has been watered down by the addition of a shopping corridor in the 1990s, but enough of the original remains to deserve a visit.

Bullocks-Wilshire Department Store, 3050 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles

It is more accurate to refer to this site as the Southwestern University School of Law, as that is the new proprietor.  Although the building no longer serves as a retail store, it is alive and well as the university's law library and administrative offices.  It is such adaptive reuse that saved Bullocks from possible demolition and oblivion.  What a loss it would have been.  This outstanding example of Art Deco was designed by architects John and Donald Parkinson in 1928.  It was one of the first businesses to recognize the rise of automobile traffic over pedestrian traffic.  In order to accommodate, the floorplan in essence turned its back on Wilshire Blvd. and opened its portals to the parking lot on the reverse side of the building.  It is on that side you will find the grand porte cochere featuring a gorgeous fresco on the ceiling by Herman Sachs paying tribute to modern modes of transportation.  A dominant aspect of the Bullocks building is the 241 foot tower rising from the north fascade.  This outstanding structure rests on a black marble base and has copper spandrels and chevron details between tan colored terra cotta.  The copper has oxidized to a rich green, giving the whole structure a sophisticated patina. 

Baby Crying and Baby Colic - How to Deal Effectively with both

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Colic is a scary word.  It conjures up pictures in our mind of a constantly crying baby and tired harried parents.  Colic is defined as, A condition of infants characterized by frequent crying do to various discomforts.  When babies cry without being hungry, in pain, or overheated it is generally called colic.  Colic is not the result of bad parenting and you should not blame yourself.  Babies who have colic generally want to be held and have a more sensitive temperament.  Some people belive that colic is because of a stomach ache, however that is just a myth so you shouldn't worry about extra burping or specialized nipples.  This fussy crying is harmless for your baby.  Usually the hard crying starts to improve after 2 months or so and is usually gone by the time the baby is 3 or 4 months old.  In the meantime there are 6 ways that can help you cope with your colicky baby.  

Coping With Colic

1.  Hold and try to sooth your baby.  It is not possible to spoil your baby in the first 3 or 4 months of life.  You could rock your baby or try using a wind up baby swing.  Sometimes a walk outside in a stroller will help and many babies react well to a ride in the car.  ( There is now a new gaget called Sleep Tight that mimics the motion and sound of a moving car. It costs about $90.)

A warm bath will also help in certain situations.

2.  If none of the above quiets your baby and there is no discernable reason for the crying you can let your baby cry itself to sleep.  Minimize outside stimuli and try wraping your baby up tightly ( swaddling).  If after 15 or 20 minutes the crying has not stopped pick up your baby and start again with step # 1.  

3.  You don't always have to rock your baby to sleep.  If you always rock your baby to sleep, later she will become dependant on that.  Let your baby learn to self-comfort and put herself to sleep.  Sooth your baby and then when she is not crying put her in her crib and let her go to sleep on her own.  

4.  Promote nighttime sleeping.  Your baby needs a lot of sleep, however to promote nighttime sleep don't let your baby sleep all day.  After your baby naps 3 hours gently wake her.  Then take the time to play with her, feed her or attend to her other needs.  This way your baby's longest sleeping time, about 5 hours, will occur at night.

5.  Get rest and help for yourself.  You cannot take good care of your baby if you don't take care of yourself.  Avoid fatigue and exhaustion.  Nap when your baby naps.  Ask your husband, friends, and family to help you.  Talk to someone everyday about your problems and feelings.  Its ok to be frustrated.  The constant crying is hard for anyone to deal with.  If it is possible let someone else care for the baby while you can get out of the house occasionally.

6. Avoid over the counter medications.  Most of these are not affective and some of them can be dangerous. (Especially those containg phenobarbital.)

A baby with colic can be difficult to deal with but giving your baby plenty of TLC is the best medicine.  Keep in mind this will only last a few months.  Your baby is precious and beautiful.  In the long run all that crying will be just a memory.