week 13

The topic of a short semester paper was concerning the decisions a film production management makes in case a key figure, main or important actor, passes away in the process of production. The example discussed was a Terry Gilliam movie called The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, where Heath Ledger died while being in the production.

Due to the length limitations of study, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus was the only example shown and argued. To further develop the topic it would be essential to discuss the examples of other film productions, such as The Crow, Harry Potter series, Game of Death, etc. The aspects of the study primarily would be the handling of the problem, effect on the quality and effect of the final product on the public.

here is the link to the semester paper:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11812908/Parnassus.pdf

week 12

Koyaanisqatsi is the first film in the Qatsi trilogy depicting the world consisting of nature, humans and technology. The word 'koyaanisqatsi' itself is translated as 'life out of balance'

absence of dialogs is compensated by the sequence of powerful images, shown at different speed that creates an interesting effect of first getting a viewer bored for a while (when showing slow motion landscapes) and then speeding up the footage so it is impossible to look away, because instinctively a viewer is afraid to miss something (we can compare it with music videos where scenes are changing very fast and a viewer is able to see it, but unable to get the multiple details, thus he is kept interested as he can never get enough)