Author’s Statement
HERE is my trailer!
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Well it’s finally finished, and I feel pretty satisfied with how it turned out. The point of the trailer is to misrepresent the film Avatar into seeming like a standard sci-fi war film between the heroic humans and the sinister alien race, rather than a rehash of Fern Gully, Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves, etc.
The most important thing I learned through this is the importance of music in creating an intended mood, especially in a trailer like this. The actual theatrical trailer for Avatar used happier music than I did to start with, and there was noticeably a “tribal” touch underlying it. The original also showed the beauty of the world of Pandora, while I tried to keep the planet seemingly treacherous (especially 0:38-0:42).
The main point of my video is to show that in our current digitally networked society and culture it is possible to subvert the original intention of a text, whether for political or comedic intent. My video has some glorification of the military included on purpose as an antithesis to James Cameron’s Anti-Imperialistic themes. The mechanized warfare shown in the film was implicitly demonized so I set out with an intent to romanticize the technology of the humans.
I think that Jaron Lanier would be torn in terms of my project, as his article World Wide Mush makes it clear that he would not like the fact that I was doing this without thought of being paid for my work, though he would like that I completed this trailer on my own with a single intended theme and purpose rather than collectively working with a team over the Internet. I am also mostly sure that Lanier would dislike the fact that I have had access to a copy of the film (through the Internet) and the ability to edit it. He would probably say that since I am not profiting from this video that I haven’t made anything creative or new.
Henry Jenkins on the other hand would most likely be happy that I am able to produce this recut trailer, the video adding something important to the “remix culture” he describes in this article with his conversation with Owen Gallagher. My remix, along with so many other remixes, challenges Intellectual Property Law by asserting itself as wholly creative content despite only using content I did not create.
Technical Points
I began by bringing a copy of the movie into Final Cut, cutting it up into smaller and smaller pieces so that I would not have to render more than I needed, as it was a high quality version of the two and a half hour film and even short clips would take several minutes to complete.
At first I was going to use The Great Eatlon (the music at the beginning) for the entire trailer, as the pace quickens and becomes more “epic” as it goes on, however I decided to change to Guardian at the Gates by Audiomachine (the music in part of the actual trailer) halfway thru as it really added to the film’s reclassification as a war film (and also the montage of various action scenes I utilized in the same way as so many other trailers).
What should really stand out is the complete lack of Jake as a protagonist, the entire Avatar system (making the title less applicable to my trailer, although I lacked the ability to create a title with the quality of the rest of the video), the scientists, the reason for why the humans are there and why the Na’vi want to kill them (making them the wrong doers and seem extremely violent whenever they are shown),
I am really lucky with some of the shots Cameron gave me, such as the arrows on the massive construction vehicle at the beginning (which gave me the ability to add in some dread around 0:22 and lead into the Corporal’s speech). I was able to accurately connect the Corporal’s speech at the beginning to the second one towards the end by leaving out any shots showing the size of his audience in that scene. Starting at 1:00 is the second speech and I cut and moved various parts of his speech (the long shots of the room came in handy cause you can’t see his mouth) to simplify the plot. Another lucky break was that two speeches were done in the same location (but the lighting changes during the second speech, giving the scene some more intensity as it went on). I cut out the parts about bombing the Na’vi and took great attention to make it seem as if the film was centered around one large epic battle between the races. There is no mention of any negotiations between the two and if you take close notice at no point in the trailer are the Na’vi given any dialogue, their war cries not excluded to push them more in the way of monsters than “humanoids” (what the Corporal calls them). At 00:57 I was able to use a shot of the Toruk (the large red dragon-thing) because Jake is excluded from the entire plot and it would not be a spoiler to show him having tamed it. (Trivia: In the real theatrical trailer around 0:49 it shows Jake’s Avatar fighting the Corporal at the end of the movie, although it just seems like a random mech fighting a Na’vi warrior in the brief clip they use).
To keep the humans the good guys I also eliminated the Unobtainum plotline and all dialogue from Giovanni Ribisi’s character (as he is basically a generic, corporate a-hole).
I used a few of the intertitles from the theatrical trailer, the first starting at 1:36, as they really helped me change the music and tone without having the visual element seem disjointed. They also added to the quickening pace of the music and the intensifying of the action.
The most important part of my trailer, I feel, is from 2:32 to 2:39, when Tsu’tei dies on the back of the airship. In the film he dies a heroic warrior’s death, killing several of the marines to a background of “sad” tribal music. The moment the marine fires and the music starts again I feel that the audience would almost certainly be rooting for the humans. I was also able to show Trudy’s death at 3:19 because she was never introduced as a character. I hope that a viewer could spot the warpaint on her face and ship and assume she was allied with the Na’vi, although looking back now this might be a bit confusing.
I’ve seen a lot of trailers where there is a short little clip after the music stops and it shows the title of the film, so I decided to include one. This is the only time I show Sigourney Weaver’s character, though I hope that anyone who has seen Avatar would laugh at the “you gonna shoot me?” question and “I can do that” reply as in the movie he does in fact shoot and kill her. The thumping bass hit at 3:46 was actually lifted from the end of the Tron Legacy trailer, as without it the Corporal’s line is not as poignant.
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Analysis and Reflection
1. Shining
This is a trailer for the 1980 film starring Jack Nicholson, editing done in such a way as to portray it as a family film rather than a psychological horror film. It is similar to my trailer as they both use music not found in the actual movie, included in order to subvert the original plot line of the film itself. They both also use imagery from the film that conflicts with the intent of the director, cinematographer, and of course the original editor. Some of the shots used in both were also not in the authorized trailers shown in theaters. Shining uses a voiceover to further convince the viewers that if they watch the movie it will be one of those “good family fun” films (that could not possibly be rated R), while my trailer for Avatar does not use a voiceover. For mine I simply explained the plot of the film through the Colonel’s speech in the beginning cut together with his speech to the assault force in the last 30 minutes of the movie. Shining was created by Robert Ryang for a competition held by the Association of Independent Creative Editors, and won first place at said competition. Made in 2005, the video went “viral” and helped to start the popularity of re-cut trailers on the internet.
2. Scary Mary
Like Shining, this is a movie trailer that portrays the 1964 film Mary Poppins in a vastly different light than what was originally intended. It creates a feeling a dread and fear with the ominous music, Poppins’ singing made to seem much less motherly and much more monstrous. Instead of coming to coming to care for the children she is made to seemingly have more sinister intentions. Many of the children’s surprised and confused reactions to her are easily re-interpreted as looks of pure terror. Both my trailer and this one use a ominous song to start with and then around halfway change to a louder, more intense song (although the one in Scary Mary might be the same song, though it changes drastically). The song I use to start with was the first few minutes of The Great Eatlon, from the film Lady in the Water, included to make the humans’ position more perilous and heroic than originally intended. Scary Mary was made by Chris Rule and Nick Eckert, although I do not know for what purpose, if it was made for a class, if they are professional editors, or otherwise.
3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
This is the actual trailer for the film, shown in theaters prior to the release. It is interesting to note because even though it was created with the intent of making people come to see the movie, the way in which it was put together does not hold to the theme intended by the director and writers. The trailer almost makes it seem like a “buddy film”, more specifically a “road trip movie”, rather than an exploration of the underbelly of America and the failure of the “hippie” movement of the 1960s (the mass “loss of innocence” of the early 1970s). The trailer is also used as an example of why the film did poorly at the box office (I can’t find the link to where I read this *sorry), as audiences thought that they were going to see a “happy-go-lucky” summer film and became disappointed with the final product. The use of Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf in the last 20 seconds or so is very similar to my use of Guardian at the Gates by Audiomachine, both combined with very short clips of the more interesting moments of the film’s action. The former puts the clips in a light hearted, humorous vein while the latter makes Avatar seem like a straight forward war film. I could not find who made the trailer, or even if it was done by a professional company (which is likely) or an individual.
4. Best Scenes From “The Wicker Man”
I want to include this video as well as it is not a trailer, but is good as a comparison to my video as it uses very specific scenes to create a very different atmosphere. The Wicker Man was a 2006 horror/thriller film starring Nicholas Cage. However, some viewers found much unintentional humor in the film, more specifically some of Cage’s performance. It is similar to my trailer in how it alters the roles of some of the characters, Cage becoming a manic, woman-punching antagonist rather than the doomed protagonist. In my trailer the Corporal is changed from the antagonist to the protagonist, as well as the human and Na’vi races switching roles as good guys and bad guys. This video does not change any of the scenes, however, and does not utilize any music or try in any way to explain the plot of the movie (even adding a scene to the end which pokes fun at the lack of a coherent plot). I could not find who authored this text, though it is a very popular video on YouTube and I would not doubt that this has inspired more than a few people to rent or buy the actual film for the purpose of watching it as a very campy movie rather than as a serious one.
My video provides to new look at Avatar, creating a point-of-view that most of the audience would never have thought of. Careful exclusion of Jake Sully’s role of protagonist and the entire Avatar system (the science of operating Na’vi bodies) and any scenes in which the Na’vi are portrayed as heroic or noble force the audience to accept the Corporal and the humans as the “good guys”. The most important (at least in intent) scene of which occurs around 2:30 into the video, in which Tsu’tey is killed. In the original scene the music was somber and melodramatic, a shot of the prince’s body falling from the ship in slow motion. In my trailer the music stops for a moment, exploding back to full force when the marine finally shoots the Na’vi attacker. Because of this I was able to effectively change the mood and the characters’ roles using only unaltered footage from the film and without added narration. Like the videos mentioned above, my trailer could be interpreted in two different ways, however. One could either see it as a comical parody of the source material or as a statement of disagreement with the text’s theme or substance. Scary Mary could have simply been created for fun, or could have been made to emphasize and add to the scariness of the original film. (For instance, the creators could have found Julie Andrew’s performance frightening when they were kids and wanted to share this with others) I created my trailer because I rooted for the humans the entire time, finding the Corporal’s character easier to relate to and more interesting than Neytiri’s or any of the Na’vi. I hope that by watching my trailer others might see this perspective as well, or if they do not then at least I hope they find it funny like I do all these other recut videos.
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Game Design Ideas
These are just going to be miscellaneous ideas for the game we will be designing, some of which were introduced in class, I’m just throwing them all in here.
-a minigame design where mini-screens will pop up on the screen as time passes, such as: There is a party at the Animal House-esque frat house tonight. Will you attend? And then if yes the player has to play a minigame (drinking game [maybe like a pong game which gets progressively harder the more you drink] in this instance, or if it’s like a pop quiz or something it’s a puzzle game). Depending on how well the player does, the stress/grades/or monetary meter(s) will rise or lower.
THREE METERS
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-stress meter
-monetary meter
-grades meter
describe the basic concept in just 3 sentences
The player has the decision to chose one of the “verbs”, which will take up an hour of time in the game. These decisions will determine the levels of the three game meters: stress, money, and grades. Depending on which activity is chosen a specific minigame will start up and depending on how well the player plays the games determines how high the levels are after the “hour”.
Very interesting Stick RPG, which contains some of the elements we’ve been talking about.
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Ideas for the Final Project
I’m just gonna use this post as a place to keep all the ideas I have for the final project.
UPDATE: Alrighty then, the entire movie is now in my editing program with the audio separated, meaning it’s around 100 gigs of info for me to mess with. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a rough edit of the project finished by Friday.
AVATAR: The Human Point of View
Since I rooted for the humans in the film Avatar, and the film declares itself to be the #1 movie of all time (even with blatant ripping off such texts as Dances With Wolves, Pocahontas, Fern Gully, Dune, The Smurfs, and I’m sure there’s more) , then I think it would be a really good idea to show just how easy it can be to reverse the propoganda put forth in Cameron’s work.
I want to intercut some of the film’s scenes (such as Giovanni Ribisi talking about Unobtanium [such a dumb name]) with scenes of humans back on Earth dying, starving, and otherwise being screwed by the lack of the precious mineral. I also want to have some scenes in there of the blue guys murdering the human soldiers and the main character’s treachery and betrayal emphasized (I need a way to really reveal his loss of humanity in a concise manner).
I need some kind of really epic and sad music (actually if I could get some of the music they play when the big tree gets napalmed and turn that around I think that might work).
What’s so great is that apparently I’m not the only one:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=124089021
http://boards.ign.com/teh_vestibule/b5296/187911401/p1/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=377218305093
*and even though I’m not doing it myself (and in a search apparently it’s been done many times) I would like to point out all the youtube videos mashing up Avatar with one of the many films it ripped off:
Avatar / Fern Gully Trailer Mash up
Pocahontas / Avatar Trailer crossover
And also I’d really like to see some videos showcasing how amazingly badass the Colonel was, or the mechs in general. As soon as I saw the mechs I knew who I was rooting for in the fight. (Tell me District 9 did not get 500% more amazing when Wikus got in the mech)
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Metropolis Mashup
Well it took awhile but I think the mashup ended up looking pretty nice. (YouTube immediately blocked my audio so I switched to Vimeo and made a profile there)
In order to properly appreciate the point of the mashup one needs to have seen the 2001 Japanese Metropolis film, which is based in part on the original manga and also on the 1927 German Metropolis film. However, the mashup is intended to show the relationship between both films’ destruction scenes, the 2001 film’s destruction of the large tower being set to Ray Charles’ 1962 I Can’t Stop Loving You. HERE is a link.
Keeping that scene in mind, I took Charles’ scene and matched it up to the flooding scenes of the German film. Throughout both scenes are elements of the love story found in the two films, although with what I had to work with the German one ends on a happy note while the Japanese one ends with the protagonist losing the girl in the destruction. (Also, while both have female “robots”, the German film has a robotic copy made of the girl. The Japanese film has the girl unknowingly as the robot herself.)
I hope that through this mashup more people will become interested in the original Metropolis and notice many of the similarities between the two films.
Further Notes:
This was actually a really fun video to make, (despite crashing my computer and forcing me to put the file on an external HD [ended up around 30 gigs!]) and for fans of both the Japanese and German films will be a fun and engaging video to view (I hope).
I originally had many shots of the robot taking on Maria’s form, as that would further relate the two texts together, however they did not fit in with the video as a whole. Basically this plot point was removed and the focus on the love story was increased.
This might just be a personal boast but some of the basic editing in some of the shots is really an improvement over the original (Of course I have modern tech to do it with). As with quite a few silent films, there is a lot of lengthy shots of walking, running, etc. which when shortened a bit really adds to the tension and action of the film. I was able to shorten a lot of the shots of Maria and Joh’s saving of the kids without losing any of the continuity or the size of the crowds. I bet if someone really just took the time to cut down all the overlong scenes and streamline the action and plot the film would be much more accessible to today’s filmgoers.
One of the edits I’m most proud of is Maria’s horrified reaction to the elevators collapsing around 00:50, which was actually a reaction to some flooding. Around 00:56 is one of the worst, though, in that I couldn’t get rid of a second or two of the original flooding (that I showed at the start of the vid). The destruction starting at 00:58 was actually at the beginning of the film (the flooding and everything else towards the end), and starts off Joh’s compassion for the common workers. The shot of the bell being rung in a close up was actually untampered with, and is a powerful image in my opinion. 03:18 is an awesome camera movement in which they actually put the camera on a rope and swung it at the actors, creating the illusion of a massive quake in the underground city. There was no way I was going to cut that out.
Around 03:52 is a screwup on my part, as I cut the film there and couldn’t (metaphorically) glue it back together, so I briefly faded out. Hopefully it just looks like something that might actually happen to old celluloid and not a cut. The long kiss at the end was obviously not continuous to the rest of the video but I needed something to end on (and to sync up to the song’s powerful and emotionally moving coda) and chose the kiss which occurred about halfway thru the film.
Hopefully it accomplishes its point: that both films have many similarities and that by using a song from one the same emotional response can be achieved thru the other.
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Sidewinder Part VII
A cannon shot up at the zeppelin, smashing one of the decks. Stephenson jumped out of the way, shards of wood hurling in all directions. Down below crawled along the huge metal octopus, trampling the trees and underbrush with brutal ease.
“Oi there!”
Stephenson looked around until he caught sight of a nearing balloon, the figures of Wilde, Bell, and Verne sitting comfortably inside.
“What on earth? How did you lot make it to the fifteenth century?” the disoriented man managed to ask, wiping his brow with a handkerchief.
“Actually we’re not quite sure,” yelled Bell, “though both I and Verne believe it to be some powerful magic. Wilde just thinks it’s a deus ex machina to further the plot.” Wilde shot him in the pants with the water pistol. ”At any rate you need to get all of Sidewinder’s clones ready for combat. He keeps many reserves of steam-powered rifles in the back. We’ll be there as soon as Verne figures out how to steer this thing properly.”
Stephenson did not even pause to ask how they knew of the clones; he had to hurry if they were going to stop Weishaupt. He rushed inside and began releasing clones, telling them of their master’s need of assistance down below.
Meanwhile Sidewinder climbed down a rusty ladder, avoiding periodic bursts of steam from the nearby pipes. It was dark inside but noisy as hell. He followed a path to a large opening: the control room! The eyes of the octopus looked out to the skyline, letting in the light of day. A chair set between them turned to reveal Weishaupt’s second in command, Duke Ernest the Second. He pulled two longswords from a stand behind the chair, tossing one down at Sidewinder’s feet.
“So,” began Sidewinder, “this is where it ends.”
“No,” countered the Duke, “this is where it begins. You and your pathetic League will fall and the Illuminati will take its rightful place as leaders of the world.”
The Duke charged in, forcing Sidewinder to roll forward, grabbing the sword just in time to parry the Duke’s blow. Both men pushed the blades together, trying to overpower the other.
“You can’t win,” yelled Sidewinder as he landed a blow against Ernest’s shin. The Duke went down, dropping his sword. A blade extended to point at his exposed neck.
“We already… have,” he managed to say between heavy breaths. ”Weishaupt is already en route back to America in the late eighteenth century to replace Washington as president!” The Duke lunged at his chair, pressing a button on the underside. The octopus let out a thunderous growl as a countdown began. ”I’ll see you in hell, Sidewinder!” he called after the hero, who was racing to get out of the metal cephalopod.
Part VII
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Digital Story
Well it took long enough, but the Digital Story video is finally done (HERE) and uploaded to YouTube. Unfortunately there were a few problems, such as the vocal audio only coming out of the right side. The program I ended up using to record, ScreenFlow, exported the video as a 3+ gigabyte file and crashed my computer I don’t know how many times. The video also has a large watermark in the center of the frame. Other than these issues I think the video turned out somewhat decent. The opening and ending music is something I did awhile ago with Garageband. The video focuses on interacting with the online community through Facebook mostly (as that is the current popular networking tool) and details the ease with which one can upload pictures (or videos posted to YouTube) to the internet and then share with friends. Also explained is how to download songs, television shows, and movies from the iTunes Store. Originally I intended to show ChatRoulette, as one can chat randomly with anyone around the world using this unique networking program, but it would not work with either Safari or Firefox. I am doubtful anyone will really watch it but hopefully it answers any questions one would have about these various websites.
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Capt. Sidewinder Part II
Three hours passed. The zeppelin landed calmly just outside of Manchester. Sidewinder was anything but calm. Inside his temporary headquarters he rushed past several butlers and maids, reaching for the phone. ”Hello, operator, I need the team assembled”.
It would take them awhile to get there, as not everyone was lucky enough to own such an extraordinary craft as he. He spent the hours reading in the library and cleaning his various steam-powered weapons, only stopping once for tea.
Finally they began to show up. First was Robert Stephenson, the grand engineer. Then came Henry McCarty, better known as Billy the Kid. He had just recently faked his own death to avoid jail in the States. McCarty was quick to inform that Ned Kelly and Martha Burke were out of the country and could not attend. Jules Verne was next to arrive, sharing an uneasy glance with Stephenson. Even a great international organization as theirs was not spared of petty squabbles, the French and English sharing a violent and strained relationship. Alexander Graham Bell and Oscar Wilde were the next to show up, Wilde jokingly spraying Bell with a steam-powered water pistol. Wilde thought it great fun to spray him in the crotch, causing the others to laugh hysterically.
“Is that everyone?” asked Sidewinder, trying to get their attention. Finally they ceased laughing. ”Alright, good. Gentlemen, I believe we are the only thing that can save the world. Gentlemen, I believe Adam Weishaupt is back.”
The room exploded into discussion and arguing. Sidewinder tried to calm everyone down with little result. ”He’s been dead for over five years!” yelled Verne. ”Yes, we all thought so when Twain pushed him off the cliff. Hell, the public thinks he died thirty years ago.”
“If you are right,” said Wilde calmly, “He would be a hundred and twenty-two years old.”
“He is more powerful than we thought possible,” continued Sidewinder. ”He killed my Victoria, now dear Watley, may he rest in peace. It’s going to take all of us to bring him and his infernal society down. Who’s with me!?”
All of them stood.
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I was having an argument with a friend the other day over the control scheme of the game Portal on the PS3 and it made me really think about the importance of having good controls in a game. My friend plays FPS with an inverted control scheme while I play regular. He argued that moving your thumb forward on the controller’s thumbstick did not make much sense while I argued that the inverted scheme made complete sense on a flight simulator (by the way that link is to the greatest video game ever made) but not on a game where you (are made to think that you) control your character’s neck. The more one looks into it, game systems are defined by three separate categories: games it can play, the power of the system, and the controller. Companies that do not put much thought into the latter usually find themselves in big trouble. Some even need to change the setup (or size) while on the same system. Whether simple or complicated, controllers let us interact with the game. Honestly it doesn’t matter how cool a game might look, if you can’t play it, you can’t play it.
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Watching Others Play Games
Even though you’re not playing the game yourself, sometimes it can be more fun to witness someone else playing, whether poorly, sarcastically, or while simply providing humorous commentary, the videos elicit the same kind of response as game shows. In the same way that Joe Scrimshaw describes Adventures in Mating, a play based in part on the old Choose Your Own Adventure books, the audience (should) enjoy watching the choices made by the player. However, in Adventures in Mating the audience has some control over the outcome while the above examples do not require any active participation from viewers. 4Player Podcast, the creator of two of the above examples, consistently tapes themselves playing games with the video uploaded online, occasionally live. Sometimes this can change a very scary situation into a hilarious one.
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