For this extra credit assignment, you will go to the following film event screening this coming Thursday 4/28 at 7:30pm in the Ferg Theater. This is the premiere of my advanced production class' film "Blackface." This is a great opportunity for all of you to see what the upper level production students are doing narratively and technically. This film give a lot to aspire to. It is going to be a great event and shouldn't be missed. These extra credit points should just be added incentive. Also, some of your classmates worked on it, so come out and support them!
https://www.facebook.com/events/862273227210236/
After the screening, write a blog post about the film.
For those who complete this, you will receive up to 2 bonus points to your final grade for the class. You'll have until 4/29 to complete the post.
I hope to see you there!
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I really enjoyed this screening and it was particularly cool to watch having worked on the film even though I did not make the credits. Watching the scene that I worked on filmed and seeing it in the final cut was very interesting. I was able to see just the power of editing and how that scene was transformed just through the edits used. I personally enjoyed the flash backs in this film. Having attempted to work with flash backs in my final. The story line of this film was good and made me cringe at points, but I really liked the film and was glad to have been able to help out with the process and see the final product.
ReplyDeleteDan Bryan: Wow. I'm happy to report that the final movie for us to cover this semester was, in my opinion, a good one. While the subject matter is a dark one indeed, full of uncomfortable imagery, the movie never indulges past the point of necessity on the grimness of the situation (ala Passion of the Christ). Every scene served a purpose, and every cringe-inducing moment shown was absolutely necessary to make the film's point; everything felt balanced, never skimping on the violence while also not rubbing the audience's nose in it. What pleasantly struck me was the film's tastefulness--the tone never struck me as righteously vengeful, but instead a collected and controlled, yet solemn and stern, reminder of how truly awful human beings can be to one another. Though the historical sins of the American white man are inexcusably many and cruel, "Blackface" chooses a higher road than strawman indictment, seeming to place the blame less on the inherent nature of an entire race of people, but instead on that race's hypocritical social allowances and peer-pressure tactics. Indeed, we get not one, but two white characters throughout the film who question the rampant evil going on around them. Even with a better nature within them struggling to get out, though, these characters don't display the necessary courage to speak or act out against the wrongs of their culture until pushed to an extreme, at which point, it's too late in either case. In fact, in the main character's case, Henry actually helps participate in the hunting, torture, and lynching of a black man--his motivation towards questioning his culture's social norms comes less from an innate understanding of good and evil, but rather from a guilty conscience. The film's message is timeless: that evil wins as long as no one does anything to try and undermine it. I personally also feel like the movie does not go overboard by raising the specter of 1920's-30's racism and lynch mobs, because I think it's an important function of film to not allow modern society to sink into complacency and forget injustices and horrors from the past that we could still learn from. After all, despite how far America's come, racial inequality is still a problem, and "Blackface" seems to want to direct us to finding a better path by reminding us what we all should try to avoid resembling in any way as a society.
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