Film in Progress

At the moment my group and I have about six minutes of our film done. We have interviewed two graffiti artist such as TooFly and James Top. We were also able to interview the creator of The Rooftop Legends and also the Dean of New Design High School Jessie Pais. One of my team members Andy wrote and rapped a song for our film. Next Sunday, June 2, 2013 the annual Rooftop Legends event will be going on. Graffiti artist from all around the world come together on the roof of New Design High School and get to express themselves with their spray paint on the walls. From all around the city people come to this event to see the graffiti artists in action and listen to the old school hip-hop music that is played by the DJ. I will be going to this event to capture the graffiti artists doing what they do and interview some of the best graffiti artists whose names and artwork are up on the roof. Once we have these interviews and Broll my team members and I can finish putting the rest of the film together.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age film and novel both written and directed by Stephen Chbosky .

Charlie (Logan Lerman) is starting his first year of high school and his first friend is his English teacher who he become very close to and is always assigning Charlie books and giving him projects because Charlie wants to become a writer. Charlie then becomes friend with Patrick (Ezra Miller) who then introduces Charlie to his sister Sam (Emma Watson) Patrick and Sam then introduce Charlie to their friends. Charlie soon falls in love with Sam but she has a boyfriend who is in college accidently gets himself into a relationship with one of their friends. The boy Patrick is secretly dating makes fun of Patrick in front of his friend because he doesn't want them to know he is gay. Sam finds out that her boyfriend has been cheating on her, Charlie breaks up with his girlfriend and Charlie's sister's boyfriend hit her. Sam asks Charlie why is it that she and everyone around her pick people who treat them like they are nothing and he replies " We accept the love we think we deserve" Later on we find out that Charlie's aunt who had passed away and Charlie loved dearly had sexualy abused Charlie when he was younger and that might be the reason why he is the way he is, whenever a girl tried to touch him sexually he would freak out. Throughout the entire book and film Charlie is writing to an anonymous person who is never revealed. Charlie started out his first day of high school thinking he wouldn't fit in but he realized that he fit in perfectly in a group of misfits.

I love this film as much as I love book which I've read about three times and watched the film over five times. I loved the vibe throughout the entire film. I think what get's the viewers wanting to watch and read more is the way Charlie acts in the film how he's so closed and shy and it makes you just want to figure out why he is the way he is. I would love it is my film had something like that to drag my viewers in and have them wanting more.

Blue Valentine

Blue Valentine is a romantic film written and directed by Derek Cianfrance. This film shows the life of a married couple Dean (Ryan Gosling) and Cindy (Michelle Williams) going back to when they first met and got married to years later when Dean is fighting for the love that isn't there anymore. 

Dean and Cindy meet in a home while Dean is helping an old man move into one of the rooms and he notices Cindy in one of the other rooms with her grandmother. He asks her out, but she denies him. A few days later he notices that he had kept the old mans necklace with a picture of his wife so he goes back to the home to return it and finds out he had passed away. On his way home on the bus he notices Cindy once again and even though she continues to deny him they end up spending the whole night together, getting to know each other. Cindy and Dean then are forced to rush into marriage when she finds out that she is pregnant from her ex-boyfriend. Dean tells her that he will be responsible for the child that is not his. Years later the film shows the couple with their five year old daughter which Dean has an amazing relationship with. Dean tells Cindy that they need a vacation to they go to a motel where it is very obvious that Cindy does not love Dean anymore but he still wants to fight for what they used to have not only for them but for their daughter also. Towards the end of the film Cindy makes it  very clear to Dean that she does not want to be with him anymore and wants a divorce. 

One of the reasons why I like this film is because it's not like most romantic films. It doesn't have a happy ending and doesn't have a perfect couple or most things that other films have. It shows something that many people go through, which is rushing into marriage with out thinking about the future, or losing the love you once had for someone. It's not an ordinary romantic film. I like the way the film first starts off in the future, goes back to the past, and then ends with them in the future once again. I think that's something I would like to do with the film that I am currently making. 

Into the Wild

 Into the Wild is a biographical drama film directed by Sean Penn This film was an adaption from the non-fiction book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Both the book and the film were based on the travels of Christiopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) across North America and the time he spent in the Alaskan wilderness. 

After Christoper McCandless graduates college he decides he wants to go on a trip to Alaska. But not just take a plane there. He destroyed all of his credit cards, identification records  and donated all of his savings, 24,000 dollars to Oxfam. Since he doesn't have any record of who he is he names himself Alexander Supertramp. He drives off in his car without telling his family nor his friends. But his car doesn't last him long so he ends up having to hitch hick through out his entire trip to Alaska. Through out this trip Alexander Supertramp meets a numerous amount of amazing people and gets to try new things. In Northern California he meets a hippie couple which he stays with for a while. In South Dakota he works for a contract harvesting company, and becomes very good friend with the owner of the company. Alexander then arrives at the Colorado River and then kayaks down the river until he arrives in Mexico. In Salton City, California he meets an old man who served in the US Army. The man is an amateur leather worker. He teaches Alexander the craft of leather work and so Alexander made a belt with details of his adventure. Alexander then leaves the old mans home and finds an abandon bus Alaska in which he spends most of his time with trying to survive by hunting animals, and anything he can get his hands on. Alexander had a book that stated which berries were good and which were bad. He didn't notice that one day he ate a berry that was slowly killing his insides, and a few days after he dies in his abandon bus staring at the sun in Alaska. 

This is by far one of my favorite films ever. I love how daring he is and how he burned everything he had so he was basically non existent to the world; It seemed like that's how he felt about himself. Like if he didn't know who he was so he had to go on this adventure to find out who he is. When ever i see this film I sort of want to pack my bags and just go on an adventure. That's what I want people to feel when they watch my film, like they want to go out there and do some graffiti art and show people that there is a difference between graffiti and graffiti art. 

The Road Forward

The film that we are working on is called The Rooftop Legend. The film shows the roof of Seward Park Campus, which is filled with graffiti. So far for the project we have made the trailer for the film. To make the trailer we spent most of our time on the school roof capturing the pieces of graffiti that are up there. We also interviewed Jessie Pais the dean of New Design High School, one out of five schools inside Seward Park Campus and also the founder of The Roof Top Legend. After we had a good amount of footage of the roof we began putting everything together and editing what we had. We added text and music to give the film the vibe we wanted it to have. We didn't get much of an interview from Jessie Pais but we were able to use the little that we had and put it into the film to give people a better feel of what our film was going to be about.

My group and I are hoping to have all the shots of the roof and all the interviews that we need to for our film. Also we're planning to use the beat of the song that we have in our trailer Tried By 12 by East Flatbush Project. We really loved the beat, we felt like it brought the vibe that we want our film to have, but the lyrics didn't really match the "theme" of our film therefor we're planning on using the beat and recording our own song to match our film.  Hopefully by the end of the third quarter we have everything we need and all we have left to do is edit our film and make it as amazing as possible.

In order for my team members and I to get this film done we definitely have to do some planning, which we have. But making the trailer was just a small part of what we really need to do. The whole team would need to pitch in ideas and put in a lot of effort so we can make our film as good as we're picturing it to be in our mind.

 Blog to our film:
http://rooftopkidz.blogspot.com/2012/12/rooftop-legends-film_14.html

Infamy

Infamy shows us the stories of a few graffiti writers from LA, NY, and Philadelphia. These graffiti artist take us back to when they first got interested in graffiti to telling us how graffiti is there life. The film shows us how gang, violence, law, hatred, love etc. are just things that come with graffiti and if you love it you deal with it. A lot of thee graffiti artists have gotten hurt or in trouble with the law because of their graffiti but their passion for it is way too big that they're willing to pay any consequence that they have to pay. But no matter how much trouble or how hurt they get, nothing will ever make them stop from doing what they live for, tagging, doing throw ups and just have their name all over the city as a landmark that they've been there and that's there spot.

Tired By 12 - The East Flatbush Project is the song that we are planning on using for our Rooftop Legends film. We chose this song mostly because of the beat that it has. We felt like it went perfect with the film but since the song talks mainly about death we felt like it contradicts our film. So instead of changed the song we decided to continue using the same beat and writing our own lyrics to record and use for our film. Since we're more familiar with the rooftop we can write a song that explains what Rooftop Legends is all about. For the now the writing of the new song is in progress but this is the amazing song that we were going originally use. 

I'm Here

I'm Here is short film written and directed by Spike Jonze. This film takes place in LA in a time where both human and robots live. When two robots named Sheldon and Francesca meet they imminently fall for each other. Francesca is a bit out going and when one day she take Sheldon to a concert to see her favorite band she looses an arm in the crowd. Sheldon's love for her is so big that he unscrewed his arm and gave it to Francesca. The day after she falls and looses a leg and once again he gives her his. Towards the end Francesca seems to have gotten in an accident in which her whole body isn't working anymore. Sheldon let's the doctors take his body off of him and put it on her. At the end of the film, Francesca leave the hospital with Sheldon's head in her hands and you see in face how happy he is to see that his lover is okay. 

Cashback

Cashback is originally a short film written and directed by Sean Ellis. The short film was released in 2004 and afterword in 2006 the short film expanded. I really enjoyed watching this short film because Ben (Sean Biggerstaff ) shows us how he stops time by doing the opposite of everything. Ben explains to us that the reason why he's working in the supermarket is to pay for his art school and when it was that he first became interested in art and the beauty of females. At the beginning of the short film Ben tells us how when we are asleep we are unaware that we are sleeping and that in those missing hours a whole new world comes to life. When he pauses time to undress and draw these women, that's like his new world. His artistic world. 

In the extended version of the film Ben explains to us better of why he was really working in the supermarket. How he couldn't sleep after his breakup so he had eight extra hours added on to his day. Ben can stop time when ever he wants. He wishes he was able to just live in this paused world where he can observe everything. When Ben has everyone around him paused he notices that someone was moving. He realized that he was sharing that world with others. When Ben's ex-girlfriend kisses him at a party and Sharon see's Ben freezes time. He left time frozen for about a week trying to think of all kinds of ways to explain to the Sharon that what she had seen was the wrong second of the two seconds. That's when he realizes that every second of every day counts. In the end of the film, Ben was able to bring Sharon into his frozen world and show her the beauty behind everything that is hidden in the fast moving world. 

Rooftop

Fish Eye

This is one of the pieces of graffiti that is on the roof of Seward Park Campus at the moment. I used fish eye lens to take this photo. I love using fish eye when taking pictures like this because it gives it an effect makes a person feel like the image is coming towards them.

This is one of the pieces that was done in 2011 and is currently still on the roof.

Rooftop Legends

This video shows the anual event that goes on, on the roof of New Design High School. Graffiti artist from all around come together and put their pieces on the roof.

Rockaway Needs Us

Rockaway Needs Us from everyone and company on Vimeo.

Rockaway Needs Us  is a short film by Everyone and Company. The short film shows the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy which occurred October 29, 2012. It shows the damage that the hurricane did to Rockaway, Queens. The hurricane did a lot of damage, especially to these people because they live on/by the beach. A lot of people were left homeless. The hurricane tore down homes, cars, and left a lot of people in need for desperate help. Some houses were damaged so bad that all that was left was a wall with a frame.
Hurricane Sandy didn't have this same affect on many other place, like Manhattan and Brooklyn and a lot of other places. I was in Manhattan while the hurricane was happening and from by house i was able to see the east river water rising and coming towards my building. We were forced to evacuate and lost all power and water for about a week. As a teenager being with out electricity was like the end of the world for me, as it was for many other people. But after seeing this amazing video and how it captures the hurt in people's eye's and the damage that the hurricane did, my prospective changed completely. I was thankful and felt blessed that i was where i was. I was thankful that the worst thing that happened to me was loosing power for a week because other had it so much worse. These people are left with nothing at all, nothing but their family and friends.

NYC Dark

NYC Dark from Already Alive on Vimeo.

As I Am

As I Am from alan spearman on Vimeo.

Friends for Life

At 76, Warren DeWitt was single and living alone. 90-year-old Arden Peters was caring for his Alzheimer-stricken wife. In Friends for Life, an unlikely commitment between these two gentlemen eases the burden of old age for both of them. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/friends-for-life

Friends for Life is a film by Julie Winokur and Ed Kashi. This film tells the story of 79-year-old Warren Dewitt and 90-year-old Arden Peters. Warren and Arden always eat breakfast in Wal-Mart but they have never spoken before since Arden always went with his wife Mrs. Peters. Arden eventually stopped going to eat breakfast with Mrs. Peters because she was sick in bed with alzheimer's disease and parkinson's disease. Arden and Warren began having breakfast together and soon enough became best friends. Warren would go over to Arden's house everyday to help him out with his wife and around the house since it was too much work for him. When Arden's wife died, Warren moved in with Arden and took care of his best friend until his day came. After Arden's death of a heart failure Warren lived alone in the Peters farm.

I think this was an amazing film and one of the best I've watched. It reminds me so much of my best friend and I. Making a film on a friendship isn't a common topic for films and the way that this film captured this topic was done was amazing. The photographs were astonishing. Through those images you see the love these two men had for each other and how well they balance each other out by taking care of each other. Seeing the way they laughed and hugged shows that no matter how old they are there friendship is young, just like their heart.  

Love in the First Person

At twenty, photojournalist Matt Eich has maturity dropped in his lap: his world-class career takes off, just as his girlfriend becomes pregnant. Together they document their budding lives, as they grapple with some very grown-up choices. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/love-in-the-first-person

Love in the First Person is a photographed film by Matt Eich and his wife Melissa Eich. Matt Eich is a twenty years old college student who won the photographer of the year contest. By Matt winning the contest, he got the opportunity to travel around the globe with his camera. This was a dream come true for Matt until he finds out that his girlfriend Melissa is pregnant. Matt and Melissa end up getting married and moving to Portland, Oregon. Matt had a great chance to do what he has always dreamed of doing, traveling the world with his camera. But he says that, "it's something that he's willing to trade in for a steady family life and be opportunity to be a good dad."

I think this is a great film because the filmmakers themselves were telling their own story. They showed us their worries but they also showed us how there love is so strong they will do anything to get through this. Matt both tells and shows us how much he was to be an amazing father and husband by giving up one of his dreams. This film shows how love can overcome anything. 

Amar

Amar is an "observational documentary" filmed by Andrew Hinton. Hinton follows Amar, a fourteen year old Indian boy who provides for him family. The film shows a day in Amar's daily life. Amar wakes up at 3:58 am to go do his first job as a paper boy. After Amar finishes delivering papers he heads to his second job selling remote controls. By the time it's 2 o'clock Amar goes home to get ready to go to school. After school Amar goes back to his job selling remotes. When Amar gets home everyone is already asleep. The film ends with Amar sitting at home, doing his homework with a lightbulb. 

In the film you can see how dedicated Amar is to help out his family and get his education. Most kids have great opportunity's to do so. And they don't take advantage of it because things usually get handed to them easily. They don't realize the struggle kids like Amar go through everyday hoping to get half of what they have.

The film is important because it shows that no mater what situation you are in when you really want something you strive for it. That's exactly what Amar is doing. When i saw this video it changed my prospective of things. It made me think of how I should defiantly take advantage of how easy i can get an education and be whatever it is that I want to be. 

Ninth Floor

In an apartment above Fifth Avenue, some thirty young people live in a vortex of drug addiction and despair. In The Ninth Floor, Jessica Dimmock enters this world, exploring, in human terms, what has been lost and what may be recovered. See the project at http://mediastorm.com/publication/the-ninth-floor

I recently watched a video on MediaStorm called The Ninth Floor.  It is a photographed film by Jessica Dimmock.  Dimmock photographed a group of young adults that lived on the ninth floor of a building on fifth avenue that were drug addicts.  Drug addiction is something very common especially in a place like New York City.  People start doing drugs at a very young age usually as soon as they hit high school, sometimes even earlier. As the world gets more modern it gets easier for younger kids to get drugs. As they get older they don't know how to control themselves and they get addicted to the drugs.
 
Jessica Dimmock photographed the life of the three main people living in the apartment on the ninth floor named Joe, Jessie, Dionn and Rachel. The apartment was rented by an artist in New York named Joe Smith.  Joe began subletting his apartment to other people. Soon enough people stopped paying rent therefore the lights stopped working and the water stopped running.  Joe Smith just asked his "roommates" to pay him in drugs and beer.  Jessie was hospitalized a couple of times. After she was hospitalized she went to upstate to live with her mother to try and get clean. She says the reason why she and others get addicted is because the first time is such a good time, you feel like you have no worries in the world, no fears, it just feels like you're on a cloud.  Jessie says,  "And then that's why they say you're chasing the first hit, cause then you're just doing it to try and get that same feeling you got at the begininning, but you never really get that."  Dionn and Rachel then had a baby. Rachel still did drugs while she was pregnant so they kept the baby in the hospital for a while. After the baby was born Dionn wanted nothing but the best for her.   "I was 120 milligrams of methadone when she was conceived, by the time she was born i was on 50, and now i'm completely off." Joe Smith was hospitalized many times and no one really knew what happend to him.

 I think this is a great film because of how raw it is. Instead of telling you about these people's lives it takes us inside of it. It makes you feel like you're in the room with them experiencing it all because it doesn't hold anything back. You don't see a lot of films like this, where a photographer takes you inside the lives of different people with different stories and different experiences. These people have different stories to tell, but they all seem to connect, they all go back to the same place, the ninth floor.