Week 12 - Illuminated Page on Modern Media

I illustrated this illuminated page in order to shed some light on what I see as a fear of technology, that it's hijacking our minds. In reality, technology only allows more seamless communication, for us to curate a mediascape for others to escape into. We are technology, but technology amplifies our ability to reach/manipulate each other. They are two sides of the same coin, and can both be positive or negative.

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Week 8 - Being Director of Photography for "The Graduate"

I read the screenplay for “The Graduate” and immediately was captured by the strange dynamic between Ben and Mrs. Robinson. I got a good idea of the framing of the two within the shots as I read their parts. What’s interesting is their emotional distance when alone, but their secret closeness when among an unsuspecting crowd. If I were the Director of Photography, I would shoot around these two characters during most interactions, regardless of if a tertiary character was speaking. These scenes are always about how Mrs. Robinson feels about Ben’s behavior around her family, or how he presents himself. I would attempt to shoot mostly at eye-level to get a level of intimacy, and get both character’s in frame at a time. These shots could be facilitated by one character having their back to the other, which works contextually because they try to maintain a sense of unfamiliarity when around Mr. Robinson or Ben’s parents. You could have interactions happening in the background, but have t...

Week 11 - Twin Peaks

I watched Twin Peaks as an example of long-form television. I was already watching the series, but I continued with an analytical eye. Twin Peaks is primarily a crime/mystery/thriller show, but has undertones of the supernatural. The fact that it’s a visual media allows new clues and information, being revealed by the characters, to be segmented per-week. The story unravels slowly, but as the plot wears on many characters in the town Twin Peaks take a part of the spotlight. Some episodes will focus on some characters, and another on a different group. Most of the time it will feature at least some of the main plot-line and police force characters, but oftentimes episodes will be sprinkled in where the director focuses more on secondary characters, on a more personal narrative. I think this is how Twin Peaks became so popular, and how it really took advantage of it’s format. Television, specifically long-form, gives the director enough time to tell an, if not longer, wider story. A la...

Week 14 - Social Media (Why are we embracing studio culture?)

One cause which I really care about as an animator is the current state of the VFX industry. To understand the full story of how the industry, and the artist who work in it are being abused, watch the 2014 movie “Life after Pi” . Basically, every major movie uses VFX and digital art extensively, in every scene. Most live-action movies have at least one digital element in each shot, and this means lots of work for VFX artists. However, this large demand unfortunately means overworking respected VFX studios, or outsourcing work to countries where workers are similarly abused. The schedules that digital artists in the film industry keep are massively unhealthy, and the stress that these schedules put on them and their relationships are even more obscene. For anyone entering the industry, their choice is either to accept an unstable position under a director who won’t look at their work until post is wrapping up, and then give you changes to do with no additional pay and without shifting...

Chris Beausire's Lit & Media Studies Experience

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