J. Murphy Blog

This is a photo of myself that was taken a year ago in Los Angeles, California on the day of the Oscars. I aspire to have my own walk of fame star and win an Oscar award as a film editor. I bought this one in the picture as a souvenir to remind myself what one of my goals are in life. Last semester, I won a "mini Oscar" award at the Black Box Film Festival for best animation. I found it ironic that this was given to me as an award since I hope to receive one in the future. After college, I plan to move out to Los Angeles and find work out there. This has been a dream of mine since I was 15 years old.

Madama Butterfly was written in 1904 by the composer Giacomo Puccini. This opera has three acts ranging from 30-50 minutes in each act. The language spoken was Japanese, which was a struggle to follow along due to the language barrier. Although there was an issue with this, it's possible to follow along if paying attention. This opera told a story about love, sacrifices, and betrayal. The first ten minutes into the opera, you can tell that there is tension between a man and a woman. Watching the claymation version to this opera also helped with following the story. We tag along to this journey as the audience is faced with having the fourth wall broken. The fourth wall is broken multiple times during this opera. In order to break the fourth wall, the characters must make eye contact or talk to the audience. The fourth wall is broken within five minutes of the performance. It's clear that the audience is involved with the story because of the interaction of the characters. Th...

This 10 minute film made with claymation, tells a story that is unusual yet so powerful. Some may find this inappropriate to watch due to the sex scene but isn't this what most people experience? There is no dialogue between the two characters but the way the song and sound effects take over is still able to bring emotion to this film. I may have been a little uncomfortable watching the sex scene but it showed this woman's love life with this man. She was extremely happy in the beginning and at the end she is not. I feel empathy for this nonliving object which I believe was the goal of the film. There are some unrealistic moments such as the pregnancy of the fish turning into a baby but we understand the meaning of this newborn. Something I didn't understand was the kite that her and her daughter became. It did look like they were attached at the heart and when the father of the child breaks the line between the mother and daughter, I took it as a metaphor for breaking her ...

Out of all of the short experimental films that I watched at the FLEX Film Festival, I would have to say that Applied Pressure was one of my favorites. I feel like their was a deeper meaning shown without having to use any words. The audio used was a mixture of calm crashing waves with dark deep music in some parts. When using the darker music in some areas of the film, it appeared as if there was danger occurring. All these different women shown were getting massaged by men. They looked like they were enjoying the massage until the darker music played. I believed there was a metaphor for the darker music. The stop motion picture had a lot of aggressive photos during the darker audio that looked as if these women were being abused. The color of the film was tinted red as well which can symbolize danger. To me, this film can portray an abusive relationship. I might be overthinking this film's real meaning but this is how I analyzed it and I think it has a lot of meaning to it.

Raul grew up in a very poor lifestyle. He struggled with prejudice and being accepted in his culture. He ends up becoming a brilliant scientist and has a lot of concepts and thoughts that he brings up during this interview. Raul makes a point that creativity has nothing to do with art or being intellectually advanced but it in fact has to do with how you proceed with nature in relation with yourself. In order to do this, you have to be a good observant with nature. It has nothing to do with the lifestyle you have grown into. There is no advantage for those who are financially more stable. For instance, take a look at Raul. He struggled financially and became a brilliant man. Everything comes from nature. Ideas come from interaction from other ideas. The issue is the technology that people are using. There is no interaction with one another due to technology. Another important concept by Raul is doing everything with intensity. At first I was a little confused what this meant. As he beg...

Jonas Mekas had an interesting take on film. This typing of filmmaking is not abnormal for experimental films. Mekas used many different techniques in his films. All of the ones we viewed in class had a different style. He had shaky cameras, montage clips, time lapse, dialogue, audio, and even himself in the films. It's not common to have a filmmaker in the film. Experimental film separates itself from others due to its use of nature. The audience is unable to suspend their disbelief unlike other films with a clear story. I noticed with the titles of his film shown were all poorly hand written in marker. This a technique he used in most of his films. Some films were hard to read the story and others were easier. The Elvis  film was pretty easy to understand. I guess the history of the time period can indicate whether one understand's his story. I happened to know who Elvis is. Younger generations, will possibly not know of Elvis and this film may not make any sense to them.