Running with Arnold

1. Running with Arnold, Documentary, Millsaps College, February 15, 2012
2. This film was essentially a breakdown of the political life of Arnold Schwarzenegger. It began with his youth in Austria, moved to his success as a bodybuilder, and finally focused on his rise in the political arena. Once the film arrived at this point, the mood shifted to picking apart why/how he makes a poor politician. This continued for the duration of the documentary. 
3. I feel like the music and the editing style (in regards to cinematography) was the strength behind this piece. The music that was picked went very well with the theme, and served to reiterate or drive home points that the filmmaker was trying to make. Furthermore, the way the film was edited allowed for lots of different voices to be heard, e.g. numerous people featured throughout the piece.  
4. I very much liked that there was a clear chronological line of reasoning taking us from Arnold as a boy, to Arnold as a governor. This method allowed for us to get the whole picture. 
5. Though this was a documentary that was designed to get an opinion across, and convince an audience, I thought the director could have done a better job of conveying "the other side" to the audience. It was obviously important for him to share his thoughts, but in order to sound like a legitimate source, one needs to recognize the other side. This is something that I think this director could work on. Also, I think it would be good for the director to make a short followup film to his documentary. Several important events have happened in the former California governor's life since the making of this documentary that I think have the potential to strengthen the existing documentary. 

Sexy and I Know It!

Sexy and I Know It Music Video Project

Huge thank you to:

Joan Quittmeyer

Hannah Enloe

Audrey Sheppard 

Andrew Gargiulo

Taylor Coleman

and of course..

The wonderful Jade Hewitt for helping me navigate final cut!

Quest for the Lost Maya

Last week I had the opportunity to view the National Geographic documentary "Quest for the Lost Maya." This documentary tells the story of the apparent disappearance of the Maya people in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. What made viewing this program unique was is much of this documentary takes place on Millsaps's biological and cultural reserve on the peninsula. Having studied in the Yucatán, I found this documentary especially interesting.

As a film, I thought "Quest for the Last Maya" was very well made. The director mentioned that the projects needed to fight for funding (being a PBS program), and when they acquired funds, still work on a small budget. The story was not sensationalized, it was very smartly told. It focused more on presenting pieces of a historical story rather than trying to remake "apocalypto." Despite this, they did take some liberties in digitally recreating the Mayan ruins. Again, this was done tastefully and without drama.

The part I was most impressed about was what I have deemed "the cave scene." It consisted of shots down a very dark and narrow cave shaft. If it is difficult for me to maneuver a tripod and camera out in the open, I can only imagine how hard it must have been to navigate the equipment in a small cave.

I'm not really sure I would have changed anything or done anything differently. The story was engaging and had a plot. Though there weren't directly main characters, the modern day Maya became the central players of the film.