Examining a Scene Blog Post

           The scene I chose to examine was from one of my all-time favorite films American Psycho. This is the scene in which the main character, Patrick Bateman, murders Paul Allen, a somewhat rival of his. The scene does so many small things to both build up to the murder and hint at Bateman’s insanity. First off, there is a close up shot of Bateman’s Huey Lewis album as he goes on a rant about why he likes the album. What this small detail does effectively is that it sets up our expectation as to why the Huey Lewis song is relevant. The next interesting shot is when Bateman goes into his bathroom. We get a close up shot of Bateman’s medication, indicating he is not an all right man. After some more examination, we can see that the shot here is of Bateman looking into a mirror. This is important because it ties into the larger narrative of Bateman’s struggles with his identity and persona, a theme that is explored through stylistic shots of Bateman’s face. This is expanded later in this same scene.

            The next important close up is of the blade on Bateman’s axe. The three close ups so far; the Huey Lewis album, Bateman’s medication, and the axe; are all leading up to what is about to happen. The album is commenting on Bateman’s motive for killing Allen, which has to do with his need to fit in amongst his social group. The medication close up tells us that Patrick is not a sane human being and the axe close up hints at what exactly he is about to do with the axe. Patrick turn on the song, “Hip to Be Square” which plays loudly and bounces in between a form of diegetic and non-diegetic music. As Bateman begins to chop Allen apart and blood splatters over his face, the song gets louder and becomes a sort of score over Bateman’s murder.

            Again we get a very important shot of Bateman’s face, this time we see half of it covered in blood, the other half almost clean. As Bateman removes his coat, the camera only shows one half of his face at a time. This is exploring the themes of Patrick’s persona by showing that half of him is this blood thirsty murderer, while the other half of him is this upper class yuppie. The final medium shot showing his entire face establishes that both of these personas exist in one person and are inseparable from each other within Bateman’s psyche. 

Museum of the Moving Image Blog Post

            Upon my visit to the Museum of the Moving Image, I was expecting nothing more than a series of relics from the Old Hollywood era of films. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see props, exhibits, and items from a films that I personally love and exhibits that had nothing to do with film. As far as films go, however, I was excited to see the masks used for the apes in the beginning of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey since that is one of my favorite movies due to its atmospheric and experimental pacing. I was also delighted to see some of the city props from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, another one of my favorite science fiction films. Both of these films have influenced the kind of work I would like to do, both aesthetically and in terms of narrative and subject matter. 

The masks used in 2001: A Space Odyssey

            Another small exhibit that I found interesting was Chuck Workman’s Precious Images short film. This exhibit functioned as a tribute to great directors of cinema. The short film itself was particularly interesting since it was comprised of a series of match cuts from all sorts of films throughout history. It was fun watching it and trying to recognize short 2 second clips from different movies that I’ve seen. However, it made me think about film fundamentals and how directors have been in a sense doing the same type of shots over and over since film became an art form and it made me remember why I favor avant-garde and experimental style films. 

Final Project: The Central Park Zoo (A Faux Documentary)

Media Production 160 Final Project from Chris Martinez on Vimeo.

Audio Project

What I Hear: Walking My Dog

            It’s time for my dog’s last walk of the day, sometime after 10pm. I head out onto 57^th Street in Elmhurst, Queens; a pretty busy street at most times of the day. It’s quiet but not without sound. Cars drive by and I can hear the wet tires zoom across the pavement. A bus rushes past me, squeaking and rattling as it reaches its stop. A group of teenagers chat about school as they get on the bus, the sound of exhaust hissing from the bus as the doors close and begins moving again. As I walk I hear my dog’s tags rattle together. She huffs and puffs through her stubby bulldog nose. I can hear the squishy sound of her tongue as she licks her nose. She stops to sniff a pile of leaves, exhaling and inhaling in short bursts, blowing the dead leaves away.

            I turn the corner away from the busy street. No cars or buses and it’s almost completely quiet. As I listen more closely on the quieter street I hear the trees rustling against each other as the wind blows through the branches. The wind picks up and I feel it howling inside my hood, muffling everything else. The wind blows some stray leaves around, they scratch across the sidewalk. I turn the block again and back onto the busy street I live on. More cars rush by and the sound of the wind and the leaves is drowned out by the traffic, but it’s still audible once you've heard it. 

Project 1: Define a Space

Define a Space from Chris Martinez on Vimeo.

Rungs in a Ladder - Ian McFarland