Horror Movies

Horror movies are a staple of our film industry. Sadly, they are in short supply—many of the recent horror movies released in the past few years are remakes. Some fairly recent remakes include Nightmare on Elm Street (1984, 2010), Friday the 13^th (1980, 2009), My Bloody Valentine (1981, 2009), The Crazies (1973, 2010), and Halloween (1978, 2007), among many others. Not only do these remakes exhibit the complete lack of originality in the horror film industry, they are entirely unnecessary. My Bloody Valentine is perhaps one of the worst offenders because they change the killer. YOU DO NOT EVER CHANGE THE KILLER!! (It is in the horror movie commandments, look it up.) For an original, unexpected horror movie, watch Cabinin the Woods (2012).

There are certain rules one must abide by to survive a horror movie (this mostly applies to slasher films—supernatural horror films don’t necessarily work like this). Watch the video now. It’s the rules from the Scream Trilogy.

In addition to these, you never say "Who's there?" or open the door when someone knocks or call out when no one’s there if you stupidly do open the door. Never run up the stairs in a chase—only stupid people do this for there is nowhere to go but out the window. Never go looking for the killer. Never split up. Always double-tap—the killer isn’t truly dead unless you shoot him in the head or some similar fatal killing. The best weapons are those you don’t need to reload (this is true in zombie movies, too). And if you’re blonde and/or have big boobs, you must be hyperaware of the rules and your surroundings—you’re the most likely to die. Well so long, I’m screwed.

"Der Gnom des Entsetzen:" A Stop-Motion Film

So this is a little late. My group's project was on film, and we wanted to show this but didn't have time during our presentation. In German 4 in high school, I made a stop-motion silent film (with the titles in German, of course). It is a fun process, but a pain in the ass when you happen to be the only one with a good camera and editing software. It took about 512-515 pictures to complete--I do not remember the exact number. Translations are under the video. I did not write the titles and cannot remember the proper way to translate them, so they do not entirely make sense, but the story should be clear enough despite this.



Der Gnom des Entsetzen: The Gnome of Terror (or Horror)!
Es war einen schoenen Tag. melanie, Georg, und Katja waren sehr froeh in ihren Deutschen Klasse. Alles waren in Gruenen Bereich!: It was a nice day. Melanie, George, and Katya were very happy in their German class. Everything was good!
Ach! Ein Geschenk!: Oh a present!
Lief weg!!: Run away!!
Georg nahm einen grossen Hauch. Vielleicht hat er sehr schnell weg gelaufen. Warscheinlich der Gnom war ihm treiben.: George took a big breath. Maybe he had run away quickly. The gnom probably followed him.
Melanie und Katja trauerten fuer Georg. Der schlechte Gnom nahm ihn doch sofort. Sie wollten der Gnom fangen!: Melanie and Katia mourned for George. The evil gnome took him immediately. They wanted to find the gnome!
Geh weg!: Go away!
Der Gnom konnte nicht mehr die Schule terrorisieren. Ein Schatten fiel ueber die Schule. Der Gnom war eine Raeuberhorde, denn er hat vier leben genommen. Wieder kam die Freude, aber Chanhassen war eine Ueberraschung kriegen.: The gnome could no longer terrorize the school. A shadow fell over the school. The gnome was a robber, because he has taken four lifes. Again came the joy, but Chanhassen was getting a surprise.

Starring:
Shawni Jones as Melanie
George Le as Georg
Caitlyn Fahrenkamp as Katja
Robin as Robin (I don't remember his last name)
and Sarah Bast as Dead Girl #1

Joss Whedon

The name Joss Whedon probably does not sound too familiar unless one is into science fiction TV shows and movies, but his work is known by nearly everyone in America. He created many great TV shows including Buffythe Vampire Slayer (1997), Angel (1999), Firefly (2002), and Dollhouse (2009); he also helped write on projects like Toy Story (1996), Serenity (2005), Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog (2008), Cabin in the Woods (2012), and the Avengers (2012).

Despite being widely unknown and unrecognized, Whedon and many of his works have received cult status. Firefly was only produced for 14 episodes with the movie Serenity made as a follow-up, yet fans (called “Browncoats”) stay wholly dedicated. In 2011, an internet campaign called Help Nathan Buy Firefly was started after Firefly star Nathan Fillion stated in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that if he won $300 million from the California lottery, he would use it to produce more episodes. The idea was for fans to donate money to help bring the beloved show back. In just one day, over $10,000 was pledged by fans. After a couple weeks Whedon announced he was not interested in Help Nathan Buy Firefly because he thought it would not work out and would be too hard to manage. Browncoats still hope for a revival. Buffy and Angel are also considered of the cult status, but do not have fan-backing for more episodes because they both aired for many seasons. Many fans of any or all of these shows and movies proclaim that anything Whedon works on must be good because he is such a talented man; he has yet to disappoint them.

Whedon helps with "Can't Stop the Serenity," which shows Serenity in theaters to benefit the charity Equality Now. Many of the Serenity cast and crew help with the charity as well. He also participates in Dark Horse Comics, producing a comic in the far future of the world of Buffy called Fray. Most of Whedon's current focus is on online projects.

Hand Coloring vs Selective Color in Photographs

Selective color-A color photograph turned black and white except for
the red tones on the face. (Hand coloring image coming soon)

There are two basic ways of mixing black and white and color in photographs. Hand coloring applies to printed photographs and selective color applies to digital. Hand coloring involves taking a black and white image and adding colored paint by hand whereas selective color takes a color image and turns all but one (or more) area(s) black and white—so essentially hand coloring turns black and white into color and selective color turns color to black and white. Both techniques are most commonly applied to portraits.

Hand coloring takes a lot of skill to apply the paint in just the right way to make it look right. It is very time-consuming and small areas are tedious. Selective color can be done by anyone with access to an image editing program. If anything, selective color is cheesy and overused. Many photographers refuse to do it because it always looks dumb.

35mm Film



35mm film is the most common type of photographic film and what people often picture in their mind when they think of film. It is becoming outdated as digital photography advances at such a fast pace. Because film cannot keep up with digital, many chemical companies are dwindling—Kodak recently went bankrupt and most chemical and paper producers around 20 years ago are out of business. Many photographers will be devastated if Kodak does not bounce back from the bankruptcy. In 1880, George Eastman created the Kodak company to make photography more accessible to the public—their motto was “You press the button. We do the rest.” In 1884, Kodak patented the first paper film which was a precursor to modern film.

Film with chemical burns. Notice how the burns
are fairly symmetrical and always occur in pairs.

Today, film is sold in a variety of speeds, which is determined by its sensitivity to light. A lower ISO (film speed) number, the less sensitive to light the film is. Thus a lower number, like 100, is good for bright, direct sunlight whereas a higher ISO, 400, is best for low-light situations. A higher ISO will produce a granier photo, which becomes evident during printing. When processing the film, it cannot touch itself at any point or you will get what is called a chemical burn that makes the affected negatives unusable. After processing, film is best kept in plastic negative sleeves to keep dust and scratches off the emulsion.

The Minnesota Twins

Everyone has their favorite sports team. Sharing a team brings people together who have nothing else in common. Once you have a favorite team, you stick with them through bad seasons and good. Lately the Twins have just been the bad with a record of 5-10. Rivalries allow fans to express any anger or frustration they have from other parts of their lives; they also can bring together fans of different teams to hate a single team together. For instance, as a Twins fan, the only time I root for the White Sox is when they play the Yankees—both teams suck but the Yankees are worse. Everyone hates the Yankees. They’re a bunch of conceited assholes. There even happens to be a book on the art of hating the Yankees.

Each team is also riddled with advertising from team commercials, to individual player endorsements, to in-the-park ads. The Twins always have amusing commercials, like this year’s “Sorta Deep Thoughts” series, featuring manager Ron Gardenhire, mascot TC, catcher Joe Mauer,1^st baseman/designated hitter Justin Morneau, pitcher Carl Pavano, and commentator and Hall of Fame pitcher Bert Blyleven. (The most recent one is not yet up online but features Bert saying, “A pitch not thrown over the plate is called a ball; of course it’s a ball, he’s not throwing a pizza at you!”)

Van Dykes



By Steph Koehnen

Van Dykes are a photographic process resulting in a brown-toned print. It was originally patented in 1889 by Arndt & Troost, however the chemistry and process has changed significantly. Then, only a water bath was required for processing; today a diluted fixer solution and hypo clearing agent are needed. Van Dykes are not as consistent as cyanotypes—the final color varies from a orangey-brown to a deep, almost purpley-brown. They are also frustrating because brush strokes show up very easily if too little or too many strokes are used. It is sometimes hard to tell if the paper is sufficiently coated because the solution is so light sensitive that coating must be done in the darkroom under the safe light.

By Steph Koehnen

Here’s how to produce a Van Dyke:

1.      Coat a piece of watercolor paper with Van Dyke sensitizer under a red or orange safe light. It is very important to wear gloves during this step because the sensitizer will turn anything it touches brown; if it gets on your skin, have fun with your brown spot for a few weeks because it won’t scrub off.

2.      Once the paper is dry, place a contact negative on the paper and put them in a contact printing frame.

By Steph Koehnen

3.      Expose print in the sun. Times differ depending on the condition of the sunlight, varying from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. You will want to pay attention to the color change—it is fully exposed when the emulsion is a deep reddish brown.

4.      In the darkroom, put the print in a running water bath for about 5 minutes. Not doing so will result in impure light tones.

5.      Place the print in a dilute fixer—normal print fixer works in a ratio of 1 part fixer to 25 parts water. Fixer makes the image permanent. When the color of the emulsion changes to a deep brown, remove from the fixer.

6.      Place in a hypo-clearing agent for 2-3 minutes

By Steph Koehnen

7.      Wash in a running water bath for 10 minutes. Hang to dry.

For more information on Van Dykes or to see more examples, stop by the CSS photo lab in T4412 or look through the gallery at the Alternative Photography website. The above information comes from experience and Christopher James’ The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes.

James, Christopher. "The Van Dyke, B-D-V, & Brownprint." The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2009. 216-235. Print.

Sesame Street

Sesame Street is a long running children’s show presented in multiple acts, called sketches, whose characters are a mixture of muppets and people (however the muppets are the real stars). According to www.sesameworkshop.org, the aim of the show is to “bring critical lessons in literacy & numeracy, emotional wellbeing, health & wellness and respect and understanding to children in 150+ countries.” Each country’s version of Sesame Street is different and locally produced to address the different problems children face from country to country. Sketches focus on lessons like counting, respecting others, sharing, and letter recognition.

Debuting November 10, 1969, Sesame Street is the longest running children’s show in the United States with 43 seasons and counting. It brought intriguing characters to the television world, like Big Bird, Elmo, Bert and Ernie, the Count, Oscar the Grouch, and, best of all, Cookie Monster. Sesame Street paved the way for all children’s shows to follow—it is theorized that if Sesame Street had not existed, we may not have networks Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. Sadly, Sesame Street ranked 15¹ in ratings in 2009 behind such shows like Dora the Explorer and SpongeBob Squarepants. It has been cut down to around 26 episodes per year now; during its peak of popularity, upwards of 130 episodes of Sesame Street were made each season.

¹"Sesame Street: The Show That Counts." The Daily Beast. Newsweek. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.

Cyanotypes

By Steph Koehnen

In the early 1840’s, countless scientists or scientifically-inclined men (and a few women) experimented with chemistry to make photographic images. Sir John Herschel developed one of the first viable and permanent processes in 1842, the cyanotype—after the Daguerreotype, of course. He found that by mixing ferric ammonium citrate (then called ammonio-citrate of iron) with potassium ferricyanide and coating paper with the mixture would produce bright blue images that could be made permanent merely by soaking in water. The ferric ammonium citrate is the light-sensitive part of the solution and the potassium ferricyanide gives the blue color.

 

The cyanotype photographic process received short-lived popularity and was largely forgotten for almost a century. However, its alternative use was largely popular—blueprints. Since the cyanotype is a contact process, it works to copy notes and drawings, as well. This process is incredibly easy—to produce a good cyanotype, abide by the following procedure:



By Steph Koehnen

1.      Obtain a contact negative (a negative the size of the desired print) or simply gather objects with interesting shapes

2.      Mix solutions A and B together in equal parts. Solution A is the ferric ammonium citrate and B is the potassium ferricyanide (it is VERY important not to let solution B sit in the sun or any light brighter than room-light; heating potassium ferricyanide results in the release of cyanide gas, which is poisonous).

3.      Using a crosshatch pattern, paint the mixed sensitizer onto a piece of watercolor paper. The color will appear a bright yellow-green.

By Steph Koehnen

4.      Lay the contact negative or objects on the paper and expose in the sun. If a negative is used, a sheet of glass will need to be laid on top to ensure proper contact and focus. Printing times will vary from 5-40 minutes, depending on the intensity of the sun and the temperature; bright, warm days will need the shortest times whereas cold and cloudy days will require longer printing times.

5.      Since there is no certain exposure time, a color shift in the emulsion will be the determinant. The color of the emulsion will change from the bright yellow-green to a deep green to a blue-green and is finally ready when it is a light blue-gray.

6.      After the exposure, simply remove the negative or objects from the paper and immerse the paper in a bath of cool water (65-68˚F). A yellow pigment will be released—this is the unexposed sensitizer. Empty the water bath and refill with water; repeat until no more sensitizer is removed from the photo or 5-10 minutes have passed. Hang the photo to dry on a clothesline and your cyanotype is done!

For more information on cyanotypes or to see more examples, stop by the CSS photo lab in T4412 or look through the gallery at the Alternative Photography website. The above information comes from experience and Christopher James’ The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes.

James, Christopher. "The Cyanotype Process." The Book of Alternative Photographic Processes. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2009. 148-74. Print.