Week 6

Our group goal for this week was to sketch rough outlines of our movies so that we could start filming the majority of our movie within the next couple weeks. I have written out an outline to my part of the film that sketches out most of my shots and the basic story of my part of the movie. I am eager to finish filming the scenes of my movie and need to figure out a concrete schedule for our group so we can finish filming our movie. It is pretty difficult to get everyone in the group together to hold a meeting. I think a part of it is the lack of urgency some members in the group unfortunately feel. A major struggle in the filming process has been the failure of emphasizing the importance of a strict schedule of tasks that need to be completed. Once we gather everyone’s group outlines of the movie, the process of filming with undoubtedly progress smoother.

Even if we do not have everyone’s finalized movie outlines yet, we could still work on some of the transition shots that we all agreed on earlier in our film making process. I would like to film some of these set shots that we need in our movie in the near future.

This week’s film was “Wings of Desire” directed by Wim Wenders. This has been the most anticipated movie screening for me because of the hype that was associated with the film amongst my fellow classmates. There is a noticeable difference between this film and previously screened movies in the class. I immediately observe that the bar was significantly raised in the artistic presentation of the film as compared to some of the previous movie’s artistic endeavors. The film was often very complex with the many layers of character development and dialogue that were instituted throughout the movie. The use of intricate subject matter within the film perfectly complemented the many layers that are present within Berlin. Wings of Desire used poetic prose throughout the film to reflect the depth of the subject matter of Berlin. I am very interested in watching this film again when I return to the United States and to see if I can develop any new meanings from the movie.

This past weekend I went to Amsterdam and had an incredible time. Amsterdam is a city that is famous for its care-free and relaxed attitude towards many illegal activities. This attitude that provides an outlet for such behavior is what attracts a majority of visitors to this city. But if you look beyond the façade of drugs and prostitution, you will see the true body of Amsterdam which consists of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I could walk or bike down Amsterdam’s winding canal streets for days. Amsterdam feels like a fantasy city that is only open for vacationing. The harsh reality of the Anne Frank house will bring you down to reality of the dark history of the Nazi regime. But even this example of Nazi atrocity seems surreal because it comes from a larger than life character in Anne Frank. Overall, Amsterdam has been one of the greatest cities, if not the greatest, that I’ve been to during my time abroad.