This afternoon's lecture we started watching Philosophy and the Matrix http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgkBE4Kgq5Q , an hour long documentary which discussed the philosophical, religious, historical and social contexts in the Matrix movie. I thought it was very interesting how the writers and scientists and philosophers who all worked on the Matrix movie considered the subject of reality in very close and very deep detail, and considered what reality could be from many different points of view, and how it may not be what one person might think (it's all very confusing!) but they mentioned how it could be above and beyond one person's experiences.
Social Contexts, being controlled by corporations and big companies, education, can one really have entire freedom. the documentary compares people to "batteries" and we recharge in our sleep.
Religious contexts could include the soul trapped inside a material body wanting to get out.
They focused on people's limits, the confusion on reality, being unable to see beyond what we know and experience.
They also say if people are aware of what you don't already know, it makes people more curious, almost to the point of madness, and this intrigues the viewer.
Also mentions the quality of spontaneousness in the film, doing things without giving them a thought or being aware of what you're doing, your body just does it naturally. Neo uses his own will to achieve what he wants.
Uses Metaphysics, which links back to the question of what is reality? Other than what's physically around us, beyond what's physically around us. Very philosophical and confusing, not sure whether to trust all these theories and not sure if they're all true or not. It's important to have an individual opinion about what they are saying.
This confusing documentary also mentioned a lot of metaphors. This was certainly very philosophical and perhaps confusing, and not all of it may be factual, but it is certainly interesting to see all the different points of view.
We also watched Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxDwieKpawg
This was a very inspiring speech given by movie director Andrew Stanton at the 2012 TED Convention about
storytelling, and what makes a story interesting and gripping to an audience, and spoke about how his past experiences
have influenced some of the stories of the films he has directed and been a part of, such as Finding Nemo.
He was a very premature baby, and had to have many blood transfusions, which could be a bit like Nemo's
birth in Finding Nemo, and feels he owes it to this second chance he has to pour his heart and soul into every
project.
Stanton gave many storytelling tips and secrets in his speech, many of which I would like to practice and I
feel that using these storytelling tips and secrets will help me a lot to make storytelling in any projects I do that
involve storytelling much better.
Some tips he provided include:
Timing is very important, especially with jokes, punch lines.
Need to make people care, story must promise audience that the story will lead somewhere worth their time.
Story needs to be rewarding for the audience.
Story needs to be unpredictable. What will happen next?
Characters need a "spine," something that they need to achieve, something they must work on, a goal. This
leads to good and/or bad choices for the character.
However flawed character's personality may be at start of the story, needs to make character likeable, make the
character learn something.
Storytelling has guidelines, not any particular set rules.
The best stories create wonder, something Stanton noticed when watching Disney's Bambi.
Use what you know to create story, and it is really good if you can relate to the story somehow, it's perfectly
ok, if not recommended, that you use your own influences and values to inspire the story.
Actions are also essential in storytelling, creates the most intricate storytelling.
Stanton mentioned his many influences as well, including the 1986 film Lawrence of Arabia, which he claims he saw
7 times in one month, because it was so inspiring to him, and I think a scene in particular he found inspiring
was when one character asked another "Who are you?" which I think did make him consider the inner depths
of the character more, to kind of give the character a spine, a path of self discovery, I think. Other influences of
his included Wall.E, which used merely actions, but incredibly well, to tell the story, and Bambi, which made
him fill with wonder. I honestly found everything he said truly interesting and inspiring, and it was amazing to
see how much depth and detail and work should go into a story alone, and certainly sounds a very inspiring
career.
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