ASTERIOS POLYP

The text of each character has a different style to show the different voices and personalities of the characters. I noticed that the choreography and Asterios have similar text style, it’s all uppercase and very strong lettering. Which is interesting because they both have big egos. The text Hana’s has is delicate and lowercase showing that she has a different personality. The language used to describe art is very formal and makes the reader a little outside their element, which is important in understand Asterios.  

The illustrator made it very easy to understand how the conversation flows, If Asterios starts to talk over Hana the text bubbles start to overlap. It helps the reader understand the character more and the relationship between Asterios and Hana. During arguments Hana and Asterios are drawn very differently. Hana is drawn in a very loose hand and is colored pink, which I think shows her angry because when they argue it’s because of something Asterios says. But Asterios is drawn in blue and very structured and geometric because I don’t think he understand what he says wrong and he’s not very flexible when it comes to changing his opinion.    

The storytelling in this graphic novel has three different layers it jumps between, the past, present, and dreams. I think it’s an interest way to show Asterios growth as a character, but as the reader moves back and forth between past and present some of the aspects of his character are the same. We get a true sense of what Asterios character is like through the way he speaks and how he’s inner thoughts are illustrated.The illustrations are like a storyboard that goes along with screenplay. The graphic novel seems like the step before a movie. There is no descriptive language about direction or setting. Everything is dialogue like a screenplay, all the action the scene set up is part of the graphics. The way the chapter were laid out was interesting because they were quick scenes of the past that helped support the story in the present.       

I thought comics were only about superheros and the graphic novels were not basics in fantasy. I think the format of graphic novels is more loosely structured and doesn’t have to follow a strict sequencing format.

SOFIA COPPOLA

I watched three of Sofia Coppola’s, Marie Antoinette, The Virgin Suicides, and The Bling Ring.

In all three movies music was an important part of the work and set the tone from a lot of scenes. It helped communicate the moods and feelings of characters without using dialog. Like in The Virgin Suicides when the girls are stuck in there room and the boys call them and they play records back and forth to have a conversation without saying anything. She also uses a lot of extended silences that last a little too long and that make the viewer feel uncomfortable. The silences make the movies and characters feel realistic. We see they have inner thought but we don’t know what it is. A good example of that is in the The Bling Ring when Rebecca and Marc rob one of the houses and it’s a wide shot of the house and it’s silent for about a minute as you watch the house get robbed. It seem like you are watching a security tape. She also cuts to these dream like, unrealistic scenes that are not part of the story line, like in The Virgin Suicides When the sisters are in a field and the shots are hazy and are noticeably different from the rest of the movie. She also cast the same age range in all three movies the characters are in their teens. It seem like all of them don’t really know who they are and they are trying to figure it out, and get stucked into a bad place. Both Marie Antoinette and The Virgin Suicides Two look to the past makes that makes the viewer feel nostalgic. Marie Antoinette is a period piece of royalty, so the set, costumes and food is extravagant and makes the viewer wish they were part of that time. The Virgin Suicides was set in the 60s or 70s and the set and costumes in that movie make the viewer nostalgic too. The attitude of both Marie Antoinette and The Bling Ring are very similar, they are surrounded by partying and the characters are submerged in this extravagant high social living. It’s also about money, fashion, drinking and having a good time.

GOOSE FATHER BY KRYS LEE

Short Story Turned Into Visual Scenes

Who: Gilhou and Wuseong

Where: outskirts of Seoul, South Korea

When: 1990

·      Scene of inside condominium located in Seoul, South Korea; urban area

·      New tenant, Wuseong, sitting on doormat with suitcases and goose

·      Close up shot of goose with a birthmark on the cheek

·      Gilhou; main character, welcomes new tenant inside the space

·      Visuals of family pictures everywhere

·      Goose is kept on the balcony with the garden

·      Next morning, tenant cooks traditional Korean breakfast

·      Scene talking about poetry

MONTH PASSES

·      Scenes of the two getting to know each other; talking, reading, cooking

·      Intimate conversation about the goose being Wuseong’s mom

·      Gilhou gets frustrated at Wuseong’s silliness

     TWO MONTHS PASS

·      The two visit the song room

·      Scene of Wuseong singing romantic song to Gilhou

·      Scene of Gilhou getting close to Wuseong then slaps him

·      Wuseong runs out of the song room and goes missing

·      Gilhou returns to the condo; thinks Wuseong’s in his room sleeping

·      Gilhou goes to sleep

NEXT MORNING

·      Gilhou notices Wuseong’s missing along with the goose

·      Madly scavenges through his room

·      Roams downtown looking for him frantically

·      Eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner alone for the next couple days

COUPLE DAYS LATER

·      Gilhou ends up going out with friends to a bar

·      Brings drunk friend home

·      Wuseong shows up with goose

·      Gilhou confronts Wuseong about where he’s been

·      Drunk friend tries to pluck goose

·      House quiets down, everyone goes to sleep

·      Gilhou wakes up in the middle of the night, there’s a full moon

·      Goes out to the balcony where Wuseong is accompanied by a woman

·      The woman has the same birthmark on her cheek as the goose did

·      The goose has transformed into Wuseong’s mom

·      Gilhou feels guilty for not believing Wuseong

·      Gilhou realizes his love for Wuseong

·      Leans in for a kiss

SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPES

Set Design

Therapist Office

The office is simple and bright, it has a single Eames lounge chair where the therapist sits. The Eames chair by the far left corner of the office. The left wall of the office is a large window that has a view of the city. The back wall of the office is an entire wall of opening shelving with books and other decorative objects. The wall to the right has a large painting resembling a post impressionist work with thick brush strokes and bright colors of a calming nature scene. Under the large painting a square black leather sofa sits with a glass coffee table in front of it.        

John and Ann House

There house is a large craftsman in the suburbs outside the city of Seattle. The inside of the house is spotless everything is organized and has a designated place. Near the front door a you are greeted with a seating room. The room has built-in shelving on either side of the fireplace original to the house. Two large flower arrangements sit on top of the built-ins. Two identical lounge chairs sit in front of the built-ins, across from them is a sofa with the same fabric. Behind the sofa is a console table with three smaller flower arrangements evenly spaced on the table. In front of the sofa a glass coffee table that matches the console table. Behind the sitting area a dining room with original chair rail that covers three fourths of the walls. A medium sized wood  dining table is in the center of the room, above it is a silver chandelier. Towards the back of the house is a kitchen that looks out to the backyard. The whole house is flooded with natural light.         

John’s Office

His office is wood paneled. His desk faces the door, behind him is a large window with views of the city in front of the window is a wood shelf the spans the whole wall. The shelf is filled with paperwork organized into neat piles. The chair behind the desk is a large leather one, the ones in front of the desk are smaller and look less unmovable.     

Cynthia’s Apartment

The apartment is a studio has an eclectic taste, it has a mix of objects from different places and not one piece of furniture matches the other. It’s messy there are clothes and leftover food sitting out on the kitchen table. The bed is unmade, and a open clothing rack sits in between two windows.

 

Graham's Apartment

The apartment is practically empty. The front door and the kitchen are separated by a small wall. The kitchen opens up to the rest of the apartment. A four person table sits in between the kitchen and the living room. Where a simple sofa and a tv are sitting on opposite sides of the room. The whole apartment has wood flooring, there are no area rugs and only a couple floor lamps light the space.

 

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Both the movie and the book had call to nostalgia. In the beginning of the book the Stefan talks about Austria in a very glorified way that paints a perfect picture that was full of nostalgia and wanting for a simpler time. Wes Anderson’s movies does the same, he creates this perfect scene that look like still shots. Because everything is controlled and beautifully balanced, Wes also paints aggrandised vision of the past making the viewer long for it. I think Wes borrowed the idea very authentic nostalgia that transports the viewer. But both Stefan and Wes create a different world where they’re strange character can live and not be compared or run into the world we live in. The characters deal with real issues but they do in a straight way without showing a lot of emotion.

The overall mood of Wes movies are melancholy a specially in The Grand Budapest Hotel there is a lot of death but also a lot of funny moments which evens out the mood to melancholy and not sad. I think Wes pulls that melancholy tone from Stefan's books, like in The Journey to the Past. There is an overall sadness and dislike for from the author's life and a yearning for the past. I think because someone is telling the story of the past and looking back in the beginning of The Grand Budapest Hotel the same yearning is happening.   

I think what sets Stefan and Wes apart is the way they capture a setting. The set design for Wes Anderson films are something of great beauty, everything places carefully and nothing is left in chance. The unique monochromatic color scheme of pastel color and the use of symmetry and asymmetry throughout the film makes his films feel very two dimensional. When reading Stefan books that same carefully contested set design of Wes Anderson does not transfer over.