Sept 26th Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Write and post a set of director's notes on the script that discusses the general themes and motifs you would emphasize in your version of the movie. Suggest an ideal cast for the movie and provide your ideas to the actors playing the main parts on how you see the central characters. Approx. 500 words (or more if desir


The film version of the story will be based in the 1990's

It would continue to be in Las Vegas, though this time, with a modern twist. Concentrating on the rock and roll society that still is very related to the drug culture during that time.


Like the original story, the only consistent part of the story is the existence of the two main characters. Everything else, varies and constantly changes throughout the story. The key themes, and motifs for the story that I personally would choose to emphasize, would be drugs and it's influence over people's behavior in particular situations, also music would play an essential role as for the general feel of the movie.


The tone of the movie created by a young American production designer, aside from being given by the music would also be given by the color scheme used throughout, which in my opinion would be using the combination of both cool and warm colors.


Las but not least, the music and soundtrack of the film would be fast paced punk rock music.

Mon Sept 19th Nathaniel West, The Day of the Locus

Nathaniel West,

"Miss Lonely hearts" considered one of West's best stories.
"The Day of the Locus" is recognized as Nathaneal West's best known story. At the time, he wasn't a well known novellist. Just enough for him to pay the bills.  When "The day of the Locus" is released, he began to sell a couple of copus and success in his life started to arise.
Along with this success he gets married to Eileen Mckenney. Unfortunately not far after that, they're both involved in a car accident and meet their death, only a couple of days after the play opened in NY. An unfortunate event.

A particular aspect about the story itself is the fact that it doesn't have a "story structure". A begining middle and end, that we expect to have almost every time we read a story now. Because we relate to stories and put our personal  experiences into the stories we read, we expect them to be the way we experience life itself. Linear, and sequential, one event after the other, with a beginning and an end. When this doesn't happen, the reader notices and feels uncomfortable to some extent, because we're caught off guard.

We could say the book is more like a painting, where there is no story structure, but rather a canvas covered by elements that make up a story, with no beginning and no ending.

September 12. How to read a book like a film

Western Genre Characteristics: (dates around from 1860-1914)
Cowboys, horses, chaos, gun fights, small town, wide open space.

Genre codes:

Space opera:

syfy
comedy
drama
romantic comedy
action
horror
thrillers
adventure
documentary
biography
epics/historical
musical
soap opera
war
western
gangster
super natural
suspense
detective/mysteries
Pornography
News

After discussing in class a series of genres, the question arose as to why is it so important? I personally would have to say, because it allows you to place a story into a particular mindset or group in relation to other novels. It also gives you the opportunity to explore more between various types of genres, and the idea of trans-media storytelling.


For a trans-media hit, why is the movie so important?
For many reasons I would say, one of them being directed to the audience that doesn't read. An aspect that may at times leave the viewer wanting more and even more engaged in watching the events happening on the screen, rather than the experience of both watching and listening. Because were used to watching the more contemporary films that combine both visual and auditive information, it was interesting to watch a film with such a story behind it, and in addition to this, have it be a ballet performance. It may be because as a dancer I might be more attracted to these type of performances, nonetheless I feel the ballet film we saw in class was a beautiful piece that not only communicates without words, but also with movement.