Welcome

The Influence of “Metropolis”

Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” has been a source of influence and inspiration for an extremely long time now. I have found an interesting example of this. It can be found in the official music video for the song “From the Pinnacle to the Pit”, by the Swedish rock band, Ghost. I have included the video with this essay.

It is not possible to watch this music video and not see how it has been influenced by “Metropolis”. It shares the same retro sci-fi vision of a futuristic city. It also shows what appears to be an elite class living in the top of a high-rise while all the workers live on the ground level. Amongst this elite class, there is a very obviously influential female figure. There are also some comparable looking shots and scenery inside the high-rise. Towards the end of the music video, it shows the singer of the band at ground level exclaiming that “the light belongs to the people”. The music video ends right after this, but if it hadn’t, I would say that he would have possibly just started a revolt amongst the “workers” at ground level.

I am sure that the footage in this music video is taken from another old film, that was also inspired, in itself, by Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis”.

“WHAT I LEARNED ABOUT METROPOLIS”

Before starting this class, I had no idea that such a thing existed. I was stunned when I watched this film. I could not believe how good it was for how long ago it was produced. As I watched it, I realized that everywhere you look in the film industry today, you can see evidence of inspiration from this title.

I learned a lot in the other videos that accompanied it as well. I found it very interesting how much of a perfectionist Fritz Lang was. It sounds like it would have been brutal to be an actor on the set of this movie. I also find it interesting how it does such a great job portraying modern-day society in a metaphorical sense. Watching this film really makes you sit and wonder to yourself, “is that what I am? Just a cog in the machine?”

Fritz Lang’s “Metropolis” would go on to influence many different well-known filmmakers such as Alfred Hitchcock. You can see resemblance of sets, shots, and filming methods in movies such as Blade Runner, Star Wars, and so on. This film was the first of it’s kind and a true masterpiece. It truly set the standard for modern-day filmmaking.

“HUNGER PAINS”

JOIN THE TEAM TODAY!

Transitions in film are extremely important. They are vital. They are used to connect one scene to another. They are also used to show a passing of time or possibly convey some sort of message to the audience. A lot of times, it allows one scene to evolve into another. This is less jarring to the audience and naturally guides their focus onto the next series of events that is about to take place without causing as much confusion as to where and when the new place in question may be.

There are many different types of transitions that can be used. Personally, I tend to use cross-dissolve, wipe, push, and zoom the most when I am editing with Premiere Pro at work. There are so many different ones to choose from. They don’t have to be the cut and dried preset transitions in editing software either. As you saw in the example video from the film “Highlander”, they can be a little more creative and tailor-made.

I feel that the use of transitions is so widely accepted as the norm that if they were left out in certain situations, it would stand out like a sore thumb to most members of the audience.

To me, digital citizenship is like regular citizenship, except online. In today’s world, we need to not only practice being a good citizen in real life, but a good digital citizen online as well. Digital citizenship is composed of different elements such as proper etiquette, security, literacy, and healthy communication.

Personal branding is promoting yourself or your business through the use of search engines, blogging, social media, and more. It is creating an image for the public eye to see you by. It’s how the world views you. You can aid this process and hopefully steer it in a certain direction by utilizing social media and such in an effective manner, or you can let it happen on its own naturally.

I am a huge advocate for the whole “pay it forward” thing. This is important in the world of social media because it falls under proper etiquette in being a good digital citizen, if you ask me. Personally, I choose to treat others how I would want to be treated myself. I feel that if everyone did this, the world would be a much better place. People tend to do this less often in the digital world because they don’t have to come face-to-face with people as much. This is very unacceptable. I have no problem sharing a post or recommending a page or service, or whatever it is that is required of me, because I know that that person or business may do the same for me when I need it. Just knowing that they may even do it for another person or business that isn’t myself later on down the road makes it worth it to me.

I absolutely feel that the film, “The Way Things Go”, is art. I also feel that it has influenced artists and filmmakers for many years now. According to an article from publicdelivery.org, Fischli and Weiss, the creators of the film, “successfully managed to transform the mundane into transformative artworks. Overall, their work through the years helped demonstrate that irony and sincerity are two components that cannot survive or occur without each other.”

I feel that this can be seen in a lot of abstract art that can be seen in today’s galleries and museums. It can also be seen in a lot of today’s films. This film also helped inspire filmmakers to become more creative in “setting up the stage” as you might call it and being prepared for what comes next. I could also see this film going on to be inspiration for many cinematographers to catch those very lengthy single take shots.

As far as a favorite film being inspirational to me, I am going to go with Hot Rod starring Andy Samberg. I feel that the combination of humor, retro late 80’s feel, and epic soundtrack, inspired me to make funny videos of my own. Of course, I feel I could use a lot improvement on them still, though.

YouTube posting: https://youtu.be/UWbRgqEgwtU

To the average Joe, it can be very easy to forget, or to not even realize in the first place, just how much time goes into perfecting a soundtrack during video production, or the importance of doing so. It may seem to a common member of the audience that the audio is a small fraction of the overall production, but this is far from the truth. It is much more.

Audio helps the audience develop a much stronger emotional connection with their favorite characters, relationships, settings, and situations. It does this by using voices, music, and sound effects. These elements prove to add more depth to the finished product versus a silent film with no audio or poorly edited audio. However, silence can be a powerful tool in the right situation. Take horror or thriller films for example. Ever notice how it goes dead silent right before they try to jolt you with one of those jump scares?

My favorite soundtrack would probably have to be from the film, “Inception”. I choose this because of how empowering the music is. I feel that Hans Zimmer did a beautiful job. The notes resonate with me almost on an emotional level. I absolutely love how the thematic score continues to reprise itself throughout the film while building up as the plot comes to a head.

I used the following scene from the movie “Hot Rod”: