Jack Long

T-206 Midterm

1. Pictures:

#1

#s 2 and 3

#s 4 and 5

2. Artistic commentary: First and foremost, I have no prior experience with using actors with

absolutely no interest (i.e. grade, monetary payment, or family relationship) vested in a

project before. As such is the case I could not fully go with my plan because the actors kept

slacking off. The shooting of this project was initially delayed an hour by the girls incessant

need to watch the horrendous television abomination known as “Glee”. As such I got sucked

into playing several hands of poker with the males in my photos whilst waiting for them and

thus we got a bit sidetracked. This continued to happen as several people outside of the shot

decided to randomly, and without prior warning, to start throwing poker chips and Johnny to

put a poker chip on Franny’s (girl on right in shot 4) foot. Also Chris (guy on bed in final

shot) refused to move for the final shot. However I did learn one important lesson: never

work with your friends on a project they have no interest in, even if one of them took the

class last semester.

3. Song/ Visual Aesthetic Commentary: As per lyrics, I used a song by Gainesville punk band

Against Me! Entitled “Cliché Guevara”. In a nutshell this is about the band trying to rebel

against the inherent conceptions about what music should be, thus comparing the various

often brutal revolutions headed by Ché Guevara to the popular culture of America. I kind of

wanted to go with an aesthetic similar to that of the original Night of the Living Dead black

and white to sort of portray the girls as the zombies of American consumer ignorance. Also,

in relation to the musical style and brevity of the song I wanted a sort of rushed feel to be

conveyed in the pictures. I also felt black and white was appropriate in the sense that the

people doing the judging on these points only see the black and white of the situation, the

sort of us versus them mentality that permeates throughout American society today.

4. Shots to Lyrics: The two girls are supposed to represent the first line of the song about

people staying in the same place and craving similarity. Although ideally I would have had

them dress the same, I though their physical similarities would do the trick (the two are

actually part of a set of quadruplets). I shot this shot from a low angle in an attempt to

portray them as powerful and bursting through the door. The first part of the second line in

my opinion seems to be referring to the way the mainstream media tends to attack bands and

other artists who do not have the same look or sound as them. The second photo is a two

shot from over the girls’ shoulders of Johnny who does not carry the same look about him as

the girls. The second part of the line, about how the wars are played refers to the fact that the

girls essentially beat him up into a pulp and leave him there dead. I would have liked to have

him show some more emotion when getting punched in the face. I shot the third shot with

him in the middle as I wanted both girls to be attacking him simultaneously and I thought

this would be the best way to show it. The forth scene I shot from a high angle so as to show

his lifeless body being devoured by the zombies of popular culture. The final line of the

verse seems to express that people who object to the cliché aspects of modern culture tend

to have this keep happening and ultimately fade into obscurity (as per Johnny). This line is

demonstrated in the final picture as the two girls line up in a similar method as they did in

their prior attack to pounce on Ross (guy in chair). Thus I shot it in a similar fashion to shot

2. Please pay no attention to Chris, I could not get him to move out of the way and thus he

manages to stay in the shot on the bed looking incredibly goofy and not consistent with the

scene.

5. Song Lines:

"Cliche Guevara" And we'll keep ourselves in a place where it's easy to hold onto.

And as the last threats came and went; this is the way that wars are played.

Always heading for a front, heading for a front, headed we go.

Into the obscurity of an easy to pass on feeling

Objection is so cliché.

For full lyrics: http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/againstme/clicheguevara.html

6. Visual Aesthetic Representation Image: Night of the Living Dead

Essentially is black and white plus zombies