Through My Eyes (:

Hello Everyone!
My name is Jenny Cortez
I am a student at SCU with a major in communications, emphasis in film.
I love creating great videos and images. Hope you enjoy :)
Follow me on twitter and instagram @jennycortez
Check out my Blogger, http://theloveoffilmmaking.blogspot.com/,
#sketching #JimMorrison #love

#sketching #JimMorrison #love

Taxi Driver in 4K :) (at Camera 12 Cinemas)

Taxi Driver in 4K :) (at Camera 12 Cinemas)

Flowers are starting to bloom :)

Flowers are starting to bloom :)

And more pictures from my trip to Maui

More pictures from my trip to Maui

Some Pictures from my trip to Maui

#16: Half Nelson (2006)

HALF NELSON (2006):

Half Nelson is a 2006 American drama film directed by Ryan Fleck and written by Fleck and Anna Boden. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Shareeka Epps and Anthony Mackie. It has won many awards, AFI Movie of the Year, FIPRESCI Prize for best film at the San Francisco International Film Festival and was even nominated for an Oscar in 2007. 

Half Nelson is about a middle school history teacher, Dan Dunne at an urban Brooklyn school. He is a teacher students love because of his teaching style, which rejects typical curriculum style. He is a great teacher and seems to have it all together at the beginning of the film. Along with being a teacher he is also the girls basketball team coach. One day after a basketball game, Dan is surprised by the visit of his ex-girlfriend, someone he had been trying to avoid. After talking to her, he is found in a bathroom stall by one of his classmates, Drey, getting high. Drey, daughter of a single mother who is always busy at work and sister of a man who is in jail for selling drugs in the neighborhood, has no father figure in her life. She looks at Frank, the neighborhood drug dealer, as a father figure. Both Drey and Dan are going trough some tough times and are being led to bad baths. They become close friends, trying to help each other stay away from the negative influences of drugs, but it is hard for both of them to stay away. Dan gets harder into drugs, letting it take over his life and teaching, and Drey is being influenced and taught how to sell drugs for Frank around the neighborhood. Dan, initially defends Drey from Frank but towards the end, he ends up buying drugs from Frank. At the end, both of their drug paths connect and they realize they need to make a drastic change in their life to get back on the right path. 

Half Nelson was a great film. I am a huge Ryan Gosling fan, so I really enjoyed it. I believe his acting is super strong, he is always able to get into the role and convey the character at its best. He’s just an amazing actor and I love watching him act. Ok, so as a filmmaker, I really enjoyed the use of hand held’s and lighting. There were many obvious hand held’s in this film, some shaky and some not a shaky. The hand hels conveyed a raw feeling, the perfect feeling for the story and the certain scenes. There was one specific scene where the camera was pretty shaky and I was iffy about it at the beginning but, after watching it at its entirety I though it was a great element for the scene. Lighting in the film felt very natural, something I really enjoy. Lighting in indie films is probably one of my favorite aspects of indie films. I like it when shots look natural, not so hollywood. This film definitely had a natural feel through the way lighting was produced. Oh and there was a sex scene in it, Ryan Gosling sex scene.. LOVE! Didn’t show much skin but hey, ill take anything. For all those ladies that love Gosling like I do, check it out.

So, overall I really liked the film. It had a good twist at the end, a little expected but still pretty creative. Ryan Gosling’s acting was phenomenal like always, camera work was great, story was unique and creative and the lighting really helped the feel of the story. Great film! For me it was a must see because I love Gosling but, if it might not be a might see for everyone. Its a great film to watch if you are in the mood of a great indie film! 

THIS IS ALL COPIED FROM MY BLOG, http://theloveoffilmmaking.blogspot.com/2012/09/16-half-nelson-2006.html , CHECK IT OUT!

#15: Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

MOONRISE KINGDOM (2012): 

Moonrise Kingdom is a 2012 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson. It was written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola. This film stars an ensemble cast including Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, and Edward Norton. Wes Anderson was nominated for the Palme d’Ore award at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. 

Moonrise Kingdom is about two twelve-year-olds, Sam Shakusky and Suzy Bishop. They met the previous summer at a church event and remained pen pals throughout the year. They came to know each other’s life pretty well, a life they were both struggling with. Sam and Suzy both wanted to get away and be together, so they decide to run away together. They go into the forrest in search of an island cove Sam has always wanted to go to. Sam comes prepared with all of his camping material, he is a very well trained scout. Suzy brings her cat, cat food, books and a record player. When the camp and Suzy’s parents find out they have escaped, they put together a search team to find them. They end up finding them camped out by a beach wearing only their underwear. Suzy’s dad is furious and prohibits Suzy from seing Sam ever again. After seing how much Sam and Suzy love each other, Sam’s scout friends help bring them back together to escape to the islands cove. Now, the search for them increases with the help of the main scout camp. 

Moonrise Kingdom was an amazing film! The story was very original, funny and cute but, what I loved the most about this film was the way it was made. The camera work was spectacular! I was amazed just with the opening scene of the film. The film opens with Suzy’s house. The camera begins in one room, pans through the house to the next room then turns to see another room and another long pan. It is all a long continuous shot inside the house with pans and turns. The camera pans then stop in a room with a fixed shot then pans again onto another room. All are fixed shots when the camera stops. I don’t know if I’m explaining it correctly so go watch it so you can see how amazing the opening shot is. This is how the whole film is mostly. Long continuous shots that contain of fixed shots, pans and tilts. We rarely see close ups or any sort of variety of shots in a scene. There are a lot of long zoom outs as well throughout the film. The way they utilized the camera in this film was phenomenal. Shots had to be rehearsed very well for all of the scenes since there were so many long continuous shots. Sound design for this was amazing as well! A lot of scenes that use L cuts with music from a previous scene or a object from a previous scene. I loved the camera work in this film, espectacular! 

Definitely a MUST see!! I am a lover of films that have amazing camera work and this is definitely one of them! Contains a lot of long continuous shots, which I love! It also has a great story line that is cute and funny. Great film!! Wes Anderson is definitely an amazing director.

THIS IS ALL COPIED FROM MY BLOG, http://theloveoffilmmaking.blogspot.com/2012/09/15-moonrise-kingdom-2012.html , CHECK IT OUT! 

#14: V/H/S (2012):

V/H/S (2012):

V/H/S is a 2012 American horror film which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year. It features a series of found-footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg and the directing quartet called Radio Silence.

V/H/S is a film about a group of guys that are hired by an unknown to break into a house and steal a V/H/S. The group of guys break into the house and while searching for the VHS they find an old man who seems to be dead. He is laying on a couch in front of a bunch of TVs. By those TVs lies tons of VHS’. The guys split in search of more VHS’ and only one stays by the TVs. The guy that stays begins to put in VHS’ to watch them. We are shown what each of the VHS’ contain. All of these videos are scary/ crazy murder videos. They all contain footage that is scary in an unexpected way. Everything in the film is paranormal. After we watch a couple of the VHS’ and the guys decide to leave the place, they are encountered by the man that seemed to be dead.

V/H/S was pretty good and pretty scary. It’s the type of scary that you end up saying, “What the fuck just happened”. It an unexpected fear. Personally, I found all the stories extremely creative. They were unexpected and really well scripted. It’s not the type of scary film where I can’t sleep at night, but it did make me jump and trip out. I also really enjoyed all the special effect. The special effects and costume design were really well thought of and really well made. The movie wouldn’t have been as scary without all those special effects. The one thing I didn’t like were the excessive handhelds. The movie is pure handhelds, Blair Witch style. It can get a little dizzy and sometimes its hard to follow whats going on, but I guess it dad add a lot of that suspense and shock for certain scenes.

Overall I thought it was a really well made horor and definitely freaked me out. I was expecting it to be a little bit more scary though. I liked it. Watch it if you are down for a good paranormal horror.

THIS IS ALL COPIED FROM MY BLOG, http://theloveoffilmmaking.blogspot.com/2012/09/14-vhs-2012.html , CHECK IT OUT!