Final Project by Nikolas and Roxanne

What Is Life? from nnester on Vimeo.

MOMI Reflection

            The Museum of the Moving Image is as breathtaking as it is overwhelming. I was completely in awe of all they had on display in the “Behind the Screen” exhibition from props to screenplays to costumes. I also really enjoyed the miniature recreations of old movie theaters. The evolution of the theater from a picture palace to what it is today is quite remarkable.

One aspect of media production I learned quite a deal about was the motion picture camera. I already knew about the early Lumière camera from our class lectures but was not aware of all the changes the device has undergone over the past century. The museum had at least a dozen on display, and I found it really interesting to see how each one evolved from its predecessor, becoming less clunky and more practical with each upgrade. I was most fascinated by the Aeroscope, which was the first camera to not need a crank and therefore the first hand-held camera.

As cameras changed over the years, so did the overall experience of a motion picture. Film stock became smaller, shortening from 35 millimeters to 16 and later to Super8, and cameras were eventually able to record sound and color images. The biggest shift was probably the more recent change from analog to digital recording, where actual film is no longer needed. All these changes to the camera not only produced sharper images but more believable movies, convincing the human eye that what it sees on screen is real, regardless of whether it truly is or not.

Audio Portrait of a Student Worker

Relationships between Shots

            The editing of the final battle scene in the Japanese film King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962) makes a remarkably significant contribution to the storytelling of the film, despite the campy feel of the movie. The scene opens with a long shot of what are evidently two puppets of the titular characters grappling before quickly cutting to an extreme long shot of a Japanese castle, immediately followed by an alternate angle of the same building where the monsters can be seen fighting in the background, and lastly cutting to another shot of the puppets. The next sequence juxtaposes another long shot of the monster battle heading closer to the building between two shots of the various human characters in the story. The order of these shots, along with the increasing tempo of the music track, builds tension that foreshadows the inevitable destruction of the castle.

            One can almost forget about the castle as the camera cuts back and forth from Godzilla to King Kong as they fight until the shot where Godzilla is standing right next to it, keeping Kong at bay with his atomic breath. The shots of the castle being destroyed by the monsters is also very impressive as the medium shot of the two tearing it apart neatly follows through with the close-up of the building as it crumbles. The cuts with the close-ups of each monster destroying the castle are a bit sloppier and rather humorous, since the building is not even visible in these shots, but the last few shots make up for it. The cuts of the two falling off the cliff, rolling down it, and hitting the water as the music fades out work together to signal the end of the battle. Even in a movie as ridiculous as this one, the order of the shots in accordance with the soundtrack and the transitions from image to image can do wonders to the storytelling of a piece.

King Kong vs. Godzilla - Ending (Mono Mix) by SpaceHunterM

Define A Space Video

Define a Space_NikolasNester from nnester on Vimeo.

What I Hear in Kips Bay

The sounds in and around Kips Bay in lower Manhattan can best be described as loud and extremely discordant. Automobiles are the prime culprits in making this specific neighborhood a terrible spot for reading or meditation. Ambulance sirens are the area’s most recognizable soundmarks, as one can be heard approximately every five minutes thanks to the abnormally numerous hospitals in the area. Bellevue Hospital in particular contributes to some of the most obnoxious sounds, which consists of sirens, people screaming, car horns honking, and large trucks hitting the random bumps in the pavement around the hospital, especially along 26^th or 28^th Street.

While people’s voices are the main sound signals in Kips Bay, construction noises are the most prevalent and irritating keynotes. One can hear jackhammers every so often, which are loud enough to drive a person crazy, even if the construction is taking place blocks away. Drills, cement trucks, and cranes are also pretty noisy, but not as much as the jackhammers. Because New York City operates in a rather mind-boggling fashion, someone walking around Kips Bay or staying in a building in that area can hear construction at basically any time of the day during any day of the week, whether it is early in the morning or late in the evening.

Kips Bay is not a neighborhood in New York I would personally recommend to someone who is used to waking up to sounds of nature. However, the loud, annoying sounds that define it are to be expected in an urban environment and can actually be somewhat comforting in a strange way.

Artist Statement

Just like almost every kid in my generation, I have been exposed to movies for as long as I can remember. However, there is one type of movie that has distinctly fueled my desire to create my own films, and that is Japanese tokusatsu movies. Since the age of 3, I have been fascinated by the works of the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema and all the techniques that made it stand out: suitmation, miniature sets, matte background paintings, and pyrotechnics. Eiji Tsuburaya, Ishiro Honda, and Tomoyuki Tanaka, the masterminds behind these methods of moviemaking, have all taught me through these films that there are so many different things you can do behind a camera with little reliance on computer-generated images. 

However, there are many current artists who have all inspired me in their own way to continue this visual form of storytelling that started over a century ago. Robert Rodriguez, Milla Jovovich, Gareth Edwards, and Ron Perlman are my biggest role models in this industry for their unconventional approaches to filmmaking and for excelling in more than one area of it. They are constant reminders that you need not be put in a single category or "box" when expressing your creative talents and can reach as high as your potential will carry you. I hope to be able to direct my own work one day, because above all, the people in this industry I look up to have continued the tradition of storytelling in their own unique way and succeeded through discipline, diligence, and devotion to what I think is the greatest art form in the world.