A Documentary in Review: Straight Outta L.A.

Intro and Overall Idea:
What do the former L.A. Raiders and hip-hop music have in common? Take these two things and add in appearances from Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, and Al Davis...now mix it all together and we end up with the documentary, Straight Outta L.A. This film was one of 30 documentaries shot by Hollywood film makers for ESPN, Ice Cube being one of the more recognizable celebrities on the list.

The film begins with the film's creator, Ice Cube, narrating an anecdote from his childhood of the Raiders. During the narration, the shots bounce between popular players at the time and the city of Los Angeles. Immediately the viewer can tell that Ice Cube has what the kids are calling "swag" these days, in other words, prepare yourself to see some real style and an exclusive point of view on the documentary topic coming from Mr. Cube himself. This point of view is passionate and emotional at points, especially when Ice Cube speaks of the LA riots. This section of the documentary becomes the climax of the film, demonstrating the spiral that LA had taken. Ice Cube pairs this chaos of LA side-by-side with the decision of the Raiders to leave the city and return to Oakland again.

In terms of subject matter, at first I was unsure of how the Raiders and NWA or football and hip-hop were connected. I feel like the documentary may have taken too long to do a segment on how football relates to hip-hop and the musical part was introduced much later into the film. At the same time, it is understandable to see why this happened, as the film was chronological, defined by the events occurring in Ice Cube's life.

Effects and Shooting Style:
The style of this documentary is very modern, clean, and still manages to stay a little edgy. The interviews taken were almost all shot in a brightly lit, white space, allowing the viewer to focus solely on the interviewee. The shots of the interviews were nice, with great depth, shadow and contrast of the subjects. There was a good mix between close-up shots to show emotion, and comfortably off-center angled shots. The cameramen took the opportunity to film some nice details, one of my favourite shots in the interviews was a close-up on Al Davis's NFL bracelet. These kind of detail shots during an interview are a newer technique, but I quite liked the use of it in this documentary.

The shots of Ice Cube were almost all moving shots, most with Snoop Dogg present in a conversation-style interview. This was my least favourite part of the documentary, I think Ice Cube's questions were phrased so that Snoop Dogg could only answer in agreement with Ice Cube...which is boring and predictable for the viewer. It also felt like an awkward set-up, with them playing a game of catch with a football in the empty stadium (I'm assuming the former Raiders stadium?). These segments seemed mostly useless, Ice Cube's commentary was present enough in the film because he narrated the entire film.

Keeping with the theme of negativity, the interview sections of Al Davis were...terrible. While Davis may have had great things to say, he was just unattractively lit, and a little creepy to look at. This was the only interview that wasn't brightly lit with a white background, instead Ice Cube chose a dark blue-gray backdrop for the interview. This only added to the creepy effect the interview had. I think that Al Davis had a lot to say, but it would have been more comfortable to watch b-roll footage with his voice narrating over-top of it. I wouldn't have minded short cuts to Davis himself to show emotion and to keep the viewer interested, but I found the constant, poorly lit shots of Davis to be both boring and unsettling.

The treatments used on the b-roll footage and stills were definitely modern. Most of the still photos were converted from 2D to 3D, this was an effect I haven't seen used very much. Some of the b-roll footage was actually an animation of Ice Cube's childhood and career, providing some comic relief. I have seen this technique used in other documentary films such as Michael Moore's popular film, Bowling for Columbine. The animation itself was simple, black and white drawings with characters that were overly expressive. I enjoyed these animated parts because I think they helped to transition from one point in Ice Cube's story to another with a short and comical narration instead of a long explanation. In all honesty, I found the animations to be charming.


Music and Audio:
Of course Ice Cube takes the opportunity to demonstrate his taste in hip-hop music, providing appropriately upbeat tracks to both transitions and b-roll footage between segments. Obviously NWA's music is featured more than once, as is their style. Narration is one of the most important aspects of this film, and I feel that the script provided to Ice Cube was well written. Ice Cube has a good amount of emotion and high-low rise in his voice to keep the viewers interested. There is nothing worse than a monotone speaker, so it's a plus that Ice Cube is able to be expressive off-camera with his voice as well.

Emotion and Conflict:
Throughout the film, there was a gradual rise as the Raiders move to LA and begin to win. But with every up, there's always a down. The writers did a great job here providing a high-low feeling to the story of the Raiders. Going into the powerful, dark climax of the documentary, Ice Cube brings up a heavy topic: the LA drug trade. This transition and relation to the Raiders was powerful and when it was coupled with darker b-roll footage and stills. Not only was this transition from light to dark done well, but it was properly synced with some more intense rap/hip-hop music, it caused the viewer to feel unsettled. Ice Cube's demeanor behind the camera became serious as he narrated the LA Riots. I felt that this was the most emotional and powerful part of the film. Usually documentaries build up, but they do not have such a huge rise and fall like Straight Outta LA did. I thought it was unique!

Resolution:
I found the resolution of this documentary to kind of leave the viewer wanting to ask questions and follow football. After reading that this documentary was a part of a project by ESPN, it makes sense that they would want to leave interest with the viewer about football. ESPN, being a popular sports network, wouldn't mind a few extra viewers during the NFL season I'm sure.

Another thing I was left wondering after the documentary was, how did Ice Cube really feel about Al Davis? He appeared to be a fan of Davis throughout the film, but then attacked him in a couple parts, I wasn't sure what Ice Cube's final thoughts on Davis were. I would have been interested to know if Ice Cube though that Al Davis was greedy, or a man just doing what was best for his team?

Sidenote:

I just found this...it's definitely relevant to a course focused on technology. I thought this was ridiculous, I can't imagine what teenagers 20 years from now will think....

Grade 8 Interviews

This is Alex and my project that we created to demonstrate our sit-down interview skills (and work with lighting as well). Our video includes some B-footage, music, and some audio work. We had a microphone the day of but after taking it home and dumping the audio onto a computer we realized we only had it for about half the kids. So that was one technical difficulty, the camera audio just did not work well at all. Another technical difficulty was the cameras, for some reason they were occasionally out of focus. Ah well, you live and you learn, if we re-did this kind of project, we'd know what to look for going wrong next time. As for the positive, I think our roaming B-footage camera during the interviews looks great, some of the kids were easy to talk to and I think the editing is done well with what footage and opinions we had. So without further adieu, here it is...

Final Project Video

Our group made two videos for our final project, one for grade 8 night and a 30 second short as well! :) While we all agree it would have been nice to have had more time to take footage of more of what gdci has to offer, we think we pulled off the video in the short amount of time given. Props to Chapin, Gina, Graham, and Spencer for all working together to make this fun video.

Long Version:


30 second Short:

My Song

So I've completed my song on Garageband but have yet to complete the slideshow of personal pictures to it. You know how it goes, set up a day when you aren't working to have a photo shoot and it rains. Then the next it snows. Then you decide to take pictures at the coffeehouse but it's canceled due to poor weather. Nice...I mean I'm not making excuses, I'm just blaming mother nature. :) So the slideshow will get put up soon when I figure out something interesting enough to do an entire slideshow of pictures on. In the meantime, you can enjoy my song without a slideshow, just to know that I've got part of the project done and the other half is in the works.

A Song in Review - We Own the Sky by M83

If ever a time should arise where you are craving a song to fill your longing for modern, yet tastefully nostalgic 80s sounds, then we have the perfect prescription for you. M83’s hit (We Own the Sky) is the song that you’ll want to indulge in, over and over again. Released in December 2008, We Own the Sky has become one of the latest spotlight songs of the popular indie band, M83. And by band we mean…Anthony Gonzalez. Yes, that’s right folks, another shy dream-pop band fuelled by one man. But before you write M83 off as that stereotypical band that hipsters tend to use and abuse, we ask that you give M83 a fighting chance.

Anthony Gonzalez, creator of M83, is a French musician who dreams of going back to the days when life seemed simpler. And what was simpler than being a teenager? On his newest album Saturdays=Youth it’s easy to see this nostalgic attitude mirrored in the simple synth sounds, electric guitars, and drum beats. Gonzalez says, “To do that, we tried to work only with instruments from the ‘80s…We worked only with analog keyboards, analog synths; we didn’t use any computers. The idea is to have a very ‘80s sound, but modern as well.” So where does this modern sound come from you ask? We found the answer was as beautifully simple as this album itself, through the unique and haunting vocals.

We Own the Sky begins with heavy, repetitive synth chords. Underneath the chords is a fluid sounding beat that avoids overwhelming the chords. Together the duo creates a sense of floating, freedom, even a wave-like pattern. Enter the vocals: light, shy, unique. Reminiscent of the unique vocal styling’s of Sigur Ros, M83’s sound can only be described as unique. Coincidentally enough Saturdays=Youth was recorded with the help of Ken Thomas who has also worked with Sigur Ros, The Sugarcubes, and Suede. There is a certain feeling that the listener hears in Gonzalez’s voice and to us it is shyness, adding in a shoegaze element to M83’s already diverse sound. Gonzalez himself has admitted to taking risks with this album and one of those risks was using vocals more than in previous albums. We applaud his confidence and hope to hear more of his shy, inspirational, and fluid voice in his future releases.

The lyrics themselves are fascinating, poetic and cryptic enough to keep the listener intrigued,

Secrets from the winds,
Burnt stars crying,
So many moons here,
Lost wings floating.

The words are poetic to say the least. We love the feeling that the lyrics of the song bring. It's almost a fading feeling, infinite floating, blissfully perfect. They fit right in with the beat, tempo, and rhythm of the song itself. While the lyrics become repetitive after some time, there’s something soothing that can be found when these words are repeated in a chant-like form. Gonzalez has created an anthem for his listeners, easily heard and deeply felt. Just like the song, the lyrics are slow and powerful, they touch your core. If this song doesn’t remind you of freedom, youth, and a warm meadow, you might need psychological help.

Gonzalez says he’s happy with the success that he’s had in North America with his music but what he really wants now is some recognition in France. “…With bands like Daft Punk or Air, they were really first famous in America and then after that they came back to France and had lots of success. So, maybe it will be the same thing for me,” says Gonzalez about his hopes for the future. We feel that if he keeps producing albums and songs as moving and deep as We Own the Sky, how could he not become a sensation in his hometown? There’s no doubt that we’re rooting for you Anthony, humming along to your beautiful, nostalgic, inspirational song all day, every day. Because We Own the Sky.

An Interview with Spencer Jones.

Spencer Jones: volleyball player, routine-oriented, and a man who isn’t afraid to blow-dry his hair. We had the chance to sit down with this interesting character and he took the opportunity to tell us his life story, among other things…

Rachel: Spencer Jones, let’s start off with something simple like an explanation of your routine in the morning, well, that is, if you have a routine?

Spencer: Well, I wake up at 7 I clock in the morning, I go and do 200 push-ups, and then I shower. Around 7:30 I blow dry my hair and shave—

Rachel: Wait, do you actually blow dry your hair?

Spencer: I do, I like to have lusciously…dry hair. After my blow dry I eat my breakfast. This morning it consisted of mini-wheats with little almonds on top, a banana, and kiwi-strawberry juice.

Rachel: I know you’re notorious for your letting your mother make your lunch for you, so do you make your breakfast yourself?

Spencer: I did make my breakfast myself…I found out mini-wheats are pretty easy to make actually. The hardest part is when the milk runs out and you have to change the bag.

Rachel: So after breakfast what happens?

Spencer: The bus arrives at approximately 8:08—

Rachel: Of course, approximately 8:08.

Spencer: Do I sense sarcasm?

Rachel: …So now let’s go a little bit further back than just this morning, where are you from?

Spencer: I really can’t say I remember the hospital name, but I do remember that I was born in Chatham on October 9, 1992.

Rachel: Were you a big baby or a small baby?

Spencer: I was a big baby…11 pounds 7 ounces—actually I was a huge baby. I was supposed to be born cesarean section, but the doctors decided not to, they actually almost ended up having to break my shoulders.

Rachel: What?! How could they break a baby’s shoulders?!

Spencer: How else are you going to get ‘em out? Cause if you leave me there, then I could’ve died or caused my mom to hemorrhage. But luckily they got me out.

Rachel: So how did they end up pulling you out!?

Spencer: I’m not sure to be honest…but I do have a slight tip to my shoulders now. One is slightly higher than the other.

Rachel: We’ll call that your special characteristic. Some people are double jointed, Spencer Jones’ shoulders are uneven, hey, it’s all the same.

Spencer: Exactly!

Rachel: So you went to school in Chatham for most of your childhood, but obviously you moved to Huron County at some point in your life, when and why did the move happen?

Spencer: I went to school in Chatham until the summer of grade 7, when I made the fateful move to Huron County. My dad worked at a company in Chatham and business wasn’t exactly booming, the company was going under and he knew it. So he called up Sifto in Goderich and he went through all of these interview processes and eventually he got a job at the evaporator plant.

Rachel: Where did he end up staying?

Spencer: Sifto is in tight with the Benmiller Inn so he was able to get an awesome deal and pretty much stay there for free. He stayed here for about a year and then eventually we decided that he couldn’t keep staying there by himself so we started looking into houses.

Rachel: What house did you end up buying, and where?

Spencer: Well we found Benmiller, bought a property, and built a house there.

Rachel: So let’s fast forward now to first day of grade 8, did you take the chance to recreate yourself as a new person?

Spencer: Hell yeah I took the chance! If you knew me back in Chatham I was more of like a history nerd, that was my thing, but when I came to Colborne I definitely tried to be the cool kid.

Rachel: How did your small town classmates react to your hot-shit, cool guy from the city attitude?

Spencer: I was really openly accepted at Colborne, I pretty much became friends with everyone. We were a small, tight class, which was weird because in Chatham it was so different. I had friends there, but it was a different atmosphere. I actually remember like morphing from the new Spencer to the old Spencer every weekend because I would go back to Chatham. It was a weird time, but really, who isn’t weird at that point in their lives?

Rachel: And this brings us to now, who is the Spencer today?

Spencer: To be completely honest, and a little cheesy, I am exactly who I want to be today. I don’t want to say I don’t care because that sounds passive, but I’m a unique individual. I do what I do.

Rachel: And onto future Spencer, you’re a smart kid so I’m assuming you’re looking into university, is there anything about the future that scares you?

Spencer: Yeah, I’m looking into studying for something along the lines of a specialized doctor.

Rachel: And you’re co-oping to prepare for this right?

Spencer: I am, at the hospital in town. Right now I’m on the most boring floor of the hospital. It’s really depressing because it’s like patients with dementia or who are too old to live by themselves but there is no space in the nursing homes for them. It’s really weird to think about because they’re just staying at the hospital and essentially they’re waiting for someone to die at the home so that they can move in.

Rachel: Is there anything you’re afraid you won’t be able to handle at co-op or in your future job?

Spencer: I’m scared of dying and death, and also of being forced to put up an emotional barrier between the patient and I. That’s why I don’t think I’m as set on radiology as I was before because it’s just too cut and dry for me. But at the same time I don’t want to have to work on a bunch of cases at once because it kind of takes the purpose away from being a doctor, which is to help people feel better.

Rachel: And let’s finish up with a nice little anecdote, would you mind telling me your weirdest experience at co-op?

Spencer: The weirdest experience actually happened after co-op…

Rachel: Okay, tell me your weirdest experience after co-op?

Spencer: Well I came into the emergency room and one of the doors was shut. Of course I asked why the doors were shut and they told me that a 99 year old woman had died. Everything was a little bit awkward because someone had died in the emergency room so what was I supposed to say or do?

Rachel: Well, that’s a good question, what did you do?

Spencer: I knew that I wanted to go in and see this and be a part of it because it would prepare me for my potential future. I wasn’t going to be asked but I tried my best to put myself in a position where the Head Nurse ended up asking me to go in. To be honest I was really nervous to go in there.

Rachel: So you go through the double doors into the room and…?

Spencer: It’s not like you see in the movies. It was just weird to see her there, and we had to count her possessions. And then, we put her in a body bag, which is just a weird experience in its own. The weirdest thing that happened by far was when they said, “Goodnight” to her.

Rachel: That’s really creepy.

Spencer: It gets weirder because I went to volleyball practice that night and Zach mentioned that his grandma had died in the emergency room earlier that day. It kind of made me realize the fact that living in a small town like Goderich usually means there’s a small degree of separation from you or anyone, even someone who just died in the ER.