Movie Genres

According to AFI (American Film Institute), the top 10 movie genres of all time, along with the number one movie in that genre, with original poster art, are as follows:

#1. Animation: Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs

 From this beautiful illustration you can gather that this is
 a fantasy with a heroine at the center of the story.

You can also see a villain and a romantic lead in the
background. I like the beautiful watercolor feel to this poster.









#2. Romantic Comedy: City Lights

Here I think you get a sense that this is a movie about boxing, but the formal hat and coat give an idea that there is something else going on. I would not guess from this poster that this is a romantic comedy, but I might guess from the fish-out-of-water appearance of the central figure that it is a comedy of some sort.









#3. Western: The Searchers

 Clearly a western!  Clearly a saga on a grand scale.  The words in the picture give a sense of urgency, a mission. 













#4. Sports: Raging Bull

Although you can't see the boxing ring in this poster, it does appear to be a boxing movie - the man's face is puffy, his nose is a boxer's nose, he looks like he's wearing a mouth guard.

The eyes give the appearance that he is weary from the struggle, that he is the underdog in this story.









#5. Mystery: Vertigo

This is a wonderful movie poster - although it does not give away the plot, you can get a feel that something transpires that makes
you question reality and sanity.  The swirling lines are a vortex, spiraling into insanity.  The skewed and imperfect lettering likewise hint that all is not right, all is not what it seems.










#6. Fantasy: The Wizard of Oz

This to me seems like a pretty straightforward movie poster with no hint of the story, except that it contains unusual characters. The thing that is most striking, outside of the odd characters, is the extreme coloration of it.  A hint of the technicolor to come? Technicolor is even promoted in the text of the poster.








#7. Sci-Fi: 2001: A Space Odyssey

This one is interesting in that here are these people clearly on a foreign planet, but seemingly doing mundane tasks.  No drama is hinted at - they are just going about their jobs.

We know, obviously, that they are in space, so this is science fiction.  The lettering is also in a very modernistic font, even leaving off the capitol letters to appear sleeker, and more scientific.






#8. Gangster: The Godfather

This one makes you wonder what is going on.  We know that a Godfather has something to do with the mafia.  And here we see someone holding the strings of the Godfather.  Or is it the Godfather who is doing the manipulation?










#9. Courtroom Drama: To Kill a Mockingbird

One would say, looking at this, that this picture is based upon a book.  Interesting that it has children as central characters, but is not suitable for children to watch.











#10. Epic: Lawrence of Arabia

Lawrence of Arabia is obviously someone shrouded in mystery! We only see his headgear, not his eyes.

The typeface is reflective of the beautiful and ornate art from the arab world.

Ethereal Vistas

It was the day after the rare rainstorm in Southern California so the leftover puffy clouds and sky were breathtaking. I went out driving, camera in the passenger seat, looking for images that caught my eye - interesting combinations of shapes or colors - vistas that included those gorgeous clouds. What I found was this building, enveloped in the skyscape, and part of it too.

I love the way the building blends into the sky instead of competing with it for attention. It seems to be floating with the clouds and ascending into them.  The trees in the foreground, with their dark solidity, add to the feeling that the building is detached from the earth and is instead part of the sky.


This next picture was taken during a walk with my daughter.  What caught my eye about this building was the seeming impossibility of it.  It is like half a bridge, suspended in air, with nothing holding up the distant end.

The person at the end gives a sense of scale, and for me, a reassurance that the structure will hold.  A more subtle reading shows the "bridge" reaching for the sunset, as seen in the more golden light on the left.

This is, in fact, an observation platform, from which you can view the ocean, and Catalina on a clear day.  I am fascinated by this image in that I am afraid of heights, and to see people standing near the precipice (in my mind) give me butterflies.  Yet on that day, I climbed the stairs, and ventured out to the end myself, after taking this shot.  I felt strangely comfortable, as if there wasn't "nothing" below me. And the view was spectacular.

László Moholy-Nagy & André Kertész: Photographers

László Moholy-Nagy 

László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian painter and photographer as well as professor in the influential Bauhaus school. He art was influenced by constructivism and he believed in the integration of technology and industry into the arts. He continued his work in America later in life.

This photograph was taken from a radio tower in Berlin in 1928, and almost appears to be an abstract painting. From this vantage point, the garden, walls and pathways appear as shapes and textures in a balanced artistic composition. I like that he creates the feeling of abstract art from real-life images. The two pathways near the top of the circle balance out with the two pathways leaving at the bottom; the asymmetrical composition "begins" in the center of the circle, and then my eye drifts outward from the organic shapes at the center to the more formal, strict and "harsh" shapes of the walls. The space on the rooftop gives my eye a place to rest momentarily, before moving on up to the windows on the opposite side of the building, at the edge of the frame. My eye is drawn to the shapes and the interplay between the shapes in this composition.  I find it interesting and beautiful.

 

André Kertész 

André Kertész is often considered to be the father of photojournalism.  It was said that he stuck to no political agenda and offered no deeper thought to his photographs other than the simplicity of life, and in this, he took an intimate approach to imagemaking. He did not offer opinions with his photographs, merely presented the image and let others make of it what they might.

 In this photo, Kertész has created a diagonal composition using the angle of the camera vis-a-vis the street, and using the tracks from the tires in the snow.  Even the footprints in the snow seem to be leading in a diagonal direction.  The tree and the boy with his dog form a counterpoint, and a focal point. I like this composition because it is dynamic, yet peaceful.