BA Productions Blog This is the official Blog of BA Productions.

The following is Adam Lepkowski's response to a Skype chat with Anaezi Modu:

Ms. Modu had a lot of interesting things to say about branding. I was unfamiliar with this concept before taking Intro to Professional writing, so any advice I hear on branding is valuable. When Ms. Modu discussed people’s love of brands, it got me thinking a lot about my brand as a filmmaker. I know I love films put out by Paramount Pictures because they brand themselves on every film they make and a larger percentage of those films are great. Ms. Modu said brands need to emotionally “grab” an audience. A verb like that suggests that brands are living, and the brands that grab us (the brands that tap into our emotions) are the ones that survive. You need to understand your audience really, really well to have a great brand. Ms. Modu gave great advice on that: put yourself in the position of your audience. You need to understand what your audience is hoping to achieve by utilizing your brand. 

The following is Adam Lepkowski's response to a Skype chat with Randall Rothenberg:

I was really impressed after reading Mr. Rothenberg's open letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz. I really do agree that social media is too "muzzled" and that FTC guides need to be changed. Online social media should be on the same level with TV and print media, and should be protected with the same rights. I was surprised to hear that Mr. Rothenberg got a response from the FTC. I don't know if it was his intention to get a response but I think that fact that he did should be noted. Hopefully, the FTC will eventually revise the guidelines so bloggers cannot get into serious trouble. It is a shame that they didn't address the constitutional aspect of Mr. Rothenberg argument. Maybe it went unaddressed because the FTC doesn't want to admit defeat. Maybe the subject is too hot to touch right now. Constitutional arguments can be risky, especially when you know you’re in the wrong. The FTC should just revise the guidelines and get it over with! 

Ms. West’s take on online social networking was an important part of our discussion. I never really thought of Facebook as anything other than internet socializing, but when she mentioned the use of these sites by the 100 most powerful women in the world, I realized that it was much more than that. I have always gone to great lengths to keep my network pages clean because I care about my image, but I never thought employers relied so heavily on social networking, especially employers from the generation previous to my own. In addition to the discussion on social networking, I also looked up Guy Kawasaki and venture financing, which I did not know anything about before the Skype with Ms. West. I watched an interview with him on Youtube, and although my career choice doesn’t exactly match up with his field, it was a great interview to watch. I think it’s important for everyone to have a little entrepreneur experience because it prepares you to take matters into your own hands. It could come in handy one day if you lose your job, or need to find one. 

If I was told I had to attend a "conference," I don't think I would be too happy about that. I think the word reeks of boring academic workshops that seem to never end and even when they do, you are forced into another one and a never ending cycle. I mean, how much fun could a Parent/teacher conference really be? Well, I decided to take a look at a film conference held in Austin, TX annually and I found that it is much more fun than any academic conference I've ever been a part of:

By clicking on the link to the left of this blog that says "SXSW Film Conference," you will be thrown into the fascinating world of Austin's South By Southwest film festival. The conferences are split into sections; conversations, workshops, and panel presentations. There is a video under "Conversations" of an interview with Bob Berney, the former President of the now defunct Picturehouse Films. Picturehouse released such films as Pan's Labyrinth, Mongol, and The Orphanage. Berney gave some real great insight into the business world of filmmaking, including the importance of picking which films to distribute. According to Berney, Picturehouse passed on Slumdog Millionaire (Ouch!) SXSW also has acting workshops taught by some pretty big name actors. I can imagine that being really cool for a young actor to have the opportunity to pick the brain of a veteran. The Panel Presentations are probably the coolest part of the conference. The audience is allowed to have a lively Q & A with a panel of about 8 experts who could be actors, directors, producers, and/or writers. There is an awesome video of the cast of I Love You Man during a panel presentation. Not only is the audience having a blast, it seems like the panel members actually want to be there too. 

On a personal note, I actually went to the University of Texas at Austin for a year and a half and I never was able to go to SXSW. After researching this conference, I really regret not going. It looks like a whole lot of fun and could have been very valuable to me as a filmmaker.

-Adam 

The following is Adam Lepkowski's response to a Skype chat with Liz Henry:

I thought one of the most interesting points that was dicussed by Ms. Henry was her using a car as an analogy for intellectual property. She said when you buy a car, you are allowed to open up the hood, look inside and see how it works. Unfortionately, most softwares and hardwares deny their user "under the hood" access, and thus, the user cannot see how it works without breaking in illegally. I like this analogy because I've been in situations where I couldn't get passed certain blocks on software and the only way I could fix them was by paying a professional. Her "making bread" analogy was good too. Maybe some of us do want to make our own software or hardware. Maybe we shouldn't need to pay someone to show us or do it for us. Why can't we just take a look under the hood? I do understand that certain copyrights need to be protected and that I can't just take everything from under the hood and call it my own, but I still think that one look wouldn't hurt anyone.

In my last post, I wrote a bit about the connection between film students and Alfred Hitchcock based on the finding in a Senses of Cinema survey. Interestingly enough, I was browsing through Filmmaker Magazine's site (link to the left) and found an article titled "Giving Away North by Northwest." This was the first sentence of the article:

"Ask me my favorite Hitchcock film and I'll shoot you back the obvious answer: Vertigo, the director's cinematic and fetishistic embodiment of romantic obsession." - Scott Macaulay, editor of filmmaker magazine

It is very nice to see parallels between the links posted to BA's blog. It shows that us "film-types" have something in common. And its not just Hitchcock and Vertigo. Filmmakers think alike, are attracted to similar aesthetics beauties, and love to discuss favorites. Although I wouldn't put Vertigo into my Top 10, I can liken it to a film that is based on aesthetics. Christopher Nolan's masterpiece Memento is one of my favorite films, but I'm sure it wouldn't exist without Vertigo. Macaulay writes that Vertigo inspired the erotic thriller craze of the 1990s. Although by today’s standards it probably wouldn't seem erotic, it was a pretty big deal in 1958. Over 40 years later, Memento is released. An injured protagonist fights through his ailment to solve a very personal mystery...Sounds familiar...but not only that, both films are framed similarly. The shots are disorienting and dark; they heighten suspense and terror. That being said, I think I can assert that filmmakers and students particularly like suspense over many emotions. It's really primal and looks fantastic on film when done correctly. 

"Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders."- Alfred Hitchcock 

I am currently writing notes and gathering information for BA's Civic Engagement Project. I've already asked my "politically savvy" friend Ethan to participate. He's the perfect candidate. Smart (VERY smart), incredibly witty, distinguished, and tall. Please let me know if you have any NJ student friends who are willing to participate in “Health Care: A Civic Engagement Project." I'm also using a few articles to generate better questions to ask, including “How Breasts (and Health Care) Swung a Governor's Race” by John R. Bohrer and ">“Mammograms and the New Jersey Governor's Race” by Merrill Matthews. Maybe I should have specified breast cancer as part of this project?

Also, I have been looking in an interesting film journal called Senses of Cinema (link to the left of the blog) and some of their Top Ten Lists. Two years ago, Senses of Cinema compiled a very extensive list of the Top Ten films of film students, writers, and other notables from around the world. The last tally taken was based on over 500 lists. Hitchcock's Vertigo was ranked #1 by appearing on 104 lists. #2 was Citizen Kane, appearing on 63 lists and #3 was 2001: A Space Odyssey, appearing on 61 lists. You can see the whole list here. I find this list to be very interesting because (with the exception of Citizen Kane) I have never seen any of these films on any other Top Tens. For example, IMDB's top 250 has Star Wars and The Dark Night in their Top Ten. AFI only included American movies in their "100 Years, 100 Movies" list. The Godfather and Casablanca were included on that list, but not in Sense of Cinema's list at all. Of course any Top Ten list will vary based on whose voting, but usually broad lists like "Best Films of All Time" has reoccurring tends. I think the fact that film students were targeted in SOCs compilation made it different. Vertigo won by a landslide in that list but it didn't even crack the top ten in AFI's list (those voters, by the way, are described as "a blue-ribbon panel of leaders from across the film community.") In fact, not a single Hitchcock movie is on AFI's 10 or IMDB's 10. Ironically, Alfred Hitchcock was the most voted for director in SOC's list. As a film student, I will examine the SOC 10 closely, as I am attracted to its unique nature. Plus, of the 10 films of their list, I've only seen 3!

-Adam