Month: May 2018

Blog Post #3 – My Interview

msanders25

How cool is it to interview a movie producer named Richard Baratta who’s done five out of the six Spider Man movies and has done a new movie this year called The Irishman? I thought it was one of the best life experiences I could ever have…I mean, interviewing a MOVIE PRODUCER!!! Isn’t that fantastic? How did I find him? Mrs.Hicks generously gave me this person and let him know that I was going to interview him. Our interview was face to face and it was in Queens. I learned a lot, so get ready for some great information…

 

Interview Questions:

  • How do people work together to do their jobs as behind the scenes people?
  • In your opinion, how does casting impact the success of a movie?
  • Have you seen movies do really well the leads are unknown actors? If so, why do you think they were successful?
  • What are the decisions that go into choosing actors, sets and costumes?
  • Do special effects help sell the movie? If so, how?
  • What high-tech stuff goes into making a movie?
  • What would happen without the behind the scenes people and what would be missed?
  • In your opinion, what are the all-time most successful movies? Why?
  • Is there anything else in behind the scenes of movie making that you would like to tell me about?

To summarize the interview, I took notes by writing down some things Mr.Baratta said and then making a brief summary to come back to the notes and have a paragraph on what he said right there… Here are th sumaries to the questions:

Question #1 – When everyone does their part, everything starts to fall into place and it’s “like a circus” (according to Mr.Baratta). Everything needs to do their job properly otherwise the movie will be a disaster.

Question #2 – It really depends on the actors and how they do in the movie which then impacts the success of the movie itself.

Question #3 – You can’t just keep making old actors play all the roles all the time because then the audience would get bored and the movie wouldn’t get good reviews. They should be introducing new/unknown actors so the success will be kept up.

Question #4 – Basically what they try to do is think about the mood, the setting, the colors they want to includei n the movie, and they decide and make everything based on that.

Question #5 – When effects are included in a movie, the audience is more excited and the fact that the special effects impact the audiences’ feelings makes the movie sell.

Question #6 –Ā Visual effects play a HUGE role in high tech things. Fictional and real stuf (mostly fictional) can be made better with visual effects and high tech stuff.

Question #7 – Everything would be missed. Everyone contributes to making a movie and if you lost all of that, you would be in a bit of a disaster. This proves that all jobs need to be included and all the jobs and departments matter a lot to making the movie.

Question#8 – Mr.Baratta likes movies that are written well, anything that goes from simple to more sophisticated.

Question #9 – Mr.Baratta thinks that everything in movie making matters and that a lot of stuff can change the movie in a good way and in a bad way.

 

I really think this interview was one of the best things I could ever do in my whole entire life. I think this is a real treat, interviewing a movie producer that has met all these famous actors and done all these famous movies. This has helped me a lot. I think that Mr.Baratta helped me with all the questions equally. I really can’t believe I did that! I hope to include all this information in my final presentation!

Categories: 5th Grade, CapstoneLeave a comment

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” #2

msanders25 # #

So far in the book ā€œThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobeā€, by C.S Lewis, Edmund has joined the White Witch on her journey to escape. She has turned a group of innocent animals to stone and Edmund suddenly has a feeling of regret that he ever supported the White Witch. Since this regret is starting to take over his brain, he tries to pretend this is a dream. I think Aslan has the power. Aslan is a great lion who fights evil and is supposed to meet all four siblings and the beavers at the ā€œStone Tableā€™ā€.

 

One reason why Aslan is powerful is that he is described as powerful by the inhabitants of Narnia. The beavers describe him as unsafe yet good. This shows that Aslan is unsafe but he has to be unsafe in order to fight the evil, otherwise the evil would win over the good.

 

Another reason why Aslan has the power is because the witch is scared of him. Mr. Beaver says that if the witch can stand up and look him in the eye, heā€™d be surprised she can do that. Meanwhile, the witch is escaping on her sled with Edmund to somewhere. I think itā€™s because of Aslan. It is clear that Aslan makes everyone scared, even the good people, but the good people are scared in a way that Aslan is scary, but heā€™s going to save them, so there is not to fear unless they are evil. The evil people, on the other hand, wonā€™t really end up in a good place if they run into himā€¦

 

These reasons that Aslan is described as powerful by everyone and that the witch is scared of him, are to support the claim that Aslan has power. Additionally, I hope the reader knows that people on the good side of a battle must use fearlessness and bravery to fight the evil.

Categories: 5th Grade, ReadingLeave a comment

“Readers Response – ā€œThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobeā€

msanders25 # #

So far in the book ā€œThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobeā€, all four of the siblings have found out that the country called Narnia is not just a make believe story of Lucyā€™s, it is real. All four siblings walked into the wardrobe and found Narnia. Lucy made a friend there called Mr.Tumnus before this. However, when they went there, his house was destroyed by the White Witch, an evil woman who calls herself ā€œThe Queen of Narniaā€. I think that Narnia is dangerous to everyone because of the White Witchā€™s actions.

 

The White Witch forced Mr.Tumnus to be on her side. She told him that if any little girl came to his house, he has to kidnap her. Mr.Tumnus didnā€™t want to do this. This shows that the White Witch is very forceful and threatening. She has taken over the whole of Narnia and even though a lot of creatures are on her side, the whole of Narnia is in a lot of danger because of her abilities and the fact that she is taking advantage of those powers and abilities.

 

When the White Witch found out that Mr.Tumnus didnā€™t kidnap Lucy, she destroyed his house. I think that she is not only forceful but when she threatens, she means it, not just that she is thinking about doing it. I MEAN, WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER? This means that the White Witch will do anything to make people feel bad about themselves and she sure likes doing it. This puts Lucy, Edmund, Peter and Susan in great danger if they run into herā€¦

 

All of these reasons are to state that the whole of Narnia is in great danger all because of the White Witch because she forced Mr.Tumnus to do something he didnā€™t want to o and when she found out that he didnā€™t do it, she destroyed his home and took him to her castle (known as very scary so Mr.Tumnus will probably not survive unless Lucy and the others save him)…

Categories: 5th Grade, ReadingLeave a comment

Blog Post #2 – Choosing a Main Inquiry and Sub Questions

msanders25

Aahh. Capstone. Inquiry questions. Sub questions. All so easy and fun. It turns out to be the COMPLETE opposite… IT IS NOT FUN AT ALL!!! Choosing an inquiry question and sub questions is so boring I can just..scream…and vomit…at the same time! I have officially changed my capstone topic from theater to behind the scenes of movie making. I decided this because I thought I was a little more interested in movie making than theater because I have a dream about being in a movie someday.

 

I have an inquiry question of ā€œHow do all the ā€˜behind the scenesā€™ roles contribute to the success of a movie?ā€. Mrs.Cooper said that our sub questions need to build up to answer the inquiry question. When she edited my sub questions, she added some suggestions to it. Now my sub questions that Iā€™ve decided on doing are –

  1. How do people work together to do their jobs as behind-the-scenes people?
  2. How do behind-the-scenes people work with the actors?
  3. What is the role of the director?
  4. What is the role of the producer?
  5. What are the decisions that go into choosing actors, sets, costumes?
  6. How does casting impact the success of a movie?

It was challenging but…I did it! I will survive! I will survive! Letā€™s hope the next step will be fun…

Categories: 5th Grade, CapstoneLeave a comment