Cal Poly
112 Record: 13-3, 9-0 Conference
Mascot: Mustangs
City: San Luis Obispo, CA
Profile: Led by senior quarterback Robert Peterson, the Mustangs put up some impressive numbers on offense last season. Peterson passed for 4,332 yards, throwing 30 touchdowns and only throwing 5 interceptions.
Many of those yards went to senior wideout Randall Richardson, who caught 110 passes for 1,299 yards and pulling in 10 touchdowns. Add in running back Frederick Justice and a hulking offensive line, and the Mustangs seem poised to make another deep run.

Northern Arizona
112 Record: 14-3, 8-1 Conference
Mascot: Lumberjacks
City: Flagstaff, AZ
Profile: On offense, Northern Arizona will play a style similar to last year. It will be interesting to see who starts at quarterback for the Lumberjacks. Donald Robinson passed for 866 yards with 8 touchdowns and 4 interceptions while Thomas Dukes passed for 211 yards with 6 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.
Gone are running backs Raymond Moser and Chester Clark. The Lumberjacks will turn to running back Marvin Whitehead who played in all 17 games last season, rushing for 342 yards on 75 carries.
Ronald Gray, a junior, will pace Northern Arizona’s wide receivers. Ronald Grey caught 18 passes for 298 yards and 3 touchdowns. Joining him will be Maurice Nelson who caught 5 passes for 37 yards.
The Lumberjacks will have a very experienced defensive front seven. Scott Molina and Robert Smith each have at least 3 years of experience.

Texas State
112 Record: 12-3, 6-2 Conference
Mascot: Bobcats
City: San Marcos, TX
Profile: Fredericksburg TX native Tommy Rios, who ran for 1798 yards, returns to lead the outstanding corps of running backs for the Bobcats along with William Porter and Albert Nicholson.
Texas State should have an easy time running with Steven Curtis taking the snaps (3273 passing yards 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions).
The Bobcats will be led by Richard Anderson (8 sacks and 15 TFL) and James Lehman (3 sacks and 10 TFL). Also providing strong help on defense will be Senior Michael Serrano who had 52 tackles last season.

Sam Houston State
112 Record: 5-8, 4-4 Conference
Mascot: Bearkats
City: Huntsville, TX
Profile: The Bearkats were picked to finish in the bottom three in both the preseason media and coaches’ poll, but these choices could simply be from a lack of exposure.
Sam Houston State welcomes back 13 starters from last year’s squad, including quarterback George Scott who passed for 2527 yards, 13 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions in season 112.
To contend, Sam Houston State will need to improve on its ball security this after a terrible campaign of 16 interceptions last year.
Senior linebacker Vincent Dillard and junior linebacker Brian McKinney combined for 152 tackles and 22 TFL last season and will lead a strong pack of returning starters.

The three main actors in Dirty Dancing are; Baby (Jennifer Grey), Johnny (Patrick Swayze), and Penny (Cynthia Rhodes).  These actors take on a realism role in the movie, as Goodykoontz says, this “acting that doesn’t draw attention to itself but instead gives the impression of genuine human action and reaction” (para. 5.4).  These actors are portraying a love story based around dancing and they are essentially telling their own story.  They also may be taking on a bit of Method acting which is “actors draw on their own memories and experiences to reach the heart of a character, so that they more genuinely feel the emotions they’re portraying instead of just pretending to” (para. 5.4), whether the director intended this acting to take place or not in order to play the role in this particular movie the actors would have to feed on some sort of emotion they may have experienced in their own lives  so as to get the emotions across correctly so we, the audience, is part of the story and not just watching a story take place.

In this movie Patrick Swayze plays a star role, “A star is a distinctive screen persona who is well known and popular with the movie going public” (para. 5.5).  Patrick Swayze has played in 29 movies according to IMDb, he is a well-known actor.  He is very diverse in the roles that he has played and fits into the different genre of characters well.  Jennifer Grey play more a personality role, she turns into the character without knowing she is really playing a character, she becomes the part.  Cynthia Rhodes, although a good actor, seems to play more a impersonator role.  Her acting is not as advanced as the other two and you can tell she is playing a role.

Reference:

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Top Patrick Swayze Films, IMDB, (2011) retrieved from: http://www.imbd.com/list/ls000287847/

[. 1 SELECT A FULL-LENGTH FILM AND IDENTIFY THE TITLE, WRITER, DIRECTOR, MAJOR ACTORS AND THE YEAR IT WAS RELEASED.]

Title: Inception

Writer:  Christopher Nolan

Director:  Christopher Nolan

Year:  2010

Actors:  Leonardo DiCaprio (as Cobb), Ellen Page (as Ariadne), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (as Arthur), and Tom Hardy (as Eames)

[DESCRIBE EACH OF THE THREE BASIC CATEGORIES OF SOUND (DIALOGUE, SOUND EFFECTS, AND MUSIC).]

Dialogue – conversation between characters

Sound Effects – these are sounds that usually are used to set the scene.  Things like nature sounds, explosions, or background noise can count as sound effects.

Music – usually in the background and unknown to the characters, music is made to make the scene through feelings and emotions.  This can be done via the beat of the song, the words, or a combination of both.

[EXPLAIN HOW THE DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF SOUND ARE BEING USED IN YOUR CHOSEN FILM.]

I have chosen two different scenes from the movie to talk about, because they both have very important sounds that are throughout the entire movie.  The first clip that I put is from the very beginning of the film and has the music that is used for intense moments throughout the whole film.  In the very beginning of the scene is the very jumpy music with a heart beat type bass drum in the background.  This gets the heart beat of the audience going along with it, and creates a tense feeling that gets the audience to the edge of their seats.  In the middle of this scene there are also very intense sound effects as the dream starts to collapse.  As the dream is “collapsing” the building around the characters is literally falling down around them.  As they say in our book this is for one purpose only; “loud, theater-rattling explosions serve one purposeonly: to enhance the action.” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014.)  Halfway through the scene the action is increased with a low rattling song that has very intense catch for the audience, that again is used throughout the whole movie. Though we do not know it at the time, I researched and found this is the same song used for the “kick” during the dreams as we watch the movie, just a slowed down version.  See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM for details.

In the second scene the two key sounds are dialogue and music.  We again hear the same jumpy music with intense drum bass as the characters discuss their master plan to get inside the head of a major business cooperation inheritor.  As the scene continues and their plan gets deeper and more in detail, the music becomes more intense.  The dialogue and music almost feed off of each other in this scene and it adds to the movie experience.

[A. Assess the impact of the sound in establishing the theme?]

The theme of this movie is a mystery/action film.  In this there are a lot of intense noises to include the slowed down track that adds intensity to the whole film.  In the clips I have shared at the top, there are both action sound effects, and intense music used to both create a mysterious feeling and an action feeling.

[B. How does the use of sound inform the mood of the scene, or film overall?]

There are only a few songs used throughout this movie, but by using different parts of the song and different speeds of it, the director uses the music to change the mood of each scene.  You see in the two clips I used that there are only two songs used, but the mixture changes the mood of both.

[C. Can you identify certain sounds in your film to allow you to infer a particular genre?]

I would say that the slowed down “kick” song is used to identify the film more than any other sound in any other movie.  When the sound is slowed and used for the intense, long, held out notes of the tuba, it creates a very very intense action feeling that has been used in future films since, because of how great of a jolt reaction it creates and makes the audience feel.

[D. Since each category of sound may produce a range of effects, how might you characterize the effects in your film?]

The dialogue in the movie is used to create tension.  The music in this film is used to keep the audience in the right frame of mind.  In the very action packed parts of the film the director uses quick paced music with lots of small beats to keep your heart rate going.  As the characters are in scenes with more intense feelings, and less action, the director uses the slowed down music and held out low notes to give the audience the same sinking feeling that the characters are feeling in that scene.  Sound effects are used to increase action in this film multiple times.

[ASSESS HOW THE SCENE OR SEQUENCE WOULD PLAY DIFFERENTLY IF YOU REMOVED A KEY CATEGORY OF SOUND.]

I believe the most key category of sound in this movie is the music.  I think without the music used that the director chose the ties to the feelings of the characters that the audience experiences would not quite be the same.  I think that if you remove the music from this film, it would no longer feel like a mystery and maybe would be solely an action film.

Resources:

The quiz and questions. (2013, March 4). Inception – Opening Scene Dream Copllapsin (1/5) (HD) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqyfMlnxmmI.

Ben Laz. (2013, June 7). Inception Planning Phase [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIXnBBuyDBU.

Warner Bros. Entertainment. (Producer), Nolan, C.. (Director). (2010).  Inception. [Motion picture]. United States: Warner Bros.

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.