Chatt State Media Club represents at SXSW 2013, by Chris Willis

What can we say about South by Southwest 2013? For some it was the chance to learn about new technology..

Being able to get up close and personal with the Black Magic Cinema Camera was worth the entire trip to me. -Tanner Stewart

For others it was the chance to meet famous people..

I met basketball superstar Shaquille O’Neil, Director/Musician Rob Zombie, Actress Brie Larson, and Film Critic/Corresponder for Extra, Ben Lyons. I can’t imagine a better way to spend my spring break! -Samantha Durkan

For others an opportunity to visit the set of live productions..

I learned so much about the inner workings of the film industry and discovered things I could never of found anywhere else but SXSW. It was a great experience. -Jacob Henson

And for others just a chance to be part of something huge..

We worked really hard raising money and going above and beyond to make this trip happen. We didn’t know if it was possible but we did it and will take away so much from this trip. -Chad Wilson

For me, it was an opportunity to see a few of my students who’ve worked hard all year–among many others who’ve worked just as hard, to jump head-long into this industry event. This conference provided so many learning opportunities and challenged us all to work harder toward those landing students those dream jobs. Special thanks to our SGA and RiverRocks Chattanooga for their donations that made this possible!

Oldboy, Directed and Co-Written by Chan-wook Park

In the graphic, gory, often perverse horror sub-genre called “J-Horror” (short for Japanese horror), director Chan-wook Park’s 2003 film “Oldboy” traded traditional scares for taboo-embracing twists — delivering controversy and cross-over success with mainstream audiences. Never mind that Park is Korean. I guess the term “K-Horror” never really caught on. Nonetheless, with Oldboy, Park got peoples’ attention.

Set in an unnamed present-day Asian metropolis, the film which Park also co-wrote follows Dae-su Oh (played by veteran actor Min-sik Choi) who is locked away for 15 years — without explanation or any substantive human contact. When he finally escapes, he’s nearly 50. He’s insane, desocialized and borderline-suicidal. He’s taken in by Mi-do, a lonely 20-something sushi chef (played by Hye-jeong Kang), who falls for him. Pursued by Dae-su’s former captors, the two misfit lovers discover clues that lead them back to Dae-su’s prep-school days, an incestuous affair that lead to a young girl’s suicide and a mystery that, once solved, will destroy everything Dae-su held precious.

Park’s filmmaking is effortlessly stylized. Think of the urban grit that gave 70s films like “The French Connection” their dark edge. Park’s environments could be from those same locations, only years later and with more neon.

Along with lead bad guy, Woo-jin Lee (played by Ji-tae Yu), the actors turn in great (and disturbing) performances in a thriller designed to shock. Is it sick? Yes. But it’s also one of the freshest films released in the early 2000s.

It’s always interesting to see how a filmmaker will handle controversial subject matter or topics. Do they glorify or sensualize immoral or debasing acts? Do they condemn them? Or do they show them in a way that leaves the judgment to the audience? In this case, Park chooses the latter of the three — perhaps giving us the most perverse twist of all.

Oldboy is currently available on DVD or on your favorite streaming service. I guess you could say it’s is a family film. But it’s not a family you’d want to be a part of. So, rent it, watch it, but put the kids to bed first.

An Atypical Drive, Film Review by Justin Dempsey

Drive (2011) is a crime drama film directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, and Albert Brooks. The film is set in modern day Los Angeles.

Drive begins introducing “The Driver” (Ryan Gosling), mechanic and hollywood stunt driver by day, criminal getaway driver by night. The Driver helps his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her son Benicio when their car breaks down at the grocery store. He spends more time with the two of them, and develops an awkward romance with Irene, whose husband is in jail. Shannon (Bryan Cranston), the Driver’s boss (in both his day job and secret night job), peruades mobster Bernie Rose (Albert Brooks) to invest in a stock car after seeing the Driver’s driving skills. As the Driver and Irene become closer, her husband Standard gets out of jail, and is beat up by some thugs he owes money to. The Driver sees the act, and agrees to help him do a job for the thugs for Irene and Benicio’s sake. Their job is to rob a pawn shop with the help of Blanche(a double crosser working for the thugs), and the Driver is their getaway man. Things go badly when Standard is killed in the robbery. The action picks up from there until the end of the movie.

An Unexpected Masterpiece, by Casey Brostek

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is fantasy adventure director by Peter Jackson, starring a wonderful cast including Ian McKellen and Martin Freeman. The tale takes place in Middle Earth, many years before The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in a world of monsters and beasts, of gold and glory.

We start in the Shire with a young hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who meets a wizard whom forever changes his life. When the wizard, Gandalf, introduces Bilbo to a group of dwarves, the hobbit is convinced to leave his comforts of  home to  follow them on an epic quest led by Thorin Oakenshield to reclaim his treasures from a powerful dragon. Throughout their journey, the team battles with trolls, dances with starvation, and are saved by the mighty eagles of the sky, all in hopes that they will reach their destination in time to take back what rightfully belongs to them.

The sets were beautifully done. The grass, trees, and costumes were the result of plenty of practice from the previous three movies, no detail being ignored or neglected from the individual strands of glowing hair on the elven-people’s heads to the edge of the very same axe that Gloin would later pass down to his son Gimli. The lighting helped set the same dreary and mysterious tone that was also strong in the previous movies, showing that continuity is important to this director.

Acting is important, and this movie really lived up to my expectations. A very talented cast led to a very well done movie which seemed to draw the entire audience into Middle Earth. It felt as if we were in the movie, helping our friends find their way out of every bad situation, pulling them through every turmoil. Their emotions were passed to us through their words and their expressions. We had happy moments, we had sad moments, we even had moments that terrified us. This movie had it all.

Overall, this movie was excellent. It took a while to get to the action, but with a movie based on such an adventurous book, the set up was completely necessary. Some people don’t have the attention span for such a wait, but many would agree that it really set the tone for the rest of the film. There were a few liberties taken away from the book that I didn’t care for, but that is what made this movie its own. I give this movie a 9.5 out of 10, and if you are a LOTR fan, or a fan of fantasy adventures in general, I would highly recommend this film.

An Introduction

I am part of a new generation of Latino students. I am a DREAMer (Immigration activist) and an optimist. My goal as a journalist is to make an impact in my community, my main objective being to cater to the Latino demographic. Watch this space.

 

 

My name is Andrew Gist and I am an aspiring author. I am originally
from Santa Clarita, CA and have been interested in writing for 7 years and hope to on one day be wring for Surfer Magazine.

 

 

Hey guys, my name is Tanner and I am a media tech student at Chatt State. I am getting out of my film elements and starting a blog. I hope to get more familiar with journalism and use it towards my film studies.

 

 

Zackary Johnson is a Media Technologies student who is interested in collecting cameras, photography, art history, film, and music. He is new to the world of journalism and hopes to bring you fresh and relevant content.

 

 

 

 

My name is Jessica Harris and I am a future web designer. I like simple, clean, and fun websites to design. I can design logos for people when they need it. Rights now I’m designing a logo for my uncle’s company called Micro-clean solutions.

What it takes to be Club of the Year

The Chattanooga State Media Club is having a terrific year! After winning the Club of the Year award at Hats Off to Excellence this week, it seemed like a good time to recap all that this group has accomplished over the year.

First up, students from Chris Willis’ Video Production II course and members of the Media Club worked with students from Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences to produce a music video in September 2011. The song, Splashin’ by Sw@ggbotz, represents good, clean, summertime fun.

In October students crowd-sourced the coverage of RiverRocks events, put on by Chattanooga Presents and Fidelity Trust Co. This resulted in several outstanding video essays that captured the essence of key events in the outdoors festival.

Also in October the Media Club partnered with the Chattanooga State Drama Club to produce a Zombie movie, the highlight of which was having Dr. Catanzaro in full zombie makeup attack a student.

For Halloween and Christmas students were involved in coverage of fundraising events at Track 29: Halloween Bash and Beck the Halls.

Over the Spring semester students have been busy preparing for a trip to Orlando to attend the Florida Film Festival, tour Full Sail University, and to take a Special Effects tour at Universal Studios. However, during this time they have also been working on videos promoting SGA elections and other student clubs. The Media Club covered the Spring Talent Show, and have also provided coverage at many campus events.

Also this Spring our Club submitted 4 films which will be shown in the Broad Street Film Festival downtown at the Carmike Majestic 12 on April 19. Please come out and support our students and vote for their films! Past winners from Chattanooga State include: Graham Uhelski for New Madrid and Touch of Sapphire by Morgan Smith.

The work this club has produced has been described by clients, such as the organizers of RiverRocks, as being on par with that of professional studios that costs tens of thousands of dollars. Their demo reels are exemplary of a quality program where students gain hands-on production experience, yet they are also learning to effectively manage large projects and to deal with clients. So again, hats off to the Chattanooga State Media Club for a great year of working together and producing quality work. Good job!

Melanie Fiona by Jasmine Moore

 With influences like Sam Cooke, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill Soul and R&B is no stranger to Canadian born soul singer Melanie Fiona. Dropping the follow up to her debut album The Bridge on March 20, the album entitled The MF Life is what many would called an real old school soul album. Working with producers like No I.D, Salaam Remi, Andrea Martin, Rico Love, Los Da Mystro and T-Pain, Melanie Fiona stayed true to herself and the outcome in my opinion is one of the top 5 R&B album in 3 years. A simple soul album with a touch of new featuring hip hop artist such as J Cole, B.O.B, Nas and T-pain,gave a fresh twist on the album but yet it stayed soulful throughout. Melanie Fiona is doing what most soul and R&B artist are failing to do. Instead of converting herself to pop shes staying true to real soul. The MF Life only selling 34,000 copies in its opening week seemed to impressed many soul fans like myself. So i would like to say Thank You to Melanie Fiona for keeping soul music alive.

Download The MF Life Now!!!

Ovoxo , by Takeisha Parham

OvoxoThe rapper Drake and singer The Weekend together makes up the  Canadian based group Ovoxo. Even though The Weekend and Drake both are mainstream together the group Ovoxo is underground. You can hear Drake alot of time s shout out to The Weekend and their group in many of his songs. Their music is r&b mostly bust they do a couple of rap songs. I f you have not heard this group you are losing in life. Their music is very “catchy” after listen to one albumn you can find yourself humming and dreaming about the lyrics.

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986), Young moneys artist Drake, is a Canadian recording artist and actor. He started out as an actor on Degrassi and transformed into what we know as October’s Very Own the OVO in the group OVOXO.

 

 Abel Tesfaye (born February 16, 1990), aslo a Toronto native is the XO in OVOXO. XO  is the slogan and logo ‘The Weeknd’. X stands for the drug ecstasy, O for oxycodone

 

 

Jack Who? by Chelsea Crosby

February 17, 2012 at 1:00 pm, thousands of people all over the country logged onto Track29.co to purchase tickets to a Jack White concert.

Jack White. Single "Love Interruption"

But not just any concert. This would be his very first stop on his very first solo tour here in little ole’ Chattanooga, TN. Just 20 minutes later the show was completely sold out. I told my then significant other, who is a major Jack White fan, I would be getting him tickets for Valentine’s day, the only problem…they hadn’t gone on sale yet. I had been extremely lucky in making my final purchase at 1:10. 2 tickets to see Jack White. Fans all over the country were either boasting about their recent ticket purchase or grieving about being a minute too late. After discussing the concert with some family and friends I learned I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know exactly who Jack White was, but I was definitely the only one who didn’t know who he was yet had tickets to his concert. I was a little caught off guard by the response that followed the concert announcement. What have I done? I now hold a potentially $300 ticket in my hand for a guy who I only recognize by his name while some of my best friends, some of his biggest fans, left the ticket booth empty-handed. Of course that feeling turned into curiosity and I knew I had to keep this ticket. In the days leading up to the concert I did my homework and made sure to keep “Love Interruption” (the first single off of his upcoming album Blunderbuss) on repeat since that would be the only song from the album anyone would know and then I wouldn’t look like a clueless idiot at the concert, right? Wrong.

March 10, 2012 at 9:00, after a very…interesting performance by his opening act Hell Beach, Jack White finally took the stage accompanied by a very empowering, all female band. Their presence literally filled the room before they ever made a sound. However that amazing feeling faded with the first song. It was new to me, but not to the voices singing all around me (which I swear had a hint of taunting laughter at the fact that I was ill prepared). His full set included “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”, “Ball and Biscuit”, “I’m Slowly Turning Into You”, “Hotel Yorba”, “Seven Nation Army” and “We Are Going to be Friends”; and that was just some The White Stripes! He also performed “I Cut Like a Buffalo” by The Dead Weather and “Top Yourself” by The Raconteurs and a few other songs. Needless to say after the brief embarrassment I settled into the groove along the help of my significant other whispering which band originally played what song into my ear.

I think I’m becoming a fan…. I highly enjoyed the feeling of hearing not just 1 band but essentially 4 bands for the first time live. His music is 2 parts blues, a hint of folk, the perfect helping of grunge and tiny bit of blue grass which creates one of the most unique yet insanely fun blends of music I’ve ever heard. Each song was completely different and allowed me to freestyle dance accordingly. But what really clicked for me was that Jack White sang his heart out on that stage and it sounded almost identical to his voice on his albums.

So I say, you go Jack White, but make sure you come back of course. And I’m sure I’ll be attending more concerts just for another opportunity to discover a new band live

Living in Jesus Culture, by Zac Landreth

Have you ever heard of a band that has been able to grab a hold of its audience to the point of making them feel as if they were apart of the group? Jesus Culture is a group of individuals  that have been around for the past decade and have done just that. Since 1999 when the first Jesus Culture conference was held in California, Jesus Culture has been hot on the scene for showing the love and satisfaction of how Jesus Christ is when you allow Him to be apart of your life. Although pushed mainly towards the youth of the world, Jesus Culture has reached the hearts of many individuals both young and old. They speak alot about being apart of a “generation” and how each generation has a purpose. Thay want you to love God and serve Him with all that you have. The Lord put within the leaders of Jesus Culture four distinct purposes for their ministry:

1. They would be connected with spiritual fathers and mothers and aligned under their covering.
2. They would be passionately in love with Jesus – encountering His extravagant love for them daily.
3. They would give their lives to prayer and know how to win the war in the heavens.
4. They would walk in the supernatural – demonstrating the Kingdom of God through power. (http://www.jesusculture.com/about)

On April 10th, Jesus Culture is going to be holding a one night music event at Belmont University in Nashville, Tn.. Tickets are $25 and can be ordered through their website @ www.jesusculture.com. I for one have never seen them before and look forward to seeing the impact that they make on not only myself, but to all my fellow brother and sisters in Christ. It isn’t everyday that band speaks to me as much as this one has just by listening to them through their albums.