Are All Twenty-Something’s Lost?

Movies following the “typical” twenty-something as lost and searching for what to do are far from adequately representing what this age group is about.

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If I was anything like the typical twenty-something depicted in movies then I would walk around clueless about what to do and lacking direction.  That’s not the case. I’m not like that (for the most part). Career goals fill my future outlook. I dream of the different jobs I want to have and what I am doing to get there.

Actually, a lot of twenty-something’s are like that. At least for the ones I encounter in college. Big ambitions and realistic planning with their future lives fill their days.

This group of ambitious, go-getting, persistent people never seems to be portrayed in films dealing with a twenty-something. It’s similar to when Hollywood movies are made about teens. The twenty-something is put into a stereotype of how the rest of society thinks they act.

Movies dealing with the lost twenty-something and having a quarter-life crisis have grown in popularity. Lena Dunham’s  feature film Tiny Furniture was beloved by audiences and received the award for Best Narrative Feature at the South by Southwest Festival.  The film follows recent college graduate Aura (Dunham) who moves back home with a lack of direction. 2006’s Accepted shows a group of 18-year-olds as they create their own “college” after being rejected from others and not knowing what to do. Reality Bites depicts a lowly videographer as she lacks guidance and irresponsibly quits her job. Greenberg, Frances Ha and How to Be follow the same suit.

What’s the deal with all of this? Are all twenty-something’s taking longer to grow up? No. It’s quite different. Many of them have dreams (that are realistic), goals and plans for how to achieve them. There are many twenty-something’s that are stuck in a somewhat slow period. They work less than ideal jobs, low-paying jobs and/or still finding a job. It doesn’t mean there lost. Many of them are just stuck in the phase of getting experience to qualify them for jobs they really want.

The appeal to the lost and directionless crowd is understandable. Everyone has been there. It’s something that is a common experience. However it can be overdone.

The coming-of-age “finding yourself” films seem like they are going the way of the parody films. Everyone is tired of them and want to move on.

It’s a James Franco Summer

Note: I don’t normally talk about myself but…I’ve been in hiding for the past three weeks. College work and a huge pile of applications have consumed me. A bunch of great things in film and television happened and I missed it (the Parks and Recreation season finale was awesome!) Anyways, I’m back, and decided to post about James Franco’s never ending list of projects.

When you think of the upcoming summer movie season, thoughts of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars or the new Transformers film fill your mind. Well actor James Franco has managed to sneak his way into having four films coming out this summer. Every month from May to August, Franco will have a movie coming to theaters.

May 2014: Palo Alto

Based on the 2010 bestselling short story collection written by Franco himself, Palo Alto focuses on the happenings of a group of rebellious teenagers. The film is the directorial debut of Gia Coppola, granddaughter of director Francis Ford Coppola and niece of Sofia Coppola.

Coppola mentioned how she fell in love with the book when reading it and how it depicted teenagers is a realistic way. She adapted the short story collection written by Franco and collaborated with the teenage cast in order to make it more authentic.

James Franco appears in the film as a soccer coach who hits on a high schooler (Emma Roberts).

May 9, 2014

June 2014: Third Person

In this ensemble romantic drama, Franco plays a New York-based painter who fights with his ex(played by four-time co-star Mila Kunis) over the custody of their son. The film ties in several stories over the course of three cities.

June 20, 2014

July 2014: Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

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A follow-up to 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the film follows Caesar, the ape, as he leads a rebellion through San Francisco. Franco makes a small cameo (leaving the lead role he had in the first film) as Will Rodman, Caesar’s former owner.  July 11, 2014

August 2014: Child of God

Lester Ballard is a murderer and an outcast in 1960’s Tennessee. Franco plays Jerry, who is part of the mob hunting down Lester.  Franco (who served as director) adapted the film from Cormac McCarthy’s critically praised 1973 novel of the same name.   August 1, 2014

 

“Wanted: Someone to Go Back in Time with Me”

WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED.

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Safety Not Guaranteed follows Jeff (Jake Johnson), a cocky writer at magazine who spots an ad in the classifieds that mentions time travel. Jeff wants to investigate the man behind the ad. With the help of two interns, Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni), they set out on a trip to Ocean View, Washington to find the man.

The team is able to track down the guy who placed the ad. He is a man named Kenneth(Mark Duplass) who is in his 30’s working at a supermarket. Kenneth is resistant when confronted with the hard hitting efforts made by Jeff. Darius, using her sarcasm and deadpan humor, is able to quickly form a bond with him. Kenneth will take Darius along with him in his time machine. Kenneth wants to travel back to 2001 to save a girlfriend who died.

Safety Not Guaranteed, produced for just $750,000, is a film that enhances the mumblecore films that have come before it. It has a characters that are putting their quirky natures to use. The dialogue is great. Mark and Jay Duplass, producers on the film, helped start the movement with films like The Puffy Chair and The Do-Deca-Pentathlon.

The film is based upon an actual newspaper article. The inspiration for the script came from a 1997 Backwoods Home Magazine classified ad written by an employee as a joke filler.

The film’s performances are great. Mark Duplass shows how versatile an actor he is. Known very well for his award-winning directing and writing, Duplass brings something special to the character of Kenneth. Kenneth is odd but there are reasons for it. Duplass nails the job of giving long bursts of lines and making them all count. Aubrey Plaza shines in her first starring role. Plaza demonstrates more beyond her already widely known deadpan skills that she does on NBC’s Park’s and Recreation. Plaza play the role of Darius, a sarcastic recent college grad, very well. Plaza and Duplass are the standout performers of the film.

The film is vague when it comes to whether time travelling actually takes place or not. Nonetheless, the writer, director and actors provide a solid film to remember.

Derek Connolly, screenwriter for the film, won both the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance and the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.

Image by FilmDistrict from http://www.imdb.com/

 

Suprising Success of God’s Not Dead (film)

The low-budget indie christian film God’s Not Dead  turned heads (or computer mouses) when it finished its opening weekend with a suprising 9.2 million from just 780 theaters.

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Synopsis

Josh Wheaton (played by Disney Channel’s Shane Harper), a freshman college student, enrolls in a philosophy class. The professor (Kevin Sorbo) makes all the students sign a “God is Dead” statement in order to pass the class. Josh is at ends, wanting to defend is belief in God but needing to pass the class to fill a degree requirement. The professor makes a deal with him. Josh does a series of debates with his stance that “God is Alive.” If he succeeds he passes the class, if he loses then he flunks.

The film follows themes of facing challenges, family tension, beliefs, success and much more.

Analysis

The movie industry has  been deemed with the unofficial title of “Year of the Bible in Hollywood.” Son of God came out in February, God’s Not Dead and Noah in March and Exodus in December. Many were shocked that a low-budget film that was seemingly unheard about did so well. Its strong marketing efforts may have been the reason for the strong opening weekend turnout.

Ash Greyson, CEO of social media consultant Ribbow Media, oversaw the social media marketing for the film. Greyson did research into the different niche markets of christian movie goers (young ones, older ones, ones that listen to pandora, ones that watch TV frequently).

“We’re not buying a demographic, we’re buying a committed audience. It’s all about peeling the onion,” Greyson said during an interview with The Wrap. 

Greyson looked into various platforms,seeing which ads grabbed the most attention. He didn’t want generic ads that were broad and people passed over. He placed potential movie goers into niche categories based on what actor from the films cast they liked the most.

A few certain factors came together that provided the film with a successful box office return.

  • The marketing campaign didn’t do broad advertisements, it catered to niche groups
  • The film followed everyday issues, a far distance from the big budget films around it (Need for Speed, Divergent)
  • In-depth research was done to see how varying levels of Christians responded to faith-biased films

Even though the film has been panned by critics and mixed my audience, it proves the power in niche marketing. Target people with ads they want to see, that relate to them.

UPDATE (3/31/2014): The film continues to succeed, making nearly 8.8 million in its second week. The second week gross is just a 4.5% decline from the first week.

  • First Week: 9.2 million from 780 theaters ($11,817 per screen average)
  • Second Week: 8.8 million from 1,178 theaters ($7,468 per screen average)

image via imdb.com

 

Successes and Faults of Veronica Mars (film)

It’s easy to think that more people would be in the Veronica Mars fandom if the show had aired during the current binge-encouraging TV community. The show ran from 2004-2007 on UPN/CW. It was low-rated but beloved for its writing, format and acting.

Despite (very persistent) fan attempts for a movie to be made, Warner Brothers (the studio that financed/distributed the show) opted not to fund the possible film. Fast foward six years to 2013 and a Kickstarter campaign was launched, raising $5.7 million in 30 days. The movie was officially happening

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Review

The prowling teen detective, covering the seedy happenings at Neptune High School and its town, is back.

Veronica Mars was last seen at the end of season three, her freshman year of college, getting recruited by the FBI (Great career planning!). Nine years later she is living in New York City with her college boyfriend “Piz” and pursuing jobs at a few law firms. In the midst of landing a pretty sweet gig at a law firm, she gets contacted by her ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls. He’s in trouble, having been accused of the murder of his girlfriend Carrie Bishop who was a fellow student at Neptune High.

Bishop, who went on to become a successful popstar under the stagename Bonnie DeVille, was found dead in her bathroom. Echolls, a lieutenant in the US Navy and son of movie star Aaron Echolls, is the prime suspect. Lawyer offers being thrown in his face, Veronica treks down to Neptune to help him clear his name.

During her 10-year high school reunion, she realizes that Bishop’s murder is connected to the death of her best friend, Susan Knight. Knight mysteriously disappeared during a boating trip nine years prior.

The ensuing plot involves Veronica working to clear Logan’s name while dealing with the seedy and corrupt nature of small town Neptune.

Observations

The film was well-paced and had a steady plot and resolution. A quick two minute introduction at the start gives non-viewers of the TV series a brief history of Veronica Mars and company and allows the film to be enjoyed without ever watching the series.

The only qualms a non-viewer of the TV series would experience is the pop ups of various characters from the TV show.  The instances aren’t too distracting to keep the viewer from enjoying the movie as a whole.

While the film was good, I noted a few disruptions to it

  • Interaction among characters was big in the TV series. In the film it isn’t, all the side characters from the series have few scenes and aren’t really engaging to the plot of the film.
  • Movie feels a little weird. It plays like some TV movie. Veronica Mars isn’t meant for film. It’s writing serves best when restricted to hour-long TV formatting.

Will the Veronica Mars film be counted as a success? Many already consider it so (it was finally made into a movie after seven years after all).

Box office and movie insiders are looking closely to see whether actually will be a success or not. The film cost a reported $6 million to make. To be classified as a success it would have to make double its budget back, $12 million. A figure that doesn’t seem likely to be happening.

  • Opening weekend: $2 million from 291 theaters for its opening weekend.
  • Second week: dropped 76.5%, obtaining around $470,000 from 347 theaters.

Making back its budget from theater box office doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Video on Demand sales may be its saving grace. No report has been released on the exact state of its VOD viewing numbers (distributors have a frequent history of not releasing on demand numbers).

A long time ago, we used to be friends…and we still are. Veronica Mars, despite its few quirks, works well for a night of movie watching outside of the typical slapstick comedy genre. A- 

 

 

 

 

SXSW: Day 4 Recap

(Day 4: Monday March 10,2014): The day consisted of a panel on psychology and technology in mobile applications, The Golden Age of Drama on TV panel and a taco party hosted by a Texas State mass communication professor.

Nicolas Cage was at SXSW Interactive for day four for a conversation moderated by David Gordon Green. I decided to skip it for something more educational (Yes I know it’s Nicolas Cage, but I wanted to learn stuff at SXSW). The panels I chose involved what I wanted to know more about.

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The first panel, Can You Feel Me Now?, discussing the convergence of psychology and technology in mobile applications was a bit of a bust. The speakers included Cameron Clayton, president of Digital Vision; Gary Klassen, principal architect at Blackberry; Giorgos Zacharia, chief scientist at Kayak. The panel didn’t really discuss much about the psychological techniques used in created better mobile apps. The main thing repeated throughout the panel was how more people are becoming digital natives and wanting something that is easy to use. It turned out to be an okay panel.

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The Golden Age of Drama on TV was a panel on the increased quality of drama TV. Drama series have started to produce quality material that is comparable to theatrical films. Budgets for drama TV has increased, script quality has increased and character development has become way more in depth.

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Alex Cary, executive producer of TNT’s Legends; Hank Steinberg, executive producer of TNT’s The Last Ship; Rob Moynihan, LA correspondent of TV Guide Magazine; and Stephen Kane, executive producer at Turner Broadcasting were speakers for the panel on The Golden Age of Drama on TV.

The new nature of character development and scripts was talked about.

“There used to be a lot of resistance to character development of TV characters” Steinberg said, “with DVR, serialized shows like Lost started to get popular”

Steinberg mentioned that studios have for the most part abandoned mid-level movies. They have opted to focus on shorter, smaller movies and $200 million dollar high packed movies. He said people and studio executives have been looking to TV in the past few years to fill the empty mid-level movie void absent from film.

Steinberg said shooting 10 or 12 episodes of TV provides great efficiency and opportunity for character development. He said it is more optimal to do rather than doing 22 episodes a season without all the scripts ready.

“I’ve never had this before where we have all the scripts ready before shooting. It was great efficiency” Steinberg said.

The last event of the day was a taco party hosted by Cindy Royal, a Texas State mass comm professor who is currently a Knight Fellow at Stanford University. The event was great. I got to talk with a lot of graduates from the graduate program at Texas State. One of them works at NPR now and recently did a panel at SXSW. Another one works at a food bank in Austin. Also there were free tacos and chips at the party so that made it all the more awesome.

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The greatest thing of the day was getting to meet Burt Herman, co-founder of the social media storytelling service Storify. He was pretty awesome and even asked for my website URL.

Feeling accomplished. Day four was a success. Whenever a day includes free tacos (or any food for that matter) you know it’s going to be great.

 

SXSW: Day 3 Recap

Things were planned for the day of Sunday March 9th: Mindy Kaling’s panel, Brooklyn-Nine-Nine and the Fifty Shades of Creativity panel. Getting to the convention center around 8:10am, I thought I would get to the Mindy Kaling event early (and get a front row seat!). One problem: forgotten badge.

A 1.5 hour round trip bus excursion later and I had my badge. First up was the panel Running the Show: TV’s Newest Queen of Comedy. Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz and Adam Pally from Fox’s The Mindy Project were in attendance. The discussions included the changing nature of the television landscape. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu changing the way people watch TV. It was discussed how cable and network shows differ, process of writing an episode and the increasing diversity of people in TV.

I toted a good ol’ point and shoot camera to all of my events for the day. I’ve gotten a few looks from people, suprised that I have an actual camera and not just an iPhone with a camera app. One of my professors even called me out on it the other day. This is how to conversation went:

“So I noticed you have an actual point and shoot camera. “-Professor

“Yeah…”-Me

“…”-Professor

My Apple-fan professor who likes content
My Apple-fan professor who likes content

As you can tell the conversation went very well! Anyways, the Mindy Kaling panel went great. Despite the funny looks I got with my camera, it took some great pictures with it’s 20x optical zoom.

I prefer my Canon SX260 zoom over some iPhone 5s
I prefer my Canon SX260 zoom over some iPhone 5s

Kaling was sitting at a lounge after the panel to do an interview. People hovered around closely. Many tweets from Twitter had similar message: “Breathing the same air as Kaling/In same room as Kaling” with a boatload of exclamation points afterwards.

Since I sat at the back of the crowd, when it was time for autographs, I got to be one of the first in line! I got to take a picture with one of my TV writing role models.

I asked if Matt Damon or Ben Affleck ever contacted about her play "Matt and Ben." She said no.
I asked if Matt Damon or Ben Affleck ever contacted about her play “Matt and Ben.” She said no.

I was content after this picture. I could die right at that second and be happy. You know what I mean? After the picture was taken I thought about going to a data journalism presentation by a Texas State alumna. For some reason I felt this urge to stay. I had no idea why but decided to go with it. I sat down outside of the lounge and started doing some work on my laptop.Actors Melissa Fumero and Stephanie Beatriz from Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine would be there at 3pm so I stayed. I’m so glad I did.

“Can I plug in next to you?”

A woman stood next to me as I was sitting against the wall with my laptop plugged in.

“Sure” I agreed.

She plugged her phone in and turned and asked what was going on in the streaming lounge. I told her about the people from Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine doing an interview there. She talked about how her husband liked the show. When asking where she was from, she said Chicago. I told her I maybe wanted to move to Chicago after my graduation in December 2014. She asked about what my college major was and what kind of work I wanted to do. This is where things got weird and cool at the same time.

I pulled up my about/portfolio website that I had been making for my Web Design and Publishing class. I showed her my Twitter bootstrap site covering mumblecore film.

“Oh, one of my friends does that” she said.

“Cool. Who is he?” I asked.

“Joe Swanberg.”

My body simultaneously went numb and filled with excitement at the same time. I had Joe Swanberg featured on my mumblecore website (located here). Only seeing two of his movies, Joe Swanberg was already one of my favorite directors. The woman was suprised that I knew who he was and even more suprised that I liked him as a director so much.

The next 10 minutes I got to talk with her about her high school days with Joe. The early films he did. The projects he has going on now. It was great. It was more than great. It was perfect. She was really happy that I coached her into taking a photo and getting an autograph from the Brooklyn Nine-Nine actresses.

“My husband’s going to love this!” she said.

By the end of the day I was pretty happy. Getting to meet Mindy Kaling, Stephanie Beatriz, Melissa Fumero, and a longtime friend of one of my favorite directors? Sunday, March 9, 2014 will go down in my personal history. South by Southwest is freaking awesome!

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Talking with Melissa Fumero and Stephanie Beatriz about Seth Meyers wanting to guest star on Brooklyn Nine-Nine

SXSW: Running the Show: TV’s New Queen of Comedy

Emmy-nominated writer Mindy Kaling made a trip to SXSW to give a panel about the changing nature of television and its new dynamics.

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A challenge to send a tweet in less than 45 seconds started off the event. No pressure right? Mindy Kaling is awesome. She managed it in a mere 17 seconds with saying “Where am I?” (and was sadly later deleted).

Kaling talked about her presence on social media. For her, Twitter is just for fun and something to be used to tease her writing staff.

The moderator asked the question of the writing process/writers room and creating an episode. Kaling responded with how writers all have creative (and out there) conversations about what’s going on in their lives. What they have been noticing.

“Our writer’s room is very gentle and loving. All the guys would identify as feminists. It isn’t sexist like other writer’s rooms,” Kaling said.

Kaling provided some humorous lines that made the nearly all of the hundreds in attendance laugh.

“I think recycling makes american look poor-Mindy Lahari”-Mindy Kaling

“I always wasn’t one of those sunny, cheerful kids. I was plotting.” Mindy Kaling on wanting to have her own TV show since 8 years old.

Kaling’s The Mindy Project castmates Ike Barinholtz and Adam Pally were alongside in the panel to give commentary.

“My cast doesn’t drug women,” Kaling

“We take drugs with women,” Barinholtz

Moderator: Pet Peeve?

“Moodiness,” Kaling.

“Mindy’s moodiness,” Pally

The panel went into the discussion on the format of the show and how it differs from cable and online streaming counterparts. Kaling acknowledged that the structure for network shows and cable shows is different. Having HBO shows like Nurse Jackie and Shameless in the same categories as network shows doesn’t seem to fit, Kaling said. The shows are different and have vastly different structures, she said.

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Adam Pally added on with how cable and network shows are different because of the episode counts. Cable shows usually have 13 episodes or less while network shows have the usual 22 episodes.

“When you’re only making 12 or six episodes you can say ‘okay let’s follow this character for the season’, you can’t do that with 22 episodes,” Pally said.

The panel did get a tad awkward at the end times when audience members repeatedly asked questions about the racial and gender concerns of the show. The issues were something that Kaling subtly dropped hints that she didn’t want to focus on those concerns.

Despite the audience repetitive questions, the panel went great. Kaling has proved herself as a book writer, television writer, actress and leading a strong work ethic. Kaling is a jack of many trades and has many great years ahead.

SXSW: Inside Late Night with Seth Meyers

It was 1:00pm. Exactly two and a half hours until the SXSW panel Inside Late Night with Seth Meyers was scheduled to start. The panel was great. I got to ask Seth Meyers a question about Brooklyn Nine-Nine (he said he wanted to guest-star!) and even confirmed Stefon (from SNL) will make an appearance on Late Night.

The panel started off a little awkward. The video that was suppose to open the panel didn’t work at first. Panel Moderator Olivia Munn gave an impromptu story about wanting to be a mermaid in third grade. The panel moved into talking about Meyer’s new gig and how it differs from his 12.5 year tenure at Saturday Night Live.

Olivia Munn opening up the event
Olivia Munn opening up the event

Olivia Munn read tweets from a sheet of paper. To “refresh” she would flip the papers and go to the next one. She was one great moderator.

Aside from the many humor-filled moments, Meyers had solid advice to offer the audience. He mentioned that a lot of the Late Night & NBC writers were hired because they had a strong digital presence on Twitter. To combat the self critic in oneself, he said that perfection is unrealistic.

“Perfection is this crazy idea. It’s improvement that matters,”-Seth Meyers

The humor highlights were great. An audience member told Meyers that he “wanted his face so that he could have a girlfriend.” Other bits included Meyers telling of how he is one of the few in the world with a Blackberry.

Plenty of “out there” questions were asked by moderator Olivia Munn. When Munn asked Meyers what a dreamed tasted like, he asked perfectly:

“A dream tastes like reality with whipped cream”-Meyers

So the event was great. Looking back I can tell that waiting in line for 2.5 hours and crawling around on stage wasn’t the best idea but no regrets right? (or if you’ve seen We’re the Millers #noragrets). Below is a list of some more liners from the hour long panel.

“I always look like me when wearing a wig. I look like a guy who found a wig and put it on”-Meyers [On why he didn’t do many characters on SNL besides his Weekend Update duties]

“Fred Armisen told me his restaurant [Doctor Fred] is like hospital food but better”-Meyers

“I make everything into sandwiches. I like the idea of something inside of something”-Meyers

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