Pixar

Today, Pixar is one of the most famous animated studios in the world, with all the new ways of doing animation that has changed the industry. Every time it releases a film we know it will be a blockbuster. It all started with an idea of doing something for a living, not only because of the money, but because it was something people actually enjoyed doing. The idea was to draw cartoons. However, ideas can evolve and fuse with other people's dreams. That’s what happened between Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs and John Lasseter. And no one can deny that the way Pixar works is excellent.

Pixar is not about the great ideas, it is about having a great team. Many people think that great ideas are better than great people but that is not true. If you have a great idea and you give it to a mediocre team, they will screw up the idea, but if you have a mediocre idea and give it to a great team, they will make the idea great. Pixar perfectly knows perfectly this so they make their best effort to gather some of the most talented people in the industry.

Pixar also knows that the environment where their employees are must be almost perfect. The thing that keeps Pixar’s films fresh and interesting is their creative process and the way they care about their employees giving them a total creative freedom and taking in consideration the opinion of everyone without being afraid of expressing their ideas.It introduces to their team the idea that their office is like a canvas. And it’s fun. Pixar uses all its elements to keep their employees in a good environment so that they make their best effort in a job that they love and maximizing their creativity. 

Every story is amazing and every character that Pixar creates has a unique personality adopting human emotions. The stories and characters go beyond the typical stories and archetypes. They search in a world of obvious and expected things for the hidden stories and explore it to its tiniest details. This makes that people get really involved with Pixar’s films, their stories traps us, we become part of the story, we feel sympathy for the characters, we grow with them and we get to know them as if they were part of our family.

Pixar has started a revolution in film making, not only because of the 3D computer-based animation but also the feelings and passion every employee puts in each one of their movies. Nowadays there are many animation studios but the thing that makes Pixar worth billions of dollars is that creative process that keeps in consideration the ideas and dreams of everyone and even though every film Pixar does needs a computer, the product ends up being a very human movie.

Run Lola Run

"It has been said that something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon halfway around the world" this single quote from the chaos theory tells us a lot from the theme of the movie Run Lola Run, a german movie from 1998 starring Franka Potente. This movie is anything to what we are used to about plot lines, in the beginning we have a lot of existential questions that won't be answered through the movie, but they will be developed somehow with the three different plots with the same objective. The changes in the plots are driven by the time, it doesn't matter if it is only a second of difference, defining it the dog at the stairs.


In the movie Lola has to help his boyfriend Manni to get 100,000 DM that he lost in the subway in order to not getting killed by the gangster who owns the money. The first time that she is in her mission, while going through the stairs the dog scares her so this makes her arrive early to his father and the mistress and also to the people and situations she encountered in the way, but she arrives late to Manni and takes the decision of help him assault the supermarket, this gets her killed, fail. 


But hey, she has the opportunity that none of us will ever have, a second chance, she can go back to the beginning and try it again like in a videogame. So there she goes, but now in the stairs the little brat makes her fall in the stairs so this makes her lose time. This little event makes that everything changes with the people and situations she encounters, it totally changes the future of the people, she gets the money but Manni gets killed. And yeah, by now you should figure that she will get another chance where she learned from her past experiences, and now becoming a very decided person, she isn't afraid of the dog, she will scare it, have luck in the casino, Manni will find the homeless guy and they will have the money on time fullfilling the objective.


The dog represents that time is not constant, a little change may trigger a different outcome, even miliseconds have a big influence in the future. This subject is the main study of many sciences like quantum, physics and that is because time has been the eternal enemy of the human being. How many times have we desired to go back in time to change something specific like an error, something that we could have done better. Well, Lola has that power and not does she only changes her life, but she changes everyones life she touches, giving them a horrible future or a good one.


Run Lola Run portrays the way we are slaves of the time and its unpredictable effects and changes, in the movie being the dog the main change. There is no way we can escape from it and we all wish to have second chances like Lola, that is why we like videogames so much, but the truth is that in real life we have to face the fact that we are doomed to walk always forward, not backward and that we can only turn our head hoping that what we have done was the correct thing.

Character Map: Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger from Night on Earth

The Mask
Taxi driver
Clown
Foreigner

Fears
Not having taxi clients: like when he begs Yoyo to stay because he was his best client.
Not knowing where he is driving: like in the end when he is lost.
Being trapped in his communist country.

Strong traits
He is very sweet
Humble
Willing to learn
Self-confident

Trouble traits
He doesn't learn fast: like when Yoyo teaches him how to drive but he didn't get it so he still drives bad.
He knows little English.
He has no family.

Dark Side
Communism
A country that oppresses him

Admired Traits
Beauty: He admires Angela's beauty

Personal Character Map

The Mask
Serious girl
Daughter
Student

Fears
That the people I love dies
Public speaking
Being in small places
Heights

Strong Traits
Being objective and reasonable
Good listener
Perceptive

Trouble Traits
Procrastinator
Cannot have fun or relax at parties without drinking alcohol
Speak my mind without thinking in the wrong moment or not doing it in the right moment
Difficult to respect authority

Dark Side
Stupid people
People who likes shitty music like reggaeton
Sexism and machismo

Admired Traits
Very creative and artistic people
Wise and Zen
Activist

Options of where to go

I looked for some expositions and these were the ones who interested me:

Museo Nacional de Arte:
•Exposición temporal Imagen, ritmo y movimiento. Escenarios plásticos de música y danza
Proyecto interinstitucional que crea una revisión de las
prácticas musicales y dancísticas, mostrándolas a través
de la cultura visual de un periodo significativo para
la historia de la cultura en México, tomando obras de
artistas mexicanos y extranjeros de fama internacional.

Antiguo Colegio de San Idelfonso:
José Clemente Orozco: pintura y verdad
Se extiende hasta el 27 de febrero de 2011 (Until February 27th)

:)

Mercutio

One of the most famous stories of tragic love ever written is, of course, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. This story that talks about the conflict of two families and the pure love of two kids from these families has been recreated millions of times, it may be in theatres, movies, parodies and even comics. One of these adaptations is from a movie of 1996 named "Romeo + Juliet." From the beginning the movie will show you that it is one of a kind. It is set in an eccentric 90's place which looks a lot like Mexico City, but the dialogues remain as the Shakespeare's play. All the characters are a funny mix between classic and surreal, but I think that Mercutio is the character that is best represented.

First of all, Mercutio is a very relaxed person who just wants to have a good time despite what people can think of him. We can see this in a very funny scene in the movie when he dresses up as an extravagant lady for the party, he goes around dancing, shaking his body, and making jokes of his fancy dress with Romeo and the other lads. Everything about him shows his free spirit: the way he talks, the way he moves and even the way he dresses with the loose shirts. He always seems to be having a real good life without any concerns that common people has like in the movie when he is in the pool or at the beach just chilling out.

As in the play, Mercutio is a very loyal friend, he is Romeo's best friend and during all his appearance in the movie he demonstrates it. He worries about Romeo when he notices him all depressed because of Rosaline and tries to make him feel better with his poetical words and stories and he gets the invitations for the Capulet's party for Romeo to have a good time and for assuring this he gives him Ecstasy which makes him feel all dizzy and weird. Mercutio is neither a Capulet nor a Montague but he is always in the side of the Montague and he when he is fighting to dead with Tybalt, he supports Romeo, it seems that the only thing that can concern him in the whole world is Romeo and the conflict with the families, as his last words were "A plague on both your houses."

Mercutio is a very unique and clever character. His words are full of wittiness and puns like when he tells the story to Romeo or all the times that he is laughing at the Capuleto with a reckless humor. He has the perfect ability to vanish all the tense moments in the movie and make the audience to smile and laugh because he is always joking around and that is a very important thing to say since the story is a tragedy itself.

Romeo + Juliet is a very funny adaptation due to the set, language and characters. All the development of the movie is like a tragicomedy and a big part of this is because of the character of Mercutio who fills the scenes with jokes and witty words, always being the loyal friend of the protagonist. This is why it makes him the best character in the film.

Freytag pyramid: Goodfellas

Exposition: The exposition occurs at the beginning of the movie when Henry Hill is a kid and explains that he always wanted to be a gangster and when he's hired by one of them (Paulie) who is italian, Henry is half italian and half irish. Henry enjoys a lot working for Paulie and he left school.

Inciting moment: This happens when Henry becomes one of the crew and commit his first assault which is the one of Air France. At the age of 21 he is living a dream and he has everything that he wants: respect, money and power

Rising Action: When Tommy murders Billy Batts with the help of Henry and they have to hide it from Paulie because Billy Batts was a "made man" which means that he was from the Gambino family and that made him "untouchable".

Complication: Karen got very upset with Henry and she tries to kill him because she is being untrue to her, so he is sent to Florida to intimidate a man but they are caught, so they are sent to jail.

Climax: Henry and the crew commit the Lufthansa heit which is the biggest in the history, but things began to complicate and all of the persons who got involved were killed by Jimmy except Henry.

Reversal: Henry gets into the drug business and he hides it from Paulie because he doesn't want to have anything with drugs.

Falling action: He is always very freaked out because of the drugs and he became a mess, so he is sent to jail again, but now because of the cocaine business.

Catastrophe: He is poor, he has no friends and he is going to get killed by Jimmy because Jimmy feels that Henry might denounce him.

Moment of last suspense: When he has to make the decision of what to do, if kill Jimmy, go and make the favor for Jimmy (in which he will get killed) or enter to the Witness Protection Program.

Resolution: He goes to the Witness Protection Program and he protects his family, living like a "normal person" finishing his gangster life. He finishes with this line:
"I'm an average nobody. I get to live the rest of my life like a schnook."