This short was simply beautiful. The contrast of what was there and what is now is mind-blowing. This put many thoughts into my head about what it means to be human. The town flourished, and then vanished. We live, we die. Plain and simple.
The beginning of the short that showed the destruction that came to Sultan Sea created a very menacing tone of emptiness. The mountain of paint helped to give a sense of hope to the sea.
I noticed that the American flag was inserted at the end, hinting that the fate of this town can easily be the faith of the nation. It is a real eye opener about materialism. That town was created on accident, and people exploited the land. The short shows that nature always wins.
Bonnie Gross: I really liked “The Accidental Sea” by Ransom Riggs. The thing I found most intriguing was the actual narrative. It was very well written and went nicely with the images he was showing. The entire short felt like a history channel/National Geographic special. I did find the topic interesting though because I knew very little about it. The narrative and images definitely got the story across thoroughly and detailed for such a short film. Along with the narrative, the cinematography was amazing as well. Although some of the shots were taken from old videos, the shots from current day made me feel like I was there viewing it. There were a myriad of different zooms and pans that made it feel as if you were walking through the decrepit buildings yourself, looking around. Also there was one shot that I particularly loved. When he goes through the painted mountain, there is a low angle shot zooming and panning through the various colored branches. It was very cool movement and again made me feel as if I was staring up to the ceiling of the colorful mountain in person. The narrative and images worked very well together. Each one gave a certain theme and feeling, that the narrative would talk about over the image. Although it felt like a history channel special, those specials always have very cool wide shots, such as this short. It is difficult to capture an entire place in 6 minutes, but Riggs does it beautifully.
"The Accidental Sea" is wonderful. It's a nice short documentary. I like the feel of it and how they show this place as a view on an post apocalyptic tragedy. I LOVE any and everything apocalyptic. The shots are amazing and make the viewer feel like they are there wandering around looking at this ghost town. There are mostly wide angle shots but i think that is used to help make it feel like you yourself is look at this place. The wide and close up shots are used to zoom in on key features of this place. Then that helps add to the story an mystery of this story. I think the older footage of how Sultan Sea came about and that it became a sort of paradise was a nice visual touch of history.
I thought the transition into the colorful mountain was rushed into. Then It kind of left me wonder what was the point of showing it? Maybe that even though this is a lifeless place there is a small presence of life that still remains. The first and middle where so wonderfully cohesive but the ending just didn't seem to belong. Where is the connection with this colorful mountain to this deserted land? What connection does this elderly man have with this place? Why is he there?
The Accidental Sea is a visual masterpiece. It is equivalent to our 10 shot project where we had to tell the story of the place through out images in the shots. The angles and the movement of the camera to depict each and every part of that place was done wonderfully. I loved the depth of field in some of the shot like the one of the mountain in the background of the water. I also loved how the camera moved around the abandoned houses as if we were actually there walking around the house. I also liked the low angle of the camera when showing the guys living areas that he created in the end.
The tone and tempo of the piece are very sound. I did not feel myself being rushed throughout the film and I did not feel like the film was going to slow for a six and a half minute piece. The tone of the narrators voice also aded to the mystery of the place. He was at a nice monotoned voice which sounded nice to the ear. Over all this was a good documentary because it brought of the point of what the world would be like if something that we did caused the destruction of life and humanity. This documentary made me think and made me appreciate life a lot more.
While the visuals for this were quite breathtaking, taking much of their impact from the impressive scenery, the soundtrack in particular worked. It made sure to accent all the visual elements, providing a critical narrative piece that assisted in telling a story, not just of events but of emotions. While the film had little by way of overall point, moral, or profound revelation, it is an interesting look at a quirky series of events resulting from human nature and error. It went into a significant deal of depth without killing the pacing, all while providing a serene, introspective feeling.
The Accidental Sea is a strange but beautiful short, halfway between menacing and amazing. It shows the story of a small sea in California created accidently, which was flooded by tourists and people hoping to live there. However, the sea grew vile due to runoff and other factors, and is now the centerpiece of an almost uninhabited wasteland. The visuals of the short were a patchwork of shots taken recently of the sea and surrounding areas, mixed with old clips from advertisements and the news. The modern clips were carefully chosen, they show the desolation and emptiness of the place, but also show its strange beauty, despite the dilapidation and decay.
The sound came from the calm narrator and the ominous background music, with occasional sound clips from the sixties or seventies. The narrator calmly explained and postulated about the eerily beautiful location, while the music helped back up the emotions created by the visuals.
The centerpiece of the short was not its visuals or its sound, but its narrative. It showed an interesting story, but expanded it significantly. The land around the sea grew quickly, and became a major success, but, because of lack of foresight and irresponsibility, it crumbled into dust just as quickly as it rose. This underscores an ominous rubric that could be applied to many things made by man: that the things we build can crumble quickly if we are not careful.
Kaitlin Smith: I really enjoyed, “The Accidental Sea” by Ransom Riggs. The cinematography and visual imagery, along with the old footage made this documentary very intriguing. The cinematography at the beginning was amazing – showing the landscape/scenery of the desert with the sun hitting the camera, was just simply beautiful. All the compositional shots including, the abandoned and vacant housing, lots, and the spa gave the documentary’s visual imagery an A+. Because the director had great camera angles in these shots like going through a window and having low angles making us feel like we were “at the site,” because the camera was placed right next to the “debris.” My favorite scene was the paint house scene; I believe that’s what it was called. This guy had been working on this for years, and the paint was gorgeous. All the vast colors that were mixed together were fascinating to look at, simply amazing. It was also the only time a person was brought into the video that wasn’t from stock footage so I thought that was an interesting addition to the short film. Considering I want to be a documentary filmmaker I thought this was a good video to watch, when learning to make short documentaries.
I really enjoyed this short film. It was very informative. I liked how it mixed vintage shots of the town with the way it looks today. The shot I liked the most was "The Hills Have Eyes" at 4:06 because the shots of the town look like they came straight out of The Hills Have Eyes movies. The short documentary was semi depressing but awesome at the same time.
Joel Jarvis: I'll admit when assigned these short films, I went through and watched about half of them. This one gave me ideas on want kind of frame compositions to include in the portrait of a place assignment. I liked the lonely run down vibe you get from the forgotten relics of a place that use to be so full of hope and future. The shrine that old man made really brought the whole idea of this short full circle.
Brandon Brown: The Accidental Sea was a very interesting short. I really like the narrative choice of film and the overall structure of the short. The narrator did a great job commentating just enough for you to fully understand the story being told, as well as its significance to the film in general. For some reason I am overly attracted to shallow depth of field decisions, so the fact that many of my favorite shots were those that focused most on the subject being described and less on the background. I also liked the alternations between current and past shots from years past because it gave the viewer a better visual of what the narrator was talking about. The visuals in this short were very expressive and the colors in some of the shots were extremely nice. Telling a story through visual images in a descriptive was is so amazing.
Very methodical entry to this short, a point is being made and there is great cinematography to support it. Especially the shot of the road that is crumbling only to be finished by an “End” sign that begins the desert. The flash to lower quality footage imparts the historical feel which only adds to the story. Each shot has a purpose and is supported by the narration and music. The wrap-up explains about perspective and whether or not this landscape is a “heaven or hell”. I appreciated this because I thought Ransom Riggs did a great job of balancing his shots so that either could be a possibility. -andrew wallace
Rebecca Bynum: I really enjoyed "The accidental Sea" by Ransom Riggs. The cinematography of the sea is indescribable because he compares what was there versus what is now there. The narrative playing in the back about the sea itself is telling a story of the shots were seeing, in all honestly you could take out the narrative and the shorts of the sea will still have a powerful affect on the audience. Along with the cinematography of the sea I really enjoyed the use of light reflecting from the desert in the beginning of the short. It used the light of the sunset that had a orange tent to reflect off the orange sand. It also had contained a lot of contrast with the sand that wasn't getting light. Another aspect of this short I enjoyed was the old footage of what used to be there. It gave the narrative a reason for telling the story and it also put into perceptive how the sea was an accident.
This short film was striking in both is visual aspects and the words said. Although it was only 6 minutes, it seemed like plenty of time to get the point across.
The combination of beautiful, poetic words and striking cinematography made this film fantastic. I thought the way the shots were made even the most desolate or awful scenes in this abandoned place seem beautiful in a way; and I think that was the entire point. The stark contrast in these images, and the slow smooth pans and zooms in them gave them an aura of the ominous, the curious. Although all of the shots had a very similar tone, they still had enough variety.
The voiceover's words seemed like a very well put-together poem that didn't try too hard to say what it wanted. I thought the whole piece took something really specific and gave it universal ideas and meanings. I love films like that; ones that can mean something to everyone.
Overall, I really enjoyed this short. It made me think and it was beautiful.
Calvin Ross
ReplyDeleteThis short was simply beautiful. The contrast of what was there and what is now is mind-blowing. This put many thoughts into my head about what it means to be human. The town flourished, and then vanished. We live, we die. Plain and simple.
The beginning of the short that showed the destruction that came to Sultan Sea created a very menacing tone of emptiness. The mountain of paint helped to give a sense of hope to the sea.
I noticed that the American flag was inserted at the end, hinting that the fate of this town can easily be the faith of the nation. It is a real eye opener about materialism. That town was created on accident, and people exploited the land. The short shows that nature always wins.
Bonnie Gross: I really liked “The Accidental Sea” by Ransom Riggs. The thing I found most intriguing was the actual narrative. It was very well written and went nicely with the images he was showing. The entire short felt like a history channel/National Geographic special. I did find the topic interesting though because I knew very little about it. The narrative and images definitely got the story across thoroughly and detailed for such a short film.
ReplyDeleteAlong with the narrative, the cinematography was amazing as well. Although some of the shots were taken from old videos, the shots from current day made me feel like I was there viewing it. There were a myriad of different zooms and pans that made it feel as if you were walking through the decrepit buildings yourself, looking around. Also there was one shot that I particularly loved. When he goes through the painted mountain, there is a low angle shot zooming and panning through the various colored branches. It was very cool movement and again made me feel as if I was staring up to the ceiling of the colorful mountain in person.
The narrative and images worked very well together. Each one gave a certain theme and feeling, that the narrative would talk about over the image. Although it felt like a history channel special, those specials always have very cool wide shots, such as this short. It is difficult to capture an entire place in 6 minutes, but Riggs does it beautifully.
Ellen Schwartz
ReplyDelete"The Accidental Sea" is wonderful. It's a nice short documentary. I like the feel of it and how they show this place as a view on an post apocalyptic tragedy. I LOVE any and everything apocalyptic. The shots are amazing and make the viewer feel like they are there wandering around looking at this ghost town. There are mostly wide angle shots but i think that is used to help make it feel like you yourself is look at this place. The wide and close up shots are used to zoom in on key features of this place. Then that helps add to the story an mystery of this story. I think the older footage of how Sultan Sea came about and that it became a sort of paradise was a nice visual touch of history.
I thought the transition into the colorful mountain was rushed into. Then It kind of left me wonder what was the point of showing it? Maybe that even though this is a lifeless place there is a small presence of life that still remains. The first and middle where so wonderfully cohesive but the ending just didn't seem to belong. Where is the connection with this colorful mountain to this deserted land? What connection does this elderly man have with this place? Why is he there?
Maybe that's it, it's a mystery.
Nia Barnes
ReplyDeleteThe Accidental Sea is a visual masterpiece. It is equivalent to our 10 shot project where we had to tell the story of the place through out images in the shots. The angles and the movement of the camera to depict each and every part of that place was done wonderfully. I loved the depth of field in some of the shot like the one of the mountain in the background of the water. I also loved how the camera moved around the abandoned houses as if we were actually there walking around the house. I also liked the low angle of the camera when showing the guys living areas that he created in the end.
The tone and tempo of the piece are very sound. I did not feel myself being rushed throughout the film and I did not feel like the film was going to slow for a six and a half minute piece. The tone of the narrators voice also aded to the mystery of the place. He was at a nice monotoned voice which sounded nice to the ear. Over all this was a good documentary because it brought of the point of what the world would be like if something that we did caused the destruction of life and humanity. This documentary made me think and made me appreciate life a lot more.
Mike McGee:
ReplyDeleteWhile the visuals for this were quite breathtaking, taking much of their impact from the impressive scenery, the soundtrack in particular worked. It made sure to accent all the visual elements, providing a critical narrative piece that assisted in telling a story, not just of events but of emotions. While the film had little by way of overall point, moral, or profound revelation, it is an interesting look at a quirky series of events resulting from human nature and error. It went into a significant deal of depth without killing the pacing, all while providing a serene, introspective feeling.
Hampton Bradshaw:
ReplyDeleteThe Accidental Sea is a strange but beautiful short, halfway between menacing and amazing. It shows the story of a small sea in California created accidently, which was flooded by tourists and people hoping to live there. However, the sea grew vile due to runoff and other factors, and is now the centerpiece of an almost uninhabited wasteland. The visuals of the short were a patchwork of shots taken recently of the sea and surrounding areas, mixed with old clips from advertisements and the news. The modern clips were carefully chosen, they show the desolation and emptiness of the place, but also show its strange beauty, despite the dilapidation and decay.
The sound came from the calm narrator and the ominous background music, with occasional sound clips from the sixties or seventies. The narrator calmly explained and postulated about the eerily beautiful location, while the music helped back up the emotions created by the visuals.
The centerpiece of the short was not its visuals or its sound, but its narrative. It showed an interesting story, but expanded it significantly. The land around the sea grew quickly, and became a major success, but, because of lack of foresight and irresponsibility, it crumbled into dust just as quickly as it rose. This underscores an ominous rubric that could be applied to many things made by man: that the things we build can crumble quickly if we are not careful.
Kaitlin Smith: I really enjoyed, “The Accidental Sea” by Ransom Riggs. The cinematography and visual imagery, along with the old footage made this documentary very intriguing. The cinematography at the beginning was amazing – showing the landscape/scenery of the desert with the sun hitting the camera, was just simply beautiful. All the compositional shots including, the abandoned and vacant housing, lots, and the spa gave the documentary’s visual imagery an A+. Because the director had great camera angles in these shots like going through a window and having low angles making us feel like we were “at the site,” because the camera was placed right next to the “debris.” My favorite scene was the paint house scene; I believe that’s what it was called. This guy had been working on this for years, and the paint was gorgeous. All the vast colors that were mixed together were fascinating to look at, simply amazing. It was also the only time a person was brought into the video that wasn’t from stock footage so I thought that was an interesting addition to the short film. Considering I want to be a documentary filmmaker I thought this was a good video to watch, when learning to make short documentaries.
ReplyDeleteMatt Leddo
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this short film. It was very informative. I liked how it mixed vintage shots of the town with the way it looks today. The shot I liked the most was "The Hills Have Eyes" at 4:06 because the shots of the town look like they came straight out of The Hills Have Eyes movies. The short documentary was semi depressing but awesome at the same time.
Joel Jarvis:
ReplyDeleteI'll admit when assigned these short films, I went through and watched about half of them. This one gave me ideas on want kind of frame compositions to include in the portrait of a place assignment. I liked the lonely run down vibe you get from the forgotten relics of a place that use to be so full of hope and future. The shrine that old man made really brought the whole idea of this short full circle.
Brandon Brown:
ReplyDeleteThe Accidental Sea was a very interesting short. I really like the narrative choice of film and the overall structure of the short. The narrator did a great job commentating just enough for you to fully understand the story being told, as well as its significance to the film in general. For some reason I am overly attracted to shallow depth of field decisions, so the fact that many of my favorite shots were those that focused most on the subject being described and less on the background. I also liked the alternations between current and past shots from years past because it gave the viewer a better visual of what the narrator was talking about. The visuals in this short were very expressive and the colors in some of the shots were extremely nice. Telling a story through visual images in a descriptive was is so amazing.
Very methodical entry to this short, a point is being made and there is great cinematography to support it. Especially the shot of the road that is crumbling only to be finished by an “End” sign that begins the desert. The flash to lower quality footage imparts the historical feel which only adds to the story. Each shot has a purpose and is supported by the narration and music. The wrap-up explains about perspective and whether or not this landscape is a “heaven or hell”. I appreciated this because I thought Ransom Riggs did a great job of balancing his shots so that either could be a possibility.
ReplyDelete-andrew wallace
Rebecca Bynum: I really enjoyed "The accidental Sea" by Ransom Riggs. The cinematography of the sea is indescribable because he compares what was there versus what is now there. The narrative playing in the back about the sea itself is telling a story of the shots were seeing, in all honestly you could take out the narrative and the shorts of the sea will still have a powerful affect on the audience. Along with the cinematography of the sea I really enjoyed the use of light reflecting from the desert in the beginning of the short. It used the light of the sunset that had a orange tent to reflect off the orange sand. It also had contained a lot of contrast with the sand that wasn't getting light. Another aspect of this short I enjoyed was the old footage of what used to be there. It gave the narrative a reason for telling the story and it also put into perceptive how the sea was an accident.
ReplyDeleteLauren Musgrove:
ReplyDeleteThis short film was striking in both is visual aspects and the words said. Although it was only 6 minutes, it seemed like plenty of time to get the point across.
The combination of beautiful, poetic words and striking cinematography made this film fantastic. I thought the way the shots were made even the most desolate or awful scenes in this abandoned place seem beautiful in a way; and I think that was the entire point. The stark contrast in these images, and the slow smooth pans and zooms in them gave them an aura of the ominous, the curious. Although all of the shots had a very similar tone, they still had enough variety.
The voiceover's words seemed like a very well put-together poem that didn't try too hard to say what it wanted. I thought the whole piece took something really specific and gave it universal ideas and meanings. I love films like that; ones that can mean something to everyone.
Overall, I really enjoyed this short. It made me think and it was beautiful.