The Blair Witch Project raises some very interesting questions concerning how art captures reality. The two quotes from art in the age of mechanical reproduction address many of these questions. The most interesting question the quotes raised (in my opinion) concerned the camera capturing the aura of both the actor and the settings. I think it is safe to say that the blair witch project is not an attempt to recreate reality strictly based on it's subject matter. I think the film often gets mistaken as an attempt to recreate reality due to the films success in capturing the aura of both the characters and the setting of the film. When watching the blair witch project, one feels as if they are a part of the film, they put themselves in the place of the characters, and think about what they would do in the situation. The Blair Witch Project captured this aura successfully by actually putting the actors in the situation of being lost in the woods with cameras. This made for an incredibly realistic representation of both the characters and the setting. The film would surely would have been far less successful if the movie was made with a large crew in a hollywood studio.

Tokyo Story is a very interesting film that certainly fits into the genre of realism. The Film focuses on a story which is not overly dramatic or exciting, yet at the same time is somewhat captivating due to the long slow paced shots of the japanese country side. Tokyo story is at times almost a little bit to real, I often found my self waiting for something to happen which never really did. This is something that is not common in widely successful american realism.

The Blair Witch Project is a perfect example of the faster paced realism that is more common in American cinema. The Blair with project is by no means a cinematic masterpiece like Tokyo Story. This film captivates the viewer with suspense, horror, and anxiety.

Most American film viewers (including myself) aren't conditioned to watch long slow paced movies no matter how beautiful or realistic they are. In these times it seems that if a movie is longer than two hours, and not the Lord of The Rings Trilogy, audiences become bored and tired.

Assuming Tokyo Story is an accurate representation of most japanese realism, the success of the film surely makes a statement concerning the cultural differences between American and Japanese directors and audiences.

Robert Frank and Film Art

The Robert Frank photo "Charleston, South Carolina" could be interpreted in many different ways. Chapter 2 of Film art discusses how every aspect of a piece of work should be taken into account when trying to decipher the overall meaning of the piece. It also discusses how what may seem like small or insignificant aspect of a piece may play a large part into the pieces meaning.

The most obvious aspect of this photo is that it is in black and white. While this was most likely a stylistic choice common throughout the entire Robert Frank photo set, the median of black and white film may have some significant meaning for Robert Frank. He may have been trying to portray an overall serious feel to the photo series.

The next most apparent aspect of this piece is that it is an older black woman holding a white baby. Frank traveled the United States in the mid 1950's taking many photos and only published 83, yet this was the photo he chose to represent Charleston, South Carolina. This by no means a coincidence. It is fairly safe to assume that the baby is not the woman's child, yet the child seems content. What at first may seem like an ordinary photo may be a much more complex statement on racial divide in the south. What this image portrays to me, is the innocence of a child. The child doesn't know racism, it may not even acknowledge skin color.

This picture shows to people of different skin colors getting along with each other, something that probably wasn't to common in Charleston, South Carolina in 1956. Sadly one of them was an infant.

Overall I can understand why Robert Frank chose this photo to represent Charleston South Carolina.