Rationale
For my project I decided to write a Review/reference/ exhibit site for Stanley Kubrick’s movies. Why? Because Kubrick has had such a large effect on the film culture and on how films are shaped in the future. In order to do this I chose a movie and wrote my interpretation of it as well as adding quotes from other peoples works so that I had a wide variety of opinions that viewers were able to grasp a wider understanding of the cultural impact of each of the movies chosen. This is what made my blog different from others.
However, problems began to occur from the word go. First off was the insane amount of copyright protection instilled upon each of Kubrick’s movies, which provided me with substantial barriers to have to somehow step around. In order to do this I had to send all of my pictures and videos offsite, where all copyright issues were not my fault. As a drawback it meant that there would be no pictures or videos visible on my site, as all pictures and videos were assessed by hovering the cursor over the related links. Another problem faced was the sheer amount of material that Kubrick had produced, all of which I found extremely hard to interpret without sidetracking and creating a document too large to be of any use. In the end I was limited, due to the time limit and other reasons, to analysing 3 of Kubrick’s movies; Full Metal Jacket, A Clockwork Orange and 2001: A Space Odyssey. I would have liked to further write about The Shining, Barry Lyndon, Lolita and Eyes Wide Shut but, as said above, did not have the time.
Of the three movies I looked at 2001 was by far the hardest as it had many interpretations, symbol isms and iconic features that were all equally hard to put into words. Another problem with writing about this film was that whilst watching it I would get drawn in and lose half an hour only to realise that the part I had intended to watch had long since passed.However, there is an abundant supply of debates and articles about the movie making research very easy.
A Clockwork Orange on the other hand, was much easier, as it was sharp and at times broken giving me opportunities to break away and actually write about what I have seen. Although I enjoy watching A Clockwork Orange, it is not in my favourite movies pile and I am therefore not itching to watch it from start to finish as I was with the other two movies. Although it was interesting reading about the amount of controversy and anger it caused. Some of the problems with writing about this movie was that articles and were difficult to find about the controversy that surrounded the opening and the copycat cases.
Full Metal Jacket, one of my favourite movies of all time, was a joy to write about. I have seen this film many times and have enjoyed every sitting. Writing about it was rather easy because I have watched it I understand most of it and just about every opinion about it is the same, “satire of the Vietnam war” “brutal depiction of dehumanisation” etc. However, much like A clockwork orange full essays and articles were hard to find.
The method through which I chose publish my work was with word press, which I found to be easy to use and capable of adding any specifications required. One of these specifications was where I needed to quote other people’s work in my own. Wordpress allowed me to indent certain text and add links that provided the viewer with a pathway to the full material that was used. The other possible site that i had considered was Blogger, however, wordpress appeared much more proffesional, although it lacked some of the features that blogger used.
