FILMP160: Sekou's Blog

The first opening shots center around Tommy and the rest of the Peaky Blinders vehicle (Buggy) in which they arrive at their hometown in Birmingham. The camera pans from a medium shot that focuses the buggy to varying shots that help develop life around the town as the car drives from out of frame into focus. This focus is only amplified once Tommy (the main character) exits the vehicle. The camera follows the behind of Tommy, utilizing a long panel shot to have Tommy sit centerfold of the shoot alongside his mother Polly. The camera then continues this pan, following Polly entering the building with Tommy falling out of focus. The camera then cuts between this angle, and a close up shot with Tommy and another officer, standing outside of the building. These two scenes work in relationship, switching between one another until Polly exits the building, in which the close up shot switches its focus onto Tommy in the background (without moving the shot angle). The final shot closes with...

The buzzing streets of downtown brooklyn exist in the cornerstone of my memory acting as a home in the giant city of New York. Nowadays, what used to be a quiet small-time neighborhood has risen as a trendy location in Brooklyn, and the new wave of commerce has brought new sounds never heard before. The soundwalk exercise helped me isolate my mind and identify the various levels of sound going on around me. At the closest level, I overheard the various conversations occurring around me as I walked down my local street, with many groups seated outside of restaurants and cafes. At the next level, the traditional noise I would reduce to background, I gave focus to and heard the varying ways in which cars or vehicles could make noise. I overheard car honks, bike chimes as they rode past, the rotation of wheels, the slight purring of various engines as they started and stopped alongside the street. These vehicle sounds can be identified as keynotes, in juxtaposition to the chatter I was he...

Artist Statement With the work I do throughout the semester, I want to express myself and speak to the individualism that every person holds, and is built upon via our connections, history, and cultures. But we must take it upon ourselves at the same time to be critical and curious about that past to both understand ourselves and reflect it onto our art.  I come from a layered family background, with roots in both Japan and the Caribbean as well as Harlem and Brooklyn of New York City. Being in this multilayered environment helped me inherit the different cultures into myself, and inspires me to express these sides through myself, my work, and my thinking. The expression of the art doesn’t have to be the traditional proposed medium such as well drawn art, or a profound photograph piece. It's that in-between, such as the simple things in life that are overlooked, but there’s volumes of culture, expression, and individualism to be found in these moments. I value art expression that...