Counting Down the Launch of Witness Not Sold Kickstarter Campaign
Witness Not Sold Kickstarter Campaign Witnessed Not Sold is a show about the stories that shape our health—the headlines we see, the facts we miss, and the ways media influences the choices we make every day. We believe everyone deserves the tools to separate truth from spin, so we’re pulling back the curtain on how health news gets made, and how you can spot what’s real. But we can’t do it alone. That’s where you come in. By supporting our Kickstarter, you’ll help us bring these stories to life. Your pledge goes directly toward production costs, expert interviews, and resources to make each episode accessible to everyone—because media literacy isn’t just important, it’s essential for public health. We’ve got some awesome backer rewards lined up—like special supporter recognition, an exclusive eBook on reading film like a director,
Choppers and Choices: How the Opening of Apocalypse Now Embodies Walter Murch’s Rule of Six
There are few opening sequences that lodge themselves in your bones the way the first moments of Apocalypse Now do. Palm trees sway, The Doors’ “The End” floats in, and then—almost like a memory you can’t control—helicopters slash across the screen, flickering in and out of view, ghostly against the flames. If you’ve ever wondered why this sequence feels so haunting and inevitable, a good place to start is Walter Murch’s Rule of Six. Murch, the film’s legendary editor and sound designer, distilled decades of experience into six priorities every editor should weigh with every cut. Watching the helicopters enter and exit the frame, you see these rules in action—especially the most important one: emotion. The Rule of Six (Quick Refresher) Murch’s Rule of Six lays out the six most important criteria for a cut, in order of importance:
Why Film Theory Counts
Why Film Theory Counts? Have you read a critical review of your favorite movie and wondered why the critic didn't like you're your favorite movie? When you read a critical review of your favorite movie what is the critic looking at? They are examining how it was constructed, the development of the narrative arc, how the technical aspects such as lighting, camera movements, the match-on action, and what theories were utilized to tell other essential messages. Why should you know some of the crucial film theories, and who is the theorist? In this article, we are discussing the importance of knowing four theorist and their theories. We will explore Dziga Vertov's The Keno Eye, Lev Kuleshov's Kuleshov Effect, and The Montage by three theorists: Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevold Pudovkin, and André Bazin, and finally
The Power of The Dog — A Film Criticism
The Power of the Dog, a Jane Campion film, 2021, is an adaptation of the novel by Thomas Savage. The film follows a mother and her son as they get involved with a wealthy pair of ranchers, set in Montana, 1925. Power of the Dog comes from Psalm 22 Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility Psalm 20:1 My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning? 20:2 O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer; and by night, but find no rest. 20:22 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog. A film that explores masculine vulnerability, toxic masculinity, and the denial of self. Campions masterfully explore the subconscious and conscious through the lens of masculine vulnerabilities,
Picture a Scientist
Picture A Scientist, 2021, Filmmakers Sharon Shattuck, Ian Cheney, chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Biologist Nancy Hopkins, Chemist Raychelle Burks, and Geologist Jane Willenbring lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experience in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of sublet slights. Along the way, from cramped laboratories to spectacular field stations, we encounter scientific luminaries – including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists – who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all. Picture a Scientist explores sexual discrimination better than any other conversation about it. It is the sublet slights that are systemic in society. This film focuses on the scientific community. A world I know from working on my geology undergraduate degree and interning at the
The Piano, A Film Criticism
A Jane Campion Film, 1993. Campion as an auteur filmmaker holds to the female gaze, as in her 1993 film The Piano. A period piece, set in 1851, a mute Scottish woman, Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), arrives in colonial New Zealand for an arranged marriage, with her precious young daughter Flora McGrath (Anna Paquin) and beloved piano in tow. Her new husband, Alisdair Stewart (Sam Neill), refuses to transport the piano to their home. George Baines (Harvey Keitel), his neighbor, offers a deal to take the piano off his hands. Baines agrees to move the piano in exchange for piano lessons. What does Ada have that the others want? At first, it seems like sensual desire, but it is more than that. It is a desire for intimacy that the men can only understand in sexual terms. Campion's choice