leela’s blog ⋆⭒˚.⋆: 2024

Genre Research: Splatter, Horror Subgenre

Representation in “Goodnight Punpun” By Inio Asano

The manga “Goodnight Punpun” by Inio Asano is a dark and brutal look into abuse, mental illness, and culture in Japan. Throughout the manga the titular character Punpun both causes and endures suffering within those he meets, giving us a glimpse into the mind of him, his relationships, and his effect on others.

Sachi - Lifelong Insecurities

In the manga, Sachi Nanjou is a confident, independent woman with a harsh past. When she was younger, her family would make fun of her appearance constantly, causing her to develop bulimia and lose a lot of weight. When she went to college, she worked hard to get money for numerous plastic surgeries and completely changed the way she looked.

Sachi herself thinks that the surgeries helped her take control of her life and become more confident, saying “My face, body, lifestyle. I chose every aspect of myself with my own will.” She is agressively independent and makes sure to show those around her that she can take care of herself due to her past, but her toxic mindset of not needing anyone eventually causes her to crash and reflect on her relationships. She realizes that while she can be self sustaining, she ultimately needs connection, giving those who may relate to her struggles a hopeful ending.

Punpun - Cycles of Abuse

Punpun Onodera is a textbook example of “hurt people hurt people”. In the manga, he is represented mostly as a doodle of a bird, but his form changes depending on his mental state. His unique form compared to the surrounding manga represents how isolated he feels by everyone around him.

Throughout his life, Punpun has only seen love through numbness and sexual relationships, his mother being neglectful and his peers exposing him to harmful content at a young age- an experience that reflects Japan’s problem with oversexualization and mistreatment of women. Due to these events, Punpun has never experienced a true connection that wasn’t based on hatred or lust, leading him to hurt everyone he has a relationship with.

Through the manga, we see Punpun getting abused and witnessing abuse multiple times. Whether he knows it or not, the reader can see that he is very similar to his uncle Yuuichi, who has also hurt people in similar ways. Punpun never unpacks these events and keeps them bottled up, represented by him taking the form of a tetrahedron, said in the manga to be the strongest of all the shapes. Punpun never seeking any kind of help makes him a violent and angry person. The only person he has a somewhat stable relationship is is Sachi because she is not afraid to check him on his behavior, but almost all of the people he meets he hurts in some way.

Conclusion

The characters in this manga have all experienced some kind of childhood trauma. Some of them become self-sufficient to a fault, some need connection to feel whole. Some hurt others in the future, others cling on to abusers because its the only way they know how to love. The artist aims to explore how trauma can affect different people in different ways through the context of friendship, socialization, and Japanese culture.

Sound Project (10/10/24)

Sound Project

For this project, we were tasked to create a story with only sound. Before doing this project, we learned about how editors create sound in a film through foley stages and layering, and we were told to use at least 4 foley sounds in our submission.

We decided to base our story around a car crash so there would be many opportunities for foley within the scene. We created an outline and added any sound we thought could be used. This base helped us decide which sounds we would create and which sounds could be found on the internet, and gave us a blueprint of how we would layer the audio. The project was edited using Adobe Premiere Pro.

There are a few things I think could’ve been improved on. In both the grass and the inside of the house, the walking noises may have been too loud and sounded more like stomping. If I could redo the project, I definitely would have recorded a softer sounding foley. Additionally, there could have been more layered metal noises for the car crash, which would be another good opportunity to add foley sounds.

Footsteps Foley

However, I think most things about this project turned out great. The heartbeat sound we created using a towel turned out very good, and the storytelling present when the man gets a notification and starts texting helped tie the scene together very well. Overall, I think we did a great job on this project and I am very proud of it.

Heartbeat Foley

One Word Film Analysis

Leela Mohan - 9/30/24 - AICE Media Studies

One Word Film Analysis

For this project, we were tasked to create a silent short film based off of one word. We got the word "Serious".

While brainstorming, we thought hard about what type of scene would represent the word "serious", until we landed on an office setting. We decided to go with a story about a worker rushing to complete his work before showing his strict boss. The sheet we used helped us visualize what different scenarios would look like and what they might evoke in a viewer. Our storyboard also really helped us see what the project would look like when we completed it. It helped me choose what angles to use that would most display the character's emotion and the feeling of suspense.

To edit, I utilized iMovie. This is something I definitely regret as there were a lot of things I was unable to do, and other editing software have more options.

Overall, I think that some parts of the projects could have been improved. If I could redo it, I would reshoot the scene of the open office door and replace it with the door opening, and try to make the office worker look more scared in the scenes he is in. I would also like to refilm the clock with a tripod so it is less shaky. For editing, I would remove the sound of the ticking clock and replace it with a suspenseful soundtrack. I would have also liked to make the cuts quicker during the climax of when he is working, but iMovie does not allow for clips shorter than 0.4 seconds.

However, I think that some shots were chosen well, such as the man's beads of sweat on his forehead. I am glad we chose to use water as fake sweat. I also liked the shot of the eyes looking at the worker from behind the computer, as it made the boss look more menacing to not show much of her face. Additionally, I think the idea of the quick cuts was good, even if the execution wasn't what I would have liked.

Project:

OWF_Mohan

Camera Shots Quiz Analysis

Camera Shots Quiz

For this quiz, we were told to shoot a story in 15 pictures using camera techniques we had been taught. For our story, I decided to make it about a pencil who wants to be used to write.

Brainstorming what shots to use was the longest part of the process for me because it would almost entirely determine how the end product looked. However, I think I did a good job thinking about which shots would work the best for each scene. For example,when I shot the hand reaching down to grab the pencil, I used a high angle to show that the hand is very large in comparison to the pencil. It also shows the pencil’s perspective when the hand reaches down to grab it, which I think I could have emphasized by making the shot lower. I also think I could have improved the quality of some of the shots themselves, but overall I am proud of the final result.