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bakutae · 4 years

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baking with shouto

pairing: shouto todoroki x reader

prompt: you’re really pretty

context: where you and shouto bake cupcakes together

author’s note (if any): this is my second entry for the @bnhabookclub event and this time it’s going to be a proper fic. enjoy :)

A pleasant aroma invaded your senses as you let out a groan and slowly opened your eyes. You looked to your side. Shouto wasn't there, he must have woken up early. You slowly got out of bed, your upper thighs mildly aching from last night's lovemaking session. You gathered the clothing thrown on the floor and threw it in the basket that stored both you and Shouto's dirty laundry, a gentle smile playing on your lips as you thought of last night's fun.

Rummaging through Shouto's drawer and pulling out one of his white shirts, you then put it on, the material carelessly draped over your petite figure. It smelt like Shouto, and you loved it. You then tied your hair up into a loose bun while making your way to the bathroom to get ready.

Once you were done, you made your way into the kitchen, where Shouto was, judging from the aroma wafting in your apartment. You saw him, clad in a plain black shirt and sweatpants, whisking up breakfast for you, and crept behind him. When you were cooking, Shouto would usually hug you from behind. However, you went for his sides instead.

"What in the flying f- y/n please n-no HAHAHA i'm-i'm making-"

Shouto tried to get you to stop in the midst of laughing as he tried to focus on making what seemed like bacon and eggs. You flashed him a cheeky smile as you peeked at the food from his shoulder.

He dropped the spatula in his hand and turned around suddenly, taken aback. Much to your surprise, he enveloped you in a deep hug. You thought that he was going to seek vengeance and tickle you back, but you were proved wrong.

"Shou, what's up? What's with the sudden hug?"

He buried his head in your neck and snuggled in deeper.

"Nothing, I just love you so much." His voice is slightly muffled and you squirmed. His breath was slightly tickling you but you loved it. It was moments like these that makes your relationship so precious. Your heart felt so full of love for Shouto and you tightened your grip around his neck.

He shifted suddenly, and looked at you.

"Why does your shirt not smell like you- wait, y/n is that my shirt?"

You tilted your head in an angle and spoke into Shouto's ear. It seemed that both you and Shouto were fond of each other's body scent.

"Yes it is, now continue making breakfast please? I don't want to call in the fire department at eight in the morning."

He snickered and gently pulled away, a loving undertone painted over his eyes as he glanced into your eyes.

"Well lucky for you you have a boyfriend that has a fire and ice quirk."

Right. You had not thought of that. But it was so early in the morning, who could blame you? You stepped away, hoping that it would cause Shouto to concentrate better.

You watched him flip the bacon and the egg with admiration. Thankfully, it was not burnt from the little exchange you two had.

“Shou.”

“Hm?”

“Let’s bake today.”

“Sure, why not.”

You two hurriedly finished up breakfast and Shouto assisted you in doing the dishes, though you two had a condition that one cook, the other will do the dishes. Afterwards, you two put on your aprons that you got off the internet. Yours had a cute penguin design on it. His one said ‘Kiss the Cook’. Typical. You pretended to read the words on the apron as your fingertips trailed along the words. You tip-toed and pressed a firm but gentle kiss to his soft lips, which caused Shouto to grin, then pulled you in again for another quick kiss.

“So what are we making today?” Shouto asked you, rummaging through the drawers to search for the ingredients needed.

“I was thinking buttercream frosted cupcakes.” Shouto met your gaze, indirectly asking him if it was alright. He subtly nodded.

You then attached the whisk attachment to the stand mixer and plugged it in. You then preheated the oven. Shouto was filling a saucepan with water and getting it to a simmer. Gosh. You two were so perfect for each other that you don’t even need to use words to communicate yet the teamwork was just amazing.

You whisked the egg whites, both granulated and powdered sugar, cream of tartar and vanilla while you walked towards Shouto, who was waiting for you to pass him the bowl. You two had made buttercream frosted cupcakes to the point where no reference was needed.

You passed Shouto the bowl, and the tips of your fingertips touched his and your cheeks flushed a gentle pink. You two were so far into your relationship that it shouldn’t have made you blush. But the butterflies in your stomach were still there. Shouto thankfully didn’t notice, if not he would have teased you so much for it.

Shouto then gently placed the bowl above the saucepan over the simmering water and whisked it after that. You then decided to go ahead with making the cupcake batter as you pulled another glass bowl from the drawer and measured out the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt and whisked it together with a fork, since Shouto had used the whisk for the frosting.

You were about to go grab another bowl to combine the wet ingredients when Shouto had already one prepared for you and passed it to you wordlessly. You smiled at him, grateful for his thoughtfulness. You tossed in the butter and sugar and beat it up with an electric mixer until light and fluffy then added the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. You and Shouto much preferred using vanilla bean than extract so you used a small knife to cut through the vanilla bean and scraped the paste off it and threw it in.

By then, the buttercream frosting mixture was quite warm and the sugars had already dissolved. Shouto then placed the bowl next to the stand mix and motioned for you to continue. He knew how much you loved to watch the mixer incorporate air into the mixture. You felt your heart warm up and you shook your head. You didn’t want Shouto to miss out on that fun too. You had such a considerate boyfriend and you really appreciated him for that.

He still seemed hesitant, but he flipped the switch and poured in the mixture anyway, standing by the stand mixer- is that why they call it the stand mixer?- occasionally using a spatula to scrape down the frosting at the sides.

You then mixed the wet and dry ingredients together and then went to place each paper liner in the cupcake tray. The paper liner was half red and half white, and when you and Shouto were shopping for paper liners, you saw this and had to get it, for it resembled your boyfriend’s hair.

You filled each liner two-thirds full with the batter and placed it in the hot oven. You then moved towards Shouto. It had been around thirty minutes of working in silence and you missed talking to him. You set your place beside him, your shoulders barely touching.

“Shou, I just-”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Wait, you knew what I was about to say?” Your face was one of surprise as you looked at Shouto with wide eyes.

“Yeah, you placed the batter in the oven, right? As in, that’s what you were about to tell me.”

You nodded, and Shouto smiled, seemingly proud of himself. It was then that the kitchen started to smell amazing, with the cupcakes half baked and frosting whipping up. Your eyes closed, as you took a deep breath of the scent and let out gentle sigh.

A few more minutes later, the frosting was ready. Shouto grabbed a piping bag as you helped him open the piping bag as he scooped the delicious frosting inside. He then took the piping bag from you and hovered the piping bag above his mouth and squeezed the bag, causing some frosting to plop into his mouth.

“Hey, Shou!”

“You’re just jealous that I did it first, y/n.”

This wasn’t the first time where you two had this conversation, and you shook your head, smiling.

You and him had small conversations while waiting for the cupcakes to bake and cool. Time seemed to pass so fast while talking to Shouto about nothing in particular. The conversation went from how he was doing with hero work to talking about the best Wi-Fi names you two had ever seen. It was fun, though you mostly did all the talking and Shouto was standing there watching you with a slight smile on his face. The intensity of which he was staring at you made you feel embarrassed as you fiddled with the bottom of Shouto’s shirt, now capturing the essence of the baked goods.

After the cupcakes had cooled, you brought it out and placed it on the marbled table. You picked up the piping bag first and tried to pipe the cupcake, staring at the cupcake so intensely and trying so hard to swirl it perfectly that Shouto was just staring at you admiringly. God, you were so pretty in his eyes at that moment, with your tongue dancing along your bottom lip as you continued to squeeze the piping bag and the occasional lip biting. Oh gosh. Shouto felt as if he was going insane, just by looking at you. A chuckled escaped his lips as he thought of how stupid his thoughts were and your head whipped up to look at Shouto.

“What’s up Shouto?”

He blushed. How would you have reacted if he told you the silly things he was just thinking about?

“W-well... nothing much I guess. It’s just... you’re really pretty... you know. You have no idea how... attractive you look right now piping the cupcake.”

taglist: @bnha-homeroom

#bnhabookclub #i actually did research on this fic :')#also i'm just obsessed with cooking shows that's why too #shouto todoroki #shouto todoroki x reader #bnha fic #bnha fluff #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha x reader

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haknyeonrk · 6 years

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⋆｡°✩ mga season four. ep vi. summer. ‹ #4010 › ⇢ performance: love me right –– exo // line distribution UNIVERSE ( #4003 #4012 #4033 #4039 #4042 )

the thing about competitions is that you sort of learn the hard that that is what they are... competitions. in it’s very essence, haknyeon knows that he isn’t supposed to be here to make friends –– that the teams last a week and then they’re reshuffled and the cycle starts all over again. yet his heart is weak and having a team member be up for elimination again is painful (especially since he’d gotten so close to said team member).

this week he’s put in a new team and it feels like a reunion of sorts between him and the team he’d been in during the first week. yongsun and sana are in his team and haknyeon feels comfortable already, the both of them people that he’d worked with before and would gladly work with again.

he’ll have to do well. he has to. this time it’s the royal building and truth be told by now haknyeon’s unable to keep up with which company’s he’s been in to practice. the only thing ever on his mind really is practice, practice and more practice.

entering the practice room, he’s glad to see familiar faces and his face lights up when he sees sana. “noona!” he greets, “looks like we meet again,” his smile is playful but he’s a little more careful. he’s read the comments, knows that people assume that him and sana are... a thing. which, in his opinion, couldn’t be further from the truth. after all, how could a girl like sana ever date a guy like him? he’d simply been trying to cheer sana up that day, though he’s glad that at the very least it worked in helping the older girl feel better.

introductions are made and haknyeon looks at every contestant. junmyeon is... undeniably handsome. sure, he’s seen junmyeon around, knows just how popular the boy actually is, but now that his visuals are so up close haknyeon can’t hide the way his eyes widen at the boy. his smile visibly becomes brighter though when he finds out that hyunjin is his age and that they both love to dance and that they’re both rappers as well.

like he’d done in previous weeks it’s time they pick leaders next and haknyeon... he isn’t too sure what it is, what overcomes him but he raises his hand and looks around the room. “i, uhm,” he begins, “i’d like to be leader. i think i can do a good job!” throughout his time on the mgas, haknyeon hasn’t once volunteered to be leader, usually letting the older members do so but this time it’s different. perhaps he wants to change something, wants to get out of this streak of eliminations his teams had gone through.

thankfully, he isn’t met with any denial and they all agree to let him be leader. “i’ll work hard i promise!” standing up, haknyeon bows and his cheeks turn a peachy colour at how wide he smiles. he’s nervous –– of course he is –– because leader, even the name felt heavy. though it was something that haknyeon wanted to carry (something that he felt as though he could).

“summer”, or something that could capture the good feeling of summer. they’d decided to go with love me right, a bright song that they thought would fit in well with the vibe of summer. they practice and haknyeon is eagle eyed. if there’s one thing he’s confident about it’s his dancing. he watches as the members move, works hard.

after his previous incidents with his nosebleed, haknyeon’s mother had practically bombarded his phone, leaving messages to check on her son constantly. he understands why she’d be so concerned but when he wakes up one morning and sees boxes of tangerine with a letter from his mother, haknyeon could only let out a gasp.

he enters the practice room the next day with a box of tangerines. “hello!” he exclaims loudly, heaving slightly from having carried the box of tangerines. “first things first! as leader, i need to make sure that all our members are healthy! so please take one of these jeju tangerines okay!” he places the box down and picks up a tangerine before passing them to the members. “my mum sent these from jeju and i think it’ll help us a lot and keep us energized!” he wipes the sweat from his forehead and gestures to the box, “take as many as you want!”

the last thing he’d want was for someone else to hurt themselves. haknyeon knows that his nosebleeds have been a concern for those that were supporting him as well so he brings a large water bottle to practice, makes sure to drink in order to keep himself hydrated.

being leader, haknyeon realizes, is more than just a name. there’s a feeling of responsibility that feels as though it weighs on top of him and he wants to make sure that all of them, if possible, do as well as they can for the performance. love me right is a fun song and the dance something haknyeon had been able to pick up thanks to years of dancing. still, there were some... other members in his team that had him worried.

haknyeon walks to the front of the room and furrows his brows. it’s best that he watches each individual member perform one by one so he could pick out any sort of flaw they’d have in the choreography and be able to give them pointers. the first person he decides to call out is yongsun. they’d been in the same team before, and haknyeon remembers having helped her in her dancing too back when they performed the boys. he has a basic idea of her skills.

“noona,” he says, “do you think you could show me the dance all by yourself?” his face is a little more serious than it usually is, eyebrows furrowed. she’s hesitant at first but says yes.

he watches her as she dances to the music. his face is stoic, almost unreadable. it’s a contrast to his usual bright and smile filled face. it wasn’t something that he particularly did on purpose; the face something that came out whenever haknyeon began to concentrate on something a little too hard. with eagle eyes, he watches her movements, eyes moving quickly from her hand to her feet.

once she’s done, haknyeon nods. “noona,” he begins, walking up to her. “you’ve improved so much!” a smile makes it way across his lips and his face brightens up. “i knew you had it in you! woah! compared to the first week… you’ve got the basics down pretty well!” and it’s the truth. she’s improved from the first week, a difference that was noticeable to haknyeon’s eye, and he was glad that she did. “remember how i told you that angles were really important last time?” he stands next to her and levels himself, “well you’re a lot better now at angling your movements!”

he puts a hand on her back and nods his head reassuringly. “there’s just a few things we have to clean up but you’re seriously doing good noona! i can tell that you’ve put in a lot of effort in your dancing. i’m proud of you!” he spends his time pointing out things to her then, focuses on movements that he knows she can improve on and teaches her ways to steady herself on the stage before he goes on to the others.

(he doesn’t forget to eat a tangerine during breaks).

by the end of the day, once everyone’s gone home, haknyeon carries the box of tangerines back. and everyday haknyeon arrives at the practice room with a box full of new tangerines. whilst the summer sun is hot and haknyeon finds himself sweating from carrying the boxes, it at least serves as a good workout and nutrition for his team. ( “remember to eat well!” he’d say, pointing to the tangerines. )

“you’re a good leader,” sana says, approaching him one day whilst he’s busy going through the choreography and lines for the members. this time, it’s as though she’s the one that’s able to read him.

haknyeon smiles, genuine, and something warm forms in his chest. “thank you,” he replies.

aside from being leader, something new about this group is that haknyeon finally has someone his age with him. which is also why it isn’t really a surprise when haknyeon finds himself clicking almost instantly with hyunjin. despite it being only a few days of the both of them having known each other, he’s already hugging hyunjin and playing around with the boy on breaks. it isn’t a rare sight to see him and hyunjin randomly poking each other’s cheeks, or haknyeon teaching hyunjin how to say words in mandarin when the other boy asks.

it’s getting late and haknyeon’s still in the practice room, dancing and practicing his lines. but his eyes dart to the clock at the top of the wall and then at the door. he’s evidently worried but continues practicing. it’s only when he hears a little ‘click’ by the door and sees hyunjin standing there does a smile immediately form on his face. “hyunjin!” he beams, running to the boy. “you’re here! yay!” he lunges himself at hyunjin and engulfs the boy in a hug. “i missed you!”

hyunjin returns the hug and wraps his arms around haknyeon’s shoulders before ruffling his hair. “staying here until eleven? what a hardworking leader you are.”

“got to be a good leader for the team,” he laughs. he places both his hands on hyunjin’s cheeks lightly. “you look tired. you’ve worked hard hyunjin ah, i bet cram school was tiring,” he pouts a little before he finally pulls away and gives hyunjin a bottle of vitamin water. “here, they were selling these at the convenience store and i thought of you! do you want to rest a little before we start practice? i don’t want you to push yourself too hard…” he adds worriedly. unlike hyunjin, haknyeon didn’t attend cram school, so he didn’t have to travel back and forth as much.

hyunjin refuses rest though, saying he’d rather dance and have haknyeon help him with his rap. the both of them start with dancing to ease themselves, hyping each other up as they did so. once they’re done they finally turn to focus on the rap and spend the next few hours in the practice room. haknyeon coaches hyunjin with his rap, the two boys getting along well.

the day of the performance comes and haknyeon’s a little more nervous than he usually is. it’s probably because he’s the leader this time and wants the team to do well. the feeling that something rides on him, that how well they do could possibly ride on him, is there.

yongsun is encourages him, “you did well this week leader nim.” he smiles, relieved and genuine.

they’re called on stage and are the first to perform. this feeling, of having an audience, of people watching you on the stage, it’s something that haknyeon basks himself in.

“hello! we are universe!” they introduce themselves. “i’m universe’s leader and earth! joo haknyeon!” haknyeon puts a palm on his chin as though to symbolise that he were a planet.

getting into position, theres the usual thumping in his chest as it returns. he needs to do well, he has to.

the song starts off with luda, strong. haknyeon dances, getting into the rhythm of the song, confident with his movements. junmyeon sings next, the song bright.

“nana nana nana nana,” they all say in unison as they get into the next formation. “yeah yeah yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah!”

it’s haknyeon’s rap next. last week he’d shown something darker and this time, it’s a brighter song. he looks at the camera, dances as he raps.

just right shidongeul georeo eksere bareul ollyeo modeun geoshi teukbyeolhae neowan jal eoullyeo mueoseul weonhadeon imma make it work ( just right ignite your engine, step on the pedal everything is special, we look good together whatever you want, imma make it work )

haknyeon winks at the lines, “imma make it work,” boyish smile spreading across his face as he rapped. he’s aware that he’s got some fans out there so he tries to be as heart fluttering as he can for a song like this. hyunjin raps next and haknyeon continues to dance, glad that hyunjin’s doing a good job.

the chorus dance is fun and the thing about love me right was that there was a lot of shift in formation. still, haknyeon’s always enjoyed dancing and with a song as fun as this, it’s even more enjoyable.

his part comes up again soon and haknyeon gets into position, standing beside hyunjin as he dances.

uril bichuneun dalppicheun yeojeonhaji ne gwedo an hemaego isseo nan ajik ( the usual moonlight that shines on us i’m still lost in your orbit )

he moves along to the choreography as he raps, smirk on his face. he dances to the rest of the song, confident as he does so. “just love me right uh huh, just love me right,” his hand movements are sharp, winking to the audience and camera.

after luda and sana’s lines, they all come together to say the chorus, clapping their hands in the air as they do so, a sense of comradish.

doro wie yeogin runway nal baraboneun nun sok milky way just love me right (aha) baby love me right (aha) ( on this highway, it’s a runway milky way inside your eyes looking at me just love me right (aha) baby love me right (aha) )

the poses change at each aha and haknyeon smiles at each change before they break out into the full dance. “just love me right, just love me right,” as the song reaches the end, the dancing gets a little more complicated, with haknyeon spinning and a lot of footwork. this is the peak of the song, and haknyeon’s feet and hand move in unison as choreographed, changing from one movement to another. still he enjoys it, smiling throughout the whole thing.

once the song comes to an end, haknyeon smiles, bright.

backstage haknyeon feels something rush through him, it’s a feeling that’s sort of new. maybe it’s come with being a leader for the first time, of leading something. he isn’t too sure himself, but the summer sun shines on him and he’s happy with this performance.

#rkmga4 #rkmga4summer #suhork #rkyngsun #rkxluda #rksxna #rkxhyunjin #2.4k words #leadernyeon!!!!!

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stephchocritpracticeblog1-blog · 6 years

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FINAL.

Stephanie Cho

Critical Practice Final

Rosetta Brooks

A Design/Visual Analysis of The Passenger (1975) (and an Analysis of Some of my Favorite Scenes in 8 1/2 (1963) Because I’ve Been Binge Watching Classic Films).

Michelangelo Antonioni starts The Passenger off with scenes of the desert scape with a far shot of the character David Locke (Jack Nicholson) asking for directions, I find this extremely intentional, he wants to portray the lack on control this character has over himself and his environment. From this first shot, I get a sense that the rest of the movie is going to filmed with a distance not only physically but emotionally, as if you’re watching the activities go on without a feeling that you’re there, not submerged, disconnected with the feeling that you’re a bystander. When Locke walks into a building there are three African men in the room. There's a strong sense that he's an outsider searching for something, but he still gives off the energy of confidence, that he's a superior. (this is repeated throughout the movie in my opinion). As if his time is more important than everyone else. This sparked curiosity and confusion for me, why did Antonioni give many of the African characters this sense of emptiness. The Characters don’t respond when talked to and when they do they have a rude tone with poor manners, except the Motel keeper and that as a career is hospitality, he ultimately has no choice but to be accommodating. This stuck to me and made me a bit uncomfortable. Was this depiction of colored people intentional or a subconscious style of Antonioni?

I fell in love the lack of soundtrack throughout the entire film because it gave the film a breath within itself. With a myriad of dead pans within the film, the visuals take over with a sensation of being a witness. This increases the viewers feeling of being a fly on the wall. I find this technique heightens the quiet film style that The Passenger has. For example the scene where Locke gets his truck stuck in the sand while driving in the desert. The ever so motionless shot of him having a panic attack encloses in on me and I am there. The camera then starts to pan out to the vast desert that is all around him, engulfing him now, elevating our feeling of urgency and desperation while we are struck with the stark contrast of a vast empty space. After walking for what seemed like an endless amount of miles, Locke gets back to his motel and asks for water. He turns on the shower and leaves it on for quite some time, he actually forgets about it as he is greeted by a man named “Robinson” that is staying next to him, “Robertson” is dead.

I found it really interesting how these scenes portray the white man as being neglectful to his environment (the running water), wasteful. Which leads favorite scene of the entire movie, when he finds his dead neighbors passport and sitting there deciding to steal his identity. The camera is still on him thinking, the angle of the camera communicates the amount of unnecessary pressure he is putting upon himself when it is abruptly interrupted by someone knocking on the door. This shot is a very suspenseful moment until you realize that they’re using different audio relieving us with a flashback of when Locke and the dead Mr Robinson are meeting for the first time. As we are at ease, so is Locke as he switches their passport photos. The camera pans to look out the window and from the edge, Robertson walks into the frame and Locke follows. Then the visuals of the scene catches up with the proper audio. After talking for a while they end up back inside Locke’s room then the camera pans off Locke from the past and back to the present day. All while the audio from the past is still going and Locke is still cutting up the passports. Then you find out that, that audio from the past is a recording that Locke is listening to the whole freaking time! I hear that Antonioni isn’t the first person to use this technique, but he has to be one of the best because that scene made me feel butterflies in my stomach.The way he plays with the viewer ideology of authenticity, fact and or fiction. Another detail that I find interesting is when Locke is dragging Robertson’s body to his room and decides to lay by him on his bed, I noticed that there’s a small detail of the book “The soul of an Ape”. The most famous scene in the movie is the 7 minute shot in Locke’s hotel looking out into the village square through bars. So many things are going on in that scene and behind the frame of the camera. The shot is a continuous dolly shot that turns into a pan. Other than Jack Nicholson’s character, I feel that the film was shot very non biased with it’s distant and uninviting point of view with the audience and little camera movement. This gave us the impression that the objects in front of the camera are not in control of the camera operator but that we are simply observing a particular set of characters.

One of the recurring themes in Antonioni’s films is a central character who suffers from ennui and whose life is empty and purposeless aside from the gratification of pleasure or the pursuit of material wealth. I find Antonioni’s compositions remind me greatly of Henri Cartier Bresson’s photography. Mainly from his works called the decisive moment. Very far and often barren landscapes with minimal props in the frame so that everything seems like it was orchestrated with a figure in 1/3 of the frame. I’d be very surprised if Michelangelo Antonioni wasn’t very inspired by Henri Cartier Bresson.

Which brings me to 81/2. !!! DISCLAIMER. This may not tie into my analysis of The Passenger and may seem like a tangent. I will not be offended if you decide to skip this third of my paper !!! But Federico Fellini’s framing style also reminds me of Henri Cartier Bresson’s photographs especially in the film 8 ½ which is on the border of being as autobiography of Fellini’s life. His character was played by a hired actor, which is quite interesting to know. He's literally standing there behind the camera when the character playing him is doing the same thing in the film. It’s a mirroring quality isn’t seen on the screen, but if you know enough about Fellini and 8 ½ he creates these dimensions purposefully behind the director who is telling his own story. There are many great shots in 8 1/2 but the beginning especially speaks to me. The scene starts off in this dream like quality and a mood that is ready to haunt you. Guido is sitting in car with bumper to bumper traffic and he starts to notice that a wide range of people are staring at him with very stern faces. He gets trapped in his car as gas starts to come through the vents, helpless he starts banging on the windows and eventually finds his way out. Instead of cutting to other shots of video footage he cuts to still images with very symbolic poses coming from the characters. I found it very intriguing how he chose to describe a moment of panic with photographic stills (good photography captures the essence and emotions of its subject). When Guido’s crawling out the window of the car and Fellini is doing a slow forward dolly movement while Guido is climbing out the window. It cuts to an image of a man sitting in his car watching Guido, it then pans up to another part of the image (which is still) and as the camera starts panning back to Guido the video starts again with him on top of the car, but flying. Once waking up and finding out that whole thing was a fever dream, he seems to wake up into another fever dream with doctors and nurses around him asking a million questions, and it really demonstrates the hectic, sporadic, life and Fellini’s feeling of not being able get out of his troubles.

8 1/2 is one of the most brilliantly filmed movies that I’ve ever seen. The scene when a number of elegant woman are walking in the park, perfectly spaced apart, it created a very long panning shot with perfect composition throughout. With this scene I really feel that he caught the mood and culture of the people in their environment. What i found so also interesting about this shot is that some people are aware of the camera and wave or turn their heads in shyness but some aren’t aware. All while classical music is playing in the background, and everyone in the multiple shots are being orchestrated. Fellini pans his shots very smoothly and often quickly. I enjoy the train station shot when Guido is reading his producer's notes for his new film and doesn’t agree with anything the producer said so he crumples up the paper and throws it in front of him, stands up then walks to the guard. While the train is coming into the station, the camera follows him with a dolly shot and and stops directly on the tracks in front of the train. While the train slows to a stop, Guido is in so to speak melancholy dreamland. His reality and dreams are mixing in bizarre ways. After he cheats on his wife, he goes into a dream where he sees his dead parents and Guido talks to his father for a while. When he sees his mother she hugs him and begins to make out with him. Which I believe heightens the feeling that many things were odd, confusing but full of passion for Guido at the time. But when he awakes from his bad dream, he is very neutral, calm, unphased, like he couldn’t have a worry in the world. I often feel that most people are like this. Life can very hectic at times but there are many things to be happy about and grateful, shit happens. This phrase asa nisi masa is a phrase that Guido has been saying to himself since he was a kid. The commentary explains that word “anima” which is the base of this saying means soul or life-force and it also carries associations with repressed female characteristics in men, something that’s very relevant to 8 1/2, where the many women in Guido’s life, past and present, continually dominate his thoughts and actions. Possibly Fellaini believes this is a mantra of man, and how man cannot be without woman. If this is correct, next time you see me i will have this tattooed on my body and have it made into a bumper sticker for my car.

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