ePortfolio for Nathan Sevy

Nathan Sevy

Introduction

Howdy! I am a currently a student at Salt Lake Community College and this website is intended to give my fellow students and instructors a better idea of who I am and what i hope to accomplish as I persue further education.

 

Intro to film- Group Autuer Project

Nate Sevy

Taylor Beebe

Charles McCarty

Nathan Rabideau

Bradley Seegmiller

Group Auteur Project on Christopher Nolan

Biography

                Christopher Nolan was born July 30, 1970 in London England. Born to an American mother and a British father, Nolan spent a great deal of his childhood travel back and forth from London to Chicago. It was in Nolan’s youth that he developed his fascination with the art of filmmaking. In fact, Nolan created his first ‘short’ at the tender age of 7. In 1989m Nolan attended College University London were he pursued a degree in English Literature. While in school, Nolan continued his love for filing while joining the college Film Society. As an undergrad, he created several ‘short’ film including “Tarantula” and “Doodlebug”. Even in these early films, Nolan began to show characteristics in his films (such as his use of non-linear narrative and mind-bending scenerios) that would later get his films recognized. It wasn’t until 1998 when ‘Following’ was released and again in 2002 when ‘Memento’ was released that Nolan began to receive attention. Over the next 10 years, Nolan would continue to stun audience and critics everywhere with movies such as The Batman Trilogy, Inception, and The Prestige.  

 

Prevalent Themes

                Many of his films have characters or stories based around internal crisis; use of memory and egotistical behavior. He will tell his stories using non-linear storytelling going as far even as to tell his story backwards. He also likes to keep his endings up to the interpretation up to the viewer. He justifies his character’s dishonesty and short comings with monologues near the end of the movie or through the character’s back story.

 

Style

                Christopher Nolan’s Filming style is reminiscent of film Noir. This is shown in his pale and subdued color schemes, favoring brown and grays. He uses high contrast to make his movies seem less soft. An odd thing in his filming style is that he never uses zoom lenses. The camera is essentially always where your point of view is. He also won’t film on digital media. He insists on using actual film during production and then caries it over to digital.

 

Reoccurring Cast and Filmography

                Like many actors, Christopher Nolan has used the same actor/actress in different films on several occasions. The actors include Christian Bale (Batman Trilogy, The Prestige), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception), Cillian Murphy (Inception, Batman Trilogy), Marion Cotillard (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception), Michael Caine (Inception, The Prestige, Batman Trilogy), and Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises). Since he released his first film ‘The Following’ in 1998,  Nolan films in the past 15 years have grossed over $3.5 Billion worldwide. In 2012, the ‘Dark Knight Rises’ earned the 2nd highest gross that year at $732 Billion. Directing  eight major blockbuster hits in the last decade, Nolan has definitely became a well-known figure in the world of Directing.

 

Final Project- Anth 1010-Nate Sevy

Anthropology 1020

04/29/2013

Cro-Magnon Man

 

            There are many events throughout the history of the world that have greatly impacted the human civilization and brought us to the realm of technological advances and intelligence that we find ourselves in today. The human species, like every other evolved organism, has had to adapt to an environment that has  been continually changing since the beginning of time.  Archeological research and dating have revealed that every species of human has had to compete with the elements in order to survive, even if that means competing with our own species. 

            In the year 1868, a shallow limestone cave was discovered at Cro-Magnon near Les Eyzies de Tayac in the Dordogne region of southwestern France while workers were clearing land for road construction. Further research of this cave would reveal an occupation floor towards the back of the cave which included the remains of 4 adults,1 infant, and several other bone fragments.  These remains were not the first anatomical modern human to evolve, the first were discovered in Africa dating back nearly 200,000 years ago. However, the skull of the Co-Magnum remains showed traits that were unique to modern humans. The obvious traits that the human remains revealed were tall body structures with a rounded skulls and a nearly vertical forehead. The larger jawbone and thick brow that hung over the eyes was no longer found on these remains. (Fagan, Brittanica)

            Archeological dating would later reveal that the Cro-Magnon man (as is came to be know based on its area of discovery) dated back between 30 to 32 thousand years ago. This led researchers to a defining moment in history; the encounters of the Cro-Magnon Man & Archaic Neanderthals. For nearly 15 thousand years, these two human species co-existed in the early ice-aged European area of the world and both species were face with the same deadly elements such as harsh cold weather, dangerous (and often giant) predators, and the continuous search for survival. 

            Overtime, the Archaic Neanderthals died off and were out-survived by the Cro-Magnon man. Their increased brain size led to a great intellectual advantage over their predecessors. The Cro-Magnon man became the most adapted and technologically advanced people that had yet lived on the earth.  Unlike their early relatives, the Cro-Magnon man was able to develop weapon and tools that gave them advantages in their everyday life. For example, earlier species of humans hunted with rocks and clubs which completely eliminated the possibility of long-distance hunting and also presented a greater possibility of sustaining injury and being killed. The Cro-Magnon developed weapons like the “Atlatl” an eventually the Bow and Arrow which allowed them to hunt at longer and safer ranges. The earlier human species were also unable to develop a means of food storage where the Cro-Magnons developed an assortment of pottery and containers that allowed them to store food. (Fagan)

            Another unique discovery that was made while examining the Cro-Magnon remains was that one of the Adult Females skulls had sustained a massive head injury. It was obvious to researchers that an injury of this sort would cause a great deal of recovery time in-order to recoup from such an injury. This would go on to prove that there was a great deal of support within the group that they lived with. Also, when the remains were discovered they were placed with pieces of jewelry and tools that were assumed to have belonged to the individuals. This is particularly important because it showed that there was a sense of group support and compassion that existed within the Cro-Magnon group.  Although this early modern human would later cease to exist, the existence of the Cro-Magnon man was indeed a important part of the history of our human existence.  (Smithsonian)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, “What does it mean to be human?”,  Cro-          Magnon 1,  http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-fossils/fossils/cro-         magnon-1,

Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., “Cro-Magnon”,  15th Edition,      2010

Brian Fagan, Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age gave Birth to the First Modern Humans,        Bloomsburg USA, 05/10/2011, Chapter 1