Strike A Pose Films has entered the Gametrailers Halloween BOOO-VIE Contest with System Shock 2: The First Encounter. My crew and I spent all week on this, utlizing practical lighting, green screen effects, lots of props, and CGI– A first for STRIKE A POSE!!! Films.

Based on the cult classic PC game SYSTEM SHOCK 2 by Looking Glass Studios, THE FIRST ENCOUNTER follows an unnamed man, awakened from Cryo-Sleep aboard the Von Braun, an intergalactic starship that has recently approached Tau Ceti V.

Something has gone horribly wrong, as he soon learns. Hauntings, monsters, an insane AI, and a ship that is falling apart at the seams all endanger his life. Each step he takes could be his last!

Capturing the classic horror moments of video games that we all know and love, FIRST ENCOUNTER takes us through long hallways, tight corridors, pits the hero against hideous HYBRID monsters, serves as an unknowing pawn to an overlord presence that only wishes to manipulate the character into his own destruction, and audiologs that let the player in on what terrifying things have happened before. And might happen again.

The film can be watched on the film’s page.

Today is the birthday of a very prominent member of our little film troupe, improvisational acting genius James Patrick Howe. Today he turns…23?

James has worked with Strike a Pose!!! Films almost since the beginning. He served as a huge player in the formation of the original STRIKE A POSE! FILM CLUB at Salisbury University, that went on to become Future Film Makers, serving as the first Vice President to one of the best clubs on campus.

He will rule the world...by killing one spy at a time!

His outrageous, over the top, internet brand of comedy led to the creation of one of our staple characters, the ever-familiar FOREIGN GUY, a secret agent from…well whatever country we needed at the time. He was in a never ending war with the notorious Agent Q, who went on to become Robo-Q (both played by Philip Krocheski). They clashed in the original SPY WARS films, (Spy Boxing, The Intersection) as well as hosted epic battles in GULLMAN: Defender of Salisbury and JASPER CONROY: Salisbury Bounty Hunter.

GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULL MAAAAAAAAAAN

James’s went on to be in three films in the 2008-2009 school year. CONFLICT RESOLUTION, aka BE A DUDE MAN, the improvised school-yard tussle about conflict resolution classes, wherein he played Professor Foreign, and kept the whole classes bawling in laughter. He took a more straight-edge turn alongside Matt Solomon in the gag-reel comedy “Guide to What You Shouldn’t Not Do”. He won a Film Festival Award for his performance and participation in the project.

James Howe getting direction alongside Thomas England in JASPER CONROY: SALISBURY BOUNTY HUNTER!

James’s final performance with us was the short feature, BRIDE, directed by Mike Woodard Junior, and starring myself, Christine Demino, Steve Young, Thomas England and Carole Hachem. He really took he opportunity to stretch his acting muscles and play the sympathetic Brad Groomwell, one of the main characters of the film.

Along with much of the Future Film Makers Club that grew to love him over his four years at Salisbury University, I always had fun with James, whether it was in the club rooms or at the parties he helped throw at his amazingly scary off-campus house, which must have been used in films almost as many times as he was.

James has always been a great friend, even when I’ve been a dick to him both in front of and behind the camera, but it’s always been a pleasure working with him as he evolved his craft and brought plenty of laughs to some of my stalest movie ideas. Happy Birthday, James. You really made an impact on something great at Salisbury University, as well as this website!

I know this site has been experiencing some “down time” in regards to posts, updates, etc. Well, there’s a few things I’d lke to bring up and let you in on.

1) Why am I late on posting more often? Well, one word: College. Second word: Essays. So I’ll start by posting something for you all by the end of the post.

2) Go to the films page. Now. You’ll see that we haven’t abandoned ship on producing content. I have recently put up a new film, CONFLICT NOW, that will show you what we were made of two years ago. Official post to come soon.

3) Go to the Essays section. Thanks to Ryan, we’ve got a lot of them posting on a regular basis, from my resevoir of nearly 50 critical film essays (not reviews). Read em, love em, learn something.

Here’s an example of one, and what I’ve been working on right now. Its just an abstract, really, but what it will communicate is the basic idea of a Feminism/Realism article I’m writing comparing Leon the Professional to Thelma and Louise.

A dark, brooding figure is sitting at a table, cleaning out his pistol. A little girl approaches him and begins an argument. She tells the man that she wishes to be a “cleaner” a hitman, or in this case, hit-girl. The older man, not wanting to assume any responsibility, offering her the goodbye gift of a gun, and clearly knowing this girl cannot possibly handle the job, tells her “Go away, I work alone.” Her immediate response is childish, unrealistic, and most importantly: full of conviction and accuracy. “Bonnie and Clyde didn’t work alone. Thelma and Louise didn’t work alone. And they were the best.” Even though her argument is based on works of fiction (let us assume she has no idea about the real lives of Bonnie and Clyde), it speaks of her aspirations, and of a worldly, referential knowledge that could produce such an attitude. Matilda, the little girl, tells him that if he doesn’t help her to become like these fantastic figures (through his training, no less), that she will surely die, almost immediately. The man, Léon, tells her “You’re just a little girl, don’t take it badly but, I just don’t think you could do it.” The scene is capped off by Matilda taking the gun offered at the start of the argument, standing up blankly, and firing it out the window in random directions without any concern for the safety of the world. “How’s that?” Matilda says, rhetorically, as Léon gazes upon her, unable to respond. There is an air of terrifying awe, as this little girl, motivated by revenge and guided by the media, has proven that a little girl may be able to play with the big boys.

So, here’s an idea, would readers like more of this style of writing on the site? If, over the summer, I could produce maybe 3 updates like this a week, and make it something called, “FAVORITE SCENES” would you be interested? Lemme know in the comments. Also- we can turn this into a competition: readers can write in examples of their own “Favorite scenes” up to…eh let’s say 300 words, and at the end of each week, maybe, I’ll try and get them posted. Winners will recieve bragging rights and at the end of the month a special prize from me. Let’s try that out…starting…NOW. (End of the month being June, duh).

Back to writing this paper. See you out there in internet land.

Adding another entry to our essay’s section is an issue of historical fiction, wherein it is a historical event portrayed in a fictional way…or is it fictional history? Well you comment and decide. Anyways, essay is about the significance, accuracy, and entertainment value of Brian DePalma’s 1987 film, The Untouchables. This essay saved my grade in my Studies in Popular History 490 level class.

Brian DePalma’s “historical” crime film, The Untouchables, was released in 1987, well into a decade well known for excess. The story of the film takes place during 1930’s Nation-wide Prohibition, in which American citizens were restricted by law from buying, selling and consuming alcoholic beverages. This was much to the chagrin of bar tenders, but gave the crime lords of the central United States a large market to work with: crime syndicates, lead by men like Al Capone, secured a profitable black market in liquor sales. The story of the film starts with real-life historical figure, Eliot Ness, bringing his “tin star” to a town full of corrupt officials and gun wielding Mafioso. Chicago, Illinois was the headquarters of the real life Al Capone, and Elliot Ness did in fact start his war and end Capone’s reign in that very city. However, aside from the general setting, the two leading opponents, and the final court case resulting in the arrest of Capone, the heavy weight bought on this stage is mostly a dramatic fabrication of the events that could have (or never did) take place.

You can read the full essay here.

We have another special surprise for everyone out there on the net, STRIKE A POSE FILMS now introduces it’s Essays Page, a place where you can read and gain cinematic terminology and knowledge from the writings of Dylan Hintz and others.

So two things are happening with this page: One, its a portfolio of my years of paper writing at Salisbury University under the great tutelage of Dr.’s Walker, Johnson, Moeder and others, as well as some private essays I’ve written in my free time. They can be cited if you are ever faced with writing an essay of your own on films like Oldboy, Cache, Aliens, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Rashomon, Gattaca and Life is Beautiful. There is a creative commons notification at the bottom of each essay, so please keep that in mind.

Secondly:
If you wish to get your essay published on a fully-functional and well-read website, please by all means submit it via email to my gmail account, which is just “strikeaposefilm” @ gmail.com.

Here is a sample of my essay on the film The Battleship Potemkin:

Dylan Hintz
English 402, Film History
Professor Johnson

The Warfare of Montage

“Revolution is war,” begins a famous quote from Soviet Revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in the opening slate to Sergei Eisenstein’s 1925 masterpiece of Soviet Montage, The Battleship Potemkin. This statement links clashing close up images of water crashing upon rocks- a natural violence of warlike proportions displayed to give the viewer a feeling of great chaos- to the entirety of the film in a message and theme of collision and amassed disturbance. This quote, delivered through a black and white slate of words and expressing the emotions of the time towards warfare, explains in Lenin’s own words how something of great change, a Revolution, can only come through the great destruction of War. Two juxtaposed ideas, change and destruction, give a concise and explosive example of Eisenstein’s film theory of Montage, most prominently displayed in The Battleship Potemkin. When put together in a subconscious mindset, the words can create an idea of revolution and war- the fulfillment of the formula he created. Eisenstein carries over this equation of words to the medium of film and the images it can convey in the succession of editing- the ultimate storytelling power of a film. He carves out the themes of this film through the use of conflict to convey images within the montages, giving deeper meaning to scenes as well as providing an artistic angle to almost documentary-like situations.

There is one key scene in the Potemkin story that depicts its primary revolution through the use of a heavily edited montage. During the second act of The Battleship Potemkin, the captain has called all sailors and soldiers to the deck to demand information on possible treason. The treason in question is based around a paranoid request: Did the sailors enjoy their meal? In the oppressor’s, the pristinely clothed and thick mustached captain, view had they not, they are obviously denying the consumption of the provided food in an act of rebellion against their suppliers and should be duly punished for such treason. Thus starts the most dramatic montage of this act as the soldiers prepare to fire on the dissenters in following their captain’s orders. In a slow build of solid images, the marines raise their guns in preparation to fire upon the dissenting sailors. Displaying a solemn acceptance of the doom draped upon them, the sailors lower their heads in shame and despair as the rifles are pointed upon their brothers. It is in a slow and breathe-like take that Vakulinchuk, in a dramatic medium shot, is the only man to raise his head upward and take in the image of the oppressive act. The angles then conflict, as victory appears on the side of the oppressors, with their shots being taken from a low angle, putting their guns in the top of the frame, with the cloaked men kneeling towards the bottom of their frame from a high angle, accepting their doom.

You can read the rest of this essay here, and check out the rest at http://www.strikeaposefilms.com/essays

Feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts. These papers are primarily for analysis, not argument, but if you agree or disagree a discussion is more than welcome- it is encouraged.

As I start adding more essays I will be posting them to the main page as well, so more content to look forward to for the next couple of months.

Thanks for paying attention and enjoy the literature!