For my capstone, I wanted to create a product that caters to curly hair. Throughout my natural hair journey I have come across many products that made bold claims, but they missed the mark on my hair type and thats how this idea for my capstone came to be. Many of these products are loaded with ingredients such as silicones and alchohls but I wanted to create a product that cuts out those 20 letter word ingredients while still having the positive benefits of the formula. To do this I researched what elements were essential in a product including humectants (substances that retains moisture), oils, and butters. Through trial and error with test batches I’ve slowly but surely come to know how important of a role ratios play in hair care, just because an ingredient is good on paper it doesn’t translate to its order on the ingredient list. For my final product I feel I have made an affordable natural alternative to off the shelf brands.

Link to Biblography : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FiLFlPVssDxwrvDtmibEj_dEffH0xMARnSl7CntKVTA/edit?usp=sharing>

In Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade runner the story takes place in a claustrophobic 2019 Los Angeles. At the time of filming these large assumptions made throughout the film about the future may have seemed plausible, but how do they hold up today? To start off one of the easiest elements to pick up is the bright neon lighting scattered throughout the duration of the movie. In fact there seems to be too much lighting overwhelming the contents of the scenes themselves. If this trait wasn’t already true in Los Angeles in 1982 it definitely would hold true today. With all this light currently being emitted by today’s world, light pollution is seen throughout the country. With Blade Runner depicting no visible stars in the sky along with the consistent smoggy look, it is definitely comparable to the conditions of some cities today. The lighting in both the movie and real-world convey how people have taken one of the simpler technologies and have stretched it so far that it clashes with nature and overtakes it.

The next element, definitely the most notable having to do with the actual plot of the film is technological advancements. In Blade Runner, it is apparent that technology holds a large role in everyday life, the first being transportation. Transportation in the movie greatly overestimated what we currently use today, where they have flying cars we instead have self-driving ones. While vehicles have definitely improved since the movie was created it puts into perspective the values of people back then and now. In the current day flying cars, while they would be an amazing feat, would most likely cause more harm than good. In movies such as this they are displayed as convenient and trustworthy but with there still being issues with our modern cars how would flying cars go? As of now, there aren’t any large leaps to commercialize this effort but there would definitely be some form of vehicle in the future to further test upcoming technology.

Building off of tech the use of androids, or replicants, in the film was crucial for expansion in the movie. With their bodies being designed for handling more labor-intensive duties they would take the jobs of people, assistants of the human race. Today we rely so heavily on technological assistants to help us with everyday problems ranging from something as basic as our phones to specialized robots for specific functions. In Blade Runner, these replicants were created for a specific purpose for human usage just as any other device today or back then. The question that arises as the technology continues to evolve and take on forms to better interact with humans is, is there a line that has to be drawn? Today people are already working on robots to imitate human behavior including facial expressions and to some degree the ability to think. While the movie has heavily built itself on the idea of sentient androids would it be wrong to overwork, exploit, and use them? They’re only machines, right?

For my version of the poster, I wanted to go for a less abstract structured setup unlike the original. Whereas the original poster has a collage look I wanted to put emphasis on the thriller/horror aspects of the movie while simultaneously making the viewer question the meaning behind it. Who is this figure being cast on the characters, what led to this point, how will this fall into place with the plot of the movie? My thought process behind the poster was that once you watch it in its entirety the viewer will be able to quickly put together the meaning behind this scene. At that point, they will know that the two people represent the main characters Norman and Marion all that would be left would be to determine who the shadow figure was, and that comes with the viewer more closely analyzing the film. The main point I wanted to bring to the table was how in separate ways both characters are victims of the same entity which I think is a really interesting point that could be overlooked. While there is no doubt Marion is the main victim in Psycho putting more emphasis on the antagonist, in this case, Norman, could make viewers see him in a different light. He is slowly if not fully losing control of his own body to this persona of his dead mother he created. Norman is a victim of his own mind and depicting him in the same position as Marion helps to show this.

Instead of being called Psycho, I would title the film, Mother. In the past when I had previously heard of Psycho I went into it with a different mindset because of the title. With how extreme current-day movies are in the horror/thriller genre I was expecting more drama and death, granted at the time it was most likely pushing limits. While the title isn’t false in relation to Norman I think that it would be more appropriate to have a more open title to slowly guide the viewer into what the movie really is about. With a title like Mother, it establishes that it is a significant role in the movie, and it’s your job to figure out why.