This is England 86 (Shane Meadows and Jack Thorne) The effects

We have been watching This is England 86 in the past few lessons and it has been very interesting but shocking as some of the scenes in it are so abrupt and serious. Every episode is packed with emotion, mainly upsetting and you instantly feel a connection with the characters on screen.

In the last couple of episodes we watched there was more than plenty of sex scenes and a rape scene which seemed to have an impact on everyone in the class, everyone looked a bit disturbed and shook up when sir switched it off. I found it painful to watch and even felt angry as to what was happening, even though it wasn’t real. I think the reason to this is because the characters personas are so strong and also the setting of  the programme is the rough areas of England where a lot of crime and domestic violence takes place and there is poverty, therefore these characters have more frustration and aggression in which they take out on each other. For example characters such as Lol have extremely strong emotions and she gets alot of the focus on her throughout the series as she is one of the main characters, in This is England the film she isn’t really shown that much, but in this programme you see a whole new side to her and she comes across as very angry and aggressive, you soon understand why though and find out the reason by the last episode. This is the clever thing about the programme, you understand why the characters are the way they are by the final episode because all the loose ends have been tied up.

Another character who you feel emotion towards is Trev, she isn’t often shown in the episodes until the awful rape scene where her character comes into the light. This particular scene created anger and shock in my mind when I watched it. I was horrified, as part of the audience watching the programme you feel as though you have a duty to try and stop whats going on in front of your eyes, then you remember its only a film, and not real. However this shows how cleverly the programme has been directed and filmed. Its so realistic and the characters have such strong stories and emotions they pour onto the audience and you quickly feel empathy for them. I found it particularly painful to watch the scene where Trev gets raped, it has been filmed so that the audience feels helpless to the situation and all you can do is watch as Trev get abused and mistreated. At this point you feel a connection to Trev, she is the vulnerable one and seems most delicate as she has just been a victim of Lols father. From then on in the series she is filmed on a step by herself with her hands together looking pale and lost. Its upsetting because she is so fragile, and also lonely as she feels she cannot tell anyone accept Lol, and Lol is sworn to secrecy.

Another character who gets pulled back into the limelight is Combo, he is introduced back into the programme when he stumbles into Shauns house drunk and beaten up. He is no longer a skinhead and seems slightly more down to earth than in This is England the film. You see him in a totally different light because in the film hes quite dangerous and you don’t trust him, whereas in the programme he seems more vulnerable and harmless. This is because of his slow movement and caring persona to lol. I feel like he is quite a delicate character, even though he has a hard exterior and is a criminal, he is no threat to anyone, and you feel a warmth to him as he comforts Lol after she murders her father.

   Combo is affectionate towards Lol, he knows her and  knows what her dad had been doing to her all this time. He holds her tight to demonstrate his protection towards her.

 In contrast this is him as a skinhead, he is slightly more sinister and not as warm.

Combo is also a hero, he decides to take the blame for the death of Lols father, putting his finger prints on the hammer and wiping blood on his face. He also kicks the dead body of Lols dad as he knew what he had been doing to Lol. The death was seen as a relief and Combo wraps his arms around lol to comfort her and show her everythings going to be okay. From him turning himself in for the murder instead of Lol, you have a respect for him as he is being totally selfless, yet he realises he has nothing left to do with his life so he might aswell go to prison as the police have always wanted him locked up. He does Lol a favour, the police and himself. We as an audience feel warmth towards him, he is finally doing something to benefit someone else, unlike in This is England the film. Also, when he is filmed in prison he seems to accept the fact that he is being locked up and doesn’t resist or try to get away. This is a sign that he has changed.

The Great British Bake Off in Innuendo Bingo

I am going to blog about this programme because due to my sister being a baker herself I usually end up joining her in watching it.

The Great British Bake Off is a ‘BAFTA award-winning British television programme’ and baking competition set up in a marquee in a field,  presented by Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins. These two eccentric women take the competitive edge off the programme and replace it with cringey jokes and humorous anecdotes. They do make the competition that little bit more enjoyable and as a viewer you grow to love them as they show affection and support to each and every amateur baker.

This is an interview with Mel and Sue at the BAFTA TV awards 2013, I find their humour so entertaining:

The judges are cookery book writer Mary Berry and professional baker Paul Hollywood. Mary Berry is a sweetie, always trying to look for the good in the bakers produce, and being the wise and smiley one. Paul on the other hand is almost like the Simon Cowell of the competition, searching for perfection and bringing the mistakes and problems of the bake to the light.

The Programme takes 13 amateur bakers and confronts them with 3 challenges per episode. This is what each contestant has to do in every episode:

• Signature Challenge – a bake using a tried and tested recipe that the amateur bakers make for their family and friends.

• Technical Challenge – a bake using the same ingredients and recipe provided by the judges Berry and Hollywood. The recipe however has missing instructions and is designed to test the knowledge and skill of the bakers. The bakers are not told beforehand what the challenge might be, and the judges do not observe the baker at work and judge the result blind.

• Showstopper Challenge – a bake designed to impress the judges.

In every episode one of the contestants gets selected star baker chosen by Paul and Mary, and they secure a place for the next week as one person goes out every week. This brings the competition to an emotional level with the contestants as they get very upset or worked up if a challenge goes wrong, and if one has to leave and has an interview after you can blatantly tell they are fighting back tears, its almost painful to watch as you empathize with them because you get to know them more and more each episode.

Another entertaining thing about The Great British Bake Off is the amount of inuendos that are said and when put out of baking context are extremely humerous. Scott Mills does an innuendo Bingo part on his show and sometimes the Bake Off is used in it, providing excellent material for the listeners at home. Innuendo Bingo is a game/ challenge where Scott Mills gets his co presenter Chris and either a celebrity or another Radio 1 DJ and sit them opposite eachother, making sure theres plenty of waterproof layers over the electrical equipment in the studio. Both people then fill their mouths with water whilst Scott Plays out innuendos and they have to try and hold the water in their mouths so if they cant they spit it all over the person opposite them. This is an excellent addition to Scotts show and is highly entertaining even if you aren’t watching it on the live stream. Here is a clip of innuendo Bingo mentioning The Bake Off at 6.30 minutes on Radio 1:

Footloose the film (1984 directed by Herbert Ross)

Footloose is a 1984 musical based in America. The film is about dancer and rock and roll music lover Ren McCormack played by Kevin Bacon.

He is an energetic Chicago teen who moves from the city to a small town where the local minister has banned dancing and rock music. The small town is called Beaumont where Ren and his mother move in with his aunt and uncle. He quickly makes friends with a guy called Willard who  tells him the city council has banned dancing and rock music. Ren is speechless, as his life revolves around dancing. He attends the local school where he also falls for a rebellious girl named Ariel whose father is the Minister who banned rock music and whose boyfriend Chuck is a trouble maker and has lots of fights. After trading insults with Ariel’s boyfriend Chuck, Ren is challenged to a game of chicken involving tractors in a local field, and despite having never driven one before, he wins. Chuck is obviously raging and has a burning hatred for Ren. Ariel starts to hang out with Ren and they quickly become friends. Ariels father the Minister forbids her from seeing Ren as he believes Ren is a bad influence on her and thinks hes a ‘troublemaker’.

Ren and his classmates decide they should have a senior prom in which dancing and rock music is present and so Ren goes before the city council and reads several bible verses to recite scriptural support for the worth of dancing to rejoice, exercise, or celebrate. He makes the town stop and think, including the Minister and the prom takes place. Ariel and Ren go together and they have a ball.

This film uses some interesting camera angles for example at the start peoples feet are filmed dancing, I think this looks so good because it automatically makes the film look energetic and full of life. The colour of the film is quite grainy and you can tell that it was made back in the 1900s. I think this is a really nice touch because you really do get a feel for the era, the clothes the characters wear are all of that time, like high waisted jeans, cowboy boots and battered american sneakers.

The soundtrack for the film is also very set in its time, including ‘Holding out for a Hero’, ‘Lets hear it for the Boy’ and ‘Footloose’. The dancing is also exquisite and very creative, I would recomend this film to anyone of any age, its a proper feel good film and the story is very interesting and educating.

Re making our Video

Thomas, Ben and I decided that we would re make our Preliminary exercise video, therefore, we stayed after school, used the really good camera and got to work in having another go at our video. An advantage of us filming after school meant that we got the pick of pretty much any classroom we wanted to film in. We picked room 18 because it was most suited to our storyboard.

We altered our story just a tad, by making Ben’s character quite creepy as if he knows that the world is ending, we included some creepy laughing from him and ditched the cup cam as it was too obvious that there was nothing in it when Ben was drinking.

After an hour of trying to get all our shots done and include a good match on action, we packed up and finished. We now have to put it all together on the macs so I’ll make sure it goes up when its all done and dusted.

I also think it would be a good idea to put our other one on as well because it will show how we’ve altered it, made it better and learned from our mistakes.

Here is the new video which Ben uploaded to youtube, hope you like it better than the other one!!!:

Preliminary Exercise Evaluation

This blog post is about how our short film went and the feed back we received about it. There were plenty of problems with our video and here are some examples:

• We filmed against light so it reflected off the windows and shots filmed through windows were not clear. You couldn’t see the character very well through the glass.
• There was no match on action despite our effort to put it in. Sir said that there wasn’t any and it was a poor attempt. I however feel that we worked well and tried to put all the three requirements in, I for one, have never studied media before so this video we made was quite a revelation for me, and for a first time I think it wasn’t too shabby.
• When Ben was drinking the tea it was too slow and the shots were too long, therefore making the video slightly boring.
• There were major sound problems and our efforts to mach the sound on top of the video failed.
• We also need to put the camera to the height of the character that’s speaking and not above so its looking down.
• We filmed in 16:9 but the software didn’t recognize it, therefore it went to 4:3 which was an old TV shape.
• In our short film we attempted to include match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot/reverse shot. We tried to do match on action whilst Thomas was opening and closing the door, apparently it looked more like a continuity shot so sir didn’t want to class it as match on action. We used the 180 degree rule when filming as well which kept to the line and didn’t cross it. We used the shot/reverse shot whilst the characters were talking and made sure we had the back of the characters head in the corner of the shot and the other character facing them and their head in the shot. Our shot/reverse shot would have been better if we had the cameras at the height of the person.

Things that went well:

• I think we had good establishing shots, including all the action that was supposed to be shown.
• We didn’t break anything whilst filming which is a bonus, there’s nothing worse that breaking expensive equipment that’s not even yours.
• Thomas’s acting was very entertaining, everyone seemed to enjoy watching the video and found his lines hilarious.

Having another attempt:

• We as a group are thinking of re doing our video as it was admittedly a bit of a disaster, we want to have another go and I think that this is good because we shall be learning from our mistakes and creating something better.
• we are thinking of using the really good camera, as one of the other groups used it and their video quality was excellent, I think our group would benefit from this and it would improve our video. We will also be sure not to film against light as it totally ruins the shots, we will also make sure we include a CLEAR match on action shot and the sound wont be a total fail again.
• We have also altered our storyboard slightly to improve it, Ben has the copy of it so I will try to put it on my blog as soon as possible.
• We will be doing it after school tomorrow for about an hour, that just shows our devotion to this task, it better come out well this next time!!!
• Overall I believe our first attempt was alright, not great but I think we should use it as a learning curve, that’s the whole point of this exercise, the pick up skills and learn how to avoid mistakes. I also think its good that we shall be having another attempt at this, its another chance to prove that we can achieve a high grade even though I am new to this whole subject.

Our Video

Spring Breakers written and directed by Harmony Korine

Spring Breakers is a 2012 teen movie set in this moment in time about 4 american college girls who go on spring break together to get away from their education and university, ‘find themselves’ and basically go wild. The film follows these girls on their Spring Break and their subsequent use of drugs, alcohol, crime and violence. I stumbled across this movie back in 2012 when i saw photographs from the film appear on photography websites such as http://weheartit.com/ and I was intrigued.

The Plot

The film opens using film footage from a beach party in slow motion and hundreds of youths having the time of their lives, taking in huge amounts of alcohol and letting loose. It then switches to the lives of four teenage girls Candy, Cotty, Faith and Brittany who are all students still in education at university. Brittany, Candy and Cotty spend their time going to house partys and getting completely hammered whilst also engaging in heavy drug use. Faith on the other hand regularly attends a local religious youth group, yet she doesnt seem engaged or interested in it, her body language shows her mind is usually on other things. After noticing that all the classmates have gone off to have their spring break the girls all realize they are desperate to leave their college lives and go have their own spring break. However they are stuck behind due to their lack of cash and decide the only way they are going to get the money is if they do something totally reckless and become criminals. After getting high on cocaine Brittany and Candy decide that they will use their realistic looking squirt guns, balaclavas and hammers to perform an armed robbery in a local restaurant. They steal one of their professors cars and use it as their transport for the plan. Cotty acts as the getaway driver to take them and collect them from the immoral scene they create. After the armed robbery they burn the car to dispose of any evidence they have made. Faith plays no part in this plan and doesn’t even find out until they are actually on Spring Break and she seems to know deep inside her that it was completely wrong what they did, but shes glad they did it as it was for good reason and she pushes any thoughts aside to just focus on right now.

Whilst getting involved in every aspect of spring break they girls attend wild beach parties and take part in reckless behavior, whilst simultaneously getting completely drugged up and baked. The film involves clips that have been edited to look how the people in the shot are portrayed to drugged up party goers. The colours are so bright and then grainy whilst moving looking like someone is stirring the images. There are then clips that have been filmed through hand held camera videoing the beach party from the point of view of one of the party goers. The girls show their unashamed and wild characters by performing suggestive acts and urinating in the street. They get mopeds and drive them around Florida completely unaware of the world around them, just focusing on the moment and doing the fun, crazy stuff that you can only do when your on holiday. The trip takes a turn for the worst when the party is crashed by the police and the girls and several other party animals get arrested and have to spend the night in a cell.

Faith, being the sensible one feels worried and upset. Meanwhile the other girls seem to go along with the arrest but feel down and just want to get out and carry on partying. The girls are then unexpectedly bailed out of jail by local rapper and gangster Alien (James Franco). Faith is suspicious about him and is taken aback by his decision. The other girls don’t seem at all fazed and go along with Alien. He tells them about his childhood, his wealth and his occupation as an illegal drug dealer and gunman. He takes them to a local gang club where Faith feels uncomfortable and decides she can be doing with this. She begs the other girls to come home with her but they refuse, never the less, she leaves to go home as spring break wasn’t supposed to go that way.

The remaining three girls join Alien in his occupation and help him sell drugs and rob other unfortunate spring breakers. Obviously with being involved in the drug industry, Alien is in with an extremely rough crowd of other drug sellers and a feud becomes between him and another dealer. During this feud Cotty is shot by a member of the gang of the opposing dealer and she becomes totally traumatized and shocked by the event and decides to leave for home. Spring Break is over for her.

Candy and Brittany are left remaining and form a sexual relationship with Alien and the three of them decide to take revenge on the dealer who shot Cotty. This ends is Alien getting shot and Candy and Brit shooting all the opposing dealers gang and the dealer himself, before driving away in his Lamborghini and an end shot of them both bending down to tenderly kiss Alien on the lips as he lies lifeless on the floor.

By the end of the film you get the idea that they have got the partying and drug and alcohol taking out of their system and they are ready to come home, as the film uses a voice over from Candy of her on the phone to her mum telling her the trip was ‘beautiful’ and ‘inspiring’.

The movie includes an incredible cast most of which are recognizable and two in particular from Disney programmes and High School Musical:

Cast

• James Franco as Alien
• Vanessa Hudgens as Candy
• Selena Gomez as Faith
• Ashley Benson as Brittany
• Rachel Korine as Cotty

My opinion of the film is that its basically like a really long music video. The soundtrack to it is really good and includes artists like Ellie Goulding and Skrillex. I also admire the way its been filmed, using different lighting to convey the mood of the scene, for example when Cotty is shot a red lighting is used. Another thing i picked up from watching it is that there are flash forward shots and then back to reality. I think this is rather clever as it gives you a hint of what happens next and then you get taken back to the present.

I would recommend this film to someone who wants a movie that will mesmerize you with all the colours and quirky shots. I have only watched it twice now but I do think I would like to watch it again as it makes you want to plan your summer holiday for just you and your friends to get away from your life in education.

First Impressions of Filming

Today my group and I began filming the shots for our preliminary Exercise. We encountered several difficulties whilst filming such as starting filming in one room and then the room have a class in when we needed to film again. To over come this, luckily we had only taken two small shots when we first started as the lesson ended, so we just started fresh in the free room in the next lesson and had a whole hour. Another problem was constantly using the 180 degree rule, it just made us have to be more careful when filming different shots.

We decided to film our task in the hall as it matched the room fairly well that we drew in our storyboard. We also used props in our shots such as a mug and attempted to use shot reverse shot, the 180 degree rule and match on action. Overall it went fairly well and we managed to over come most of the problems that faced us.

We used a hand held camera with a screen aside it, and we attached it to the tripod which helped us have smooth movements in shots. We also included a handheld shot where I carried the camera across the room whilst filming to accentuate someone shakily watching the scene going on infront of them.

I was in charge of the camera for this exercise so that Ben and Thomas could act. This meant that I had to be really careful when filming shots to make sure I was including them in the shot if it was an over the shoulder shot for example.

I also learned how to get that hang of using the microphone to pick up speech as its clearer than the camera. Luckily I had brought my earphones so I could listen to make sure it was picking up sound. This does mean that when we eventually put all the shots together we need to lay the sound recording over the top. I have no idea how difficult it will be to put the sound recording over the top of the video recording, but it will definitely be a learning curve for me.

Overall i think the whole exercise went pretty well as Thomas and Ben took GCSE Media so they were there to help and educate me at the same time as doing the task. Obviously it wont be a perfect video but I believe I have made a good start to filming and understanding camera work.

Storyboards for our Script

As a group we agreed on each shot and put in down on to a storyboard. Here are the Storyboards for our script. They show the camera angles and whats happening in each shot shown below:

Bad Education

I wanted to blog about one of my favorite TV programmes that i have been watching since the new series came out. Bad Education is a school based sitcom, revolving around the life of Alfie Wickers (played by comedian Jack Whitehall) who is a  a posh, newly graduated Secondary School history teacher at Abbey Grove school, also described as “the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system” . He has his own class of rowdy teenagers and the relationships between the characters is more friends than teacher student. For example Alfie is always asking favors from student Joe (teachers pet) to help get him out of trouble. Ever determined to impress his crush, Rosie Gulliver, Alfie makes repeated efforts to appear “cool,” such as coaching the school football team, organising a weapons amnesty and fielding a candidate for the school elections. Usually, in these efforts, he will turn to his class (particularly Joe, the “teacher’s pet”), despite the rest of the class’s open disrespect and dislike for him, for help. At the same time, he finds himself having to deal with the shenanigans of his eccentric headmaster, Fraser and meet the expectations of his deputy headmistress, Isobel Pickwell.

Alfie has a hard time managing and disciplining his students and is often mocked and bullied by them, but frequently recruits them to help rescue him from difficult situations. His classes are unusual, using teaching techniques such as re-enacted battles (with tables as trenches and wheelchairs as tanks) and seances to summon the spirit of Hitler in his lessons. Though he pretends in front of the staff that he fully respects school rules, he frequently lets his students break them and breaks them himself.

Each episode follows the dilemmas of the school, run by weird and wonderful headmaster Shaquille “Simon”Fraser (played by Mathew Horne). He fancies himself quite a clever person and enjoys wordplay and metaphor, though it embarrasses his staff frequently.  I love the character of Fraser as i find him absolutely hilarious, for example he doesn’t know how to tie his shoe laces even though he is a grown man, however he still has size 5 feet so he can wear children’s shoes, in which he does in episode 1.

Isobel Pickwell (Michelle Gomez) is the Deputy Headmistress at Abbey Grove. She is a very severe woman who believes in rigid discipline. Alfie often compares her to an SS Officer and makes fun of her fascist tendencies. She is deeply conservative and religious, with contempt towards what she believes are Rosie’s attempts to turn the school into a “hippie commune”.

There are mini montages inbetween scenes of each episode, where clips of students at school are shown, either fighting, or rushing to lessons, running down stairs or corridors, with music from this year and moment are played over the top and a blue, yellow and green tint. I think this is a really good addition to the programme as it displays how fresh and modern it is. It also appeals to the younger generation as it uses new music, and the students in the programme wear things that a typical teenager now would wear. For example, Beats headphones and snap-back caps.

The student characters in the programme are:

• Chantelle Parsons (Nikki Runekles) is the sultry female pupil in Alfie’s form. She appears to be sexually promiscuous and this is often remarked on by both her and her fellow pupils. She also has an obvious crush on Alfie and attempts repeatedly to seduce him, as does her mother at parents’ evening.
• Jing Chow (Kae Alexander) is Chinese pupil who often speaks in her native language to insult Alfie which he interprets as a compliment or an answer to a question. Jing appears to be the cleverest and most serious of the group and has previously taken the register, carried on working while everyone else was asleep and helps Alfie take down Pickwell at the end of series one. In Series 1 she is constantly frustrated that Alfie hardly teaches them anything, but in series 2 she comes to Alfie’s aid and comments he is a “Good and Decent man.”
• Joe Poulter (Ethan Lawrence) appears to be Alfie’s closest ally in the class. Often helps out his teacher, having falsely confessed to be gay, pretended his mum has a life threatening illness and taking the blame for various errors and mistakes by Alfie. Often the butt of jokes and pranks by other pupils although they do seem to have affection for him.
• Mitchell Harper (Charlie Wernham) appears to be the tough guy of the class. He often pokes fun at fellow pupils and his teacher. However, Alfie gets his own back by poking fun at Mitchell’s family life, commenting that he doesn’t know who his dad is and how he lives in a caravan. In season 2, it was revealed he is a huge WWE fan.
• Rem Dogg (Jack Binstead) is a disabled pupil who constantly wears a pair of head phones and baseball cap. He comes across as a cheeky chap who pokes fun at Alfie, and is very close friends with Mitchell.
• Stephen Carmichael (Layton Williams) is an openly gay member of the class who has a passion for dancing, musicals and films. He is best friends with Chantelle.
• Frank Grayson (portrayed by Jack Bence) is the school bully who not only intimidates his fellow pupils but in particular Alfie, having once stole his shoes and on another occasion forced him to buy him and his friends cider after it was originally confiscated by Miss Pickwell.

My favorite episode so far has to be episode 1. In this episode Abbey Grove’s new term kicks off with the annual swimming gala and headmaster Mr Fraser decides to pay homage to the fact the UK recently hosted the greatest show on earth, Splash, by ending it with their very own synchronised diving competition. Alfie and his class don’t usually take part in the gala, but lured by a cash bet with deputy headmistress Miss Pickwell he decides to bribe them with a group trip to a restaurant and enter the event. The first day back is also a chance for Alfie to catch up with his girlfriend Miss Gulliver, but he’s shocked to find out that he isn’t in a relationship with her at all, and even more shocked to find out who she is actually dating.

The most hilarious part of the episode is at the end when Alfie thinks he’s overcome his allergy to chlorine, however he soon realises that he cannot see and his eyes have puffed up.

The camera work in this programme is excellent as it uses plenty of long reaction shots when a character is doing something stupid, For example when Fraser has a light saber and is pretending to be Luke Skywalker, the camera shows all the other teachers facing him, staring at him in disapproval and rolling their eyes.

Overall I think Bad Education is an enjoyable and entertaining programme to watch and I would strongly recommend it to other teenagers and fans of Jack Whitehall.

Bad Education – Series 2, episode 1: Swimming Gala

Lady Gaga’s Meat Dress

I know this event was back in 2010 but I thought I would blog about it as I find it quite interesting and at that moment in time its was big news that hit the media hard and was definitely something to bring into the spotlight in magazines and newspapers.

She wore a dress, fascinator and shoes made entirely of raw meat, it was made of raw beef, and was commonly referred to by the media as the meat dress. She apparently did it for a statement however some celebrities were offended by it and it raised a lot of controversy and discussion. Gaga explained following the awards ceremony that the dress was a statement about one’s need to fight for what one believes in, and highlighted her distaste for the US military’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy.

Gaga explained her interpretation of the dress to DeGeneres, stating, “If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones.” The dress required Gaga to be stitched into the outfit backstage.

For an animal lover however it would be hard for someone to sit next to her and not feel angry or upset, “wearing a dress made from cuts of dead cows is offensive enough to bring comment, but someone should whisper in her ear that more people are upset by butchery than are impressed by it.” The Vegetarian Society also condemned the dress, releasing a statement that said “No matter how beautifully it is presented, flesh from a tortured animal is flesh from a tortured animal. Enough animals die for food and they should not be killed for stunts like this.”

I personally thought the dress style was good and the shoes looked quite quirky, but I didn’t like the fact it was made of raw meat. The smell would have been awful.

Shotlist

We had to create a shotlist of the camera angles we were going to use in our task, this is what we came up with:

Mid shot Looking out from door window as Thomas walks into frame

Wide shot Looking at door from inside room as Thomas opens the door

Wide shot Opposite direction to previous shot. Establishes the room and introduces Ben sitting down at the table.

Wide shot over the shoulder as Thomas looks at Ben

Wide shot of room, Thomas slams the desk

Mid Shot Thomas closes the door

Mid Shot Thomas: “What are you sitting here for?”

Mid shot close up of Ben turning round to look at Thomas

Mid shot of Ben: “Just having a cup of tea.”

Mid shot over the shoulder Thomas: “Haven’t you seen what’s going on?”

Wide shot ‘Coffee’s POV’ Thomas: “It’s Armageddon.”

Close up of Thomas’ face Thomas: You idiot. People are dyeing outside.”

Mid shot over the shoulder Ben: “No I’ve been here all lunch.”

Mid shot tracks Thomas as he stands up

Close up Ben: “I had no idea why haven’t I heard about this?”

Wide shot from outside the room looking through window, ‘shaky/handheld’ Thomas walks down and sits in seat

Teddy has an Operation

I thought I would blog about this extremely trippy and weird video that we watched in Media today, here it is:

Firstly I would like to say how intrigued and amazed I was whilst watching it. I don’t know what it is about it but I love how each part of the teddys organs is almost fairytail mixed with real life. For example, Teddys bonbons have turned to cigarettes instead of sweets. I love the idea of that and I think its really clever. Its almost disturbing as the voice of the speaker is so calm, also all the medical instruments laden around Teddy look quite sinister, and then there’s this cute fluffy teddy bear in the middle. This contrast makes the video so mesmerizing to watch and it’s quite funny because of Teddys Unicorn Crotch and the bad boy that broke Teddys heart.

Each thing in Teddys organs has a meaning for example, Teddy has a BIG heart, because teddy bears are supposed to be childrens best friend. And Teddys sprinkles are supposed to symbolize the sweetness of a relationship between a child and their teddy.

The background sound of dings and calm fairy like music makes the whole video seem like a dream, as the video is so different and quirky it feels like your imagination.

I just find this whole video really interesting and think anyone should watch it because its a bit different.

Preliminary Exercise: Script

This is our script for our Preliminary Exercise, in this task our main aim is to get to grips with camera work and put into practice some of the shots we’ve been learning about. We have to include a character opening a door and crossing a room, then sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom he/she then exchanges a few lines of dialogue.  Each group was given a word which we had to include in our script and ours was ‘Armageddon’ , therefore our script had to be based around the world ending. This is what we came up with:

Tom fast walks into the room, gently pushes the door open and carefully closes it behind him. He darts his eyes around the room looking frightened.

Location: Classroom Interior

 Tom

What are you sitting here for? They’re coming!

Ben

Just having a cuppa Tea

Tom

sits down on a nearby chair

Haven’t you seen whats going on?!!

Ben

No, I’ve been in here all lunch

Tom

You idiot. People are dying outside!

Ben

I had no idea, why hadn’t anyone told me about this?!

Tom

Slams table

Its ARMAGEDDON!

Key terms and Techniques for Filming

Match on Action- This is an editing technique where one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This is not a graphic match or match cut, it portrays a continuous sense of the same action rather than matching two different things. It is simply a cut that connects two different views of the same action at the same moment in the movement.  For example,  a person begins to get up from a sitting position and is being filmed side on. Then the camera cuts to a shot, which shows the person finishing standing up, but filmed from the front so you can see the persons whole face.

Shot/Reverse shot- A film technique wherein one character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking “back” at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer unconsciously assumes that they are looking at each other.

The 180 Degree Rule-  An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. The 180-degree rule enables the audience to visually connect with unseen movement happening around and behind the immediate subject and is important in the narration of battle scenes.

Educating Yorkshire

I am basing this post on British Social Realism and i have chosen to write about Educating Yorkshire which is a reality programme about the school life of teenagers of this day and age and what its like inside the school during the school day. A quote taken from 4od in the programme description:

‘Filmed at Thornhill Community Academy near Dewsbury, Educating Yorkshire captures every detail of life in the school, from playground hijinks and inspirational lessons to life-changing events. It follows the work of headteacher Jonny Mitchell to better the chances for all his students and build on successive years of improving exam results.

Located at the heart of a diverse northern community and with a student population that is almost exactly half white-British and half British-Asian, the school offers a fascinating insight into modern school life in the UK. Told with warmth and humour, Educating Yorkshire explores the universally recognisable themes of teenage life and those all-important pupil-teacher relationships that lie at the heart of everyone’s formative years.’

This entertaining programme grips and entices its audience as the teenagers you get to know on the programme grow on you and you want to know about them and why they do the things that they have done, for example one girl shaves off her eyebrows and draws them back on, she is extremely proud of her achievement and announces it to the whole class.

The programme is filmed by cameras set up around the school capturing the fights, disputes and general humour that these teenagers generate. Its very eye opening if you have left school and want to remember what it was like, however if you yourself are still in school you feel as though you can relate to these teenagers because they are usually going through the same as you.

If you are interested in watching it here is the link to episode 2 on 4od, and it is on TV on Thursday nights at 9:00 :

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/educating-yorkshire/4od

iOS 7

The most significant media news at this moment in time is that of the new iOS 7 slick design which has been released today. Its basically a ‘new structure, applied across the whole system, that brings clarity to the entire experience. The interface is purposely unobtrusive. Conspicuous ornamentation has been stripped away. Unnecessary bars and buttons have been removed. And in taking away design elements that don’t add value, suddenly there’s greater focus on what matters most: your content.’ That quote is from the Apple website, promoting this new design.

Basically iOS 7 refines the experience of the iphone,  and redraws every icon around a new grid system. Sticking to a precise color palette. And remastering audio alerts to be more distinctive and pleasing. On their own, these may not be details you consciously demand or even expect. But they all work together to create a more harmonious relationship between individual elements. And a better, more delightful experience overall.

This is England (Shane Medows, 2007)

‘This is England’ is a British drama film set in 1983 and based around the life of 13 year-old schoolboy Shaun. The genre of this film is British Social realism, reflecting the real life and society we live in. Shaun gets bullied at school by an older lad called Harvey after he made an offensive joke about Shauns father who died in the Falklands War. They fight in the school grounds and get extremely told off and get the cane. As Shaun is walking home from school after the awful day he comes across a group of skinheads led by a guy called Woody who feels sympathy for Shaun and invites him to join the group. Firstly one of the lads in the group dislikes Shaun as he feels he has taken his place in the group, Shaun gets punched by him yet they make up afterwards and iron out their differences. Shaun soon becomes a little skin head himself as one of the girls from the group of friends called LOL, shaves Shauns head. Shauns mum is appalled and tells off LOL. LOL and the other girls sport interesting shaved head hairstyles themselves, reflecting the 80s trends and style. One girl in particular called Smell quickly becomes the interest of Shaun and even though he is 13 and she is 16 they still seem to become boyfriend and girlfriend. This group of people Shaun has been hanging out with quickly force their habits onto him, drinking, smoking and vandalizing, even their fashion sense rubs off on him.

The camera work used in this film makes it very believable as the camera is mostly hand held so you as the audience feel as though you are there yourself. The montage at the very beginning of the film invited the audience in as its almost like home movies being played, creating a homely and English sense. The lighting and colour looks as though no special effects have been put on it, no bright lights or slick edits. This helps the film become more realistic in the audiences mind. A montage is used at the very beginning of the film to set the scene and this informs the audience the time the film is set and lays down the facts of social happenings going on at that moment in time. Another montage is used near the end when showing the Falklands War, this also helps evoke the time and place the film was set.

This film includes LOTS of swear words and foul language but it helps set the scene of young inner city skinheads causing trouble.

Here is the trailer in case your interested-

 

A Tale of Two Sisters (Kim, Jee-Woon, 2004)

As the scene begins an establishing shot is used to inform the audience of whats happening and the surroundings in the room. It is totally silent after the man leaves the room and this builds tension in the air like something doesn’t feel right. The camera then films from under the table which is a mid shot, displaying the character from looking up at her. The shot then turns to over the shoulder, showing the audience what the character is looking at. At this point the sink doors are creaking open, this uses diegetic sound which comes from the world of the film. A reaction shot of the girl is then shown, displaying her uneasy feeling and curiosity. The camera follows the girl as she edges to the sink to investigate. At this point the sound of her breathing is very loud and noticeable, showing diegetic sounds as its from the girl. An establishing shot is then used to show the sink with the door open, the girl walks into the scene. Her breathing is still very prominent showing how scared she is. An establishing shot is then used to show the floor with nothing there, the girl then bends down as the camera is filming from under the sink, and she is used to reveal a dead girl sitting in a chair behind her. There is then a reaction shot of the character to show how petrified she is, and the sound of the breathing again, another sound is played over the top which is non diegetic as its been added over the top by the film makers. The sounds is laughing by the dead girl and the character in the scene can hear it, making her reaction shot look particularly horrified. A rumbling, thunderous sound is also added over the top to enhance the tension in the room, it builds louder and faster eventually finishing with an establishing shot of the table and chairs empty and complete silence accept for the breathing from the relief of the character. A clip then appears on the floor, showing an establishing shot. The character moves her hand to pick it up, the camera follows, showing how the camera could be hand held, focusing the audiences attention on the characters hand and movement. When the hand comes out from under the sink there is a quick sound which is sharp and short, making the audience jump. The girl screams which is diegetic and an establishing shot is used to show how shes backed away but become facing the dead girl. Finally a reaction shot is used to capture her shocked and petrified face.

AS Media Course

What I will be doing in my AS Media Course:

• Make a Blog documenting the course and my interests.
• Make the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.
• Make an Evaluation on my blog which creatively says:
• • In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
  • How does your media product represent particular social groups?
  • What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
  • Who would be the audience for your media product?
  • How did you attract/address your audience?
  • What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
  • Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

How the course works:

• AS Media is a one year course, this AS qualification is worth 50% of the total AS marks.
• The coursework will take place throughout the year and the exam will take place sometime in May.
• I shall be required to complete one coursework unit, which will require a portfolio  of work.
• There will be one exam with two sections. At some point in the year there will be a mock exam to help prepare for this.

ME

Hiya, I’m Jess and this is my AS Media blog.

I’m from Lincolnshire which is quite a boring place to live. I’m in a family of 6 and my brother is like my best mate. I also have 2 sisters, one of them is 10 and she is the best little cook I have ever met, I swear she’ll have her own cake shop when she’s older. My other sister is a bit of a handful and slightly on the wild side.

I like rollerskating and going out with my friends, basically being surrounded by the people I love makes me happy.

In this blog I shall write about media and it will contain most of my media course. Hopefully it will be quite interesting.