Se7en

Watching this film creates many, many questions, yet having seen this film before watching in class, it proves to me all too well the amount of questions it brings up just by me listening around me. The great group of actors and actress involved makes the film entirely (not forgetting the amazing plot), Morgan freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow and my favourite of the film, Kevin Spacey, who fails not to portray his character with every bit of intelligence and wit he can muster, especially madness. The plot of the story begins confusing, yet when the first word of Gluttony appears the seven deadly sins seems to be the perfect excuse. The torturous and vile murders are very gory, they portray a picture of how much the murderer through the certain murders wants the police to know e.g. clues like the word Gluttony inscribed in fat/grease behind the fridge. Also by going against the conventions of a thriller, or police/villain on the loose plot, of the murderer handing himself in, is a major twist as throughout the whole plot you side with the police (preffered reading) yet when the murderer gives his view you start to believe him (oppositional reading). The ending is twisted, yet shocking, as pieces bind together and the seven deadly sins are all played out.

This is England '88

Having been a super fan of the film and the last series, I was very excited to see the new three part series of This is England '88. Having experienced watching the This is England 'trilogy' if you like, I knew all to well what to expect due to  Shane Medows' chilling twist to the era of the 1980's. The fact that the series is semi-improvisational shows true depth to what the characters are saying, as the spontaneous language and actions make whats happening look even more real. The lack of sharp cuts of the shots and minimal editing gives the audience a running view of the events, like they are incorporated into scene, making the serious and quite taboo events extremely chilling and not for the faint hearted. For instance the scene where Lol gets her stomach pumped whilst conscious as she tried to commit suicide shows the reality of the 1980's, yet it still send shivers down your spine whilst thinking about it. Combined with amazing acting and even better use of camera angles, the 'trilogy' exceeds itself every series, and if you haven't watched it, you just cant put into words how the programme makes you feel.

Filming

Last Wednesday, me and Megan decided to film. Although the weather was very similar to previous shots and we were missing two members of our group (meaning we couldn't even attempt at doing any tracking shots with a dolly) difficulties arose, yet we pressed on and our filming went quite well. We used a gorilla pod so that we could attach the camera to the bike and myself giving a POV angle and cantered moving shots. Due to the depth of focus being shallow, the view of the focused bike, yet the blurred moving background gave a superb effect, adding to our many different shots. We also realised that our aerial  shot would have to be the ending to our opening, yet the sharp cutting of the different shots didn't look right as the ending, so we took the opportunity to shoot some footage of the path beyond the trees (where the aerial shot took place). This turned out to be successful and we now know a great final shot to use, that signifies ending to the opening, yet more to come of the film.

Here is Megan using the camera on our latest filming last Wednesday.

Even though this was a good close up shot, it was too shaky when we uploaded the footage so we scraped that idea, i'm definitely not complaining!

 

Let The Right One In

Today we watched the let the right one in. Considering it was a horror and considerably gory, I thought it was a deeply meaningful film which incorporated love, murder and fantasy beautifully. The seamless transition into each shot and the use of lighting whether low key or high key created a sense of purity between the two youngest characters even though one of them was a blood sucking vampire. The way they incorporated the horror into the film looked effortless as the audience was more scared then humoured as many horror films can make the error of seeming cliche and stupid.

I can surely say that this film excelled expectations, discarding the use of horror, the relationship between the youngest characters was so beautifully done that a tear may have been shed. Most probably just hay fever though.

Age representation within the media

We created a short film about how age is represented within the media, especially television programmes. We based ours upon Family Guy and Eastenders.

Production logo ideas

I was away on a geography trip when my group decided to work upon the production logo. I think they have come up with some brilliant ideas and cant wait for them to be put into practice.

Joely's Comment

We received a comment from Joely, a year 13 Media student who praised us on our first draft of filming. We really appreciate this and has made us even more determined to make a brilliant film opening!

Glossary

This is a glossary of all the words, phrases and theorists I am learning throughout this course.


Marxist theory - Stuart hall 
-Preferred reading - when the audience views the programme in the way that was intended.

-Oppositional reading - when the audience goes against the intention of what the programme is showing

 -Negotiated reading - when the audience reads the programme in their own way, taking in preferred and negotiated readings into consideration.


Binary oppositions

When for one social/age group has a stereotype, the opposite group automatically has the opposite stereotype.


Verisimilitude

Reality.


Ann Gould - 6 key stereotypes

-Rebellious

-Artificial tribe 

-Sexual

-Nihilistic (rejection of all moral values)

- Violent

-Self - destructive


Juxtaposition

A figure of speech using contradictory terms e.g. bitter sweet


Hegemonic values

Higher class influences the ideology, therefore shaping popularity within the media.


Gramsci

He developed the idea that social class affects society.