Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World

I really enjoyed my time at the Edinburgh Film Festival. It was such a great experience and I am really glad that we were given the opportunity to see a selection of films that would not typically be available to us.

The first film that I saw at the festival was Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World. I didn’t really have any idea what this film would be about. The synopsis, like many of the films within the catalogue, was very vague yet sounded interesting. However I found it hard not to judge each film on the still from the movie provided within the catalogue. The synopsis for each film were quite lengthy and so I felt myself being drawn to interesting images that were on display.

Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World had quite a captivating still and so I thought I would take a chance and go and see it. I have to say that I am extremely glad I took that chance as I found the film wonderful. Although some of our class thought that it was a little boring to start with and too slow I have to disagree. I really liked the pace, it felt realistic, not totally driven by narrative, it felt more realistic than a Hollywood blockbuster. The start of the film felt very true to life, and although very little actually happened I think that it was necessary to spend this time showing the characters and establishing the couples relationships. If this had not been done so successfully I am not sure that the audience would have been able to stick with the film without becoming frustrated with the protagonist Ollie and may have simply viewed him as a lost cause.

I also liked the fact that tiny details that were mentioned within act one played such significance within the rest of the film. I think that the audience would feel pleasure of the text if they pick up on these details such as the significance placed on the fridge or the colour purple. The death of Ollie’s girlfriend was also well portrayed, it did not seem as if it sprung up from nowhere simply to drive the story on. Once you found out that she had died of a brain tumor previous events and actions made more sense.

I suppose in some ways the film was slightly predictable, I could have predicted that Ollie’s girlfriend was going to die and he was going to struggle to deal with the death. However I really did like the way that his grieving was displayed, Ollie did not deal with his grief in a predictable way I think that is what made this film so interesting. It was totally a character driven as apposed to a goal orientated one.

I think the topic of mental illness was handled very well within this film. Ollie suffered from schizophrenia after the death of his girlfriend. The film felt very realistic to me, we watched this normal man slowly slip further and further away from what is typically considered normal. The topic was featured with great sensitivity this could be because the writer/director/producer Viv Fongenie has previously worked in the world of mental health and also made a documentary surrounding the topic. The actors portray as the character of Ollie was also really well done. The film really stuck a cord with me, I think that the message it portrayed was that so many people start out ‘normal’, they live their life being average and that something can happen, something terrible can happen that flips a switch deep within them and suddenly they are no longer viewed by the outside world as normal. So basically there is a very fine and delicate line between sanity and insanity and it does not take much to cross over it. This to me is quite frightening, it is something that made the film even more unique.

The film festival catalogue described ‘Ollie Kepler’s Expanding Purple World’ as thoughtful and darkly funny. I think that this remark is very true. It was surprising how the film managed to be very sensitive and deep but also appear humorous. Watching it I felt that the audiences emotions were being toyed with. During one scene in the film, Ollie has pretty much hit rock bottom, he has isolated himself from his friends and lost his job and is having a one sided conversation with a kettle. At first sight this scene appears very funny as he is shouting and swearing at this kettle as though it is a real person, not just an inanimate object. However although I was laughing when I actually took a second to think about what I was laughing at it didn’t seem so funny, it actually felt wrong to be laughing at a man that was struggling so much and is clearly so mentally unstable. I think that it is a mark of a good film when the audience’s emotions and reaction to the film can be played with so much.

I am really glad that I saw this film. It was great to hear northern accents within a film and I think that this was a film that I would defiantly watch again. However I do think it is a shame that this film will most likely not be released at cinemas nation wide, it is just not mainstream enough. This has really made me consider how many great films must be out there that I miss, simply because they are not being screened at Cineworld.

The Root of Love - pre production

I have to say that I think the pre-production of my film is going very well. Last week we held auditions for the two lead actors in my film, playing the characters 'Ben' and 'Clementine'.

Auditions were held both at the RSAMD and in the Glasgow Acting Academy. I was very grateful for the fact that we had over 15 people audition for the film. It felt as though we really needed a large number of people as it was great to have more actors to choose between and a wider variety of acting styles.

I actually found it quite challenging to cast the roles. In my head I had a very clear view of who I wanted my characters to be and what I wanted them to look like. However when it came around to auditions I did not automatically spot an actor that fit my character brief (appearance wise anyway). This was disappointing because in my head I imagined that someone would come into the room and I would realise right away that this is the person i want to be in my film. To be honest I think that this was more of a glorified version of a casting process.

It was interesting however to see the range of actors that auditioned and the different takes they had on the characters. In the end I ended up finding four female actors and three male ones that I likes. I found it really helpful that the producers came to the auditions with me and Murray's experience of having auditioned himself was really valuable to me. I also found it useful that we recorded all of the auditions. This meant that if we were struggling to remember an actor or were questioning how good their performance we could simply watch it back to refresh our memories. It was also useful when comparing the actors.

We held call backs today which was really interesting. Unfortunately one of the male actors and one of the female actresses were unable to attend the callback. Although this was a shame it did mean that we were left with three actors auditioning for Clementine and three for Ben. This was perfect as it meant that we were able to see each of the girls audition with each of the boys. We got them to act out in pairs a few sections from the script and a little bit of improv.

In the end we were slightly torn between two girls and two boys. We also how consider not only who is the best actor and who's appearance is most suited to the character, but also how the actors would match and work together as a couple. After a little bit of deliberation I am sure that the right decision has been made. I am now really excited about shooting, but also slightly nervous as we only have less than a week to go. Needless to say I am enjoying the project and cant wait to see it come to life over the weekend.

Friday 4^th June

I am delighted by the fact that my script has been commissioned. I can’t wait to direct my film. Even though it is something that I have never done before, I am extremely excited about the task ahead. I am really grateful that I have been given the opportunity to direct as I think it is something I would really enjoy and would love to explore further. We start pre production today and I have my first meeting with Adam on Monday, I simply cannot wait to get started. I feel so enthused by the whole prospect of making my script come to life.

Reality TV

I really enjoyed the documentary that we watched in class today. The main focus of the program was the impact of reality TV and television on society. I found it very interesting to see how both individuals and society in general are affected by reality television and the celebrity culture that we live in.

It was shocking to see ordinary American parents pushing their six-year-old child into a career on television. Providing him with only one single aspiration; to be famous. This can become an unhealthy obsession. The young boys parents were driving him for hours on end to attend a ten-minute audition, thus pushing aside their child’s homework and education. In my opinion they also seemed to be dressing their child slightly inappropriately. The boy’s mother was taking inspiration from rappers styles when putting together her child’s outfits. He was dressed like a stereotypical gangster and was seen having his photograph taken with women in bikinis. This defiantly seemed inappropriate, as the little boy was only six years old.

The documentary also showed young children all over the world, each group of children were asked if they wanted to be famous when they grow up. The results showed that the majority of children in each country all over the world raised their hand to say that they wanted to be famous. This is partly because of the films and television programs that these children watch every day. These programs preach the message that anyone, no matter what their circumstances or amount of talent can be famous and achieve success. This is leading children to believe that fame is in their reach, especially when they are at such an impressionable age. These TV programs do not reflect aspirations that are achievable. I think that it is dangerous to show fame as the only tool that will lead to happiness and success within life.

The program that we watched really did open my eyes to many things that I had never been aware of before. For example I had know idea about the whole controversy with Live Aid and the fact that the marches in Edinburgh were under reported. I also did not know that the majority of the money promised still has not been delivered to the people in need in Africa.

Although I was aware of how the press worked it was still strange to se that in the Miss Britain competition they set out to create their own controversy. People actually staged their own fake protests just to gain publicity and space in the press and newspapers. This seemed extremely bizarre, but as they say any press is good press.

Overall I really enjoyed the documentary, I felt as though it provided me with a real insight into the powerful tool that is celebrities and reality television.

Shampoo

I enjoyed watching the film Shampoo. After watching the documentary about the 70's in class it made me really want to go out their and watch some of the films from the decade. Although Shampoo was set in the 60's it was actually made in 1975. When this occurs i think that films are typically made with a certain sense of retrospect. Often films looking back can appear idealised, but i do not think that this was typically the case with Shampoo.

I feel that the film managed to portray a real sense of what it was like in the 60's. Sexual liberation featured prominently within the movie and I can see how it may have appeared slightly shocking to a 70's audience. This film is defiantly aimed at the youth of America. This was the case with many films around this time. Old Hollywood was dying out, a new, fresh approach was taken, this involved fresh talent both on and of screen, resulting in a more youthful and modern audience.

I liked the fact that the film was given some social and political context by setting it during the political election in 68. I felt that it made the audience aware of the mood of America at the time, without focusing heavily on the politics and keeping the story focused on the characters and their intertwined relationships with one another.

Overall I did enjoy watching Shampoo, although it did come across as being slightly dated I feel that it defiantly faired better in time that some of the other movies from the 70's, such as Easy Rider for example which I watched last week. I think that the ending of Shampoo was interesting as it was not your typical Hollywood ending that an audience expects to see. It left me wanting more and it felt strange that none of the characters were left feeling happy at the end of the film.

Summary

Over the past few weeks we have been really busy. Thursday marked the deadline for the submission of our first year film scripts. I really enjoyed the process of writing a script and found that discussing my work with the rest of the class within Richards lessons proved to be really helpful. I think out of all our lessons I defiantly enjoy writing the most. I have started writing alot more outside of class, mostly short stories, but i am always thinking about ideas for short films. I am hoping that getting practice writing outside of class will have a positive effect on the quality of my work.

Another lesson that I am really enjoying is Adams content origination. At the moment we are working on two separate projects. The first is an individual project and the other is a task i am working on with Amelie. We were asked to come up with an idea for a mobile or web based program. I feel that we are working well as a team and our idea is progressing nicely. I think that the idea we have created would appeal to alot of people and I myself would want to watch the program if it was created.

After working on Candid Cabaret a couple of weeks ago I am looking forward to working on more projects. It was a really good experience filming the musical theatre performance and I am even though I haven't had the chance to work on any of the grad films I am looking forward to working on our end of year film in a couple of weeks time.

We have recently had our first couple of production lessons with Abigail. Before the classes I didn't think that I would really be interested in production. However I found out that the producer does many different roles, not just organising the finance. Taking this into account I think that there are some aspects of production that I might be interested in. When me, Chris and Kelsey were put in a group together I felt that we worked well as a team and got all of the tasks completed fairly quickly. I think these classes were exactly what we needed considering that we will be producing our own film in a couple of weeks. I also feel that the structure of these classes was very effective, I liked the fact that all our production lessons were grouped together in a period of three days. I think that it made the learning more intense and we were able to discover a lot about production in a short space of time.

Cathy Come Home

I found watching Cathy Come Home to be an extremely positive experience. I had heard a lot of good things about the television drama and had also watched small exerts before watching the program in class. I found the drama to be very powerful, it’s documentary feel made me even more invested in the characters and concerned about their situation.

I found the small scenes at the start of the program to be very useful as it helped to show the characters relationships with one another and it established their lives before having children. I do think however that it might have been beneficial if more time was spent on each of these scenes, possibly resulting in these scenes flowing together rather than being slightly fragmented and difficult to watch.

I felt that the acting within Cathy Come Home was excellent, the lead actors produced both an honest and realistic performance. Whist watching the program I felt as though I really wanted to help Cathy and her family as I really empathized with them. The scenes where Cathy and her children were torn apart were really heartbreaking. I think that the strong emotions within the program and the fact that people were able to relate to/ have their eyes open to the situation that Cathy and her family are facing are some of the key factors of the success of the program.

I find it amazing that television has the power to change or educate peoples view on a subject. Cathy Come Home in particular had a ground-breaking effect on society, it lead to the formation of the charity Shelter and even had the power to change the law. Given the power that television has I think it is important that people use this to their full advantage, much like Cathy Come Home does.

The election.

Well this years election has certainly been an interesting one. For most of us it has been the first opportunity that we have had to vote and that is a very exciting prospect. I have always been reasonably informed about politics and my mum and dad instilled in me from a very young age that it is so important that we take the opportunity given to us to vote.

When I heard that the political debates were going to be broadcast on television for the first time I thought that this was very interesting. I feel that Gordon Brown should be applauded for agreeing to do this. He is the first PM ever to agree and I think that it was a brave move. Despite not being the most charismatic or eloquent speaker I think he was confident in his policies and not afraid to shy away from discussing them.

I think that the debate its self was conducted in an okay fashion, I would have liked each candidate to be able to talk for longer than 60 seconds without being stopped but I suppose this is the case with any debate. In some respects it was a good idea to broadcast the debate because it really got people talking about the election. By placing it on three of the main channels it makes politics more accessible to people who don't normally read the news papers and may not have followed politics in the past. I think putting it on television also helps to appeal to the younger voters in the country.

However it worries me slightly that people watching the debate didn't actually pay very much attention to the content of what the party leaders were talking about, and instead seemed to be more impressed by the appearance of the politicians and the delivery of their speeches. It seems that putting the debate onto television may make the politicians seem more like celebrities, and so some members of the public may be more likely to vote for a candidate in the election based on their appearance.

For me watching the debate really highlighted how fickle politicians can be. Nick Clegg seemed to try and win votes based on the fact that he is not labor or tory, he is not an old party, and he is different than Brown and Cameron so people should vote for him. He seemed to be playing off the other candidates against each other, although his delivery of his speeches were very effective. Despite the fact that Clegg did not beat Tory or Labor I think the political debate served him well. It really gave him a chance to get his face and reputation out their and for three nights at least placed him on a level playing field with the two other parties.

I know some people feel that smaller parties should have been allowed to participate in the debate, however I feel that it may have over complicated the process and not given all the candidates a chance to really get across their policies. And talking realistically Lib Dem, Labor and Conservative were the only three parties who had a chance of getting into power. Maybe another debate should have been conducted featuring smaller parties and simply allowing them to get their policies across.

Overall I have found the election really interesting, I think in the future we may go in the direction of the USA. Getting more celebrities involved in the campaign and using the internet, youtube and music videos as a source for getting publiciy and getting even more young people involved and making it 'cool' to vote, just as america has done.

I have to say that i am disappointed by the results of the election. Although it was unlikely I had hoped that Labor would have won the election. Instead we are finding ourselves having to deal with the issues of a hung parliament. It will be interesting to see where we go from here and what the shape of the country will be like in a couple of years from now. Although I dont feel that Brown has done anything to justify having to resign I wonder if this would be best for the image of the party. Labor might become more successful if they had a new leader with a strong image, and someone who doesn't carry with the blame of the issues facing the UK over the past year or so.

Stagecoach

In general i am not particularly fond of westerns as a genre. I see them to be slightly outdated and aimed at a male audience rather than a female one. The iconography associated with westerns such as guns, cowboy hats and bows and arrows ect are practically all found within stagecoach. These objects associated with the genre are all made into replicas for children to play with. I frequently remember my brother playing with toy guns as a child, whilst I on the other hand had no interest in playing with that sort of toy. Guns and weapons are often seen as typically masculine objects and that might be why I felt that as a child, films involving cowboys and indians had no real place for me because they were 'boys films'. However I think that Stagecoach would be appealing to both a male and female audience, especially because of some of the subplots.

Like many members of the class I was not particularly excited about watching Stagecoach but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the film. I think that my view of westerns was slightly distorted by ones that I watched as a child. I have no idea what the films names were but I have to say that they were never of a very high quality. They never captivated me and I found the formula to be very similar from one film to the next. In fact I only watched these films with my family when it was a Sunday afternoon and nothing else was on television. However I feel that Stagecoach stands out from the genre. It is made to a very high quality, the tension at some points within the film really keeps you hooked and the musical score not only fits in with the genre of the piece but enhances the audiences emotion and enjoyment when watching the film.

To me the movie feels as though it was made after 1939, and I am sure that the two oscar wins and multitude of nominations reflect both the audience and the critics appreciation for the film. The fact that this film has also been both remade and re-released reflects the high standard of the movie. Although I still have to say that westerns are not, and probably never will be my favourite genre of film, I did enjoy Stagecoach and will make an effort to be more open minded about different genres of film in the future.

One lesson that I have really enjoyed since starting back at the academy was our class with Andy. We were discussing the representation of women within film and television, both in the past and in modern day. It was interesting to learn about some of the strong female women from the 30's 40's and beyond. Most of the women that Andy talked about were fairly unknown to me and I think it was a benefit that I am now aware of some of the major female stars in history.

We then moved on to talk about female stars in 2010. I got the impression that Andy did not like the way women in 2010 represented themselves in comparison with 50 years ago. We looked at the actress Cameron Diaz in particular. Some may say that she relies on her beauty within her films rather than being a serious actress or role model. However I would say that she is a positive role model. Although she may not be the most intelligent person to act as a role model to young girls she must surely have her wits about her. She has successfully created a strong and reasonably long lasting career and although she may be seen to rely on her beauty I would say that she simply uses her good looks to her advantage. Hollywood is a fickle place and there is no reason why a woman who is good looking should not use this to her full potential. People say that she may not be a wonderful actress, but she defiantly performs well in what she does. The audience are not always looking to watch a film full of serious dramatic actors, sometimes they just want some light comedy relief.

I understand that these perfect images of women that are showered across the media on a daily basis may make women feel inadequate. However I am sure that most people understand that this is not what these women really look like, they have hair stylists, make-up artist and their photographs are re-touched to the extreme. When you see a celebrity on the front cover of a magazine you know that this is not who they really are, it is simply a re-presentation of them created by the producers of the magazine. Infact no source created by the media, be it film, television, magazine articles or even documentaries, can ever provide a totally accurate or realistic representation because every source has been mediated, and every source has been edited. When you see something in a film or on television you can never say it is a totally realistic representation because this representation has been controlled by the creator, they show you what they want the audience to see not what the person or social group is actually like. Even something non fiction such as a documentary does has been controlled and edited to get across the appropriate message. I feel that for the most part that the audience understand this. What they are watching is not reality, it is simply one persons representation of that reality.

During this lesson we also discussed negative and positive traits in female characters within films. The girls in the class were asked to discuss some of the worst traits that could be found within a female character in a film. Some of the traits that arose were:

.Overly emotional.

. Weak

. Needy

. Dependant on men.

. Bitchy.

. Fickle

. Slutty.

. Obsessed with appearances.

The boys then had to come up with positive traits that they would like to see within women in films. It seemed that it was much easier to name characters in movies that had the negative characteristics that we listed as apposed to the positive traits that the boys brought up such as :

. Good looking.

. Successful in their own right.

. Confident ect.

It was quite disappointing that there were so few characters that embodied the positive values that we desire in female characters within films. However I think that we may be more likely to find these positive traits among women on television. I am unsure if the more positive female roles appear on television because it is a smaller viewing platform with a lower budget so there is less risk involved. Or if it is because television programmes such as soap operas have higher viewing figures amongst women, because they are the target audience the producers may be more likely to feature more strong female roles to cater to the demands of the audience.

Overall I really enjoyed this lesson, I liked the fact that it featured a bigger element of discussion and it really got me thinking about the representation of women within the media. After watching films such as 'The best years of our lives' it makes me question why a film made in 1946 can produce female characters that represent women in a more positive light than a film made in 2010. The role of women in society has changed so dramatically than in the 1940's yet this is not reflected on the screen. 'The best years of our lives' seems so advanced for the time period. I particularly liked the character of Peggy, who appeared as smart, funny and a strong character, who despite her love for Fred, didn't beg or plead with him to love her. I found this film really captivating and refreshing and would be something I would like to watch again.

The final term

So we are back for the final term of our first year. I cant believe that time has passed so quickly. When I first arrived at the academy it felt as though we would be here forever, but now I feel that if our first two terms are anything to go by, the rest of my time at the RSAMD will simply fly by. And that is a little bit scary.

However we still have a term to go before the long summer holidays. I am really excited about getting back to the academy as it feels like I have been away for ages. I am really looking forward to going out on shoots again, and after the holidays my brain seems to be brimming with ideas.

Although I had a really good holiday I was not able to visit the cinema at all. This is partly because the cinema nearest to me still isn’t as handy as Cineworld is in Glasgow. The other reason is my friends at home simply don’t like going to the cinema as much as I do and unlike my friends in DFTV, they are not all movie buffs.

However I did manage to watch quite a bit of TV over the holidays. The third series of Outnumbered aired last week which I was really excited about. I had been looking forward to new episodes of this program for ages and I am thrilled to see it back on television. I cant get over how good the three children within the show are. They are so natural on screen and their fresh comedic talent and quick wit displayed through improvisation makes them instantly humorous and loveable. One of Outnumbered’s merits is that it is a programme that the whole family can watch and enjoy. The young can watch it and relate to the children and find their situations funny. It is also suitable for younger children as there is no swearing or inappropriate innuendo’s that would deter parents from showing it to their children. However I think that that the show has huge appeal for adults. I think that everyone can relate to some of the situations that the program features.

When watching other family sitcoms it becomes obviously apparent just how good Outnumbered is in comparison with many other texts belonging to the same genre. When me and my mum were watching TV the other evening we came across a programme called ‘The Life of Riley’. Although this programme was intended to be a sitcom I did not find it funny at all. The format felt so overused and the comedy was stale and fell a little flat. I was quite surprised that a program of this standard was given a better timeslot than Outnumbered. To me it seems a shame that the BBC are wasting their primetime slots on programmes like The Life of Riley rather than investing in newer, fresher and more interesting programming that would expand the British publics taste in television, rather than simply pumping out the endless programs with the same format and simply playing o0n the safe side.

I recently watched several episodes from my box-set of Greenwing. I had forgotten just how good this programme is. It simply stands out from most of the other shows that have been on TV recently. I really wish that they didn’t decide to stop after only two seasons, but I suppose it is better to quit while your ahead and end on a high rather than dragging out a programme for longer than it should and watching the quality of the show decrease. I applaud people that can give up making a programme whilst it is still making money and the public are still interested in it. It must be a really hard thing to do, to give up the money, the success and take a risk by launching a totally new television programme. Many showrunners are not brave enough to give up on a hit show, for example I think ‘Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps’ was originally a good programme but it just went on for too long, the actors grew older and the last couple of series just felt as though they were trying to hard to be funny.

However the two series of Greenwing manage to remain fresh, funny and different. I think the editing is very interesting within the programme; slow motion and fast motion are often used for coming effect. These effects also represent and add to the quirky nature of the programme. Yet undoubtedly the best part of the programme has to be the strength and variety of characters. They are all so different and so funny in their own way. Its great to watch a programme set in a hospital that is not a drama and surprisingly enough when my brother was in hospital one of the surgeons told him that Greenwing was the most like life in a real hospital. If he wasn’t joking this is a very very scary thought!

River City

I have to say before coming to Glasgow I had never watched of River City, unlike most of the other soaps. Im not even entirely sure if it is broadcast in England. However when I found out that Kim was a storyliner for the show I thought that it was important to check it out. So since then I have watched an episode or two, I have to say that it has not become my new favorite TV program (nothing could beat Grey's Anatomy) but it isnt to bad. I found it slightly weird to watch a Scottish soap opera, simply because I am so used to seeing ones set around where I live, such as Hollyoaks and Corrie. Obviously it is not a requirement to only enjoy tv shows set in the place you come from, but it does help. I think it is nice to see places you know on TV or have actors speak in a similar accent to your own. That is one reason why it is good that River City is on television, as I have not really seen that many Scottish programs since being at university.

However when Kim told us that she has arranged a trip for us all to go to the set of River City I was extremely excited. I had never had the opportunity to visit a real TV set before so i fully relished in this opportunity when we set off on our trip to Dumbarton on Monday morning. When we arrived I was really surprised to see what the exterior of the building looked like, it was not at all glamourous or fancy like I imagined, in fact it looked a little like a prison. However when we went inside it began to look a little more like I envisioned, after a fire alarm as soon as we entered the building ( I am beginning to think that fire alarms follow me everywhere, as we had just had one at halls that very morning), we began to look around the back lot of the set where the majority of the external scenes on the soap are shot. I was really impressed with the set and it was much better than I had pictured in my head. I couldn't get over how realistic everything looked. If my mum dropped me off on that street one morning, i probably would have been convinced that it was infact a real street. The set design was excellent and all the tiny details that were paid attention to really helped to create a natural looking environment. All accept the exceptionaly clean kettle in the garage. It may sound silly but i wasn't expecting the set to be open air, for some reason I thought that it would all be indoor, but i thought that it was a really nice touch, and i suppose it would look alot more realistic filming in natural light.

After having lunch in the BBC canteen, sat on the next table to the stars of the show (how cool our we) it was then time for our tour of the studio. The indoor studio was like a giant maze, it was really interesting to see the wide variety of sets and the different houses the characters live in. Some of the sets, in particular the pub, looked alot smaller than they appear on television . Most of the sets also looked like the mini kitchen and livingrooms you see in Ikea as opposed to actual homes. I suppose that it is the actors and maybe the props that make these sets look realistic and lived in. I loved the fact that I was able to recognize some of the sets off the tv and i will be watching River City in more detail in the future to see if I can spot any of the sets we visited or the actors we saw.

I really enjoyed the day at the studio and really appreciate the fact that I am on a course which gives me the ability to visit such interesting places and meet a wide variety of industry professionals. The visit was very beneficial and I am happy that I know what a real television set actually looks like. Im really grateful to Kim for arranging this visit, I have really enjoyed her lessons as she has opened my eyes up to a wider variety of roles within the television industry that I was previously unaware of. I hope to have more lessons with her next year as they have made such a positive contribution to the course.

Feels like home to me

I have to say that I have been excited about this project from the very start, I thought that the theme was lovely and showed a lot of potential, but for the most part I was excited about this project as it was the first time we were going to be able to go out there and be creative.

Overall I really liked our idea and thought that we worked well together as a group, especially in terms of planning and organization. We had a very clear idea of what we wanted to film and the shots that were needed to achieve this effect. Although it was mentioned that our idea was very ambitious, it still didnt seem like a struggle to complete the film. Although traveling to Loch Lomand did take a while, we set off early and managed to plan our time well and we were back in Glasgow by teatime.

The whole day at the loch seemed to run very smoothly, there were no major complications and I felt that we worked very well as a team. However, by far the most stressful time during the shoot arose whilst filming at halls. We were in extremely cramped conditions and because of the fact that there we had lots of actors in the scene (thanks to the other group for volunteering:D) and it did get a little bit stressful. I think at some points we could have communicated better with each other, however as the filming process went on I feel that everyone improved in this area. By the end of Thursday I think that everyone was happy with the end results and it felt great to say that we had finally managed to shoot our first short film.

Seen as everyone has started doing lists of things they have learnt, I feel as though I should jump on board and give it a try:

. Communication is key, otherwise people can get annoyed or upset. And they may be about to tell you a great idea you may never have thought of alone.

. It is possible to de-rig in under two minutes. (Especially when you have the motivation of a fire alarm blaring in your ears.)

. Filming is very tiring, especially when you have to get up at 5.30 in the morning.

. Keep your actors happy.

. It's very useful to be in a group with people who have family in Glasgow who can be in our films. Its even better if you are in a group with someone who has a multi-talented performing dog, who may well have been the most experienced person on set.

. You cant rely upon Scottish weather, but it is important to be resourceful when it eventually does start pouring with rain.

. BNC cables are not vital, but they are very important and useful objects.

. Cars are in fact vital, and more of us need to learn to drive and purchase them. It would make going on location a whole lot easier. (Maybe we should all club together and by a DFTV car.)

. Lighting can make such a difference in a film, as can tracks.

. Filming is very hard work, very fulfilling and very very fun.

The Birds

This weekend I watched the Hitchcock film ‘The Birds’. I have been interested in Hitchcock for quite a while, and the effect his work has had on many other filmmakers. A couple of weeks ago I took ‘The Birds’ out of the library at the academy but I never got around to watching it. However when I went home this weekend my Dad got out the Hitchcock box set that he received at Christmas and let me pick out one of the DVD’s to watch. I had heard good things about ‘The Birds’ and my mum said that when she watched the film she found it really scary.

I really enjoyed the film, Hitchcock’s psychological thrillers are always very high quality and this one was no exception. He builds anticipation and creates suspense wonderfully. I love how his films are all about subtlety, a look or gesture can often tell the story or portray a message more effectively than dialogue. It is so interesting how Hitchcock manages to make something that would not be ordinarily scary, such as birds, into something terrifying. This is done simply by the use of camera angles, music and diegetic sound. Some of the special effects used when the birds are shown to be attacking people look a little outdated and unrealistic. However it got me thinking, would the film be better if it was remade now? Obviously we have more technology now that would provide us with the ability to create 3D animation to show the birds attacking. However I think this may actually spoil the look of the film and diminish its appeal. Part of the charm of the film is how the birds are made to appear scary, but done within a creative fashion. If special effects were used it would mean that less creativity would be required to produce the film.

One of the best scenes within the film is achieved so simply, it involves crows sitting on a climbing frame outside of a school. Every few seconds when the camera goes back to the climbing frame the number of birds seem to have multiplied, until the playground is covered in birds. All of these crows make up such a daunting image, each bird appears so sinister and the group of them together appears terrifying.

What I think makes the movie scary is that the fear within the film is not an unrealistic one that exists only in our imaginations. Everyone knows that monsters or vampires are not real, however birds are obviously very real, and they are EVERYWHERE! After watching the film I found myself looking around warily when I saw a bird, and flinching whenever a pigeon, or god forbid, a seagull flies over my head. So clearly this film has achieved its objective of scaring people. Yet again I am impressed with another one of Hitchcock’s films, and as the film ended I found myself wanting to watch more of the boxset straight away as I enjoyed the movie so much. However I will defiantly be watching out for those scary birds when I am walking around Glasgow tomorrow.

Into the New

The past week has been very interesting and more diverse than our typical week at the academy. On Monday we had a lesson with Andy where we discussed genre and the generic conventions found within different types of films. We watches small exerts from a western, a gangster film, a screwball comedy and a musical. We then had to identify some of the elements that indicated to us that a film belonged to a particular genre. For example we could easily identify the film ‘Stagecoach’ as a western because of the typical iconography associated with the genre being present. The film contained cowboys and Indians, guns and other weapons, horses, stereotypical cowboy costumes such as boots and cowboy hats. I enjoyed this class even though I already covered some aspects of this lesson within my Alevel classes at sixth form, however I am looking forward to exploring genre and representation in further detail.

On Tuesday we split into our groups to work on the ‘Home’ projects. Our group met to discuss our ideas of what we wanted to film and organize the sequence of the short film. After our meeting we went down to the kit room to meet the rest of the class, we collected the kit we would require for our Into The New shoot and transported in to the ‘Arches’ where we would be filming for the next few days. When we arrived we were shown around the building and given a health and safety induction. I was really impressed by the venue, I had never been to the Arches before but I thought that it was a really nice location and was looking forward to filming there the following day.

Wednesday was quite a busy day as in the morning we had another meeting regarding the ‘Home’ project. By this point we had a really firm grasp of our idea and our goals were really to sort out the technicalities of our idea. While me and Michael went away and did a storyboard the others worked on organizing a location to shoot in and called up actors. At about 4pm we made our way to The Arches where we were going to be shooting this evening. The team I would be shooting in would be made up of me, Kelsey, Sam and Michael. After we were shown the location we would be shooting in we had to set up all of our equipment in time for the performance. This did not cause any major problems, as setting up the kit has become more of a second nature as we have now had lots of practice. We were not really briefed about what performance we were going to be filming. All we were aware of were the frightening stories that we had heard about the CPP performances the year before, many of these involving collecting blood and sticking biscuits in places they don’t belong. However I kind of anticipated that these were stories that had been exaggerated or at the very least were one off occurrences. However after filming several performances I cab see that many of the rumors are in fact true. It wasn’t that I didn’t like or enjoy the performances that we watched, its just that some of them appeared somewhat pointless. It seemed that in all but one of the acts we were told to film, the artist used nudity to shock the audience. It seemed the performance didn’t really have a point, it didn’t tell anything to the audience, it did not seemed to tell a story or have a particularly strong message. I think that the nudity and other forms of abstract self-expression would not bother me, and may even improve or add to a performance if the art actually had a purpose. In several forms of abstract theatre that I have seen before, the artists used a variety of weird and unusual techniques within a performance, however more often than not there is a reason behind these techniques and they often symbolize something. However in the performances that we witnessed I could not really see a reason behind many of the actions taking place. All of the performances involved the actor taking off all of their clothes. It seems like this is an overused technique and they are only doing it for the sake of it, or to add a shock factor to their piece. Time after time the main focus was the artist and their body and the ‘exploration between nature and the body’ or other generalized statements that could mean almost anything. I was disappointed with some of the shows that I watched, I am sure they are very good when looking at them via the standards of the CPP course and I am sure they fill the assessment objectives required. Its just that I had heard so many negative things being said about the CPP course and I was hoping that these negative ideas would be washed away when seeing the performances first hand. I have seen some abstract performances that have been really interesting although the things we filmed on Wednesday and Thursday didn’t really appeal to me.

However I do think that it was beneficial to film the performances. Even though this is not the type of work I hope to be doing in the future, it is always good to use the kit and it felt nice to work in a professional environment and be filming live. It was also nice to have some variation within the week and spend a couple of days in a different location. However I think the images of a naked man wrestling with a log, a woman on a plate of glass covered in flowers, and a naked woman eating sand will be imprinted in my mind for a very long time.

My favourite year

In Mondays lesson we all discussed our favourite year for films. I struggled to find out which year was in fact my favourite, this was mainly because I have so many films that I really enjoy, and most of the were made in different years. It was also a challange for me to select one year in particular because more often than not, I did not actually watch the movie in the year it was released at the cinema. However when I finally came to a conclusion I narrowed my choices down to two years. The first being 1996, this was the year when I went to the cinema for the first time. I was four years old and watched 'James and the Giant Peach'. I remember feeling really special because I went with just my Dad and my baby brother stayed at home with my mum because he wasn't old enough to go. Watching this film is still so clear in my mind, and I remember crying at the end of the film because it was very scary (in the eyes of a four year old anyway) and I suppose looking back, I can see how cinema had such a strong effect on me from such an early age. There are also some other films that I really like made in 1996, these being 'Trainspotting' and 'Romeo and Juliet'. It surprised me that both of these were made so long ago as their styles appear very modern and look as though they could have been produced within the past year or so.

The other year which I enjoyed was 2001. 'Moulin Rouge' and 'I am Sam' were both made in 2001 and happen to be two of my favorite films. I think another reason why I like the year 2001 in terms of the films being made is because this is the year when I started to visit the cinema more often. I was 10 years old and felt as though there was a lot of new development in terms of film within this year. When I went to see Lord of the Rings i was amazed to see a film that was so long and such a spectacle. The first of the Harry Potter films was also released in 2001, I remember reading the book and waiting with excitement to see the film. This was also a year for me when I became aware of other genres of film, I watched both 'Bridget Jones's Diary' and 'The Others' on VHS that year as I was not old enough to see them at the cinema. For me I chose the years 1996 and 2001 not only because some good films were made within this year, but also because of the childhood memories that the year of cinema holds for me.

On Tuesday we had our first editing class in ages. I was really glad to have the lesson with Gav today as I felt as though out of all our classes this was the one where i have had the least practice. In the lesson we learnt how to export footage and produce the menu and layout for DVD's. After this lesson finished all of the teachers came together and spoke to us about two new projects coming up. The first being "Into the New" which involve us filming some of the members of the CPP course at their performance at the Arches. I am looking forward to this as I feel as though it will provide me with more hands on experience with the camera which is a really positive thing. In the afternoon session we were split up into two groups. Our group had a meeting regarding our second project in which we have to create a two minute short film around the theme of home. A enjoyed our brainstorming session and i think that we have come up with an interesting idea. Talking about this project with the rest of the group really got me excited about filming the piece, and it will be a good chance to work on a real shoot.

On Wednesday morning I submitted my written editing assessment to Gav and in the afternoon we had a lesson with Andy. The main focus of this class was centered around advertising, which is something that i am very interested in. I am glad that we are studying advertising on our course as it has such a power and impact on peoples lives and it is important to be aware of this. I also think that adverts can be very interesting and creative and I often find myself watching programmes such as "The 100 greatest add's of all time". I also attended a meeting about our collaboration with TPA and had a PAT tutorial which seemed to go well.

On Thursday morning our group had a meeting about the 'Home' project and we discussed some of the findings from our research. Our lesson with Adam continued to explore web and mobile based technology. I really enjoyed this class and felt inspired by Adam's passion for the subject. The lesson got me thinking about how to make television shows more web based and interactive, something i think is quite an exciting prospect. We also discussed the documentary we had watched outside of class, this brought up topics such as how the internet was created, the power that it has, and possible ways to make money from it in the future. I feel as though this class is very up-to-date with what is going on within the industry at this moment in time which is a very positive thing that will benefit us after leaving the Academy.

Instead of watching King Kong with the rest of the class on Friday I had to complete my editing assessment that I missed when I was off sick. I feel as though the assessment went well as I felt as though I was able to edit the clips into the sequence without any major problems. Obviously I will have to wait for my tutorial with Gav concerning the results of the assessment. Fingers crossed I have done well.

After I completed the assessment a group of us went to watch the Oscar nominated film 'Crazy Heart' at the cinema. I enjoyed this film overall and was glad that I went to see it.

Evaluation of my camera assessment

Overall I am pleased with my efforts within the summative assessment. I am glad that I was successfully able to put up all of the equipment and get my two shots filmed in time. I think that this assessment was very useful to me, as I have never actually had the opportunity to set up all of the equipment all in one shoot. Normally we are working in groups of five or six people and so when we set up the kit we are normally only responsible for one aspect such as setting up a light or the tripod. Completing this assessment has given me more confidence within my ability as I now know that I have the capability to fulfill all of the assessment objectives and there isn’t any large aspect of the technical skills we have learnt so far that I am not capable of doing.

However there are defiantly some things that I think I could improve on. One of these things being my time management. During the assessment I felt as though I was rushing to get everything done as we only had one hour to set up the equipment, film and then de-rig. Although I tried to move as quickly as possible doing each task, it still felt as though I was not moving quickly enough and as a result of this, I did go over the allocated time slightly as it took longer than I expected to de-rig and pack away all of the kit. I think that if I practice more with the kit and spend more hands on time with all of the equipment I will become more confident setting everything up, and in turn I will be able to rig and de-rig at a faster pace.

I think that not having enough time to set everything up affected the rest of my performance on the assessment. Although I was able to correctly position the Key, Fill and Back light, I felt as though I was rushing to get everything finished and was not able to perfectly light the subject and achieve the effect that I wanted. I know that if I had more time I would have been able to create a more polished and professional look for the shot.

When setting up the equipment I had no problem setting up the tripod and camera as I have now done this many times and I feel as though it is becoming much easier to do. I am also quite comfortable setting up the monitor and adjusting the chroma, brightness and contrast. However on the day I did have a small issue with adjusting the brightness and contrast on the viewfinder. However I think that it was just a small slip up and I just need to learn to identify exactly what the viewfinder should look like when set up correctly.

Two of the things that I was previously concerned about were the backfocus and setting the timecode. However after the tutorial the day before the assessment I felt a lot more at ease when completing these tasks within the assessment. I realized that the timecode is actually really easy to set and I don’t think I have any major issues with the backfocus.

Overall I am pleased with my efforts, as before the assessments I was concerned that I might not get all the kit set up in time, or I might have trouble completing one of the tasks set. However I think that everything went okay, apart from my struggle with the lack of time. Hopefully this will improve with practice and the next time I am asked to set up all of the equipment I will be able to manage my time better and will not get flustered when trying to tidy up the cables whilst de-rigging which is something that slowed me down this time.

My Monday Night

We kicked off our week with one days holiday, I took the opportunity to explore the West End of Glasgow as I have not had the opportunity to spend very much time their since coming to university. I really liked this little trip as it is such a different vibe than being in the city center and i love all the little boutiques and vintage shops. In the evening I went to see the film 'The Single Man' and Cineworld. I had seen the trailer online and thought that it looked quite interesting and unique. The trailer caught my attention as it seemed to have an interesting pace and I the fact that no dialogue or voiceovers took place really made it stand out from other trailers I have seen. When I discovered that the fashion designer Tom Ford was directing the film I felt slightly apprehensive. I did not know how well a designer would direct a film, especially because he has had very little experience with this medium within his career. However I am pleased to say that I was proved very wrong. Although 'A Single Man' was a very visual film I do not think that the narrative and character development was bi-passed. The film had great emotional depth. It seemed very character driven and true to life. I liked the fact that the film reflected such deep, strong and confusing emotions.

Colin Firth acted wonderfully within the film, and as a result won Best Actor at the BAFTA'S last night. His character seemed very complexed and really seemed like a real person, unlike some of the one dimensional characters that can often be seen on screen. I liked the fact that the film was quite slow paced at some points and showed monotonous little details of his life, that may appear insignificant, but actually revealed alot about his character. Clearly this tone and style didn't appeal to some people as they walked out of the cinema. I think that this is a terrible shame as I really enjoyed the film and I think that the people that left really didn't give the movie very much of a chance. However I can understand why they left, this film was quite different from the main stream blockbusters and had a lack of dialogue in comparison. However this did not bother me and I think I know have a better understanding about visual storytelling that Richard was teaching us about a few weeks ago.

I thought the film was visually striking, after watching the film I really did want to live in 1962, and dance around in chic clothes in a stylish house. I felt that the music was also used well within the film and the song 'Green Onions' fit perfectly with the tone of the film when it was played. The costumes were also excellent within 'A Single Man', I expected this due to the fact that Ford is a fashion designer. However I thought he used his artistic skills very successfully in many other areas. The world that he created was stylish and desirable, I that any time that the audience actually wants to live in the world that the director creates, they have obviously done a very good job of really transporting the audience to another time or place. Nick Hoult also did a really good job within the movie, I think that it is impressive that a young actor from skins has managed to appear in a possibly Oscar winning Hollywood film at such a young age. I felt his performance was charming and he really made me fall in love with the character, and obviously Colin Firths performance was impeccable.

Overall I really enjoyed watching this movie and I couldn't stop talking about it afterwards. I really hope that it does well over award season and I would recommend going to the cinema and watching this film to anyone who hasn't already seen it. And if you have seen the film, go along anyway and watch it again!

The Secret Diary of a Call Girl

I am in love with "Secret Diary of a Call Girl" it has definatly made its way up the ranks to become one of my new favorite programs. I am really surprised that up until a few days ago I had never watched this show before. I had heard lots about it, seen adverts for it on TV, but had never actually tuned in to watch it. I think this may have been because of the fact that it is shown on ITV. I have always thought that ITV was aimed at a slightly older audience, and the dramas that are aimed at my age range tend not to be very good, so i guess I never bothered to watch it. What a mistake that was!

Andy gave out the DVD's of the program to a couple of members of our class and we decided to make pancakes and watch an episode or two. I think that most of our class had never actually seen the show before and we were all pleasantly surprised with the quality of what we were watching. The Secret Diary of a Call Girl begins with glossy opening credits featuring close-ups of Belle getting ready and putting on make-up, and combined with a catchy theme tune than had me and Kelsey humming along. After watching only one episode I was hooked. I think we ended up watching about 6 episodes that evening and I didn't want to stop watching. I was slightly disapointed by the length of each episode as they are only about 22 minutes long. I think that it would have been much better if they were 40 minutes long as they could explore each storyline in more detail.

I think one of the major reasons why 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' is so good to watch is because of Billie Piper who plays the protagonist Belle De Jour. I think that casting Billie Piper was a very good decision as she manages to play a prostitute who would not typically be considered a likable character, yet she manages to make Belle charming and endearing. I think it is important that they showed Belle to be a good person, because this is what makes the audience accept the fact that she is a call girl.

I find it interesting how the program shows prostitution in an unexpected light. Normally if this topic is featured on television it would typically show a young woman who has been forced into the trade due to desperation. However this is not the case within 'Secret Diary of a Call Girl' Belle is from a middle class background and has been to university. She has made a decision to choose this career over other job opportunities. She does it because she enjoys it, not because she has to. This is demonstrated when she chooses her career over her boyfriend. I think this is a good thing as she chooses to be a call girl, she is not forced into it. Belle is not a weak person and I think in general most of the females in this program are represented as strong women. It would be very easy to make the women passive within the show, being controlled by their clients and being forced into doing things they don't want to. However more often than not Belle is the one in control and it is the male client who is nervous and anxious. Belle comes as cross as someone who is very competent in her job, she is a role model for her friend Bambi who is new to prostitution. Belle is shown to be the best girl at the agency and is obviously doing well financially because of this. She has a nice flat and an amazing wardrobe. Some people may say that the program is misleading and shows prostitution in a positive light and in some respects I may agree. It does make Belle's life look amazing, she is pretty, successful and stylish. However it also shows the negative aspects of prostitution, Belle is not able to maintain successful relationships with men because of her career. I think she also struggles slightly with her identity as she is forced to lead a double life, hiding her career away from her family and in some cases her boyfriends. In my opinion it is a good thing that the show exposes both the positive and negative sides to prostitution as it makes it more realistic and sophisticated. If it had only portrayed the message that a career as a call girl is bad it may have appeared to be stepping on a moral high ground and being to preachy.

It is interesting to know that 'The Secret Diary of a Call Girl' is based on a book written by a real call girl. This is why the show can get away with showing the positive aspects of prostitution, because the author of this book has experienced them first hand. When watching the program I find my self wondering which stories and clients that Belle deals with are based on real situations and people that the author actually had to sleep with. One of the great attributes of the show is the comedy that many of the scenes possesses. This comedy often comes from the weird and outrageous situations that Belle endures in order to adhere to her clients fantasies and fetishes.

I think that the program manages to portray a good portion of Belle's life both inside and outside work. However some of the most successful drama can be seen when the two very separate lives collide. Many episodes show the internal struggle that Belle's character goes through and I think that many audience members would empathize with her character and root for her to be happy.

Overall I think that 'The Secret Diary of a Call Girl' has all the elements necessary to be a success. I think that the choice of music within the show, it is emotive, contemporary and not always your typical pop song. The use of costume is also great, female audience members would aspire to look like Belle and I am sure many male members would dream of dating someone like Belle. The show has a very contemporary feel, like a new edgier version of Sex and The City, the difference being that Belle gets paid to have sex and write about it and Carrie and her friends just sleep with many different men for pleasure. Somehow the latter of the two seems to be more acceptable and I think that this shows how the television industry has evolved from Sex and The City and has changed to please a more open -minded and modern audience. I am really pleased that I have found a British Drama that I enjoy so much as I often find myself drawn to watching American dramas. Now that I have started watching 'The Secret Diary of a Call Girl' i am totally hooked. Within a matter of days i have watched all of season three, most of season two and am really looking to watch season one. I am sure I could go on even further and talk about more of the reasons why I like this show so much, however I think that I have talked for long enough. What I will say is that I would recommend this program to anyone who has not watched it yet as I think it is fantastic.

Television and the small screen - My reflective statement

Speaking as an individual, I can safely say that I have always been captivated by television. I can remember so clearly the television programs I watched as a child, and as I grew up my fondness of television has always remained. One of the key factors that drew me to this course at the RSAMD was the fact that it would give me the ability to study and create not only film but also television.

This course has defiantly increased my knowledge of the history of the television industry. Before this module I was slightly unaware of how television has evolved over the years. However I can now see that it is extremely important to look back at the successful TV programs made in the past in order to create and fully appreciate television made in the future.

It has been interesting to explore the important role television has on the individual and also society as a whole. The debate that took place last week was a great method to explore the importance of TV and the powerful effects that this medium possesses.

This module has made me think about the television industry and the objectives that should be achieved my each and every program shown on the 5 core channels, these being to “Inform, educate and entertain.” It is also interesting to learn about the role TV plays in modern life and they ways in which television is evolving to keep up with the modern viewer, such as iplayer and sky+. I appreciate this module as I have been opened up to many genres of programs that I would not typically have watched such as The Shield, I Love Lucy and most recently, The Secret Diary of a Call Girl, and for that I am very grateful.

Overall I think that this module has really highlighted the significance that television has on our lives. It is an easily accessible medium that can be enjoyed by almost everyone. It is an extremely powerful tool that should not be considered second rate in comparison with cinema.

term 2, week 5

We started off Monday morning with Kim's lesson. I think that this was my favorite class of the week. We had all been asked to submit an idea for a character that could fit into one of the four main soap operas. I chose to create a character for Coronation Street as I know the characters and felt as though if we were asked to write in the style of our character I would be able to do a better job writing for Corrie than I would for a program like River City which is set in Glasgow. I really enjoyed this task and I love the idea of creating new characters to fit into and interact within an existing program. In the end I came up with two separate characters for Coronation Street and submitted them. The first being Shandi Granger, Becky's younger, more chavy, pregnant sister who sleeps with Becky's husband. The second being Troy Cropper, Roy Croppers evil twin, decked out in bikers leathers and on a mission to torment Roy to know end and seduce his wife Hayley. It was enjoyable to think of how my characters would fit into existing storylines and I could just picture Troy riding up the street on his Harley with Roy peeking through the cafe window in his anorak, and Shandi getting into some hair pulling fights with her sister and causing an uproar amongst the locals. It was also great to hear everyones ideas and see how they would imagine an interesting new character coming into Corrie.

We were then asked to split into groups and come up with a more detailed character and an outline of how their characters storyline would play out. We decided to explore Ada's idea of Jackie a lesbian police officer who comes into the street to work in underworld as she had to leave her job in the police force due to her affair with a convicted criminal. I really enjoyed this lesson and i think that a job within the soaps or as a storyliner may be something that I am really interested in. In the afternoon session we split into our groups and had a tutorial with Andy concerning our debate on television. This was quite useful and I think that our group had a good plan and were working well together as a team.

On Tuesday we had a lesson with Ray on three point lighting. We had previously submitted some research on this topic and because of this prior knowledge I learnt whilst researching I think I was able to pick up the concept with relative ease. I enjoyed the afternoon session as we all had the opportunity to be the DP and set up, light and record another member of the class who was modeling. I liked doing this as it was very visual and you can see instant results. It seemed easier to me as you dont need to adjust the light by pressing a little button, you can physically move the light and see an instant result. I really enjoyed this lesson and I am impressed by the difference three simple lights can make when creating the atmosphere on set, it suddenly makes everything you shoot look so much more professional. We were also told that we have an assessment coming up which I dont feel totally confident about, we seem to have a lot to do in such a short period of time. However I am planning on booking the camera out with a couple of other people this week to get a little more experience with the camera. After all, practice makes perfect.

On Wednesday and Thursday we had sound class with Cammy. I found this lesson easier than expected as Cammy explained everything in detail and with lots of clarity. I liked the fact that he passed around each piece of equipment and let us plug in the appropriate cable/ wire. This meant that by the time we were asked to put all of the equipment together we all had a better idea of what we were doing as we had all done this individually. I also discovered that I will need much stronger arms if I am ever going to operate a microphone/ boom.

We also had a creative beginnings talk from Richard Holloway on Wednesday. After some of the failures of the other creative beginnings talks I did not have particularly high hopes for this one. However I was surprised when the talk turned out to be interesting and quite inspiring. Holloway simply oozed intelligence and really made me thing. He approached the question 'Who's culture is it anyway?" In a very interesting way and I really enjoyed listening to him. This talk was followed by the class debate which seemed to go down well. I enjoyed the actual debate but thought that it may have been better if we were given more time to challenge the other teams argument.

The week came to an end with the screening of 'Singing in the rain'. I enjoyed this film, I am not a huge fan of musicals in general, I like Mamma Mia and Moulin Rouge but in general im not crazy about them. I thought that 'Singing In The Rain' was one of the better musicals I have seen. Although it was my first time watching the film, at several points i realized that I had heard some of the songs before. I like the upbeat nature of the film and some of the songs were very catchy. The leading actors were strong and it was a nice film to watch. It felt refreshing to watch a film with sound and colour as I had gotten used to Friday screenings being in the silent era. After the film ended I went back to halls and went on line to access my weekly dose of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice, back to back and fresh from the USA. Now what could be better than that?

All the way from LA!

I had been looking forward to this week for a while now, this was the week Richard are script writing tutor was coming all the way from LA to teach us. The day started off with an exercise where two members of the group had to stand up and be directed into a freeze frame position. The rest of the group then had to write an idea for a short film based on the image in front of us. I am always really surprised how successful this task is. I think it is a great way to come up with a variety of ideas and seeing an image in front of me and working my way back from that in terms of a story is a method that really works for me. What I like about this task is that the inspiration for the idea is right in front of you. I think having this inspiration instead of going looking for it helps me to think of ideas quickly, instead of spending hours musing over one short film, I am able to think of ideas at a much faster pace.

Later on we went over some of the topics that we had learnt before Christmas. We refreshed our memories of the three act structure, a concept that seems simple enough. We also discussed 'theme' something I think most members of the class were having trouble with. At first the idea of a theme seems simple enough, but when you really think about it, it is actually really hard to identify what one message the director is trying to convey to the audience, or to pick out only one thing that the character learns. At the start of the class we were all suggesting that the themes for our films were Love or Friendship. However after being questioned by Richard and his infamous phrase "Is it?" I think we all began to think a little deeper about the themes within films.

After lunch we had what can only be described as the most funny lesson we have had all year. We did an exercise where we had to complete 13 different stories we each filled out one line of information so we had all contributed to each story. We had to write about the character, the inciting incident and the characters fatal flaw along with many other things. We sat in silence working hard for about 30 minutes. When we were all finished Richard told us to go round the circle and each read out the story in our hand. Chris was the first to read a story out and i couldn't believe how funny it was, by the time three or four people had read out the stories most of the class were literally crying with laughter. I just could not believe how we had all taken the task seriously and it had amounted to a story that was far fetched, unrealistic and so badly structured. I think that the main problem was that we had not read each others ideas closely enough, we all wanted to make our mark on each story so maybe we weren't thinking how it ties in with the idea written previously. I think people were also were trying to obstruct or resolve the characters goals too quickly. Things were happening that were unrealistic (but also very funny). I think the best had to be the submarine driver that didn't know he was claustrophobic until he was in the middle of the ocean in a submarine. When he discovered his fear he went and had a panic attack in a toilet cubicle (which is one of the last places you would actually want to spend a lot of time in if you were actually claustrophobic!) However all was resolved when he realized he was the most capable man on the ship and he could simply direct the submarine back to dry land and everything would be okay. I feel by this point Richard was seriously worried by our lack of talent and was most likely considering getting straight back on the plane and jetting across to LA, where I am guessing there are no submarine drivers with undetected fears of enclosed spaces.

However I think that we redeemed ourselves slightly on the second day of Richard's stay. We started Tuesday morning by working on visual storytelling. We were split up into small groups and asked to plan out a visual sequence about a man who sees his father again for the first time in 13 years. We were instructed to use as little dialogue as possible and to really focus on the action. I found this to be quite an enjoyable task which seemed to come quite naturally. I really liked the idea that we came up with and i could really see it becoming a short film. And after all we have learnt on the course so far I can now understand that sometimes using no dialogue can actually be more powerful than when the characters talk. Emotion can sometimes be portrayed better visually, and this can often produce a more natural and organic scene. After all, in the silent films we have watched with Andy, I never found my self thinking "My god i wish they would just say something." I think in some of the films we have watched, using dialogue may spoil the effect. For example the Chaplin film 'City Lights' that we watched on Friday did not need dialogue to make it funny. I also felt that the final scene in 'City Lights' would have been totally spoilt if the characters had spoke to each other. Sometimes a gesture or subtle facial expression is enough to satisfy the audience and tell them everything you need to know.

Anyway, back to tuesdays lesson. We were asked to pitch the two premises we had written the night before. I really like it when we do this activity as I love to here other class members ideas. I was also happy with the fact that people in the group seemed to like my ideas. Talking about them as a class really made me want to go away and transfer my ideas into a script. After a really detailed discussion about several of our ideas, i really began to understand just how difficult it is to make a story that is interesting, fits inside the time frame and works structurally. As we discussed our ideas many seemed to fall apart slightly, however we have all been instructed to go away and write an outline and in turn a short film based on Sam's premise. This should be quite a challenge but I am looking forward to it.

In Wednesdays lesson we had to talk about three things that we do not like about ourselves. It was quite a strange experience to write down these things on paper and i was surprised by how many things I could think of. It was interesting to here the things that other people do not like about them selves, many of which i could identify within myself as well. I can see how this task was useful, being aware of our flaws and in turn, flaws within the characters we write about will help us to be better writers and portray truthful and universal flaws that an audience can identify with. We also discussed conflict and tension within this lesson, which was followed by a tutorial discussing our scripts. After everything I had learnt within these past three days I have to say I had no trouble identifying what was wrong with the script I had written and I can think of many things which I had learnt in the past three days that could improve it.

On Thursday we said goodbye to Richard and hello to John York. This lesson was very fast paced and within it, John introduced us to the 5 act structure. Something that to me made a little bit more sense than the three act structure. It just seemed as though the five act structure went into more detail and would make it easier to construct the middle of the story. In the afternoon we had a lesson with Andy on the History of cinema and I think he hooked our attention perfectly by saying that this class would contain the one thing it would be vital to remember within the three years of this course. Pretty important stuff. Friday finished with the our final Chaplin screening of the term, City Lights. This is an great film, possibly the best Chaplin film we have seen so far, and the ending was just lovely.

Term 2, week 3

The first few days of this week we didn’t have any classes. I decided that this would be a good time to go home, the trip mainly involved seeing my friends and family, shopping, seeing a protest with lots of policemen, watching TV and a little bit of blogging, so all in all a very productive trip.

Thursday started off with our first ever shoot, I was excited about this because now it finally feels as though we are progressing on the course by being allowed to use the equipment and actually film something. I was assigned the role of an editor within the shoot so I knew that I would not have a very large role on the day of the shoot. However I still wanted to go along as I think it is important to see how a professional shoot is actually conducted, as I have never been on one before. I also wanted to get a sense of what the band we were filming would be like, as I am hoping that I will be able to edit the Bumclocks music video more successfully as I will have a better idea of their style after watching them live. I am really looking forward to doing more shoots in the future, particularly those that are scripted. I think that the overall vibe on Thursday evening was that the shoot was a success Kelsey and me had managed to learn the lyrics to some of the Bumclocks songs, and it was nice to get to know some of the people from TPA better.

I also had a tutorial with Adam on Thursday where we talked about an idea for a television program that I had pitched before Christmas. I found this tutorial really enjoyable and after discussing a few ideas with Adam I left feeling really excited about my idea and could barely wait to get started working on it.

On Fridays lesson we watched the film Sunrise. I had heard a lot of good things about this film; Andy even mentioned it during our three-day induction at the start of term so I was really glad we were finally getting to watch it. I think that Sunrise was defiantly the best out of the silent films we have watched. I think that a good marker to indicate the quality of a silent film is the amount of titles used to tell the story. Sunrise had barely any. This reflects the strength of the film that they didn’t need words to tell the story; it was simply explained by the visual narrative. I think that Sunrise was a beautiful film, not only were some of the visual images striking, but the film also managed to be so sweet and thoughtful. The relationship between the couple was really nice and I like others in the class really liked the scene where they were at the photographers kissing. The acting was well done within the film, the female star was so vulnerable and reminded me of a porcelain doll. I think the audience would automatically empathies with her because of this. I did feel that some of the scenes within this film were slightly unrealistic, I do not think that most women would forgive a man so quickly for trying to kill them, accept maybe Gail Platt in Coronation Street. I felt that the ending would have been more successful if the woman did die. I think that a romantic happy ending would suit the 1930’s audience, however a modern day audience are more intellectual and have seen a much wider variety of films. Therefore I think that if the woman was to die it would make for a much more sophisticated end to the film which would be less predictable and please a modern day audience. However I do think the film was very strong and I really enjoyed watching it, I did not miss the dialogue and I think that by not using words you got a greater sense of the emotions involved in the scene and paid much more attention to the subtle physical gestures present throughout the film.

Term 2, week 2

I was very excited on Monday, as I was aware that we were getting to meet one of the new tutors Kim Millar. I was not really sure what to expect from this lesson but I really enjoyable. It was really great to talk to Kim as she is obviously very successful and I found it really interesting to hear her talk about the television industry and liked the fact that we were able to ask her whatever we wanted. It was interesting to hear about Kim’s career path, as it was not the typical path you would expect to follow. First working in journalism then gradually moving through to television. However I did find it slightly reassuring that when Kim started out working in television she did not have definite idea of what job within the industry. This makes me feel slightly better as sometimes it feels like most people in my class have a very clear idea of what job they want to do when they graduate. I am still unsure of what exactly I want to do when I leave the academy. When talking to Kim it made me realize that there are so many jobs within the film and television industry that I haven’t even heard of yet. I think that once I progress further on the course and get experience within the industry it will hopefully help me find my niche. Another reason why I really enjoyed the lesson was because we got to hear Kim talk about story lining for Coronation Street, River City and Hollyoaks. This was really interesting to me because I have previously watched both Coronation Street and Hollyoaks and it was really insightful to hear Kim talk about writing for characters and creating storylines that I have previously watched and enjoyed.

On Tuesday we had a technical class with Ray. The focus of the lesson was lighting and we explored white balance in more detail. Although I find Ray’s classes the most challenging out of all the classes, I still enjoy the lessons. Usually we are being told a lot of information and sometimes it is difficult to piece all the facts together and apply it to actually using the camera. It is still slightly nerve racking when using the camera however I am hoping to take the camera out within the next couple of weeks which should help me get some more hands on time to practice everything and give me more confidence when using the equipment.

Andy’s television class took place on Wednesday and I have to say that I found it to be one of the most interesting classes we have had with Andy so far. We mostly discussed reality television. This was something that I found very interesting, as it is a very popular phenomenon at the moment, and I am also a fan of some programs within the genre. At the start of the lesson we were asked to write down the names of two people, one had to be a celebrity and the other should be someone who is famous. I wrote down Paris Hilton’s name as someone who is a celebrity and Barack Obama for a person who is famous. It was interesting to see that when everyone was asked to read out the names they had written down the same peoples names emerged again and again. For example almost the entire class either said Jordan or Paris Hilton for the name of someone who is a celebrity. I think that the difference between a celebrity and someone who is famous is that a celebrity is someone who gets lots of attention from the media and is widely recognized by the general public. They are typically seen on television and in tabloid newspapers and magazines. However I think this is different than someone who is famous. I would regard someone who is famous as someone who has achieved something, and so are better respected. For example Paris Hilton has never actually achieved anything of substance and so would not be regarded as being on the same level as a famous person such as Obama, who has achieved a great deal by becoming the president of the United States.

We then went back and looked at some of the major reality TV shows that have made an impact on television. It was interesting to discuss the authorship of reality TV as it linked back well to our lesson the previous week. I think that one of the big appeals of this genre of television is that the audience feels involved; they think they are in control of the destiny of the participants. This is could be a reason why reality TV is watched religiously every week by the viewed. Because the audience is voting to save someone, maybe they feel more of an emotional attachment to program and will watch with others that also like the program. For example the Xfactor is often watched by groups of friends or families, as it is a very interactive medium. However I found it quite sad to learn that the producers have a lot more control of a program than the audience thinks they do. They allow the audience to believe they are influencing the outcome of a show despite the fact they are actually giving them very little control. Obviously I was already aware of this before the lesson, but I think when you are watching a reality show that you like, for example “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” you don’t want to think of the celebrities being taken out of the jungle at night and being taken to a fancy hotel or being given extra food without the audience knowing. It would spoil the program for me slightly if I acknowledged this, because it means that the audience has lost control and no longer have that investment within the show. Overall I really enjoyed the lesson, as there seemed to be quite a lot of discussion, which I enjoy, and I found the topic to be really interesting.

On Thursdays lesson some of the group had tutorials with Adam, however mine was not scheduled until the following week so I had the day off. A group of us also went to see the opera ‘War and Peace’ in the evening. This was a totally new experience and I found it interesting to watch a piece of entertainment totally than what I am used to.

This was followed the next day by watching the German expressionistic film Nosfreatu on Friday, which I really enjoyed.