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.