Merchandise Proposal

With my Production I have also decided to make a few bits of merchandise such as a T-shirt, a Mug and a poster.

                                       

The mug reinforces the brand by displaying it prominently on the front, it also features the title and the logo which is an old tree with it's roots wrapped around a book.

                                       

The T-shirt presents the signature logo of the tree and also larger, broader lettering with the title. It also has the slogan of the series.

The Poster is Simplistic to in still a sense of mystery in the reader, the large tome makes it appear likes a story as each episode is a different story. I feel this helps reinforce the image of the franchise whilst still maintaining some secrecy as too it’s contents

Tyrannosaurs questions

How can you Enrich your narrative?

This film is useful as it helps me get a better idea of how to make a character three dimensional, each character in the film has their own agenda but it is clever as it shows that despite some characters appearing hard and tough they have their own insecurities to deal with. This will help me create deeper characters for my TV series

What Elements can bring your Characters alive?

I feel to bring a character alive you have to make them three dimensional, if a certain character is strong and hard he still needs to have some insecurities for the audience to relate to him. Another thing that can help bring characters alive is better relationships. The characters within my TV series should have clear and deep relationships to gain audience sympathies and to help them relate to the character.

How will you actively seek to serve your chosen audience?

My target audience is late twenties to thirties i feel i can attract this kind of audience by cleverly telling a more mature story which is less involved in romance and is more targeted with a clever plot and writing. I feel like this target audience appreciates a clever plot over romance of gore and i want to try and make my ideas reflect that.

Christmas Consumerism

John Lewis

This Christmas Advert by John Lewis promotes itself to a wide audience, for the children it introduces a lovable little companion that children would like and can envision their own toys like this. For parents it is a cute and heart warming advert that reminds them what Christmas is about. I think it is a clever advert as it covers a wide audience and informs the public of John Lewis, yet it does not promote any of their products. Yet the message is powerful enough that it is not needed.

Sainsbury's  

This Christmas Advert by Sainsbury's portrays a real interaction during WW1 where German and English troops exited their trenches on Christmas day and had a football match, this advert is clever in that it promotes the idea that no matter how different people are you can still share and get along. A lot like Christmas spirit

Boots

This advert by boots tells the story of a family who travels from all over the place to celebrate Christmas a day late because one member of the family was working on that day, this advert shows the Christmas spirit of a family getting together to celebrate Christmas their own way.

Horror Film Proposal

Type: Short film

Genre: Horror, Thriller

The opens to a shot of a secluded wood cabin in the middle of a blizzard, the next shot is that of a young woman between the ages of 15-17 taking some food out of the oven. It seems like a traditional 1950s setting of a housewife though she seems rather young. There is the sound of a door opening and the howling of a blizzard before an older looking man walks in, he greets the girl in the manner a husband would a wife. Despite the fact he is many years older than her, there dwelling is fairly primitive it is clear they’re quite isolated.

One day after some time as the older man is out there would be a knock on the door and the girl would open it to find a cold and ill looking man, perhaps lost. He seems relieved to see the girl as she welcomes him inside. He would stay a couple of days until he recuperates. During this time the older man isn’t home as the local town where he fetches supplies is some days away and the trip is a long one. Eventually the man would leave as he heads back to the town. The older man would return with the supplies and gradually come to realize that someone was there in his absence, he seems concerned and shouts at the girl that she is no allowed visitors. As the man returns to town it is made clear that the anniversary of a famous kidnapping some 10-13 years is this week. With all the pictures he begins to notice a striking similarity between the girl he met and this kidnapped girl, they show a picture of what she may look like today and it is similar.

From there the film would be about the man going back to the house and trying to rescue the girl who is unaware about the fact she is a kidnapping victim and doesn’t want to leave the house as she is not allowed. Finally the film would climax with a chase back to the town the “Husband” Of the girl in hot pursuit as he tries to get back his wife.  

Todorov's Theory of Equilibrium: Rain Man

Equilibrium: Charlie Babbitt is working selling cars, his father is alive. He has no knowledge of his brother. He takes a trip to Palm springs with his Girlfriend, on the way he gets a call that his father has died.

Disruption: His father has died and he goes to his funeral, he has been estranged from his father for some years and when he goes to collect his portion of the will he finds that his father’s money has not been left to him. He finds the Pay-out of the will has been given to a man in a mental institution. He finds this man out to be his brother.

Recognition: He ‘Kidnaps’ his brother Raymond, having recognised that he will not get the money without using Raymond as leverage.

Repair: He has bonded with Ray over their trip and once he is in Los Angeles he hands him back over to the mental health workers.

Return: Charlie continues with his car business, has a healthy relationship with Raymond.

Grayson Perry: Who are you?

Grayson Perry is an English artist who doesn’t so much capture his subject’s features, but rather explores their Psychology to give himself a deeper understanding of their character and then propels that into his creations. His latest venture is attempting to capture those who are less portrayed in today’s media. Such as a Transgender man, a white Muslim Convert, a reality star, and a disgraced former cabinet minister. Throughout the program on Channel four he spends time with each of his subjects, painting a mental note of their character which he then uses later in his creations. I think it is a clever take on art, the program was well paced and I found it entertaining despite the fact that art has never attracted me and I struggle with understanding the deeper concepts of it. One of his subjects; the former Cabinet minister Chris Huhne, was probably his hardest subject to capture as he held back and was uncomfortable sharing his deeper thoughts and feeling, trying to make sure none of his insecurities where shown. Grayson’s first meeting with Chris was on the eve of his sentencing where he went round for dinner with him and his girlfriend where they had Tuna steaks and lentils. The reason Grayson chose Chris as one of his subjects is not immediately clear, despite the fact that the subject of the Television show was to explore those less represented. And Chris Huhne would ordinarily be thought of as the opposite end of that description, him being a white, middle classed, middle aged, straight man. The reason for his choosing is that Grayson was attempting to portray his fall from grace.

His other subjects were much more along the lines of what the show was attempting to do from the outset. One of his Subjects, Jazz was a transgendered man who was born a woman but has since taken the steps to become a man. Grayson Perry himself has struggled with his sexuality being a transvestite and he represented the Jazz very well. Showing him as a statue of manliness which is what Jazz had strived to achieve all along, not so much as to be thought of as a macho man. But just to be thought of as a man.

Ryland is the modern example of someone who is famous, for being famous. And to portray this Grayson made him into a small drawing, much like the nobility of the Elizabethan era would wear. This was clever because these members of nobility were only rich and famous because of the exploits of an ancestor long ago. Much like Ryland is only famous for getting lucky, just like the Elizabethan Nobles.

The final subject was that of a White English woman who had converted to Islam after having somewhat of a tumultuous youth and had found Islam the answer to her misguided ways. The piece for this was that of the “British Hijab” which was a clever and somewhat ironic piece as the woman’s place of worship was a converted pub, yet across the motorway was some Islamic looking buildings that housed a large retail park. This was represented well within the piece as it gave a nice juxtaposition between these two places which ordinarily would be the opposite.

Overall I found the program engaging despite my natural ineptitude at art, I liked the way that Grayson Perry was not a conventional artist but in many ways was also a psychologist, studying his subjects to reveal the deeper meanings in their words and appearances. Showing the insecurities that they themselves had not expressed.  

Representation of Races and Sexes within the Media

Testament of Youth Review

Testament of youth is a coming of age story set on the memoirs of Vera Brittain’s First World War experience. This adaptation of the classic book is directed by James Kent and written for screen by Juliette Towhidi.

The story covers a young Vera Brattain as she changes from innocent, if rebellious young girl. To a more grown up and changed character who is more world weary and broken morally inside thanks to the events that transpire within the film. The Character of Vera is played by Alicia Vikander who is well suited for the role, as she has a good knack for displaying a wide variety of emotions without having to speak. The other characters come across with varying degrees of success when it comes to their acting prowess. Another notable performance is that of Kit Harrington, despite not appearing in the film for all that long he delivers a strong a believable performance that complements well with Vera.

In many ways it would be hard for the film to go that horribly wrong, based on its foundations of a strong and much beloved book it would make it difficult to butcher it too bad. Thank fully this adaptation works well, director James Kent Cleverly switches between shots to help you immerse yourself within the story. The director uses a lot of Extreme close ups and over the shoulder shots and relies a lot on the characters, to convey emotion only using their face. Despite the overall proficiency of the actors I felt that some scenes were a little unbelievable, the Director did take a few liberties when it comes to the certain scenes he chose to convey. In a few of them there was very clear “Hero Syndrome” where despite the fact that any other character would have died from that situation one of the main characters would survive it based solely on the fact that they are indeed, one of the main cast.

In conclusion, this adaptation does a proficient job and lives up to the works of Vera Brattain, though in my opinion it didn’t do enough to cement itself as a quality film. It kept my attention for the run time but it was not an experience I would come back too in a heartbeat. I don’t believe I am the target audience for this film but it was well directed, if not risky enough in its aims.

Magazine Article One Evaluation

My article was a game review about a recent release called shadow of Mordor. I covered the three main aspects of the game but I wish I could have gone into some more detail on the certain features. I felt that I waffled a bit and I could have been more direct. Another aspect I could improve on is its length I felt that it was too long for a magazine article; I needed to condense my writing so that I still had relevant information but shorten its length. Another aspect I could have improved on was its presentation, for a magazine article it was limited aesthetically and was not overall an appealing piece to look at.

Overall I felt like it was a good first try but in the future I need to make my articles somewhat shorter and to the point whilst making them more aesthetically pleasing by adding pictures and also laying out the text better rather than the traditional essay format.  

Shadow of Mordor Review

You would be forgiven for mistaking this game for another mediocre Lord of the Rings game, which seek to leach off the well-established and much loved books and films. But no, instead this game does the franchise justice as it strikes out on its own path instead of putting together another half arsed retelling of the stories presented in the books. This is a fresh perspective for Tolkien fans as it is a much needed divergence from the already told stories and instead sets itself right in the middle of the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The game does a good job of using the vast written lore and already established principle set forth by Tolkien, but yet manages to add its own flavour to the mix and bring it into the 21^st century.

Story

The story follows Talion, a fallen ranger of Gondor and a Guardian of the black gates, murdered along with everyone he’s ever loved by Sauron’s black Captains. A mysterious Elven wraith has brought you back from death to exact your revenge on those who took your family from you.

The premise for the story is certainly an interesting one, but unfortunately it is a little short on delivery, despite the voice acting being good across the board I felt it hard to feel for Talion and his plight, whilst he was on his way to murder another village of Uruks. The story seemed to be  gently pushing  you in the direction of something for you to stick your sword into, with very few missions that stood out from the status quo of track, kill, collect. Don’t get me wrong it retained my interest for the ten plus hours it took to complete. But there was little variance on the formula, and when it was it would inevitably be a boss battle or a short break to ride on the back of a giant scaly cat creature.

Combat  

Thankfully despite this short sightedness in the story telling department it turns out okay in large part due to the stellar combat system in place that makes it a lot easier to slay a slew of orcs when you enjoy doing so. It is responsive and simple yet through unlocks and practice you can improve considerably and this makes you feel accomplished and powerful. There is a real sense of progression within the system; you may begin the game timidly taking on three Uruks with some difficulty but once you get the hang of it and upgraded to a few of Talion’s more flashier moves,  you’ll be set to slay a garrison single handed.

You have three weapons to choose from for three different approaches to a fight; you have your sword, which is your standard tool within the melee, though with the inclusion of your otherworldly wraith powers, it becomes a terrifying weapon of destruction which makes the toughest of Uruks seem no more of a feat than stepping on the large spiders that seem to slowly trundle around the barren landscape of Mordor. You would think this sense of god like destruction would make the game too easy; but thankfully the developers have paced it well so you’ll only attain such abilities nearing the end of the game. Your other weapons are your bow and your dagger. Although the stealth gameplay is simple it is useful for thinning out the mass of Uruks before announcing your presence to the rest of them with a sword strike towards an Uruks head. Your magical bow has time slowing powers which are useful when attempting to dispatch from range, making it easier to land a couple of headshots before the bulk of screaming, slavering Uruks are upon you.

By far the best feature of Shadow of Mordor is the nemesis system. This is the first time I have played a game whereby getting killed by an enemy means more than just respawning half a second later and getting another whack at it. No, instead once you’re killed by an Uruk he may get promoted within the army and get some fancy new armour and maybe a scar that you inflicted upon him in your previous encounter; and he’ll remember it so that the next time you meet he might make a comment on how you burned him last time and through learning his weaknesses you might learn he has a developed a fear of fire because of it and can exploit said weakness in this encounter. The system works and by the end of it you might find yourself with a rival whom you’ve been battling all throughout the game yet can’t seem to quite finish him off.  The majority of the side quests, which are an add-on to the main campaign, follows this. You are able to leisurely skulk across the map interrupting various captains’ feasts and hunting expeditions with a sword through their chest, or if you’re not up to scratch, your chest. There is a level of customisation with the weapons as once you kill an orc captain he will drop a ruin which may add a certain modifier to your weapons to make them more personal to you. Later on in the game you get a branding ability,  instead of killing these captains, you’re able to mind control them and put them under your command and send them on missions to disrupt other captains progress and create power struggles within the Uruk hierarchy. The branding system is satisfying and it is gratifying when you’ve done some preparation and turned a warchief’s bodyguard against them and they do all the work for you in hastening his dispatch. 

Setting

The setting of the game takes place within two distinct areas of Mordor; you begin in a barren wasteland much like the Mordor described within the Tolkien books the ground is coloured with different hues of brown and grey. And you end it in the Sea of Nurnan a lush and verdant area. This is a welcome change because the standard perspective upon Mordor is that of Barren wasteland and it is nice for a little variety in the locations. Unfortunately ‘Barren’ can be used to describe the open world as a whole, while it is rather big there is little to do other than the main story missions as the side quests are some variance on ‘Kill this’ or ‘Get this’ and have little imagination or plot development added to them. It would have been nice to see a few more well-crafted side quests which would fill you in on some of the lesser known lore of the areas and perhaps acquaint yourself with some new and interesting characters.

Conclusion:

Positive                                                              Negative

- Good fun combat	- Little to do In the open world
- Faithful to lore	- Fairly weak story
-Graphically appealing	- Short
- Nemesis system

   

Breaking Bad Review

Breaking bad is a Crime Drama show about a the white family, but primarily Walter White who is played by Bryan Cranston, an under achieving chemistry genius turned high school teacher, during the course of the first season whilst working his second job to support his family he collapses and finds out he has developed cancer. The first season mostly follows the events that transpire after Walt develops cancer, once he realises his situation he is immediately concerned for his family who, without out him would struggle further as they are expecting a daughter as well as having a son already who has Cerebral palsy. He then decides that If he should die that he would like to some money. From there the show follows his unravelling once he hooks up with former wayward student Jesse Pinkman, who is played by Aaron Paul. From there it highlights his metamorphosis from normal suburban father into villainous drug lord when he begins cooking crystal meth using his adept chemistry skills and Jesse’s connections into the criminal underworld, throughout the first few series he progresses from a normal if misguided man who just seeks to leave his family some security once he passes, to moral depravity as he commits once criminal act after another in the act of producing his crystal meth. Breaking bad is darkly gripping and features a strong sympathetic lead, the evolution throughout the series is clever as each event unfolds, in all it is a clever show that is aimed at people from their twenty’s through to their thirties.

Love does Grow on Trees: Evaluation

Love does grow on trees is a short film directed by Bevan Walsh, and follows a teenage boy’s journey into adulthood. It is a coming of age story and is centred around the boy’s first experiences with adult magazines. It is called ‘Love does grow on trees’ because when chasing a piece of a magazine he comes across a tree full of floating pieces of pornography. He collects them all and makes his way home. At the bus stop he is met by a girl who seems to take an interest in him, but due to his embarrassment due to the fact he is hiding porn under his jacket he does not interact with her much. This is where the true meaning of the story lies as he is so caught up with the use of these magazines that he becomes short sited to the fact that a real girl is interested in him. He comes to this realization nearing the end when he goes back to the tree with the porn and has an encounter with ‘Saint Porn’ who convinces him to seek out this girl. I think the film is clever and defiantly has a deeper meaning than is shown on the surface, although this sort of film is not for me I can appreciate it from an artistic standpoint as it certainly brings up a few question’s.

Sequences and their uses.

Telling Lies Evaluation

Telling lies is a short film by Simon Ellis, it is represented through Text. It is clever because of its use of colour, it is called telling lies because of the whole premise of this short film is when the actors tell lies the text would give their real meaning. This is clever because the text would flash white when they’re telling a ‘White Lie’. The story is of the characters previous night which did not go well as his Girlfriend kissed another man and then proceeded to ring him to tell him about it.

60 Second Film Evaluation

In this sixty second film I am explaining who I am in as short a way as possible, I explain my interests and Ethnicity. I feel it is a good a quick representation of my character and I felt it was short enough as to achieve the task set. I could have improved on my articulation as I was a bit flustered and had frequent stops, over all I feel like it was a good telling of myself and in the future I could expand on it given the opportunity

Media Class Review

The Dawn of The Planet of The Apes Review

The dawn of the Planet of the Apes review

The Dawn of the planet of the Apes is a sequel to the popular ‘Rise of the Planet of the apes’ which is a good reboot of the original franchise. This film differs from the first as where the original was less action oriented and focused more on the story of Caesar, who is the main protagonist of both films. This film differs as it is told after the events of the first film where humanity has already mostly collapsed and only fleeting splinters of them remain, as well as the now escaped apes roaming the forests.

The story is engaging and has good plot development and strong characters; the highlight for me was Caesar who was played by Andy Serkis. The character is the most intelligent of the apes and is their leader; he interacts well with the humans as he is the only chimp who seems to take pity on them to an extent. There was a lot of vital commentary on the futility of war and violent conflict, the film does not expect you to pick sides too easily as hostility between the last few remaining humans on earth and the intelligent apes arise.

They do a good job of showing both good and characters on both sides as to make it not a straight good and baddie story. The conflict spins more and more into chaos, and there is little anyone can do. As in the previous film the CGI is incredible, with credit to motion capture acting and the accompanying special effects. The gloomy post-apocalyptic atmosphere and great cinematography all adds up to an intelligent and entertaining continuation of the story.

The ending was somewhat disappointing as I felt it did not bring the whole movie together so much as to leave you on a cliff-hanger in anticipation for the third film. The basic plot was somewhat simple; it did not deviate from a fairly standard Hollywood formula. Though this is forgiven in light of the other aspects of the film which make the whole package a good blockbuster and thoroughly enjoyable.

Ralph Film Review

Ralph film Review

Ralph is a Comic Love story set in Southern France in and around the Marseille train station, it follows the story of Ralph a 16 year old boy who has come to France in search of his friend Clare and to declare his love for her. The story opens with Ralph stepping off the train; he looks every part the foreigner and looks out of place as with what he is wearing. He quickly makes his way to a payphone and attempts to put in Claire’s number, but she has left a number out. Then actor does a good job of showing his frustrations at the fact he has a missing number and attempts every combination of numbers to try and piece together his friend’s number.

The cinematography is good throughout the film has a constant muted colour palette which helps with the dower nature in the beginning it also uses a lot of close ups and wide shots for when the camera. Apart from when Ralph is speaking the rest of the film is in French this helps us identify with Ralph as unless you’re able to adeptly speak French you would be just as confused as him, this confusion is helped by the actors portrayal of the character as he has a constant confused look upon his face.

The theme of the film is that of a quest, Ralph comes to France without his parents to find Claire and confess his love for her, although this is side tracked by Julia. Who is the waitress at the café he sits in when he is using the pay phone, when at first she is annoyed with him for tripping her up. By the end of the film she is attempting to help him with said quest in locating Claire for him. But once Claire arrives it is clear to see that she has changed her feelings from him altogether and by the end of the film he is forced to decide between her and Claire.

Overall it is a well shot and directed film, in my opinion in thought the story was a little lacklustre and the conclusion to it was a little dubious. I wouldn’t say it was a film for me but I can see why another person would enjoy it.