Cast List

Rio Huckle - Playing the homeless girl- Does drama, which enables her to act the character well.

Gary Pearce- Playing the middle aged man, this will make the character more intimidating and more beleivable because he is older and therefore can act the character well.

Shot List For Thriller

Over Shoulder- Business man walks towards girl selling The Big Issue.


Over Shoulder, Medium Close up- Business man hands money to girl.


Medium Close up- Of man's hands handing over money.


Long shot- Business man walks away.


Medium Close up- Homeless girl's face.


Long shot- Girl walks into distance.


Extreme Close up- Girls face, her eye's closed.


Extreme Close up- Girls face, her eye's opening.


Medium Close up- Man's shoes


(SHOT REVERSE SHOT)- Girl, Man's shoes, Girl


Extreme Close up- Girls face, girl blinks, tears run down her cheek.

Once Upon a Time in America Analysis

Once Upon a Time in America (1984)

Director: Sergio Leone

Straight away we establish it is a thriller by the shadows and the archetypal character, femme fatal. She wears pearls which symbolise tears and tears are a sign of superstition. As well as her pearls she wears the iconic red lipstick, red symbolises violence, blood and all things intense. 

She then turns on the light, the woman and the light are the same shade of colour, which signifies that she is the light in this thriller. The shot is almost sepian looking which refers back to the era that this thriller is set in (1930s). Because this shot is lighting her face it creates less mystery and we can see her innocence and purity.

The shot then zooms into the bed where we see 2 bullet holes, then as the woman whips the cover away from the bed we see the outline of a body. This is an iconic police signifier. The police draw around the shape of a body when someone has died, so we know a crime has been commited. Surgio Leone has used this for the irony to show what is to come.

Then as the woman is in utter shock, the shot pans round to show three men standing at the door. They're wearing trilby hars, tweed coats, suits- because they are wearing the same outfit, it shows a collective identity, meaning they work together. The costumes relate to Resevoir Dogs because they also wear the same suits but with different coloured ties- they also stand in a tight nipped group symbolising their fellowship. The shot changes to a low angle shot of the three men framed under the arch. They kill Eve and turn the light off. Eve's name is symbolic to religion, in the bible Eve is tempted by Adam; which shows that she might have done something wrong to have been killed.

This shot is shown straight after the death of Eve, this shows another murder taking place, the contrast of the neatness of Eve's death compared to this once is very dramatic. This scene shows the match on action between the bleeding character and policeman.

 

 

 

Leone has used the iconic worms eye shot of the lift going up the lift shaft. After the scene of Eve's murder and the guy being brutally beaten this adds another element of suspense. The lift is a generic location for a thriller because of its claustrophobic space and easy access to danger. The lighting is very dark, and the use of non-ambient lighting builds the enigma and makes the audience question, what is going to happen? In this shot the lift looks very intimidating, and makes the audience feel small. 

Again Leone has used this worms eye shot to make the audience question what is happening. The shot shows the character upside down, this is a point of view shot from a man on the floor- probably dead. The shot establishes the power of this man holding a gun which again is another reference to killing, violence and crime; which is a re-occuring theme in Once Upon a Time in America. The persistant use of crime in this film demonstrates 1930's America, and how corrupted it was.

In this scene we see the camera pan over dead bodies on the floor, the lighting is chiaroscuro- which is used a lot in thrillers to show bad things in reality such as nightmares or re-occuring bad experiences. In the background we can hear non-diagetic sound of a telephone ringing. As the telephone rings it really heightens the tension in the scene. The use of the phone makes the audience frustrated by the repitative noise of the phone ringing as well as making them question themselves on what is happening.

Jackie Brown Analysis

Jackie Brown (1997)
Director: Quentin Tarantino

Explain how Tarantino establishes the character of Jackie Brown through camera shots and movement.

The first introduction of the main character, Jackie Brown is a low angle, medium close up. Jackie is in the forefront of the screen shot which stands out in the film. We can see by her uniform that she is an airhostess. The angle of the shot as she walks through the aiport is a low angle which signifies her status and moral superiority, the background is blurred out which means that no-one compares to her, they are un-significant and do not need to be shown.

The shot then cuts to the introduction of Ordell and Louis as they sit on the sofa watching American women shooting guns. The low angle shot of them slouched on the sofa shows their lazy personalities and contrast between Jackie Brown who is walking tall and elegant. The title sequence to the programme that they are watching is of the Statue of Liberty shooting a gun, this shows the corruption in America.

The shooting of Beaumont Livingstone by Ordell Robbie

a) Explain how this clip reflects the thriller genre
b) What does the camera angle connote about the character of Beaumont Livingstone.

The introduction of Beaumont we see that he is not wearing much clothing, almost naked, which shows his vulnerability, whereas Ordell has a flashy, vulganity about his outfit, it is all black with gold chains and necklaces- which shows the thriller convention by his iconic dark and proud outfit. The lighting is very low and non-ambient. The low angle shot as Ordell and Beaumont stand over the boot of the car shows power, and his fairly threatening. Ordell's body language as he holds the gun is very intimidating. The boot of the car is a generic signifier of a thriller. Ordell then persuades Beaumont to get in the car with junk food, this shows the obsession with unhealthy and 'greasy' junk food that America has. This is linked to Essex Boys where Jason pushes the victim into the van.

The next shot is a medium close up of Ordell putting black leather gloves on. Black leather gloves symbolise that something menacing or bad is going to happen. You would usually put black gloves on if you didn't want your hands to get dirty.

As the shot pans out, we see Ordell driving down the road. We see a vanishing point, Ordell is going into the unknown which adds enigma. The street is wet and dark with non ambient lighting. Ordell then takes Beaumont into an industrial site which is very concealed and dingy. Ordell opens the boot and shoots Beaumont, this shows Ordell is very detached from his emotions and quite ruthless.

Dont go shopping with Robert De Niro- The shooting of Melanie by Louis Gara. What does this action in broad daylight connote about the character of Louis Gara?

Louis character in this scene is very cold and fierce, his attitude towards Melanie is very dominating, we can see his fear and his need to control her. The music is very 'light' and 'airy' it is almost sounds patronising or the sort of music that would stress you out after a while. When Louis kills Melanie in an open carpark in broad daylight it shows his sadistic personality. He is a complete loose canon, compared to Ordell who plots his murders and is pretty clever about his killings, Ordell hides his crimes by doing them in the dark.

Image Analysis- Screen shot from "Thelma and Louise" Ridley Scott (1991)

Camera Angle:

The shot is a medium close up- this allows the audience to identify what is happening in this scene quite easily. The audience get to have a close up of the expressions on the characters faces, so we can establish what emotions they are going through. The woman is over-powering the man in this shot which shows her authority power.

Lighting:
The lighting is very dark and non-ambient, this adds an enigmatic feeling about the scene. The camera is focused on the characters, meaning the background is blurry which enables the audience to focus particularly on the characters and not the background.

Characters:
The main character in this shot it a women, which challenges the thriller conventions as well as challening the iconic stereotypes in a thriller. Because she is holding a gun it contrasts greatly with the gun being a masculine symbol. The divisions between gender are great, the fact that a woman needs a 'boys toy' to survive.

The man in this shot is being dominated by the woman. You can see his fear as she controls him. It is very humiliating for a man to be dominated, you can see by his face that he is not so confident whether or not she'll actually shoot him or not.

Location:
We can see an outline of a van in the background of this shot, but it is quite hard to identify this shot as being in a carpark. The carpark is a generic thriller convention, which builds suspense because a carpark at night is very lonely and scary.

Props:
The gun is the dicatating object within this shot. Because the prop is a symbol of masculinity we can establish she is a women in power. Holding a gun to someone's head is very threatning especially when the roles are reversed. She has crossed the boundaries.

How does Ridley Scott utilise or challenge thriller conventions in the screen shot from Thelma and Louise?
Ridley Scott has challenged the iconic femme fatale character by role reversing, he has used the woman as a dominating figure whilst holding a masculine symbol. This shows the divisions between gender, and that woman can like 'boys toys' aswell. As well as Scott changing the iconic gender reversal he has challenged the generic location. Instead of using an enclosed, claustrophobic space he has used an open carpark. The fact that cars are a male signifier it links back with the women being dominating in this film. Because males are usually boastful and proud about their cars, this is not a boastful moment of a man being dominated by a woman, frozen at gun point.

Ridley Scott has firstly challenged the generic location of an enclosed space and has used an open car park instead. The cars within the car park are a male signifier, males are proud of their expensive cars, but this is not a proud moment for the man who is at gun point by a woman. He has used role reversal in this scene- the woman is playing a dominating male role, and also holding a masculine symbol. This shows the divisions between genders; it shows that women can also like cars and they can also play with ‘boy toys’ too.

Witness Murder Scene Analysis- IMPROVED

This film is about a young Amish boy who witnesses a murder in a train station, in Philadelphia. Released in 1985 and filmed in American. The film is directed by Peter Weir, nominated for 40 Oscars, and winning 2 Oscars with this film. The budget for the film was $12,000,000 and in total from the USA it grossed $65,500,00 on the box office. The name of the film is based on the first scene where the young Amish boy witnesses a murder.

  At the beginning of clip we see a little Amish boy with his mother, we establish that he is Amish by his costume, which is a suit with a hat. The hat almost looks like a halo, the shot is a medium close up at a of low angle of him looking up at the angel statue with his mouth wide opening, the angel shows his status and little importance. The shot also enables us to see the world through the boy's eyes by his reaction to this huge statue of an angel carrying a dead body. The angel is the, Angel of Resurrection. Even though the shot shows his little importance, it contrasts greatly with what is about to happen because he is about to become the most important witness in a murder investigation. The light is very dull and ambient, it is all natural light flooding into the train station at this point. 

The shot then cuts to a high angle, which is almost birds eye, the shot shows the boy looking up at this statue and we establish that the boy has very little significance and is very vulnerable. Again we see the power of this angel, and the amazement of seeing this statue for the first time. The shot then quickly cuts to the low angle, medium close up of the, Angel of Resurrection statue which quickly shows its intimidating stance on the boy. The shot significantly again changes quickly to a high angle, almost an over the shoulder shot of the angel looking down on the boy, it gives the impression that the angel knows what is to come or that the angel is looking out for the boy. The boy's mother comes to fetch him and they walk off, as they walk off the boy keeps turning around to look at the angel to get just one last glance at this amazing 'thing'. 

It then cuts to a medium close up shot with a vanishing point, the vanishing point coincidentally is the door to the toilets, in which the boy goes into next. The shot shows the boy and his mother on the bench, isolated, with no-one sitting near them. Again this shot establishes the location of the train station as well as showing their exposure to danger in this vast city full of corruption and high risk.

 People may have chosen not to sit near them because of their religion or maybe because being in the city, in a big train station, people know the dangers and want to keep themselves to themselves. The young boy then asks his mother if he can go to the toilet and she straight away says yes, with no hesitation. This shows the mothers naivety of letting her son go alone when he is in a strange place that he has never been to and is obviously not aware of anything being dangerous. As the boy walks off to the toilet, the mother calls after him because he has forgotten his hat, this shows the importance of a piece of clothing but not the importance of accompanying her son to the loo. The mother then puts the hat on the boys son and pats him on the back as if to say, "Everything is okay now". 

The shot then cuts to a medium close up of a white male at the wash basins in the toilet, on his own. This shows the isolation of the man in a claustrophobic space. The lighting is non-ambient with diagetic sound which makes it seem realistic and builds tension with the audience as we suspect something is going to happen. The white male then turns his head to the door and smiles, the shot quickly changes to again another medium close up of the little boy acknowledging the man. The little boy looks around to take in his surroundings. 

Again, the shot changes to behind the little boy, as he walks into the room whilst the male is splashing water on his face at the wash basin. This suggests that he might have done something to make him sweat, maybe manual labour or he could have committed a crime. The tension heightens as the boy chooses what toilet to go into and then. the man is alone. Weir wanted to build the tension of waiting for someone to leave the shot because then the audience knows something is going to happen. The audience question themselves, what is going to happen next? 

As the boy has walked out of the shot, it cuts to a shot through the cubicle door that the boy is in, the boy looks over his shoulder at the man still washing his face. This almost shows his worry that something might happen, or maybe to make sure that he is not left alone in this claustrophobic space. Immediately the shot changes to the man still washing his face, he looks at the door to the toilets, we hear more diagetic sound of the door opening and closing. The man then looks back his hands and then to his right where he see a guy walk past him to another wash basin. The man looks almost distressed, or recognises the guys- but not in a good way. We question ourselves, does he know these guys? Is he worrying about being found out, about something that he has done? But the man carries on washing his face, as if to tell himself that there is nothing to worry about. In the mirror reflection we see a black male walk  to use the urinals, but we do not see his face. This leaves an anonymous presence about these guys that have just walked in. It then abruptly cuts to the crack in between the cubicle door, of the little boy again, the boy turns around to face the wall- he now cannot see what is happening behind him. 

The shot cuts to a medium close up of the black male using the urinal, but then turns his head to look at the other two white males at the wash basins. We now see this mysterious black man's face and we can identify him. Because the man is in a suit we get the impression that he has some wealth and he looks important, there is always a correlation between a man in a suit and wealth, which is used a lot in thrillers. The black male then nods to the other anonymous white male at the wash basins (the one that has just walked in to wash his hands). It cuts to a long shot of the toilet showing its dull non-ambient lighting, which allows the audience to see all three men in the toilet, although we cannot see the little boy because he is in a cubicle, this shows the audience that the other two men do not know that the little boy is there. 

As the anonymous man begins to walk off he gets his jacket and pulls it over the other white male's face, so he cannot see. The shot quickly cuts to the black male's hand as he holds a knife. The shot then again quickly changes to the black male running almost into the camera giving the impression that he is in a rush to kill this male. We then see a a medium close up of the little boy peeping through the cubicle door, we can now establish his facial expressions and his reaction to the witness of this murder. This represents American culture; the negative aspect of America- it shows corruption, contrasts between Amish community and the 'big, bad' city. We are also introduced to the representation of race, how it is very stereotypical of a black person to be a murderer. It quickly diverts back to the murder of this man being strangled and then of his throat being slit, which is very disturbing to watch. Again the shot quickly changes to an extreme close up of the boys eye peering through the cubical door as he witnesses this distressing scene. The man being murdered finally falls to the ground and the shot diverts back again to the boy, as he creeps back away from the cubicle door, his facial expression shows us that he cannot believe what he has just seen as well as him trying to decide what he should do. 

The shot switches to the black male with the dagger in his right hand covered in blood and his left hand swamped in blood as he tries to dispose of the evidence. The shot again switches to the anonymous white male flicking through the murdered man's wallet, as if he was stealing his identity or trying to find something important. The camera pans up to a low angle shot of the black male washing his hands very calmly, as if nothing has happened which portrays the crime that he has just committed as casual and normal, which it is far from. A close up shot of the boy in the corner of the cubicle shows how traumatised he is by witnessing this dreadful act. The shot again adverts to the black male as he is drying his hands, he see by the reaction on his face that he has heard something. As the soundtrack plays the music builds a tension as the black male whips out a gun and starts to open the cubicles. A close up shot of the lock on the boys cubicle door adds builds even more tension with the audience because it is clearly not locked, the shot pans round to the boy as he realises he must lock the door and protect himself. The shot diverts back to the man opening all the cubicle doors and then back to an extreme close up of the boy struggling to lock the door. This is a generic signifier that Weir uses to emphasise the distress of the boy. 

The shot again changes to a tracking shot of the murderer's feet as he is opening each cubicle door. We then see him approach the cubicle in which the boy is in. This shows the danger in which the boy is submerged in. As the murderer realises the door is locked he then kicks the door down, but at the same time the boy slides under the door next to him, as he does so the boys hat falls off, symbolising his halo being ripped off of him, showing that he is not so innocent anymore after witnessing a terrible act of violence. The shot then changes to the boy standing on the toilet with his hands on either side of the cubicle walls. This signifies Jesus on the cross which again implies the boys innocence. 

Mood Board- Costumes

Final Preliminary Task

Witness (1985)

Director: Peter Weir

(The Murder Scene)

Costume: Amish
Identity: Little Amish Boy
Speaks in German

We are introduced to the film with an establishing shot of the little Amish boy, he is looking up at a statue in amazement. The close up shows his emotion. The shot cuts to a low angle of the Angel Statue which adds the intimidating height of this statue to this little boy. Again the shot cuts to a very high angle, almost birds eye, this emphasises the vulnerability of this child again.

The scene changes to the mother and child sitting on a bench, this finally establishes the location and we now know that the location is a train station. The mother allows the boy to go to the toilet on his own, this shows the naivety of the mother by letting him go on his own in this huge, bustling train station in the city.
It cuts a medium close up of a white male at the wash basins in the toilet, on his own. We get the impression that the toilets are a very isolated place, very claustrophobic- this is very simplistic, the dim lighting creates tension so the audience know that something bad is going to happen. Another close up of the guy, we hear diagetic sound of a door closing- this shot symbolises the importance of this man. Again we have close ups of other men in the toilet but we do not see their faces, the enigma begins to build.

The murder happens, we are quickly shown the little Amish boy's eye witnessing the murder, a mixture of dialogue and diagetic sound (sound track) is heard which creates suspense. The close up of the boy with his hands on the lock builds the tension again. The shot changes to the murderer's feet, very threatening. The shot cuts between murderer and witness and we hear a slight noise of the men walking away.

This represents American culture; it represents the negative aspect of America- it shows corruption, contrasts between Amish community and the 'big, bad' city. We are also introduced to the representation of race, how it is very stereotypical of a black person to be a murderer.

Story Board

Kill Bill Vol.1 Opening Scene (2003)

Director:  Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino has very cleverly devised the opening scene to his film, Kill Bill Volume 1. As an audience we are introduced to a blank screen with diagetic sound of a woman heavily breathing in a panicky way. The first shot we then see is in black and white with chiaroscuro, noir lighting of a woman's face lying on the floor, covered in blood. The use of black and white could be a reference to the old 1950's thrillers that Tarantino respected greatly. 

The shot then cuts to a low angle, tracking shot of a man's feet as they approach the woman. The diagetic sound of the footsteps adds emphasis to how frightened the woman is as well as showing that this man is a villain. 

The shot changes back to the woman's face which shows the struggle of power over these two characters. The two different shots establish a relationship or connection between these two characters. The shot continues to stay on the woman's face as the man begins to speak, the first line said is, "Do you find me sadistic?". The line implies that the man has inflicted these injuries upon this woman. As the shot stays on the woman's panicked face we feel sympathy for her as a character, which is the classic femme-fatale.

The man then begins to wipe her face with his handkerchief, which has the writing embroided onto it, 'Bill'. She turns her head away from this action, we can tell that she is uncomfortable with his actions. We now know that the objective of this film is to kill this man, hence the title of the film- 'Kill Bill'. 

We then hear diagetic sound of a gun being loaded, as the woman looks up we can see the fear in his eyes which indicates that he is about to shoot her. She then says her first line, "Bill, it's your baby". As soon as she says her first line he shoots her, we get the impression that she said what she did to prevent him from shooting her, or maybe to panic him after she has been shot. We now know that Bill is a very powerful man and a danger to society for he is carrying a lethal weapon. We get the idea that this film is very dark.

Tinker, Tailor Marketing Techniques

RUBY Tinker, Tailor Use New Technologies to Strengthen Marketing Campaign

Shots I used in my Preliminary Task

Shots I used:

Bird's eye- for when Chelsea walks through the corridor and into the classroom.

Tracking shot- Following Chelsea's feet through the corridor

Close up- At the beginning we have a close up on Chelsea's feet putting out the cigarette and on when Chelsea opens the door.

Over the shoulder- Following Chelsea after she puts out the cigarette, into the building.

Shot reverse Shot- During the conversation between Charlie and Will.

Panning Shot- When Chelsea enters the classroom, the camera pans out and follows her to her seat. 

Thrillers I have seen

• Inglorious Bastards (2009)
  Quentin Tarantino
• Leon The Proffesional (1994)
  Luc Besson
• Seven (1995)
  David Fincher
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
  Tomas Alfredson
• Taken (2008)
  Pierre Morel
• The Others (2001)
  Alejandro Amenábar
• Phone Booth (2002)
  Joel Schumacher
• The Birds (1963)
  Alfred Hitchcock
• Jaws (1975)
  Steven Spielburg
• The Crow (1994)
  Alex Proyas
• In Bruges (2008)
  Martin McDonagh
• Man on Fire (2004)
  Tony Scott
• Rear Window (1954)
  Alfred Hitchcock
• What Lies Beneath (2000)Robert Zemeckis

My Evaluation of our Preliminary Task

What planning did you do? How was this useful, and how did you change your plans?
- Originally our plan was to have a girlfriend and boyfriend having an argument. But we couldn't work out what they should argue about. It was useful because we could brainstorm ideas and choose which one we thought would work best. We changed the boyfriend and girlfriend roles and instead had them simply as friends then we came up with the argument, which was Will being against Chelsea smoking. 


What camera skills have you developed?
- I have developed a lot in my camera skills, I have learnt how to keep a steady hand learnt what camera angles work best for the sort of film you are shooting. 


How confident are you with using the cameras, and has this confidence changed during the project?
- I am pretty confident with using the cameras now, compared to what  to when we were first given them to practice. It took me a while to work out how they worked, but now I have a good understanding. I have particularly developed on how to keep a steady hand and use abstract shooting methods. Me and Charlie wanted to get a shot following Chelsea's feet whilst walking down the character, but without making the camera shake. So we decided to put the camera on a skateboard and push it along steadily to get the right angle we needed. But in the end we did not use the shot because it wasn't very still anyway. My confidence has changed a lot during this project, I now don't worry about putting an idea forward or saying if I don't think a certain shot works. I used to worry about whether or not my shooting skills would work but in the end my confidence grew and I was no longer worried if I had to re-shoot a shot I had originally done. 


What editing skills have you developed? How confident are you with using the editing programme? 
- Before we did our preliminary task I had only edited a few home videos on Windows Movie Maker so was not aware on how to use Adobe Première. Once someone had explained how to capture the video on to the programme and edit it all, I didn't find it hard to use anymore. I learnt how to cut and mute certain clips which was needed for our prelim' which I never knew how to do before. I do need to improve on how to add effects to certain slips and merging them together so it isn't so jumpy.

Winters Bone (2010)

Winters Bone

Director: Debra Granik

Genre: Thriller, Drama, American blue collar film

Critical Review

Haunting, Grim, but somehow Optimistic, 8 August 2010

Author: Mr Impossible (enedrulesyou@yahoo.com) from United States

Winter's Bone is about a 17 year old girl name Rolly Dee set out to find her father who put their house for his bailbond and then vanishes. If she doesn't find him, her family will be turned out to the Ozarks. Challenging her outlaw kin's code of silence and risking her life, Ree hacks through the lies, evasions and threats offered up by her relatives and begins to piece together the truth.

Let me, just begin by saying this movie is perfectly acted. Jennifer Lawrence gives an Oscar Worthy performance as Rolly Dee. I was surprised how excellent she was, because I was sceptical of her in the "The Bill Engvall" show. But she turned me to a believer and boy, she can REALLY act. Her performance actually surpasses some of Meryl Streep's performances. Hopefully the Academy will recognize her and give an Oscar nomination or maybe even a win! The film is well directed by Debra Granik and is easily her best work yet. She definitely has potential to become the "new" Kathryn Bigelow. Anyways the film is really bleak and powerful, but it still has a tone of hopeful in it. Very interesting and mesmerizing movie to watch. It is a bit slow at times, but trust me it never gets boring or dull.

10/10 Highly recommended.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Official Trailor HD

Director: Tomas Alfredson

Film Poster:

Camera training: Still Images:

Here are a few of my still images that I have taken to practice different camera angles. 

Questionnaire

Media Interests

Print Media- I occasionally read the local newspaper to see if there are any local events that interest me. But I usually get my news from the radio or TV. I tend to read fashion magazines such as Look or Vogue, just to keep updated and look what is new for the next season.

Radio Media- I listen to radio 1 because I like hearing new music and they have different shows which introduce new bands and artists which I like to hear and keep up to date on.

Music Industry- I don’t have specific genres of music that I always listen to, I enjoy all music which varies. If I had to put a label on my music I would class it as Indie because I listen to a wide range.

I access my music on the internet. Being a student I don’t have a lot of money so I tend to use free websites.

I think illegal downloading is ruining the music industry. It effects all bands. They cant make money which effects everyone from managers to the people who make the CD’s.

The music industry slightly influences the way I dress, only because I like the fashion. I dress how I want to, I wouldn’t say I am an individual but I dress in what I like. It can influence some people, if there is a certain ‘music movement’ about that people agree with and decide to follow, such as punk- which is significant look.

Video Games- I’m not really into video games, I haven’t played on one properly since I was young.

Video games may have a negative effect on attitude to gender because of the way they that women are portrayed. Games like GTA and Duke Nuke, portray women as prostitutes and strippers which makes women out to be a sort of object or tool for men.

New Technology- New technologies have increased my understanding of the world by making information more accessible. We can now type anything into a search engine and have millions of results.

There is no doubt that new technology has made communicating with others a lot easier. We can send a text whenever and from wherever and receive a reply within minutes. We have instant chat which instantly receives and sends messages and share anything from photos to videos or even music.

Access to films, television programmes and the music industry is incredibly quick. We can watch any films we want online by a click of a button and watch television programmes that were only on live TV 30 minutes before hand.

We can create our own media texts whenever we want. Blogging is on the rise as well as social networking. We can share anything we want, write anything we want to and not be restricted.

Television-  I don’t have any favourite TV channels because all channels have something different on. If I see something I like, I’ll watch it.

I love watching different programmes. I tend to watch drama series or comedy programmes.

Memorable TV programmes-

Summer Heights High- it’s a comedy series following 3 different characters played by the same actor in an Australian school. The director, Chris Lilley has a brilliant ability to play very different, varied characters in a moving but comedic way.

Luther- It was a short series following a detective. Idris Elba who plays the main detective, Luther, has a brilliant ability to play such a stern, troubled detective which makes it so believable.

Feature film- I don’t have favourite genres of film but I really enjoy comedy and thriller movies.

3 Outstanding films:

Inception- Its extremely clever and confusing which keeps you hooked all the way through. The director, Christopher Nolan is very keen, he has an ability to keep you guessing which is hard to maintain throughout thriller films. All of the actors in Inception are brilliant! From the lead role of Leonardo Di Caprio to Tom Hardy, they all portray their characters very well.

Trainspotting- The story line is about a group of friends where drugs effect them. Danny Boyle, the director has the ability to create brilliant, realistic and moving pieces of cinematography. Young Ewan McGregor plays the lead role of a Scottish heroin addict who wants to change his life around- his performance gets the audience fixed straight away. The film has a great soundtrack with the introducing song by Iggy Pop, Lust for Life, which is very ironic for the main fact that it’s a song about having a love for life and all the characters are heroin addicts who have nothing to live for.

Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels- it’s a story about cockneys on a heist where things take a turn for the worst. The director Guy Ritchie does very good  quick camera skills and witty plots. Actors’ in the film are all English and play London cockneys. Vinnie Jones who plays Big Chris in the film can play a brilliant protective Dad as well as a tough  London Gangster.

I prefer to consume films at the cinema. I love the experience you get from the big screen which is not the same experience that you get when watching at home or a portable DVD player.

My favourite cinema is Odeon. I love watching films on the big screen  in a chair that you can just sit back and relax on. Odeon is by the riverside which is easy to get to because I can catch the train from where I live straight into Norwich train station and walk to Odeon within 5 minutes.

I prefer to watch films with other people so you can share the experience and discuss it afterwards. Its not the same if you watch a film on your own and have no-one to talk to about it afterwards.

Conclusion- The only thing that I find offensive is a lot of video games. Most games that are to do with war or killing people are advertised to men. All of the games that involve war and conflict advertise males playing on them. All the characters are men and the only women in them play victims or the damsel in distress. I find that offence because its extremely sexist. In all of the Call of Duty games all of the soldier’s are men and you don’t even get the option to choose which is very sexist for this day and age.

The most interesting  media text that I have read was a book called Elsewhere by Gabriella Zevin. It’s about a young girl who dies and goes to a place called ‘Elsewhere’ where she meets many people on her journey to being reborn again. It made me think about what there is after you die, whether or not there is something. It was a beautiful novel and I couldn’t put the book down.

The media text that changed the way I view the world was when there were the Norway Attacks in July 2011. Anders Behring Breivick, who had expressed far-rightious views, had dressed as a policeman to carry out his bomb attack on government buildings in central Oslo before heading to the island of Utøya, where he shot at least 85 people. It made me think how much we generally trust people, we never would have suspected a man dressed as a policeman was a serial killer. You never suspect anyone who is dressed as someone we are brought up to trust which is a scary thought. So many people lost their lives on that day, all of them innocent.

If I was to construct a media text to communicate to people about the condition of England, my community, popular culture or the state of them contemporary world, I would chose to do it as a short film. I would want to communicate the message that England is still ruled by the class system and that even though we are in the 21^st century some people are still living on the streets, living in rough housing and most of this is ignored by the government.

I have chosen media studies as an option because I loved the look of the course, it all seem very interesting to me and it was something new to do. I’ve toyed with the idea of having a career in media but  I’m still very unsure.