CAMERA EVALUATION

I turned up early for my assessment which left me plenty of time to get ready and compose myself. This turned out to be very good idea as Ray mentioned it in my tutorial. He said that you are not only judged on what you can do technically but you as a person. So I was off to a good start. I put the tripod up with no difficultly and balanced the camera. I did not encounter any problems here and I remembered to bring a two pence coin with me to tighten the screws on the shoe.


I then referred to my notes when setting up the view finder. I was quite confident that I knew what I was doing but I thought I may as well check it as it was an assessment. Ray said that the contrast was just a little bit too high. He showed me what it should look like so hopefully next time I will get it spot on. I did the same with the monitor when celebrating it. I looked at my notes to be on the safe side and I was able to calibrate it fine.

Time code was simple as was recording the bars. I did not get it exactly on 30sec I was a few frames out but one day it will be spot on. Then it was time to set the back focus. I did not get it quite right in our last assessment and the same thing happened again. I was just a bit out. After speaking to Ray in my tutorial and think I know what I was doing wrong. I was turning the peaking up to the top and setting it. When it looked good I just left it. What I then should have done was turn the peaking off and check it again. What also could have happened is that when I was tightening the screw I could have knocked it.

I am quite confident in lighting so I picked my lights and set them up with not that much difficulty apart from the power pack on the Dedo kit. I picked the broken one and put that one on. I then changed it for a working one and I had not turned it on. This cost me a bit of time and Ray had to come over and switch it on. At least it was a basic error and I did have my lights in the right place.

Overall I thought it when well. I finished with a few minutes to spare which in a way was good but it could have been a lot quicker. In the real world I would have had a lot less time to set it all up and de rig. Ray said that there was no pace about me. I need to look like I am rushing and working hard. If someone is paying me to do a job then I need to look as if I am worth the money. So things to improve on are back focus and being generally faster at everything.

Lovely Bones.

First of all I would like to say that if I ever hear the words my name is Salmon like the fish I will have to hit something. I have been hearing that in the Lovely bones trailers since last year and now I see the film and I hear it again for what feels like 100 times. Just had to get that out, the first thing wrong with this film.

The second thing wrong must be the structure. We know she dies because it is one the first things it tells us in the film so show us it already. Again what feels about 30 minutes in, she finally dies. This might seem a horrible thing to say. "Hurry up and show us the dead girl." But what you have to understand is that for about half a year I have been told this film is about a girl who dies and is stuck in the in between world. So why show us meaningless crap that has nothing to do with the story for the start of the film. This was not even in the book. I do not care about her little brother I want to taken along the story not dragged through the mud for half an hour. Then she does die and it is quite horrible. The tension builds and you have been waiting for it for ages so that bit of the film is good. However you would think that she would die, is stuck in the in between world then try and help her family from the beyond as her killer is still living next door. But no she fannies around in an annoying pointless cgi world for an hour. I hated this about Dr Parnassus and my feelings are the same with this. I want to be moved not watch massive bottles crash into each other on a beach, what is the point in that. Or see her running in front of a green screen with nauseating images projected behind her. Just get on with it!

Putting the general lack of story behind you, you do have one thing that is good. Susan Sarandon but they gave most of her lines to the monotone voice over which is the "Salmon Girl". What is the point of this? Film is a visual medium so show us don't over describe it in a V.O. If you have to say it then let Sarandon say it. She is so much better at delivering lines than the wee girl. When she was allowed to speak she was hilarious and brought some light to the screen unlike Mark Walberg who showed about as much emotion as a tea pot.

Oh and then there was the killer. If anyone was going to cast this film then they would surly pick an evil, hair tingling man. Someone that could scare you with a single glance and that you would be afraid of if you were to even look at them. Again this film lets us down. They cast a totally stereotypical pedo. Nerd, glasses, skinny and disgusting. This is ok and you can total believe that he could be one but I would have rather seen a killer that looks like he would actually have the bottle to kill somebody. This nerd looks like he could just be pushed over and that would be the end of him. He did not have an evil presence about him like Robert De Niro had in Cape Fear.

So this film drags on for an hour after she dies then they final start to click about the killer next door. You then get to see one of the only good scenes in the whole film. The little girl’s sister breaks in to the house next door to try and find evidence to prove that he killed his sister. This part did keep me on the edge of my seat as she rummaged around his house. If you think about it this has been done a thousand times and better. It is just because it is placed in such a god awful film that it seems good. Once you leave and think about it you realise that it was actually it was a mediocre scene. However it was a ray of sunshine in this.

Overall I was very disappointed. I don't know why this film has made me write such a lengthy blog slagging it off. It could be because I have not blogged in so long so feel I should make up for it or it could be that this is film is just that bad. I would strongly recommend you do not see this film unless you want to watch Peter Jackson try and impersonate Tim Burton.

Reflective statement.

At the start of the module I did not fully understand what TV was. I thought that it was merely a box that showed us TV shows. If you had asked me to have a conversation about TV then I could only have talked about a few shows that I watched. After only a few weeks I realised that I there was so much more to TV than what I had thought. Not only did I start to learn about the programs and where they came from more importantly I learned what TV meant to people and how it influenced them. I was able to understand that TV played a massive part in shaping this country to the way it is now.


TV played in a massive part in people's lives. So much more that it does now. It was new and able to teach people in a way they had never been able to before. I also learned how it impacted the cinema. Before TV came along the only place you could see moving pictures was the cinema. Now that had all changed. TV did not just shape the people but also the way in which cinema was made. It was because of TV that the cinemas started to have to sell a cinema experience rather than just a film.


During this class I have also been able to watch some fantastic TV shows. We watched all sorts of TV and it was very interesting to look at what generations before me used to watch.


Overall I have surprised myself in this module. I would never have thought I could learn so much about something. I know now that I still have more to learn. What I am going to take away from this module is that in future I will look at something that I think I understand and challenge myself to think I might not know as much as I could, i.e. dig a little deeper and you will be surprised and what you can find.

Moodle Me Silly

So we have all been moodling crazy over the last week in order to try and prepare for the big debate. This turned out to be a lot harder than I thought it would be. It seemed like we were fighting a lost cause but I did try my best to convey our argument that TV is basically rubbish.

I first thought that we could just come up with a few solid arguments and that would be it. Simple. However I then found out that we had to research our argument and base our argument on facts. So I suggested some topics that we could look into. Everyone then put in their own thoughts and we quickly all had some sort of area that we could look into. I thought I could look into ratings decline and desensitisation towards certain aspects of TV. I then discovered that is was very hard to prove that because there are less people watching a show at one time it must mean that TV is not as good. There as so many more channels now so there is a bigger audience just spread over a mass amount of channels. I also struggled to prove that shows could not shock people and that now it is the norm to see someone be killed on TV but back in 1980 it would have been a big deal. I did the best I could and thought that I would be able to play a better part in the debate when it was our turn to challenge the other group.

I took down notes of things that I thought I could pick up on as the group was talking. We did challenge them in some of their points but they were able to tear us apart a lot more than we could do to them. I think that we still did a good job and put across our point the best way we could. Everyone in my group researched very well and were all committed to try their best.

Overall I would say that we lost the debate but that is not what I will take away from this. I would never have thought that we could have talked about TV in the way we did at the start of the course. I did not realise how much I had learned until Andy pointed it out at the end of our debate. At the start of the course we were all asked what we thought TV was and I remember answering something along the lines of it is box that shows TV shows and films. This sort of revelation was able to make myself not feel defeated that we had not won and destroyed the other group like we had in Richards’s class. Maybe if I had bought some wine gums for Andy he would have been able to make us win.

City Lights And The End Of An Era.

This was the last silent film we will be watching for a long time in Andy's class's. It was a good one to finish with because talkies had been around for four years and this film shows that words are not important to a story. You could have had dialogue in City Lights but like Sunrise it would have ruined it. This film was to all about looks and little moments. Chaplin thought that he didn't need sound for his films (he was right) and was the last person to make a "good" silent film. I thought that this was his best work out of all of the films I have seen of his. This is because he been making films for quite a few years and has mastered his art. This film was less silly. The jokes where not as slapstick as they have been in some of his older films. I found myself laughing at the situation as a whole rather than him just falling over with style. 

I think that most of the class found this the funniest or maybe it was only Julia's laugh that I could hear as I was sitting beside her. Also we are all now used to watching silent film and can understand them more and what they meant. When I compare it to Battle Ship or Birth of a Nation it is far more enjoyable and much easer to watch. 

I am glad we have watched all the silent films we have. I think it is important to know how it all starred if I am wanting to make a film. I have also learned that you can make a wonderful story with no words and in black and white. I am glad that we will start watching talkies but grateful that I have seen where it all began. 

Precious. A true cinema moment.

I first heard of this film when we were standing in the cinema looking at the screen and it was the only thing on. I had no idea what it was about and Meg said it was about a fat black girl who gets pregnant. I thought this sounded pretty rubbish and decided to go home and make cheesy pasta. I then started to hear so much about it. A couple of days later everyone was talking about it. It was nominated for a few oscars, it was on the news and I was a bit gutted that I had made cheesy pasty instead of going to see it.

So Sam and I bought our tickets and went to the chippy to get some dinner before it started. We were cutting it fine but as you will know if you have ever been to the cinema with Sam you will never go in on time. He says that there are always twenty minutes of trailers and that there is no point watching all the adverts. So we smuggle are chippy in just as it starts.

This screen was packed. I mean sooooo busy we couldn't even see one seat. So still a bit out of breath walked up the stairs and peered into the mass of people looking for some seats. We spotted some at the very back and got a couple to move along so that we can sit together (so i can give sam his pizza crunch and chips). We finally sit down and take our many layers off as it was snowing outside. Then we got out our food. I have never been so embarrassed in my life. We were the people everyone hates in the cinema. Comes in late, makes a fuss about their seats then whips out a sinking chippy wrapped in noisy paper. This was not a loud action film, every bite echoed thoughout the whole screen.


Putting the palaver aside what I thought of the film.

For me I had what Andy has been going on about for ages, a true cinema moment. It was about thirty minutes in and I was engrossed. The whole cinema was silent and then everybody gasped in horror at the same time. I found myself sitting bolt upright and saying "Noooo". I don' t want to ruin what happened because you need to see it for your self. I felt like I was apart of something. Everyone was thinking the same thing at the same time. You could hear a pin drop after it happened. My mum says that she can remember seeing Schindler's List in the cinema and at the end not one person got up out of their seats. I now finaly have a moment of my own.

The rest of the film was great as well. It had a good strong story and plot filled with loads of lows and highs that kept me glued to my seat as it took me on a roller coaster of emotions. I think that this film deserves all the hype it has and if it is not too late then you should see this in the cinema before it leaves.

Peep Show

How funny is Peep Show? I was given the box set for my Birthday and watched all five seasons in the space of a couple of weeks. I loved it. It made me cry with laughter at some bits. It is a bit like the office in some bits. I mean the humor is the same. It is that moment when you can feel that the character wants to crawl into a hole and stay there forever.

I know a lot of people do not like this for a few reasons. They think the camera work is annoying or that they just don't want to watch two guys complain about their life. I think that the camera work is what helped draw me in. I was saying to my self just one more episode, then just one more and so on and so on. They then aired the sixth season and I missed it. I was to busy with RSAMD stuff and other box sets and DVDs that I got. I just started to watch the new season last week and finished it last night. I was able to get it on four on demand.

It started off a bit slow but was still good. It was not until the last episode were it got amazing. I had tears rolling down my face and could hardly breath for laughing. When I think about it I still find my self smiling if not chuckling a wee bit. I can't wait for the next season and will definitely be watching it when it airs this time.

If any one has not seen peep show or is not a big fan I suggest that you try the sixth season online. It is only six episodes and I have not laughed like I did in a long time.

A Song of Two Humans

This silent film was different. In the other silent films we have watched I have thought that having dialogue would have helped them. However in this film Sunrise, it would have ruined it. There was no need at all for it. Everything that anybody would have said was conveyed with a single look or moment. There were hardly any title cards which makes me think that I am wright. This is the only silent film that I have seen so far that has moved me. The kid I thought was a bit silly and did not feel upset. In sunrise I could totally feel what the man and woman felt. I wanted them to get back together and was nervous and sad when I thought that she had drowned at the end. Nosferatu scared me a bit but Sunrise moved me on   more levels.

Also every point in the film was there for a reason. There was not one scene which was out of place and did not mean anything. Each moment was there to drive the story along and make you feel something. A lot of the time in a Chaplin film the moment will be there simple to get a laugh.

It is not totally fair to compare Sunrise to most other silent films as Sunrise was made in 1927 and had had thirty years to perfect the art of film making. Also it did not have a budget. Murnau was given anything he wanted and it shows. The sets are huge and absolutely stunning. This money was definitely given to the right man. He knew what he was doing and why he was doing it. He was able to use light in ways which other people had no idea how to. He first proved this in creating the shadow of Orlok. In sunrise he lit every scene with a purpose. He created a sort of film noir feel.

If you think that silent movies are not for you then watch this one and I promise you that you will change your mind. This is now one of my favorite films of all time and is the last nail in the coffin to convince me that I was totally wrong about silent movies. They can certainly move you, they can scare you, they can impress you with special effects, they can make you laugh and they most importantly they can tell a story well.

FML Again

I had just finished work and got into my car and it would not start. My car is 15 years old so I was not to surprised but was gutted. I have no idea about cars so I went back into work to get Mo who is a mechanic. My lights would turn on but the engine would not start. He said that my battery had died because my lights were very dim. So I started on a quest to find some jump leads. I asked everyone in work then started to ask the public in the car park. I went to every car and asked and nobody had any. I then walked over to the garage and they didn't have any either. I then phoned my dad to see if he could help me. Sure enough with in two minutes of him getting there my car was working. The problem was not the battery. I had not put it into neutral. As it is an automatic it will not start unless it is in neutral. I have been driving this car since September so there was no excuse for me not knowing. I was so embarrassed! But I could not simply turn my engine on and drive away. I made my dad look under my bonnet and pretend to turn things so that all the people in the car park didn't think that I was a complete tool. I would never see them again but I couldn't face the shame as I drove past them. So after 10 minutes of pretending I was finally able to drive away.

FML