Cathy Come Home

Firstly can i say that the we boy in the film was the cutest child i have ever scene.

ok on to buisness, i knew before it started from what Andy had said that this was going to be shocking, i find it hard to write blogs on shocking things as when your watching it the horror almost washes over you and its hard afterwards to pick single moments out. All you remember is that you found it shocking and that it has made you feel slightly less content than when you walked into the room.

So , i took notes whilste watching it and this is what i got :

• black and white very naturalistic feel.


• the voices are almost drowned out by the ambient noice the general city noice - this really adds to the feeling that they are living on the verge of living on the street.


• very fragmented , which was quite uneasy and hard to watch .


• story works with voice over and dialog - very naturalistic and compelling.

quotes i felt were important from the film:

" love is more important to a child than nice suroundings"

" it was as if they thought it was a crime to have children. "

" why doesnt he do something about it instead of doing something he doesnt beileve in? " - Cathy on the officer who seperated her from her husband.

My notes are so sparse because the film was so captavating , it's so amazing to think that it was broadcast at such a prime time slot and that they could make tv that actually made such a differance.

after Cathy come home was made the governement actually changed legislation. Heres a link if anyones intrested which rounds up in a good general summary Cathy Come Home.

www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/438481/index.html

there was so much socially aware tv in the 70/80's i hope that with my intrest i can bring back important documentaries to the TV. ( not to say there isnt any just that there on at the wrong time and place) Watching this made me want to creat a documentary about how the concervative party will decrease the amount of care given to the society, as my cousin who has quite severe disabilities will feel in the next few years. the programme caused me to be sads and angry and really appreiciate my suroundings . This is real important tv and we need to bring it back .

I gues the future really is in our hands .....

peace

remember me

Why? Were you different? What was unique about you?

A few things I will remember you for:The most unexpected ending I have ever scene.

Letting me fall in love with a talented actor and not a “hot” vampire.

Having the courage to tackle a subject most would think too simple, too boring. In doing so creating a human- relatable and genuine scene which held the audience completely.

This film, I would say was let down dramatically in its structure. i think it was trying to be like 'the air i breath' with interweaving stories and focusing on the one at a time and slowly weaving them together , at times were the story was most interesting the audience were held/captivated and silent but with this came parts were I was tapping my fingers waiting for it to move on , to get going. People got phones out, started to whisper, then silence. For me the most poignant moments were rpatz and his sister, the scene, were she is standing with her hair all chopped of was truly, “re-memorable” and relatable. Like I said it would be seemingly boring- a story line about hair.

This film probably wont be remembered in years as a big hit or one of the greats but i wouldn't pass up the chance of watching it again in the future, it was interesting and purposely delivered.

peace x

a night mare on elm street.

Well this film was quite impressive as it actually managed to scare me!

Iv sat through texas chain saw, halloween you no all the usual hollywood trashy slasher movies and not been scared , quite board in fact. but this one , it caught the right nerve for me and had me hiding my eyes and quivering in my seat. I had previously seen the night mare on elm street box set at a film night and found them to be cheesy very 80's but yes scary to.

I find the idea that no matter how clever or cunning the characters are they have no power over what happens in there dreams. It was heightened by the idea that they were all much more daydreamy in this one and throughout the film you were constantly wondering which was reality and which was a dream.

When we got out of the cinema there was a quiet cheer about us as for the most part the film was allot better than we thought. The acting was fare and there was some very very clever editing which i can't comprehend on how they managed it.

Sam loved the lighting and Chris thought the sound mix was well done , we laughed about this seeming quite studious of ourselves but it shone in the film and it really was well put together.

not a shock then to find it was produced by Michael Bay .

As the story got deeper and the characters found out more and more the horror was left behind slightly by the actual horror of being molested as a child , there were some plot holes which didn't really get answered but hey! it is a slasher movie at heart.

i really enjoyed this film because it did what it said it would on the box and it ( in my opinion) didn't tarnish the iconic "Fredy Crooger" image. In fact in style and in production value it probably did out shine it .

peace xx

reflective on this week

Well it has not been an easy ride this week. However, I don’t think that that is necessarily a bad thing. We were given several deadlines for the end of this week, a treatment and poster for Richard , a treatment for Adam , a summative statement for moodle and 2 blogs one on stagecoach and one on politics. There were meetings for lip dub design team and deli as well .

So yea, pretty busy this week. How do I feel I coped? I think that considering I got everything done and that I didn’t do any all nighters shows I cope half decently. It was a shame I felt that by the time we had Richards class I was almost to tiered to concentrate.

There was allot of confusion as to what happens in second year with Richard and for myself included I wasn’t sure what Richard was really getting at, it seemed to me that half the class will get tutoring and improve and the rest will just be left to their own devises. Feeling tired and realizing as a class I felt that the discussion wasn’t really going anywhere so we moved back onto premises.

I don’t know if it was because I was overly nervouse or because I was being to self critical but it felt in class that Richard struggled with my idea, when I asked for help I was given it in what I found to be very complicated idea’s I wrote furiously trying to stay positive but I felt so embarrassed and very aware of the time Richard was spending on me, feeling almost like the class were getting fed up of heering my idea. This was my reaction in the room but now I think that everyone was just really tierd like myself.

So it was a very thank god its friday feeling in the class, everyone read out their blow up doll ideas and even though its a strange one i can really imagine it working and i think its always good if you can picture something in your head and i really could with this so i'm exited which ever one is picked .

looking forward to next week , its the filming of candid cabaret on sunday and the re-drafting of allot of ideas, this is an exiting time in the academy as everything is being pushed forward to the next level.

i just hope we can all keep up , and i hope personally that i can do my best on a re-draft for richard.

peace xzzzz

stage coach

So, its hard for me to watch a western without thinking of my little sisster, at any given opertunity she would sit down and watch anything atall that involved cowboys and indians, the west and that kinda anoying singalong type soundtack. one of the most depressing favorites of hers was the one that is like the others but everything seems to just go terribly wrong for the whole town in the end. So for me when i heard western i felt i had a pretty good idea what to expect, not that i was dreading the idea of watching it just that i felt i knew what type of thing was going to happen ......

so yes there was the classic chase scene the campfire scene and a showdown at the end but boy was this stylishly done. With lines like,

" an angel in the jungle" and a cracker at the end

"Saved from the blessings of civilisation."

This film is gripping from start to finish.

this is the first western i have seen in black and white so that made a big difference straight away, from the start just visually i was open to the idea that this wasn't going to be just like the others.

There was the perfect road movie cast, the serious brooding John Wayne and the socially ostrocized Dallas who is emplyed to be something of a prostitue, the rich pregnant lady who was nice enough but a bit of a bitch, Hetfeild the swarve good looker and several comic relief’s.

The women are strong characters from the start, even when they are told the cartridge will be in danger and that if they stay on so will they, they refuse to get of and don’t seem that bothered by the idea. There is allot of role reversal with Dallas and Wayne, at one point she goes to serve him dinner and he takes the bowl out of her hand and serves it for her.

The screenplay weaved happily through the upbeat stingy western music. When it comes to longer dialogs with Ringo kid its very stylish and to the point, there doesn’t seem to b a wasted word and Wayne’s execution is word perfect. They never held onto the serious words for that long you always new there would be some comic relief round the corner, which was a really nice touch in the screenplay as it acted as a yoyo effect.

The cinematography was very beautiful to from the wide sweeping shot to the tight close shots inside the stagecoach. These shots were particularly brave as they lingered with no dialog on expression- acting so strong no words were needed, well-polished and lovely lit working to their best advantages with the black and white film. The corridor scene was also a really well lit and framed shot, Dallas was kept in a pool of light and you could just see Wayne highlighted in the corner of the shot.

the classic shoot out scene at the end of the film cleverly cut away from the action instead of shoving it , playing out slowly showing reactions of dallas and the saloon really worked and made a statement that this wasn't just your average cowboy movie .

the moments in the salloon are so tense its horrible , you just want something to happen , the silence is defining as its in such stark contrast to the jogging western music you get so used to throughout the film.

amazing :)

peace x

the blog on politics

Blog on politics:

So how is politics represented on t.v :

Well sadly I do not posses a TV but when I was at home I caught the first of the party debates. Being at home really influenced my watching of the debate as my parents were there shouting at the tv and even worse my little sister was there who completely outshines me in political knowledge. It was nice that this could be a family watch, I felt privileged at how much importance my parents have always put on politics and in the debate I think that the leaders should have dealt with family issues more, clearly in the audience there was a lack of young people, even when there was a question from a young school boy he was surrounded by older people. This looked visually bad and only reflected on how most young people see politics as today, a distant thing that doesn’t relate to them.

I have witnessed one of the conservatives tv campaign’s-adverts whilst watching Britain’s got talent on itv player. I thought it was so disturbing that they were aiming it at the audience that will suffer most – the working class, the ones that the conservatives party will forget about are the ones that are thinking – hey I could do with £150 pounds. This made me so frustrated, as I knew how influential these “testimonial” type adverts are to the working class.

Back on the case of the Conservatives- have you seen the sun today!

Not having a tv means I have to do the old fashion thing of reading the newspaper and I was saddened and shocked to see the page three headliner

“Save these girls from the dole tomorrow.”

What! These girls can only nude model? Is that what your saying. Ok so that is not at all what they are saying, they want to say look guys if you want naked girls vote conservatives. How pathetic, to go so low as to do that I felt was shocking and demoralizing to the party but clearly the sun knows what it is doing. It did influence/ sway the vote with its famous headliner,

“ Would the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.”

This link shows the poster and how the girl’s underwear was photoshoped blue.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2010/may/05/the-sun-page-three-pants

Overall its clear that the political advertising is just like the ones we are currently discussing on Moodle, manipulative to its audience and extremely tacktical and sneaky.

As for the vote, is there a politician I can trust with my future? That is my answer to the question could it have been done differently , yes yes yes! they could all start by simply stating there manifestos and explaining how they are different and telling us all the good points about there parties , instead of backstabbing sleazy adverts and newspaper gimmicks.

Peace xx

in the heat of the night

yet another amazing film and from the same year that the graduate came out , what a fantastic year in cinema. Firstly the opening song by Ray Charles really drew you right in and it seemed so modern with the blurry lights and being so simple with emphasis on the song and its lyrics.

I knew of this film only from my mother telling me how gorgeous sdney portie was in it , just like many films i know by this description - long hot summer being one she comments on allot!

I loved the plot twist at the end of the film , it wasn't what i expected and it got grittier and grittier with the introduction of the abortion idea. The themes in the film were extremely topical at that period in time, the racism was shocking and really unbelievable but it was like that then and i'm glad it didn't shy away from any of it. It stands now as a historic piece, this i felt is exactly how it was for people back then.

The end scene was perfect with the swapping of roles almost as the sergeant takes the suitcase for him, this was a really nice touch and i'm so so glad Virgil didn't apologise for himself .

really nice film. peace xx