First production meeting

During the first production meeting we met our groups and we discussed ideas about what we wanted to see in our film. Esma thought of maybe having something about a father daughter relationship because it is a simple idea however it has depth in it because a lot can come out of that idea although it is simple. Halle thought that we should do something about a girl who is fed up with her life and she is writing a suicide note, everytime she writes a sentence there are flashbacks of her life and everything she regrets (which i added), or telling the story backwards. I thought of a person falling emotionly in different ways and using flashback plus clue to explain it without making it too easy. we found it very interesting how one person from a group would tell their idea and then the other people in the group would add what they thought and then the story would become more interesting than what I thought, therefore I realised that rather than having one persons idea it is better to have more because the story becomes interesting.

class group meeting

story ideas

In our group we came up with different stories that we thought would make a good film. we came up with many stories however when we told the class we got feedback that they were mostly too gloomy and that it would be hard to make a scary film therefore we have to brighten them up. one of our stories was of a girl that gives a boy a pen and then the boy gets all obsessed over her, however to make it more brighter I thought that we should tell the story from the the Boys' point of view and therefore he just likes her and just follows her because he loves her, but although he scares the girl he would never hurt her and he doesn't intend to scare her.


Another story that we thought would work is a story about a suicide note. A girl starts off writing the suicide note and we see flashbacks of all the events that she is writing on the note, and she wants to kill herself because she thinks that no one likes her and she is not even noticed anywhere, its as if she doesnt even exist. But when she is writing the note and she is thinking of all the events that happened in her life she realises that she was never actually alone because although not having any friends the common factor of all the flashbacks was her mother, everytime she was upset and crying her mother always stood by her.
We also thought of a story with a pregnant teenager who goes through so much as her family and friends are against the baby. Howverer then we thought that the story was too common and it wouldn't be as good as we would want it to be

Characters interview

Law abiding citizen

interview with Clyde Shelton


Q. who are you and why did you go did you kill them two men?

My name is Clyde Shelton... I’m an engineer who witnesses the rape and murder of both my wife and five-year old daughter at the hands of Clarence J. Darby and accomplice Rupert Ames; they left me emotionally scarred.

I told by prosecutor Nick Rice that the case was compromised by a bungled forensic investigation and my testimony cannot incriminate either man because I blacked out during the incident. Rice, interested in maintaining his 96% conviction rate, makes a deal with Darby: in return for pleading guilty to third-degree murder, he will provide testimony that will send Ames to death row for what is, essentially, a robbery charge. I was left feeling betrayed. I didn’t think they should have got away with what they did so I killed them both.


Q. why did you make them die like that?

Noone understands the pain they have caused me... its been ten years and i'm still hurting. I wanted them to feel the pain they created in me! That's why they died a painful death... Ames is executed via lethal injection. Due to a chemical alteration he dies in agonizing pain. However Darby was cut alive into 25 pieces.


Q. do you think your wife and five year old daughter will be happy with what you have done?

Yes because they did not get justice and I was doing it from them. Those men deserved what they got... we did not do nothing to them, they have just took whatever they wanted and left but they decided to rape me wife and murder her and my child for what? What did they gain?


Q. Why did you wait ten years to get revenge?

It took me ten years because I wanted to make sure it was well planned and none of these men got away with what they did! Like I said I wanted to make sure they least expected it same way they just came into my home. I wanted them to feel pain for what they did!

Far side of the moon

In class we watch a by Robert Lepage called Far Side of the Moon (La face cachée de la lune) made in 2003. The film is based on the play by the same name by Robert Lepage and Adam Nashman.


Robert Lepage's far side of the moon was very cleverly made as it it had the theme of the moon and reflections throughout the film. the cinematography was really inspiring as he used lot of graphic matching to tell his story and illusions. The props and locations were cleverly used to help show his memories, hopes anbd dreams. I posted this because i think that the film itself has alot visual elements which i found interesting and maytry out in the future.


So begins the epic story of Philippe, a man coping with the recent loss of his mother; the estrangement of his only sibling, his younger brother André; and the mysterious teachings the universe holds for those brave enough to look up to the stars and ponder. Time and place are secondary to Philippe's search for meaning in the universe and his place in it.

The competition between the Soviets and Americans during the space race, the SETI program (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), and memories from childhood and adolescence act as touchstones for this production dealing with the fundamental question, "Are we alone?" Punctuated by Laurie Anderson's haunting score, the far side of the moon is a production that transports the audience to other worlds on the steady wings of Lepage's theatrical magic.

My Photos

In this task we looked at a very interesting film by Robert lapache called the far side of the moon. The film contained cinematography and was very visually pleasing with different things transitionings into diefferent objects. below are some of my attempts to make interesting photo.

in the first two photographs i tried to remake one of the clips in Robert lapache's the far side of the moon when the guy was looking in the washing machine. the rest is just looking at things from different angles trying to make them look interesting.

The journey (Esther & Rachel)

Slideshow: interesting images around the school - Slideshow

in this task we had to go out on location and take photos of interesting things as a little task and make it creative. each of these pictures are in this slideshow because we found them interesting for different reasons. some of the photos are there because they play we the eye making it look like something is happening when it is not and other because it looks like something else. also because of it created different shapes and lines.

Made in dagenham

As a little group trip me and my class went to watch made in Dagenham by Nigel Cole This film was very creative, interesting and made me really think at the end of it. It tells a story about the fight/protest the women of the car company ford in the 60’s had to go through to get equal pay betweem men and women.


The film was actually shot in the dagenham ford factory, and we also found out that a lot of the locations were found based on luck. Overall I learnt about a lot about film making and the detail in character building. he taught us that each character has a way of being that should be followed through so that even though they are not main, or always seen we know the kind of person they are, because every time we see them they do things which reflect their character. he also said that by adding little clues it will help build a character motivation. for example, Lisa is known as the outrageous one because of all the things she does, and we kind of expect her to do some of these things too.


At the end of the film we got to meet Nigel Cole himself... ask him questions and discuss the film. Nigel Cole explained to us that the film was originally meant to be called ‘we want sex’ but due to some out-ruling about the name being to expicted and can not be advertised on bus sides and newspapers ect... in Brittan the name was changed to made in Dagenham, however in other countries such as France were the film has also been released it is called 'we want sex'.
The film was also released in other countries like Finland and Spain etc. because these, just like Brittan also have trouble, getting their films known and accredited worldwide, so it’s kind of like a companionship; others because some of them are still facing non-equal rights in pay between men and women.

The Fall of Lucifer

Lucifer was the angel of music up in Heaven, until try to make plans against God because he wanted to be ruler of Heaven. When God found out what he was planning he casted him away from heaven and he fell in to earth. This is another biblical interpretation of the fall.

Fall of Adam & Eve from God

Adam and Eve fell from God grace when they ate from the forbidden tree; this is one of the biblical interpretations of the fall.

Autumn falls (poem)

below is a poem interpretating the fall as Autumn fall

golden, orange and yellow leaves glimmer in the setting sun
this is one of the first signs that summertime is done
I can hear the soft rustling as they fall from the trees
soaring and gliding as they are blown through the breeze
masses of leaves form into one

plants are decaying,
lifeless and swaying
shadows are growing,
less light is showing
animals sleeping,
no sound or peeping

the whole world knows that fall has begun

Peoms (The fall)

this peomis about the fall of Rome in their war.

MusicVids

The theme, The Fall is interpertated as falling in love. The artist, Alicia Keys... black american tells a story of her falling in love with a white american but her family have prblems with her dating him because of the fall between the races.

Weird and Wacky stories 4

Thief Trapped In Elevator

A 39 year old Swedish thief who wanted to break into a basement
studio was trapped in an elevator for 11 hours. The man took
the elevator to the basement and tried to open the locked
elevator by a screwdriver. However, the elevator was made to
lock up if it was tried to be open by force. The man started to
panic and started ripping out electric cables and tried to set
off the fire alarm. A fire did not start and instead the man
got a visit from the police next morning and was rescued from
the trapped elevator just to be thrown in a jail cell.

Weird and Wacky stories 3

Family To Spend A Week In Shop Window

A department store in London is looking for two adults and two
teenagers to spend a week living in a shop window for their
store. The Knightsbridge store Harrods and white goods maker LG
Electronics are auditioning people to replace the mannequins.
"The hope is that the event will be like Big Brother, where you
can see how people react with one another," said the spokeswoman
for the companies, Katherine Selby. The four people that will
be chosen will be given training for a week on acting and their
media skills. The "family" will be displayed between May 20 -
May 25 for everyone to see. However, they will be allowed to
sleep at night in a London hotel.

Weird and Wacky stories 2

Woman Lives In Car For 26 Years

A London woman, Ann Naysmith, lived in her car for 26 years.
The woman, who was a former music teacher, decided to reside
in her car after she had been evicted from her flat in London.
She has been living in her Ford Consul since 1976. Her car was
however removed by the local council as it was said it could be
a possible health hazard. The neighbours, who became used to
the 60 year old lady, decided to buy her a red Mercedes in
replacement of the Ford Consul." "It seemed a straightforward
and sensible solutions," said the owner of the Mercedes, Sian
Lines. The owner of the Mercedes also added that it was
sensible since the lady had threatened to set herself on fire in
protest.

Weird and Wacky stories

In this task i started to look at weird and wacky stories to give me ideas... so below is some of the stories i found in my research.

Clever Microwave Cooking

This is a story about a microwave. Now, you are one of two kinds of people: either you are the kind of person who knows how to figure out how to operate a microwave, or you are the kind of person who always gets someone else to do it. I've always been able to push the buttons. One day, however, using my abilities produced an unexpected result.

It was a day I went to baby-sit at a house I'd never been to. Or, cooked in. Now, no one expects a babysitter to cook anything particularly complicated. The assignment had been to microwave a hot dog. I put the hot dog on a plate in the microwave and closed the door, and pushed some likely buttons. No go. I sought counsel from the babysitee.
The girl who was to eat the hot dog didn't know how to operate the microwave. I don't remember how old she was, but she must have been over five and under ten. And she was hungry.

I'd tried pushing numbers. I'd tried to find the button you have to push before you push the numbers, but wasn't having much luck. I decided I would try pushing a button labeled "popcorn". It might not let me set the time, but at least it would turn the machine on, and cook a hot dog. I explained my plan to the girl.
She was skeptical. She thought that if I pushed the button for popcorn, it would make the food pop, even if the food wasn't popcorn. I said, no, it'll just turn the microwave on. It'll make it go. It doesn't make everything pop.
So I pushed the button, the microwave turned on, and we watched the hotdog rotate inside the lit box.

After a minute, the hotdog made a sudden, loud noise. A popping noise.
The reason it split was that I hadn't poked holes in it with a fork first, but, of course, the girl was convinced that the reason it split was that I had used the "popcorn" button on the microwave. After all, I'd said that the hotdog would not pop, and it had. Just like popcorn.

She ate the hotdog, we played cards, she went to bed happy, I went home happy. End of funny story? No, not really! You haven't even heard the funniest part.
I had many other babysitting jobs, but I didn't baby-sit for that family again for a couple of years or more. By that time, the girl was almost able to take care of herself.
This time, she made herself some soup using a new microwave (they had had their kitchen renovated). While she was eating, she said: "Back when we had this other microwave, this one babysitter tried to cook me a hotdog, and she pushed the popcorn button on the microwave to make it go..."

Worldwide Storytellers

I discovered some worldwide storytellers in my research:

Gayle Ross (USA First Nation)

Gayle is a descendent of John Ross, Principle Chief of the Cherokee Nation during the infamous ‘Trail of Tears’. Her grandmother, Anne Ross, loved telling stories, especially rabbit trickster tales, and it is from this rich heritage that Gayle’s storytelling springs. She has become one of the best-loved storytellers to emerge from the revival of the art form and has appeared in almost every major storytelling and folk festival in the USA and Canada. Gayle’s repertoire includes trickster tales and haunting Cherokee creation myths. She says she wants to convey the message that people should treat their environment and each other with respect, and many of her stories are intermingled with history about how Native Americans were driven from their land by early settlers. The society for Children’s Literature has given glowing reviews of her first two books, ‘How Rabbit Tricked Otter’ and ‘The Girl who Married the Moon’. Gayle performs in English.

Nazarkul Seidrahmahnov (Kyrgyzstan)

Nazarkul is a Manaschi (teller of the epic stories that surround the great warrior-hero of the Kyrgyz people, Manas). He was born into a shepherding family in 1951 and worked with his father as a shepherd after completing his army service. He had shown an ability for telling tales of Manas from the age of six, having been visited by the spirits of the heroes of the story in a dream. As a result of a storytelling competition in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, Nazarkul become employed by the Kyrgyz state Concert Hall and has worked there ever since. He has travelled abroad promoting his culture through Manas performances and has won several prizes, including the 1998 International Manaschi competition, when his country celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the founding of Kyrgyzstan by Manas. Nazarkul is married and has four sons, and like all Kyrgyz shepherds, is an accomplished horseman. Nazarkul does not speak English and his performance in Kyrgyz and Russian would need mediating by a UK resident storyteller.

Mimi Barthelmy (Haiti domiciled France)

Mimi was born in Haiti and after studying in France, lived for many years in Latin America, Sri Lanka and North Africa. Firstly becoming involved in theatre, Mimi soon began to tell stories using the Haitian oral tradition, which is in Creole. In her fables she intertwines the two languages, French and Creole, to transmit her experiences and feelings. Since the end of the 1980s Mimi has been composing her own stories and telling them alongside traditional narratives, either on her own, or with musicians, in cultural centres, libraries, prisons and hospitals, She has also performed in numerous festivals in France, Haiti and elsewhere in the ‘francophonic’ world. Mimi presides over many judging panels for storytelling. In 2000 she herself received the prestigious ‘Chevalier de L’Ordre National du Merite’ and in 2001 received the ‘Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’. Mimi does not speak English and her performance in French and Creole would need mediating by a UK resident storyteller.

Gcina Mhlophe (South Africa)

Gcina Mhlophe is South Africa’s most celebrated oral storyteller. She has worked since the early 1980s, as an actress and director for theatre, film and television, as a writer of plays, poetry and story (which are published extensively) and as a performance poet and storyteller. She is also involved in training and directing storytellers and other narrative based artists.

Gcina passionately combines ancient and contemporary stories, poetry and songs into programmes of great emotional depth. Her performances reflect a profound cultural re-awakening within South Africa and it is thanks largely to her efforts that African Storytelling is now experiencing a huge resurgence in the country.

Gcina tours both within South Africa and internationally. In 2004 alone she was visiting lecturer at University of Cape Town, conducting Storytelling workshops with second year drama students; she visited schools and universities in Brazil on the invitation of the RSA High Commissioner; participated in the hosting of iBbY Congress in South Africa; undertook an Italian tour to promote the 'Story of Mazanendaba' and toured the UK for the promotion of South African literature, as part of the celebration of 'Ten Years of Democracy'.

In 2005 Gcina performed her show 'Touch the Past, Feel the Future' as part of the 'Thrones of Freedom' series of storytelling for adults, at the Barbican Centre in London.

Laura Simms (USA)

Laura Simms is an internationally renowned storyteller and performance artist. Born in Brooklyn, she has been a major force in the renaissance of storytelling as an art in America since 1968. Her stories range from traditional fairytale, myth epic and folklore from Egypt, Persia, South Africa and Tibet, to contemporary true-life tales. Laura’s major performance works have included, ‘The Seven Princesses’, a retelling of Nizami’s stories within story; ‘Women and Wild Animals’ a collage of ancient myth, poetry and fairytale in honour of the earth and the feminine principle; and ‘Persephone Ascending’ a retelling of the myth of Demeter and Persephone with true life stories. Her work is spontaneous poetry and narrative, often accompanied by uncanny vocalisations, gesture and characterisation.

Riveting child and adult audiences alike, Laura has performed extensively in theatres, colleges, festivals and schools throughout the USA, Europe, Taiwan and New Zealand. She is currently involved with long-term projects supporting Romany culture in Romania. Laura is much respected as a scholar of oral traditions and teacher of storytelling. Her audio and audio-visual recordings have gained many awards.



in this task i start looking at different storyteller from around and finding information about them.

Interesting info

Pangea Day

Pangea Day was an international multimedia event conducted on May 10th. Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro were linked to produce a 4-hour program of films, music and speakers. The program was broadcast live across the globe from 1800 to 2200 UTC, culminating in a global drum circle, symbolizing the common heartbeat of the world. According to the festival organizers, "Pangea Day plans to use the power of film to bring the world a little closer together."

Pangea Day originated in 2006 when documentary filmmaker Jehane Noujaim won the TED Prize. Jehane wished to use film to bring the world together.

Pangea refers to the supercontinent from which all current continents eventually separated. It serves as a reminder of the "connectedness" or unitary nature of all people on Planet Earth.


The goals of this event is:

* Bring together millions of people from all over the world in a unique shared experience.
* Use the power of film to create a better understanding of one another.
* Form a global community striving for a better future.








I thought this was interewsting iunformation because it is information I found in my research about a day that storytellers for all over the world come together and show their ideas/stories.

brainstorm

all the different interpretations

this a brainstorm of all the different interpretations that people may think of the fall.

The fall

Storytelling

How stories can be told..?

A story is a narrative, a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events. Stories can be presented in many different ways such as in writing, drawing, drama (acting) or even dancing or music; almost everything can tell a story. During a narrative shares their thoughts, feelings, reactions, and actions, everything that helps the reader form a picture of the event in their mind. Storytelling is the events transfer into words, images and sounds often by creativeness or exaggeration. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to in-still moral values. The important elements of stories and storytelling include a plot, characters and narrative.

I started looking and researching some of the different ways and looking at some pacific artists and film makers; below are my findings:

Filmmaking

The process of making a film, from an initial story idea or commission, through scriptwriting, shooting, editing, directing and distribution to an audience. I looked into some good filmmakers:

Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle, an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, A Life Less Ordinary, The Beach, Sunshine and Slumdog Millionaire. For the latter Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director. Boyle was presented with the Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Award at the 2008 Austin Film Festival, where he also introduced that year's AFF Audience Award Winner Slumdog Millionaire. On the 17th June 2010, it was announced that he will be the artistic director for the 2012 Olympic games opening ceremony.

John Waters

John Samuel Waters an American filmmaker, actor, writer, journalist, visual artist, and art collector, who rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films. Waters' 1970s and early '80s trash films feature his regular troupe of actors known as Dreamlanders—among them Divine, Mink Stole, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, and Edith Massey.

Waters skirted mainstream filmmaking with Hairspray (1988), which introduced Ricki Lake and earned a modest gross of $8 million domestically. In 2002, Hairspray was adapted to a long-running Broadway musical, which itself was adapted to a hit musical film which earned more than $200 million worldwide.

Music
Feelings and emotions can be shown through use of sound; for example the smooth motion, often in eighth notes, suggests calm and more agitated motion suggests strong emotion and the heartbeat for instance. A horn ensemble playing in fifths and sixths in a fanfare-like style suggests a hunting scene almost universally, at least in western music. Vocal music where there is an association with words as in song or opera, that a story is being told is unquestionable.

A good example of story being told through music is the popular musicial, 'Phantom of the Opera'; Andrew Lloyd Webber- The Phantom of the Opera.



It tells a story about the phantom falling in love with Christine whilst; although she is fasinated and drawn towards the phantom, she falls in love with her childhood sweetheart Raoul. The phantom gets madly jealous, kidknapps Christine, and threatens to kill Raoul. She, to save Raoul, agrees to marry the phantom and kisses him. He then realizes what he's done and then makes Christine go with Raoul, disappearing forever.



Art/DrawingThe earliest forms of storytelling were said to have been primarily oral combined with gestures and expressions. In addition to being part of religious ritual, rudimentary drawings scratched onto the walls of caves may be forms of early storytelling for many of the ancient cultures. The Australian Aborginal people painted symbols from stories on cave walls as a means of helping the storyteller remember the story. The story was then told using a combination of oral narrative, music, rock art and dance. Ephemeral media such as sand, leaves and the carved trunks of living trees have also been used to record stories in pictures or with writing.

A good example of an art is The Boyhood of Raleigh by Sir John Everett Millais


Through looking at this piece of art, you can imagine the story behind the image of what was happening. You get the idea that the man is telling the two boys a story about the sea and it is a long one because of their body language and facial expression of being bored and not interested.