What a night!

 

The stage was set, the curtains opened, the actors were ready and the audience were eagerly waiting for the first acts to take the stage.

 

The first play came on and it was magic all night.  Following the theme of 7 deadly sins, the writers all took different angles on how to show this. Plays about the porn industry and the desperation for money for a loved one, the complication of lazy Britain trying to blame others but how could they keep this generation from complaining any more. To 2 girls out on a night, which turn deadly as the seven deadly sins, come out to party to. To a quiet family dinner, which turns deadly once the underlining problems surface. To crazy brides and fat bridesmaids, who all have a waterfall of problems. To 5 men, who get a mysterious letter to come to a clinic, what do they all have in common Lucy? Then ending with a horrible boyfriend, some voodoo and a Lesbian where revenge takes center stage in this play.

 

7 writers wrote 7 amazing plays in less than 12 hours, then 23 actors picked up the script and devoured those words and feed it back to us with such conviction, the deliver was amazing which was clearly due to their skill and the clear directions given to them by 7 amazing directors who made the plays flow into mini master pieces. Which was only enhanced by the music, which was created by our Virgin Veteran band and the costume and set, which was created by our creative set designers.

 

If you missed the performances tonight then you missed 7 never seen world star plays.

 

The last play ended and the crew ran to the station, welcomed by a roaring applauding, and out comes the hat of destiny and a new play idea is picked.

 

Where tomorrow night Vengeance will rule the stage!!

It’s almost time…

The festival is well and truly in full swing, for the writers, actors, set designers,band members and crew.

They have spent the day learning lines, forgetting lines, drinking beer, making music and having fun for tonight. And in last than an hour the curtains will open and the stage shall be set! Thanks to our set designers.

With a little over 30 minutes to go all the last minute preparation are happening, the stage is being dressed up and actors are using these final moments to practice and get ready for tonight!!

Excited!!

Love

Love…? What’s so good about it? Why do we need it? When all it does is trample all over you…you get screwed over each and every time…why do we keep going back to it eh? Ill tell you why, because of the way it makes you feel, oh my goodness, its so real and it gives me goose bumps. Damn, I love it. We all crave it and show it in different ways…I’m shit when it comes to love, I don’t know how its done, but I love it, I try and I fail each time…but I won’t give up, no, I can’t give up. Its not an option. I will find love, one that I will hold on to forever. I’ve lost my love and it kills and I know I can fix it but its to late. He has had enough but I know I can make it work but you can’t make it work with some one who has given up. My love will remain and ill always feel this pain. Cause it flows deep and wide like the free ocean but ill find love again same person or some one new. Because the opposite of love is not hate, its indifference and I’m so beyond be different. My love will always be true yet different.

Living with Dyslexia

Dyslexia is known as word blindness and is not a very well known disability. Many people know that it exists, but not everyone knows much about it or how you know if you have it.

Currently I have been aware that I have dyslexia since October, when i was diagnoised at university following a psychological assessment. At present I still do not  know much about it and until I came to university no one had talked to me about it. I always knew I had trouble with spelling and grammar and the simplest words could be hard to spell. I always thought I was slow becuase past teachers had told me that I was lazy and slow. I had never heard about dyslexia and when I did hear people say the word, I was told that it was another word for laziness or stupidity.
I now know that it is a common disability, which famous people, such as Albert Einstein, Leonardo Di Vinci, Whoopie Goldberg and Richard Branson have. Since being diagnosed I have received assisstive software and 1-1 tuition, which is helping me understand and cope with my dyslexia, although I am still confused about it. I believe I will understand it one day and will not feel such an idiot for not knowing how to spell things.

Personally there isn’t enough done to bring awareness about it, many people are living with it and have no idea and on a daily basis are being called stupid, when they are not. I know the feeling of frustration from not being able to achieve as well as others and feeling really low and like your not worth much.
But if more people did more to bring awareness about it in schools and colleges and not just universities and have people tested when they see the smallest of signs would make a huge differences. Have ad campaigns about it, maybe even a television advert about it or one on YouTube. Few posters making people aware of it and the help available to those who have dyslexia or dyscalculia or dyspraxia.

Poetry Movements

Poetry movements is an event ran by a group of youths in london. This year I was able to be apart of the event as a host and as poet. Young people gathered from different backgrounds to get involved, from the ages of 16-23 it was a time for young people to showcase their work, and show the world, we are doing something. We are not all criminal’s.

The theme for this year was about how the youth are shown by the media. This event allowed them to fight against how they are portrayed using their words. Our own non-violent protest. Working on this project with my friends made me feel like I made a difference, providing young people a place to be themselves and be praised for their works.

However this year poetry movement was not going to take place, because of the lack of interest and advertising. Over the upcoming weeks the team used the time to spreading the word about poetry movement, and even put our own names down to participate. After awhile we had large amount of people signing up.

In my opinion, I would like poetry movement to take place more than once a year. However with the lack of media coverage, it will remain an unknown event. We have tried to get newspapers involved in poetry movement, but no one has really taken an interest. But if we were able to get companies interested, the youth would not be shown in a bad light. We would be able to show the world we are trying, we have talents and show other youths its not that hard, Just try [which is always the slogan for the event].

Light Festival

The light festival, is a festival runs by school children, mainly 13-18. For the children of certain schools. I have experienced this exclusive event a few times during my secondary school time. And was able to help out one year as a PR and Production manger for the acts.

The festival is basically a time for students to showcase their talents and come together with all the schools in the borough. Its a non-competitive event, and to get in is hard. each year gets to pick 5 acts and only 5 gets out of those 25 get to perform from secondary and 5 people from sixth form. Tickets are sold for 3 months and the location is revealed by email to those lucky enough to get a ticket. The event is a private one, and because of this no outside news coverage and you not allowed to brings your own camera. The children who run this event chose their own media team to cover the whole night and it is displayed around all the schools.

This event really got me into media the most, since i was in charge of making sure it had gotten enough publicity and also make sure the acts went off without any problems. Working behind the scenes really gave me an insight in to the media world and how team work was vital and pulling your own weight was a must. Being a PR for this event was very hard, because it had to be a secret and that was hard when it came to advertising this event, because people talk and stopping people from talking was hard.

I think as the years go on it would be good to get outside media to be involved and showcase these talents to the world. Also I would love to attend again! Reading the articles and seeing the pictures I had taken before the show and after, made me realise that although I’m not good at it all, but I will make a place for me in this industry.

Studentship Week 23

I feel like I have learnt about the different types of media, such as animation and what it is, who invented the Steroscope, who Emile Cohl is and what he is famous for and about CD and Cassettes and what RSS stands for.

I think the style of the studentship task is ok, I feel it should be a little more interactive, instead of giving us the answer straight away, maybe click on it and it shows us if we was wrong or right. But it is laid out well and easy to read. However for me its quite a lot to take in quickly and remember it.

I liked that it was all separated into different categories and I could click the contents button and navigated around to pages i wanted to go back and read again. What I didn’t like is that for me that is a lot to grasp and since it doesn’t interest me, that much its hard to concentrate on. although it is helpful to our course I still could grasp certain information and remember it, it took me a while to get most of it.Also liked that i gave us information then asked us a question about it and then along with the answer it gave us more information, which was very useful.

I think that it should be written in mind that people with dyslexia are going to read it to and maybe make it a little simpler or get it to read the information, because i know that was on the other task but they it did not work. I think it has plenty of information and  I would improve it by making it about modern topics if possible.

I personally think not really, because I couldn’t remember what I had read  but i think having a test after it pushes me to concentrate more and take my time with it so I can get good marks on it. For this module I felt like it properly hasn’t helped me much because read and taking in information for me is difficult but has taught me more about the subject and during the revision period i think looking at them again would help me do better on the exam.

Pan’s Labyrinth (Guillermo Del Toro, 2006)

A young girl by the name of Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) at the death of her father surrounded by war is left at the mercy of her sadistic army officer step father. Desperate to get away from him she periodically escapes into a supernatural but captivating fantasy world. This is a unique hybrid film because it’s generic coupling of war drama and childish fantasy.

This [tear jerker] won three Oscars and another seventy two awards including awards for Best Performance by a younger actor, Best Screenplay were among some of the awards it collected. I first saw this film a few years ago and was fascinated by it but too young to understand it, I have since then watched this film a million time several times over and now see it as a remarkable film, so brutal but beautiful in the way its portrayed, magical but realistic and it has a amazing cast.  The way in which the protagonists’ innocence is contrasted with the brutality of the war is truly moving. The actors shone in their roles, Ivana Baquero starred as Ofelia, she did not only play the part but she was the part, I felt like she wasn’t playing a character, she had me captivated throughout drew my focus in at all times. Her performance made me feel like I was there in the movie with her experiencing her pain alongside her and all I could do was watch. Her performance was the standout of the film.  Her performance was Alice-like going through holes talking to creatures that shouldn’t talk and partaking in quests to get her back to her parents. Sergi Lopez who acted as Captain Vidal, was astounding, his performance did justice to the truly sadistic Captain but yet as the film went on I began to gain some understanding as to why he did what he did, what made him who he was, and why he behaved so horribly to Ofelia and what’s his end goal was. Doug Jones gives a towering thundering performance as the guardian of the labyrinth Pan, full of grace and charm belying a hidden agenda, in which he promises Ofelia help to return her to her real parents. his presences is quite menacing and he should be approached with extreme cautious but he was able to gain Ofelia’s trust and get her to partake in dangerous tasks –which I’m not certain if they were in her head or part of real life- that would get her back to her real parents, her real life as Princess of the moon and stars.

The actors are just half the reason not the sole reason for the films excellence. Perfectly edited and written, the cruelty of a Post-Civil War Spain contrasted with the magical world which spellbinds Ofelia in, forcing her make choices and decision that influence the outcome of her very existence brings to the forefront the main theme of the film. This film is all about making choices. Ofelia, her mother Carmen and Mercedes the house girl, even Captain Vidal all had to make choices that would affect their lives. Good and bad ones, they discover no matter how bad a situation is there is always a choice to make, but in this film that choice can mean the difference between life and death. This film is extremely violent and those who are easily disturbed I advise u proceed with caution, each scene contains a moment of brutality but it has a purpose, nowhere is gratuitous.

This is truly a Piesa maestra and Guillermo Del Toro’s greatest work to date.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/awards

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0457430/ http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3836608793/

Extortion in the Cinema

Cinema prices are getting even more ridiculous. I was reading a blog in The Guardian about the high prices of snacks and drinks. Which made me think, why are the prices so ridiculously high?

Cinema’s ‘concession’ make up 20% of a cinema’s revenue but makes up 40% of its profits. And that’s what they use to pay the staff and keep the place running.
For a small popcorn, a drink and some sweets you will propably pay at least £12. Which is ridiculous! Buying a bottle of coke for £3.80, when you can get it in the shops for £1. Buying popcorn for £4.75, when you could get the same kind of quality or better a lot cheaper from Tescos. A day out to the cinema is getting a lot more expensive and difficult. There were the good old days when you could get away with bringing your own food in, but now security searches you. Along with all the high food prices, the ticket prices are getting higher. The Odeon has different prices for peak hours and super saver (Monday-Thursday before 5 pm) the difference between the price is £1, which does not make much difference becuase what school child is available before the hours of 5pm?
I personally believe that cinema prices will continue to rise, which means we, as consumers, are more likely to buy pirate dvd’s or watch it online for free with our cheap popcorn and the ability to pause and go to the bathroom without missing anything, which could mean the end of cinemas and good films.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/mar/07/cinema-snacks-a-view-to-a-killing

The Guardian’s New ad campaign

On 2nd march 2012, I watched the advertising campaign on ‘open journalism’ for The Guardian on YouTube and thought the idea of usng the three little pigs was amazing idea, which Editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger used  to explain and explore what he has termed ‘open journalism’.

Open journalism allows readers to express their views, a place where readers and contributors can challenge, debate and discuss any newspaper article online. The Guardian has adapted to the emergence of social media and has branched out making their newspaper widely available on all different types of platforms such as, in print, online/electronically and radio. The idea is that the newspaper is moving beyond the physical newspaper.

The more platforms that are available make it possible for more readers/viewers, and people to have their say.Non-readers, such as myself,would find it more attractive to read, if there was more of a interactive aspect to it.

The newspaper industry is no longer as popular as it was 10 years ago, therefore newspaper companies will struggle to generate income. We know that a large proportion of their income comes from advertising, but content wise, with the articles being online, everything is free to access. Does that mean that if newspapers continue to branch out more into different platforms, will more people buy less newspapers? Would this result in a dramatic drop in the amount of physical news papers being sold, although it has been declining for years?

Personally I do not believe this will get any worse, as newspapers are one of the longest running types of media alive and preferred by most people, who enjoy picking up a copy and reading it. Newspapers do not have the problems of getting good or any signal underground to connect to the internet. So I think they are safe for now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/open-journalism?CMP=BACNETBNR12363