I think we all felt rather ashamed after Screenwriting this week. Richard had asked for the speakers of the debate next Monday to prepare their speeches and none of them were at an adequate level. However we got our act together throughout the rest of the week and I began to really look forward to the debate.
A nice relaxed class with Adam on Monday afternoon and we watched Takin’ Over the Asylum; a classic example of bleak Scottish filmmaking. Seems to have more depth than most American TV shows which can be very sugar-coated and one dimensional. However, this means it is not so easily consumed; it is a bit too heavy and serious. I did enjoy the spectacle of David Tennant as a ‘loony’, as they put it; quite a contrast to the good old Doctor.
Exciting stuff on Tuesday morning. Basically a job offer for an event known as Show Light. It’s not so much a job offer though as an opportunity for the BBC to take advantage of cheap student labour but of course I’m fine with that because we get experience on a live shoot and the chance to almost run a studio (and free meals!). The guy did talk for ages about who they were hoping to have speaking (which doesn’t really affect us all that much) and used up almost all our camera time. However we had enough time to get out the monitors and learn how to calibrate both them and the viewfinder.
I had rather a busy Wednesday. MER meeting in the morning, which was very interesting and I think will be very useful in the future, then a Programme meeting and then we watched Erin Brockovich. Yet again, I underestimated how vital the star was to the success of the movie. As a Julia Roberts film it was rather good. As a Stephen Soderbergh film it was fairly average. We were covering structure of a screenplay on Monday and I did notice that the film managed to follow very closely the accepted Hollywood structure. I suppose the real story was pretty good Hollywood material from the beginning; a single mother taking on a big company. It’s that kind of David and Goliath situation again which audiences always enjoy.
We’re getting on to a bit of marketing in Andy’s class; looking at trailers and posters. It’s terrible really. How commercial the whole thing is. I actually really enjoy looking at how they sell films but it is a bit of a shame that it seems to be all about the money and very little about how good the film is.
Good Night, and Good Luck was actually a really good film. I liked the style and the attention to detail but it was quite a tiring watch. It seemed a lot longer than it was simply because there was no music to move it along and they did use rather long clips of actual 50s television footage. Ever since studying The Crucible in Higher Drama, which Arthur Miller wrote in response to McCarthyism, I’ve been very interested in that period of history. So this film was very illuminating on how exactly events happened and the part Edward R. Murrow had to play. When I read his speech I had imagined him as rather a benevolent, kindly gentleman; rather different from the character portrayed in Clooney’s film. It annoyed me that he would look at the camera to say "Good Night -" and then look away when he said "and Good Luck" as if he didn't really mean it. He did it everytime and I would think Ed Murrow would have been much more sincere than that. One other thing struck me whilst watching it: they smoked a lot of cigarettes in the 1950s!
The Ross/Brand incident, where they left an offensive message on Andrew Sachs' answering machine, was discussed in class on Friday morning. What it shows, I think, is that the BBC is not taking sufficient responsibility for what it broadcasts. What concerns me most is that the BBC should be providing a service for the public and it is the first place people go for quality TV or radio. We have to ask: are we getting the quality we expect? In my opinion the answer is no. If that is the case then something must be done.
Friday, 31 October 2008
Saturday, 25 October 2008
Week 4 - "Rosebud..." [Dies]
We watched some short films in Screenwriting. They were interesting but nothing spectacular in my opinion. I tend to think of short films as being merely a stepping stone to making features, or for compiling a show reel, but I suppose when thinking about it they are a form in their own right. What makes it difficult is that there is less time to tell a story in a short and therefore they normally focus on character or symbolism or they just end up being purely abstract. I believe every film should say something but I think sometimes in shorts people try and say too much. Simple but powerful is the best combination I think.
Discussed demographics in Adam’s class. I don’t like generalising society into ‘classes’, it seems unrealistic, but I suppose it’s necessary. I certainly learned that it’s no easy task coming up with an idea for a programme that everyone will enjoy. We came to the conclusion that sit-coms were the best bet with Friends being an example of a programme that is relatively universal.
Tuesday was a good day. Camera and more camera. We finally got our hands on the kit and learnt how to set up and take down a tripod and camera. It was slightly monotonous and repetitive but I actually really enjoyed that. Yes I’m eager to get going and learn the finer skills but I learn best by doing things over and over again, until they become second nature, and therefore I am perfectly willing to spend as much time as necessary on perfecting the basics.
On Wednesday we watched Citizen Kane. The greatest film ever made; for it’s time, perhaps, but since then it has been surpassed. My expectations were so high, I suppose, that it would have been hard pressed to meet them and unfortunately it under-shot quite considerably. However, it shows that what it takes to really advance and revolutionise anything is for someone to be brave and carefree. Then again it is also a gamble; I think Welles got lucky.
For me ‘Rosebud’ represented a childhood memory that had emotional value for Kane particularly because it recalls the time when he last saw his mother. Kane spends the whole of his life trying to recreate that security and satisfaction but goes about it in entirely the wrong way. He holds onto that ‘Rosebud’ memory like a family relic until the very last and perhaps realises, at his death, that it is still of greatest value to him than everything else he has gained. Also I thought that the actual meaning of the word ‘Rosebud’ could have significance (besides the alleged rude metaphor). It could represent a picture of a flower that has not bloomed. Even at the end of his life Kane remained a bud, he had not opened to reveal the flower that he could have been. Roses are often referred to as the most beautiful flower of all and if the rosebud symbolises Kane then it suggests he had the potential to become a metaphorically beautiful person but never did.
What I really did like about the film is that it is ultimately a story of a man who is looking for love. It highlights the futility of worldly pursuits such as fame, success, power, popularity and shows that there are some things that money simply can not buy. This is Kane’s fatal flaw. He has all these things but he lacks love for – and from – others. This is the reason he never blooms and remains a ‘Rosebud’. In a way this film harks back to good old Macbeth. A tragic hero whose ambition causes him to gain everything that is fleeting, and lose everything that is important.
We watched Broadcast News (Albert Brooks was hilarious) which made me think how much we accept nowadays that presenters are chosen for their looks and also how much fiction is being dressed up as fact. It’s scary to think how passive we are about the whole situation when quite frankly it’s wrong; news should inform and it shouldn’t matter what the presenter looks like if they’re good at what they do. I talked to my dad about it and he said that he has seen a dramatic decline in the quality of the whole BBC over his lifetime.
Embarrassingly I slept in on Friday morning and ended up turning up ten minutes late for class. I felt rather annoyed with myself since this was my first offence and there was really no reason why I should have slept through my alarm. Thankfully Andy was merciful.
Discussed demographics in Adam’s class. I don’t like generalising society into ‘classes’, it seems unrealistic, but I suppose it’s necessary. I certainly learned that it’s no easy task coming up with an idea for a programme that everyone will enjoy. We came to the conclusion that sit-coms were the best bet with Friends being an example of a programme that is relatively universal.
Tuesday was a good day. Camera and more camera. We finally got our hands on the kit and learnt how to set up and take down a tripod and camera. It was slightly monotonous and repetitive but I actually really enjoyed that. Yes I’m eager to get going and learn the finer skills but I learn best by doing things over and over again, until they become second nature, and therefore I am perfectly willing to spend as much time as necessary on perfecting the basics.
On Wednesday we watched Citizen Kane. The greatest film ever made; for it’s time, perhaps, but since then it has been surpassed. My expectations were so high, I suppose, that it would have been hard pressed to meet them and unfortunately it under-shot quite considerably. However, it shows that what it takes to really advance and revolutionise anything is for someone to be brave and carefree. Then again it is also a gamble; I think Welles got lucky.
For me ‘Rosebud’ represented a childhood memory that had emotional value for Kane particularly because it recalls the time when he last saw his mother. Kane spends the whole of his life trying to recreate that security and satisfaction but goes about it in entirely the wrong way. He holds onto that ‘Rosebud’ memory like a family relic until the very last and perhaps realises, at his death, that it is still of greatest value to him than everything else he has gained. Also I thought that the actual meaning of the word ‘Rosebud’ could have significance (besides the alleged rude metaphor). It could represent a picture of a flower that has not bloomed. Even at the end of his life Kane remained a bud, he had not opened to reveal the flower that he could have been. Roses are often referred to as the most beautiful flower of all and if the rosebud symbolises Kane then it suggests he had the potential to become a metaphorically beautiful person but never did.
What I really did like about the film is that it is ultimately a story of a man who is looking for love. It highlights the futility of worldly pursuits such as fame, success, power, popularity and shows that there are some things that money simply can not buy. This is Kane’s fatal flaw. He has all these things but he lacks love for – and from – others. This is the reason he never blooms and remains a ‘Rosebud’. In a way this film harks back to good old Macbeth. A tragic hero whose ambition causes him to gain everything that is fleeting, and lose everything that is important.
We watched Broadcast News (Albert Brooks was hilarious) which made me think how much we accept nowadays that presenters are chosen for their looks and also how much fiction is being dressed up as fact. It’s scary to think how passive we are about the whole situation when quite frankly it’s wrong; news should inform and it shouldn’t matter what the presenter looks like if they’re good at what they do. I talked to my dad about it and he said that he has seen a dramatic decline in the quality of the whole BBC over his lifetime.
Embarrassingly I slept in on Friday morning and ended up turning up ten minutes late for class. I felt rather annoyed with myself since this was my first offence and there was really no reason why I should have slept through my alarm. Thankfully Andy was merciful.
Friday, 17 October 2008
Week 3 - So it begins...
Unfortunately I was away competing at the Royal National Mòd in Falkirk for the majority of this week (that makes it sound like I hated it; actually it was very enjoyable… I came first in all four competitions!) so my experience of the first actual classes was somewhat limited.
The first hour of screenwriting was very productive though. We started with a simple game called ‘Statues’ (Richard always begins by doing a warm-up exercise to get our writer brains ticking) in which two people froze in certain positions and we had to create a story around that image. I got a good one going about an honourable soldier determined to do his duty even when it costs him his life. Feature film material! The short time I had in that class was enough to convince me it would be really enjoyable. It seemed like the perfect setting for ideas to come alive.
Content Origination was on Tuesday morning because Adam had been ill on Monday afternoon. We got a good introduction to this module and made a start on analysing television content and compared channel schedules. It was rather gratifying, in a way, to be told by Adam, two or three times, that we were not the lowest common denominator audience. Sure enough even within that one lesson I felt like a much more informed audience member than your average television viewer.
I missed out on a class that afternoon with Gavin; setting up our Edit Share accounts. I did take the necessary steps to catch up on that score.
If I thought the old Creative Beginnings was over then Wednesday morning proved me wrong. I knew it was coming, I just couldn’t be bothered. What made it worse was I arrived well before 9am to ensure I wouldn’t be late only to discover it didn’t actually start until 9:30. Not a good start to the day! Of the Group Presentations that morning I will say little – I prefer to forget – but it was obvious some groups had done more preparation than others. It was interesting however to get an overview of the previous two weeks from different people’s point of view. Anyway, enough of that. Creative Beginnings is over.
We had the first of our Programme Meetings at lunchtime that Wednesday. Not much to talk about yet though, we’ve barely got started.
Wednesday afternoon we watched Inside Man. I like heist movies in general so I enjoyed it but what I liked most was that this bank robbery was completely harmless. The tension rested on the fate of the hostages when in fact there was no threat to them at any point. I am fascinated by stories where the bad guy is not actually doing anything that bad but fools the good guys and the audience into thinking he is. To be fair I did actually guess, about a third of the way into the film, that the robbers did not intend to be violent but the clever placing of the fake shooting of the hostage caught me out momentarily. I did think that the tone of the film was slightly too light (maybe because of Denzel Washington) meaning that I did not feel enough concern for the hostages. I was expecting a good old gun fight at any minute when I should have been worried sick that someone would pull the trigger. It didn’t feel real enough to me. What amazed me most was the selling point of this film. 76% of the audience went to see Denzel Washington. I did not realise; first, that Washington was such an influential actor, and second that a film’s success could rely almost entirely on who stars in it.
I missed both Andy’s classes on Thursday but caught up sufficiently by looking at the slides which he emailed us.
On Friday morning we watched The Truman Show. I had not seen it and I loved it. It’s scary how close it has come to reality (no pun intended) and one wonders if TV will ever become that extreme. I’d managed to get a glimpse of the goings on in a BBC live edit suite during the Mòd and the director demanding what cameras to cut to rang true in the film as in real life. What fascinated me most about the film is that it makes the point that even if we lived in a world that was perfect, and we discovered that it was not the real world, we would still want to escape to the imperfect real world. It’s a similar idea to The Matrix, in ways, but in this case more realistic. Ultimately I suppose this is because humans are constantly searching for the truth. We are greedy for answers. It’s like we know there might be something bigger out there and we would sacrifice our present relative comfort in order to know what that is. An interesting one, this constant search for the truth. Something within all of us that needs to be satisfied… a hunger. I know a few people who seemed to have found a way to satisfy that hunger. They’ve found truth but surprisingly it wasn’t in learning, spirituality, some inner revelation or anything like that. In fact they simply call it faith in Jesus Christ….
The first hour of screenwriting was very productive though. We started with a simple game called ‘Statues’ (Richard always begins by doing a warm-up exercise to get our writer brains ticking) in which two people froze in certain positions and we had to create a story around that image. I got a good one going about an honourable soldier determined to do his duty even when it costs him his life. Feature film material! The short time I had in that class was enough to convince me it would be really enjoyable. It seemed like the perfect setting for ideas to come alive.
Content Origination was on Tuesday morning because Adam had been ill on Monday afternoon. We got a good introduction to this module and made a start on analysing television content and compared channel schedules. It was rather gratifying, in a way, to be told by Adam, two or three times, that we were not the lowest common denominator audience. Sure enough even within that one lesson I felt like a much more informed audience member than your average television viewer.
I missed out on a class that afternoon with Gavin; setting up our Edit Share accounts. I did take the necessary steps to catch up on that score.
If I thought the old Creative Beginnings was over then Wednesday morning proved me wrong. I knew it was coming, I just couldn’t be bothered. What made it worse was I arrived well before 9am to ensure I wouldn’t be late only to discover it didn’t actually start until 9:30. Not a good start to the day! Of the Group Presentations that morning I will say little – I prefer to forget – but it was obvious some groups had done more preparation than others. It was interesting however to get an overview of the previous two weeks from different people’s point of view. Anyway, enough of that. Creative Beginnings is over.
We had the first of our Programme Meetings at lunchtime that Wednesday. Not much to talk about yet though, we’ve barely got started.
Wednesday afternoon we watched Inside Man. I like heist movies in general so I enjoyed it but what I liked most was that this bank robbery was completely harmless. The tension rested on the fate of the hostages when in fact there was no threat to them at any point. I am fascinated by stories where the bad guy is not actually doing anything that bad but fools the good guys and the audience into thinking he is. To be fair I did actually guess, about a third of the way into the film, that the robbers did not intend to be violent but the clever placing of the fake shooting of the hostage caught me out momentarily. I did think that the tone of the film was slightly too light (maybe because of Denzel Washington) meaning that I did not feel enough concern for the hostages. I was expecting a good old gun fight at any minute when I should have been worried sick that someone would pull the trigger. It didn’t feel real enough to me. What amazed me most was the selling point of this film. 76% of the audience went to see Denzel Washington. I did not realise; first, that Washington was such an influential actor, and second that a film’s success could rely almost entirely on who stars in it.
I missed both Andy’s classes on Thursday but caught up sufficiently by looking at the slides which he emailed us.
On Friday morning we watched The Truman Show. I had not seen it and I loved it. It’s scary how close it has come to reality (no pun intended) and one wonders if TV will ever become that extreme. I’d managed to get a glimpse of the goings on in a BBC live edit suite during the Mòd and the director demanding what cameras to cut to rang true in the film as in real life. What fascinated me most about the film is that it makes the point that even if we lived in a world that was perfect, and we discovered that it was not the real world, we would still want to escape to the imperfect real world. It’s a similar idea to The Matrix, in ways, but in this case more realistic. Ultimately I suppose this is because humans are constantly searching for the truth. We are greedy for answers. It’s like we know there might be something bigger out there and we would sacrifice our present relative comfort in order to know what that is. An interesting one, this constant search for the truth. Something within all of us that needs to be satisfied… a hunger. I know a few people who seemed to have found a way to satisfy that hunger. They’ve found truth but surprisingly it wasn’t in learning, spirituality, some inner revelation or anything like that. In fact they simply call it faith in Jesus Christ….
Friday, 10 October 2008
Creative Beginnings – A Retrospect
A lot of this module was very personal and geared towards ME: my needs, my concerns, my problems, my experience. Being introduced to the Programme staff, the Academy building and other staff, the Academic Administration and Support Department (aka ‘The One Stop Shop’), Health & Safety, the Principal and ultimately the Creative Beginnings module – and what was involved in it – was all very interesting and helpful and, although tedious at times, necessary. Despite all the introductions it took sometime before it finally sunk in that I would be here, at the Academy, for the next three years at least. In fact, if I’m totally honest, it never really sunk in.
The first proper Workshop was led by Contemporary Theatre Practice students in their second year and it involved running round in circles, playing games and mapping out (both mentally and literally) a map of our lives up to the point when we got into the RSAMD. I assume it was supposed to help us get used to reflective practice (which it did to a certain extent) but it made me realise just how little I remember of my childhood. I think this is probably because it was a happy one. I have very few painful experiences from my early days branded into my memory which I am very grateful for.
Whilst we’re on the subject of ‘me’ we may as well skip to the last Workshop we did in Creative Beginnings; Personal Development Planning. If the first workshop was to help us look back, then this one was certainly to help us look forward. It involved considering what I have achieved, where I want to get (by setting goals), what might prevent me from getting there and how I can overcome those barriers. This is all well and good and I understand the necessity for looking ahead but I am always cautious when it comes to focussing on oneself. I believe setting goals is important, achieving them is important, achieving success can be important but these things should never be top of the priority list. If they are they can lead to a mind which is self-centred, self-obsessed, insensitive, uncaring and ultimately power-hungry. The creative industry is a collaborative industry so such a mindset should be avoided at all costs.
Of the Body Image Workshop I will say little. I had thought this would be a very integral part of the module; learning how to be a healthy practitioner, exploring body image as portrayed by the media and the ethics concerning how we perceive others’ physicality. Instead it seems it consisted mainly of a slightly over-weight pretentious woman telling us to spell rude words using our bodies. At this stage in the module I was impatient to get started on the actual course anyway and I couldn’t help feeling this was a waste of my time. I got very little from it.
Where Creative Beginnings really succeeded for me was in the workshops which were designed to highlight the importance of collaboration. I think especially of the infamous Dérive. I think it would be fair to say that most of the students (myself included) were rather sceptical about how effective a silent walk around a city would be. It turned out that it was very effective for scaring members of the public. If there is one thing more threatening than a group of ten youths walking towards you it is a group of ten youths walking towards you in complete silence. There’s no telling what they’ve got in mind. However I do readily admit that it was a unique exercise that I would not have had an opportunity to experience in normal circumstances (and yes, these are not normal; I’m at the RSAMD for goodness sake!) and therefore it was worth it. Creative Improvisation and the Film Discussion were other examples of workshops that illuminated the importance of collaboration and etiquette.
All in all Creative Beginnings did what it said on the packet. It was full of Creative mumbo-jumbo and it was the Beginning of my experiences and relationships at the Academy. I feel I will come to be grateful for it, sometime in the future, but at present I’m more grateful that I’ve actually started doing what I signed up for.
The first proper Workshop was led by Contemporary Theatre Practice students in their second year and it involved running round in circles, playing games and mapping out (both mentally and literally) a map of our lives up to the point when we got into the RSAMD. I assume it was supposed to help us get used to reflective practice (which it did to a certain extent) but it made me realise just how little I remember of my childhood. I think this is probably because it was a happy one. I have very few painful experiences from my early days branded into my memory which I am very grateful for.
Whilst we’re on the subject of ‘me’ we may as well skip to the last Workshop we did in Creative Beginnings; Personal Development Planning. If the first workshop was to help us look back, then this one was certainly to help us look forward. It involved considering what I have achieved, where I want to get (by setting goals), what might prevent me from getting there and how I can overcome those barriers. This is all well and good and I understand the necessity for looking ahead but I am always cautious when it comes to focussing on oneself. I believe setting goals is important, achieving them is important, achieving success can be important but these things should never be top of the priority list. If they are they can lead to a mind which is self-centred, self-obsessed, insensitive, uncaring and ultimately power-hungry. The creative industry is a collaborative industry so such a mindset should be avoided at all costs.
Of the Body Image Workshop I will say little. I had thought this would be a very integral part of the module; learning how to be a healthy practitioner, exploring body image as portrayed by the media and the ethics concerning how we perceive others’ physicality. Instead it seems it consisted mainly of a slightly over-weight pretentious woman telling us to spell rude words using our bodies. At this stage in the module I was impatient to get started on the actual course anyway and I couldn’t help feeling this was a waste of my time. I got very little from it.
Where Creative Beginnings really succeeded for me was in the workshops which were designed to highlight the importance of collaboration. I think especially of the infamous Dérive. I think it would be fair to say that most of the students (myself included) were rather sceptical about how effective a silent walk around a city would be. It turned out that it was very effective for scaring members of the public. If there is one thing more threatening than a group of ten youths walking towards you it is a group of ten youths walking towards you in complete silence. There’s no telling what they’ve got in mind. However I do readily admit that it was a unique exercise that I would not have had an opportunity to experience in normal circumstances (and yes, these are not normal; I’m at the RSAMD for goodness sake!) and therefore it was worth it. Creative Improvisation and the Film Discussion were other examples of workshops that illuminated the importance of collaboration and etiquette.
All in all Creative Beginnings did what it said on the packet. It was full of Creative mumbo-jumbo and it was the Beginning of my experiences and relationships at the Academy. I feel I will come to be grateful for it, sometime in the future, but at present I’m more grateful that I’ve actually started doing what I signed up for.
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