I skipped into the Academy on Monday morning (still in desperate need of sleep) for a Technical class interrupted by a request from Deborah Richardson-Webb of Contemporary Performance Practice (CPP) for a film crew. Here I pause in momentarily extreme caution… CPP… This is a personal journal, after all, and as such I ought to be expressing my personal feelings, at all times, honestly. I will, but in a separate post and maybe even in a dissertation at some point! I have so much to say on this subject but for now I will put it from my mind.
In Barbara’s class we looked at TV schedules and analysed them in a bit more depth. I was completely ignorant of the accepted types of programme that will be aired on certain days at certain times so this was very helpful and allowed me to view my own idea for a TV Drama in the light of when I think it should be aired and the audience to which it would appeal.
Mercifully our Tuesday morning class was cancelled so I managed to catch up on a bit of lost sleep from the weekend. Screenwriting that afternoon was an exploration of tension in films and the difference between anticipation, where we know something is going to happen but don’t know when, and suspense, where we don’t know something is going to happen but sense that it is. I was thrilled at the how straightforward it actually is to create tension and I am eager to try incorporating it into my writing, when we move on to longer scripts.
On Wednesday morning I attended the technical class which I should have been at last week. It was all relatively straightforward, nothing new, just more practise on three-point lighting. I now feel quite confident with this method and ready to face the assessment.
In Andy’s class we are now looking at advertising and it was quite a surprise to think that on commercial television the programmes are made to fill in between the adverts rather than the other way round. It is actually logical when thinking about it because of course the money comes from the advertising. We watched a documentary called The Rise of the Ad Man which unfortunately was presented by an extraordinarily boring guy whose voice somehow managed to increase the weight of my eyelids considerably. However, in spite of this, it was a very informative documentary which gave an interesting insight into the history of television advertising and those people who began it all.
Our timetable was clear on Thursday, which was fortunate as I had quite a bit of catching up to do, except for a half hour class in the evening with Ros Maddison from TPA who gave an interesting and engaging talk on Communication. It is useful to note that with neither mouth nor arms communication is a good deal more challenging!
King Kong is a great movie. The action, the adventure, the spectacle, the character, the sensitivity (the length!) all make for a thoroughly entertaining cinematic experience (oh, helped by the chocolates from Andy), which was, I admit, more easily enjoyable than Peter Jackson’s remake. There was a pace to the film which moved the story along and maintained the excitement and sense of adventure. It seems to be, as Andy said, the ultimate popcorn movie and, unlike Peter Jackson’s version, I would have no objection to watching it again and again. However, on saying that, I feel it necessary to defend Peter Jackson’s King Kong with a reminder that it is a different film. Yes, the original is entertaining and exciting but that is all it can ever hope to be, particularly for a modern audience due to the obvious presence of newly born special effects, and there is simply not enough substance to allow it to be anything else. On the other hand Peter Jackson’s version is what I would call rich. Perhaps indulgently rich in some cases such as length and effects but also rich in good ways such as emotion, story, character, realism, colour and experience. I would argue that where the original can be viewed no higher than at a ‘popcorn’ level, Peter Jackson’s allows for immersion, believability and wonder. I must question whether I would have enjoyed the original King Kong less had I not seen Peter Jackson’s version which added that extra dimension. They are both good films, they are both different films. One gets on with it; the other really takes its time. One is very consumable; the other is very filling. One is charm; the other is awe. Frankly, I like them both.
Adam gave us a brief introduction to a new module exploring Mobile and Web-based content which should be interesting as it seems this is, whether we like it or not, the future.
Well, having just stated last week that Production “hasn’t quite got off the ground” it seems that without warning the ground has simply disappeared. Abigail gave us a very intense session on different types of Producers supplying a huge amount of information in a rather short period of time. However at least we’re definitely learning something now and I feel we’re going to be making good progress in this class from now on which is exciting.
Everything’s very busy right now what with course work, script re-drafts for Richard, two additional projects in collaboration with TPA and singing and Gaelic on the side. I hope it stays that way but it did occur to me as I was floundering about trying to keep on top of it all, that possibly, sometime soon, I may need a bit of a holiday.
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