Fighting is pointless, rugby is dangerous, driving is hazardous but the real risk is found not in any of these things, but actually in ceilidh dancing. Kim Millar warned us of this by injuring herself during a Strip the Willow at the weekend so postponing our Content class where we would pitch our story ideas for Coronation Street. I hope she recovers soon.
The search is on for the ultimate seven minute script idea… In my tutorial with Richard we both came to the conclusion I haven’t found it yet.
Tuesday was assessment day for editing which meant it was quite relaxing, since I only needed to be there for an hour and the actual test (logging and capturing) couldn’t have been easier.
Wednesday morning was used productively as we recorded some voice-overs for Dust. In the afternoon we had a screening of In the Heat of the Night; a slick edgy murder mystery which tackled issues of racism and prejudice. It was one of those ‘only just colour’ films and there was an obvious sense of the movement into a new Hollywood era. It presented some interesting and memorable characters and featured the much quoted line “They call me Mister Tibbs!”. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thursday was a full day of Andy! The morning class was continuing on from our screening the day before with a look at the representation of gender and race. This is of course hugely important and I was struck yet again by the responsibility we have as practioners in this medium of mass communication to produce content which is not only fair but which is encouraging what is good and discouraging what is bad. I am so conscious that so many films blur this principle and excuse themselves by calling it a joke, or style, or realism. We must live up to our responsibilities and be fully aware of the huge effect that films can have for good, but also for bad.
In the afternoon we returned to our study of television and looked at it as a political force. We watched the pilot episode of Boys from the Blackstuff which was compelling viewing though perhaps a little drawn out by today’s standards. I enjoyed the story and could see the political significance but I confess what fascinated me most was seeing King Theoden of Rohan with a black moustache and a broad Liverpool accent!
It was good to see that Adam is still finding the time to teach, and we had a very interesting class on Friday morning looking at the technology surrounding mobile and web-based content. It’s almost scary to see how far we’ve come in such a short time and where we will be in the near future. However the fact is, as Adam is constantly reminding us, no-one has yet managed to harness these new systems and make them commercially beneficial and it’s got to happen soon…
We finished with a short Production class with Abigail where she showed us an actual Strip Board and went over some principles of scheduling. Our homework, then, was to do the same using the script breakdown we had already done. There is something so satisfying about the tasks of the producer. There is much less subjectivity compared to writing or directing; the correct information entered into the correct boxes and the desired results will be achieved.
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