Today in my group we went out to find local businesses to interview for part of our exercise for tomorrow. We need to find businesses to interview about being a local business in the Maidstone community, and why Maidstone is their choice of city to set up a business in etc.
We succeeded, after speaking to Six different companies.
The first, "The Grinning Demon" agreed to let us interview them.
The rest we got however were maybes. We went to a Cornish pasty shop, they gave us the email of the people higher up to them, they gave us the go-ahead in store, but said we just need permission from the big dogs, if it were.
Otherwise we went to the fancy dress shop, who agreed if we catch them at a time they are not busy, they will do it for us, which went the same for a pawnbrokers and a music store.
So hopefully we can get some good interviews, and test our new skills that we have learnt!
Thursday, 18 October 2012
Narrative and Genre - The Story of Narrative - Breaking Bad
In our lecture the other day, we learnt about what is known as "The Magnificent Seven". These are the stories that are used to communicate the whole picture in a television series or a film. A writer and theorist named Christopher Booker, argued (along with many other theorists) that these stories can all be broken down into 7 different main plot lines. These include:
- Tragedy
- Comedy
- Overcoming the monster
- Voyage and return
- Quest
- Rags to riches
- Rebirth
When applying this theory and looking at Breaking Bad, i realised that it can fit into about three of these different categories, being Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches and Rebirth - I shall go into more detail about them now.
Overcoming the Monster - In Breaking Bad, the main character Walter White is battling inoperable lung cancer. The story throughout the series shows his ongoing struggle with the illness. While at one point, it does seem he has beaten it, as it goes into remission, but as the series progresses, in very minor ways it catches up to him. Now, having reached the final series (the second half of which is being aired next year), it does hint at the cancer maybe properly taking over again. Obviously in this example the Cancer is the "Monster". I also had another idea, being that the "Monster" that Walter White faces, from around the middle of the third series and progressing onwards, is in fact himself. He goes from being a small time, nice, chemistry teacher, to a proverbial "God" in his drug manufacturing business. He becomes darker and darker going to more extremities as the series progresses, becoming a completely different person as the world around him changes, and he adapts to fit this. It shows that the Monster he has to overcome, is in fact himself.
Rags to Riches - Walter goes from having nothing, to eventually becoming one of the wealthiest people imaginable. In an iconic scene in the most recent episode at the end of the first half of season 5, Walter's wife takes him to a storage facility, and reveals a mountain of money the size of a small car, under a giant sheet. (He has been giving her money to launder, but it has become too much for her so she ends up having to take it to this storage facility). This is rags to riches in the literal sense. Usually there is an antagonist in this story line, who moves in the opposite direction mirroring this. A character named Gus Fring in BB fills this role. As Walter becomes higher up in the business, Gus ends up losing everything.
Rebirth - I mentioned this in Overcoming the Monster. Rebirth story lines show the character finding a new reason for living and turning their life around. Essentially, the drug trade does exactly this for Walter White, who goes under the name "Heisenberg" when he gets deep involved in it, and he turns into a completely different person, not necessarily for the better!
Monday, 15 October 2012
Narrative and Genre - Breaking Bad Heroes
The main character of the breaking bad series is Walter White, who goes by the alias Heisenberg. He is the main hero of the series but it is relatively difficult to decide what kind of hero he actually is. In many respects he is your typical antihero. He displays many of the characteristics you would get of an anti-hero:
- He is selfish and cares only for his personal well-being.
- He will harm anyone who comes between him and his personal happiness.
- He is a wanderer.
- He tends to favor violent acts.
- He does not care who gets hurt as long as he benefits.
- He has a general negative attitude towards life.
Narrative and Genre - Breaking Bad Genre
When talking about the Genre of Breaking Bad, you could consider it quite a difficult one. Whereas its main genre would probably fall under the category of Thriller and Crime. These would be classed as the main genres because a) the show is entirely about crime, and b) a thriller because all the conventions of a typical thriller can be seen in it, including tension/suspense, it takes place in a mixture of urban/suburban areas and there is a fair bit of violence which most thrillers tend to adopt as one of their conventions, though that can be mixed in with the Crime genre as well.
There are a few more sub-genres involved within it as well, such as some black comedy elements, and it could also be considered a serial drama as well, as it uses some of the conventions shown within all of these as well, but mainly it is a Crime Thriller I would say.
There are a few more sub-genres involved within it as well, such as some black comedy elements, and it could also be considered a serial drama as well, as it uses some of the conventions shown within all of these as well, but mainly it is a Crime Thriller I would say.
Narrative and Genre - Chosen Tv Series
The T-V Series I have chosen to use in my Narrative and Genre piece is Breaking Bad. I thought this would be a good series to use, as I know rather a lot about it, with it being one of my favourite television shows ever made.
The basic premise of it being, that a Chemistry teacher is diagnosed with in-operable lung cancer, and decides to team up with his ex-student to start cooking Crystal Meth, so he can come up with enough money to support his family when he is dead.
I know I have a lot to say about the series, and the idea of heroes/genres and the narrative used within are rather interesting as it is not your usual kind of show, with a distinct proper Hero that necessarily matches with the themes involved with in it.
The basic premise of it being, that a Chemistry teacher is diagnosed with in-operable lung cancer, and decides to team up with his ex-student to start cooking Crystal Meth, so he can come up with enough money to support his family when he is dead.
I know I have a lot to say about the series, and the idea of heroes/genres and the narrative used within are rather interesting as it is not your usual kind of show, with a distinct proper Hero that necessarily matches with the themes involved with in it.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
Work Experience - Take Me Out!!!
On Friday I did my work experience on take me out, and had a very good day!
There was a fair bit of waiting around at first, but then the day was mostly filled with being a stand-in for the girls, during the Paddy rehearsals and the Boy rehearsals. This involved pressing buttons, and answering questions the boys, or indeed Paddy gave to us! I also got a chance to sit in and watch the Girl rehearsals, which was very fun to say the least!
I also met these 2 ladies who had come down for the day, named Samantha and Noelle. They work for a production/media company in London (I did not catch the name of it) but they are directly involved with all the large entertainment programmes, such as X-Factor and Britain's got Talent, as well as Take Me Out! They were down for the day, from their base in London, to see how the filming of Take Me Out was going, and to see what they do to prepare for the evening show in the day. They did the same as me, standing in for the girls. After getting into talking with them and spending the whole day with them, they gave me an opportunity I could not turn down! They both gave me their names, and told me to add them on Linkedin. They said that I was free to get into contact with them whenever I wanted, and they can find me work experience or part-time work. They also said that once I graduate, even if I haven't been in contact with them for a couple of years, remind them who I am, and they could very likely hook me up with a permanent job! It was very exciting - I chose a very good day to do my work experience!
Ciao for now!
There was a fair bit of waiting around at first, but then the day was mostly filled with being a stand-in for the girls, during the Paddy rehearsals and the Boy rehearsals. This involved pressing buttons, and answering questions the boys, or indeed Paddy gave to us! I also got a chance to sit in and watch the Girl rehearsals, which was very fun to say the least!
I also met these 2 ladies who had come down for the day, named Samantha and Noelle. They work for a production/media company in London (I did not catch the name of it) but they are directly involved with all the large entertainment programmes, such as X-Factor and Britain's got Talent, as well as Take Me Out! They were down for the day, from their base in London, to see how the filming of Take Me Out was going, and to see what they do to prepare for the evening show in the day. They did the same as me, standing in for the girls. After getting into talking with them and spending the whole day with them, they gave me an opportunity I could not turn down! They both gave me their names, and told me to add them on Linkedin. They said that I was free to get into contact with them whenever I wanted, and they can find me work experience or part-time work. They also said that once I graduate, even if I haven't been in contact with them for a couple of years, remind them who I am, and they could very likely hook me up with a permanent job! It was very exciting - I chose a very good day to do my work experience!
Ciao for now!
Direction Unit - Revised Idea
So after the Group Crit session we had last Tuesday, I have taken my story into consideration and I have made some considerable changes to it, whilst also keeping the premise relatively the same.
I am still going for an internal fight within the female crack addict character, but removing the physical violent act of the drug dealer at the end, and focusing a lot more on the struggle with the girl. It has also given the piece a lot more depth and makes it seem like I'm telling a story rather than having a random act of violence committed at the end.
To start off, the girl walks in the park, in order to clear her head, and get away from everything as she attempts to battle her addiction. Once again, she will still be dressed the same, messy hair, no make up, bags under her eyes, with large over-sized dirty clothes. As she is walking along she picks up a wooden stick and starts mindlessly playing with it. A short ways down the path, she gets the stick caught up in the tire of the bicycle of a passing cyclist. The man on the bike falls off the bike, knocking the bike and the girl down. As they tumble, a small bag of drugs (crack) falls out of the mans hoodie's pocket. As they get up the man checks his pocket in a fluster, as if he is looking for something. As the girl stands, she picks up the bag showing it to him. He quickly takes it off her as she asks "is that...?". The man reluctantly nods, and looks at the girl, and asks her if she wants to buy some. Tempted, but trying to resist, the girl reaches for it, but shakes her head and runs over to a nearby bench. The man smiles to himself, as if he has come up with a scheme to make some money off this girl. He cycles over to her and the bench, and sits down next to her. He slides the bag of drugs to the middle of the bench, saying "If you want it... take it" implying to leave money as well, but he stands up, and cycles slightly further away, so he can not see what she does. As she looks at the bag, she does not know what to do, scared and confused, she doesn't know whether to take it or not, and is really struggling with the choice. After a short amount of time, she tells herself "one last time" and grabs it and takes some immediately. The man returns to find her on the floor, clearly having had an Over dose. He panics, see's the bag is open, and tries to find a phone on the girl. Finding one, he dials 999 before pocketing the bag and cycling off in a panic, leaving her on the floor.
It DOES seem like a lot, and like I might not be able to fit it into 3 minutes, BUT i have just got into vast amounts of detail there. In reality, not that much happens visuallywise and it can be done, I have it all planned out. I have very nearly completed my shot list and my script, ready for my shoot on Thursday, of which I am certain will run very smoothly as I know exactly what I want, know what locations I shall be using.
My crew has already been assembled as well
Myself - Director
David Anga - Camera
James Ogden - Lighting
And my cast:
Girl - Tory Stewart-Wooler
Man/Dealer - Jamie Shaw
I am very excited to shoot it, and to edit it, and if all goes to plan, the finished production should look very good!
Ciao for now!
I am still going for an internal fight within the female crack addict character, but removing the physical violent act of the drug dealer at the end, and focusing a lot more on the struggle with the girl. It has also given the piece a lot more depth and makes it seem like I'm telling a story rather than having a random act of violence committed at the end.
To start off, the girl walks in the park, in order to clear her head, and get away from everything as she attempts to battle her addiction. Once again, she will still be dressed the same, messy hair, no make up, bags under her eyes, with large over-sized dirty clothes. As she is walking along she picks up a wooden stick and starts mindlessly playing with it. A short ways down the path, she gets the stick caught up in the tire of the bicycle of a passing cyclist. The man on the bike falls off the bike, knocking the bike and the girl down. As they tumble, a small bag of drugs (crack) falls out of the mans hoodie's pocket. As they get up the man checks his pocket in a fluster, as if he is looking for something. As the girl stands, she picks up the bag showing it to him. He quickly takes it off her as she asks "is that...?". The man reluctantly nods, and looks at the girl, and asks her if she wants to buy some. Tempted, but trying to resist, the girl reaches for it, but shakes her head and runs over to a nearby bench. The man smiles to himself, as if he has come up with a scheme to make some money off this girl. He cycles over to her and the bench, and sits down next to her. He slides the bag of drugs to the middle of the bench, saying "If you want it... take it" implying to leave money as well, but he stands up, and cycles slightly further away, so he can not see what she does. As she looks at the bag, she does not know what to do, scared and confused, she doesn't know whether to take it or not, and is really struggling with the choice. After a short amount of time, she tells herself "one last time" and grabs it and takes some immediately. The man returns to find her on the floor, clearly having had an Over dose. He panics, see's the bag is open, and tries to find a phone on the girl. Finding one, he dials 999 before pocketing the bag and cycling off in a panic, leaving her on the floor.
It DOES seem like a lot, and like I might not be able to fit it into 3 minutes, BUT i have just got into vast amounts of detail there. In reality, not that much happens visuallywise and it can be done, I have it all planned out. I have very nearly completed my shot list and my script, ready for my shoot on Thursday, of which I am certain will run very smoothly as I know exactly what I want, know what locations I shall be using.
My crew has already been assembled as well
Myself - Director
David Anga - Camera
James Ogden - Lighting
And my cast:
Girl - Tory Stewart-Wooler
Man/Dealer - Jamie Shaw
I am very excited to shoot it, and to edit it, and if all goes to plan, the finished production should look very good!
Ciao for now!
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