Been a while since I’ve put something up. Anyway, I hope you’ve all had a good summer… I guess. I’ve certainly been thinking a lot more about what job opportunities there are out there for when I graduate and the best way to try and go about getting a career in the field that I love, film.

Some of my thoughts on the tasks we have been set;

Simulated Alumni Project – Due in – 27/10/11
I actually really like the idea of this mock client project as it gives us a sort of test run for what to expect for the official one however I imagine the official one would be a lot more concise in the sense that we won’t be allowed to make something based on such a broad brief as this one. Nonetheless I am enjoying this project and in the process now (literally) of editing my footage for what shall be a cancer research awareness video that is based on University students and will hopefully be useful material for the Alumni sector to use in their campaigns to raise both awareness and funds for the cause.

On a side note, this is the first time where I have been granted permission from a composer to use their work for my video. I consider sound to be a huge priority when I make anything and I came across this very sad, sombre sounding piece, emailed the composer and fortunately not only got a response, but a positive one at that. I had previously tried to email the company that are associated with the artist Enya, but the cheeky mare never got back to me.

Here’s the soundtrack;



To Be Uploaded





Task Enjoyment Rating- 8/10

Research Topic Form – Due In – 25/10/11
Originally the thought of carrying out such an extensive piece of research daunted me and I felt like I would never be able to come up with an idea that was both substantial and interested me to the point where I would be happy to go to the extent of conducting experiments and making video’s which help to further my findings and support my case. (By the way, I hate describing these as… artefacts… this isn’t bleedy time team). Anyway after some thought I came up with a question that I find both interesting, relevant and extensive enough that I can focus my research project on it.

My research question is; ‘How is suspense created within the film genre of horror?’

I enjoyed filling out the topic form as it fired the passion inside me and made me feel enthusiastic about starting the project.

Task Enjoyment Rating – 7.87/10


Factory Start-up Report - Due In – Some Time in November.. 2nd or 3rd
I have found this task so to be challenging so far in the sense that I am not used to thinking in such a business-like mind-set however I can see that the purpose is to enlighten us to just that, thinking as business people and not just worthless, dossing waste of space students.

I am in the process of getting my first draft sent for inspection. I will be trying to refine this piece of work until I am happy with it and take with me the lessons I’ve learned whilst researching what goes into making a successful business.

Task Enjoyment Rating – 5/10

Your Highness Review

Your Highness
Directed by David Gordon Green
Writers: Danny McBride, Ben Best
Stars: Danny McBride, Natalie Portman and James Franco

After making a rare cinema visit yesterday I felt a noticeable change in my attitude. I still had a passion for film however I could feel an overwhelming negativity for what I was about to watch despite having no knowledge other than the title and even that I couldn’t recollect until the adverts ended and the film began. Maybe the explosion of 3D visuals recently had cast a dark shadow over my judgement of recent movies, although considering this film wasn’t even shot in 3D it appears I may have just been unnecessarily pessimistic going into the screening of Your Highness. This however made that fact that I was undoubtedly entertained throughout all the more impressive and I’m happy to say the film was a great example of a pleasant surprise to me.



From what initially feels like a slow, not so funny few opening minutes soon turns into an edgy, dynamic and enthralling take on a well-used genre. All the characters felt like they did their job and nothing felt unneeded or bland with each delivering their fair share of hysteria and memorable moments. Danny McBride fits perfectly as the younger, less achieving brother of Fabious (Franco), his highly desirable sibling. When the evil wizard Leezar, played by Justin Theroux kidnaps Fabious’ bride in an evil yet hilarious act of sexual desire our journey takes shape. With excellent contributing performances from Natalie Portman, Rasmus Hardiker and Toby Jones everything feels complete.

The film is well worth the watch in my opinion and I particularly liked the crossover in dialogue from folklore style linguistics to modern day slander. There are a host of negative reviews I’ve seen for the movie thus far however I can’t understand why or at least, the reasons seem very feeble. Yes Hollywood has been producing many duds recently but Your Highness for me, actually delivered and I found myself chuckling away countless times. Also, Natalie Portman makes mention of her ‘beaver’ which surely is enough reason alone to check this one out.

Bad – Some of the fighting scenes were drawn out and the sound became extremely mishmashy, though the comedy element allows some leeway for over the top antics.

Good – Most the gags are good ones, the characters fit together terrifically and the narrative, despite being fairly simple and following a timeless formulae, keeps you engaged throughout.

9/10

Film Review - Paranornal Activity 2

Here is a review I made for one of the few films Ive actually seen recenty;

Paranormal Activity 2

As an expert on the horror genre… no. As a horror film enthusiast...not quite. As a horror film fan…yes that’ll do. I recently went on a rarity these days. I went to the cinema to watch Paranormal Activity 2 and was bitterly, bitterly under-whelmed. Maybe it’s because I, like many others have been exposed to the high levels of violence, gore and unusual events of recent times and therefore acquired somewhat of a shock immunity and increased resistance to film like this. Or maybe, it was mainly because the film wasn’t very good. There were some good points of the film although the swimming pool cleaner wasn’t quite enough to deter me from the shamble’s that made up the rest of this jump-out-of-your-seat thriller/horror.



A few of the jump moments did catch me out rather well, especially during the end however I felt that the overly loud thudding sound effects coupled with the under climatic results from the mysterious events were an all too familiar trait of an unconvincing scary movie. For example, yes, having the pan drop from its hanger in the middle of the night at first caught out most in the cinema when it first happened, but then it was followed up every five minutes or so with something else dropping, with the occasional door opening on its own for no reason flung into the mix. Before long I was finding it an effort to actually hype myself up to become scared, shocked or even intrigued. Thankfully there were a couple of spots that got me, though not so much the timing element than the action that took place such as the when a possessed Katie lunged towards Daniel in a crazed vampire-ish fashion.

In all I’d class PA2 as not being a terrible film of its genre and perhaps even an acceptable form of what it was, when you think of other examples of shock horror. I’d be surprised if on first watching this you don’t get caught off guard at least once, however most of the jump scenes are weak and easily predictable, the characters although I felt seemed realistic as a family being filmed, were dull and even annoying at times and as a film… well, it seemed much more like a low budget ghost hunting documentary although its arguable that the director may have intended on it looking somewhat similar to that.

Film- 6/10
Scare Factor- 7/10