Ray's Big Idea

One of the themes of our documentary is change. While this short doesn't match our style it does match one of our themes. I feel that this film aptly represents the struggles and stress that students feel over their experience in sixth from which forces them to change and adapt to their ever changing environment.

six possible key themes
celebration
coursework
exam/stress
https://www.shortoftheweek.com/2015/11/13/above-all-else/

the location - what to the building/the location suggest
growing up / transition into adulthood - what people want to do when they leave
change
friendship.
study periods




soundtrack over footage


https://www.shortoftheweek.com/?p=3

aims 03/12/15

The students need to find similar short films that mix 'real' documentary-type footage and narrative.
I would be very surprised if they can't find an example in BFI shorts, or the Oscar nominated short films or best documentary short films etc.


1) Research - find films that mix documentary type footage and narrative - 'look at BFI shorts or Oscar nominated shorts. - Doesn't have to be the same context.


I think it should be a film that is recognised as being a 'quality' short film rather than the next door-neighbour experimenting with making a film as this would give the suggested format an acknowledged recognition.


2) Plan so we know what we're going to do so that it can be good quality - I'll know what days to bring the tripod in so that it isn't shaky e.g. the interviews (if that's still happening). Don't research experimental ones.

The other thing that would be needed, and apologies if this is already incorporated, is a form of closure to the narrative element as this is very much a convention of a short film (the documentary brief is for an extract).

3) Narrative




http://oscar.go.com/nominees/documentary-short-subject/our-curse
http://oscar.go.com/nominees/documentary-short-subject/the-reaper-la-parka
http://oscar.go.com/nominees/documentary-short-subject/white-earth
http://oscar.go.com/nominees/documentary-short-subject/crisis-hotline-veterans-press-1

new definite idea

Our short film is going to become a short film about the our (mine and Lucy's) experience in sixth form as well as the different aspects of sixth form life including:
Student leadership,
Student youth county council
Debate club
Key events in the academic year (possibly)
Teachers perspective of sixth form / teachers opinions on sixth form students
Footage of some lessons e.g. English, media, law and art.


All footage taken of these things will be put up as separate segments and the best pieces of each segment will be used in the final piece. For example Finlay and Theo interviews will be put up as separate segments even if they are done on the same day.


The film will start and end with interviews of Lucy and I reflecting on our experience of sixth form.


Events / Key events that we may look at:
lessons - e.g. media theory lessons, art, English, creative writing etc.
27th November celebration of achievement
Christmas party/sixth form dinner - 16th December
Exam week 7th December - one shot of an empty hall/one full/one of students going in/one of students coming out.
5th December - Sixth Form parents evening
22nd November - Study Skills Seminar


other notes:
Can't fill debating competition so film debating club (talk to Finlay)
Interview Finlay and Theo - both about Student Youth County Council, Theo about being at a new school, Finlay about Student Leadership and Debate club/expectation for the debate competition (possibly Theo as well).
All footage needs to be done by half term.
It has prompts and is not scripted
Keep it simple - Use the same place for interviews and reflections (use the drama room).


Target 19/11
Lucy and I have to do some mock interviews to make sure they look as they should how would I shoot it shooting heads/interview characters. aim for 4.
Research voxpop

What does documentary mean?

What does the word documentary mean?

The word documentary actually has three different meanings.
The first is:

"consisting of or based on an official document" e.g. documentation of / documentary evidence of regular pay.

The second is:

"using pictures or interviews with people involved in real life events to provide a factual report on a particular subject"

this links to the third meaning which is:
"A film, TV or radio programme that provides a factual report on a particular subject"

Film Form research

All the information was found on

http://www.meridianstories.com/media-resource-collection/creative-how-to-guides/six-principal-modes-of-documentary-filmmaking/

there are 6 main types of Documentary Forms, they are:

• Expository mode
• Observational mode
• Participatory mode
• Poetic mode
• Reflexive mode
• Performative mode

Expository mode

This mode is used to make an argument and is the mode that is associated with most documentaries. This type is often grounded by a series of assertions that are usually presented by and unseen voice over narrator and are backed up with evidence that usually comes from images.

Examples are:

history channel documentaries or any documentaries on PBS or any old theatrical documentaries like The River or Nanook of the North.

Observational mode

This is named after the fact that it uses unobstructive cameras to observe the everyday attitude/life of the subjects.

Participatory mode

This style is used to emphasize the interaction(s) between the subjects and the film maker, This can be shown by conversations / provocations or interviews, this style also includes historical archive footage. 

Examples are:

anything by Wernor Herzog, Errol Morris or Alex Gibney. Other examples include Man on a Wire, The Cave and Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Poetic mode

This is an abstract style of filming documentaries with an emphasis on tonal and or rhythmic qualities and visual imagery as well as description and form. They closely resemble experimental films.

Examples include:

General Order No. 9 and Night and Fog

Reflexive mode

This is more commonly referred to as 'mockumentary'. This style is used to mock the assumptions and conventions that are used to govern documentary film making. A mockumentary is a show that is done in a documentary style.

 Examples I would give would be The Muppets and Modern Family. Both are mockumentary's that are done in more of a observation mode but the characters talk directly to the camera in 'fly on the wall' documentary interviews.

Performative mode

This style is used to highlight the expressive or objective aspects of the film makers involvement. This style is used to highlight/heighten the Audiences responses to the subject, this style favours emotion and rejects objectivity.

Examples include:

Anything by Michael Moore. Other examples include films such as Waltz with Bashir, Tongues United, Chile Obstinate Memories and TV shows like Cops.

I would say that mine and Lucy's documentaries are a mix between observational mode and participatory mode.

segments plan

The first segment that Lucy and I film is going to be the introduction. In this segment we will tell you about our plans for after sixth form: what we want to do, whether we will take a gap year, go to college, go to university or do an apprenticeship, what we are planning on studying, our aspirations and what we plan to do after we leave.

The second segment I want to start shooting some 'fly on the wall' interviews for the documentary with some of our teachers or friends to get their opinions on how this year is going to be, partly so that we can show that we understand this method and the way its used in documentaries. I will definatley shoot one on Lucy because we're the two subjects of the documentary. another thing i will do is talk to my teacher to discuss the possibility of filming me and Lucy in lessons (I probably wont tell Lucy until after i have some footage - unless i have to tell her before then) to show how we usually act in lessons compared to how we act during break and when we have no work to do.
*note* also if we interview teachers we'll interview them about each other (I'll do the ones about Lucy she'll do the ones about me, and that's how we'll edit the footage as well).

Segment 3 - If we can get permission from our teachers then this will be the segment that we'll start getting footage of how will act in lessons in comparison to how we act when were not in lesson and have no work to do.The footage of us in lessons will most likely come from our creative writing and media classes

Segment 4 - In this segment i will film interviews with me and Lucy talking about our lessons and how we think this year is going.

Segment 5 - there's a good chance that segment will be the longest one because this will be the one that has all of the previous footage edited into it, before this one i'm not going to edit the footage I will just put it up rough.

Segment 6 -  this one i'm not sure what to do because it might be a behind the scenes of us editing the footage and making the posters and essay thing that explains our film / all the bloopers or things that we cut from the 5th segment.

Segment 7 - We'll probably be talking about our exam prep for our mock exams and our plans for Christmas.

after Christmas

Segment 8 - this will be another introduction/interview with me and Lucy when we discuss how the first week back has been and how we are feeling about our exams. We may also talk about our holidays.

Segment 9 - this will be us talking about our revision methods and tips for revising, we may also get a few of our friends in on this so there is a wider variety of subjects/methods covered.

Segment 10 - this will be the final segment and will be made up of footage from segment 6 - 9.

Our final product will be made up of footage from our all three of these documentaries.

documentary research - educating cardiff

Educating Cardiff is a school documentary that follows around members of staff and year eleven students over the course of the school year. It focuses on different aspects of the students lives at school, from how they work in class to how the school is helping them to develop as people during their last year of school. One student this episode focuses on in particular is Jessica, who is a perfect student but mostly keeps to herself so to bring her out of her shell a bit the headmistress decides to make her work in a team by making her the chief editor of the new school paper and let her pick her team.

By the end of the episode the viewer(s) start to see Jessica become more confident and realise that the teachers are right when they say that people do like her, they are just intimidated by her brains. The viewer also sees how one of the more troubled students Lea is effected, and actually changes, due to her relationship with a memmber of staff who refuses to give up on her.

During all episodes of the documentary there are interviews with the students that that episode is focused on as well as interviews with members of staff.

This Weeks Work - for everyone

1) shooting has to start next week, with the intention that the majority of footage is finished by Christmas.




2) film form research(DONE) linked to genre, sound, camera, angle and mis-en-scene - how has it inspired us, must be able to see the link
3) research into different narratives in the genre. to show that we have explored that concept.
4)need a mind map of our ideas, plot and narrative ideas


this week
need story board on in as much depth as possible then I have to write a screenplay (our segment plans)(DONE)
draft film making(DONE)  and draft photographs

script for introduction for film

Script/prop for documentary

 

Subject one – introduction

One is setting up/fiddling with the camera, says “is it on?”

Backs up, stares at 2^nd person uncertainly

2^nd person, “yeah I think so”, both stand up and look at camera

1^st person “hi I’m _______” 2^nd person “And I’m ________”

“My ambition for the end of the year is to___________” “And mine is___________. After we finish sixth from I want to go onto attend uni/college / do a gap year/apprentaship. *IF applicable during my gap year I want to ___________./I want to study_______” “After sixth form I want to____________.”

“I hope we achieve our goals this year.”

To Do Feedback MGS DUE FRIDAY

1)link the research to what i am trying to produce, look in to documentaries on channel four channel five and the BBC that focus on young people or other challenging subjects but not animals. (done)
2)discuss what documentary means (DONE) and different types of documentary film making (DONE). www.screenoline.com and look at the documentary tradition(we'll be done later because my computer wont let me view it). what film form will we use?(DONE) 
evaluate the documentary that we have produced in terms of film form. how we'll improve our experimentation for the real thing.







Begin scripting for each individual segment (done- less a script and more of a prompt)

An overall plan for the way documentary is going to be made (how many segments and how each is going to be generally scripted) done

Discuss which elements of documentary film form we are going to use and show evidence of this

fly on the wall, interview - discussion done in segment plan - evidence we'll be given in the footage we'll film tomorrow. (so half done)

Ensure research into documentaries that feature young people is extensive particularly on observation on film form

video - rough draft one

Woo the video is finally done and up! It has taken forever to do this, and it may not seem that impressive but this was originally 35 minutes so it's taken a while to get it down to just over 7.

Lucy and I filmed all of the footage over two weeks of school about three weeks ago. After combing through all of the footage (repeatedly) we have made this short documentary with the footage that we felt was the best/most important. This is the first in a series of short documentaries we will be doing to capture our school year as well as taking photo's of ourselves at the start and end of each term (starting after half term).

What is it about?

This short documentary follows us in school during our free's / some media lessons. Because this is the first one we decided it would be best to do a bit where we introduce ourselves and tell you what it is we want to achieve, though mine have changed. Over the course of this short documentary you will learn a lot about the narcissist, or as I like to call her, Lucy. Whereas I on the other hand preferred to be behind the camera narrating/making sarcastic comments about things. some parts of this documentary may not seem that interesting or important - like the printer bit, but that was the only bit we had of us going outside, because we don't really go outside a lot

Like I said before this is just the first of a series of short documentaries that we will be making over the course of the school year that will capture big/important moments in our school year, both inside and outside of school. Over the course of this mini series you will come to know Lucy and I as well as our dreams for the future and what we are going to do after we finish sixth form. We might also be really nice and do some filming over the holidays/half term brakes.

Process of making it

We spent the first week (Wednesday-Friday) filming, the following Monday everything was uploaded and we started looking at all the rough footage before doing more filming. We spent the next week filming as much as possible and uploading the rough footage when we ran out of space on the camera and then when through that footage, before arranging it and cutting some bits and deleting others and adding titles. Then after that was finished I went through it looking for bits that were pointless/unimportant, ultimately I managed to get it down from 35 minutes to 11 minutes. Lucy then went through it again and cut it down to seven.

Form?

All the footage was captured on a hand held camera and at no point in time did we use a tripod - consequently some parts of the footage have a different angle to other parts.

blog update

12/10/2015

look at channel 4 documentaries e.g. educating Cardiff
focus on form of program
 - how's it produced and made?

process of making our documentary      DONE
 - what's it about                         DONE
rough footage/photos             DONE


make a review and/or poster for your film

filming update

Okay, so the short documentary Lucy and I have been working on is now just over seven minutes so we should either have it up either by the end of today or the end of tomorrow.
Also we've decided/I came up with the idea to do some filming of what we do over the half term and edit it together when we get back, so there's a good chance that some of that footage will be of me zombifying my little brother for Halloween. And when I say zombify I don't mean bad face paint and a half done costume, i'm going to stain and rip/destroy one of his old tops, paint his face green (obviously) then give him loads of fake bruises and fake blood and some cuts. He's going to be the best zombie ever.

video update

Premier isn't working this morning so I will probably have the video up no earlier than the afternoon now and if I have to get it down to five minutes than I will probably have to split it into more than one documentary.

So right now I've only managed to knock another four minutes of the film so its currently a little less than 25 minutes but I want to try and knock some more off, because ideally I'd get it down to 20 minutes before I upload it so now there's a good chance that I won't get it up until tomorrow morning.

VIDEO / SHORT DOCUMNETARY

Okay I should be able to have it up by the end to day but right now trying to edit it is a nightmare for the simple reason that I don't know what to cut because it all works but i have managed to get it down from 35 minutes to around 28-29, that doesn't seem like a lot i know but trust me with this video it's an achievement. So I should have it up around 4ish.

New Plan

Okay change of plans, mine and Lucy's final plan is now to make a documentary every week or two as well as take photos so that for our final video we can show how we have 'changed and developed' over the year and then we will add narration of what we feel we have achieved this year and what we are going to go on to do as well as some mood music.

Short Documentary

This week Lucy and I have been working on a short documentary, and some of the footage we'll use in our actual documentary but back to the point, we'll get the last of the footage for it tomorrow probably period two so i should be able to have it up by the end of break. Once its up on Youtube I'll embed it on here.

Definate outline/Plan for the Documentary

Over the course of this documentary Lucy and I are going to record our every day lives at school as well as important or interesting events both inside and outside of school in order to document how we change over this school year.

research - the Galapagos islands specifically Isle Isabela

Form:
sound/music:
black and white or coloured?:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands

http://www.galapagosisland.net/galapagos_islands/map.html

The Galapagos island is a group of islands off the coast of south America that lies on both sides of the equator(see below).

Information about Island Isabela

The biggest of the islands is Isle Isabela. Isle Isabela  is the youngest of the islands and is approximately 1 million years old, it was formed by the merging of 6 shield volcanoes ( a shield volcano is a type of volcano that is usually made up of almost entirely fluid magma. they are named shield volcanoes because of their size and low profile which makes them look like a shield when layed on the ground), all but one of those volcanoes are active which makes this one of the most volcanically active places on the planet. the volcanoes are named: Alcedo, Cerro Azul, Darwin, Ecuador, Sierra Negro and Wolf - Ecuador is the only inactive one.

 Isle Isabela has two settlements on it, they are Puerto Villamil and Santo Thomas - both were founded in 1893. the islands has a population of 2,200 the majority of which live in Puerto Villamil. the government there have been trying to move people away from traditional jobs like fishing and towards jobs like tourism over the years, because of this there was an incident in 2000 were a group of fishermen kidnapped baby tortoises (presumably from the tortoise breeding center) so that the government would extend their fishing limits.

Tortoises on Island Isabela

Island Isabela is home to five of the Galapagos subspecies, these include:

• An Abingdon hybrid tortoise (the Abingdon tortoise has been presumed extinct), the hybrid was discovered in 2007 which suggests that there is at least one Abingdon tortoise left in the wild. however the last known Abingdon tortoise named Lonely George died in 2012. one of the reasons that the Abingdon tortoise went extinct is that it was depleted by whalers and fisherman as well as the destruction of vegetation by goats that were introduced in 1958.

     Lonely George (his shell is a saddle back shell)

• Volcan Wolf Tortoise there are roughly 1,139 in the wild, they make there home on the northern parts of the island as well as the northern and western slopes of Volcano Wolf. there are two different types of Wolf tortoises, one is a saddle back and the other is a domed - research suggests that this variation is caused by a hybrid species of native Isabela tortoise with about 40 descendants of Floreana tortoises that people have believed to be extinct since the 1850's. right now their conservation status is Vulnerable

• Sierra Negra Tortoise there are 694 members of this species that live on the island by the Sierra Negra Volcano after which they are named. There are also two other groups, one in the east and another that live on the southern and western slopes. Out of all the Galapagos sub species that live on the island it is the most threatened, in 1998 20 adults were taken into captivity for a breeding program because of the threat of volcanic eruption from the nearby Cerro Azul volcano. The subspecies is shaped between a domed and saddle back with a distinctive 'tabletop' appearance, the differences in the form and structure are put down to geological differences. Its conservation status is endangered.

• Volcan Darwin Tortoise there are 818 of these tortoises on Isabela Island, they are spread out across the southern and western slopes of Volcano Darwin. They were heavily exploited in the  19th Century by Whaling vessels, but recovered. their conservation status is threatened.

• Iguana Cove Tortoise there are roughly 2,574 that live on Cerro Azul Volcano. this subspecies population was depleted by sea men in the last two centuries, it was also extensively slaughtered by cattle owners in the 1950's and 1960's. Before the eradication programs its nests and hatchlings were destroyed by wild pigs, dogs, cats and black rats. its conservation status is threatened. There are differences in the shells between the males and females of this species unlike the other sub species that live on the island, the males are larger and more their shells are saddled back whereas the females have more domed shells.

Other Animals on Isle Isabela

Other species of animals that live on this island are Penguins, Cormorants, Marine Iguanas, the blue footed booby, pelicans, Sally Light Foot crabs, Galapagos land iguanas, Darwin Finches, Galapagos hawkes and Galapagos doves

The Galapagos Penguin

The Galapagos penguin is the second smallest type of Penguin in the world and is native to the Galapagos and is the only penguin that lives north of the equator. It is 49 cm (19 inches) high and 2.5 kilograms (5.5 lbs) in weight

It is one of four living species of branded penguins, all branded penguins are part of the Spheniscus genus, All four species of branded penguins have similar colouring. the other species of branded penguins are Megellanic penguins, Humboldt penguins and African Penguins.

It can survive living above the equator because of the Humboldt current and the cool waters that are brought up from the depths by the Cromwell Current.

The juveniles are fluffier, are grey on the side and chin and have no brand stripe across their chests. The only difference between the males and females appearances is the fact that  the females are smaller than the males.

While 90% of the penguins live on the west coast of Isabela and the western part Fernandina island smaller populations of the Galapagos penguins also live on Floreana, Santa Cruz, Santiago and  Bartolome.

Typically the temperature of the islands is between 15 - 28 degrees C apart from the El Nino season. El Nino season is an anomaly that heats the surface of the sea. El Nino is defined by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) as a 3 month average warming period of at least 0.5 degrees C in a specific area of the east Pacific Ocean. It is defined slightly differently by other organisations however it can last between seven months and two years and takes place at irregular times - it can occur every two - seven years. On average it takes place every five years. if it lasts between 7-9 months it is called the El Nino condition if it lasts longer it is called the El Nino episode.

Because of the heat they have developed three different behavioral adaptations to cool off because of their time on land, the first is going into the water, the second is panting - they use evaporation to cool off their throats and airways, the last adaptation they have is the ability to lose heat through their flippers by hunching forward and shading their flippers from the sun.

According to a survey by the Charles Darwin Research Station in 2004 there was an estimated population of 1,500. Currently their conservation status is endangered.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galapagos_penguin

The Flightless Cormorant

The cormorant has webbed feet and strong legs that it uses to propel itself through the water when hunting for eels, fish, small octopuses and other small sea creatures. It will rarely venture father than one kilometer from breeding grounds and only swims in shallow coastal waters this includes straights and bays. It is the biggest member of the Phalacrocoracidae family, it can grow to be between 89-100cm (35-40 inches) and can weigh between 2.5-5.0kg (5.5-11 lbs). Because it is flightless its wings have become 1/3rd of  the size they would require to fly. In 1983 50% of the population died due to the El Nino, its population fell from 800 to 400, however by 1999 the population had recovered to an estimated 900. Before the islands were discovered by man, the cormorant had no predators so it no longer needed the ability to fly, therefore it lost the ability to. However since then cats, dogs and pigs have been introduced so they are now no longer free of predators, though they remain unafraid of people and can in fact be approached and picked up.

Before 2011 this animal was listed as endangered, however due to resent research it has been decided that these birds are not as rare as they were believed to be and that the population has stabilized, in fact in 2011 it was estimated that there were 1,679 in total  - they live on both Isabela and Fernandina - as a result they were down graded to vulnerable. these birds are native to the Galapagos.

Their ability to recover quickly from natural disasters e.g. the El Nino of 1883, is due to the females ability to breed three times a year, each time she will lay three eggs but usually only one will survive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flightless_cormorant

Marine Iguanas

There are six different types of sub - species of marine iguanas that live on the Galapagos islands, they are:
A . c . albemarinesis - Isabela Island

A . c . cristatus - Fernandina Island

A . c . hassi - Santa Cruz Island

A  . c . mertensi - San Christobal and San Santiago Islands

A . c . nanus - Genovesa Island

A . c . sielmanni - Pinta Island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_iguana

The Blue Footed Booby

Brown Pelicans

Sally Light Foot Crabs

Galapagos Land Iguanas

Darwin's Finches

Galapagos Hawkes

Galapagos Doves

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabela_Island_(Gal%C3%A1pagos)

A documentary film : The Bizarre World of Ancient Greece

Form
Music/Sound
Black and White or Coloured

Ancient Greece was one of the first civilisations of the world and many other civilisations and empires have been based off of it. Greece was the birth place of many things including Democracy, Literature, Philosophy, Art, Drama/Theater, Architecture, Sport, the Olympics,Wine and Culture and Medicine.

They were some of the greatest warriors the world has ever seen, the only people that became better warriors than them were the Romans, but even their civilisation was based on the Greeks, in fact the romans ancestors that founded the city that the family of Romes founders Romulus and Remus lived in were descendants of the survivors of Troy after it fell.

The Trojan War

The Trojan War was started when the Trojan prince Paris went to Sparta, where he fell in love with king Menelaus wife Helena, who was famous for her beauty. When Paris left Sparta to return to Troy Helena went with him. The reason that the whole of Greece went to war with Troy to get her back was because before he father chose who she would marry she had had scores of suitors, so Odysseus (a famous Hero and Prince of Ithica) came up with the idea that all the suitors would have to honor and defend Helena's marriage no matter who he chose to which they all swore they would. Also Menelaus's Brother Agamemnon married Helena's sister Clytemnestra and became king of Mycenae - Menelaus had humbly sent his brother to petition Helena's father for her hand in marriage.
Menelaus went to his brother and asked him to summon all the lords that had sworn an oath to defend Helena's marriage no matter who she chose. in short they all had to honor their oaths, went to war with troy - it lasted ten years - and won and burnt troy to the ground. used the Trojan horse to get inside the city - it was a great wooden horse that people hid in that was taken inside the city by the Trojans because they thought it was a gift for Poseidon, his temple was inside of the city.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_War#Origins_of_the_war

Undoubtabley the Spartans were the greatest warriors in Greece. Boys were trained from the age of seven till they were fifteen to be warriors, this is referred to as the upbringing. Despite not going through the upbringing girls were trained in a similar way, they were trained to be the perfect mother and were taught things like wrestling.

Even though growing up in Greece, especially Sparta was dangerous you had to survive infancy first. In fact you death sentence could have been signed minutes after you were born, over the whole of Greece if a child was born ill or a family couldn't afford another child you would be left in the wilderness to die, especially if you were a girl. However Sparta was the only one of the Greek states where it was the city elders not the parents that decided if a child was week or not, regardless of gender and whether the family could afford it if a child was deemed to be strong enough to live the mother had to raise it. However there was a loop hole to this (for everywhere but Sparta), if a family left there child in the wilderness but they know a couple who were childless but for whatever reason had no children they could tell them where the child was left and they would retrieve that child and raise it as there own.

The five strongest city states were:
Athens
Sparta
Megara
Argos

Corinth

Sparta and Athens are the two best known states of Greece. Sparta was renowned for its military power and Athens was known for its superior navy, whereas now days its known as the birthplace of philosophy and democracy.

The Greeks had a lot of different values and ideas of what was acceptable in society and what wasn't. One of these things was homosexual relationships between young boys and older men, they were actually encouraged and accepted to an extent but there were strict rules about how they should be conducted and how long they should/could last.

however 

Another thing the Ancient Greeks were known for is their gods. Like the Ancient Romans and the Ancient Egyptians they had multiple diates, however there were 13 main ones, 12 lived on mount Olympus and the thirteenth Hades lived in the underworld.

The Greeks


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_(film)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patroclus

Practical Idea - A Short Documentary

So this week Lucy and I are going  to make a short documentary about our week in school, we may only film on a few days or we may film through the whole week. We'll be filming anything interesting that happens whether its in the editing suite/ drama room or during our lessons, We'll probably be filming during break and/or lunch as well.

Filming and Editing

So Lucy and I will be filming again third period so i might be able to upload and edit it fourth and put a rough cut up but it depends on if we are in the editing suite or not , if we aren't then i can do it tomorrow

filming

So we're actually going to start filming today, it's just going to be an introduction and we may do a couple of takes so if we manage to find the card reader it can be up by the end of  today if not i can put it up Monday.

okay scratch that i'll put it up Monday because i don't have the lead for my camera.

but on the plus side me and Lucy have actually done some filming today so it's all f
good. We've filmed an introduction and some stuff about us and just i doing what we normally do.

update - what happened?/what do i do with my life????!!!!

So the only thing that has happened this week is that I have been updating my animals and historical documentaries post so it now has more information and images. Nothing much has happened school wise either - the only thing that has happened at school besides getting homework is that we had to sign up for clubs. the choices were homework, sport, arts or debate so obviously being the argumentative person I am I signed up for debate but its only for the first term because then I'm going to help with the key stage 3 performance.
the only other thing is that all of my year have been told that we have to get a careers appointment, so I've ended up having to email the career adviser and ask for one because when I went to their office they weren't in.
Apart from that the only thing worth mentioning is that i still have no idea what i want to do at university because i know i'm probably going to end up doing something in law enforcement because its just what my family does - I'm just not sure if I want to study criminal law at university when I'm already studying law at a-level and this year for A2 we study criminal law e.g murder and voluntary/involuntary manslaughter. OR do i study forensics? but I'm not sure if I need to have studied science at A-level for that because even though I've only looked at forensics at Coventry and I don't need to of studied science at a-level to do forensics there. OR do I study criminology and try and go into profiling?
At the start of the year I knew that I wanted to study law but didn't know if I was going to do a joint degree in law and criminology or law and drama. whereas now I don't know if I want to do a joint degree in law and forensics or law and criminology or criminology and forensics or major in one and minor in another. but now I think I might see if I can do a joint sandwich degree but I don't think I can in which case I've got to find out what I can do.

cinematic style of inspiration

Sherlock = bullet time effect

http://www.quora.com/What-are-some-unique-visual-techniques-used-in-Sherlock-the-BBC-TV-Series

supernatural = pallette effect - used to change the colour(tone, shade, lighting etc)

FOCUS ON FILM FORM, STYLE AND TECHNIQES

form of the different documentaries? what do I like about that form of documentary?
form - camera style - was it hand held? etc
music
is it black and white or coloured


http://www.screenonline.org.uk/

animal and historical documentaries

the first part of the documentary focuses mostly on sea creatures it talks about both sea creatures from now days as well as prehistoric ones. The second part looks a lot at sharks - it talks about the different types of sharks and their prehistoric ancestors as well as how they signify the health of a reef. this documentary also looks at the sea and land animals that live on a small group of islands called Pitcairn, Oeno, Henderson (which used to be inhabited and Ducie - they are off the coast of New Zealand. It also briefly talks about the small community that live on Pitcairn island. they are all descendant from the mutineers of the HMS Bounty, the community has lived their for 2 centuries.
Form of this documentary is mostly hand held but they also use water cameras and a deep sea camera.
music - the only music used in this documentary is the mood music. the only other sound is narration
is it black and white or coloured? Coloured



form - camera style - was it hand held? etc: steady, most likely hand held but doesn't shake
music - 
is it black and white or coloured? Coloured? :  coloured
This documentary focuses on the fastest animals in the sky, sea and on land - while it focuses on speed it also looks at what they compromise for their speed and how successful and vulnerable they are. for example one of the animals looked at in this documentary is the cheater, while its one of the fastest animals in its environment its also one of the most vulnerable as its speed its one power of attack and defence - this means it will always flee when threatened - their young can even be prey to birds, the cubs aren't safe from birds even if the mothers hide them if they have to leave them alone to hunt. Hunting can be dangerous because their internal temperature rises to 41 degrees when they are at top speed. this means they can only use their speed when there is a high chance of success and as a short burst. The documentary then goes on to talk about the horned animals of the plain, it also briefly talks about tall grass fires and stalks.


Form - camera style - was it hand held? etc
music/sound: narration and some mood music
is it black and white or coloured?: coloured



form - camera style - was it hand held? etc: archive footage
music/sound - narration and mood music
is it black and white or coloured - archive footage, some is still black and white while some has been colourised

while there are a lot of different types of documentaries, lifestyle documentaries are the most popular and are in a lot of ways less informative as they only inform you about a specific person/people. On the other hand historic and animal documentaries are more informative. For example one season of documentaries could cover one big subject but focus on a different specific thing each episode. So one season of a historic documentary might look at WW1 but each episode might look at a different battle each episode.
in fact some documentary topics are so popular that a channel might have a day(s) or a week dedicated to documentaries about that subject. an example of this would be Shark Week, which was started by discover channel - which is an american channel - they started shark week on July 17th 1988.

http://documentaryaddict.com/shark+week+discovery+collection-1185-doc.html



The point of shark week is to educate viewers/the general public about sharks, however some of the documentaries encourage a lot of myths and misconceptions about sharks.
I mean yes they kill a lot but that's because that's their primal survival instinct, but that's the same for all carnivorous animals and there is actually a lot more to sharks then people realise. Scientist's have done experiments and found out that sharks are like other animals, for the sack of argument imgoing to use dogs as an example, they are actually very intelligent and social creatures. they can teach each other things and some have a preferred 'buddy' to swim with. And yes i suppose you could look at them teaching each other things as them just finding and teaching each other faster and better ways to hunt but by the same standards a lot of wild canines do that and the only reason dogs don't is because they are domesticated and therefore don't have to hunt for food.
And yes they are deadly creatures but they are also very curious and social creatures as well.

An example of a myth about sharks is that they will attack people for no reason. this is not necessarily true, because while they do attack people the majority if not all of the people they attack are surfers. this is important because one of the main sources of food for sharks is seals and sharks have very weak eyesight and rely on more strongly on their over senses like smell and their ability to sense electromagnetic pulses and changes in pressure as well as vibrations. Because of this they cannot distinguish between seals and surfers due to their weak eyesight, which is why they attack surfers. The only other way sharks are going to attack you is if your bleeding and even then that's because the scent of blood will attract them and send them into a feeding frenzy no matter where the blood is coming from, the only other reason is if you provock them.
another myth is that all sharks are man eaters - when in actuality some sharks like the basking shark  don't even eat fish at all, neither does the whale shark or the mega-mouth shark all eat plankton. Another type of harmless shark is the nurse shark.



http://www.sharksider.com/nurse-shark/

Whale Shark



http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/fish/whale-shark/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark

Mega-mouth Shark

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megamouth_shark

Basking Shark


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_shark


In conclusion while Shark week does teach the general public a lot about sharks it also forgets to tell them a lot of important things and instead portrays them at there worst.



http://newsmaine.net/19049-modern-sharks-not-prehistoric-ancestor
form - studio camera so it wouldn't be handheld and will be on something.
coloured
music/sound?: no sound just the hosts talking/debating sharks.


One of the biggest debates about shark week is the megalodon - its believed to be extinct but there is a lot of opposition to this statement, people who oppose this statement argue that because we have only actually explored 20% of the worlds oceans, its actually possible that the Megalodon still exists  - the other unexplored 80% is simply to deep for us or any of our technology to withstand the pressure. some animals and fossils have only been found because they have been washed up or caught accidentally. an example of this would be the blob fish or the cyclops shark.
The argument that supports the statement that any reported sightings are actually submarine sharks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megalodon



The blog fish lives between 2,000 and 3,900 ft - the pressure is between 60 times to 120 times more than at sea level.The blob fish's jelly like body has a density less than water which allows it to float. This is not actually a problem for the blob fish because it only eats whatever swims in front of its mouth.




The cyclops shark isn't actually a separate species of shark even though they are extremely rare. they are born form normal sharks they just haven't developed properly in the womb. In fact there have been very few times that cyclops sharks have been observed at all and all of those times where when they were in the womb, this suggests that they don't usually survive long after they are born. In fact the one observed and photographed earlier this year,  the first time a cyclops shark was observed outside the womb, was because its mother was caught accidentally.

Some example of other creatures that live in the deep are:

Marine Hatchet Fish



Goblin Sharks

Giant Squid

Frilled Shark

Common Fangtooth

Stop Light Loose Jaw


http://www.sparknotes.com/mindhut/2014/12/08/the-10-most-terrifying-deep-sea-creatures/slide/6

so seeing as me and Lucy will be making a documentary about our year (I'm not sure when we'll start filming/photographing things) we're pretty likely to end up talking about uni, as well as other things, so I figured I could keep track of important things that happen during my school week/day. like today I have three hours of self study and right now as well as doing this I'm looking up possible universitys because I've only really looked at Bangor University. its in Wales and if I go there I want to do a BA in Law and Criminology - if I study it full time it'll take three years, BUT I would need 280 points to go there and I don't think I can get that
http://www.bangor.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/M1M9-Law-with-Criminology



Anyway right now i'm looking at Coventry university and they have a really god forensics course, if i do forensics here i don't have to of done science at a-level but i need an a-level average of bbc and 5 gcse's at a*- c which - if you include my public services btec I have, so i might be able to go there.
http://www.coventry.ac.uk/course-structure/2015/faculty-of-health-and-life-sciences/undergraduate/forensic-investigations-bsc-hons/
they also have a really good criminology course, which is also a sandwich - (this means i'll do a year in the industry) full time course
http://www.coventry.ac.uk/course-structure/2015/faculty-of-health-and-life-sciences/undergraduate/criminology-ba-hons/
coventry would cost £8,331 a year




http://www2.gre.ac.uk/study/courses/ug/entry
Greenwich would cost £9,000


http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/study-here/courses/undergraduate/applied-criminology.aspx
If i do criminology full time (over 3 years) it will cost £9,000 a year. Whereas if I do it part time (over 4 years) it will cost £4,500 a year.

summer 2

so here are some of my favourite photos that i have taken over the summer. the big one in the corner and the one in the top right hand corner were taken when we went to parc pier brun for the day. the one in the bottom corner was taken in my grandparents kitchen one day because i thought jack looked really cute sat next to Trixie. the one of Jack and Charlie in the car was taken on the way back from the resturant that we went to for jacks birthday lunch :)

the fist summer collage of me, charlie and my adorable baby brother jack :)

MY PHOTO'S WILL NOT UPLOAD! THE SITE WONT PUT THEM UP! So I'm going to have to do something to them first :(

UPDATE! FINALLY!

So loads has happened since I last updated, I ment to update before now but I forgot or my internet wouldn't work.
So where do I start?
Results day was alright I got a high D in media which honestly I'm really happy with because I thought I would of failed the exam but I got a c in! 😁 I got E's in law, creative writing and English, which is okay, and then I got a U in drama! How the hell did that happen! Im appealing that obviously, besides it happened to someone else in my class according to my teacher and its happened nationally aw well apparently, so hopefully the appeal goes well, besides the only way your ment to get a u in media by either not doing the performance or handing in your coursework and I gave in my coursework (I got a d for it) so they better of not lost it 😈 so this year I'm going to drop drama
I got back from France Friday ☺ I went on the 17th. It was fun, but as much as I love seeing my dads parents I miss being home. So we went out a lot while we were there, we went shopping in vouvon (I think that's how you spell it), went out a few times for jacks birthday (it was actually yesterday but he wanted to do something for it in France), and went to parc Pierre brune (again I think that's how you spell it)
Yesterday we went out to dreamland for jacks birthday and because I'm a great sister I let him drag me on all the rides he wanted to go on, apart from barrel of laughs because it spins you round really fast and the floor drops.
Anyway all I've really spent my summer doing is catching up with some old friends and spending time with my brother and sister, more so my brother (I didn't spend any time with my baby sister because she spent the summer at mums)

*note*
My computers internet still isn't working so I'll upload the photos from France on my computer at school probably next Monday

So I think your all caught up now ☺

What's happened so far

So like I said in my last post I told you that I'm going to document my summer and due to my internet playing up I haven't been able to until now.
Anyway not much has happened but I'll catch you up on what has
I met up with Lucy and we went to sandwich, I had to get a bus because the trains weren't running and I hate buses 😑
I did my drama performance at the Astor theatre in deal , we put on A Midsummer's Nights Dream and I was Hermia, and here's the best bit over the two days we performed it we did it for 219-224 people! The only bad thing about this is that on the first day there was only 102 chairs out but we had to put an extra five at the back which made it a little harder to get down the middle, but it was way worse when we next did it because the whole back wall had chairs along it so it was water harder to get to the isle down the middle and some people had to stand which made it harder to get down the side as well. But it was a huge success which is the important thing, and we got pizza after we finished on the last night 😀
My dad went back out to Afghanistan 😢 but this time its with a Scottish regiment , which means he has to wear one of there hats which looks funny because it has a feather on the side and a pompom on the top 😂 but its their traditional hat so I shouldn't really laugh at it, oh well
My little sister has gone to spend the whole of the summer at my mums house! Wooh! There's on less horror to deal with! I get six weeks of peace and quite (my step brother and step sister are way easier to deal with when sian isn't around)!!
Ive started my creative writing project which is great because I had really bad writers block for a while, but I have to do more on my English essay because it has to be two thousand words and I've only done 660-670 😥

So that's about it so far really, I haven't really done much else because for the first week the weather was terrible,all it did was rain!

Project idea

Okay so my partner Lucy had the brilliant idea to do a documentary for our A2 film. Now this isn't going to be a normal boring documentary about a boring over done subject, instead were going to take photos and videos of our progress and important things that happen to us throughout year 13.
So as research (that I ment to start two weeks ago, but my internet hasn't been working) over the summer I will document my summer by writing and photographing anything important or interesting that happens while Lucy documents using photos how she changes over the summer. I will do a video diary when I go to France to see my dads parents (they're not French they just retired out there) but that won't go up until I go back to school because I'll need to edit it and can't edit it on my tablet

Inspiration (thriller) - Jurassic Park and The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum as Inspiration.

The Bourne Ultimatum was released on August 3rd 2007. The Bourne Ultimatum is the third installment of the Bourne franchise, which are loosely based on the books by Robert Ludlum that have the same names. It is preceded by Bourne The Bourne Identity (2002) and The Bourne Supremacy (2004). It had a budget of $110 million and a total (worldwide) gross of $442,824,138. The screenplay was written by Tony Gilroy, Scott Z Burns and George Nolfi. It is followed by The Bourne Legacy (August 2012). It was Directed by Paul Greengrass and stars Matt Damon.

Synopsis (taken from IMDb.com):

While searching for the origins of his life before he became a trained killer Bourne (Damon) has to dodge a ruthless CIA official and his agents from a new assassination program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bourne_Ultimatum_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0440963/

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bourneultimatum.htm

This film is a inspiration to me because of how it creates the sense of suspense and mystery.

inspiration (mystery) - sherlock

Sherlock as an inspiration

Sherlock is an inspiration to me because its a timeless classic. Sherlock is originally a book series written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

These books have then gone on to be made into 4 films and 3 TV shows.

The 1970 Film - The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes

The 1970's film The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes was written by Billy Wilder. This film was made up of two unequal stories

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Private_Life_of_Sherlock_Holmes
The film starred Robert Stephens as Sherlock Holmes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Stephens), Colin Blakely as John Watson ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Blakely )
 Christopher Lee as Mycroft Watson ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Lee )
 and Irene Handl as Mrs Hudson ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irene_Handl ).

The 1991 Film - Sherlock Holmes and The Leading Lady
The 1991 film Sherlock Holmes: The Leading Lady starred Christopher Lee as Sherlock Holmes, Patrick Macnee as Dr.Watson ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001495/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t2 ) and Morgan Fairchild as Irene Adler ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000392/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t3 ).

Plot Summary (taken from IMDb.com):

1910. Mycroft Holmes asks his brother Sherlock & Dr. Watson to travel to Vienna and find the stolen plans & prototype for an electro-magnetic bomb detonator. Once there, they are reunited with Irene Adler, who has once more taken up her former profession as an opera singer.

The 2009 film - Sherlock Holmes

Starring Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000375/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t1)

and Jude Law as Dr.Watson (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000179/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t2)

The film was written by Simon Kinberg (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Writer&id=simonkinberg.htm), directed by Guy Ritchie (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/people/chart/?view=Director&id=guyritchie.htm) distributed by Warner Bros. and produced by Village roadshow pictures ( http://www.vreg.com/ ) and Silver Pictures ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Pictures ). The Film had a total (worldwide) gross of $524,028,679 (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sherlockholmes.htm)

Plot Summary (taken from IMDb.com):

Detective Sherlock Holmes and his partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England.

The 2011 Film - Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows
This film is the sequel to Sherlock Holmes and again stars Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as his faithful side kick and best friend Dr. John Watson. The film was written by Michele Mulroney ( http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1802251/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr1 ) and Kieran Mulroney (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0612487/?ref_=ttfc_fc_wr2). The film was again directed by Guy Ritchie, was again Produced by Village roadshow pictures and Silver pictures, it was again distributed by Warner Bros. This time the film had a total (worldwide) gross of $545,488,418 (http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=sherlockholmes2.htm)

Plot Summary (taken form IMDb.com):

Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Dr. Watson join forces to outwit and bring down their fiercest adversary, Professor Moriarty.

The American TV Show - Elementary
The American version of 'Sherlock' starring Johnny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu, produced by cbs.

The British version - Sherlock
British TV show, produced by the BBC starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as John Watson.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984) TV Show

the first TV adaptation of the books (presumably), starring Jeremy Brett and David Burke - he left after a year and was replaced by Edward Hardwicke.

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherlock_Holmes_(1984_TV_series)

despite the fact that they are all based on the same books all of them are different.
Take the TV newer shows as an example:

The British one:

Its set in England

Watson isn't a doctor

Stick with the traditional idea that Watson is a guy

The American One:

Set in America

Watson is a girl

Watson is a doctor

the main thing that they have in common is that they are both set in the present and are modern takes, whereas the films are based in the Victorian Era, but the films are still different to each other. for example the 1970 and 1991 films both have Sherlock wearing his iconic Deer hunting hat but the two more modern films don't.