Prop, Character and Location list for media production

Prop, Character and location list for media production

Prop list:

• Coffin
• Crowbar
• Cable ties
• Briefcase
• Knives
• Cane

Character list:

• Carl Armstrong
• The Undertaker

Clothing list:

• Long coat
• Hat

Location list:

• Warehouse
• Office
• Backroad
• Courtyard

Weekly News #13

Weekly News #13
Source BBC News

Autism-friendly Christmas grotto opens in York

An Autism-friendly Christmas grotto has opened in York to offer children with the condition a friendly and relaxed environment to go and meet Santa. The grotto runs in a system with 30 minute slots so that the meetings are not rushed and stressful and tedious queuing is cut out. One women who visited the grotto with her son said the layout gives the children an opportunity to "do what they want".

Traditional Santa's grotto

I choose this story because Autistic children and disabled children as a whole generally do not visit Christmas grotto's, this potentially could be down to the large crowds and the cramped and tedious queuing. The people who have opened this grotto in York have decided to open it to give autistic children an equal opportunity to visit Santa at Christmas. This is representation of disability because the grotto gives autistic children a chance to visit.



Weekly News #12

Weekly News #12
Source: Evening standard

'Really British' shop owner selling souvenirs accused

of racism by neighbors

Really British in North London

A novelty gift shop that has recently been opened in North London has received lots of complaints accusing him of being racist because of the British themed items he sells. The shopkeeper Chris Ostwald, 54 said that locals have threatened to stage boycotts and protests over his goods which include: Union jacks, kinks memorabilia and socks favoured by Prince Charles. He also accused his critics of 'reverse racism' and argued that foreign customers had said they had loved the shop, he went on to say that people have accused him of making a "UKIP" shop and therefore branding him as racist.

I chose this story because I think that people do not always really understand what they are talking about when they accuse people of being racist. The shop is just one of many novelty stores that sells British themed products in London but because the shop was opened after Brexit people have complained because they think he is selling British themed products to get his political views across, but at the end of the day it turns out that the shop is actually enjoyed by tourists.

Themes and representations in 'crash'

Crash poster

Themes and representations in 'crash'



Crash is a film about citizens of Los Angeles with separate and different lives and how their lives collide with stories of: race, loss and redemption. All of these themes and more are represented through the many characters in the film

Firstly, Racism is the biggest theme in this film and lots of characters experience racism in different ways. Some examples of these racist attacks include:

• When Farhad the Persian shop owner went to purchase the gun at the start the man selling him the gun refers to him as "Osama" assuming that he is an Arab.
• The Hispanic locksmith Daniel Ruiz was assumed to be a "gangbanger" because of the tattoos he had.
• The Black cop couldn't remember where he's partner was from.
• The white cop inappropriately feels a women up after pulling over her and her husband who are both Black.
• The white cop at the end thought the man he was giving a ride was going to shoot him and because of this  the cop ended up shooting him.

Also the film shows that people can change and not always in a good way, we see the white cop who originally pulled over a black couple and inappropriately felt up the wife later on saved the same women from a burning car and made sure that he definitely saved her. But not all of the characters change in a good way for example Farhad the Persian shop owner who seems like an average guy (despite buying a gun at the start) ends up losing his head when his shop gets wrecked because despite being told to he did not buy a new door. He then blames the lock smith and tries to shoot him and nearly shot his daughter but luckily for the characters he was given blanks at the start when he brought the gun.

Lastly one other key theme is just the struggles of life. For starters Antony and Peter are forced to steal and sell cars to make money and the detective is having problems at home looking after his dad. Obviously some characters have it worse than others for example Graham Waters who is the black detective has to look after his sick mother whilst balancing his job and trying to find his younger brother who he finds dead at the end of the film. 





Weekly News #11

Weekly News #11

Source: Sky News and BBC News

Former football coach Barry Bennell charged with sexual assault

Barry Bennell (63)

A former football coach has been charged with eight offences of sexual assault against a boy under the age of 14. The offences are alleged to have taken place between 1981 and 1985. This is following an investigation in to sexual assault in football after over 20 ex footballers have come forward and reported incidents with several different coaches. Bennell who is 65 years old has worked with Crewe Alexandra as a coach. He is now in custody but was in hospital in Stevenage after he was found unconscious on Friday night. 

I chose this story because it is a massive investigation in to the allegations and this is the first coach that has been identified and arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. This is a serious issue because in 2003 a scheme that was in place to protect children from sexual assault in football was scrapped by the FA. This reflects really badly on the FA and the sport as a whole. 

Weekly News #10

Weekly News #10
Source: Sky News

Dating apps must warn users of dangers following

Stephen Port killings. say police

Grindr logo

Police have said that dating apps must take more responsibility for protecting their users following the Stephen Port killings, say police. On Wednesday Stephen was convicted of murdering 4 men and for a string of sexual offences. He met them through apps like Grindr and invited his victims to his house then: drugging, raping and eventually killing them before he disposed of their bodies meters away from his home. After this the met have now said they will revisit 58 unexplained deaths in recent years that included the drug GHB. The police have told the apps to issue a warning telling the users to "get to know the person not the profile"

I choose this story because dating apps are very popular now and are used every day by lots of people and it is so easy to get in touch with just about anyone and they are not always real people. Lots of people make accounts and arrange to meet people and attack them just like Stephen Port did. According to the article one of Port's victims was murdered within hours of meeting him, this just shows how quickly these things can happen. It is definitely wise to add messages in to dating apps to encourage people to really get to know someone before they go to meet them.  

 

Analysis of print based and audio visual examples

 

 

Analysis of print based and audio visual examples

 

Aldi Christmas advert- Kevin The Carrot:

The first thing I took from this advert was that it is supposed to be family friendly, you can see this because the advert is about an animated piece of food. This carrot in the advert is appealing to children because the idea of animated food is fun. I also thought that the idea of the living carrot could be referencing the magic that surrounds Christmas and therefore the excitement that children have around that specific time of year. Aldi are clever in this advert as they show lots of food obviously advertising there products and I believe they are suggesting that they cater for middle class families as the advert is set in a really nice house with lots of nice food and one specific part shows champagne on ice, all of this suggests the family in the house are middle class without introducing the audience to them at all. The audio in the advert is appropriate for the holiday because the dialogue is based on a Christmas carol. This is evident because the advert starts with the words "twas the night before Christmas" this tells us straight away that the advert is holiday themed, also there is a lot of rhyming in there as well which can engage people. Lastly you could say that despite the main character being an animated carrot  he is a relatable character, he struggles to get around the dinner table which symbolises the troubles of every day life and he eventually gets out of the house and therefore achieving his dream which could be giving a hidden message out to the people watching saying, never give up on your dreams.

The Aldi Christmas Advert is below 

 



Movie poster- The proposal rom-com

The first thing that jumps out at me when I saw this movie poster was that the man and woman in the picture are both smartly dressed suggesting they have good jobs and they are potentially middle class. The idea that the woman is proposing to the man in the image is unusual because traditionally men propose to women, obviously this is opposite suggesting that in the story the women is looking for the man which is the usually the stereotype used in these sort of movies. The background of the photo is just plain white, the colour white is associated with innocence which could further suggest the main characteristics of the protagonist. The colour white also has positive connotations which could be suggesting that 'the proposal' is the right thing, the idea that 'the proposal' is the right thing could link in to the overused rom-com stereotype that suggests that all women need a man to make there life complete. So although the colour white has positive connotations it could have a negative, sexist overtone. Lastly the colour of the font on the poster is red which obviously suggests love.
The poster for 'the proposal'

Poster for 'the proposal'

Weekly News #9

Weekly News #9
Source: Sky News

Baby koala found in woman's backpack after traffic stop in Brisbane

Alfred the Koala

A 50 year old women has been arrested after traffic police found a koala in her bag. The officers pulled her over for a routine traffic stop and asked her if she had anything to declare, she handed over a green bag housing the koala that she had found the night before. She claims that she was looking after the koala bear but was still arrested by the police. The koala is thought to be around 6 months old and was taken to the local police station in Brisbane, Australia. A RSPCA Queensland spokesman said that the koala will soon be going to a carer and they have decided to call him Alfred.





Coursework (production)

Coursework (production)

For my Thriller film I have decided to make either a short extract from the film or a trailer because I have a good idea of what I want my story to look like and the locations and actors I want to use. I decided not to do print based work because I am in no way artistic and have next to no experience with Photoshop.

Weekly News #8

Weekly News #8
Source: BBC News

Croydon tram: Seven dead and fifty injured after derailment

Shortly after 06:00 AM on Wednesday morning a tram derailed by the Sandilands tram stop. The tram was heading towards Croydon from New Addington when the tram came off the rails. Seven people have died and many more are injured. The rail accident investigation branch (RAIB) have said that the tram was traveling at a "significantly higher speed than permitted" the actual speed limit at that specific part of the track is only 12 mph and the tram was supposedly going much faster.

Road blocked by ambulances and fire engines

The driver of the tram, a 42 year old man from Beckenham has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Because of the derailment, tram services were stopped throughout the day causing massive amounts of traffic in and around Croydon and lots of people could not make it in to school or work. The roads were blocked around Sandilands with several: Fire engines, Ambulances and police vans.

I choose this story because the accident affected many people whether they were involved in the accident or stuck in the traffic caused by the accident, also tram services are used by hundreds of people every day. What made this news even more horrible for me is that I travel the same route to college every day and some of the people that sadly lost their lives lived locally to me.

Weekly News #7

Weekly News #7
Source: BBC News

Energy drink 'fuel hepatitis risk'

A 50 year old construction worker from Florida developed an "acute liver problem" because he consumed four or five energy drinks every day over a three week period. He sought help when he began developing vomiting, jaundice and abdominal pain. The man already had an underlying liver problem which the doctors say has been made worse by the consumption of the energy drinks. The patient originally thought he had the flu but tests showed that he had high levels of liver enzymes, which are a sign of liver damage

The kind of drinks the man was drinking

• Vomiting: Ejecting matter from the stomach through the mouth
• Jaundice: Yellowing of the skin or whites of eyes
• Abdominal pain: Pain in the stomach

I chose this story because lots of people drink energy drinks on a regular basis simply because they 'supposedly' give you an energy boost and because they are cheap. Although they may give you energy, they are very bad for the body especially if they are consumed regularly. This is only the second time this kind of problem has been reported but it would not surprise me if the number rises.

My Thriller film. Story breakdown

Weekly News #6

Weekly News #6
Source: Sky News

Three out of four Britons are 'micro criminals'

According to a poll, three out of four people in Britain have committed a 'micro crime'. Most people do not realise they are committing these crimes because they are silly little things like paying cash in hand to avoid paying tax or illegally streaming movies and TV shows. A lot of people, including myself stream movies and shows on the internet to watch them as soon as they come out. According to the poll 78% of middle class people have committed a micro crime compared to 69% of working class people and Men are more likely to commit these crimes than women.

Eating items from pick and mix without paying  is a crime

Some micro crimes people are not usually aware of include: lying about someone's age to get a better deal, taking a plastic bag at the shop without paying for it and ordering something as take away so it costs less than sitting in. These are all crimes that are committed on a daily basis by nearly everyone.

Personally I do not believe that these crimes are serious and some of the activities shouldn't even be illegal. I think if the crimes were really that serious than the police would try and crack down on the huge amount of people that do it. I chose this story because I found it interesting how so many people commit crimes on a regular basis and do not know or do not care that they are doing it because they are minor offences.

Media coursework: research draft 1

Media coursework: research draft 1

Over the past few weeks I have been researching Teen Thriller films to gather information for our research task. I have gathered information on certain topics like: the difference between Thriller films and Horror films, the structure of a Thriller film, the features of a Thriller trailer and the characters in Thriller films.

Firstly I had to recognise the difference between Thriller films and Horror films because they can easily be confused. A Horror film focuses more on unrealistic events like: a zombie apocalypse or a mass murder whereas Thriller films are more focused on extraordinary things happening to ordinary people. To put it simply Thriller films are more realistic than Horror films. Thriller films have a long list of different characteristics, the majority of Thriller films involve: mystery, tension and several plot twists throughout. This is what makes a Thriller different because a Horror film sets out to scare the viewer and not much else whereas Thriller films intrigue the viewer and engage them in the film.

Poster for 'Hush'

As a part of one of my research tasks I watched a film called ‘Hush’ this film was a good example for my research because it included so many features of a Thriller film. There was a brave and strong protagonist and a psychotic, evil antagonist as well as a dark, secluded setting and lots of shocking twists. At the time I was looking further in to sub genres and decided that this was a Psychological Thriller because the antagonist tries to mess with the protagonist before trying to kill them. Also in this research task I watched three movie trailers. ‘Out of the dark’ which was a Horror thriller, ‘7 minutes’ which is an action thriller and ‘alien outpost’ which is a sci-fi thriller. From all of these trailers I saw that all thriller films are made to be exciting and suspenseful. All three of the trailers included several black out shots which built suspense in the trailers and make the viewer want to watch the full film.



Todorov Theory

As part of my next research task I looked at the theory of Todorov which suggests that all movies follow a set pattern, this pattern is: the Equilibrium which is the norm, the Destruction which is the main event that breaks the norm, the Recognition where the protagonist realises what has happened, The attempt of repair where the protagonist tries to fix the situation and lastly the New Equilibrium is after the events when the effect of the events settle in and becomes the norm. Also there is another theory called Propp. Propp is the idea that each film has set characters. For

Keith Frazier from 'inside man'

example in the film ‘Hush’ the idea is that: there is the hero who was the deaf women Maddie Young, the villain who is the masked killer, the prize which in this film was survival, the mentor which was the protagonists intelligence and risk taking  and a Blocker which was the protagonists inability to hear. I also done a character analysis after watching the film ‘inside man’ I wrote a character description of three characters: the protagonist Keith Frazier, the antagonist Dalton Russel and Arthur Case who was the owner of the bank that got robbed. These two tasks helped me understand the way films are structured and how the characters are put in to fit these structures.

In conclusion, the research in to Thriller and Horror films helped me understand exactly what needs to be included in a Thriller film for it to be successful. The first task helped me understand what makes a good trailer and what needs to be included in the trailer; also the research in to characters helped me in developing characters for my own production.

Weekly news #5

Weekly news #5
Source: BBC News

Heads go to Downing Street with 'dire' funding warning

Tanbridge House School in West Sussex

Lots of head teachers in England have written to prime minister Theresa May to warn her of a funding crisis that could lead to: reduced school hours, loss of staff and certain subjects being cut. Every state school in West Sussex has signed the letter asking for £20 million in emergency funds. Over 250 primary, secondary, special schools, academies and local authority schools claim that cuts will have to be made if they do not receive the £20 million emergency funding. According to the letter sent to the prime minister "schools are struggling to function adequately on a day to day basis.

I picked this story because this must be a very serious situation if so many schools have signed this letter to the prime minister. Also it is important that students have sufficient resources when going through school, I am sure a school that is limiting the amount of subjects it teaches and has to lay off several members of staff is not good enough to get their students through their exams. I believe the government should try to fund as many schools as possible because the support is needed to give all of the students a fair shot at succeeding at school.

Analysis of characters in 'inside man'

Lewis Jordan

Inside Man Poster

Analysis of characters in 'inside man'

In class we watched a film called inside man. It is a crime thriller about a bank heist in New York that takes place over a 24 hour period. The three characters in the film that i want to analyse are: Detective Keith Frazier played by Denzil Washington, Dalton Russel the mastermind behind the heist played by Clive Owen and the banks founder Arthur Case played by Christopher Plummer. 

Detective Keith Frazier 

The first character I want to look in to is Detective Keith Frazier, in the film he is the NYPD's hostage negotiator and is given a big responsibility when his usual boss is not around. It is his job to instruct the police how to deal with the situation. His main goal in the film is to obviously save all the hostages and get the people responsible locked up. But he is also chasing a promotion at work so he is eager to keep his reputation. The extremely clever mastermind behind the heist gives Frazier a run for his money but eventually when they storm the bank he comes out on top. Although he is not the first character we are introduced to in the film, he is the main protagonist

and a character that the audience quickly warm to. 

Dalton Russel 

The next character is the mastermind Dalton Russel played by Clive Owen. This character is the very first person we are introduced to in the film but is in fact the antagonist. He is a very intelligent character but he is not a violent or evil person, we can see this because he carries fake guns and never really set out to do any harm to anyone. He is part of a group of bank robbers but is shown as the main man in their little criminal organisation. What Dalton really wanted from the bank was the contents of a safety deposit box which belonged to the owner of the bank, this is why he does not steal any money. Although looking like he had been caught at the end of the film he had a secret tunnel and room that he stayed in for a week after the heist. Dalton Russel never actually fails which is unusual for an antagonist in a crime film but that is what makes him such an interesting and engaging character.

Arthur Case

The third and final character is the owner of the bank Arthur Case played by Christopher Plummer. This is the kind of character you have a bad feeling about from the start of a film. Although he is the victim because his bank is being robbed, we learn he has secrets and that is the real reason behind the robbery. The robbers are after something in Arthur's safety deposit box which suggests to us that he is up to something dodgy. When it turns out his riches were made whilst helping out the Nazi party during world war two we understand why he wanting to keep this a secret, also we learn that the robbers are out to blackmail him. Obviously Arthur wants to protect his secrets which is his main goal in the film as well as protecting his business. We never really find out the fate of Arthur as Dalton Russel ends up escaping with his secrets.I suppose this leaves the audience wondering.

Film Analysis

Lewis Jordan

Analysis of the film 'Hush'

Todorov

Equilibrium: The protagonist lives an ordinary life, she lives on her own in a little house in the woods. She lives in a secluded and quiet area which fits the character as she is deaf.

Destruction: SPOILER ALERT. We meet our antagonist, a masked man enters the film in aggressive fashion murdering our protagonists best friend just outside the window where our main character is currently cooking dinner. Killer then appears at window, masked and holding a crossbow and a knife.

Recognition: The protagonist comes face to face with the killer who begins playing mind games with her, he ends up in the house and our main character realises she is being played around with and knows she has to find a way to get out of this situation.

Attempt of repair: Main character decides she has to try and kill the murderer or get him caught, so she starts to write a description of him one her laptop, she then attempts to distract him and ends up stealing his crossbow but she gets severely injured during these events.

New equilibrium: SPOILER ALERT. Our protagonist ends up killing the antagonist, has to live the rest of her life knowing that she killed someone and she no longer has her best friend. Also the police arrive just before the end of the film which leaves us not knowing what happens when the police arrive.

Propp

Hero- Maddie Young

Hero- Maddie Young.

Helper- John Stanley attempts to help but fails.

Villain- Masked killer, only referred to in credits as 'the man'

The prize- To survive and get the villain killed or caught.

Mentor- Her intelligence and risk taking.

Donor- The villain when he drops his crossbow.

Blocker- Her inability to hear and a crossbow wound.

Binary Opposites

Good vs evil

Sound vs silence

Protagonist vs antagonist 

Weekly news #4

Weekly news #4


Source: Sky News

Diabetic patients warned of fatal hacking risk in insulin pumps.

This is a report based on evidence from a security researcher that insulin pumps can be hacked from a distance of up to 25 feet. This only goes for the Johnson and Johnson's Animas OneTouch insulin pump so there is not to much to worry about, but if these pumps are hacked they can change the dosage of insulin. If a patient has to much insulin it can lead to hypoglycemia or low blood sugar which can be life threatening.

The Animas OneTouch insulin pump.

The pump comes with a remote control that is used to control the insulin you get and when you get it. When hacked the dosage of insulin can be adjusted without the owner knowing. I would like to think there would not be someone out there evil enough to do something like this, but these days nothing surprises me.
Johnson and Johnson's have released a statement telling people that own this product to discontinue use of the remote control and set the pump so there is a maximum amount of insulin that goes in.

Insulin pump without remote control

I chose this story because I think it proves that despite how far technology has come it can still have problems and in this case the problem is potentially deadly. To be honest I don't think any piece of technology that can control the amount of medication you are taking should be trusted, I still don't trust technology to do jobs better than humans can.

Class work from 3rd of October

Look at a range of: Film trailers, Posters and DVD covers.

Film 1: Intruder (2016) A film about a women who suffers from agoraphobia has her house broken into by a trio of criminals. The poster for this film is a floating house with weapons hanging from the bottom like knives and axes, suggesting this could be a relatively exciting but potentially gory film. One of the DVD covers i saw had a picture of the protagonist backed against a wall crying. This shows us she is obviously in distress because she is being burgled. The house in the images is very big which could show the women is wealthy, this also explains why they pick this specific location.

The DVD cover from Intruders.

Film 2: Hush (2016) A film about a deaf women who retreated in to the woods to live her life is faced with a masked killer who appears at her window. The poster for the film is quite creepy because there is a picture of our main protagonist but over her shoulder you see the dark and disturbing figure who is trying to kill her. The poster really does not give away very much information about the film, it only really shows us about the trouble the main character is facing.

Poster for the film 'Hush'

Film 3: Inception (2010) This is a film about a thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream sharing technology. He is given the task of planting an idea in to the mind of a CEO. From the DVD cover of 'inception' we see a man holding a briefcase with a distorted background that could suggest this film is quite complicated and perhaps hard to follow. The image of or main character holding a briefcase makes us think that it has great significance in the film. 

'Inception' DVD cover

 

First research on Thriller films

Lewis Jordan

First research on Thriller films.

I started my research by searching Thriller films on Netflix and ended up watching a film called 'Hush'.
It is a Thriller based around a deaf women who has to fight off a masked killer who appears at her window. I found this film to have all the characteristics of a good Thriller film: the brave and strong protagonist, the psychotic, evil antagonist, dark and secluded setting, shocking plot twists and scenes that have you on the edge of your seat. Below is the trailer for this film.

After looking further in to sub-genres I decided this film is a Psychological Thriller because the main protagonist has to fight off a masked man who plans to mess with her head before he tries to kill her, the protagonist is then forced to try and outwit the killer which proves a tough task as she is unable to hear. Although the film is obviously low budget as evidenced by the lack of actors and the use of only one location, I enjoyed watching it and would recommend it to anyone doing similar research.

After this I watched some movie trailers from films I had not seen, I also varied the sub genre to look at a variety of different Thriller films.

First, I watched the trailer for a film called 'Out of the dark' I gathered from the trailer that it is your usual horror film where a family move in to a new house that just happens to be inhabited by supernatural forces that begin to ruin the families life. I can see that features of a Horror-Thriller include: jump scares, multiple protagonists and in most cases a supernatural antagonist. Also in the trailer there is 29 black out shots to build suspense. The trailer for 'Out of the dark' is below.




Next up I watched a trailer for a film called ' 7 minutes' this is an action thriller based around three men who are under threat after failing to make money that they owe to a drug lord, because of this they have to rob a bank to obtain the money needed. From the trailer I gathered that extra pressure was one of the bank robbers as there is an insight into him and he has a wife and a daughter he has to provide for. This differed from the trailer for the horror thriller because it was fast paced from start to finish and the storyline was revealed from the start, whereas in the horror trailer it started off slow and picked up the pace but the movies story was not clear until quite a way through the trailer. This trailer showed a lot of action and nail-biting tension as it made us wonder if our protagonists will succeed. In this trailer there are 14 black out shots which again intend to build suspense and make us think about what happens next before we see the full film. The trailer for '7 minutes' is below.





The third and final trailer I watched for this research was 'alien outpost'  which is a sci-fi thriller, in this film there is an alien invasion and Earth is in grave danger and small groups of troops fight back and risk their lives to try and save their families and the planet. The trailer follows one set of troops and shows a lot of action while at the same time holding back when it comes to showing the aliens in the film. This is probably to get the audience thinking about the aliens and the form they take in the full film. The trailer starts off slowly and builds up towards the end similar to the 'out of the dark' trailer. I think the sci-fi thriller trailers are similar to the horror ones but with less jump scares throughout. This trailer had 8 black out shots which is quite a lot less than the other 2 trailers. Surprisingly the trailer had a sense of realism to it because of the voiceover from the one soldier from the start. The trailer for 'alien outpost is below.



To summarise, I can see that all types of thriller films are meant to be: exciting and suspenseful. All three of the trailers feature several black out shots which are used to build suspense and make the audience think about what is to follow. After my first lot of research I am beginning to understand what goes into making a trailer. Also after watching the film 'hush' I can see what aspects need to be in a Thriller to make it a really good movie.

Weekly News #3

Samsung in 'exploding washing machines' probe.

Source: BBC News

I chose this story because i found it amazing that a company as big as Samsung have made such an awful mistake with several of their products. Not only have there been 'dangerous' accidents involving these washing machines, also Samsung had to recall several Galaxy notes 7's that were recently released because they had a similar problem. According to the article, Samsung have used faulty batteries which cause these products to catch fire and in some instances explode.

Burnt out Samsung galaxy note 7.

I think that the article is relevant to our course because everyone knows of Samsung and their products, most people own a Samsung product whether it be a: phone, tablet, computer or faulty washing machine. The reason everyone knows about Samsung is because we all see it everyday in the media.

By Lewis Jordan

Powerpoint on Thriller films

Thriller films power point by Lewis Jordan

Weekly news #2

Are Universities secretly sexist?

Source: BBC News

I picked this story in particular because it gives statistics and concrete evidence that men have a better chance of getting a high end job than women do. The articles says that only 24% of university professors are women and only 18% of women working as a vice chancellor or principle. Although there is an apparent 'scheme' in place to get more women in these kinds of jobs every year, the plan is to get the number from 24% to 30%. If the system was really fair then it should be a 50/50 split give or take.

I thought this article would be relevant to the course because in class we spoke about stereotypes of girls and it led on to the majority of us having an opinion about a group of people. However these opinions could be completely wrong. There is no evidence to prove that women would be any worse at the job then the men are, so why are they still not being employed?. Probably because they think for no particular reason that women can not do the job. This is why they are now being labeled as 'potentially sexist' even though it is obvious to anyone that they are blatantly sexist.

By Lewis Jordan 

Media Homework

Compare the This girl can video and the Victoria secret video.

Although the adverts are similar because we see women participating in several activities, the reality is they couldn't be more different. In the This girl can advert it shows a campaign in which they are encouraging women to partake in more physical activities and to be proud of who they are. On the other side we have the Victoria secret video which featured lots of women showing themselves off by wearing bikinis and posing in front of a camera.

The This girl can campaign video is clearly made to be motivational and inspirational to women. The video is diverse because it shows people of all shapes and sizes taking part in physical activities like: swimming, jogging and volleyball. This advert was also made by the national lottery so we know the advert was not made for the benefit of a company, it is purely to encourage people to get more active.

Whereas the Victoria secret video is made specifically by the company so they can get more publicity, a technique used in the video to attract attention is the use of attractive women so people watching the video think they will look like the models in the video, this is wrong because the company are exploiting the female body to make money. Also the use of women modelling in revealing clothing is used to catch the attention of men who could convince their partner to purchase from the company.

In conclusion, the adverts that could be seen in some ways as similar are in fact extremely different in the way that one is a scheme to encourage women and the other is a scheme that includes using women to sell products.

By Lewis Jordan

60 Second video about me

Weekly news #1

Amazon's Echo speakers head to the UK and Germany.

Source: BBC News

I choose this story because i thought it was interesting that one single product was making headlines. Obviously there are a lot of speakers you can purchase but for some reason they want to make us believe it is 'different' from the rest. In one part of the article someone quotes that the product is so popular in America "because it's so easy to use" I believe this article is really just about amazon getting some brand exposure via a popular website as it is easy to describe something as "easy to use" for example my microwave is easy to use, but it's not got an article on BBC News.

I thought this article would be relevant to the media course because it is a brand trying to advertise their product using a news article to cover up the fact that it is basically an advert that is making you aware of the product and how great it supposedly is. It could also link to what we spoke about in class where big industries will do favors for other big industries in order to gain more:recognition, power and money. 

By Lewis Jordan