7/10

Today I listened to BBC Radio 4 in hope that they would play some radio dramas, instead what I head was a rerun of the Any Questions debating show that I heard before and another episode of 15 minute drama (kinda worried that they have run out of shows.. or I got bad luck). Either way next time I will visit the website and find out when different radio dramas are broadcasted (there was a long running radio drama, but I can't remember what it is called, damn).

I had my first proper peek at Vimeo today, I visited the staff picks as recommended by my lecturer to see what they had in the section. I came across this short film called The Replacement Child directed by Justin Lerner. The short film does a brilliant job of building up an impression of the main character, I understood why people thought he was a crazy lunatic (in polite words) and why he was ill-treated. The cinematography was very effective in a producing a dismal (if that is the right word) appearance and feel to the film, I felt like visually every scene was going to have an even further negative impact on the narrative and my expectations were not disappointed. The sound is pretty good, however it feels as if certain parts were too notably ADR'd. For example 4:26 - 4:36 I think the editor attempts to cover it up by using the 180 degree conversation rule and by not actually having the camera on the person speaking, however in the visuals he did try to match the dialogue with, I see a slight difference in what I would expect in sound from the visuals. Overall, I can look the other way for this little mistake.

I searched on google for the "top 10 poems" and "top 10 poets" (not the best way to utilise the search engine) and came across a few poems that I liked and not soo much liked. My preference in art will always be rhythm, any pattern I can understand and I am bound to like the art, however if I cannot find or understand the rhythm I am likely to not like the art. In no specific order, Shakespeare's Carpe Diem was one I came across, I like the poem for the conciseness and flow. The meaning is nice, however I must intense emotion from a piece to moved. In comparison to another poem I read, Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. I liked this poem especially as I sense the cheeky side instantaneously. The assurance the writer feels in herself as a woman as she boldly asserts herself above the ranking of a man. I drew a connection between the time of this poem and women rights a few years ago, clearly this was a woman who rebelled in believe that any man was ever above. I researched a little into Angelou just to have a rough idea of who she was and was quite amazed at the talents she held. From Poet to actor to speaker. Another one of her poems I enjoyed was Still I Rise, which supports that she believed in herself. A few other poems I read were The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, If you Forget me by Pablo Neruda, This is Just to Say by William Carlos Williams (which has a reading of it by Matthew Macfayden) and He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do by Phillip Levine (this one was really good as well).

Later on, I had a sound workshop with my lecturer Ron who gave the class Zoom recorders and allowed us to become familiar with them. I am already familiar with Zooms so it was a refresher session for myself, however I was impressed by the hydrophone (I think that is what it is called) that the class was given to use. The shotgun mic was once again impressive, with the directional sound it picks up, but I was very eager to use that hydrophone and eager to use it again.

Once I reached my place, I watched American Beauty, which impressed me with the narrative. The film did slightly bend at the end from my expectations, however the final ending did meet the build up the film had already triggered from the beginning (I knew he would die just not at the time he did). I really liked the portrayal of the relationship between the daughter and the parents. In a lot of households, it is common for the teenager of the household to try and spend more time with their friends causing mischief and being distant from the rest of the family. I am in total disagreement with the perverted view they gave of the dad finding the daughter's friend attractive, however was satisfied with the conclusive ending between the 2 when he refuses her (or I would of been sick). In a more objective light, their relation between the 2 characters was built up really well from the montage of the dad's fantasy to the slutty whore attitude she portrays within the movie. Makes it believable that they would of had sexual intercourse. 2 main points I will highlight: A great success in leading the viewer to believe when the boyfriend right at the beginning asks if he should kill the daughter's father and she agrees, I was under the impression that the life of the father ends with the boyfriend killing him. Another interesting point at the end, the build up to who killed the father is built within that montage where we cycle through the main characters. Before we get the bloodstained father, I was already guessing that the mother had killed the father and was shocked and satisfied to find the father of the boyfriend had in fact shot him. Overall the film succeeds by the use of narrative.

Ty