Wednesday 27 May 2009

THE INFLUENCE OF THE INTERNET ON DAILY LIFE

Media influences people everyday on TV, radio and the internet. These are the main kind of media’s that influence any age of the public. They are not easy to avoid. For example television is probably the hardest media to avoid as millions of people own televisions and you cannot choose what is being shown which is a way of influencing people more. Radio is also a media that is hard to avoid as a lot of people have cars which have radios in so therefore they could listen to them quite often. The Internet can be avoided but millions of people still have in on computers etc. This means that it is possibly the easiest media to avoid, but the fact that it can be used by any age is probably the scariest thing.

Media influences people on television because adverts and programmes are shown constantly and even if you do not realise you’re taking in what is being shown, it is still influencing you. The radio also influences the public because it is a very popular media to listen to and the fact that you’re not actually seeing anything makes you listen more which in turn influences you easier.

The Internet is probably the most influential media around as it is used everyday by millions of people in different countries. It is the only media that no one can actually avoid as it is everywhere. Any age can use the internet which I think can be quite scary as children are influenced easier than adults. This means if they go on something that is inappropriate for there age, this could influence them in a bad way. Another reason why the Internet is so influential on daily life is because this media will keep growing throughout our life time and therefore it will always influence people in a good way but possible influence people more in a bad way.

Thursday 14 May 2009

STANLEY KUBRICK


“To make a film entirely by yourself, which initially I did, you may not have to know very much about anything else, but you must know about photography”
--Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick was born in New York in 1928 on the 26th July, he sadly died on the 7th March 1999. He has directed many famous films like, ‘Killers Kiss’, ‘The Killing’ and ‘A Clockwork Orange’. Films like this brought him to the attention of Hollywood.
(www.imdb.com)

Stanley Kubrick first became interested in directing when he was given a camera by his dad on his 13th birthday. At 17 he was offered a job as an apprentice photographer. This soon led him to change his mind and he started to become interested in films, so in 1950 he made a documentary called ‘Day of the Fight’. (www.google.com)

Over the years he made many famous films and documentaries. One of Stanley Kubricks most famous films is called ‘The Shining’ which he made after turning down Directing ‘The Exorcist’. Another famous film he made was called ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’. (www.imdb.com). This was not only one of the greatest films ever made, but a landmark in cinema history, he gained a lot of Oscars from this. In 1951, Kubrick's friend, Alex Singer, persuaded him to start making short documentaries for the March of Time, a provider of newsreels to movie theatres. Kubrick agreed, and independently financed ‘Day of the Fight’ (1951). (www.wikipedia.com). Still to this day Stanley Kubrick is known as a ‘Master filmmaker’!

Stanley Kubrick has won over 31 awards for his films and he has had 46 nominations. Some of these films are as follows,
‘Full Metal Jacket’ – Won an Oscar, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium

‘A Clockwork Orange’ – Won an Oscar, Best Director

‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ – Won as Oscar, Best Effects and Special Visual Effects

‘The Shining’ – Won a Saturn award, Best Director
(www.imdb.com)

I chose to do an essay on Stanley Kubrick because I think he was a very passionate and talented director. I think this because not only did he make well known films, but he also made very successful documentaries.

Thursday 7 May 2009

BEYOND THE FIRE












A film by Maeve Murphy

Starring Scot Williams,Cara Seymour, Hugh Sachs, Chris O’Neil

Release Date: 18th June 2009

BEYOND THE FIRE tells the story of Sheamy (Scot Williams), a gentle Irish ex-priest who arrives in London to find his old family friend and mentor Father Brendan. After an unsuccessful search Sheamy reaches out to the only other person he knows in London, Rory (Chris O’Neil). Rory, a talented musician and band member, takes Sheamy under his wing and introduces him to his flatmate Katie (Cara Seymour). Immediately, the attraction is undeniable between Sheamy and Katie. However, Katie is a warm hearted woman with her own emotional scars. Their intense romance is short-lived and begins to collapse when the past comes back to haunt them.
Are their bonds of empathy strong enough to overcome this?
Or will their new love be burnt by the flames of the past?

THE AGE OF STUPID












Starring Pete Postlethwaite
DVD Release date: 13th July 2009

“This film knocks spots off an Inconvenient Truth…”
Mark Anslow, The Ecologist

The Age of Stupid is the hardest hitting climate change film documentary to hit cinema screens, directed by Franny Armstrong (McLibel, Drowned Out) and produced by Oscar-winning producer John Battsek (One Day in September, In the Shadow of the Moon).

Pete Postlethwaite stars as the narrator of the film, an old man living alone in what is a devastated world of 2055, looking at “archive footage” from 2008, asking “why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?”.

Pete’s character is the founder of the Global Archive, a storage facility located in the (now melted) Arctic, dedicated to preserving all of humanity’s achievements in the hope that the planet might one day be habitable again. The stories Pete’s character uses to illustrate the plight of planet earth when something could have been done, include those of six individuals across the globe, whose lives have been affected in some way by climate change.

Produced independently, using the unique method of film financing through a “crowd funded” budget, The Age of Stupid is a film that hands the audience a stark dose of reality, forcing us to comprehend the true enormity of what we are doing to the planet.

MY TIME AT CCAD

I can't believe there is only about month left to go till i leave CCAD! It doesn't feel like i have been here for 2 years. I have really enjoyed every minute of my time at CCAD, luckly, I'm not going to miss this college too much as I'm coming back at the end of this year to study FDA TV and Film.

I have met some great friends at this college, i don't think a day has gone by where i haven't burst out into laughter in the middle of a lesson. I don't think i would have enjoyed college as much if i hadn't had made the friends i did. They have all been really supportive and made my time at CCAD enjoyable!

The most memorable time at CCAD will have to be when my course and i went to Paris for four days. It was so fun! We got to go in all the theme parks and go to Paris on the night to go up the Eiffel Tower and see some famous monuments.

Although i am very excited to leave and start my new course, i am defiantly going to miss everything about ND Interactive Media, it has been a great course to be on and i have learnt a lot.

KNOWING



Director: Alex Proyas
Star Rating: 2/5
Release Date: March 20, 2009

With:
Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne,
Chandler Canterbury, Ben Mendelsohn,
Adrienne Pickering, Tamara Donnellan,
Brett Robson, Jayson Sutcliffe.


Nicolas Cage stars in this gripping action thriller of global proportions about a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions about the future and sets out to try and stop them.
In 1958, as a part of a dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students decide to draw pictures of what they think the future will look like. But a mysterious girl fills her paper with loads of numbers. These pictures are then stored in a time capsule.
Fifty years later, a new generation of students get to open the time capsule to see the pictures. The ‘mysterious girls’ paper is handed to young Caleb Koestler (Chandler Canterbury), but it is professor John Koestler (Nicolas Cage) who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. With the help from Diana Wayland (Rose Byrne) and her daughter, they have to race against time until professor John Koestler finds himself facing the ultimate disaster and the ultimate sacrifice.

I was not to keen on this film. I like the start and the middle of the film, but I didn’t really get the ending, I didn’t think it was necessary.

Thursday 2 April 2009

GHOST TOWN


Director: David Koepp
Star Rating: 5/5
Release Date: September 19th 2008


With:
Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni, Billy Campbell,
Greg Kinnear, Kristen Wiig, Brain d’Archy James,
Jordan Carlos, Sebastian lacause



This comedy is about a man called Bertram Pincus (Ricky Gervais) whose people skills aren’t of the best. When Pincus unexpectedly dies after having an operation, but is miraculously revived after several minutes, he wakes up having the most annoying ability to talk to spirits that are earthbound. Even worse, they all need his help, especially Frank Herlihy (Greg Kinnear), who died recently and wants Pincus to break up the impending marriage of his widow, Gwen (Tea Leoni).
Bertram Pincus goes through a very interesting and funny time trying to balance his life as a dentist, a person who can see ghosts and a man Gwen will fall in love with.

This is one of the best and funniest films I have seen, I would say it is a must see!

THE UNBORN


Director: David.S.Goyer
Star rating: 2/5
Release date: January 9th, 2009

With:
Odette Yustman, Gary Oldman,
Meagan Good, Cam Gigandet, James Remar,
Jane Alexander, Idris Elba, Carla Gugino,
Rhys Coiro.



Sometimes the soul of a dead person has been so tainted with so much evil, that it has been denied entrance to heaven. If this is the case, that soul has to wander between the borderline until it finds a body to inhabit.

This supernatural thriller tells a story about a young woman Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman) who is pulled into a world of nightmares and a demonic spirit that haunts her and threatens her family. Casey had always hated her mother for leaving her, but when weird and supernatural things start to happen, she understands why she left. Casey decides to go to a Spiritual Advisor, Sendak (Gary Oldman). With Sendak’s help Casey finally finds out about her family curse dating back to Nazi Germany, a demonic demon that can inhabit anyone and anything. Her only chance for survival is to shut the doorway from beyond our world, which was opened by someone who was never born.
I wasn't to keen on this film, as at first i didn't really understand it. I think that it is a good film to watch and it is guaranteed to give you a shock.

Thursday 26 March 2009

MARLEY & ME



Director: David Frankel
Star rating: 5/5
Release date: March 31st 2009

With:
Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston, Alan Arkin,
Eric Dane, Haley Bennett, Clarke Peters,
Haley Hudson, Marc Macaulay, Sandy Martin.




The films tells a story about two people John Grogan (Owen Wilson) and Jenny Grogan (Jennifer Aniston) who get married and are ready to follow Jenny’s checklist of things to accomplish within their lives together. This isn’t just a checklist of small things, its BIG things, like, ‘Get married’, ‘Buy a house’ etc. John is very happy to follow jenny’s checklist, apart from the dreaded ‘having a baby’.
John’s single-for-life best friend Sebastian (Eric Dane) tells John that he should get a dog, as this could potentially act as a child. They both have good jobs, Johns a reporter and Jenny’s a journalist, so he thinks getting a dog might be a bit more easier than starting a family as he wants to make his mark in his work place.
They eventually buy a dog, and call it Marley, but what Marley turns in to isn’t what they expected. With another kid on the way after having two, life starts to become a bit more difficult. Jenny has quit her job, but John got promoted, money isn’t the problem, Marley is.

I think this film is a definite must see, I promise you, no one will come out that cinema not crying, it’s the tearjerker of the year.

HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU.


Director: Ken Kwapis
Star rating: 4/5
Release date: 6th February 2009


With:
Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Drew Barrymore,
Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly,
Jennifer Connolly, Justin Long, Kevin Connolly,
Kris Kristofferson, Scarlett Johansson.

Set in Baltimore a widely popular bestseller from ‘Sex and the City’ scribes Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, He’s Just Not That Into you, which tells the story of a group of interconnected, Baltimore – based twenty – thirtysomethings that navigate there way through various and interesting ways in how to have/or start a relationship with someone.

Everyone in this film basically has a main role, as it follows about 6 relationships. Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) just wants a man that will call, when he says he will. While Alex (Justin Long) advises her not to wait around the phone for the man to call, as it’s more than likely ‘there not into you’. Beth (Jennifer Aniston) is wondering if it’s normal to be in a relationship with someone for several years but still Neil (Ben Affleck) doesn’t want to get married. Janine (Jennifer Connelly) is wondering whether she should call it off with her childhood sweetheart Ben (Bradley Cooper), as she suspects he is lying to her. Whereas Ben thinks he wants to stay with Janine but can’t quite trust himself with Anna (Scarlett Johansson). Anna can’t decide whether she likes Conor (Kevin Connolly), who is a straightforward no-sparks standby, or the hunky married man who she knows she can’t have. And then there’s Mary (Drew Barrymore) who’s found an entire network of loving men, but she now needs to find one that’s straight.

After watching this film I realised how many problems people encounter when they are either in a relationship or wanting one. I would say this is a definite must see and I am giving it a star rating of 4/5.