#but it's difficult to get the colouring of so much different (bad quality) footage to line up 😩

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | The American Friend (Wenders, 1977)

More than most of our great actors, Dennis Hopper's personal life and career are difficult to separate from his performances. Here's a man who started off in studio pictures, directed one of the defining films of the American new wave, had his next film buried and was cast off into the wild, so to speak, as his drug problems escalated, and after a successful stint in rehab, found a second career playing great movie psychos. This is an extremely simplified summary of his life and career, and Hopper certainly had films in each era that buck the trends I refer to, from his early role in Curtis Harrington's strange and mystifying Night Tide, to his directorial success with gritty cop drama Colors to his turn as a villainous real estate tycoon in Land of the Dead (a film whose satirical points proved to be entirely on target when I revisited it last year), but the point still stands. I mean, you look at his role as a photojournalist under Kurtz's spell in Apocalypse Now, his best known role during his "wilderness" years, and it doesn't seem too far off from the real Hopper. Wim Wenders' The American Friend was another film Hopper made during these years, and by Wenders' account, his initial behaviour very much justified that reputation. (Apparently a night of partying helped patch up any disagreements on set.)

Here Hopper plays Tom Ripley, that great psychopath of print and screen, but what will struck any viewer familiar with the source material is how unusual a fit he is for the role. Certainly there's no one way to play Ripley. One need only look at the different film adaptations, where he's been played by actors as diverse in style as Hopper, Alain Delon, John Malkovich and (in the shamefully yet to be seen by me Anthony Minghella film, given its reputation in menswear circles) Matt Damon. And Ripley himself changes between novels. Compare the insecure, aspiring character in The Talented Mr. Ripley to the survival instinct in Ripley Under Ground to the strange benevolence of Ripley's Game, of which this is an adaptation. When reading the source novel, I pictured Ripley as cold, composed and calculating, an approach Malkovich took in Liliana Cavani's adaptation a few decades later. (I like that movie quite a bit, but if one must quibble, Malkovich plays the role perhaps too conventionally.) Hopper is anything but. He's impulsive, mercurial and tortured, and comes sideways to the material yet in a way that's ultimately quite fitting. We can believe this is a man who would seek to ruin Bruno Ganz's hero's life over a minor insult and also a man who would stick his neck out to assist the man he wronged over something so meager, if only to rebalance the scales of cosmic justice. Movie psychos don't always adhere to the psychological realities of real life sociopaths, but Hopper's anguished demeanour makes the portrayal work.

Hopper also diverges from other incarnations of the character in his wardrobe. The Talented Mr. Ripley, set in an Italian resort town, suggests that its characters should be sporting relaxed, maybe a little louche, vacation wear, which is certainly the case in its adaptations. Ripley's Game has an older, more discreet Ripley, and Cavani's adaptation has him dressed fairly conservatively. In contrast, Wenders has Hopper (my guess is at Hopper's insistence) decked out in workwear, sometimes in a jumpsuit, sometimes in denim (providing more evidence that a Canadian tuxedo is a good look in the right hands) and almost always with a cowboy hat. It's a look that suggests honest Americana in most contexts, but here takes on a sinister quality. ("What's wrong with a cowboy in Hamburg?" he asks, none too reassuringly.) Highsmith as an American ex-pat living in Europe likely had a different relationship to the character than Wenders, a German in West Germany, and one can read a political and cultural dimension into the way Ripley, an American, influences sometimes nefariously and sometimes beneficently the life of the German hero. The hero's initial disgust at Ripley's involvement in an art forgery scheme, a plot point lifted from Ripley Under Ground, seems pretty pointed in this respect. Lest I suggest that Wenders' views towards Americans and their cinema are entirely ambivalent, it's worth noting that he casts crucial supporting roles with Nicholas Ray and Samuel Fuller. (He also places Jean Eustache in a brief scene, but one which hits a key narrative beat.) To an extent, their casting plays as iconography, and a moment where Hopper parts from Ray, the former marching towards a modern skyscraper while the latter is framed against an aging building, feels like an attempt by Wenders to find a place for his movie, loosely falling in that very American genre of film noir, in the context of both American and German tradition.

In adapting Highsmith's work, Wenders shuffled the settings to place most of the action in Hamburg, and perhaps because of the contrast with his preceding road movies, he seems particularly interested in the realities of the location. There is of course the scene I mentioned above, and the way the joyless industrial settings seem to colour the mood. (That mood is of course enhanced by the cinematography by the great Robby Müller, which is a masterclass in its use of colour. The fluorescent lighting is bold yet harsh and chilly, creating a movie that's gorgeous to look at yet a little oppressive to spend time in.) Ripley's lair even looks like a crude cartoon sketch of the White House, which again plays into the movie's curious yet critical view of American iconography (a quality which would bloom in Paris, Texas). This kind of specificity also ties nicely into its qualities as a thriller, of which this is a terrific example. The movie's most thrilling sequence (shot both on a moving train and also in the studio, with the footage later assembled with immaculate timing) is the hit on the train, where the hero, eventually assisted by Ripley, has to devise and perform a pair of murders in a crowded, cramped, moving train and dispose of the bodies without anybody noticing, sometimes hiding bodies in the bathroom, sometimes stashing weapons in different nooks, sometimes fleeing to unattended cars (the hero sticks his head out a window at the train's rear and cries in relief, as seen in the bizarre visual of a helicopter shot that makes it look like the bright red train is moving backwards). I also think of the way the victim's body tumbles down the escalator after Ganz's character performs his first hit and the sight of Ganz fleeing the subway as seen through the security camera, which evokes the feeling of being trapped by the location and enhances the subsequent sense of freedom and exhilaration experienced by the hero. Ganz's character is a good man, but Highsmith understands and Wenders captures the subversive thrill his terminally ill character might get from checking out, however briefly, from societally accepted morality. If the movie has a weak spot, it's the character of his wife, whose concern for her husband and suspicion of his activities make her a firm moral centre but also a little one note. But one suspects this is less a result of a failing of Wenders and Lisa Kreuzer, who plays the character quite sympathetically, and more from Highsmith's comparative disinterest in the good and normal. Bad guys are just so much more interesting.

[aweebwrites]

Move on Dragons Ch 15

"Any luck yet Sensei?" Lloyd asked from the bridge of the Bounty, watching Little G eat his fill from the small bowl of wild berries in his palm, the others next to him.

"Yes and no." Sensei Wu admits, something akin to frustration in his slitted golden eyes. "I managed to get closer this time but your father is a slippery man who insists on not being found. He has taken traveler's tea to leave the realm so I must follow him." He told them, shifting the view of the device to the sight of the small camp with an empty teapot there, the outed campfire still burning.

"I will still have to figure out just which realm he escaped to but there are only so many he's willing to visit. I may be unable to contact you all for some time longer." He forewarned them.

"That's cool Sensei. Everything's pretty chill on our side still. Nothing too major has come up and our tech team is getting closer to figuring out how the device works." Cole says as he glanced at Zane, Nya, Pixal and Jay close by.

"Indeed." Zane nodded at the screen showing their Sensei. "We've already learned how to turn it on and off but we're getting closer to figuring out how to activate its interface." He reported.

"That's good. Having a direct line to Vortica will prove to be most helpful." Sensei Wu nodded then looked to Kai who was a little jittery if his shifting wings and flicking tail wasn't enough indication. "Is something the matter Kai?" He asked him and Kai blinked then shrugged.

"Nothing's actually wrong but…" He says then grinned. "Wu and I will be checking the Dragon Dimension today. We hit the 2 month mark since the dragons left so we're gonna see how things are doing. We aren't expecting much progress so quickly, even though 5 years have passed there, but we're looking for small signs that the planet is recovering." He told them.

“It won’t be in its best shape but… I’ve missed the place, you know?” He added with a shrug and the others could relate.

They haven’t been there for long but it really was beautiful.

"I see. Be careful however. Extinction usually brings forward evolution in both animals and plants alike." Wu warned him and Kai nodded.

"I will be. We'll let you know the news of what's up next time we chat." He promised and Wu nodded.

"Then I will contact you once I am able to." He promised them.

With that, their conversation ended with well wishes and goodbyes.

“This infernal device is highly frustrating.” Pixal says glaring at the small device she held in hand.

“But it’ss pretty fun to sssolve! It’ss kinda like a rubix cube!” Jay grinned, taking it and looking it over, his flicking tail almost tripping both Zane and Cole, all of them used to he and Lloyd’s tails to know to stand clear of the area behind them.

It took a lot of adaption to work around their individual changes, especially both Jay and Kai’s changes as theirs was permanent. It didn’t bother either of them much anymore- Kai didn’t have a problem with, too used to it as he was- but there were days when they did miss being human and on days like that, their much bigger family was there for them.

“Are you ready Kai?” Wu asked, looking down at the team’s ship from where he sat near by.

Somewhere in the past week, they began being able to speak like them. Zane knew better than to question how they were able to what with the structure of their mouths. Pixal knew better not to as well, not after almost short circuiting trying to figure out how Zane too got the ability to shift. Both nindroids decided to call it magic and left it at that.

“Yeah.” Kai says as he walked over to the edge of the ship, pulling out the dimensional crystal.

“Don’t forget the camera so we can keep track of the planet’s progress.” Nya called and he turned around catching it with his tail.

“Thanks sis. I’ll get all the footage you guys need.” He grinned then hopped over the edge of the ship, using his wings to catch him.

“You guys sure you don’t need us to come along?” Lloydie asked, stepping forward from where he and the others stood.

“Nah. It’s just a quick in and out. We won’t be more than 5 minutes tops.” Kai reassured.

“Just make sure to stick close to my father.” Morro cautioned and Kai smiled, flying over to stroke his snout, bumping his forehead against his.

“Don’t worry Mor-bro. We’ll be fine.” He reassured and Morro wasn’t ready to admit he needed the reassurance.

He knew their world was in a bad state, knew it was dangerous to go as they weren’t even sure what the oxygen levels were like right now and with both Kai and his father going there… He blinked once Kai held the crystal out to him.

“Why don’t you send us off huh?” He grinned and Morro blinked at the pink gem then balanced on his hind leg and accepted it, the crystal tiny in his paw but he picked it up between his claws and glanced at Kai as he flew back to where his father was. “Just hold it up and it’ll do the rest- but make sure not to do it twice or else the portal will close.” Kai warned and Morro nodded before holding up the crystal as instructed, a large portal opening up close to the two as he did.

“Sit tight. We’ll be back in a jif.” Kai winked before he flew in as Wu walked through.

The first thing Kai noticed once he stepped through was that the sun was setting- which was good since the air was uncharastically hot. That combined with the obvious decline in air quality made it a little difficult to breathe. He glanced up at Wu as the dragon looked around at what once was a lush, bountiful planet, now reduced to desolence, nothing but broken and dead trees standing around the base of the mountain they called home. The sky held a noticeably redder colour and it was quiet. So uncharastically quiet. Kai turned the camera on, moving forward still, looking for any signs of life thriving here. There were bones of animals passed, decomposing still and fungi. Well. At least they were clear signs of life.

“We won’t be able to ascend the mountain. The air gets thinner the higher you go and it’s already difficult to breathe at sea level.” Wu spoke up as he too walked around, keeping his pace slow and his breathing even.

He couldn’t afford to get even slightly winded. As a dragon of his size, his lungs demand a large amount of oxygen with each inhale, amounts that the planet could no longer satisfy. He couldn’t stay for very long still, else he collapses from oxygen deprivation. But their future depends on any signs of life. Fungi was a good start but he was hoping that more complex life survived the decline in the planet’s environment. If not, then they would be in Ninjago for far longer than he originally thought.

“Nothing. Maybe we should try in a different area? This is still kinda on a slope so maybe if we head to flatter land…” Kai suggested, turning to Wu.

“Perhaps.” Wu says in consideration. “However-” He was cut off by a cough that quickly descended into a coughing fit.

“Wu!” Kai yelled, alarmed as he flew over.

“I’m… Afraid I cannot… Stay any longer here…” He rasped, barely able to prevent himself from coughing further.

“Then go back!” Kai urged, looking back to the portal and he nods, heading towards it. “I wanna look around for a minute longer but I won’t go far.” He told Wu as he paused to see if he was coming.

“... Be careful.” He warns and Kai nodded, watching as he returned to his world.

Kai looked up, the moons, rings and stars in the night sky holding a reddish tint from the oxygen deprived atmosphere before he looked around again, hoping for even the softest glow of an insect but finding none still. He sighed, turning the camera towards himself from where he had still been filming.

“Five years past here and no signs of complex life. I’d look around a bit longer but it’s not exactly easy to breathe here, despite my body needing less oxygen than the dragon’s. It’s dark but it’s still pretty hot out and the air is thick and heavy. Maybe things will be in better shape after five more years. We could probably even chek different locations then.” Kai shrugged at the camera recording him. “Might as well head back now.” He says quietly, looking at the reflective lense before he frowned, spotting something strange.

He glanced back and up, looking at the sky suspiciously. Strange. He could have sworn he saw some kind of light- It flickered in again, growing brighter and larger this time. Kai’s eyes widened at the familiarity of the phenomenon in the sky. No way… He turned the camera towards it without much more thought, on the defense as he narrowed his eyes at the swirling multicoloured vortex above. Suddenly, two figures came tumbling out and Kai’s eyes widened before he darted forward, dropping the camera and catching one- then two, before they could hit the ground. Oh man were they heavy! A small sound from one of the two figures caught his attention and he really looked at them.

“Oh boy.” Was all he could think to say.

Wasn’t this a situation.

Outside the portal, Morro was fussing over his winded father, creating a gentle but oxygen filled airflow around his head as he caught his breath.

“Kai’s still in there. What’s taking him so long?” Cole says with a frown, wings out and opened, ready to perform a rescue mission if he must.

“If he doesn’t come out in the next minute or two then we go in.” Lloyd says, looking across at Cole and he nodded.

You better be ok Kai…

____

“Ugh!” Pixal growled in frustration.

“I agree! This is hopeless! Almost two months and we’re hardly any close to figuring this thing out!” Nya yells, resisting the urge to throw it down to instead place it on the table.

“I feared we wouldn’t be able to uncover the mysteries of this advanced technology. It appears this is becoming reality.” Zane says with a tone of frustration as well.

“I don’t know guyss, maybe we’re overthinking thingss.” Jay spoke up and they looked at him, both parts unimpressed and curious.

“Have you even interacted with this device? I think overthinking is quite necessary.” Pixal pointed out.

“No no.” Tempest says as he took over, Jay on the back burner. “I think Jay’ss got a point. Doess Vortica ssseem like the type of persson to use anything overly complicated? Doesn’t matter if complicated is within her knowledge basse, I think ssshe’d use sssomething that only takess a touch or two to activate.” He says as he used his tail to pick it up and bring it closer.

“Maybe turn it on then swipe?” Tempest mumbled as he did so, sliding his thumb against a pink panel before he blinked once a holoscreen and keyboard popped up, an image of Vortica sticking her tongue out at the top, making it clear this was a messaging interface.

Tempest smirked at the surprised, borderline angry looks both Nindroids and Nya wore, Jay yelling up a storm in the front of his mind.

“Well. I’ll be damned. Looks like the mystery is solved at lasst.”  Tempest huffed.

____

“Alright. Let’s go in.” Lloyd says as he walked forward, Cole on his tail.

Before they could get any closer however Kai walked through the portal, struggling with the weight of the figures in his arms.

“Is that-” Blaze says with wide eyes as he and the others walked over.

“They are…” Wisp whispered, not sure if he should go on the defense or assist.

“Well. There’s two faces I never expected to see again. Especially like this.” Mist spoke up as Morro closed the portal.

“... Indeed…” Was Wu’s contemplative hum.

Perhaps… This was for the best.

____________ (I'm trying for updates every 2 days now for this fic. Also I cannot write the name Green Bean/Greenie and take it seriously so I updated Dragon!Lloyd's name to just Lloydie. They still call him Greenie and he's still annoyed by it but that's kinda in the background. Can you guess who came through the portal? ;)Thanks for reading!)

[challengerbmxmag]

Sam Waller Interview

Sam Waller co-runs, the UK based Central Library, “a shop in the North West of England that sells zines, DVDs and other interesting bits and pieces.” He’s also part of the current resurgence of quality independent BMX media with his Red Steps magazine. In addition to that he finds the time to contribute to Challenger with his quarterly column, ‘Notes From A Fancy Island’ and of course, ride. And, when you talk to Sam, you can tell that riding reigns supreme.

Sam and I email back and forth fairly often because of the column but also about other random stuff like old spots, concrete skateparks, music, etc. It’s fun to email with Sam so I figured it would also be fun to ask Sam some more in-depth questions. Hit the link below for the full interview.

All photos by Gaz Hunt. Thanks, Gaz!

I know you live in Manchester, England now but where did you grow up and what is your BMX origin story? I grew up in the complete middle of nowhere in a place called Colton in the south of the Lake District. Whilst the countryside in film and television is often shown as a tranquil, quaint place, the reality is a fair bit different, and Colton in particular seemed like a hotbed for strange stuff going on. Only recently a large farmhouse was burned down by a wild woman who owned loads of pigs. She was exiled from the county, but the pigs remained to cause havoc.

Anyway, my older brother has played guitar since he was six or seven, but as I was a useless at it and couldn’t get my hands to move properly, I felt obliged to find a similar all-encompassing past-time.

I was mad on Formula 1 racing for a while (thoughts go out to the Schumacher family), and I went to a karate lesson once (a hobby quickly scrapped after the whole hour was spent being taught how to bow honourably), but up until the age of 12 or 13 it just felt like I was dawdling about.

All of this changed when, for some reason I’m not entirely sure of, me and my friends decided to make some jumps and drops and stuff to ride on our mountain bikes in some woods near a dual carriageway.

One of my friends knew some older lads from nearby who had proper bikes and Little Devil hoodies, so I think they must have planted the seed of raditude with him, but I think at that time I was just happy to be out the house and not playing Tekken 2. We later found out that the woodland we’d chosen was a popular dogging site frequented by truck drivers (I'm not sure if 'dogging' exists in America - maybe look it up), and quickly moved our spades and everything into another forest. By that point the damage was done and my mind was snagged.

After a bit of bouncing about on a mountain bike, I then splashed out on a second hand Standard that someone had painted post-box red, affixed some stunt nubs and never looked back (or lookbacked, for that matter).

The nearby town of Ulverston had a pretty big riding and skating scene, but thinking now about us lot trying to lay down ‘street style’ in this small historic market town, we may as well have been the Jamaican bobsleigh team — the rough ledges were strictly for stalls, and the closest thing to a flatbank was a grass verge round the back of a Texaco garage.

What were some of your biggest inspirations as a kid and what about now? I always think about how the 16 year old me would probably make fun of some of the things I'm into now. Is that the case with you at all? Apart from the receding hairline and the slight increase in responsibilities, I think I’ve stayed pretty much exactly the same since I was 16. Back then I think my favourite film was probably Natural Born Killers, and my favourite album was maybe something like Bad Moon Rising by Sonic Youth. Whilst I’ve maybe expanded my interests a little, I’ve pretty much been in a rut since then.

I’m not into memes or internet humour in the slightest, but I remember someone once showing me a video of a wrestling fan in America crying and shouting, “It’s still real to me, dammit.” That’s how I feel about a lot of things I was into back then. A lot of people who I went to school with moved on from being into music and films and pissing around on bikes, whilst I’m still snagged on it all, listening to The Minutemen and wearing check shirts. It’s pretty stupid really.

What's The Fancy Island? Good question. Just next to Strangeways prison and only a mere stone’s throw from Manchester’s slick centre, lies a true rat-pit of questionable activity. I’ve seen loads of stuff happen here, such as an aggressive man chase a prostitute with a two-by-four and a creep lying in an alley trying to lure small boys into his lair.

In amongst all this, there’s loads of naff wholesale shops that sell everything from low-end Halloween costumes to fake Air Jordans made out of cardboard and fuzzy felt. All these shops have mad names like EEZZEE and Vibe Centre.

Getting to the point now, coming up with titles for things is pretty difficult, so a few years ago when I was cobbling together a zine, I nicked the name Urban Mist from one of these shops, and then, when I went to set up a Tumblr during the carefree pre-Instragram era, I nabbed ‘Fancy Island’ from a similar establishment.

I think Fancy Island has closed down now, but it’s no doubt been replaced with yet another shop with a daft name selling cheap batteries and t-shirts with swear words on the front.

Whilst I’m explaining names, I’ll state that Red Steps is a classic spot in Manchester that I ride past on my way to work every day. It boasts a rusty, needle-thin flatrail, a few small stair-sets (that are indeed red) and a large flow of gormless students to crash into. I’m not too sure why I named a magazine after it, but it just struck me as a funny name for a spot and I was struggling to think of anything else.

One thing I struggle with is balancing how to take BMX seriously while balancing a sense of humor about it as well; i.e. it's pretty goofy but is also this amazing vehicle for new experiences, ideas, and a pretty incredible community. Do you ever think about this? Like with most things in life (except crucial necessities like eating and breathing), riding bikes is pretty stupid and abstract if you try and think about it too hard. That said, I don’t see why bike riding should look goofy (apart from actual goofy-footed grinding - as a self-confessed goofy grinder myself I’ve got a lot of time for George D, Ralph and Dave McDermott) — riding is loads better than pretty much all other activities, but it’s constantly being made to look daft, when it could so easily look dope.

I think to stay juiced and not turn sour, you’ve got to completely ignore most things going on with riding and stick firmly to the bits that you like. I treat riding like music or films or anything else. In the same way I don’t go to the cinema to watch big summer blockbusters, I don’t spend my free time watching Corey Martinez edits or endless hours of footage from some zany mega-comp.

I’m a simple man. As far as riding is concerned, I like smith grinds, bottles of Heineken, Galaxy chocolate, black and white photos, sitting on benches and talking complete nonsense. The rest of it is irrelevant to me.

I constantly hear/read people complain about the lack of BMX magazines but there's so much cool stuff being printed right now. We've discussed this in email a bit but it seems weird that people are complaining. It's almost like people just have an idea of what they think a magazine should be and if it doesn't have look or read a certain way they are just confused. How do you feel about all of this? A solid group of people do buy things and support these independent projects and whatnot, but I think it’ll take a while for the loud-mouthed Instagram warlords to come to terms with the fact that the new magazines around might have different names to the ones they used to subscribe to 15 years ago. I suppose it’s maybe easier to talk about the lack of magazines out there than actually go to the effort of seeking them out, but having said that, it’s not exactly hard to find stuff these days.

I remember years ago hunting down anything beyond Dig or Ride was an absolute hassle involving a lot of e-mail mither and blind faith - but now with yourself, Berks St. and 90East stocking interesting stuff in America, me and Clarky doing Central Library over here and the newly formulated Wiretap down under, it’s easier than ever for anyone to get their hands on zines and DVDs and all that.

The new stuff that’s coming out now is ten times better than Dig or Ride ever were anyway. Endless contest reports and dull bike checks have fallen by the wayside, and I haven’t seen a photo of Jimmy Levan’s zebra-print leggings in years. Things are really looking up.

What do you do for work? Thoughts on pursuing money via BMX and also what's the best job you've ever had? By day I work in an office writing stuff for a clothes shop. As you can imagine, trying to come up with an interesting way to talk about the 659th blue shirt you’ve seen this week can get a bit tough, but I can’t complain too much really. The office is fairly warm and there’s a kettle in the kitchen.

As for pursuing ‘serious wonga’ via riding, I’m one step ahead of you. Central Library has just received big investment from Duncan Bannatyne and Deborah Meaden (of Dragon’s Den fame), meaning we’re finally able to stock all those bizarre Caramac-coloured tyres that real bike shops seem to stock. We’re also expanding our print line to offer crime fiction and the Goosebumps novels. My main aim in life is to become one of those creepy industry characters who spends their time sniffing around young and naïve talent in the hopes of flogging a few ‘dad caps’.

My finest job was probably working for my dad in the family trade of dry stone walling (which explains my surname). I’m not sure if dry stone walls exist in America, but they’re those fairly humble looking stone walls you see dividing up the fields and forests around the English countryside.

Anyway, building them isn’t too bad as far as manual labour goes. When it’s raining and you’re miles up some hill wallowing in the mud lugging big stones around with nothing more for lunch than a chicken and mushroom Pot Noodle and a Penguin biscuit, then it’s a little miserable – but on a good day when the sun is shining and you’re working with ‘good stone’, it’s hard to beat.

The best days were when my dad would fall asleep just a few minutes before the end of the lunch hour, basically extending the break for at least another 45 minutes. Thinking about this job now, I’m not sure why I ever gave it up.

Do you have any other hobbies besides riding? Yeah, but I’d say the lines were pretty blurred. This is maybe a pretty boring answer, but I suppose riding lends itself to other hobbies pretty well. I might be wrong, but I don’t think keen swimmers or budding javelin-throwers get into photography or making videos in quite the same way. It’s sort of like the ‘pillars of hip-hop’ or something – riding, taking pictures, messing round with video stuff and generally snooping around all fits together nicely (or at least it does in my peppered mind).

It’s not like I’m slipping on my Etnies t-shirt for my weekly two hour power sesh and then the next night I’m wearing some short-shorts down at the climbing wall. Even when I’m on holiday with my wife, I’m still just snooping around the same way - we’re not buying tickets for some naff rollercoaster or dining out at exclusive restaurants with Abe Froman.

Are you able to take time off of riding and not feel like you're missing out or feel guilty? I have one friend who really goes in on the guilt tripping if I don't ride. Related: You said you like sitting on benches. Can you do that on a nice day? At the age of 28, I’d like to feel like I can just about deal with a few missed sessions. Obviously I still need a comprehensive run down of spots seshed and feats accomplished when I’m away, but it’d be mad if I was out all the time. The human body can’t handle that much raditude.

Fear of things going un-photographed does creep in sometimes, but Clarky will have filmed it anyway, and Gaz and Wozzy are better photographers than me, so if they’re about then hopefully someone caught the action.

Moving onto the subject of benches, these babies really come into play during my dinner break at work. I get on fine with everyone there, but when the clock strikes twelve I’m not going to be sat in the office spilling reheated chilli over my keyboard… I’m straight out into the city centre on full sit-off mode – hopefully getting into some daft conversation with one of Manchester’s many vagabonds.

A few months ago I was sat in town when I was approached by a fairly scruffy gentleman who was bleeding loads from his forehead after someone kneed him in the skull. The rest of my lunch break was spent trying to sort him out a bit. One meal deal, some wet wipes and a pack of king-skins later, he seemed alright. You don’t get these hijinks sat inside all day.  

I was just thumbing through the new Red Steps (nice job) and I just realized how much I enjoy your interviews -- what is it that you like about interviews? Not trying to stroke the ego here but you are really good at it... Cheers. Any ego strokes are much appreciated. This maybe sounds a bit daft, but I want to know everything. This is probably evident to the people who know me, but I’m a complete mither, completely hassling everyone with questions all the time.

This pesky nature extends into everything, meaning that I spend a lot of time reading a lot of interviews about the things that I’m into. I buy a lot of old copies of magazines like Wire, Ray Gun and Sidewalk on eBay, and even though the interviews contained within those pages might have been conducted in the corner of a pub maybe 25 years ago, they’re still worth reading today.

A proper interview with a little intro and some photos laid out nicely on a page… it’s mint – it’s a finished thing – sort of like a well-edited video or something. I know a lot of people are into ‘podcasts’ these days, and that’s fair enough, but to me – they’re not complete enough. I don’t want to hear people say ‘um’ and ‘err’ all the time, and I want something sick to look at (and by that, I don’t mean a load of pundits sat around a table with headphones on).  

I’m going to rattle on here whilst I’ve got the chance. Anyone reading this who gets the opportunity to answer questions for an interview, a ‘bike check’ or anything else…don’t just write a lazy sentence for each answer – go mad. Tell some funny stories. Or if you’ve got nothing to say, just make something up. No one cares about how responsive your headtube angle is or how you ‘usually just cut the bars down’. This could be your only chance to air your thoughts into the wider world, and you’re going on about what PSI you put in your tyres? COME ON PLEASE TRY HARDER YOU BORING GIMPS.

(above) Spread from Sam’s zine, Latvia Photos. (below) Cover of Sam’s zine, Around Town.

You also make photo zines/books not related to riding. Do you have any high art aspirations with this stuff? No real aspirations I’m afraid. Wine gives me bad heartburn, so I generally try and swerve anything resembling a gallery opening schmooze-off. As I was sort of saying before, making photo zines is just an extension of everything else. I like taking photographs, so it makes sense to put them together. It’s all pretty small-time really – it’s not like I’m getting thousands printed.

To be honest, it’s all a complete faff that I could easily avoid by not bothering and just sitting around watching American power-dramas, but it’s good to have stuff to look back on – even if it’s just a 40 page zine that nine people will see.

Crouching under a tattered old curtain processing rolls of film every night whilst being mithered by my cat isn’t particularly glamorous and I’d imagine there are probably easier ways to get cosy with the artistic elite.

What's your favorite slang word? Going back to my walling days, my dad uses some pretty intriguing slang terms. Unlike inner-city slang, which will usually be documented in music or useless BBC3 comedies, these more rustic words don’t get much recognition. I don't use these terms myself, but I certainly respect them. Here’s a few choice cuts…

“A few skins on the job” – a large workforce “Keitel” – a fairly humble work-jacket “Bait” – lunch “Bray it – hit it “Kessen” – when an unclipped sheep falls over onto its back and can’t get up due to its weight. This happens more often than you’d think.

You can buy scoop up a copy of Sam’s magazine, Red Steps, in the Challenger web shop here, look at the online shop, The Central Library, that Sam runs with Clarky here, and check out some of his other photo zines/books here.

[scripttorture]

Effective investigation: strategies that actually work

In modern popular culture torture is consistently linked to interrogation: to getting information from a prisoner.

 Now I’ve written several times why this trope is not only wrong but also harmful and is used in the real world to justify torture. O’Mara and Rejali also cover this in depth over several hundred pages for anyone who wants more information.

 I often get asked for realistic alternatives: what does actually work? How can characters, bad or good, actually go about gaining information in a realistic way?

 This isn’t going to be an exhaustive list, and I feel I should state that I have no practical experience of interrogation. Hopefully though it can serve as a starting point that will help you think about how characters come by information in your stories.

 The first important point is that interrogation generally isn’t very effective.

 Very little useful information comes from interrogation of suspects when compared to all the other sources of information police and intelligence agencies draw on.

 There are a several reasons interrogation isn’t hugely useful including:

·         Human memory isn’t that good. Even well meaning people who want to help forget important details.

·         People are much better at lying than detecting lies. Even people who describe themselves as good at detecting when someone is lying do a very poor job.

·         Memories are easily modified in stressful situations. Even someone who isn’t trying to can plant suggestions leading to false memories, directing the interrogation in a particular direction without even realising it.

 Some useful information does come from interrogation (and I’ll come back to how to handle it in a moment) but, realistically the following are more important sources of information in any investigation:

 Physical forensic evidence

 This doesn’t just mean things like hair samples and DNA. Computer records, credit card bills, surveillance camera footage, library records and letters can tell you an awful lot about a person. Reading a character’s emails or letters and keeping track of their bills can reveal a lot of plot relevant information such as whether two characters are in contact or why a character might be desperate for money.

 Gathering this sort of information takes a lot of time and hard work. It’s not as simple as collecting evidence, such as a piece of hair or a computer hard drive, the information has to be analysed and interpreted correctly.

 The hair could be DNA tested and cross referenced with a database or simply identified as human and of a particular type and colour. (Identifying it as human is important, I know at least one forensic tech who was handed cow hair and told it was definitely from a suspect)

 The computer hard drive would need to be poured over file by file. It’s not quite enough to suppose character A could access character B’s emails, A has to have the time and inclination to read the damn things.

 An important point to consider is how dedicated your characters are. Careful collection and examination of evidence is probably the best way of finding something out. But it requires patience, hard work and a lot of time.

 There’s a reason police work is a full time job and there’s a reason a lot of people in professions like policing might think torture is easier. Gathering and analysing evidence is hard.

 It’s worth considering whether your character has the resources and inclination to go down this route before you decide to use it.

 Observation

 This is the stake-out scene from every police movie and tv show. It’s having one character physically following and watching another character for as long as humanly possible, recording everywhere they go and everything they do.

 It means finding out where a character lives, watching them at work, noting where they eat lunch and who with. Finding out where they go in their free time and how often. When they go to bed. Who they visit. How long they do it for. The minute detail of everything someone does in their day recorded for a period of weeks or months to build up a picture of the person.

 If that sounds creepy that’s because it is.

 This is a very time consuming strategy. It requires a lot of focus and patience and dedication or the ability to hire someone who has those qualities. It’s simpler than systematically gathering physical evidence and it’s easier to do discretely.

 Informants

 This is probably the simplest major method of gathering information. It can be as complicated as the Soviet Union network of paid informants or as straight-forward as people coming forward and volunteering information.

 This is incredibly important to police investigations. Information from voluntary informants led to the capture of the London tube bombers in 2005. The suspects were identified by their family and neighbours who went to the police.

 This sort of informal reporting doesn’t just occur in police contexts. From a writing perspective the way I tend to think about it is in terms of crossing societal lines.

 Every culture and subculture has ideas about what is and what is not acceptable. Every group has an idea of what’s ‘going too far’.

 You might be writing a story set around a violent, criminal subculture where theft and murder of other adults are the norm. But the same characters who wouldn’t dream of reporting an enemy for killing another adult might feel differently about the murder of a child.

 A religious character might excuse their priest’s affairs, but report anything they’d see as desecration or blasphemy.

 A scientist might ignore a colleague harassing their lab assistants but report data fraud.

 Think about what matters to the characters and you’ll be able to tell when they’d freely volunteer information.

 If you can’t think of anything emotional that would cause them to inform remember that your characters could pay informants. And then consider how many people who really need some cash might be in a position to watch or steal from other characters.

 Cleaners, drivers, people who deliver supplies- anyone who would be on a low wage, have regular contact with the character but only a superficial relationship could be a very valuable informant.

 Interrogation

 At the time of writing there is really not enough systematic research on effective interrogation. As a result I’m going to try and concentrate on things we’re reasonably sure help rather than getting bogged down in academic discussions about what might be useful. Those discussions are interesting but not much help to writers.

 1)      The first important point is that interrogation takes time.

 If a character is volunteering information that probably won’t take as long but somewhere in the region of 3-6 hours would still be reasonable. A witness to a crime or victim would probably need time and reassurance in order to tell the authorities what they know to the best of their ability.

 Someone who isn’t really willing to talk (for whatever reason) will need much longer. A day is actually unusually short. Weeks or even up to a month is not unreasonable. Timeframes are going to vary depending on the characters and the situation the plot has put them in but I think it’s important to remember that interrogation isn’t quick and it isn’t simple.

 2)      Interrogators and characters being interrogated should speak a common language.

 It sounds simple and obvious but if the characters can’t communicate effectively interrogation is almost certainly going to fail.

 Using translators does not seem to be as effective as using people who speak the language but there haven’t been systematic studies of speakers vs interpreters as far as I know.

 3)      Good record keeping is essential for effective interrogation.

 That’s straightforward in a modern setting with recording equipment but less so in a historical one.

 Having a record of everything the suspect character says when interviewed means that everything they say can be analysed by multiple people, can be cross checked against what they said previously and can be stored in a legible format in case it’s needed later.

 Checking what a suspect character said today against what they said yesterday or even last week helps investigators to tell the difference between fact and fiction. Lies are difficult to keep consistent, especially over longer periods of time. Inconsistencies can be helpful and consistencies can help highlight areas investigators should look into in greater depth.

 Having multiple people able to analyse information also helps hugely, each individual brings their own specialist knowledge to the investigation. Which can be as simple as recognising a local’s nickname (and so correctly identifying them later) or as complex as analysing how a suspect claims they made a bomb and recognising that that process wouldn’t work.

 4)      Even someone who genuinely wants to help will forget details and get things wrong.

 That isn’t unusual and it certainly isn’t a sign that the character is unwilling or being deliberately unhelpful. In fact a story that sounds too detailed and too precise might well be a sign of a pre-scripted and pre-rehearsed lie.

 5)      Very very few people refuse to talk.

 Whether they talk about anything helpful is of course another matter but the stereotype of a tough criminal sitting completely silently and staring down a cop is incredibly rare in reality.

 A smart interrogator will try to get their suspect chatting in the hope that some useful information will come out.

 Let’s say one of our characters is suspected of being part of a larger conspiracy of some kind. And he won’t chat about any of the ‘interesting’ material the cops have found in his house, but he’s happy to talk to the interrogator about the local football team.

 The interrogator might notice that he seems to go to watch the local team regularly and that he goes with the same set of friends. Friends who might not be part of this conspiracy but might have heard something useful from the suspect.

 A smart suspect will try to keep up a conversation peppered with misleading hints and misinformation.

 6)      Have the interrogating character establish a friendly rapport with their interviewee.

It is easier to talk to someone who comes across as friendly, interested in what you have to say and broadly sympathetic to your position.

 It is much more difficult to talk to someone who shouts, screams and acts in an aggressive and confrontational manner.

 The interrogator’s job is primarily to make it easy for the suspect to talk. Everything else follows from that.

 A polite, engaging, sociable character who can keep calm under pressure would be a good pick. Someone who can be ‘friends’ with anybody.

 Let me stress that this can be extremely difficult. We’re talking about a character who can walk into a room with the worst possible criminals and try to make friends with them; a character who is successful at doing so. Don’t be afraid to show the kind of toll that takes on the character.

 7)      Don’t let suspects talk to each other before hand.

 I’ve discussed elsewhere why solitary confinement is harmful- keeping characters completely isolated might well impair their memory of events.

 But allowing characters to talk to each other before their interrogated also affects memory both for characters who want to mislead interrogators and for characters who want to help.

 Essentially we edit our memories all the time. Discussion of shared experiences with other people is a major trigger for natural alternation of memories.

 Four witnesses of the same events who don’t talk to each other in advance will give four different but broadly similar accounts.

 If the same witnesses talk to each other before they’re interviewed they might well all report the same inaccuracies.

 8)      Have interviewed characters tell their story backwards.

 This is a pretty simple memory aid that makes it easier for interrogators to spot inconsistencies in a story. These inconsistencies don’t necessarily indicate a lie but they highlight areas a character might be unsure of or might have inaccurate memories of.

 For instance if a character witnessed a car crash they might be instructed to start their account from the moment the ambulances arrived at the scene and work backwards from there until they reach the moments just before the crash.

 This technique can also help remind characters of additional details as they tell the story.

 9)      There is no reliable way to tell if someone is lying by looking at them.

 Even people who judge themselves as ‘good’ at detecting lies perform poorly in tests.

 There are no reliable ‘tests’ for lying. There are no working lie detector tests and based on how complex an action lying is short of literally reading minds I don’t think it would be possible.

 The only reliable way to tell if someone lied is to double check everything they said.

 10)  Body language is not a reliable indicator of a character’s guilt or innocence.

 A lot of people still believe that it is and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with your characters believing that- but I’d advise caution.

 An interrogator character might recognise that a suspect character is nervous, but to instantly ‘know’ why they’d need to be psychic.

  The vast majority of people who conduct interrogations in real life have little to no formal training. In the USA (2013) the average was between 8-15 hours of the full training program. Consider how many hours you’d spend on a year long full time education course and you’ll get an idea of how little training that is.

 We are what fills in the gap.

 People with almost no training look to our portrayals of tough, aggressive interrogators who ‘always’ get results and, consciously or not, those portrayals influence them.

 The truth is interrogation isn’t a great way of getting information and interrogators are only human: they don’t have a supernatural insight into the suspect or crime.

 But we tend to write them as if they do. Personally I think that’s part of the problem- We focus on interrogation because of its dramatic potential. That focus warps how both the public and people involved in investigations view interrogation. It places too much focus on a comparatively poor information gathering technique and leads to assumptions that interrogators are capable of more than they realistically are.

 Trust, human interaction and treating other people as human is important. Anything that undermines that undermines interrogation.

Edit: Since I’m seeing some response in the comments from people who don’t quite see how bad portrayals of torture in fiction can affect real life, I’m linking back to this older Masterpost-  Accurate Portrayals of Torture in Fiction are Important

Disclaimer

[Sources: Why Torture Doesn’t Work: The Neuroscience of Interrogation. Harvard University Press, S O’Mara

Torture and Democracy, Princeton, D Rejali

The work of E Alison and L Alison, discussed in this newspaper article and listed here on their University home page papers are behind a pay wall (one specific to interviewing terrorists can be found here).

New Scientist 2015, article on evidence based policing]

[davidmajorcmp-blog]

Evaluation of my project - Task 4 Michelle Storm

For my rebrand project, I started off by brainstorming the retro side of facebook, what it was and how it came to be. I used my time to sketch different designs that i could possibly use and I then narrowed it down to the best three or four designs. To start with, one of the biggest issues I faced was how to get away from the iconic blue and white f of facebook. I didn't quite know how to make a logo without facebook's iconic rich blue colour. I then started to wonder if there was any possible way I could keep this and focus my logo on a pressing issue in our society today.

 I did some research into this and found out that some people didn't use facebook because of their race, colour, creed and religion. They thought that they would be discriminated against because of the fake news they had previously and wrongly heard. I then decided to use the theme of unity in my work, to try and give facebook a new start for everybody, no matter where they come from or what religion they follow. This is something I feel very strongly about myself. This is because I believe that everyone is equal, we are all human and everyone deserves to be treated equally and fairly. I also came up with a side them of eco-friendly facebook as this is another pressing issue facing our society today. I came up with the idea to use the globe as my logo as I thought this represented my theme best. This way I could also keep the same iconic blue colour as the sea of my globe and I could also use the green countries to represent my other theme of eco-friendly as this colour is the most psychological representation of this.

 I also kept the iconic f in the middle of the world, to try to portray the message that facebook should bring everyone together. Then came the question of how to film my logo. Originally, my idea was to use time lapse and to show the creation of my logo using plasticine. I then realised that I would have to edit my hand out and it would've been too difficult. I then turned to stop start animation. I decided to keep the plasticine and to film using stop start as the film technique. During the filming I decided to make my logo unravel from a ball of plasticine. I thought this would be cool and eye catching. I filmed my footage with only one problem. There just wasn't enough footage. This meant that I had to  then come up with another idea to film so that I had sufficient footage. I was able to make a slogan out of plasticine letters so that I had enough footage. 

Once I had finished filming, I put my clips together using the animator programme on the mac to first create a sequence and then to put my work into premiere pro. To begin with I sped the footage up slightly and set the time to 30 seconds. unfortunately , I uncovered some problems with using premiere pro, as it would not allow me to adequately cut my project down to size because my footage was all singular frames and was wasting valuable time. I then switched to using after effects which was much easier to use and I was able to edit my footage as two clips instead of individual frames. 

By using after effects instead, I was able to cut my footage down to an adequate time that fitted the requirements of my brief. I was then able to add my audio. I did this by downloading a theme to the desktop and dragging it into my composition. I then added a fade out effect at the end and made sure it sounded okay. The next thing I did was add the outro. For this I used my slogans and showed my message fading in and out in the iconic facebook blue writing. This then fades away and the video ends. During my composition and editing, I only had one major issue. This was that I had a bad differentiation in light quality. To rectify this I had to use the levels effects to try and balance the light quality. Next time I am going to remember to make sure the lighting remains consistent throughout. this is something that i need to remember for the next film project to refrain from doing this agin and having to sure my time for editing something that could have been avoided during filming.  

[reporting-media-crystal]

Task 1: Part A & Part B

A) Choose two articles:

https://news.sky.com/story/harry-and-meghans-interview-how-much-damage-have-the-couples-claims-done-to-the-royal-family-12243949

https://news.sky.com/story/how-likely-is-it-for-women-to-be-killed-in-a-public-place-12242870

B1) Sky News

Narrative Construction

The narrative construction starts with the headline claiming ‘How much damage have the couple’s claims done to the Royal Family” and then as a sub-headline mentions that a palace insider states “that the hype is often bigger than the event but they had no idea what was coming’.

It starts with a statement that she got from a source of the senior palace. That the “circus” has been running for nearly three weeks.

Starting off with the lead [Explaining the Who, the What, the When, the Where, the Why and How]

The article talks about the recent interview with Oprah Winfrey that happened on the 7th of March, 2021. It includes the conflict between the Sussexes and the Royals, on what it has done to the Royal Family. It explains the interview in further depth with hyperlinks “The Interview” “Harry” (all news) and “Meghan” (all news). Speaking about Meghan describing having suicidal thoughts and mentioning of a racist comment that was spoken in the interview regarding the colour of unborn baby Archie’s (child of Harry and Meghan) skin.

Another quote from a palace insider stating that “The hype is often bigger than the event” and it would take something extreme for the rest of the Royal Family to comment. Which that was the case, they were exposed to as “uncaring, unsupportive, and even racist”. Then keeps on explaining how the interview affected the royals.

A quote from the Royal Family is mentioned that “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. Whilst same recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately” – The Royal Family.

Continuing with the body (the crucial information) - which continues to discuss the racist comment which also includes another hyper-link that prince William was “quick to shoot down those claims”. Then she continues to talk about, how the racist comment affected the royals and a quote from another source that has supported the royals and their charity work for many years has added: “They told me the claims hit them very hard……”

They continue to talk about the Royal Family’s role in promoting equality, diversity and mental health.

Now discussing Harry and Meghan’s life and how “most of us couldn’t start to imagine what it was like for Harry and Meghan living that life (the privilege, nor the spotlight)”. The article also includes other sources like Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter Ndileka Mandela talking about her encounters with Meghan and Harry in Africa (2019).

Later the article talks about how Meghan and Harry were aware of before getting married and wrote; which leads to the question ‘whether Meghan really was so naive and vulnerable’.

The article then discusses the revelations that just kept coming when Harry and Meghan spoke to Oprah Winfrey. Another quote from one palace insider: ’The war has stopped so it’s probably best to stop bombing’. Information from former member of staff said ‘that it is sometimes impossible not to get dragged into misunderstandings between different family members and their offices.

A quote was then added from Omid Scobie (author of Finding Freedom) “What they do want is the opportunity to control the narrative around their own lives and, given we’ve spent the past three or four years talking about them, I think it’s fair to let them have a couple of hours”. Talking about what the Sussexes want.

Then the article mentions that “the couple were careful not to criticise the queen but inevitably Harry has put his grandmother in a very difficult position” (Mills, 2021). We get information from another source this time it is Adwoa Aboah (model and activist) who worked with the royals on their mental health campaign and she explains that “the way Americans and English people present themselves is very different. The way they emote.” (Aboah, 2021).

Ending the body - with information if Meghan and Harry want a totally private life or more control over their public life.

The Tail – Update on their life and a quote from John Hornby (chairman of Sentebale, the aids/HIV charity which was set up by Prince Harry in Lesotho, Africa)

“The reality is they are probably still one of the most famous couples in the world.”

"So I don't think leaving the UK or the UK media is going to change that.

"The world's media are fascinated by this couple and so is the world of social media, so you can never really walk away from these things.

"But I would say that he feels he has taken a step back."

Mr Hornby added: "I think that's actually when you see Harry at his happiest - when he is, for example, in a country like Lesotho, when he's working with a charity where most of the people aren't thinking about him in his role as a prince but more as somebody who is rolling their sleeves up and getting involved in the projects we're doing."

Treatment

o   I think this was first going to be treated as an informative or entertainment (because of their prominence also) news; but as the interview came out, and when comments about racism and inequality were raised, this story become hard news. Which was spread quickly.

o   Sky News have minimal bias and hardly make use of loaded words (wording that tries to influence the audience by emotionally blackmailing or stereotypes). Their reporting is accurate and normally sourced.

o   The article was supportive on both the Royal Family and the Sussexes.

o   From researching on Sky News, I doubt that they would have a hidden agenda because there is no biased involved. It is simply an article talking about the impact of the interview of Prince Harry and Meghan with Oprah Winfrey.

o   The footage came from Sky News, they also had their own interviews with sources.

Quality and depth of subject matter

Since the outcome of this interview is important and troublesome for the UK, I think it has been dealt with in a professional and informative matter.

The quality was excellent we got clips from the interview, various sources which shows evidence, lots of hyper-links to fully understand the story too. The subject matter was done properly with the right tone due to neither upset the Royal Family nor the Sussexes.

Sky News is very reliable when it comes to their authenticity, they conduct their own personal interviews and research.

The role of the presenter/interviewer

The role of the presenter in this story is Rhiannon Mills who is doing the voice-over in this interview and explaining the issue. I can tell that when she is talking about both the Royals and the Sussexes her voice is completely monotonous, which shows that she is not siding with anyone.

Rhiannon Mills works for Sky News as a royal correspondent and delivers exclusive stories and breaking news on all the members of the Royal Family. Her interviews are known worldwide, with interviews with both Prince Harry and Prince William. “Rhiannon has travelled widely with the royals, covering tours to Japan, Africa, Nepal, India, Bhutan, Pakistan, the Middle East, New Zealand and Australia among other” (Sky News, n.d.)

The interviewee as a character in the story

The main interviewee: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and The Royals

In this story it shows what Meghan and Harry have gone through, good and bad. In this story some people agree with them and others not. It also shows how their interview with Oprah Winfrey has impacted the Royal Family in a damaging way.

In order to not only mention the Royal Family as “racist” nor the villains in this news story, they provided interviews of theirs where they show equality in their work.

Other sources: Provided information regarding the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and how they feel regarding the whole situation.

Technical Elements [mise-en-scene (if any); camerawork; use of sound and/or music; editing]

Colour correction – I think there was some orange hint to the feature. It looks much more pleasing to the eye with a bit of tint.

Different shots – different shots like close up of interviewee’s faces, shots of hands (to show fidgeting). These shots show the emotion of the interviewees.

The reports’ cultural context

This article is mostly targeted towards the UK, since they are the Royals. However, the Royals have always been a prime topic worldwide, discussed in news features and people love to hear about their gossip and make up their own theories. Also, Meghan is American, so for some Americans this might also be important news for them.

This interview of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with Oprah Winfrey was much for the audience’s interest especially since the previews showed prince Harry saying that his biggest fear was “history repeating itself” which audience speculated that it this is a metaphor regarding Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana. Which various people from the UK and other countries still adore the late Princess Diana till this day.

The intentions of the presenter’s telling of the story

I think the intention of Sky’s Rhiannon Mills was providing fact and there was not an agenda nor biased. As I mentioned earlier her voice is both monotonous when speaking about both Duchesses of Sussex and the Royal Family meaning that she was clearly not siding with anyone.

 B2) Sky News

Narrative Construction

The article starts with the lead – Mentioning the disappearance and murder of Sarah Everard that happened on the third of March after she visited a friend in London, Clapham and the impact it has made throughout the UK and also worldwide, it has increased fear amid women for their safety.

Also quoting from Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, while acknowledging women would be concerned, tried to allay fears as she said "it is thankfully incredibly rare for a woman to be abducted from our streets".

*Video* - This feature shows us the statistics and crimes that has happened to both men and women. Explaining to the viewers how a serial killer reacts, showing crime scenes, photos and an interview of a man who had lost his wife and step-daughter.

Now discussing the body - In the article it shows the statistics of women that were killed in England and Whales between April 2019 and March 2020.

Then continuing that “Women are more likely to be killed at home by somebody they know”.

And that 77 percent of the women that were killed in these statistics were all in residential properties. 

“Men, are more likely to be killed in a public place.”

And how “Women are more likely to be killed by their partners or ex-partners”

The tail – To conclude the article, it talks about violence against women from former senior Colin Sutton, who is investigating the officer for the Metropolitan police murder squad had previously stated to Sky News: "There are very few, thankfully, men who commit violence against women in the street, in public places.

"When they do arise, when they're arrested and looked at it's found that not only do they use violence against women in the street but they'll also use violence in the home against their partner."

Treatment

This article was treated as an informative article, to inform the viewers how important it is to increase the awareness on the safety of women in the UK.

It shows the statistics of how women and men are killed and explains how some murderers feel after they killed someone or before it happened.

The agenda is definitely an open one explaining the likeliness of a woman to be killed in a public place and going further into detail about murder of women and men, there would be no hidden agenda in this type of article.

Quality and depth of subject matter

The quality of this article was excellent, the video is highly interesting and includes a number of sources and crime scenes in detail. The depth of the subject matter was dealt with appropriately, it is clear and concise. 

Showing graphs to determine the difference between women and men getting murdered while also explaining the psychological aspect of a murderer. Sky News is very reliable when it comes to their authenticity, they conduct their own personal interviews and research.

The role of the presenter/interviewer

Presenter – voice over (Liv Moloney) Liv Moloney is a senior digital producer who works with Sky News.

The presenter’s tone of voice sounds serious which is appropriate for the video.

She describes the details in depth and presents evidence to back up the information.

The interviewee as a character in the story (analyse how they talk)

Interviewee 1: Detective – Colin Sutton

The role of former murder detective Colin Sutton is to inform the audience about the demographics of murders of men and women in the UK.

He talks about his previous criminal cases on how they happen spontaneously, the use of overkilling and how it starts.

Interviewee 2: Julia Shaw – Criminal Psychologist

Her role is to make the viewers to understand the psychological part of murder and murderers.

She talks about why men murder their partners.

She mentions how “we overly rely on cues of things like attractiveness” and “being more likely to trust someone because they’re attractive and less likely to trust someone because they’re unattractive” (Shaw, 2021)

She talks about the reasons for men being violent and how we tolerate the expression of violence in men more than we do in women.

She also mentions how murder “is this thing that we assume we’re not capable of until it happens” and “how we see ourselves as good people” (Shaw, 2021).

She talked about the importance of how emotions such as anger, jealousy, greed and rage can all leads us into a situation where she thinks that everyone is potentially capable of murder and how it is not an external thing.

Technical Elements [mise-en-scene (if any); camerawork; use of sound and/or music; editing]

This video shows elements of a thriller documentary about murder, including intense thriller music, creepy text, images and videos behind scenes of murders. Also including images and clips of serial killers such as (Ted Bundy and Jack the Ripper)

It also changes the music to a more compassionate song, when there is interview shown with a man who had lost his wife and step-daughter because the step-daughters ex-partner murdered them.

The reports’ cultural context

Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the murder of Sarah Everard, who was killed by a serving Met police officer Wayne Couzens in the UK. This has been spread quickly and there have been posts on social media about how unfair it is that a woman cannot even walk alone in a public place.

How we as women have grown up having to learn about defending ourselves against men. Therefore, in cultural aspects this has been shared worldwide and has definitely brought up awareness and concern to our society.

The intentions of the presenter’s telling of the story

I think the presenter’s intentions (Liv Moloney) was to portray this interview in an engaging way, figuring out the psychology of murderers but also giving us alarming information to create more awareness. I think she wanted to create an impact to give more apprehension for these situations and to hopefully prevent more of these cases.

[1801016-2]

Showreel

Research: Examples of Unsuccessful Showreels

1.‘Stop-Motion Showreel 2017’ by Reuben Loane

[https://vimeo.com/198468217]

Duration: 02:53

Music: Cute - Bensound

To me, this doesn’t even feel like a showreel, more just a series of long clips to show all of their work at once. Yes, that is what a showreel basically is, but it lacks the variety and usual editing style. It is also much longer than the successful ones I have seen. It’s different to see a showreel with more stop motions work, which is often slower paced than motion graphics or digital 2D, and the work is very good. It just hasn’t been put together in a way that would grab attention, and it keeps returning to scenes form the same show. As for music, it cuts between different short songs when text or tiny clips are shown, and long periods of original sound and voice acting made with the animations. Altogether it feels broken, so with no flow. There is an intro card that is clean and effective, with a name, job role, and date. And there is an outro card that shows contatct information. So this covers all bases and is a successful component that I didn’t see in all the better showreels I analysed.

In conclusion, I don’t believe this is a good example of a showreel as a whole, mainly because it is  too long. There are some successful parts like the title cards, and the work itself is of a high quality, but in the idea of being an inspiring showreel, this is not one. I would have liked the sound track to play the entire time, and just have the volume lower when scenes with voices are played. That could have made it more cohesive. Or, if they really want such long clips to be played, have them be in the centre rather than the first thing to be shown. So perhaps all it needed were some snappier transitions and some retiming to elevate it back into being a successful showreel.

2.‘Demo Reel - Ambroise Hennebelle - 27/01/2011 BAD BAD BAD NOT PROFESSIONAL’ by LePetitGuerrier aka Ambroise Hennebelle

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJivQfUdy5A]

Duration: 01:11

Music: ン刂 ツドステート・スカウター - Dragon Magic Orchestra

The presentation in this showreel is very simple, with 3D models being shown in the centre of the screen, rotating to show the full asset, and then cutting to another one. It is a lot slower than the other ones I have looked at, but the others have been focusing on animation rather than design. Showing the full image is a good idea yet it has become repetitive. I do however like that the clips show the process of creating the 3D models and the different polys and maps.Whilst upbeat music is usually a good choice, this showreel has taken it too far and its so loud that it feels as if it’s from a video game fight scene. It doesn’t compliment the animation so it gets a bit distracting. The clips are still timed to it but it doesn’t make any improving differences. There is a simple intro card that gives some information, and the exact same one is shown at the end. The layout isn’t great but I guess it gets the job done. There are also a few labels to explain the different sections (3D vs. Animation).

So in the end, I don’t think this was a successful showreel as it leaves you feeling indifferent. I wasn’t anticipating the next clip, and whilst some of the work was very nice, I wasn’t excited about it. Even the creator admits that this is not a great showreel, and suggested this one was made for fun when also making another, more professional version. It feel it could be improved by having a more detailed intro/ outro card with their purpose (eg. digital modeller), having some calmer music, and by changing up the presentation and timing a little, maybe even showing more than one thing on screen at a time.

4.‘Robert Dyke - Animation Reel 2017’ by Robert Dyke

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIraePpIAog&t=66s]

Duration: 02:15

Music: What Are You Prepared to Sacrifice - Borislav Slavov

Again there is strong animation within this reel but I still don’t agree that it is entirely successful. Many of the clips are too long, some become repetitive with similar content or simply shows them again with different colours or angles. In addition, some progress footage is shown which is insightful. As for transitions, it’s fun to see them try something different with the clips fading into one another rather than just cutting between. However the clips remains too long (at over two minutes), so it begins to become a bit of a drag. Next, I think that although the music creates a nice build up, it starts off feeling too ominous to accompany that particular clip. It then always stays in a state of suspense so the viewer expects a climatic ending scene, but we are never really shown one. Just like the first showreel I though was more unsuccessful, they do both have informative titles cards. This one also had labels along side each clip explaining what part they worked on, which is a nice touch. So I think the whole presentation is clean, it just leaves something to be desired.

Overall the purpose of this showreel was clear and structured, it just yet again did not leave me with the exciting impression the more successful ones I looked at did. I would have sought to improve it by cutting up the clips and spreading them out to reduce the repetition, and use a facer paced sound track to emphasise the variety. It’s a little intense for a quick insight into your work. When there is loads of different animation you may forget what you just saw and being reminded could make an interesting edit. However, in the end it is difficult to analyse showreels that have a more specialised job role.

[projectstarskiesofficial]

Chapter 1. Crash Landing Adventure

A blinking red light illuminated the corner of the display, as the video jumped to life. In the centre frame sat a peculiar humanoid, pastel turquoise with pink markings. Their pastel purple hair draped across their shoulders, framing a small face with antennae and magenta pupiled eyes. They were not human, as the two antennae jutting from their forehead would indicate. They fiddled with a pearl on her dress, a proud look on her face. They cleared their throat, looking directly into the camera lens.

“Humans are fascinating beings… they have these ‘things’” she began, gesturing vaguely around the room.

“That can harm them in any way yet can be harnessed to make them stronger…I can never remember what he calls it” The creature pondered aloud, eyes glazing over slightly.

“Ah, right! I was told by my brother, an ‘observer’ of the armada to stay away from their ships. He… doesn’t want me to learn about them. He goes on and on about ‘look, don’t touch’ and how they’re incomprehensible. He just chose not to understand, he said it’s ‘easier’ when they leave.” The antennae drooped as they paused for a few seconds, the little red light highlighting the confused look on their face.

“They help him when he goes away to protect people, that I know. Apparently, one of his ‘kreksha’ *Interplanetary translators – close friend or trusted ally* had to be left behind and got tortured. Brother didn’t speak of them for weeks after that… It was sad”. The drooped antennae perked up again, as the creature smiled brightly towards the camera.

“I, Elorise, will explore and learn about humans regardless of what my brother thinks or… or even feels about it!” She announced with confidence. A small chuckle escaped her mouse-like lips.

“I guess this is what humans call ‘rebellion’. It feels fun, like adventure! Sara told me about this. Oh, she’s a human I’m allowed to talk to from his staff. She told me so much about humans and Earth. The beautiful green and blue, like a mix of emerald and sapphire from the Krenan home worlds. The people! The people who can stand and fight as one! Their culture that can be so different despite being on the same landmass! New histories and ways of life for every culture!” her voice quickened with excitement as she recounted what she had been told about their world.

“Tonight! Tonight, I sneak out and go to this ‘Earth’ to learn more about the humans and their cultures. Brother, if you’re watching this! Sorry and thank you! This is Starskies, signing off!”. The red light stopped blinking, as the footage automatically saved to her database. She was surrounded by a dazzling array of coloured switches and buttons, with a beautiful gen of blue and green awaiting her. 

“Astral Code AL-454, Sol system. Third planet from the Sun… This will be so FUN!” The small creature yelled to the internals of her ship. The engines hummed as the device shot forward, aiming at a large green patch in the northern hemisphere.

The house shook with the bass of low-quality speakers, drowned out by the tens of overlapping conversations. The air smelled of poor-quality liquor and bad ideas, as couples and groups entered the many private rooms of the estate. Plastic cups and empty bottles littered the floor and tables, painting everything in a sticky residue. In one of the few quieter corners, a mismatched pair of students attempted to communicate over the noise.

“Philip, you said this can help with my ‘metabolic development’. Why does it look like poorly packaged LSD?” said the larger of the two males, clearly untrusting of the second.

“Listen, Johnathan. I said it would assist with increasing the basal metabolic rate, which is entirely different” announced the second, struggling to yell over the ambient noise. His smart dress and tidy features clearly displaying him as an outcast in the scene. Johnathan looked at the strange white pills, weighing exactly how much he trusted this supposed ‘friend’. 

“I promise it’s made from entirely *natural* ingredients” Philip said, a thin smile creeping onto his face. The larger friend looked considerably more concerned, seeing this. 

‘Is he trying to kill me, drug me or use me as a guinea pig?’ thought repeatedly, questioning whether it *really* was a good idea asking Philip of all people for help.

“You’ll be fine, just take one and go for your normal run. I promise you’ll feel the difference. Don’t you trust me?” conversed Philip, seeing his friend look progressively less ok with his concoction.

“I’m gonna have Zach burn all of your Science Weekly if anything happens” Threated Johnathan, a small glint of murder in his eyes.

“SOMEONE MENTIONED ME” yelled a dark-haired frat boy, entering the room with gusto and a drink in each hand.

“Zach, I need you to bully this nerd if I die tonight, capesh?” said Johnathan, standing to greet the new entry to the conversation.

“Always a pleasure, my man. How do you guys like the party? Wait! Let me guess” yelled Zach, feigning the movements of a daytime TV ghost whisperer.

“You!” He stated with flourish, gesturing towards Philip “Think this is a waste of time, effort and ‘precious brain cells.’” He said, mimicking with a poor posh English accent.

“And you!” he continues, even grander than before towards the muscled macho man “Are counting the calories so hard, you haven’t even touched your drink yet. I mixed protein into it. Just. For. You” each word drawing him closer, his smirk growing broader. 

“It’s been great, I checked out the ‘healthy’ platter. On what planet is chicken nuggets, fries and deep-fried potatoes healthy?” retorted Johnathan, barely fazed by the counterpart’s flamboyant actions.

“I mean, technically speaking, with an infinite number of planets, any number of species could find that healthy…” mumbled Philip, used to talking to himself. He found it worked to talk to the smartest person in the room, to keep him sane. 

As this conversation continued, a buzzer went off from Johnathan’s watch, interrupting the mood.

“Well, it’s ten. Time to go for the run. We good for tomorrow at yours?” questioned the jock, rising from the couch.

“All good” “Of course” confirmations echoed from the other two in the room, as he made quick strides to leave the house. Johnathan glanced at the pills one last time, deeply hoping he wouldn’t regret it later as he swallowed them in one gulp.

The brisk night air felt fantastic on the flushed body of Johnathan. He swept the soaked black to white hair away from his face, checking his watch to see his time. 

“Eighteenth lap, twelve more to go” he said, pacing himself to restore his breathing. It was close to his personal best… maybe Philip was better than he thought. He prepared for another lap, as something caught his eye. A shooting star. It was beautiful, streaming slowly across the sky…

“Is that thing getting bigger?” He asked, increasingly more concerned. The meteor was careening through the sky, aimed directly at the Arcadian University back oval. The only concern for Johnathan was

“Shit, shit, shit shit, SHIT I’M GONNA KILL THAT NERD” he screamed, as he dropped his watch and ran away from the projected impact site. Deep in his heart, he figured he was probably drugged. It just felt like something Philip would do. “I need to understand the effects of psychostimulant drugs on the active mind, it was for science” he would say. 

Johnathan rounded the corner, eyes bloodshot with the feeling of pure murder as the world began to shake. He tripped and crashed straight into the pavement, feeling the shockwave of the ‘meteor’ beneath his face. He got up, staggering from the impact. His vision blurred, headache pounded, finally noticing the bloodstains on the ground.

“That’s… not good,” he said, feeling the blood slowly flowing from his temple.

“AH, bitch!” he exclaimed, as a new wave of pain washed over him. His vision began to clear, the pain giving him clarity.

He remembered that something crashed near the oval, he was probably drugged, and he’s got to find a place to bury a small nerd.

“Shit, the watch. That was a gift” he mumbled, words becoming more difficult to string together as the seconds ticked by. He shuffled back to the site where he dropped it, barely being able to move his drooped head. His vision blurred slightly, as pain continued to throb around his entire body. 

“Where is it, Where is it, Where is… Thank god” He sighed, falling to the ground, attempting to collect the keepsake. The digital ticks echoed in his mind, mixing with the noise from the blood hitting the pavement. His eyelids felt like lead weights, requiring more and more focus just to stay awake. Stumbling forward, Johnathan finally noticed the cause of the impact.

Twelve feet in diameter, eight feet tall and smoking from multiple broken panels. The ship was half buried just beyond the oval, poorly obscured by the woodlands. His eyes shot open, feeling far too conscious for the stress he was under. He struggled to jog forward, the grass and dirt seeming to warp underneath his feet. 

In what felt like an instant, he arrived at the vessel. The door was already forced ajar from the impact, taking barely any effort to open. Johnathan’s body felt like it was operating before his mind processed what he was doing. In another blink, he had dragged out a small, feminine creature. They were a full head shorter then he was, with a body in a beautiful swirl of pastel colours. Another blink, he had laid her against a nearby tree. She seemed uninjured, but he couldn’t tell anything more than superficially. 

He felt the solid thud of his body hitting a nearby tree, his impressive body failing him. He felt for his phone, attempting to call anyone. Philip, Jacob, even the twins. Anyone.  He saw the line connect, fighting his body with every breath. He didn’t hear anything, so he mumbled a single phase.

“Back of the oval, help”.

Jacob was always a quiet child, something that only increased as he grew into adulthood. While not physically small, his quiet nature usually leads him to be unnoticed in groups. His piercing blue eyes and black hair tend to frighten off the majority of people, seeing him as ‘unnatural’. 

He met Philip when he protected him from some elitist pricks. The quiet nature of Jacob suited Philips’ nature of asking questions without expecting answers. He was slowly introduced to the rest of the group, as he filled the role of moral compass. His disapproving gaze had become the only thing that could stop anyone stuffing Philip into a locker when he really deserved it. On this particular night, he accompanied his friends to Zach’s house party. The third one that week. 

As per usual, he relegated himself to the quietest room in the house. His disapproving glare had probably stopped multiple people from making mistakes they would later regret. He felt a small comfort in this, like a dad seeing their child finally start to make not shit choices with their life. As the night crept forward, Jacob made the sensible decision to return home. His mother had just gone to work at the hospital, so the house was depressingly empty. The silence weighed on Jacob, feeling unusually more emotional than regular nights.

‘Perhaps the dosage would have to be increased again?’ he pondered, staring at the pill bottle of Prozac. He had been put on them ever since his father died. As he strolled into the kitchen, a small note made him smile gently.

‘Eat well, Sleep better and study will be easy!’, a favourite line from his mom. It warmed the heart of Jacob as he sat down to reheat his dinner. 

Just as the microwave hummed to life, a familiar tune played from his phone.

‘What’s John calling me at this time?’ he thought, accepting the call.

“cough cough Back of the oval, help” he heard, his heart rate skyrocketing from the state of his friends’ voice. He dashed out the house, sending a message to the group to meet him there immediately. He didn’t normally do this, hopefully it would make them come quicker.

Jessie and Zach were cleaning the house when the message came through. The twins, almost diametric opposites in appearance were doing what they normally do at this time of night.

“I didn’t touch her, Jess. She came onto me because the drinks you mixed were too strong!” argued Zach, his black hair shaking as he ran from his twin sister.

“I don’t care, she was my best friend! Dude, Imma bury you” She rebutted, her pink hair trailing behind her as she attempted to strangulate her brother. 

“You’re just mad it was me, not you” He yelled back, laughing proudly as he ran through the house.

“YOU’RE DEAD MEAT” she screamed back, apparently not amused with his joke. She figured the blush was from the ‘exercise’ or the drinks. 

“GUYS, JACOB NEEDS HELP NOW” yelled Philip, interrupting the nightly entertainment.

The room went quiet, as both twins turned to him quizzically. They checked their phones and saw the notifications. The respective looks of amusement and bemusement both turned pale, the implication weighing heavily on them.

“I’ll get the truck, come on” stated Zach, his drunk façade falling quickly from his face.

“I’m not done with you, Zachary. We’re gonna talk long and crack properly about good etiquette” responded his pink haired counterpart, cracking her knuckles in preparation for something.

“I got the med kit, let's move. He wouldn’t say anything unless it was important” announced Philip, re-entering the room with a large sports bag.

The beaten-up truck pulled up to the oval, catching a figure with the headlights. Philip, as the only sober individual, was the driver. Jacob flagged them down, his face painted with disbelief and confusion. The trio exited the truck, rushing over to the stunned friend.

“Ay, buddy. You ok, what’s up?!” questioned Zach, panic clearly evident in his voice. “Where’s Johnny, did the drugs kill him? Did he kill someone and need our help to bury the body? Why wasn’t it Philip?” Continued the frat boy, shaking Jacob with every question

“Let him talk, idiot. Calm down. I’m more than ok with slapping you” interjected Jessie, clearly used to the ramblings of her brother.

“I think I’m on drugs…” mumbled Jacob, still not processing what he had seen. 

“What kind? How many? Where did you get them?” interrogated Philip, ears pricking up with the sound of his speciality. 

“I saw an alien trying to wake up John in the forest… I think I need more sleep” said Jacob, slightly louder. The insanity of the situation finally setting in.

“Hello friends, I think your human friend needs help” stated a high-pitched unknown voice.

“In a second, Jacob is talking in full sentences. Hey, can you say ‘Aliens are real’ in that deep voice again please? I NEED it” conversed Zach, drawing closer to Jacob with a devilish smile growing on his face.

Jacob pulled back from Zach slightly, not comfortable with the violation of personal space. “Um… Guys? That’s the...”  

“ALIEN” yelled Philip, coming back to reality. 

A pastel swirled humanoid stood shorter than the present party, magenta eyes opened wide in excitement. Her antennae began to bob up and down as she struggled to contain her excitement.

“Um…Hello?” said Jessie cautiously

“IT’SSONICETOFINALLYMEETYOUMYNAMEISELORISEIAMSUPERINTERESTEDINYOURKIND.ISITWRONGFORMETOCALLYOUAKIND? PLEASEFORGIVEMEBUTI”MJUSTSOEXCITED” ranted the small alien. Her face began to flush harder and harder as she continued, “WHATAREYOURNAMES, WHEREAREYOUFROM,CANYOUSIGNMYDATAPA…”

Thunk

…

“She fainted from not taking a breath… adorable” replied Jessie, a loose grin forming on her lips.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt but I’m here as well” announced another voice from the forest, deeper and significantly more understandable.

“Johnathan!” everyone conscious yelled in surprise, suddenly remembering why exactly they were summoned.

“Yeah, not dead. Feel like I should be. What do we do abo-oof” John was cut off by a strong hug by Jacob, forcing him into the air slightly.

“Aww, look at the couple” pointed out Zach, in his usual smarmy fashion.

“So, what are we doing about the alien?” asked Philip, tired of being relegated to the background.

“She doesn’t seem dangerous. We’ll take her to my place. Most room and least interference” suggested Jessie.

The collective confirmation cemented the plan, as a lack of eyes was the smartest choice.

A childish alien sat alone, the dull grey feeling like a weight on her chest. One of the featureless grey walls was broken apart by a single, large mirror. She couldn’t help but wonder why she looked so large? The reflection smiled back at her, waving cheerfully. The smaller of the two aliens drew herself tighter, attempting to ignore the reflection. 

The reflection stood up, five other creatures coming into focus. Their faces were blurred, but they were all taller than her. The small alien got up and walked to the mirror, curious as to why the perspective didn’t change. Just as she reached the mirror, a voice called out from the other side of the room.

“Elorise, come on. It’s time to wake up” The tall creature said, with a hint of warmth in his voice. She looked back to the glass, feeling a strange sense of emptiness when she saw her normal reflection. The other creatures disappeared. 

“Elorise, it’s time to wake up” stated the figure, rapidly descending into a shadowy form.

“Ḯ̴̬̹͚̙̗̟̰͓̅̀̍ͪ̈̚t̸͙̟̹̘͉̝̯͖̎͘͢'͇̰̼̖̙͛̔ͬ͋ͦ̀s̷̢͙͐ͬͧ ̢̛̯̟̎ṫ͂̆̊͏̵͈̝͚̟̖̹͍̞͎͠i̸̱͎͖̭̥̹̯̻͎̋̄͊̔͌̿ͪ̉m̼̩̪̙͔̟͎̻̓ͭ̿̓͟͠e̵̜͙͒̈́͊͛̌̚̚͘ ̡̫̋̂̈́ť̳̞͉̤̥̱̳͇̓͆͑ͫ̾o̳̲̼̜ͦ ̶͚͓̮̲̌ͣ̎͑̄͞w̷̳̯̳̭͖̤̝̞̏̅̔͌̉̈ḁ̪̇ͯ͋͐̓ͬ͟kͧͫ̌ͧ͋��͏̭̘͓̟͚̯͟͞ͅȩ̣̮͈͇͆̾̀ͧ̔̔ͬͨ ̣̐́̚͜ṳ̧̲̪͕̟͓ͤ̈̒͊̓̀͝p̄̉̇ͩ̑҉̶̧̮̖ “said the figure, louder and more distorted than the last. The shadows swirling around, as if consuming them.  The last thing she saw was a beautiful blossom of white, orange and red, exploding from beyond the darkness. 

The five students had managed to haul the unconscious alien to Jessie’s apartment without attracting anymore attention. Strangely, the ship she had emerged from had disappeared. This blessing allowed them to cover up anything that had happened as either drunken shenanigans, drugged shenanigans or bad dreams. The small creature was twitching slightly in her sleeping form. She kept mouthing the same phrase, barely audible to the observers.

“Don’t leave” she repeated, sounding continually more and more distressed each time she repeated it. 

“She’s having a nightmare, get some cold water” stated Jessie, her rare motherly instincts surfacing. The entourage left the room in a hurry, not wanting to upset the purple haired demon. Jessie sat next to the humanoid, gently stroking its hair in an attempt to calm it. The repeated calls got progressively quieter with each stroke, as a small smile replaced the bitchy expression on Jessie’s face. Elorise gently opened her eyes, a single hazy face coming into focus.

“Hello! My name is” beginning Elorise, evidently exhausting a significant amount of emotion on the first contact.

“Hush, we’re trying to be calm and quiet. Take some deep breaths, then we’ll have a nice relaxed conversation, okay?” interrupted Jessie, putting on her best motherly impression.

A confused look crossed the aliens for a second, as she took multiple comically large breaths. The breathing was mediated by Jessie, who was half sure she’d just try to keep sucking in air.

“Let’s try again. My name is Jessie, what’s yours?” introduced Jessie, helping the alien sit up into a better posture.

“Hello, my name is Elorise. I am here to learn about humans You’re very pretty, this room is so nice, Oh! What’s that!” Elorise replied, apparently amazed by her mundane surroundings.

“First, thank you. I work for it. Second, thank you. I try. Lastly…” answered Jessie, noticing a private drawer open in the back of the room.

“That’s isn’t anything to worry about” she continued, a blush appearing on her face. The drawer closed with a thud, the lock on the front sounding heavy duty. 

“Guys! Get your butts in here and introduce yourself” She yelled out the door, desperately trying to hide her blush.

One by one, the group of friends appeared through the door. Their introductions summarised by Jessie.

“This one is Johnathan, John for short. He’s our muscle. “The large student waved, flicking his black-white gradient hair out of his eyes.

“This is Philip. He’s a nerd. British too” continued Jessie, holding a single finger over her lips to the blonde boy. His annoyed expression telling more than his voice ever could.

“This is Jacob. He’s our teddy bear.” The quiet boy nodded slightly, a small smile evident on his face. 

“This annoying idiot is my brother, Zach. He’s the loud one” sustained Jessie, loathing to mention her brother. To the pleasant surprise of everyone present, he didn’t make any snide responses for once.

“and I” she concluded “am Jessie. The only with a decent fashion sense in this little party” She finished, flicking her hair like a model.

“Hello! I am Elorise. I like to learn things and your type has so many interesting things written about them. I would love to be able to interact with you as… what are they called again? Friends! That’s right. I would like to be all your friends” announced Elorise, the excitement in her voice being evident. 

“I don’t think that should be a problem, right guys?” replied Jessie, glaring slightly at her brother.

“Are we all just going to ignore that she has read stuff on humans? Doesn't that mean someone is observing us?” whispered Philip to himself, his mind beginning to race with questions and ideas.

“We’ll leave the implications of that for later. Yes, Elorise. We’d be happy to be your friends” retorted Zach, a smirk disarming the glare from his sister.

“We’d love to help you experience human life, but we can’t exactly take you around looking like that.” Said John, gesturing vaguely in Elorise’s direction.

“Not to worry, I already thought about that!” she replied, pressing a hidden button on the pearl on her chest. Her image began covered in static, as her more alien features were either replaced or removed. Before them sat a brunette with a cute nose, long wavy hair and rich brown eyes. Her otherworldly beauty had not been reduced, rather redirected. Her fairy-like aura was visible for all to see. The slack-jawed group rapidly re-entered reality with a small cough.

“That…works. Philip, do some nerd stuff and make her a student and my roommate” commented Jessie, quietly attempting to do something productive.

“Like last year with Clef? Sure, the system is terrible anyway” he replied, excusing himself. The room became silent as everyone began to think about the future of their little group.

The window facing the oval was reserved for only the most prestigious. Usually as a result of high academic or athletic achievement, this penthouse would become their temporary property. This was until 3 years ago, when the son of the current Headmaster kicked out the rightful owner. Since then, he had exerted his power in whatever way he wanted, all under the guise of correcting student behaviour. 

It was an uneventful night, enjoying the company of some female friends who desperately needed to pass their subjects. His relaxed stupor was broken by a shockwave rattling his window. After confirming what seemed impossible, he did what he did best.

Jonathan was going for his 6am jog, as per usual. A large spattering of papers on the student boards caught his eye. “Aliens in our school, guaranteed credits if you find it.” he repeated, seeing a blurry picture of a very familiar alien. His veins popped, as he checked the uni social page. He saw people organising into hunting parties. He looked at the thinly veiled excuse for more bullying and prepared for the worst.

[gianfranca1996]

more boys rescued from flooded thai cave

4 more boys rescued from flooded thai cave Le jeu consiste pour le lecteur, en cours de lecture d'une histoire, se demander par quel subterfuge, cela va finir par amener ce qu'une chaussure, une seule, finisse par se retrouver sur le toit de l'immeuble. Isabel and Maitland van der Zee, Anke H. " I don't think they understand how dangerous, and they can be taken so quick and never see anybody they love ever again.". I had a chance to play it last month and came away impressed with what Raven accomplished.. Monet's immaculately posed portraits of the well to do once seemed to lack the glamour and life of Renoir and Monet's sun washed exteriors. Do not chastise bad performances. And, while recycling is a step above trashing your beverage containers, reusable containers aim even higher by avoiding the need for a small container in the first place. The Colavita effect occurs when participants respond only to the visual element of an audio visual stimulus. Along with bagging four against Orlando last time out, Sunday hosts have now scored two or more goals in each of their last six MLS matches.. But this victory was all about responding well to yet another momentum swing that came on special teams: The Blues killed off a Bruins power play and then hemmed Boston in its own end for more than three minutes. According to the National Weight Control Registry, a common trait among individuals who have successfully maintained their weight loss is that they eat breakfast daily.. Good and useful information, im glad topics such as this are published. The verdict: A local tea and coffee expert that makes cracking tisane blends. STORIES. The United Nations Environment Programme estimates more than 8 million tonnes of plastic enter the world oceans each year equal to dumping a garbage truck of plastic every minute. An unexpected benefit is that it has led to improved communication as to the company direction within all of the business functions, boosting overall morale and (although still early days) improving staff retention levels. And on Monday night at Levi's Stadium, in a championship game played more than 2,000 miles away from Clemson's South Carolina campus, the Tigers were way too much for an Alabama team that had spent the season mauling its opposition. Passport, be of good moral character, have never been convicted of a crime of any nature (other than misdemeanor moving violations), and must have nothing in their background that would be an embarrassment to Sponsor as determined in its sole discretion. Jessy Cates, 25, now of Casterton, pleaded guilty in the Warrnambool Magistrates Court to a range of generally low end offending while she got a sentencing indication on other more serious drug matters, including trafficking ice. Jiefu Chen and Dr. Portland around Northshore and the Breakwater seem to be the most productive areas to target. LILLIE BETH'S ANSWER: I always carry a formal evening bag and keep it with me because there are items I might need throughout an evening a driver's license, credit card, my keys and, of course, lipstick. He's married and he lives in Canarsie.'RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 NextNew security footage shows nine year old black boy's BAG. Quartey has the best jab in boxing, but curiously enough he stopped using it in the coach outlet clearance later rounds. At TAO Nightclub in The Venetian, Gucci Mane headlined the party as he counted down to midnight before performing hits including "I Get the Bag" from the TAO stage. New Jersey kept the momentum going in the second period when Naumovski scored 13:04. This game should come down to which defense can make the biggest stands.. Family style, three course dinner with different wines.. Switch to the dough hook and knead on low speed until the dough smoothes out, about 3 minutes; it will still have a rough, broken look where the hook breaks the dough. The crystal structure of benzene was first published in 1932 by two scientists from Leeds University and the original paper can be found in Cox Smith, Proc. In his evidence, Mr Goodall said he had been diving for more than 40 years, including three years as a professional diver. As I was travelling as a courier I dressed smartly and even wore a tie through check in. All of the courses I have taken while finishingmy degree have had an impact on my writing; it's difficult, if not impossible, for me to select just a single course.. A 2014 study by Belgian researchers concluded that seafood consumers in Europe could be consuming 11,000 microplastic particles every year. VMI viewed the exposure for the school and its program on national TV too good to pass up.. Drinking tea is a very British tradition so much so that 165 million cups are consumed every single day.Brits will be celebrating the humble cuppa on National Tea Day on April 21 and someone who knows their Earl Grey from their Darjeeling is June Turner of Shropshire based tea and coffee merchants Aroma.She selects the teas that are going to tempt the tastebuds of visitors to their shop in St Mary's Place, Shrewsbury.Sales of loose leaf tea are booming up and down the country as more people turn their back on their trusty tea bags.While using bags has coach outlet online simplified tea making by making brewing easier and cleaner, many of us are now choosing quality over convenience."We're finding that people want to ditch the tea bags and drink loose leaf tea because they want a better quality tea."The leaves have more room to expand and release their flavour as they infuse than when they are confined in a tea bag."Most tea bags only contain cut up bits of tea leaves while loose leaf teas generally use the whole leaf."If you don't want to wait, then a fine leaf is best as that will give you the colour straight away but if you want more control over the taste and colour, a bigger leaf size is best and that takes longer."It's also about the environment because some tea bags contain plastic which is used to seal the bag.What makes the perfect cuppa? They opened a shop in Shrewsbury in 1981 with a roaster they bought from Vienna.At first tea was sold from a separate site so that it wasn't affected by the odour of the coffee but later the roasting side of the business was moved to new premises at Battlefield Enterprise Park.Aroma sells more than 50 different loose leaf black, green and white teas as well as fruit flavoured black teas, herbal teas and fruit infusions which are sourced from tea brokers in this country.They offer decaffeinated varieties as well as their own Shropshire Brew which has been especially formulated for Shropshire water.Described as a blend that cuts into the local water so 'you can taste the tea, not the water', it has proven very popular with customers and is also supplied to cafes and restaurants in the area."It's a fine leaf tea which infuses quickly to create a strong British tea flavour.

[rebeccacclarke-blog]

Final Week: Promotion app video process work 

Youtube Inspiration:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnnF5X-Vrn4 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n_nWlrkTdg&t=22s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmltCu5_bVQ 

Our Process:

We first started off by looking at some inspiration of how other people had portrayed their app through a video. We looked at a few animated videos but for the time frame we chose to not pursue full animation for our video but much rather attempt both animation and film together as we wanted to keep the real life aspect and combine it with the style of the digital app.

We found some videos which used both animation and film. The ones which stood out to us were the ones which made the app come to life in their vision. We also like how many made the app slide out from one side to see what the viewer was looking at. 

We then took the things we liked and noticed and attempted it in our final promotional film. 

I brainstormed some ideas of how I thought our film should look to convey our main importance of our app. I drew up a quick story board to show the basic things i wanted to capture in the film so when we were filming we could look back to see if we had missed any stages we needed. 

We decided to show the difficult way parking is today and then show how the app changes these things and eliminates the stress of parking.

The weather on the day we were going to film was so bad! Making it harder to get some shots we needed. The dull lighting inside the parking facility made some very grainy footage on Michelle's camera, so we had a lot of footage we couldn’t use as it was very bad quality. We also had a few very funny moments which we also had to cut out as all the girls got the giggle for about 20 minutes straight. 

One thing I noticed when filming was that we needed so many different angles. We were so lucky to have 3 group members as we were able to have 1 person in the car filming over the shoulder shots, and two outside the car to get the surrounding shots. 

Our first thing we needed to do was to sort through our footage. We went about this by marking our videos with coloured markers to colour code then into sections of good bad and possibly with blue later added for bloopers. 

Michelle scrolled or ages looking for sound which would help to accomodate the visuals and moods of the film.

We jotted down some notes while working. When it came time to edit the videos, out laptops processors were too laggy and our files were often crashing so we decided to head down to level 4 and work on the larger computers. This helped a lot as we were able to see things easier as it was a much larger screen and it was also a lot quicker.   

While Debbie cut and structured the film I started to mock up our animations. After Debbie had created the final film I was able to move the animations around to fit well with the sequence of our film.

with a lot of our footage being very shaky Debbie had to stabilise all the footage. This took a long time and made the software crash a few times.  This chain working system worked really well for us and in the end came together really well.

While editing, we realised we had left out some important footage we needed. Luckily I had decided to bring my camera that day just incase. We set up a desk like station and directed Debbie on what to do with the app while Michelle screen recorded her movements on the screen. 

After this we then wrote down some basic notes to keep us on track so we would know exactly what we needed to edit our footage like. 

[itselysa-blog]

Feeling Good music video Evaluation

Pre-production:

    Research was the main thing that influenced our final product. As we started with a simple idea of not sexualizing men as they can be abused as well. So, what we did find out is that each year nearly 2 million people suffer from domestic abuse. A recent study shows that 40% of the victims of severe physical violence were men.

    After our research we decided to use “physical abuse” as well, because we can     see verbal abuse in the first part of the video. But some studies show that physical abuse is more common. That’s one of the reasons why we included it into our music video as well.

    One of the results of our research was that women are more commonly to suffer from physical violence than men, with a percentage of 60%. We decided not to focus on women in the music video, but to have a video that would prioritize men instead, rather than women as there aren’t many videos that would speak up about that. And it’s also a problem in our society. I believe that it would be harder for a man to tell someone that he’s being abused because of the feeling of shame.

    I think I did enough research on men abuse, what I could’ve researched more in maybe a few more videos that have this as their theme. Maybe than I would get inspired from them and come with an idea of what we could add to the music video.

      Our project was well planned as we had everything done before starting it which includes story board, mood board, shoot list and the production schedule. Because of that we knew exactly what we had to do. The schedule guided us with the timing, and some of the shots we finished earlier than expected.

    There was a part that could be planned better. We had 3 shots in a room of him being scared, next of the girl abusing him and of him fading away. What we didn’t realise until recently is that not all the parts had the chair in them. So in the first part you can see the chair, the second one the chair isn’t there and the 3rd it appears again. It’s a small error but needs attention.

    The strongest part of our planning was probably the schedule as we stick with it during the filming process; almost all members of our group were on time each day filming. And I suppose punctuality is a very important factor in film, but it needs planning beforehand.

  Production

        We did manage our time well, we were able to follow the schedule as I mentioned before. What we could do to save one day of filming (we had 3) would be to shot another scene same day at the Castle Park, the location was the same for 2 days filming and we had enough time to shot another part of our music video.

    Our overall project turned out well, was a bit of confusion just before finishing it, because we all had different ideas and interpretations of how it should look like, or what would make it look worse. But we ended up liking it and we tried to keep each person’s ideas in mind.

    Some problems did occur, for example we had in mind shooting the guy not only jumping into the river but also swimming a bit further while still lip syncing. I said from the start that it’s already too dangerous, but they gave it a try. It didn’t work out as the water was very cold. Another part we faced problems was when the girl looks at her boyfriend’s T-shirt in the water, the idea was for the t-shirt to move, but it started sinking. We tried to catch it while it was still on the water.

    The first day filming me and Louisa didn’t quite know what to do. As the boys were doing most of the work. Later on we helped with the makeup of bruises and Louisa tried filming. As I’m the sound operator I didn’t had work to do until editing. But I still choose to come during filming to and to act in the music video as well. Next days were more clear, I also had a go with the camera to show the world “from her point of view” When she was running and searching for him as well as in first scene where she looks for him in different rooms.

    We worked according to our schedule at first we weren’t sure if we’d shot in other location. So the schedule was for 2 days filming, but after we realised we didn’t had enough footage and also a home environment would be needed to send our message. We added 3rd day to our schedule and almost all days finished before 4 pm which was convenient for everybody.

    I think I did my job well, as I tried to synchronize lip syncing with the song itself. Also the more dramatic parts where she’s screaming at him the music has an angry feel to it. And the ending part I tried to slowly fade away the music as she found out he’s dead.

    I was happy to work in this group, as each one of them took their work responsibly, and proved that they are capable of making an engaging music video. On the second day our director – Michael couldn’t come so Sam took his place for the day which went not so bad after all. And what I think is the most important part is we enjoyed it. We had fun making this music video and we do hope we were able to send the emotions from our idea to the viewers.

  Post-production

    It was a bit complicated to manage the time in this stage as we didn’t know from what to start. We started editing a week before than we had to which was great because we found out we needed to do more filming as there weren’t enough clips to fill a whole music video. After that we did manage the time well we even had time to play with after effects.

    Our project was well organised which was shown as a result in our overall project. By keeping in track with the editing and doing as much as possible, we had enough time to fix small errors like the lighting and also add some extras. That contributed to our whole music video and we could see our video slowly improving day by day.

    There were some problems when we tried signing up from a computer to edit our video it worked only on Mac’s, so we could edit only with them. We didn’t understand why this problem occurred and we haven’t found a way to fix it. Another problem we faced during editing was that at one point we thought that the footage was deleted, fortunately we still had a copy of the film but we had to do some editing over again. The rest went to plan.

    Everyone knew their role nut because we don’t have enough experience with Premier Pro at some stages I didn’t know what I was doing. But with the help of teachers and colleagues I understood how to change music levels and how to cut a song at a certain minute/second. I can say about my group mates that they were confident in what they were doing.

    We finished editing before we had planned. Than we thought we’d experiment with adding text on the video. From our feedback some students said that the text confuses them, as they don’t know what to do listen to the lyrics or read the text. Others enjoyed it. Basically the text was showing “her thoughts”. So we worked to our schedule but some days we did more work others less.

    This time as I was the sound operator I had less work to do, even though in a “music video” the music should play the main role it should take more time. But because we used the original song all I had to do was combine the song with the clips. That wasn’t easy but took less time than I expected. The bad aspects were while I tried to change levels during different sequences. Some of them didn’t match at all so I got that back to original and at the end just added a lower level for the music to fade away.

    My group was a strong one, we all tried to give our best to the audience. The good aspects are the different video effects used as well as transitions and the text adds. As Sam was editor he did the most of it, but we would tell him our views over the video. The bad aspects were also present, and that was our miss of attention at some parts which were from the filming part, but as we progressed to editing we couldn’t go back to filming. So, we had to work over our small mistakes.

  Finished Product

    I think the technical quality was good.  From the feedback we got we now know that our video “flows easily” which is an important part off any movie/music video because if it’s difficult to watch than the audience just won’t watch it, they just won’t want to spend their time on something uninteresting.

  From the feedback we know that it does look professional because the camera was used well, and during the running scene the camera was a bit shaky as it should be to show ow the character was feeling. Also the effects were used in a small amount, which turned out perfectly at the end. Another important part was that the lip syncing was in sync with the music itself.

    The strengths from the technical point of view are:

  -Has many different filming angles including establishing shot, a few pan shots, close ups, low shot.

-Also we used the natural light which brings a reality to video.

-Usage of after effects to show the women’s thoughts.

-Usage of colour correction and transitions.

    The weaknesses from a technical point of view are:

  The abusing scene doesn’t look very good as the audience knows the girl isn’t actually punching her boyfriend. We would need to work on that by cutting a few frames and adding the finished action, which would give the audience the illusion of real abuse.

Another weakness is the change of clothes in the second part of the music video which was pointed by a few students and teachers during the feedback.

  Our music video is interesting when it comes to the aesthetic part. We had a few points that keep the audience tense. Those are when the abused guy jumps into the river and when the girl finds out he’s dead. The effects we used in small amount brought just the exact impression produced in the mind of the viewers as we expected them to.

  I think the content of our product is entertaining, and despite that the music video has a few parts that I’d prefer to change (which are: to do some cuts so the music would be in rhythm with the video, to shoot one more time the second scene as being in the same clothes, to make somehow the T-shirt not to sink into the river but flow on the water instead, or maybe choose a different location for that.)

It looks good finally seeing it as a complete music video. The actors, locations, camerawork and text worked well in the last piece of work. What is the most important from my point of view is that the audience understands the message we were trying to send, and they did. So, our jobs were completed effectively.

[harlequindreams-blog]

Can Massive Knowledge And AI Fix Our Prison</h1>

Whether or not you are a seasoned skilled or a newcomer to the world of photography, it's impossible to ignore the modifications happening throughout the trade. All you really want to know is that the iPhone SE is capable of capturing some remarkably detailed, nicely colored images. It produced the sharpest footage in vibrant gentle, plus it had the best stabilization and the least noise in low mild. These kinds of level and shoot camera are typically known as ‘bridge cameras', presumably since they are the proper bridge from a small compact to a bigger dSLR. It's primarily built for the people who find themselves not skilled photographers and so it entails focus free lenses or autofocus for focusing. Pros: Extraordinarily low price, skinny digicam easily matches in a pocket, 8X optical zoom lens is good in a thin digital camera, constructed-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity. 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Taking photographs or recording video at a sporting event or capturing the finer particulars of a scenic view requires a longer zoom vary to attain lifelike photographs at a larger distance. Like the original Blackmagic Cinema Camera , the Pocket model sports a novel, all-steel design that feels solid - massively out of proportion to its low value. With improved AF times and reduced taking pictures lag over previous G-series models, the developments to Canon's AF system assist guarantee users by no means miss a shot. One thing I can stick in my jacket pocket while I travel and nonetheless get great photos. It's excellent for these candid road images snaps. Thanks to a long 34x zoom range with a high quality NIKKOR Lens, this Nikon level and shoot is a perfect journey camera. Through Wi-Fi, customers can send a digital picture to any email handle saved in your digital camera's deal with e book or by utilizing the camera's touch-screen QWERTY keypad. 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Including to its portability and comfort, the digicam features USB charging by means of a computer or conventional charging by the AC adaptor, permitting users to power-up from just about wherever. My D-Lux 4 has change into my again-as much as my back-ups since I purchased it a bit of over a yr and a half in the past. First, the iPhone SE helps shooting Stay Pictures , shifting photographs that add a little bit aptitude and context to your pictures. In addition, the digital camera's creative handheld HDR Scene mode routinely combines multiple photographs of a scene to assist create an image with a greater dynamic range without the necessity for a tripod. Panasonic HDC-HS350 lets you report over 30 hours of HD. With numerous selections from manufacturers like Nikon, Canon, Fujifilm, Panasonic, Olympus, and SeaLife, it's definitely not straightforward to make a quick determination about which digicam is right for you. When you take a second to think about the feat Sony's accomplished right here, the efficiency issues are easier to miss. Within every sort, the myriad digital camera fashions vary drastically, from the bodily design, comparable to dimension and body shape, to the extra complex lens varieties, picture quality, capabilities, and worth. To know more in regards to the technical concepts and sensible demonstration of focal length and photography, be a part of 3 Months On-line Foundation Images Course. If you're headed on a trip where you count on to take lots of photos in low-light conditions, this digicam is your greatest guess. Use a smartphone to control publicity, launch shutter and receive photographs. Throw in maybe the best digital viewfinder in the business plus a beautiful touchscreen and you have got a stew going. Nikon's extensive focal vary (25 to 750 mm equivalent) means it might seize close-ups as simply as action far away. The 2 compression factors (first to focus, second to shoot) are very clearly defined, and I preferred them to the on-screen shutter button (you too can convey up the digicam app with a long-press of the bodily key). It isn't just like the 5D Mark III was a bad digicam - it was one of the best excessive-end DSLRs cash might purchase. Rather than questioning months later the place you had been while you took a specific photograph, GPS knowledge permits you to know precisely the place you were! In our tests, we discovered it does not right the left and right twist motions common to pole customers, however could have a huge effect on the amount of watchable footage. The digital camera can be set to the max 9900K and the tint at M7 and the colours look fairly good however will need some correcting in post.

It additionally lacks a touchscreen, a function we'd have appreciated as a quick and easy solution to set the main target level. Point and Shoot cameras make up a big phase of the digital digital camera market due to their ease of use and their reasonably priced price. The Twin Dial and entrance wheel keys additionally permit customers to shortly and simply alter publicity for easy pro-style control. So yeah, it will fit in your clothes and takes images that'd make your phone cry (had some macabre machine maker kitted it out with tear ducts). The PowerShot N is supplied with enhanced wi-fi capabilities, so excessive-quality photographs might be shared with family and friends even whereas on-the-go. Our selection of underwater cameras has everything for the most onerous core scuba divers in addition to the cautiously clumsy. One other major hitch for Powershot customers is the camera's poor battery life. Canon says that the sensor in this digital camera is engineered specifically for high quality shots in low mild, even at ISO speeds of as much as ISO 3200. The Canon PowerShot G16 occurs to be the camera I often suggest to any good friend who asks me what digital camera they should buy for less than $500, it actually is among the greatest pocket cameras out there. AF-S and AF-C is available in Single-point, Zone and Large/Tracking, making the Fuji-X70 versatile sufficient for many on a regular basis situations and fast paced topics like photographing kids. Olympus and Panasonic use Micro Four Thirds-measurement sensors, offering a middle floor and some excellent and reasonably priced lenses. Fast capturing pace allowed me to capture multiple photographs of the fish college because it formed and turned in a pleasing route. Out of the field, each panel on the Z3C's residence display screen carousel is completely sodden in widgets and shortcuts selling Sony's apps and providers, so you'll must spend somewhat time organizing this to your liking. Featured in two different colours, black, and silver, this digital camera is a beauty that's certain to take unimaginable pictures, whether it is day or night. As has turn into normal on most cameras, Canon's new mirrorless options NFC and WiFi, letting you easily switch footage to an iOS or Android machine. Certain, it's slightly on the hefty side, but it's nonetheless comfortably pocket-sized, is quite a looker, and was the one which we found ourselves reaching for when it came time to take a few holiday snaps on our own. When readers choose to purchase The Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, it might earn affiliate commissions that help its work. Underneath bright daylight, it's going to seize the sharpest detail and deepest, most saturated color, so that recording of your child's first football recreation will capture each blade of grass. Pakistani Clothes Unstitched Cloth Kurtas & Shalwar Kameez Formal Wear Abayas & Hijabs Dupattas, Stoles & Shawls Pants & Trousers. With a wide-aperture f/1.7 lens, low-mild picture quality could be very impressive. The RX100 IV packs a 20.1-megapixel, 1-inch Exmor RS CMOS sensor alongside a BIONZ X image processor and Zeiss best pocket camera Vario-Sonnar T 24-70mm (f/1.eight-2.8) wide-angle lens. Underwater housings are primarily protective shells that encase cameras they're specifically designed round, and are sometimes made from thick plastic or aluminum, and are sometimes able to being submerged to depths of 30 meters or extra.

[eddsmediamashup-blog]

Unit 8 evaluation pt II

        Pre-production

  How much do you think your research influenced your final product?

For my research I watched a bunch of music videos and I’d say that I took a lot of inspiration from abbath for example the shot of churches and trees also the colour inverting

Was there anything you did in your project as a direct result of your research? Give examples.

The abbath music videos are known for being dark, empty and atmospheric and I took influence by trying to recapture shots form previous videos

Was there anything you did not do in your project as a direct result of your research? Give examples.

We didn’t have a narrative in our video as it was purely abstract and live

Do you think you did enough research? Why/why not?

No I would of liked more variety in shots and I also

How well planned was your project?

Everything was executed perfectly we shot plenty and were always on time to shoots we also brought all the right equipment plus during the edit we were able to create a good standard product before the deadline.

Were there any parts you think needed to be planned better? Give examples.

On our first shoot the camera was over exposed but we overcame this mistake by reshooting also editing was difficult when trying to sync the song to the footage

What was the strongest part of your planning and why?

the filming as we were able to execute filming and timing perfectly and we had enough time to make and fix mistakes

  Production

  How well do you think you managed your time? Why was this? Give examples.

We were able to manage time perfectly as we were constantly filming and editing on time and not once did we miss a deadline

How well managed was your overall project?

Our team was well managed as our director gave us orders and we followed them we also worked well as a team

Did everything go to plan or were there problems?

I’d say everything did go to plan except our first film shoot as it was over exposed but we overcame this mistake by re-filming several times

Did everyone know what they were supposed to be doing or not?

We all did know what we were supposed to be doing as our director made it clear what jobs we were doing and what times we were needed for shoots

Did you work to your schedule or not?

Yes we did as we made it to all our dates both filming and editing

How well do you think you worked in the project? Give examples of both good and bad aspects of your performance?

What went well is In the project I followed my shot list and what the director directed me to do but what went bad is the fact I over exposed a bunch of shot but what also went well is that I reshoot all of the shots I messed up and made them look good

How well did your group work during the project? Give examples of both good and bad aspects of your performance.

What went well is In the project I followed my shot list and what the director directed me to do but what went bad is the fact I over exposed a bunch of shot but what also went well is that I reshoot all of the shots I messed up and made them look good

    Post-production

  How well do you think you managed your time? Why was this? Give examples.

I think our management of time was perfect as we always showed up on time to edit and we finished our product before the deadline

How well managed was your overall project?

It was managed well and we all worked well as a team

Did everything go to plan or were there problems?

There was problems on the way for example the over exposure on the camera and syncing the audio with video also the feedback we got with our film was to change up the footage we sampled also credit what we did but we had to credit them in the video not the description. We were also told to make it look darker because the church scenes were to light and colourful

 Did everyone know what they were supposed to be doing or not?

Yes our roles were made clear by our director

Did you work to your schedule or not?

Yes we did. We spent the right amount of time on the filming and editing e.g. 3 weeks filming and 2 weeks editing

How well do you think you worked in the project? Give examples of both good and bad aspects of your performance?

I think I worked well as I did my job and got the shot me and the director planned but I did cause a challenge for the rest of my team when I over exposed my footage

How well did your group work during the project? Give examples of both good and bad aspects of your performance.

We worked well together and we constantly exchanged tips and ideas this helped us get good shots of churches but when we messed up on something we would all get quite angry at each other but that’s to be expected

  Finished Product

  How does what you made compare to the proposal you have at the start of the project?

The theme stayed the same all the way through

Is it very different to what you had planned? If so, how is it different?

No the only thing different is the had to sample footage of the show because ours couldn’t transfer to our footage to mac or pc but the footage we sampled was from the same show we went to

Is it very similar to what you had planned? Give examples of where it is similar. Why do you think it is similar to your proposal?

Yes it does fit with what we have planned for example we have a crucifixion scene, footage of the show and sampled footage of destruction

What do you think about the technical quality of your work? Is it well made and put together? Does it look professional? What are the strengths of it from a technical point of view? What are the weaknesses of it from a technical point of view? Give lots of examples either way.

A film grain filter we found helped our edit look moth gothic and old however it made it more difficult at some parts of the live footage to see the band.

What do you think about the content of your product? Is the photography good? Is the camerawork good? Do the models, actors, locations etc. look good? Is any written work good or not? Are there any parts of your product that you would change?

Finally I did enjoy the outcome of our final project and I’m proud of how it looks and plays I do think the footage looks good together for example our footage of churches backing onto the footage of the band I also think our planning for the project was good as well e.g. the shoot list, the call sheet, etc