Comparing the versions of Britishness - Spooks and James Bond (Casino Royale)

Comparing the version of Britishness

Casino Royale
-In the beginning its in black and white which has conventions of strictness, power and being proper which is an English stereotype.
-When the characters are in conversation or no action is happening the camera shots/angles are very smooth and clean which creates an elite feeling.
-Its always very clear who is British as the characters play on the stereotypical Englishman.
-Examples of heroism are in the opening titles, where you see the cartoon version of bond jumping bullets.

-The movie is also following Bond as he goes through this mission alone, which again shows heroism.

Spooks

-Similar to James Bond the camera angles and shots are also very smooth and clean.

-Like in James Bond its always clear who is British because of stereotypes.

-There is a strong act of heroism similar to James Bond, in Spooks the women takes the bullet in order to kill the criminal.

-There is constant danger in it which shows and demonstrates heroism.
-There is a strong connection and positive reinforcement for the British government which makes it very patriotic.

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - Notes
by Marc Prensky

The article starts off by saying how this generations students are completely different to previous students in the past and states that this is because of the arrival of the internet in the last decades of the 20th century. It carries on by stating that the students of our times have grown up and are constantly surrounded by technology, it highlights this point by stating some shocking facts which are: students have spent less than 5,000 reading, over 10 hours playing video games and over 20 hours watching TV. Continuing from this it suggests that students brains are now physically different from those before and that educators have not realised the amount of change/difference. The students have been given a name which is 'Digital Natives', this is because the students now have all created and re-newing digital language. These digital natives are always compared to those who weren't born into this digital world or have eventually taken interest in it, Digital Immigrants.

Digital Immigrants adapt to their environment, however they will always bring along some of the past and their social norms. The Digital Immigrants were bought up and socialised differently and are now learning this new language which the digital natives have created. The article then states ways in which the digital immigrants have bought the past with them: printing out emails, bringing someone in the office to look at a website instead of just sending it them and calling someone to see if they got their email.

However the article then changes its tone and addresses the seriousness of this as the students educators are teaching them in a whole new language. This is obvious for the digital natives and school feels like somewhere they are bought in to be taught by a foreigner.

The article then highlights the major issues which are digital natives are used to receiving information fast if not instantly, they like to multi-task, they prefer the graphics before the text, they thrive of rewards and would rather play video games than do any serious work. Digital immigrants rarely have appreciation for these skills as they want to and are stuck in the ways of teaching in a slow, step-by-step way, which, for the digital natives is a boring way.

Digital immigrants don't believe that digital natives can learn in different ways to ways that they do. Digital immigrants therefore that digital natives learn in the same way they did, this however is not valid. Digital natives therefore believe that the education that the digital immigrants are providing them with isn't worth it.

It is unlikely that the digital natives will go 'backwards' and return to the social norms and learning of past times. Some digital immigrants embrace the change and accept that they don't know much and take advantage of their kids to help them. However there are some digital immigrants who refuse to change and complain about the 'old days'.

To overcome this problem the article suggests we have to reconsider both our methodology and our content. First our methodology, the educators need to change the way they teach and teach in the new language that the digital natives created. This means make it faster and less step-by-step. Second our content, which there seems to be two kinds of the first legacy and second future. 'Legacy' is the traditional curriculum like, reading, writing, arithmetic, and logical thinking. Which is of course still important but its from a different era, some parts like logical thinking will be important but others like geometry wont e.g Greek and Latin. The second content, Future is digital and technological including, ethics, politics, sociology and languages. This content is interesting to today's students. Some digital immigrants however might not want to teach it.

The educators need to think about how they are going to teach both legacy and future content to digital natives, this would involve a translation and to add the new content. A theory has been highlighted which may at first been seen comically but as a case study shows it can definitely work. The theory is to make this content into video games. A case study to back this up was a company who had designed a new, faster and overall better way to operate factories. However the company encountered resistance as there was new software to learn eg. more buttons. The marketers then turned the learning into a computer game. The computer game ended up being highly successful. However it was harder for the educators to create it as they were used to different ways. They were asked to create a series of task's that the skills were embedded in. The professors had made 5-10 minute films, they insisted for them to be 30 seconds, the educators insisted that they do them in order, they insisted randomly. So the experimenters stripped all the old language away. Eventually the educators came through and it started working.

Similar thinking needs to be done for other subjects, there have been attempts that failed but the article states that we will improve. For example in maths we should now use computers and calculators all the time and learn how to implement them in aiding us. Geography there are many games out there which many kids can remember huge amount of information for eg. Pokemon and memorising 100+ Pokemon with all their info, we need to re-think how we present information.

Overall if digital immigrants want to reach out to digital natives they will have to change. If so they will eventually succeed.

Identify how Sense an Sensibility and Four Weddings and a Funeral represent aspects of Bristish society past and present.

Identify how Sense and Sensibility and Four Weddings and a Funeral represent aspects of British society past and present.

Sense and Sensibility and Four Weddings clearly represent aspects of British society. The main difference between them is the Sense and Sensibility is based in the past and Four Weddings is recent. This therefore makes them represent different morals and values of Britain. Another difference is how women get portrayed and treated, this difference is mainly because of the time difference. Sense and Sensibility was first a novel written by Jane Austen and published in 1811, Four Weddings was released into cinemas in 1994.

An aspect that they both share but have very different views on is marriage, in Sense and Sensibility marriage isn't a choice, especially for women however in Four Weddings it can be a choice and isn't a major deal unlike Sense and Sensibility. In Four Weddings there a good quote that one of the characters says, he says that couples only marry when they have run out subject to talk about. This shows that the representation of Britain in Four Weddings could be classed as realistic and modern. Women can take the time to the find the man that they want to marry and choose whether or not to do so. This shows that the two films have a different view of women and what there power, morals and values are. For example in Sense and Sensibility the women's costumes are very uptight and they are always covered up somehow, whereas in Four Weddings the women have let their hair down a bit more and are less uptight. This shows two different versions of British society, one where women don't nearly have as much freedom (Sense and Sensibility) than the women in Four Weddings. As well as freedom women in Four weddings are and could be respectful business people with authority over others this is a total clash from how women are represented in Sense and Sensibility. Women in Sense and Sensibility don't have much of a career, they stay at home and care for the house and their husbands or anyone else who they may serve. These two representations are drastically different but still realistic of their time period in which it’s set in. If you see in Sense and Sensibility the mood of the film and areas around the women are darker and stale. This denotes women to be low in the hierarchy on the social scale. As well as this the non diegetic sound that gets played doesn't set the mood the scene to be a joyful and happy one. In Four weddings these two points are completely different. The area and lighting surrounding women is bright and full of colour to denote that they are just the same as men in the social hierarchy. The sound might not be happy and joyful at all times but it isnt as dull as the sound in Sense and Sensibility.

Another difference that they have is that Four weddings represent a version of Britishness which is more like a part of 'Curtisland'. The way the characters go about their daily life and their values are grittier than those characters in Sense and Sensibility. This is partly because Four weddings is based in a more recent time period where society is very different from the time set in Sense and Sensibility. However with Four weddings being grittier it doesn't mean that its heavy hearted, in fact it could the very opposite. Most of the characters in Sense and Sensibility take most things seriously and you don't see them having a laugh as much as the characters in Four weddings. This again is another difference in how the society of Britain is represented in both films.

Merging on from the point about seriousness the subject love in both films are also the same. In Sense and Sensibility love/marriage is taken more seriously, men and women will set out to meet someone with the ambition of marrying and not necessarily the ambition of falling in love. Whereas in Four weddings a couple would date to get to know each other, then be official to each other, stay like that for a while to really see how they are, move in and then get married. So as you can see the steps for falling in love are more complicated in Four weddings.

Overall both of these British films represent a version of British society very well but they do have their differences and similarities. The similarities however make the representations very reliable. The main difference is that Four weddings is set in a modern time and Sense and Sensibility is set 100s of years ago. This provides us with one up to date representation and one historical representation.

Slumdog Millionaire and Somerstown - Comparison

Slumdog Millionaire

Directors: Danny Boyle
Loveleen Tandan (co-director: India)
Writers: Simon Beaufoy (screenplay)
Vikas Swarup (novel)
Release Date: 9 January 2009 (UK)
Genre: Crime | Drama | Romance

Somerstown
Director: Shane Meadows
Writer: Paul Fraser
Release Date:22 August 2008
Genre: Comedy | Drama

I believe that both of these films are definitely British but in different ways. Somerstown is obviously British with its British nature, whereas Slumdog Millionaire is debateable. Somerstown is classic British with its grittyness and again obviously has a British environment. The reason why Slumdog Millionaire is debatable is beucase it wasnt actually filmed in Britain for the most part. However there are a lot of factors that make it British, for example it was funded by channel 4 and has British actors in it. For example Dev Patel who also appeared in Skins (Which is a very British teen drama). Somerstown however was funded by eurostar which isnt as British as channel 4. It again has British actors for example,Thomas Turgoose he was also in 'This is England' which as by the title is very British film.

Active Reading Homework - Observer Film Quarterly March 09

A shiny, happy place, relaxed about the filthy rich, insatiable in its optimism, in love with happy endings, and very New Labour Welcome to Curtisland...

This article is based around the man Richard Curtis who has achieved an amazing amount towards British films. His most famous films include, Love Actually, Bridget Jones's Diary, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. He is also the creator of Blackadder and The Vicar of Dibley.

The article is very much interested in how his films are based around New Labour and how they always have a optimistic view about them. This optimisim has made the view of Britain change from the old broken-home and teenage pregnancy capital of Europe to a sunny, happy and witty place.

His films were seen as a stepping stone to what British film is now today because he created his own style of cinema which is named 'Curtisland'. Most British films were either wrote by him or followed his formula of a man/women needing to grow up and find out that love is all around us.

As said before Richard Curtis/Curtisland has achieved many things for British Cinema and most importantly British people. He has changed the perception of British Citizens and has definitely left his mark.

Working Title Films

Working title is a film production company based in London, it was founded in 1982 by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe. It has produced films such as, About a Boy, Wimbledon, Nanny McPhee and most famously, Billy Elliot.

"They have been listed as the most powerful figures in the British industry and in 2002 Premiere magazine put them at 41st in the world-wide movie power list."( BBC News story (2004)

This is a quote from an article that the BBC wrote about Working Title film. As you can see the company has had a huge impact on the film industry; The role that is has in British film as well is even bigger. This role grew when they were in a bid for the ITV licence.

British Film Websites

This is England - http://www.thisisenglandmovie.co.uk/

This is England website is packed full of iconic colours, images and clips that represent the film and Britain. The colours that they use are the traditional red, blue and white which are the colours on the English flag. This straight away tells anyone who is viewing the site that the film will be very British/English. The font/text they use is very bold and original one which represents the film well as its a very gritty and realistic film. The image that they use for the background is an iconic image of a British council estate. This again sets the scene for the film as the film is based around locations similar to it. Overall I think the website demonstrates what the film is about and its nature very well.

The Queen - http://www.thequeenmovie.co.uk/

The Queen website uses very plain and simplistic colours which represents the film well as its about the Queen who is very proper. They are very classic colours which adds to the feeling of a high class film because of the simple colour scheme.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Price - The website

This website creates an intense feeling and atmosphere by the moving graphics and the dark, intense blue colour. They have the iconic Harry Potter font and text which most of us are now used to and understand when we see it. The background scenery of the main page is London/the human world, this makes the viewers think as usually the main action happens inside Hogwarts and not around London. The expressions on the characters faces as well are also serious and intense. The moving graphic as I said before creates an intense feeling and the image also appears that it has been pulled backwards, this increases the intense feeling as its being aimed at you. Overall the website creates a great atmosphere which demonstrates the film perfectly.

Michael Caine

Sir Michael Caine is a English film actor that has appeared in many many British films for most of his life. He has worldwide fame as he has appeared in over 100 films. Recognising his contribution to cinema (especially British) the Queen knighted him in 2000. We are using him as a case study for the section of British Film. We are using him but he has very stereo typed and iconic aspects about him that make him British.

Past:

Caine had a very normal British childhood growing up in Camberwell, England. During World War II he got moved to Norfolk. He worked briefly as film clerk/messenger for a film producer name, Jay Lewis. He attended the National Service from 1952-1954 which was compulsory in those years.

Teaser Trailer Analysis

Teaser trailers are used to advertise upcoming films that are near their release date. They differ from normal trailers as they are much shorter usually about 30 seconds long, therefore this means that they have little content in the clip and usually feature the important parts of the film. They are also released quite a bit before the opening of the film to create some talk and excitement about the film. They are usually placed in adverts and before movies start at the cinema. There purpose is to attract attention to the specific movie and create 'talk' about it so people are ready/prepared for when it comes. It will also bring new audiences which will make the movie more successful. Some of them aim to suit social networking sites such as facebook, myspace etc. They do this because social networking is a booming business which is growing and growing all the time. Facebook has over 200 million active users and over 100 million log in everyday, so if they suit to theses sites they have potential to reach millions of new viewers for the film.

Here is a normal trailer:
Trailer

Here is a teaser trailer:
Teaster Trailer

Start of A2 course

For the second year of our media course we will be studying British Film and collective identity. The main focus of the British Film part is why or what makes British films, British. We have already starting watching film clips, trailers and actual films, I think I will enjoy this part more than the first year as Im more interested in film than TV shows. We will be watching more (British) films ,comparing and analysing. We have also been doing webpages which is a part of our coursework that gets marked, this will be like our blog but specifically about British films.

Saturday Night/Sunday Morning

On out last media lesson, on the 18th of June we watched a part of the film called 'Saturday Night/Sunday Morning'. We are starting this term with British Film. This film is a very realistic, traditional British film which rejects British values in this time. It has a very middle classed, stereotyped character called Arthur, this type of character is a type that (I think) all British citizens can relate to because of his stereotyped and realistic nature which we have viewed. The mise-en-scene of it as well is also realistic in which again we can relate to. The values that are portrayed in the film aren't representative in our modern day society. Other values of this film for example, family values again show British tradition in that era of time. The representation of male and females in this film are very old fashioned with the men going out to work and bringing in money, then the women staying at home cooking for the children and their husbands.

Final Task-Video

Here is our video for the final task, I am overall very pleased with how it looks, I think its stylistic, modern but with a twist of past times as well.

The link to it is here.

Storyboard for Final Task - Every Rose Has It's Thorns

This is our story board for our final film. In my group this time I have Sammy, Rachel and Me. We all decided that our film will be called 'Every Rose Has It's Thorns'. Here is our story board.

Image 1:

Image 2:
Image 3:
Image 4:


In this Rachel drew the images. Me and Sammy wrote the information on them.

Evaluation for Preliminary Video

Evaluation for priliminary task



For my priliminary task, I worked with two other students who are Rosie and Rachel. The main shot for our film was some walking through a door. It also had to have specific shot types, these were match on action, 180 degree rule and Shot reverse shot. Our film was about a woman (Rachel) who had kidnapped a father’s (Me) daughter, she keeps him in a room tied up and then comes in through the door and they talk. When they were talking we used the over the shoulder shot so you can both characters. We also used a panning shot when the woman walked through the door, we first had the camera on her shoes and as she walking the camera went up her body until she sat down. We planned our film by making two storyboards, one was a picture storyboard which we took with Rosie’s mobile phone. The other was a drawn storyboard. After all the filming we had to edit the movie, for this we used the I-Movie programme on the Mac’s. We edited some parts to make it look like it was just one fluent scene. Overall I am pleased with the way we planned our film and the outcome of it.

Preliminary-Video

We have finally uploaded our Preliminary video, the reason why it has taken months to upload it is because the programme that we used to edit it and import it crashed on us seven times. It also froze on us another two times, this was very fustrating. To overcome this problem I saved the video on average every two minitues. Overall I am pleased with the outcome and as we did re-did so many times we could see improvments that we had to make.