Week 2 - Term 2

This week started off on Monday morning with a brand new class that we'd never had before. Kim Millar, a successful storyliner for Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and River City came in to give us our first class on storylining in television. This was quite an interesting class and we learned a lot about how competitive the television industry really is. We also learned about the various different roles and jobs that exist in the writing side of television from the storyliners and script editors to the actual dialogue screenwriters. In the afternoon we had a History of Cinema class with Andy. For the first half we had the opportunity to watch very old films that had been discovered in England that had been filmed right at the start of the twentieth century. These Mitchell and Kenyon films included short silent clips of no more than a couple of minutes where they would film people going about their daily life in the workplace, school, in the street etc. After watching about five of these films, we then watched a final special one that had been filmed in Jamaica Street, Glasgow. This was actually quite fascinating to see, although fairly short it still showed a great deal of information about how people went about their lives back in that time. Every vehicle was horse-drawn and people walked everywhere. There seemed a much stronger sense of community and everyone helping each other as well. We then saw a remake of the video made by Charlotte and Gavin (I think) at the same spot in the year 2009. It was quite strange to contrast them and see how differently it all looked. It was a little bit depressing actually: everyone in cars, nobody dreaming of talking to each other of even looking at each other unless absolutely necessary. In the second half of the lesson we watched a DVD about the origins of editing which dragged on for a bit even though there were some interesting points to it. On Monday night I also went to the Britain's Got Talent auditions at the SECC to the envy of Meg and Kelsey.

Tuesday we had our technical class with Ray and we were continuing with lighting. Today we focused on white balance and colour temperature and how each specific light we use has a different colour temperature that affects the picture. There's a lot of new buttons and terminology to grasp with these lessons but it always becomes clearer when I actually try it myself of a camera. For example, I learning how the do a white balance correctly on the camera by actually doing it myself as opposed to just listening to Ray and scribbling notes. Later in the day I also had my tutorial with Gav to discuss our formative assessments from before Christmas. This went well and we watched the short motorbike advert that I had edited and he also discussed the results for the written test as well.

On Wednesday we had Andy's television class in the morning. We focused on reality TV in this lesson. From its origins with shows following the emergency services to modern day reality television like Big Brother and the X Factor. The main point of the class was to understand about Authorship in relation to reality TV. In the end we decided that there are a various groups of people who influence what happens on reality TV. Of course the whole idea of it is that everything is realistic and unscripted however there is still a degree of authorship in it. For example, the Simon Cowell type characters in each show who, although it is not always overtly shown, does have a decision on which people stay in the show or leave the show or whatever else. The viewing public also have a certain say in reality programmes like I'm a celebrity and the like where they phone in to decide who should stay in the jungle.

I had the day off on Thursday due to Adam's tutorials in the morning and no other classes all day. So after a nice wee lie in I sat in my room and wrote a good bit of my two minute comedy script. After a while of this I decided to go a walk for some fresh air so walked down across the river to the Gorbals kind of area then back round via Bridge Street until I suddenly realised that I was on Jamaica Street where the old Mitchell and Kenyon film was taken. On Thursday night some of us also went to the RSAMD production of the opera War and Peace at the Theatre Royal.

During the week, Andy had already slyly hinted that the Friday's film would once again be silent however it was not Russian. Today it was Nosferatu, effectively the first ever vampire movie. This turned out to be really cool, it was interesting to see where it all started and how vampire films had evolved to what we have now, and also the fact that they are still popular to this day.

First week back

So the first week back on the course after New Year started with a nice 2 o'clock start just to ease us back in gently. We are beginning to look into the origins of cinema in greater depth now, still looking at the history of cinema right from the very start with the invention of the camera and the first ever films like the arrival of the train. It's interesting to hear about these early days of cinema when the inventors like the Lumiere brothers and Edison scarcely realised the gold mine they had uncovered, thinking film would just be another passing fad. The stories of the early films like the train and the kiss are also quite funny as everyone watching the train film ran out of the way, terrified they were going to be hit by it and the kiss which caused national hysteria.

Tuesday's class with Ray was quite intense as is always expected, even though we still had the later start time of 2 o'clock. Today we were starting lighting for the first time and so, after we finally discovered which room we were in, we all took a trip to the kit room to take up all the lighting equipment. As is often the case in Ray's class, it was a furious note taking session for a lot of the time whilst he demonstrated the many different varieties of lights that the academy uses. On top of which we had to learn all the new industry slang combined with the official jargon - I never knew there could be so many words about lighting. After a break we had the opportunity to have a look at the different effects that the different types had. I was chosen to be the model for part of this and so, after the camera and monitor had been set up, had to sit in a chair and have the various lights tested on me to show everyone else the effects. This was quite a good laugh as well but we soon ran out of time and had to put all the kit safely away back in the kit room before 5 o'clock. That night at Cineworld, there was an advance showing of A Prophet, a new French film. Myself and Samuel Ferguson had managed to secure tickets to this prestigious event so went up to the cinema at about half six and were greeted by a joyous Michael Maxwell taking tickets. The film itself I thought was absolutely brilliant and it's easy to see why it's already won awards and been describes as the best film of the year. I'll probably go and see it again when it actually comes out so you can maybe expect a blog on it, if not at least I'll have the ticket to prove I was at it, how sad I know.

On Wednesday we got a text in the morning to inform us of a programme meeting at one o'clock with just us first years. This was really brief but it was still quite good all the same: we were informed that although the first term is not a particularly practical term, this one should be more hands on and that a new script competition was starting where any of us could submit a 2 page script on a specific subject and have the chance of it being commissioned by the tutors. After this we had about 50 minutes to kill before our TV class with Andy at 2. When this came we were in the new and exciting AGOS Board Room which is leaps and bounds ahead of our classic AGOS 9. It felt like we were in some sort of business conference with the long table and comfy chairs. We were warned by Andy at the start that this would be a really dry and potentially difficult to grasp lesson however it turned out to be not as bad at all. We were discussing authorship with regards to television and how this came about in the sixties due to a number of different factors. After the break we then watched an episode of the critically acclaimed television drama The Street. Last summer I watched this programme and up until recently I thought it was brand new when I was watching it but it turns out that was the third series. Anyway I already knew I liked it and how brilliantly written the episodes are. This episode I hadn't seen however as it was from the first series (I think) but it was absolutely brilliant and after it literally the whole class were astonished at how good it actually was. What makes the programme is undoubtedly the good writing and what I think makes the show so successful is that the idea for every episode is incredibly simple. Everything is very low concept and realistic yet the situations that arise are always so compelling that you can't help but want to watch right to the very end. Even the basic premise for the programme that every door has a story behind it is incredibly simple yet genius.

We got a text late on Wednesday night to tell us that Adam was sick and wouldn't be able to take our class on Thursday. So we decided to make the most of the day and a few of us went to the Xscape thing at Braehead and played ten pin bowling then went to Frankie and Benny's. After that we returned to halls and I sat and did some more work on my script for Richard. Later on we decided to go the the cinema just cause we're film students and we've got an excuse to. Some of the girls went to see Nine but having already seen this on Sunday night, me and Sam went to see Daybreakers, a vampire movie which was actually pretty good I thought. Sam and Harry then successfully stole a cardboard cutout of Nowhere Boy John Lennon from the Cineworld skip and we returned to halls at high speed just managing to evade Strathclyde's finest. After everyone went their separate ways I went back to my room and did more of my script. I managed to get a ground-breaking new idea for the ending so went crazy and did absolutely loads of it then went out to the Counting House for a couple of Guinness to celebrate.

On Friday, we knew that we would be watching a silent Russian film. Black and white. Silent. Russian. 1925. Not really the most exciting combination to be honest so I wasn't overly looking forward to the screening but for some reason was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it was just the kind of mood I was in but I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. The main reason we were watching it was to gain an appreciation of the early techniques of film editing - where the film makers would literally cut a piece of film to edit it. This was actually very noticeable in Battleship Potemkin and it was clear that the Russians did spend much more time editing the clips. It was obvious that there were more shots from different angles and such like which shows they used editing in a more artistic way than purely for story-telling purposes. Fair enough the overall story was probably not that brilliant or riveting and as Amélie pointed out to me about half way through, the film was made for propaganda purposes. I much preferred this to Dr. Caligari, however, maybe it was just much easier to follow or I quite liked the subject matter, who knows but I actually didn't hate this movie. And as I said after it, I probably enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Nine.

Over the Christmas holidays

Although the Christmas holidays often brings to mind "good television", I still found that the majority of the things I watched over the holiday period were DVDs that I got from Santa. After Christmas day, I didn't think I'd got a particularly large amount of DVDs to watch but when I think about it, I did.

True to his word, Santa managed to get me The Godfather box set so I'll no longer have to keep borrowing it from the RSAMD library. So a while after Christmas I decided to watch the first film with my dad who was looking forward to seeing it again after so long. I enjoyed watching it again and it's definitely one of those films that you can enjoy again and again because you notice things that weren't apparent the first time you watched. We watched the second one a few days later, the second time I've seen this as well and I might do a blog about it in the days to come so look forward to that people. I still prefer the first film though, and I've yet to see part three.

Another DVD I got was the second series of Ricky Gervais's Extras. I watched this with my mum and dad within less than a week after Christmas and quite enjoyed it. I think Extras is really funny a lot of the time and Ricky Gervais has done well writing it and all. I also quite like Ricky Gervais but I don't love him. I get the feeling he sometimes thinks he is funnier than he is as was shown with films like The Invention of Lying. Not taking away from Extras though, it is really hilarious at bits. Ricky Gervais is a funny guy and a good comedian but he's not a comedy genious.

Che: A Revolutionary Life part one and part two was another DVD I got although I've not had the chance to watch it yet.

I also got Michael McIntyre's new DVD showing his live standup in Wembley. I decided to watch this on Hogmanay with my mum, dad and cousin and after a couple of beers in my belly, I found myself crying with laughter on a few occasions. After that, the traditional New Year's eve night of TV ensued with an episode of Still Game, sadly not a new one, then Only An Excuse, where Jonathan Watson rips into the year's most interesting/amusing footballing incidents amongst other things. After that you bring in the bells with Jackie Bird, watch Phil and Aly play some Scottish music then who really wants to remember after that.

When I said I didn't think I got a lot of DVDs you can see that from that small list that I didn't get a great amount until you consider the big massive box set of Laurel and Hardy: The Collection that my girlfriend got for me. It contains 21 DVDs so I'll probably be quite a while working my way through them and so far I've watched two and a half. The first disc has one of their features A Chump at Oxford on it which I found myself near enough crying with laughter again to one day, I seem to be doing a lot of that these days ae readers? They also give you the option to watch in black and white or the nice colour restored way but I prefer to watch the classic way.

I also started a book over the holidays but I've not finished it yet however I will blog about it when I do. So that's me described a bit of my viewing from over the Christmas holidays, mainly the stuff I got from Santa. I'll probably remember some great film that I caught on TV that I want to talk about just as I click "Publish Post" but for now, Happy New Year everyone!