Cathy Come Home

Before we watched Cathy Come Home, I had heard of it but didn't really know much about it. Andy gave us a bit of background knowledge before the programme started about how it was originally aired in 1966 and at the time, the content was extremely ground-breaking and revealing. It is easy to see why.

I thought Cathy Come Home was brilliantly made. It wouldn't be right to say that you enjoyed the programme but it was certainly a very powerful watch. The story revolves around the characters of Cathy and Reg who are fictional representations of real people and real stories of the time. The programme begins on the happy note of Cathy and Reg starting their new life together, buying a house and having their first child. However everything goes downhill from this point as Reg loses his job and they cannot afford to pay their rent. They are evicted from their home and are forced to try and find other places to live while Cathy continues to have children.

From a story point of view, if you've never seen Cathy Come Home, you might wonder how this story could be so interesting. And when you think of the story in terms of screenwriting and three-act structure etc. it might not be particularly conventional, but it never stops being completely gripping. You find yourself caring for the characters a great deal and it's the sort of material that can actual evoke a bit of anger just by watching it.

The style of filmmaking is also important to its success as well I think. It is filmed in a documentary style and most of the people in the film are not actors apart from the main characters. It was all shot in real locations as well which made the story seem a lot more realistic. In the final scene of Cathy Come Home when Cathy has her children taken from her by the authorities in a train station, the camera was placed so that members of the public didn't know it was being filmed so they thought the event was actually taking place.

All in all I think Cathy Come Home was a great piece of filmmaking which helped to highlight one of the greatest social problems in Britain at the time. And although things have changed and systems are obviously different now, the message of Cathy Come Home is still sadly very relevant today.

The Election and The Television

So in the run up to this year's general election I think it would be fair to say that we've had more than our fair share of television coverage. In fact, most people will probably be glad when it's over and not have to constantly hear about Brown, Clegg and Cameron and all their elusive promises of change.

But saying that we have had a great deal of coverage isn't necessarily a good thing. This year has seen the first ever election debates in which the three "main" parties' leaders had the chance to discuss and debate different issues in front of a live studio audience. Three debates were held in total and ran continuously for 90 minutes each, broadcast one week by ITV then Sky then BBC. As a result of the first debate, polls showed that support for the Liberal Democrats increased dramatically. Clearly this indicates that television has an extreme influence on shaping people's opinions. In fact, I would argue that out of all the branches of the media, television is by far the most influential. The first debate on ITV received 9.4 million viewers, a very respectable amount in today's world. It even overtook the ratings for Coronation Street and Eastenders.

So if we assume that the main function of all this election coverage is to aid the democratic process by providing accurate and unbiased information to the country's viewers, how successful has it been? Well I think there obviously has been a lot of coverage and this is a good thing as far as informing people goes, however as far as representing all the options available to people, the coverage has been extremely poor. For example, I remember seeing a Labour election leaflet that was sent to my house that was peddling the notion that the election is a two-horse race between Labour and the Conservatives therefore if you don't want a Tory government you have to vote Labour. And just recently after the final debate on April 29, Clegg of the Lib Dems in now claiming that the election is a two-horse race between his party and the Conservatives because of Brown's performance in the debates and due to his recent scandal in Rochdale. Basically, the coverage of any alternative to the three "main parties" for me has been almost non-existent. I've seen little coverage for the nationalist parties apart from some side articles such as the SNP and Plaid Cymru teaming up in opposition to nuclear weapons.

All in all I think there has been a lot of coverage. But in terms of a fair representation of everything that's out there, I think there is room for improvement. And I'm not suggesting giving the Monster Raving Loony Party a regular slot on BBC1 at tea time, I just think there should be more in the way of alternative views represented on the mainstream channels to give people a more informed picture of who they can vote for and not just the option of three unionist capitalists parties.

Stagecoach

After watching Stagecoach the other day I was left quite pleasantly surprised. I've not had a great deal of experience with Westerns in my life other than the odd bits and pieces I have caught whenever my grandad is left in charge of the telly although I always felt as if I knew what to expect: they're all pretty much the same with the cowboy hats, the saloons in the one horse town, sheriffs and Red Indians with bow and arrows etc etc. The only Western I can remember sitting enjoying actually turned out to be a carry on film. But after watching Stagecoach the whole way through I did quite enjoy it and, although I didn't feel strongly either way about Westerns beforehand, I realise they can actually be quite good.

First of all the music. I love the music in Westerns, everyone knows the Magnificent Seven theme even if you didn't realise you do. And after about ten minutes of watching Stagecoach I had familiarised myself with the triumphant strings melody that kept recurring every few minutes when we saw the stagecoach in the journey through the desert.

The film has a really good story and was interesting from a writing point of view. As opposed to what we have said about a lot of Hollywood films being very plot driven, I think Stagecoach is largely character driven. All the characters are very carefully chosen so there is the right combination of different characteristics needed to make drama, conflict, and comedy. I liked that the film had a good comedy value to it. The drunken doctor had quite a few funny moments as did the stagecoach driver, Buck. At the same time there is also conflict between the doctor and Hatfield, Lucy and Dallas and the banker with pretty much all the other characters.

Since we've been talking about it a bit recently I'll say a little about the representation of women in the film. Obviously there are two central female characters, Lucy the well respected wife of a soldier and the prostitute, Dallas. Dallas is looked down upon instantly by Lucy for her poor social status and there is friction between them at different points in the film. However by the end, it is obvious that Dallas is a very caring and considerate character. The men in the film treat the women with great respect most of the time except when Hatfield, who has assigned himself as Lucy's guardian, decides that Lucy is too good to be dining at the same table as Dallas. At one point in the film Dallas is also instructed to make go and make coffee however this is more of an indication of social related injustice than gender related.

The film also made me realise how far the phrase "riding shotgun" goes back. It predates the days of cop shows and cop cars right back to the days of stagecoaches. So remember that next time you shout "Shotgun!" and try to claim the front seat Mr Alford.

Crying With Laughter

On Wednesday after class a group of us decided to go to Cineworld since we were all having withdrawal symptoms from being back in Glasgow and not setting foot in the great building. So some people went to see some Rieper Man film but since we had planned this earlier, Sam and I went to see the Scottish film Crying With Laughter which was made in 2009. I was told it was only in the cinema for a couple of days so it was a good opportunity to go and see it now and blog about it if it was any good.

The film follows the story of a Scottish comedian, Joey Frisk who has had a fairly troublesome life, getting sent to borstal at a young age where he was forced to learn to be funny. The film begins with the news that a comedy scout is interested in seeing Joey's act and if successful, he could make a good career out of it. However, events take a turn for the worse when he is arrested for seriously injuring his landlord after one of his shows.

I really enjoyed the film. It gripped me throughout and I always think films like this are very cleverly written and must take a lot of work. Every eventuality needs to be worked out so that people don't watch it and ask "well why did he not just do X in that situation." I liked the way the plot continues and unravels at a relatively fast pace. There is not a great deal of lingering around unnecessarily in scenes as the story progresses seamlessly. The story is never boring and is also very "edge of your seat" type content which I really enjoy. The fact that Crying With Laughter is a Scottish film made me like it even more: there was a very noticeable difference in the style to this film in comparison with big Hollywood blockbusters which would undoubtedly have turned this script into a completely different and, in my opinion, much less enjoyable film. The fact that it's set in Scotland with Scottish actors also makes it a much more realistic watch for me. There were some very nice shots in the film from a technical point of view and the style and tone of the film to me was great.

So no matter what Sam says I think Crying With Laughter was excellent and it's probably one of the best films I think I've seen this year. That and A Prophet I think, which maybe says something about what I think of a lot of the American films coming out these days.

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

One night over the Easter holidays I decided I would have to read a book before I started back at the academy. I don't really read much at all when I'm through in Glasgow so I decided the holidays would be a wasted opportunity if I didn't read something. So one night I decided to start the Robert Louis Stevenson classic The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I chose this for two reasons: it's fairly short so I would have to be quite rubbish if I didn't manage to get through it and two, I had read it before in school and had a weird craving to read it again.

It's a really good story I think and I enjoyed it a lot more this time. In fact when you read things in school I think you always miss loads of stuff. Most people know the basic plot of the story, even if you're not familliar with the book, the phrase Jekyll and Hyde is well known. Stevenson wrote the book in the late 19th century so at the time it would have caused a great deal of shock and controversy as the Victorian people of the time were very interested in the supernatural.

The story follows the well respected London lawyer, Mr Utterson who one day hears a nasty story from his friend about a man named Edward Hyde. This begins to trouble Utterson because he knows that one of his clients and also best friend Henry Jekyll has in his will a donation of all his money and possessions to Hyde. He sets about on a mission to uncover the secret to all the mysterious circumstances and events going on as he suspects there is some form of foul play going on with his friend and the murderous Mr Hyde.

Many critics of the book have tried to outline the many possible meanings that it could have. One of the main aspects of the narrative is obviously the dual nature of humans. However some people think it could represent alcoholism, sexual repression, lust, or the presence of evil within all people's lives. There are many more possibilities that the story could have been trying to sybmbolise. But that's the beauty of storytelling in that it is up to the reader alone to decide what the themes of the narrative are. You can also just enjoy it for the Victorian thriller it is, regardless of all its possible meanings. It's really not that long at all so go and read it, shouldn't take you too long.

Week 10 - Term 2

On Monday morning we had a guest star appearance from Gavin Blyth, the current producer of the soap, Emmerdale. At the start he asked the room filled with first and second year DFTV students how many of us watched soaps. And even though I know for a fact some of us do watch soaps no one raised their hands. Mr. Blyth then proceeded on a tirade about how we would never make it in the television industry if we did not watch soaps and if any of us managed to ever get a job on working on a soap we should count ourselves blessed. But despite everyone else's serious indignation about the producer's words, I thought the guy was actually alright. After he got his soap rant out the way he was quite interesting and I enjoyed learning about the different ins and outs of how a show like Emmerdale is actually produced. He showed us a promotional video for the "new style" Emmerdale of 2010 which was a bit weird and looked more like a spoof with the usual sweeping country music replaced by some dodgy Rihanna remix.

Not a great deal happened on Tuesday as we didn't have any formal classes so my group had another meeting to try and finalise all our preparations for the Home project by devising shot lists, looking into what props to buy and what locations we would be filming in and who we needed permission from etc.

Wednesday began with a programme meeting at 1 o'clock. This was a joint meeting with DFTV and TPA to bring forward the proposals for the upcoming collaborative project. There was only one pitch which was the LipDub pitch by Ada and Ian Jolly from TPA. After this we had our last television class with Andy this term. For this we had a brief discussion on representation and how different members of society are portrayed on TV. We then watched a BBC4 documentary about the representation of men in TV adverts throughout history. Although the programme focused on how men were represented, it also said a lot about how women were represented in the process.

The programme turned out to be quite amusing as it was mainly driven by examples of different advertisements all through the decades starting off in the 50s right up to the 90s. It was interesting to see how the representation and the perception of how men should be evolved and changed through those decades. From the very sexist and patriarchal commercials in the 50s, to the 70s where it was seen as cool for every man to be wearing Old Spice aftershave and smoking the same brand of cigarette right up to the 80s and 90s where individualism and the successful office worker style image of a man was commonplace.

On Thursday I woke up bright as a button after the previous night's St Patrick's day celebrations at 7 o'clock in preparation for a day's filming. Today was the day we would be filming our Home projects. Murray picked Harry and I up from halls and took us up to the academy to collect the kit. The first location of the day was Glasgow's Botanic Gardens in the west end. We had arranged to meet our actor and actress there. So after a couple of hours setting everything up and getting all the different shots we required there, we made our way to the next location in Kelvingrove Park. It took quite a bit longer in Kelvingrove to get all the footage we needed because although the filming was mostly in the one area, we had to decorate a tree with all the various props that we had brought with us. All in all it was a really successful day. Our actors were really professional and everything looked great when we filmed it. And we learned the valuable lesson never to try and use a balloon in a film ever again especially in a windy March in Glasgow.

Friday began with a screening of a film that has been mentioned dozens of times since the start of the course but one that I had never watched: Casablanca. I hadn't heard a great deal about what the film was about other than everyone seemed to really like it and it is regarded as a classic. Before he put the film on, Andy told us that Casablanca is like the Hamlet of movies in that it contains the greatest number of well known phrases still in use today. So with that in mind I tried to spot as many as I could throughout. Anyway I really enjoyed Casablanca. It's a great story that doesn't need masses of locations or complicated characters to be successful. It is a simple yet very effective story because you care for the characters and their story. A good deal of the film actually takes place inside Rick's club which proves you don't need millions of pounds worth of fancy locations and costumes and explosions to make a brilliant film. The climax of the film is really gripping and has you hooked right till the very end which I think is a very appropriate and sweet ending.

Week 8 - Term 2

This week began with our regular Monday morning class with Kim. In the past few weeks of classes we've all been developing the ideas for characters and storylines that we came up with. A few weeks ago, we each had to come up with one new character for a soap and come into class and pitch it. We were then put into small groups and had to go away and come up with a story that these characters could be involved in. For this week, we were tasked to write the outline for a full week's worth of Coronation Street episodes for our particular stories. In my group were Sam and Amelie. So on Friday we sat down in the library and briefly planned what would happen in our stories in each episode and then assigned each other different episodes to write. I was also assigned to role of script editor.

So this Monday we had to read out the outlines for our week's worth of episodes. After that, we then wrote a line on a piece of coloured A4 paper that summed up each episode and posted them on the wall. As a class, we then had to figure out for each day's episode which of the four stories would be the A story, B story and so on. This was quite an interesting process especially because Kim told us this is the way storylining is done in many professional programmes such as Coronation Street.

In Andy's class in the afternoon, we were discussing our favourite ever year for films. There were many different answers but most of ours were around the 90s and early 2000s. My year was 1994 because some of my favourite films including Forrest Gump and The Shawshank Redemption were released in this year. Other favourites released in this year include The Lion King and Dumb and Dumber.

On Tuesday, we all met in the DTU for our first editing class in a good while. This class involved learning how to export footage from Final Cut and compress it into a smaller file. We also learned how to make DVDs for clients by using the program DVD Studio Pro for the first time. After this at about 12 o'clock, Adam, Andy and Ray came into the DTU just to try and put Gav off as he was showing us how to do one final thing. The purpose of this gathering was to tell us about some of the new upcoming projects that we will be involved in. The first topic is a collaboration with CPP students where we will be filming their performances at the Arches. And despite some of the crzy stories we've heard about previous years' Into the new performances, it sounds like quite an exciting and challenging project. We were then handed out a sheet of paper detailing the next project that we will all be involved in. This divided us into two groups and told us that each group would be making a two-minute short film on the theme of Home. So, at 2'oclock we assembled in our respective groups and had a meeting to discuss everyone's initial thoughts and ideas on the project.

On Wednesday, we had our television class with Andy in the afternoon. This particular lesson focused on advertising from its origins in Britain with a commercial for toothpaste right up to the present day with the likes of GO COMPARE! It was quite funny and interesting to hear eveyones else's views on the adverts that we all remember whether it's because they are funny or have a catchy tune or whether they are just plain annoying.

Our sound class on Thursday morning with Cammy was cancelled so instead we met in our respective groups for the Home project to collate our ideas and then send them on to Gav via e mail. After this, we had our new Web and Mobile Technology class with Adam in the DTU. In this we continued the discussion about how this new wave of mobile techonology is going to affect the film industry. We also briefly discussed The Virtual Revolution, a show we had been asked to watch for this week's class. This class is always quite exciting and frustrating at the same time when we always reach the same conclusion: no one knows yet of the correct business model for the combination of film/television and the internet.

Our Friday screening this week was the original version of King Kong. I actually found this very entertaining and it was a really good watch. I've not seen the recent remake of the movie so I can't compare them but the story was very fast moving and gripping. It was also funny to see the movie which, at the time, was regarded as too shocking and had to be censored when it was re-released several years later.