Class
Today a man came to talk to us about making films about
Preston for the Preston Guild. People could drop out of their electives and be
graded on this film instead but I had done my elective last semester.
To be honest I had no interest in this so I don’t feel
compelled to talk about it.
We discussed what a documentary was and came up with our own
definitions. I decide that a documentary was “A generally non-fiction film
which usually aims to inform” Hadn’t really watched that many documentaries to
didn’t want to apply certain characteristics to the form as a whole. But I
generally think that most documentaries have a point. Unlike films they are not
made to just entertain – subjects and opinions are explored.
There was a practical exercise where we had to keep the
camera static and record a few seconds of footage from a chosen camera angle.
Documentary of the week
I’ve
decided to watch short documentaries every week which I find interesting
because I think I’ll be able to analyse them better.
The
documentary I watched this week was :
‘Anime Expo 2010 Short Documentary’
I
absolutely hated this documentary and I’m a huge anime/cosplay fan. The
narration was very unenthusiastic despite the fact that the clips being display
looked so interesting. The narration just spoilt everything and made the
overall documentary very boring. He had so much material to work with and did
not use it to his advantage at all. He should interacted more with the people
at the expo and should have even gotten involved himself seeing as he is a fan.
I
would not watch that again but I have to take into consideration the fact that
the filmmaker is only an amateur and therefore might not have the skills needed
to make a good documentary. However with this being said – the fact that he’s
into anime should have been enough reason for this doc to be more upbeat and
interesting.
Actuality Assignment
We
were given the Actuality assignment brief in class today. I was quite happy
when I got it – as you know I love to write.
Ideas
started popping into my head straight away, I have so many life experiences to
write about. I always thought my life was boring and blan, but since coming to
Uni I have looked back at my past quite a lot and I can now say that it was far
from boring. I’ve grown and evolved so much over the years it’s shocking.
This
assignment really made me think about my life so far and whether I’m happy with
it or not. For about three years now I’ve been really unmotivated and somehow
managed to convince myself that I’ve ruined my life. But after thinking about
ideas for the actuality I realised something very important – Life is about
living and learning from your mistakes. Yes you don’t always get what you want
but that’s the beauty of it. What you want might not necessarily be what’s good
for you. I can look back on my life now and say that I have lived. I have taken
risks and I have learned from my mistakes. Yes my life has not been perfect but
I’ve still lived it and that’s what really matters.
I
decided to write about when I was a little girl and lived in Ghana. One day I
got my leg stuck in a drain and stayed there all day till my grandfather came
to find me. What I love about the me back then was that the very next week I
was out exploring by myself again. I was a person who wasn’t scared to
experience new things. Even when I got hurt, I didn’t shy away or lock myself
up in my room, I ventured out again and took a different path because I wanted
to experience some new.
My
mum used to say that when I was baby I would never sleep when she took me and
brother out. Instead my small eyes would be wide open, trying to see new things
and trying to learn new things.
I
think this part of me is what drove me to university to study Film Production –
I wanted to try something that intrigued me. I wanted to see if I could be like
those directors who make wonderful movies and manage to touch such a large
number of people. I thought to myself, any smart person can do Law, but it
takes someone with courage to go out and do something that they have never done
before, knowing that there’s a chance they could fail.
I
miss that me very much and I wish she would come back because the me right now
is stopping myself from learning, growing and experiencing.
I
know I’m waffling but sometimes it’s like something sets me off and I have an
epiphany. That something this time was the actuality assignment.
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