Week 8: Off the Rails!

I thought I walked into the wrong class this morning when I saw a young, slightly tanned man standing by the door greeting me with a smile. I was about ready to turn and walk out the door but in my confusion I noticed my classmates sitting in their usual seats. I sat close to them, relieved that I wasn't going crazy and waited to find out what was going on. Seemed like everyone was just as clueless as I was. The man stood at the front, and rather enthusiastically introduced himself.

Paul had been replaced by Murat Akser, and he was introducing us to the world of cinematic's in Week 8.

Week 8: Cinematic Arts

When Murat told us he was the new lecturer for a course starting next year about Cinematic's and film making, I wasn't sure what to think. After just completing a two year course in Creative Media where my teacher focused heavily on films I thought I'd never have to go so deep into that subject again. Sadly, Fate made this happen. However, unlike my course Murat decided to tell us more about films from a Turkish society. Reluctant as I was, I decided to look at this class as a challenge from Paul to see if we could write a blog about something only slightly related to our subjects. I knew this was going to be a challenge for me, as I didn't understand the reason behind the lesson over all but all the same... Challenge accepted! Let's give it a go.

Bringing us together..

He explained to us that cinema is used as a form of 'cultural construction', it is used as a way to help different people connect under one roof. All the people who go to see a horror film for example all share the likeability for that genre. Cinema in it's own right is a form of modern conceptual art, whatever way you look at it. Films are art, and quite incredible pieces of art at that. It is something that everybody can enjoy, there is something somewhere for somebody! Even myself. I'm not much of a film person but there is always one film every blue moon that will catch my attention, and like a predator hunting it's pray I will not rest until I've seen it.

Film's weren't always a method of expressing the particular culture of the country they were made in. Silent movies were a perfect example of this, Murat explained to us. When there is no language or sound being heard, the audience has to use their imagination and adapt what they are seeing visually to their own views on life. Meaning everybody can watch the same film and take whatever they want to away from it. Sounds pretty good but after sound was added to films, people were more interested in making it about specific cultures and films suddenly became a National thing instead of Universal.

What did they consist of..?

Night of Silence, 2013
Winner of the Turkish Film Festival.

He showed us a few examples of films that were made in Turkey while the film industry was at it's peek. A common theme that I saw is that they were all action based, war-like and strangely were about women being abused by men. As a female, it seemed a little biased to me but these films were made a long time ago, by people with very different opinions. Different cultures have different tastes, and I could certainly see that in the montages of films he showed us. After a few examples he did explain that those particular themes were common in Turkish films because of the countries history. Films are made to portray the culture and nature of the country it has been made in so in a sense that didn't make those themes acceptable for us British or Irish to watch and understand but they weren't made for us. American and British films have a wide range of genre's to choose from based on our history and cultures, just like Turkish films.

Of course, as time went on then the theme's would slightly change but even as we were shown a montage of films as they progressed I didn't see that much of a change. Though, after the year that women were given free rights like men I never saw much of the women abuse and films focused more on relationships and romance. Apart from that, I never daw much else of a change. To me, the films continued to represent the history of the country in a modern perspective. I don't know if British films do the same sort of thing, as I'm not a big film expert and I haven't been one to notice. So don't shoot me!

What did I take from the lesson?

"If you don't take risks, you can'tcreate a future."
- Monkey D. Luffy, One Piece.

Unlike the films I'm used to seeing, apparently a lot of film makers in Turkey take the money from their own pocket or 'the future' in order to make their productions. I know, they must be MAD! But taking such a big risk shouldn't always be considered a bad thing. If the title is a success then the Director is making back the money, with a bit of profit. Like the property development industry I guess. Morat explained that Turkish cinema's would approach Directors and tell them what they want made, in accordance with what their audiences have asked for. They tell the Director that they will pay 'x' amount of money on a future date if the film is made and is successful. Seems a little backwards but it certainly seems successful. That's why such incredible films are produced all around the world. If old is good, then let's just recycle!

I must admit that Murat opened my eyes in a way. He showed me that the world does not consist of the bright stared Hollywood blockbusters but there is a fantastic range of International Cinema right at my finger tips. It's inspired me to watch more films from countries across the globe. I've never been judgemental of International films I guess it's been a case of staying in my comfort zone. Well, not any longer!

Next week, Paul should be back and we'll be back into the Issues module. Though, this week hasn't really been a waste of time. I think it's shown us that if we step outside our comfort zone then we could reach new highs, and maybe even be inspired by a great director in Denmark, for example! So, thanks Morat. It was lovely meeting you and I hope your new course goes well next year!

Before I go for this week, Here are two trailers of Turkish films that we were shown and I would like to share with you. Enjoy!

Head-on Trailer (2004)                                   The Edge of Heaven Trailer (2007)

Until next time. :)

Week 7: Viva La Critique!

Guess who! It's Kayleigh here again, and you should know the drill by now. Last friday we looked at the Blogs that received awards this year, to get ideas of structure and content. They were inspiring and had a similar pattern of food! Needless to say I was certainly hungry by the time class was over, a McDonalds was quickly in order. But let's get a closer look at the lesson!

Lesson 7: Peer Assessment and Critique!

What makes your 'ideal' blog?

Seems strange to discuss what a blog should be halfway into the module, does it not? That was my thoughts going into this lesson, and much like the others it followed a similar trend. I'm making my own pattern here, that's cool. Paul explained that he wanted to see how we would cope writing a blog for ourselves without any real guidance or restraints, because he would see a difference between the blogs posted before week 7 and after. Smart cookie.

He showed us various blogs that won awards for 'Best UK Blog' this year. For those interested, I'll post the links at the end of my post. We looked at how they were structured to fit their audience and grab the persons attention because when you click on a website it has approx. 3 seconds to keep your attention or the majority will close it/move on. From what I could see only half of the 'top blogs' had this factor on me. Maybe that's because I don't share the same interest in cooking food as others. I don't know.

How did these blogs get so good?

It's all about the structure of the website, and how you put the content across to people. You might think that writing a blog is a matter of opening a site like this one and throwing down anything in the world but that's not the full story. Of course, you can do that. I've done that a few times myself but as you can expect I never got very far. So what exactly makes the difference? Well to start..

Personalise it.
Your blog shouldn't be empty words on a screen placed there by, what looks like, forced issues. It should be a self expression-al piece. Something that says a little about yourself. Even if you're talking about something you don't particularly enjoy (if that's the case then you shouldn't really be blogging about it but just for this example), you should add your own opinions and emotions into it. It's all about you, not the subject. That's just a little add-in if you ask me.

Structure-ise it.

The way your page is laid out can effect the people is attracts. The trend for blogging profile's right now is a white background with darker text. The simplistic idea that is eye catching and easy to read, though to some this may seem boring but it certainly works! Try and stick to a colour scheme that people will notice and think of you.

Visualisation is also important. People might not understand what you're trying to say, throw a picture in there and suddenly everything makes sense. It's funny what a single picture can do to your audience.

Audience-ise it.

The audience for your blog is an important thing to look at. Who are you aiming at? Who do YOU want to read the content of your blog? Think of it like newspapers, there's many different types in any country you go to. In the UK we have one called The Guardian and one called The Sun. The Sun aims for anybody and everybody. The content is widely varied and is usually the more important stories that have grabbed a high amount of people's attention. They don'r waste time with small stories. Where as The Guardian looks more in depth at any stories it includes, meaning the content requires an older language. You need to think to understand what the paper is trying to say.

So, there is a difference between the hundreds of newspapers out there it just takes a little to see it and compare them. Speaking about language (Ha!) that's my final point.

Language-ise it.
The way in which you write your blog will effect the audience you're targeting it at, or.. Actually the other way around. Depends how you look at it. This blog of mine is made for university purposes. If I don't complete this blog then I don't pass this module however that's not my sole purpose for doing it. I'm doing it to try and help get the same message Paul is telling us out there to my readers!

Looking back at language, it's the same situation with the newspapers. If you write in a basic language when it'll be understood by everyone. The age of your audience relies on the language too. If you wrote your blog in text language, for example 'hi m8 how r u doin?' or 'that is so wicked, cool dude!', then you're aiming for people in your age group as they will be more likely to understand that sort of speak compared to a more mature age group. 

I, myself, actually write/type in proper English most of the time. It's what comes naturally to me and if I type in a different way then it annoys me. Imagine that, a teenager who can type somewhat proper English  Even my parents type in text language, aahh!

The main thing is.. Personalisation!

Have you ever thought of it like this: Do your blog well and you could get work from it. I knew it was an aspect of it but I never thought about it on a big scale and it's true! The blogs who win awards will get various interviews, advertisements and what not to make money from doing something they thought as a pass time. Scary and exciting stuff! I could start a new blog for all my drawing and creative ideas, in and out of University, and that could get me somewhere. I never know until I try!

To finish the lesson we looked at the blogs posted by others in the class, and we'll finish them next week. It was clear to see those who have done blogs before and who hasn't. I felt my blog didn't have anything on the awesome designs they had! I should have got a designer to do it for me. (Not a bad idea..)

Until next time. :)

Week 6: The Power of Change.

I'm back! Another week and another class to blog about. I apologise for the late update as I had issues with my laptop, but it's all fixed now so what exactly was week 6 about? Paul was showing us the future and how it's going to effect our world, and what we must do as young persons hoping to tackle the creative industry in order to survive.

The Big Question.

Lesson 6: The Mobile Visual Environment

I'll be honest here, during the class I wasn't 100% sure what exactly Paul was trying to teach us with this lesson. Throughout he was showing us fancy futuristic gadgets that were hiding in the market like an enthusiastic child with a new toy, so we all walked away looking where we could buy a 3D printer following a similar fashion. But looking back at it nearly a week later, I noticed that he was trying to enthuse us to get involved with such things. To embrace our future and the changes to come because otherwise we're going to get left behind. Technology will wait for nobody.

We were taught and somewhat shown that we, as a society are at the tipping point.  We're on the edge of diving into something incredible, and everything that is involved in our everyday lives will follow through with this idea if we like it or not. We must think about the consequences of our actions and not be so rash in our decision making because one day it might not just effect you, it could effect everyone around you.

Talking about everyone around us..

I'm sure you haven't really noticed, unless you're a science enthusiast, that Scientists still refer to 'us' and our world as an 'environment' when technically this isn't true. Not any more. The internet has connected us in so many varying ways that Paul believes we should now be called on 'ecology', because we are connected to everyone and just about everything. Technology has allowed us to break so many barriers and shed light on so many secrets that we never knew before. Somebody in Denmark can talk to somebody in Korea, or anywhere else in the world if they wanted to!

Now, to the older generation this is a scary concept. I can certainly understand why. There comes a near-balancing amount of risks when you use the internet for anything AT ALL, I remember my parents telling me all the time that I shouldn't be using my computer so much. I was told to go outside and 'get a life' by so many people but in fact, I'm not ashamed to admit, the internet gave me a completely new aspect on life. Suffering from slight social anxiety, I found myself able to open up a little more online and in turn that helped me open up in reality.

It is because of that fear the older generation is being left behind as the world progresses without them. They don't accept how incredible the internet can be, and that is an issue because they do not accept this change in our lives.

But it's not just their generation..

Quite possibly the best invention ever.

As Paul showed us various gadgets being invented like the 3D printer (that will basically make any object you desire), Google Glass (places a virtual filter over reality, we're controlled by the net!) and The Pebble (A watch connected to your phone via blue tooth) among a few examples, I couldn't help but feel scared for what the future holds for our world. A lot of my classmates thought it was incredible and in a way it is, however I'm more concerned for the lack of privacy. In terms of progression, there is no doubt it will hit up like bricks but we will adapt because that's what has happened for years! 

As I don't want to end up like the previous generation, and be scared of the technological age, I'm certainly going to try and accept the change because as I've said it's going to happen with or without me. There's no point trying to run from it, it's fate!

However, we are getting to a point where the old is mixing with the new in order to progress even further. Analogue is mixing with digital so we can reach a point in our ecology that is scary yet incredible, like the massive drop on a roller coaster! A simple example of this is an app. for the iPhone called 123D Catch, which takes 40 pictures of an object and then recreates it as a 3D model on your phone within seconds. Yes, it's really that easy! Anybody can do it, you don't have to know any of the tools or the programs. Just take a few pictures and you're done. Scary isn't it? Of course it is, but it's also something magical.

So to finish..

We should embrace the progression of technology because if we like it or not, it will happen. I was scared about the entire idea at first, and I still am to an extent but I am also excited about what lies ahead of us. I'm not sure which one balances over the other but I'm sure I'll find out in due course. In order to help the future generations to adjust to these changes some type of programming needs to be included in the early stages of education in order to make it a priority. Kids are growing up not knowing the important things about IT and programming and it's leaving them behind because THAT is how we are progressing and THEY are the future so it's time we act!

In closing, just a word to the older generations that are so scared of technology. Don't be! It's part of human nature to push as far as we can go, so why be limited by our own fear? You never know what you can achieve when you're limited by such doubts. Live a little, I guess? Live a lot, embrace change and watch this space for next weeks update!

Until next time. :)