11th to 14th of November 2008

On Tuesday we had a screening of comedy, "For Your Consideration." The film gave you an insight of a what a Hollywood film set was like. Three actors learn that their respective performances in the film "Home for Purim" are generating award-season buzz. It is interesting to see how actors react when they are on the brink of getting nominated for an award. According to this film awards means a lot to the actors. Some of the things they do for them to be noticed are ridiculous. My lecturer said the film is funny because most of what happens is true.  

On Wednesday, a field trip to the cinema, to watch and review a press showing of Choke. 

We have to write a review for Monday saying whether we liked it or didn't etc. To be honest I'm still not sure if its good or bad, but I'll look further into that in my review. The experience of going to a press showing was different to public viewing. The reporters were all separated and spread out, no one said more than two words. There were no film trailers at the start of the viewing. It was an abrupt starting, the atmosphere was completely silent. I suppose critics and reviewers are at their work, so there is no time for enjoyment. 

On Thursday, we were discussing or own views of what the film was about. My view was, a sex addict trying to recover which is a more dominant reading. A class mate thought it was an offending pornographic and degrading, an oppositional reading.

We also discussed reviews are to advertise or simply just help the public choose a film worth watching. I agree that reviews are to influence the decision of the public  on whether to go see a film or not. Though it all counts on which company or critic is reviewing it, some members of the class tend to read Sight and Sound, others Empire, some the Internet etc. It all depends if you trust these sources to write a realistic view of the film.

In the afternoon we were looking at authorship. Who creates television? The question of who an author is, the role of the author as creator and the significance of the author's input into the material being studied. The importance of authorship began in the sixties. The television industry expanded and this allowed a generation of younger, working class, university - educated men and women to enter the television industry.  In a class exercise we studied a TV schedule, to find out who was the author of certain programmes. we found out that programmes like Harry Hill's TV burp, belongs to the presenter. Harry Hill is known to write his own scripts. But reality TV (Big Brother) tends to be producers who have the authorship, because it is not scripted as such.