p.s

I am accidentally following my own blog which is funny but I can't seem to unfollow it. It was not intentional. And I still don't know how to upload work! From adobe programmes I tried saving it as JPEGS and it still won't upload! what am I doing wrong?? Help me!

The powers that be

There seems to be a running theme of the movies so far... The Corporation, If, Rollerball, Goodnight and Good luck.

This is really lucky for me as it fits quite nicely in with my essay, so getting lots of inspiration from them so far. I always think there are just so many great movies out there that I want to see and don't even know about and this is a great opportunity to actually spend the time sitting down to watch them.

I enjoyed rollerball a lot, and although I got the overall message from the plot and the sport itself- the themes of violence and control, there was loads of bits that I didn't understand. One of my favourite visual bits was the when the men and women from the party went out across the fields and started shooting the trees. I couldn't take my eyes off the strange women and all their billowing dresses. What was that about? Was it me or did all the women seem kind of different from the men? Like the stepford wives. Was that deliberate?

I was pleasantly surprised with George Clooney's film. I watched with my mum too, and she thought it was made in the 50's/60's so the visuals had her fooled. I'm not sure how she figured George Clooney was in it but still! I think it's interesting he chose to direct something so niche rather than something more commercial, which i'm sure he could have done if he wanted to. Granted, I got a little bored when watching it, but I admired the style, the authenticity of the smoking and the black and white and thought it was a quite brave and surprising film from Clooney.

My favourite parts about If... were the flips from black and white to colour. Obviously the film was flitting between reality and imagination, but I liked how it wasn't one or the other, but mixed. Of course, the Tiger scene was breathtaking, really nicely directed and quite a contrast from the rest of the film. I think it captured the sexual tension perfectly. I also liked the scenes when they were getting drunk in their room. The bit where they were laughing 'I don't see what difference the speed makes... the speed of the nail', was strangely mesmerising and more real, like a real moment.
I was rivited by the information I got from the Corporaion... Corporations operate within the law as individual humans... you can patent Life... Its often cheaper to be illegal and risk getting caught than operate in the law... Corporations are legally bound to put their bottom line ahead of everything... Humans potentially own everything from the air we breath to life itself and this could all be made privatised... The song Happy Birthday is owned and every time it is used it costs thousands of pounds...

The mind boggles!

Love/Hate

Everyone has written really good descriptions of Jonny Hardstaff's lectures which give a lot of info about him and what he said, so i thought instead of repeating what everyone else has said i'd just focus on what the lecture meant to me personally.

Their was two main things that really struck me.

First of all it was the love/hate relationship he described with big corporations and commercials. To hear someone else acknowledge this was so relieving. I am constantly battling with the ethics of advertising. Is it right? Is it manipulation? Is it a waste of creativity? Aargh, but I love love love it and its so much easier to just love it than to try to fight against something so much bigger than you are. I am genuinely concerned with the ethics of advertising, but at the same time I enjoy the human insights, the psychology behind it, the deep understanding of human behaviour - and exploiting that to get what you want. Its like a constant challenge against real people who could outwit you at any time. Its exactly like cock rock- its terrible and every things wrong about it, but lets face it, that party always ends with it and everyone is dancing.

Well its nice to know that someone else is thinking the same thing!

The other thing that really helped me was what he said after the lecture back in the studio - that Manchester is an exciting place to be, that things are changing and maybe in the future the north will give London more of a run for their money. Also, that the industry is crying out for women in this industry, and if you can produce good work then you will get noticed. This is good news for the girls finally!

Kill the gun

While working on my Silence sketchbook, I remembered this ad that we saw at an adeaters night last year I went to. I think this is one of the most effective adverts I have ever seen, it evoked a strong physical reaction in me, and its just such a shame that it wasn't more widely shown. Anyway, the reason i'm posting it, apart from that it is brilliant, is I clearly remember almost being able to touch the silence in the room when it was playing. No-one could turn their eyes away from the screen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGp-LxLYvRc

Google reader just revolutionised my life =)

Had my first tutorial today, went very well, really excited about this project and getting started!

Its all in my mind

I had that post saved for quite a while. Since finding initial quite generic (I think) and predictable images just to get going I've been thinking a lot about my initial ideas for the project that I already had in my head. I admit I've been exploring and playing with these things in my mind for a while, way before we got the brief, but I think the themes fit quite nicely into the brief.

This is a photographer I saw at the London Photography Gallery in summer. His name is Andre Kertesez and the exhibition was called 'On reading'. I was paticularly interested in this guy, not because the photos themselves are paticularly great, but since I've been doing my essay research, which is a lot to do with the threat of traditional media, many things have said that books are on there way out. I just don't think this is true. I see people reading everywhere. I genuinely don't think anything can replace the experience of reading a novel, of holding a book in your hand. What I love about these photos is that reading is quite a private act. Its not about anyone but you, and in today's world there really isn't much left that can give you that completely unique and private experience in the same way.

''Everyone can relate to the excitement of opening a book, reading the first lines of a novel and getting lost in a parallel, imaginary world. Kertész was intrigued by the universal appeal of reading, revelling in the privacy of the moment. Over the course of his career, Kertész captured readers of all ages in various locations – on rooftops and balconies, in parks, on crowded streets, at train stations, in libraries – creating a poetic study of the act of reading.''

(From the website)

Reading is one of my favourite things to do. I have loved it ever since I learned when I was a child. I think reading is one of the things that has shaped me the most in my life. I had a massive imagination when I was a kid and still do now. For me there's something I get from a book that nothing else can give me - I've never been hooked to a show or film in the same way, I've never been emotionally attached or effected to a screen the way I have with books. I have read books that have literally had me unable to stop until I finish, had my heart racing, crying my eyes out, wanting to change everything about my life. What is so special is that, even though other people are experiencing the same story, no one but you is experiencing what you see in your head. Its not like a film where its someone else's imagination. Its just you and your interpretation. I don't have that problem where I watch films and then can only picture those settings or characters in my mind, I can make totally new ones up based on what I read, it's like a totally separate experience.

A book takes away most of your senses. You don't need to hear or speak or touch. All of these things involve noise. To read all you need to do is see, and nothing else. Sometimes you might read a visual, you might read words, or a facial expression, but in that split second that you take something in it is silence. Its just you and your mind and your interpretation. There might be noise around you, there probably is, but the act of reading, interpretating itself, no one else can hear. People are constantly thinking, interpretating, talking to themselves, but no one else can hear, no one else can possibly no exactly what your thinking and no one can ever really no what its like to be inside your head.

That is my idea of silence.

London

I guess I'm beginning to sell out... I just love London and I can't get enough of it! And the best thing about being a northerner is that they love you =) Peter Saville was right, northerners do work harder and don't the southerners seem to know it!

Well, on Tuesday I blagged my way into a social media day at Ogilvy in London and rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous of social media. haha, not quite but almost. I met the marketing director of YouTube, Spotify, Last FM, Skype and Bebo. I talked to an American guy who worked on Obama's facebook campaign. I also met the guy who my whole essay was inspired by- David Bausola - who is the founder of this new idea called Purefold. Its this company who work with friendfeed and creative commons and Ridley Scott films and they basically create content based on Live internet feeds for brands and then hand them over to the public, who can do what they want with them. http://www.ag8.com/people:index

It's the future. =)