the list story board title sequence

Final edit of 'Livetype' and sound filming practice- Response to Bag Swap

The final edit of the ‘livetype’ and sound film practice involved me and my group filming a ‘bag swap’ film. The storyline featured me and Kelly, this involved an actual ‘bag swap’. As the setting was the park opposite to the College.

The scene was filmed by all of us had a vast range of techniques. For example, the camera panning as I walked towards Kelly, this was very successfully, shot. Also, there was an establishing shot to set the scene of the film, which was in the park.
However, our group used the technique of a match cut, which occurred as me and Kelly exchanged suitcase that makes a ‘bag swap’. At first, it was difficult to swap the suitcase without dropping them.

As we edited the film it allowed us to gain experience in using programmes on the Mac ‘Final cut pro’ and ‘Soundtrack pro’. The ‘Soundtrack pro’ was used to create a score to go over our film and we made the decision to make the soundtrack with a similar theme to the James Bond soundtrack and mysterious nature, like the music from ‘James Bond’s Goldfinger’, which creates the dramatisation of secrecy and suspense.

In conclusion, this task has made me more confident using the camera and allowing me to gain more experience using the programs on the Mac to make a well made title sequence that reflects my whole group’s efforts.

Intro to Cameras & Health and Safety Tutorial

In one of our media lessons we had a camera health and saftey tutorial. We were taught the basics of how to use the cameras and tripods we would be using to film with for our coursework. In the lesson, we learnt how to turn the camera on/off, open and close the camera shutter, insert the memory cards and take them back out, how to record footage, check how much footage has been recorded, how much memory is left for recording, how to focus the camera, how to use the camera correctly to make our films good quality, how to zoom in and out and how to playback the footage to see what we had recorded. we then learnt how to use the camera tripods. We were shown how to safely slide and position the camera on and lock it, then unlock it and slide the camera off. With the skills learnt i now know how to use the camera and tripod so when it comes to filming then i will know how to use the equipment safely and effectively.

Final edit of livetype and sound filming practice commentary

For the final edit of livetype and sound filming practice, me and the rest of the group done a 'bag swap' sequence which is shown on an earlier blog post. The clip starred me and Juliana and the setting was the gardens which are situated on the opposite side of the college. The scene which we filmed and edited has a variety of different shots and techniques. For instance, at the beginning there is a wide shot to show the setting of the scene and it pans round to show more of the setting. Also we tried doing handheld camerawork so both me and Juliana were followed when walking towards each other which I thought went pretty smoothly. Following this, we also experimented with a match cut when the exchange of bags took place and that also went pretty well, however, we found it hard at first to see how we were actually going to exchange bags without it looking awkward and messy. But we shorty figured out the solution and the rest of the filming went without a hitch. Editing was a chance to gain practice in using final cut pro and soundtrack pro. We used soundtrack pro to create a track to go over our filming and we decided to make a track which would make our clip look like its all mysterious and kind of 'James Bond 007' spy theme as well as making it very dramatic.
From doing this exercise, I gained more experience of how to use the equipment and the programs which we would need to create the best title sequence that the group as a whole can achieve.

skills Audit: filming and editing preliminary match cut exercise

For this exercise we filmed in one of our Mac rooms which is our editing room and Juliana and Melissa were the actresses for this clip. When filming, we didn't just want to put the core elements in which was the match cut, 180 degree rule and dialogue - we also wanted to experiment with other camera shots so when we come to filming the main title sequence, we have some sort of idea how to do it. A few examples of this is the over the shoulder shot where the camera focuses on Juliana and the tilt both high and low during the dialogue. Melissa is shown to be the one with the power in this clip so the high tilt gives the idea of authority to her as well as the low tilt for Juliana, showing that she is the vulnerable one in this situation. Following this, we incorporated a variety of different shots such as long shots, wide shots and medium close ups. In the clip, the 180 degree rule was used on the focus of Melissa and our match cut was right at the start of the clip where Juliana is opening the door and entering the room. The filming process was quite fiddly, especially because the tripod needed adjusting for nearly every shot. Apart from this, I think that the filming process of this was very enlightening and useful.

We then edited the raw clips on Final Cut Pro and I used my knowledge from the previous skills audit to help me contribute well towards the editing. We used most of the tools we had learned, especially the in and out points. Overall, I think the extra practice with final cut pro and editing in general has further improved my skills and hopefully will contribute in making the main piece a complete success.

Overall, the whole exercise was completely worthwhile because not only did it give everyone a chance to try something else, but it also enabled the group as a whole to try and get on the same wavelength with ideas so things will go more smoothly when working together to create the main final title sequence.

Here are some examples of what filming techniques we used. Match cut:

Over the shoulder shot: Medium close up of Melissa's hands:

Intro to cameras and health and safety tutorial

In class, we were introduced to the basics of the camera that we will be using for our coursework and how to keep good care of them. We learned how to insert the memory cards into the camera, turn the camera on and off, open and close the shutter, focus the camera, record footage, playback footage and zooming in on the camera. We also learned how to set up a tripod, put the camera on it and lock the camera in while also learning how to unlock the camera from the tripod and take the camera off safely. With all this, I now have a greater confidence that I won't do anything wrong in setting up the camera ready for shooting and will be safe with the equipment that me and the group need to shoot our title sequence.

Skills Audit: LiveType and Soundtrack Pro

We had a tutorial on how to use the programs LiveType and Soundtrack Pro during class time.
LiveType is a program which allows you to create titles in any way for video footage which would be perfect for our coursework. In the LiveType tutorial, I learned how to enter text, change the font and size of letters, ass effect to my words such as floats and pop-ups and change the style (glow or outline etc). The Image above is what I done during the tutorial and is therefore just one example of what can be achieved with this program.
Soundtrack Pro is another program we had a tutorial in and it allows you to create your own music which would be copyright free. This would prove valuable in the coursework as in the brief it says that all music must be copyright free. In the tutorial I learned many things. For example, previewing sounds, dragging and dropping sounds onto the timeline, change or delet unwanted sounds and join different sounds together. The image above shows what I produced during the learning stages of Soundtrack Pro. So far, I have used this program with my group in at least one of the exemplar clips, this one being 'The Bag Swap'.
With these tutorials in these two programs, it will improve my skills in post filming and therefore enable me to contribute to my group and help create a high standard title sequence for the coursework.

Analysis of Fonts (extension task)

Fonts that are used for a certain film can literally be the make or break of the title sequence for many reasons. For example, if you are trying to create a tense moment and the titles are in the style of a disney film, then the effect you wanted to create would be lost. There are two main categories for fonts. There is Serif fonts and they are more traditional and more formal. An example of this is Times new roman and Courier. Then there is the Sans Serif fonts that are more modern and informal, examples being Ariel and Comic Sans. In this post I will analyse and explain a few fonts that work well with films and also show the one that I am most fond of at the present time.
For the Film 'Pearl Harbor' a font named 'Palatino' is used and it ties right in with the film and the period of time it represents. The font shows the traditional, old fashioned way things are in the historical film and it holds the idea of patriotism. The font is also very masculine as the font stands up straight like a soldie would. This is a serious font for a war topic.
The font for the film 'Rocky' is Franklin Gothic Heavy and this suggests that the film or the character Rocky is 'hard' and masculine. The font is strong and bold and it looks very heavy which could relate to the fact that Rocky is a boxer. The font also has a big impact like a punch. It is simply in your face with the capital letters and it portrays dominance.
The font I really like though is the font of the film 'Seven' because it makes the title sequence look very creepy and it sets the tone for the rest of the movie and what it may intail. It gives the audience the possible feeling that the film will be kind of psychopathic and creepy. The way the font looks like it has been scratched by a person add to the feeling.

Match Cut PRELIM - The meeting scene

Font Analysis: Extended Task

There are two types of font called serif and sans serif. As the serif font is a more formal font because it has a serif, which is an extra little detail at the end of each stroke of every letter, for example 'Courier'.
In contrast, the sans serif font is a modern and informal font, which does not have an extra little detail at the end of each stroke of every stroke of every letter, for example 'Verdana'

The font Palatino is serif, which is a more traditional and formal font to use, for example 'Times New Roman'.This serif font illustrates the war film andthe authorative manor of the plot, as the film is about the World War II invasion of Hirasimo, Japan in 1944.

This poster features the font Palatino demonstrates the promotion of the film 'Pearl Harbour' as an old fashioned font echoes the historical theme of the film. Also, the capital letters shows the masculinity as they stands up straight like a solider.

Intro to Cameras/ Health and Safety Tutorial

In class, I was shown by the Media Technician, a step by step guide of how to use a camera, safely, for my coursework and how to keep them in good conditions. For example, you should not touch the lens of the camera, as it leaves fingerprints on the camera and destroys the quality of the camerawork.

Then, I turn the camera on and off. After that I was taught how to open and close the shutter, focus the camera, record footage and playing footage. I was shown have to insert two memory cards into the camera, where you put it into the side of the camera.

Furthermore, I learnt how to set up a tripod by extending the tripod’s legs out for a better focus of the camera. Also, I was shown how to unlock the camera from the tripod and take it off, safely.

After this, tutorial I felt I understood the importance of being safe around a camera, as it is vital to understand the function on it and how to keep safe, whilst using it.

Bag Swap Practice Scene

mise on scene

fake blood - the fake blood will be used for the scene when the girl is lying on the floor in a pool of her own blood, it will also be used for placing on the hands when it is dried to look like old wounds or the blood from the dead girl.

white contact lenses - the white contact lenses are going to be used when the big reveal of the face will appear and the audience will see the "monster" girls face to make her seem more supernatural and to make it obvious that she isn't just a normal human girl.

crime scene tape- the crime scene tape will be used in the last few seconds of the scene, this is just to make the last scene obviously discovered and it starts the story off as a crime investigation of this monster

knives, meat cleaver, butchery knives- the knives will be used in different ways in scenes, such as some with blood dripping down them in slow motion to emphasize the different ways and the butchery of the person witch will not be to obvious till the end.

meat, steak, chops, preferably beef -we are going to use beef as a meat because it is the most like human flesh unlike pork or chicken, the blood of the beef is also more like human blood. we are doing this because from an audiences perspective the meat could be just beef or it could be human flesh witch is then revealed to the audience later in the sequence.

knife sharpener- this will be used in a slow motion scene to show how sharp the blade is and to make it look more threatening

meat tenderizer - this will be used in another slowish motion scene to make the whole action looking more brutal

chopping board-

setting/location, Melissa's kitchen -

white face powder-

rag clothing / dirty white clothes-

black eye shadow-

red eye shadow-

Skills Audit: Livetype and Sound

The program on Mac, ‘Livetype’, which allows you to make titles in a way that is used for video footage, this is will enable my coursework to appear more professional and concise.

Also, in the Livetype tutorial, I was taught how to enter text, change fonts and modify the size of letters, such as using the techniques of Floats and changing the style of font by having a bold outline to highlight the text.

The image of (Livetype of screen cap) I made demonstrated my experimental use of this program.

Analysis of 9 Shots from Art of the Title Sequence

Panic Room is a psychological thriller film and the film is about a mother and a daughter hiding in a panic room during an invasion by three armed robbers with the intention to steal millions of dollars that is stored in the house.

The style of the title is in the structure of a narrative sequence with elements of discrete sequence. For example, as it tells the story of the film being a serious topic as the titles run throughout but have features that the audience hardly note it being done.

The titles say the cast and crew names in a serif font that is coloured in silver, big and bold. Also, the font blends in with the building in the New York’s finance district, i.e. Wall Street, which shows the serious theme in the film’s plot. The panning of the font is 3D which makes it look as though the words are just floating in the air.

The score has serious voilin music, then the tempo speeds up to show the sly nature of the film. Furthermore, the ticking diegetic sound increases the thought of time running out, rapidly.

The image in the titles sequence illustrates that time of the year is Autumn, as the mid shot of trees' leaves falling.
The image in the titles sequence uses the establishing shots to signify the setting of New York’s Finance and Elite districts in the city, i.e. Wall Street and East Upper Village. Also, the close up shot of the main characters, Jodie Foster and Forest Whittaker, highlights their leading roles in the film and their influences in the film’s plot.

However, the slow pace editing of the city showed the contradiction to the fast pace city that occurs in New York.

Soundtrack Pro

The program ‘Soundtrack Pro’ on Mac has allowed me to create my own music which would be free from copyright. This will show make my coursework better and enable me to have the capability of making music/ score.
This image show the process of using this program is previewing sounds, using the timeline to drag and drop sounds. Also, you can take unwanted sounds or change sounds that are already on the timeline.
Furthermore, in my group we used this program to make the music for our film, ‘The Bag Swap’. This has enabled me to make music more easily and to transfer music onto film.

using live type

in todays lesson i learnt how to use live type, a program on the macs that is used t create text and backgrounds on to the films from final cut pro.

on the program i learnt how to create different fonts by typing in the text that you want into the mall box in the right hand side, your text will then appear on the screen, you can choose to move around your text on the screen by dragging your text up, down left r right using the arrow tool.

you can also change the different fonts by searching through the different lists on the right and then clicking apply to test out a load of different styles of font to suite your film.

to add shadows and different colors to your fonts you can use the style and effects tools you change all your fonts.

there are a huge list of different backgrounds from moving numbers to different geometric shapes that fly around the screen.

you can overlap texts and backgrounds and even add movement to them to make them more animated.

to create you final background and font you must drag all of them into the timeline just like final cut pro and soundtrack pro and it uses the same functions of dragging out the pieces on the timeline to make them longer or shorted and the animations for the texts last longer as well. you can also make the text linger or disappear by shortening or lengthening the amount of the the text is on the time line.

Analysis of 9 shots from Art of the Title Sequence

This is a 'Art of the Title Sequence' for Baz Luhrmanns modern film version of William Shakespeares 'Romeo and Juliet'. The images in each sequence are very bold and dramatic and have been made to stand out and draw the viewer into the film. They also give slight hints of the film as they are parts of scenes from later in the film. The pictures also set the scene as you can see a picture of a italian statue in the third shot of the sequence shown this film will be set in italy in Verona. The TV, tall buildings and the helicopter seen in the first, second and sixth shot show that it is a modern take and set in this centery (the twentieth century). The newspaper and mask shown in the forth and eighth shots give the film a traditional romeo and juliet feel to show the film os going to be kept original and traditional in some aspects. The fireworks shown in the seventh shot foreshaddows that the film will be very dramatic. The font used in this opening is very bold and dramatic and is in capital letters. The white letters on the black background make it stand out even more with the red + sign in the middle. The + sign used in the middle of the words could be to show this is a modern version as + in used instead of 'and' sometimes now-a-days. The fact that the + is red makes it stand out and could forshaddow the blood to be shead throughtout the film as the + sign looks like the christian cross. This could be to show the relious influence in the film as most of the charaters are christian and the film ends with romeo and juliet dying in the church. The shots in this sequence are mainley mid shots with a close up of Mercutios face, an establishing shot of verona, a high angle of the helicopter being shot by romeo and a low angle shot of the fancy dress mask on the floor. I really like this title sequence as its very bold and dramatic and very effective in catching the viewers attention.

Definition of Suspense

Suspense is the feeling of anxiety or uncertainty caused by not knowing whats going to happen next. This is used in many Litrature pieces, like movies, to keep the audience on their toes and guessing the plot. It is usually built up to lead to a big event or dramatic moment causing tension in the viewer. The director Hitchcocks 'Bomb' theory is where the audience is given lots of information that the characters dont know to make the film more tense.

the art of the title sequence

the style of this title sequence is very animated and almost quite creepy.

all the images in the title sequence are of animated rag dolls with buttons for eyes with someone stitching and unstitching and creating dolls, because of the use of dolls the sequence becomes quite scary and morbid because of the long sharp needles for fingers.

the needle fingers add another certain type of creepy supernatural being.

the dark lighting and green hue makes the whole scene look evil and dark.

the floating girl doll just backs up the supernatural feel to the whole opening.

the text of the word caroline is stitched into the opening red background with a black button witch sets the whole film up for a common factor that is involved through out the film.

it uses cu of the dolls being cut open with a stitch pick to emphasize the action witch can be seen as quite shocking because normally people are making dolls instead of cutting them up and pulling out there hair.

this title sequence appeals to me because of the use of imagery such as dolls that are quite creepy and morbid without being gruesome and bloody.

Analysis of 9 shots from art of the title sequence

The style of the titles themselves reflect the point in time which the film portrays. The way the titles are written look like they have been handwritten with a quill and ink that would have been used in that period of time. Also the background of the titles have a 'old parchment' appearance which further represents the period of time the film is set in. The titles shown on this image gives the title of the film, the people who wrote the screenplay, the story its based on, the executive producers, music producers, warner bros production and the director who is Guy Richie. The main types of shots that were used in the images were mid shots and mid close up, especially on the top left image of sherlock holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr.

I really like this title sequence because it fits exactly with the time of which the film was set in and it really carried on the whole theme of the film. Also the style of writing is very effective and it really makes the ending of the film even better. It even keeps the audience wanting to see the rest of the credits.

Technical audit of 'Bait' Tutorial

In the lesson, I opened the programme ‘Final Pro Cut’, where there were video clips from the film, ‘Bait’.

Then, I opened a clip from browser and put in.

After, I looked through the clips and I selected parts of the clips that I want for my timeline by pressing the key ‘i’ for the beginning of the film and pressing the key ‘o’ for the ended, which is known as the ‘in and out points’.

These clips were dragged onto the timeline to make my own clips, which built up the transitions. This is how I learnt to use the tool ‘razor blade’ to cut scenes, which makes each scene flow fluently to the next. The ‘razor blade’ tool allowed me to extract clips onto timeline using the ‘i’ and ‘o’ keys to mark out each point.

The skills I learnt showed used the technique of match cuts and jump cuts, which allows a more seamless form of editing to occur and for each scene to flow easily, which creates continuity editing.

Finally, this built up a sequence using a range of clips onto the timeline.

LiveType tutorial

In media we were taught how to use the software 'LiveType' in our LiveType tutorial. This software is used to add title sequences to a finished movie. You can also use this to create a opening or closing sequence to your movie by chossing the different themed backgrounds in the top-right hand corner. You can then add text to this and edit the dirrection, colour, size and transition of the text. You can also import video clips into the programme to add text over the clips.

Soundtrack Pro

In media we had a tutorial for 'Soundtrack Pro'. This software is used to add sound tracks and sound effects to edited pieces of films and clips. In the lesson we used this programme to create and add a soundtrack to the short movie we made in the media lesson before the tutorial lesson. In the bottom-right hand corner is a selection of mini clips that you can build together in the middle of the screen by dragging them into the sections. From there you can make the sounds longer/shorter, mute them, make them louder or quiter at different points in that clip. When finnished and built together you have a great soundtrack that you can add to your movie.

soundtrack pro

today in media we learnt how to use soundtrack pro , a devise used to create soundtracks on to our edited video.
to the right of the screen you can see all the different sound options, you can choose from sound effects such as doors slamming to sample tracks of all different sorts , giving you a wide choise from classical samples to dark eary string samples.
when you have found what track you are looking for you simply dragg the track on to the time line in the middle, depending on how long or short you want the track to be you can use the arrow tool to lengthen or shorted the sample.
you can use variouse different sounds and overlap them by placing it above or below the current sounds effect on the timeline.
to the left of the screen you can make the different sound effects louder or quieter and you can even mute certain tracks on using the different qwitch bordes.
by clicking on an arrow next to your track you can make dots on the timeline and actualy drag the different tracks to change the pitch.

hello group 20!

Juliana - looking really good but remember to keep it really visual with lots of clips and images.
Yasmin - it's all a bit minimal at the moment............
Melissa - please try and keep up! come and talk if you need to
Kelly - looking good.

A Week of News and Current Affairs Events

Monday 25th January 2010

Seven year old sponsored bike ride helps Haiti




A seven-year-old boy,Charlie Simpson from London has raised more than £100,000 on a sponsored bike-ride for victims of the Haiti earthquake, shattering his target of £500. Yesterday, Charlie Simpson cycled seven laps of a park near his home in Fulham which is about eight kilometres to raise money for UNICEF's Haiti Earthquake Children's Appeal.

On his JustGiving fundraising page, Charlie states 'I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti.' Also, his mother, Leonora, stated, 'What started off as a little cycle round the park with his dad has turned into something a lot bigger than that and we can't believe it.' The donations worldwide have left messages of support as well as pledges of aid, as a result of international media coverage increasing the profile of his ride.

The UK executive director of UNICEF, David Bull, said 'This is a very bold and innovative gesture by Charlie that shows he connects with and not only understands what children his own age must be going through in Haiti, but is also wise enough to know that he can help them.' He thanked Charlie on behalf of children in Haiti for what he had done. A spokesman for UNICEF, Michael Newsome described Charlie’s charitable act as 'fabulous', adding, 'There is something quite special about a child in the UK reaching out to the children of Haiti.'

Charlie will go to visit UNICEF’s offices later today, when he will be thanked in person and told how much he has risen for Haiti. UNICEF officials did not want to disrupt his normal school routine this morning.








Tuesday 26th January 2010

Mother Aids Daughter's Death

Bridget Gilderdale, a mother from Stonegate, East Sussex, has been found not guilty of the attempted murder of her daughter, Lynn Gilderdale. She was a 31-year-old sufferer of chronic fatigue syndrome (known as ME), after her daughter was found dead at their home on 4 December, having been killed using a concoction of pills and morphine. The case has called into question the United Kingdom's assisted suicide laws.

Bridget Gilderdale had already admitted to aiding and abetting her daughter's suicide, but the jury decided, unanimously, to acquit her of a charge of attempted murder. The presiding judge, Mr Justice Bean, had already questioned the accusation's suitability, asking prosecutor Sally Howes 'Why it was considered to be in the public interest'.

Gilderdale was given a 12-month conditional discharge. The case stands in contrast to the life sentence received last week by Frances Inglis, who killed her severely brain damaged son Tom by injecting him with heroin.

As a result of this case, it has brought the limelight of the debate over a person's 'right to die' and the United Kingdom's laws on assisted suicide.



Wednesday 27 th January 2010

UK cabinet minister Jack Straw ignored advice that Iraq invasion was illegal

The Iraq Inquiry in London has revealed that United Kingdom justice secretary Jack Straw ignored the advice of Sir Michael Wood, the Foreign Office's most senior legal adviser until his resignation in 2006, that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was illegal under international law. This is the first time that Wood has publicly expressed an opinion on the war.

Wood advised Straw, then Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, that invading Iraq without the backing of the United Nations Security Council in the form of a specific mandate, which the resolution the government used to support the war lacked would 'amount to the crime of aggression', to which Straw responded that he was being 'dogmatic and international law was pretty vague'.

Wood stated 'Obviously there are some areas of international law that can be quite uncertain. This, however, turned exclusively on the interpretation of a specific text and it is one of which I think that international law was pretty clear.'



Thursday 28th January 2010

Salinger Dies At 91

American novelist J.D. Salinger (above), author of The Catcher in the Rye, has died of natural causes at the age of 91. His son confirms that he died in his New Hampshire home yesterday. Salinger was born in New York City in 1919.

In 1953, shortly after the publication of The Catcher in the Rye, his most famous work. He very rarely entered the public eye after that date, emerging only for infrequent interviews and lawsuits.

Besides, the infamous novel of 'The Catcher in the Rye', he has published other books, none of which have enjoyed the success of his hihlyprofiled novel. These include such novels like 'Franny and Zooey', 'Raise High the Roof Beam' and 'Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction'.

However, Salinger's last work, the novella 'Hapworth 16', was published in 'The New Yorker' in 1965.



Friday 29th January 2010

Blair gives evidence Iraq Inquiry

The Prime Minister announced on 15 June 2009 that an Inquiry would be conducted to identify lessons that can be learned from the Iraq conflict. The Iraq Inquiry was officially launched on 30 July 2009. At the launch the Chair of the Inquiry, Sir John Chilcot, set out the Inquiry's Terms of Reference.

The Inquiry committee members are Sir John Chilcot (Chairman), Sir Lawrence Freedman, Sir Martin Gilbert, Sir Roderic Lyne and Baroness Usha Prashar.

Tony Blair, former prime minister of the United Kingdom, appeared before the Iraq Inquiry today. He faced six hours of questioning, starting at 6:30 am, at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London concerning his role in the 2003 Iraq invasion.

During the inquiry, Blair stood by his decision to invade, saying he would make the same decision again.This is the third time Blair has given evidence at an inquiry into the Iraq War, having already testified before at the Hutton Inquiry and the Butler Review, as well as participating in an investigation by the Intelligence and Security Committee. The Hutton Inquiry found that the government did not make enough effect to inform the public of the dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

The Butler Review uncovered 'serious flaws' in pre-war intelligence, and this inquiry was set up by current prime minister Gordon Brown in order to 'learn the lessons' of the war. Sir John Chilcott, began by stressing that Blair was not 'on trial', but could be called back to give further evidence if necessary.

At the end of the session, Chilcott asked Blair if he had any regrets, to which Blair replied that he was "sorry" that it was 'divisive', but said that invading was the right thing to do since he believes "the world is a safer place as a result." Blair said that the inquiry should ask the '2010 question', which refers to the hypothetical position that the world would be in if Saddam Hussein were not removed from power.




Saturday 30th January 2010

Honda car call back

Honda recalls 650,000 of the Honda Fit (also known as Honda Jazz) vehicles worldwide over potential electrical faults.
The road safety authorities in Britain were under attack for alleged complacency today after Honda joined Toyota in recalling potentially dangerous cars.
The Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) criticised government officials after Honda asked owners of 650,000 of its Jazz models worldwide – including more than 170,000 in Britain – to take their cars back to dealers over potential electrical faults.
The crisis surrounding the car industry intensified when lawmakers in the US announced an investigation into Toyota's faulty accelerator pedals were the speculation of 19 deaths may have been caused by equipment failures over the decade. Toyota has recalled 3.5m vehicles in the US.
Honda's move follows safety scares and the death of a toddler in South Africa in a car fire. Futhermore, the spokeswoman for Honda UK stressed it had taken the recall decision without being asked to by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (Vosa), which co-ordinates such issues for the Department of Transport in this country.
Tim Shallcross, head of technical advice at the IAM, said: "[Vosa] should be identifying where there are problems and calling on manufacturers to sort them out. Instead, the action is coming from Honda itself.
Vosa was unable to comment but said it was fully aware of the situation in the US and had arranged a meeting with Toyota.
"In the UK, motoring manufacturers comply with the code of practice on vehicle safety defects. Honda is no exception in complying with that code, by informing Vosa of the intention to recall 172,000 Honda Jazz vehicles," they said.
"Likewise Toyota are meeting with Vosa officials on Monday, when they will have the precise details of the number of vehicles likely to be affected in the UK. Toyota have kept Vosa informed throughout this matter."
In Washington, the House of Representatives oversight and government reform committee has scheduled a hearing next week entitled Toyota Gas Pedals: Is the Public at Risk? caused growing concerns.
Toyota is considering whether to recall 1.8m cars in Europe in addition to those recalled in the US.
Shares in Toyota fell 2% today, bringing the combined loss of value to 17% over the past week since the problems began to unfold. Honda also saw its shares fall on the New York stock exchange.
In an email sent to staff, Toyota explained now it had worked out how to fix the problem with the sticking accelerator pedals. On the other, Tokyo feared that the problems at Toyota and Honda were damaging not just their image of efficiency and reliability but that of Japan itself.



Sunday 31st January 2010

Egypt secured a record seventh Africa Cup of Nations title, after beating Ghana 1-0 in a tense final in Angola.

Mohamed Gedo scored the only goal of the game, playing a neat one-two before curling a superb shot past Richard Kingson in the 85th minute.
Gedo's winner came against the run of play, but Milovan Rajevac's young Ghana side failed to create many openings. Gedo finished the tournament as the top scorer and Egypt became the first team to win three successive titles.
The final will be ardenaline based. However, it proved to be a tight and absorbing affair in Luanda. Ghana set out from the start to execute a well-organised game-plan of crowding out the Egyptians in midfield and defence, while looking to feed their front men quickly.
Midfielder Isaac Vorsah emerged as very authoritative at the back for Ghana.
Egypt remained organised and solid, as they did throughout the tournament, and succeeded in cutting out many of Ghana's attacks.
The Black Stars shoned brightly and have promising spells throughout, with striker Asamoah Gyan having the majority of their best chances.
Gyan's early free kick hit the Egyptian wall and from the resulting corner, the ball fell back to the striker, who attempted an ambitious overhead kick, which sailed over Essam El Hadary's goal.
Egypt were mainly reduced to shooting from distance, with captain Ahmed Hassan's repeated efforts from outside the box showing a level of early frustration.
The late first half of the game, Hassan clearly handled a free-kick from Hosni Abd Rabou at the far post in an attempt to palm it goalwards, but the offence was not spotted by the referee.
Substitute Mohamed Gedo scored the game's only goal to secure the title
After a tight first half, which yielded little in terms of clear shots on goal, Ghana began to impose themselves on a cautious Egypt side.
And their best spell came in the last 20 minutes, with Gyan seeing two excellent efforts on goal go begging.
On 73 minutes, a long and patient build-up from the Black Stars almost produced an opener when Gyan rounded it off by curling a beautiful shot just over the bar.
Five minutes later Gyan unleashed another fierce in-swinging effort from outside the area, this time from a free-kick, which was punched away unconvincingly by El Hadary in the Egypt goal.
Then Opoku Agyemang broke into the box and squared to Kwadwo Asamoah, who just could not connect.
Ghana were then punished for not putting their chances away when Gedo broke into the box at pace and played a wonderful one-two with Mohamed Zidan, before excellently tucking the ball home across Kingson's goal and into the far corner.
The goal made him the top marksman in the tournament with five goals, all of them coming as a substitute. It was also his sixth goal in only eight appearances for Egypt.
The Ghanaians desperately tried to get back into the game in the final few minutes.
Asamoah struck a near-post shot just past El Hadary's upright on 90 minutes after more Ghana pressure, but desperately watched it go wide.
This injury-time chance fell to substitute Eric Addo in the six-yard area, who just could not convert it.




Monday 1st Febraury 2010

Deficit to Hit All-Time High

President Barack Obama will propose on Monday a $3.8 trillion budget for fiscal 2011 that projects the deficit will shoot up to a record $1.6 trillion this year, but would push the red ink down to about $700 billion, or 4% of the gross domestic product, by 2013, according to congressional aides.
The deficit for this fiscal year, which ended on 30th September, would eclipse last year's $1.4 trillion deficit, in part due to new spending on a proposed jobs package. The president also wants $25 billion for cash-strapped state governments, mainly to offset their funding of the Medicaid health program for the poor.
The president's $3.8 trillion budget will move deficit levels to an all-time high. The News Hub discusses the budget's chance for passing Congress.
The deficit down by the middle of the decade, Mr. Obama will be relying on some cuts that have previously been proposed without success, on cooperation from a wary Congress and on a yet-to-be set up debt commission to suggest politically difficult choices.
Mr. Obama is under pressure to address the country's continued high unemployment rate. And he will propose increases in spending for priorities such as education and domestic scientific research. All of this raises questions about how much progress the president is likely to make in trying to fulfill his pledge to halve by 2013 the $1.3 trillion deficit he inherited.
The budget has made Mr. Obama's larger predicament of needing to contain the deficit without harming the economy, which remains fragile.
The deficit has become a major political issue, as antigovernment activists swing independents against what they describe as Mr. Obama's big-government policies and Republicans try to regain the mantle of fiscal responsibility after the Bush years saw surpluses swing to deficits.

News and Current Affairs Events

US government stops Haiti evacuations

This news broke on the Sunday 31st Janaury 2010

The US military has halted the evacuation of victims of the Haiti earthquake for medical care, reportedly due to uncertainty about who will pay for the costs.

A military official told the New York Times that flights to the US were stopped on Wednesday, as some hospitals didn't want to receive the refugees.

"Apparently, some states were unwilling to accept the entry of Haitian patients for follow-on critical care. We manage air evacuation missions, but without a destination to fly to we can't move anybody. If we don't have permission to bring them, or they won't take them in, we can't fly the mission. It's pretty simple," US Transportation Command spokesman Capt Kevin Aandahl said yesterday. He did not say, however, which states specifically refused more evacuees.

The New York Times reports that five hundred victims of the quake have been treated in Florida so far. A spokesman for Floridian governor Charlie Crist, however, commented that he wasn't aware of any hospitals in the state refusing to accept more evacuees.Whilst, in a letter to US Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius earlier this week, the governor commented that 'Florida's healthcare system is quickly reaching saturation, especially in the area of high-level trauma care,' and asked for the National Disaster Medical System to be activated. Nevertheless, this system is primarily used to help fund victims of domestic disasters.

A doctor in the earthquake-ravaged country, however, exclaimeed that many of his patients could die if they are not airlifted soon. 'We have 100 critically ill patients who will die in the next day or two if we don't med-evac them,' said Doctor Green, chairman for the University of Miami's Global Institute for Community Health and Development, to the Associated Press.

The earthquake has a magnitude of 7.0 which struck Haiti on the 12th January 2010.This natural disaster has killed as many as 200,000 people and vastly destroyed the capital Port-au-Prince, with a further million people have been homeless.

The Inspriration from the Sub-Genres of Thriller

A thriller film is a depicting an exciting story of mystery and suspense.

Psychological Thriller has often violent resolution as there is usually a conflict between the main characters is mental and emotional, rather than physical. The Alfred Hitchcock films like ‘Suspicion’, ‘Shadow of a Doubt’ and ‘The Talented Mr Ripley’.
This genre is inspirational because it gives the audience a sense of false plateau, as it gives them more information than they need to know, which pays trick on the mind and allows them to over think the plot.
Spy Thriller has a spy fiction hero is generally a government agent who must take violent action against agents of a rival government or terrorists, for example ‘From Russia, with Love’ by Ian Fleming, ‘The Bourne Identity’ by Robert Ludlum.This genre is inspirational as the fast pace living of being a spy can lead to a more rapidly developed plot for the audience to follow.

Religious Thriller has the plot is closely connected to religious objects. However, suspense stories have always shown a significant affinity for religion and philosophical issues G.K. Chesterton's novel ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’ has been called a ‘metaphysical thriller’. Also, Dan Brown's 2003 best-seller ‘The Da Vinci Code’ has led to a current boom in religiously oriented thrillers.
This genre is inspirational because it shows the force of supernatural belief can influence the audience's imagination in believing in a religious thriller film.

Action Thriller has features a race against the clock, contains lots of violence, and an obvious antagonist. These films usually contain large amounts of guns, explosions, and large elaborate set pieces for the action to take place. These films often have elements of mystery films and crime films but these elements take a backseat to action, for example, ‘The Transporter’.
This genre is inspirational as the pace of these films are fast, which conveys the suspense and tension to be high.

Conspiracy Thriller has the hero/heroine confronts a large, powerful group of enemies whose true extent only the main character recognises the true extent of the plot, this features in films like ‘Capricorn One’, ‘Three Days of the Condor’.
This genre is inspirational due to the main character always taking the lead role in solving the problem by making powerful enemies to allow good to prevail than evil.

Crime Thriller is a combination of both Crime films and thrillers that offers a suspenseful account of a successful or failed crime or crimes. These films often focus on the criminals rather than a policeman. Crime thrillers usually emphasise action over psychological aspects. The main topics in these films are murders, robberies, chases, shootouts, and double-crosses are central ingredients such as ‘Se7en’, ‘The Killing’, ‘Inside Man’.
This is inspirational because of mixture of Crime films and thrillers shows the tension that this plot causes, as it brings the psychological aspect out thus, this makes the films more voilent and eerie to watch.