Under the British Kids...

As you may or may have not noticed, the title of this post is a cross between a couple of things.

1. Exchange students from England are here.
2. "Under the Bridge" is a Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) song. (I'll get back to this in a second).
3. "Under the weather" is an expression meaning that things are kind of bad. (I'll also get back to this).

In the past two days, I have learned a lot about England from the kid that I am hosting, Nick. I've spent some time with him and learned that he really likes the band RHCP, especially the song "Under the Bridge" so I thought that the title was fitting in that respect. But I fear that I will not be able to spend as much time with him for the rest of the week.

Unfortunately, I will be spending time doing homework.

My teachers (both CAP and non-CAP) haven't really adjusted our workload to accomodate for the English students. (Except for Mr. Freeman, props to you). This is not quite what I wanted to do with my exchange student. I think that our teachers should try to organize a hiatus in normal schoolwork so that we can do more activities in areas that specifically pertain to the exchange trip. Learning about different countries, sharing experiences, and getting to know each other. After all, they are only here for a week.

Not to say do no work at all, just saying that we should do more inclusive and fun things for the British kids, such as Mr. Mayo's project where we are taking a break from documentaries to make a short video.

Bottom line: Less/more fun and inclusive work, so that we can take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn about other countries and have fun with our guests.

Opinionatedly written by Connor Smith.

"What is life without a little bit of fun?"

-Zephyr

Dystopian Trailer Critique

Terminator Salvation . Joseph Nichol . PG-13. May 14, 2009

In the year 2018, an artificially intelligent network of robots and computers called Skynet have taken over the world, with the goal of eradicating humans. John Connor (Christian Bale), is the fated leader of the resistance against the robots. He encounters a prototype humanoid-cyborg named Marcus Wright (Sam Worthington), that he hopes will help the resistance destroy Skynet. Marcus and John are able to destroy the Los Angeles branch of Skynet, but unfortunately, John was wounded in the battle and needs a heart transplant to live. Marcus gives his heart so that John will live. The war is far from over, but the resistance has dealt a crippling blow to Skynet.

Here is the link to the trailer.

The trailer for Terminator Salvation is exemplary because it exhibits dystopian premises, controls, and protagonist  and uses many effective cinematographic techniques to expose the setting, create suspense, and make the viewer want to see the movie.

In the trailer, citizens are under constant surveillance by hunter-killer robots, that will kill or capture any human that leaves his or her hideout. Citizens fear the outside world and Skynet, and thus, their freedoms are restricted. Since humans are under the constant threat of attack, they live in a dehumanized state; not trying to improve their living conditions, having little food, having little to no contact with the outside world, in order to remain unnoticed by Skynet. These dystopian premises expose the general setting and premise of the movie.

Skynet uses Technological and Post-Apocalyptic Controls in order to control, oppress, and kill humans. The robots and Skynet are in themselves a Technological Control. The robots then nuke the earth so that most humans are killed. The rest of the world lives in a post-apocalyptic world where they are not able to gather natural resources. In addition to the dystopian premises, the types of dystopian controls are also used to set up the world in which the story takes place.

The protagonist in the trailer, John Connor, resists the powerful Skynet, and is the leader of the resistance. The characteristic of the "society" that is bad and that John seeks to change is fairly obvious: humans are being eradicated by Skynet. John is simply the protagonist because he is the leader of the resistance and the character upon which the film focuses. By introducing John Connor as a character, the film begins to shows the conflict that will take place in the film.

The trailer contains various cinematographic techniques that are used in order to enhance the message and overall effectiveness of the trailer. The video is shot with hard light (dark blacks, bright whites, lots of shadow), and is desaturated. This gives the video a depressing and post apocalyptic feel. In addition to this, the music sets the tone and mood for the trailer. Finally, there are a voiceovers with very charged words making the trailer epic and exciting. These cinematographic techniques enhance the mood and setting of the trailer and film, and make the viewer want to see the movie,

Depending on what my group's final idea is, we may use some, all, or none of the techniques I have mentioned above. I particularly liked the cinematographic aspects of the trailer (darkness, desaturation, music), and I hope to use them in my trailer.