The Omaha Oracle and Closing thoughts

Background:

The story that would become the Omaha Oracle began when I discovered Warren Buffett in January and began to collect and live by his philosophy. 

Who is Warren Buffett?:

The CEO of one of the most profitable Insurance firms on the planet, a great philanthropist, and the single most successful investor in Wall Street history. He is a man in possession of the rare Midas touch whose every investment brings great prosperity to him and his corporation. He has successfully predicted every bull market and recession for the past 60 years. He is the 3rd richest man on the planet and in my eyes represents the ideal that all of us should strive for: He is an incredibly Intelligent, driven and successful man who has reached the height of his profession and continues to build on his already outstanding track record of unprecedented financial success. 

The great Financial wizard Warren Buffett, I have read his biography,  listened to all of his lectures and Interviews and spent the past 6 months collecting and analysing his personal success and moneymaking philosophies. He proved a great canvas on which to build my financial superhero. 

From Idol to Superhero:

I was learning an incredible amount from this extraordinary man and I just couldn't believe how perfect and effective his methods were, to say I Idolise the man would be a very accurate statement and very soon I began to form ideas. I had never seen a man with such a spotless record of achievement and such an unprecedented talent for success, it was almost as though he was a god-like figure. 

And so I began to relate the great entrepreneur to the current financial recession. In the light of all the financial woe and the various market bubbles and stock market crashes the fact that Mr Buffett can continue to profit immensely and be called upon by the White House to advise the nation's finances! All of these correlations lead me to one conclusion which came upon me as if by divine intervention "what if he was a superhero". 

And so I began to write what would eventually become the Omaha Oracle (which in actual fact is one of the many nicknames I and fellow Buffetologists affectionately give him). The premise of my superhero parody was in actual fact an extension of Warren Buffett's financial activities. To most he is mild mannered financial wizard Warren Buffett making great investments and efficiently running Berkshire Hathaway one of the largest and most profitable businesses on the planet. Yet when mass hysteria ensues, when market prices are rising too quickly and when corporate greed tricks innocent people out of their common sense and money he become the Omaha Oracle protector of the ignorant and defender of long-term holdings. 

The Creditor:

Now that I had my superhero and my premise it was time to give him a villainous counterpart. I began to wrack my brain for the circumstances that would cause Buffett to leave his office and fight problems in the market. I read financial reports everywhere from the Wall Street Journal to the Guardian looking for an economic problem that everyone was aware and would be capable of understanding.       

It was during this research period that I came upon a BBC 2 documentary from the year 2010 only two years after the current economic crisis began.The premise of the programme was the many millionaires that have been created since the start of the 21st century. During this period more colossal fortunes have been made than during the industrial revolution, but during the industrial revolution the factory owners made their fortunes over periods of 35-50 years, the wealthy individuals this programme talked about had made their fortunes in a tenth of that time and made vastly larger amounts of money! 

One of the key points of interest in this programme that immediately grabbed my attention was the lack of compliance and regulation leading up to the crisis. I'm talking of course about subprime mortgages and the borrowing of cash assets. Many of these  ultra-wealthy individuals approved of and perpetuated these thoughtless and selfish practices with overwhelming financial results in their favour.

Unfortunately the common man was the complete antithesis of this success. People thoughtlessly bought into this newfound prosperity and financial freedom without realising that they were playing into the hands of the ultra-wealthy masterminds behind these schemes. And all of these fundamentally unstable practices were perpetuated by a banking system that saw opportunity for profit and just kept lending money to keep the ultra-wealthies' schemes in perpetual motion constantly making the wealthy wealthier. 

I was personally outraged by the fact that the very institutions that are supposed to guarantee the financial security of the population could be so reckless and arrogant in their decision making and all but completely disregard compliance procedure. 

From all of these hideous liberties wealthy individuals in the finance sector have taken I began to form the first of what will no doubt be my "league of financial evil".

I gave him the name "The Creditor" in honour of the free movement of money that preceded the recession and wrote his first scheme based around the gross miscarriage of social justice that I have just mentioned. His first plot concerned all of his customers or rather how he was planning to take them to the cleaners and milk them for every penny by raising the interest rates on their mortgages and cash assets. In basic terms he was going to wipe out their savings by making them pay more than they can possibly afford. Now that I had my villain it was time to write the first of my Omaha Oracle sketches.

The style:

In choosing a style theme to wrap around my premise and allow the general public to digest the vast swathes of information I was pouring into my satire. I had to take into account many tangible factors from the age of my hero to the subject matter. I needed a style that would reflect the age of Mr Buffett, the nature of the battle and the satirical nature of the overall programme the Omaha Oracle would be part of. I racked my brain for a style that would befit all of this until I came upon the paramount studio Superman cartoons of the 1940's, their fantastical plots and superb music provided the perfect format for my "capital appreciation crime fighter" and I soon began to mimic the format using my voice and editing: 

     This would later become the introduction (in various pieces and orders) to my Omaha Oracle sketch and would first serve as the great inspiration for what was soon to become my most intelligent and well presented satire to date. 

The Episode: 

To quote the creditor the entire plot seemed to "flow like water to my brilliant idea". The entire plot was designed around the creditors' grand master plan and the efforts of the Omaha Oracle to stop him. 

Warren is innocently composing a letter to the shareholders in Berkshire Hathaway when suddenly his partner (the equally ingenious and modest Charlie Munger) calls to inform him the that he is about to recieve a fax from their old sparring partner (in reference to similar schemes and circumstance in past instances). It is a boastful message from the creditor in which he claims the great returns on his subprime mortgage and money lending businesses have made him a superior financier and that Warren Buffett is losing his once great touch. Outraged that the creditor is exploiting the ignorance of the general population to their ultimately detrimental ends he dons the guise of the Omaha Oracle and tracks the financial fiend down. 

We soon learn that the creditor is up to no good, and upon arriving at the creditors' office Buffet is imprisoned. As the evil equity builder explains his diabolical plans to the imprisoned Oracle the two argue over the ramifications and consequences of what he's about to do. The Creditor unleashes his evil plan unto the world, and as his bank account swells the Oracle uses his power of "Kinetic Carnegie coercion" to destroy consumer habits and force them to abandon the market trends that are destroying their savings. He then informs the creditor of the great overwhelming loop hole in his logic. The two then work in unison to obliterate the creditors' scheme and free Mr Buffett. Buffett now free saves the market by buying up more newly devalued stock and earning Berkshire a profound amount of new income. 

Buffett and Munger now relaxed and talking of the future remind us that wherever there is financial abuse the Omaha Oracle will not be far behind. 

The Explanation:

The entire episode is a satire of the way finance works and the colossal mistakes that wealthy intelligent entrepreneurs are capable of making even with all of their supposedly sound business practices. I wanted also to highlight just how much power these wealthy influential men have over the common man, a single decision made by a figure of influence in the financial sector will have incredibly far reaching consequences for the common tax-payer.

I also wanted to highlight that all great economic problems are caused by the bad habits of the masses. When projected on such a scale any bad spending habit can result in extremely far reaching consequences for the entire economy. 

The ending of the piece was simply re-connecting with reality, the individuals that took liberties with the economic system that threw us into this horrific recession nightmare have cashed in their chips frozen their assets and left the vast majority of us not only to suffer but to continue to fund their lifestyle! 

In Memoriam...

This was the first time I had attempted satire from an entirely invented concept, in retrospect there are many things I would change and some aspects of the script I would spend more time developing though overall I was very pleased with the end result. 

In my eyes it was a  very successful satire that stands to spawn many subsequent episodes. I already have plans for an adventure to Mexico, the search for the perfect discount and an encounter with the great but unproductive anti-hero Modern portfolio man (satirizing modern portfolio theory). 



     


               

            

My Dracula Spectacular

The Monster is finished

It took me 3 weeks to put it together but It's finally finished. The subject as you might have guessed was Bram Stokers' Dracula. The process heading up to this particular closure was interesting one which I will now guide you through. Though of course like any story I must start from the beginning...

5 weeks ago...

This is where the idea was first conceived, upon noticing a modern take on the novel set in the present day and the many inaccuracies and unforgivable artistic licence the creators took with Bram Stokers'

The unfortunate inspiration for my comic feature, upon seeing the film and the many liberties it took with both the original story and the vampiric legend it claimed to represent I realised a statement had to be made about the hideous lack of originality, creativity, or even basic respect to the original novelist. 

classic story. 

Upon seeing this atrocious film my observation of artistic licence with the vampire legend began to snowball, I began to notice it everywhere from Sesame Street, to Twilight and Mel Brooks (though the last one I'm a very big fan). What I noticed was in effect a consequence of the present day and its ridiculous need to contemporise everything. I realised that my opinion on the matter would be useless unless I could turn it into something tangible. So I set upon channeling every one of my opinions on the matter into the script that would become Bram Man's Dra Cool. 

4 weeks ago...

Well on track to creating what I think could be my comic masterpiece I continued to hone my comic material. During this period I was researching many different sources of vampiric legend.

The Original Novel

I read through the original novel noting down key plot elements and characters to ascertain the key elements of the story and any dramatic conventions that I could parody.

The Dracula Films 

This really goes without saying, it would be criminal to make a Dracula parody and not take reference from the dozens of excellent Dracula films not only for their reputation but for their iconic portrayal of the character. I watched every cinematic portrayal of the Count to date from Nosferatu (1922) to the Hugh Jackman financial disaster Van Helsing (2004). Through each of them I did as I had done with the novel and I noted every possible source of humour and character in order not to repeat modern interpretations and be absolutely certain that my portrayal would be an accurate and justifiable work that would not in any way slander the original.

The Dracula parodies

 When in Rome do as the Roman's do, I noted every source of parody and cross-referenced them to be certain that I wasn't missing a single comedic device or convention. Many of these parodies themselves I noted had very wide disparities in quality and faith to the novel, needless to say that very few of them conveyed Bram Stoker's gothic period drama or even retained the themes and names of the original novel. The most peculiar if most useless in terms of transferable narrative and comic devices was the Andy Warhol produced Blood for Dracula (1974). Allegedly a black comedy the film was obscene and took many artistic licenses with Bram Stoker's vision, to the point that the film was technically useless to my cause and was quickly abandoned from reference.

In most cases the parodies' lacking was of greater advantage than the parodies' substance as I quickly realised the lacking areas had the greatest potential for comic effect and substance. This would prove my most rewarding endeavour as it gave me a firm base on which to build my artistic vision and form a complete erudite and precise parody that would satisfy needs befitting a great work of literature.

Modern vampirism

I watched every available documentary on vampirism and the legend s surrounding Wallachian prince Vlad Dracul. Now that I had amassed a profound understanding of contemporary opinion on the character and the book I could leave no stone unturned in my search for the perfect parody. I began to research the contemporary vampiric culture (yes that includes twilight lord have mercy on me), I poured  over immaculate records of fan art from Vampiric tribute societies (yes they exist) and the character that the vampire has taken in modern society. I was both intrigued and disgusted by my findings as I found that the legend had grown beyond conventional practice to become a full blown alternative lifestyle and subculture. Where once we could readily recognise a vampire through bloodlust and weakness to sunlight we are now confused by an almost indistinguishable host of vampiric sub-groups. 

The only thing stopping me from burrowing further into this phenomena besides my immediate disgust and inability to comprehend was the fact such bizarre and unsettling information would not aid my parody but instead would change the tone and purpose completely. And so I moved away from contemporary treatment of the character toward the origins of the legend and its unprecedented persistence to the present day. 

Vampiric Folklore

A profound insight into Vampiric culture was exactly what I needed to be absolutely certain I was doing the legend and the monster justice. I gained a profound insight into the mythological practices that gave these creatures life and the real life figures who perpetuated the satanic practices expected of these monsters. 

I was especially intrigued by the satanic practices of Miss Elizabeth Bathory and the man whom the legend of Dracula is based upon Prince Vlad Dracul. 

We'll start with the vain lustful and above all else evil Hungarian queen Elizabeth Bathory and her diabolical practice of devouring young women. No she was not a cannibal it was much more barbaric and evil than that. Elizabeth Bathory was convinced that the natural process of ageing and atrophy could be negated by drinking and bathing in the blood of young virgins. This was a practice that she extended to her chambermaids, all 600 of them! Each one she brought to her chamber she tortured and humiliated before murdering them and bathing in their blood. Due to her station she could not be penalised by the law, she was placed under house arrest before her accomplices were brought to trial. With newfound confidence witnesses poured in to testify against her (sometimes 35 at a time). Bathory was never brought to trial (being of royal lineage) but was instead imprisoned for life. 

This was one of the most hideous stomach churning acts I have ever heard of, which paradoxically gave me subconscious motivation to ridicule such a hideous monstrosity and rob it of its power. I treated the deplorable yet mutually admirable legacy of Vlad the Impaler with this same willingness to tone down the evil. 

Vlad the Impaler was Bram Stoker's original source of inspiration for the Dracula character so it seemed only natural that I should research this mysterious medieval mastermind. He was a brilliant leader and military strategist who in present day Romania is reveered as a national hero. Yet his reputation as a sadistic and cruel warlord does not grant this opinion much grace or even justification. He won many great victories that kept the Ottoman Empire out of the kingdom of Wallachia, but in revenge for his years of captivity under them he left no prisoners, and those he did leave he watched impaled on wooden spikes as he ate his meals. 

The total number of his victims has been estimated in the region of 40-100,000 equal to over four centuries of European witch hunts. Before he met a grisly end in 1476 when he was assassinated. 

In summission the man was an unstoppable cold and calculating killing machine. I realised all of this very quickly and again I saw it as my unconditional duty to rob these evil myths of their power. 

My Interpretation

Once I had all of my quantifiable information it was time to convert it into a tangible product. I decided to create characters and situations that were the complete antithesis of the novel the differences of which I will mark in the following paragraphs: 

In the novel the characters are upper class members of the gentry in respectable professions (Jonathan Harker is the count's solicitor), the count is a Hungarian nobleman who buys an estate in England for the purpose of claiming new brides and expanding his estate. Renfield is a delusional psychopath who eats flies and collects various animals in even numbers so that they logically eliminate one another. Abraham Van Helsing is a Dutch Physician and a close colleague of Dr Seward and an expert on vampiric legend. And finally Dracula is a blood sucking agent of satan that is killed using only holy crosses and a stake to the heart. 

If I was to have any comedic Impact or resonance with my audience there was never any question that my interpretation would have to be a complete antithesis to the novel: 

I turned the upper class British characters into wiggers (white men who act as though they are black gangster rappers) and had them engaging in various unscrupulous activities. I turned the count from a Hungarian Nobleman to a Romanian night club owner. I completely defaced the vampiric legends of old that made the legend so powerful and turned the count into a "funkpire. 

Funkpire Funkology   

The mythology I created with this brainwave was one of a monster that was given eternal life through the draining of rhythm. In basic terms I will now guide you through the mythology of funkpireism. 

Vlad the Inhaler (the name I created for the funkpire Vlad Dracul) was a partygoer who smoked many a shisha and gave many a great party banquet for his victories over the Ottoman Empire, until one night of extreme Alcohol poisioning threatened to kill him. In his desperation he turned to a local witch doctor who perform the Super sexy funkpire Vraja which condemned him upon death to become a funkpire. 

The funkpire is a supernatural creature terrorising nightclub scenes across the globe, it feeds on the rhythm of partygoers to feed its insatiable lust for thoughtless debauchery and modern dance music. It can only be repelled with highculture, if you have the misfortune of facing one you must play every operatic recording you can find and ward it away with paintings from the renaissance and high-brow literature. 

There is only one way to kill a funkpire and that is to overwhelm his hard bass heart with high culture.

Armand Van Helsing

The iconic character of the vampire slaying physician was turned into Armand Van Helsing (parodying international house DJ Armand Van Helden) a DJ master of the macabre who specialises in funkpire funkology and deals in matters of international deck spinning. 

   

       
3 weeks ago...

Now it was time to record all of the voices and create my Dracula Spectacular. The first step on the road to comic perfection was to record the various voices and pieces for the show. This was a more time consuming process than I originally hoped it would be and would consume my entire week before I had every recording. 

2 week ago...  

Now began the monumental task of editing my Dracula spectacular. It was a haphazard process that seemed to take an age. The soundtracks and all other materials were uploads from various online websites and were instrumental in bringing my vision to life. It was a supreme exercise in creative vision, persistence and patience. But even with my firm work ethic and creative vision I was not capable of making my vision complete, the reason was very ironic and I was forced to leave it after the piece exceeded 40 minutes in length. 


  In Memoriam...
The final result was a parody that I think was written and edited extremely well. Yet I can't help but think that I could've made it funnier if I'd had just a little more time and I didn't cause the programme to exceed capacity.          

The Influence of Brian Tracy and Napoleon Hill upon my future plans

These two men I have mentioned in the title are highly successful businessmen and motivational speakers with philosophies on perseverance hard work and success that completely revitalised my drive for success over the half-term period.

Brian Tracy:

A man who failed to graduate from High School in the U.S. and went on to amass a net worth of over $20 million dollars through his chain of motivational seminars and his position as CEO of Brian Tracy International. His remarkable stories and philosophies on personal success have provided me with something that was severely lacking in my work up to this point "personal vision".

Napoleon Hill:

The first man to ever examine and write and about personal success in individuals, Napoleon Hill compiled his writings with the aid of 500 of the most successful entrepreneurs of the time including but not limited to Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison. His inspirational first book Think and Grow Rich was a tantalising and highly inspirational read that alongside my Brian Tracy materials has given me fresh insight into how I can succeed and apply these techniques to my life.

Why am I telling you this?

There are many principles that I have adapted from these men that have considerably enhanced my quality of life and allowed me to focus on my career goals and objectives. But there are many factors within my control that I have yet to work to my advantage. One of these is our very own Foundation department. A tremendous hotbed of creative talent that I've noticed is not being utilised to its full potential. My own ambition is to create every type of actors' medium through my own efforts and to in effect become my own producer, but I can't do it alone.


This course has the potential to produce outstanding work and to give everyone on it a boundless horizon in which to discover personal ambition and to utilise the natural talents of everyone on board. But if this is to happen reforms will be needed. My goal is to achieve my ambitions and to lift the spirits quantity and quality of the people on this course and the work they produce from the philosophies I've learnt from these highly successful and respected men and I have every confidence I can do it If I stay true to my integrity and personal vision. This I believe is my first great challenge on the long road to personal success that will see me ascend and go on to live a happy and contented life living and doing the things that I love and cherish. I guarantee if allowed to institute reform and share these radical ideas with my colleagues in Media and throughout the whole of foundation it will improve every area of work and encourage boundless creativity, an unfledging strong work ethic, efficiency and productivity, self belief, personal ambition, mutual co-operation and networking, and who knows perhaps it will even improve the quality of all of our lives.  

Film a Month: January

The first in what will hopefully be a succession of monthly dramas has so far proved to be an unprecedented success. Our drama has so far reached production stage meaning that my role within the group has already contributed significantly. My feelings about the project were initially mixed as I did not understand what the purpose of the initial concept was and I questioned its source material. Though I persevered and concentrated my efforts on the narrative until it was developed into something that I felt extremely proud of.

My Role within the group: 

I was one of the groups' 3 script writers and oversaw all the narrative aspects of the film, It was refreshing to be able to work on a drama this time round as my previous screenplay vodka trees was a satirical comedy. My first task was to sit down with the scriptwriters and bring the characters and narrative meaning and life. My background in theatre served me very well here as I was readily able to invent dramatic situation and to create character in lines where there previously was none. The initial script though providing solid foundations for development did not initially seem to reflect character or situation. I and my narrative colleague miss Miranda Myles thusly set about going over the screenplay and hiding the "invention" that created story and character and giving the characters a life beyond the page so to speak.

The results of our efforts were startling, my partners' profound understanding of human nature and my own sensibilities created a proud piece of storytelling that I and the production team simply can't wait to see brought to life.

Current progress of the Drama:

As of today the drama is in the filming stage of production, I regularly receive updates surrounding progress and current initiatives and objectives, and when I say regular I mean REGULAR. The advent of facebook means that the group is in contact 24/7 at all hours of the day (on many occasions I've been on walks and had my playlist continually interrupted by progress). Over the weekend we had a test shoot of the drama at the location and the results were very promising indeed:



      This was the first of our test shoot photographs, as you can see aesthetic qualities of the film (though primitive and simple at this stage) have been given firm foundations for continued development.  The following shots bellow should give an impression of the shot composition and aesthetic qualities the production team would like to bring to the film. 

Having worked on the narrative of the film I feel it is my responsibility to oversee the creation of the story and to insure the integrity of the writers' vision is upheld. Overall I am very optimistic about this production and up to this point I am delighted to say that this project has thus far been an unprecedented success and has given me a firm blueprint for my proposed reforms to foundation. 

Kathleen Ferrier

The Bio:

The story is an interesting one, having been brought back to media I was forced to think on my feet and to create a new museum piece. I thought back to all the exhibits I had seen and I remembered the exhibit on the singer miss Kathleen Ferrier, upon revisiting the museum It soon became apparent that she was a very big fish in the music world as an internationally acclaimed contralto opera singer. As I continued my research into this woman I began to feel quite passionate about the work as I could feel myself making a connection to the story of the eponymous singer. I decided to create what I though would be a short audio biography. I approached this a television biography, I recorded commentary narrated by myself, I gathered several of Kathleen Ferrier's recordings and then compiled them into a suitable order or so I thought. 

What happened over the course of this period was an exercise in continuous creativity. All throughout the period of creating the documentary I was continuously reinventing my approach to the piece. the soundtracks involved in the process also altered considerably, originally the piece was going to consist of commentary interspersed with the music of Kathleen. Though as I intensified my research and realised that the song would take longer to produce than I originally expected it became apparent that more music was required. And so I intercut the commentary with several pieces of delicate piano music (as is the convention of oh so many biographical documentaries) and in the section of her death I included a particularly ominous and innovative soundtrack from the video game Devil May Cry.   

The resulting soundtrack was included with non-diegetic sound relevant to the moments that they occur in the film. 

The piece I make bold to say was a triumph. I was pleased with the overarching theme of it aswell as the many and varied aesthetic qualities it possessed, form overlapping dialogue to appropriate diegetic and non-diegetic sounds paced adeqautely to allow for easy and inquisitive listening.




            

Vodka Trees

The Concept

As you may have guessed the idea involves trees that produce alcohol, those this is only the tip of the iceberg in my idea. I intend the entire piece to be a comedic satire in the vein of Monty Python or Mitchell and Webb. The aim of the film is to poke fun at the criminal inefficiencies that communism creates and the direct contradiction of human nature it represents. Even in the supposedly ideal conditions that a small tightly knit community would present to such an ideology as you will soon see.

The Plot

The plot concerns a journalist travelling in central Siberia collecting research for a wildlife column before he's ambushed by a local woodsman, before long he befriends the young journalist before rendering him unconscious. By the time our journalist protagonist wakes up he is inside a community of rustic woodsman clinging to communism. 

Over the course of the next few hours he will come to realise the weird and wonderful world of a great controversial ideology typified by hammers and sickles, egalitarian meetings, criminally efficient bureaucracy and posters of leaders long since deceased. 

Communist symbolism

Communist imagery is an intrinsic part of the short and will be featured to emphasise the ideology of the characters as opposed to dialogue. The vast array of Soviet propaganda readily available will be strewn about trees and all around the camp.   

This is a prominent example of left-wing Soviet Propaganda emphasising the greatness of the "Leader". Posters like these will emphasise the brainwashed nature of the rustic individuals strewn throughout trees as a constant reminder to the loyal marxists of the cause they feel must be fought for.

Though posters are only one piece of the pie all objects that evoke communism will be featured to full effect on costumes and throughout the camp (for added comical effect I may be tempted to replace knives and forks with hammers and sickles). 

Medals such as these will be a staple of the Russian characters' costumes and dependant on quantity will be placed in a comical ridiculously large supply on the characters' chest similar to Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev's Legendary love of them below.  

Though my aim is not to mock the values that communism presents it is only to portray the aspects of it that to westerners seem ridiculous. A prominent part of the objectivism in the short will be devoted to the achievements of communism such as a photograph of the worker and the peasant girl. 

In highlighting the triumphs of the ideology I want to highlight the concept of it not as an ideology to be strived for but an ideal created out of human optimism and the will to create an egalitarian united and prosperous world. 

Satire of Communism

No doubt the aims of my short have become abundantly clear to you though I do not simply want to make a statement of communism being a cheap and ridiculous thing to look down on and ridicule. I want to maintain an impartial view on it and to promote a fresh and impartial view in the minds of my audience. 

This is the intention of my short film.   

Dolphinholme

The Trip

Dolphinholme if nothing else was intended as an exercise in concept creation and artistic inspiration. The concept that I and the colleagues I share my particular yurt with was one that evolved several times during the course of our day. Originally it was intended as a promo, then gradually it evolved into a mini adventure until it later became the resulting film. 

The standard procedures of production dominated the day as we storyboarded the piece and refined our ideas. The final piece though was a far cry from the initial idea of a simple guide to the Dolphinholme camp...      

Pathways: The results

Textiles

The various dye and paint techniques resulted in creation purely for the sake of creation with no artistic motives behind my "work". The simple excercises yielded "as is to be expected" standard results that were not striking in the slightest. I failed to take much away from the process and quite frankly couldn't find much inspiration in applying dyes and bleaches etc.

My first experience of print based art admittedly not the the best example of my work within the field but work nontheless. I found the concept of creating art through colour printing though quite artistic in nature was wasted on me as I could formulate no artitic uses for this no doubt multi-faceted technique.

A Myriad of thoughtless rubbish, the only way I can describe this monstrosity I effortlessly pieced together from the various paint sand and bleach techniques being taught in the classroom. Yet from this I could ascertain one simple lesson that you cannot be frivolous when creating meaning, you must create with only essential items otherwise it becomes plagued by shortcomings and unscertainties.

  

  

Fine Art

Although fascinated by the process of applying paint to images in order to give them new meaning I took no real inspiration from the process and found it to be quite challenging in regards to applying the paint and how to go about doing it. The repercussions of this work were "interesting" to say the least my final images are a myriad of created meaning and unmitigated disaster. Though these Images are unavailable to me at this moment in time I assure you, you are not missing out on much. The Images in question convey little meaning as a result of my own inability to artfully grasp the medium which I was made to understand.

Photography   

I spent much longer in this pathway than I originally intended to. After being persuaded by my tutor to spend time in this pathway whilst the new recruits learned the practical skills we who had progressed from the BTEC had already acquired during the course of our previous studies. I embraced the opportunity, as the prospect of acquiring skills in the superficial arts that I could then transfer to my chosen pathway seemed both an exciting and informed prospect and I immersed myself in this unfamiliary territory.

The various pieces of lighting equipment wide and varied, in them I saw the creative possibilities that the tutor was trying to get across. These particular images projected a concentrated light source due to their lightweight and  

The softbox light suited best to portrait photo's, the effects of the various lighting were explained and demonstrated to us in this fashion exemplifying both the various lights and various techniques that can be applied. A prime example of this is featured below:

The softbox lighting effect on a low setting and with little background, notice the soft shadow emanating from the subject, the effect accomplished by nothing more than faint lighting. 

This continued to be a staple of the next few weeks as our various photographic experiments in creating meaning with high abstract concepts. The exercise in question was one of museum pieces. We were to select an image from the local Museum and choose a piece to re-imagine as a concept. I chose a painting of the picturesque Lucarno Switzerland, though I was not entirely certain as to how I would go about it. Yet ever willing to persevere I chose objects that related to mountain scenery and picturesque greenery. Among the Images I took were leaves, a thermos and a rams' skull all photographed using the various lighting and colouring techniques in varying combinations. This was a staple of the next few weeks until I decided to transfer back to the pathway of my choice and rejoined the Media department. 

Media:

Len Lye's colour box, a scratch film highlighting the creative possibilities of the medium. This clip was more than anything else an illustration of the 

The pathway of my original choice was dealing in a very unconventional method of creating meaning in this particular roundabout. "Scratch film" was the key term of the day, what followed was a series of delightfully bizarre films highlighting the potential of this particular medium. Following this demonstration and introduction to the medium we created our own scratch films that are to be compiled together and turned into one continuous stream of colour and creativity. This exercise though simple in nature was one that I took great pleasure in creating as It was such a simplistic form of meaning creation that I could od it almost instantaneously. 

Brand new Museum Piece

Having left the photography department I set about creating a brand new museum piece from a new source, the previously highlighted Kathleen Ferrier exhibition. Seeing the possibility of both training my voice for drama school and creating a fine piece of work in the process I seized the opportunity with both hands and set about creating a mini biography. 

3D Imaging: 

Without doubt the most "hands on" of all the pathway activities this centred around the creation of sculptures from Steel and copper wire. Although initially taken aback by the practical construction nature of this pathway I soon immersed myself in the process. Again I created leaves based on the painting of Lucarno from the museum. The reason being that this particular exercise was intended as a continuation of the museum pieces we made in the pathways. My leaves were basic to say the least though I did learn during the process that this medium again can be used to create meaning in the same way that a photograph or painting can.   

     

Printmaking:

The last of the great roundabouts was yet another exercise in printmaking though this time we were called upon to select images specifically ones of contrast. My image choice was one of a large tree in a field. This was an exercise in applying print to various materials to produce aesthetic quality. It pleases me to say that I was moderately successful in producing  aesthetically pleasing work. In particular I was impressed by applying the tree to a wooden slab, although seemingly minute in importance it produced a stunning effect. 

Pre-Degree Foundation The first weeks

Pathways

The past few weeks have centred around the recurring theme of pathways and trying out the various different artistic methods and techniques to come to a conclusion as to how you wanted to progress. Working solely as a Media person for two years I initially felt bewildered by what at the time seemed like a diversion of my time and effort though I participated secure in the knowledge that if they are asking us to do this it is most likely not without good reason. 

These pathways were a very interesting experience indeed as we were guided through many abstract ways of creating "art". From fine art to textiles we were guided through many varied exercises that were met openly by some, and with utmost resistance from others. Nevertheless the next few weeks of "pathway rotation" served both give us a taste of the various and pathways and most important of all to give us all a sense that these seemingly pointless variations in working environment were giving us a toolbox of transferable skills that we could bring into our intended routes of progression. 

Textiles

Among the first departments my group visited was that of textiles. This was without doubt the single most unrelated pathway I have undertaken so far. The aim of the day was experimenting with the various different "methods" of working with dyes fabrics and drawings to create an abstract piece of work. The atmosphere although highly creative was one filled with cynicism as people who came to create videos and photographs with pieces of intricate machinery were instead creating abstract paint works with dyes bleaches and drawings. And yet the result of this was a renewed sense that abstract work need not be complex, that spontaneous creativity can be nothing more than small bursts of spontaneous creativity resulting in a finished product. 

Fine Art

A very unconventional pathway indeed with a very absurd piece of work as a result the fine art pathway was one not soon to be forgotten. The work centred around photographs though not in the way you may think. This piece of work was about painting over artwork already made. This absurd practice was met by animosity from some and intrigue by others, nevertheless it proved to be a most interesting afternoon as we created new meaning through mad artistic practices. The great positive result of this session was that we were shown that meaning could be changed by unconventional means and a reconfirmation that abstract thoughts need not be complex. 

Media

Scratch film, the aim of the session for which I had originally chosen to come on the course was unsurprisingly yet another exercise in abstract creativity. We were shown the great bizarre scratch film works of Len Lye and given an introduction to the practice of direct to film animation. What followed was a reel of blank 16 millimetre film and various different felt tip pens and stamps, the idea was that we would create a piece of work that we could see the results of almost instantaneously. To an extent this was largely the case as within the next few hours we all created our very own elaborate parades of colour and light that would be combined together into a reel that we have yet to see. 

There seems to be a recurring theme here of abstract creativity resulting from all of the pathways. The prime result of this being that we were all given a great renewed sense of creative zeal to our consciousness, that all of our work was in the service of a great purpose. 

Photography

The photographic pathway was the pathway that I have without doubt spent the vast majority of my time in so far. The aim of the first exercise in this field was elaborate light photography with a slow camera shutter speed. The results of this in most cases was utterly spectacular with many elaborate light shows created will be seen in my next entry. Following this I was encouraged to continue work in photography as what was happening in the media department I had originally intended to work within was standards and practices that I and many of us that came here from media already knew. And so the next few weeks centred around photographic imagery and how to produce it using objects that we had to taken from our visit to Blackburn museum. The results of these photographic experiments were very interesting. Using nothing more than leaves and a rams skull (not to mention the several different types of lighting available to us at the time) I created a series of portrait photographs using many different angles and light filters etc. 


The transferable skills that have resulted from all of this have been absolutely immense and widely varied. I am now capable of manipulating light sources and filters to achieve desired results and to adequatley position subjects to create meaning.

Visual Imaging

A pathway to blend several pathways this was a most interesting exercise in both abstract thinking and working with materials. We were guided through the process of creating works of art through highly convoluted means that highlighted themselves as the session went by. The most readily accessible example of this being the tracings we took of various images for a purpose I'm still not entirely sure of. 

Of all the sessions we have done so far this without a doubt is the one I have both understood and spent time on the least.  

3D Modelling

This was a very interesting pathway to utilise as it encompassed the creation of a physical product as opposed to the intellectual experimentation perpetuated by the others. The result of this though was yet further aesthetic discovery as we created large "pieces of art" from nothing more than strips of metal. 

   

Music Video analysis

30 music videos have so far been analysed by I, Anthony Preston, and Becki Gill. The aim of this analysis is to get a vague idea of what content to look for, how the videos are constructed etc. After some deliberation of chosen to analyse Weird Al Yankovic's-BOB, and The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars.

Alongside this my band session evaluation and Multi-Camera techniques report are coming along swimmingly, however I have hit a wall. The band session I've chosen happens to be the only one hidden away in the video vaults. And until I find this video I'm stuck however I have done everything possible up to that point.    

New Progress so Far

After being briefed on what the group has already done I was assigned with learning more about the items of clothing involved in the documentary. Following this I Aaron and Adam started doing Vox Pops in the cold afternoon. The results of this work were very good, aswell as learning the terms for every form of Islamic clothing we were going to be documenting we had tow very good answers to our Vox Pop question in the bag, the group was going from strength to strength.

But as always karma struck again as I was lectured by the unofficial group leader Aaron for not being passionate about the work and doing nothing but moan. I was incredibly insulted by this, aswell as feeling patronised and talked down to. 

The Next group I was given

My attempt at leadership failed and my group disbanded I had to re-evaluate the current groups and choose the one that could get me the most recognition and success. This time I chose based not no the idea, but the people within the group, after several hours of calculation I came to the conclusion that the "veil" group were the most likely to bring success as they had the most willing and intellectual members of the group contained within.

A Coup d'état?

Hearing the news of our leaders' suspension was a shock, but I soon got back into the work and declared myself the new group leader. I saw this as my opportunity to successfuly lead a group for the first time (aswell as the fact that I was the only member of the group to actually bid to be in it). I got together every page of his blog to read through and piece together his thoughts. For 2 days I was arranging reverything that Anthony had planned with the help of his girlfriend.

It was a challenging process, as the terms of his suspension meant I wasn't even permitted to contact him (and vice-versa). I was infuriated at the timing of this event and the hole it left in the team. In a shocking twist of fate I was told that the group had been dispanded completely and that I would have to choose another group to work in.

The rage that coursed through me that day was almost unbearable, in a day I had gone from pssible leadership and great progress in a group all the way back to square one.  

Crisis!

All the progress my group has made so far has been nothing more than a useless gesture! Due to some unforseen scandal involving our group leader he has been suspended for several weeks, I was only informed the day after this was announced by the person closest to him on the course (his girlfriend).

Progress so far

So far the leader (Anthony) has explained what the event is all about, and what we'd be doing on the day. Aswell as giving us the low-down on what would be provided for us. The thing we struggled with most (as much as it embarrases me to admit it), was the development of a central idea to weave the project together. Otherwise we were told it was jsut a "publicity video". The team leader has made clear his objectives for this factual programme as highlighted below:

Shot List

When the crew arrive on the sunday this is some of our shots that will be taken.
Prepairing shots.
We are going film the person getting prepaired dramaticly, by filming close ups of tying shoes, putting on jacket, putting on medic bag, hat and cocking gun.

Reenacment shots
Close up of loading a magazine
Long shots
Action shots when poeple are running and shooting

treament

my treatment is

• What it is our documentary- it is about a middle aged house wife who goes out to WW2 reenactments
• Where is it - it is at bury
• How are we going to do it - we are going to start of with a boring everyday house wife who lives at home and cut to snippets of the reenactments to grab audience attention. This should confuse the audience and make them want to know more. And the reenactment will be done in a saving private ryan sort of feel.
• Why are we doing the documentary- The documentary is to show people that an average evey day person could be interesting
• When are we shooting - we will be shooting on the 29th of may

Recce

top end of railway

Middle

Bottom

Lights

There will be plenty of light as it will be outside and there will be no need for electrical assistance.

Meaning there will be no cable left around and nothing pluged in.

Sound

There is going to be trains but not as the reenactment is happening so thats good.

There will be an audience so that may disrupt the sound although it shoundn't disrupt to much as there are some load bangs.

Access

The crew know how to get there they are being picked up at 8am and will be taken home at the end of the day.

We all have each others numbers so contact isnt a problem

There is a carpark on sight.

refreshments are available.

and there are public toliets around.

ITS A TRAIN STATION!!

Crew

Everyone knows the plan meet at 7.30am at the back of vue and bring waterproofs, food/money

I will have already taken the kit there