Media Awards Evening 2008

...Film Reviews...

Media Awards Evening was a very inspirational and educational evening as I alongside other AS media studies students were able to view the film productions of which last year's AS media students had made. The evening provided us with entertainment as well as education; the videos shown were of a very high standard and taught me a lot about film production and the film industry.

Face of Fear

I personally felt that this was one of the best films as it showed us media students and others what we can really do if we work hard and put our minds to something. The genre of the film was horror; it is instantly depicted by the horror based soundtrack right at the beginning and throughout the film. Even though I knew it wasn't real and it wasn't actually happening to me, I personally felt very scared because of the main character and how he would suddenly appear on screen with an axe or a different weapon.

I felt that the actor who played the killer should have won the best actor award as he had stuck to his character the entire time and he played the role to a good standard providing a lot of the suspense throughout the film. I felt that the camera angles used were very focused on the situation in the film and the surroundings of the characters i.e. the setting and the environment, I also thought that the use of shots were creative, for example, when they went to shots of a fire in a barrel it represented the genre and portrayed the meaning of danger as that is what most people think of when they think of fire. In my opinion, what also gave off the effect that it was a horror film was the use of their make-up and facial expressions, the killer's make-up was very dark, this also gave the effect that he was evil and murderous. The actors and actresses facial expressions gave the impression that they were very scared and frightened for their lives. As the title says, the film truly shows that the killer is the "Face of Fear".

A Rapper's Ambition

This film trailer had caught my attention as it told the story of a small scale rapper who wishes to make it big in the music industry, it tells of the obstacles he must go through and overcome in order to get there. It is an inspirational trailer for maybe those who wish to work in the music industry when they become older and that no matter what the trials and tribulations you have to go through you must follow your dreams and never give up. Those who are trying to become a part of the music industry are able to relate to this trailer as they know what it feels like to be turned away and for people to not take interest in their talent.

The camera angles give off a very great effect as they are mainly focused on the upcoming rap artist rapping which showcases his talent within the film trailer and shows us what he does which enables us to give our own opinions on his skills. The reverse bottle shot gave an aspect of authenticity to this film as no other film trailer or documentary had a shot like this which is also showed it to be very creative, as soon as I saw that shot I wanted to know how directors of this trailer had created it, I then thought to myself that this was due to the use of editing. The editing of the trailer was of a very high standard as were all the other trailers but in my opinion this was the best because the trailer showed the artist rapping with his competition, it showed his background and what direction he needs to go in to get where he wants to be.

Silent Pain

I chose the film Silent Pain as one of my favourites as it tells the true issues of rape within marriage of which may not happen as much as it use to but still has an affect on people in today's society. Even though it doesn't hasn't a lot, there is a 1 in 5 chance that it could end up happening to someone whether it be a stranger or someone of whom you may know, in some cases the police don't take those women have been raped because they believe that if you are married than you can't be raped; it shows us that married women sometimes end up feeling ashamed of themselves because of the situation they have gotten themselves into. Many people appear in the video with the message of "Real Men Don't Rape" written on their hands.

 The documentary shows the real story of a victim of rape and the troubles of which she now goes through due to what happened to her, she had to change her name and can no longer live her life as she use to. The use of editing had also provided us with the real impact of rape as the directors had covered her face so we wouldn't know her identity. If it was to make such a connection with the audience, they may spread the message of the documentary which may possibly prompt those women who have been raped by their husbands to come forward and say something or possibly those who are being abused by their husbands to speak up before it is too late.