My Bestfriend's Wedding

'My Best Friend's Wedding' is based upon a rather bizarre relationship between a young woman and her male best friend. The two were primarily extremely close and the friendship turned into a relationship which was short lived as Julianne was not completely sure about the relationship and was slightly embarrassed by Michael's public shows of affection. The short lived relationship seems almost one-sided by Michael this all soon changes when Julianne hears that Michael is engaged to be married and he wants her to come along and be his unofficial best man.

From that part in the film Julianne takes it upon herself to try and stop the marriage so that she can instead be with Michael as she now realises she wants to be and knows that he used to. The film presents us with all the hilarious ups and down as well as the bizarre anecdotes that Julianne goes through with the bride-to-be Kimberley. The film presents the viewing audience with the three stages of a film such as equilibrium when Michael announces to Julianne that's he's engaged to be married, disequilibrium when Julianne conjures up the plan of breaking up the wedding and stealing the groom, creating an email to try and get Michael sacked from his job but making it seem like the email came on the behalf of Kimberley's father Walter, as well as her kissing the groom in the presence of Kimberley. Resolution when Julianne informs Michael that she wrote the email but never meant for it to be sent, finds Kim and apologises for her kissing/trying to steal Michael and takes her to the church where Kimberley marries the man of their dreams. The film shows that with all the mishaps that happened to this couple they still manage to overcome all their problems and get married. Which sort of portrays the message that true love conquers all.

" No, no, no, no. I'm a busy girl. I've got exactly four days to break up a wedding, steal the bride's fella and I haven't one clue how to do it. "

2012

'2012' is based upon the world ending in the year 2012, the film shows how the world as we know it will cease to exist. As the earth's core increases rapidly increases scientists begin to draw up plans for ships to be constructed so that they and the rich members of society may survive. However one average Joe and his family are saved all due to him accidentally finding out about the ships. As the world begins to crumble away and submerge back into the sea we watch as Jackson and his family come across many obstacles, trials and tribulations as well as the loss of some of the close members of the group. The film truly hits home to the audience as it's something that could be going on now but none of the general public would find out until it was indeed to late.

The film has no direct relation to my project but Jackson, his son Noah and his ex wife Kate's new boyfriend Gordon relationship could be seen as having some comparison. This being because the friction between Jackson and the Gordon is shown through the now strained between Jackson and his biological son Noah. Noah seems to believe that Jackson gives Gordon a hard time for no reason and has even stopped referring to him as dad but instead Jackson. This could be seen as the friction between Grace and her boss due to her sexuality leads to friction being caused between her and her girlfriend of how many years.

"I'm watching the Earth crumble before my eyes! A giant ash cloud, created by this supervolcano, will first envelop Vegas... and then St. Louis... and then Chicago... and at long last Washington, D.C. will have its lights go out!"

She's the Man Reinactment Task

We were given the assignment of reinacting a scene from any film. We were told the reinactment had to replicate the film scene as

much as possible.I was in a group of four with Han, Muktari and Sibel. We each chosen our roles after Han and I collected and set

up the equipment. Muktari was to be the cameraman, Sibel did sound, Han and I were the directors/producers. We also went on to

do editing.The scene initially seemed straight forward until we realised how many different camera angles/movements/shots there

were to replicate, also the fact that we wanted to receive minimal criticisms as possible for camera work, lighting.We had a few

issues with certain sequences, within our clip there is a shot where the actors heads are cut off and another shot presents the

audience with a shot that was not correctly positioned as there is an vast amount of empty space which could have been avoided

had we perhaps done a medium close up. As well as the actress did not truly fullfil the requirements as she was meant to be

portraying a girl dressed as a boy to attend college, as her was in a long ponytail with a quiff. However her acting more than made

up for that misdemeanour. We also were unable to truly represent the college dorm room as we did not have the same basic

necessities for the desk scene, for in our version of it, it mere looks like an empty-ish desk where as in the original clip the desk has

quite a large amount of books, cds and dvds as well as a couple shelves. The final product was quite a success flaws and all.

Proposal

Proposed area of study
Grace is unable to be promoted with in the film industry due to her boss being homophobic, especially after meeting Grace's partner Carmen.

Initial Plan
Methodology: I intend to carry it out by first doing some secondary research as in reading books which are based on gay relationships and how their family, friends and people around them came to terms with it. So far I have read the following 'I Can't Think Straight, The Colour Purple, Annie on My Mind and The Wives of Bath' and I have also viewed the following 'I Can't Think Straight, D.E.B.S, Imagine Me and You, The L Word(Majority of the seasons), Skins(Season1-3)'. I have yet to watch 'Lost and Delirious' which is an adaption of the book 'The Wives of Bath' and 'Guess Who' to refresh my memory. I chose 'Guess Who' because it is closely related as the couple may not be gay/lesbian but they are still predujuiced against because Ashton Kutcher's character is white and Zoe Saldana's character is black. Therefore Ashton Kutcher's character is indirectly told not to marry her by his manager due to them being different ethnicities, so he in turn quits his job.
By the end of the year I hope to have produced a short film/video about the predujuices homosexuals may sometimes encounter. It would be either an interactive piece of work or a single screen video.
I intend to take full advantage of Plumstead, Abbey Wood and Palmers Green libraries as well as the ones at Trent Park and Cat Hill.

Bibliography

Books
Queer Looks Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay Film and Video
The Celluloid Closet
New Queer Cinema
The Colour Purple
I Can't Think Straight
Annie on My Mind
The Wives of Bath

Films and Tv Shows
I Can't Think Straight
D.E.B.S
Lost and Delirious
Guess Who
The L Word
Skins(Season1-3)
South of Nowhere
Hairspray(Modern Version)
Bound
Show Girls
The Colour Purple
Thelma and Louise
Degrassi
Gia

Dissemination
Not quite sure how I am going to show/exhibit/present my work as of yet.

Jennifer's Body

"It's true. It's on the Wikipedia." 

The film "Jennifer's Body" is based upon the two characters Jennifer and her bestfriend forever Anita 'Needy'. The two have relatively nothing in common now but have been bestfriends from rather a young age when they used to play in the sandbox together. In the present day the two are now friends at high school, Jennifer is a cheerleader and somewhat popular whilst Needy merely lives in her shadow but seems to be happy there. The friendship seems some what one sided to everyone else but Needy who says that she can not and will not turn her back on Jennifer. Jennifer convinces Needy to come out with her to see some band that she thinks will make it big. The venue where the band is playing burns to the ground mysteriously and the only ones to survive are Jennifer, Needy and and the band. Jennifer seems in some sort of shock trance and is lead into the bands bus whilst Needy cautiously watches but does not follow. The band and Jennifer drive into the middle of the woods where they murder Jennifer as they see it as them giving satan a virgin offering to assist in their band being a success, the only problem is Jennifer is not a virgin so rather than being an offering a demon posses her body. The viewing audience witness as Jennifer seduces all her victims before she brutally murders/mutilates her young teenage boy victims. Jennifer also attempts to seduce Needy but I feel that she does it so she can manipulate Needy by the means of sex but instead referring to it as "we can play boyfriend,girlfriend like we used to" so that she can build up Needy's trust before she explains the extent of what happened the night she got in the bus with the band and why she is comes across as demonic at times. The film soon has many jumpy, and rather graphic scenes of Jennifer feeding off young boys from her high school, the new powers that seem to be incorporated with her demon side as well as that she looks almost deceased when she has not fed. The film also seems to mock the usual horror films as Megan Fox's character Jennifer character constantly uses rather comical if not blunt anecdotes that seem oblivious to the other characters on the screen but obvious to the viewing audience.

Needy :"I thought you only murdered boys?"

Jennifer: "I go both ways" 

The Orphanage

"The Orphanage/ El Orfanato" is a spanish horror film. The film is centred around a couple and their young son that move into a rather large house the mum used to live in when she was an orphan living within the orphanage with many other boys and girls. Initially the couple young son Simon has been saying he has imaginary friends and his parents seem to have accepted it but when Simon claims that his most recent friend is indeed real and not imaginary trouble begins. The family are meant to be refurbishing the house to once again open it as an orphanage but on the open day Simon seems to be misbehaving to a whole new extent and later on in the day goes missing. The young couple are distraught and spend months looking for him in desperation but to make matters worse no news has ever surfaced about Simon's whereabouts or any of his clothing that he had on that day. The young Mum soon comes across a shocking revelation which makes her realise Simon was indeed telling the truth about his friend and that in order to find out what happened to him she must first find out what happened to his friend and then play a game with him to get the facts/information she so badly desires.

The film seems to play on the aspect of just because you can not see it the first time does not mean it does not exist/is not there, not everything is quite as simple as we would like to believe. Sometimes it takes believing the impossible to understand whats truly going on. The film uses what seems to be irrelevant flashbacks through out the film but if you truly pay attention to the film you are soon able to justify why they showed that particular flashback which seemed irrelevant at the time but now makes sense.

Skins Series 1-3

The first and second series are based upon a group of nine friends Tony, Michelle, Sid, Maxxie, Anwar, Cassie, Jal, Chris and Sketch. Each of the episodes within the series is based upon either one or two characters lives. The series appears to represent teenage lives to an extreme as the characters go to endless parties/events, continuously have sex with one another, take drugs, get drunk all the time and yet still go to sixth form everyday and study for their a-levels. The relationship between Michelle and Tony seems somewhat one-sided at times as he constantly seems to be either putting her down or flirting with anyone and everyone. Whilst Sid, Tony's bestfriend appears to be totally smitten with Michelle but does not stand a chance with her as she soon tells him"I love you like a brother". Then theirs Cassie who has an eating disorder that she is able to hide from her parents through means of distracting them. Maxxie who is gay and wants to be a dancer but his father is encouraging him to follow in his footsteps, Anwar who is Maxxie's bestfriend and is completely obsessed with the opposite sex and the idea of losing his virginity.Sketch who is totally obsessed with Maxxie and is stalking him to ridiculous extremes to get close to him but is left heartbroken when he says him kissing her during the play meant nothing as he felt nothing. This does not detour her much as she dates his bestfriend Anwar who she encourages to dress like, do his hair like and dye his hair just like Maxxie, the relationship rapidly dissolves after that but the two remain friends. Jal who is utterly brilliant at playing the clarinet and is aiming to get a scholarship to university but falls pregnant by Chris who constantly takes drugs and the viewing audience later found out he has a human genetic disease that killed his brother when they were younger and later goes on to kill him. The series represents an illusion of being able to take drugs, drink and attend sixth form without any side effects or mishaps. That your able to do all these things and still lead a normal life. They do not seem to take in account that one or all of the characters could have a reaction to the drugs they are constantly popping or the weed they dabble with. It just paints a perfect picture of drugs and the amazing effects it can have on you.

"And... when I'm with you, I feel like a better person. And I feel happier, less alone... less lonely" Naomi.

The third series seems somewhat more realistic as we see the bad effects drugs can have. Within this series we have a complete new set of teenage students to follow, Effy, Cook, Freddie, JJ, Pandora, Thomas, Emily, Katie and Naomi. There's Effy who is Tony's younger sister from the former series. She seems like someone who is not bothered by anything but truth be told it's just that she is not coping to well with what is going on at home with her parents as her mother is having an affair with her fathers close friend. Freddie who is lives with his single parent family and sister as his mother has died and his father is doing what he thinks is best which in turn leads to his sister constantly getting her own way even at the expense of using her mothers death to try win a dance/singing competition. The identical twins Emily and Katie who are different in every possible way, they don't like the same music, they are not into the same things and they appear to have different sexualities as well. Naomi an only child who appears to be quite confident, assertive and says exactly whats on her mind but she is soon confused and becomes quite aggressive towards Emily when she realises she has a mutual attraction to her and does not know how to come to terms with the fact that she fancies a girl and could possibly be gay/bi-sexual or could just possibly like this one girl. Cook who seems to have to take care of himself as neither of his parents are around and he seems to rely on having sex with any and every girl as well as taking any drugs that he can get his hands on. Thomas who is only recently come to London from the Congo who lands himself in immediate trouble with a gangster within the area when he moves into one of his squats without his permission but he is soon saved by the help of his new found friends. Pandora an unique young girl who is completely obsessed with her bestfriend Effy and has to hide her rebellious and outrageous side from her overpowering mother who seems to want to her daughter pure and innocent but seems to be only further pushing her towards the corruptions she thinks she is shielding her from. JJ who has high-functioning autism, he seems to lack all social skills but has a close knit bond with Freddie and Cook who he has known from his childhood. He soon develops a somewhat close friendship with Emily and even sleeps with her but she soon lets him know that it was a one off as she is a lesbian and fancies someone else. This series shows a more realistic side to drugs than the first two, as we see Effy tripping over mushrooms when they go camping which leads to her clabbering Katie over the head with a rock after she tries to beat her up. We see the effects of Cook taking JJ's medication which leads to him first having a fight which JJ and Freddie have to join in to prevent him from being beaten to a pulp and then him telling Thomas that he has slept with his girlfriend Pandora. The effects of narcotics which encourage Naomi to make a move on Emily in the middle of the woods.

The Wives of Bath (Book) & Lost Delirious (Adaption of the Book)

The book 'The Wives of Bath' is primarily based on one girl Mary Bedford who later becomes know as Mouse the nickname was given to her by one of her room mates Paulie. The story is about Paulie, Mary and Tori, Tori is supposedly dating/in love with Paulie's brother which we later find out is just Paulie dressed up in boys clothes and copying their characteristics so that no-one will suspect it is her. As we follow the girls through their boarding school regimes we soon see that not everything is quite as simple as you may think, they have set times to everything within their days and if they break curfew they face serious consequences. Mary is given some leeway as she has a disability a small hump on her back which tends to make her tired quicker than the average person. She initially tries to hide that she has it but when the school nurse sees it she soon brings it to everyone's attention by encouraging Mary to wear special orthopaedic shoes which are obvious to everyone else that this girl has some form of a disability. Mary seems to settle into the school okay with the help of Tori but not Paulie who seems somewhat cautious of Mary as though she believes that Mary can not be trusted. The two soon become acquaintances when Paulie decides to take her under her wing and encourages her too dress like a boy too, this leads to their identities becoming known to a rival boy school and eventually murder and grieving when Mary's father suddenly dies.

Whereas with the film "Lost and Delirious" it's based on the same characters and relatively the same story accept there is no murder within the film and Paulie does not cross dress. The film is based upon Mary and her time at boarding school but also about Paulie and Tori the two girls she shares a room with. When Mary first moves into the room she sees the two girls friendship as nothing more as them missing being away from home, they seek comfort from one another through their overly intimate gestures. However as time goes on she sees that is not just merely them being friendly towards one another but that they are in fact in love/in a relationship. The three girls become extremely close as Paulie and Tori involve Mary in whatever they are doing, Paulie even goes as far as to give Mary the nickname Mary Brave rather that new girl which she was referring to her as. The trio are soon to split when Tori's sister walks in to find both Paulie and her sister in bed together and neither of them are wearing tops and seem to be embracing one another in a lover's embrace. The relationship rapidly dissolves as Tori tries to prove she is straight and that is was nothing with Paulie for the sake of her family, leading Paulie on a downward spiral of hate and self-pity. The film ends in tragedy as well but rather than anyone being murdered Paulie takes her own life as she can not bare to be without her beloved Tori.

I was able to relate to the story as it shows the lengths people in love are willing to go to, just to be accepted. For Tori loved Paulie just as much as she loved her but she was unable to freely show it so decided to deny apart of herself. She knew that her parents/family and maybe her friends would disown her for pursuing such a relationship and with a girl of all people. so she conformed to what is seen as right within society and the eyes of her parents and peers and began dating a boy.With my story however one of the women did not conform to what her family thought was right so has been disowned by her family, her family now is her girlfriend.

"No! I'm PAULIE in love with TORI. Remember? And Tori, she is, she IS in love with me because she is mine and I am hers and neither of us are LESBIANS!"

Thelma and Louise & The Colour Purple:~ Are they lesbians?

'Thelma and Louise'

With the film 'Thelma and Louise' you could presume they became lesbians because of the rape ordeal Thelma almost goes through. Then again the fact that Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise is merely a presumption as there is no actual evidence. The intimacy between the two of them is merely a close-knit friendship/sisterhood. The kiss they share at the end of the film could be interpreted as a lesbian act but it can be acknowledged as their way of saying goodbye to one another as they know once they drive over the cliff they are not going to survive.

'The Colour Purple' 

The relationship between Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie and Margaret Avery's character Shug could have evolved due to Celie's tormented childhood. Initially she was continuously raped by her supposed father who went to father her only two children Adam and Olivia. We later find out that he was not her biological father. Just as she got over being used by her step-father she is forced to marry a man old enough to be her father, and who then took it upon himself to continuously rape her (as she never gave consent to have sex with him) and make her a slave to him and his unruly children. This may have lead to Celie's confused sexuality and infatuation with Shug. 

These two comparisons show how a friendship/relationship can be confused for the other. However the relationship shared between Shug and Celie in the book 'The Colour Purple' and the film 'The Colour Purple' portray two completely different relationships/friendships. With the film it is portrayed as merely a kiss between two friends and even then it is merely a peck on the lips. Whereas in the book it is a full blown love affair. The similarities between the two relationships lie with the initial first kiss, Shug helping Celie to find her letters from her sister Nettie and the fact that they end up living together again in the end when Shug is contemplating retiring and Celie's business is doing exceedingly well. However with the book you are able to establish that their relationship has once again just picked up where it left off from before Shug went away with Germaine. 

Annie on my Mind

'Annie on my Mind' is a tale of two girls who fall in love, we hear about their love through the letters that Liza keeps writing to Annie but never posts. The girls happen to meet in The Metropolitan Museum of Art as Liza hears someone singing and appears to follow where the singing is coming from until she comes across Annie. The two are instantly drawn to one another which neither of them can explain as neither one of them has ever encountered such a feeling/sensation and especially not with a girl that they barely know. The girls instantly become inseparable and initially it's just seen as they have each found someone they can finally be themselves around as in act silly and often play make believe. Their friendship/relationship appears to go through rough patches, awkward stages and the unforeseeable getting caught having sex at a teachers house by a fellow teacher/pupil from Liza's school. Just as it seems that Liza is never going pull her finger out and send a letter to Annie she goes and does one better.

This story was influential to me because I was able to see how such an intense love affair can appear in such a young teenage lesbian couple as well as out of nowhere because in the beginning it was just seen as an intense friendship but it rapidly turned into something else. Something confusing/exciting/misinterpreted situation between the two girls which only them seemed to understand and to others it just seemed like something wrong/awful something they should be ashamed to be apart of. However by talking to the right people both Liza and Annie are able to understand that they did nothing wrong they just merely fell in love with someone who is the same sex as them.