Biography

this is a biography I've put together on one of my favourite directors.

Baz Luhrmann

 He was born 17^th of September 1962 as Mark Anthony Luhrmann. He’s been nominated for a golden globe and an academy award, best known for his Red Curtain Trilogy which consists of Strictly Ballroom, Romeo and Juliet and Moulin Rouge. All three films follow his particular style of film-making which includes fast paced editing and bright colours, also the theme of red runs through.

   Strictly Ballroom

This is the only one of the three that I haven’t seen, it’s a romantic comedy that’s centred around the world of competitive dancing. The film was based on a play that was also directed by Luhrmann in 1986 which he later transformed into a film.

Romeo and Juliet

Based on the well known story by William Shakespeare, this version puts the same story and language into a contemporary setting; it also brings an old story and historic language to a new younger audience with its cast and soundtrack.

Moulin Rouge

The film is based on the Orphean myth and also on an opera ‘La Traviata’ by Giuseppe Verdi. The story is set in France and around a well known club the Moulin Rouge. Luhrmann’s inspiration for the film came from a musical he saw in India. He also took inspiration from the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Australia

Luhrmann’s most recent film is set in Australia between 1939 and 1942.  As well as Moulin Rouge ‘Australia’ stars Nicole Kidman as his leading lady.

In the summer time when the weather is fine...

the sudden burst of sunshine we had has brought on a wave of summery adverts, i'm being told on a daily basis to do up my garden, buy a barbeque and check out new summer clothes. what would summer be without icecream :) and i particularly like the new cornetto advert.

i'm not going to go and buy this icecream, which kind of defeats the selling point of the advert, just give me one of those bears!

Valentines Shmalentines

recently my friend Mary told me that valentines day was named after a priest (Father Valentine) that held secret weddings for couples wanting to get married in a time when marriage was banned, he was found out and killed for his cupid like crimes, before his execution he had written a note for his beloved signed 'from your Valentine' and so St Valentine was given a day devoted to expressing love for the one you love. personally I love Valentines day, its the one day you can be over the top gushy, cheesy and romantic and it's acceptable.

I don't know if it's just me but I've been noticing a lot more dating site adverts too! the theme of love in the calendar is spreading to the telvision advert air time, one of my favourites is the one with the old couple talking about each other and the man says she makes a great cup of tea, aww!
one that i dont like however is the match.com couple that meet in the music shop and sing a little song about what they like. I know these matchmaking scenes arent exactly realistic but come on.

Visit to the Baltic

As a group we visited the Baltic centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead to gain first hand research of installation projects on display by real artists.

On the ground floor was an installation called ‘It has to be this way2’ by Lindsay Seers, it is an exploration documentation of the misconception and reservations generated from a mix of factual history and recollected memories. The story it follows is of the disappearance of Christine Parks, she was the artists stepsister, it retraces her journey to Ghana where the slave forts line the coast. The actual installation was a model of one of these forts that you could walk into where a circular screen played the film on the floor. There were also two large shapes outside the fort that kept making appearances in the film, a 3d black star and a 3d red diamond.

I really liked the way you could step into the piece of work, it made you feel linked into the project itself and involved in the story. The way the screen was set out really helped with this too, looking down through a sort of spy hole.

On the first floor there was a live art workshop taking place, you were able to construct your own brick out of card and then decorate it using either paint or pens, expressing something you love. It gave me the idea to potentially use something physically interactive as an installation for my own work.

The second floor was closed but the third floor held an exhibition of George Shaw’s work, ‘The Sly and Unseen Day’ which is a collection of paintings from 1996 to present day, they were made using Humbrol enamel and looked really effective.

New Year, New You

the majority of adverts i have seen so far this year are all aimed at eating healthily, after the overindulging in the christmas period everyones desperate to stick to the annual new years resolution of eating healthily. my absolute favourite so far has to be from innocent smoothies

just watching this makes me want a smoothie, so essentially the adverts already working! even the song was stuck in my head for about a day and i told everyone about it. another food fave of the advert world has to be the chocolate finger advert, upon my first ever viewing i was in hysterics, after that its not so funny but still. although, does anyone agree they look more like hot dogs than chocolate fingers?!

dont watch if you're attempting to diet this month, mines ruined already.

Tis the season for... Christmas Adverts

One of the most anticipated adverts each year is the Christmas Coca Cola advert.

Personally I think this years was a big disapointment. Father Christmas looks slightly maniacal twisting his snow globe around and playing with the little people insides lives, although I do like the idea of the dog sliding into a new house for Christmas :) the best one was where Father Christmas gives the same girl a bottle of Coca-Cola each year. Although if someone got me a bottle of Cola for Christmas I'd be pretty disappointed :/

with absolutely no link at all to Christmas, this is my all time favourite Coca-Cola advert :) enjoy!