The Beginning Of The End

The title makes me seem really melodramatic but it's true. The end of the year is nigh and exams are merely weeks away. Luckily for me and my mental health, art doesn't have an exam. We just have a really terrifying external in the form of a portfolio which is really intimidating for someone in level one. 

Speaking of my portfolio, I finished the first board today! It's actually kinda surreal but ya know. I'm really proud of how everything has turned out so far, all things considered. When I think about it, I've done a lot in a short period of time. But, yes, I finished first board after so long. It's the first portfolio board I have ever done. Like, ever. So, here it is.

Hehe, jk jk. That's actually the original layout I had for the first board, before I even finished half of my works. As you can see there was meant to be one large painting but instead I decided to do a bunch of tiny ones because I love putting myself through hell. :D

But actually, here is my first completed board.

My second(? I'm not sure what order I'm putting these in yet) board is well underway and I only have five more paintings to finish, all of which I've started and purely need to finish the backgrounds on. This is what it looks like so far :)

Ye that's it. Bye.

Down To The Wire

Entering term four of this year, we only have four weeks of class time left. This means that we do not have a lot of time left to finish our portfolios. The art department was open over the holidays but I was only able to make it to the first Monday due to prior commitments. However, I have done quite a bit of work since the last update considering it was almost exactly a month ago. 

Last time, I showed you my American flag and the portrait drawing of my friend Nadia. Since then, I have added the peace sign to the American flag and drawn/painted the paired portrait for that sequence series things. I have decided against putting blood on their faces for now because it took so long to paint the first one on it's own and I really don't want to mess it up.

I have also started two new sequence series things (that's my name for it now) and have 'completed' two extra little things I'm debating changing/putting on my portfolio. For the two new things, one is a series of complementary coloured snakes with hands. I currently have a green and pink snake, a purple and yellow snake, a blue and orange snake, and a grey and black snake. For the other thing, it's going to be similar to the snakes but with hands and books instead :D

Here are a couple of the things I've done:

Art Update

Okay, so. Apparently, I've completely given up even trying to come up with art-related puns.

In good news, I have an actual update!! With actual finished pieces!! Wow, Sam completing her artwork? Completely unheard of... nonetheless, in the past... 4 weeks (Damn, I'm really good at keeping up to date with my blog posts) I've done quite a bit of work. Relatively, at least. I have completed two more works and have 2 works in progress :D Alongside this I have been thinking about how I want to set up my artboard. 

So let's get started!

 With time slowly yet surely running out, it's time to think about how I was to layout my portfolio. I won't take credit for the one on the right, that was Mrs Clemance's doing. The one on the left was what I had in mind originally. There are pros and cons to both, in my opinion. With my idea, it's going to take up a lot of space, leaving less work to fit onto one board. With Mrs' it's a bit less cohesive (at least currently with the ideas I have in mind.) but it fits more onto one board and seems a little neater.

And now for what I've actually been working on! Here are my two "Finished" work.

This one is the one that inspired my art board's theme as a whole (The Hand Life Dealt). It's supposed to symbolise life as this kind of poker game, where those who are coloured are given a really sh***y hand of cards and those who are white have a much better chance at winning. 

This is my second. It's apart of my black lives matter fist series. I'm aware that the colour of the POC hand's palm is wrong but I'm not some Picasso and I'm very sorry. Anyway, I chose the colours because purple symbolises power (hence it being with the white fist), yellow is the complementary colour to purple and because dark skin always looks so good with yellow.

For my WIPs, one, apart of the same series as the one above, is currently just an American flag that is half pastel and half monochrome. I plan to draw a peace sign on it then paint it grey in the colour and brown in the monochrome.

This one is apart of the dripping blood series thingy. It's one half of a pair. This one will most likely be crying blood while the other will cry red white and blue. 

Okay, that's all. See you whenever!

Let's Compose Some... Ish?

2/09/2020 - Week 7 (Week 3 of Composition)

Currently in music, while working on our solos, we're composing songs! Which sounds hard (and it is,) but that is why I decided to opt for working in a group. Chyna and I are working on an instrumental to fit alongside a video I made in year 10, for our composition task. I'll mute the video or change the sound when it comes to it so that the two songs don't clash. 

So far, we have about 45 seconds of piano music where each of us takes a side of the piano and play notes. Because that's what you do with a piano... Anyway, we chose to use a chorus sounding option on the keyboard to give a more eery fantasy vibe to the piece. I'm down the higher end while Chyna takes the lower end. 

Here is a photo of my notes - 

Here's a really weird photo of my notes feat. me. I am fully aware of how little sense they make but they make sense to me and that's all that matters.

Here's a link to our recordings from each time we make a significant amount of process -
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18fzOTlaVhmH-SBOgUzDUqTSc2ULLdWyC?usp=sharing

10/09/2020 - Week 8 (Week 4 of Composition)

Composing is hard :( Chyna and I have a base for our song but now we need a melody. The problem is, I don't know how to write a melody. There's not much to update for this week, other than a very small note progression I thought we should add to the beginning. It's like A, C, F or something :)

Is Killing The Planet Truly Worth It?

Our planet is dying. And America isn’t doing anything to help it. In June 2017, American president, Donald Trump, announced his plans to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. This agreement was one President Barack Obama signed during the latter half of his term. That this is a mistake. I believe that America should not leave the Paris Agreement, now or later. This is because of the health risks, America’s history of emissions, and the insignificance of the ‘apparent’ job risk.

As the Earth is growing hotter and hotter, American citizens are growing ill. The harms of creating ‘dirty energy’ not only affect the Earth’s health, but the health of those around it. Creating fossil fuels have a major effect on those who have been exposed to the industry, as in the local communities and workers themselves. Climate Nexus, an organisation focused on changing the climate conversation, put together an article exploring the localised health risks within the fossil fuel industry. In this article, I found a study recorded at MIT that found that, annually, about 52 000 premature deaths have been linked to power generation. To find this number, a group within the MIT Laboratory for Aviation and Environment had tracked emissions from different places. For example industrial smokestacks, vehicle tailpipes, marine and rail operations and commercial and residential heating. Overall, 200 000 premature deaths leave air pollution at fault. That’s a lot. Of this, that 52 000 is linked directly to the air pollution caused by power generation. 

Back with Climate Nexus, they state that those who work in surface mines, such as strip mines, open-pit mines, and mountain top removals, are constantly exposed to chemical toxins and other dangerous particles. These particles can leave workers at high risk of life complications. For example, they had linked exposure to coal dust and other particles to a higher risk of cancers—like lung cancer—and strokes, heart disease, and respiratory illnesses. When around coal mining regions, respiratory, circulatory, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and central nervous system issues, and birth defects, are all elevated. There are currently little to no federal regulations stopping or at least reducing these emissions. For America to introduce regulations that work alongside the Paris Agreement, they would not only be helping reduce global emissions, they would also keep their workers a lot safer. If those who are working in the fossil fuel industry are at risk of possible respiratory diseases and cancers, are ‘job-killing’ regulations all that big of a deal?

The primary reason Donald Trump planned to withdraw from the agreement was being unfairly forced to set regulations to reduce fossil fuels. This introduces risks to the economic side of their country, and it has previously been stated that the rules suggested are ‘job killers.’ This is a valid point. Taking down the fossil fuel industry would destroy the jobs dependent on it. However, here is a major upside on the opposite end. As jobs are ‘killed’ in fossil fuel-related businesses, as a country becomes more dependent on clean energy, it creates more jobs in said ‘clean energy’ industry. If these end up cancelling themselves out, the regulations end up neither a job killer nor creator.

Richard D. Morgenstern 1, William A. Pizer, and Jhih-Shyang Shih did their own investigation on the matter. They found out that across pulp and paper mills, plastic manufacturers, petroleum refiners, and iron and steel mills—some of the highest pollution producing industries—when environmental policies were implemented, the average net gain is around 1.5 jobs per million, with a standard error of 2.2. I’m not sure about you, but statistics aren’t my strong suit. For me, that was hard to understand at first. In reality, it’s simple. Their article later explains that the effect is both statistically and economically insignificant. The most apparent downside to the agreement is barely a problem at all. So, is an inconsequential effect worth killing the earth for?

While the risk to their economy is practically non-existent, their contributions to global emissions are quite existent. The USA, on their own, produces a large sum of the total global emissions. About the second-most in the world, right after China. According to Our World In Data, in 2017, America produced 5.27 billion tons of carbon dioxide. As previously mentioned, that was the same year Donald Trump announced his plan to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. In comparison, in the same year, the entirety of Europe produced 5.63 billion tons, Asia produced 7.17 billion tons without India and China, and the rest of North America produced a mere 1.24 billion. India, which has around 4 times the population of America, produced 2.46 billion tons in 2017. That’s around half the amount America produced that year. If they’re the ones producing so much of our problem, why do they plan to stop doing anything about it? It’s insane. Withdrawal from the agreement may mean that America will not hold themselves responsible for their current carbon dioxide emissions. At least not for the next four years.

The Paris (Climate) Agreement states that the countries who sign will combat climate change the best that they can. It requires those involved to use their strongest efforts to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius a year. Withdrawing from this agreement will only show how little America’s government cares about their environment. Having no drastic economic effect, staying within the Paris Agreement will not only help the environment but the health of those who inhabit it. One step in the right direction may not be all that it takes, but nobody ever got anywhere by standing still.

Sometimes I Go Out By Myself And I Get Really Bad Anxiety

My first ever proper solo! Holy heck!! So, I ended up singing Valerie, which was a bit difficult because, if you don't know, I'm a soprano and never really sing in my chest voice. Let's talk about it!
My Solo!

I chose to do Valerie because it's one of my karaoke songs! Also because our vocal coach was like you should do this song and I was like cool. I have this playlist called 'Road tunes' and it's on it so ^-^
I was pretty alright with my performance. I did it. I didn't have a panic attack or cry and I got an excellence so :p
Like I said before, the thing I found challenging about this song was probably the deeper parts. While I can sing in my chest voice, it's not the most comfortable thing to do so I struggled with pushing it out a bit.
I'm going to do the musical theatre song, 'Burn,' from Hamilton. So, I'd like to incorporate my acting stuff and work on my use of register.

lol bye

Status Artdate: Week 4 Term 3

Okay, I need to stop forcing art puns into my titles because
they never work :(

Regardless, I haven't done too much this week, which I can not-so-proudly admit. However, I am on the track towards finishing that one TV I was working on. So far, I've given up on the small one and begun a larger version. It's not too much bigger but it's a lot easier to focus on the details within the hands I planned to have coming out of the tv. Speaking of, I actually have gotten to the point on this piece where I have finished the general base for the hands. From here, I'd like to add a bit more depth, colour, and tone before I'm happy with it. Hopefully, I will be able to put this piece on my folio :)

Here's what I've got so far :D

So. I Entered A Gay Writing Competition.

I'm not sure how that sounds, but let me explain... Inside Out is a new Zealand LGBTQ organisation that is currently holding an 'Out On The Shelves' writing competition. The idea is to write a poem or flash fiction story that explores the 'rainbow' experience, either within a character or the themes.

This is what I submitted :)

Words Like Knives

‘I don’t want to be afraid to hold your hand. We hear gunshots when we kiss. Our existence alone is illegal in 72 countries. That can’t be normal. It isn’t normal.’

“So that’s it, then?” Four simple words sounded so harsh reverberating through my head. I asked myself the same thing. A simple sheet of paper, as light as a feather. And it was like concrete. The words felt so heavy.

“I guess so. That’s what happens when someone struggles with internalised homophobia, doesn’t speak to you for six months, and then breaks up with you via letter.” So yeah. That was it, then. The words became too heavy. They slipped through my hands, fluttering towards the floor. I wanted to crumple them. I wanted to rip them up. Ruin them beyond recognition. “I think you should take it, Ivy. The letter, I mean. I should think. A lot.”

I didn’t seem to register any movement after that. None of my own. No one else’s. The world and everything else in it seemed to stop in that exact moment. But I handed off the letter. And in turn, the little safety net I had left.

The days after felt grim.

I fell into a hole of isolation. Stuck with my own thoughts, who danced through my doubts. The words, though straightforward in intent, were doused in fear. Fear of who knows what. Myself?

‘We’re a danger. To ourselves and everyone around us. I can’t live with myself and I don’t know how you do it.’

It took me a week before I even got out of bed.

Dark clouds danced among the trees. A small groan escaped my lips as I held the curtains open. Tattered nails ran their way through streaky hair, only to cringe at the split ends. The mirror threatened to shatter at every glance. Each scar of acne, each strand of hair, oilier than the last, is another crack in the fragile glass.

Everything hurt.

I would have liked to close my eyes. Forever. I couldn’t though. Hot water ran over old calluses, burnt to the touch. White tiles were soaked after a few seconds. The edge of my shirt hung around my thighs as I fiddled with the hem. Each edge crumpled as it was grasped in two clenched fists and pulled over my head. Raindrops were out of sync with the shower’s droplets, drawing the sound out in my head.

Water enveloped my body, now finally lukewarm. A slight tilt of my head allowed the smooth waterfall. As though molten chocolate, in the form of thick clear liquid, was poured over each inch of my skin. It closed my eyes like a hand rolling down my face. The dark was… inviting.

As soon as passive thoughts were silenced, aggression rattled against the walls of my mind. It was almost as if I were standing under an overpass, a train rolling by at a mile a minute. The sound felt eternal, loud as hell, and forever rolling by.

‘My family hates me, God hates me, because of us. Everyone hates me because of you. Eventually, I’ll hate myself too.’

As the water shut off, the train disappeared. I finally emerged from under the overpass, and things became clearer. Cool air hit my empty skin and froze. Desperate, I scrambled to feel familiar warmth again.

I couldn’t find any.

“Bee? Are you still home?” My mouth dried up. I was panicking. As I backed into the wall, it became a crutch. The crutch that held me together at the seams. Shaking knees buckled, but the door was there. I touched my thumb to my middle finger, remembering to breathe. And then my pinkie. Then my pointer finger. Finally, my ring finger. Middle, pinkie, pointer, ring. One, two, three, four. “Abby?”

“It’s not my fault. I swear, it’s not my fault.” It didn’t sound like my voice. It was my voice. But it didn’t sound like it. My head fell in my hands, I couldn’t feel it. I suddenly wasn’t myself. It was my voice and my body, but I was no longer the puppeteer.

The silence was deafening, but it was all I had. Nearing footsteps broke the peace like glass. It was like it had been hit with one of those bats we’d play softball with. Not the piddly little tee-ball bats. The heavy ones. The ones that actually do damage. “You can’t just hide out on the floor of your bathroom. What are you- Are you okay?”

The door creaked on its hinges, only deepening the letter-induced trance sending me spiralling through morality. Warm hands engulfed mine. One, two, three, four. I needed to breathe, but the air was suffocating. I was entangled in my safety net. “She left because of me, Ivy. I’m a damned disgrace.”

“Bee, you are gay. It is not a sin, it is not a disgrace, and it’s certainly not your fault she left you.” Her voice, calm and collected, pierced through the fog. It’s told this story a million times. Yet I continued to drown. The weights on my ankles pulled through currents and tides.

“She hates me. Her family hates me. And I should hate myself, right?” The small sentence was obstructed, choked through tears. “The letter was right. I’m a danger to myself and others and-”

“Look at me, Bee. Look at me. Her beliefs are not yours. You are valid. Completely valid. No matter what anybody else says, anybody at all, you shouldn’t be afraid to exist.” My arms wrapped around her in a solid embrace, melting into a familiar touch. Tears rolled down tattered cheeks. I finally felt at home.

“No one should be afraid to exist.”

Status Update: Art Term 3 Week 3

This week we're focusing on series and sequences. I have actually been thinking about how I'd like to sort out and order my own folio, as most of my pieces at the moment are quite stand alone. However, I do have concepts that will (hopefully) work in sequences with each other.

Anyway, relating to any actual update, we did an activity that helped us see series within a portfolio. As pairs within the class on Monday afternoon, we were given a portfolio to study and cut into its series where we see fit. Casey and I worked together on this folio:

These were the series that we saw:

We actually got quite confused with some of these pieces. Those four in the bottom left corner? We were caught between whether they were one series with all four of them, or if they didn't actually go with each other at all. We were caught on this because while they're all (self?) portraits of who seems to be the same girl yet they are all different styles.

Finally, this is the sequence we believe the folio was made in:

Looking at it now, I'm not sure whether or not the black and white photos we put second are mean to be second but if you look back at the actual portfolio, if it were to be read left to right, that is where it would sit.

In regards to my own work, I don't have a lot of things to update there. So, I had this concept that is really hard to explain so I created an actual like photoshopped concept picture and now I've lost it. It's gone. :(. I have started that idea though, so far it's a weird bunch of boxes that slightly resembles an old tv. In other news, that 'The Creation of Adam' drawing I started? Yeah, I hate it. I do still like the concept though, so I want to go about it in a different way. Instead of having to draw the hand, I'd like to see if I could do a multi-media type of thing for it like mayhaps I could use some bible verses for the background or just straight up use the original piece for the hand. I want to draw the snake though. Because snakes aren't as hard as hands. 

So here's that tv resembling thing :)

I'd like to size it up for the actual thing but I could hopefully still use the smaller version on my folio.

God, I Hate Shakespeare.

**Disclaimer: that title is a song title from the musical 'Something Rotten.' If I actually hated Shakespeare, I wouldn't have done the Shakespeare festival for 5 years in a row.

    So. William Shakespeare. What a man. The name is infamous within highschool students because it's shoved down their throats every other year. Despite that, what do we actually know about the bard? 

    Well, born in 1564, he spent most of his life in the Elizabethan era, before dying in 1616. Over the course of his life, he wrote *at least* 37 plays and 154 sonnets. 37 is the most common number I could find but it's not a solid number as many could have not been published, under his name, or he merely collaborated on. 

    Fun fact: He has no known middle name. I don't think most people did but you know. Interesting.

    It's actually an ongoing theory that Shakespeare didn't write all of his published pieces himself, and had his own ghostwriter. I'm not sure what proof there is of this but I would not be surprised. He seems like a prick.

    Looking over these plays, there are some very particular things you notice within each of them. For example, costuming and speech are two of the most obvious things to me. The costuming, due to being in the Elizabethan Era, is all quite structured. With rolls of fabric to create bum bumps, complete modesty, and frills galore.

    Shakespeare's plays are written to mostly be spoken in iambic pentameter, which means in 5 sets of 2 words, the second words have the stress. A 'di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum,' kind of this. On the other hand, Shakespeare almost made an entire language for himself. I don't typically hear people say 'talketh.' So.

    Another fun fact, my personality mostly coaligns with Ophelia, according to Magiquiz.com :)

Level One Connections

Anything is harmful when abused. Especially when it is designed to create a physiological effect. Drugs and alcohol may be two of the most infamous abused substances, usually to the point of addiction. My theme, the harmful effects of alcohol and drugs, is prominent in media such as ‘Walk The Line’ from James Mangold, ‘Parents’ from The Meth Project, ‘Your Brain On Jingle Jangle,’ from Netflix, and ‘The Umbrella Academy’ from Steve Blackman and Jeremy Slater.

The film ‘Walk The Line’ by James Mangold shows us the harmful effects of prescribed drugs. We watch as Johnny Cash develops an unhealthy relationship with the prescribed medications ‘amphetamine’ and ‘barbiturates.’ He uses the excuse that the doctor prescribed them to ignore the fact that he is truly addicted. Throughout the movie, Cash struggles with this addiction. It becomes clearly harmful when Johnny crumbles on stage as an effect of the drugs we see him take. For example, for his Las Vegas show, he appears late and quite out of it. His suit is messy, his shirt is untucked, and he looks a mess. He’s sweating profusely and is struggling with the harsh light. As the first song goes on, he slurs his words and is mumbling. June Carter, who knows John well at this point in the film, sees that something is wrong. We see this in her expression as she watches her friend forget the words, yell at his drummer, and get angry at his mic stand after he almost drops it. He quickly becomes dizzy, as the camera, handheld, becomes shakier and a lot less smooth. Eventually, he falls. After a shot of Johnny laying crumpled on the ground of the stage, we’re shown a shot of his face. The dialogue comes and goes as he fades in and out of consciousness and there is a blur around the edges of the image. Without explicitly telling us that his addiction is harmful, Mangold shows us how Johnny relying on these prescription drugs caused him to overdose and how it is affecting his career. Not only is his job affected, but he ends up harming his relationships with both his family and his friends. His children become scared of how angry he gets when facing withdrawal symptoms and his wife leaves him.

Riverdale’s PSA, ‘Your Brain on Jingle Jangle,’ tells us, more so than showing us, the harmful effects of their made-up drug ‘Jingle Jangle,’ which can just be substituted for most class ‘A’ drugs. The fifty second PSA shows one of the main characters, ‘Veronica Lodge,’ in her diner, holding a plate of food. She tells us “this is your brain,” picks up a frying pan and says, “and this is Jingle Jangle.” She places the food on the counter as she tells us that this is your brain on Jingle Jangle, before smashing the food to mush with the frying pan. This tells us that taking this drug destroys your brain in a similar way to how she destroyed that burger. Veronica destroying things continues for most of the ad. She says, “this is what your body goes through,” while she hits a basket of fries off the counter. Then she goes on to smash plates, cups, etc. to represent what your family, ‘frenemies,’ and friends go through when you take ‘Jingle Jangle.’ Finally, a single milkshake sits on top of a counter, before Veronica takes a sharp swing at it. This all is a clear depiction of the overall harmful effects of drugs on anyone who may take them. Becoming addicted to drugs destroys your brain and damages your body from the inside out. It’s depicted as almost guaranteed your relationships, with family and friends, will at least be strained if not completely ruined.

The same ideas of the harmful physical effects are shown similarly in both ‘Walk The Line,’ and ‘Your Brain on Jingle Jangle.’ Both texts explain that drugs can take a toll on your health, in similar yet different ways. In the PSA, Veronica uses a more metaphorical way of showing us this as she takes a frying pan to a bowl of fries. Thus, she destroys them the same way drugs do inside of your body. Walk the Line shows us exactly what happens by putting us in a scene with someone who has overdosed by blurring the screen and muddling the audio around Cash.

The Meth Project makes all sorts of PSA’s based on the harmful effects of meth. In the specific 30 second PSA, ‘Parents,’ we see how the boy who is addicted to meth is isolated from his family. He has seemingly been kicked out of his home and is trying to repair this relationship. For example, we’re first shown the boy running through a gate. The shot pans to the mother in the window to the living room, letting herself collapse onto the sofa as she sobs. Their son runs to the front door, screaming that he’s sorry. When the father enters the living, his body language and facial expression tell us he is pissed. As the kid screams for his parents, the father goes to confront him, only to be pulled back by his distraught wife. When he’s ignored, his feigned remorse turns to anger. His screaming only gets louder, his cries now threats. He is literally screaming ‘let me in, I’m going to kill you,’ and trying to kick down the door. In a wide shot of the entire scene, the father pulls away from his wife and turns off the light. We’re left with only the porch light illuminating the son. This is done to show us the disconnect between him and his family. The kid’s left outside during Christmas. The mother is upset, the father is angry. We very clearly see the tension caused by this kid’s addiction to meth. There’s barely any relationship left between them and the parents have resorted to ignoring and shutting out their own son. 

Numerous scene’s throughout Steve Blackman and Jeremy Slater’s Netflix series, ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ show how using drugs to cope with life takes a toll on you and your relationship with those around you. For instance, Klaus Harvgreeves is the ‘druggie’ of his family. He started doing drugs at a mere thirteen to cope with his ability to see the dead. This is because these drugs repress this ability due to developing a harsh relationship with it after being locked in a mausoleum for days on end. Our introduction to Klaus in the first episode, ‘We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals,’ is him leaving rehab before immediately buying drugs. His interaction with the other people in rehab leads us to believe this is not the first time he has done this and that he is constantly in and out of the centre. Later on in the same episode, he rummages through his late father’s office, one that he was not allowed in during his childhood. In this scene, he is looking for something of value, as he knew his father was quite well off. When he is caught by two of his adoptive siblings, we’re shown what their relationship is like. While Allison doesn’t tell him to put anything back, Luther does. We’re given a view of the tension between the two. At his father’s funeral, Klaus is clearly high. He’s smoking during the very, very small ceremony. He both doesn’t care enough to be sober and holds an obvious grudge against his father, as he was the reason Klaus became reliant on drugs. In the episode titled, ‘Man on The Moon,’ we see how harmful his reliance on these drugs really is. In this episode, Klaus has been kidnapped. During this time, Klaus is unable to get high and is sent through horrible withdrawal symptoms. All while unable to help himself, as he is tied down. He screams in anguish, obviously struggling to come down from his high. This scene is one of the first times he’s been properly sober in years and he is in clear pain. Despite this, the only way for Klaus to help himself in this scene is to get sober and face what he’s always feared. Throughout the series, Blackman and Slater show us exactly how Klaus’ reliance on drugs holds him back, puts tension on his relationships with his family, and damages his health all at the same time. 

This lack of family trust and relationship seen in ‘Parents’ is also seen in ‘The Umbrella Academy’ between Klaus Hargreeves, his father, Reginald, and his adoptive brother, Luther. The two are actually very similar in how they represent this familial stress. Both Klaus and the boy are outsiders within their own family. They’re both looked down upon by their parents and neither of them are helping themselves with their drug use. From what we know about the boy in ‘Parents,’ he doesn’t have any siblings. However, his parents treat him like a headache, a distraction. Luther treats Klaus this way too, thinking he’s no more than annoying.

Taking and becoming addicted to drugs and alcohol does not only affect you but those around you too. ‘Walk The Line,’ ‘Parents,’ ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ and ‘Your Brain On Jingle Jangle,’ all showed us as an audience, despite being very different texts, exactly how addiction can affect you physically, mentally, and socially. They each explained that no matter who you are, not a lot of long-term good comes out of substance abuse.

Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion

Pathos, Logos and Ethos are Aristotle's three main forms of appealing work to an audience, also known as Aristotle's Modes of Persuasion. Ethos relates to ethics. It is used when a persuader uses someone's (usually a celebrity) credibility to enforce or convince someone of an idea. For example, when toothpaste companies say "9/10 dentists say this product is the best of it's kind," they're applying the logic of ethos. Pathos is an appeal to one's emotions. It usually entails an ad or any other work creating, or finding, a convincing story that makes the viewer feel guilty or show empathy. For example, a lot of companies like UNICEF advertise young children in poverty in hopes that when you see it, you'll donate to their cause. Logos is using logic to form your argument. Most prominently used are statistics, even if they're made up. For example, if I wanted to convince you to buy my specific mattress, I'd tell you that 75% of other companies sell mattresses that cause back problems. However, the facts used in most arguments using logos are true.

Senior Art Term 3 Week 2

A new term and we're already far too close to the end of the year. My kaupapa is something along of the lines of the hand life dealt. So kind of like looking at the things people get stuck with just by living. This may change as I suck at commitment :)

In the last week or so, I've been working both on drawing from references and things from my mind, as you can see in the following.

 It's upside down :(

This is a piece I did on my own at home. I'm not really sure how to describe it. I would like to redo it at some point as I use my own paints and the proportions of the hand itself which makes it look quite strange. I originally had a different version of the hand which was drawn better but I messed up the painting :(

This is a work in progress that is kinda the basis of my main overall idea. You can't quite tell yet ut it's meant to be the idea of life is a game where a minority has a clear disadvantage. I'm trying to show this as it's like some people are given a deck, ridden with things like prejudice and brutality, that is worse than others. I honestly have forgotten what the other letters stand for.

                                                                     

(Rock hand, hanging hand) These are just some reference practices that I haven't really fully realised yet.  Also one is missing some fingers.

                This one's also upside down :(

(Adam's Creation) So this one is just a finger at the moment but I'm getting there. I had to start again as it didn't work the first time. What I'd like to do is take a hand like God's in Adam's Creation and have a snake biting the pointing finger and kinda like hanging off of it. I guess it's like the kind of backhanded nature of what religion can be.

This one's just a different piece I did but in watercolour and smaller.

This is my current checklist for the 1.2 (we've already achieved the 1.1) and where I think I am. However, I could be horribly wrong :)

More Art, but like, Out Of Isolation P2

This week in art, I've been working on using watercolour paints to create basic shapes. I did this for a couple of days with Jess, using various colours like red, purple, green, blue, and yellow. 

These are a few of my first attempts. I really like some of these. More so than some of my newer attempts. I'm not the est at like shadows 

Here's some more watercolour stuff :p

I also attempted working with charcoal too.
I tried to recreate the black lives matter fist
I did the other week in charcoal but I didn't have
room for the flowers and knife so it's
just a fist with "human" on it.

Currently, America is a mess, which is kind of what my work has been about recently. People are mad, as they should e, so some statues have been destroyed. not going to lie, I found this decapitated Christopher Columbus really funny. So I drew it and actually don't hate how it turned out for once.
Um, anyway, screw that guy. Racists shouldn't get statues.

More Art, but like, Out Of Isolation

As a good start to what I'd like my portfolio to look like, in my own time I created a mixed media piece in support of the black lives matter movement in progress in America at the moment. 

This is it :)

The text you can see is actually a doc of different articles about innocent black victims who died to the hands of police brutality and stereotyping. More accurately victims murdered by people who stood free due to systematic racism. These victims include but are sadly not limited to - 

George Floyd -  was suffocated by a cop kneeling on his neck for over 8 minutes despite a lack of struggle and continuously saying "I can't breathe." He was in the custody of the cop due to being arrested on suspicion of a forged $20 note. The note was later reported to be real.

Trayvon Martin - shot by a neighbourhood watch member while walking home from a convenience store and holding a bag of skittles. He was labelled a 'suspicious individual' and unknowingly had the cops called on him. Despite the warning from 911 operator to not do anything, George Zimmerman shot and killed an innocent 17 year old. Trayvon Martin was 17. Zimmerman had a gun, Martin had skittles.

Breonna Taylor - Stormed in her own apartment and shot 8 times. A police squad entered her house to see if two men had been receiving packages of drugs there. They had a warrant that allowed them to enter without warning and not identify themselves as officers. They say that they only fired shots towards Taylor because her boyfriend shot at and wounded one of their officers (He was charged with the attempted murder of an officer after shooting them in the leg, a wound that would quickly heal. The charges were dropped later.) While aggressive, not a reason to fire at someone who is unarmed, consequently killing her. 

Ahmaud Arbery - He was shot while jogging. That's it. Two white men shot him because he was jogging. It was months before they were arrested.

These are just some of the numerous cases.

To support the movement, please (safely) protest if possible or even just check out some of these articles - 

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/support-the-black-lives-matter-movement

https://crackmagazine.net/article/long-reads/help-black-lives-matter-protests-donate-organisations/

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-you-can-help-black-lives-matter-protesters-if-you-cant-attend-in-person/

https://www.gq.com/gallery/ways-to-support-black-lives-matter

Smexy Paragraphs About Meth (Sexxxy Paragraphs About The Harmful Effects of Drugs)

The harmful effects of drugs are shown within the Meth Project's PSA 'Jessica.' This is seen in the way the visual production has been set up. For instance, while the narrator is talking about Jessica being raped by her meth dealer, the scene is dark, reflecting the negative emotions and events shown and talked about. It slowly transitions to a scene where we're shown a dark, empty hallway. There's are bright light at the end of the hallway, almost representing the 'light at the end of the tunnel' or, more realistically, the hope she can fight her addiction. The hallway is very tight, it makes the viewer feel small. This was done to reflect the idea of being trapped both through her drug dealer and her addiction. The director did this to visually tell us what it's like to have an addiction like this. It makes us feel trapped and numerous other saturated shots, such as an unclean bathroom with a broken mirror, make us feel the discomfort and pain of addiction. This is very similar to how the director uses lighting in the first scene to show us that Jessica is quickly submerging her self in darkness. This is shown through the clip of who we can assume is Jessica cheerleading before we are shown a clip of an empty stadium shutting its light's down in staggered clusters.

Even More English Stuff!

I previously shared the work leading up to my creative writing assessment but I never shared to final work. So... Here it is! There are two stories, both containing the same characters. They're set in a fantasy world, hence the constant mention of magic. Sorry about the awkward formatting. I hope you enjoy!

⋙Story One⋘

I want to scream.

I want to let out the most guttural scream the world has ever heard.

“Get off of me! Let go!” That’s all I can manage. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears. Over the ringing. It’s so fast. It’s too fast. The thud of her body hitting the ground echoes in my head and the rest of the world goes silent.

And silence is far scarier than sound.

⋙⌽⋘

“What are you thinking about?” Footsteps approach my chair from behind. I look up to see a familiar face hanging above me, a smile pulled from ear to ear. Sweet perfume sweeps my senses as the figure moves into view.

“Nothing...” I say. An eyebrow raises. The seat in front of me is no longer vacant. “Everything?”

“I’ll drink to that!”

“Ellie, you’re drinking orange juice out of a coffee mug.” Her hand waves over the mug, the liquid fading into a new brown colour. A pink glow emits from a pendant sitting on her ring finger. “Even if you use illusion magic, it’s still orange juice.”

Her cheeks flush red, now hidden by her comically large cup. Three cacti stare at me as I try to see her face, ‘don’t be a prick’ screaming at me.

“You’re adorable.”

“And you’re an over-thinker, Avery.” She places the cup down, leaning her elbows against the dark wood. Her head rests in her hand, her eyes filled with an admiration I haven’t seen from her since high school. “You think too much.”

“Thank you, Ms Rivera. An over-thinker overthinks. How are you vice-princip-” I’m interrupted by the door slamming open. Ellie’s head snaps over her shoulder, eyes wide in fear and curiosity. “Madelyn?”

She hurls the door shut, falling into it as her chest heaves up and down. “Your students are psychotic! They’re running in circles out there!”

“Says you, you almost burnt down the school in year eleven,” Ellie says, spinning her whole body around. Maddie rolls her eyes, adjusting the lopsided tiara sat amongst golden strands of hair. She’s careful about the way she handles the green and silver embellishments. “You ripped someone in half with a vine in the basement, like, two months later.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t have you two as my principal and vice-principal.” She pulls herself away from the door. Green heels tap against the floorboards, muffling as they reach the carpet. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“So why are you here?” I raise an eyebrow at her. “Why did you barge into my office for the first time in 6 months? Without a phone call first.”

“This.” With nothing else to say, she whacks a piece of paper onto the desk, falling into the empty seat. “It appeared in my office last night. I couldn’t sleep, like I was being watched.”

Ellie picks up the paper, studying it carefully. “No wonder, ‘We see you’? That’s terrifying.”

“Let me see?” My heart sinks. As Ellie said, clear as rain, ‘We see you,’ written in some deep crimson substance. “Is this blood?”

“Looks like it. I-” Maddie’s cut off, everything suddenly happening at once. I’m not sure if it’s the flash of light or the cracking sound that pierces through the air, but we know for certain that this is not going to end well. In unison, we’re drawn to the window.

I’ve seen it all at this point. Murder, magic, much worse. But nothing like this. The once smooth ground, covered in grass, was now uneven. A deep rumbling shakes the floor beneath us. Ellie loses her balance. Luckily, I’m there to catch her.

“What do we do?”

“Come with me. Ellie, get everyone safe. Meet us outside when you’re done.” The three of us race out of the room, each on our own separate missions. I can’t help but feel weighed down. Jeans are not the best armour. Maddie seems to have the same problem. No ballgown is bulletproof.

I’m suddenly aware of everything. My feet hitting the concrete, green fabric swaying around Maddie’s legs as she runs, the wind whistling in my ears. Everything is happening. And then I’m happening.

“What’s the situation?” Ellie runs up behind us in a flash of pink. Anxious, she pulls at her sleeves, allowing them to sit in her palms.

“Whoever they are, they can only control the elements,” Maddie says, scanning the perimeter. Before our eyes, a row of men phase into existence, paired with a spectrum of glowing colours. “...And illusions... Avery, can you still do the thing?”

“I- It’s been a while. Hold on…” It’s almost impossible to tell if time has slowed down or sped up. I raise my hand, palm facing the sky. One deep breath and small sparks appear from the tips of my calloused fingers. The pale green glow from Maddie’s crown is weak, but it’s there.

Concentrate, Avery. Concentrate. And then the flames come, unexpected. All at once rather than sparked into life. I stumble back, but I regain my balance soon after. We know what we need to do. As a collective. A shared nod sends us into battle.

I can’t say I know what happens.

I know it happens all at once.

Fire fights the earth. The land is soon destroyed. I’m in pain, but I have to stand my ground. The world blurs, but I have to keep focused. I’m so far gone, but her voice brings me back.

“Avery! Look, I did it!” Ellie stands over a group of men, a pink glow fading. They’re not moving. Not moving… The sparkle in her eye scares me. The smile on her face fills me with pride.

This is when time slows down. Everything goes quiet. All movement ceases. A scared expression washes over Ellie’s face. I only now hear the gunshot. The ringing. She goes to speak, her bottom lip shaking. Her eyes well with tears. I want to move, but I’m paralysed. I can’t get to her. I can’t help her.

But now, she’s gone.

⋙Story Two⋘

“I’m not the villain of this story, Madelyn. I never will be.” My heart pounds inside my chest. My stomach flips, and my voice rings in my ears. Words are spat like sharp knives, cold, unrelenting. It’s not like what I’m saying isn’t true, but this isn’t who I am. “If you can name one thing that I’ve ever done to wrong you in this life, I’ll retreat. But until then, don’t even try to convince me otherwise.”

“What about when you refused to help us-”

“-kill someone? You’re really trying to tell me that refusing to commit murder is a bad thing?” Her face scrunches, knowing that I’m right. I clench my fists, sharp nails digging into the palms of my hands.

“No! Ellie, you’re not listening to me,” she states plainly. It’s funny how matter-of-fact she is when it helps her. She stops becoming defensive. She stops deflecting. It’s all about her.

“Because you never listened! You never listened to any of us. Ever.” I swallow my pride, my tongue sitting alien in my mouth. “I’m done being your moral compass. I’m done being that secondary character. I’m done being your only voice of reason. This is my story now. And I’m the hero.”

“Ellie-”

I look her up and down, my eyebrows furrowing with contempt. The setting sun gleams through the classroom windows, setting her silhouette in black. She’s always held herself above others, her morals are so horribly grey. I never know what to think of her. “So far, it seems as though you are my antagonist.”

“You want a villain? I’ll show you a damn villain.” Something burns in her eyes, her face red. A green glow emits from the crown atop her head. Sparks dance around her fingertips, crawling up her arm in synchronized spirals. Avid eyes follow the flames as a smirk painted in the corner of her lips. Unable to think clearly, I stutter and stumble over my words. I’m forced to slink back as she grazes past my shoulder, navigating the desks. It’s impossible not to know that her flames burn at a thousand degrees.

“Maddie-!” As the door slams in my face, I rethink my words. Was I too harsh? No. I don’t think so. Over the nine years I’ve known her, I’m surprised I’ve survived this long. She throws her friends away after she’s finished using them. She’s impulsive, never thinking things through. She’s literally murdered two people out of spite and anger, for Heaven’s sake. After I, of all people, tried to convince her otherwise. Did she listen? No. Of course not. It’s Madelyn Ross.

She doesn’t need to listen.

⋙⌽⋘

“Ellie, what’s wrong with Madelyn this time?” I haven’t moved in what feels like hours. I can’t stop staring at the crescent cuts in my skin. Avery’s voice feels distant, on another plane of existence. “She’s covered in fire and I really don’t want to fill out any more paperwork today.”

“We got into another fight.” She picks up my hands, taking my line of sight with them. Her eyes are soft as she grazes her thumbs over my palms.

“We need to get you a stress ball.” She sighs, giving me a gentle smile. “But, if we don’t stop Madelyn, she’ll burn down the school. You managed to stop her the first time, so get out there and please don’t let her murder anyone else.”

She practically pushes me out of the door. Sorry, literally. She literally pushes me out the door. I stumble into the hall, left to fend for myself. The halls suddenly feel small, unfamiliar. It’s hard to tell if my feet are moving or if it’s just the walls around me.

I somehow find my way to the courtyard, cautious of tripping myself up on the uneven cobble. My heel almost gets caught in the small cracks as I notice Maddie standing upon a small hill. She stares at the cherry blossom tree a few feet in front of her. Her figure is illuminated by coils of fire, wrapped around her skin from her legs to her throat. They hide under the minimal cloth she dons. I’ve never seen her like this.

Green suede boots reach her thighs, burnt at the top. Her once floor-length dress is now scorched almost inappropriately high on her legs. The ends are brown and charred, creating a new harsh edge. Did she burn the edges? On purpose?

“Maddie, what are you doing?” She turns, a hollow darkness in her eyes. A sinister smirk pulls at her lips. Even after the horrors we’ve seen, I’ve never seen her so… cold. I mean, she’s been distant, but never resentful.

“I told you. You wanted a villain. So here I am.”

“No, I called you an antagonist. Something or someone that opposes a protagonist’s goals. Though I could never be a protagonist, I’ve always just wanted harmony. Associating with you is the exact opposite of that.” The fire circling her body begins to slow. “But we still love you, Mads. Even if you are a little mad…”

We both laugh, the soft glow of flame fading before my eyes. Something warms behind her eyes as she approaches me, stumbling over herself. It reminds me of high school. Together, we’d laugh over the stupidest stuff.

“We met here.” I stare at the tree. Pale petals that fall around us line the base of the hill. It’s very serene. “Can’t believe you even thought of burning it down.”

“Hey, that’s not true. I was imagining what it would look like if I did happen to burn it to the ground.” With a blink of an eye and a small pink glow, the tree goes up in flames. You could almost hear the cracking. Embers fly. Smoke rises in columns, clouding the blue sky. We bask in the amber hues. All at once, it disappears. Maddie turns to me, craze colouring her eyes. She looks hopeful. “Magic?”

“You’ve always underestimated me, Madelyn Ross.”

Hey! More English Stuff!

Hello from week two(?) of self-isolation! It's come to my attention that I've missed some work on my blog, especially from my English class. So... Yeah, here's some more stuff I've been doing!

First up, group work. I worked with Jess because she's cool. We haven't finished everything yet, so sorry :) 

And now some individual work. This is a step towards what creates my final essay.

And finally, this is my essay so far. You can find the film that it's on--Let It Be--in the slide show above.

Death and losing someone close to you is something many people struggle to come to terms with. Everyone deals with grief in different ways, and those who stand beside someone with a terminal illness tend to grieve before their loss. Bertie Gilbert’s ‘Let It Be’—cleverly named after the 1968 song by The Beatles—follows these ideas in a less than obvious way. Though up to interpretation, Gilbert uses motifs, camera shots, blocking, and visual contrast to show his ideas.

Camera shots are important in all films, but ‘Let It Be’ uses its shots to delve deeper into the characters and their relationships between each other. For instance, in our opening scene, we get an insert shot of Savannah Brown’s character, ‘Death.’ It’s a closeup shot, right after a shot of the ground where only dialogue and music is heard, framed so we can only see the look of focused hesitation in her expression and the blurred blob that is in the background. The shot doesn’t linger for too long, cutting to a closeup insert shot of the gun held in her hand. We do not get to see what the gun is pointed at until after these shots, almost making the first shot a point of shot too. When we are given a long shot of Death, we see the gun is pointed towards a black dog that stares up at her in blissful ignorance. She maintains the hesitance on her face throughout the shots. This helps us understand Death doesn’t like what she does, it’s given to us an introduction to her character as the manifestation of the Grim Reaper. In the same scene, we’re given another example of this. Throughout our introduction of Death, we can hear Dodie Clark’s character, ‘Martha,’ before we see her. While we’re shown the shots of the ground and Death’s face, Martha and Bertie Gilbert’s character, ‘Carl,’ are talking about something like “everyone prefers their later stuff.” When we’re shown Death’s reaction to the two’s arrival in a medium shot, we hear Martha say “excuse me” before she moves closer, resulting in an over the shoulder shot. This OTS immediately connects the two characters. Gilbert did this to show us as an audience that there is some kind of relationship or correlation between Martha and Death. This working with a visual contrast between the two characters, little visual connection between Carl and Death, and that it’s later revealed Martha herself is dying due to cancer, solidifies the idea that in the film Death is Martha’s idea of death. Death appeared to kill Martha but couldn’t bring herself to do it. She instead goes to kill their dog, ‘Ringo,’ in Martha’s position. In the beginning, Martha is almost in denial surrounding the idea of Death yet is more willing to go along with it than Carl is. Martha dresses Death up as a skeleton and seems to have more of a connection with her than anyone else; running to her when uncomfortable at the Halloween party. Over-the-shoulder shots are used similarly in the HBO series ‘Westworld’. They use the OTS shot alongside single shots to connect and disconnect Theresa and Dr Robert Ford during their meeting over lunch. This shows that their relationship is important to the story.

The Beatles are brought up religiously throughout the film, each mention having its own form of symbolism. So much so, it becomes a verbal motif. And on that note, motifs used in ‘Let It Be’ help create a deeper meaning within the short film. As previously mentioned, The Beatles are a very specific motif used a lot. For example, Ringo is the reason Martha isn’t killed in the beginning. Death doesn’t want to take Martha’s life and instead tries to take Ringo’s. And Ringo shows up at the end again, he’s there for Martha when she’s talking about accepting that death is a part of life. Right before we find out Ringo is there, Carl implies he wishes for Ringo to die first. It’s not as obvious, but this is a double meaning. He could mean he wants Ringo Starr, drummer for the Beatles, to die first out of the two remaining ex-members or that he’s rather Ringo, the dog, to die before Martha does. In a later scene, Martha mentions she likes to think they, The Beatles, never really broke up. In the scene beforehand, we find out Martha and Carl broke up. We, and Carl, don’t know why this is. Because of this line, it seems like Martha didn’t actually want to break up with Carl. Despite this hesitance, when asked to give him clarity, she says, “I just don’t feel that way about you anymore.” The last example is when Carl talks about liking their later stuff. This is because it’s more complex, more complete. We also find out Martha prefers their older stuff. Martha later explains to Death, who is in a bathtub, it’s because she likes the young, fun, unrestricted feel of their earlier stuff. It’s free from jade and politics, unlike their later songs. This tells us a lot about each of their personalities. Carl is more uptight, strict, he’s logical. Martha goes with the flow, she’s simple and has fun. The director has to have done this on purpose. It’s a simple yet effective way of showing a character through their likes. Their outfits in these scenes only help solidify the ideas we’re given about them. When paired with the way they dress, it gives the viewers a good idea of what characters we are watching. Martha wears dungarees, 80s-esque clothing. Her closet is full of bright blues, reds, and yellows. Carl’s clothing consists of band tees and jeans. He wears beige, black, white, and grey. He was even Steve Jobs for Halloween. This reminds me of the motifs used in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, with Romeo constantly comparing Juliet to light. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ has a lot of themes of the light vs the dark, so this gives us insight within the characters. It deepens the relationship in the audience’s eyes.

The blocking throughout the film is constantly—and excellently—used to play to our emotions. For example, while Carl and Martha are talking before the Halloween party, Death is playing operation. This alone is foreshadowing for Martha’s death, but it tells us something about Death, without actually saying it. Both scenes use blocking purposefully. Either to make us feel trapped and too big for a conversation, or alone and small in an almost empty room. We first see Carl and Martha together. They are both in a small, dark hallway. It’s back-lit and confined, and the audience feels trapped in the square-like scene we’re watching. It traps us in the conversation the same way the characters feel as though they are. We then see blocking used again in a similar way but for a different effect, Death is on the couch playing operation. We get a few insert shots of her playing, but then she gives up. The camera pulls out, and she’s framed to look small. There is a lot of space around her. Space that isn’t that important when we compare it to Death, one of the main characters. Death feels small in this, she’s frustrated and it’s possible she feels like a failure because it’s impossible for her to play Operation. She doesn’t say this, but we can see how the room looks big in comparison. The director wants us to know that in this scene, Death feels, or just plain is, inferior. When these two scenes are connected and combined with eerie sound effects, it really amplifies the sense of isolation we see. We’re feeling alongside these people. Not only that, but it also strengthens and deepens the relationship between the three characters. They all feel alone in one way or another. This is a lot like an earlier scene. Death is on the same couch, but it’s the first time she’s been in this house. The scene starts with a mid-close-up shot and cuts to a full shot seconds after. The camera isn’t as drawn-out though, it’s possible she feels less isolated at this point, that something about Carl and Martha’s arguing, or the fact she sucks at operation, is threatening to her.

I previously spoke of costumes and contrast, Gilbert uses different aspects, such as colour and art direction, to show a visual contrast. For example, the main characters’ costumes. Costumes are a part of the art direction of a movie. Before, I said how we see Carl and Martha’s appearance. Martha wears overalls and bright colours. In the film itself, we see her wearing a green shirt under brown dungarees with a very colourful jacket, designed like the seat covers on public buses. On the other hand, we see Carl wearing a beige, brown jacket over a dark blue ‘bite me’ shirt. They have two completely different styles, one bright and the other monochrome. At the Halloween party, Martha is a dog, something we can see at face value. Carl goes as Steve Jobs, something that requires a little more thought. We clearly notice the huge difference here. This shows that while, yes, opposites attracted, it’s clear that something about the two doesn’t click right, at least as partners. They seem to do all right as friends, but they disagree a lot throughout the story. Their thought processes and their personalities seem to clash so much, but they obviously love each other despite it. Further than this, Carl almost resents Death. Death is this whole other thing. She wears huge eyeliner, black on black, and faux fur. She is very different when compared to Carl and Martha, both in the way they dress and how they act. The director wanted these costumes and the way they conflict with each other to show a visual way of how their personalities both clash and work together. When combined with a visual contrast between scenes, that of which brightness is used to set a mood of a scene (light when something good or happy is happening, darker when the feel of the scene is more mellow), it makes the film work well. This can be contrasted to later in the film when the costumes work together to have the opposite effect. Jack Howard’s character, ‘Mitch’, is dressed in a very similar way to Death, with his skeleton face paint and black trench coat. We see Death connect with him in their conversation early in the party scenes.

‘Let It Be’ uses a multitude of film aspects to create a fuller sense of depth to its short duration. We can see excellent uses of visual contrast, motifs and symbolism, camera shots, and blocking. I believe the strongest film aspect is the camera shots because we can tell so much about relationships and what’s important out of so little. He did this by combining camera shots with blocking, dialogue, and music. This film watches Bertie Gilbert beautifully challenge the stigma of Death.

Lit Crit Lit (I haven't been outside in days, help me)

This is the trailer for the text I am talking about :)

Who is real in the text?
I believe everyone but Death is real. Death is symbolism for everyone's idea of death itself because, yeah, she is the 'person' who goes around killing people. Obviously, everyone else is probably real because there's nothing to suggest otherwise. It's strange though, while it seems like she'd be real because she interacts with other characters. But the thing is, everyone has their own experiences with death. Real death, not Death. Everyone experiences something with death. Death is there, she stays around, to allow Martha and Carl to accept what life is and what it is when it's not.

What genre does this text belong to?

Let It Be is a drama and obviously a short film. The definition of a short film is a film that isn't long enough to create a feature-length film. This is usually under 40 minutes of screen time. Our film today is 17 minutes. As for the drama thing, a drama is a serious telling of a story that sees the characters face a conflict. The conflict on the surface is dealing with Death, the character, while underneath it's Martha's struggle confronting the fact she is dying.

Why has the author constructed the characters this way?

I think they have been created the way they were to suggest a major contrast between the characters in a way that subtlely answer some important underlying questions. I see this contrast mostly in the costuming between Death, Carl, and Martha. Martha's closet is very colourful. She wears dungarees and 80s-esque jackets. This is very different from Carl, who wears turtlenecks, band shirts, and beige. And Death only seems to wear black, black hair, black clothes, black makeup. Three very different people. It makes their relationships that much more important. It explains why Carl and Martha broke up, why they constantly disagree, why Martha didn't tell Carl that she was dying. She doesn't like to live in the past and takes what comes, she didn't know how he'd feel so she just ended the relationship.

What does the author of this text want us to know?

That it's okay to accept death as what it is. At the end of the film, Martha and Carl find themselves accepting Death and accepting death. They do this in two different ways. Carl, who previously mocked Death for saying she kills everyone, comes to realise she wasn't being ironic. Or at least comes across this way when he freaks out about the fact she's gotta kill the next Beatle soon. He really wants Ringo to die. Martha's acceptance is a little more... black and white. She has a whole monologue at the end talking about death being something we should expect. She mentions that life would be very different if we didn't have an end. What's the point of doing something today when you know, you are absolutely certain, you can do it tomorrow? Martha knows and is alright with this.