Category: Writing

In the film ‘Boy’ directed by Taika Waititi, camera shots, flashbacks and music were used to show the importance of a role model. Waititi Specifically used these three cinematography techniques throughout the bridge scene to give us as the viewers a better and more in depth understanding about how Boy is feeling.

Taika Waititi successfully used camera shots throughout the bridge scene. Waititi used many camera shots for a purpose, to show the viewers how Boy was feeling. Close up and extreme close ups were focused on Boys eyes. The close ups on Boys eyes showed he was sad and that he felt like he was at a breaking point in life. His emotional needs were not met as no one was there to comfort him and support him when he’s upset . Wide shots were used to show the setting of where Boy grew up. Boy didn’t see the truth of his father at the start. However, he finally realsies. This is shown through close ups on his eyes. Close ups were mixed between flashbacks, showing what Boy is thinking.

Flashbacks were a key part in the bridge scene. They showed us how Shogun was absent throughout Boy and Rocky’s lives. At the start of the film the flashbacks showed shogun, Boys Nan, Rocky and His mother’s body dead on the bed from childbirth and Boy peeking around the corner. He was picturing his father being there. Other flashbacks showed Boys father and his mother who was pregnant with Rocky and Boy sitting in a big pohutukawa tree at the beach. He pictured them being happy. Boy thought of his father as a role model and would try and be like his father. The bridge scene had three flashbacks, one of rocky’s birth and Boys father not there for his sons arrival or his partners death. Another flashback showed Boys mum crying pregnant with Rocky while boy holds his mother’s stomach. Boys father was not present. The bridge scene is important because it shows Boys realisation to not having a father figure to grow up with. Boy suffered from emotional and physical child neglect as his Mum died and his father chose to live his own life without Boy, then come back when he needed something which wasn’t his family. Boy wanted to be just like his father, he thought of his Dad as a role model when he came back. Over time he realised who his father really was and did not want to be anything like him.

Music is another key part in the film. Amazing grace played throughout the bridge scene, it is a very popular Hymn. Taika Waititi added this song in as the lyrics mean a lot. “I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” These lyrics tell us that Boy is at a low point in life. The song shows Boys realisation and that he is trying to seek guidance from his Mother and God. The music was slowed downed and made to have an echoing sound to show that Boy felt so sad and lost.

In conclusion Boy looked up to his father, he thought of him as a role model. Boy has been so used to learning to fend for himself and not have anyone else being there for him. Camera shots, flashbacks and music were used to show the importance of a role model. Taika Waititi used different cinematography techniques to show how Boy was feeling and showed that his emotional needs were not met as Shogun didn’t really act like a father. Overall Boy realised that he did not want to be like Shogun as he didn’t really care about anyone but himself. This shows shows how significant the bridge scene is. In my perspective Boy wanted to have a father figure in his life, to not feel like a child and to feel like he finally has someone who will comfort him and cheer him up when he’s sad.

The boy in striped pajamas

Written by:John Boyne

Text type: Book

Read by: last year

Brief plot overview

During world war 2, 8 year old Bruno and his family move from Berlin To live near a concentration camp where his father has just become commandant. Bruno is told by his parents to not go through the gate that leads to the back of the house. Bruno decides that he wants to explore what’s behind the gate as he has become very lonely and bored. He wonders through the woods and stumbles upon an electric barb wire fence. He notices that everyone behind the fence is wearing striped pajamas. Bruno meets a jewish boy around the same age called Shmuel on the other side of the fence and goes back there whenever he can and feeds him food. They grow a forbidden friendship, Unmindful of the nature of their surroundings.

Character I found interesting and why?

I found Bruno the most interesting character as he is very adventurous and brave. Bruno has to make lots of discussions throughout the story. He didn’t want to move and leave his friends behind. When they moved he went on adventures to find something to do as he was very bored and lonely as his big sister had better things to do then hangout with Bruno. When Bruno meets Shmuel he finally feels like he’s made a friend, but doesnt know why he’s behind a fence and not allowed out. Throughout the book Shmuel explains to Bruno that his Grandfather is missing, Knowing Bruno’s personality he was worried and wanted to help as much as he could. 

Message you got from the text

A message that I got from the text is that Children and adults alike should know the horrors of the holocaust, and never forget. The holocaust was a horrible time. Bruno wanted to be friends with Shmuel, He thought that Shmuel was a normal boy and he was. It was just the fact that he was behind a fence at the start of the book. Throughout the book it shows how committed Bruno is to their friendship. Anyone should be able to be friends with anyone but Bruno was told by his family to not be friends with children behind “the fence.” He didn’t have much knowledge behind why not. He started getting lessons with his sister to learn more about the holocaust. Bruno kept meeting up with Shmuel, everyday he smelt the horrid smell from the chimneys in the concentration camp. The message that this book gives is very important.

Challenges that characters had to deal with and my response to these

Bruno had lots of challenges, The most important one was making the decision to help Shmuel find his Grandfather. This was important as he didnt know the risks of going into the camp. He had to pick to either help his friend as he could see how worried Shmuel was or to let Shmuel look at himself. Bruno decided to help, they organised to get a pair of pajamas and look together throughout the camp. This did not end well. Bruno and Shmuel get caught up in a large group of people and are made to “take a shower” and “undress.” At the very end of the book Bruno and Shmuel die in the gas chambers. If Bruno didn’t go into the camp to help Shmuel then Bruno wouldn’t have died but Bruno was being a kind friend and wanted to help which was very brave of him. Bruno’s Mother and Father both faced many challenges. They argued a lot about where they lived and the smells they has to smell everyday. They knew that their children would start asking questions about what the smell was as they didn’t yet know. Another challenge was trying to keep Bruno entertained. Bruno’s Mother saw Bruno go through the gate near the start of the book and told Bruno that he “cannot go behind the gate to play.” She tried to keep him away from finding the concentration camp.

Who would you recommend this to and why?

I would recommend this book to 14+ as it is very emotional and may be disturbing to some viewers. The book goes into a lot of detail and tells the reader every bit of detail that is going on. It makes you really feel for the people that were sent to concentration camps.

‘The Kissing Booth’

Directed by: Vince Marcello 

Text type: Film 

Date read/watched: term 1

Brief plot overview

The kissing booth is an American teen romance film. A young teenager, Elle, and her best friend Lee open a kissing booth at the spring carnival. Elle and Lee were born at the same time at the same hospital and grew up together, they have a bond like brothers and sisters. Elle has always had her eye on Lee’s big brother Noah. She always thought that Noah saw her as his brother’s annoying best friend. When the night begins at the carnival the kissing booth brightens up. Noah lines up at the kissing booth to find that Elle is the blindfolded person. Elle and Lee made a rule when they were little to never do anything with any of their relatives. Elle and Noah end up kissing at the booth, From there, their relationship exalirates. Lee finds out and cant trust Elle anymore. 

Character I found interesting and why?

A character that I found interesting was Elle. I found her interesting because of all the situations she was put in and how she handled them. Her relationship with Lee was so strong until Noah was put into her life, She loved both Lee and Noah and didn’t want to have to pick between them. She didn’t want to lose her friendship but also didn’t want to ruin the relationship that she had with Noah. She lost her mum when she was little. Elle is a very wise mature lady. Lots of boys found her attractive. The way that Elle dealt with every situation showed me how mature she was and what she wanted her reputation to be.

Message you got from the text?

A message that I got from the text was to be confident. Confidence is key. She stood up for herself and from the help of the others that cared about her. No matter what’s going on around you just learn to ignore it or resolve the issue. As best friends you want to stay loyal and be a good friend and follow the rules you set for one another but you should also do what makes you happy and have them support you. This was the main message that I got from the movie. Rule number 18 was to “always be happy for your besties successes.” This rule made them remember that if one is happy the other is happy too. 

Challenges that characters had to deal with and my response to these:

Elle getting with Noah would have been one of the biggest challenges as she didn’t want to ruin her friendship that she had with Lee. Growing up they made rules and one of them was “relatives of your best friend are off-limits.” This rule broke. In my opinion I could tell how much Elle cared about Lee but she was also really happy with Noah. When Elle broke the rule that Lee and herself set, lots of challenges came up. She didn’t want to lose Lee because he was a good friend and was always there for her whenever she needed him. The love that she has for Noah was so strong.

Who would you recommend this to and why?

I would recommend this film to anyone that enjoys watching teen romances as it has a lot of scenes where Noah and Elle are alone together and I would recommend it to people 13+. Both genders would find this film interesting as it has lots of different things throughout it. The film is very entertaining and for me I didnt seem to get bored watching it, I watched it a couple times as I found it very interesting. I liked to predict what was going to happen next.

Write your response to the film using the following points:

1. Write a brief plot overview.
2. Discuss a character that you found interesting and describe why they stood out to you.
3. Write about a scene that stood out to you. Why was it of interest.
4. What message do you think the director, Taika waititi was conveying in the text. use an example to support your explanation.
5. Write about a cinematography technique that was of interest to you. Why was it effective/surprising/ distracting…
6. give your reflections on the setting. Why do you think it was set in Waihau Bay, in 1984? write about how the director showcases the setting.

Boy is an 11 year old boy who lives in the countryside with his Gran. Boys Gran goes away for a week, while she is gone boys father, Alamein shows up after not seeing him for many years. He is back to find a bag full of thousands of dollars and tells boy and Rocky (boys younger brother) that once they find the money that they will move to the city. Boy is cared for by his Gran as his mother dies afew years ago during childbirth. Rocky blames himself for the death of his mother because he thinks that he has magical powers. Boy is a big fan of michael jackson. While Gran is away attending a funeral in Wellington she leaves Boy incharge. Boy invites Alamein to stay at their home in the garage. Boy likes to think that he is much like his father. Throughout the film boy sees that his dad does drugs and gets into a lot of trouble.

‘IT’

Directed by: Andrés Muschietti

Text type: Film 

Date read/watched: Term 1

Brief plot overview 

The movie ‘IT’ is a Thriller, Seven children from Derry, Maine, face their worst nightmares. An evil shape shifting clown comes back from the sewers every 27 years to feed on children. Every summer ‘IT’ (the clown) turns up and takes the lives of young children, Missing signs get put up around the town as children disappear. Bill (the main character) is determined to find his younger brother who was taken by IT and dragged into the sewers. Adults don’t see the clown only the children do.They figure out where IT is living and follow him down a well. The group of seven friends come together to face all their worst nightmares to take down the bloodthirsty clown known as pennywise. 

Character I found interesting and why?

A character that I found interesting was Bill. I found that he was very brave, Kind and relentless, his determination to find his brother and stop pennywise showed how much he cared, not only about himself but the others around him. Throughout the movie Bill gained more and more power over each situation. He was a friend, group leader and encourager and never wanted anyone to see that sometimes things were scary for him, he just put on his brave face to make his friends feel more secure.

I found Bill to be the most interesting character because he never gave up. Bill had a stutter which made things frustrating for him to be able to explain things he thought of saying in his head. Kids at school made fun of him for his stutter. The reason why I thought that he was strong was because he led the whole group to become more powerful, they didn’t really have any option but to trust Bill that his plans would work.

Message you got from the text

A message that I got from the text was that you shouldnt be scared to face your fears. This message was shown throughout the whole film, Bill never gave up to save his town and friends being potentially hurt or killed. Whenever IT the clown showed up he was there to trick the kids and scare the living hell out of them, I picked up that children that were scared of IT were the ones who got slaughtered. Facing your fears was the only thing that could stop IT. IT could shapeshift and turn into any child’s worst nightmare. Defeating him could never happen if you were scared, the only person that could take IT down was one person, you.

Challenges that characters had to deal with and my response to these:

Finding other children’s bodies floating, A tornado looking swirl full of dead children IT had killed. Pennywise said to Beverly “you’ll float too”. When he said this he meant that she would die too. Bullies was another big challenge for the group of friends. Bill got picked on for his stutter, Beverly was harassed by a group of girls for apparently being a slut. The others were tormented for being nerds and super smart. Of course the main one being facing your fears. In my opinion, I think that they dealt with their challenges a very mature way.  Keeping everyone they cared for safe was a challenge that only the children had to deal with on their own because adults couldn’t see what they saw, This made their problems much harder as everyone thought that they were lying about the things that they were seeing.

Who would you recommend this to and why?

I would recommend this film to people who aren’t afraid of jump scares or scary features throughout movies. The movie IT is rated ‘    +’ so I would probably recommend it to this age group as there are scenes with bad language and self harm etc… I found that this movie was very interesting as you, yourself, have to work out what’s happening in some parts. I’m not a fan of horror films but watching this one a couple of times made the movie more funny and the more I understood it each time I watched.

Smile Amber, Smile. As a child this is the facial expression every child should have on there face. A large sweet looking grin with very crooked teeth that are too big for my mouth waits to be up next for a photo. Pictures getting taken as a whole family for memories when we are older. After each picture is taken, the light from each shutter blinds everyone’s eyes as as they imagine what dinner will look like. Condensation fills the house windows as people breathed and laughs . Everyone is so comfortable around one and other, sharing stories of what we have all been up to recently. Christmas is a time where we can all bond and share special moments that we will all remember forever. Lovely smells fill the family home as the turkey cooks away in our old oven we have had for however long Mum can remember. As the night drags on, the wood in the fire burns away, leaving a not so nice smell to linger through the lounge. Presents, ahh. Where to start. This is most peoples favorite part of christmas, Knowing they behaved enough to get onto Santa’s good list. Toys all over the ground forcing everyone to cut a maze through it. A small old house where we grew up, running around, arguing over who goes in mum or dads car to town, and lots of laughing.

Time flies by quickly. Life changes rapidly like a flash of lighting on one day then a bright sunny day the next. You can never predict what’s going to happen. The feelings that a human can experience can sometimes affect the ways of how you live.

Cold air breezes through the house with a sad feeling drowning the room. Different family events, no more filming. Members added to the family overime. A small puppy like sob coming from the crib in the corner of the room creating the feeling of being exhausted and stressed. Stepping out of bed to help the small human who is still learning about life seems like a mission, pulling back the blankets at 1am with weak tired arms is draining. The soft light feathery sheets now feel like being underwater in a huge current, trying to keep you under. As the thought of being able to create and grow your own human being once again after the other children have all grown up to be successful or not is a loving feeling. The feeling of still having people around you and not being lonely once everyone else leaves home. The family home is still full of love and a wonderful warm feeling where everyone can feel comfortable. the difference between the people you loved and people you thought you loved can be upsetting. But knowing that you can have another chance and to start fresh is fine. weather its having a new husband with a new child or your ex husband and the children you had with him there will always be memories and good things to hold with you in life. The heartwarming feeling a mother has towards a child brings you together.

Mid angle

Close up

Over the shoulder

Low shot, high angle

High shot, mid angle

Extreme close up

Zoom

Reverse zoom

Tracking shot/dolly shot

Low angle

Music- it gives us a feeling that it’s a sad moment or exciting moment

In the opening scene the music shows the excitement and enthusiasm he has towards the event he is envolved with, it shows his passion.

Melted, hot, bubbly chocolate bouncing into the sides of our gummy bear boat, Passing all the doors, Following the sweet smell at the end of the long but thin tunnel. Music with hyped emotions drag you down the chocolatey stream, Songs echoing on the hard cold walls. We stumble upon a door, The gummy bear boat swerves around, Onto the wooden platform we step. Beneath the door is a note, I pull it out with my fiery hot fingers from the hot chocolate splashing on them. Above the letter it says ‘those who come in, may not come out. The smell through the doors pushes pressure onto my chest, Like the smell is so strong and is about to burst out. I pull open the heavy door, leading you in behind me, The sweet smell wafts into my face. I gaze around, The room is hardly visible, Steam everywhere, Fogging up my glasses. Above our heads is a fan, I switch it on, The steam slowly floats away, Making room for my bright eyes to see.

Steam pudding, Hot and boiling. Rolling hot smells whispering around the both of us. The taste of this magnificent food has never been in my mouth, I stumble over and shove my hands into it , Ouch, It burns but the smell is making me so hungry that I have to keep going. I bring the hot steamy delicious looking pudding upto my mouth and take a small bite. The sensation in my moist mouth is so unbelievable, How have I never tasted this! I slowly tilt my head up and tie back my long locks. Sweet food absolutely everywhere, I look as far as my Big eyes can see, miles and miles and miles of sweets, Where to start? Little footsteps chatter behind me, I turn around and see a row of oompa loompas in a perfectly straight line jumping into a bowl of lemonade, Lovely pointed toes and on point swimming. The lights dim and the show begins as they do their wonderful work in the bowl. Each arm that moves pushes a delightful smell into my face, warm, cozy, soft feelings fill the room.

The show comes to an end, We stumble upon a track of skittles, Pudding flavoured, You read the sign out loud where the track begins, Cheesecake village or the ice pole, We take the left path, beyond this path is going to be the best thing in the world, You can eat everything, Even the roofs of buildings, As we walk along our eyes drift to either side of the path, The views were just amazing, A chocolate explosion was physically exploding like a volcano would, On the other side was a big tree made out of mint leaves and hardened caramel. As we looked above ourselves, The sky was just magnificent, full of colour and popping out like a student would if they weren’t wearing school uniform. We come across cheesecake village with little peppermint people. The ground is so sticky like a trap, You just have to push your way through it. Streams of cream flow past leaving a bland smell on the tip of ours noses. The time is coming to an end in this room, Through the village we go and to the end of the path is another door that must lead us out back to the hot chocolate river, We open the large candy, colourful door and step onto the gummy bear boat and heading off to another adventure.

Beneath one book is another, On top of a chair is a girl reading a book with a light shinning above her, following the words her eyes flick over. On the ground books are piling up, making such a mess. Before her eyes is a new part in the book, leading her to picture what is happening.

Romeo and juliet is a tragedy written by William shakespeare earlier in his career about two star crossed lovers whose death ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among shakespeare’s most popular plays during his lifetime, It is one of the most frequently performed plays. In the play, the key idea of fate is explored. Shakespeare’s communicates to us that throughout the play fate controls a lot of what Romeo does.

Romeos dreams are controlled by fate. In the play it says “He that hath the steerage of my course direct my sail” Which means that fate controls what he does and he just follows it. Romeo for example is a ship and he can’t control it there is someone else steering him into different directions, He has someone watching over him making decisions for him. He also said “I am no pilot, yet wert thou as four as that vast shore wash’d with the farthest sea, I should adventure for such merchandise.” When he says he is no pilot, he again, states that he isn’t the one that gets to choose what to do. A pilot is the one that steers the boat/ship. Romeo acknowledges he’s not in control but he would travel any distance, go to any length to get her love. ” From forth the fatal lions of these to foes. A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” The play tells us in its opening lines that Romeo and Juliet will die, and that their tragic end is fated.

The prologue tells us a brief summary about the play, It reveals the ending to us, so we know what is happening throughout the whole play, we all knew that Romeo and Juliet were going to both die. The point of a prologue is to give the reader extra information and advances the plot. The prologue tells us where the scene is set, It also tells us a bit of information about their backgrounds and families. The details in the prologue are mainly only the most important things that happen throughout the play. Before Romeo goes to the ball at capulets, when he falls in love and meets Juliet, He says about the funny feeling like something’s “hanging in the stars” so something was destined to happen because of them falling in love. ” Doth with their death bury their parents strife” Is explaining that the lovers die and get buried, the conflict between their families die as well and is buried along with Romeo and Juliet.

Throughout the play Romeo has these