'JESUS CAMP':- A BRIEF ANALYSIS.

I was given this documentary to watch by my teacher. Directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachael Grady, 'Jesus Camp' is a documentary film about Christian summer camp in North Dakota(America) where evangelical children go to fulfil their "prophetic fate". They are led by a charismatic teacher,Becky Fischer who trains them to be God's soldiers. In the documentary, some children are home schooled because their parents believe in teaching them the bilble as they perceive the idea that the Bible teaches everything there is to know about the world hence their children do not need to attend schools to be educated . The film represents children as the foundation for evil, therefore at a tender age they must be taught to dispel the evil within, to be pure and also to preach and live the word of God in order to prevent a dark future with their evil deeds. The documentary also reveals means by which American politics uses christianity to gain votes by using the advisor to the then President as a preacher. The film was met with controversy on the aspect of preventing children from going to schools which then led to the closeure of the camp.

PRODUCTION DIARY WEEK 2:- AN IDEA

After  watching the debate scene from the Kurbaan film at the start of the week, I have been inspired to do a classroom conversation film too. The plot that this clip has inspired me for my short film is a girl who stands up to her classmates to lecture them about her religion after been constantly bullied because she wears the hijab. However, as I will be carrying out more research tasks into religion based films in the coming weeks, this plot might develop or completely change. This past week I watched the films 'Kurbaan' and ' My Name is Khan' which are both written by Karan Johar and are both based on global terrorism and Islamic misconcemptions. In the coming weeks, I will be researching on and watching more films which are relevant to the topic area I chose.

MORE FILM INSPIRATION

After doing some research, I came across this clip titled 'The classroom debate scene' from the Bollywood crime drama Kurbaan(directed by Rensil D'Silva, written by Karan Johar and Rensil D'Silva). The film's main theme is global terrorism which is similar to 'My Name is Khan'(directed by Karan Sohar) and also reveals the perspective of the Americans that Muslims are responsible for most terrorism issues. In this scene, we see the common ideology of Americans on the association of Muslims and terrorism and we also see the response of a Muslim to these negative stereotypes. I found this scene inspiring because in under three minutes, the Director tackles the ideology that Islam encourages terrorism by using an opening scene which states facts from the Qur'an. The opening message grasps the attention of the target audience because it is not an opinion but a fact. Throughout the conversation between the students in the scene, facts were stated but not opinions. This also inspired me because i want to produce a film which uses appropriate facts derived from reliable sources and not just mere opinions.

As I have to bear in mind that I have no budget for the production of my short film, I must consider using few actors and techniques that will require no budget. Taking that into consideration, this scene from the film kurbaan has truly been an inspiration because in little time, in one location and using few actors the main message was encoded for the target audience to decode. This has helped shaped my idea of how many actors I may want to use in my production, the location and also how to write my script and present my arguments.

FIRST FILM INSPIRATION

Directed by Karan Johar, 'My Name is Khan' is an Indian drama full length movie on the misconceptions of Islam and mistreatment of Muslims by Americans after the 9/11 bombing of the twin towers. I consider this film an inspiration because not only does it tackle the topic of terrorism and Islamic misconceptions but it also proves the ethics and morals of Muslims by representing them as the heros. I will be analysing this film in detail when writing the film analysis essay.

FILM'S TRAILER

PRODUCTION DIARY WEEK 1:- A CHANGE OF HEART

When I first found out that I had to make a short film for my A2 media coursework, the two genres that popped into my mind were horror and science fiction. I believed that I would be creating a short film on one or even incorporating both genres; therefore I did a little research to find suitable examples by previous students (my previous post on film inspirations). However, after putting more thought into it, I decided to gain authorship and produce a film on religion. I felt that this will be the most appropriate direction to go in because as I am a Muslim, misconceptions of the ethics and morals of Islam is a topic I currently identify with. My main reason for choosing this topic is to produce a film on current issues around the world and presently Islamic misconceptions and Islamic extremism rises above many other issues on news networks. I do realise that this is a delicate topic which must be presented with absolute perfection and rid of any naivety and I consider this a challenge. In the upcoming weeks, I will be doing research on different branches concerning this topic, after which I will be producing production notes, scriptwriting and writing and essay on film inspiration analysis.

SHORT FILM INSPIRATIONS

SCI-FI SHORT FILM.



This short film is an A Grade coursework by an A2 Media Studies student. I was inspired by this film for various reasons but mainly because of its plot and its story line. I am looking to make either a sci-fi or a horror short film for my coursework which does not require many actors or any budget but will still have an intriguing storyline and "ALONE" was the perfect example of such short film by a student. The few actors he used played their role to perfection, the script was well written, he used a range of camera shots to reveal facial and body expressions, the soundtrack collaborated with each scene and overall the camera and production quality of the film was great.


HORROR SHORT FILM.

Creating a short horror film without the expertise of a film professional is not an easy task. However, the student who created this short horror film has great credits for creativity and script writing. The aspect of the film which amazed me the most was the suspense. She directed the short film so well that the suspense was the most gripping and was the aspect of the film which contained the horror and scare. The storyline of the short film was also unique and well revealed. The range of camera angles used were also inspiring and impressive.




HORROR SHORT FILM


One thing that drew my attention to this short film was the story line and its connotations. It was inspiring to see a student that has no experience in the film industry create a short film with a storyline that is a metaphor for the time teenagers spend on social media and its effects. Certain aspects of the film revealed great editing skills which is essential in creating a horror film. It also shows a range of shots and great camera quality.