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This was another piece of work published on grads.co.uk.

You can view my work at: http://blog.grads.co.uk/2013/11/19/mentoring-an-experience-never-to-forget/

Every time someone asks me what my greatest achievement is, I always reply with the same thing, and every time someone views my CV, it’s the same item that interests them. Mentoring. In my first summer after uni, I found myself bored and not knowing what to do with myself.  I was officially not a fresher any more. I wondered to myself, apart from catching up with friends from home, what should I be doing now that’s productive? The answer appeared straight in front of me one day whilst I was checking my email.

“Volunteer over the summer!” (Literally in big letters like that) After scrolling down the emails list of opportunities, mentoring a teenager in care was the activity that took my interest.  I contacted the student union rep for more information, and soon booked myself in for two training days and a CRB check.  All paid for by the University of course. (Score!) The training taught me how to deal with children in care and what they might have been through in the past. It was an eye opener to say the least, and it was all I needed to confirm that I wanted and had to do this.  So after playing the parts of both mentor and mentee in some role play, learning the 1-10 grading step technique, and speaking to a representative from the county council, I was ready! Or was I?

Our first meeting

I remember at first I was quite nervous after I was paired with someone with a learning disability. I honestly didn’t know what to expect.  When I was taken to the care home for the first time and met my mentee and his care supervisors, I suddenly realised the seriousness of what I had put myself into. Then to my horror, whilst all the paperwork was being settled, I was left alone with my mentee! HELP! Well that’s what I thought at first. He soon told me that he enjoyed playing on the wii. The pairing had worked, I was successfully matched to someone I could get along with and mentee with no problem at all. Time passed and before I knew it, we had to end our game of bowling as the introductions and paperwork was all finished. All I had to do now was to arrange a day and time each week to meet for three hours of my time.

What did we do?

Week by week , hour by hour, time flew. I was given an £80 budget each month to take him out. Some of the activities it covered included bowling, going to the cinema, golf and taking him to his local football club to see his favourite team play. This killed me inside as I support a different team. (I refuse to wear your teams’ shirt!) Nonetheless it was worth it to see how happy and confident he had become since our first meeting. Once I took him out for sushi as he had never tried it before. I still remember the look of excitement on his face when he saw the conveyor belt with all the small dishes on.  Sadly he didn’t like the sushi, but he and his supervisors were so happy that he was experiencing new things away from the care home. It was nice to see him smile after that day when he told them about how I tried wasabi. (HOT!) We all giggled.

What did we get out of it?

My mentee really enjoyed coming out of the care home and spending time with someone else.  As his mentor, it was my job to guide him through those six months by talking about many things such as careers, and student life to asking simple things such as how his day at college was. My mentee was most confident opening up about these things to me during our cycling days, which we went on fortnightly to lower the budget spending.  It also kept us both fit and healthy.  Not only did mentoring increase his confidence, make him happier and get a better view on life. It gave us both an experience never to forget.

There are not many animated films out this New Year so far. In fact the only one out at the moment is a French film, redubbed for the UK, ‘A Monster in Paris’. So how does the only animated film so far look and set the target in the cinemas?

Director Bibo Beregon (Shark Tale, Flushed Away, The Bee Movie) sets his latest film in Paris, 1910, during the ‘Great Flood, where Emile, voiced by Jay Harington plays a shy movie projectionist alongside Raoul, Adam Goldberg, a vivid inventor who finds themselves on the hunt for a mysterious creature terrorizing the city. But with the city’s ruthless striving police chief Préfet Maynott Danny Huston on the hunt for glory,  their opinions are changed when they join forces with Lucile, the big star of the City Vanessa Paradis, and a well mannered monkey in an attempt to save the monster, their latest friend.

There are certain aspects of this film that make it a stand out to Beregon’s past films. In The Bee Movie, a theme shown is on the present and how it is essential that we look after our environment, but his latest film focuses on the past during a historical event and to keep hopes high and not judging the character of someone. Throughout the film, the city is seen as desolate, using bleak shades of colour such as black and grey that would definitely impress the likes of Tim Burton. The dull colours certainly represents how run down the city was during the disaster. In contrast, the choice of colour shown in the characters are represented with many bright colours, for example Emile in bright green and police chief Maynott in yellow. As well as this the viewer gets to see that the citizens are keeping morale high by viewing regular films and shows as seen in the film.  This being said, the message and themes is the only aspect that represent the film positively.

Because the film isn’t originally English, it drags on with jokes that aren’t funny. The audience didn’t show much of a good reaction and for this to happen in an animation where most of the viewers are children, this isn’t a good thing.  The poor humour slows the pace down and the film doesn’t pick up until the very end where the action is shown. Furthermore for a film which shows the historic event of a flood, there isn’t much water shown, as there is only a few seconds of it represented when they are stranded in the flood. This could be because water is the hardest thing to animate, but that being said Beregon managed to do this fine in Flushed Away.

Compared to one of Beregon’s previous films, A Sharks Tale, which features big names such as Angelina Jolie, Will Smith, Jack Black, Rene Zellweger, Scorsese, and De Niro the cast isn’t great either. The lack of cast and big talent that isn’t shown in this animation compared with Shark Tales, brings this film down, as well as the songs that aren’t as catchy compared to the hit ‘See you at the car wash’.

This animated film shows little effort in trying to be successful through its bad script letting it down. A child in primary school could do much better. For this reason I give it a small 4 out of 10.  The failed film doesn’t set much of a target for other animations this year to follow, but with the likes of Madagascar 3 to come out later this year, at least then animated films can hopefully be redeemed.

New comer to the film industry, director Josh Trank raises this question in his first film,Chronicle, an action, sci-fi, packed drama. Three teenagers at high school gain these powers after making a mysterious discovery that changes the path of their lives momentarily. School favourite Steve, played by Michael B. Jordan (Hit US TV show, Friday Night Lights) friends with looser Andrew, Dane DeHaan and his more popular cousin Matt, Alex Russell and causes havoc amongst the city with practical jokes, but it isn’t long until their friendship is tested when power gets to their head and a darker side from one of the friends is embraced.

The jaw dropping film is filmed entirely from Andrew’s camera point of view. He films his life and the antics he and his friends get up to, for example playing practical jokes in the grocery store and so the camera shots we see revolve around what he and his friends are filming when they use their powers, So some of the shots we see are first person, much like the ones shown in Cloverfield.  But this is not like Cloverfield in the sense that mot all of the film is shot in first person, but it takes that perspective as once the camera can be controlled by the characters minds, they are able to keep the camera in the air, and this is when filming in the traditional way with panning and tilting camera shots filmed as normal, for example when the three of them are flying in the sky. Filming in this way gives the film a slow start but in the context it is filmed and along with the films humour and seriousness, it adds to the plot and builds the storyline, without this kind of filming, it wouldn’t work as it has become part of the story.

With amazing special effects, you will be left convinced that this is believable. The use of chroma key technology by using green screen is shown remarkably well throughout, during scenes where access is not possible to location sites, like that of Tibet to flying through the air. Alongside this are the kick ass physical effects such as explosions that give you the action that you are paying to see.  

Story wise, without the way it is captured on camera, it would have been shockingly bad and wouldn’t be the same. Viewers would just be left with a sense of de je vu, as some of the themes shown towards the end such as darkness and betrayal are identical to that of Star Wars. In fact if you have seen Star Wars you will instantly be reminded of the relationship between Anakin Skywalker and Obi One. This being said, you mustn’t be put down in watching the film. The storyline of the film is fantastic. It has humour shown in the characters rebel personality portrayed by their practical jokes, and in contrast seriousness is made known with themes such as domestic abuse and rage.

If you want something different to the regular sci-fi action dramas, then Chronicle is definitely worth adding to the list of films to watch. The special effects and camera work is perfectly executed throughout and with contrasting themes shown next to it throughout the story, I give this film a high topping, 9/10. 

When it comes to films based on Roald Dahl’s classic books, there hasn’t been many. Remember Matilda and James and the Giant Peach in 1996? Well it was 9 years until another Dahl film was made when Tim Burton directed the remake to the loveable, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Well 4 years after that, in 2009, Wes Anderson (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Rushmore) delivered an incredible stop motion animationfor the family, of Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox.

This is the tale about a Fox, not an ordinary fox, but a fantastic fox. Mr Fox, played by George Clooney, is a family man, but he wasn’t always one. Once a farm raider, stealing chickens for dinner, now retired after Mrs Fox, Meryl Streep was pregnant with cub Ash, Jason Schwartzman (Bored To Death). He gets bored of his new life as a family man and a column writer for the paper, and decides to move out of his burrow into a top of the range tree, which overlooks three of the meanest, nastiest and greediest farmers, Boggis, Bunce and Bean Michael Gambon. Its then that he decides that he has to go back to his old ways crossing the line of family responsibility  and ruin the farmers businesses during his midnight adventures.  It isn’t long before the famers join forces to stop their pest problem and causing problem not just for the Fox family but also for his other animal friends in the community.  

Unlike most book films brought to the cinema screens, Fantastic Mr Fox, is just like its book, which is good for those that have read the book. The titles of the chapters of the story are shown at the start of each new scene at the top of the screen, keeping to its story book style. The rhymes and complete randomness within the story are also kept in.  For example, when Coach Skip Owen Wilson explains the rules of’ Whackbat’, as fast as he can so that nobody understands the rules of the game, and when Mr Fox makes his long speeches and describes all the animals by their Latin names.  The film also sticks to the books themes by focusing on family and good and evil.

Compared to other Dahl films, this is different and in ways a lot more successful than previous films. 

First of all, is the random and spot on hilarious script, and the amount of top acting talent that was involved with the voices of the film. The all round cast adds to the humour of the film, with their well recognised voices giving the characters more of a comedic value within their quotes. For example, when Clooney delivers repeated one liner’s such as, “Here put this bandit hat on”, in a devious yet calm tone.  This delivery of the quote emphasises on the films randomness which makes it funny.

What also makes this film different to any other animated or Dhal film is the way it was produced. It uses stop motion animation, a very hard and time consuming technique, with puppets. Although jagged in motion, it creates a better effect for the viewer making it look good. For example when the characters walk, run or stand up tall, we see the puppets slowly move their legs in a rough movement. Puppets aren’t just used for the animals; they are also used for the humans. Close up shots of both humans and the animal faces looks spectacular when seeing their speech and movement of facial expression, especially as we get to see the fur of the animals move.

Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards and for The 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, it is clear to why this film was a nominated for these great awards.  Keeping to the book, its script and actors add to the humour and the way the animation is produced differently by using stop motion with puppets, certainly makes it a feverishly, fantastic must watch film and so i give it a high and a very foxy 10/10.

This was actually my first ever film review. After publishing it on an online film critique website and receiving some positive comments. I decided to carry on writing some more. 

‘Prawns’ that’s what they’ve been stereotyped as since 1982.  Lord of The Rings Director, Peter Jackson works with Director Neill Blomkamp to produce this exhilarating sci- fi thriller.  When a mother ship, bearing most of its extra terrestrial population appears immobile over Johannesburg, South Africa, the human race is forced to take drastic measures. ‘District 9’ is built. Holding the aliens as refugees they are welcomed to Earth and forced to live among us. 28 years later, newly promoted Wikus Van De Merwe (Shartlo Copley) appointed by father in law Piet Smit (Louis Minnar) Head of Multi National United (MNU) is given the task to evict the residents of District 9 and relocate them to the newly established District 10, where he meets the local resident from another planet, Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope).

The success in this film comes from the well written script that captures the friendship and emotion brought together by the contrasting characters of the two different races.  Just married, things are looking good for Wikus, but a turn of events occurs when he is exposed to the alien’s biotechnology, transforming his physical appearance.  Now on the most wanted list, having been accused of having a sexual relationship with one of them, and wanted by the Nigerians,  who need him to operate the alien weaponry, he seeks the help of his two new ‘Prawn’ friends Christopher Johnson and his son. They strike a deal, the biochemical’s for his normal life back, and venture deep into the facilities of MNU, once enemies now a team, to take back what was taken as evidence, in order for Christopher Johnson and his son to return home. 

An action packed District 9 is a must watch film. First and foremost it is a very entertaining film, alongside with its interesting storyline focussing on the relationship with between the two races; the production side of the film is spectacular! Producing multiple camera techniques using high tech handheld cameras like the RED One to form, classic first person shooter shots when handling weaponry, and many over head bird’s eyes views perfect for capturing news footage, which is certainly difficult to produce. With many perfect shots, including a still filming used for interviewing, it enabled great editing to create a documentary style format following the events of Wikus flicking to and fro between live action of the storyline and the documentary on him.

Just as good as the camera work, the special effects used was phenomenal.  Throughout District 9, the prosthetic make up worn by Copley on Wikus’s transformation, are very detailed, and are definitely not meant for viewing whilst eating. There is plenty of blood and gore spread throughout during action scenes, enough to make you go “whoa!” Through the use of CGI, an anthropomorphic like alien, completely different to those used in other sci-fi thrillers such as Alien,  was created so that the audience are able relate to the aliens and truly emphasize with them when derogative actions are constantly thrown towards them.

The story, complete with its special effects and production skills is not one for the weak minded. But if you want plenty of action, twists, and your mind blown away, then this is certainly the right film to watch. I highly recommend it and give it a 10/10 as it holds the key ingredients needed in a sci-fi thriller film for complete entertainment.

Trailer:

“Lets roll” That’s the empowering commanding order of the wise and almighty leader of the Autobots Optimus Prime. After months of waiting since the plot was revealed in October 2010, fans can finally follow his command and watch Michael Bays’ final sequel in the Transformers trilogy with his sci-fi action adventure blockbuster ofTransformers Dark of the Moon. New girlfriend of hero Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) must once again save the Earth with the help of its new allies, the ‘Autobots’ to stop the evil ‘Decepticons’ bringing back their home planet of ‘Cybertron’.

Being the final chapter of the trilogy, Transformers Dark of the Moon had to really raise its game in order to keep up with the success of its previous films. Has it done that? No. The plot quite frankly was too predictable.

Witwicky, unemployed, with a new girlfriend but without his all in one, car, companion, and friend Bumblebee, is now considered a messenger rather than a hero whilst looking for a job opportunity. Witwicky comes across a job as a ‘temp’ working for technology firm under the peculiar Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich). Obviously it doesn’t last for long as trouble once again follows him as he discovers vital information on the truth about one of the world’s greatest moments in history. The 1969 moon Apollo 11 landing! Years ago a spacecraft, ‘The Ark’ carrying the Autobots original leader ‘Sentinel Prime’ who was protecting ‘the pillars’ which have the ability to transport anything from across the galaxy, crash landed on the moon after evacuating its home planet of ‘Cybertron’ .

Meanwhile whilst working under the governments ‘NEST’ section, the Autobots discover its existence on the moon after intercepting some vital information that Decepticon ‘Shockwave’ was holding whilst on a mission in Chernobyl, Russia. Optimus and fellow Autobot ‘Ratchet’ head to the moon recovering their leader and the pillars.  Needless to say it was blatantly a clear trap set up by the Decepticons. Once that is known, twists that should have been huge, such as multiple betrayals in the film, ruined the ‘eye gripping’ experience. Many more obvious shocks, so to call, are shown throughout the rest of the film. A film needs twists to keep the audience entertained, especially when a high fan base of Transformers fans are expected to watch it. But with a predictable plot and twists it failed to make that impact.

Furthermore, there were some poor changes to its previous films. The decision to replace the beautiful and action packed Megan Fox certainly did have its consequences. ‘Newbie’ Rosie Huntington-Whiteley role as a ‘goodie two shoes’ could in no way replace ‘bad girl’ Megan Fox. Throughout the film she tries to hard to live up to the expectations of her previous counterpart, by trying to be too sexy in her footwear, heels. Constantly wearing heels, even whilst running and jumping off buildings during action scenes really makes her character seem more of a pathetic joke. Like Its previous films, comedy was needed to keep the audience entertained. However in this final instalment there like Rosie, there was too pressure to make the film better than the previous. Jokes were overdone and too witty throughout and would make you force yourself to laugh just like laughing at a poor joke from the one that finds themselves funny but really aren’t in the family.

On the other hand, just like the first two films, Transformers Dark of the Moon wasn’t short of action. The last action scene is jam packed and perhaps saved the film. But the only problem was that there is too slow a build up to it and we are forced to suffer from the obvious plot we already know delay as we wait for it to unfold. Even when the action does occur, you will be left with a sense of ‘De Je Vu’ as you realise that all the action scenes are all the same as previous films, using the same slow motion, CGI effects and battles between both the Cybertron sides and the humans on the Decepticons. For example, when the Navy SEALS and US air force take on the Decepticons and the classic scene where LaBeouf takes Fox’s hand to guide her away from danger.

This shocking film does not live up to the amazing ’jaw dropping’ expectations of its previous films. To be blunt, the only reason you would want to watch this would be to find out how the trilogy ends. I give the film a mediocre score of 5/10. 

Here's an example of some copy I wrote for an internship I applied for. The task was to produce a 600-800 word piece on vehicles. So i chose to put the task and something i'm passionate about together, and came up with this copy on Bond cars. I have made it to the interview stage of this internship, which will take place mid November. 

What do you get when you add a classic car from the 70’s and a bridge? The AMC Hornet X. When you add James Bond into the equation, you get a magnificent car stunt that will be remembered throughout time. (Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hh0VF6s-UYU to see the Hornet in action)

The stunt couldn’t have been done without the right car. The Hornet’s engineering had the perfect weight distribution and acceleration to get to its calculated 40mph launch speed, to perform the corkscrew successfully first time. This would have been very difficult to perform in any other car.

“Ejector seat? You’re joking!” That’s Sean Connery’s line that kept viewers glued to their seats throughout 007s’ third film instalment in ‘Goldfinger’. The ejector seat was one of the many gadgets installed in the Aston Martin DB5, allowing the car to stand out from its predecessors the gadgetless Sunbeam Alpine and Bentley Mark IV.

The DB series was named after David Brown, head of Aston Martin from 1947-1962. Reclining seats, electric windows, a full leather trim and chrome wire wheels came as standard. On top of these features, it also reached 0-60mph in eight seconds, perfect for Bond to make a quick getaway.

An additional memorable Bond car is the Lotus Esprit S1. Unlike previous Bond cars at the time, this car lacked power. Having said this, it was viewed as having had the best steering of any Esprit and could still reach 133mph.

Like Connery’s DB5, this car gained its fame when Rodger Moore was put behind the wheel in 1977 in ‘The spy who loved me’, where it famously converted itself into a submarine. This certainly wowed the audience when they saw it on the big screen. Perry Ocenangraphic, a company based in Riviera Beach, Florida, carried out the submarine body work which was reported to cost around half a million dollars. Interestingly, the car went under the hammer last month and was sold at auction for £550,000. Higher than the price it was made, but £400,000 less than expected.

Not all Bond cars looked great and had amazing gadgets though. In 1981, a bright yellow Citroën 2CV appeared in ‘For your eyes only’. With its poor performance, it flipped over whilst turning a corner during a car chase. However, all was not lost as the small, lightweight car was tipped back over by the towns’ people. This scene was made possible as the body was constructed with an aircraft-style tube framework underneath a very thin steel shell. This also gave the car an unusual look, giving it the nickname ‘Upside-down pram’ by the British public. Even with an embarrassing nickname and poor performance, the car still saved our favourite spy.

So what car should appear in the next Bond film? The beloved DB5 has featured as a Bond car six times and is arguably the favourite amongst fans. However, we must remember before the Aston came onto our screens, Bond owned a Bentley Mark IV as seen in ‘From Russia with Love’. The four door standard sports saloon car, made of steel coachwork, reached speeds of up to 100 mph, but it wasn’t actually driven by him. Instead he made a call from the cars telephone, an unusual addition to cars at the time.

Since then, Bentley has only made a brief appearance when Sean Connery returned in 1983 with ‘Never say never again’. Therefore, it’s time to bring back a newly updated Bentley. Enter the Bentley continental GT V8 S, with its Beluga lower body styling and twenty inch rimed wheels, a 4.0 litre V8 engine, revised stability control and an up rated chassis with a sleek sporting appearance. Painted the right colour and with modified gadgets, this car could convey all the right aspects that a Bond car needs. The fact that Bentley is also British makes it perfect for 007, a true British legend.

The last five decades have seen many cars used to fit Bond’s needs, in order for him to complete his missions. They have varied from the glorious likes of the Aston Martin DB5, to the not so pretty Land Rover Defender as seen in the latest instalment ‘Skyfall’. Needless to say, every Bond car has lived up to its purpose; getting him out of those tricky situations and to where he needs to be.  So no matter what the next Bond car will be, there’s one thing for sure, Bond and his fans are in for the ride of their life. 

Skill building outside your course

Whilst at university you are given many opportunities. Many will develop your skills and expand your career path without you even knowing. So it’s not just your course that’s teaching you new things. You should take part in as much as you can, because not only will you increase future possibilities, you’ll also have a lot of fun. Here are a few things you can do:

1) Socialising

So, what are you waiting for? Get yourself out there, and make the most out of your free time. Because after all, the more skills you have, the greater chance of being employed.