Julian's Portfolio

Film and Television

A brief overview

Director Quentin Tarantino and Cinematographer Robert Richardson on the set of *The Hateful Eight* (2015)

The invention of the moving image – film, as it emerged in the late 19^th century, is arguably one of the most important inventions of the past 200 years, and one that cemented the 20^th century in a canon rich with cinematic history.

*A Trip to the Moon*, Lumière Brothers (1902)

The Lumière Brothers were among the first to commercialise motion picture, producing short films that told narratives through deliberate ‘cuts’ and elaborate set designs. Their films helped pave the way for the feature length film industry to blossom in the early 1910’s. Prior to this, motion pictures were seen as a novelty by the wider public; and as a cheap attraction by vaudeville managers.

first sound film ‘The Jazz Singer’ was produced in 1927 and by 1929 ‘talkies’ had overtaken silent films in production rates. Hollywood was in its ‘Golden Age,’ a period of time lasting from the 1910’s to the ‘60’s that led to such timeless classics such as ‘Casablanca,’ ‘Gone with the wind,’ and ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ During this period important advancements were made in the way of visual storytelling as directors experimented with framing, camera movement and editing techniques. Orson Welles’ 1941 film ‘Citizen Kane’ is regarded by many as one of the most important films of the 20^th century, pioneering many film techniques that continue to influence visual storytelling to this day.

From the mid-20^th century onward, the popularisation of television and the advancements in magnetic storage formats paved the way for live broadcasts, capturing some of the most important moments of the past 60 years including the moon landing, the collapse of the Berlin wall and the September 11 terrorist attacks.

(From Left : Apollo 11 Moon Landing, September 11 terrorist attacks, Fall of the Berlin Wall )

The advancements in film and television over the past 150 years have helped shape pop-culture as we know it today, influenced diplomatic relations and have forever changed the way we tell stories.

Méliès, G., 2018. A Trip To The Moon. [image] Available at: <https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/uz2VwR0ZQEX-LcobfpxJOvXB7GE=/0x0:1920×1080/1200×800/filters:focal(807×387:1113×693)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/59605469/melies.0.jpg> [Accessed 2 June 2020].

2015. Auguste And Louis Lumière. [image] Available at: <https://www.lyonmag.com/medias/images/thumb/460x339_lumire-freres-ok-ok.jpg> [Accessed 3 June 2020].

Pintrest, 2020. Quentin Tarantino And Robert Richardson. [image] Available at: <https://i.pinimg.com/originals/a5/80/d8/a580d8b0f6fef620ada12681480abc39.png> [Accessed 3 June 2020].

NASA, 1969. Man’s First Steps On The Moon. [image] Available at: <https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.timetoast.com/public/uploads/photos/10417970/1969-moonlanding-vin_480x360.jpg> [Accessed 3 June 2020].

Getty Images, 2001. The Unborn 10 Of 9/11. [image] Available at: <https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/v1536707884/180911-daly-9-11-hero_1_pnjtoa.jpg> [Accessed 3 June 2020].

BBC 4, 1989. The Fall Of The Berlin Wall. [image] Available at: <https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/media/5663807/19198974-low_res-the-fall-of-the-berlin-wall-with-john-simpson-20191111123412479_web.jpg?width=1000> [Accessed 3 June 2020].

W., A., 2020. The Rise And Fall Of Hollywood’S Golden Age. [online] Arcadiapublishing.com. Available at: <https://www.arcadiapublishing.com/Navigation/Community/Arcadia-and-THP-Blog/June-2019/The-Rise-and-Fall-of-Hollywood%E2%80%99s-Golden-Age#:~:text=Between%20the%201910s%20and%201960s,more%20freedom%20for%20scipt%20writers.> [Accessed 2 June 2020].

Jacob, M., 2020. The Impact Of Television On News Media | DPLA. [online] Dp.la. Available at: <https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/the-impact-of-television-on-news-media> [Accessed 3 June 2020].

Protecting Free Speech in an age of Hate

It’s now mid-2020 — it’s not uncommon to hear of social media companies such as Facebook and YouTube removing content and sometimes creators who go against their community guidelines and policies, with rules specifically targeting what they call ‘hate speech.’

In an attempt to appear more inclusive to stakeholders and to secure the funding required for their platform, social media companies have approached ‘hate speech’ with liberal use of censorship.

And while they have every right to police what content lies on their sites, how can we be sure that such decisions are made with unbiased regard for political stance or controversial view?

I quite frankly don’t believe they can.

Hate speech may inspire acts of violence. Online, it may bind people of shared opinions. But expressing one’s views alone has never caused violence. the silencing of unpopular opinion as we’ve seen on sites like twitter does not remove beliefs from the minds of those who shared them; it merely allows people to migrate to the depths of the internet, isolating them from viewpoints that challenge their own.

‘Unite the Right’ protesters unabashedly utilising free speech to proclaim their beliefs

“The Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it.”
John Gillmore, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation

If we as a society are genuinely concerned by the rise of conflicting views, beliefs which have the potential to incite real harm, we must ideally engage with them; fight free speech with free speech.

In a theoretical civilisation, with people of high regard and integrity, the concept of free speech works. However, issues arise in environments of pseudonymity. The internet, with its loopholes and obstacles to traditional communication, makes for an unregulated wasteland of arrogant opinion and self-righteous know-it-alls. It is eventually up to us, the users, through our conduct and critical thinking, to counteract the tides of extremist views.

Marantz, A., 2019. Opinion | Free Speech Is Killing Us. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/opinion/sunday/free-speech-social-media-violence.html> [Accessed 6 May 2020].

Jakubowska, E., 2019. Hate Speech Online: Lessons For Protecting Free Expression. [online] EDRi. Available at: <https://edri.org/hate-speech-online-lessons-for-protecting-free-expression/> [Accessed 6 May 2020].

Facebook: the right to privacy in the Digital Age

The growth of social networking platforms in the early 2000’s drove such sites to expand their operations, increasing server capacity, ramping up the costs of service.

But the development of a radically new business model saved Facebook from bankruptcy… and obscurity.

Facebook makes money by selling the private information of its billions of users to third-parties, who then, through the help of algorithms, advertise to users based on their accrued ‘digital footprint.’

“If you aren’t paying for it, you’re the product.”

However, the revenue model was criticised heavily by pundits and media watchdogs alike, noting its capacity to be abused for political or monetary gain. Sandy Parakilas, a privacy consultant for Facebook, asserted a continued ‘uphill battle’ between protecting users’ privacy and increasing company profits. This struggle would come to a head with the Cambridge Analytica scandal of early 2018; an oversight on Facebook’s behalf allowed for the private information of 87 million unconsenting users to be sent to Cambridge Analytica; a political consulting firm that was hired by the Trump and Cruz presidential campaigns in early 2016 to provide data to help skew the election in their respective favours.

The Cambridge Analytica Scandal set a precedent of how online data could be used and abused, unbeknownst to consumers or the social media sites themselves. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg labelled the incident a “major breach of trust.”

Nevertheless, the onus fell upon Facebook to ensure that such an incident never be repeated. On April 10, 2018, Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. Congress, taking responsibility on his part to not do more to prevent Facebook from being used for harm.

Mark Zuckerberg swarmed by cameras during his testimony in April 2018

The future of our online spaces; of internet privacy regulation depends on the hard lessons taught to us by such scandals as Cambridge Analytica.

Chang, A., 2018. The Facebook And Cambridge Analytica Scandal, Explained With A Simple Diagram. [online] Vox. Available at: <https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/3/23/17151916/facebook-cambridge-analytica-trump-diagram> [Accessed 1 May 2020].

Zuckerberg, M., 2019. Understanding Facebook’s Business Model – About Facebook. [online] About Facebook. Available at: <https://about.fb.com/news/2019/01/understanding-facebooks-business-model/> [Accessed 1 May 2020].

Lewis, P. and Hilder, P., 2018. Leaked: Cambridge Analytica’s Blueprint For Trump Victory. [online] the Guardian. Available at: <https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/mar/23/leaked-cambridge-analyticas-blueprint-for-trump-victory> [Accessed 1 May 2020].

Umer, N., 2020. Dial-Up Internet. [image] Available at: <https://redditupvoted.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/dialup2.gif?w=1000&h=500&crop=1> [Accessed 2 May 2020].

Introduce Yourself (Example Post)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
What topics do you think you’ll write about?
Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.