The boy whose skin fell off

Documentary's:

The boy whose skin fell off

The documentary follows the last 4 months of a Jonny Kennedy who has suffered from EB since birth. John Kennedy is a 36 year old man however due to his skin condition he has barely grown (he is 5ft) and the condition has also cause his voice box to scar which has left him with a high pitch voice. The condition Epidermolysis bullosa  (link for more information) causes the skin to be very easily ripped and torn by the slightest amount of friction or contact. This then causes the skin to blister easily and scar.

For further information about the program or the Charity links below

Program: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-boy-whose-skin-fell-off

Charity (DEBRA): https://www.debra.org.uk/ 

The documentary is narrated by Jonny as he explains how after he was told that he only had 1 year to live he decided to go out and do things that most people would think to be impossible for him for example he went flying, skydiving, he went to number 10 downing street and then set up his own charity for his skin condition.

during one point in the documentary he even went a chose his own coffin to which for some people might be a bit odd but Jonny had come to terms with his fate and decided that he was going to arrange his own funeral. During this point in his life he also decided to leave home and go live on his own but due to his skin condition he did have to have 24/7 care from carers and family.
Another point in the documentary the crew ask his mother with him next to her weather after all of this would she have had an abortion at the time of his birth knowing what kind of life he was going to live and her answer was "yes" and even Jonny agreed with her as the skin condition had caused much trouble through his life and has had effects on the family. But around the tome of his birth abortions were looked down upon by most people and most hospitals did not offer any kind of contraception.

Overall this documentary does make you question some of the ways they filmed his last few months to with some might be a find disturbing and moving but overall this documentary does follow the death of man with a life changing skin condition.

 

A2 Brief

A2 briefs 

For our A2 media we have been given a range of briefs. From this list of 13 briefs we must choose one, we can choose to work on our own or in groups. Here is the list of briefs

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following thee options: A website homepage for the band, A cover for its release on DVD, A magazine advertisement for the DVD
2. A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:A website homepage for the film, A film magazine front cover, featuring the film,A poster for the film
3. An advertising package for a new product or service, to include two TV advertisements together with  two of the following three options: A radio advertisement, A TV program sponsorship sequence, A web pop-up
4. A promotion package for a new computer/video game, to include two TV advertisements together with two of the following three options:The cover of the games package, Two hyper-linked pages from the games website, A magazine advertisement for the game.
5. A promotion package for a new soap opera, to include a TV trailer, together with two of the following three options:A listings magazine front cover featuring the new soap, Two hyper-linked webpages (with video extract) for the soaps website, A poster for the soap
6. A selection of materials related to an original children's TV drama, to include the title sequence to the TV program, together with two of the following three options:The front cover to the magazine for the series, A DVD cover for the series 
7.  An extract from a new documentary TV program, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options:A radio trailer for the documentary, A double- page spread form a listings magazine focused on the documentary, A newspaper advertisement for the documentary, A newspaper advertisement for the documentary 
8. The first two pages of a new local newspaper, together with two of the following three options: A poster for the newspaper, A radio advertisement for the newspaper, Two hyper-linked pages form the papers website  
9. A website for a new TV channel (to include a minimum of three hyper-linked pages with original images, audio, and video extract) together with two of the following three options: A newspaper advertisement for the channel, A double page spread for the listings magazine, focused on the channels launch, An animated ident sequence for the channel
10.  A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minuets, which may be live action or animated of a combination of both, together with two of the following three options: A poster for the film, A radio trailer for the film, A film magazine review page featuring the film
11. The first level of new computer/ video game, together with two of the following three options: The cover for the games package, A magazine advertisement for the game, A radio advertisement for the game 
12. An extract from a local TV news programme, lasting approximately five minutes, together with two of the following three options: Two hyper-linked pages from the programmes website, A generic radio trailer for the programme, A short title sequence for the programme
13. An extract from the radio play. lasting approximately five minuets. together with two of the following Three options: A newspaper advertisement for the play, A double page listings magazine feature about the play, A page from the radio stations website promoting the play

Starting Point

An evaluation of my AS production

After a year of lessons and practice me and my group have made a opening sequence based of a thriller genera and a post apocalyptic setting. Here is the link to my other blog which has the video and my evaluation and other blogs I have wiriten.
Link: http://thomasewartsmediastudies.blogspot.com/

Ideas
Our original idea was for the main character to be walking down a small road with trees and bushes on ether side and for a car to be heard in the back ground, the character would the run towards a building behind the tree line through a hole in the bushes. He would then scavenge around for supplies to then walk out of the building back on to the road, only to find the car parked with a suspicious figure stood to one side of the car. this other character would then draw a gun and shoot the main character cutting to black when the gun shoots. However after multiple discussions with between our group we decided to change it as using a car and gun could prove more difficult than expected, and with the fact that we kill our main character at the very start of our opening sequence limits what the audience will think will happen next.

 Camera work
From this production I feel that my camera operating skills have vastly improved since I started this A Level also with this I feel that by using the camera more and more it is easier to think up more interesting camera shots add angles that can add to the sequence. However during our opening sequence some of the shots are shaky as at the time of filming it was very cold however it does add some insecurity to the shots which turned out to benefit our opening sequence.

Editing
After filming this opening sequence we had to edit all of our scenes together. this part in the production took linger than anthing else so from this i have learnt to leave enough time to edit after we have filmed. Throughout the production i was also helping media via a active citzenchip progect our school has implied, though this I have also got to grips with other editing software other than "Serif movie plus" this could help in making my next production as other softwares have different tools and editing methods which can make it easier and allow me to make the production look more profeshional.