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I am living with my grandmother in her flat in Denmark at the moment, and I was drawn to her some of the more vintage aspects of her apartment.

The wallpaper hasn’t been changed since the seventies and I love the almost dizzying effect it creates. I was inspired by Rinko Kawauchi’s series ‘Cui Cui’. The subject of her pictures in this series are mostly everyday, mundane things, yet Kawauchi gives the pictures an airy, light feel. They also possess a slightly melancholy and an awareness of the passing of time, which I attempted to replicate in some of my pictures.

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Jake Thackray 'Jake's Scene - Swaledale'

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Beautiful Dale, Home of the Swale

Lyrics

1
I will sing of a place that is dear to my heart,
A place where I always would dwell,
And if you will kindly lend me an ear
A few of its beauties I'll tell
Chorus:- In that beautiful dale, home of the Swale,
How well do I love thee, how well do I love thee?
Beautiful dale, home of the Swale,
Beautiful, beautiful dale.

2
Oh, it's far far away from the noise and the din
Of colliery an' factory an' mill,
From the bustle and stir of town life, shut in
By verdant and radiant hills.

3
And how often as boys have we wandered along
Beside of the river so clear;
The birds never failing to sing their sweet song
And lend a charm to your ear.

4
And if fate ee'er compels me to leave this dear spot
In other lands far away roam,
My earnest wish whatee'er be my lot
Is to end my days here at home.

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Beautiful Dale, Home of the Swale 1 I will sing of a place that is dear to my heart, A place where I always would dwell, And if you will kindly lend me an ear A few of its beauties I'll tell Chorus:- In that beautiful dale, home of the Swale, How well do I love thee, how well do I love thee?

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Neddy Dick - A Swaledale character from the mid 19C and early 20C.

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Q: What is your favourite film?
A: My favourite film is ‘cheerleader’.
Q: Why is that your favourite film?
A: I think because, growing up there wasn’t a lot of queer representation in films and that was one of the ones from the 90s that I could relate to.
Q: Can you remember the first time you saw the movie?
A: I think I was probably about thirteen, yeah, I think it helped me accept myself as well and see that representation.
Q: You’ve kind of already talked about this but the first time you watched it, what did it make you feel?
A: Accepted I guess, not accepted but… relieved I think, that there was this whole other world that was outside of my environment.
Q: In the movie have you got a favourite actress or actor and why?
A: I would say Natasha Lyonne because I think she’s just such a great actress.

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Horror movie sample of our writing- group exercise. 

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Horror movie sample of our writing- group exercise. 

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An empty vessel, swimming towards nothing.

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During the day I learnt how challenging it can be to write creatively in a very limited amount of time. I found the horror writing exercise particularly difficult, as it’s hard not to write the usual horror tropes. In hindsight, I would have suggested that maybe the gender roles be switched, as I believe that horror films too often fixate on men murdering women- a very common trope of the genre. I would have also condensed my picture stories due to them being a little vague.

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Question 1: Do you believe that the environment has been negatively or positively affected by the environment?

Answer: I think it’s been very mixed, on one hand nature came back to polluted cities but on the other hand plastic waste from masks and medical waste has polluted the earth even more. I believe we need to connect more with nature, to respect this planet instead of the participating in this culture of constant over-consumption. I think that should work together to fight for change, rather than attacking people for political ambitions. We should work together and make our world better.

Question 2: How has the pandemic changed your life?

Answer: I think the main takeaway from this pandemic, is that I learnt to embrace things that I used to take for granted. I realised that experiences such as hanging out with close friends, travelling around, the most trivial things, like having fresh air, they became so hard, they are not guaranteed, they are actually a gift in my life. So I would say Covid transformed me into a more grateful person, in the sense that I started to see things in a new light, I started to cherish every single moment that I can spend with my loved ones.

Question 3: What would you say to yourself if you could go back to before the outbreak?

Answer: I would say please, please spend more time with your grandparents. The situation in London is not getting any better, so I guess I have to wait for at least one or two months before I can finally book a flight ticket to go back to China. It has been a year since I last visited my grandparents and I heard that my grandfather, his health condition is not so optimistic, he has been diagnosed with recurrent cancer. So if I could travel back in time, I would urge myself to spend more time with them or at least teach them how to use video chat to make a video call to me, so that I won’t miss them so much.

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Today I learnt that crafting questions that will illicit interesting and engaging responses can be quite difficult. However, when there is a pandemic that has affected all areas of life, there is a wealth of topics to broach. In retrospect, I would have posed a question about the experience of being a student during the pandemic, as for many it has been a challenging and isolating time. Journalism is the ideal medium to try and explore mainstream issues from an unusual angle and I think this is something that I would like to strengthen in the future.

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The inspiration for this stop motion animation was shadow play, which is an ancient form of storytelling, usually involving flat puppets that are held between a source of light and a semi-translucent screen. Incorporating an element of shadow play provided me with a chance to interact with the objects (props) in ways I otherwise would not have been able. Due to my lack of access to a tripod and the stop motion being filmed on an iPhone, I was able to make an impromptu tripod. However, this meant that my camera was often unstable and as I was having to constantly re-adjust it, the position changed a few times- which I believe is very apparent in the video. In hindsight I would have done it on a much smaller scale, this would have afforded me more control over external variables (eg. Lighting, aesthetics).

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In this interview I was the interviewee, unfortunately we ran out of time and so I did not have a chance to ask any questions. I have learnt how difficult answering questions on the spot can be and that sometimes it’s hard to try and quickly craft an interesting or thoughtful answer without hesitating or pausing. Using Adobe audition to edit and splice together the questions and answers was very interesting, I learnt that cutting a sound just a second too early can make the interview sound unnatural and choppy. Taking out too many sentence fillers, such as ‘Like’, ‘Um’, and pauses can also make the interview sound stilted and robotic. I found editing to be the most interesting part of the exercise and I would like to continue to improve my editing skills and edit more audio in the future.

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I found the three stages of production exercise fascinating, I have learnt that there are so many different skills that are needed to create a tv programme. Although I am interested in film theory, I have little knowledge of the practical aspects of film and tv making, so learning about all of the different variables was useful. Usually we watch films as passive observers and I found that in actively watching today, I saw the short films through the filmmakers eyes. In hindsight, I would've created a clearer vision for my documentary, as it is a little vague.

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My drawing skills are poor, so today was a challenge for me. However, I learnt how to study a piece of text and interpret it, picking apart every word or using any missing details to try and create an original response. When I read my chosen text I envisioned a rich, opulently dressed aunt with her bewildered niece by her side, dressed in casual clothes, however I decided to draw the niece as Aunt Flossie's doppelgänger studying a piece of art on a penthouse roof in New York. In retrospect, I would've drawn something more simple that matches my level of skill.