End of Year Summary

What I have learnt

Throughout the course of the module MDA1700 Communicating in Film and TV, I have learnt and developed many of my analyzing skills, which help with many other projects within the Television Production course.

During both semesters within this year of the course, I have gained many skills such as; time management, helped me develop my organization skills further, being able to deal with difficult people within a group I have been put with and many more. I have really enjoyed being able to work in the studio environment with projects, which prepares me for the real industry work.

I have really enjoyed my first year of this course at university. I cannot wait for more challenges in the second year.

Utopia (2013) - Contemporary Drama

Utopia is a British conspiracy thriller written by Dennis Kelly and directed by Marc Munden with many others aired in January 2013 on Channel 4. It stars Fiona O’Shaughnessy as Jessica Hyde, Adeel Akhtar as Wilson Wilson, Paul Higgins as Michael Dugdale, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Ian Johnson, Alexandra Roach as Becky, Oliver Woollford as Grant Leetham, Neil Maskell as Arby and Paul Ready as Lee. Utopia follows a small group of a mixed age group of people who find themselves in possession of the manuscript of the sequel of the graphic novel “The Utopia Experiments”. This graphic novel is known to have the worst disasters that will be happening. Wilson, Ian, Becky and Grant are targeted by “The Network”, an organization that they have to avoid to be able to survive or risk being dead. Using the second installment of the novel, the four have to solve the meaning which is hidden within its pages using the manuscript before the disasters become a reality.

Episode 1 from season 1 is about 5 strangers from the online forum for the comic book, who are in possession of the original manuscripts for the novel ‘The Utopia Experiments’, agree to meet. However, they find themselves running from an organization known as The Network, who are after the manuscript and they are willing to kill anyone in the way to find it. Ian, Becky and Wilson meet at the pub, as Grant goes after the novel at the fourth member’s apartment, Bejan, who gets killed by the two Network men. Grant is the fifth member on the forum and is also the only witness. When he runs off with the manuscript, the two men chase him.

The comic book contains different forms of the devil/satan. At the beginning of the episode, we see a person on the bunny costume outside doomsday comics, which can imply the devil. The episode also consists of a strange and creepy soundtrack mostly throughout. We constantly come across the two men from The Network constantly asking for Jessica Hyde whilst many other investigations going on. Whilst The Network is on a search for Jessica, we see an investigation going on about Bejan’s death. The Network finds Wilson and tortures him in order to find out information about the whereabouts of Jessica Hyde. Lee rubs chillies, sand and then bleach into both of Wilson’s eyes and uses the spoon to spoon one of his eye out. Ian and Becky both have false accusations about them, which get them arrested. Ian has been accused of sexual child rape and assault and Becky has been accused of child porn. At the end of this episode, we meet Jessica Hyde, which leaves everyone at a big cliffhanger to what happens next.

The Network –

Arby and Lee are the killers who work for The Network. They are also looking for Jessica Hyde as well as the Utopia Manuscripts. Lee tortures Wilson, but Wilson manages to escape but killing him, but Arby is still alive.

Michael Dugdale –

Michael is a senior civil servant who has an affair on his wife with a Russian prostitute and gets her pregnant. In return, the members of The Network blackmail him to carry out and complete their task for them.

Becky –

Becky is soon becoming a post grad student. While she was young, her mother died and in her late teen years, her dad been diagnosed with a mysterious illness. She is sure that the reason for her father’s death is connected to the Utopia Manuscript, which she is determined to find out the truth.

Ian Johnson –

Ian still lives with his mother in his late twenties and has a job as an IT consultant.

Wilson Wilson –

Wilson is a nerd and geek who manages to remove any trace of himself off of the internet. Arby and Lee torture and almost blind him to find Jessica Hyde’s whereabouts.

Grant Leetham –

Grant is a 11 year old boy with troubles at home. When the group first contact each other on the Utopia forum, he pretends to be a 24 year old. Grant is the one who happens to have the Utopia Manuscript and is also on the run from The Network.

Bejan –

Bejan is the fourth member of the forum. He has the original copy of the Utopia manuscript that The Network is after.

Jessica Hyde –

Jessica is a woman who has been running from The Network for a very long time, more than she can remember. The Network is after her because her dad created the manuscripts for Utopia. Jessica appears at the end of episode 1 in season 1.

The Shadow Line (2011) - Contemporary Drama

The Shadow Line is a British television drama series written and directed by Hugo Blick aired on BBC Two in 2011. This drama series follows a murder, which is investigated, by the police and the criminals with their different methods of trying to solve it and how far they are willing to go before they cross the line.

The first episode of The Shadow Line we were shown, we see DI Gabriel (Chiwetel Ejiofor) return to his job after he had got shot whilst on an undercover job. He suffers from amnesia with the bullet, which was shot at him still in his head. The police investigation of the murdered Harvey Wratten is lead by Gabriel who finds himself racing with the drug dealers of the other side who are trying to find who killed their boss. 

The police involved in the investigation see the news about a drug dealer and his drug dealer newphew, Jay who were in prison have been released. They hope that they are willing to help with the investigation. The dark lighting, use of torches and the colour red being used a lot adds to the tension and suspense of the episode.

Moolaade (2004) - Race and Nation

Moolaade is a film written and directed by Ousmane Sembene, the father of African Cinema in 2004 that deals with the female genital mutilation. This film also falls into the 3^rd cinema. In an African village, 4-9 year old girls are ‘cut’, purified. The kids know that it is torture to go through which lead 2 girls to drown themselves in a well to run away from going through with it. We see four girls asking for “magical protection” from a woman named Colle who had refused to have her daughter purified 7 years before. 

Moolaade is shown by a coloured rope, which no one can cross to get the children. Colle’s husband returns as his relatives manage to persuade him to beat his wife for getting out of control in public. Just when Colle is about to faint, the merchant, Mercenaire decides to stop the beatings and is killed as a consequence.

Colle is the second husband of her three wives. Her daughter, Amasatou is engaged to an open minded, educated, rich young man who lives in France who returns back to the village bringing back his money, knowledge and technology such as the TV. However, Amasatou has not been gone through female circumcision, which is needed for marriage in the tradition. 

The radios, from the men’s point of view, is bad influence for them which is thought to be helping them to stand up for themselves. The women in the village take the blades from the genital cutters and Ibrahima announces that he is going to marry Amasatou as he stands up to his father. The end of the film shows the burning radios and the aerial, which replaced the ostrich egg on top of the house.

Issues of race and nation in Moolaade are shown on many occasions. In a village in Africa, we see women working and a market, which the Mercenaire owns. Four girls escape from their parents before getting purified and ask for the protection of Colle and the 2 other elders. We see Colle getting beaten by her husband with a whip in front of an audience who do not interfere except for Mercenaire. He dies as a result for standing up for what was right. 

The men in the village did not want the women to be able to stand up for themselves, so they decided to burn the radios. There is male violence and control towards the females. Watching a film with a different ethnic background makes it more interesting and engaging. A man having 2 or 3 wives in this ethnic background is normal as well as seeing children running around naked and families living their normal lives. We see different representations with the radio, Ibrahima and Mercenaire.