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I decipher every moment of every movie I ever watch. My friends won't watch movies with me unless I promise to stay quiet, because I literally analyze every shot and effect and line, and if it's a movie that I know nearly everything about (e,g. Titanic, The Last Station), I apparently have the ability to have a never ending commentary on how they made the movie. I write screenplays and make short movies. Sometimes I share them, sometimes I don't. I make videos for school projects because it's a way I know how to express what message or theme I want to get across. Unfortunately, last summer I lost everything on my computers hard drive (And the backup drive failed) so I lost a number of my best projects. Here are two that I am pretty proud of.
 * __MY EXPERIENCES WITH VIDEO PRODUCTION__**

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__**WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOVIE AND WHY?**__
 * It is nearly impossible for me to choose just one movie, as I have **many** favourites. //(Titanic, Atonement, Nowhere Boy, Finding Neverland, The Reader, The Conspirator, The Last King of Scotland, Up, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Across the Universe, A Midnight Clear, Lost and Delirious, The Secret Life of Bees, Thirteen, The Notebook Revolutionary Road, Remember Me, August Rush, X-Men: First Class, The Sound of Music, The Lovely Bones...)//
 * One of my all time favourite movies is //The Last Station//. It is directed by Michael Hoffman, and based on the novel by Jay Parini.
 * There are so many aspects about it that I love, and I could literally go on and on about it for hours. The movie is about the last year of Leo Tolstoy, so genre-wise, it is a historical drama. But there are many comedic aspects as well; so much so that the movie makers and actors consider it to be a subtle comedy. Firstly, I love this movie because it's pretty much all of my favourite actors and actresses in a historical movie about someone I admire greatly. (Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Kerry Condon, and Anne-Marie Duff... //and// it's about Leo Tolstoy!) That's more of a personal aspect, though.


 * Here's the trailer, because I cannot explain what the movie is about without writing ten pages or more.media type="youtube" key="aw72eJi_lgs" height="315" width="560"


 * So, what makes this a good movie?
 * **The cinematography -** the filming is very smooth, the lighting is very natural, and the transitions between shots are so gradual that you feel like you are there with the characters.
 * **The "eyes" of the audience -** Every good movie has a character that the audience sees through, and this film is mainly shown through the eyes of Valentin Bulgakov, who is literally the definition of a neutral character - he's on neither side of the conflict. He's adorably naive, and the way he expresses his emotions are fabulous - when he's feeling something, it takes over the whole room. And his 'tic' is a running comedic theme throughout the movie. It's interesting, because anxiety is rarely portrayed in movies - because it's such an invisible force, it's hard to visualize it. But with this 'tic,' the moviemakers were able to physicalize the anxiety, making the audience even more aware of what the character is feeling.
 * **The music -** I am in love with the soundtrack. I bought the album off of iTunes, and whenever I listen to it, I get back into the atmosphere of the movie without a second thought. Sergey Yevtushenko is a genius.
 * **The subtle contrasts, themes, and juxtapositions -** I will point out one, which I think is the most powerful of them all: //As the romance between Sofya and Leo Tolstoy comes to an end, the romance between Valentin and Masha begins.// The contrast between young and old....
 * I could seriously go on and on, but I think I better stop now.

__**WHAT, IN YOUR OPINION MAKES A GOOD MOVIE?** (See subtopics in my above answer)__


 * The script/transfer from paper to screen (well-done adaptation if it was a book first)
 * Relationships between characters are well developed and real.
 * Something the audience can invest in emotionally - this keeps them attached throughout the movie's process - ideally this should be an effortless process.
 * Engaging storyline - the plot is going somewhere, and you //want// to know what is going to happen.
 * The movie stays with you long after you've finished watching it; it leaves you inspired and deep in thought.
 * Again, I could go on and on,

__**HOW DOES MEDIA CONTROL OUR LIVES?**__

I think media controls our lives in the sense that we can't escape it. Everywhere we turn, there is a media outlet trying to get a point across or trying to sell us something. Media comes in so many different forms that it's impossible to avoid it. And the thing is, we are strangely addicted to it.

__**MY COMIC**__