Southampton 7.10.09

Today I plan to do a workshop with The Mayflower and looked around an art gallery to furhter our knowledge of art in the local scene.


On 7th October we all went to Southampton and into the Mayflower to go and see backsatge and how a theatre works at 9:45. Unfortunately, we couldn't go ahead with this plan because the cast of 'The sound of Music' Needed an extra rehearsal so the auditorium was not available to anyone but the cast. Instead, we met with the Andrea Sheppard (marketing manager of The Mayflower). We found out about the history of The Mayflower and got to ask any questions we had (CT2) . She also told us some funny stories of what people ask for in their dressing rooms. After that hour talk we had a small break.

We then had to write a review for Quadrophenia in 20 minutes, whoever had the best would win a family ticket to see High School Musical on Stage. It was really hard but i got a page, hadn't finished it though. We had a booklet with other reviews from newspapers we could generate ideas from, we could add certain bits from other reviews into our own if we wanted, aslong as we made it our own by changing it a bit, we had to decide which bits from the booklet would help us. We would waste time reading it all otherwise, reading things we didn't need (IE4).  Finally, we all got into a group and had another discussion asking more questions if we wanted to.

Once we were done we left the Mayflower and went to the Southampton Art Gallery. We looked at all the artwork, some of it was really outstanding, some of it was peculiar.

(RL1)(RL2)(RL5)A strength of mine today was being able to appreciate the artwork even though it''s something different to me.
A weakness and target for improvement is to ask more questions to further my knowledge.
A skill i have learnt is how to act appropriately when a professional gives a talk.

Media Jobs in the Area

We had to find out about creative and media jobs in and around our area. Sarah and I worked together to find a few, these are the jobs we found which were most related to creative and edia and which weren't too far away.

SEN English/Drama/Media Teacher
- Location: Southampton
- Salary: Not Specified
- Company: Select Education
- Job Type: Permanent

              Teacher requires to work at a SEN school for young people with challenging behaviour. Strong behviour management and care skills are required also qualifications in English, Drama and Media.

Graphic Designer (Maternity Leave Cover)

- Location: Basingstoke

- Salary: Negotiable

- Company: WSP Group

- Job Type: Permanent

A fantastic opportunity awaits a graphic designer/creative art worker for this Global Engineering Consultancy. Experience in Photoshop, Microsoft Office, Adobe etc, are much needed skills for the job.

Male Models

- Location: London

- Salary: £100 - £150 per hour

- Company: Mezm Productions

- Job Type: Temporary

Same gender couple themed photoshoot. Seeking diverse looks. 18 years or older.

Quadrophenia Critique

Quadrophenia is set in London and Brighton when the Mod and Rocker feud at it's crowning point. The whole story is told through the four split personalities of Jimmy - The Lunatic, The Hypocrite, The Tough Guy and The Romantic. Young Jimmy, a dedicated Mod is looking for a place where he belongs and a girl to follow him every step of the way. Trapped in a menial job and a dysfunctional family, he travels to Brighton in the hope of a life changing result. The version we saw had been expanded by the Director Tom Critchley and Writer Jeff Young. Playing the four Jimmy's were Jack Roth, Rob Kendrick, Ryan O'Donnell and George Maguire.

The whole show was very entertaining resulting in dancing and singing along, the show reflected the energy given off by the actors to the audience creating a fast paced, unpredictable performance. The nature of the show being this way caused the story to be extremely difficult to follow. If you're not familiar with the story line it is a very hard job to get your head around this show. All the characters are complex and the events are intricately choreographed so that many different things happen at once on the stage.

The performers were 100% dedicated to the role and showed clearly which personality they were showing. Every actor was very energetic and active on stage to reflect the social context of the rock opera. However, the weakest personality was the actor playing Jimmy's hypocritical side because it was hard to portray that through acting thus the audience found it hard to distinguish what this personality was. Most of the older audience reminisced about their days in the Mods and Rockers era, they loved being able to go back to their childhood for a night.

The set was very well made, however it didn't have much range. It had one moving stage in the middle that was a large hollow circle that the performers could climb on, which was not at all relevant to the time period. There were also some small set pieces and props that added little to the stage. These smaller, basic pieces however were very relevant to the era.There was a powerful use of lighting, they had flashing lights in the party scenes which gave the mood of energy, craziness and chaos.They also had a single spotlight when something terrible happened such as when the Bell Boy (Ace) dies. Another time they used a single spotlight was when The Romantic Jimmy sung 'Love Rain O'er Me'. This was very effective as it showed Jimmy felt isolated.The costumes were perfect for the time period and true to the Mod and Rocker scenes. Usually the band are in a pit in front of the stage and non-viewable but in Quadrophenia you could see the band throughout the performance and they were all in costume. This made it feel like Jimmy's life was like a whole soundtrack, with a band following him. It was a very original idea and it meant the band could get more involved and they can feel as if they're part of the action.

As soon as the interval arrived there was a sudden buzz with people commenting on the excitement and energy being shown. The show concluded with a standing ovation and an encore of 'My generation'. 


In conclusion, the whole show was exhilarating and refreshing. However, I strongly recommend that if you're planning on seeing the show you should read the story line otherwise you will find the performance hard to follow,

The Aspex Gallery and Portsmouth Museum 24.09.09

Today i plan to go to the Aspex Art Gallery to analyse and understand the exhibit being shown.


Today we went on the train to Portsmouth from Swanick, and went into Gunwharf Quays.

First we went to the Aspex Gallery, where we met Amy who works at the Aspex as a Education & Outreach Co-ordinator. She talked to us about what is at the Aspex and asked us if any of us have ever been to galleries before.

We were put into separate groups, which meant we were mixed with people from Portchester school (TW1). We were with Portchester school all day, because there school and our school together has the same amount of people as the Diploma students at Brune Park. So it's be too big a group if we were with Brune Park.

We had a sheet of paper with four questions on it: What is Aspex; Is it a company; who owns Aspex; can anyone open a gallery and what would you need to open a gallery. Our Group all discussed the questions and came to an agreement on what our answers would be (TW2) .

After we went into one of the exhibits which was an installation called 'Witch hunt' by Delaine De Bas. When we walked in everyone was speechless. It was not your average pretty painting on the wall, it was all about stereotyping the gypsies with being evil witches. At first i thought it was a really scary and disturbing place but when i walked round more i understood the deeper meaning about what Delaine De Bas has been through all her life as she is a gypsy herself.

The whole installation was a big room with three sections, when you walk in it was a big colourful tent with small children mannequins but with their faces and bodies covered in all different coloured material. One of the mannequins was lying on the floor the other standing over it.

In another section there was newspaper clippings and diary entries all about the witch hunting. Which was very creative, there was also writing all over the walls which said stuff like 'You don't know who we really are'.

The other section had three mannequins -also dressed up in material- and one of them had their head in a vice, and there were mannequins getting hanged! There was also a smaller tent which had bedding and photos up everywhere, and a projector screen next to it with photos of Delaine and her family.

All these are what actually would happen to these sorts of people, innocent people. They would be burned, drowned, hanged and left in cold open fields. To normal people they were pure evil, but all they were were travellers. They did no harm. (IE3)(IE5)

The whole installation was very well done with a real deep and valuable meaning. And a perspective of what it was like for them. The way it was laid out was very creative as their was quite a contrast from having such a dark subject but having bright colours. After we had some time to look around we all sat down and had a discussion about what it was like and how it made us feel. We all got to ask Amy questions about it (CT2).

We then went to the Portsmouth museum, and had a look a round there. Today really helped us to see what goes on in Portsmouth as we need all the information we can get for our scene project, and i picked up loads of leaflets!


(RL1)(RL2)(RL5)A strength of mine today was collecting more leaflets and resources for my final what's on guide.
A weakness and target for improvement is to take pictures and notes about the exhibits as they could be helpful.
A skill i've learnt is how to interpret exhibits and analyse and understand them.

Quadrophenia at The Mayflower 10.09.09

The plan for today is to watch Quadrophenia and have a Q&A session with the actors.

We had to be at back at school today for 8:50pm, All the 9 Brookfield Students were waiting in the Car Park for the Coach to arrive, it was Twenty minutes late. Although, it didn't matter so much because we didn't miss any of the show or anything, so we got on with the two other schools.

It was a short drive to The Mayflower, and we got off the bus went in and sat down.

The first half, well I think everyone was amazed at how good it was! I know I didn't expect anything like that! It was truly amazing! The opening scene was very dramatic, and just had the one Jimmy - the main Jimmy (The romantic one) singing 'Can you see the real me?' with smoke all around him which was a great opening. It was really clever that they had 4 different Jimmy's they had the Romantic one, The hypocritical one, The Lunatic one and The Tough Guy. The name 'Quadrophenia' is a variation of the word Schizophrenia, which means split personalities. So having 4 different Jimmy's is a very creative way of showing that. All 4 of them are usually on at the same time, showing all the mixed feelings of Jimmy at certain points in the show.

They also had a younger Jimmy to show his life with his parents as a child.

The second half was also just absolutely amazing! They did a really good scene where Jimmy's dad died, Jimmy's father was a bad man, an abuser, he would hit his mother. And when his father finally died from a heart attack at his funeral the four Jimmy's were there. It was very well done because they had each Jimmy go up to him and do something according to their personality, the Lunatic shouted at him, the romantic one cried etc...

They had a great moving stage as well it was a big circle of metal which turned round so the Jimmy's could express their feelings by climbing on it, when there were parties people would be turning in it. And for one of the last scene al 4 Jimmy's were standing on it, one with his mother, one with his father, one with the girl, one with Ace as the bell boy. At first they were turning on the moving stage and hitting or arguing with their 'partner' then as it went on they gradually all simultaneously stopped fighting and just hugged or kissed each other. That was a really great scene, showing the four Jimmy's became one at that moment.  

The Performance was so flowing, and the actors were so great in it and gave so much energy! The choreography was so complexly done too. They had staged fighting as well which was so cleverly done, it looked just so real and the actors/actresses put real emotion and energy into the whole performance. It was great how they had the band at the back of the stage, visible at all times. It made you feel like they were part of it because they were all dressed as mods and rockers and really getting into it too. The only thing i would criticize is that if you didn't know what the performance was about you wouldn't really understand, it is very hard to get your head around all the characters and what's going on because it's mostly metaphoric.

By the end, it was a standing ovation, everyone in the audience standing and clapping. They finished with an encore of 'My Generation'. Everyone was singing along even all the teachers who came with us! After it was finished we stayed behind and 4 of the cast members came out and asked any questions we had, they were very friendly and told us all the slip ups that happened and all the backstage stuff.

Afterwards we saw the cast outside the pub next door, we tried to get a picture with them but Jasmine's camera wasn't working. A lot of people got autographs though. The coach home was so loud; everyone was talking about the show and how good it was. The coach coming back was so much more lively then the coach going there!

It was such a great performance. Much, much better than I thought it would be, I'm glad we got to work on it at Fareham College so we could get an understanding of it, meaning we could really get into the show.


(RL1)(RL2)(RL5)A strength of mine today was being respectful and watching the show and asking questions at the end.
A weakness and target for improvement is to  take notes so i could use it in my critique.
A skill i've learnt today is how to analyse the show and pay attention to detail.

Diploma at Fareham College 09.09.09

Today i plan to go to fareham college for a workshop on making an advertisement.


Today was our first day together with all the Creative and Media Diploma students. We all had to be at Fareham college for 8:30. We met our Diploma leader Mr Coulson there and all the other Brookfield people, all the Creative and Media Diploma students from Brune Park and Portchester were there too.



First we all went into the theatre and got a brief on what we were doing today. We were told each school had to make a poster, CD cover, press release, radio show etc... to advertise Quadrophenia at the Ashcroft Arts Centre. However, I thought it would have been better if we all had to mix with other schools to create the advertising as it would mean we could socialise with the people at the other schools. (EP4)


We went into the L.R.C (Library Resource Centre) and were given our brief on a sheet of paper with a list of roles we had to organise between us, There were Creative Directors, Models, Photographers etc...


Once we had organised who wanted to have which role between our group (named Team Ace). At first, I was going to create a radio advertisement with Sarah but we didn't have a microphone to record it on, so me and Sarah were models as no one else wanted to be. Firstly Sarah was dressed in a leather jacket, black gloves and backcombed crinkled hair to be a rocker. I was dressed in a brightly coloured dress, chunky bracelets and crinkled hair in high pigtails (As you can see in the picture above)


The Photographer which was Danii went outside to see all the motorbikes some men kindly brought in, there were about 9 motorbikes overall, Vespas and Harleys. Danii got her camera ready and so did Mr Coulson, and they chose our bikes. Once Sarah and I were ready we went outside to meet them. I went first and went on a blue vespa and had to pose ' Like i was about to die ' in the words of Mr Coulson! I absoluteley loved the vespa. Loved it! 

Once we were done with my part, Sarah went on one of the harleys. We don't have any males doing Creative and Media Diploma at Brookfield however, so we asked a boy from another group if he could be in the picture, so he was (TW1) . We got some great pictures! And it only took 15 minutes or so to get. Whilst all the photography was happening the people who weren't outside were brainstorming ideas and researching existing posters and CD covers for Quadrophenia (SM3) . We went back into the L.R.C and looked at the pictures, we finally decided to use the one of me as a mod because in the rocker ones Sarah's face was blocked out by the mirrors!

We all then got on with doing our seperate jobs, Jasmine and Kia were making the picture into a poster and adding all the information on it, Sarah and I reasearched existing reviews on Quadrophenia and then wrote our own (IE2) , Sophie S was doing the press release and Amber and Danii were making the CD front cover (TW1).

Typically, when we had about 20 minutes until the deadline for the brief to be met our computers crashed and they all turned off. But, it was only Brookfields who went off, all the other groups computers were unaffected. So, we lost time with having to start things again. It made us realise how improtant it is to save our work as you never know what can happen with technology (IE5)(SM4). Also, none of us knew how to use photoshop, so we struggled and wasted time doing that, but we helped each other out with the problem. People were researching instructions for it whilst others were actually doing it (SM2) .

When it was time to present our products to the client, we didn't have time to print our poster or CD cover. However, it still looked good. I think it really taught us about meeting deadlines in the real world and that we really need to save our work (SM5) ! The CD cover we were going to print off was in black and white and was a close up of the poster above.

We had lunch afterwards, and had to meet back at the theatre where there was a small performance being done for us to show us what can be done at Fareham College. It varied from singing to dancing to acting to short films to fashion design. It was very strange but very entertaining!


After that we all met in a different room and brainstormed what we could think about for tomorrow's show (CT1) , Quadrophenia such as Lighting, Cast, Audience, etc...

And basically just confirmed our plans on how to get there and back.

(RL1)(RL2)(RL5)A strength of today was volunteering myself as a model because no one else wanted to do it.
A weakness and target for improvement is to be a bit more organised because we didn't really plan out in what order we would do the brief, meaning it was all a bit chaotic. We wasted a lot of time by waiting for the pictures to get taken to put on our poster when we could have started the reviews and the slogan etc. and put the image on last. We didn't really meet the brief in the end. 
However, a skill i've learnt today is to learn from my mistakes and know for future tasks that we need to plan and organise better, we also need to muliti - task (RL2)(RL5) . The day overall and the experience was really great and i liked being able to see the college and the way it's different to Brookfield. The whole day really made me realise how dedicated you have to be to getting things done in a deadline, now I've experienced it I'm sure I know now for next time (SM3)