Analyse techniques used to establish the settings in a film and explain the importance of the setting as a whole.

The film 'Tsotsi' directed by Gavin Hood is set in Post Apartheid South Africa. This film focuses on areas such as the shantytowns and the Johannesburg suburbs. This is done to show the extent of the effect the Apartheid had had on the Blacks that were confined to the slums during the apartheid and the other significant amount of blacks that are now upper class and living in the suburbs. The issue of HIV/AIDS is also addressed.

Shot types and the mise en scene of the train station are used to establish the economic and social situation of the South African society. The establishing shot of the train station is extreme long shot, high angle and is focused on the inside of the station. This shot shows the vast interior and also both the rich and poor people in the same environment on their separate journey by train. The mise en scene emphasises how clean and modern the station is. We see a wide billboard hanging from the ceiling which states 'We are all affected by HIV and AIDS'. This sign educates outsiders the impact AIDS has on South Africa and the impact it has on people like Tsotsi, the main character in film. Tsotsi's parents passed away with AIDS leaving him orphaned at a very young age. Through these camera shots and mise en scene, the director helps educate viewers about AIDS in south africa and the social status of the poor and rich people.

Music and soundtrack are also important as they are used to help viewers understand a certain mood and/or culture of the poor in the Soweto shantytowns. At the early stages of the film, there is a scene of Tsotsi and his gang shuffling along in the street. The soundtrack of 'Mdlewembe' was associated with this scene. The director uses this particular music to build a sense of suspense. We know this because the tone of this soundtrack was very intense, full of bass, had very strong tempo and it was upbeat. Due to the adrenaline rush given off by the tone, we feel that this gang are up to no good. Also this music is an example of Kwaito music which is common on the streets of the shantytowns. The music is a way for these people to speak out about their hardship and this is noticeable as we see shacks piled on top of each other and rubbish strewn around everywhere.

The mise en scene is one of the most significant techniques used to contrast various settings in this film. This contrast is between the middle class or upper class suburbs and the shantytowns. We notice that the suburbs have well aligned streets, with streetlights. The suburbs are a clean area with lots of green and well groomed trees. Their buildings are made of cement and wood surrounded with security camera and electronic gates. At the shantytowns, the setting is very different. Their buildings are made of corrugated iron and bits of metals put together to form a shack. There are no streelights and the streets or walkways are covered in dirt and rubbish. The director usese this contrast to tell viewers that there are parts of south Africa that is rich and there are parts were shanty towns and slums still exist. It also highlights how in the suburbs, the need for security is much greater to keep away intruders or villains living at the back of their priced suburban area. According to history during the apartheid the black people of south africa were confined to the slums as a way of separating them from the whites which made them feel dehumanised. So the mise en scene in the shantytown points out that even though the apartheid is over, many blakcs are still extremely poor and have to live without clean runnning water and electricity.

In addition to the techniques already mentined, costume helps to establish the differece in the two class divisions. The two characters that emphasise this division is Miriam who lives in the shantytown and John, the upper classs black man who lives in the suburbs. The clothes Miriam wears are earthy coloured and traditionally patterned. It is not the kind of  clothes that has a brand on it and can be bought at a fashion retail outlet. It is the type of cloth that are sewed by hand and found in a tailors shop. Miriam also wears colourful head scarfs which are quite symbolic to African women as they show pride and strenght. John, the upper class man is seen wearing European style clothes which are modern and quite expensive. This style of clothing emphasise his status of wealth and his disregard towards his traditional costumes which he considers poor and out dated.

The importance of the setting to the film as a whole was to establish the issues such as the huge gap between the rich and the poor in south Africa and also the huge impact AIDS has on these people. Issues such as desperation for money, envy and resentment of the upper class's wealth, puts the shantytown dwellers in an economically segregated community which leads to the need of security for the upper class living in the suburbs.

In summary shot types, mise en scene, soundtrack and costume were the key techniques used to establish the setting in the film 'Tsotsi' directed by Gavin Hood. These settings were important to the film as a whole because it helps the viewers understand certain issues such as the social and economic segregation, poverty in the shantytowns and the serious issue of HIV/AIDS.

The Responsible

The never ending trail of life's symptoms
Some were responsible for the creases on her face

She is an owl
Some were responsible for the owlness in her
Eyes so empty it engulfs any light that ventures its path
As it looms back and forth
Left to right. Right to left

A lost duckling
Some were responsible for the genocide of her cries
Legs leading to the gaping cave with NO EXIT
Drenched tongue licking a piece of bone
On a silver platter

A life with no purpose
Some were responsible for her sunken heart
And as she craddle the stones on the pavement

We were all responsible for stepping on her

Analyze how symbols have been used to develop your understanding of ideas in TWO short written texts you have studied.

In the poems 'Valentine' by Carol Ann Duffy, symbol used to develop our understanding of the idea of love is 'an onion' and in 'This is love' by Karlo Mila, symbol used is 'a plant'. These symbols are extended metaphors used to express the reality of love.

In 'Valentine', the symbol of an onion is "a moon wrapped in brown paper". This tells us that in order to get to love, some work has to be done. If you take a look at an onion, it is first covered with brown coating. To get to the actual onion, you have to peel off this coating. The peeling off this coating, finally brings you to the actual onion, the kind where you can actually do something with it like eat it. You would not find anyone eating an onion with the brown skin still on, so in the same way a moon wrapped in brown paper is definitely worthless and dark. This is not to say that love is worthless and dark, but rather in order to get to it, you have to find a way of peeling that brown coating to get to the good part of it where you can actually embrace it with light.

However 'Valentine' also states "it will blind you with tears". With this quote Duffy is been absolute about the idea of love not been all happiness, joy and laughter but rather there are times when tears has to be shed. The little strong sting from an onion juice makes you cry in the same way, a little misconception with love can definitely blind you with tears. If you think about it more, when you cut a little slice or piece of an onion there are small amounts of onion juice. Now depending on the way you cut it, if you cut it mercilessly with careless attention then you will send bits of onion juice in the air, they will sting your eye and then with no control, your eyes starts watering. How does this connect to love? If you do not cut your love properly with a careful eye, respect and attention, then your love will be blinded fulled with uncontrollable tears.

In 'This is Love', the symbol of a plant is "seeds sown in the hopeful spring". In this case, the seeds been sown is the beginning of love in the hopeful spring. This gives us the impression that we plant love, hopeful that it grows. This emphasizes some kind of risk of doing something and just hoping that the end result is positive. This quote is also followed by "hiccups of hope". The 'hic' is the little unexpected moments of doubt, time spent wondering if the love (seeds) will blossom in the end. It could also mean little hints of flourishness and happiness, which is more on the positive side.

Mila also states that "love is the watering, the watching, the pruning, the tending, the providing of new buckets and the finding of new doorsteps". This metaphor is strongly linked to how we take care of plants. We water our plants so it does not die, we watch it to make sure no one comes and take it away and we prune it to make it look perfect. With love, we water or shower it with romance so it does not die, we watch it carefully to make sure we stay honest with each other, and that no one comes in between that bond and we also shape it in a way that we show that affection towards each other to obtain that perfect look. 'the providing of new buckets' is the adapting to changes and coming up with new solutions to mend it and 'the finding of new doorsteps' is the new stages we take on in life. Just like how a small plant outgrows its bucket, love grows and we need new buckets to put it into.

To conclude, in the poems 'Valentine' by Carol Ann Duffy and 'This is Love' by Karlo Mila, an idea they both discuss about is love. Symbols like 'an onion' is used in 'Valentine' and symbol of 'plant' is used in 'This is Love' as an extended metaphor to make us understand that love is something you work for and take care of with a careful eye.

The Pace Of Modern Living Destroys Happiness

I firmly agree that the pace of modern living destroys happiness. This is due to the increase amount of obesity through poor diet, introduction of social networking sites and increase demand of infrastructure. However, the introduction of technological advances in our modern society does make life a little easier.

Developed countries have a more modernised approach to living compared to developing countries. This is because they have been able to adapt to various changes to the environment, thus making it easy to predict that people living in developed countries are much happier. One of the factors that proves this wrong is the obesity.This medical condition is the result of excess fat been stored in your body which leads to reduced life expectancy. The increase in the amount of obesity is hardly surprising in this modern world where supermarkets, restaurants and fast food outlets seems to appear out of nowhere. This kind of modern lifestyle is inconvenient knowing that we can eat whatever and whenever we want. All it takes is to step into McDonald's, order our favourite burger and within minutes your heart thumps into the anticipation of that greasy yet delicious burger. The temptation of so many fast food outlets makes it so irresistible to stick to a more healthier traditional diet. This is a fact because in developing countries, obesity hardly exist. This is because people living in developing countries, tend to stick to staple diets such as foods high in starch and carbohydrates. People living in modernised easy-to-get-food often find themselves consuming food filled with chemical additives, preservatives and saturated fats.

The introduction of Social Networking sites has not only made socializing easier, but also a common playground for sexual predators and serial killers. In fact our modern way of life is going at a much faster pace, than we can catch up. Widows find comfort in chatting up strangers to make themselves feel better, strange men find these sites an opportunity to steal identity of other people and stalk them and teenagers find these sites a playground in which to play pranks on their fellow mates. How sad is it, that we are more willing to sit opposite a computer all day to simply make conversations to one another rather than meet up and chat like 'the good old times'. This way, you could have private interactions with one another without the fear of identity theft, hackers and sexual predators. Also sites like these encourage us to abandon the normal way of communication. Communication in a sense where we can hear each other laugh, see each other cry and are able to provide a shoulder to lean on when in need.

Global Warming is taking a serious toll on our universe. All of which mankind is to be blamed. Modernised way of living is to build grand mansions, fancy hotels and big industries which acquires trees to be chopped off. To grant the wish of such a living, trees are chopped off creating deforestation and putting native animals that naturally inhabits that area and putting them at risk of exposure. How selfish really can we be? The desires of such modern luxuries only makes us want more and more and in the end we put ourselves at risk of global warming. It might make us happy knowing that we can show off our industries and mansions, but does the face of our planet share that happiness with us? NO. It really is not worth sacrificing trees to reach high demands of such infrastructures. Surely Africans who still live in mud houses are perfectly content with themselves?

However the introduction of technological advances in our modern society does make life a little easier. Some of these technological advances are cellphones, wireless laptops, internet and GPS navigator in cars. The use of these products does makes us happy, but only if we can afford them! Using a cellphone does make life easier through the use of txt and pxt and we are able to connect to the internet without the hassle of wires using wireless laptops. Internet opens up the world to us in just one click and we can count on finding our way in a foreign country by relying on high tech GPS navigation in our cars.

To conclude, I stand by by my agreement that the pace of modern living destroys happiness. This is due to poor diet temptation leading to obesity and introduction of social networking sites that are a threat to our private lives. Increase in demand of infrastructure brings about deforestation causing the rise of global warming and the exposure of native animals been forced out of their natural habitat.

Describe how a character faced pressure and explain how he/she coped with it.

In the film 'Mean Creek', directed by Jacob Aaron Estes, a character that faced pressure was Clyde. He faced this pressure by accepting the fact that he is vulnerable to insults due to the fact that he has a homosexual father. He coped with this pressure by tolerating his friends calling him a 'faggot'.

Clyde is a shy, peaceful teenager who is vulnerable to insults such as been called a 'faggot' due to the fact that his father is homosexual. Marty, an angry and a violent boy who like shooting bottles whilst calling them names of real people, often uses this insult on Clyde. The first time the viewer hears of this word is in the beginning when they(Marty, Clyde, Rocky) were in a car near a waterfall and Marty held some kind of addictive drug for Clyde to try it. In a very agitated tone, Clyde said "... get it out of my face" and Marty responded with "faggot". Clyde always either look or walk away embarrassed and just never seems to attack anyone for insulting him through that word. This behaviour makes you question the kind of pressure teenagers with a homosexual parent has to go through.

The slang definition of a faggot is a male who is homosexual. Even though it is his dad that is homosexual, everyone takes it as an opportunity to say it to Clyde's face. The way Clyde condoned this pressure is very remarkable considering the fact that most teenagers will most likely take this kind of insult personally and stir up a fight. An example of when the average teenager; when put in Clyde's shoes will act in a provocative manner is when George said to Clyde "shut the fuck up, Clyde! You faggot!... skinny, butt-munching faggot!I hate you, you know that?... Because all you do is fucking prance around school, talking about your fucking faggoty, fairy fathers!...It makes me sick! And I... I fucking hope they fucking die of fag disease!". This is a great example of some of the situations where you would expect the victim, in this case Clyde, to fight George for been insulting but as usual, Clyde just stares in horror as he slowly digests what George just said to him about his dad and does nothing about it.

To conclude, the character that faced pressure was Clyde. He faced the pressure of having a homosexual dad, by accepting that fact that he is vulnerable. By accepting the fact that he is vulnerable, he coped with this pressure by condoning and looking the other way.

Is New Zealand really clean and green?

New Zealand is a clean and green country. New Zealand is a clean country due to its strict Bio-security, to ensure unwanted pests and diseases are not introduced to the country. It is also a green country as it protects its natural heritage through the use of national parks and protection of its native animals.

Bio-security is a set of preventive measures designed to reduce the risk of intentional removal (theft) of a valuable biological material. This simply means that in New Zealand, before you arrive into the country, you are checked at the airport for illegal or harmful objects that could endanger our flora and fauna. Been clean is all about making sure our country is free from harmful pests and diseases that could destroy our native plants and animals. The reason why bio-security is so important is that pests and diseases poses serious threat to our economy, environment, health and cultural identity. In fact many of the worst weeds and pests that are harmful in other countries can cause us serious damage. This could be because New Zealand is so isolated from the other countries and so has no immune to foreign pests and diseases. To help keep the country clean, bio-security measures are taken very seriously.

There are many national parks in New Zealand. One of the most significant ones are Tongariro national park, the first national park in New Zealand. This park is a place to explore as it ranges from tranquil lakes, plateaus and active volcanoes like Mount Ruapehu. The green image behind this, is that these parks are aimed at the recognition of Maori heritage, be it cultural and/or spiritual. The other green image of New Zealand is its sensitivity towards its native species. Many of them are found nowhere else in the world and a perfect example of this is the Kiwi. In fact New Zealand is so proud, they call themselves Kiwis! Safe from predatory mammals, native animals roam free on the ground and several species even lost use of their wings.

To conclude New Zealand is a clean and green country as it cares for its flora and fauna, through the use of bio-security and the recognition of Maori heritage through National parks.

Describe an important idea in the text. Explain how verbal and visual features of the text help you understand.

An important idea in the film 'Mean Creek' directed by Jacob Aaron Estes is revenge and its consequences. This idea is verbally conveyed through the use of music and silence. It is also visually conveyed through the use of lighting and camera angle to help paint the picture of what the film is about.

In the film, Sam, an introverted little boy is bullied by George when he messes with his video camera. George is an overweight annoying boy whose best friend is his precious little video camera. When Sam's older brother Rocky and his friends, Marty and Clyde hears of this, they plan a revenge along with Sam and his girlfriend, Millie to make him pay. A quote from Marty about the revenge plan is "we're planning on stripping him, throwing him in the river, and then we're gonna make him run home naked". The outcome of this revenge was that when George was accidentally pushed into the water, he drowned due to the fact that he could not swim. This consequence had a huge effect on the characters knowing that they had to deal with the fact that they are responsible for George's death. The significance of this idea is that revenge is never the solution to get even and that everything has its consequences.

The verbal technique used to show the idea of revenge and its consequences is the use of music and silence. After the death of George, when the group (Sam, Rocky, Millie, Clyde, excluding Marty) was in Sam and Rocky's bedroom, the background music was soft and slow indicating a very sad mood and dark atmosphere. The groups feeling of remorse hung heavily in the air as there was silence in the bedroom shadowed by the soft music in the background. A quote from Millie to George questioning about this incident is "... when we graduate high school, and go to college and become doctors and lawyers and all that, what do you think it'd be like?". This question makes the audience thinks about the effect this revenge is having on these characters.

Lighting and camera angle is used to visually make the idea of revenge and its consequences more understandable to the viewer. Before the revenge took place, the lighting of the riverside was bright portraying a beautiful day to go boating. The camera angle was mostly eye level, revealing the surroundings of the riverside and just giving it a peaceful tuning to it. The lighting changed from bright to dark when George fell into the water. We also got a close-up view of George under the water when he was struggling to come up for air, and then soon afterwards the camera was shaky giving us the feeling that we were looking directly from George's video camera. There was a loud 'pop' when his head hit the camera and there was blood in the water. Soon afterwards, the screen went black. The screen going black signifies death and for a moment makes the viewer feel sick inside knowing that these teenagers have to deal with the consequences of their prank.

An important idea in the film 'Mean Creek', directed by Jacob Aaron Estes, is the idea that revenge is never the solution to get even, and that everything thing we do has its consequences. This idea is verbally conveyed through the use of music and silence. The idea is also visually conveyed through the use of lighting and camera angle to help paint the picture of what the film is about.