WEBSITE REVIEW- final assignment

The website I desired to review was that of the Jamaica Observer. This website is the online version for the newspaper; the website also has a link to its affiliate newspapers, ‘CHAT!’ and ‘TeenAge’. The website which is jamaicaobserver.com has recently been given a face-lift; thus, has received a more modern, welcoming look. Along with these improvements the website is also easier to navigate and use due to new add ons and different outlines.

When one takes up a newspaper it is divided into sections or is very organized. Thus, when one seeks to read the paper online they expect the same ease (or even more) that reading the physical paper provides. Therefore certain sections should be easy to find and specific articles should be easily located. The new design/ layout of the website provides for this. The different sub-headings of the newspaper are listed on the home page. A brief list of the articles enclosed in each section is also listed. To add to the more modern design and to further appeal to the online reader’s attention, a slide show showing different articles in different sections of the paper has been added (inclusive of pictures). This slide show screen is strategically placed at the top of the page, and is the first thing that one sees on the page and to be honest it did catch my attention. To showcase some sort of technological versatility they have also added a video bar, although it is just being used to advertise the ‘Chat!’ newspaper it has the potential to showcase a variety of other things, which the reader anticipates. The addition of these extra visual enhancements enhances the online reader’s experience and shows that the company is experimenting with ways to further enrich the online experience.

The design which now includes a white background with a variation of red, black and blue text brightens the page and the reader’s outlook of the paper. Colours make much of a difference as this white is in direct contrast to the dark blue that was the background colour before the new design; and this is more welcoming. I used to be really turned off by reading the Jamaica Observer online, the dark blue turns off potential readers; this white background is much more welcoming. The improved layout is also a plus, as it makes the task of the reader easier. Now the online reader doesn’t have to go through all the different sections and search for what they want to read as it is clearly presented on the front page (from which there are links that navigate to the specific page you desire). The colour and layout transformation along with the other improvements has enhanced my experience with this website and has definitely made it a better one.

However, with every good thing comes the bad. Although I am enthralled by the improvement made to the website the search engine needs to be addressed. It is very difficult to search for past articles on this website. The presentation of the day’s paper is splendid, however to find an article from a previous copy of the paper is very difficult. I had been searching for an entertainment piece from the newspaper’s online resource and after numerous hours of searching I ended up going to their office and manually going through the archives to find the piece. The search facility needs to be upgraded as well. A good addition would be to have an archive section where the entire copy of previous publications can be accessed; at this time one can only access the specific article that he/she searched for from a previous newspaper copy.

Movie Review for the "Orphan" trailer

I would like to define this movie review as a technical one where aspects of the movie such as lighting, camera angles, shot sizes and such. 

The trailer for the movie "Orphan", in my opinion, was effective in establishing interest in the audience and also showcased the main idea of the movie or essentially what the movie is about. 

The music in the trailer morphs into less harmonius notes as the intensity increases. The music, therefore, not only accompanies the video but it allows the viewers to be aware of changes in mood, setting or attitudes. Thus the music plays an important role in keeping the audience interested and also in suspense. Lighting was also used effectively throughout this trailer. Light was used to showcase innocence and also a sort of "devilish", evil presence. In the beginning light coming through a window lit the room and fell soflty on the little girl's face, giving her an angellic glow and illustraying innocence. However, while having the tantrum in the bathroom the light got proressively darker, and the scenes seemed moe gloomy. Someone then declares "there's something wrong with Esther", the lighting makes this assumption more believable and sets up the audience for whatever is to come.

The way in which the light hit Esther in different scenes shows the gradual change in her angellic features to her demonic features. When one compares how the light illuminated her in the beginning when she was painting to the scene almost at the end of the trailer where her surrounding is dark and her face is the only thing that is lit in the darkness. The lighting at the beginning was softer, as it casted light shadows but towards the end of the trailer the scenes seemed darker., it even seemed like they had stopped having sunny days: the setting changed to one of some amount of despair.

The speed with which the shots were changed showcased the gradual progression of Esther from this good, cheerful orphan to the tormented, possessed being she was portrayed as being towards the end of the trailer. The range of shot sizes used were a mixture of: Long shot, Medium shot, Close Up and Extreme Close Up. Long shot, as we were taught, is always used to establish the setting, thus its effectiveness in the beginning where there was the long shot of the orpahanage. Long shot was also used in scenes with the family that adopted her, to me it speaks to the "distance" between Esther and her adopted family, due to her "problem". Medium shot was the more commonly used shot size, as the trailer focused mainly on the facial expressions of Esther. Close up and Extreme Close up were used for more 'dramatic' scenes, like when Esther was in bed with her adopted  father and there was a close up of his reaction. Another example was the (extreme) close-up of the mother's reaction when she was driving along the road and then saw her daughter lying on the road infront of her car.

The shot angles utilized were also an important element in the trailer. The angles I identified were: eye level, high angle, bird's eye and worm's eye. Eye level was the most common angle used for the same reason that medium shot was the most common shot size used, the fact that the trailer focused mainly on Esther's facial expressions. In the scene where Esther had the tantrum in the bathroom all / most of the angles mentioned were used. I believe this was to showcase the intensity of the tantrum and to show the range of changes she went through. In the scene where the mother answered her phone beside her SUV (Sport Utility Vehicle) the camera angle was switched to bird's eye; this illustrated that some kind of bad news was about to be communicated.

The muted speech throughout the trailer aids in the suspense. This clearly shows the audience that the fact that Esther has a problem is not something that they have publisized, like its being kept a secret (maybe it also shows that they do not want her to find out that they know). The fact that after her tantrum everyone speaks in muted tones, shows that they are no longer major 'players' in the movie and thus entire portion is about Esther and her supposed ''problem''. It also plays in the element of fear. The scene where the little girl told her she looked like Little Bo Peep was the longest shot, and thus hints to the audience that this scene is an important one, and even allowed me to conclude that this was the cause of her 'transformation'.