Activity- Graphology

 The use of iconic logos on branded products is to make the customer know it is one of there products. It helps the public recognise their products. A well-designed logo catches the eye and identifies the company without the need for analysis or reading. When you see the apple sign for example, you do not need to think or read anything else to recognize it as the apple company they sell phones and  other technological devices. Good logos "go viral" -- people know the logo and its associations so intimately that they start to use it themselves to make a statement. In the early 1990s, for example, teenagers got Nike "swish" tattoos. Men photograph themselves with the Calvin Klein label of their underwear visible to tell others they have class and sex appeal. Logos take an element of a company or product and make it appealing to its target audience. In the United Kingdom, for example, the Conservative party unveiled a new logo in 2006 that used the color green and the image of a tree to appeal to an environmentally conscious new generation. The Toys"R"Us logo uses bright colors and a bold, rounded font to appeal to children.
 Also, a Logo is a graphic representation of a business or product, and can be viewed as the first opportunity to impress someone enough to want to learn more about it.

If a business are promoting a product, then Branding becomes extremely important.

The faster a Brand becomes familiar, the better. The fastest way to establish Brand is with a Logo.

Ideas for my next part of coursework

An article on 'How to do Christmas for the first time'

• A recipe. -http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/863657/spiced-and-iced-christmas-trees
• Decorations ideas.
• Presents ideas.
• Possible Holiday Destinations for Christmas.`
• Christmas Fun.
• Christmas clothing eg Christmas Jumpers.

Fairy Tales

I am going to write a story that is based in a rehab clinic. The patients inside are all going to be the disney princeses, and they will all be telling their stories.

The princess im going to include are

• Cinderella- PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
• Jasmine- Kleptomanic.
• Snow White- Schitzophrenia.
• Belle- Recovering drug addict.
• Sleeping Beauty- Depression.
• Rapunzel- Paranoia.
• Ariel- Body Dysmorphia.

I bet you all thought princesses had a stress-free life. A fairly average childhood, rescued by Prince Charming, gets married and lives happily ever after. Not quite. You may not know it, but most of them end up here. Especially the well-known ones.  The PRC. Short for ‘Princess Rehab Clinic’.

Cindy? She’s here. For post-traumatic stress disorder and Snow White is here for schizophrenia.  Ariel has BDD (Body Dysmorphia), Aurora has depression, Rapunzel is paranoid and Jasmine, well she’s a kleptomaniac. And then there’s me.  Belle, recovering drug addict. Sounds amusing don’t it? Throughout my story I was high as a bird on ecstasy. I mean, you must have thought I was crazy to fall in love with that beast. And he truly is a beast. He burps, he farts he eats all the food and is very unsatisfying in bed. It was my 9^th day here; I’d stopped taking the pills and was recovering steadily. But what I hated most was the sharing part. I liked to keep myself to myself; I didn’t want everyone knowing my life. (This is ironic really, seeing as I have a book written about me)

‘Could patients 3574 to 3581 come to the auditorium for the counselling?’

I sat down on one of the chairs that were positioned in a circle, and watched Jasmine, Aurora, Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White and Rapunzel join me.  The councillor flounced in. A former patient, flounced in. Her new title is now ‘Fairy councillor’ Catchy right? First up to tell her story was Snow White.

‘It all started when I was young. I use to talk to my teddies, and I’d hear them talking back to me. But I thought it was normal. Anyone would. Just a child’s imagination. Later on though, we found that I had an illness, but it was okay it wasn’t severe and I had medication. When I turned 19, it was time for me to move out. My step-mother had bought me a little cottage in the woods, and I liked it there. The first night I was living there, I heard some little voices. Voices of men. Little men. Then they walked in, 7 little dwarves. We quickly became friends and they told me there names were Doc, Sneezy, Happy, Bashful, Dopey, Grumpy and Sleepy. I always found it strange though. How when I had taken my medication, they were never there. And in a few hours when it had worn of, they were back. One day, my step-mother came by with some delicious apples she had picked form the royal apple trees. Doc told me they were rotten apples, and I had to kill her. He argued with me until I agreed, so I did. I took her out on a walk, and as I ran to the top of the hill, I pushed a boulder onto her. Horrible death really. But it was them. The voices, I couldn’t help it’

‘That’s quite enough dear. Thank you for sharing. So who’s up next?’

‘I suppose it’s my turn now’ Aurora slowly whispered.

Short Stories

Planning A Short Story:

• What does your protagonist want?
• When the story begins, what morally significant actions has your protagonist taken towards that goal?
• What unexpected consequences — directly related to the protagonist’s goal-oriented actions — ramp up the emotional energy of the story?
• What details from the setting, dialog, and tone help you tell the story?
• What morally significant choice does your protagonist make at the climax of the story?

 Write a Catchy First Paragraph

• the first sentence of your narrative should catch your reader’s attention with the unusual, the unexpected, an action, or a conflict.

 Developing Characters

• In order to develop a living, breathing, multi-faceted character, it is important to know way more about the character than you will ever use in the story.
• You need to know the 4 main areas-
• Appearance. Gives your reader a visual understanding of the character. Action. Show the reader what kind of person your character is, by describing actions rather than simply listing adjectives. Speech. Develop the character as a person — don’t merely have your character announce important plot details. Thought. Bring the reader into your character’s mind, to show them your character’s unexpressed memories, fears, and hopes.

 Choose a Point of View

• Point of view is the narration of the story from the perspective of first, second, or third person. As a writer, you need to determine who is going to tell the story and how much information is available for the narrator to reveal in the short story.

 Use Setting and Context

• Setting includes the time, location, context, and atmosphere where the plot takes place.

 Set Up the Plot

• Plot is what happens, the storyline, the action.

 Create Conflict and Tension

• Conflict produces tension that makes the story begin. Tension is created by opposition between the character or characters and internal or external forces or conditions.

 Build to a Crisis or Climax

• This is the turning point of the story–the most exciting or dramatic moment.

  Find a Resolution

• The solution to the conflict. In short fiction, it is difficult to provide a complete resolution and you often need to just show that characters are beginning to change in some way or starting to see things differently.

How am I finding English?

So far in English i have enjoyed every lesson and feel like i have learnt a lot of things.
Throughout GCSE English i was never someone at the top of the class getting the best grades, i didnt actually enjoy the lesson a lot. I took english as I knew it would be a very good lesson to have on my CV and would help with a lot of different jobs as English is needed for pretty much everything. I am now very glad i made the decision to take English as it is my favourite subject i took, i enjoy the lessons and really like my teachers.

Inspiration for my story.

The theme for my story had to follow a scary genre as the different pieces are being put forward to a flash fiction competition at school. As we could only write the whole story in 500 words, we had to make sure to be descriptive but do it in few words possible, and make sure every word counts.

The inspiration of my story was based on the film 'The Lovely Bones'. When I thought about my characters I saw them as being very similar to the characters from this film so it helped me describe the setting and the characters. I wanted to make sure to create an eerie atmosphere by using descriptive words and different techniques, such as metaphors and similes. Writing the story was quite easy as I have a fear of the darkness and being chased through scary places, i.e the woods.

In my story, i used a lot of short sentences to create a lot of tension and dramatic effect to my story. By changing the length of the sentences so quickly it creates a lot of pausing and the speed of reading it to be different, making it more interesting for the reader.

By never revealing the 'kidnappers' name throughout the story it gives a depth of mystery and wonder. By calling him 'it' and 'him' it also gives of the impression that the girl doesnt want to give him the decency of a name, and he is more like a animal who doesnt deserve this kind of thing.

Story

Kidnapped.  6 years old. Playing. Lost.

It had been 10 years.  Stuck in a rotting cabin with just it to keep me company. Him. The man who stole my childhood. Several opportunities had arisen for me to leave him, but I was scared. Scared of the world I hadn’t been in for 10 years. But then came that day, a Wednesday to be exact. He’d just come back from the nearest town, it was about 8pm. It was after 5 minutes of him returning home I noticed the slight beam of light coming from the moon outside. The door. The door was open. This was my chance.

I gathered several of my few belongings I owned and made for the door. I placed my feet on the sweet moss covered floor outside, and ran. Thoughts of my family racing through my mind, carrying me through the dusky woods. Once the adrenaline had left, I took to a more suitable pace and continued on. 

The woods. They always had such an eerie atmosphere. It almost felt like someone was… following me. I felt it, the sensation that someone was watching me. And then reality hit. It was him. He was there. He always would be, he’d never let me go. I almost started to just give up, even walk back to my ‘home’. But this was the closest I’d been to getting out of this controlled world. I’d keep going; if he was there surely he would have come and got me already? I had to be right, didn’t I?

It was 11pm, guessing from the moon’s position. Paranoia was the feeling overwhelming my body.  Every sound, every snap of a branch, it was him. The moonlight reflected onto my pale skin. I took one last sip of water and swiftly hiked on. Behind me, perhaps a few feet, a flock of birds were disturbed. They flew into the night sky, and I heard another rustle.  A dark, slimy shadow fell before me. I didn’t even have to think of who it was.

To be in his grasps again. I couldn’t do it. Even the thought of it gave me shivers. I still had time to run. To escape.  Or was that not enough anymore? I could do it, I could kill him. Right here, right now. I had a kitchen knife in my bag, one shot, I had just one chance. His hand slithered onto my shoulder, ready to take me his prisoner once again. I had the knife in my other hand, ready to swing.

His body lay on the floor. I could feel the nightmare slowly draining from my head. It was finally ending. The world I'd lived in for 10 years, was changing. I took one last look at him, and turned, not ever looking back.

Escaped. 16 years old. Murder. Found.

Homework

The reason why i chose to take English Language is mainly because when i'm older one of the few jobs im interested in is being a journalist, and English Language would be very important to have as an A level. Also, English throughout primary school and secondary school has been one of my favourite subjects as i like to be creative and write stories :)