The main characters best friend, isn’t as human. This would be REN2. REN2 is a robot who is there for Steve Willick on his prison aircraft. He is there to look after him, but also to make sure he follows the rules. REN2 is connected to the ship, so when the ship lost its connection to the prison headquarters, REN2 also disconnected from the guard and the ship. He was able to have own opinions, and he did not need to look after Steve anymore. REN2 and Steve have been together on that ship for 2 years, so because REN2 can now think for himself, doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to be friends with Steve anymore. In fact, REN2 is happy to not be his guard anymore and can now just be called his friend. REN2 is a small flying robot, who has arms, 1 eye, and 2 jets on the side. He is typically a very happy person, but when his rage comes out, it comes out very strong. REN2 is like Robin to Batman, but in this case, batman would be Steve.

IDEAS: outer space, lost in space, on a spaceship with an inmate, inmate has 5 robots surrounding him, one flying one named REN2 the other are 1 type of robot, Bob, Dave, Bill, and Gary.

STORY: (exposition)

It was just another typical day. Wake up, brush my teeth, take a very cold shower, eat, and just wander around. Oh sorry I haven’t informed you yet who I am have I.. Hi, my name is Steve. I’m an inmate on this ship. Well, I’m the only person on the ship. You see, in the year 5203, who needs prisons with inmates cramped in a small place? Nowadays every single inmate gets their own ship, where they serve their time. Now, because you heard the word inmate doesn’t mean I’m a bad person, I just make many mistakes. The ship I’m on is nice, I’m not complaining. I’ve been on here for 2 years, and I still got 7 days to serve. I can’t wait to get out! I go down to the kitchen to check in with REN2, he’s my guard. He’s really nice, but his job is to make my life hard which he does for sure. Also, Bob, Bill, Dave, and Gary are in the kitchen. They’re friendly robots so I don’t get too lonely. I’ve got to say prison isn’t the worst, I’m gonna miss these guys. So I go downstairs, but something isn’t right. REN2 was always very talkative, real nice robot. But out of nowhere he had no sense of direction. He was flying into everything. So I went to the navigation control room. Of course I can’t fly the ship, after the 7 days it’ll take a wormhole back to the station with the other ships. When I got in the room, normally the ship has a course going somewhere, but the system failed. Bob told me that the ship lost connection. I had no idea where in space we were, because in 2 years you can fly real far. Which meant I was lost, in space. It was scary to me yet exciting. This meant my trial ended early, I was able to take control of the ship…

The story starts with this guy, a bottle cap collector, also called the protagonist. getting out of the train. You can already see the city looks very busy, signs everywhere, very industrial. He walks over to some stairs where he finds a bottle cap. He puts it in his collection. The stairs lead to a beach where he went for a walk. He was looking around him but didn’t seem to find many coins. But after a little while of walking he saw something enormous sitting in the sand(1:35). He goes to check it out. It starts moving, the guy found out there’s life inside this monstrosity. big octopus arms and crab claws come out of certain holes of this machine. 1 latch opened of this machine type creature, it spit out a volleyball. He just wanted to play with the bottle cap collector. He was throwing the ball while the creature would run after it and bring it back. When the guy throws the ball away, the creature comes back with a huge pipe, which is comedic. It was all part of a montage, throwing the ball, looking at the guys bottle cap collection, making a sand castle. Then the guy said one of the key sentences in this short film. “Soon there was no denying the unhappy truth. It was lost.” Which directly relates to the title of this story The Lost Thing. The protagonist then asked a few people on the street if they knew anything about it (3:48). No one seemed to know where he came from. He then went to a friend of his, who always knew what something was. He is a flat character because he only has a minor role in the short film. Sadly enough, he could also not figure out what it was. His parents are also flat characters, they’re only included for a short bit. The protagonists parents would not like it if he took the creature home. So it had to stay in the shed outside for the night. In the shed the guy throws all sorts of stuff into the creature. The bottle cap collector then saw a place on tv where he could bring this creature to drop him off (7:44). The next day the 2 go check it out. But when they got there, it was a very negative space, which had to be represented to show that it was like a flat antagonist, a minor part in the short film, but it was a antagonist. The short film uses sensory language throughout, such as the protagonist saying it smelled like disinfectant. The janitor that worked there told the 2 main characters that this was a bad place, and showed them a card with the direction to a better place. The 2 then followed those directions, which took a while. This was another comedic part, where there were so many signs leading everywhere that it was hard for them to find. They made this into like another montage, it was represented as a montage of a very long dramatic yet comedic trip. When they found it, they saw it was a small little gap in an anonymous street(11:19). They went into the gap, the creature almost doesn’t fit into the gap. The protagonist sees a key and turns it. It then starts turning by itself which make sit more magical. Then the huge door opened up, revealing a secret land of lost creatures which do not seem to fit into the real world. The place is the exact opposite of the real world, it’s very positive, alive, and natural, while the real world looks dark, negative, gray. The creature directly becomes very happy. The 2 main characters say goodbye, which they made very dramatic for effects. Then the creature went into this world, and left. The protagonist lives his boring life like he used to. He got a job, and was a part of society in that world. He started to notice less things that were lost or different. He thought that either less things were lost, or because he just didn’t notice it anymore.

I think the message behind this story is, that being different is good, because if we were all the same, the world would be very plain and boring. By being different, there’s lots more to learn from, more opinions, and it can make you happier being different, which the movie represented with the secret world which was very positive and the opposite of the world where everyone is the same.

Huge ruins towering over you. You feel microscopic when you walk through these amazing ruins. The ruins have broken down, which some might think as a big mess. I see art in this ruin, it tells a story. The ruins are messy in a random way, there is no pattern, which is what I think makes it so impressive to look at. The stairs are rough yet pleasant to walk over. Many different colours in the ruins gives it a feeling of ageing over the many many years. The mood of this place is strong, dangerous and exciting, yet peaceful and enjoyable.

When you walk in, the first thing you see is the bowling shoes. These directly give you this vintage feeling like you’re in the 80’s and you’re going bowling with your friends. You check all the sizes seeing which fits you. As soon as you put it on you directly go into bowling mode, getting ready to defeat all your friends. The floor of the bowling alley are greyish, squared mats, which feels like walking over dead but soft grass, the floor is very irritating because it comes loose every time so I need to put it back. The bowling balls feel very heavy, anytime I go there I feel like I need to do a whole workout lifting the bowling balls. The pins are like Jerry to Tom, in which case the ball is Tom, because you think you’ll throw a strike, but the odds are strangely always against you and it barely misses the pins. The walls are comic books which really enlightens the place, gives it that 80’s feeling which I described earlier. Behind the bowling alley is a gaming room, with a ping pong table, foosball table, and ice hockey table. That room makes me excited anytime I’m near it, it’s such a fun room. The smell of the bowling alley is very sweet because my brothers and I have spilled sodas there before, so it’s like drinking sodas but for your nose. 

From the tv show

1. How do the directors or the cameraman make Michael Palin stick out between the rest of the crowd?

• By zooming in on Michael Palin and putting him in the center, and hearing his mouth move with the voice talking, it helps us directly look at Michael Palin, and he is the first thing the audience looks at, so it’s not like finding Wally.

1. How does the shots of particular people in the crowd help understand the scenery Michael Palin was in?

• It helps the audience realise what the aesthetics was like, what it was like for Michael Palin to be there.

From the text

1. How does the detailed description of the scenery help us feel how Michael Palin felt during that soccer game?

• It helps us imagine what situation Michael Palin was in, it helps us understand how Michael Palin was situated and how he felt.

1. How does the usage of literary techniques (simile) help the readers feel empathy?

• It helps us understand how the Michael Palin felt at the moment, it also helps us imagine what it would be like if we were there, which helps us empathize with Michael Palin.

The specific scene we chose shows the tour of a Rum factory in Cuba, and begins with a showcase of their most famous rums, then goes through the steps of how they produce the rum. It goes through what part of the sugarcane plant the rum comes from, as well as how it was collected. This is a very informative scene as well as comedy to make it more lighthearted and pleasant to watch.

It starts with short shots of the items and paintings they come by with hispanic music playing in the background, which lasts 10 seconds. Straight after the cut to the scene of Conan and Gretel, the composition is in front of the most expensive and famous rums in this museum. Conan is on the left, and Gretel on the right, they’re faced to the camera as well as to each other. This lasts 37 seconds. The next shot is the same layout, this scene has more a mixture of educational and comedy involved. It zooms in on Gretel to show irritation which is a funny add on. The next shot both Conan and Gretel are on the left side and on the right is the background which is educational. This is the same as the last shot, it switches from educational to comedy to keep the audience entertained.

The audio used is quite minimalistic, only playing music for a few seconds, and occasionally including a laugh track. This lack of audio allows the audience to easily hear what is going on and learn more easily. The laugh track is used to make the audience want to laugh more during the watching of the scene.

The dialogue between Conan and the tour guide is a good mix of humour, as well as actual informational speech. After a few sentences of information Conan would make a joke or some anecdote to lighten the mood slightly, and make the program more enjoyable.

Lastly, the shots and cuts are mostly used to add more comedy to the program. There is one moment during the program where they zoom in on the guide’s face after a comment is made by Conan to show irritation, and make it funnier to the audience. It also associates shots with both Conan and Gretel as informational, and shots with only one of them as funnier.

We had a look at an article that is about women becoming artists and leaving their jobs in Cuba, and a tv show where Conan O’Brian went to Cuba.

Similarities are that these are both based in Cuba of course. They both explore the culture of the country. Both of them are also very informative, it teaches you lots of things.

Some differences are that Conan in Cuba is a mix of comedy and informative, which the article is not. Also, a very obvious difference is that one is a tv show, which is very visual and hearing. The article is reading and a little visual context. Conan in Cuba explores the rich culture of Cuba a lot more and really teaches you lots of things. The article has a clear story it tries to explain.

Throughout my life, I’ve only lived in 2 places, which are Belgium and the Netherlands. Many people think the Netherlands and Belgium are very similar, but having lived in both places, I know the differences. I am from the Netherlands, but I have lived longer in Belgium.

The first thing I have noticed were the people, believe it or not, people from Belgium and the Netherlands are very different. From my experience, I have noticed that dutch people are far more open, social, and positive, but also more aggressive. When you walk through Holland, people always wave at you, or smile at you, or try to start a conversation, I think this is quite a positive thing to have as a country. Holland itself is quite a happy and joyful country. But I have also noticed, behind that layer of positivity and socialism, there is also quite a lot of aggression. I once tried to grab a food product in the store, but a man thought I was standing to close, so he started lashing out at me. I have many examples of people getting quite aggressive, but 1 example proves my point.

Now, I have noticed in Belgium that people are very distant, not very social or talkative, and tend to not even smile at you when you’re walking by, but instead just stare at you. I have also had moments were much unnecessary aggression is used. Whenever I bike and someone is biking towards me, instead of smiling a little, they will either totally ignore you, or stare into your eyes wanting to show they’re tough or something. I think on this subject Holland does it better. I once was biking on quite a thin path, there were no bike paths, so I was next to the cars, but a step higher. Then I accidentally slipped of that footpath with my bike and almost hit the car. The person in the car started shouting at me without considering to see if I was hurt in any way. I do not think all Belgian people are this way, very distant and non talkative, but I have many examples that prove my statement is close to right.

Now, I also see a difference in bike paths. Holland is known for the many bikers, there are 23 million bikes that are being used in Holland, which is more than the population. So Holland has made sure there are bike paths everywhere. Anywhere you go, you see bike paths, they are everywhere, and they are. very wide and safe. In Amsterdam it is quite easy to get around with bike because there are bike paths everywhere, Antwerp only has a few. Belgium has a lot less bike paths and it can be quite unsafe in many spots.

There is also differences in the law that includes legal drug use. In Belgium it is socially allowed and tolerated to have weed, but it’s illegal to buy it. In Holland, you can go to any coffee shop and buy weed. I think Belgium has a better system, although it doesn’t make sense that you can own it but not buy it.

There is also a difference in roads. As soon as you cross the borders you notice a difference. I think Holland has better roads, they take care of them more. Don’t get me wrong, Belgium has nice roads, but in Holland they are cleaner and smoother. Belgian roads do not bother me though, even though Dutch roads are a little better, Belgian roads are still quite good.

“we dream of the perfect wave, the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect love, and when we get there, we dream of something else, and the journey goes on.” Rob Machado, born 1973, professional surfer

People always have an urge of wanting something more, it’s something everyone has. You’re never pleased with what you have, and always need to have more. This quote from Rob Machado exactly explains that. Even if you have your dream job, dream house, dream wife, dream life, there is something in you that feels like you need more, go on new and exciting journeys, keep life interesting and busy. I personally think this is because people have to deal with boredom, and whenever you have this, you try to fill it with new and exciting things. Even having a perfect house or winning a race isn’t good enough. You want more houses, or win more races. I also think people do this because of interests, we change interests fairly quickly, it also relates to boredom, because one day you’ll have this interest, but the next day you’re bored of it, and need a new interest. These new ideas and interests we’re all chasing after each and everyday, just ads a new and exciting journey to your life, it gives you experience.

I myself have a problem with boredom, which is why I try new things and I love going on new adventures. But I also have a problem with finding the limit, or stopping myself from wanting more. A good example for this is cliff jumping. I started off young. I jumped off my first cliff when I was 11, in Majorca. This cliff was around 4 meters, which for an 11 year old would be too high, so my mother thought. My father always told me, try whatever you want, you’re the one that has to deal with the consequences. So I stood there, in front of this massive cliff, ready to jump. I took a deep breath, and went for it. At the time this was very impressive, until I started diving off it, head first. later in that vacation, I didn’t 4 meters was that impressive anymore, so I started looking for bigger cliffs, which I found, it was 7 meters, and I jumped off it not knowing after I wanted to jump from even higher, which is exactly the example I’m trying to give. There is this urge that wanted to do more, to jump from higher. I wanted to find a new journey, something more exciting and new. This is definitely not the strongest example, this urge can stretch out to way bigger things in life, such as getting betters cars, wanting a higher payed job, wanting to take your relationship to the next level. This urge we have of always dreaming of more, this can be seen negative and positive. Such as a dream of wanting more cars, or a bigger house, it doesn’t hurt anyone, or puts anyone in danger. But me wanting to jump from higher cliffs could be a danger for my health, I could wind up being seriously injured from wanting to jump from too high cliffs which I am not trained for. I do not know how to find a limit, because I keep dreaming of jumping from higher cliffs. Recently in Croatia, I wanted to jump off a bridge into a deep river, this bridge was about 15 meters high, my mother of course didn’t allow me, but if I was, I could have been seriously injured or if I landed very wrong, even died. This is a clear example of a negative urge I keep wanting to do more off. I’m not saying dreaming about bigger and more exciting things is bad, I think it’s healthy, it gives you experience.