1. Rob Reiner - Stand By Me (1986)

Stand By Me trailer

Stand By Me is an 1986 American film directed by Rob Reiner, also based on a Stephen King novel called the Body.

This film is set in the late 50's but narrated by one of the actors, grown up in the 80s. The film starts off with the narrator who is an author, called Gordie Lachance in the 80s. After he reads the local newspaper and learns that his childhood friend, Chris Chambers has died, he then tells the story of him and his three friends taking on a long journey to find a missing body near the fictional town, Castle Rock, Oregon, over the Labour day period in September 1959. The film goes back to the 50s with the four young boys: Gordie Lachance (Wil Wheaton) plays a quiet boy who has an interest in writing and telling stories. We see he is rejected by his own father following his brothers death. Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) who is from a family of criminals and alcoholics and is judged straight away upon his families history. Teddy Duchamp (Corey Feldman) is an eccentric character and likes to mess about. Often judged by his mentally unstable father who tried burning Teddy's ear on a stove and Vern Tessio (Jerry O'Connell) who is different from the others, especially Chris and Teddy. He seems a little overweight and gets picked on but brushes it off by "fighting back".

Although this film came out seven years before I was born I love it and it'll remain my favourite film. I've always had a love for the 80s films and truly believe it was the best era, despite not living in it. It also has my all time favourite actor, Corey Feldman who I have looked up to and love his films.

This story is beautiful and shows the friendship of four friends despite them being all different, embarking on a long journey to find a dead body and it gives it a sense of adventure. It reminds me of my childhood, not that I went out to find bodies, but the fact that me and some friends always liked to go out into the woods and over exaggerate our lives and just be free, like the boys in this film. 

The end of the film the narrator tells us about how all four of the boys grew up and how ironic it is to their actual lives as actors are now. Vern Tessio ended up with a family and enjoying his life, just like the actor Jerry O'Connell who plays him. Teddy Duchamp has a run in with the law and ends up getting in trouble, as Corey Feldman has had many ups and downs in his life, battling with drugs and a divorce. Chris Chambers end up dying young where River Phoenix who played him died at a very young age of 23 and Gordie Lachance become an author and as the actor Wil Wheaton who played him also became a author where he has written a few books and currently writing a ongoing blog.

2. Alfred Eisenstaedt - V-J Day in Times Square.

The famous photograph is known under various titles, such as; V-J Day in Times Square, V-Day and The Kiss. It has also been replicated thousands of times.

This photograh was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, of a sailor and a nurse back in August 14th, in the year 1945, when the war ended between Japan, announced that day by President Truman. The photograph was shot just the South of 45th Street, looking North from a loacation where Broadway and Seveneth Avenue were, just after a sea of people flooded the streets.

Because Alfred Eisenstaedt was photographing the event rapidly during these celebrations he didn't get the opportunity to get the names and details of the people he photographed. The photograph doesn't clearly show the faces of the young couple and since the photograph was taken and published several people have claimed to be the subjects of the photograph. There have been many stories coming from people claiming to be the sailor or the nurse. In the late 1970s a woman, Edith Shain came forward and claimed to be the nurse in the photograph, after, several men came forward and claimed to be the sailor in the photograph, to this day we still don't know who the sailor was.

The reason I like this photograph is because it wasn't a planned shoot it was just something spontaneous happening at that moment, and that moment being something worth celebrating. You can tell it was a quick shot as the nurse's hand is slightly blurred, but you can make out nearly perfect of what it is. Another reason I like this photograph is that Alfred Eisenstaedt has captured the moment in great detail, such as the oncoming crowd in the background which shows the further celebration that is coming the photographers way. I think the fact that the sailor and the nurse didn't know each other makes the image more fun and makes you want to know all the why's and what's. I also like how the black from the sailor and the white pureness of the nurse contrast against each other in the foreground and the grey scaled background with the other people in black and white. You can tell it was a spontaneous moment with the crowd applauding and smiling, not that it was just the end of the war but because their eyes are focused on the subject which is the sailor and nurse, kissing.

Alfred Eisenstaedt gave two slightly different stories on the photograph, from both his books called; "From Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt" and "From the Eye of Eisenstaedt".

From Eisenstaedt on Eisenstaedt: "In Times Square on V.J. Day I saw a sailor running along the street grabbing any and every girl in sight. Whether she was a grandmother, stout, thin, old, didn't make a difference. I was running ahead of him with my Leica looking back over my shoulder but none of the pictures that were possible pleased me. Then suddenly, in a flash, I saw something white being grabbed. I turned around and clicked the moment the sailor kissed the nurse. If she had been dressed in a dark dress I would never have taken the picture. If the sailor had worn a white uniform, the same. I took exactly four pictures. It was done within a few seconds."

From the Eye of Eisenstaedt: "I was walking through the crowds on V-J Day, looking for pictures. I noticed a sailor coming my way. He was grabbing every female he could find and kissing them all — young girls and old ladies alike. Then I noticed the nurse, standing in that enormous crowd. I focused on her, and just as I'd hoped, the sailor came along, grabbed the nurse, and bent down to kiss her. Now if this girl hadn't been a nurse, if she'd been dressed dark clothes, I wouldn't have had a picture. The contrast between her white dress and the sailor's dark uniform gives the photograph its extra impact."

I have always liked this photograph but after watching the Night of the Museum 2 I suddenly remembered about it. In the film the photograph comes alive and shows the streets are crowded with people not only those who served the country but those who had to deal with it too.

3. Tim Walker - The Dress Lamp Tree

This is one of my favourites pieces by the artist Tim Walker.

Tim Walker is a British fashion photographer and also from time to time is a set designer, he has worked with the likes of Vogue and Elle magazine. His work appeared in Vogue, month after month for a decade. His style is mainly evolved around extravagant staging and romantic motifs. After involving his work around the photographic side he's now making film.

This photograph are simply lit up dresses hanging from a tree, almost creating it a fairytale like photograph which also seems sculptural. For my first FMP (Final Major Project) in my second year of college I based it around the theme 'Make Believe' and 'Fairytale'. I chose Tim Walker as my main area of interest as his work represented my ideas and what I wanted to do. This photograph was mainly my inspiration as I wanted to make a dress and somehow corporate the fairytale theme amongst it. My final was my simple dress that I made and I used helium balloons to hold it up, the location of the dress was up in a quarry by my house where there is an old abandoned house surrounded by derelict stone and slate along with trees, again inspired by the location of this photograph.

My final photographs, inspired by Tim Walker. 

In her music video for Only Girl (In The World), Rihanna took 'inspiration' from this photograph and many others by Tim Walker. Anthony Mandler who directed the video, stole the idea from this photograph and others and used it in the video. 

His latest film he has worked on for Vogue Italia in October 2011, Mechanical Dolls by Tim Walker.

9. Rihanna - We Found Love ft. Calvin Harris music video.

We Found Love music video

We Found Love is by far my favourite music video of this year and of Rihanna's. The video shows the whole concept of love, how love is everything and is all great in the first few days/months and how it changes to something strange and hopeless later on in the relationship. This video begins with a monologue about love and heartbreak by an unseen narrator who is the famous model Agyness Deyn. This video starts off with the happy side of a relationship, it shows Rihanna and her boyfriend having fun whilst going on rides in a fairground and having food at a fast food restaurant, then turns to them engaging sexual intercourse. The chorus shows images of drugs, various pills and dilated pupils. The video continues with both of them having fun and enjoying themselves at an outside rave. As the second half of the song goes on you see the relationship starting to go down as we see them arguing in a car, the video then progressively shows the couple experiencing difficulties in their relationship, in which starts to show them abusing eachother. As the video comes to an end we see Rihanna at her worst where she is puking on the street and passed out on the street, at the end she eventually leaves her boyfriend who is passed out on the floor and we see her in the corner of the room crying.

I like the video as it conveys a different side to a relationship, it shows a girl wanting to do whatever to stay in her boyfriends 'good books' this, meaning getting drunk and taking drugs and eventually becoming someone she isn't and abusing one another. But eventually she has enough and leaves, in reality girls have enough but still can't get away from their abusive relationship.

4. Alec Soth - Cemetery, Fountain City, Wisconsin

This photograph is called 'Cemetery, Fountain City, Wisconsin' and was taken by the photographer Alec Soth for his collection of photographs called 'Sleeping by the Mississippi'. I've only just come across Alec Soth due to taking photography for one of my subjects. Each photograph of Alec Soth is interesting, but was instantly drawn to this photograph. 

What drew me in was the colours in the photograph and how suttle they make the photo. The trees above the graves are dark and instantly draws your eye to the gas station. The lights beaming from the gas station roof draws you in to believe that the gas station is the main subject, until you realise that it is in fact the background of the unclear cemetery is the main subject. The whole photo seems chilled and quiet but I think realising the graveyard behind the what we ought to believe is the main subject possibly makes it a little uneasy for the viewer.

Coming across Alec Soth's work has made me eager to go travelling and to just document throughout. I find his work inspiring because whether the subject of the photograph is uneasy I still find it beautiful

5. Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise - Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Beauty and the Beast trailer

Beauty and the Beast have to be my all time favourite Disney film. I grew up as a child watching all sorts of Disney films from the adventurous films such as The Fox and the Hound and Oliver and Company to the fairy-tale heartfelt films such as The Little Mermaid and Cinderella, through out me watching all these Disney films Beauty and the Beast has remained my all time favourite.

Everyone is familiar to this film and if you're not then you don't know what you are missing. Whether you like fairy tales or not, this film is for everyone but most of all it is a family film.

The reason why I have placed this as my number 1, is because I have grown up with this film, although it was released 2 years before I was born, this will always remain one of my favourite films. til this day I still watch it. I don't remember clearly when I first watched it but I know I fell in love with it and the whole concept of all the classical Disney films. When I was younger my favourite shop was the Disney Store which obviously had back then all the classical Disney "souvenirs", unlike now they mostly sell 21st century film "souvenirs" which are mainly made by Pixar but also they sell a small collection of the classics. When I was younger I remember my mum buying me the Disney princess dresses which also included the yellow dress Belle wore when famously dancing with the Beast, along with that a pair of clear glittery heels with a picture of Belle on the front, to this day I still have the dresses that are now hanging up in my wardrobe. I don't think I could ever sell them or get rid of them because they are my childhood and I love them, even if they don't fit me.

I have many Disney related memories, back when I lived in the Midlands I shared a bedroom with my parents but had a little corner where I had my bed and above my bed were my Disney films and books stacked neatly amongst other films and books. I remember coming home one day from school/nursery and my mum had painted one wall in my little corner a painting of Beauty and the Beast and next to it was The Little Mermaid. Another memory I have is actually going to Disneyland Paris where I never got to meet Belle and the Beast but remember my mum disappearing off to meet them and never took me with her, which to this day she will tell me differently, just to prove me wrong.

I have many memories surrounding Disney and it's films mainly when I was younger.

6. Robert Longo - Untitled (Ping)

Robert Longo is an American artist who paints and sculpts.  He became famous for his 1980s collection, which was called “Men in the Cities.” I first experienced Longo as an artist when I went to Prague with my art class in college back in November, 2010. The one piece on display that was called ‘untitled (Ping)’ [above photo] struck me straight away and instantly caught my eye. At first I thought, along with the other students that it was simply a photograph, but when I looked closer it did look quite delicate, too delicate to be a photograph. When I later on researched Robert Longo after coming back from Prague to write my essay for contextual studies I found out that this piece was not a photograph but only a drawing from the media, charcoal. This piece comes from the 2007 collection. “Beginning of the World.” It simply shows the faces of the younger generation, children asleep. They emerge from the pitch black backdrop with their eyes closed, seemingly to think they are asleep.