My background on twitter

Stamps

History of stamps

Royal mail in England was opened in 1516. The person who sent the letter didn’t have to pay for the letter to be posted however the recipient did have to pay for it. In 1835 Sir Rowland Hill said that the sender should pay and the recipient can just receive the letter. For the people to know that the sender has paid they will us a stamp.

Before stamps people would stamp they own letters with ink. Henry Bishop created this idea in 1661 they were called Bishop mark but then called postmarks. They were marked with the day and month of when posted. Know we us stamps first created by Sir Rowland Hill. He created the Penny Black stamp in England released on May 6^th 1840. The reason it is called the penny black is because it was printed in black and was 1 cent. This stamp had the profile of Queen Victoria’s head engraved on the Penny Black. This image is on all of England’s stamps as this is to identify the place the letter  or package has came from. All the other countries has they name of the country on. Rowland Hill also came up with the idea that postage should be based on weight rather then size. 

People began collecting stamps straight away one women put an advert in the London Times asking people to give her stamps to decorate her wall. People didn’t know in 1841 that stamps would be a lot of money in the future. The first commemorative stamps were issued in 1893 in the U.S and were in memory of Christopher Columbus these are now worth thousands of pounds.

Stamps throughout the years have changed a lot and in January 1854 stamps were made perforated and the stamps before had to be cut apart. In 1869 U.S had their first pictorial stamp which didn’t have someone that was desist on. 1893 first U.S commemorative stamps. 

Postage has increased in the years in America in 1917 it cost 3 cents because of the war it then dropped after the war and raised in the depression and in 1999 it cost 33cents and they amount 1st oz is still the same.

1^st stamp penny black                                                                                      

 2^nd stamp in Brazil issued on July 1^st 1843

                                  

3^rd stamp in Zurich issued in 1843

All stamps have printing processes and techniques they use but stamps weren’t as easy to make as they are today. A tough challenge was firstly that stamps were made by hand and would have to be cut by hand. The amount of stamps to make by hand was a large amount but not as many as we have today done by machines. The stamps were made by line engraving which is also a good way to make stamps as nobody would be able to make fake ones. Line engraving is when your make lines into a metal plates. Then they would be cut separately. However this didn’t last long as in 1850 the stamp perforation machine was invented and this should have made life more easier and this allowed for more stamps to be made.however they had to do a new way of printing the stamps as the machine didn’t like the engraving so they instead of dry paper they decided that they should use wet paper as it would be more smooth for the machine but this didn’t work either. In 1855 a machine named surface printing (letterpress) and this could cut the stamps but was only used for some stamps. The first stamp The penny black was done by intaglio this was a good way to make a stamp as this stamp couldn’t be copied.  Photogravure which made the images look more realistic and have more detail but this would only allow one colour. Lithographic was good as it allowed for more colours and more plates I think this is probably what stamps are made from now. Photogravure is made by lots of little dots which form a image or text this is how the stamps made by photogravure are made. If look at the edges you may notice the dots. Most stamps before 1970 were made by intaglio you can tell the intaglio stamps as some of the paper may be creased from the pressure of the machine. They use engraving, intaglio, letterpress, lithographic and others.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

All countries now have their own stamps. With stamps the number of letters and packages in 1835 had increased. In 1835 the number of letters sent was 76 million and in 1950 there was 350 million letters being sent this show’s that stamps were a success and still are.

My Skins review

Was Skins series 5 a success?

From drugs to sexuality to sex Skins has always been a part of teen cultural since the very beginning in 2007 when we meet Tony. Every 2 years the skins cast change their form. Since returning to are screen’s last week with the third generation and fifth series were reveled. However the audience seemed to have mixed opinions on whether is was good or not. However was Skins successful?

Every series of skins has made a good entrance with the main characters. Tony from series one was in close up then zoomed out in bird’s eye view to see him lying in bed with an unusual bed cover. Freddie from the second generation and series three he was shown on a skateboard being chased by police. In the new series which is unlike the other’s, focus’s on Franky played by Dakota Blue Richards. Who made quiet an impression entrance by crashing a mobility scooter which made all the teens laugh and scream at Roundview college.  A little bit of information about this series is that Franky had a troubled past being bullied and fostered by two men. Whilst her entrance was unexpected and wonderful she nearly crashed into Mini the new ruler bee who is now set out to ruin Franky’s life. When Franky was down in the dump’s contemplating whether to end her life Matty the new Freddie cheered her up. She kind of crashed Mini’s party and Mini bullied her Franky left the party and one of Mini’s followers Grace ran after Franky while Liv Mini’s other follower stayed behind.  Whilst Grace ran out she bumped into Rich and Alo the outcasts. They found Franky together and they all went to the pool to have fun. It may sound like a good first episode but it didn’t go down so good with some viewers.

                                               

The viewers had mixed opinions about this series. What was it that put people off? Was it that the target audience is mostly girls and they didn’t like having a boy as the main character or maybe they din’t like the main character being a Hollywood star rather than an unknown actor. Dazgale tweeted “I hope this episode end’s with Franky killing everyone - so we can see the proper cast for this series. Surely it can’t be that lot? While Racheal1256 tweeted “Absolutely appalled with season 5 of Skins bring back Effy and Cook!!!”. I kind of agree that this third generation are interesting but maybe this will lead to a more realistic interpretation of what really happens in a teenager’s life.

However it was also good on some levels unlike the second generation this generation is a lot more like the original series. It is something you can relate to and not like Eastenders or hollyoaks which is unrealistic. There was also many positive comments made Rainbro tweeted “I AM HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH FRANKY!!!”

Overall I would say Skins series 5 was a success it maybe a bit different to the other series but there has to be changes to keep things interesting possible in the Skins movie which will feature some of the old cast it will make the everything a bit better and spice things up in the current series. It is to be hoped that the future episodes won’t get much stick as the Skins being shown in America has got. It created anger in the parent’s television council saying “the most dangerous program ever for children”. It was the same over her when it first started. However this drama is what made us love Skins. Leave comments on what you thought about Skins. 

By Melissa Pope

I think my favourite genre is comedy. Comedy has so many different styles for example slapstick or screwball many different kinds. I have two favourite types of comedy Parody/spoof and dark comedy.

First I will write about Parody. I like parody films like 

The Austin powers films

Something about  Mary

The Scream filmsJohn Hughes movies for example Ferris Bueller’s day off

I like parody films because they intimates a film and have the same conventions and mise-en-scene but they are making them funny like Austin Powers is the funny James Bond. However the John Hughes movies or Something About Mary may also have slapstick and verbal humor this comedy maybe known as Farce .

My second favourite genre of film is dark comedy like Tim Burton’s movies Beetlejuice. Tim Burton has a imaginative mind and has created many other movies which are mostly all fantasy including Sleepy Hollow, A nightmare before Christmas, Corpses bride, Edward scissorhands. Dark comedies have sarcastic and deals with some issuers in a funny way like death or war.

Comedy is one of the oldest film genres and slapstick was used as it was an easy way to get the message across with just actions in silent films. Many scenes in slapstick are over the top like chase of some sort or particle jokes. Probably the most famous silent actor in 1914 and onwards was Charlie Chaplin he worked for keystone films he was in many short films. Then he directed a movie called The Kid then in 1925 he was in The Gold Rush which is his most famous character. 

  Thew most famous duo in comedy was probably Laurel and Hardy they worked together for twenty years and they made a successful transition from being silent actors and then staring in talkies which are now just known as movies. What made them funny was their differences one was thin and the other was fat. One of their most famous films in Sons of the desert.

There were many coming of age films that were also comedy which I love The breakfast club about many teenagers dealing with life issues that many people could relate to but there not all serious they just relaxed about the issues. Also Pretty in Pink and Sixteen candles which are both about a girl that what’s some romance in her life. However my favourite film is probably Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as it is about a boy that is a prankster and pulls some funny pranks and Takes you along with his journey.

  Now most coming of age films are all about drugs, sex and humiliation like American pie which was good but all the sequels like beta house are just rubbish. There are many that can be funny like Hot Chick, Superbad, Tropic Thunder and others not so good.

Back to the future

Back to the future is a film about time travel and is set in the 50s and 80s. The genre is adventure, sci-fi and family. Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) makes the delorean a time machine and he takes Marty Mcfly (Michael J Fox) with him. He accidentally makes his parents not meet on his journey he has to make sure that his parents fall in love, get married and make sure that him and his siblings are born. As it is a time travel film it has a complicated structure.

You can’t really put Back to the future in a category what I mean is that it isn’t linear but it isn’t non-linear. It is linear because it is Marty Mcfly’s life and he has going back to the past but he is still alive. However it is non-linear because the neighbourhood, technology and the parents have changed and are younger.
In Back to the future there are many ellipsis for example when Marty get’s knocked over by a car and then he is in his mother’s bedroom with her when she was younger.

There are many strands in Back to the future getting his mum and dad back together, get rid of the bullies, saving his family and getting back to the present day. I think the more strands the better.

Some of the strands leave an open narrative for example Biff is still the bully kind of. There is an open narrative the open narrative is that when they get back Doc Brown tells Marty that they need to go to the future because his kid is in trouble and then they get in the time machine and fly away.

The structure is a time machine introduced and we see Marty Mcfly’s character is a bit rebellious and cheeky but is still nice. Doc Brown is a mad, crazy scientist and a bit over the top.

They then go to 1955 and most of the story is set here and Marty need’s to save everything then get back to 1918. Finally there is a resolution when Doc Brown finds a way to get back by lighting hitting the Delorean.