Reading Log - 1

Reading Log - 1

Title: Hacksaw Ridge

Text Type: Visual Text - Film

Directed by Mel Gibson 

Written by Robert Schenkkan, Robert Wallace & Andrew Knight

Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson, tells the courageous, yet very true story of Desmond T. Doss. This screenplay shares with it's audience about how Doss came to be the first conscientious objector to gain the Congressional Medal of Honor. He stood for what he believed and never gave up on what he wanted. The man was a hero, even with people like his own father trying to stand in the way of that. Hacksaw Ridge is a way of recognising Desmond's stubborn opinion on anti-violence and his great bravery during World War Two.

Just by listening to the things which Desmond said throughout the film, you could tell that he stood for what he believed in, and it inspired me. His words encourage me to want to share my opinion, and not let anyone change it, if I feel so strongly about it. The simplest example of Desmond sharing his self empowering thoughts, is when he quotes "I don't know how I'm going to live with myself if I don't stay true to what I believe in". When he says 'what I believe in', he means anti-violence. Anti-violence was an opinion he gained after concussing his brother and almost killing him by hitting him in the head with a brick. The man never wanted to touch a gun, but wanted to be apart of the war, as a medic. Many tried to get him to do basic weapons training, but that went against what he felt was right. He never fired a shot. But what he did do, was save 75 injured men at the Hacksaw post, and that's what he really wanted. I feel that by using that simple quote, it allows for questions to be raised in our our heads, considering the reason for our existence and individuality. I can't say that I completely relate to Desmond as a character, however, I wish I could. I want my life to be influenced more by my own opinions rather than whatever else other people are trying to 'feed' to me. After thinking about how difficult it would to live a life not letting anyone have much of a say in it, it made me realise that Desmond was a hard worker, and his stubborn trait helped him to gain the results he was looking for.

By believing in himself more and more everyday, it gave him great determination. Desmond was determined to not only help out in the war without actually battling, but he also did everything he could do to get the girl of his dreams, Dorothy. The nurse who fell in love with immediately and inspired him to become a medic. She was that extra bit of goodness which ran through his blood. By seeing the way he absolutely adored her and did what he felt was the best for the two of them, he wanted that for the rest of the world. This makes me realise that people have a real impact on our lives. There are the people who make you a better person, the person you want to be. Whether you know them or not, they just encourage you to be the person you want to be. For me, that person is my best friend. They encourage to be the best version I myself, and it makes me so much happier. This convinces me to want to be that happier person all the time. I want to encourage others to be the person they believe they can be and smile the way I know they can, just like Desmond.

The relationship between Desmond and his father, Tom Doss, makes me curious. What makes me so curious is when Tom goes against everything he says, just to help out Desmond to do what he believes in by helping him at his 'no weapons' military court trial. Tom does not want either of his two sons to join the army, and appears very angry towards Desmond's brother after enlisting himself, and doing what he felt was right. He wanted to fight for his country. However, Tom did not want that because he once had the same idea as his son, but lost all of his friends, as well as his own soul, in the battle of World War 1. After the war, he became an alcoholic with great anger issues. In the film, he stated "Artie got hit in the back. It blew most of his guts and intestines out his front, offal everywhere. Wrecked his uniform entirely. It was lucky he was dead, so he never knew how awful his uniform looked". This quote gives a bit of the explicit scenes which still were going through Tom's head years after the war. He did not want his boys to go through that like he did. So, when Desmond enlisted as a medic, he thought his father would be more understanding, but he still was not convinced it was a good idea and was quite disgusted in his decision. I'm curious about the father-son relationship, because it shows me that love conquers all. Even though Tom didn't want to let his son go to battle, he could not help but aid to his sons military service with Desmond's requirement of not holding a gun. By Tom coming to help, it shows that his love for his son, is stronger than his love for his past life. It makes me happy to know that unlike Desmond, I feel as though I have support from my parents for most of the things I wish to do. Softball is a big part of my life, and I now realise that all of the hours I have put into working toward my goals, my parents have put in those hours too, supporting me all the way. It would not surprise me if one day the had enough of it, so I am very thankful that they have been by my side from the start.

I guess you could say that Hacksaw Ridge is a film which I will always remember. Well, not so much the screenplay itself, but the story of Desmond T. Doss, and the way his brain works. The more you think about his war story, the more you appreciate his effort to be the good person he was. I do however, wonder how he gained the great determination of being a good person, with a father his acted as though he hated him, wanting to stop him in his steps. Maybe it was his mother, or maybe it was Dorothy, his love. Whoever or whatever it was that inspired him, they helped him to inspire me and his way on looking at life.

Rates of Reaction

Rates of Reaction

Experiment 1

Aim:

I want to investigate how temperature effects the rate of reaction

Equipment:

• Conical Flask
• Beaker
• Measuring Cylinder
• Stopwatch
• Black cross on paper
• Water Bath
• Thermometer
• 0.1 moL-1 Sodium Thiosulfate
• 1.0 moL-1 Hydrochloric Acid (HCl)

Method:

• Put the 'X' paper on the bench mat and out the conical flask on top of the paper.
• Measure 50 mL of sodium thiosulfate solution and put it into the beaker.
• Record the temperature of the sodium thiosulfate.
• Measure 5 mL of HCl and pour it into the conical flask.
• Pour the thiosulfate into the conical flask, start the stopwatch and swirl the flask. Time how long it takes for the cross to dissappear when viewed from above (i.e. look down the mouth of the concical flask.
• Wash out the flask thoroughly.
• Repeat the experiment, using a water bath to heat the sodium thiosulfate to 30 degrees then 40 degrees and finally 50 degrees. Keep the volume of acid the same each time.

Results:

Temperature (degrees celcius)	Time (seconds)
20	27
30	8
40	7
50	5

Conclusion:

In this investigation, I found that heat has an effect on the rate at which two reactants, react. By increasing the temperature of the reacting chemicals, it causes the particles to move faster, therefore forming a faster reaction speed.

Experiment 2

Aim:

I want to investigate how concentration has an effect on reaction time.

Equipment

• Conical Flask

• Beaker

• Measuring Cylinder

• Stopwatch

• Waterbath

• Paper with a black cross "X"

• Thermometer

• 0.1mol/L Sodium Thiosulfate

• 2.0mol/L Hydrochloric Acid

Method:

1.  Put the piece of paper with the 'X' on the bench.
2.  Measure 10mL of Sodium Thiosulfate and put it into the conical flask.
3.  Measure 40 mL of Water and put it into the conical flask. Swirl to mix.
4.  Measure 5mL of HCl.
5. Pour the HCl into the conical flask, start timer and swirl the flask.
6. Stop timing when you can no longer see the 'X' on the paper underneath the conical flask.
7. Wash out flask thoroughly.
8. Repeat experiment:

20mL of Sodium Thiosulfate and 30mL of Water

30mL of Sodium Thiosulfate and 20mL of Water

40mL of Sodium Thiosulfate and 10mL of Water

50mL of Sodium Thiosulfate and no Water

Results:

10mL Thiosulfate/40mL Water - 239 seconds for the 

Art History - Level 1

Swamped by Peter Doig

Oil on a canvas - 77.5 x 95 inches (197 x 241 cm)

This piece of artwork from Peter Doig, is of the Magic Realism genre, sharing an eerie feel with it's audience. Within this oil painting, we see a 'swamp land', including a background coated in trees, along with a lake, holding a reflection which confuses the eye with a complex paint application. There is an intentional want for a romantic, but uncertainty. The main focus is on the canoe, in the sense that it stands out - the use of white as the colouring is very effective. However, the shape of the canoe gives off a slightly fake impression, also because of the impeccable, yet so simple painting of the canoe, having a perfect reflection. Also, by using a single, motionless canoe as a staple piece, it sends questions to the audience - Why is there a canoe sitting in the middle of the lake? Also seen, are tree stumps, scattered through the artwork, as well as the trees of the background casting shadows into over the lagoon. Peter Doig successfully uses the concept of a reflective surface to portray a magical, but meticulously realistic image.
Also, if you closely below the moon in the painting, there looks to be a small structure - like a cabin. Is there someone in there? That was my first thought when I finally recognised, after many times of looking at it, that there was actually something there. It has made me realise, that a lot more can be seen if you keep looking.

Doig has explained that in this piece, that the use of reflection helped to create a wider image than what would have been intended. "The mirroring opened up another world. It went from being something like a recognisable reality to something more magical" is how Doig described this artwork.

Peter Doig has mentioned that a lot of his work is inspired by what he has seen in photographs, or things which he has photographed. What he does, is takes the image and recreates it through the eye of magic realism. His final pieces are intentionally made to look slightly disorientated in order to support the magic realism feel. Rather than using new oil, he prefers to use it from old tubes and tins, as a way of gaining inspiration for texture in his work.

There are techniques which Doig has used in Swamped that shows how he works well with different textures. Using oils, he painted this piece on quite a large landscape canvas (197cm x 241cm). He seems to have used brushes of different sizes, but it also looks as though he has used the edge of a palette knife to form finer lines in the artwork.
The colours used to create this artwork really add to the magic realism effect. It also looks as though Doig has flicked red, yellow, and white coloured oil paint off his brushes to give a speckled effect. It also looks as though he has used the edge of a palette knife to form fine areas - like the thin tree branches - in the artwork.

Few questions arise when viewing this artwork. When looking at it briefly, there are obvious questions making a point, however, if you were to look further into detail, there is a lot more behind the main objects.