Tropic of Cancer- episode 3 Egypt to Oman

On this particular episode of the tropic of cancer the presenter Simon Reeve travels from Egypt to Oman. At the start of the programme it shows establishing shots of Lake Nasser which was formed by the waters of the River Nile and it is 300 miles long which makes one of the largest man made lakes in the world.

Also at the start he looks at a temple dedicated to a Pharaoh who had more than 40 wives and more than a 100 children. How did he not go insane. Also when he is in Egypt he talks to a resident of a village who had to move because their village is now submerged underwater. Simon Reeve also discovers another forgotten conflict between security and a set of people and security officials are stopping them from settling in Egypt and it hard to see how these sort of conflicts are not more heard of as they are violent conflicts.

When Simon Reeve and the film crew try to get to place Shalatin next to the red sea they find that they don't have permission to go there as the government are surprisingly strict on foreign film crews and it this happens to them a couple of times in Egypt. When Simon Reeve asks someone a question the camera usually zooms in on their face to get a close-up shot of them. Also when it showed a new location the cameraman used long shots to show the location so you can see most of it.
After travelling across a desert he meets a set of people who are hugely effected by a drought which is destroying livestock. Simon Reeve asks them how it is effecting them in their daily life.

There is another shot that the cameraman uses and its when there is more than person in the frame the cameraman uses a group shot to get all the people who are talking in one frame. Also when Simon Reeve dives into the Red sea they are able to get a few underwater shots of the Coral Reef. The shots are mainly medium and long shots so you can see most of the Coral Reef.

Sometimes when Simon Reeve is speaking it sometimes shows a close-up shot of him or sometimes it cuts to a different shot, for example, when he is in the Coral Reef it shows a close-up of him speaking and then it cuts to shots of the Coral Reef itself. Also when Simon Reeve visits a resort it shows establishing shots to show the location so each time he visits a new location they use establishing shots to show that particular location.

Tropic of Cancer- episode 2

In the second episode of the Tropic of Cancer series the presenter, Simon Reeve travels from Western Sahara to nation of Libya.

In the Western Sahara he explores the conflict between the Morrocans and people of Western Sahara as their has been arguements to who the Western Sahara belongs too. Each time Simon Reeve goes to a different country he has guide that shows him around but in this particular he gets to know his guide really well and talk too each other as if they have been friends for quite a long time. This gave me an idea on how to interact with the local children in Keighley. It gave me the idea that I should try and talk with the children alot a get too know and if I get to know them I will feel more comfortable around them.

When Simon Reeve visits Western Sahara he learns that through Westeren Sahara there is a wall that the Morrocans built to cut off Morrocan controlled territory from the rest of Western Sahara and he also learns that near the wall the Morrocans have built land mines. This tells you how serious these conflicts are and you never hear this on the news as it is like a silent war.

Also just by visiting local villages and towns he gets an idea of their culture and what their lifes are like. There is something unusual about their culture as well. In the area of Mauritania fat woman are seen as beauty as it means they are wealthy and eating well. When Simon Reeve talks to local people it seems like their is just one camera following him around it makes it seem as if their is just him and a cameraman.


When Simon Reeve visits different towns or villages he interacts with certain people and asks them questions of what life is like in the twon or village. Towards the end of the show he finds out their is also tension between Algeria and Libya. As he travels to Libya he needs to fill lots of forms so they can be allowed in and this gives you an idea as too how difficcult it is too get permission to film in different countries.

Tropic of Cancer- episode 1

Tropic of Cancer is a documentary where the presenter, Simon Reeve travels along the different countries along the Tropic of Cancer and gets help from guides along the way.

In the first episode the Presenter travels from Mexico to the Bahamas. He starts at a resort on the pacific coast of Mexico called Baja California and while he is there the locals touch there hearts when they see him as a warm greeting. In the first episode the film crew usually follow him around where ever he goes and when they go to a new location they used an establishing shot to show you what it is like.

Simon Reeve then travels to mainland Mexico and explores the ongoing Drug war between the police and drug traffickers. With his guide he is able to interact with local people in the Culican area of Mexico. Also in the area of Culican he interacts with an elite unit who are assigned to help stop the Drug traffickers. He follows the unit around and ends up going on a drug raid with the unit as well. When I was watching the part of the show when he was in Mexico I was amazed that when he visited a cememtery he found out that 90% of people dead in this cemetery were related to Drug Trafficking and around their graves were huge monuments about 2 stories high it was amazing.

Also in Mexico Simon Reeve interacts with a Mexican Cowboy at a abandoned film set where one of John wayne's films were filmed and asks questions such as, how long he has been living at the set and also where he lives. The Cowboy lived in an abandoned train on the set and said that he would never leave it.

There is a moment in the show where there is a bit of an arguement between the a mexican taxi driver and the guide and the prsenter because the taxi driver cut across the film crews car and it was the taxi drivers fault but the taxi driver wanted the crew to pay for the damage to his car which find rather astonishing.

Also Simon Reeve visited a gold mine that was based right next to a village. There had conflicts between workers of the mine and local residents of the village and one of the people that Simon talks too was attacked by a worker of the mine and he didn't want to go any closer because he was too scared.

Overall I actually like this program because of all the places the presenter visits and what other societies are really like to live such as the Culican area of Mexico it makes you think what it must be like living on a place where you are afraid for your life.It does really make you think.

Interaction- group meeting 19/04/10

Today I found out that we were going to have meeting on Wednesday with a representative from Hainworth Wood Community Centre called Angie Stack. So we decided to old on meeting and talk about how we should get their and what we talk about when were are there.

During the meeting we decided that to get their we should take the 13:10 train from Bradford Foster square train station to Keighley Train Station and then from the train station we decided that we would get a taxi from the train station to Hainworth Wood Community Centre.

Also we discussed what sort of things we should talk about. We would first tell her who we are and then what we want to do. We are also going to discuss other ideas with her and see if their is anything that Angie would want to include. We also decided to find alot information on the community centre.