This is a picture of all of the media student on our media trip to the BFI building.
On this trip we learned all about mainstream films and the difference between different production companies and high budget and low budget films. Mainstream film institutions would involve 'The Big 6' which would be the following companies:
Representation is the way that people and places are presented to the audience. To make it simpler, the media takes something that is already there and re-presents it to us in the way that they choose.
Stereotypes: These are used so that the audience can instantly understand what is trying to be shown.
Archetypes: This is the ultimate stereotype. For example, a frenchman with a baquette and wine.
Countertypes: A representation that challenges tradition stereotypical associations of groups, people or places.
The two characters above are both French. However, the top character is very stereotypical of someone from France, whereas the below character it would be harder to understand.
This was the storyboard that we followed whilst filming for the Juno task. It was quite hard to film as some of the shots were difficult to take and timing was also an issue.
Title sequences task History of title design: The first video in which I watched was a Brief History of Title Design. This video consisted of a lot of famous film titles which were intelligently crafted such as one of my childhoods favourite 'The Pink Panther'. The video definitely inspired me to think of clever titles in which I can use in my production because the video gave us an overview of how special effects and animation have changed over the years of producing film titles and now I can see the amazing thing in which I can do with my film.
Richard Morrison's Interview: One of the first things that Richard Morrison talks about is not over complicating an idea to start with. Our group should keep this in mind as we do not want to over complicate the storyline of the film because it could come across as confusing to the audience. We also want to leave lots of enigma so the film comes across as interesting and mysterious. He goes onto talking about having a basic storyline for a film and over time you should work on it, collectively taking bits away and adding bits on. I think this is a perfect lead in example, because it means that we can adapt and evolve what happens in the story and we can keep making it better and better. Finally, near the end of the video, Richard Morrison talks about communicating the vision and getting the ideas together for the film. This is vital for our group because we need to make sure that what is happening in the opening sequence is clear and isn't interpreted in the wrong way. Also, we need to work together as a team by communicating our ideas to each other and giving feedback to each others work.
I would rate this film 56 out of 60. The genre was clear to being a thriller/sci-fi and the conventions which were used were used well to show this genre. The music linked in extremely well with the video and stayed the same the whole way through until the end when it stopped and then the girl vanished and it slowed down and loud bangs were made when she reappeared and the film name came on the screen. I liked the use of special effects and future theme. A lot of good shots were made and it was exciting as it was a chase scene. However, I think that the titles could have been used better in linking in with the genre. The titles were quite plain and boring. Also, the target audience was unclear as there was violence but usually sic-fi films are ranged to target all sorts of audiences. Overall, it was a good opening sequence in which left a lot of enigma.
I would rate this film 30 out of 60. The music did fit in to what was going on, however the genre was very unclear. Also, the film came across as really boring and slow. The titles were also plain and simple and were not linked in with the film very intelligently. They were just white in a plain font in the corner of the screen.
In today's lesson we watched some video openings from previous years and in other schools and we marked them and said what we liked about them and what we didn't like about them. We went through the mark scheme. Level 1 0-23 marks Level 2 24-35 marks Level 3 36-47 marks Level 4 48-60 marks Here are a couple of the videos:
This was the best video that we watched by far. The Edge showed to be an Action. Titles looked professional which meant they were used effectively in the video. All of the shots that were needed could be seen in the video and conventions in the video meant that the genre could be identified easily. Music was appropriate and fitted in with what was going on. The fast going pace and mysterious characters left a lot of questioning. I gave this video a mark of 57 out of 60.
This was one of the videos which wasn't so good because it seemed to be boring. Roses Are Red showed to be a teen girl film. Also, the music was a bit corny and gradually got annoying as time went on. The scene of getting up and doing tasks such as make-up and getting dressed is common in film beginnings so there was nothing really that I hadn't seen before. Nothing exciting happened in the video but the titles used were put together with thought and came across cleverly. All of the shots were also quite well planned out and put together effectively. I gave this video a mark of 36 out of 60. Level 1 0–23 marks The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. There is minimal evidence in the work of the creative use of any relevant technical skills such as: • Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; • shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects. Level 2 24–35 marks There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical skills: • Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; • shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects. Level 3 36–47 marks There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills: • Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; • shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects. Level 4 48–60 marksThere is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills: • material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; • shooting material appropriate to the task set;including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.
This was my first time using Premier so I had no idea how to use the software but gradually as I learned new techniques and skills I discovered that I could do a lot of things with editing video. We were told in this task to mix film and sound to come up with a video of dancing animals and the city with a variety of music.I think that the music went well with the video but to make it even better next time I should put transitions in between the blackouts to make it more professional. I learned how to use Premier and how to edit video and sound which I can use in the future.
This is the poster for the third series of Geordie Shore which is set in Cancun as you can see in the red border. It is a modern programme in which a set of 9 lads and lasses from Newcastle are put in a house which results in arguments, drama and a lot of drunk and sexual behaviour. Denotations: A group of young people standing on a beach in a hot country. Connotations: We can see that each character standing on the beach is individual as they are all wearing different clothes and standing in different postures and positions. In contrast we can see that they are a close group of friends as they all stand close together with some characters leaning and putting their arms on or around other characters. In the middle of the picture we can see one of the lads sitting in a wheelchair with a cast around his leg which shows us that while the group of friends are in Cancun, this particular character has injured his leg through immature behaviour. We can see this as he seems to be wearing tight blue jeans and a red cape, a sort of superhero costume. This would deem to be immature so we can see that the injury on his leg has been self inflicted. We therefore presume that the rest of the group are also immature and this is further backed up when we can see the lass on the far left is holding a pinhata.
Semiotics: - the study of signs - also of anything which stands for 'something else' Denotation - what we see when we look at an image (what it is) Connotation- what we understand from this image (what other meanings it has)
Film language helps us understand characters and why the film is being shown a certain way.
There are four different parts to it:
Camera
Sound
Editing
Mise En Scene
Camera - FAM:
Frame
Angle
Movement
Sound - MCDOVED:
Music
Contrapuntal - contrast
Diegetic (what actors can hear)
Offscreen/Onscreen
Voiceover
Emotion
Dialogue
Editing - TOP:
Transition
Order of Narrative
Pace
Mise En Scene - CLAMPS:
Costume
Lighting
Actors
Makeup
Props
Setting
Up:
Camera - There is a long shot when the couple are walking up the steep hill and then when they are on the hill, they look up to the sky at the clouds and the scene uses birds eye view to look at the couple lying down looking up and then it uses worms eye view when they look at the clouds.
Sound - The music has the same tune the whole way through the scene, however changes speed and pitch depending what is happening in their lives. There is hardly any diegetic sound - we never hear the couple speak. However there are some sound such as the camera taking a picture right at the start, the thunderstorm and the jar smashing - the actors can hear key points in the scene.
Editing - The scene covers 50 years of a couples life in just 3 minutes. It shows time passing when the wife is doing up her husbands ties and the jar money keep smashing.
This is the Rom-Com film outline that we presented to the class and after receiving some high scores, we were very pleased with what we had come up with. The pun intended title that I came up with was given generally a lot of credit for and this, as well as the unique mix of characters featured, pushed our scores highly to make them fantastic. We also received some criticism with our presentation however, as people had picked out that we hadn't written too much about how we were going to market and advertise our movie. I feel that if we were to include more information and ideas about marketing that we would have recieved near-to-perfect marks.
We were given another genre for the genre picture task and the genre that we were given this time was sci-fi so we took a picture of someone with a street cone on his head to try and show a supernatural human. The picture does look like the genre would be sci-fi but it doesnt look that realistic if you were to say that it was an alien. Next time, to make sure the picture looks more realistic, we shall put a better effect on the image to make it look effective.
We were given a genre picture task, in which we took pictures to show a certain genre. The genre that we were given was disaster so we took a picture and tried to show a motorcyclist stuck in a tree. Unfortunately, a lot of people thought it was funny so mistakably thought the genre was comedy. Next time, to make sure it is seen to be disaster instead of comedy, is to maybe show that the person in the picture is actually stuck and we could use an extra prop and show that the motorcyclist has a gun to make it look more serious.
