FAO: Ashley and Sam

Well done Ash for really using your blog to record your planning. I think the Facebook idea for generating feedback is a fantastic idea. I would like to see a post which details the comments that were made about the posters.

I do think that there is some work that's needed on your poster but this is a good start so again, well done.

Miss E

It's a trailer NOT a film opening...

You must be ruthless and harsh (because I will be) about making changes to your trailer. Check that it actually looks and sounds like a trailer. Go back and watch some trailers again to check. Do you really know the conventions of a trailer? How are the conventions different to those of a film opening?

If you're still not sure, see the slide that was shown in class.

Trailer Slide

Work for Wednesday

Log onto the examiner’s blog which can be accessed through my blog or direct www.petesmediablog.blogspot.com

Go to the post 8^th Oct 2010 and read this post from ‘step four’.

Think about mise-en-scene and make some decisions about the props and aesthetics e.g perhaps you might have your main character reading a pertinent book or watching a relevant show or dressed in a certain way etc.

Have a look at some trailers to see how this is done by the professionals!

You could then (am I being optimistic!?) begin to turn this research into a blog post with links etc.

Get Creative!

The top tips for creative film/trailer making are:

1. Ideas are important but without the WILL to execute them you may as well not bother!
2. Creativity is the product of many failed ideas
3. Know the rules of your genre
4. Now break the rules of the genre
5. Creativity arises out of a well-planned film shoot
6. Planning should be broken down into 3 parts - script/dialogue - storyboard - mise-en-scene
7. Do not ad-lib or improvise
8. Key props such as clothing or aesthetic decisions, are critical
9. Never forget your audience

See Mark Ramsey's article 'Creative Filmaking' for full details

Chief Examiner's blog...(not a patch on mine!!)

Here is the link to the blog I was telling you about today. Check out the posts and see if any of them apply to your studies. Take particular note of the 'post-its' post (Nov 2009). Follow the link and complete the tutorial. As he suggests, you could post your trailer on to youtube, annotate it and post onto you blog. Also, if you receive any constructive comments you could use this in your evaluation.

http://petesmediablog.blogspot.com

unable to post comments from school but...

Ash - well done so far, now add your storyboard and animatic.
Jack L - Nice to see this updated! Now add in your classification, storyboard and animatic.
Eddie - All up-to-date well done. You do need to add in your animatic now and filming shots.
James O - Nice proflie pic! The layout of the blog posts needs sorting as they are all separate?? Now add in your classification, storyboard and animatic.
James R - Well done so far. Add in your animatic and filming shots.
Lauren - Great so far. Add in your animatic and filming shots.
Richard - Good detail so far. Add in your animatic and film shots.
Rosie D - Great so far. Add in your animatic and filming shots.
Sam and Rosie - I can't seem to access your blogs - we need to check the correct address.

ANIMATIC AND FILMING SHOTS SHOULD BE ADDED BEFORE THE CHRISTMAS BREAK

Deadline: Christmas

Filming should be underway by now...

Your blogs should be THE BEST they can be. Check that you have completed the following:
The purpose of a trailer
Trailer conventions
Research into similar trailers - inc. links and reasons why your trailer will be similar
Pre-production planning- ideas
Storyboard
Classification of trailer research
Audience theory
Research into your target audience


Please proofread your posts.

What to do next...

Well done to most of you for keeping your blogs up-to-date. There are still a couple that are looking rather empty. PLANNING IS A LARGE PART OF YOUR FINAL MARK AND ALL YOUR PLANNNING MUST BE SHOWN THROUGH YOUR BLOG.

You should now be working on your storyboards/animatics. You may feel ready to start filiming but you must ensure that you have researched, in detail, similar trailers to yours. Make a note of this reearch on your blog.

Happy filming and blogging!

Complete the following by Friday 8th Oct

1. Updated blog posts including trailers conventions and purpose and initial ideas.
2. Research into similar trailers and analysis using terminology from AS. Try to look at 3/4 trailers at least. This should be added to your blog and the more detailed the better!
3. A detailed plan of your trailer, including spiderdiagrams of ideas, details of actors, plot, props, locations etc. This should also be added to your blog.
4. Begin to make a start on the storyboard for your trailer (refer to the sheet that I gave you in last Friday's lesson).

Need to refresh camera angles and movement?

If you click on the link this will take you to OCR's website. Scroll all the way down to the 'support documents'. Here you can watch very short videos on camera angles and camera movement. You should be using this terminology throughout your production.


http://www.ocr.org.uk/qualifications/type/gce/amlw/media_studies/documents/index.html

The importance of SPG

Please can you ensure that you proofread your posts. There are too many mistakes that can be rectified simply by spell checking (click the ABC button when your are writing/editing a new post).

You should also ensure that you are using as much terminology as possible. Refer back to your Yr12 study and if you don't know that correct term then look it up or ask me!

These mistakes will not look good when it comes to external examiners marking your blog.

What you should have so far...

All of you, no sorry, some of you have done an excellent jobs of updating your blogs.

You should have a blog post that details the purpose of a trailer and the conventions that we would expect to find. The best of your posts have links to trailers and pictures. You should then have a post that explains your planning process so far for example, film ideas, spiderdiagrams that show this etc. You could show your ideas by creating a word document (or similar) and adding it to your post (as Lauren's done already!) or you could take a picture of your planning and then add the picture to your post.

In short, you should now have at least 3 blog posts.

Remember you must make your blog interactive, which means including links, pictures and videos.

Lastly, please 'follow' my blog so that you can keep up-to-date with any new blog posts - just click the 'follow' button on my blog page.

Inserting a video into your blog...

A 'HOW TO' TIP: You need to save your video to your desktop. Then simply click onto the video button in 'new post'. You can browse for your video and upload it.

I videoed my cat Pumpkin, just to check it worked - it took a while to upload though so make sure you're  patient when uploading yours.

Remember you should upload all stages of your video/trailer, not just the final cut.

Have fun and customise your blog

A 'HOW TO' TIP

Once you have signed into your blog you should see an option that says  Design  in the top right hand corner of the page. Click onto this and it should take you to a new page where you can rearrange your blog and add bits and bobs.

To get a new template (a background design) go to Template designer - new which should be at the top and in the middle of your page.

Here you can select different colours or pictures. I would recommend having a play around as you can always go back and change it. To see what your blog looks like with its new template, just click view blog.

Look forward to seeing your individuality shine through!

An Introduction to Trailers

In Friday's lesson we discussed the purpose or a trailer. We then went onto explore the features and conventions of trailers and, hopefully, gather ideas for our own trailers.

We finished off the lesson by watching and analysing the trailer for Piranha: 3D - watch and read all about the trailer here:

http://getlatestnews.com/9334/piranha-3d-reviews-and-video-trailer/

A 'HOW TO' TIP: to add a weblink, simply click on the link button and type or paste the web address in. SIMPLE!

Terminology you might need

CAMERA SHOTS


Aerial Shot – A camera shot taken from an overhead position. Often used as an establishing shot.

Close Up – A head and shoulders shot often used to show expressions/emotions of a character. Also can be a shot of an object, filmed from close to the object or zoomed in to it, that reveals detail.

Extreme Close Up – A shot where a part of a face or body of a character fills the whole frame/dominates the frame. Also can be a shot of an object where only a small part of it dominates the frame.

Establishing Shot – A shot that establishes a scene, often giving ther viewer information about where the scene is set. Can be a close up shot (of a sign etc) but is often a wide/long shot and usually appears at the beginning of a scene.

Medium Shot – the framing of a subject from waist up.

Two Shot – A shot of two characters, possible engaging in conversation. Usually to signify/establish some sort of relationship

Point-Of-View Shot (POV) – Shows a view from the subject’s perspective. This shot is usually edited so that the viewer is aware who’s point of view it is.

Over the Shoulder Shot – looking from behind a character’s shoulder, at a subject. The character facing the subject usually occupies 1/3 of the frame but it depends on what meaning the director wants to create (for example, if the subject is an inferior character, the character facing them may take up more of the frame to emphaise this)

Overhead Shot – a type of camera shot in which the camera is positioned above the character, action or object being filmed.

Reaction Shot – a shot that shows the reaction of a character either to another character or an event within the sequence.



CAMERA ANGLES Camera Angle – the position of the camera in relation to the subject of a shot. The camera might be at a high angle, a low angle or at eye level with what is being filmed.

High Angle – A camera angle that looks down upon a subject or object. Often used to make the subject or object appear small or vulnerable.

Low Angle – A camera angle that looks up at a subject or object. Often used to make the subject/object appear powerful/dominant.

Canted framing (or oblique) – camera angle that makes what is shot appear to be skewed or tilted.

CAMERA MOVEMENT Pan – Where the camera pivots horizontally, either from right to left or left to right to reveal a set or setting. This can be used to give the viewer a panoramic view. Sometimes used to establish a scene.

Track - a shot whjere the camera follows a subject/object. The tracking shot can include smooth movements forward, backward, along the side of the subject, or on a curve but cannot include complex movement around a subject. ‘Track’ refers to rails in which a wheeled platform (which has the camera on it) sits on in order to carry out smooth movement.

Crane – A crane shot is sometimes used to signify the end of a scene/ programme /film. The effect is achieved by the camera being put onto a crane that can move upward.

Stedicam - A steadicam is a stabilising mount for a camera which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface. Informally, the word may also be used to refer to the combination of the mount and camera.

Tilt - where a camera scans a set or setting vertically (otherwise similar to a pan).

Zoom – Using a zoom lens to appear to be moving closer to (zoom in) or further away from (zoom out) a subject/object when in fact the camera may not move (so, strictly not camera movement). Can be used for dramatic effect.

EDITING

Editing – the stage in the film-making process in which sound and images are organised into an overall narrative.

Continuity Editing – the most common type of editing, which aims to create a sense of reality and time moving forward. Also nick named invisible editing referring to how the technique does not draw attention to the editing process.

Jump Cut – An abrupt, disorientating transitional device in the middle of a continuos shot in which the action is noticeably advanced in time and/or cut between two similar shots, usually done to create discontinuity for artistic effect.

Cross Cutting – the editing technique of alternating, interweaving, or interspersing one narrative action (scene, sequence or event) with another – usually in different locations or places, thus combining the two: this editing technique usually suggests Parallel action (that takes place simultaneously). Often used to dramatically build tension and/or suspense in chase scenes or to compare two different scenes. Also known as inter-cutting or parallel editing

Cutaways – A brief shot that momentarily interrupts continuous action by briefly inserting another related action. Object, or person (sometimes not part of the principle scene or main action), followed by a cutback to the original shot.

Eye-line Match – a type of edit which cuts from one character to what that character has been looking at.

Flashback – a scene or moment in a film in which the audience is shown an event that happened earlier in the film’s narrative.

Graphic Match – an edit effect in which two different objects of the same shape are dissolved from one into the other.

Juxtaposition – the placement of two (often opposed) images on either side of an edit to create an effect.

Linear Narrative – a style of storytelling in which events happen chronologically.

Montage Editing – the juxtaposition of seemingly unconnected images in order to create meaning.

Parallel Editing – a type of editing in which events in two locations are cut together, in order to imply a connection between the two sets of events.

Visual Effects - visual effects are usually used to alter previously-filmed elements by adding, removing or enhancing objects within the scene.

Match on Action - A shot that emphasises continuity of space and time by matching the action of the preceding shot with the continuation of the action. (For example a shot of a door opening after a shot of a close up of a character’s hand turning a door handle)

SOUND

Diegetic Sound – sound that can be heard by the characters within a scene/ sound part of the imaginary world.

Non-diegetic Sound – sound that the characters cannot hear and is not part of the imaginary world of the story. This includes a musical soundtrack or a voiceover (however this excludes a narration by a character within the story – referred to as an internal monologue and is diegetic).

Score – The musical component of a programme’s soundtrack, usually composed specifically for the scene.

Sound Effects – sounds that are added to a film during the post-production stage.


OTHER KEY TERMS

Artificial Light - A source of light created by lighting equipment, rather than from natural sources.

Convention – a frequently used element which becomes standard.

Disequilibrium – the period of instability and insecurity in a film’s narrative.

Enigma – the question or mystery that is posed within a film’s narrative.

Equilibrium – a state of peace and calm, which often exists at the beginning of a film’s narrative.

Framing – the selection of elements such as characters, setting and iconography that appear within a shot.

Genre – a system of film identification, in which films that have the same elements are grouped together.

Iconography – the objects within a film that are used to evoke particular meanings

Intertextuality – reference within a film to another film, media product, work of literature or piece of artwork.

Mise en scene – a French term, which literally means ‘put into the frame’. When analysing a sequence the term refers to everything you see in the frame (props, costume, lighting, colour, makeup etc.)

Narrative – a story that is created in a constructed format (eg. A programme) that describes a series of fictional or non-fictional events.

A2 Media Studies: Class of 2010-11

Hi all,

Remember to keep checking back to my blog as I may well have posted some bits and pieces to help you out.

It is vital that you blog is detailed and is interactive. Make it interesting for the reader by including links, pictures and videos!

Happy blogging!

Miss E