Monday 4 July 2022

ANALYSING FILM POSTERS

You have been introduced to the task and in today's lesson, you will make a start on your analysis. Post finished analysis under the Page FILM POSTERS.

Formats for presenting poster analysis are here.

Film poster analysis. Follow the CIE guidance here:

When you analyse Film Posters 

1) identify the written codes -  title, the tagline, placing of the star talent, the billing block, release date
2) identify how layout and mise-en-scène has been used effectively in a poster: decide how the poster has prioritised the images. What is central to the poster image  / the key image? 
3) mise-en-scène: how do background images reinforce the narrative or genre or marginalise certain other characters? 
4) what is the colour palette used and how has colour been used to create effect? 
5) how have graphics and font been used to promote the production company and link the products from the package? Where are these positioned? How has colour on the fonts been used to distinguish between different elements of the written aspects of the poster? 
6) what is the narrative contained in the film poster (and perhaps links to the trailer content) 
7) how are the film's generic conventions signalled?

We learned from Dan Skinner on the FDA Teaching Trailers resource: there are two types of graphics that are used in posters and trailers. One is ‘copy’ and the other is ‘pedigree’. The term ‘pedigree’ is useful when analysing posters.

Pedigree is the term that refers to graphics from the studio that reassure the audience about the film’s quality. For instance, copy about distributors and companies (Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox)

The term ‘copy’ is useful when analysing trailers.
Copy will help tell the story of the movie. Some trailers have a quantity of copy, especially when the story is complicated, so the copy helps point to aspects of the story that are significant.

Friday 24 June 2022

ADVANCED PORTFOLIO BRIEF for submission in 2023

Year 12 students: you have made your A2 blogs complete with PAGES using the Simple template. You have worked in class over the last two weeks starting research into the A2 Advanced Portfolio brief. All your production work will be on your blog, whilst all examination work will be on Google Classrooms and your laptops (not on your blog).

Advanced Portfolio brief

Option 2: film promotion package A promotion package for a new film, to include two trailers (major task), together with an official social media page for the film and a poster for the film (minor tasks).

As discussed, on your new A2 blogs, you will complete:

  • the analysis of the FILM TRAILERS. Add the hyperlink and an image. Ensure that you have followed CIE's bullet points. Pick out the key terms in colour, such as introduction of the central characters, or central conflict, to make it easy to see that you have dealt with each of the genre conventions. Post all this work on the PAGE entitled FILM TRAILERS. Work straight to this page rather than use a Word document and attempt to copy / paste.

  • the analysis of three FILM POSTERS using an appropriate format like this. Pick films that speak to you personally, ones that may be of the genre that you are interested in making trailers for.

  • make a start analysing SOCIAL MEDIA: how is it used to promote awareness of films, engage target audiences, create a buzz, sustain audience interest? 

  • make a start on the TEACHING TRAILERS research. Use last year's cohort to see how to present your research form this excellent FDA resource. Post this research on your main blog roll.

A2 ADVANCED PORTFOLIO RESEARCH: ANALYSING FILM TRAILERS

 

A2 FILM PROMO PACKAGE: TRAILERS American Sniper

3.2 Advanced Level Brief Option 2: Film Promotion package 



CIE recommend that students study and analyse specific trailers as good examples of their kind.

CIE recommend identifying how trailers do the following:


American Sniper 2014
www.inc.com/lindsay-blakely/wild-card-hollywoods-independent-movie-trailer-power-house.html (American Sniper 2014) 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99k3u9ay1gs
 https://www.inc.com/lindsay-blakely/wild-card-hollywoods-independent-movie-trailer-power-house.html

Gravity 2013 
www.imdb.com/title/tt1454468 
Pick the Main Trailer (2.23 minutes) yourself if for any reason this link does not work - type in the url yourself

Birth of a Nation 2016
www.imdb.com/title/tt4196450/ (Birth of a Nation 2016) https://www.imdb.com/video/vi1974974233?playlistId=tt4196450&ref_=tt_pr_ov_vi

Cloverfield 2008 
www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/videoplayer/vi78774553?ref_=tt_ov_vi (Cloverfield 2008) https://www.imdb.com/video/vi78774553?ref_=tt_ov_vi
Pick the Main Trailer ( minutes) yourself if for any reason this link does not work - type in the url yourself

Nocturnal Animals 2016

Friday 18 March 2022

SOCIAL MEDIA

Ensure that you have updated your social media: you have created material to engage your audiences such as T shirts, tote bags, mugs, #links, stickers, merch, screening shout-outs, competitions and much more. Have you included all the film posters that your production team has made?

Go back to your blogs and make all your images as large as possible. Matthew, for example., here..

PLEASE EMBED YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA LIKE THIS

SOCIAL MEDIA: TIK TOK

I had the task to make a Tik Tok page for our film 



TV DRAMA REVISION This week includes The Crown, Ordinary Lies and an extract from Hot Fuzz.

THEORY REVISION This week starts with representation, stereotyping and reception theory. You all now have access to Essential Media Theory for example here


 

Wednesday 16 March 2022

MEDIA REGULATION: NEWS

Case study: interpret these two images and relate them to media regulation. Start by establishing your view of the role of the Press in a democracy.

 



Monday 14 March 2022

MEDIA ECOLOGY: THE ECHO CHAMBER


This content has themes relating to coronavirus victims.

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When Exeter alumnus and photographer Joshua Irwandi published a picture of a coronavirus victim in an Indonesian hospital in October 2020, he was unprepared for the reaction it would provoke. The image took 2nd place in the 2021 World Press Photo Awards and was named a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Photography, but it also sparked controversy in Indonesia.



Sunday 30 January 2022

CCR: HOW MY FILM REPRESENTS SOCIAL GROUPS & ISSUES

This completed section should be posted on your blog before next lesson on Wednesday 2 February 2022

SOCIAL GROUPS - images collected in Pinterest boards, labelled and groups: How does your film opening represent social groups or issues? Find images (= representations) and collate them in different Pinterest boards like this.

    • You have identified the social groups featured and presented them visually (in Pinterest). Roles and jobs? You could pull screenshot of your Pinterests here or perhaps take images from your casting post?
    • The focus is on how they are represented: stereotypes? anti-stereotypes? What are they like? Gender, status, age? 
    • Identify the issues in your film opening: recent 'issues' have included artificial intelligence, people smuggling, bullying, kidnapping, art theft, online fraud. How are they presented in your production?
    • Use theorists where relevant, with a light touch: see below the image about how to use Stuart Hall on representation


    STUART HALL
    For Stuart Hall, there is no one single fixed 'meaning' of any media representation or text; different audiences understand representations differently. So, in Off The Leash, whilst the film makers may have aimed at conveying the Transparent Animals as protesters standing up for democracy some audiences may view them as dangerous anarchists. However, the representation of the newsreader, the mouthpiece for the Government, tends to reinforce the likely preferred dominant meaning: he is coded as calm and composed, well dressed, white, middle class. He warns the audience that the protesters are dangerous and violent. The makers of Off The Leash use animal masks to encode the protesters as dangerous and the film's name reflects this.
    For Stuart Hall, stereotypes are generated because of the limited stereotypes the hegemonic elite show us. If the makers of the film intend to develop an anti-Government, pro- freedom agenda in the rest of the film, they will no doubt write about this here. Alternatively, they may have decided to show in their film the explosive danger of withholding basic freedoms from a society that is used to a very much more democratic process.


    Wednesday 26 January 2022

    FILM POSTER: MINOR TASK


    Minor task: film poster 

    • Your film poster is an individual production
    • A poster is big: work on an A3 canvas or your proportions will be wrong
    • Use Photoshop
    • It is part of a promo package so there must be brand cohesion
    • Your film title should look the same on your poster, film trailer & social media
    • The  centre of visual interest should convey the genre 
    • Set up a proper photo shoot for the photo. Screenshots will not do (Examiner's Report below)
    • The poster should observe film poster genre conventions (film title, tagline, star talent, image of main characters, release date, billing block, social media links)
    • The poster should convey film genre conventions through its choice of colours, characters, setting, layout ( for example, a thriller poster looks different from a romcom poster)
    • Sketch it in pencil on paper first - post all stages in its development
    • Keep all drafts, even if they feel awkward
    Your final poster goes under the page POSTER, followed by an account of its development, followed at the bottom by your poster research (that is already done).

    If you were inspired by professional posters, it is fine to acknowledge your inspiration. Talk about your development of ideas, drawing on your research and how it led to your outcome.

    There is a lot of helpful CIE guidance here (scroll down to the words film posters). This is what CIE expect if you are to reach the top level.

     

    Wednesday 19 January 2022

    SOCIAL MEDIA: MINOR TASK

    It is a new requirement for the syllabus to make a social media page as part of your promo pack. It can be live or embedded in templates. You have all chosen to make live social media some months ago.

    Checklist: 

    • As we no longer make a website, please add your research into websites into your Page SOCIAL MEDIA below the research on social media. Then delete the Page entitled WEBSITE.
    • Ensure that you have explained the importance of your chosen social media in promoting films in general and yours in particular.
    • Ensure that your social media feed is updated with recent content.
    • Check that the branding across your 3 products is cohesive: your film title must look the same across the three (film trailers, poster, social media feed).

    The most recent Examiner's Report:

                                From the FDA Yearbook 2020


    From the FDA Yearbook 2019

    Audiences: social media traffic
    Distributors' digital / online advertising spend

     


    Tuesday 14 December 2021

    INTERNET REGULATION

    The Online Safety Bill 

    Damian Collins The Times 14.12.21. Damian Collins is chairman of the joint committee on the draft Online Safety Bill.  



    The final sentence of the article reads:
    "...and, in the worst cases, criminal sanctions."

    In today's revision session:
    1. Film regulation - we use the essay 
    2. Press regulation
    3. Online regulation (article above)
    4. Media ecology

    Friday 10 December 2021

    PROMO PACK BRIEF

    Prep for the weekend of Saturday 11 December 

    TITLE of post: PROMO PACK BRIEF

    You upload the most recent edit of your finished film opening then write the rest of the post that the moderator will see first.

    These are examples of what you write: example 1, example 2, example 3

    YOUR NAME 1234

    I worked with Alan Rickman 5678 and Emma Thompson 9357

    Brief Option 2: A promotion package for a new film, to include two trailers (major task), together with an official social media page for the film and a poster for the film (minor tasks).  We made the promo pack for a thriller film  / psychological thriller film opening / comedy film / drama film /  'coming of age'  film / horror film entitled GROUND FLOOR /  DODGING A BULLET / OFF THE LEASH / TRU 2 U

    I took responsibility for the camerawork, in particular, ....

    I took responsibility for the directing of the scenes...

    I took responsibility for set design, such as the protest boards....I sourced the materials and because I do DT at AL, I used the school DT studio for materials to... Together with Emma / Alan, I created the pinboard which is a key prop...... I made suggestions about lighting which we implemented, in particular, the lighting in the scene...

    I took responsibility for the editing / editing the scenes in which... I edited in Final Cut Pro / Premiere Pro / iMovie. Particular challenges in my editing included....

    I created the music for the final scene because I sing the track.... 

    I designed and made the Production Company logo TFL PRODUCTIONS / SILVERSCREEN PRODUCTIONS / TENPIN PRODUCTIONS / PP PRODUCTIONS. I used Adobe Illustrator then edited the image in Premiere / I used Photoshop / I designed the image in Photoshop then took it into Premiere.

    Thursday 2 December 2021

    POWER & MEDIA: REVISION

    • We revised Stuart Hall and representation: he looked at the power of mainstream media in representing race, gender, class, ethnicity and religion. For Hall, these discourses are not innocent but disguise ideology: the media racialises crime, presents patriarchal narratives on gender and is guilty of 'othering' immigrants, Muslims and the poor.
    • Re-watch this presentation and make notes.
    • We then read Essential Media Theory (Mark Dixon p.65): Hall argues that stereotyping constructs closure and exclusion.
    • Then I screened an excellent trailer for MAN ON FIRE to remind you that trailers need to break away from linear editing: they should be more elliptical in their narrative, adventurous in their camerawork (canted angles), experimental (cross-dissolves, colour washes) and fast paced 

    Friday 19 November 2021

    CHECKLIST

      Posts /tasks that can be done by one member of the Production Team and shared:

    1. Mind map
    2. The actual treatment (but don't just copy / paste the post)
    3. Location recces (with photos)
    4. Props (with photos) linking representation to props
    5. Storyboard (can be shared)
    6. Shot list (can be shared)
    7. Call sheets (one for every shoot)
    8. Risk assessment
    9. BBFC certificate

    Posts / Tasks best done by individually:

    1. Social groups and stereotypes (Pinterest + nice presentation format + writing)
    2. Casting (post with paired images)
    3. Accounts of filming (reflective, with 'on the set' shots; challenges, what went well / badly)
    4. Props that you have made yourself
    5. Your own Production Company logo (films often have co-productions)
    6. Key reflective posts - refinements, changes, reflections, edits 
    Already completed and posted:
    1. Audience research, questionnaire + results in pie chart or bar chart
    GUIDANCE and EXAMPLES

    To show the development of your ADVANCED Production, you publish PLANNING posts. Put the word PLANNING in caps before each of the following:

    AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE Consult this blog post

    TREATMENT Examples here

    MY TARGET AUDIENCE example of a post here,  here and here 

    CHARACTERS The exam board ask us to consider social groups and stereotypes. Examples of this are in this post here, this post and here

    LOCATION RECCE with photos like this

    RISK ASSESSMENT Once you know exactly what you are doing, assess the risks in a Word Document like this one here or perhaps this is a simpler and more suitable example

    CASTING Note Examiner's report here Examples here in Canvahere in Piktocharthere in Slideshare

    PROPS Present this as you see fit, such as like this. If you have to construct props

    STORYBOARD Examples here  and here

    SHOT LIST Example here and here

    CALL SHEET Example here

    CERTIFICATE Example here

    AUDIENCE Theory SlideShare like this 

    SOCIAL GROUPS - images collected in Pinterest boards, labelled and groups: How does your film opening represent social groups or issues? Find images (= representations) and collate them in different Pinterest boards like this.

      • First identify the social groups featured and present them visually (in Pinterest). Roles and jobs?
      • The focus is on how they are represented: stereotypes? anti-stereotypes? What are they like? Gender, status, age? 
      • Identify the issues in your film opening: recent 'issues' have included artificial intelligence, people smuggling, bullying, kidnapping, art theft, online fraud. How are they presented in your production?

                                                                            ...........

      CONSTRUCTION: SHOOTS Great fun to report on your shoots (and later on your edits), explaining the challenges

      Wednesday 17 November 2021

      FILM INDUSTRY ESSAY REVISION: EMMA CASE STUDY

        Exam Paper 2 Key Concepts : Section B 


      In today's lesson, we watch the US and UK trailers for Emma and consider how to use Working Title's Emma as a case study to discuss issues raised such as

      • ownership - Working Title, Universal
      • genre - literary adaptation, comedy
      • different audiences - mainstream, national, international, literary
      • marketing - posters (how 'outdoor' marketing with high production values & highly stylised costumes + landscapes targeted older audiences)
      • casting of long-term famous stars like Bill Nighy & Rupert Graves, comediennes like Miranda Hart and new talent like Josh O'Conner, Johnny Flynn, Anya Taylor-Joy (known to Netflix audiences for her acting triumph in “The Queen’s Gambit”. Accompanying the streaming of the miniseries has come renewed interest in the movie)
      • social media (younger audiences Twitter and Instagram; older audiences FB); trailers and visuals now cut specially for hand-held devices with snappier editing for shorter attention spans
      • marketing - trailers (how the fast-paced editing, use of comedy, emphasis on romance & current stars engaged a new generation of younger audiences)
      • product tie-ins and merchandising - stationery
      • celebrity appearances and interviews - Vogue Magazine screening
      • synergy - the trailers appear on WT's website, together with convergent social media links, enabling a degree of synergy
      • Emma release: Valentine's Day 2020 in UK, shortly after in US; 20th March digitally through Premium VOD streaming platforms because of cinema closures; later, in May, via DVD and Blu-ray, and recently viewing via HBO with Prime Video Channels. See this article on the changing patterns of content creation, distribution and star power 
      • Accolades - Academy Award (like Costume design)and BAFTA nominations, Golden Globe winner
      • Box office world-wide total $26 million +

      Tuesday 9 November 2021

      TV DRAMA: REVISION

      Exam Component 2: Key Media Concepts (25% of total marks) Written examination 2 hours

      Written analysis by Sunday 14 November on Google Classroom

      Find the exam text on ClickView: go to Media Studies > TV drama clips > OCR 322 HUSTLE

      Discuss the ways in which the extract from Hustle constructs meaning through the following: 

      • camera shots, angles, movement and composition 
      • editing 
      • sound 
      • mise-en-scène. 

      Tips:

      Start with an opening sentence that briefly sums up what the extract is about.

      It's often easiest to begin with mise-en-scène, for example "The extract opens in a dress shop...". Even better, pick 3 adjectives "The extract opens in an exclusive, West End, couture dress shop..."

      Tackle the analysis on a scene-by-scene basis (NOT camerawork, then editing and so on)
      So, discuss all 4 bullet points as you go through each scene - some may be longer than others.
      3 point plan: identify the terminology, then give the example, then say what meaning is made.

      For example: The close-up shot terminology of the wealthy blond customer with her expensively coiffed hair and perfect make-up example shows the audience how poised and self-assured she is as she smiles smugly, confident of getting what she wants meaning 

      Another example: The tilt pan terminology from foot to head of the wealthy customer trying on the expensive new evening dress example constructs her as the sort of client that the shop assistant wants to impress as she is slim and makes the dress look beautiful; by ending the camera movement on her face, the audience sees her vain reaction to her image in the mirror meaning 

      Another example: the two shot terminology of Stroller (the older man) dressed to impress in his expensive suit entertaining Sean (the younger man) in the exclusive gentlemen's club, plying him with whiskey in cut glass tumblers, in a setting designed to make a statement example suggests that Stroller is out to manipulate the younger man meaning



      Monday 8 November 2021

      KEY POSTS

      Note the highlighted point from the specification. You are already in a position to start a post entitled REFLECTION about a key moment.
      During filming and editing, posts entitled CHANGES, EDITS and REFINEMENTS should be written. See how last year's cohort included these.



      Sunday 7 November 2021

      EXAM DATES

      Term begins Wednesday 5 January (half term Friday 11 February - Monday 21 February 2022)

      School Mock Exams: Wednesday 5 January - Friday 14 January

      School exam Media Component 4 Critical Perspectives Friday 7 January p.m.

      School exam Media Component 2 Media Texts and Contexts Wednesday 12 January a.m.

      Term ends Friday 25 March 2022

      Summer term begins Wednesday 20 April 2022 (half term Friday 27 May - Monday 6 June)

      CIE 9607 Wednesday 18 May afternoon - Key Media Concepts

      CIE 9607 Tuesday 7 June afternoon - Critical Perspectives

      DEADLINES

      As agreed, you complete your 2 trailers (filming and editing) by Friday 10 December by the double lesson

      Your poster and social media: mini deadlines for each between mocks (14/01) and half term (11/02). For realistic social media platforms, post regularly from now onwards.

      Creative Critical Reflection: in 4 batches; when put together, these make one essay-style piece

      Friday 5 November 2021

      POWER & THE MEDIA: BITESIZE REVISION

      A reminder of the exam specification for Power and the media:

      We revise how media messages such as stereotyping, exclusion and control of images can exert power:

      • Dune (2021)The exclusion of the central female actor of Jamaican heritage from the film poster in China (below)
      • John Boyega airbrushed out of his own ads and from the ensemble poster in China : Jo Malone TV ad and Star Wars: The Force Awakens
      • Theory Stuart Hall – Essential Media Theory Stereotypes and here where there are two short videos, including Stuart Hall presenting



       




       

       




       

      Friday 15 October 2021

      CONSTRUCTION: BBFC CERTIFICATE

      Once you have decided your film title, one of the team could get ahead by creating the BBFC certificate and writing up the post explaining why you had awarded your film the age rating that you chose. Reference what you read on the BBFC site and how you applied the guidelines.

      Most students use Photoshop for this after downloading a template.