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