Blog Seven

Upload some photographs of your storyboards and planning notes. Add links/images to any films which have inspired you. Why do you think the planning process is so vital to complete before filming?

Blog Six

Target Audience Research.
Who is the target audience for your film? Not just what age rating would your film have, but what gender and what interests would your ideal audience member have?
What research have you undertaken (i.e a questionnaire about your film ideas) and what is your feedback?
Is there anything you now think you should include/revise in order to make your film more appealing to your target audience?

Blog Five

Explain your group’s film opening ideas. You could add images of spider-diagrams/planning (take a photo of your diagram and upload it). It will be useful to reflect on how near or far your finished film resembles your initial ideas once you have completed it.

Blog Four

Having looked at different film openings, as a group decide which genre of film you are going to make. Research other film openings of your chosen genre. Add to your blog:
- images of the film or
- film posters or
- clips of the film and


- explain the conventions you think this genre uses in the opening few minutes.

Blog Three

Upload your edited preliminary task to your blog with an evaluation of how successfully you think you have used the three techniques.

Blog Two

Write an analysis of the opening of your favourite film using the film language you have learnt. Add the film clip or a link to the film clip from Youtube. Use the 'edit Html' tab (next to the compose one) to add the address of your clip.

Blog One

Having set up your blog (with the title of your blog being your full name, not Media Studies or Claire's Blog) and write an explanation of why you chose Media Studies A Level.

Extension Task 3: Flm Posters

Research five film posters of films from the same genre as the one you are creating. On a Powerpoint document, evaluate the effectiveness of each one. Comment on the title, font, image, colours, tagline, stars, overall effect.

Use a still image from your film and design a DVD cover for your film using the principles learnt from above.

Extenstion Task 2: Famous Actors

Research the career of one Hollywood film star and one British film star. Create a Powerpoint with images of the following:
- What was their big break?
- What films have they starred in?
- Are they type cast?
- Have they won any awards?
- Have they been involved in any scandals?
- How do the public perceive them?
- Do you think they are talented?
- What's the difference between being a Hollywood star and a British star - or can you be both?

Extension Task 1: Famous Films

Research the top 10 grossing films of all time, summarise in a Word document:
- Name of film
- Year
- Money made
- Famous stars
- Director
- Short synopsis

for each film.

What do these films have in common and what do you think makes a film a blockbuster?

Blog Eleven

Editing: how have you used/broken conventions? Demonstrate with screen grabs. Analyse your font choices. How and why have you used titles and institutions?

Blog Ten

Filming sessions: what have you achieved in each filming session? Have you had to overcome any difficulties? Have you used/broken any filming conventions? Upload photos/screen grabs of costumes, locations and props that are used in your film. How are you representing social groups in your film?

Blog Nine

Upload your filming schedule and any risk assessments and permissions you need for filming.

Blog Eight

Evaluate how useful creating the animatic storyboard was to the planning of your film. Upload your animatic. Make sure you write about it as well as upload it - how near or far do you think the real film will look to this?

Terminology for Analysing Moving Images

You need to be able to analyse any film or TV clip under the headings of:
camerawork
editing
sound
mise-en-scene.

Below are some terms and definitions that you will find useful:


Camerawork

Extreme Close up – Camera is a few inches from subject: for example, a shot of an eye
Close up - For example, a shot of a face
Mid shot (Middle long shot / Middle close shot) – Usually a shot of an individual from waist up
Long shot – For example, a whole person or group of people
Extreme long shot - A landscape shot
Establishing shot – Shot used to establish time or place. Often a landmark.
Reaction shot – A shot (often a close up of an individual or long shot of an audience) to show reaction to something said or done.
Crane shot – Camera is mounted on a crane. Often used to ‘swoop’ across an audience.
Canted angle – Frame is twisted
High angle shot – Shooting from above the subject
Low angle shot – Shooting from below the subject
Two-shot – Two people in the same frame
Point of view shot – As though the camera is a character’s eyes.
Shallow focus – an object at the front of the frame is in focus with the background blurry.
Deep focus – an object at the back of the frame is in focus with objects at the front blurry.
Focus pull – when an object changes the focus from shallow to deep or vice versa.

Panning – Moving from side to side
Tracking – Camera is (traditionally) mounted on a track – camera usually moves back and forward.
Tilt – Camera stays stationary, tilts up and down
Zoom – Use lens to increase magnification on subject without moving camera.
Handheld camera – Creates a jerky effect as though someone is running with the camera.

Editing

Cut – The term used to move from one frame/scene to another.
Shot reverse shot – The camera moves from person to person when having a conversation.
Special effects – slow motion, CGI – computer generated images.
Fast / slow cutting – Speed (the rhythm or ‘beat’) of the editing
Continuity editing – Smooth editing that is unnoticeable and makes time appear linear within a scene.
Fade – End of clip disappears into a black or white scene.
Dissolve – One clip disappears and a new clip emerges through it.
Wipe – A scene is ‘pushed’ off screen by the next one.
Montage – A series of clips which give an ‘impression’ of something happening.
Cutaway – Edit away from one subject to another.
Jump cut – A scene has obvious steps cut out eg a person is walking down the road then appears in the middle, then suddenly at the end. Not to be confused with a cut.
Match on action – A person’s movements are edited to seem continuous, eg we see a person walk to a door and open it from behind, the scene then cuts to the person stepping through the door from the front.
Matched cut – One character’s actions are continued by another character in a different scene.
Eye-line match – The scene cuts from a character looking at something to the object they are looking at.
Cross cutting – The cutting between two scenes to give the impression that they are both taking place at the same time.
Graphics – (Usually) digital effects – lettering, scores – used to give additional information or enhance action.

Sound

Diegetic sound – The sound which characters within a scene can hear.
Non diegetic sound – Sound which characters cannot hear (most music, voice overs.)
Sound bridge – The sound of the next clip starts while the current clip is playing; bridges the two.
Ambient sound – Natural sound.
Soundtrack/score – The music within a scene.
Sound effects – The exaggerated noise from a scene.


Mise en scene – (Everything within a scene)

Props – The objects in a scene.
Costume – The clothes characters wear.
Set - The physical (or digital) environment in which the action takes place.
Low key lighting – Main (‘key’) light is below – creates shadows. Often a single light source.
High Key lighting – Main (Key) light is above – minimises shadows. Multiple light sources.
Ambient lighting – The actual, real, unedited light. ‘Natural’ light.
Prosthetics – The use of plastic and masks to create special effects on a character’s appearance.
Fourth wall effect – The camera acts as a fourth wall to the scene. This is broken if a character talks directly to camera.
Rule of thirds – Mise en scene is arranged according to a tripartite structure
Fill the frame – No clear space left at edge of frame.