A2 Media Coursework Blog

Evaluation

2010-04-29T13:06:00.001-07:00

A2 Media Studies Coursework Evaluation

View more presentations from Sehbhundal.

Audience Feedback Proposal

2010-03-20T05:54:00.005-07:00

In terms of gaining audience feedback for my final cut of my TV Drama opening, I chose to adopt a more virtual method rather than the orthodox 'paper and pen' method, so to speak. I utilised the website- www.surveymonkey.com - in order to retrieve my audiences responses to both my main task and my ancillaries.

I created a Facebook page in order to show case my work and I invited people within the age range preferred and got them to comment on my work. Subsequently I created a questionnaire via surveymonkey and got them to fill that out as well:

Link to Questionnaire

Final Cut- Oracle TV Drama

2010-03-20T05:54:00.003-07:00

Final Ancillary- DVD Cover

2010-03-20T05:54:00.001-07:00

Final Ancillary- Magazine Cover

2010-03-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Ancillary Progress

2010-03-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

DVD COVER

MAGAZINE COVER

Rough Cut- Oracle

2010-02-13T03:07:00.000-08:00

Here is the rough cut of my TV Drama Opening:

The critique I had received for this was that the pre-opening sequence didn't have any continuity meaning that none of the events flowed. Therefore, I have planned to include extra shots that would help the continuity of the piece. For the beginning, instead of going straight into the ritual, I have chosen to zoom into a house and then initiate the ritual. Subsequently, the phone call will be preceded by a stalker in order to give it some sense whilst keep the narrative distorted. Then before the city shots I will have an eye in order to reinforce the fact that the main character sees the future. Finally, the Chimera Corp. clip will have jump cuts of the Greek letters Lambda, Chi and Nu, whilst having a part where a character is writing down the symbols and the possible connotations of them. This I believe should bring the pre- title sequence to a definitive close and establish an understandable yet distorted narrative.

DVD and Magazine MOCK UP'S (rough sketches)

2010-02-06T02:49:00.001-08:00

Magazine Cover

As my target audience is that of females aged 16-25 therefore, I have chosen to aim for the younger end of my audience whilst targeting the age range in general as I feel it will be easier for me to produce a product that will relate to the potential younger readers.

I have chosen for the masthead to take up the top half of the page so that it will be dominant and therefore easily recognisable for my audience. I have also decided to have 'magazine' written underneath to reinforce the idea of the magazine and so that the reader does not mistake it for another magazine. This was also evident in the Doctor Who magazine cover, as they have also placed the word 'magazine' under the masthead.

Regarding the female audience, I have chosen to incorporate some conventions of stereotypical associations to this gender such as fashion, beauty and relationship problems. Furthermore, other articles to help reinforce that this is a TV Drama Magazine are those relative to the shows content. I have chosen to articles associated with university life and horoscopes. in addition to this, I have also included an episode time line to give the magazine a complete referral back to the TV show. This means that whilst the audience is being provided general enticements they are being bought back to the show at all times.

I have also included a competition as a teaser so that the reader is drawn into the context of the magazine and are tempted to purchase it. I have chosen to relate the competition back to my female audience and provide them with a 'luxury shopping spree'. The word 'luxury' acts as a teaser that helps draw the audience in to the magazine.

My choice of image was to have a long shot of a girl blowing her hair upwards to provide a sense of boredom and idle. thus making it relative to the audience once again, however i feel that i may have to change this later on and then try and make it more engaging with a possibly more up beat expression and add to the appeal of the magazine.

So far I have come to a conclusion of having red and black as the main colour scheme for the magazine. I feel that these two colours are dominating and will give the magazine a sort of formality therefore, appealing to my audience.

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DVD Cover

I chose to go for a sectioned front cover with 3 of the main characters. This would notify the audience that this season would have been predominantly about them. The body language for each of the characters will have hinted their nature within the show and i chose for the two females to have a slightly arrogant and reserved posture and the male character to have a nonchalant posture to the dominance of the female characters over the male character. This will also draw reference back to my target audience whom are mature females.

I chose for the main title to be placed at the bottom right so that it will be the last thing that the audience will see. It will be in a sans serif font to provide an informality to the cover drawing back on the ages of the main characters.

For the back cover I chose to have the main title placed at the top to reinforce the shows name. Then I would have the blurb, in which a general overview of the show would be provided and this way that the audience will understand the content of the show. Underneath, following the codes and conventions, I have chosen to include stills of the show so that the audience gets a visual stimulus of what the shows content will be like. I will then have a group shot at the bottom to reinforce the main characters of the show so the audience is reminded and won' t be new to any characters.

The colour scheme for the DVD cover I felt would be a more inviting and appealing palette. I felt that white and red would go well together in contrast to the magazine palette which is red and black. The white would provide a sense of positivity for the audience. The red I feel acts as a more dominant position thus drawing the audience's eyes towards the main title on the cover.

Magazine Cover Conclusion

2010-02-06T02:48:00.000-08:00

These are the main commonalities that are present within the TV Drama magazines I have reserached:

>> The Masthead will always be the first thing that the audience sees. There is the exception that an image bleeds onto the masthead showing it has been established for a long time.

>> The central image is relative to the magazine as well as the shows nature. Also, it comply's with the colour scheme of the magazine in order to draw the audience attention.

>> All minor articles or coverlines are positioned to one side of the cover to show their insignificance.

>> The text is mainly sans serif for a younger audience, this way the magazine seems more inviting.

>> The main article takes up most of the front cover in order to make the reader jump to that article.

>> All insignificant information or the plugs are positioned out of sight but are still visible enough so that the reader is still informed of things such as the date, price or issue number.

Magazine Covers Analysis

2010-01-27T01:25:00.000-08:00

DVD Cover- Conclusion

2010-01-26T12:01:00.001-08:00

Having researched 3 DVD covers that are relative to my specified genre of TV Drama I found that these are the most key factors:

Main character(s) are framed central and predominantly at a MS.
Strict colour palette, mainly blues and whites.
The back cover offers snippets of the show with pictures of all the co-stars.
There is often a blurb describing the show's content.
The episodes are stated in the middle of the back cover.
There is also a strict font regime: If the title is in a Serif font, then it will remain serif on the back.
Main title is placed at the top of the cover.
The front cover slightly hints out the narrative of the show.

DVD Cover- Ghost Whisperer analysis

2010-01-24T07:41:00.000-08:00

DVD Cover- True Blood analysis

2010-01-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

DVD cover- Charmed analysis

2010-01-24T07:33:00.001-08:00

Royalty Free Footage

2010-01-12T12:10:00.000-08:00

WEBSITE

In my animatic there is shot of a city and a destroyed city, I originally used photo stills and imposed camera zooming effects in Adobe Premiere Pro in order to give it some animated features. However, I was informed by a class mate that the photo stills did not provide the same effect and detracted from the continuity of the opening. This is when i considered the possibility of there being copyright free footage, and there was !! The website above provided a vast array of city footage and for that I am entirely grateful for this website.

Filming shoot.- 8/1/10

2010-01-10T12:50:00.000-08:00

Friday 8th January 2010

Today I covered all the shots required, this was the tracking for the ritual, the mobile phone, and the internet shot. I did this with some efficiency after practice shooting with random objects. For example, for tracking, I practised with the stairs and found a way to comfortably hold the camera in order to create a smooth tracking line.

The difficulties that lied ahead were that of lighting, excessive noise, controlling the actors and fidgety camera work. In order to take care of the lighting I used several lamps in order to create a dim glow so that the characters were distinguishable from the background. In addition to the artificial lighting, I also used candles to highlight the main character within the ritual scene. In terms of excessive noise I meant background noise. There was too much graininess when trying to record the mobile phones ring tone, not only the ring tone but also the speech that was required for the ritual scene. This was overcome by me having searched for a set of headphones that had a microphone attached to them. Then I downloaded a sound manipulating programme called Audacity, which allowed me to remove the excessive noise having re-recorded the dialogue and ring tone. Controlling the actors was a very difficult process as the actress had not learnt her lines for the ritual scene. In addition to this, the extras in front wouldn't stop laughing therefore, lengthening out the process which aggravated me. Thus in time, and after several rehearsals the actresses finally calmed down and did the scene with ease and proficiency which made my workload easier. Lastly, the fidgety camera work occurred when trying to track across the extras. Having done some practice shots with which I began to understand how to hold the camera and tripod and how to frame the scene, I never accounted for the space that would have been taken up by the extras. This is when my camera work became fidgety. I had deliberated how to set up the frame and I had decided to not make the extras too spaced apart and to keep the main actress on her knees so that there was not too much height between the two sets of characters. Having done this, I was able to track along the actresses with ease, but I still feel that it could have been better as the camera shifts slightly. I had attempted to find various way of attempting the tracking process. I tried a wooden plank on a skateboard in order to keep it perfectly still, however the skateboard was rumbling on the ground. I then tied the camera carefully on to a scooter, which i had high hopes for, but the angle wasn't correct. In the end I resorted to a hand held format. I felt this was appropriate because it added a sense of distortion to the scene which worked well.

Having had no previous experience with a camera in my AS coursework, I felt that this was a big accomplishment.I had gained some filming experience in my previous idea- Fangs. The camera work I had undertaken at that time had helped me a lot in my attempt to film for this piece. For example the tracking through the woods was hard due to the fact I had to multi task meaning that I had to film, frame the shot and look where I was going all at the same time. Luckily the shot prevailed exceptionally and I was able to use that experience but apply to a much slower and controlled pace rather than at a frantic pace so that the audience could absorb the scene's content.

New Animatic- Oracle

2009-11-08T11:01:00.000-08:00

Due to the poor microphone quality on my computer, I deviated from adding diagetic sounds and instead put in the scripting for the opening of my drama. I have made the opening to seem as if the show has been going on for quite some time, therefore I will be able to construct a more trailer like opening which will grab the audiences attention quickly. My target audience is women aged between 11-20
therefore, I chose to enter the mature teen drama segment, targeting the ages of 16-20 year old women.

ORACLE ANIMATIC-

Research- Mature Teen Supernatural Drama Openings.

2009-11-02T15:15:00.001-08:00

Today during my Integrated Learning Project in media, I began to re-construct my rough cut and officially changed it. I was given some hindsight into what TV shows I should be looking at and this set me off on my tangent. My target market is ranged between 11-20. Thus I intend on focusing on the mature teen dramas that are potentially for people aged 16-20 and they are:

LOST-

The camera work mainly uses Long Shots and Close ups of the characters and the landscape, in which they have incorporated pans in order to give the audience a full view of the locations, thus allowing them to settle into the show and become familiar with the context. There are a few action shots in which explosions and other events are taking place, this further allows the audience to come into full recognition of what the narrative will be like. The editing predominantly uses crossfades in order to provide some coherency to the opening and suggests everything is connected. In addition the pace is very slow and is in synch with the soundtrack upon which invokes tension and dramatisation within the title sequence. The mise-en-scene shows island scenery, rugged clothes, distraught people, thus reinforcing the title of the programme 'Lost'.

Heroes-

The initial zoom out of the world connotes that the show takes place globally. The main shot selection is that of a Close up in order to keep the audience engaged with the main character of the show. There is a track outwards and around the character to show his surroundings, being a city building rooftop. In order to reinforces this, the director has chosen a birds eye shot and a worms eye shot in order to show the height of the building in comparison to the one man in the area. The editing is again slow paced in order to stay in synch with the eerie soundtrack and the voice over.

Charmed-

A birds eye of three girls around a book begins to depict a sort of ritual occurrence thus informing the audience of the shows content. The camera has chosen to do location shots of San Francisco in order to allow the audience to understand that this is where the show is established. Throughout the title sequence the audience is given close ups of the main characters in order to familiarise themselves. Furthermore, there are plenty of action shots which in turn are aided by rapid succession in the editing. There are flashes and cross fades which help to give the title sequence an ethereal feeling. This is reinforced by the mise-en-scene with various cultural signifiers such as candles, the trinity sign, wiccan symbols and ritualistic apparel all help establish that the main characters have some relativity to magic.

True Blood-

The cinematography in this opening is very amateurish as it is hand-held to give the effect of it being someone's journey. The predominant shot choice was that of close ups and long shots of various locations. There are pans and tracks of various scenery to help the audience settle into the atmosphere. Places such as the church, swamps and bars help the audience to identify what the narrative will entail. The editing is once again synchronised with the soundtrack, with it being slow paced western folk music with an eerie twist. The editing also includes rapid successions at points in order to distort the viewer. This leads on to the mise-en-scene which is all relative to the western folk lifestyle, there are images of sex, alcohol, bar fights, black community. Furthermore, there is a binary opposition with the religous depictions and the sexual orientation which further helps to establish the narrative and the realism of the text.

Rough Finished

2009-11-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

Rough Cut Complete

NB- YOUTUBE HAS CUT OUT SHOT 1!

FEEDBACK:

Having shown this to my teacher I obtained feedback describing that my TV Drama opening was too trailer-esque. This was due to the lack of continuity throughout my opening. There was the predominance of the male character, however, near the ending before the official titles, the audience was oblivious to the other 3 characters that were shown therefore I am considering to re-do the shooting and the animatic. I want to make my opening similar to that of "The Worst Witch" and "Young Dracula". This is because it is the sort of genre i wish to embody in my TV drama opening. Furthermore, it was said that the music was too theatrical and this added to the trailer like appearance of my opening.

In order to tackle these concepts, i will make my opening shorter and include a more jingle-y type of soundtrack that simutaneously engages the audience too. This should make the opening more effective for my audience. However, i am considering whether i should do it via live action or animated. Live action would make the opeining more realtive, whereas, animation will detract from that aspect and give it a more comical appearence.

Fourth Filming Shoot

2009-10-26T06:34:00.001-07:00

26th October 2009

Today was a challenge. I shot all the shots of the main character and the key locations at the beginnning. Regarding shot no.5 on the storyboard, instead of having the character coming out of the ground, he proposed an easier method which was him falling out of a tree. This provided the same effect and saved a lot more time. This turned out to be more effective.

For shots no.2+3 i have decided to utilise a handheld camera in order to distort the viewer and help follow along with the tempo of the soundtrack.

For the running scene (shot9), i found the method of handheld tracking to be highly challenging. This was obviously due to the clarity of the motion. This took a while to establish, yet i am still not satisfied with it as the clarity is ok but i was hoping that the tracking would have gone smoother.

Third filming shoot

2009-10-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

25th October 2009

Today I endeavoured to film during the dark hours so that my artificial lighting was viable to the actress. The artificial lighting source was a flood lamp in my actresses garden. This proved to be very useful as there was a blockage thus causing a shadow on the lower half of my actresses face, which meant that the light was focused on her eyes. This gave a highly striking impression on camera which will help to establish the character of this person as being mysterious. Although, I am slighlty concerned that the audience may not be able to see enough of her. I will look into this problem and see how i can resolve it on the coming ILP days.

Shot 14 Process

2009-10-23T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is the before and after of Shot 14 or the "innocence" shot:

Before

After:

THE PROCESS!!

Second Filming Shoot

2009-10-23T05:53:00.000-07:00

Friday 23rd October 2009

Today could not have gone any better. The weather was ideal for my filming today as it was sunny and partially windy. I filmed shot 14 on my storyboard. The actress I had chosen was brilliant in conveying the emotion of innocence which is what I required as she will be the protagonist. I feel that I am progressing more and more confident with how to use the motion camera.

I plan on converting this shot into a black a white tone colour, this will help keep the convention of the colour palette black white and red. Also, I feel it would be the right colour scheme to adapt to the final shot of the opening sequence in order to give it a striking effect.

First Filming Shoot.

2009-10-17T04:26:00.001-07:00

Friday 16th October 2009

Today I did some shooting of the insignificant shots such as the morgue book (shot8) and the lip licking (shot 10). I had to do the shooting at night, roughly around 10pm, when there was no daylight so that I could effectively use artificial lighting in order to create a moody atmosphere to the set.

The preparation for the set was extremely difficult as I wanted all the props to be in a certain position and also the lighting was the hardest element because it helped to establish the focal point within the framing of the shot. Therefore, I built a DIY reflector out of a child's drum and some tin foil in order to help soften the light around the props, which gave the lighting a more smoother appearance.

The lip licking scene was particularly hard as the make-up was essential and the actress I had chosen had spots around her mouth, therefore, in the post production I will see if I will be able to blur the shot slightly to give the make up a more smoother appearance. However, I will not
blur it too much as i still want the audience to see the action going on in the shot.

Shooting by myself is quite hard in comparison to my AS coursework as I had nobody to rely on. This was due to me not having enough time with the camera at that point. Due to lesson cross-overs and travel issues, I was unable to make it to all the shootings which deprived me of learning how to use the camera effectively. However, having done these insignificant shots, I feel that I am much more comfortable filming independently as it is more easier to envision the shots by myself, thus allowing me to create an effective children's TV drama opening.

Animatic Re-do

2009-10-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

This is my animatic which has been improved via the critique provided in the previous blog.
NB- Youtube has cut out the lip licking scene (shot 10 on the storyboard). This will still be in the final piece!!!

Animatic draft

2009-10-10T08:31:00.003-07:00

This is my draft animatic for my teen tv drama opening:

CRITIQUE!

Today I presented my animatic to my class and obtained feedback on the positive and negative aspects of my piece. (The positives are in green and the negatives are in red).

A good soundtrack was awarded to my animatic. My classmates proposed that the musical score was appropriate and that it helped to establish not only the genre of horror but the atmosphere of the narrative, which helped to make the “content” of the show more apparent. I personally agree with this because after watching the animatic repeatedly to ensure that each component was viable I felt that the music was the most prominent feature and that it didn’t fail to engage me. This meant that the musical editing was appropriate in terms of engaging my audience and establishing a cohesive opening.

Furthermore the sketching was a good quality which made it easier for the audience to understand the narrative of my opening sequence. This, in comparison to my AS media coursework animatic, is different as I previously used photographs to provide a realistic approach to the narrative for my group’s thriller opening. However, this year I have chosen to draw my storyboard out as this was the best option in order to portray the narrative for my storyline. It was also easier for me to envision the shots and the sort of pace I intended my audience to watch it at. One of the responses towards my animatic that I received was that the animatic was already a clear image of what my final product was going to be like. This means that there is more potential for me to adhere to my animatic, whereas in AS there were slight variations from the animatic.

Another positive response that I received is that of my transitions being effective. They helped to create continuity, coherency and engaging the audience throughout the opening. This means that the editing pace is good and it makes it easier for the audience to follow the text. However, there was a critique of when the main characters were being shown at the end that the pace should have been slowed down. I disagree with this as the pace of the editing has been constructed to synchronise with the soundtrack, therefore, it wouldn’t be right for there to be out of synch titles with such a powerful musical score. This would only disrupt the coherency of the opening. However, this can be achieved by slowing down the fading so that there is enough time for the audience to absorb the content on the screen.

Moreover, there was a critique for ambient sounds to be included. However, regarding my research into various openings, it is apparent that there is hardly any use of ambient sounds, therefore it would be inappropriate for me to subvert the one convention that justifies an opening sequence for a children’s TV drama.

Another critique was that the choices of character shots were good; however shot number 5, when the man comes out of the grave, was proposed to have the character facing the camera instead of his back towards the camera as this is an opportunity to present the characters to the audience. Therefore, this shot will be altered in the re-making of my animatic. Furthermore, resting on the subject of characters it was also critiqued that the characters names should be inserted when they are being shown at the ending so that the audience are more comfortable and not left in suspense.

Having made my initial animatic in Windows Movie Maker, due to technological difficulties with the Macbook I took out not having Adobe Premier Pro on it, I was unable to create a motion effect on my animatic to enhance the visual stimulus of what the shots will actually look like. Thus, I will re-construct my re-make animatic on Adobe Premiere Pro in order to achieve this effect and help guide me along my process of filming. The motion effect will be used at shot number 4, the hand coming out of the ground. The impact this will have is to presume as if the character has immense strength and establish his dominance within the title sequence. Also, another motion effect will be placed on shot number 9, when the character is running. This will help to invoke a sense of tracking as well as the characters movement.

An issue was raised about the hand coming out of the ground like so. It was anticipated that since this is a Children’s TV drama opening the hand coming out of the ground may have been too gruesome for young children. However, I argue that this opening title sequence is aimed at 11-15 yr olds, therefore, this will be a minor contributor to the “horror factor” as I intend to not show it to younger children aged such as 5-9. On the other hand, since I am planning to show this programme during the peak of children’s TV hours, it can be argued that maybe this may disturb young children, therefore, when coming down to filming I do not intend to paint the hand “green” as such to create a zombie-like image, however I would like to keep it realistic in order to draw away from the gruesomeness of the concept of the “dead coming back to life”.

Storyboard

2009-10-10T08:31:00.001-07:00

This is the story boarding for my Children's TV Drama opening sequence.

Location Shots

2009-10-10T08:01:00.005-07:00

Woodlands

Church & graveyard.

Final Idea

2009-10-10T08:01:00.003-07:00

My final idea will be a live action title sequence with some animation where i feel is appropriate. it will be based around a church and graveyard. I have decided to follow along with the social trends of vampires as that will possibly prove to be successful with teens aged 11-15. There will be random clips to fill the sequence and keep the audience engaged and to finish there will be slow fades in and out of the main characters and then the initial title will be shown.

Developed Ideas

2009-10-10T08:01:00.001-07:00

Initial Ideas

2009-10-10T08:00:00.002-07:00

View more documents from CCC.

Research Evalutation

2009-10-10T08:00:00.001-07:00

As a conclusion for my research it’s evident that the concept of stereotyping in children’s TV drama is prominent. For example, in M.I.High, there is the good looking male character and his two female sidekicks, thus placing the stereotype of men being dominant than women. It begins to employ a sort of James Bond theme towards to the show, which makes it engaging for the audience to watch. Furthermore, it was also apparent that an engaging soundtrack is central to the entire opening in order to establish the tone of the show. For example, in The Sarah Jane Adventures the soundtrack dominates the opening. Therefore I will need to incorporate an engaging soundtrack for my opening title sequence in order to keep my audience watching and not lose interest.

Another commonality I found amongst children’s TV drama openings is that the predominant colour palette is black white and red. The black and white together may suggest reality. However, separately black may suggest darkness; white may connote purity and red, being an alerting colour helps to engage the audience and it also connotes danger. Young Dracula depicts this in its opening sequence. This colour palette is similar to that of my AS media coursework where the predominant colours were also red, black and white. This could be seen in openings such as Sin City (Frank Miller, 2005).

Whilst Young Dracula was the only animated opening I have investigated, most shows openings are live action ones which I find would be more appealing to my target audience of 11-15yr old boys. I plan on following this convention to in order to be relative to my target audience.

In terms of camera the predominant shot choices were LS’s and CU’s. The editing is usually in synch with the soundtrack which helps to provide a cohesive opening, therefore, allowing the audience to settle into the programme and grabbing their interest at the same time. There is always a wide range of mise en scene within the opening titles. “The worst witch” uses a variety of props such as the broomsticks, a witch’s wardrobe including the pointed hat and cloak. In terms of diegetic sounds and ambience, there is little or none included in title sequences of children’s TV drama.

Regarding the current impact that Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008) has on children explains the genre that was most voted for by my target audience. This will help me establish my opening for my children’s TV drama as I will know what they’re expecting to see. The concept of vampires and other creatures will help me to structure the narrative for my opening.

I intend to contradict Tzevetan Todorov’s- (http://misbournemedia.com/mediatheorists.htm) theory of the narrative at the beginning is always at equilibrium by setting my opening in a more paced momentum in order to keep the audience engaged with the text.

Questionnaire Analysis

2009-10-10T07:57:00.001-07:00

I questioned a total of 20 people in order to get concrete evidence for the planning of my children’s TV drama opening. 16 boys and 4 girls were interviewed and they were all in between the age ranges of 11-15. This means that my children’s TV drama must be relative to the teenage market. Surprisingly, the two genders didn’t vote for the typical comedy or romance genres. Instead the genres of Horror and Action were opted. This may have derived from the current vampire trends of “twilight”. The two most watched TV shows that were circled were Young Dracula and Sarah Jane Adventures. These sorts of shows tend to have cliff hangers at the end in order to keep the audience returning. My audience tends to come at 4pm in the afternoon when the children’s TV shows are at their peak in the day. They tend to watch television for at least 1hour to 2hours.

Questionnaire

2009-10-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

This is the questionnaire I intend to propose to my audience. Ihave kept the language simple so that they can understand it easily.

M.I. High

2009-10-10T07:43:00.005-07:00

M.I.High
Richard Elson (2007-current)

NB- 2.25-2.52 ONLY !!

The camera mainly adheres to CU’s., MS and LS of the characters. All the characters are positioned in the centre in order to make them the focal point of the sequence. The post production has included split screens in order to show the sort of things these characters do. Also, wipes have been used in order to show a change in character, time and place. The Big Ben is an iconic signifier of the city London, this helps to establish where the location of the show is. The colour palette of this sequence is black to connote evil, white to connote goodness and red to connote danger. The soundtrack is quite fast paced and quite like mission impossible. There is a voice over that helps to guide the audience through the title sequence.

Young Dracula

2009-10-10T07:43:00.003-07:00

Young Dracula
Danny Robins (2006-2008)

NB- 0.00-0.13!!

The title sequence for young Dracula consists of mainly LS and CU’s. This helps the audience follow the car easily. The editing mainly consists of wipes in order to suggest a change in time and place. The mise-en-scene involve a colour palette of red to connote danger or blood. Blood helps to reinforce the idea of “Dracula.” Oranges to connote autumn, which is when Halloween occurs, thus reinforcing the idea of Dracula again and last but not least, blacks to connote darkness as vampires only come out at night. The background has Transylvania written on it which acts as a textual signifier of vampires, as well as castles. The soundtrack is spooky and provides a dark atmosphere to the sequence, there are diegetic bat squeaks to heighten the verisimilitude of the text and lastly the thunder crashing helps to conclude the title sequence.

The Worst Witch

2009-10-10T07:43:00.001-07:00

The Worst Witch
Alex Kirby (1998-2001)

The sequence begins with a LS of the moon, this helps to reinforce the concept of witches only coming out at night. Furthermore, there are LS of the girls in order to show the audience their wardrobe and the effectively put across the concept of them flying. The editing is mainly slow cuts to match on with the music and the titles are superimposed upon the pictures in order to show recognition of the author of the books. The mise-en-scene consists of the stereotypical wardrobe signifiers of the pointy witch’s hat, cloaks and brooms. This helps the audience settle into the genre of fantasy. Also, the typical location of the castle in the forest helps to establish the genre further. The soundtrack consists of mainly ethereal vocals. This provides a pace for the editing and slowly allows the audience to settle into the atmosphere.

The Sarah Jane Adventures

2009-10-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

The Sarah Jane Adventures
Russell T Davies (2009)

The camera is still and the audience is shown a vortex which is the main focal point of the sequence. The title sequence is one continuous stream and there is a wipe on title which helps to introduce the show. The mise-en-scene consists of colours such as red to connote danger, blue to connote peace and black to connote outer space. The vortex is a signifier of the genre, which in this case is science-fiction (sci-fi). There are also letters flying across the screen, this may invoke the ideas of solving something. The soundtrack for the sequence has a classical, ethereal and synthesised whistling sound that provides a dramatic and scientific feel to the entire sequence.

Grange Hill Opening

2009-10-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

Grange Hill
Phil Redmond (1978-2008)

The camera effectively utilises a variety of shots consisting of CU's, LS's, ECU's and MS's. Also, the camera angles are varied. This may have been done in order to show various perspectives that the shows narrative can be interpreted. The editing is quite rapid with the inclusion of jump cuts and cross fades. The jump cuts help to create a pace to the sequence and the cross fades determine a change in time and place. The mise en scene was primarily that of a home and school environment. The start of the sequence shows a nightgown and then the wardrobe changes to a uniform. This allows the sequence to be relative to the audience and this allows the audience to settle in easily. The soundtrack is quite faced paced and up-tempo in order to create a happy atmosphere and catch the audiences attention easily.

Genres of Childrens TV dramas

2009-10-10T05:54:00.001-07:00

The genres of children's TV dramas are similar to those of films.

- Action
-Adventure
-Romance
-Comedy
-Sci-fi
-Horror
-Fantasy
-Musical

The highlighted genres are the ones i will focus as they are the most common at the moment. Therefore, I will focus on the trend and try to make my final product match the trends and not like an anomaly.

COURSEWORK RE-DO!!!!!

2009-10-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

COURSEWORK RE-DO TO BRIEF NO. 6:

A selection of materials related to an original children's TV drama, to include the title sequence to the TV programme, together with:

the front cover to a magazine for the series
a DVD cover for the series

The reason i am re-doing my coursework is because I felt that the short film concept was too hard for me in terms of coming up with an idea. I was highly indecisive and this led to me falling behind. However, I feel that i will have clarity and ease with this brief as I find that establishing a storyline for this brief will not be as difficult as a short film.

Location, Location, Location

2009-10-04T04:46:00.001-07:00

The location for my movie will be on a plain white background, I can achieve this by getting white sheets and pinning them to the wall (with permission) and then brightly lighting the area in order to provided an added luminosity to set. Furthermore, I will use minimal props as I want the entire focal point to be on the two characters and the dance.

Timeline

2009-10-03T16:13:00.001-07:00

Inspiration

2009-10-03T16:12:00.001-07:00

My inspiration for this idea came from the dance group the "Jabbawockeez" (see below). I intend to manipulate their wardrobe in order to satisfy the needs for my production. I am aware that copying the plain mask is breaching copyright regulations, therefore, by manipulating the idea of the masks i will be able to re-create a fashion that will comply with the storyline.

The jabbawockeez embody the style of dancing i want to pursue. This means that i will have to seek out actors and actresses that can mimic the moves of the group and perform an entire sequence.

This clip from the movie "Step Up 2: the streets" (Jon Chu, 2008) shows the Jabbawockeez in action and it also shows the style of cinematography i want to do. This means i must construct a DIY track dolly in order to get good panning and tracking shots. Also, the choreographer Jamal Sims who co-ordinated all the dance sequences in Step Up 2 will also provide as a resource for when choreographing my dance.

Final Idea

2009-10-03T14:52:00.001-07:00

My final idea will be based upon the issue of "love and tragedies", very much like a Shakespearian play. It will focus on two main characters and their time together as lovers. Instead of acting, the whole movie will be a dance sequence, preferably break dancing as the harsh popping and locking will help to emphasise certain emotions as well as the liquefying. Furthermore, having evaluated my research, the way the narrative is established is through the use of camera, sound (such as soundtracks and diegetic, there s usually little or no dialogue), and mise-en-scene which is usually really simple and refined.

THE FIRST DANCE

Scene1- This scene will be about the two main characters meeting. Their dancing will be synchronised at times in order to represent the unison they work in.

Scene 2- This scene will be about their romancing and flirtatiousness. Here the dancing will be more timed to in order to show each of the characters attitudes towards each other.

Scene 3- This scene will represent the doubt in the relationship, and here the dancing will be partnered from this scene onwards.

Scene 4- This scene will depict the fight between the couple, the dancing here will be very big in terms of movement and more “in your face” type of thing.

Scene 5- This scene will show the death of the two characters. The dance moves her will still be big but a lot faster until the first death, then the pace will slow in order to show repentance.

Initial Ideas-

2009-10-03T14:36:00.000-07:00

Questionnaire Analysis

2009-09-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Having conducted primary research amongst my preferred target market I have come to a conclusion that my target audience is more female orientated than male. The age range investigated turned out to be primarily those aged 11-20. Not many of my responses knew that short films existed, therefore I feel that instead of focusing on a comedic approach I would make something more socially relative or something that will have an impact on people. Furthermore, my target audience want to see a mixture of drama and a film noir style of movie. This means that the film I will create must be able to grab the audiences attention through the use of a social issue.

Last but not least, My audience would prefer to see the short film on the Internet rather than on television and cinema. This is primarily because my audience will have more access to the Internet within the age range of 11-20.

Film Noir adaptation to my medium

2009-09-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

Film Noir was a cinematographic period which was discovered in the early 40's. The low key black and white lighting helped to reinforce the genre of crime fiction [1] . This traditional lighting helps to keep the audiences attention on the main characters. A dark lighting will be beneficial for the the accentuation of a time period that the movie was set in. Also, it will help to create a mysterious atmosphere. I do plan on completely utilising Film Noir throughout my short film.

Film Noir also served as a reflection on World War 2 at the time in order to make the context relative to the audience's lives. This is an important aspect within any medium, for example, magazines must right about the correct information in order to appeal to their market. Likewise with film. The context of the film must be relative to people's interests in order to appeal to them.

Film Noir tends to use a number of LS's and CU's to show the audience the surroundings and expression of the characters. This helps to establish the audiences attention within the medium. This may be beneficial to my short film, as I want the audience to be able to take in every thing within the frame whilst focusing on the character. Furthermore a variety of angles are used such as the high and low angles. The high angle give whoever is in the frame inferiority, opposed to that of the low angle which gives the actor/actress superiority. This will be useful in the short film in order to establish who has more power over who, which will keep the audience further engaged in the short film.

Another convention that is common amongst the Film Noir genre is that of voice overs and narrations. This feature is in most if not all short films, which will make it applicable to my chosen media. Furthermore, a female dominance within the narrative is included, otherwise known as the femme fatales of the plot. This may be applicable, however my narrative has predominantly a male prominence. In this case I may consider subverting the gender stereotypes and make the short film female prominent.

Sample Questionnaire

2009-08-05T02:31:00.000-07:00

Commonalities within various media forms

2009-06-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

In today's lesson we tried to find the commonalities between the briefs provided. These commonalities were about the technical codes of the mediums:

MUSIC VIDEO-
"Franz Ferdinand- Ulysses"

The song name- Ulysses was a character from James Joyce's novel. Ulysees was a character whom suffered confusion and lost himself. The camera in Ferdinands echos that concept. This can be seen through the handheld camera. This reverts from the normal rigidity that is commonly shown. The dominant shot shown is that of feet, this reinforce the concept of travelling. Throughout the camera only adapts to a consistency of CU and MS in order to keep the attention on certain aspects such as the hands tapping at 0.37.

The cuts are based around the drumbeat of the song. They cuts a fraction after the actual beat. This allows the video to become smoother and flow easily and furthermore, match the musical score.

The mise-en-scene shows that the genre of film that this video may be classified as a Film Noir which a deviation of a crime film. The video entails a sense of mystery such as when the audience is unaware of whom the artist is on the phone to. Also, Film Noir is usually shaded in one colour and "Ulysses" is shaded in green. The wardrobe for the artists is post modern, further echoing the theme of Film Noir.

ADVERT
" What's your thing"

The camera in this advert is primarily handheld in order to put emphasis on the freedom of children. When the camera frames the various hobbies it undertakes a CU of them in order to make them the focal point and engage the audiences attention.

The fast paced cuts are vital in order to keep the audiences attention also it must match the soundtrack so that the advert flows a lot more easily. The soundtrack is primarily high, energetic and primarily that of rock and roll. This sort of music can stereotypically be associated with males, which are the dominant aspect of this advert. There is a combination of both diegetic and non diegetic sounds. The diegetic being the dialogue and the non diegetic being the soundtracks. There is a mixture of D + ND in terms of the sounds cutting on and off in order to divert the audiences attention to the certain talents.

For example, there is a frame of a child reading and the only ambient sound audible is that of a page turning. This reinforces that reading is an exercise done in silence. However, the football talent has a heavy, upbeat and energetic soundtrack in order to reinforce the high gained when playing sports. Therefore, the soundtracks variations serves as a reflection to the actions and alter the pace and feeling.

This mise-en scene predominantly introduces the audience to a variety of male talents. In contrast to Ferdinand's music video, the locations appear to be more natural therefore heightening the verisimilitude of the text. This will allow it to appeal more to the target audience.

TRAILER
"The Matrix"

The camera in this trailer mainly adapts to CU and MS in order to establish the main characters and show their emotions. Also, the use of tracking allows the audience to be guided along the action as well as the narrative.

The editing begins of slow which creates a mysterious tone which is aided by the transitions of fading in order to emphasise it. Furthermore, the trailer includes some slow motion action sequences at 1.40-1.43. This has been done to emphasise the action and further engage the audience into the content of the film. As the trailer progresses the cuts speed up in order to entice the audiences attention and finishes on a crescendo of the famous matrix move.

The sound in this trailer were both diegetic and non diegetic. There are the obvious lines from the movie and then there is the soundtracks. The soundtrack varies throughout. The music tends to be very abrupt and "in your face". This can be depicted through the bangs at 0.07 and 0.09. The style is somewhat metallic which further reinforces the genre of the movie being an action Sci-Fi. Also, the dialogue from the movie has been selected carefully in order to serve as a provocation for the audience to see the movie. At 2.21, the words " You have to see it for yourself" acts as an encouragement for the movies target audience to go and see the movie.

The mise-en-scene of the trailer is predominantly black to enforce a sense of darkness and mystery. There are an number of guns, which help to reinforce the action concept of the movie.

SHORT FILM
" Killing Time at Home"

The camera in this piece mainly adapts to CU of the man. This has been done to help intensify the concept of isolation and allow the audience to see his emotions. This is allows effective audience engagement to be established.The editing is slow. This is has been done to add emphasis on the loneliness of the characters. Also, the shots have been held for a lengthy amount of time. This allows a connection between the audience and the film.The soundtrack is very slow and depressing which further helps to reinforce the concpet of isolation within the film. The mise-en-scene depicts the character "growing" his friends. Therfore, making him seem antisocial and artificial as he appears to be very unkept and has bloodshot eyes which imposes the concept of him being anti-social and not knowing about the outside world.

Questionnaire

2009-06-23T02:32:00.001-07:00

In order to find out what my target audience wants to see in my short film, I will have to conduct a survey. It will be at least 5-10 questions with a variety of open and closed questions that will allow me to evaluate my target markets choices for my final product. My ideal vision for my final piece is to make it a Film Noir/Drama sort of piece. This will allow me to draw upon a social issue that i find is not adressed enough. However, I cannot make assumptions currently until i have devised a questionnaire for my target audience.

I have chosen my target to be teenagers because i want to relate my short film to this market as it would be an easier concept for me personally.

Genre- "Film Noir"

2009-06-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

Film Noir
313 (2006)

ANALYSIS

The camera adheres to CU's throughout the piece in order to allow the audience to connect with the characters. There is the ocassional LS, this is done in order to let the audience settle into the environment. Fades are used in order to suggest a change in time and place. Overall the editing adhers to straight cuts mainly in order to create continuity. There is a high pitched background music that creates a suspicious atmosphere, conventional for the film noir genre. There is predominantly a voice over throughout, which is also a main convention for this genre. However, when the female hostess is introduced, the music blends into a more seductive soundtrack. This can be reinforced by the soft lighting she gets and the high angle which is what most of the "femme fatales" receive in Film Noir. The mise-en-scene also adhered to the conventions of the genre. The director has included, cigarettes, gambling, smoke. these all help to reinforce teh genre and give the genre its own verisimilitude.

Genre- "Drama"

2009-06-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Last Words
Matthew Castno
(2006)

ANALYSIS

The camera distance throughout vary between CU's and MS's in order to allow the audience to see the facial expressions of the two characters. At points there were a handheld camera (1.17-46) in order to enforce the concept of nonchalance and freedom. There are predominantly straight cuts throught the piece and shot-reverse-shots between the characters in order to show the connection between them. The fade to black provides a censor over the live reactions caught by the public when the bombings happened. This made the audience focus on entirely the sound, which induced the ideas of the female character having been part of the catastrpophy. The audience is then brought back to a slow non diegetic guitar soundtrack with the news for a voice over depicting the events of 9/11. The pigmentation of this scene is entirely black and white. This connotes a possible harsh reality to the events that have happened. The camera once again refrains back to the close up of the man crying in order to establish a connection between the audience and his loss.

Genre- "Crime"

2009-06-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

The Problem With Crime
Ant Keogh- (2001)

ANALYSIS-

The predominant shot length is that of a LS. This allows the audience to see the sction and partially see the facial expressions. This distance helps to draw the audience away from whats going on. The sound is mainly the dialogue, which is lead by the bulkily dressed male. This helps to focus the audiences attention on the situation as it highlights the concepts of a murder. Furthermore, the ambient sounds of cars passing helps to establish the verisimilitude. There are few cuts in within the piece, which makes it seem drawn out and tedious. The lengthy shots helps the phone conversation to flow more subtly keeps the audiences attention on the two characters. The mise-en-scene is mainly a naturally lit up area, making the action seem more realisitc. The bulkiness of the mans clothing shows us his stature over the the other male who is dressed quite thinly and more coloufully.

Genre- "Comedy"

2009-06-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

Pillowfight
Scott Rice (2006)

ANALYSIS

The camera mainly adheres to close ups and mid-shots in order to establish the connection between the couple. There is also an inclusion of a high angled long shot in order to let the audience settle into the environment. The sound is mostly diegetic, the sounds consist of; snoring, rustling and dialogue. In order to maintain the verisimilitude of the text, non diegetic sounds of crickets are included. The editing throughout the piece is steady and also matches on action, eg when she whack him across the face the first time. Also, the shot-reverse-shot between the two characters established the connection within their relationship. The mise en scene is predominantly a dark room with the focal light on the couple in order to make them the centre of attention. The colour that is most prominent is blue. Blue provides connotations of peace, however, this is juxtaposed by the actions in the film, which shows a rather disturbed man and an annoying woman.

I found this piece to be quite funny as the awkward sounds and the annoying snoring served their purpose in providing entertainment.

Genres of Short Films

2009-06-18T05:58:00.000-07:00

These are the following genres that fall into Short Films:

Action
Adventure
Comedy
Crime
Drama
Historical
Horror
Fantasy
Film Noir

The genres that appeal to me are, Comedy, Film Noir, Crime and Drama. Comedy appealed to me because I believe that it would be easy to incorporate gags into a storyline therefore allowing it to appeal to a younger audience. Film Noir always indicates a sense of suspicion and would work well alongside the crime and drama genre. Crime movies are similar to Film Noir movies as they both focus on post-war life. Lastly, Drama movies always reflect a social/ personal issue, therefore making it endearing to the audience.

Short Films & Genre

Decision Making

2009-06-16T02:30:00.000-07:00

Final Choice for A2 Media coursework:

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animation or a combination of both, together with:

a poster for the film
a film magazine review page featuring the film

I have chosen to do the live action side of the short film brief. The reason why I chose this is so that I can utilise my creative side and help me develop my skills from my AS year. This choice will allow me enhance my skills by learning how to incorporate special effects and control the editing and sounds. However, in order to achieve this brief, I will have to go through research and planning in order to justify the narrative, genre, and codes and conventions of short films.

What is Genre?

2009-06-11T08:59:00.001-07:00

In today's lesson we started focusing on the concept of genre and how throughout time the borders of significant genres such as horror, western or comedy have eroded away and now films are combining more than one genre.

Also, there are various ways of categorising subjects. For example, for our starter i learnt that there were various ways of categorising fruits and vegetables. This ranged from colour, shape, size, growth style and type.

Genre Recognition:

People can recognise genre through simple aspects of the medium.
These are:

- Iconography- Images/symbols relative to a genre such as sci-fi has space ships

- The plot/narrative- The storyline of most films is good overcoming evil

- Character- Heroes and Villains

- Setting- Eg: A sci-fi would be set in a fantasy place or in space.

-Music- An action film would have very fast paced and pounding music to match the action.

-Stars- Actors and Actresses such as Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie can be associated with the genre of actions via Tom Cruise being in "Mission Impossible" and Angelina Jolie being in "Tomb Raider".

Therefore it can be concluded that throughout the ages the borders of significant genres have been eroded away and now contemporary films are merging genres together in order to meet the expectations of audiences and satisfy them. This helps to reinforce the concept of social, cultural, economic and political agendas influencing the development of a genre.

Introduction to A2 Coursework.

2009-06-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

For the introduction to the new coursework, we were given a set of briefs ranging from music videos to teasser trailer and adverts. We were told to pick up to 2 out of the 6 briefs and these were the two that interested me:

A selection of materials related to an original children's TV drama, to include the title sequence to the TV programme, together with:

the front cover to a magazine for the series
a DVD cover for the series

and

A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animation or a combination of both, together with:

a poster for the film
a film magazine review page featuring the film

Further on in the lesson, we observed previous students work. This allowed me to see the sort of the standards that are expected in this course. Also, it depicted what was good quality work and what wasn't. This further established the boundaries in this coursework. This meant that my organisation amongst other aspects of preparation have to be set to a higher standard.