A2 Media Coursework Blog

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
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.

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 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.

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.

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.