Tuesday, 25 November 2014

Checklist for Film Opening Research and Planning




AS Media Studies Practical Coursework - Checklist for Research and Planning

 

(This is a minimum - feel free to add anything else to your research and planning portfolio as you see fit. Remember that in order to get the higher marks you are expected to demonstrate use of a wide range of different technologies to present your work on your blog.)


Preliminary Task

  • Brainstorm of initial ideas
  • Script
  • Storyboard
  • Completed task (filmed and edited)
  • Evaluation

 
Film Opening Research

  • Research into different genres
  • Conventions of film openings (including screengrabs to demonstrate examples)
  • Analysis of a specific film opening (ideally of the genre that you have chosen)
  • Studio Logo research
  • Titles and Personnel timeline

 
Audience Research

  • Audience member profile (pen portrait)
  • Audience questionnaire
  • Audience questionnaire results and analysis
  • Voxpops and analysis

 
Practical Task (Your Film Opening)

  • Brainstorm of initial ideas
  • Pitch/Treatment
  • Character profiles (with reasons for decisions)
  • Costume, make-up and props lists (with reasons for decision
  • Sound: Music, Sound FX, Audio levelling (with reasons for decisions)
  • Location shots (with reasons for decisions)
  • Risk assessment
  • Script
  • Storyboard (with optional animatic)
  • Shotlist
  • Shooting schedule
 
All this needs to be completed and evidenced on your blog by the end of term!

Deadline for all of the above = Thursday 18th December

 

 

Thursday, 13 November 2014

Pete Fraser is my hero!

Here is a link to Pete Fraser's Media Blog. It is an amazing source of all kinds of useful information to help you become masters (or indeed mistresses!) of Media Studies:


http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/


Pete used to do a lot of work for OCR, so he really knows his stuff. Do please have a look at some of his older posts as well as the new ones. There is an excellent post about the film opening coursework project from a few days ago, with lots of useful tips, but this is just the tip of the iceberg! There are posts about all kinds of aspects of media, including coursework advice, exam techniques etc. Spend some time mooching about his blog, read as much as you can and enjoy!

Tuesday, 11 November 2014

Work to complete for Thursday 13th November

Sorry again that I can't be with you for today's lesson. If you remember, I told you last time we all met that in my absence I want you to focus on making sure that all of your work is completed and up to date on your blogs. This is in anticipation of Thursday's lesson, when we will be moving on to focus on a new area of preparation for your film opening project planning.
So please use your time wisely to check my previous blog posts and ensure that everything required so far is completed and evidence is posted on your blogs. The credits timeline in particular needs completing for most of you, but some folks are falling behind with the other tasks - you know who you are - so get blogging!
See you on Thursday,
Mr Bunce.

Thursday, 6 November 2014

Titles / Credits Timeline




Take a look at this timeline that a student has created to track the credits as they appear in the title sequence for Juno. Use it as a template for creating a timeline for a film opening of your choice, and post the results on your blog. Then try the same as part of the planning for your own film opening, so that you can make it clear which credits you are going to include and when they will appear.

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Congratulations on a successful first term, and welcome back!

Okay, it's looking like we're all on board with having established our blogs now, with some really good posts detailing what you did on the preliminary tasks. Some of your blogs are really detailed, with evidence of the work you did last term on film genre as well. Well done!
Over the next week I would like you all to use your blogs to provide further evidence of your research and planning into your film opening projects.

Here's what to do:



1. Post details of everything that you have done so far. This could include:
  • Details of our work in class on what makes a successful film opening
  • Exploration of different genres of film. You could refer to your notes from the different presentations that the class prepared and delivered, and even include a link to your own presentation (use the web progamme called 'Slideshare' to do this)
  • Research into the genre that you are hoping to use for your project. As set up in the ELT task for the half term break, find a successful example of a film opening within that genre and write about what makes it so successful. Include some screengrabs too if you can
  • Copies of any planning notes as you generate initial ideas for your own film opening.

2. Carry out some audience research and post details of this on your blog too. This should include:
  • A questionnaire to find out what audiences like about / expect from film openings. This should aim to gather data that you can then use in preparing your own film opening, in order to make it as successful as possible. Include questions that are specific to your chosen genre as well as more general questions about the broader appeal of film openings overall. Use your questionnaire with a number of members of your target audience - about 20 should be enough. Use social networking to get responses if you want, especially if you can't access people directly. Post a copy of your questionnaire on your blog, as well as a table of data showing the responses, together with an analysis of the results
  • A pen portrait of a sample member of the target audience for your film. This can be a real person (get their permission first if you are going to be providing any of their details on your blog!) or a fictional person, but it should give an account of the sorts of things that may be of relevance to their appreciation of the sorts of films that your opening is similar to. Include things like: their name, age and gender; hobbies and interests; likes and dislikes; favourite films; a quote about their views on your chosen genre etc. Keep it brief and focussed - use bullet points if you like. Aim for it to be like a 'fact-file' of information about them. Add a photo. Make it as relevant as possible to your chosen genre.

That's enough to keep you going over the next week or so. Of course, if you want to include anything else, then please feel free. Use images as well as text. Add photos, scan things, use different technologies (links to youtube, screengrabs from other sources, web programmes etc) to spice your blog up (don't forget to acknowledge other sources if they are not your own work though!)


Really make it interesting for others to enjoy - remember, it's your blog, so make it stand out from the crowd, and above all else, have some fun with it!





All the best,

Mr Bunce.

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Blogger tips and tricks

Some useful weblinks for tips on using blogger:

http://www.blogger.com/features

http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/blogger/index.html



Send me your blog addresses!

Following our lesson on blogging, you should be up to speed on how to manage your blogs and keep them updated throughout the duration of the Media Studies course.

Once your blog is established and you're feeling confident about using it, please email me your blog address so that we can set up a class list for maintaining that all important contact throughout the year. (Oh yes - there will never be another opportunity for missed assignment deadlines ever again!)

The Foundation Portfolio and using the blog

Welcome to the blog. Your AS coursework planning, research and evaluation will be submitted to the exam board via your blog. This means that when a post is added you must :
  1. use own words;
  2. write accurately with good sentence structures, correct spelling and in an appropriate tone;
  3. not copy information from the interweb without crediting the original source;
  4. acknowledge sources of clips etc.
You also need to check for new posts and what you need to do each week. The more you show use of technical skills the higher your marks will be. Try putting on a much as poss- work done in lessons, extended learning completed at home, skill development etc.


Good Luck!


As part of your foundation portfolio you will have to produce two short filmed artefacts.

The Preliminary task is a Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

The main task is to research, plan and make the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. You can work on your own or in a group, maximum of 3. All research and planning should be completed individually.