Institution

What is Institution?

A media institution is someone that owns a large number of companies in various mas media such as television, radio, newspaper, movies and internet. There are the big 6 media institutions that own 95% of the total media. The big six consists of GE, News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS.

 

These big six media institutions have been slowly buying other companies to own a bigger share of the overall media. In 1988 the media was owned by 50 companies and today it is all owned by six.

Rupert Murdoch controls over a 5th of the media. Rupert Murdoch owns News cooperation which is one of the big six. This also means that he owns Fox, Wall street Journal and New York Post. This means Rupert Murdoch can control what does and doesn't go into the news which gives him a lot of power. 

Mood Board

Mood Board

 

The mood board shows everything that will affect our opening as we will take inspiration from a lot of things that i will show below. We use the mood board to get a better idea of what our movie will look like and what we want it to look like. Our opening is based around some kind of criminal activity. The idea of it a heist/kidnapping idea so we want the start to be quite dark but also pretty fast paced. There are six characters, 5 criminals and one girl. The criminals will be wearing masks and will start off in a van.

 

 

Inspirational shots from real films

 

 This shot will show all the characters in the same shot from different angles showing clearly what is going on.

 A view from the criminal to make the audience feel like the character.

A close up effective shot focussed on the gun showing that it is a major importance.

 

Titles

 

Titles

The titles in our movie opening are one of the most important factors in getting the highest mark possible. If the titles are wrong this can be costly as we could lose a lot of marks. Below are the following titles that we will use throughout our movie opening.

 

 SM studio's presents

A Never Forgotten Production

Melissa Hariz

Spencer Stevenson

Max Duffy

Megan Thomas

Casting by Amanda Lee

Costume design by Lisa Moore

Music By Nathan Hall

Edited by Niall Waters

Production design by Willow Childs

Director of Photogrophy by Lucy Sapwood

Co- Producer  Rachel Headly

Produced by Frankie Croft

Written and Directed by Archie Smith

Characters

 

Characters

 

The first character will be played by Max who plays James - James is a henchmen for Jade who is in control of the group of criminals. He is independent as shown throughout the movie opening as he goes off by himself a lot. Whereas all the characters wear black, James wears a blue jumper to show his independence.

 

Next is Megan who plays Ellie and Jade - Ellie is a normal girl who is just at home. She is a typical teenage girl who is the innocent party in what is going on. She wears normal clothes. Jade is Ellie's twin sister who is involved in some sort of criminal activity. She wears all black but directs the others to show her authority.

 

Then we have Melissa who plays Rose - Rose is a loyal follower to Jade and specialises in working with tools and breaking into areas that they need to go to. This is shown when she breaks into the house in our opening. She is very tough and can definitely handle her own but likes being in a group. She wears all black with the rest of her crew to show she is a criminal.

 

Lastly we have Spencer who plays Tom - Tom is the guy who has anything that you need. If another member needs some kind of tool or weapon, Tom is the guy to get that for you. This is shown when he hands Rose the tool case so they can enter the house they looking inside. He will wear all black as well to fit in with the group.

Ideas For Our Movie Opening

Never Back Down 2
This scene is a little irrelevant because the whole scene is concentrating on UFC, but I still think the shots used are a good example of what we could use for our film. The shots are short, sharp and constantly changing. Also the music goes well with this scene because the music is very modern and American, so it suits the scene well. I've noticed that a good way to show that time has passed is by changing their clothes and changing from night to day . This makes it seem like days/weeks have passed of training.





South Paw This is my favourite training scene because you can really see the determination in his eyes and the editing is amazing. First off, exactly like "never back down" they have included all the small stuff e.g. Sweating, heavy breathing and intense facial expressions. But what I like about this one is that the music is quite dark, but motivating at the same time. But because the music is quite dark they have filmed in a dirty, run down, dark boxing club. This shows that thee character has an evil side to him. Secondly in the editing they have lowered the lighting to make the room darker, this links in with my last point. The editors have also made it a bit of a montage. A montage is short sharp clips that have been added together. This gives the audience a sense of action and that he has been training for hours upon hours. This is what we need to include in our film because we need to show him training over a number of years. This will then give our audience a sense of time

Storyboard (Old VS New)

This is our story board, to show what we plan to have and film within our movie opening. The reason why we chose colours and images to portray each shot, was that so we can be reminded visually of our goals. We want to make each shot the best it can be, and we do not want to settle for anything less. We put a rough time amount/ limit so that when we are filming, we gain a rough idea of how long we should do each shot for. This also gave us an overall idea of how long our film opening will be and whether or not we need to make certain shots longer or shorter. The only thing we could have done better is put on each box the types of shots that we aim to do for each one, a defined word, rather than just movements. However, we added just enough information to gain a good understanding of the overall aims for our film opening. The box underneath the images allow us to tick off each section as we do it. Meaning that we can keep it organised and planned, not falling behind. A big thing for our group is staying on track and doing everything we are physically possible to stay organised and get an excellent end product.

My group and I decided that we were going to completely change this initial idea.



This is our new story board, to show what we plan to have and film within our movie opening. The reason why we chose colours and images to portray each shot, was that so we can be reminded visually of our goals. We want to make each shot the best it can be, and we do not want to settle for anything less. We put a rough time amount/ limit so that when we are filming, we gain a rough idea of how long we should do each shot for. This also gave us an overall idea of how long our film opening will be and whether or not we need to make certain shots longer or shorter. The only thing we could have done better is put on each box the types of shots that we aim to do for each one, a defined word, rather than just movements. However, we added just enough information to gain a good understanding of the overall aims for our film opening. The box underneath the images allow us to tick off each section as we do it. Meaning that we can keep it organised and planned, not falling behind. A big thing for our group is staying on track and doing everything we are physically possible to stay organised and get an excellent end product.

Production Diary

Day number 1. 9/12/17
On day number one we had to think about the group we were going to be in. We also had to start by writing our individual pitch ideas.

Day number 2. 10/12/17
The second day of our meeting we each presented our presentations to the group in order to voice our initial ideas making it easier for us to expand our ideas.

Day number 3. 12/12/17
Today we have drawn a group mind map of all our ideas. We made our ideas anonymous to avoid having problems deciding which idea to go for.

Day number 4. 13/12/17
On day number three of planning we showed our plan to a random sample and got feedback. We discussed straight away the feedback and responses that we got in order to better our ideas and tweak them.

Day number 7. 20/12/17
Today we have continued to do our individual contributions to the film research process. I was finding titles from similar films to imitate and Aisha was doing a shot list.

Day number 8. 23/12/17
In todays lesson we had decided that we wanted to change the storyboard completely, this was when we were trying to sort out a shooting schedule and we realised that it wouldn't work. So we scrapped all our ideas and started from beginning. We re-showed each other the individual film pitches which is when we decided that a more simplistic but yet moving would be the best idea. We then did a mind map/plan of everything that we thought we would need in order to pull it off.

Day number 9. 24/12/17
Today we went over some of the authentic footage . We also planned to get Spencer's dad's van which by using hard-to-get props made the opening look professional. As a group we came together and decided to plan out a storyboard, once that was done in rough we did a real storyboard which we then filmed. We were also getting on with our individually allocated jobs as well. We also had planned costumes and props that we would need.

Day number 10. 26/11/15
In today's lesson we all worked together to complete a risk assessment. Megan and I did the shooting schedule whilst Max and Spencer began the shot list. After that, Max wrote a script and we all went over to the location in order to plan our shots.

Day number 11. 27/11/15
We started shooting today, beforehand we went door-to-door to warn the neighbours that we would be filming a heist and as the costume and props we were using looked very realistic, we did this to ensure that no one felt wrongly unsafe.

Day number 12. 30/11/15
Today, we continued to film any extracts that we had missed out, and we all agreed to overfilm in order to minimise any shortage of shots.

Day number 13. 31/11/15
Today, we looked through all of our shots and footage that we had and we agreed that we had enough, so we started the editing.

Day number 14. 1/12/15
In todays lesson we continued the editing process and also got together as a team in order to see what was outstanding that we needed to complete. Once we had allocated everyone tasks we all got on with it helping eachother.

Day number 15. 3/12/15
In today's lesson, Megan began creating our film poster with the help of Spencer and I doing research into similar genre'd film posters whilst Max was editing.

Day number 16. 4/12/15
We realised that we needed location shots, so Max went back to the location and got photos of all our locations whilst I edited the film poster that Megan had put together. We spoke to a Media student from a past year in order to help us with the titles of our opening. In our spare time we each decided to continue with the editing, film poster and any outstanding pieces of work that we had.

Day number 17. 7/12/15
Today we reviewed everyones first drafts in order to give them efficient feedback in which they could use as guidance to make their pieces better. Due to the whole lesson being psent on looking at everyones drafts, we were unable to do any more improvisation to our film opening.

Day number 18. 8/12/15
Today we continued reviewing our peers' film drafts.

Day number 19. 9/12/15
In todays meeting we received our teachers feedback and we got to improve our first draft based on that feedback. We now knew what we needed to change and improvise in order to make our opening good enough for a final piece so again, we allocated jobs to eachother and individually got on with them. We also later on in the day received our peers' feedback and got to work on improving our first draft film opening so it was successful enough for a final piece.

Day number 20. 21/12/15 After all the work had been completed and the video had been uploaded onto our blogs, we then decided as a group to have a blog day. We wanted to ensure that everything was there that was needed and to ensure that everything was in the correct order. Therefore, we all sat round as a group, and went through the correct order and dates of the work that needed to have been done, and then updated and changed certain pieces of work that wasn't the same or as finished as another member of the groups.

Day number 35. 4/1/16
Over Christmas, we carried on ensuring that our blog work was detailed and finished, we then began our evaluation questions. As a group, we decided what piece of work fitted who, due to their particular preferences. For example, I said that I wanted to do the question on representation and audience, because I previously completed work to a high standard, with these topics being the main criteria. We found this helpful because it looked at each individual persons strengths and weaknesses, we then set each other a dead line to ensure that everything was done on time, allowing us to individually tweak an other person in our groups work, to fit our own preferences.

Day number 39. 8/1/16
After spending a few days on the evaluation questions, we then decided to all come round as a group and show each other what we had so far. This allowed us to check that every body was on the right track and to give feedback to where was appropriate.

Day number 42. 11/1/16
This was the deadline that we had set each other to send each other their particular evaluation questions. We then all adapted each question to how we liked, so that we all had a particular say in the evaluation question, rather than just using someone else's work.

Day number 44/ 13/1/16
After all of the evaluation questions were now on the blogs, we then individually went through our blogs, ensuring that everything was to a high standard. We then ensured that all of the work and questions made sense and included the correct and appropriate title. We then made sure that all of the labels were correct and fitted the correct pieces of work.

Props Research

 

The reason why we chose the costumes at the very top was because once we had researched 'heist' clothing, we found these props and clothing. The reason why black clothing is appropriate was to disguise their identity and try to blend in and not wear bright and bold colours that could unmask them. The aim was also to ensure that the characters came across as intimidating and sinister, therefore if they are in all black, it represents death and darkness, which are the themes of our film opening.

We also chose gloves as a prop because it allows the characters to be able to break and enter without revealing finger prints and their identity. It is also what would realistically be included in a heist and our aims is to make the film more realistic than comical or a spoof. The mask would also disguise their characters and add to the dark and sinister atmosphere by scaring the audience.

 

Mood Board

The mood board shows everything that is needed and that I have used to have influence on the opening scene. Firstly my opening scene is based around war life and following an individuals life. I really wanted to emphasise that the impact that experiencing a war can have and that it is a serious and forever growing cycle that many people aren't aware of. This is why I plan to have some quite intense shots within the short film shown in the mood board, including several quotes and disturbing pictures surrounding the subject. Secondly I had to focus on setting a formal respectful representation seeing as it is a sensitive subject. This why I wanted to include facts without directly telling the audience, meaning I have drifted away from making it seem like a documentary. Thirdly I had to think of a key idea that would make my film stand out and seem original. To do this I decided to take advantage of my personal experience and use some authentic footage featuring a look into an interview on a news article done in 2006.

Group Feedback

After completing and presenting our group film pitches, everybody in the class had to fill out review sheets, giving us feedback on clear genre, target audience, why it will be interesting, character, setting, mood, style, enigma, similar films/ inspirations and any other film advice or concerns. By receiving these sheets, it allowed us to gain a further understanding from an audience point of view, of how our film will come across and seem. We wanted to know whether the idea and concept was appropriate to our chosen genre. However, since giving our group film pitch, we have changed our ideas further, meaning the genre too.

These are our feedback results on average:

What is the genre? Is it clear? -  War film - action - yes very clear.

Who is the target audience and why would they pay to see it? - The target audience is for over 15's. They would pay to see it because it includes a good story line, and lots of action

Does it introduce character and setting? - Yes, it introduces main character Sam, and sets the scene of a battle field. You also see scenes of Sam with his mother, giving us an insight into his life.

Is the narrative interesting? Does it create enigma? - Yes, the narrative is interesting, represents our everyday lives, and shows Sam's life. It also shows enigma because you want to find out why Sam is lying on the floor.. What will happen to him?.... What happened to Sam's Father?... What will happen in the army?.... What happens to Sam's Mother?

What films is it similar to? - War films like Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Beginning section like Run All Night.

Comments/ advice to make it better- Try to have less happening. But overall really good idea.

Working Together

This picture is showing my group working together. The reasons as to why our team works well together is because we all work hard and believe that working as a TEAM is vital for. We all take on individual jobs that we know will benefit us in the future. This will also save time and allow the most work to be don't as possible. We first brain stormed ideas together and then we wrote down and pitched everybody's individual ideas. This gave everyone the chance to voice and present their film pitch ideas. However, naturally, ideas changed. We went off each idea, developed it and then came up with a final product that we were happy with as a group. We all went round and decided on our best skills and qualities, for example, Max is very good at editing, so max will take on the main role of editing, however, we will all he as a group. We then realised that Spencer is better at filming, so spencer will be the main cameraman. Then Megan and I were both strong actors, directors and camera work. We will also contribute to the editing. By doing this, we were able to use everyone's strongest abilities. We then decided which of us were going to do things like story boards, diary entries, risk assessments etc. This will allow us to get work done quickly and efficiently. Overall, I feel that our group is extremely hard working and will work very well together. We all bounce off each others skills, personalities and work ability.

Final Group Pitch

Individual Film Pitch

 

 

Sound

Sound

In today's lesson, I learnt about sound and the effects of sound in films and TV
 programmes. The different types of sound that we were taught about are:

 

• Diegetic - anything that the actors can hear (e.g. radio, cars)
• Non-diegetic - anything that the actors cannot hear (e.g. voice over)
• Synchronous - matched with the visible source of the sound on the screen.
• Asynchronous - not matched with the visible source of the sound on the screen.
• Sound bridge - blending two scenes together by sound.
• Ambient - the surrounding sounds that create the atmosphere and creates soundscape.

Analysis of Film Openings 2

Ones I have personally chosen to analyse.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.



The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the sound is crucial for the opening to create the effect that it intended to. This opening relies on non-diegetic sound. The soundtrack itself is intense and exaggerates the suspense of the visuals. By avoiding using synchronous sound, the audience focus on the imagery as well as subconsciously receiving the dramatic and gothic effect of the soundtrack.

Richard Morrison interview.

Richard Morrison interview.

When doing film openings, I concluded that it is better to keep simple ideas rather than overcomplicating ideas as it tends to become too complicated and hard to follow. Despite my initial reaction of thinking the more ideas and factors the better, after watching this interview and multiple different film openings I concluded simple ideas come together to create a better outcome. It is essential that the genre can be clearly seen by any aspect of the film, whether it be the title or even the very first shot. The genre is the whole reason for a film therefore it is important it is always easily seen in order to keep consistency. Linking with the genre, it is crucial that the music ties in with entire theme, target audience and more importantly the genre. If you put a completely irrelevant song, whether it has lyrics or not, it will leave the audience extremely confused and it will ruin the aimed reaction. It is imperative that your film idea and the scenes aren't completely fictional (unless that is your intention) and that they present everyday activity in an attempt to get your target audience to relate to the story. Camera shots can always be edited or tweaked using different software, with this it is important to link the effects used on the shots to your genre (e.g horror//sharp movements or tense build up). The titles and effects reflect the genre and theme to basically show you the story without directly telling the story. Richard Morrison talks about the title sequence in a film named Sweeney Todd. They use the theme of blood and Morrison goes on to explain how it acts as a metaphor. As the theme is blood they use red titles and try to incorporate the colour red as much as possible. If you start with a drawn storyboard, it is better because as the project moves on you are constantly building ideas onto that instead of just keeping it in your brain. Once it has been written down as a storyboard you allow your group members to add some more detail and rub some off if you decide it isn't good enough or relevant. Technology has moved on and this allows you to almost create the impossible and layer things in much more than just a simple way. You cannot cheat perspective on film, you must actually do it and make sure you compensate for space and everything you need in order to create this perfect set.

This interview can be found here: http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00193-Richard_Morrison_interview

Analysis of Film Openings

Ones we did in school.

Roses Are Red

Quite a few of the ideas of this opening were really interesting to watch. Many creative ideas made a good effect and did well in fitting in with the genre of the film however I felt the introduction was a bit too long. I felt that they used a clever way of showing all the group members names linking in to the scenes whilst also telling a story, which was original and seemed challenging. Our class all agreed that the genre was clear, we also agreed that it went on too long. The music fit well with the film genre as it was very upbeat. I would give this a strong level 4.

Children & Men

There is a lot of enigma in this opening. There is asynchronous sounds in the very first scene where we can hear a news report and we can see a gathering of people enclosed in a small shop attentively staring at something, soon to be revealed as a TV. There is mainly silence in the background however you can hear cars going past a little bit in the nearby road. There is a violin sound to show sadness or distress in the scene, our class agreed that this was a good effort in deciding the audiences mood. Foley is used a lot in the opening, mainly for the cars as it is set on a busy London road. I would give this a mid-level 4.

Resident Evil


This is a very abstract opening. In the opening the sound is non diegetic throughout the opening and it fits with what we are seeing at one point, it then moves on to building up tension with the sound building. There is a panning shot of us looking from the bottom of the girls foot to her head, this is the introduction to the main character. This creates a lot of enigma for the audience as there are many unanswered questions in this scene.


This is the mark scheme that I used:

Level 1 0–23 marks The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. There is minimal evidence in the work of the creative use of any relevant technical skills such as:• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects. Level 2 24–35 marks There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical skills:• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects. Level 3 36–47 marks There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.Level 4 48–60 marks. There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:• material appropriate for the target audience and task;• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set;including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Mark Scheme for Film Openings.

This is the mark scheme that I am going to use to analyse multiple film openings. Three being ones I have chosen myself and three being ones we have gone over in our class.

Level 1 0–23 marks. The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. There is minimal evidence in the work of the creative use of any relevant technical skills such as:• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 2 24–35 marks. There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical skills:• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set;, including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 3 36–47 marks. There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:• Producing material appropriate for the target audience and task; • using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions; • using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene; • using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

Level 4 48–60 marks. There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:• material appropriate for the target audience and task;• using titles appropriately according to institutional conventions;• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot distance and close attention to mise-en-scene;• using editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions and other effects.

 

Feedback

Many people criticised us on the audio during the scene with the most script. This is because it was filmed outside in a windy area making our voices less clear. We could've fixed that with foley however given our priorities we decided to not do that. We made sure our different shots were very clear to the audience which reflected in the feedback that we got, people particularly liked our high angle shot which is shown in the very first scene. We missed an establishing shot and shot reverse shot. The genre seemed to be fairly evident because of the use of lighting and sound however a few people confused it with action and being a documentary. A particular criticism was that the credits at the beginning passed too rapidly not leaving enough time to read. We used foley of heavy breathing over the scene where one of the characters were being dragged down a hallway blanking out, some people felt like this went on for a bit too long. The most popular opinion was that we could've made the beginning part a bit stronger and that that was the part which let us down compared to the other scenes.

Self Evaluation.
I feel like I agree with most of the feedback given. Specifically trying to improve the scripted scene with a more exciting scene. I would also try to make it a bit more torturous to avoid people thinking the genre is action.

EMAZE

 

(Left to right; Me, Max and Millie) Prelim group selfie taken in our media room whilst in the making!

 

Production Diary

Production Diary

Meeting number 1, we were put into groups and told to choose our genre. I was put in a group with Max Duffy and Millie Ecott and we chose the genre Thriller (bear in mind it was first come first served with the genres as no two groups could have the same). To begin with we forwarded our individual ideas to each other. Initially we were extremely vague about a storyline, a theme and characters which were not at all set in stone, however expanding each other's ideas allowed for creativity and originality.

Meeting number 2, we had had some time to think about further developing what we had discussed the lesson before. We created a list of all the shots that were necessary to put into our opening (e.g high angle shot, match on action etc) and then matched up some of our ideas to the shots to begin to get a storyline. We researched and watched thrillers meanwhile which allowed us to be influenced whilst in the making of our film opening.

Meeting number 3. Having had more time to think about good ideas and details on meeting number 3 we decided a name for our film which we chose to be 'Surrender'. We felt this was appropriate for our film as it is short catchy and summarises the entire film in a title whilst still leaving some enigma for the audience. Most of our clips we decided would be shot on the premises of Great Baddow High School which we initially thought would limit our creativity however we proved otherwise.

Meeting number 4. At meeting number four we began to film our preliminary task. We started off by getting all equipment necessary for this process such as a tripod, a camera and other props. We came across a few problems during the start of the filming process such as the limited amount of people in our group, we required a last minute extra. After we had tackled a few disturbances we promptly continued filming all the required scenes.

Meeting number 5. We then assigned tasks to each of our group members to ensure our responsibilities were evened out and ended up complete. Max was in charge of the editing part (He is amazing), so cutting the scenes appropriately etc. Millie was in charge of putting everything together and keeping things organised and I was in charge of doing the Production diary and helping out with other bits!

Dancing Bears FT James Bond

Dancing Bears FT James Bond

 



To begin with, I found premiere extremely intimidating and difficult to use. After I started experimenting and becoming more familiar with its features, it made it easier. To begin with I experimented with the more drastic edits such as major colour changes and distortion, however I soon realised that less is more so I kept some obvious effects with some discreet lighting changes.

Institution 10 Questions

 

BOYZ IN DA HOOD

 



Camera:

At the start of the film, they say that "one in every twenty one black Americans will be murdered in their lifetime." When they start the film, they do a close up, this shows that the director thinks this is wrong. The first scene the directors use is a long shot which is filmed by using the tracking shot method. They use this type of shot to show the audience what their neighbourhood looks like and how it could possibly affect their ways of living. The characters copy their older brothers and people around them, they use extremely offensive language because they do not know any better due to everyone around them are always using that language.

Mise en scene:The boys are dressed differently. One of the boys are dressed in the stereotypical gangster. In the classroom, he referred to the Crenshaw mafia. This shows that he could be influenced by it, hence the clothing he was wearing. The other boy dressed very smartly but he still spoke and acted like the other boy, this could suggest that his mum is making an effort to look after her son and keep him looking smart. The girl was very opposite compared to the two boys, she wasn't outgoing like the other two. From the opening, we can tell that the setting of the film is in a very deprived area, full of crime and gangs. From the quote at the start and the characters used suggests that most of the people are black Americans. The opening scenes are quite dull this lighting could suggest that this area has lost all of its peace and happiness. This links into the first quote at the start of the film where "one in every twenty one black Americans will be murdered in their lifetime." This suggests that the boys curiosity to the shootings meant that they could be a victim of crime in their later life.

Editing:
In the first scene when the kids were walking to school, binary oppositions are shown to convey that the boys were more involved into the activity of the neighbourhood compared to the girl, who was quiet and well behaved. The pace of the opening is quite slow, it matches the speed of them walking to school. It isn't fast paced because they stop and chat, secondly they stopped to look at the crime scene. There aren't many sound effects in the film except from the background sound, the only background music was the shootings right at the very start of the film, when it was a black screen. In my opinion, the director has done this to show what happens when them kids go to sleep/ what happens around them in day to day life.

Sound:
Mostly all of the sound used is all diegetic sound, such as people talking in the background etc.

FILM PITCH AND FEEDBACK

FILM PITCH FEEDBACK PEER EVALUATION

 

 

 

 

 

Feedback

Mainly the feedback we got said that our title didn't fit the genre of thriller enough. We also got told to explain our marketing which could be expanded however we do have a wide range. We got told that our characters were good however we didn't have an extreme range in age, although we found that many people appreciated our justification as to why we used those specific characters. 

 

 

DISTINCT

DISTINCT

DISTINCT stands for Describe In detail Setting Theme Icons Narrative Characters and Text analysis.

 



This opening starts by introducing bold, bright colours. This sets the mood of this opening scene and straight away gives the viewer the impression of a happy teenage film. The background music highlights the bubbly youth behaviour that's supported by the first character shown to be smiling and happy. The lighting is bright to represent a jolly clean atmosphere. Her bright choice of clothing symbolises her bubbly personality which contrasts with her fathers which is white a simple suit in a greyish dull colour, which symbolises his moody character.

Semiotics

Semiotics

 

In todays lesson we learnt about semiotics. Semiotics is basically a study of signs. It can be anything that stands for or represents something else. 

 

• Denotation - what we see when we look at an image.
• Connotation - what we understand from a image.
• Polysemy - different ways of reading text.
• Preferred reading - how the writer/person wants the audience to view the media text.
• Oppositional reading - when the intended meaning of the text is totally opposed by the reader.

 

                                           

The eye on the top left is the thing that stands out the most as it has the darkest colours and covers quite a large area. The fact the eye is staring directly at the camera gives a feeling as though this actor is actually focussed at staring at you.

The close up image with the staring eye has not got very sharp features as the image seems blurry and lacking detail, this makes the skin seem unblemished. This suggests that society doesn't realise that there is anything wrong with anyone because there is no visible evidence to things like mental health issues.
The logo/title 'Girl, Interrupted' is written in a fairly scruffy font which draws attention to the film poster questioning why it is like that and not in a generic tidy font. Also the title of the film looks like it's been torn from athe above image. This makes the audience think that the character could have some sort of problem, possibly psychological as her face looks distorted by the tear.

Pete Fraser part 2

Pete Fraser part 2

Despite these rules generally only are useful to those doing A2 media studies, I found a few helpful and easy to relate to AS. These are a few things to consider when doing a music video, however many of these apply and can be useful for other things.

Equipment

• Test shots for effects
• Camera quirks
• Tripod (and 'shoe')

...Relating to equipment there are 2 questions you must ask yourself;

1. Have you experimented with editing?
2. Have you got the music and an audible source?

Shoot

• It is advised to shoot 10 times with a different set up
• Cutaways
• Experiment with lighting change
• Close ups (extremely important)
• Enthuse your performers
• Shoot more than you need (applies to many things in media)

Edit

• Synch up performances first
• Get whole picture rather than detail
• Cut & cut again
• Aim for a dynamic piece of work

Blog

• You must show your whole journey on your blog as evidence
• Research, Planning and Construction
• You must note your thought process, is it bad? Why?

Pete Fraser

Pete Fraser

 

In todays lesson, we had Pete Fraser come in and help us learn a lot of things about film openings. He began by showing us a few different openings and getting us to analyse them etc. He emphasized the importance of a good, relevant film opening and gave us a few tips on what not to do. In film openings you want to have enough enigma to keep the audience hooked however it mustn't be too overwhelming otherwise the audience can feel confused. After he had shown us each of the film openings, we discussed what mark we would give them (1-4, 4 being the best) and also discussed why. This was a good exercise to do as whilst we were the audience judging a film opening, when making our own we could go back to the position of being the audience watching our own subsequently making it easier to improve.

 

 

There are 5 important parts of a film opening;

1. The Appearance
2. The Setting
3. The Genre
4. The Characters
5. The Narrative

 

Juno Final

This is my final Juno Opening Scene. I used Premiere to create a similar effect to the original shown in the top right corner. I added various different effects to replicate the cartoon effect on the original. After shooting we realised that we had missed out a few shots. This meant we had to work with what we had. This may be because of the story board that was drawn out. If I were to re do this task I would definitely take more time to plan to ensure that all my clips would be correct and that I would have accurately got all of the shots.

Juno Storyboard

This is the Juno storyboard we roughly put together in order to ensure our shots would be precise and match exactly the ones in the original juno opening.

Representation

Representation

Today we learnt about the different types of representation, meaning the way people and events are shown in media.

Stereotypes, are a type of shortcut meaning instead of describing in full detail a persons description, they round it up and do an average stereotypical description. We learnt that there is a difference between stereotypes and archetypes. Archetypes being an ultimate version of a sterotype (e.g an Essex girl is a dumb blonde female with large breasts wearing little clothes and massive stilettos). Another type of representation is a countertype, this is a more accurate type of description meaning they challenge stereotypes. For example if a girl from Essex didn't have any of the above descriptions, she would be a countertype.

We also learnt the abbreviation CAGES this applies to the way people are represented in the media. CAGES stands for

• Class
• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Sexuality

This film poster shows that the man is looking directly at the camera to get the audiences attention focussed on him rather than the lady. Both their heads take up equal amounts of the film posters space which shows equality but the fact the male is the one with his full face showing shows inequality and more importance.

Institution

                                            Institution

The definition of an institution is the people that make media for example Pixar, Paramount and MGM. Their main audience is ages 15-25 which is who most of their films are aimed at.

The definition of a distributer is the people that get the films to the audience to be seen in cinemas etc.

Big Six
-Warner Bros
-Sony
-Paramount
-Disney
-Newscorp (often known as 20th Century Fox)
-Universal

The 'Big Six' are the six most famous/popular types of Institutions. To this day, they own 90% of the media.

Independent films

• They are cheaper to make
• They have an older target audience
• Subsequently, they aren't shown in many popular cinemas.

Mainstream films

 

Mainstream films generally have got a larger budget of 25 million plus. These tend to be films made in America.

 

Logo

We had to design a logo for our institution, it needed to have catchy writing (not too much) and usually using the primary or basic colours.

This is my logo.

Cape Fear

                                          Cape Fear

In todays lesson we watched the opening of Cape Fear. One of the most important parts that we noticed of this opening is that the camera was tracking rather than cutting, it went around the entire room then focussed on him. The first part of the main character that we see is his back rather than his face and on his back is a tattoo covering the entirety of his back, of a cross with religious scales of justice. The first ever part of the film shown is of books plotted around his cell, they have used props to show that he is very educated which makes you question why he may be in a prison. As soon as the tracking stops, the camera is locked into the prison by a warden, they use a graphic match of the gate to the outside of the prison opening to continue the filming of the next scene. The audio effects were used with no diegetic sound to begin with however instrumental music was used to build tension and continue to add effect to the scene.

Past student video evaluations

Very bold titles, starts off with a shaky camera which takes away professionalism, however it could be done purposely to show that someone is watching the runner as though they are filming. No script.
Good transition between titles and shots, nice tracking shots. A bit samey, good lighting. Titles on for the right amount of time with nice technique of making it separate rather than showing over a shot. Tension building music throughout, leading to the end and showing that the run is going to build up to something. Good foley used for crunching leaves. Props and costume used to show stereotype of character. Angles of shots to show that she is being followed. Not much storyline. Good enigma and use of foley at the end where a deep breath in showing that the character is shocked. Level 3.




Foley is used when the phone rings in the beginning scene, upbeat ringtone dictates the mood of the rest of the opening. Tripod used sometimes but in some shots generally shaky. Good transition of shot from close up to long shot of fast paced running. Person on the phone acts as narrator to make storyline clear, however the genre remains unclear. Foley used for a gunshot sound. Level 3.





Starts off with a very good close up of a man tied to a chair with blood-soaked rope. This initiates that the mood of the audience is to be quite nervous. Titles match theme and genre, the font and effect used on titles to flicker on and off adds a sinister effect to it. Makeup is used very well to give the illusion that this man is hurt, bleeding and has been tied somewhere in a vulnerable state.
Many close ups are used to not give too much away leaving the audience intrigued which adds enigma. After effects have been used to create the look of a 4 part CCTV screen, also blurring of shot has been used with blinking effects to add to the vulnerability of the character. Good camera quality on all the shots, especially on close ups the focus is particularly noticeable. Foley is used to make spitting sounds and the music is tension building to create an atmosphere for the scenes. High Level 4

The Prestige

Today we watched the opening scene of The Prestige. To apply the rule of Roland Barthes, his theory of 5 narrative codes can be seen. Symbolic code is applied with the dark colours at the beginning to show mysterious unclear surroundings. Also the birds are used as a prop to usually symbolise peace and an animal of freedom but in this scene they are trapped in a cage which juxtapositions. The rest of the room around is pretty dull and dark however the birds are bright yellow this is attracting the most of your attention. There is also Enigma code clearly shown at the end when the man has fallen into the water chamber and is clearly locked and struggling to get out. This makes the audience question why he is in the chamber and whether he will ever get out.

Roland Barthes, Todorov, Vladimir Propp and Levi-Strauss

In todays lesson we studied a multiple of different theorists' theories and discussed each of them.

Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes' theory was that there were 5 narrative codes. Also that a text can either be closed or open, closed meaning there is only one way to see a storyline however open means that there are multiple ways to think about a thread indicating lots of symbolism.

• Hermeneutic, commonly known as the Enigma code, is applied anywhere that there is unanswered or elements of mystery.
• Proairetic, also known as the Action code, meaning lots of action is used to draw the viewers attention and leave them hooked.
• Semantic code is anything that has more than one layer of meaning and has connotations.
• Symbolic code uses props to symbolise also applying the semiotics often used with colours.
• Referential code refers to some basic knowledge on the topic of film or place in which it is set etc.

Todorov
Todorov had a theory that every different story consisted of the same 5 stages.

• Happy
• Disruption of equilibrium
• Protagonist notices the disruption
• Restoration of equilibrium or attempted restoration
• New equilibrium

Vladimir Propp 
Propps theory was that in every storyline there are always 8 different character types.

1. Hero
2. Villain
3. Donor (helps hero)
4. Dispatcher
5. False Hero
6. Helper
7. Princess
8. Princess' Father

Levi-Strauss
Levi-Strauss' theory was that there are binary oppositions.

DISTINCT Harry Brown

 

In todays class we watched a few film openings and used two different acronyms DISTINCT and CLAMPS to analyse it. DISTINCT stands for Describe In detail Setting Theme Icons Narrative Characters and Text analysis. CLAMPS stands for Costume Light Actors Makeup Props and Setting.

The first film opening we watched was Harry Brown which was immediately shown to be associated with crime as the first scene was in a dark alley or confined area where a teenage boy in a hoodie was being peer pressured into taking drugs and holding a gun. The scene being set in darkness surrounded with intimidating people and filmed with a phone camera makes you feel like you're in the movie watching it first hand.

Semiotics

Semiotics

 

In todays lesson we learnt about semiotics. Semiotics is basically a study of signs. It can be anything that stands for or represents something else. 

 

• Denotation - what we see when we look at an image.
• Connotation - what we understand from a image.
• Polysemy - different ways of reading text.
• Preferred reading - how the writer/person wants the audience to view the media text.
• Oppositional reading - when the intended meaning of the text is totally opposed by the reader.

 

                                           

The eye on the top left is the thing that stands out the most as it has the darkest colours and covers quite a large area. The fact the eye is staring directly at the camera gives a feeling as though this actor is actually focussed at staring at you which makes the viewer feel uncomfortable.
The close up image with the staring eye has not got very sharp features as the image seems blurry and lacking detail, this makes the skin seem unblemished. This suggests that society doesn't realise that there is anything wrong with anyone because there is no visible evidence to things like mental health issues.
The logo/title 'Girl, Interrupted' is written in a fairly scruffy font and also is black on a white background which draws attention to the film poster questioning why it is like that and not in a generic tidy font. The colour white is seen to be a positive colour representing angelicness, innocence and purity. In my opinion this contrasts with the majority of the film as its all about women in a mental hospital, but the ending is positive. Also the title of the film looks like it's been torn from the above image. This makes the audience think that the character could have some sort of problem, possibly psychological as her face looks distorted by the tear.
By having the words 'sometimes the only way to stay sane is to go a little crazy' on the movie poster allows the audience to have an insight into the film. They can then decide for themselves whether they are the target audience and whether they want to watch it or not. It can also be seen as a referral to people with mental health issues as they are commonly referred to as 'crazy'. So the poster could be seen as offensive to those with mental health issues, because they wont want to be labelled as 'crazy'. By having 'based on a true story' in the corner of the film poster and in small it shows the lack of importance the information provides for the viewers, however this can influence some people to view it because they prefer to watch more realistic films.
 

Audience

Audience

Question 1: 

• What do we mean when we use the word 'film'?

 A film can be related to a long video with a story line.

• Do you think its the same word as 'movie'?

 They both have similar meanings.

• And what about the word 'cinema'?

 A cinema is the place you go to in order to watch a film or movie.

Question 2:

Top 10 films:

1. Girl, Interrupted
2. What Happens In Vegas
3. She's The Man
4. Clueless
5. Monsters Inc
6. Valentine's Day
7. Mean Girls
8. Insidious
9. The Skeleton Key
10. The Notebook

The thing that links most of these films is that they all come under the chick flick genre. This is why they are my favourite movies.

Question 3

• What film has stuck with you since you were a child?

 The Skeleton Key because it frightened me.

Question 4

• How do you find out about a film?

 Family and friends

• What makes you want to see a film?

A good trailer

• How do you know what to expect from a film?

Judging by the trailer, reviews and recommendations

• What are you paying for when you buy a ticket or a dvd?

The right to watch a copy of the film.

• Where do you watch films?

In my bedroom. I feel more comfortable in the comfort of my own home rather than having to be quiet at the cinema.

• Are there any differences in watching a film in the cinema to at home?

Cinema is related to new films however at home you don't really watch new films

• Are there some films you HAVE to see in the cinema?

Scary films, Being in the cinema is an unusual surrounding (not your own home) makes you slightly more vulnerable to begin with, therefore you feel more prone to being a victim similar to that in the horror or thriller film.

Genre Task

Genre Task

This photo was intended to be "Biopic".
A "Biopic" is a picture used for the front of someone's biography or documentary. The reason we chose this photo was because Luke was striking the original Arnold Schwarzenegger pose. We thought this would be a good picture to describe a Biopic. This did take a little bit of editing on Adobe Fireworks, but didn't take too long.


This photo intended to be the genre "romantic Comedy"
The reason I chose this picture was because I wanted the picture to show the boy and the girl together. So by doing this I took a picture of the boy and the girl bonding and looking like they are having fun. Then I wanted the audience to be able to see that Luke is left out and wishing he had a relationship like the boy and the girl shown in the picture do. I managed to per tray this to the audience by making Luke stand couple of feet away from me and Lollie. This made it seem like he is lonely. We then made Luke look sad at me and Lollie to make him look jealous.



This photo was intended to be the genre "Super Hero".
The reason I chose this photo is because I wanted it to show that supper girl was better than the villain MDV. By showing super girl higher up than the villain, it shows she is more superior than the villain. Also we got JK to linger in the background with his hood up and frowning. This would let the audience know he is a bad guy. Also by JK wearing the colour black, it gives the audience the feeling that JK is sinister and evil.


This photo was intended to be the genre "Adventure".
The reason I chose this photo to present adventure was because we wanted to make it look like we were in the wilderness exploring the environment. We were trying to get to high ground so we could have the height advantage for searching for food and water. We also used the trees to evade the predators that lingered below.

Film Opening

I really enjoyed watching this film as it grasps your attention however doesn't give away the whole film and shows everything that is important but only some parts. The music overlapping at the beginning confuses the audience making us weary and stuck on watching on to find out why it was playing at the same time. It is quite a dark scene to begin with to show an area of unknowingness yet again to make us want to see more. We can all relate to wanting to watch this as it is a subject that we are all involved in in some way and as we don't see the solar system every day.