PEER ASSESSMENT OF BLOGS

YOU ARE GOING TO MARK EACH OTHER'S BLOGS USING A TEMPLATE GIVEN TO YOU IN CLASS

Below are the links to individual student blogs.  Have a look at what they are producing:

Exemplar blogs -

12B

Ahmet - Katranciproduction.blogspot.co.uk  

Baris - karakurtproduction.blogspot.com

Trenay - http://trenaywatkins.wix.com/asmedia

Daniel - temenuasmedia.weebly.com

Paige - asmedia-haynes.weebly.com

Shanice - shaniceming.wix.com/asmedia

Amid - amidojubanire.wix.com

Melisa - melisamedia.weebly.com

Mehsan - asmedia-mushtaq.weebly.com 

Mark - markkamara.wix.com/as-media 

Bradley - bradleyfish.wix.com/bradleyasmedia     

William - William-asmedia.weebly.com

Unal - unall.weebly.com 

12C

Guv - guvasmedia.weebly.com

Leonita - leonitamurtezi.wix.com/leonitaasmedia 

Cansu - http://cansukalan.wix.com/cansu-k-as-media--

Seda - http://www.eldeksedanur.wix.com/asmedia

Cassie - http://cassieale6.wix.com/cassandrasstory

Ijah - http://underlineproductions.weebly.com

Terrence - http://telfersmedia.weebly.com 

Jordan - http://jordankouasmedia.blogspot.co.uk

Oumie -  http://oumiejoofasmedia.blogspot.co.uk  

Ameer - ameerahmedasmedia.blogspot.co.uk

Alicem - http://alicemasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Using a Video Camera

Please take five minutes to review the presentation below about camera techniques. Then you should visit this website and look at the online tutorial about using a camera and planning for a shoot.

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/camera/tutorial/

In addition, the outcomes from doing this should be blogged about.  I suggest you complete a camera micro analysis of a film opening that uses camera in a particularly creative way.  I also suggest you look at student exemplar AS work on Youtube as a good point of reference - your work will appear on Youtube also, so unless you can't take criticism I suggest you polish up on these skills.

Video Camera techniques - A-level from alevelmedia

Below is an idiots guide to filming for idiots.


 

 

That is all - why aren't you blogging?

Moodboards, mindmaps and adding to your Blog - Research and Planning Extras

Okay, blogs are still looking a little thin.  Here are some very simple ideas to consolidate your ideas onto your blogspot, weebly and wix accounts. 

 http://www.slideshare.net/guest7d6423/mediapresentation-almost-done2-3263152

The above presentation talks about the technical elements of a specific type of film.  Here the students have looked at a range of films and talked about the technical elements: typical types of camera shots, editing style, mise-en-scene, sound, titles and narratives. 

I expect you all to do something like this - simply complete your PowerPoint and then embed it by uploading your content to slideshare or authorstream, both free to register and use online. Simples! 

MOOD BOARDS

A mood board is a visual representation of your ideas.  If you are researching genre, you could create a number of mood boards, for example, a collage of movie posters related to that genre.  the mood board below represents a student's idea about what type of imagery and iconography they expect to see in a kidnap scene.

http://liampenng321.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/moodboard.html & http://bobbiebrownsblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/action-movie-mood-board.html

Whilst the blog post is not particularly detailed, there is a brief explanation of intention and I can acknowledge that they have thought about the genre by collecting a range of ideas and iconography.  What would improve this is a list of sources and films they've drawn inspiration from. In this example, they have made their own and then posted a picture of it online with an explanation.

http://ascvhsmediacjc.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/g321-genre-moodboard.html

PREZI

This is a useful tool to show a process or an idea.  I suggest you set up a free account and experiment using it.  The example below is a useful one because the concept is simple 'Developing a Title for our Film' and the logic is evident as the Prezi progresses.



Be creative and have fun!  Next assessment point is next week.

Creating Your Pitch - A Rough Guide

Format: 

• You will present, to the class, the ideas and thought processes that have gone into coming up with your film. 
• The pitches will be filmed as evidence of planning (you can put this on your blog) and you can use a variety of presentation methods to help you. 
• You will then consolidate all your materials into a lengthy blog post that will form your assessed piece 5.

You can use the IWB (projector/whiteboard) to present a PowerPoint or Prezi and to show media and images related to your pitch.  Be creative, be bold, don't just read your presentation off the screen.

Core contents:

Introduction, if you are working alone then you are going to introduce yourself as your film company, e.g. in my case I would say that I am representing RAM Productions.

It is advisable to have your film logo up on the screen during this time, and for high end marks you should talk a bit about your brand and ideology (what kind of films your company makes, e.g. quality thrillers that appeal to mass audiences worldwide).

You are there to present your ideas for a new film called . . . (insert your title here).  There should be an explanation of how you came up with this name.  Remember, shorter, one word titles work better; films with 'The' at the start are also okay.  Anything above this usually has to be genre related, e.g. 'The Hills Have Eyes' clearly has horror connotations, as does 'The Last House on the Left'.  Whereas, an action film called 'Will Wants Revenge' sounds lame, boring and uninspiring, whereas 'Revenge' is more apt.  Test it out on your audience, do some audience research, or VOX pops.

 WHAT HAS YOUR AUDIENCE RESEARCH SHOWN YOU??

Talk us through your list of ideas and how you settled on the original (remember, film titles change right up until the film is edited, so don't worry if you're unsure - YOU CAN CHANGE LATER).

A good starting point is to talk about comparable films, by comparing and contrasting similar films you are telling us that you understand your chosen genre and have a clear vision of how you will apply the codes and conventions of this type of film.

Plot
You should talk about the films storyline (from start to finish), this is similar to reading the back of the DVD cover or the blurb on a film's website or cinema listing.  Don't forget to talk about key binary oppositions and character roles within your film.

The opening two minutes
Think about how your film is going to start.  Usually you will be introduced to the main character or the main plot catalyst that will drive the film forward.  What films gave you inspiration for your opening?  Give us a taste of what's to come.

The Cast
Whilst you won't actually get Tom Cruise to star in your film, if you are making the type of film that he would star in, then talk about how you want him cast in your film.  Who is your dream team for this cast? List and discuss. 

 

ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE - IF WE ARE FALLING ASLEEP IT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVEN'T DONE A GOOD ENOUGH JOB OR COMPLETING THE INITIAL RESEARCH.

Locations
Start thinking about location scouting, what resources you have available to you and where you will film the majority of your film.  If you don't have all the materials when you come to pitch, don't worry, just make sure it goes under your planning folder.

Q & A
Factor in time for questions.

Student exemplar of a film pitch.  Watch it and evaluate:

• What their film is called - would you watch it, is it appropriate?
• What technologies they have used (the audio link is not working but is intended for blog and shows interactivity).
• How clear they are in their aims (where they want to film)
• How they have shown understanding.

Film pitch from kiransaghir95

And what about this example - how have they reflected on audience?

1. http://astleyemmaasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/week-1-opening-film-brainstorm-101011.html
2. http://astleyemmaasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/our-film-title-ideas-and-final-decision.html
3. http://astleyemmaasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/our-pitch-21111.html

Here, three posts nicely lead into one.

KEY POINT: What you want to achieve, how you will achieve it, what you have learnt from the process.

BLOG BLOG BLOG

The BBFC - Age ratings for your film

You need to have a working knowledge of how films are categorized, especially when it comes to pitching your film.

You need to have a good working knowledge of your target audience, which is why conducting audience research is essential.  Make sure your questions and focus groups are completed thoroughly before deciding on an age rating for your film.

Use this guide http://www.bbfc.co.uk/education-resources/student-guide to help you decide what age rating you will market your film as.

BBFC Questions for Media Coursework

You should use the  http://www.bbfc.co.uk/education-resources/student-guide to help you answer these questions.

1. When was the BBFC set up?  More importantly, why was it set up?
   
   
2. What is the main function of the BBFC?  This can include examples of some of services that they offer.

You will need to research and think carefully: Why do we need the BBFC?  Ideally, you should find examples of cuts and rejections that they have made in the past and how they have responded to press complaints.

1. What is the process of rating a film?  How will you take this into consideration when planning your film?

NEXT STEPS

Find an example of a film linked to your chosen genre.  What age rating was it?  You can search the BBFC to see what was said about this and you must translate this information across.

There are several case studies to choose from.

You will be coming up with a pitch at the end of the week bringing together all of your ideas so far.  

As ever, all of this information should be put into a blog post to show knowledge and understanding of media institutions, audiences and the role of the producer.

Audience Research - getting started

Remember, without a clear idea of who your audience is your film opening is unlikely to be a success.  Secondly, audiences are closely linked to genre - it is because of audiences that genres exist, because audiences like to know what to expect when they go to see a film.

You will need to reflect on your genre research and think about why audiences enjoy watching that type of film you are going to make.  With that in mind, you are able to start developing a questionnaire.

As well as considering some audience theory (pick and mix theory, uses and gratifications) we need to be able to classify our audience first.  We need to know who they are and what makes them tick.

How do institutions use this information? 

Well, not only do they carry out extensive research into audiences, but they also carry out test screenings of some films to gauge an audiences reaction, to know whether to change endings, make cuts, etc.   Why is it that DVDs have so many deleted scenes and alternate endings?  Because of the audiences, because they ultimately pay to watch your film, because audiences matter.

Where do you start?

Most people decide to do a questionnaire targeted at their preferred audience.  Next week you will be looking at age ratings and classifications and will use these results to help build a profile of your typical preferred audience (psychographic profile). 

Many students make really bad questionnaires without thinking about what it is they want to achieve. You have an idea of what type of film genre you want to produce, so make it relevant to what you want to make.  If you don't, what you end up with is a series of useless answers and irrelevant pie charts.

So think hard about the type of questions you want to ask your audiences, and explain (to me and examiner) why you are asking them.  See this example by a student and note how she thought about why she wanted to ask these questions.

http://astleyemmaasmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/horrorthriller-film-genre-audience.html

Methods

Don't just use a plain paper questionnaire, be creative.  Use survey monkey https://www.surveymonkey.com/ to help you create a quick online tool that will do the hard work for you.  Remember to post this on Facebook and Twitter to get more success.  A questionnaire completed by four of your best friends is a pretty lame start; a questionnaire completed by 20+ teenagers/adults of varying background might yield more interesting results.

You can also do surveys, voting polls and even video interviews (VOX pops) about what they like or dislike about certain film genres.  The example below is certainly not perfect, and seems more like an homage to Made in Chelsea, but it is showing students engaging with the task and having fun.  Fun people, making films is fun!

BLOG = (THOUGHT PROCESS + ACTION + CREATIVITY) / RELEVANCE

Once you have completed your audience research you should reflect on the process of researching your audience and what your findings show you.  Don't just do things without considering how they are taking your project one step closer to completion.

Blog on!



Genre Research - Your Film

You need to have a clear understanding of film genre before you begin planning out and producing your opening sequence.

Let me talk you through a few exemplars about how you can approach this:

We all know that genre means type, and that you are going to produce a certain 'type' of film opening.  So what are the genres?

http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Gives you the basic codes and conventions of each genre and talks about some of the sub genres available.  A good starting point is to prevent this visually through a word cloud.  Here's one I made at www.worditout.com although I could use www.wordle.net but only works on home pc.

Here I have a quick reference of what I'm looking to find.  Alternatively, if I want to choose a sub genre, I suggest you look at this:

 

 

Film Genres from newestprod

Now that you have identified the genre, you need to research it. 

When did the genre come about?  You can answer this by looking into the oldest films of this type.  So for Gangster I would probably research a classic black and white film, then a classic modern gangster film, and then one contemporary.  See below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_film

1. The Public Enemy (1931, W Wellman)

This is one of the earliest, classic gangster films starring James Cagney, an iconic Hollywood actor who was typecast as playing a tough guy (stock character for such a genre). 

When analyzing the type of films typical of your genre it is worth analyzing all promotional material associated with it, such as movie posters like the above.  This shows typical codes and conventions of the genre (the high key lighting, costume, use of dark colours, shadows, the colour red, representation of men as being dominant). 



The clip above is not the opening, but it does highlight the typical codes and conventions we have come to associate with the crime/gangster genre.

2. I could look at another similar film made at a later date, like Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987), but instead I think looking at a film like Scarface would be more appropriate.

Interestingly enough, Brian De Palma also directed this film in 1983, so there is scope to do some director research, since it seems De Palma might be a bit of an auteur when it comes to producing gangster films.  The poster is significant and still holds dear many of the conventions associated with crime (guns, bold contrasts, use of red text, chiseled expression) and has Al Pacino, also a star of films such as Godfather, Carlito's Way, Heat, etc.  There is a pattern.  As you research, you will also discover a pattern in your genre.

 

 

This clip links to other famous scenes from the movie.  You need to analyse and comment on what you see and hear.  These are the codes (repertoire of elements) that you need to explore in your film.

Lets think about clip number 3.  Perhaps a British Gangster Film would be good, and a current one too.  There are loads.  Lock STock, Layer Cake, Gangster Number 1 all spring to mind.  Even the newest ones below are worth a look to show you have up to date working knowledge of the genre.




Don't forget to analyse all of the promotion material and create a mood board (a visual representation of the codes and convetions of the genre) on your blogs/websites.

The above is the bare minimum I expect.


BLOG BLOG BLOG!! You are not doing this enough!

Designing a Studio Logo

There are a number of tools you can use to do this.  Before we look at what they are, you need to think of some ideas about what your film production company will be called.

Start by thinking of your initials or group initials if you want to create an identity.  Alternatively, if you know what genre you want to make, then give yourself a genre appropriate name. E.g. for horror, you might want to call yourself 'Cold Steel Films' or something else with appropriate connotations.  For an action movie, perhaps you would use the term 'Magnum Films'.

My initials are RAM, so naturally I would want to make a film that has some iconography linked to this, below are some Google image examples.

This image is taken from a car manufacturer, the image has a nice metallic feel and looks bold and sleek.  All I need to do is add the word productions. This is a classic image of a ram, so I could crop and only use part of this image - the horns are biggest giveaway.

Here the horns have been adjusted slightly and an existing text slogan already exists




The programs I will be using are Photoshop, and an online website called http://www.flixpress.com

There are two approaches, either make my logo from scratch in Photoshop or use a free automated template in Flixpress to create an animated logo.

Above I have made sure that I used the film and video preset (file - new - preset - film and video - PAL Widescreen) and coloured the background black.

I have edited the image by removing some of the background (magic wand tool) and positioning it within the safety lines.  By right clicking any of my layers I get 'blending options' which allows me add effects like glow, shadow and emboss (great for 3D effects).

The font I used above was taken as a screenshot from www.dafont.com the nice thing about this website is that you can choose themed fonts, e.g. action, horror, drama, comedy. 

• Alternatively, see what I've made below using Flixpress. 

Here I am able to customise the theme and get the right look.

You should all be blogging about the evaluation of how you made your film production logo:

• how did you start
• how did you generate ideas
• if you were in a group
• how will you choose the one to use in your film.

Screenshot lots of evidence to highlight on your blogs (screenshots, images, completed logos)