Thursday 2 April 2015

Deadline looming

The deadline is looming - please remember
1/ if it is not there by midnight Sunday you get zero marks for it - no extensions

2/ organisation
please ensure the last post is as follows in the following order with each element labelled

  • evaluation link embedded
  • main production final version
  • continuity task labelled
  • a table showing who did what (see right for example/form)
3/ general rules for evaluation/Productions

  • delete unwanted content on websites - the templates have populated pages and you need to delete what you did not create - look all over the pages for unwanted stuff
  • when posting video/prezi/emaze etc add a brief sentence outlining content so that nothing is missed by the assessor (me/MO/moderator)
  • ensure you have added all your other sites to your eval - vimeo/youtube/emaze/slideshare etc
  • on the R&P blog ensure that you have a gadget box on the side linking to all the sites you have used / referenced - title it research and planning useful links
  • if you want us to see it make it public at source - we cannot view videos/prezu etc if they are set as private
  • add timelines to videos - it helps if you list what you discuss and when
  • embedding is better if you can


Wednesday 19 November 2014

20th Nov 2014. analysing and understanding Opening Title Sequences

Follow the artofthetitle and youtube clips below to watch the three OTS below: the Untouchables/Dexter and Se7en. Complete the worksheet for each. The worksheet is also in common files/arts and media/media/as in a folder with today's date on. Ignore the Second Dexter and Se7en clips - they are students work to explore later as examples of sound work next lesson

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-untouchables/


http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/dexter/

student homage piece


http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/natural-born-killers/






what is the difference between a trailer


and the the opening sequence


what effect does sound have on the result?



Tuesday 18 November 2014

issues

aidan - your blog link is broken

Wednesday 15 October 2014

research and planning: staged levels: analysis and understanding of Genre - linked to Audience/Industry/Exhibition

We are studying the 
Media area of FILM
The product is AN OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE
The genre is FILM NOIR

RESEARCH & UNDERSTANDING:
You must include  on your blog Genre studies and analysis to evidence your understanding of how it is constructed and understood. You could use tables, talking head videos / comparisons/primary and secondary research. You must have deconstructions. 

WHAT ARE CODES AND CONVENTIONS?
This refers to the conventions, aesthetics and representation codes of your chosen media area. 
The codes and conventions in media can be separated into 3 distinct groups 
Technical (camera techniques & shots),
Symbolic (ie clothing, colours)
- Written and audio (music etc).

including:
  • structure
  • form
  • narrative
  • colour
  • editing
  • character / representations
  • mise-en scene
  • camera and editing work
Conventions
Definition: the ‘rules’ that are generally understood and accepted when producing a media text in a particular genre. they are long accepted as the norm by an audience and although you can change them as genres evolve if you do it too fast the audience will be confused. 
stage 1
Action: upload examples of Opening sequences in the Film Noir genre.  Deconstruct and Denote showing understanding of the above
stage 2

the conventions, aesthetics and representation codes of your chosen media genre: 
Codes
Definitiion - Codes are systems of signs, which create meaning - they are really firm and almost never broken. Codes can be divided into two categories – technical and symbolic
there can be  a number of codes:
  • character codes
  • plot codes
  • structural codes
  • cultural codes
  • production codes
Action: research and identify the codes of an OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE. Use the list as summarised above to guide you. Present your findings in an interactive form: PREZI, EMAZE or VOICETHREAD

stage 3
how your intended genre meets the needs of your Target Media Audience: 


  • identify your audience and explain what they like
  • genre habits
  • prefered reading style - active / oppositional / passive / frequency.....
  • expected generic pleasures
ACTION: complete the class tasks into audience. Present your understanding of 

  • the target audience for this genre
  • the target audience you are aiming at
present it in one post


stage 4
how your genre meets the needs of your Media Industry:


  • what are the implications for the Industry
  • cost/ profit
  • distribution
  • exhibition
  • audience responses
ACTION: we will cover the elements of a media industry at a later date - you will need a post exploring the British Film Industry, how they select a product, market and distribute it to a targeted audience, how they generate income and identify successful products to help them do so
you will need evidence of all 4 stages to get the highest marks

this site may be of use http://media-studies.tki.org.nz/Teaching-media-studies/Media-concepts/Codes-and-conventions

Wednesday 8 October 2014

AFL summary and Tips for Success

Lily - i need your blog address

I am in the process of assessing and commenting on all your posts: this assessment will generate the assessment grade on your next reports and identify who is in need of intervention
THERE are a number of issues that are recurring as I assess - please take note

TIPS FOR SUCCESS
  1. Never hide posts - if they are unfinished add DEFAULT to the title bar BUT make them live
  2. the more secondary content you use the more it looks like you are a weak student so: if you use other peoples material - analyse and criticise it / then produce your own versions - this is especially true if it is other students work
  3. check your settings - make the blog entries the feature - this means it should dominate so choose background wisely, make the blog the maximum widths, make the writing/colour choices so that it is easy to read
  4. make sure you regularly review your own blog - there are some 'post later/I am going to do.....later' type comments so do go back to it and finish / reflect on what you have learned.
  5. Your Blogs should be pretty full by now - only 2-5 posts is simply not enough however good they are - look at the list lower down this blog of what we have covered
  6. make it interactive - add images/links etc
  7. deactivate the word verification option - it drives me nuts and slows down the process of assessment
many things trigger blogs being blocked - look out for them - here are a few


  • trigger words - violence/racism/aggression/sexism...
  • links that are not word urls
  • links to sites that link to others that are blocked -(look for Urls that use numbers and symbols) - if necessary just remove the hyperlink and add the address only
Activity 1: (30) minutes - the following are examples of 'found' presentations on opening sequences to films - take time to read them and discuss your findings in pairs before adding the actual slideshares and a review of them in a post on your own blog. You are making judgements on what makes a good clear and knowledgeable presentation - this will help improve your own

Starters questions to ask your self:
  • how successful are they at identifying conventions?
  • who is the audience?
  • what is the purpose of the presentations?
  • is the format successful?
  • did they identify ALL of the conventions accurately?





activity 2: (20 minutes) on your blog construct a bullet point list of what you think are the core conventions of an opening sequence to a film - adding links to research by you will increase your mark

Activity 3: original analysis of Se7en ( 40 minutes in class then 60 minutes - homework) - writing to communicate YOUR understanding of CONVENTIONS and STYLE

task 1
follow the link to the page at Artofthetitle.com / read all of the reviews, interviews, articles and watch the drafts - take the time to really look and to understand what is there - think about the 4 key media areas for understanding and assessment: MEDIA AUDIENCE, MEDIA INDUSTRIES. MEDIA REPRESENTATION, MEDIA LANGUAGE 

task 2
create a post called 'RESEARCH: THE CONVENTIONS OF AN OTS; a post add links and explain which conventions of an OTS are being met / being challenged  in the opening sequence to  SE7EN - choose the format of your explanation it should be suitable to show images and text

task 3 - ."the opening sequence is considered one of the most innovative of its era". Discuss how true you think this statement is (max 200 words) using at least one quote
Homework: for next Wednesday: complete activity 3;  tasks 1-3 and  repeat Activity 3 with a film of your choice. add it all to a new post with hyperlinks

Extension tasks - this will raise your grade
1 - choose another film and compete task 1-3 using that film for study - it should be one that is evident on www.artofthetitle.com   
2 -  -  explain which conventions you have used in your own Sweded film: which would you use if you would do it again? - add this to a post with an upload of your Sweded film

remember WG11 is open Tuesday-Thursday lunchtimes for support with Blogging

Friday 3 October 2014

Research - Representation of character

Quote: Film Noir is

 “a new cinematic technique that made use of dark or dim lighting effects, dreary settings, filtered lights and generally dark themes and characterizations. Noir scenes are made from interesting camera angles and with dramatic close-ups and shadowed lighting. Frequently the stories use of smoke-filled rooms, views of light filtered through venetian blinds, seedy downtown areas with neon lights, dark wet streets to heighten the noir effect. “

Resources 
- the worksheets you were given, cameras and props
Q:\Art & Media Faculty\media\KS5\AS\MAIN PRODUCTION UNIT FILM NOIR\genre style and links\FilmNoirIllustrations_files
Q:\Art & Media Faculty\media\KS5\AS\MAIN PRODUCTION UNIT FILM NOIR\genre style and links
http://www.lafterhall.com/

Driving Question & Focus:
Representation is about combining images, styles and symbols to creative meaning for an audience. Film makers do this through actors, lighting props, locations, pose and expression. Your challenge is to stage, create and capture a variety of still images that evoke the Film Noir era: work creatively in teams to take and edit images that meet the conventions of the genre Film Noir showing an understanding of how representations are constructed

Step 1 - classwork: take a familiar Fairy tale, myth or nursery rhythm and storyboard it using Film Noir genre style conventions - focus on character

Step 2 - using the worksheet as support: organising a photoshoot: using cameras to create moody, melodramatic portraits in a film noire style – you can work in the studio or around the school. Use the majority of the lesson and free time to experiment with lighting, pose and props. We are in WG11 where we have the studio and the darkroom as well as the main classroom. Try to capture at least 30 images (but the differences can be subtle – variations in expression / camera angles etc). Get them uploaded asap. Then use photoshop to edit the images until they look like the fit the Film Noir Genre.

step 3. -Contextual understanding and comparison of representation: Aim - to show understanding of representation using comparing existing stills/ / photographs with you own original/created still images.  
Reminder:

Representation is about combining images, styles and symbols to creative meaning for an audience. Film makers do this through actors, lighting props, locations, pose and expression.
Your challenge was to stage, create and capture a variety of still images that evoke the Film Noir era.
Construction task:  creating representations create moody, melodramatic portraits in a film noire style
First: 
Edit simply – use adjustments such as saturation, exposure and curves plus simple crop methods
Try to create a range of images that are effective representations of
Male
  • Hero (Protagonist)
  • Villain (Antagonist)
  • Antihero (Transforms form the Antagonist to the Protagonist)
  • Sidekick (Police/ Moral Majority)
  • Extras (Side plots/Workers/Crowds)

Female
  • Femme Fatale - Sexuality, Danger, Risk, Antagonist, Forbidden.
  • Girl Next door (Redemptive Woman) - Salvation, Honour, Sacrifice, Courage, Redemption

Second 
Create a PowerPoint or multi-media presentation where you effectively compare and contrast your own work against representations from existing Film Noir texts. Use Media Language and images. Then upload it to your blog


Wednesday 17 September 2014

18th & 19th sept - research challenge 1 & homework:

Mini – research Project into the genre FILM NOIR

  • □  History of film noir. When is it? What is it?
  • □  Reading the essay What is film noir? Film noir is a genre that began in the early 1940's…..
  • □  Examples of hit Film Noir films – visual links and examples
  • □  Links to fan-site
  • □  Deconstructions of existing films and still frame analysis
  • □  Collage of iconography associated with the genre
  • □  Classification & Certificate ratings – BBFC research
  • □  Audience theory & Targeting an audience
  • □   Use Genre specific language (eg film language/print language/web…)
  • □  Nine frame structure analysis of a film opening (including titles)
  •     Audience expectations from GENRE / Genre Pleasures

18th & 19th Sept - sharing good practice & peer mentoring

todays aims are:

  1.  show your swede to the rest of the group as an audience
  2. offer feedback in the form of
  • you met the brief in the following way
  • it is successful as a film because 
  •  even better if / to improve you could.....
make notes on the feedback

tomorrow - we will focus on Genre



Wednesday 10 September 2014

12th September - evidencing work

your Blog should have the following


  1. an introduction to you / link to my blog
  2. research into Sweded films with uploaded examples
  3. plans for your own film that is sweded
  4. the final film together with sound
next 
  1. add a gadget box in which to upload your sites of interest / hyperlinks / research etc
  2. add a gadget box with links to all your different accounts with
  • slideshare
  • flickr
  • vimeo
  • youtube
  • emaze
  • voicethread
  • edmodo
  • wix
  • prezi
Today we will work so that everyone has all of the above - 
this is a summary of what we will be covering in the next few weeks - try to keep up - it is better to have too much than to keep trying to catch up work that should have been done earlier - ask sooner rather than later if you need help and remember to peer support. 

 If it is not made 'live' i cannot mark it - (so you should have at least 16 posts by the end of October):
Expected posts (but they may change in order)

1.    Summer task: Research into sweded films and the definition of sweded films
2.    Examples of sweded films with comments/analysis/deconstructions
3    your favourite films AND an introduction to you in a gadget box
4.     Planning for a sweded film of your own / make a sweded film and upload it / analyse the result
5.    Management of your blog – permissions and settings – 25 posts per page please / no word verification + invite me
6.    Research and planning: codes and conventions of a film OTS: se7en activities 1-3 & tasks 1-3 – review others powerpoints / deconstruct & micro-essay on Se7en / ditto film of your choice
7.    R&P – codes and conventions:  - look at other students work – 
8.   Examples of animatics and or storyboards with analysis
9.    identifying the conventions of an OTS
10. identifying the conventions of film noir genre
11. analysing OTS : Double Indemnity / Sin City / Psycho / other of your own choice – after watching the films’ OTS identify & provide a detailed analysis showing understanding of how they meet/break:
a.    The conventions of a film noir
b.    The conventions of OTS
c.    Representations of character
d.    Editing techniques
12. Research: exploring representation and creating representations create moody, melodramatic portraits in a film noir style - this is the latest practical challenge: storyboard a classic story/fairytale etc into the conventions of the film noir genre - thhen style and photograph it - upload this to your blog with a comparison to existing films/characters
13. Genre theory classwork:  mindmaps into genre / hybrid genre / examples of different genres especially linking to film noir – upload photos of sheets OR rewrite in an interactive way – upload examples of different genres – still/clips/films
14. Genre theory: defined the Film Noir Genre on your blog
15. Understanding audience – active / passive / traditionalist / hedonist / post-modern /preferred / oppositional linked to audience / industry . institution – extension ABC1C2DE criterion
16.  understanding narrative theory:  Todorov / propp / levi-strauss / branigan / Cameron… explore the narrative concepts and write what they are in your own words together with examples of films that best represent them, extend with those that break it.
17.  Defining audience: the Buckingham activities and essay.
18. Audience: planning your own – next step

TFS (TIPS FOR SUCCESS)

The exam board states that: just writing is not enough - this is an interactive A level: every post should contain academic analysis, illustrations and visual links or examples. A greater variety gains a higher grade. Just text can only gain an E or D grade.

Make the titles relate to and explain the content - for example if it is Research or Planning: say so and then add a sub-title of the task or focus - see my examples

Thursday 10 July 2014

student productions








Avengers Swede Morrighan from morrighan humpleby on Vimeo.

Avengers Swede Morrighan from morrighan humpleby on Vimeo.

http://ivettja2mediaschs2014.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Swede%20Films


Swede from James on Vimeo.

what is a swede?


what is a sweded film?

you can find a lot of information on the internet, and through social media.

One definition i like is found at:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/sweded-films

Be Kind Rewind premiered on February 22nd, 2008 and earned $4 million in the United States and Canada in its opening weekend. The domain for the site SwededFilms.com[1], which serves as a database for sweded movies, was registered the next day.

 On February 24th, the sweded film blog Sweded Cinema[6] was launched and included rules for creating sweded videos:
1. Must be based on an already produced film
2. Range 2-8 minutes in length
3. Must not contain computer generated graphics
4. Based on films less than 35 years old
5. Special effects must be limited to camera tricks and arts ’n crafts
6. Sound effects created by human means
7. Hilarious.
one of the biggest sweded group productions is the star wars 2 hour sweded film produced by hundreds of people each submitting small sections

BE KIND REWIND is the film which started the genre of SWEDED films







OR you could animate your film - using simple techniques

An introduction to as media- transition for Y11


welcome and summer task

welcome to AS media studies. The next year should be fun and interesting but you will get out of it equivalent to what you put into it: to be successful you need to...

  • keep on top of workload
  • complete at least 4 hours a week at home or out of lessons - this should be spent
  • watching examples
  • adding to blogs
  • organising and capturing footage and images
  •  learning about new media technologies
  • keeping up with media trend and media issues
  • reading
  •  experimenting 
  • keep evidence on blogs where you should enter work each week
step 1 (homework task 10 minutes)
create your own blog - the title should be (initial/surname)AS media production 2015 (remember to include spaces)
                               - the url should be (initial/surname)ASmediaproductionschs2015.blogspot.com

step 2)

check settings so that you are safe 

- add comment moderation always, 
- set it to allow 25 posts to a page and an email for contact.
- Use the design feature to personalise it. 
-avoid high resolution photo backgrounds as it will slow everything down
- invite me as an author
IF YOU STRUGGLE WE CAN DO THE PERMISSIONS AND SETTINGS AT SCHOOL IN SEPTEMBER

step 3 (starting in the lesson today - if you missed the starter day i can send you the pack - or use the posts on here to identify what to do over the holiday)

- identify what a  'sweded' film is

step 4 (induction main activity) 
choose a film to swede: create an animatic of a film that lasts no longer than 6 minutes. – today it will be a flick book version
step 5 - summer task - create a sweded film of your own
add the following information into posts on your own blog... have some fun, experiment....try adding hyperlinks, images and stages of work....take creative risks.....explore new digital interactive instruments 
  1. to start research: 
  2. bekindrewind.com - you could also watch the full film 'Be Kind Rewind'
  3. use www.swededfilms.com to get ideas - review it
  4. summarise the idea of sweded films
  5. experiment with uploading hyperlinks etc - provide evidence of your research in blog posts.
  6. produce your sweded film and upload it to at least 3 different sites including your own blog