Ok. Now that you've watched a documentary and got the general gist of what they do and how they are structured, you are going to watch a couple more (on the Media Student Drive: L:\Media Studies).
Your task is to pick a FIVE MINUTE section of one of the documentaries, then make some notes on each of the following headings. Once you have made notes, you need to be ready to SHOW your chosen five minute clip, and then TEACH the class what you know about your chosen section.
• Voice over: narration, commentary, voice of God
• Interviews
• Location sound recording
• Cutaways: from a given scene to provide images that illustrate or complicate a point made within a scene.
• Continuity and evidentiary editing: help create a seamless narrative (evidentiary editing organises cuts within a scene to present the impression of a single, convincing argument supported by logic).
• A reliance on people in their everyday roles and activities.
• The organisation of a film as problem solving: establishing a problem or issue, examination of its current complexity or severity, including recommendation or solution that the viewer is encouraged to endorse or adopt personally.
• Written text or images: on screen or bits of evidence, eg. newspapers
• Music and credits
• A closed narrative structure (beginning, middle and end)
• Camera shot, eg. Shaky to increase reality, hidden camera
• Maps and diagrams
• Still pictures
• Archive footage
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Thursday, 18 June 2009
The different types of documentary
Below are the main types of documentary that you will need to investigate. Then, you will need to decide which one you want to prepare and plan for your actual documentary production.
Investigative documentary – an investigation into an area of concern, either current or historical, often placing great emphasis on the careful presentation of evidence and argument:
Historical documentary – uses mainly archive films and stills, together with witness accounts either to camera or from letters etc:
Personality documentary – the presenter takes the viewer through the topic and links sections of the film together while being present on screen for a lot of the time:
Objective documentary – in which the only commentary comes from the people about whom it is made:
Fly on the wall documentary – in which the camera becomes invisible whilst following people in the course of their daily lives:
Drama documentary – where events are recreated using actors but actual facts and real events from the story. The “story” may be enhanced using fictional and/or reconstructed inserts. These are often about “controversial” and political issues and events:
Alternative documentary – an alternative approach to documentary which aims to counter the dominant representations and stereotypes of conventional documentary form. They often take up issues of minority politics, e.g. racism and sexism, and are different in their style and presentation.
Video diaries – only one highly portable camera is used in this very personal and individual form. The camera is used as a “confidante”.
Docu-soap – usually part of a series of programmes which feature an inside look at an institution through a set of “characters” who appear each week.
Mockumentary – the documentary is completely fictional but has the same form as a documentary
Investigative documentary – an investigation into an area of concern, either current or historical, often placing great emphasis on the careful presentation of evidence and argument:
Historical documentary – uses mainly archive films and stills, together with witness accounts either to camera or from letters etc:
Personality documentary – the presenter takes the viewer through the topic and links sections of the film together while being present on screen for a lot of the time:
Objective documentary – in which the only commentary comes from the people about whom it is made:
Fly on the wall documentary – in which the camera becomes invisible whilst following people in the course of their daily lives:
Drama documentary – where events are recreated using actors but actual facts and real events from the story. The “story” may be enhanced using fictional and/or reconstructed inserts. These are often about “controversial” and political issues and events:
Alternative documentary – an alternative approach to documentary which aims to counter the dominant representations and stereotypes of conventional documentary form. They often take up issues of minority politics, e.g. racism and sexism, and are different in their style and presentation.
Video diaries – only one highly portable camera is used in this very personal and individual form. The camera is used as a “confidante”.
Docu-soap – usually part of a series of programmes which feature an inside look at an institution through a set of “characters” who appear each week.
Mockumentary – the documentary is completely fictional but has the same form as a documentary
A2 Coursework
We have decided (in our infinite wisdom) to set the following brief for A2 Coursework:
an extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes
Then it needs two from the following three options:
A radio trailer for the documentary:
A double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary:
A newspaper advertisement for the documentary:
Your First task:
Re-watch the Tourettes documentary and make notes on your blog as to how the documentary uses the technical aspects to create meaning. Focus on how the documentary uses the following:
Camera shots and angles
Editing
Voice over
Interviews
Location sound recording (diegetic sounds)
Non-diegetic music
Structure (what comes where in the documentary and why)
Archive footage (footage taken in the past).
In addition, you might find the Guardian take on it an interesting read.
an extract from a new documentary TV programme, lasting approximately five minutes
Then it needs two from the following three options:
A radio trailer for the documentary:
A double-page spread from a listings magazine focused on the documentary:
A newspaper advertisement for the documentary:
Your First task:
Re-watch the Tourettes documentary and make notes on your blog as to how the documentary uses the technical aspects to create meaning. Focus on how the documentary uses the following:
Camera shots and angles
Editing
Voice over
Interviews
Location sound recording (diegetic sounds)
Non-diegetic music
Structure (what comes where in the documentary and why)
Archive footage (footage taken in the past).
In addition, you might find the Guardian take on it an interesting read.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
After doing some research into comedy distribution I found out the following things. Similarly themed school/teen comedies were very popular with audiences. BoxOfficeMojo.com (a website that deals with how much money movies make) was a useful tool to gauge the popularity of the genre.
I found the following worldwide financial figures and distribution for similar comedies:
American Pie: $235,483,004 Universal
Superbad: $169,871,719 Sony
Mean Girls: $129,042,871 Paramount
Bring it on: $90,449,929 Universal
She's all that: $103,166,989 Miramax
Clueless: $56,631,572 (Domestic Gross only) Paramount
This showed me that the genre itself is very popular with audiences (when done successfully). The top 30 high school comedies on the website earned more than £17 million dollars. Given the relative cheap production costs of a high school comedy (given the lack of special effects or costly shooting locations), there is a high cost to profit ratio. As such, the distribution of the genre is popular with a lot of studios.
It was obvious there was no dominant distributor of the genre so I had to do a little bit more investigation to find the best fit of studio. My movie has a traditional comedy storyline so it was obvious that a more independently minded distribution company wouldn't fit. It would have to be one of the larger companies and probably one of the ones from the six films listed above.
Out of the companies listed above, I think Paramount seems to be the best fit. Mean Girls is the closest comedy to the one that we developed. It also deals with high school social groups and the comedy is mined from the collision of these groups, which is, again, very similar to ours. As well as their previous record for developing successful mainstream teen comedy, they have a large comedy output on their own channel Paramount comedy. No other distributor seems as dedicated to the art of comedy like Paramount so it would be the best fit.
I found the following worldwide financial figures and distribution for similar comedies:
American Pie: $235,483,004 Universal
Superbad: $169,871,719 Sony
Mean Girls: $129,042,871 Paramount
Bring it on: $90,449,929 Universal
She's all that: $103,166,989 Miramax
Clueless: $56,631,572 (Domestic Gross only) Paramount
This showed me that the genre itself is very popular with audiences (when done successfully). The top 30 high school comedies on the website earned more than £17 million dollars. Given the relative cheap production costs of a high school comedy (given the lack of special effects or costly shooting locations), there is a high cost to profit ratio. As such, the distribution of the genre is popular with a lot of studios.
It was obvious there was no dominant distributor of the genre so I had to do a little bit more investigation to find the best fit of studio. My movie has a traditional comedy storyline so it was obvious that a more independently minded distribution company wouldn't fit. It would have to be one of the larger companies and probably one of the ones from the six films listed above.
Out of the companies listed above, I think Paramount seems to be the best fit. Mean Girls is the closest comedy to the one that we developed. It also deals with high school social groups and the comedy is mined from the collision of these groups, which is, again, very similar to ours. As well as their previous record for developing successful mainstream teen comedy, they have a large comedy output on their own channel Paramount comedy. No other distributor seems as dedicated to the art of comedy like Paramount so it would be the best fit.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Example evaluation
Below is the start of an example evaluation that starts to deal with the questions:
• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We decided to start our piece with a sardonic talk-over from the main character of the piece, Jon. It was felt that this would set out who the main character was, what their personality was like and it would reflect ironically on the action that was happening on screen.
This kind of narration usually happens in comedies. One that springs to mind is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He narrates the start of the movie, explaining how to fake illness to fool his parents into giving him the day off school. You understand that he is intelligent, quick-witted and able to play on his parents’ obvious sympathy. As it is delivered in a dead-pan style, you get the impression that the main character is savvy and cynical.
We use the narration to anchor the movie, which is nominally about Jon and his adventures and mishaps in and around school. The mise en scene was bright, taking place in sunny school corridors and classrooms. It was felt that the lighting needed to be as bright as possible in order for the connotations of comedy and happiness to shine through. Obviously the iconography of a school was strongly visible, including desks, whiteboards, and schoolbags. This again, gives the audience a heads up to the nature of the genre, or more realistically the sub-genre. We could exploit prior knowledge of codes and conventions of a school comedy and use this to good effect. The opening two minutes clearly establishes Jon as the typical high-school jock, only interested in two things: women and sport! This character type appears again and again in this type of genre, though rarely as a main character. It could be argued that we were pushing a relatively minor character (usually a side-kick in these movies) centre-stage. A nice idea to explore another aspect of school life.
As mentioned, we really wanted to focus on the jock or jocks in school, play on their image as tough guys obsessed with sport, who mistreat their girlfriends and dominate the school social hierarchy.
The other questions that you need to address are:
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
• How did you attract/address your audience?
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
• How does your media product represent particular social groups?
We decided to start our piece with a sardonic talk-over from the main character of the piece, Jon. It was felt that this would set out who the main character was, what their personality was like and it would reflect ironically on the action that was happening on screen.
This kind of narration usually happens in comedies. One that springs to mind is Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He narrates the start of the movie, explaining how to fake illness to fool his parents into giving him the day off school. You understand that he is intelligent, quick-witted and able to play on his parents’ obvious sympathy. As it is delivered in a dead-pan style, you get the impression that the main character is savvy and cynical.
We use the narration to anchor the movie, which is nominally about Jon and his adventures and mishaps in and around school. The mise en scene was bright, taking place in sunny school corridors and classrooms. It was felt that the lighting needed to be as bright as possible in order for the connotations of comedy and happiness to shine through. Obviously the iconography of a school was strongly visible, including desks, whiteboards, and schoolbags. This again, gives the audience a heads up to the nature of the genre, or more realistically the sub-genre. We could exploit prior knowledge of codes and conventions of a school comedy and use this to good effect. The opening two minutes clearly establishes Jon as the typical high-school jock, only interested in two things: women and sport! This character type appears again and again in this type of genre, though rarely as a main character. It could be argued that we were pushing a relatively minor character (usually a side-kick in these movies) centre-stage. A nice idea to explore another aspect of school life.
As mentioned, we really wanted to focus on the jock or jocks in school, play on their image as tough guys obsessed with sport, who mistreat their girlfriends and dominate the school social hierarchy.
The other questions that you need to address are:
• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
• Who would be the audience for your media product?
• How did you attract/address your audience?
• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Friday, 13 February 2009
Who is doing what
It is clear that some people may not getting the credit for the things they have produced and are rightly concerned that their grade will be affected as a result.
If you have not already done so, I strongly recommend that you begin to keep a log of who is doing what and post this on your blog so that it can be viewed by your teachers. How you do this is totally up to you but Miss Taberham has helpfully put a template alongside the shooting schedule etc in resources, so you can use that if you wish to.
If you have not already done so, I strongly recommend that you begin to keep a log of who is doing what and post this on your blog so that it can be viewed by your teachers. How you do this is totally up to you but Miss Taberham has helpfully put a template alongside the shooting schedule etc in resources, so you can use that if you wish to.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Things to do before shooting
You should now be well underway in the planning stage of your coursework. The vast majority of you appear to have done some solid research into genre openings (both your own and the class teacher's); most people appear to have written their treatments; every group appears to have two storyboards (one for the whole movie and one for the opening two minutes) and you are now ready to move onto the next stages of planning.
Script
You should now draft a script for that opening section. If you need help on the layout for your script, you should look at, and follow, the format from this website
Remember, it is just a script for the opening two minutes. We don't have time to write a full script. It's not Hollywood, baby!
Shot List
After you have a script, you should have a Shot List. You can find it here in the resources folder on the school network:
R:\SUBJECTS\English\AS media\OCR AS Media\FoundationPortfolio Coursework
You need to list all the different shots you will use in the two minute section. List them in the order in which they will come in the film (they may not be shot in that order!). You need to fill in the duration of each shot; the cast who will be in the shot (sometimes there may not be any cast); the camera angle used for the shot; and also any movements of the camera that happen in that shot. The notes are any additional information that you think proves relevant.
If you need a copy, please save it into your H drive or onto a memory stick.
Shooting schedule
This is a plan for when you will shoot things. You can see an example here
Remember, you may not shoot your opening sequence in chronological order, as you may not have the necessary costumes for the first part, or you may not be able to shoot at the specific setting, or you may not have certain actors early in your shoot. You need to decide what will make sense to shoot first and why.
If you have a look at Principal photography on The Lord of the Rings movies you can see that in the shooting schedule, "The first scene filmed was the Wooded Road sequence where the Hobbits hide underneath the tree from a Ringwraith."
Again, you can find a template for the shooting schedule in:
R:\SUBJECTS\English\AS media\OCR AS Media\FoundationPortfolio Coursework
Yet more planning
You will also need to do some planning on:
Costume design/inventory
Camera maps
Set design/location list
You may want to use the internet to find some appropriate formats for the above. I think you've been given enough pointers!
Get planning folks.
Script
You should now draft a script for that opening section. If you need help on the layout for your script, you should look at, and follow, the format from this website
Remember, it is just a script for the opening two minutes. We don't have time to write a full script. It's not Hollywood, baby!
Shot List
After you have a script, you should have a Shot List. You can find it here in the resources folder on the school network:
R:\SUBJECTS\English\AS media\OCR AS Media\FoundationPortfolio Coursework
You need to list all the different shots you will use in the two minute section. List them in the order in which they will come in the film (they may not be shot in that order!). You need to fill in the duration of each shot; the cast who will be in the shot (sometimes there may not be any cast); the camera angle used for the shot; and also any movements of the camera that happen in that shot. The notes are any additional information that you think proves relevant.
If you need a copy, please save it into your H drive or onto a memory stick.
Shooting schedule
This is a plan for when you will shoot things. You can see an example here
Remember, you may not shoot your opening sequence in chronological order, as you may not have the necessary costumes for the first part, or you may not be able to shoot at the specific setting, or you may not have certain actors early in your shoot. You need to decide what will make sense to shoot first and why.
If you have a look at Principal photography on The Lord of the Rings movies you can see that in the shooting schedule, "The first scene filmed was the Wooded Road sequence where the Hobbits hide underneath the tree from a Ringwraith."
Again, you can find a template for the shooting schedule in:
R:\SUBJECTS\English\AS media\OCR AS Media\FoundationPortfolio Coursework
Yet more planning
You will also need to do some planning on:
Costume design/inventory
Camera maps
Set design/location list
You may want to use the internet to find some appropriate formats for the above. I think you've been given enough pointers!
Get planning folks.
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