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.
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
Gull Rider - example treatment
This is just an example of the first part of a treatment. You will need to ensure that your full treatment tells the whole story.
A group of children are transported to another world. They are caught up in a struggle for the control of the kingdom and along the way they pick up some very special skills.
In a dusty attic of their new home, two young children are rummaging through the boxes from the move when they come across a magic bracelet. After deciphering the clue written on the bracelet, a door opens in the air, they walk through and transport to the magical kingdom of Haperion.
We see a King sitting on a throne, surrounded by advisers and courtiers. Each of whom are intent on putting their view across about the war. Some are urging a truce with the enemy, others are urging all out war to crush the rebellion. The King sits head in hand as if waiting for some sort of divine inspiration.
This scene is cut with another scene where we jump to a scene in the rebel castle where the King's brother (the true heir to the throne) is planning a full scale assault on his kingdom. The people here are more belligerent and demanding the Prince regain his birthright.
We cut back to the two children who have been left up on a cliff overlooking a torrid sea. The magic door has closed and the children are about to set off when people riding on gulls appear in the sky. They swoop down and surround the children, who are quite obviously afraid. The gull-riders are from the King's army and have been sent to secure the borders against incursions from the rebels.
After pressing the terrified children for information, they decide to take them back to the King. The King, puzzled by their nature and clothing, sees them as the key to the war aginst the rebels. He is convinced that the boys can summon a portal, using the bracelet, to dump the rebels into. Failing that, he wants the boys to bring weapons from their world to wipe out the rebels.
The King decides the boys must prove their mettle. They are dispatched (after a prolonged debate) to the rebel fortress to re-capture the King's sceptre, which is locked in a deep dark dungeon.
We cut to the boys who have been introduced to their gulls for the journey. They are packing and strapping equipment to a saddle on each gull. They are discussing the quest when one gull turns around and starts talking. The two boys jump as they did not realise until now that the gulls were capable of speech. The gull laughs at the boy's and dismisses their chances on the message. They finish packing and one of the boys keeps bickering with the gull...
A group of children are transported to another world. They are caught up in a struggle for the control of the kingdom and along the way they pick up some very special skills.
In a dusty attic of their new home, two young children are rummaging through the boxes from the move when they come across a magic bracelet. After deciphering the clue written on the bracelet, a door opens in the air, they walk through and transport to the magical kingdom of Haperion.
We see a King sitting on a throne, surrounded by advisers and courtiers. Each of whom are intent on putting their view across about the war. Some are urging a truce with the enemy, others are urging all out war to crush the rebellion. The King sits head in hand as if waiting for some sort of divine inspiration.
This scene is cut with another scene where we jump to a scene in the rebel castle where the King's brother (the true heir to the throne) is planning a full scale assault on his kingdom. The people here are more belligerent and demanding the Prince regain his birthright.
We cut back to the two children who have been left up on a cliff overlooking a torrid sea. The magic door has closed and the children are about to set off when people riding on gulls appear in the sky. They swoop down and surround the children, who are quite obviously afraid. The gull-riders are from the King's army and have been sent to secure the borders against incursions from the rebels.
After pressing the terrified children for information, they decide to take them back to the King. The King, puzzled by their nature and clothing, sees them as the key to the war aginst the rebels. He is convinced that the boys can summon a portal, using the bracelet, to dump the rebels into. Failing that, he wants the boys to bring weapons from their world to wipe out the rebels.
The King decides the boys must prove their mettle. They are dispatched (after a prolonged debate) to the rebel fortress to re-capture the King's sceptre, which is locked in a deep dark dungeon.
We cut to the boys who have been introduced to their gulls for the journey. They are packing and strapping equipment to a saddle on each gull. They are discussing the quest when one gull turns around and starts talking. The two boys jump as they did not realise until now that the gulls were capable of speech. The gull laughs at the boy's and dismisses their chances on the message. They finish packing and one of the boys keeps bickering with the gull...
Film Treatments
Film Treatments turn ideas into a synopsis of the action. They are usually about 5-15pages long and are, essentially, a summary of the story told in present tense prose.
The first part of writing a treatment (in my opinion) is to try to make sure you have a clear three part structure for your film (Set-up, conflict, resolution). This will give you a clear through line for your story to follow and should help you frame each part in further detail. You don't always have to have a three part structure but let's walk before we can run eh?
Then I would storyboard the main beats/scenes/episodes of the movie that are crucial to understanding the movie's action as a whole. It is not necessary to use camera angles in the panel's at this stage. Leave that for your two minute piece!
Your treatment should:
take the reader through the story of the film. It must bring across the characters and events as they will appear in the film.
not give more information than the audience of the film will have.
go through each sequence, but does not have to contain every scene.
come to about 10 pages for a 90 minute feature film (double spaced, 12 pt arial font)
Be separated into acts and sequences (with titles) if it helps.
A treatment sells the film to both creative and financial minds, therefore it must:
grip the reader in the first line of the first page.
make the reader want to turn to the next page at the end of every page.
move the action forward and not linger on descriptions
You should have a look at the following websites.
This one explains the nature of a treatment:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Movie_Making_Manual/Treatments
This one gives an example Treatment. Look at the style:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4089756/Film-Treatment
I think you should aim for about a five page treatment. It ain't Hollywood baby!
The first part of writing a treatment (in my opinion) is to try to make sure you have a clear three part structure for your film (Set-up, conflict, resolution). This will give you a clear through line for your story to follow and should help you frame each part in further detail. You don't always have to have a three part structure but let's walk before we can run eh?
Then I would storyboard the main beats/scenes/episodes of the movie that are crucial to understanding the movie's action as a whole. It is not necessary to use camera angles in the panel's at this stage. Leave that for your two minute piece!
Your treatment should:
take the reader through the story of the film. It must bring across the characters and events as they will appear in the film.
not give more information than the audience of the film will have.
go through each sequence, but does not have to contain every scene.
come to about 10 pages for a 90 minute feature film (double spaced, 12 pt arial font)
Be separated into acts and sequences (with titles) if it helps.
A treatment sells the film to both creative and financial minds, therefore it must:
grip the reader in the first line of the first page.
make the reader want to turn to the next page at the end of every page.
move the action forward and not linger on descriptions
You should have a look at the following websites.
This one explains the nature of a treatment:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Movie_Making_Manual/Treatments
This one gives an example Treatment. Look at the style:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/4089756/Film-Treatment
I think you should aim for about a five page treatment. It ain't Hollywood baby!
Wednesday, 14 January 2009
List of Ashfield Media Bloggers
Here's who's set up a Media coursework blog so far:
GBB/TAB's class
fraser-welsh.blogspot.com
thomasgambleasmedia.blogspot.com
buttscrather.blogspot.com (Nathan Staples)
liamthomsonasmedia.blogspot.com
lauraestropasmedia.blogspot.com
sarahchambersasmedia.blogspot.com
dcasmedia.blogspot.com (Daniel Carnell)
cawfeedawgs.blogspot.com (Matt Housley)
helloelizabethrogers.blogspot.com
daukintismediawork.blogspot.com
kendallleaperasmedia.blogspot.com
steviewilliamsmedia.blogspot.com
tomfoxasmedia.blogspot.com
nicksfunkycoursework.blogspot.com (Nick Parish)
oneshotscott-idontlikeblogs.blogspot.com (Scott Haywood)
samhynd-samsmediacoursework.blogspot.com
GBB/HDN's class
hayleylovex.blogpost.com (Hayley Bignall)
emilyscoursework.blogspot.com (Emily Bacon)
evakincw.blogspot.com (Eve Deakin)
coopmas.blogspot.com (Charlotte Cooper)
carissaleightonsmediacoursework.blogspot.com
musicalkaratekid.blogspot.com (Robert Davis)
wonderwomansmediablog.blogspot.com (Charlotte Pell)
jessmediacoursework.blogspot.com (Jess Brunt)
GBB/TAB's class
fraser-welsh.blogspot.com
thomasgambleasmedia.blogspot.com
buttscrather.blogspot.com (Nathan Staples)
liamthomsonasmedia.blogspot.com
lauraestropasmedia.blogspot.com
sarahchambersasmedia.blogspot.com
dcasmedia.blogspot.com (Daniel Carnell)
cawfeedawgs.blogspot.com (Matt Housley)
helloelizabethrogers.blogspot.com
daukintismediawork.blogspot.com
kendallleaperasmedia.blogspot.com
steviewilliamsmedia.blogspot.com
tomfoxasmedia.blogspot.com
nicksfunkycoursework.blogspot.com (Nick Parish)
oneshotscott-idontlikeblogs.blogspot.com (Scott Haywood)
samhynd-samsmediacoursework.blogspot.com
GBB/HDN's class
hayleylovex.blogpost.com (Hayley Bignall)
emilyscoursework.blogspot.com (Emily Bacon)
evakincw.blogspot.com (Eve Deakin)
coopmas.blogspot.com (Charlotte Cooper)
carissaleightonsmediacoursework.blogspot.com
musicalkaratekid.blogspot.com (Robert Davis)
wonderwomansmediablog.blogspot.com (Charlotte Pell)
jessmediacoursework.blogspot.com (Jess Brunt)
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Some further information about Research, planning and evaluation
Your documentation should be broken down into three stages:
Research: what have you have found out conventions/codes/techniques/genres and how will that help inform your planning.
Planning: Document and explain what you have done in preparing your piece. Camera maps, shooting schedules, storyboards etc. should be included in here. It may even be an idea to take a digital photo of some of them so you can upload them for the examiner.
As well as these types of things I think you should include snip-its from the two minute section at various stages of the editing process. That way you can make clear what you need to improve in the scene and how you are planning on achieving that improvement.
Evaluation: You will need to also detail your final thoughts on the project on the blog as well.
Breakdown of the marks
60/100 – How good is the final piece
20/100 – planning and research
20/100 - electronic evaluation
All work can be presented as a group but the class teacher marks individual contributions.
Research: what have you have found out conventions/codes/techniques/genres and how will that help inform your planning.
Planning: Document and explain what you have done in preparing your piece. Camera maps, shooting schedules, storyboards etc. should be included in here. It may even be an idea to take a digital photo of some of them so you can upload them for the examiner.
As well as these types of things I think you should include snip-its from the two minute section at various stages of the editing process. That way you can make clear what you need to improve in the scene and how you are planning on achieving that improvement.
Evaluation: You will need to also detail your final thoughts on the project on the blog as well.
Breakdown of the marks
60/100 – How good is the final piece
20/100 – planning and research
20/100 - electronic evaluation
All work can be presented as a group but the class teacher marks individual contributions.
Example of Production documentation - day one
You might want to check out the student blogs on: http://reniermedia.wordpress.com/ocr-as-media-harlow-college-blogs-for-foundation-portfolio/
The individual blogs might give you some ideas on what kind of things you should include. I can't stand over how good they are though!
Below you can find an example of a the opening production post on a student blog.
Today we were given the brief for this project. This was to make our own music video for an existing song, or one which we have produced ourselves. We were all given laptops and DVD’s with previous students work on. There were a few varied videos - some good, some not so good. It was great to learn the limits of the available equipment. At this point we also had decide who we were going to work with. An old partnership was reformed with Mike Lamb and Alex Ritch working together again.
He ended up with a C grade overall.
The individual blogs might give you some ideas on what kind of things you should include. I can't stand over how good they are though!
Below you can find an example of a the opening production post on a student blog.
Today we were given the brief for this project. This was to make our own music video for an existing song, or one which we have produced ourselves. We were all given laptops and DVD’s with previous students work on. There were a few varied videos - some good, some not so good. It was great to learn the limits of the available equipment. At this point we also had decide who we were going to work with. An old partnership was reformed with Mike Lamb and Alex Ritch working together again.
He ended up with a C grade overall.
Woman In Black - Thriller suspense analysis and research
Here's some example research that is illuminating my planning. Don't know what's happened to the size of the letters below!
Posting videos
Is easy. All you have to do is click on the film reel logo when you are posting. What I would do is write a bit of commentary to go with the video (you know so you're evaluating as you go along!) and, hopefully, over the course of your project, you will be able to see the changes that have happened; you will have been able to show the examiner where your piece has progressed; and also you will have been constantly documenting your progress in two ways (text and film).
I've uploaded a video. This is for demonstration purposes only. It's not my coursework. I don't have any to do.
I've uploaded a video. This is for demonstration purposes only. It's not my coursework. I don't have any to do.
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
First post - Figuring things out
Whizzy Wow!
This is an example of a first post on a blog. As you go along, you will have to log in regularly and write up your coursework research, planning, production and evaluations.
Despite the fact that you are working in groups (usually!) you will need to set up your own blog on Blogpost and write up things individually.
You must (once you have logged in and started your blog) tell your teacher your blog web address. We will pass that onto OCR straight away so they can see your blog's progress. Everytime you log in and write something, the time and date is logged so we (and they!) will be able to track who is writing what and when. This should help us identify any copying as well so BEWARE (SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING!!!!!!)!
You should be able to comment on each other's blogs as well but ONLY CONSTRUCTIVE SENSIBLE FEEDBACK is allowed. Any thing less than MATURE will be treated as grounds for discipline and you may be marked down or even barred from completing your coursework. The idea is to comment on each other's work, say what you liked, what you think needs changing or anything else you have noticed or spotted.
As well as this, we would encourage you to upload clips of video so you can comment on the visual side of the production.
So long, and keep blogging.
This is an example of a first post on a blog. As you go along, you will have to log in regularly and write up your coursework research, planning, production and evaluations.
Despite the fact that you are working in groups (usually!) you will need to set up your own blog on Blogpost and write up things individually.
You must (once you have logged in and started your blog) tell your teacher your blog web address. We will pass that onto OCR straight away so they can see your blog's progress. Everytime you log in and write something, the time and date is logged so we (and they!) will be able to track who is writing what and when. This should help us identify any copying as well so BEWARE (SOMEONE IS ALWAYS WATCHING!!!!!!)!
You should be able to comment on each other's blogs as well but ONLY CONSTRUCTIVE SENSIBLE FEEDBACK is allowed. Any thing less than MATURE will be treated as grounds for discipline and you may be marked down or even barred from completing your coursework. The idea is to comment on each other's work, say what you liked, what you think needs changing or anything else you have noticed or spotted.
As well as this, we would encourage you to upload clips of video so you can comment on the visual side of the production.
So long, and keep blogging.
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