Continuity task: final film

This is me and my groups final clip of our continuity task.

Continuity task: Filming

We have finally filmed out continuity task ready for editing last wednesday. We decided to film our continuity task back to front because it was easier for both our actor Giles Westgarth and Imogen to attend as they had lessons. So instead of starting with the start we started with the end of our film which was the interaction between both characters in the chikara centre. First of all we set up the camera decided on the angles we were going to use and also placed our actor in the position we wanted him. In this part of our short film Bethany was in charge of the cinematography and Imogen was in charge of direction as me and Oscar were in the film. After we had done this part of our film we then went on to the beginning which was filmed in the cafe, we did exactly the same as in the chikara centre: set up the camera, discussed the angles and placed our actor. However this time i was doing the cinematography and Bethany was directing. I found this hard as i wasn't used to using either a tripod or a camera, however i enjoyed it and now overall feel a lot more confident when it comes to our film.

As you may notice Oscar had minor input with the direction or camera however he did the majority of the editing and sound/music which was his specialties and really showed off his skill.

Continuity task: Editing

When it came editing our continuity film it was clear that Oscar was going to do the majority of it with suggestions and inputs from the rest of the group. I think that we were very strong as a group when it came to editing because for the previous editing task me and Bethany were put together and Oscar and Imogen were also put together so we were all aware of how premiere worked. Although it did help that Oscar had a wider knowledge as he took the time to sit down and explain some of the features that we didn't understand.

I think that this continuity task is defiantly going to help not only me but the rest of my group when it comes to editing our actual coursework. This is because we have now had to attempts at editing two different types of films. However i do think that all of us should go away and learn more about the software as well as practising using it so that we can make our film the best it can be. Overall i am very happy with how we have edited and filmed our task as we have in my opinion met all of the requirements such as we have sound effects, music, different locations, interesting angles, interaction between characters and we haven't broken the 180 degree rule as well as continuity within the film.

Continuity task: Storyboard

Continuity task: Discussion

In our media today we got started straight away onto our media continuity task. We started off with just talking through idea what should we include etc and also our plot and story line. We found it a little bit difficult because its only meant to be 90 seconds long and we found this really difficult as our we wanted more in the film, but in the end we adapted it to fit to 90 seconds long. After we had discussed our ideas we settled on one. We decided that is was going to be a love story of two boys, and a relationship ending over one of them cheating on the other with a girl. We wanted it to have a slight twist of humour to it. We want to include some very advanced techniques in our film to gain more grades so we want a change in location, shot revers shot, dialogue and also a zoom. After we had discussed and agreed on all of these aspects we then went and started story boarding and picking our actors along with a shot list, Bethany did the story boarding, Imogen did the shot list and me and Oscar picked the actors. We all decided that me, Oscar and boy named Giles were going to be the main characters.

Continuity task: What is a continuity task?

Our continuity task is where we can get a short taster of what its going to be like when filming our actual coursework. It includes all of the things we have to do for our coursework film opening but its just all shortened down. What we will have to do is, create a shot list, create a story board, film it, edit it, include sound, and include technical features such as some camera shots and also mise en scene. Personally i think that for the other people in my group this will be fairly easy as they have done most of the aspects before being past media students or creative media students. I think it is going to be challenging for me as i have never used a camera before or edited properly on my own. I think this will be a really good chance for me to focus and expand on those skills to get ready for our coursework.

The people that i am going with is my actual coursework group, Oscar, Bethany and Imogen. I think this will be a really good chance to figure out each others weaknesses and strength and will also help to assign each other specific roles within the group. I also think that it will be a good chance for us to learn from each other and to grow closer as a group. Overall i think that the continuity task however challenging it may be will be a very good oppintunity.

Planning: Storyboard practice

Unfortunately i missed the lesson on storyboarding and why it is important, how to do it properly, and also what the different arrows might mean. But i did catch up with the lesson through my group member Bethany, she did a quick run through what the lesson about and what i need to no. After i had caught up we then had the task of creating our own storyboard to the title 'Terror of the night'. We got given a sheet with all of the acquirements a storyboard should have and then an empty space for our drawing of the scene.

I was grouped with Bethany i found it a lot easier to work with someone else on the storyboard because we both could input our ideas and Bethany had a clear understanding of different shots we should use. We both drew a little bit each but by far Bethany made it very clear that drawing storyboards was her expertise and personally i think she should do our final story board for our film.

Planning: Mise en scene/shot list

Planning: List of jobs

Although most of our planning is done considering the plot and some of the mise en scene and shot list there is still a lot to do and a lot of jobs for people to do. We need to:

• the timings of shots--Me
• start storyboarding--Beth/Oscar
• research more on religious thrillers--Imogen
• find actors--Beth/Imogen
• confirm locations--Me

 Other then this i need to make sure i keep up with my blogging and that i blog the developments that we go through as well as my exam work. So far our planning is on track and we are slowly getting everything ready for when we start to film.

Planning: Development on new idea

Today in our media lesson we spoke more on our new idea of a religious thriller and tried to develop it. In our idea at the moment our plot is a very religious man who goes around torturing and killing people who have sinned against god. When we sat down and spoke more about our idea we decided that we are going to use polaroids for our titles and the titles are going to be had written in a scruffy way, the polaroids are going to be pictures of the sins these characters have committed. We also decided on our introduction to the movie we wanted it to be very ambiguous and unclear to the viewer what this man does so, we wanted a priest to speak about the kidnaps and tortures through a radio.

Planning: Change in idea!

Today me and my group had a change in idea, because as we pitched our idea to our teacher Mr Ford and he told us that it was very typical approach to our task. But me and my group don't want to be typical we wanted to do something new, improved and unique something that a student hadn't tried yet. So we wrote down what we all wanted to do genre wise and we got, a crime, physiological, religious and cults. So we picked out the ones that we though were generally the more typical types of thrillers and tried to mix them around to see what we got. We stepped away from the crime thriller idea as we were in danger of falling in to a cliche of many different crime thrillers, we also stepped away from the physiological thrillers because they also have a danger of falling in to a cliche pattern. Instead we looked more in to the religious and cults idea, we didn't really like the idea of cults even though it would of been a very interesting conspiracy theory to include. But we though a religious thriller is something no one has ever done yet so we built on that and came up with a basic plot line on what we think it would be. This turned out to include most of the genre's we wanted to do anyway because there is aspects of a phycological thriller, aspects of a crime thriller and there is even a hint of the conspiracy theories that is presented in the cults. So to conclude our new unique idea is a religious thriller.

Planning: What is a thriller?

The definition of a thriller is to thrill to keep the audience that you are targeting alert and on the edge of there seat. The protagonist is normally set against a problem a mystery or some kind of mission/challenge, this gives the film a chance to develop and move on through a series of obstacles that the protagonist has to face. Even if a Thriller is a sub genre is will still emphasis any danger that is represented in the film, and because it is the main theme in our introduction we need to include that sense of danger as a main theme. Thrillers tend to be fast moving with a lot of interesting and fast pace cuts between different shots from the camera. They also tend to be from the physiological genre and be very threatening for the protagonist and the characters involved in the movie but also to the audience that is watching it. The also seem to have a lot of mystery behind them and include some extreme villainy such as espionage, terrorism or consipiracy. My group has decided to go with the conspiracy side of things but because we aren't doing a full movie and just a title sequence we need to make this convention obvious in two minutes.

Thrillers are normally seen to have a sudden plot twist that surprise and adds interest to the narrative of the film or book. When the thriller genre is used through a T.V. series it normally adds a 'cliff hanger' to add suspense and to keep the audience intrigued and to ensure that they will watch next time its on. A thriller in conclusion is something that is deigned and made to keep the audience on edge with suspenseful and sensational action.

Planning: Plot plan number one

Planning: First planning session

This week was a our first planning session to what our starting title is going to look like. So of course to make it a lot easier to go from one idea to the other and be able to develop these ideas in to something amazing and unique with an artistic twist. Our first few thought on the brainstorm was to include crime and maybe some cults elements and we also decided that we wanted to include as much nature as we can and have decided for it to mainly be outside. We also liked the idea of a phycological thriller and maybe adding elements of the supernatural or horror genre so that we have a lot of sub genres and have made our own hybrid. We defiantly want our film to be very unique and something that hasn't really been done before in the class so that we can shock the exam board with our new and exciting idea. However i think that we need to get a few more ideas down just some possibilities so that we have option just in case this idea doesn't plan out exactly how we think it will. So personally i think that before we start shot listing, thinking of locations the plot or story boarding we need to do some research in to thrillers a lot more. And i think that we should look at different sub genres just in case we can come up with something that is a lot better and something that is even more unheard of.

Exam: Merlin analysis

Today in media we looked a status in the running TV series of Merlin. We tried some new note making techniques to see if it would be faster and easier to get as many notes as we could down ready for our detailed analysis essay. We used the grid method i chose 4 different sections which were 'office with the woman', 'street market before the fight', 'fight with prince', 'old guy talking about magic'. Then i spoke about the camera, editing, sound and M.E.S this helped me to pick out the main technical features which i have been struggling on lately. However i found that i was quite restricted to how much i should write because the boxes were so small and i couldn't fit my writing in to it, so in all i did miss out on certain notes and some might of been important and essential for me to use.

However we picked out the different positioning of the camera, the way it travels such as a pan and the way it goes from one transition to the next. We also looked as prevalence of the character, new editing cuts such as intercutting and how that effects the pace of the rest of the section of sequence and what that may connote of symbolise for the rest of the extract. There was also a great amount of focus of the sound and the non-deirgetic sound and what that may do to the tone and effect the feeling to the whole piece i found this quite an easy thing to do as i am a musician. An example of this would be at the beginning when the music is very eerie and manly played in the minor scale to present it is a very sneaky uneasy tone. However out of all the technical features we looked at today on the Merlin extract i found it specifically hard to analyse the M.E.S because i normally analyse it and by accident describe instead of analysing in a detailed and technical way. But overall it was a bit overwhelming because we had never put all of the technical devices together as one and trying to include and describe them all with out babbling and describing i found was very hard.

I then went home and wrote all that i had found in the analysis in a essay form this i found especially difficult because there was so much to write that i kept on writing to much that had nothing to do with the question. This i need to learn to do and also to stop describing and start to use the correct terminology such as a wide close up or a long shot or a birds eye view. I then also need to use this and describe it in detail and also get the right place where it was shown. I also think that the way i sectioned the piece up wasn't as good as it could of been i could of been able to fit in at least one more section and split up the fight. I could of split it up in to two things post magic and then the use of magic this would of been easier to talk about and it could of also broken up my essay a lot more and of made it flow and of added a sense of continuity.

Media so far

Media so far for me has been a very interesting subject to be learning as i now no how much work goes in to films that i no and love and what actually goes on behind the scene's, with planning the plot, editing it and filming it. I feel i have struggled a little bit in being able to pick up the language and key words of media and understanding certain terms but i feel a lot more confident with them now then when i did at the start of the year. My weaknesses when it comes to writing essays and analysing the text's are getting the meanings of the different semeiotic terms correct and also some of the camera terms as some of them sound and mean similar things. However i am vert strong with sound as i am a music student and can analysis non diegetic sound easily as i no the different tones, scales and instruments and what feeling that it might bring to the surface for the audience watching. I also find the editing terms very hard as well as i tend to mix up the editing terms with the camera terms and start to get confused with the meanings of them. This is mainly because i have never learnt about editing before and this is the first time i am hearing these terms along with the camera and mise en scene. However i have a strength in the mise en scene as i like to analyse the different props they are using how they are dressed and the setting and location. However i think that the more i revise these different terms the more i will get used to using them and when i eventually get to filming and editing myself and i will start to understand the language a lot better. However at this point i haven't just learnt different things through the lessons and my teacher but i have also learnt a lot through my research such as sub genres and hybrids and the meaning of these and also how they can add interest to a film.

My targets to achieve next term would be to revise the semiotic meanings, to revise the camera and editing techniques and skills.
Another target of mine would also be to be able to write in much more detail and make sure that i get all of the films sections in my essay's.

Research: Evaluation of all research mine

This is my evaluation on all of my research overall, how i could improve it, what i have learnt from it and mainly how it can help me and my group overall in making and planning our final piece. Looking at all of my research and other peoples including past students i have realised that not only me but the rest of my group need to include a lot me detail. We also need to add a bit extra some information that we have looked up and found ourselves on the internet or something that we don't understand and want to find out.

Research: Evaluation of all research Imogen

Research: Evaluation of all research Oscar

  This is what I think about Oscar's research i have included what i think of it overall, how i think it can help us while we plan and make. What i have learnt from the research and also how i can maybe use it and how it connects to the research i have collected my self.

Research: Evaluation of all research Bethany

Bethany's Research:

My evaluation on all of Bethany's research, what I have learnt and what i think.

I have also included how i think all of her research could help us in the future when we actually make our video and start our planning.

Research: Past student evaluation

Research: Evaluation of members title sequence analysis

Bethany:

1st Title analysis:

2nd Title analysis:

My evaluation:

Oscar:

1st Title analysis:

2nd Title analysis:

My evaluation:

Imogen:

1st Title analysis:

2nd Title analysis:

My evaluation:

Research: Mark scheme evaluation

66 © OCR 2008
GCE Media Studies – version 2
arking Criteria for the Evaluation
Candidates will evaluate their work electronically. This MUST contain an element of audience
feedback and may be either integrated with the presentation of the research and planning material
or may be presented separately. Where candidates have worked in a group, the evaluation may be
presented individually or collectively but the teacher must allocate a mark according the
contribution/level of understanding demonstrated by the individual candidate.
The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:
• 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? 
• 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?
Ideas for the format for the presentation of the evaluation can be found in the Guidance Notes.
Level 1               0–7 marks 
• There is minimal understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is minimal understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the
production.
• There is minimal understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is minimal understanding of the significance of audience feedback.

© OCR 2008 67
GCE Media Studies – version 2
• There is minimal skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation. 
• There is minimal ability to communicate. 
• There is minimal use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.
Level 2              8–11 marks
• There is basic understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is basic understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the
production.
• There is basic understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is basic understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is basic skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation. 
• There is basic ability to communicate. 
• There is basic use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.
Level 3            12–15 marks
• There is proficient understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is proficient understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the
production.
• There is proficient understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is proficient understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• There is proficient skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is proficient ability to communicate. 
• There is proficient use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.
Level 4           16–20 marks
• There is excellent understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• There is excellent understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the
production.
• There is excellent understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• There is excellent understanding of the significance of audience feedback.

• There is excellent skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• There is excellent ability to communicate. 
• There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.

Research: Mark scheme planning and reaserch

© OCR 2008 65
GCE Media Studies – version 2
Marking Criteria for the presentation of the research and planning
Research and Planning may be presented in electronic format, but can take the form of a folder or
scrapbook at this level. Where candidates have worked as a group, this may be presented
collectively, but teachers are asked to differentiate the contributions of individuals within the group
in arriving at a mark and justifying individual marks on the assessment sheet. As part of the
moderation sample, the moderator will request some research/planning materials.

Level 1         0–7 marks
• There is minimal research into similar products and a potential target audience. 
• There is minimal organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
• There is minimal work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
• Time management may be very poor.
• There is minimal use of appropriate digital technology or ICT in the presentation. 
Level 2         8–11 marks
• There is basic research into similar products and a potential target audience.
• There is basic organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
• There is basic work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
• Time management may not be good. 
• There is basic use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.
Level 3                              12–15 marks
• There is proficient research into similar products and a potential target audience. 
• There is proficient organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
• There is proficient work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
• Time management is good.
• There is proficient use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation.



Level 4                     16–20 marks
• There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience.
• There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props.
• There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding.
• Time management is excellent.
• There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation

Research: Mark scheme video

58 © OCR 2008
GCE Media Studies – version 2
Video
Level 1         0–23 marks
The work for the main task is possibly incomplete. There is minimal evidence in the work of the
creative use of any relevant technical skills such as:
• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.


© OCR 2008 59
GCE Media Studies – version 2
Level 2         24–35 marks
There is evidence of a basic level of ability in the creative use of some of the following technical
skills:
• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set; 
• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.
Level 3         36–47 marks
There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills:
• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.




Level 4         48–60 marks
There is evidence of excellence in the creative use of most of the following technical skills:
• holding a shot steady, where appropriate;
• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate;
• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate;
• shooting material appropriate to the task set;
• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;
• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer;
• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set;
• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;
• using titles appropriately.

need to add video

Research: Basic conventions of a thriller film

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The conventions of a thriller film usually includes the battle of good VS evil, it is an ongoing battle between the protagonist and the antagonist. At the beginning of the narrative there is usually a peaceful setting to create a sense of peace before the storm. The peace is then disturbed by a particular event; at this point the storyline starts to unravel and a series of events then begin engaging the audience. The main aim is for the protagonist is to restore peace and justice where as the antagonist then tries to seek to destroy the peace and then the protagonist. The protagonist normally restores peace and justice and survives the antagonist evil plots. There are four main conventions of a thriller these are: characters, themes, narrative and iconography.

Exam: How to section media

What i learnt this lesson about how to section up a piece of media in an exam situation.

Research: What i have learnt from the title sequences

This video is about what i have learnt from the title sequences of the two films that i studied and did short analysis on.

Exam: Short Analysis of Memento

The opening credits shows the ending scene going in a backward direction this could show how people with memory disorders cant remember events in the way the happen and how they disappear. The way he shacks the photo violently also could signify the violence that is coming next in the film. You can also instantly tell it is of a thriller/action genre by the music that is traditionally played strings and an orchestra. Also the camera stays in a close up position to capture the sense of violence and confusion, which interests the audience immediately. 

Exam: Short Analysis of Psycho

The way all of the names are presented are fragmented which causes a very angular feeling to the movie and a very violent one too.  The font of the lettering is very rounded and bold which makes it stand out another aspect that adds to this is the fact that the lettering is white on a black background. The genre is constructed through the musicality and also the film name ‘psycho’ gives the genre of thriller psychological horror. The music is very upbeat the tempo could show the adrenaline and pace of the movie.

Coursework: Genre

Genre is classifying something and grouping it with others. Genre has to follow a set of conventions (rules) so that the audience can recognise what they are seeing, however genre cant just be the same thing over and over again other wise the audience will get bored and stop going to see those types of films. To stop this from happening the directors of the films had to think of twists and turns, new and interesting ways to show a certain genre. This is how hybrids were made. Genre cycles is what keeps them rotating once on cycle is done another continues, but now we don't just have pure genre cycles we have hybrids. Hybrids are different genre's linked together a example of a famous hybrid would be a romantic comedy or (romcom).

Exam: Binary opposites

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSXiLgvl5CE

The binary oposites that i have picked out in this film are:

• Childhood and adulthood 
• Friendship and rivalry
• Young and old
• Rich and poor

This adds to the contrast in the film, it adds to the comedy that is portrayed and also interests the audience more. Each binary opposition also adds to the narrative of the film.