New KLS Blog for A2 G325 Exam

I'm hoping to put together a clearer blog for the exam preparation following on from our trip to London. So i've taken some stuff from the old blog but put in some new material and links. Here's what i have so far,... however there are still some useful posts on the coursework blog that are worth a read.

http://klsa2mediadepartmentg325.blogspot.co.uk/

2013 Post 24: Evaluation Questions & Tasks

You are being marked on how well you are demonstrating the following criteria in your evaluation.

• understanding of the forms and conventions used in the productions.
• understanding of the role and use of new media in various stages of the production.
• understanding of the combination of main product and ancillary texts.
• understanding of the significance of audience feedback.
• skill in choice of form in which to present the evaluation.
• ability to communicate.
• use of digital technology or ICT in the evaluation.

There are four levels: minimal, basic, proficient and excellent.

The following tasks will help you structure your answers and provide appropriate ICT, communication and presentation variables to aid you in reaching the top grade.

Set up each evaluation question as a separate blog post.



Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• Task 1: Select 16 frames/screen grabs from your finished film and arrange in a grid 4x4 to illustrate your points above. Number them and then write a brief explanation about each using the headings above to help you.
• Task 2: Insert a screen grab of your finished postcard and annotate again illustrating your above thoughts.
• Task 3: Insert an image of your final magazine film review page and annotate again illustrating your above thoughts.

Question 2 - How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
Your outcome to this may vary depending on your skills and the equipment available to you. Here are a few suggestions on how you might present the required information.

1. Create a short video (effectively a DVD extra) discussing, pausing, at appropriate points in your short film to highlight how your ancillary tasks work with your short film.

2. Use a series of screen grabs from your short film alongside the ancillary tasks to illustrate how you have combined the effect of the 3 products and accompany these images with a write statement.

3. Produce an audio recording or flipvideo of your explanations. (See question 3 for advice on how to upload it to your blog.

If you have any other suggestions please discuss them with your teacher first to ensure that they meet the marking criteria and that you are able to complete the tasks by the required deadline.

Additional task – Ask your audience for feedback on the “effectiveness” of the products and quote them in your write up / ICT presentation.


Question 3 - What have you learned from your audience feedback?

• Planning: You will need to ask your target audience as well as classmates and teachers for their feedback on all three of your products. Prepare a few questions to help you direct the conversation to enable you to get useful answers from them.

• Task 1: Record your audience feedback using an audio device or flipvideo and upload onto your blog. (Audio tracks will need to go via www.soundcloud.com and videos via www.Youtube.com)

Note: MAKE sure you do this for your final film as well as a rough cut.

• Task 2: Write your own response / reflections on the feedback you’ve been given directly onto your blog answering the question:

o What have you learned from the feedback?
o You might also consider how did your feedback change the work you were doing?
o What would you change if you could do the project again?


Question 4 - How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

• Planning:

o Research and define the term “new media technologies”.
o Create a list of new media technologies you have used at each stage of production.

• Task 1: Create a montage of images (needs to be a jpeg so either Photoshop or PowerPoint perhaps) to illustrate the new media technologies you have used in the construction of your work. Number each image. Insert final montage onto your blog.

• Task 2: Write a short paragraph on each image saying how you used it and highlighting what you would have needed to do had the technology not been available.

2013 Post 23: Final Products

Insert your final short film, postcard and magazine review page in this post.

2013 Post 22: Post-Production Report

Again blog decisions and revisions made and use screen grabs to illustrate your points.
Record using flip video cameras feedback from people as you recieve it and comment on what you have learnt from the feedback and revisions made as a consquence.

2013 Post 21: Production Report

Keep a written and visual record of the production process in this post. Make sure you comment on decisions and revisions made, skills you developed and how you worked as a team.

2013 Post 20: Ancillary Task 2 - Film Reviews

Your second ancillary task is to create a film review page, not just the article. So your ICT skills might be challenged here. First up, conventions....

Tasks

1. Analyse a number of different film reviews for their conventions and how they might vary depending on the placement of the review.
• Industry Magazine Sight & Sound (although usually doesn't do short films you couls explain this your review as being part of a special section dedicated to short films).
• Newspapers
• The Independent
• The Guardian
• Public Film Magazines Empire or Total Film
• Website
• http://www.filmguru.net/shorts/2008/080601.html
2. Conclude your thoughts on the style and conventions you will employ about your film in your film review.
3. Decide and justify which placement you will use.
4. Draft your layout, annotate to identify how your plans reflect your film.

2013 Post 19: Ancillary Task 1 - Postcards

Following the discussion in class you need to do the following:

Tasks

1. Analyse the conventions of film posters using at least 2 examples, (think Hollywood vs. British with a spin on Independent if you're feeling brave enough!)

2. Discuss why short films might find it hard to market their film using this strategy and introduce the idea of postcards. Refer to the document Mrs Shipp gave out on Short Film Distributed for more detail about how you would get your short film seen. BE DETAILED.

3. A recent invention is the QR Code. Following your discussions in class about this marketing technique discuss how you might use it in your postcard to facilitate audience interest. DOWNLOAD "SCAN" to you iphones and take a look!

4. Analyse postcards - feel free to research your own but Becky's are on "collect work from teachers".

5. Highlight how and where postcards they are used and their conventions.

6. Insert images of your draft designs. (ENSURE YOU HAVE A QR Code)

7. Ensure that you annotate your designs to show conventions you've used or broken away from and discuss how your design plans to fit in with the context of your film.

2013 Post 18: Pre-production Documentation

In this post past all of your groups pre-production documents clearly stating who has contributed what.#

• 
• Script
• Character Profiles
• Storyboard
• Shot list
• Shooting Schedule
• Production Design (Props/costumes/set design/
• Location Recce
• Technical Recce (camera and lighting positions/colours)
• Equipment list
• Cast Details
• ... and anything else i've forgotten!

Explain to the examiner the document and how it will help you with your production.

If you struggle to get work from members of your group create weblinks to their blogs so the examiner can see how it all works together.

2013 Post 17: Job Roles Research

You need to understand the job roles and responsibilities within a film production crew to decide how you will divide up the work amongst your small groups. Your new knowledge will aid you in working together coherently as a team and hopefully aid the success of your production.

Go on to the following website and familiarise yourself with the departments i've short listed. I've work in crews of three to teams of over fifty so i'm not expecting you to know everyones roles but it is important that you understand how the key departments work together.

www.skillset.org/film/jobs/

 Task 1: Research the following job roles/departments

• Direction
• Camera
• Lighting
• Production Sound
• Art Department

Task 2: Write a detailed summary of your findings covering the following questions.

• Who does what?
• What links are there between departments?
• What are the main job roles you as a production group will need to fulfil?
• Devise a plan to spread the work load between 4 team members.
• Highlight any difficulties. 

2013 Post 16: Why make a short film? Who is the target audience?

Task A: Why Make a Short film?

• Read the following 2 Telegraph ArticlesThe long history of short films and Short Films That Launched Big Names Telegraph Article
• Write a short summary of the articles which also reflects your opinion as to why short films are made and why it could be a useful tool for you.

Task B: Who is the target audience for a short film?
You need to discuss:

• The demographic and pyschographic of the short film audience.
• What distribution methods are avalible for short films and how this effects the potential target audience you are aiming for?
• Film Festivals - specialist short film festivals and bigger festivals with short film categories.

Here are a few links to get you started but you will need to search a little more to help you discuss who your target audience might be:

Slide Share Short Film Target Audience
Independent Newspaper article
The Golden Era of Short Film

• Outline who you think the target audiences are for short films, support with examples, internet research and possible useful internet links.

Task C: How are short films distributed?
i) Research: How are short films distributed? The main area for you to research is short film festivals, identify a number of festivals, what categories they have and current/past short films? You can use the booklet I gave you before I left but if you choose this route you'll need to put your synthesis hat on.
ii) Write in your blog about the festivals and discuss some of the films you have watched in your research. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What genres of short films are popular? and, how does this research influence your thoughts on script?
• How long are the films? You have a maximum of 6 minutes so what do you need to think about in writing your scripts?
• How are the films structured? What effect does the film have on the audience? What effect do you want on your audience?

2013 Post 15a: Media Language

Following your lesson with Mrs Mellish on sound design, blog your findings and reference films as examples.

2013 Post 15: Media Language: The Five C's of Cinematography

This is an extract from a really good book, if you go to uni to study media I would suggest reading it.
http://www.christianvideomag.com/cv2009_11/cv2009_11sredwine.pdf

• Review this article and write up a short summary & how it affects/links in with your planned film.

2013 Post 14: Research Short Films and their use of lighting.

Complete a detailed textual analysis of 3 short films looking at their use of lighting. Make sure you pick films with something to discuss! You may find it useful to select films from the same website as Post 7 but show variety in your selection.

(DO NOT use the same films as in post 7.)

2013 Post 13: Media Language - Lighting 3 (Source & Colour)

Following the lesson you should now have an understanding of "source" and "colour" the remaining two features of lighting. In this post you need to demonstrate your understanding by up loading and explaining your notes and video clips from the lesson and undertake an independent experiment to demonstrate colour.

I am not going to prescribe exactly what you do for the post as I want you to develop more independence in your blogs but I will once again remind you that you can't get an A or B grade if you don't enbrace ICT.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing what you produce.

2013 Media Language - Lighting 3.1 (Source & Colour)

2013 Media Language - Lighting 3 (Source & Colour)

So this workshop is all about "source" and "colour", the remaining two features of lighting, as described by Bordwell & Thompson in their book Film Art.

"Lighting can be characterised by its source. In making a documentary, the filmmaker may be obliged to shoot with the light available in the actual surroundings. Most fictional films, however, use extra light sources to obtain greater control of the image's look. In most fictional films, the table lamp and street lights you see in the mise-en-scene are not the principle source of illumination for the filming. Such visual sources of light, however, will serve to motivate the lighting decisions made in production. The film maker will usually strive to create a lighting design that is consistent with the source in the setting."

We start by making the assumption, depending on your lighting style, that any subject normally requires two light sources: a key light and a fill light. We've been over these before at AS so I'm hoping that much of this is familiar but as a reminder:

A key light provides the dominant illumination and normally casts the strongest shadows.

A fill light provides a less intense illumination which "fills in" and softens the shadows.

Classical Hollywood film making developed the custom of using three-point lighting, which we've also discussed before, but this needs to be used with care as lights may need to be moved depending on the position of the camera but continuity of lighting must be maintained.

And finally "colour"..... we tend to think of lighting as limited to two colours - white for sunlight and yellow for artificial lamps but in practice it is a bit more complicated than that. Have a look at this link to http://www.mediacollege.com/ for more information.

Colour Temperature Chart

So, depending on your light source you may well be mixing different colours of light which can have aesthetic qualities you'd like to avoid. But on the other hand carefully choreographed positioning of lighting can also be part of your style!

Other useful websites:
primary-film-focus
cinematographynut

2013 Post 12: Media Language Lighting 2 (Quality & Direction)

So this post is where you illustrate your understanding of two of the major features of lighting "quality" and "direction". You should be starting to show some independence in the way that you present your blog so I've detailed below the minimum I want to see on the post:

the previous post outlines an experiment for you to carry out so that you illustrate your understanding of "quality" and "direction" this is where you record your findings.

• Explanation of your experiment - what you did.
• Equipment & Set -up
• Predictions
• Factor/s to change
• Factor/s to measure
• What will stay the same?
• Video of your results.
• Group conclusion
• Illustrate - what you video shows (you may need time codes to help the examiner).
• Strengths of the experiment.
• Areas for improvement or consideration during your filming.
• How will what you've learnt reflect in your groups film?

REPEAT the above for the other experiment to ensure you cover both "quality" and "direction".

Remember your blog needs to be visual and ICT level 4 so be inventive - there is nothing stopping you doing an audio commentary!

2013 Media Language - Lighting 2.1 Quality and Direction Experiment

“Quality” Experiment

Introduction

Quality is about the intensity of the illumination. There are generally two ways of describing the quality of light “hard” and “soft” although most situations fall between the two.

Definitions

“Hard” – direct light creating bold shadows, crisp textures and edges.

“Soft” – Indirect or diffused which blurs contours and textures, softer contrast between light and shade.

“Flag” – A piece of flat wood, cardboard or other material used to shield the camera lens from unwanted light sources.

Hypothesis (What do you want to find out?)

How can you manipulate your lighting set up to achieve variations on “quality” within your lighting designs?

1)       Allocate roles to each person within the group:

·          Director – Coordinates the group to achieve the experiment.

·          Camera – Set up and position the camera, and record evidence.

·          Clapper – Writes “boards” to notify the audience what they are watching. Also helps Recorder.

·          Recorder – Notes down the experiments variables and monitors decisions and revisions made.

·          Gaffer – Positioning of light and equipment.

·          Character in the scene.

2)       Rig and examine the equipment you have been given, (positioning of equipment must be noted/sketched by “recorder”.

List of equipment you have been supplied with:

o        Mini DV Camera

o        Tripod

o        Batteries

o        Base plate

o        Tape

o        Laminated whiteboards & marker pens

o        1 x Lowel Pro 250W lamp

o        1 x stand

o        Chimera & diffusion attachments.

o        Speed ring.

o        Black card

o        Black sugar paper

o        Scissors

o        Safety gloves

o        Extension lead.

3)   As a group review the pictures provided and have a short discussion identifying the concept of “quality” of light within them.

4)   As a group, and written down by the Recorder, make your predictions on what the equipment will do to the quality of the light.

5)   Identify the factors that need to change.

6)   Identify how you will record the effects while remaining safe.

7)   Identify what will stay the same.

8)   GO FOR IT….

“Direction” Experiment

Introduction

Every light has a point where it is brightest, and a point to which it wanders to lose itself completely.

Consider the directions that the light can come from: Front; Side; Back; Under; Top. And how you can bounce light off of different surfaces.

Hypothesis (What do you want to find out?)

How can you manipulate your lighting set up to achieve variations on “direction” within your lighting designs?

1)       Allocate roles to each person within the group:

·          Director – Coordinates the group to achieve the experiment.

·          Camera – Set up and position the camera, and record evidence.

·          Clapper – Writes “boards” to notify the audience what they are watching. Also helps Recorder.

·          Recorder – Notes down the experiments variables and monitors decisions and revisions made.

·          Gaffer – Positioning of light and equipment.

2)       Rig and examine the equipment you have been given, (positioning of equipment must be noted/sketched by “recorder”.

List of equipment you have been supplied with:

o        Mini DV Camera

o        Tripod

o        Batteries

o        Base plate

o        Tape

o        Laminated whiteboards & marker pens

o        1 x Lowel Pro 250W lamp

o        1 x stand

o        Extension Lead

o        Barn Doors

o        Torch

o        Candle plus bucket of water, plate, matches / lighter.

o        Black wrap and crock clips

o        White material & tin foil

o        Safety gloves

3)       As a group review the pictures provided and have a short discussion identifying the concept of “direction” of light within them.

4)       As a group, and written down by the Recorder make your predictions on what the equipment will do to the quality of the light.

5)       Identify the factors that need to change.

6)       Identify how will you measure and record the effects while remaining safe.

7)       Identify what will stay the same.

8)       GO FOR IT….



2013 Media Language - Lighting 2 (Quality & Direction)

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Intertextuality Definition
"Intertextuality is the shaping of texts' meanings by other texts. It can refer to an author’s borrowing and transformation of a prior text or to a reader’s referencing of one text in reading another." Wikipedia

"Postmodern texts deliberately play with meaning. They are designed to be read by a literate (ie experienced in other texts) audience and will exhibit many traits of intertextuality. Many texts openly acknowledge that, given the diversity in today's audiences, they can have no preferred reading (check out your Reception Theory) and present a whole range of oppositional readings simultaneously. Many of the sophisticated visual puns used by advertising can be described as postmodern. Postmodern texts will employ a range of referential techniques such as bricolage, and will use images and ideas in a way that is entirely alien to their original function (eg using footage of Nazi war crimes in a pop video)." http://www.mediaknowall.com/


"Postmodernism - What's that then?"

"A currently popular (I hesitate to say fashionable although intellectuals do have fashions) intellectual concept. It is used as a way of grouping and describing the styles of thought and culture attracting most critical attention during the final few decades of the twentieth century. It is sometimes affectionately referred to as 'pomo' by people with beards. 'Postmodernist thought' has caused a revolution across all academic disciplines, from Physics to English via Geography. Postmodernism offers a different way of both constructing and deconstructing ideas." http://www.mediaknowall.com/