HOW DID YOU INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGIES IN YOUR PRODUCTION: SOFTWARE, HARDWARE, ONLINE?

By the lesson on WEDNESDAY 7 February, please post the first draft of your response to question 4 of your Creative Critical Reflection. This is what you do:

1. Write down in a list the 4 headings that represent the flow of work: RESEARCH, PLANNING, CONSTRUCTION, EVALUATION
2. Under each heading, write down the technologies that you used. Add a screenshot of your own work AND the hyperllnk to where it appears on your blog.

Below is an example of a previous finished response, plus a link to last year's examples. However, the way that the question is put s slightly different this year, with the emphasis on integrate not just 'use' technology.
By Monday, all you need to do is gather together the raw material, not complete the layout.

As I learned this week that some of you will be away from school in NY, it is particularly important for those people to manage their work efficiently in order to meet the deadline of March 1st. 

TV DRAMA: THE WEST WING

The West Wing (Season 1, Episode 1) is set at The White House, Washington DC. Leo McGarry (John Spencer) heads the staff whose professional and personal lives collide as they scramble to serve President Josian Bartlet (Martin Sheen). A Presidential bicycle mishap provides nothing more than a minor dustup. A Terrorist attack provides nothing less than a global crisis. The US endures because of - even in spite of - what happens in the White House offices called The West Wing. (Look below the picture for the media language that we will be drawing attention to.)

We continue this work on Tuesday next week.(Post Script: as some of you are out at an Art & Photography trip on Monday and others miss the last two days of the week for the New York trip, we will postpone the continuation of this until after half term.)

In class, we noted the following points:

1. The use of tracking shots as Leo musters his staff and gathers information, trouble-shooting as he walks through a series of offices. The effect is to emphasise how he is at the centre of all decisions and is very hands-on. He is briefed by many people and deals with each with easy authority. He is represented as fiercely confident. Secondly, the continuous tracking reflects how pressured and unrelenting the environment is at the centre of power.
2. The use of mid shots such as the way that Josh is framed asleep on his desk draws attention to the fact that working in the West Wing is a demanding job that can never be nine to five. The exhaustion on his sleeping face reflects his unquestioning dedication.
3. Establishing shots such as the opening shot...
4. Two shots such as.... 
5. The mise-en-scene includes many interiors of a variety of crowded, busy offices such as... 
6. Sound is important in this extract as the dialogue builds characters and delivers the narrative, such as dialogue in the form of conversation between....

PLANNING: FRAMING

I have been inspired by films such as Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive (2011) because of its use of framing. 
In the video tutorial Every Frame A Painting, on Drive -The Quadrant System, I learned how narrative complexity is achieved through using the creative use of positioning characters in different quadrants. Here, for instance, attention is focused on Ryan Gosling in the upper top left quadrant but also on Carey Mulligan and her boyfriend whom he is gazing at, in the lower right hand quadrant. We are invited to visually compare the two men and see the long shadow one casts toward the other.
The two sides of the frame tell different stories, which enriches the filmwork.
In my own work, I intend to pay careful attention to composing the frame in the scene.....

(We also learned from F is For Fake today)

DEADLINE FOR PRODUCTION WORK

The deadline for your Production module is Thursday 1st March.
Checklist to remind you is below.
If you want to see what last year's cohort did (and the previous five years) look at good candidates from our school here HERE


PLANNING POSTS:
Be sure to have completed your SHOT LIST
Your STORYBOARD
Evidence of LOCATION RECCES (if you did them)
Collages of PROPS, COSTUMES
Pinterest, ScoopIt or other collage / board on which you collected 'character types' or 'stereotypes'
Sketches
collages of visuals such as practice shoots
Making of props
Accounts of filmwork that has inspired you and that you plan to use yourself (with visual illustration)

CONSTRUCTION:
Your accounts of filming and editing with visual illustration. Aim to be analytical, not descriptive. These are not letters home. 

YOU MUST WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU YOURSELF DID: "I took responsibility for being director / I was the cameraman during this scene." 
You get no marks for acting itself (but may well comment on how you directed the scene in which you also appeared).

• How is meaning made by camerawork (camera angle, camera movement, shot types), by sound, by editing and by mise-en-scène? (mise-en-scène includes location, costume, props, lighting)
• What production skills did you develop during this shoot and edit? Were there challenges (such as relating to sound)?
• What technologies did you use?  
• How are your production companyTwitter, FB posts? 
• Is your IDENT finished?
• Have you written a post that lists the FILM CREDITS that you plan to use, such as the actors' names, film title etc?
• Have you ready the black screen with white script that gives your centre number, your names and numbers? Look at last year's cohort (the link is above).  

YOUR BLOG:

• Have you put your candidate number on your blog next to your name? 
• Is your blog easy to read and do all the technologies open easily for the moderator? Spell checked? Used colour to make key terms pop? Exam work, that is not relevant to the moderator) is on a 'page' at the top, not on the main blogroll?
• Have you always used RESEARCH, PLANNING, CONSTRUCTION to indicate the flow of production?
  

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION: 
You need to use time out of class to complete the above as we need February to devote to the four-part CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION which I will start with you in class.

CONSTRUCTION: FILMING

Ensure that you have ready and with you your call sheet for your shoots so that each group member knows the location, contact details and equipment. As usual, do not put identifying information on the public blog; keep those details for your group's eyes alone.

ROBOTICA

ONE BY ONE

TV DRAMA: BONES

Analyse how representation is created through camerawork, sound, editing and mise-en-scene in Bones Season 2, Episode 1

 

CREATING AN IDENT

WARNER BROS: THE LEGO MOVIE

We look at a case study of a Hollywood conglomerate and one of its most successful products, The Lego Movie (2014). You answer an exam essay question using this case study. Write about 2/3 of a page.
Q3. Evaluate the impact of media ownership on the media texts which get produced

 

VOICE OVERS USING QUICKTIME

FIRST ACTIVITY 
In class today, we learn how to create a video voice over. Use this format for either screen capture, video or for prepared visuals. Pre-prepare your stills OR have ready your video (say, of your recent bit of filming). The following works for Macs.
As practice, pick a film magazine to deconstruct and take 5 minutes to make notes on what you will say.

1. Quiet is essential so use the studio when it is empty (morning break, lunch, Thursday periods 3, 4, 5) so there is no background noise
2. Open Quicktime
3. File > new screen recording 
4. >Internal microphone
5. Click on your video, still photo or your PP
6. To start recording, press the red button (as below) which opens a white button (find this button at the very top right of your screen). Allow a few seconds lead-in time or your recording will be clipped.
7. Save as Quicktime 720 or 1080
8. Upload to YouTube for your blog
9. For PREP, use the skills learned in class to make a polished presentation voice over of your own and upload it to your blog. By next lesson.

SECOND ACTIVITY
Exam practice: we analyse the opening to the pilot episode of the US drama Travelers.

THIRD ACTIVITY 
Exam work: Disney buys Fox
We watch the BBC news presentation and note key terms as well as memorize trends such as disruption. For PREP: re-read this presentation. Master the key points for a test next lesson.
TEST Complete the blanks (copy / paste onto your blog)
1. ................... turned a single Australian newspaper he inherited from his father at the age of 21 into one of the world's largest news and film empires.
2. .................... is buying Fox's film and television studios, as well as its 39% stake in satellite broadcaster Sky.  Fox will form a news-focused company with its remaining assets.
3. ................ said the break-up makes sense amid new threats from online advertising and competitors who are ..........   ............. into homes via the internet. Andrew Neil states that the break-up of Murdoch's dynasty is a testament to the power of the disruptors  (Netflix, Amazon, Google, Apple and their streaming services) so that even Fox, an $80 billion dollar company, cannot withstand the trend. .........knows that even it is not big enough to secure its ambitions to stream entertainment, so it is acquiring the assets of Fox, so that it can combine all its assets, allowing it to go head to head with the boys from silicon valley.
4. For Andrew Neil, this changes the future of the ...... industry: he wonders what chance C4, C5, even ITV will have? How can even the BBC compete when ..........will spend $8 billion on content, twice the BBC's total income.
4. ............. will scoop up Fox's movie and television studios, regional sports network and international holdings, among other investments.   The move adds to ............'s back catalogue high-grossing films such as the original Star Wars movies, the Marvel superhero pictures, Avatar and Deadpool, as well as TV hits such as Modern Family and The Simpsons.  
5. The deal includes FX and National Geographic cable channels, and Fox's regional sports network in the US.The purchase also extends ...............'s global reach, adding media company Star India and Fox's interests in Sky plc and Tata Sky.
6. The new owner will also get majority control of the video streaming service ...., which is also partially owned by Comcast and Time Warner.
7. Why does the new owner want them?.......... already owns a vast array of news, film and leisure companies. But the media landscape is changing as technology companies like ............. and ............ attract customers to new ways of viewing. The new owner is investing heavily in online streaming platforms, as a way to counter a downturn in its pay-TV business and threats from these new rivals.
8. What is Fox keeping?