TV DRAMA: SELFLESS

On Mondays, we work on Section A of the exam, television drama.

Section A: Textual analysis and representation (50 marks) Candidates answer one question based on an unseen moving image extract.

1 Analyse how the extract from SELF/LESS constructs meaning, including the specific representations of individuals/groups/events/places, through the following technical elements:

•• camera shots, angles, movement and composition

•• sound

•• mise-en-scène

•• editing.

MARKING SCHEME

Use of terminology: 10 marks …………………………/10

Use of supporting examples: 20 marks………………/20

Explanation / argument / analysis: 20 marks……….../20

Total /50

TEXTUAL ANALYSIS: THE POST

Today we analyse representations in the trailer for The Post which you will continue for PREP

• gender  especially in relation to power
• age
• a period in history
• the newspaper industry
• government power

PREP is to take either of these extracts and write roughly a page analysing aspects of how the following create representations of people, places and issues through

• mise-en-scène
• camerawork
• sound
• editing

I suggest that you deal with all these elements as you tackle each scene.

Use the T, E, EAA approach: terminology, example, explain / analyse / argue

How do these representations compare with those in Can You Ever Forgive Me? 

• gender
• middle age
• the world of literature
• wealth and poverty

RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE

Explore the title sequences. Notice the text below the video clip, as it often offers you valuable insight into the title design. 

You will be analysing three of these title sequences. Aim to select ones that relate in some way to the type of production which you are interested in making yourself. This may be because of the genre or because of sound, editing, camerawork or another aspect. When you write about it, it is good practice to relate your research (the AoT analysis) to the outcome (what you hope to make, how it inspired you).

You will make this in PowerPoint which we will later present as a Slideshare (PP uploads to Slideshare).

ART OF THE TITLE
Several slides:

• First slide has the screenshot from  Art of The Title

• Introduction : the overview with your first impressions, such as how genre / period is signalled

• Narrative: characters and plot - how is the audience drawn in?

• Mise-en-scene

• Credits

• Editing / pace / transitions

• Sound 

PREP: One by next Monday, please. You can use the class blog and those of previous students for guidance.
What to pick? 

1. Try Gone Girl or Boardwalk Empire or Nerve
2. Mindhunter is a good choice.

Title sequences analysed by the class for this task:

1. I Am The Night "Creative agency Elastic plays with the themes of darkness and light in this main-title sequence for TNT’s limited series, I Am the Night, directed by Wonder Woman‘s Patty Jenkins and starring Chris Pine...Retro LA noir". Almost monochrome, the title sequence builds through several visual codes hinting at stalking and murder, such as a shadowy figure slowly descending a flight of dark steps towards a schoolgirl whose body is first objectified through its headless framing then depicted as prostrate.
2. Stranger Things: "The show’s main titles function as a tribute to some of the era’s most iconic book covers and title sequences, a pastiche of first impressions. Paired with a synthy title track straight out of a Carpenter flick, the Stranger Things sequence echoes the openings of genre classics like Altered States and The Dead Zone both in form and tone. Large, hollow type drifts through a void, slowly assembling, its glowing red edges cutting through the darkness as smaller credits fade in and out. The primary typeface is Benguiat, carefully chosen for its deep associations with early ’80s Stephen King paperbacks, the Choose Your Own Adventure series, and other dusty, musty touchstones.The Stranger Things opening is not only a fitting successor to a revered title design tradition, but a testament to the power of type in motion and the enormous potency of nostalgia...The disjointed type getting set along with the music imbues it with this real sense of unease."
3. The Terror "A figure floating in an abyss. Faces that dissolve. The eerie black-and-white title sequence of AMC’s The Terror, about a Victorian-era Arctic expedition stalked by supernatural forces, will make you excited about being scared. Elastic’s Patrick Clair and Raoul Marks use black and white to stark effect in these chilling main titles. As sun dogs turn to auroras, the ships — HMS Erebus and HMS Terror — are frozen in place, the crew bound in snow and darkness for the endless winter, driven to madness and worse. One by one the crew fades from view, those who remain setting off into a white wasteland and an unknown fate. You FEEL the cold seeping out of your screen, not just via the condensation breath of each sailor, but the general texture and saturation of every scene."
4. Mindhunter : "The intro to Mindhunter is a sparse, minimalist minute-and-a-half of film, exclusively focusing on a pair of disembodied hands as they set up a tape recorder. This footage is then interspersed with exceedingly brief snippets of other pieces of footage. In execution, Fincher’s intro is dementedly and tangibly disquieting. From a craft standpoint, Fincher consistently makes choices to completely disarm the viewer. The perfectly-staged, sterile close-ups of the tape recording equipment are quickly and violently cut into by intrusive close-ups of mutilated corpses and murder victims. Here, Fincher is only further mutilating the corpses through his own edit, framing individual pieces of the body, cutting them off through the lines of the frame in an increasingly sporadic and off-kilter rhythmic sequence. To make matters even more affecting, each quick cut-in of the corpse shots are heightened through the use of quick push-ins. The end result of all of this is an almost subliminal effect; even though the shots of the corpses may be cutting in and out so quickly that your brain doesn’t necessarily register all of the information, your eye does. It creates a conflict within your own mind, if you will, which is why it’s so hard to pinpoint exactly what it is about the intro that’s so hair-raising until you go through it frame-by-frame and realize exactly what it is you’ve been watching. The footage of someone carefully and methodically setting up the tape recorder is spliced with gruesome footage that is a result of the exact same kind of careful planning and methodic action." Source: Will Jones 2019
5. American Horror Story: Asylum Part of a popular horror series, each opening sequence features visual imagery that references scenes in other sequels. In this example, dozens of gruesome actions inspire terror, and all are common horror tropes such as blood and gore, dead bodies and acts of violence. The Rennie Mackintosh font is used across the whole series.
   
6. Split "It’s driven by three simple ingredients: a black screen, white typography, and the typeface Helvetica. Title sequences that focus exclusively on typography are rare, particularly in the current context of CGI-heavy work. Designed by Creative Director Aaron Becker and a small team at LA-based studio Filmograph, the opening sees each on-screen credit sliced up, segmented into a 24-frame grid and layered. The personalities of the main character are revealed, each square in the 24-frame grid repeating the crawl and echoing his many identities. The sequences are stark, chilling, and innovative."

RESEARCH: TOPLINE & BIG QUESTION

I learned  from Frank Ash, creative consultant with the BBC Academy, about what he call 'digital storytelling' : how to connect to an audience by creating a relevant story and how to leave them with a sense of anticipation and suspense.

When I start to plan my own Foundation Production, I will be devising a top line (one 'elegant sentence' that sums up the film opening treatment) and deciding on the big question (what happens next?).

Frank Ash has given me guidelines to plan my film opening. I turned what I learned into a comic using ComicLife (below).

CREATING YOUR BLOG

Today you create your individual blogs on Blogger

• 'Simple' template
• Your blog title (first name, surname initial + candidate number)
• customise width of main blog and sidebar
• customise background image of blog
• customise background image of header
• post a test post
• email me your blog url

FILM INDUSTRY: SYNERGY

On Tuesdays, we work on Section B of the exam, the film industry.

We continue looking at Hollywood  and 'the Big Six' who, according to Dalecki are characterised by the 4S megafranchise model (sequel, story, spectacle, synergy).

Synergy Distributors target audiences via an interconnected web of companies which all promote the film as a package of products, through horizontal integration. This is synergy (we will give as many details as possible from our Disney / Warner case studies).

1. The chart below (2015) illustrates why Disney is a good example of synergy and horizontal distribution. Recent Disney developments should be added, such as Disney+

Article by Julia Greenberg in Wired (2015)

2. We look at a Disney marketing case study: The Force Is Strong With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' Marketing - open the link. Once we are familiar with the marketing of the film, we can complete a case study form, so I have put the questions below.

3. On our class blog, there are 3 completed case study forms, including one on Disney. 

Our second case study film is: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) dir. G. Edwards

Completing the forms makes a useful learning and revision exercise.

Below are the questions that you can use to make a complete case study such as the ones that we have done:

•   Who produced the film?

• Who owns this production company and what other films have they produced? 

• Who directed the film? What other films have they directed? 

• What was the budget? What did it take at the box office?

• Who stars in it? 

• What technology has been used to make the film? (What cameras did they use? How was the film edited? What CGI was involved?) 

 • What examples of synergy can you find?

• What examples of technological convergence can you find? 

• Where and when was ROGUE ONE released (nationwide, worldwide) and in what cinemas?

• What formats was it available in (digital / 3D etc…)? 

• Who is the target audience?

TV DRAMA: FARGO

On Mondays, we work on Section A of the exam, television drama.

Section A: Textual analysis and representation (50 marks) Candidates answer one question based on an unseen moving image extract.

1 Analyse how the extract from Fargo: The Crocodile's Dilemma constructs meaning, including the specific representations of individuals/groups/events/places, through the following technical elements:

•• camera shots, angles, movement and composition

•• sound

•• mise-en-scène

•• editing.

MARKING SCHEME

Use of terminology: 10 marks …………………………/10

Use of supporting examples: 20 marks………………/20

Explanation / argument / analysis: 20 marks……….../20

Total /50

THE FILM INDUSTRY: DISTRIBUTION

Film distributors are the link between the film's producers and the film's audience.
We explore the FDA (Film Distributors) site www.launchingfilms.com with a presentation by Matt Smith. He stresses the need to know your audience and what it wants, how to attract and address an audience, and the importance attached to digital methods in publicising and marketing films.

We learn from Frank Ash on how to define the 'Top line' (summary of the film in a sentence) and the 'Big Question' (what leaves the audience curious for the next step).

 FutureLearn offers many excellent online courses on the Film Industry, such as this one.
You can subscribe at no cost.

Screening Immortal Beloved Claremont Media YouTube

• What makes a successful film opening? Genre conventions: signalling the genre clearly to the audience, creating enigma, looking authentic, use of voiceover in narrative, casting, titles

Award-winning film openings are found on Art of the Title which screens the openings and provides a wealth of analysis, interviews and background to title sequences.
We look at several title sequences.

PREP Art of the Title Pick one that reflects the genre that you are interested in making.
Screenshot the image provided and then analyse how the title sequence works. In class, I show you examples from previous students. This research counts towards your Foundation Production. Email me by Monday 16 September

TV DRAMA: ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

On Mondays, we work on Section A of the exam, television drama.

This week's practice exam question is based on an extract from Orange Is The New Black (2011, season 1, episode 1). It is an award-winning drama.
It is based on a memoir of a woman's experiences in prison. The series received critical acclaim and many awards and nominations including 12 Emmy nominations.

In point: 32.50 "Seriously, shut it off!"

Background: Sentenced to 15 months for a crime committed 10 years earlier, Piper Chapman leaves her supportive boyfriend Larry for her new home: a women's prison. She grapples with the racial dynamics of prison life and learns some of the rules.

Extract: "I wasn't Ready" 
In point: 32.50 "Seriously, shut it off!"
Piper Chapman is on the beach with her boyfriend Larry shortly before she is taken to Lichfield Penitentiary in the prison van along with other new inmates. She travels with Marollo and Watson. 
Out point: "I wasn't ready"

Question: complete by Friday 21 September

1 Analyse how the extract from Selfless constructs meaning, including the specific 

representations of individuals/groups/events/places, through the following technical elements:

•• camera shots, angles, movement and composition

•• sound

•• mise-en-scène

•• editing.

MARKING SCHEME

Use of terminology: 10 marks …………………………../10

Use of supporting examples: 20 marks………………/20

Explanation / argument / analysis: 20 marks……….../20

Total /50

Out point: "I wasn't ready."