Wednesday, 25 March 2020

MEDIA REGULATION

Welcome to our 3rd virtual lesson! How did it go yesterday?

I will be keeping to the normal timetable this week, with class and prep tasks.

A short read today, on media regulation: an article to support what we worked on last week. That's all. But you will be continuing with your Creative Critical Evaluation work.

Please read this article here.

 

Tuesday, 24 March 2020

FILM INDUSTRY

Welcome to our 2nd virtual lesson! How are you all doing?

I will be keeping to the normal timetable this week, with class and prep tasks. As usual on Tuesdays, we think about the film industry.

Let's revisit DISTRIBUTION  

  • and also in exam questions like these

    Please read through the distribution 'Page' on our blog.  Take it slowly. When you think that you have a solid understanding, return to the link above on Creative Critical Reflection 2. There are guideline questions, which I have copied below. You should be able to start planning your own presentation. This task will take the equivalent of a double period plus at least the same again for prep. So this is what we will also be doing tomorrow.


    CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION 2: How would you distribute your film opening? 

    • Explain the distributor's role. 
    • Identify an independent UK distributor who would be a good match for your small-budget independent film, giving reasons for your choice, such as their mission statement and other films that they have handled.
    • You could draw attention to the newer ways in which indie producers such as yourselves market their own films such as through social media, launching their work online via their own personal film websites which host all their oeuvre. You could also include reference to film competitions   and film festivals which are vehicles for young film-makers. Look on this page to get relevant info.
    • Sketch out a distribution strategy, being realistic.
    • If you have made a film trailer, film poster, film FB, Twitter or Instagram, here is the place to add them. None of these are required but often high-achieving groups have had fun adding them.

    Take your time and get it right. You will present this in a platform such as Canva, Visme, Slideshare, with visuals. I repeat, this task will take the equivalent of a double period plus at least the same again for prep. So this is what we will also be doing tomorrow.

     

Monday, 23 March 2020

TV DRAMA: PRIMEVAL

Welcome to our first virtual lesson! I will be keeping to the normal timetable this week, with class and prep tasks. As usual on Mondays, we practise the analysis of film language in television drama. 

For PREP continue with your Creative Critical Evaluations. I will look today for all CCR4 responses on your blogs.

To view this extract, open Clickview, go to Media Studies > TV drama clips > Primeval


June 2010: Primeval Series 2, Episode 3 (Directed by Jamie Payne, 2007, Impossible Pictures Limited) 
Extract location: Episode 3 
In point: 26 mins 31 seconds 
Out point: 31 mins 35 seconds

Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract
only.
1   Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations using the following:
  • Camera shots, angles, movement and composition
  • Editing
  • Sound 


Sunday, 15 March 2020

TV DRAMA: DR WHO


June 2009: Doctor Who, Series 3, Volume 4 (Director: Graham Harper and Colin Teague, 2007, BBC) 
Extract location: Episode 3, Chapter 8 
In point: 29 mins 20 seconds 
Out point: 34 mins 26 seconds

Open in CFC Clickview

Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract only. 
1 Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs the representations using the following: 
• Camera shots, angles, movement and composition 
• Editing
 • Sound 
• Mise en scène [50 marks]


Two essays by students:  A – Doctor Who & B -  Doctor Who

Friday, 13 March 2020

CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION 2

HOW WOULD YOUR FILM OPENING ENGAGE WITH AUDIENCES AND HOW WOULD YOU DISTRIBUTE AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

Today we start work on CCR2. It asks two questions, first about 'engagement':
  • audience engagement refers to how the film attracts and addresses audiences, via a number of platforms such as social media (FB, Twitter, Instagram) and film websites; also traditional P&A (posters) and other platforms (preview screenings, interviews and so on).
  • it also asks you to show understanding of your target audience and how you identify them; what research have you done on your audience in particular and audiences in general
  • what is your film's USP that makes it appeal to its audience?
Secondly, about your understanding of 'distribution':

Tuesday, 10 March 2020

FILM REGULATION

CLASSWORK: 

You have studied I, Daniel Blake. How would you relate this case study to an exam question asking for a discussion on "the impact of the increase of digital and online technologies on audiences in the media area you have studied" ?

  • Matt Smith of Lionsgate, speaking on the FDA microsite www.launchingfilms.com, reports that the spend on digital has increased enormously. Audiences expect to see information about film releases online. What is more, distributors now cut their films for phone screens, using portrait rather than landscape. They also make them shorter as attention spans are shorter. Because of this, distributors screening a trailer add an advisory notice at the start telling audiences  not to jump sites (clicking off) as a trailer that's worth watching is coming up. 
  • Film distributors target different audiences in different ways. For instance, to reach the target audience for Ken Loach's I, Daniel Blake, eOne harnessed the news agenda via Trinity Mirror's titles to promote it, generating conversation around socio-political themes and positioning it as a must-see film for audiences that valued social realism. Grassroots marketing included......
  • The film's trailers were slower in pace and used tracking shots that followed the characters so that audiences got a 'real life' feel for the harsh realities of life for the troubled characters caught in the benefits system. The use of natural lighting and close-ups showed the characters' emotions and harnessed audience's sympathy. The trailer included praise by Variety and Time Out, lending it the approval of a trusted source. Social media played a part: its FB page had 70,000 likes and the Twitter page 12,500 followers and the hashtag #wearealldanielblake circulated on the internet. The Twitter page retweeted fan messages and reviews, promoting further engagement and making the film feel more personal.
  • Trailers employ a set of conventions that function as marketing tools. View Ken Loach's Sorry We Missed You trailer here How does the trailer sell the film? Comment on inter titles, accolades, references to the director's oeuvre. The trailer evokes 'real life' through its camerawork, editing and casting

PREP Year 12 Investigate how the 12A classification came about.
Sources: 

History of the Age Ratings Symbols here on the BBFC site

Why have they decided to make this change now?
Most of Europe, the US, Australia and Canada use similar systems - and the BBFC said 70% of the UK public are in favour of this change.
The BBFC said the impetus to make the change came from parents writing to complain their children were being denied entry to films they wanted to see.
The move was not in response to the controversy over Spider-Man in June, when some local councils overruled its decision to make the film a 12, the BBFC said.
Pressure from the film industry to let more paying customers through the turnstiles was also not a contributing factor, it added. BBC News 2002


Spider-Man seizes the under-12s: Censors update film ratings and leave decision up to parents  The Guardian 2002


Wikipedia


  • Classification in the 1930s here 

Impacts and Influences: Media Power in the Twentieth Century, edited by James Curran, Anthony Smith, Pauline Wingate





Monday, 9 March 2020

TV DRAMA: MERLIN


To view this extract, open Clickview, go to Media Studies > TV drama clips > Merlin 


June 2011: Merlin, Series 1, Episode 1 
Extract location: Episode 1 
In point: 20:54 Out point: 25:25


Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract

only.

1   Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations using the following:

  • Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

  • Editing

  • Sound 

  • Mise-en-scène [50]