TV DRAMA: DOWNTON ABBEY

 Downton Abbey extract here

Our exam question will be simpler: it will just ask about how representations are created, not mention any particular focus (like class and status).

THE BUSINESS OF FILM

Today we focus on the 'business of film' and the value chain. FutureLearn offers many useful courses, such as this one, from which I report back to you.

ON THE SET

Brief account of learning to use the cameras and tripods, what filming terminology to use on set and good practice in editing

This account is about what I learnt and what equipment we were shown when we were shown how to use the Canon cameras and Manfrotto tripods. 

Cameras and tripods. In groups we passed the camera around and each of us practised how to handle the camera, insert the battery and memory card. When you pass the cameras around you should say 'yours' and 'mine' to avoid the risk of dropping it.  We learned how to set up a tripod and to 'bubble' it using the spirit level to help make the camera balanced and in focus. We explored the camera such as how to focus.  The exposure on the camera is adjusted by moving the dial up and down. 

White balance (WB) is the process of removing unrealistic colour casts, so that objects which appear white in person are rendered white in the photo. Proper camera white balance has to take into account the "colour temperature" of a light source, which refers to the relative warmth or coolness of white light. You adjust it by selecting the ‘WB’ on the camera, it will then come up with little pictures representing difference colour tones that are used in different lights which will give a more realistic effect.

180-degree rule. We learned about the 180 degree rule.  The 180-degree rule is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another. When the camera passes over the invisible axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line and the shot becomes what is called a reverse angle.

On set We then learnt the terminology used in the film industry on set. The director shouts 'Standby' before filming to ensure that everyone is ready and when they are, they reply 'Standing by.'

When the director shouts ‘rolling’, everyone on set must be quiet, then he /she shouts ‘action’ which tell the actors to start. After the shoot, the director has said the last ‘cut’, he / she will say ‘strike the kit’ which is the film crew's cue to pack away, put the batteries on charge and ensure that the footage is uploaded. 

Good practice in editing. We are using Final Cut Pro and iMovie on the iMacs in the media studio. When uploading our footage, we should create a folder to keep the shots. These folders are called bins and the unedited footage from cameras are called rushes.

CONTINUITY EXERCISE

 Aim: storyboard and film a brief conversation / confrontation between  two parties:

• draw and photograph the storyboard.
• establishing shot (= where the action takes place, to 'establish' it for the audience
• mid shot of character A already in place
• character B arrives, making a two-shot (a shot with two characters)
• a series of shot-reverse shots delivers the dialogue (over the shoulder shots that will be edited together in order)
• another two-shot
• bring the narrative to a close in any way that fits
• post the storyboard in a post entitled CONTINUITY EXERCISE
• edit and upload the shots.

Student examples - click to open:

Patient diagnosis

Antiques Road Show

The Date

The Big Shot Interview

I've Been Expecting You, Daddy

The China Town Case

Toast

TV DRAMA: COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAIN

 PREP How is representation constructed in this episode? Be selective and write only one A4 side on this occasion. I have posted the full exam question below.

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]

Extract : Coming Down The Mountain Extract goes from start to 4.58 only.
June 2012 Coming Down the Mountain, Julie Anne Robinson, BBC, 2007 
In point: 19 seconds (Opening of drama after fade out from black) 
Out point: 5 minutes 17 seconds (“I had to get some space” – end sequence before scene changes from bus to party)

Coming Down The Mountain, for BBC One, is the first TV drama written by the award-winning novelist Mark Haddon (The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time), and bears his distinctive and powerful simplicity of style.

This original and poignant 90-minute film looks at the unusual relationship between two teenage brothers. The film sees through the eyes of a typical teenage boy, with a very colourful interior life.

"We're just an accident. A load of mixed-up chemicals. Change the recipe and we'd be really big potatoes with eye-tentacles... Of course, sometimes they do change the recipe and you get a brother who really is a big potato with eye-tentacles. And then you might as well talk to the dog..."

Teenager David (Nicholas Hoult - Skins, About A Boy) falls in love for the first time and life couldn't be better. The only fly in the ointment is his 17-year-old brother, Ben (Tommy Jessop), who has Down's Syndrome. The family's world revolves around Ben's needs while David's are unwittingly neglected by their parents (Neil Dudgeon - Sorted, The Street - and Julia Ford - All About George, In A Land Of Plenty).

They decide to move the family from London to "the back of beyond" for the sake of Ben's education. David loses love, friends and his school. His antipathy to Ben grows and grows to the point where he decides to push him off a mountain and get rid of him once and for all. The drama takes the two boys on a journey to the dangerous and strange wilderness of Snowdonia.

Mark Haddon says: "I began writing Coming Down The Mountain with the idea of creating a meaty role for a young actor with Down's Syndrome. It ended up as a film about the stuff of every teenager's life - love, sex, friends, school, depression, anxiety, parents, parties, siblings, mountains, murder, ice-cream, Darth Vader, nipple-rings."

Establishing shot of boys' shared room

David tries to distance himself but is always tied to Ben by duty

David vocalises his resentment forcefully

The three-shot shows that he is protective to his vulnerable brother despite his resentments.

http://mediachs.edublogs.org/files/2012/05/rjtvdrama-240wy1g.pdf

FDA YEARBOOK 2020

The Film Distributors' Association publishes an annual yearbook which reports on the state of the film industry. 

Here is the 2020 Yearbook which they publish digitally on their website www.launchingfilms.com





Who are the FDA? We learn about the vital role that they play in the film industry using their presentations. We learn the vocabulary of distribution and discuss recent issues relating to the film industry such as this week's Academy decisions about representation and inclusivity, and why Disney's Mulan is under fire.


Our target is to study INTRODUCTION, The DISTRIBUTOR, WHAT? WHO? during class time and complete the online form on the WHO? page, making a screenshot of what how we filled it in.

HOW TO ANALYSE FILM LANGUAGE

 From The AL Media Theory website and book, by Mark Dixon

FILM OPENING CODES & CONVENTIONS

A presentation that sums up what you have learnt about the usual features to be found in the opening sequence of a film.

You can make this in PowerPoint, upload it to SlideShare then post it on your blog.

https://www.slideshare.net/jennymann/title-sequence-codes-and-conventions

FILM OPENING CODES and CONVENTIONS

Title sequence codes and conventions from jennymann

TV DRAMA

Starter activity: What's happened in the world of media?

Before we start analysing TV drama, look back at your analyses of film openings. What are the genre conventions? Does TV drama and traditional film have different conventions?

On Wednesdays (starts 8.35 ends 10.05 ), 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. On Netflix, please fast forward to the correct in point.

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"

Exam Question below: we start practising exam technique in class, following the T, E, EAA structure. We look at several marked student examples to see how they did it.

1 Analyse how the extract from Orange Is The New Black 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

OUR WEEK

 Wednesday 1 and 2 starts 8.35 ends 10.05     TV DRAMA

Thursday 6 and 7 starts 2.10 ends 3.45            FOUNDATION PRODUCTION

Friday 4 and 5 starts 11.20 ends 12.55             FILM INDUSTRY

We aim to spend roughly half our class time on coursework and exam preparation

• Component 1 Foundation Production (research, planning, construction and evaluation) 
• Component 2 Key Media Concepts (TV drama and the film industry)

Today we will have an introductory lesson with some time looking at the film industry.

One of our case studies is Captain Marvell; see how it is marketed and what is meant by 'convergent links'

We screen the new James Bond trailer No Time To Die   

What are the different elements of a trailer and how does it attract and address audiences?

Film language and its terminology.