PRELIMINARY EXERCISES

You create evidence to show that you have understood the language of still images as well as of moving image. 

Save your work to a desktop folder for the moment; we will make our individual blogs later.

Today's lesson is modelled by students from previous years, so check out their Preliminary exercises, as we did in the lesson.

Your document: PRELIMINARY EXERCISES with the following opening sentence, then your evidence of first the stills then the continuity exercise.

I have studied the language of film using Daniel Chandler's The Language of Television and Film

Take a selection of the following still photos.  Read what Prof. Chandler says that they are used for so that you can write a line or two yourself to caption your photo:
LS long shot
MS mid shot
CU close up
BCU or ECU big close up / extreme close up
Low level
High level
Bird's eye view
Canted angle

Your CONTINUITY EXERCISE
This is to show that you have had a chance to practise 'Hollywood editing' or 'continuity editing', that is, putting together a series of clips that delvers a simple narrative.

Suggested shots:
Establishing shot
Tracking shot
Tilt up / tilt down
Pan left / pan right
CU
Focus pull / zoom in
Two shot (shot with two people in it)
Over the shoulder shot
POV (point of view shot)
Shot / reverse shot

In the edit, you will LABEL THE SHOTS
If you wish, add non-diegetic sound (like music or sound effects).

3 CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

Use PIKTOCHART for this presentation to present the response to:
How did your production skills develop over the course?

Your title could be:MY PRODUCTION SKILLS DEVELOPMENT 

The order to approach this is chronological ( = what you did first) so the work flow is Preliminary Exercises, Research, Planning, Construction, then Evaluation. We can at the moment cover part way into Construction (as we have done some filming and perhaps a bit of editing). WE will complete this task later but break the back of it now.

The question asks for specific, detailed evidence of what you have learned how to do, using critical reflection in your expression and creativity in your presentation.

Start with your Preliminary Exercises: what did you set out to achieve and how did you show what you had learned? You have 4 separate topics here: the exercise on camera angles & shot types; the 'on the set' post; the continuity exercise; the 'table top' exercise, which was a proper film opening practice complete with live action filming, editing in titles and credits, and laying down a soundtrack.

• Camerawork (shot types / angles and what they are used to draw attention to, like CUs, ECUs), 
• using equipment (identify it), bubbling the tripod
• lighting exercises
• filming and editing an opening sequence (genre conventions; rostrum shots; adding title; adding credits; selecting soundtrack; adjusting sound levels and adding spot sounds); creating a sense of enigma
• filming and editing a continuity sequence (establishing shot, two-shot, shot-reverse shot, motivated edit, point of view shot); editing to create pace

RESEARCH What did you learn about the importance of researching genre and audience? How did your planning skills develop? Did you collate work using platforms like Piktochart, Scoopit? Did you create an audience questionnaire and then collate the results?

PLANNING Did you use iMovie to hot-seat characters, with scripts prepared for interviews?

CONTRUCTION When cameraman, what techniques did you use and improve?

When editing, what techniques did you use? Did feedback make you look critically at the sequence order and pace of your editing?

What lighting issues did you encounter when filming? Did you learn to learn to adjust levels when editing?

When recording sound, what challenges did you encounter that you had to solve?

Did you make props using PhotoShop for your production?

Did you make videos or sound files to use in your film?

Did you design a Production Company ident? How did you make it and what new skills did you use? You may have used FinalCut, StopMotion, Giffy.

EVALUATION During the reflective process of your Creative Critical Reflections, what new platforms did you use, such as infographics like Piktochart, slide presentations like Slideshare, Visme, Canva?

TV DRAMA: HOUSE

We analyse the opening sequence from an episode for HOUSE .
In particular, we use the exam technique of dealing with all aspects of mise-en-scene first, then camerawork, then sound and editing. This enables links to be made across the whole extract about how meanings are made.

Mise-en-scene

• Follow the TEE exam technique: terminology, specific detailed example, explanation / analysis, as in the example below.
• The hospital setting shows a modern, expensively equipped medical facility with monitors, intravenous drips, hospital gowns. This creates verisimilitude - authenticity - realism
• The difference in dress codes contributes to the representations. House is unshaven, with unbuttoned shirt and scruffy clothes that are not pressed. This reveals how much of a rule-breaker he is, contributing to the persona of a cantankerous, awkward, Vicodin-addicted misfit. 

TV DRAMA: SALVATION

We analyse the opening sequence from SALVATION Episode 1.
In particular, we use the exam technique of dealing with all aspects of mise-en-scene first, then camerawork, then sound and editing. This enables links to be made across the whole extract about how meanings are made.

For mise-en-scene:

• settings (such as the MIT grad student lab, MIT lecture theatre & technology for Darius's lecture, below; the Pentagon interior)
• casting choices (such as Harris's strong jaw, Grace's flawless hair)
• people's clothes & props (such as Liam's bare feet; Jillian's hair; Darius's outfit)
• lighting (gloomy interior of Liam's early morning lab; sharp lighting of lecture that showcases the glamorous imagery; daylight sunshine on the lawns of the privileged MIT campus; interior lighting of secretive Pentagon offices) 

For editing:

• the rapid pace of the cuts as Liam rushes from office to lecture

Camerawork

• Pan around Liam's MIT grad lab
• wide shot of Darius lording it over an adoring MIT audience; wide shot from behind to show how huge the audience is and how engaged they are
• point of view shot on Liam's bare feet as he arrives 
• panting at the lecture
• close ups on Jillian's smiling face as she makes eye contact with Liam

1 CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

HOW DOES YOUR PRODUCTION REPRESENT SOCIAL GROUPS & ISSUES?

This is the second part of Creative Critical Reflection question 1. It is an analysis of REPRESENTATION.

Step 1

Refer to your Scoop.it which is your archive collection of the people and ideas in your production.

Write about what topical issues, debates and events in the news, both historical and recent, you have encountered. They will reflect the concerns of our time, the kinds of issues that interest media audiences like your target audience. 

This might be the time to add to your Scoop.it.

Step 2

What films have been made about these topics? Screenshot and caption them. You may have archived them in your Scoop.it. Update if necessary.

Step 3

How have you represented issues, people and places in YOUR production? 
You will need to screenshot casting and mise-en-scene and decode the representations. 

Define the term STEREOTYPES and state why media use stereotypes. Did you use them?

Refer to Stuart Hall's work on encoding and decoding meaning in media language.
You have already done work on CASTING in which you draw attention to your REPRESENTATIONS.

2 CREATIVE CRITICAL REFLECTION

HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS ENGAGE WITH THE AUDIENCE AND HOW WOULD THEY BE DISTRIBUTED AS REAL MEDIA TEXTS?

HOW DO YOUR PRODUCTS ENGAGE WITH THE AUDIENCE?

You make an audience profile that demonstrates understanding of the fact that all products are targeted at specific audiences. You show that you know the target audience for your film by creating a profile of them. You then show how you engaged them through marketing strategies. You also write about your production itself: the ways in which the film diverts your audience and how the opening creates suspense /enigma, how the people in your film interest your audience, how its genre is signalled, thereby making it easier to understand. When reading this, do you recognise some of the strands of the uses and gratifications model of audience behaviour?

WHAT YOU WRITE

SLIDE 1
TITLE: MY TARGET AUDIENCE
or DEFINING MY TARGET AUDIENCE
or..
I needed to plan how to reach my target audience. Therefore, I needed to know who they are (factors that may be relevant include age, gender, ethnicity, social class), what their media needs are (so that I could produce a product that they will want) and how to reach them (to market my film). I will show how my research has shaped / influenced my planning.
......................................................                 .................................             ..................................................
SLIDE 2
TITLE: HOW BRANDS DEFINE AUDIENCES

I started by investigating how brands define audiences in preparation for creating my own audience profile for my AS Foundation Production. 
For example, I saw how Bauer Media, NME and Sky defined audiences. This helped me profile my audience. ADD YOUR 3 SCREENSHOTS HERE ON THIS SLIDE 
Mine are below; I have emailed you the same but feel free to use your pwn)
................................                         ...........................................................                  ..........................................
SLIDE 3 
TITLE: AUDIENCE THEORY
I have researched various aspects of audience theory, such as whether audiences are considered passive or active, how audiences are defined and segmented, what audiences aspire to and how they use media to gratify their needs. I have considered how the notion of audience is linked to theories about how audiences interpret texts, such as reception theory. I have also looked at current ideas about the notion of audience, such as participatory culture.
ADD YOUR SLIDESHARE ABOUT MEDIA AUDIENCES
...................................              .......................................                 .........................           ...............................
SLIDE 4 
TITLE: MY AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

I devised an audience questionnaire and analysed the results
Your Slideshare goes here
When you have results, they go here BUT you need to get more respondents to you audience questionnaire.

.....................................              .......................................                 .........................           ...............................
SLIDE 5
TITLE: MY AUDIENCE PROFILE
or WHO IS MY TARGET AUDIENCE?
I analysed my questionnaire data and I created an audience profile
Who Is My Target Audience: Action Steps

1. Who is my primary target audience? For example: British, male and female 18-45+ who love thriller films, TV crime drama and psychological thrillers.
2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer? 
3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?
4. What brands do they prefer? (food, clothing, media)

Make your audience profile in PP or in Photoshop 
See examples below on Audience Profiles 

Lewis Harland: audience profile for Out Of Sight 2012

You can easily make an Audience Profile in PowerPoint, like the one below for the year 12 film Fractures which is half finished. It took about 5 minutes.
Remember to use social media visuals as your target audience will use Instagram, FB, Twitter, YouTube for info about films.
WHAT TO WRITE: draw attention to the new ways in which audiences interact with films, such as FB, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube trailers as well as the traditional film website and P&A.

.................................................................                         .........................................           ...............................
SLIDE 6
TITLE: OUR MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES:
According to Matt Smith of Lionsgate, speaking on the FDA site, 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.

As part of distributing my film, I have devised marketing strategies, such as reaching out to my target audiences through a film website, Facebook page, Twitter page, Instagram and P&A (a film poster). 
Here you put your film website, Facebook page, Twitter page, Instagram or P&A (a film poster). Divide up the work. There is no need to create one each: give an account of what YOU individually made first and then copy the others from your production team.
.................... .......
SLIDE 7
TITLE: OUR FILM'S USP

MY FILM'S USP

In addition to profiling my audience, I worked out why they would enjoy our film. 
Ask yourself: Why would they want to watch my film? What makes my film different from competing films ? How will my film appeal to viewing needs of my target audience?

What makes my film stand out from the competition? For example:  Our film is about a war photographer who suffers from post-traumatic stress and kidnaps a child.

Why should my audience watch my film? For example:  Total Film / Empire / Cinema Scope / Slant / Sight and Sound says: Most powerful psychological thriller since Don't Look Now!

This next hint is taken from the Teaching Trailers resource but what it says about a film's USP can apply to film openings, too.

How do Trailers help fill cinemas?
Trailers are part of the marketing campaign and they may use the genre to gain audience interest. However at the same time they must show how the film is different, new and something that hasn't been made before in that particular genre. This is the USP (unique selling point). The USP is the thing that separates each movie and they must convey this within the trailer. 
USP could be: 

• the innovative use of special effects

• an unusual mix of genres

• a popular star

..............    .................            ............

MY RESEARCH INTO HOW BRANDS PROFILE AUDIENCES IS BELOW:

Some brands go further than merely have Twitter feeds: I also discovered how a really big budget can buy cross-platform integration of a film launch with an existing successful product that engages an established successful audience. In this example, Lionsgate's Nerve (2016) was linked to Celebrity Big Brother by Sky Media

"We all know young people are big users of social media, and therefore to truly engage with this audience, the use of a social platform was key within the campaign. Furthermore, reports show that 74% millennials, particularly 14 to 17-year-olds, regularly use smartphones during TV viewing*. A programme was needed to unite the target demographic by driving social media conversations.
Since its launch, Celebrity Big Brother has been the most talked about TV programme on Twitter, topping the Instar Social leader board as Twitter’s most-talked-about TV show during the 29 day series. Offering a strong teen audience on-air and mass social following online, Celebrity Big Brother provided the perfect platform for the ‘Nerve’ film launch."

"The integration of Lionsgate film ‘Nerve’ was a great success for Celebrity Big Brother, demonstrating a seamless brand integration. The high-pressure challenges of ‘Nerve’ the film translated well to challenges for the housemates. They launched the task just 2 days before the opening night of the film and successfully integrated the look and feel of the Nerve brand. This partnership demonstrates that, when executed well, promotional activity in Big Brother can enhance editorial and leverage for brand awareness in show.” 

BELOW IS WHAT WE COVERED EARLIER IN THE WEEK: HOW WOULD THEY BE DISTRIBUTED AS REAL MEDIA TEXTS?

Follow the guidance on the OCR Claremont A2 blog here
See how my students have followed the guidance :Claremont student blogs here and here.

Work your way logically through all the steps of the question. Illustrate points with screenshots: a picture is worth a thousand words!

Update the FDA screenshots. Here is the FDA  website that you used for research.

RESEARCH ON THE FDA WEBSITE

The Role of the distributor is to sell the film to cinemas so that the film can earn a revenue. They do this by:

- Identifying its audience
- Considering why they'd go see the film
- Estimating the revenue
- Persuading exhibitors to play the film to the public (in a cinema)
- Developing plans and partnerships
- Building interest and buzz about the film

- Aiming to convert as much interest as possible into film visits

SLIDE 8 and the following slides (you decide how many & how much can fit onto each one).

TITLE: 

HOW WOULD MY FILM BE DISTRIBUTED AS A REAL MEDIA TEXT?

THE FILM INDUSTRY: CAPTAIN MARVEL

CAPTAIN MARVEL CASE STUDY

Create a case study on Captain Marvel as we did for Legend, Rogue One and Roma.
Below are my notes so far, not yet sorted into answers for the Case Study questions.

Disney launched a massive marketing campaign for Captain Marvel, producing a series of 10 character posters offered close up looks at Carol, Fury and other important characters. Two more posters followed in early February that took a different visual style showing more washed out, rough images of Carol both with and without her mask in place. They also released two teaser trailers on Facebook, Instagram, twitter and YouTube; with the first reaching over 53 million views on YouTube, and the second reaching over 35 million views on YouTube. the footage and dialogue makes it clear that the story will focus not only on outer space battles but also Carol’s search for clues to a past she doesn’t fully remember and answers as to who she really is. 

 

(Next paragraph could be this) As a teen consumer of media products, I typify my age group’s use of social media to be alerted to film publicity and this reflects a trend. As Matt Smith of Lionsgate remarks on the FDA site, there is paid for marketing and there is free publicity: viral marketing is free publicity. Matt Smith tells us that the spend on digital marketing has increased hugely and distributors now cut trailers to work in vertical format for smartphones as well as persuade impatient teens not to click off by prefacing trailers with warnings that something good is about to appear onscreen.

 

Increasingly, younger audiences such as you rely on marketing being fed to us via social media. Pre-release strategy for Avengers Endgame included a drip feed of tweets on Twitter from the end of March, including TV spots, ensemble and individual posters, clips from the film, Twitter emojis, red carpet world premiere live from Marvell Studios direct from LA, front covers of Entertainment Weekly with individual images of the main characters and TV shows. Instagram is even more popular than Twitter (9+ million followers as opposed to Twitter’s 4.8 million). Almost equally attractive for a teen audience like me and my peers can be fan marketing such as the YouTube video of two Dutch fans, comedians who defended the role of a female protagonist for Captain Marvell. It was described as ‘better than Disney marketing’ because it reached so many people thanks to going viral. The comedians really connected with audiences who understood Marvell’s film as a reflection of diversity (women) in the film world

Marvel Studios' landmark movie featuring its first female lead.

A new Captain Marvel fan video breaks down the movement trying to derail the film in what may well be the best piece of marketing the movie has received to date. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDimp1zwcfM

Comedians Kirk Deveyck and Julien Keermelckbrugge released the video on their social media channels as part of their ongoing #MarvelFansUnited campaign. Their viral videos promote upcoming releases and, right now, all their attention is directed to Brie Larson as Carol Danvers.

It just seemed like an interesting party to join in with at an interesting time in their ascendancy,” Law said of joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in an interview last year. “That to me is an interesting playground to work in because suddenly you’ve got filmmakers who are looking at humor and script work and character, within an infrastructure that is obviously capable of creating enormous universes and worlds and special effects — while also not bogging down the creativity of the director.”

Captain Marvel will arrive in theaters on March 8th. Upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Avengers: Endgame on April 26th and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5th.

'Captain Marvel' Featurette Finally Confirms Jude Law's Role

One of the biggest mysteries throughout the production and advertising for Captain Marvel has been the identity of Carol Danvers' Kree mentor, played by Jude Law. It was initially believed, and reported, that he was playing Mar-Vell, but then several toy leaks and packages made it seem as though he'd be playing Yon-Rogg. Through all of the rumors and grumblings online, there had been nothing in the way of confirmation from Marvel Studios. That is, until today.

A new behind-the-scenes featurette has put the issue to rest once and for all; Jude Law is Yon-Rogg, end of story.On Friday, Marvel shared a video that saw the cast and crew of the film talking about the overarching storyline surrounding Captain Marvel: the war between the Kree and the Skrulls. When Law appeared on the screen for the first time in the clip, the lower third beneath him revealed his character's name, Yon-Rogg.

'Captain Marvel' throws back to the '90s with optical illusion posters

TWITTER

Here's the brand new @EW cover for Marvel Studios' #CaptainMarvel⁠ ⁠! Read more: bit.ly/2GRdjkj

I ❤️ 90’s #TBT #CaptainMarvel⁠ ⁠

IMPROVE YOUR BLOG

Over the weekend, your blogs were marked and you have received an email with corrections to make. Please take responsibility for your work. You should email me back with confirmation that you have completed all corrections this week. This needs to be done before you can complete Evaluation q. 4 as your improvements include changing presentational platforms to make better use of technology.

EVALUATION QUESTION 4

Complete with new formats included.

YOUR FILMING & EDITING

This carries the most marks in your coursework and should be going forward both in class and filming in your own time.

SALVATION

US TV DRAMA on Netflix to practise skills in analysing representation.