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."

THE FILM INDUSTRY

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

In today's lesson, we launch our preparation for Section B of our year 12 exam. This exam question will be an essay-based question on the film industry (one hour).

We look at Hollywood  and 'the Big Six' who, according to Dalecki are characterised by the 4S megafranchise model: 

• The 'big 6' Hollywood studios chase mass mainstream audiences often with formulaic films that Dalecki called 'the 4S megafranchise model' (sequalization, story, spectacle, synergy). 
• To explain this model: Hollywood is renowned for producing blockbusters with strong narratives, often part of a sequel, usually with larger than life characters, using exciting, spectacular, complex sets often in exotic or extravagant locations.
• Sequalization You look up Box Office Mojo and see for yourself how many of the current box office successes are sequels. Sequels often command a loyal, ready-made audience, although some brands aim to expand their traditional audiences. Captain Marvell (directed by Boden and Fleck, 2019) starred Brie Larsen as the first female captain Marvell, to address female audiences.
• Story Notice that this kind of film tends to prioritise story over character development
• Spectacle Exotic locations, expensive sets, elaborate post production (VFX), motion capture - these are all examples of 'spectacle'
• 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).

By contrast, we look at the UK film industry which tends to offer different genres of film, such as films with social issues, literary adaptations and historical films. We will take Working Title films as a case study, with films such as  The Theory of Everything.

• Today, we view two trailers: I, Daniel Blake (director Ken Loach). The genre is social realism. It features a particularly British subject matter, but was lauded at the Cannes Film Festival. You can see from the opening of the trailer that it was lottery-funded through the BFI.

• Next, we screen an example of spectacle 

  QuickSilver Scene "Kitchen" - X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

• What examples of British film can you offer? What counts as a 'British film'? The Imitation Game 
• Working Title productions capitalize successfully on a particular vision of Britain that is readily marketable internationally, such as literary adaptations (Tinker Tailor), period drama/ history (Mary Queen Of Scots 2014) , romcom (About Time), humour (Jonny English and World's End), characters (Legend, Rush) . Bridget Jones's Baby (2014) illustrates how WT uses Hollywood model of sequels, unsurprising as its parent company is Universal.

Our aim is to cover all aspects of the CIE specification for Section B:

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.