Final Evaluation

Final Vlog

This is our final vlog, whilst having so much fun, we have worked so hard throughout this course!

Vlog about evaluation

Filming and Evaluation Outtakes

Here are our final outtakes, we had a lot of fun making these and you can see the amount of time we  put into our final film opening and evaluation.

Evaluation Written

Me and Megan have finally finished writing out our evaluation, which will be filmed in next couple of weeks. We individually written our corresponding questions to which we alternate until question 6 and 7 which will be answered together in that those questions relate to both of us, showing how we worked together and our progress as partners.

Disability Presentation

Representation of Disability on Prezi

Helpful Powerpoint

I found this powerpoint whilst researching for the question 'Discuss issues raised by media ownership in the production and exchange of media texts in your chosen media area'. I found it very useful.

Issues Raised By Media Ownership

View more PowerPoint from robertclackmedia

Labels

Finally finished putting all the labels on my posts, making it easier to access the posts wanted without having to scroll down for ages.

Vlog about evaluation

Evaluation preparation

It has been decided that me and Megan will do our evaluation together due to her being in my group, which if we were to do an evaluation with the whole group then there wouldn't be an equal amount of answering and there wouldn't be much order. With just the two of us we can ask each other the questions and have varied answers whilst maintaining sophistication by adding simple but effective editing by inserting clips evenly.

Final draft

Here is our final draft of our opening... I thought I'd never see the day!

Disability and Media

Disability and Media on Prezi

Certificate change from 12 to 15

This vlog explains why we have changed the certificate from 12 to 15.

TV and Disability

After talking about disability and the way it is portrayed in the media, this programme was on last night highlighting the sterotypes of disability and the effect it has caused.

Splitting screen on imovie

This is really helpful as when we do our evaluations we can show clips of our opening whilst talking about specific features.



This is an example of someone who used the idea of splitting the screen for their evaluation.

Film opening draft 6

Evaluation questions

1. In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

2. How does your film opening represent particular social groups?

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your film opening and why?

4. Who would be the audience for your film opening?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this film opening?

7. Looking back at your prelim task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the final film opening?

First thoughts on completing the evaluation is obviously through a vlog, which I will be able to then insert clips from our film opening using iMovie or final cut pro. Looking on Miss Fosters blog, it states a max of two people per evaluation, I feel it will be good to have another person to discuss the questions with, giving varied answers.

Its a Wonderful Life

Haven't been waiting to watch this film for what seems like forever, I finally sat down and watched it. Having been produced in 1946, I was hardly expecting much technologically, as the opening consisted of credits that had been printed onto paper and someone simply flicking though them. So yes, the camera shots and movements were very basic, yet the acting stood out as the genre was very much about realism (apart from the part when and angel is sent down to earn his wings). I would defiantly recommend this film to everyone and anyone, as it strips back the fancy camera angles, animations, green screen and effects, leaving us with an original story, to which I thought was amazing.

The Devil Inside

After a restless sleep due to the devil inside last night, I felt myself drawn to Christianity. Due to the film being about exorcism, and the structure being a mocumentary everything felt very real. The constant handheld camera shots reiterated that fact, and the poor quality movement of shots (purposefully) sustained the verisimilitude.

There were many parts at which I and the whole cinema screamed and jumped and hide behind the person next to them even if they didn't know them. So it was scary indeed, yet the acting of some of the characters let the film down, maybe it's hard to act reality but some parts just reiterated the fact it wasn't real.

Also the one thing that made me nearly run out of the cinema was that at the start of the film it mentioned the Vatican and how they don't want anyone to watch it... Well thats just great, because I did.

5th Draft of Film Opening

Filming today... For the last time... We promise

BBFC - Discussing our certificate for our film

We have decided to use the 12 certificate for the mean due to it being a light hearted, indie film, but also allows moderate swearing.

But due to our undecided 'ending' (narrative development) we will be discussing further on the subject, possibly raising it to a 15.

Some great articles useful for section B of the exam

Presentation from the study day

Tv drama

View more presentations from petefrasers

Filming today for the last time... Hopefully

Today we went filming for the last day, well we hope so. We duplicated the shots we did last Sunday and the weather couldn't be more opposite. Today the sun was shining and the shots we obtained were much better! We also did a lot of close up shots of different things my character could say from swearing to happiness to just plain stupid so there is no need for another filming session. We also made the shot focus in when I start talking to make the opening more versatile with the shots and more sophisticated.

Untraceable

I finally watched for the first time, Untraceable. Directed by Gregory Hoblit and with no major stars, first impression was hardly excitement, yet by positive word of mouth by various people I finally took the plunge into watching it.

The whole plot of live killings on the internet only when a certain number of people would log into the certain website, was quite thrilling in the sense that with this day and age, many are on the internet without any hassle, accessible from phones, laptops, even the iPad I'm typing on now (the same function of the distribution of films). This then flipped the genre from being fictional, to being very surreal. So the plot was indeed very interesting and positive on the whole, yet I felt the whole use of camera failed it for me.

There were no interesting shots (like a cantered angle or a close up with the back ground being out of focus or indeed a focus pull) which would have made the killer much more mysterious and creepy. Also sound, especially non-diegetic wasn't used to its advantage, it created suspense, but didn't put me in any mood/atmosphere which could have easily made the killer much more creepy if the right sort of music was applied.

Maybe I'm bias, as I love editing from shows such as 'Sherlock' and 'Whitechapel' even if they had used improvisational skills like in 'This is England' the camera would have been better used, yet the film was American, and I am used to English programmes and films.

Trip to Richmix

Today I went to the TV Drama Study day, in which I was talked to by Pete Fraser the chief examiner for OCR Media Studies and Charlie Phillips who is the lead editor of numerous programmes like 'Sherlock' (which I was extremely excited about) and Psychoville (which I am again another big fan of).

There were two parts of the conference, one of which talked about the exam part A, giving tips on note taking, ways in which to write your essay/answer, and time management of both parts.

The second part of the conference consisted of a viewing of one of the programmes in series two of 'Sherlock', in fact it was 'Scandal in Belgravia'. Even though I have seen this episode many a time, the whole cinematic atmosphere made me realise the extent of the editing and how in fact the sound also compromised vastly on the effect of the programme as sudden noises/ crescendos would appear in which you haven't heard of before, due to the cinematic feature of the big screen and vast viewing room. Charlie then talked about his experience with editing and his career, how he got into editing for programmes like 'Sherlock'. This was very interesting for me in particular considering editing is a career I am seriously thinking of pursuing, yet the harsh reality of working as a runner and make your way up the ladder very slowly, maybe even not making it to be a lead editor, is rather daunting. Yet I found out a lot about editing that I wasn't even aware of:

1) There is online editing and offline editing. Offline editing consists of editing raw footage in post-production. Offline editing is when the programme has been fully edited and is then assembled this second part of post production.

2) Rushes are the unedited clips that have just been filmed.

3) Editors are on set too which I thought they were only assigned to post production.

4th draft - decisions decisions

Here is our fourth draft, again you can see that we have changed the 'ending' or our 'development of the narrative' by eliminating any close up shots of the face leaving the audience with the feet skidding and no music, eliminating any possible views that it could be a music video.

Filming

Today we again went filming and I am for definite that it will be the last time. After numerous discussions, it was said that the ending of the other character and the existing character conversing wasn't such a good idea after all and the sigh of relief that filming was truly over an done with, was in fact a lie as we found ourselves yet again the same old park riding the same old bike through the same old route, yet this time it was pouring down with rain.

Our idea was for our existing character to skid the bike and the have a close-up of the face with her saying either 'fiddlesticks' or 'shit!'. I successfully spoke yet skidding the bike on the other hand was seeming rather tricky when the brakes on the bike seem to be non existent.

We produced some very good shots of a cantered angle, high angle, close up and a long shot, yet whether we are going to use them depends on the editing.

It was a long day and even though the rain was extremely annoying as I was soaked and so was the rest of my group, it did allow us to have all four seasons/ weather conditions in our film opening which was our main target, and can't wait to edit it in and see the final piece.

Vlog

Wednesday filming consisted of my chance to film Megans feet running (even though we scrapped the idea of another character running after me).

Production logo 1

We were going to call it 'Playdoh Productions' yet due to the copyright on 'playdoh' we came up with 'FishFace' as it was light hearted and fitted the theme of 'happy-go-lucky' and indie like the film opening.

3rd draft of our film opening

Question from e-books

Digital distribution and its effect on cinema on Prezi

Starting to create our production logo

Thursday after school and Friday morning we started to create our production logo out of playdough and settled with the name 'fish face productions' due to the copyright on playdough. With a mixture of film and photos of the letters and a playdough fish moving, we created our first draft of our production logo.

Simplifying a Section B Question

The issues raised by media ownership in contemporary media practice on Prezi

Filming today!

Today me and Megan went filming and for the first time in a long while has the weather not been cold! We managed to film an 'ending' to our opening and got some duplicate shots of the tracking shots from behind and in front as I ride the bike down the path in the park. We also recorded the birds tweeting and the leaves rustling as a sound bridge, as we found that when the shot jump cuts to when I press the button to change to the next song at the start of the opening, the background noise didn't seem to match the clip before hand.

Adding another character to our opening

Me and Megan talking about adding another character to our opening, specifically how we are going to film it, position it and the sound.

Hustle - The last ever series

The finale of the Hustle was on friday and I felt a sense of sadness, as one of my favourite TV dramas of all time finished. To end on a high they changed the structure of the programme round, starting with the end causing some unhappiness as I heard myself shouting 'they can't just kill off all the characters' as the gang are clearly shot several times. Yet Hustle did what Hustle does best by creating that ultimate twist at the end as everything seems to make sense, and you breathe a sigh of relief. What they did do which I found quite interesting was allow the characters to talk to the audience as 'Micky' the main con man, talked into the camera creating eye contact with the audience (as seen in the clip below). Hustle have always been known for they're rule breaking by using split screens and interesting editing techniques, yet always somehow keeping the verisimilitude, which I find extraordinary as I fail to see any other programme try and repeat it.

Production logo ideas

Here are a quick sketch of a few production logo ideas.

What I have noticed...

Whilst watching many UK TV dramas, Whitechapel to Hustle, I have noticed that many programmes break the 180 degree rule by rotating 360 degrees around two people having a conversation. Even though this is seen as damaging to the verisimilitude, I still find that it creates a sense of realism as the flow of the camera movement helps to show all angles of the conversation, allowing the audience to feel a part of it.

Film distribution in Birmingham

Cinema listings in Birmingham on Prezi

Vlog about what has being happening so far...

Definitions

These are three definitions key to section B of the exam:

PRODUCTION: making films

DISTRIBUTION: promoting films and getting them into cinemas and out on to DVD as well as any spin offs/related media products.

CONSUMPTION: people paying at the cinema, renting or buying DVDs and downloading and purchasing related products.

How to flip a clip on imovie

Problem sorted!

Filming today and our editing problem

Today me and Megan ventured out into the freezing cold to film and whilst editing later on that day, we noticed a potential problem...

Prezi on Class and Status within British TV Dramas

In this Prezi we discuss and analyse the representation of class and status within British TV Dramas. We used the programmes Doctor Who, Sherlock and Call the Midwife as all use different classes and statuses, represented in many different ways and in many different eras, showing how class and status changes depending on where you are, who you are and what you are.

Class and Status on Prezi

Film draft 2

He is our film draft 2, it has taken a lot of editing to get to the stage it is now, a lot of sweat and tears, but I think its really progressing! Still some glitches that need to be worked on, and a sort of ending without finalising it.

filming in the snow

We filmed in the snow today and yes, it was a real struggle! Me riding a bike in deep snow that started to turn into icy slush just made filming a whole lot longer, tiring, complicated and hard, especially due to not being able to push the trolley through the snow which acts as a dolly giving us the vital tracking shots we need. We tried to redo all the shots already taken to obtain a choppy look to our opening. Megan climbed the tree as per usual to obtain the aerial shot and well done to her as it was especially tricky due to the snow. We also took the tracking shots as best we can and static shots too as I rode along the path.

Vlog

This was taken whilst we were filming today.

ITV and Sky to the rescue for British Film

ITV and Sky are called on for a helping hand on British Film.

British Films?

This article talks about the British films industry and how politics seem to be getting involved.

Netflex article

Here is an article on how Netflix, an American company, wishes to combat the UK and America with the use of streaming films.

Group Vlog

Here is our idea to an ending, which we have had quite a few problems with considering it turned into looking like  a music video.

Essay on Gender representations - Mock redone

Gender representation mock redone

Warhorse

Just watched warhorse and what an amazing film it was. Sad tears, happy tears, every emotion possible was experienced, as I felt so much love for a horse that I have never even seen before.
The legend that is Steven Spielberg has created another heart stopping film that captured the true emotion of the war through the life of an animal. Not only did it show the true depths of a world war; the camera angles, lighting, mise-en-scene, editing, everything just seemed to stun the whole audience as everyone in the cinema simultaneously let out a murmur as the horse seemed to combat the harshness of the trenches, and isn't the UK a sucker for a heartwarming animal story.

Amazing, amazing film, I could almost say as good as the stage play, and that is saying a lot.
I wish I had a horse now.

Netflex advert

I'm sure they have used hamsters due to our country having a love for animals.

Sherlock finale

I am still in awe of the amazing plot of the finale of Sherlock, and after watching it over and over again (you can tell i'm a fan), I still don't understand. I have had many theories behind why he is still alive thrown at me throughout the past few days, yet none seem to either match up or just seem to cliché. This is why the next series can't come quick enough for me, yet the news that it will be out next year (apparently) has upset me and many other Sherlock fans.



And yes, I did cry when Sherlock 'died'.

Filming on Sunday

Although the weather was extremely cold, we braved the winter frost and filmed with the whole group, something we haven't done in ages due to us having a large group and many people cannot make certain days.

Here is a photo of the gear spoke, which we tried to get a close up shot due to the artistic features it posses.

Here are some more photos taken throughout the time we were out.

We again used a Sainsbury's trolley to use as a dolly, we didn't get caught this time! yet we did get some interesting looks from passerby's.

Here we set up the tripod, which would be static as I ride pass on the bike.

Netflex App

Whilst browsing the App store on the iPad I saw that Netflex has got an app, due to it being 9th in the top iPad apps.

This is not only introducing Netflex to the UK, but shows how well it is doing considering the enormous amount of free apps available from apple's app store.

Netflex

A powerful up and coming American company seems to be on the verge of invading us Britons and supplying the power of streaming films. Although already having Lovefilm, the following link to the article explains the technology of today within broadcasting films, especially interesting because of its presence in section B of the exam.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/08/film-industry-netflix

Luther mini essay

Luther

Sherlock

I was watching Sherlock Holmes on Sunday and after watching the previous series/episodes I was eager to see what was going to happen. Yet when I was watching I realised that sherlocks intellect was portrayed in a clever way by using text to show the audience what was either being typed or thought. This was a really interesting way of 'showing' what Sherlock had thought. For instance Sherlock analysed people when first encountered, by which then words would appear showing what Sherlock was thinking, making an analysis of the person. I thought this was a really great way to show how the detective was clever enough to spot such insignificant things which draws a picture of someone, and a great technique which would be good to use if anyone was thinking along the lines of detective work for their opening.