Section A: Question 1(a) Post Production

Section A: Question 1(a) Research and Planning

Section A: Question 1(a) Creativity

Section A: Question 1(a)- Notes

Digital Technology:

Cameras (digital and DV), internet, microphones

Computer software, hardware and websites - Movie maker, Dope premier, mobile phones, laptops, internet,  online blogs, youtube, slideshare, google, msn, facebook, photoshop, excel, publisher.

Discuss how these different types of technologies have helped you acheieve what you have within your work. How have they aided your success etc?

Talk about areas you really have delivered your skills - further elaboration

Pros and Cons about software and hardware within your skill development

What decisions and restrictions were given to you by the exam board? What were you allowed to choose and develop yourself?

Were you more confident about creating your A2 product - evaluate it.

Ancillary tasks - what skills did you use to create these

Comparison between your AS and A2 skills

Talk about creativity, how did you produce things - did what you produce reflect yourself or your ideas?

Was your product influenced by your social surroundings?

Was your narrative/ camera angles original?

Have you taken your skills and applied them to any other subjects?

Have you used primary and secondary research (did it cost anything)?

Accessability of research - internet, books etc

Was it time consuming?

Were your sources reliable - were they accurate?

How did you organise your research and planning e.g blogs, folders etc?

What did you actually research and how did it affect your planning and product?

How did drafting affect affect you - did your knowledge of drafting help improve your work?

How did audience feedback affect your planning and redrafting - was it helpful?

How organised were you?

Talk about group work - leader or follower - how did it compare to AS?

How did your research impact your planning and production - the more research and organisation there was - the easier everything was?

Post production - sound, transitions, narrative structure, sound affects, music, photoshop (how did you get everything to reflect the same genre within ancillary tasks and the film)?


Using conventions from real media texts? Horror, Blaire Witch Project A2 - Twilight for AS, magazine ancillary - made to look like a real magazine etc

Section A: Question 1(a)- Digital Technologies

Section A: Question 1 (b) Examplar Essay

Three marking areas:

• Explanation, analysis, argument
• Example
• Terminology

Question 1(b) The media production I am going to write about in relation to genre is my favourite piece from the whole course which is my horror teaser trailer.

The genre of the trailer is obviously ‘horror’ and this in itself allowed us to be creative with narrative etc but limited us because we had to stick to a certain amount of generic conventions in order for it to be recognised by it’s existing target audience. Steve Neal said that ‘genre is a repetition with an underlying pattern of variations’ which meant certain generic features had to be included and repeated which in my case was the use of a creepy location of the woods as well as hand held camera and restricted narration to cause disorientation and suspense within our trailer. However, the pattern of variation Neal describes also links to my horror teaser trailer because we were able to creatively push the boundaries by twisting some generic features in order to make the trailer interesting and therefore cause the audience to want to watch the full movie. For this my group chose use a female psycho killer I order to subvert the stereotypical male dominated role. This female identification through point of view shots etc captured our female audience because were providing them with power and this is unusual for the horror genre although it is known for its forward thinking approach as it often attempts to focus on subcultural views instead of targeting the mainstream. Genre encompasses many parts and the trailer links to it in more ways than one. Its use of enclosed location and the fact the woods attempts to reinforce our society’s fear of loneliness and isolation which the woods creates when the three friends get lost. In these sections of the trailer we used a lot of heavy cross cutting between the female victim who is running anxiously through the woods in order to find her friends and get home safely. We also used the Kuleshove and collision cutting methods as the pace began slow as the friends head our in the car unaware of the danger before them and once they are in the woods we deliberately quickened the pace of editing to cause tension and to show that something is not right, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.

Editing and mise-en-scene is really important to genre and reflects very quickly certain moods and atmospheres. Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes argued that the horror genre like many others used ‘binary oppositions’ in order to show the contrast between good and evil in order to force the audience to be constantly questioning the trailer for example; in my trailer I used light and dark to connote their happiness and carefree attitude in the daytime and the darkness to emphasise their fear and reliance on their senses. This is particularly important to the horror genre as characters are often shown in high angle shots to appear vulnerable and therefore under threat.

Gore or ‘body horror’ is also a common generic convention used by most horror films that we studied including Dawn of the Dead by George A. Romero who used it to make the audience feel sick by forcing them to see extreme violence. In my own trailer we were inspired to use gore differently by showing a hanging scene in slow motion to create tension and the centoring in on the face and neck which had been broken and this was shown by the rope burn we had made from latex and the blood pouring down her chest. This shot moves clockwise and slowly zooms in to force the audience to see what the hang (woman) has done. In our final two shots we finish the trailer with the male anti hero being lifted off the ground with blood pouring out of his mouth which causes the audience to assume no one survives because the final girl is stabbed by her friend accidentally which quickens the pace and adds tension but she is the survivor who as Carol Clover suggests will be terrorised throughout the film and finally overcome the monster. This plays with the audiences emotions and links back to the horror genre well by creating our own style of horror. Andrew Sarris argues because it encompasses so much and is key to explaining a film. Genre is the ideas that collectively make a particular recognisable style that draws in its existing target audience. My horror trailer had expressionist camera angles as the female victim desperately trips over the camera and we see her running above it as well as close ups of her facial expression that causes us to identify with her fear and therefore makes us scared. This meant the audience also were forced to objectify the female victim from the high angle camera shot down her top in which we can see her breasts slightly after watching other Hitchcock movies which use the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey to force us to take a male’s viewpoint.

In my trailer we also used an iconic symbol of the noose because obviously as a hangwoman she needed the prop but also as a female the circular shape suggested female power and this is something the horror genre often does but for male characters using guns etc as phallic symbols which we also used as the male anti hero takes out a knife and stabs his friend frantically when she walks up behind him. The horror trailer was made much darker in Final Cut Pro using the brightness and contrast menu and also dragged the saturated colours towards the blue in order to create a dark, dusky night time atmosphere a generic convention of horror trailers.

The generic conventions we chose to use were all important to the success of our product and since distributing it on YouTube we have over 4000 which I am really pleased with and gives me the confidence that we obviously stuck to the genre enough to capture our intended target audience but were creative enough to make people want to keep watching the trailer and virally sharing it with others.

Genre places a media text into a grouping giving it an identity which can be recognised by the mainstream society and I believe my product is successfully fitted to the horror genre using the narrative that todorov argued was important to the horror genre by following an equilibrium at the beginning then a problem which in our case was the male anti hero playing a joke on the soon to be female victim making jump running after him causing their separation then a pathway to resolution – as they attempt to find each other and then a new equilibrium at the end which we deliberately left as an open ending to capture our audience effectively.

Laura Mulvey

" The gaze is a Feminist theory developed to highlight the imbalance between men and women analysing the way men see women, the way women view themselves and other women. The theory suggests that an audience are forced to view the text from the perspective a heterosexual male, films constantly focus on women’s curves and events that happen to them are portrayed at a male angle. The male gaze denies women human agency, relegating them to the status of objects. Therefore the female viewers experience the text narrative secondarily, by identifying with a man’s perspective (male gaze). In addition she argues that sexism can also occur in the way the text is presented. Moreover, people are encouraged to gaze at women in advertising that sexualizes a woman's body even when the woman's body is unrelated to the advertised product.

Mulvey suggests that the audience view the films in two ways: voyeuristically and fetishistically. As audiences watch films without being watched by the characters they become onlookers of their lives. Therefore they become voyeurs of the people on screen. This can lead to two effects: objectification and narcissistic identification. Voyeurism involves turning the represented figure into a fetish so it becomes increasingly beautiful but more objectified."

Marjorie Ferguson- Facial Expressions

Marjorie Ferguson

Ferguson identified 4 types of facial expressions on the front cover of British women magazines.

Chocolate Box

Half/ full smile
Lips together/ slightly parted
Teeth barley visible
Full/ three- quarters of face to the camera

Invitational

Emphasis on the eyes
Mouth shut with hint of a smile
Head to one side or looking back to the camera

Super-smiler

Full face
Wide open, toothy smile
Head thrusts forward or chin thrown back
Hair often wind blown

Romantic or Sexual

Dreamy
Heavy lidded
Overtly sensual/ sexual

Secion A Question 1(b): Class Feedback

Genre

. Horror- lighting follows conventions, dark dull and gloomy

. Vulnerability of girl – horror convention

. Shaky camera

Narrative-

. Non linear- challenging todorov

Audience

.Location- appeal to students as it obvious college location

.Music- reflects contempary society

Media Language

.Lighting and camera angles follow traditional genre conventions of horror film

Section A: qu 1(b)= Examplar Essay: Good Sentences to include

Paragraph One= Steve Neal said that 'genre is a repition with an underlying pattern of variations' which meant certain generic features had to be included and repeated which in my case was the use of a creepy location of the woods aswell as hand held camera and restriced narration to cause disorentation and suspense within our trailer.

Paragraph Two= We also used the Kuleshove and collision cutting methods as the pace began slow as the friends head out in the car unaware of the danger before them and once they are in the woods we deliberatly quickened the pace of editing to cause tension and to show that something is not right, keeping the audience on the edge of thier seats.

Paragraph Three= Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes argued that the horror genre like many others used 'binary opostions' in order to show the contrasdt between good and evil in order to force the audience to be constantly questiomning the trailer for example: in my trailer i used light and dark to connote their happiness and carefree attitude in the daytime and the darkness to emphasie their fear and reliance on their senses.

Paragraph Four= This meant the audience also were forced to objectify the female victim from the high angle camera shot down her top in which we can see her breasts slightly after watching other Hitchcock movies which use the male male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey to force us to take a male's viewpoint.

Paragraph Five= The horror trailer was madee much darker in Final Cut Pro using the brightness and contrast menu and also dragger the saturated colours towards the blue in order to create dark, dusky night time atmosphere a generic convention of horror trailers.

Paragraph Seven= I believe my product is successfully fitted to the horror genre using the narrative that Todorov argued was important to the horror genre by following an equilibrium at the beginning then a problem which in our case was the male anti hero playing ajoke on the soon to be female victim [...]

Section A: Question 1(b)- Narrative Brainstorm!

Narrative: A2 Coursework Related

Question 1(b) = requires candidates to select one production and evaluate it in relation to one of the following media concept.

Sound
à The use of music and silence within the film helps to tell the narrative. When the music is normal paced everything is in the film is seen as going fine, when the music picks up pace we see the chase scene where the girl is running away from the geek. The silence in the film helps to create tension as we do not know what will happen next in the film as the music is not there to mimic the action. When the geek goes to hit Isabelle the beat comes back in to match the hitting of the girl.
à The music complements the narrative as it relates to what happens within the film.

Camera Angles/Movement
à By using certain camera angles and movement helps to keep the narrative going such as panning shots in the canteen show Isabelle moving along in the scene. Another shot that helped keep the narrative going is the hand held shot as it makes the films pace seem faster.
à The camera angles and movements helps to tell the story of the film for example the tilted downwards shots help to show how the guy is a geek as he is seen as a lower status. Also the upward tilted shot shows that the girl is very popular within the college.

Editing
à Shot transitions help to move the the narrative along as the cuts and fades are one after the other and keep things moving along at a normal pace.
à The shot transition can reflect the narrative for example in the running sequence the shots and fades to each shot are a lot faster, and is mimicking what is going on in the scene.

Mise en scene
à The props and costume has helped to tell the story of the film. The costume of each character can reflect their role of who they are within the narrative for example big jumper, big glasses and folder shows the audience that the actor is the nerd in this narrative.
à Some props help the audience to guess what is going to happen next in the narrative subtly. Such as the drink bottle of clear liquid the guy hands her, is it really water or is it vodka? as the audience will see in the narrative later Isabelle with the same bottle behaving very drunk.
à The way the narrative has been placed helps the audience again to guess what happens, as the first thing they see is a hooded man and Isabelle in the boot of the car. The actors in the scene do their best in each shot to suggest the anger and jealousy building up in the geek leading to him kidnapping her.

Section A: Question 1(b)- Audience Brainstorm!

Audience: A2 Coursework Related

Question 1(b) = requires candidates to select one production and evaluate it in relation to one of the following media concept.

Sound
à We decided to use a very recent music track within our film to gain the attention of the audience as they will recognise . Our target audience will also be attracted to the music as it is combined with dubstep which is their ages latest music trend at the moment. Overall by using this music track it will attract our target audience to carry on watching the film.
à We decided on having a silent film to attract our target audience to make them concentrate more on what they are watching and make them think about the narrative they are given. Also to challenge the convention that silent films are old and boring and attract the younger audience.

Camera Angles/Movements
à We attracted target audience through the use of camera skills. We mainly used simple camera angles such as medium, long and close up shot to make the film seem realistic in order for the audience to relate.
àHowever we did use some different camera skills at different points such as hand held to grab the audiences eye as it is something different compared to the rest and is very fast pace which will make them think what is going on.

Editing
à By keeping the editing simple by using cuts and fades it does not take the audiences attention away from what is going on in the film, and again keeps it realistic.
à Choosing to have the film in black and white attracts the audience as it is something different than what they normally watch films in. As its a modern day film with actors their ages it may attract them to watch it more as its going against conventions, however it is fairly similar to Sin City style.

Mise en Scene
à Through the use of costume and props we tried to attract the target audience by hoping that they can relate to what the characters are wearing and then relate to the characters themselves. Through the way each character acts differently we would like to attract the target audience to relate to one of them and to see whether they are committing a sin without realising it. 
àThrough mise en scene we have added in all 7 of the deadly sins and to interact the audience we challenge them to find all 7 of them.  

Section A: Question 1(b) - Representation Brainstorm!

Representation: A2 Coursework Related

Question 1(b) = requires candidates to select one production and evaluate it in relation to one of the following media concept.

Sound
àMusic- represents the youth who we are trying to target(through research)  http://emmaarjayne.blogspot.com/2010/10/target-audience-research.html
àNo speech represents he that something bad is going to happen- which is normally in all horror genres.

Camera Angles/Shots/ Movement
à Over the shoulder shot of Isabelle doing her make up represents her looking into a mirror and her being too into her looks as she is constantly checking how she looks.
à Hand held shot represents the fast pace chase that the characters are in which gets the audience's attention
à Tilted down shot- represents the geek as a lower status to the girl as she is looking down at him and the same with a tilted up shot at the geek looking at the girl.

Editing
à The cut to black where Isabelle falls over represents her fainting and not remembering what happens
à Fast cuts to each shot in the running sequence represents how fast they are running and how Isabelle is scared and her heart is racing.
à Fades and cuts were used through out to represent a normal life, making the film seem realistic. If the editing was extravagant the film would not be seen as realistic.

Mise en scene
à Characters being represented through their clothing and props. The Geek= big glasses, old baggy jumper and folder shows and represents he is a geek as we relate geeks with being not fashionable (big glasses and jumper) and caring about work (folders). The Hot Guy= Hoodie- which is very fashionable at the moment which represents he is in style, he is represented not to care through trying to act distant which is stereotypical of the hot guys in films. Isabelle= represented as a typical girl of the time through what she is wearing, leggins, heels, peach tops- this shows she is a very typical girl of the time and is represented as too into her looks through what she does.
http://emmaarjayne.blogspot.com/2010/11/costume-and-prop-list.html

Section A: Question 1(b) - Genre Brainstorm!

Question 1(b) = requires candidates to select one production and evaluate it in relation to one of the following media concept.

Genre: A2 Coursework Related

Target Audience

à Marketing Questionnaire= From the marketing questionnaire we found out what sound of things people our age range are into such as TV channels, shows, and got straight to the point and asked them which genre they prefer for  both film and music. From the results we found out what genre our target audience preferred and based on film on this. http://emmaarjayne.blogspot.com/2010/10/marketing-research-questionnaie-1st.html

àTarget Audience brain storm. = We brainstormed ideas of our target audience and what we think that the audience would be like, and what they are interested in. This can help us decided from the things they are interested what genre will be best suited to them and how we can attract them through this information we have gathered. http://emmaarjayne.blogspot.com/2010/10/target-audience-research.html

Camera Angles
à The use of camera angles within our production helped to show and reflected the two genres that our film is about; drama and horror. We used camera angles such as hand held as this helps to create fear and show the fast pace in which the actors are running, these things are normally seen in horror genres. For the middle shots we used close ups and medium shots these are normally seen in drama genre films as it helps the audience to see clearly what is going on to understand the drama.

Mise en Scene
à Location- wooded areas are normally seen in horror genres as they create the dark and mysterious feel so this is why we decided to have a scene like this within our film. By setting parts of it at night also creates the genre horror as typically in horror films bad things always happen in the  dark. Having the location within a college and shows a typical day shows drama as it is realistic.

Sound
à No sound- emphasizes the horror as you never know what is going to happen. Silence in horror genres normally lets the audience know that danger is coming so by having no dialogue keeps the audience guessing what may happen next and what the characters are thinking. Also the use of no music in the parts with danger also enhances that it is a horror genre and that danger is going to happen.
à Music- challenges the genre of horror as normally there is not any music in horror films and if there is it’s very dramatic. From watching short films we decided to include music because


Editing
à Black and white- horror films such as sin city traditional in black and white. Black and white is very monochrome and dark which reflects what the genre horror should be about. Black and white was used in the ancillary tasks as well to carry on this theme.
à Only colour is within the poster and magazine photos to show the genre of drama as it makes it seem realistic at the same time.
à Shot transitions were kept simple, to help audience follow the horror and drama narrative simply and does not take away from the acting. However the simple transitions reflect the drama genre as this genre is seen as realistic and should be kept naturalistic as possible.

Genre: AS Coursework Related

Target audiece

à 

Section A: Question 1(b) Rules

Question 1(b) Rules!

-          Correct referencing to real media texts for exampleà (This is England 2005 Director Shane Meadows) à how did your understanding from your research impact on your decisions?

-          Should talk about all Macro elements as long as you always refer back to the one that is being asked in the question

-          Always use examples from your text to support your point!

-          Learn media theory!

Micro and Macro Elements

Micro Element SCEM!

• Mise en scene
• Sound
• Editing
• Camera angles, movement and position

Macro Elements (the basic for every media product) GRAN!

• Genre
• Representation
• Audience
• Narrative

Section A Ten Commandments

Section A

The Ten Commandments for reflective writing:

1. Focus on creative decisions informed by institutional knowledge
2. Focus on creative decisions informed by theoretical understanding (Todorov)
3. Evaluate your process- don't just describe it
4. Relate your media to 'real media' at the micro level
5. Try to deconstruct yourself (this is hard!)
6. Chose clearly relevant micro examples to relate to macro reflective themes
7. Avoid binary oppositions
8. Try to write about your broader media culture (for example using YouTube)
9. Adopt metadiscourse
10. Quote, paraphrase, reference

Metadiscoure (using a word to summarise)
Powerphrase- summaring what someone else has said in your own words.