Evaluating the preliminary task

Evaluating my preliminary task

After watching and evaluating my preliminary task, I can see that there are many improvements that can be made, including the end credits.

There can be amendments to be made to the end credits as the text scrolls up the screen and out of sight from the audience very quickly and in not enough time for the audience to read the credits in time. However, I think that the music that we added in for the end credits gave a sudden feel of excitement and leaves the audience actually wanting to know what has happened after there meeting and whether Selina persists in killing her husband and if she finally succeeds.

However, my group definately succeeded in keeping the 180 degree rule at all times, making sure the continuity was enabled for the audience. The importance of the 180 degree rule is massive and without using it, the film would not run smoothly, and would confuse the audience.

As our clip was only 0.24 seconds, I feel that we could have added more actions and clips, to make the task longer and more effective. However, we thought that with the plot of our preliminary task, it made sense to make the dialogue short and keep it snappy and effective in order to empahsise the action.

Research for the main task

Research for my main task

I have researched into different openings of movies of the same genre, romantic/thriller. This gave me a wider insight into how our main task should be filmed and what things we need to include to make it effective.

Although the youtube clip above is a movie trailer, it still gives a good insight onto what angels and shots to use as it is the same genre.

As PS I Love You is a romantic comedy, involving the death of a partner, the memory of him is still awake and alive in the widower's mind. This is similar to Maddy in our main task, who experiences loosing a partner, however, instead of experience new, happy memories about him, she experiences a new finding of a photograph, next to his grave. Ending in her feeling anger against him, unlike the protagonist in PS I Love You.

However, some of the shots are very useful in PS I Love You for establishing characters, in which we can take and improvise certain themes and ideas from the movie, relating them to love in ours. At the very beginning of our short opening, we see shots of Maddy and Stephen when he was alive, very much in love, enjoying their time together. PS I Love You also has the same thing, of when they are happy and in love. This is useful as it can help us choose what type of music to use, and which sort of shots would be acceptable for our opening.






The opening to What Lies Beneath, although a thriller, is still an effective opening for helping our media main task group study different interpretations and ideas from other films. What Lies Beneath has a lot of romantic scenes in the opening, which can be improvised when we shoot our short opening. The plot of What Lies Beneath starts with a couple, Claire Spencer and Norman Spencer, who seem very much in love. The couple experience their daughter moving away to University, and after that, Claire Spencer starts to experience hauntings in her home. Eventually, she finds out Norman was having an affair with a younger girl, who he killed and throwed into the lake outside the family home. Although the genre of our movie is not a thriller, the plot is fairly similar and there are shots in the opening, which give the sense to the audience of a close, in love couple who would never let anyhting harm their relationship. In our movie, Maddy experiences the death of her partner Stephen and whilst visiting his grave she finds a prominent photograph left by Stephen's grave, from a lover of his.


In the film What Lies Beneath, although a different genre, it is important in establishing character, setting and the narattive structure is very similar to our main task. In establishing character in our coursework, we have decided to use a flashback memory of Maddy and Stephen, and then go straight onto the grave yard scene, therefore allowing the viewers to understand who's grave Maddy is visiting, and why she is going there.

Writing the narrative

Writing the narrative in three parts

Establishing character

The main character is Maddy Lott, who lives in Oxford, England. She has lived in the quiet town all of her life, and she first met the love of her life Stephen, whilst she was studying for her A levels at The Cherwell School five years ago. Maddy and Stephen have been inseperable ever since, when unfortunately he found out that he had terminal cancer. Maddy was distraught when Stephen died and felt she had lost a part of her, however she would often visit his grave.

Thinking of mise en scene, the best way to stereotype Maddy would be a in love, young adult who is traumatised by the death of her partner. However, when things start to take a turn for the worse with the situation and Maddy finds out about someone else in Stephen's life, her image starts to change and she has a poor attitude to the world and life.

At first we will hear soft, gentle, or uplifting music that will set the scene well as the opening is very romantic as Maddy remembers her times with Stephen. However, when she looks at the photo of Stephen and another girl, the music suddenly changes as if Maddy's world and life has suddenly changed along with the music.

A turning point

The turning that Maddy faces in the novel is when she finds a photo of Stephen and a mysterious girl attached to flowers beside Stephen's grave. Maddy knows there's a whole new set of questions she needs answered after she sets eyes on the photograph and will not stop at anything to find out who this girl really is.

 

How does the protagonist overcome the antagonistic force?

Maddy ends up finding a series of letters from Stephen, hidden in different places in familiar settings that were special to Maddy and Stephen when they were together. These unravel all the answers and questions Maddy's ever thought off.

Brainstorm for main task

Brainstorm for main task

Who is the protagonist?

The protagonist is a girl named Maddy, who was deeply in love with her boyfriend Stephen, when unfortunately, he developed cancer and died.

What is their aim?

One day when Maddy visits Stephen's grave, she finds a photo of him and another girl. It is now obvouis to Maddy that Stephen was not the man she thought he was and she sets off to find the girl and kill her.

How do they have to achieve their aim?

Maddy has to achieve her aim by finding out who this mysterious girl is and where she comes from. As the whole thing has turned her slightly insane, she's determined and willfull to find whoever it is that stole her boyfriend.

What's the antagonistic force?

The antagonistic force is a variety of things. These include Stephen's family, as they wish to only love and move on from the tragic death of their beloved son, where as Maddy is determined to cause even more chaos and will not let things drop. So the antagonisitic force is actually Maddy being able to find out from anyone who this girl is and there are alot of obstacles in her way.

How do they end up overcoming the antagonistic force?

Stephen realised before he died that Maddy would eventually find out about his affair, so, choosing to leave it until after his death, he has placed letters at certain familiar places around England, explaining his wrong doing and saying sorry. However, he leaves it till the last letter to tell Maddy the name of the girl, as he wants to have Maddy back to sanity by the time she reads the last letter, and he hoped by then she will have realised his mistakes and his love for her. She will then not have to go in search of the girl, instead she can live with the love she new he had for her.

Useful youtube video showing how to upload youtube videos to your blog

The video shown above is very useful as it slowly explains how to upload a youtube video to a blog.

Useful site for uploading a powerpoint presentation to your blog

Site which I found useful for uploading a powerpoint presentation to a blog

http://www.scribd.com/doc/3876331/How-to-Embed-Your-PowerPoint-Into-Blogger

The link above shows a site I found very useful in knowing how to upload a powerpoint presentation on to a post in a blogger. For other tasks in the future, this website will be very useful when it comes to uploading a powerpoint image storyboard.

Synopsis of Preliminary Task

Synopsis of Preliminary Task

My group's preliminary task was based on an action/thriller genre movie. We thought that by making and filming a thriller or action movie, it would be most affective given the amount of time and the basic rules for the preliminary task.

Our movie is based on a evil, goldigger women (Selina) who has hired an unwilling citizen (Max) to kill her old husband. Knowing that her husband is on the verge of death, Selina takes full advantage as she is that one step closer to recieving her billionaire lover's fortune.

However, Selina's clever, and knowing that the police are already suspicious due to previous circumstances, she decides that killing her husband is not a job for her. Max who is resistant at first, cowardly and unwilling, eventually gives in due to the wad of cash offered to him if he completes this task, offers to kill Selina's husband.

Although, when Max arrives back at Selina's the next day, she asks him very forcefully ,'Did you do it?' There is no reply so she asks again, the next time screaming and again there is no reply. She gets up out of her seat and fires him in the head with her shotgun. Did Max really know what he was getting himself into? Never trust a pretty face.

    

The Preliminary task

Research for preliminary task

Research for preliminary task

For our preliminary task, we researched films in which the genre is action, however, the main villian is likely to be a women, for example, Demi Moore in Charlie's Angels Full Throttle. She shows an evil villianous character with her wicked laugh and the gun she holds. The way she is presented also shows her to be of high authority and superior to the other characters.





Another action movie that our group found as influencial is 'Kill Bill Volume 1'

Photographic storyboard for preliminary task

Photographic storyboard for preliminary task

My prelim task focused on two individuals in a room, with one coming through a door. I've based my task on an action movie, involving a woman and a hitman. The woman is determined that the hitman has killed her husband, however, the hitman finds out that as he as not completed the job, his life ends.


We created a photographic storyboard in order to plan our task, using different shots and using the 180 degree rule at all times.

Recap of the lesson (Filming the preliminary task)

Filming the preliminary task

In my media lesson today, I filmed my preliminary task. There were a few problems I encountered on the day, even before filming as the members of my group were abscent with no notification which meant I had to film on my own and arrange props. This was really difficult as I had to find new props and arrange everything to film including the camera, in a really short time that I was given. I did not want to film on another day as it was the deadline and I wanted it to be finished so we could begin editing.


Fortunately, another member of my Media Studies class was on her own as the members in her group did also not show up. So we thought it would be good to team up together and film our preliminary task. She helped with the acting and we used our tutor in our task too. I had already made a version of our storyboard in which helped me as it guided me through as I filmed, knowing which shots and angels to use. I used a mixture of shots, including panning shot, long shot and two-shot. I also made sure that I used the 180 degree rule at all times as this is an important aspect when making films, trailers, movies etc. I knew that using the 180 degree rule would have a better effect on the audience as it would not confuse them whilst watching, and also will give me a better experience for when we film our main task.

Even though I had problems to start with, I found filming the preliminary task a good and helpful experience, as I learnt how to use and manage a camera myself and also, more importantly, learnt how to direct and organise people if ever these problems did occur again. It really helped me become more independent in Media Studies and I learnt new things all in the time space I had to shoot in.

To what extent does the nature of an institution affect the representation of CAGE in a given text?

The institution in which I am going to talk about in my blog is Channel 4. Channel 4 is a widely known and respected institution which is watched by many people all across the country, ranging from adolescents to older adults, but is much enjoyed by everyone.

The nature of an institution can affect the representation of CAGE in a given text, for example Skins. Skins is based for young adolescents, preferablly secondary school students, which are surrounded by the growing issues of teenagers. For example, some of the issues are drugs, alcohol and partying, which relate to many teenagers in the current UK. Skins is not aimed at a certain gender, where as it sees both the behaviours of boys and girls in the drama and the different issues they both face. Skins also looks at many types of ethnic backgrounds, for example, in the first season there was a boy from an Islamic background who fell in love with a girl.

Channel 4 does not look at a paticular CAGE, yet explores different types of programs, such as documentaries, reality TV shows, TV drama and movies. Examples of these are Dispatches, Big brother, Ugly Betty and Mean girls.

Another example of a British TV drama on channel 4 is Hollyoakes. Hollyoakes is a very popular TV drama in the UK, which is very diverse on the nature of its contents. It often explores issues which are faced by many of the public, for example gay and lesbian relationships, money problems, anorexia and murder. It uses lots of different cultural backgrounds, as they have an Indian family, a British family and a family which you could call 'common,' as well as many other families or individuals with different cultural backgrounds. They have characters with different ages ranging from young children or babies, to older adults. Hollyoakes introduces us to different genders and the issues they face, for example, a young adult called Hannah faces an issue of anorexia, due to boy problems. Where as there is a young man called Ravi, who is bisexual but his religious beliefs old him back from opening up to his family.

Channel 4 is mainly versatile and explores different issues which can appeal to everyone, where as if you look at BBC1, it is aimed more at an adult audience, but also has children programs.

The last example I am going to talk about of a UK British TV drama shown by Channel 4 is shameless. Shameless is a comedy, which is aimed at teenagers and above and represents the lives off a poor family which faces issues to survive in their society, however it is not portrayed as a struggle, it is shown as a comedy. The cultural background is based on a lower-class society, but uses both genders to represent the issues they both face, such as sex and raising a family. Shameless is based on one family, where there are young children up to grandparents.

Mainly institutions use a range of programs and shows. Although they can differ from institution. As BBC1 is more a documentary style based insitution, but also has children programs such as CBBC, TV drama's such as eastenders and reality TV shows such as strictly come dancing. However, in general when we think of BBC1, we think of a more adult audience with programs which are more serious such as crimewatch and there is often BBC news updates. The BBC also differs from other institutions as it is paid for by the TV consumers, where as Channel 4 and ITV run off the money they gain from adverts and advertisements used in breaks between the programs.

TV viewers can sometimes not relate to the programs in hand, for example, an adult may not like Skins as they find it too degrading, yet they may love Strictly come dancing. Where as a teenager may love Skins as it is a program in which they can enjoy and relate to, but may find strictly come dancing very boring. Channel 4 is generally very contreversial about the programs they show, not just skins and shameless, but some of the documentaries they show which explore issues in which some people may not feel comfortable with or may find not suitable for television. Also, some people despise the idea of big brother, by having a number of members of the public shut in a confinde house with a limited amount of space for 3 months, and argue that it is not good for the participants minds or health.

Classwork for Ms Bird 21/09/09

The image that I have chosen to analyse is a classic symbolic poster which is representing the 60s.

The designer has used bright colours such as yellow, orange, pink and purple. These colours signify the bright colours which were often used by many 'hippies' in the 1960's.

There is a denotation in the picture of the green plant, the connotation is that it is a symbol of smoking marijuana in the 1960's. They have used this icon as it was very popular in the 60's and it was very new and common. It was also a social norm for the so called 'hippies' to smoke marijuana regularly.

In the top right hand corner, the denotation of this image is the mushroom. The conotation is that it is a symbol of magic mushrooms in which was also very popular in the 60's. The 'hippies' used to experiment with lots of different types of drugs but magic mushrooms where often taken as it a symbol of their freedom.

In the top, far left corner, their is an image of the peace symbol which is the conotation. The denotation is that it is a symbol of one of the main ideas and values of the 'hippies' in the 1960's, which was peace all around and with everybody. The image is an icon of peace.

In the middle of the bottom row, there is a image of a dove. The image of the dove is the denotation, however, the conotation of the image freedom. Freedom was another value of the 'hippies' in the 1960's a was used alot to signify their beliefs of freedom, peace and love.

On a whole, this image represents the main values and norms that were created in the 1960's by a sub-culture group called the hippies. I have chosen this image as there were lots of signifiers and images which relate to their culture.

Homework 30 second clip on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ_sFEvHsVQ&feature=related

In this 24 second clip of the TV Drama Skins, I'm going to anaylse the clip and write about how it uses codes and conventions. I'm also going to explain how the medium uses shot types and camera movements to signify their meaning to the audience.
At the time 0:10 in the clip, we see a close up of a girl with blood dripping out of her nose. The close up shot is used as it brings presence of the girls to the audience and we feel as if we are at the party. The red blood signifies danger in this context.
The genre of the TV Drama is teen drama. The teen drama relates to many current teenage issues for example alcohol and drugs. In this short clip, we get a taste of what the series is going to be based on and how the characters act.
At the very beginning of the clip, the director has used a 'wide shot' which gives a view of the party from behind and it seems very crowded. The wide shot signifies the whole of the party and the strange atmosphere in which the characters of skins have based themselves, in this case a house party.

08/09/09

In our Media Studies lesson today, we learnt about how different camera shots and movements can be seen as codes which have significant meanings to their audience.

For example, we watched a clip from the TV drama 'Grafters' Series Two and analysed the ways in which camera shots are used to empythase which characters and show different emotions and feelings. There was a 'close up' off one character which then cut to a 'two shot' off two other characters, this creats an act of opposition and shows the audience that there is obvouis tension between characters.

In the first few seconds of the TV clip, we see a conversation between two men walking up the road towards a flat and a tracking shot is used. This creates the idea of movement and intimacy with the audience as we feel like we are walking with them. The use of the 'Two Shot' draws the reader closer into the lives of the characters on screen and also gives the audience a sense of understanding.

Also in the TV drama 'Grafters,' we see that a reaction shot has been used in one paticular scene. This shot creates sudden impact of the event and the audience then realise what's really going on with the characters lives and the plot.