Analyse media representations in one of your coursework productions.
In my horror film opening the term 'Mediation' was used as the three key points that expand from mediation are: selection, organisation and focusing. The idea of selection is where in the media industry for example a photo shoot the selected photographs published in a magazine were chosen for a reason and the others weren't chosen fro a reason. In my horror film opening the specific clips that were chosen were chosen because they highlighted the representations and stereotypes more and allowed the audience to see these clearer. For example a medium close up shot of the teenage male and female looking into each others eyes in love was chosen. This is because teenagers are represented to be obsessed with the opposite gender and making this a priority over other more important things. Therefore the representation of this was shown in the clip to show the stereotype being conformed to. Another example would be a close up of the female character 'Riley' screaming in fear. This shot was chosen through mediation because the shot best enhanced and exaggerated the representation of women being very vulnerable and weak as one of the conventions of the genre horror is the women to play the character of the victim to show them being overpowered. Furthermore several shots weren't used because they were either blurry or they didn't best show the representation that I wanted to put across to the audience.
Secondly the whole of the horror film opening was organised in a way that would create a very unsettled atmosphere and would make the audience want to carry on watching. This was shown through the mise-en-scene and the narrative. Firstly the mise-en-scene of the lighting being very natural and calming to begin with and to end with however during the flash back in the middle was very dark and sinister shows how the clips were organised following the narrative theorist 'Todorov'. This was to represent his equilibrium theory through out. The disruption of the equilibrium is highlighted through the change of lighting and this enhances the audiences attention in many ways as it changes the atmosphere completely. In addition this was also chosen to be done as it allowed the audience to focus on the 'Villain' in this film opening as the zooming in and close up shots of her were shown in the flash back making her the main focus of the clip. This also highlighted the representation of the theme of evil that is one of horror's main conventions.
In my film opening I used the reflective view of representation this is because in previous research and planning I had focused mine on previous horror film openings that already exist. By doing this I had found the representations used in horror and how they are used. Therefore reflecting this in my own planning and construction to show to my audience the most accurate horror film opening that is following codes and conventions of horror very well. For example the media represent teenagers as very low class, smoking, drinking, wearing hoodies and very rebellious. This is because of the media is made by adults and they have this representation on teenagers therefore showing it in a lot of films made. This shows how they have made an opinion on them to be very out of control and as an individual (part of the audience) watching this it is then your decision whether to believe this or not. Therefore a conclusion is made on your position for example I am a teenager therefore I would not agree with this representation.
Monday, 23 February 2015
Narrative question
Apply theorists of narrative into your coursework.
For my coursework that I constructed in my first year me and my group created a film opening. We as a production group decided to choose the genre horror. This is because the genre horror has a lot of sub genres which made our film opening easier to create as the ideas are endless. We also chose this genre as we had a clear narrative that we could use to fit in with the horror film openings that already exist. The narrative behind our horror film opening was a flash back to a nightmare.
Furthermore to make sure that I engage my target audience and make the film opening very interesting we decided to follow the narrative theorist 'Todorov'.We done this by showing the three stages which are: equilibrium, a disruption and a new equilibrium however if we would of made the rest of the film this narrative would have been shown much clearer and easier. To begin with we showed the equilibrium through a number of long shots and medium shots of the teenagers 'hanging out' in the park drinking and smoking which is conforming to the teenage stereotype this was a very chilled atmosphere which allowed the disruption to be exaggerated and made clearer to the audience. This was because the disruption was shown in the flash back. This was filmed in the late evening therefore having to use the night vision option on the digital video camera this made the effect of the clips very sinister and highlighted the fact that the disruption was being shown. The disruption included the audio of screaming and the nursery rhyme sang by Scarlet the doll. The aim of the disruption was to take away the innocence of the park and create an atmosphere that is showing the doll haunting the vulnerable teenager. Lastly the new equilibrium was a flash forward back to the teenagers hanging out in the park comforting each other that the park was not haunted. These clips were very unsettled showing the situation not yet fixed.
To make sure that the narrative was correctly followed we as a production group followed specific conventions they were: fade to blacks, a innocent location surrounded by woods, vulnerable children/females, dark lighting, fast cuts and an unsettled atmosphere.
Furthermore expanding on the point above about using the characters of 'teenagers' to conform to their stereotype allowed the narrative to be shown even clearer. However we also challenged stereotypes as we made a female woman the main character this is not following the conventions of the characters in horror films. This is because women are normally the victims as they are seen to be vulnerable and weak. By challenging the stereotype allowed our narrative to stand out and show a twist in the story line.We also developed the narrative by using a flash back. This made the narrative very tense and exciting as it gave short flash backs on the evil in the doll 'Scarlett' and showing reaction shots of the teenagers which make the audience want to carry on watching which was our aim.
Lastly even though the narrative theorist's 'Todorov' was our main influence in our film opening we also applied the theorist 'Propp' to the film opening. This is because the theorist Propp created the idea of having character types when he was analyzing a fairy tale. Therefore in our film opening we followed the structure of a Hero and Villain shown in the flash back between Scarlet the doll and the teenager Riley.
For my coursework that I constructed in my first year me and my group created a film opening. We as a production group decided to choose the genre horror. This is because the genre horror has a lot of sub genres which made our film opening easier to create as the ideas are endless. We also chose this genre as we had a clear narrative that we could use to fit in with the horror film openings that already exist. The narrative behind our horror film opening was a flash back to a nightmare.
Furthermore to make sure that I engage my target audience and make the film opening very interesting we decided to follow the narrative theorist 'Todorov'.We done this by showing the three stages which are: equilibrium, a disruption and a new equilibrium however if we would of made the rest of the film this narrative would have been shown much clearer and easier. To begin with we showed the equilibrium through a number of long shots and medium shots of the teenagers 'hanging out' in the park drinking and smoking which is conforming to the teenage stereotype this was a very chilled atmosphere which allowed the disruption to be exaggerated and made clearer to the audience. This was because the disruption was shown in the flash back. This was filmed in the late evening therefore having to use the night vision option on the digital video camera this made the effect of the clips very sinister and highlighted the fact that the disruption was being shown. The disruption included the audio of screaming and the nursery rhyme sang by Scarlet the doll. The aim of the disruption was to take away the innocence of the park and create an atmosphere that is showing the doll haunting the vulnerable teenager. Lastly the new equilibrium was a flash forward back to the teenagers hanging out in the park comforting each other that the park was not haunted. These clips were very unsettled showing the situation not yet fixed.
To make sure that the narrative was correctly followed we as a production group followed specific conventions they were: fade to blacks, a innocent location surrounded by woods, vulnerable children/females, dark lighting, fast cuts and an unsettled atmosphere.
Furthermore expanding on the point above about using the characters of 'teenagers' to conform to their stereotype allowed the narrative to be shown even clearer. However we also challenged stereotypes as we made a female woman the main character this is not following the conventions of the characters in horror films. This is because women are normally the victims as they are seen to be vulnerable and weak. By challenging the stereotype allowed our narrative to stand out and show a twist in the story line.We also developed the narrative by using a flash back. This made the narrative very tense and exciting as it gave short flash backs on the evil in the doll 'Scarlett' and showing reaction shots of the teenagers which make the audience want to carry on watching which was our aim.
Lastly even though the narrative theorist's 'Todorov' was our main influence in our film opening we also applied the theorist 'Propp' to the film opening. This is because the theorist Propp created the idea of having character types when he was analyzing a fairy tale. Therefore in our film opening we followed the structure of a Hero and Villain shown in the flash back between Scarlet the doll and the teenager Riley.
Monday, 2 February 2015
Digital technology question (1a)
Describe the ways in which your project work was aided by your use of digital technology and how your ability to use digital technology developed over time.
What they mean is to cover both your AS year and A2 year. Include research and planning as well as construction in our answer, and do not forget to state what products you are talking about.
Digital technology has become a very important part of film making and the way it has advanced has allowed the three stages of research, planning and construction to be easier and more accessible.
By studying media studies with my own practical productions I have developed my skills using different digital technologies which has given me more creative decisions.
The first digital technology that I have developed my skills through is the video camera. This has been the first technology that allowed my skills to advance. This is because the camera held hours of footage that I had shot to give me several times to make sure each individual shot i was filming was as accurate and framed correctly to get the best film opening/ advertisements which I done in as and a2. The size of the camera was also very compacted and by using a stable tripod allowed me to get sleek tilt shots for example in my advert for sportswear. This shows the audience the whole outfit to give them a feel of the outfit in motion.
In the planning stage of my film opening in AS by going to similar locations and practicing the different shots using the digital camera allowed myself to get more familiar with using the zoom button to get an even speed and to keep on working on the pan and tilt movements to get them as precise as possible. After this still in the planning stage I edited these clips on premiere pro. This allowed me to get a feel of the site and to watch on web 2.0 on the well known site 'YouTube' to gain editing skills and short cuts that could increase my creativity for my film opening. Premiere pro was the main technology that I edited both my horror film opening and sportswear adverts on. From a lot of research from the web 2.0 I had gained the knowledge also of different technologies fro example 'Live type' which as a class we watched several you tube clips to know exactly how to create titles that would best fit for our genre which was horror for me.
As my production group all decided on a horror film opening as part of the construction we had filmed parts of the film opening in the dark. This meant that we had to research how to make sure the lighting on the digital camera was allowing the actors/actresses and the location to be visible. Without the research of the night vision button it wouldn't of gave us more control on the effects we wanted in our film opening.
From using the digital camera to researching on the web 2.0 and YouTube to gain more skills for the editing process allowed the technology sites premiere pro and live type to be much easier to use. These all aided my skills to be much better for my A2 work.
Editing in my opinion was the most enjoyable out of all the stages of filming this was because it allowed me to use technology that advanced my creative thinking. This is because by doing a level media allowed my teacher to introduce me to premiere pro. By using the technology premiere pro in both a level years I feel massively developed as it made me more of a flexible editor. One part of the editing that I found very challenging was the sound. The sound was produced from the digital technology the microphone. To make sure the sound was equal to the actors/actresses lip movements was very hard. However by focusing on each individual one and increasing/decreasing the pace and volume on premiere pro made this process easier. Furthermore by also applying an echo to the sound made the sound much more creepier to fit the genre of horror.
When critiquing my own work I would have to say that sound was a downfall in our film opening this is because of using the digital microphone for the first time without as much research into as the actual digital camera. However from my teachers help and online tutorials on the web 2.0 made this down fall not as unsuccessful as I thought it would be. From this experience in my first year when filming my sponsorship in the second year which needed sound I made sure that the sound was produced in a studio to avoid any distracted noises. Also from the first year I had already known the best way to dub the sound which made my sponsorship sound a lot easier to edit.
What they mean is to cover both your AS year and A2 year. Include research and planning as well as construction in our answer, and do not forget to state what products you are talking about.
Digital technology has become a very important part of film making and the way it has advanced has allowed the three stages of research, planning and construction to be easier and more accessible.
By studying media studies with my own practical productions I have developed my skills using different digital technologies which has given me more creative decisions.
The first digital technology that I have developed my skills through is the video camera. This has been the first technology that allowed my skills to advance. This is because the camera held hours of footage that I had shot to give me several times to make sure each individual shot i was filming was as accurate and framed correctly to get the best film opening/ advertisements which I done in as and a2. The size of the camera was also very compacted and by using a stable tripod allowed me to get sleek tilt shots for example in my advert for sportswear. This shows the audience the whole outfit to give them a feel of the outfit in motion.
In the planning stage of my film opening in AS by going to similar locations and practicing the different shots using the digital camera allowed myself to get more familiar with using the zoom button to get an even speed and to keep on working on the pan and tilt movements to get them as precise as possible. After this still in the planning stage I edited these clips on premiere pro. This allowed me to get a feel of the site and to watch on web 2.0 on the well known site 'YouTube' to gain editing skills and short cuts that could increase my creativity for my film opening. Premiere pro was the main technology that I edited both my horror film opening and sportswear adverts on. From a lot of research from the web 2.0 I had gained the knowledge also of different technologies fro example 'Live type' which as a class we watched several you tube clips to know exactly how to create titles that would best fit for our genre which was horror for me.
As my production group all decided on a horror film opening as part of the construction we had filmed parts of the film opening in the dark. This meant that we had to research how to make sure the lighting on the digital camera was allowing the actors/actresses and the location to be visible. Without the research of the night vision button it wouldn't of gave us more control on the effects we wanted in our film opening.
From using the digital camera to researching on the web 2.0 and YouTube to gain more skills for the editing process allowed the technology sites premiere pro and live type to be much easier to use. These all aided my skills to be much better for my A2 work.
Editing in my opinion was the most enjoyable out of all the stages of filming this was because it allowed me to use technology that advanced my creative thinking. This is because by doing a level media allowed my teacher to introduce me to premiere pro. By using the technology premiere pro in both a level years I feel massively developed as it made me more of a flexible editor. One part of the editing that I found very challenging was the sound. The sound was produced from the digital technology the microphone. To make sure the sound was equal to the actors/actresses lip movements was very hard. However by focusing on each individual one and increasing/decreasing the pace and volume on premiere pro made this process easier. Furthermore by also applying an echo to the sound made the sound much more creepier to fit the genre of horror.
When critiquing my own work I would have to say that sound was a downfall in our film opening this is because of using the digital microphone for the first time without as much research into as the actual digital camera. However from my teachers help and online tutorials on the web 2.0 made this down fall not as unsuccessful as I thought it would be. From this experience in my first year when filming my sponsorship in the second year which needed sound I made sure that the sound was produced in a studio to avoid any distracted noises. Also from the first year I had already known the best way to dub the sound which made my sponsorship sound a lot easier to edit.
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