Homework: to answer the following questions (from the lesson) on your blog for Monday

Homework: to answer the following questions (from the lesson) on your blog for Monday

The Conventions of Real Media: MEDIA CONCEPTS

“the conventions of each genre shift, new genres and sub-genres emerge and others are 'discontinued' (Chandler)

a) Have you stuck closely to genre conventions in your production work?

Yes. In my Thriller opening production I followed many conventions such as building up to the action, creating fear by using a dark, shadowy atmosphere, apprehension, anticipation, an unsettling feeling given by the eerie innocent music, confusion and doubt over a character; the main villains face wasn’t shown nor was the child in the flashbacks face shown to make the central character morally ambiguous. We also used a park and a house as the main settings to follow the convention that realistic settings should create a sense of the unusual occurring within a normal setting; our hero was also suggested to be in a situation of threat and struggle. We didn’t use murder although it was implied with the graveyard scene and the child saying ‘it hurt me a bit’.

In my music video we followed all main conventions as we didn’t feel it was typical of our genre to challenge, however we didn’t use images of instruments as we felt it was unnecessary for our song choice. We used a lot of close ups of our artist and also voyeurism as she is dressed sexily with heavy make-up and high heels, but she also looks through a camera and mirrors. We used a lot of intertextuality such as the tea party scene inspired from the book ‘Alice In Wonderland’ and also many references were made to the ‘Barbie Girl’ music video by aqua as our song was also about a ‘doll’. We followed genre conventions such as bright colours, dancing, close ups, voyeurism etc.

b) Have you created a hybrid piece?

Don’t even know what that is..
c) Have you used intertextual references?
In the thriller we referenced a book which related to our storyline; ‘a mouse took a stroll in the deep dark wood, a fox saw the mouse and the mouse looked good’.

Apart from Alice In Wonderland and Barbie Girl, we also used many similar shots and props as other music videos such as ‘The Boy Who Murdered Love’ and ‘Number One Enemy’, which both gave good ideas for props, and ‘Kiss The Girl’ which gave good ideas for high angle shots to emphasise the eyes.

'one could... argue that no set of necessary and sufficient conditions can mark off genres from other sorts of groupings in ways that all experts or ordinary film-goers would find acceptable' (Bordwell 1989, 147).

a) Do you think it is hard to agree on a set of ‘rules’ to follow when making a product?

I think a certain amount of rules apply especially to mainstream artists’ music videos as audiences are looking for something they are familiar with and conforms to the ‘norm’, but more niche artists can have more freedom as their audiences are fitted specifically to what that band is about rather than what society expects.

With thrillers, the convention to shock/disturb audiences is followed in practically all thrillers, it’s just the different components which usually challenge most set ‘rules’ as this is most likely to have the biggest impact on the audience.

b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’?

we mainly followed all the conventions.

c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’?

By making the villain in the thriller a female and the person in danger a male.

But in the music video we didn’t break any as it was unesscery

.
d) Did you make any rules of your own?

Didn’t even think about rules just wanted to make two really good pieces of work that had the right amount of both conforming and challenging of conventions, to interest the audience and to use our own ideas.

Conventions give the producers a framework to work with- a set of guidelines (McQuail)

a) Was it helpful to work within a set of guidelines?

Especially on the thriller production piece as we were both more knowledgeable about music videos but I don’t watch thrillers so it was useful to know what they contain to make ours as realistic as possible. The music video list was useful to remind us of what we were aiming for and not get too carried away.

b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were?

YES
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were?

If i didn’t know what they were I wouldn’t know I’d be breaking them but it felt better knowing you were allowed to challenege some as some didn’t fit our genre, especially for the thriller piece as ours was more a psychological thriller rather than horrific thriller.

“Sometimes, working within constraints produces the most interesting work” (Branston and Strafford)

a) Do you think you produced better work because you stuck to the conventions of the genre?

Well I did so no i did as good as i could and worked as hard as i could.
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were?

For the music video, yes, as we wanted to put in a lot more but didn’t want our video to be too alternative especially given the mainstream genre of our song; it should follow most conventions. For the thriller I probably wouldn’t have known where to begin but it probably would’ve been less creative and more typical what comes to mind when you think of thriller rather than what gave us inspiration by anaylsing which conventions we wanted to challenge and conform to.

HW: Conventions

Homework
1.Complete planning sheets to show how you subverted/followed conventions with 7 points for AS and 7 for A2.
2.Complete the arrow in the middle: 3 points to explain how this shows progression.
3.Answer the question on your blog using examples from your planning sheets:

Conventions- should you always adhere to them or do they restrict creativity?

DONE IT ON THE SHEETS

Conventions

Conventions

Thriller Conventions

•A build up to the action
•Creation of fear / apprehension / anticipation / unsettling feeling / confusion / doubt over a character
•Dark, shadowy atmosphere (use of light and dark images)
•Establishing mood and atmosphere throughout the film
•Delay in showing the face of a significant character, or the action of an important event by first showing the hand of the character for instance or a reaction of someone watching the event
•Creation of suspense using soundtrack music –eerie innocent music?
•Morally ambiguous central character – film noir (Seven)
•Murder encouraging a suspecting audience
•Realistic settings to create a sense of ‘the unusual’ occurring within a normal setting
•Flashbacks
•Hero(ine) in situation of threat or struggle
•Red Herrings (Hitchcock movies)
•Twists and unexpected turns (The Usual Suspects)
•Making and keeping the audience tense and on the edge of our seats.

•The thriller relies on an intricate plot in order to create fear and apprehension in the viewer.
•The hero(ine) of the thriller is seen in situations of threat/peril before the film's narrative is resolved.
•The female characters in a thriller are often objectified through a series of gazes.
•The thriller narrative contains a build up of suspense
•The thriller is often located within an ordinary situation where extraordinary things happen.
•The killer ensnares the victim in a set of intricate moves.
•The thriller narrative is usually centred on a crime (usually a murder).
•The hero(ine) of a thriller is fallible.
•The audience are often positioned as voyeurs.
•The thriller often includes themes of identity (mistaken identity / loss).
•There is often a theme of mirroring involved in a thriller.
•Labyrinths and mazes are often motifs; they may be actual or psychological.

Music Video Conventions

. The video will either be one of the following types or will be a hybrid of:
•- performance
•- narrative (lyrics)
•- a concept or idea
2.There will be some reference to the ‘notion of looking.’
3.There will be a relationship between music and visuals.
4.There will be close-ups of the artist and/or star image motifs.
5.There will be intertextual references within the video
6.The video will contain clear genre characteristics.

Homework
1.Complete planning sheets to show how you subverted/followed conventions with 7 points for AS and 7 for A2.
2.Complete the arrow in the middle: 3 points to explain how this shows progression.
3.Answer the question on your blog using examples from your planning sheets:

Conventions- should you always adhere to them or do they restrict creativity?

HW: Post production

Homework - to complete 4 paragraphs using PEE in response to the question below:

“The post-production process can be the most important part of the filming process”.
How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?

POINT – What editing tool / technique did you use? What did it suggest / connote / represent?

EVIDENCE – Specific evidence from your film (AS? A2?)

EXPLAIN – Have you progressed from AS to A2? How does this example show this progression? What did you experiment with? Take risks with? Were you more confident? Were you more adventurous?

“The post-production process can be the most important part of the filming process”

How important has the post production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?


During the editing stage of both my music video and my thriller opening, I would certainly say this became the most important part of the filming process as I was able to manipulate my raw material using software to transform my film into a finished media product.

Software I used which enabled me to do this was the programme ‘iMovie’ on the Mac Computers. This allowed me to use editing effects to create meaning within my footage. During my advanced portfolio I experimented with the options available, whereas during the post production stages of my advanced portfolio I was already knowledgable of the tools I could use; therefore I would agree that my skills have certainly developed over these two years.

For my thriller opening, despite being new to the post-production software, I was quite adventurous and experimental with my use of editing effects; instead of only using simple cuts I used a variety of transitions and effects which connoted characteristics of the thriller conventions. For example, my thriller opening included ‘flashback’ scenes, in which the female villain looks into her past. I showed this via editing techniques by flashing a clip of her eye opening at the beginning of the flashback, and then closing at the end of the flashback. I used a transition between the ‘flashbacks’ and the ordinary footage called ‘cross zoom’, which created an other worldy effect, making the audience aware this was a flashback. I feel this was successful as the transition is really noticable, which creates a sense of enigma for the audience; an emotion I wanted to capture for my thriller opening. During these ‘flashbacks’, I decided an effect was needed on the footage within the flashback. I chose an effect called ‘Romantic’, which increased the brightness and saturation but also slightly blurred the screen; this not only led the audience to believe the ‘flashbacks’ were in the past, but also caused them to wonder whether the footage within the flashback was a dreamworld, due to the blur effect, which made the audience question whether the clips of footage were flashbacks or indeed the female villains imagination. To really focus viwers’ concentration on my thriller opening, I used an editing effect on the opening and closing eye before the ‘flashbacks’ called ‘vignette’; this created a shaded circle around the eye to make the audience focus on the eye. Other editing effects I used which were an important part of my filming process included overlapping text on the screen for the titles, playing clips of footage in reverse e.g. the eye opens, but had to be reversed so it could close, using clow motion effects to make a short piece of footage longer, and removing sound at dramatic points.


Clearly the post production stage of my thriller opening was invaluable in creating my finished media product, but through this I developed my skills with my knowledge and understanding of the software so that for my advanced portfolio I was able to be even more adventurous and edit my raw material much quicker than before. My music video was full of editing effects, all which linked to my artist. An example of this is the pink colourisation effect I used on the screen at certain points during the music video; this indicated my artists electro-pop genre, but also indicated a little about the artists personality- pink often connoting femininity, fun, and flirtatiousness. I carried this theme throughout my music video; at various points in the video, I inserted text on the screen in a bold, bright, colourful font. My music video was extremely lively and fast paced to match the song I had chosen, and my transitions and effects reflected this such as fast cut montage.

I would therefore say that the post-production process was probably the most important part of the filming process, and was the stage where I developed my skills the most over the two years as I learnt new tools and techniques.

HW: Critical Reflections

Homework: Answer the question below for next lesson using youre own critical reflections across AS and A2.
- Remember to discuss specific editing effects, the connotations of each editing effect and whether each was uuccessful.
- Aim for 6 seperate points in your answer and exaplin whether you were more experimental and adventurous in your editing of the AS production compared to the A2 production.

Exam Question: “The post-production process can be the most important part of the filming process”. How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?

Useful terminology:
Word bank:
To suggest…
To give the commutation of….
To signify …
To symbolise…
To show…


Overlap
Fade / Wipe / Wash in/out/ Cross dissolve
Fast / Slow motion effects
Superimpose
Fast cut montage effects
Split Screen
Colourisation – be specific

cut A cut is when you go from one shot to another in a video without using any time of transition, such as a fade or wipe.

dissolve A dissolve is when one scene of your video slowly disappears into another scene. Most video editors will allow you to decide how long you want a dissolve to take, allowing you to lengthen or shorten the length of the transition based on how you want your finished video to look.

fade A fade is very similar to a dissolve, but instead of transitioning between two different scenes, a fade transitions between the scene and blank or black screen.

in/out point Every video editing program will ask you to set in and out points on clips you want to use in your final product. The in point is simply where the video will start, and the out point is where it will end.

real time Real time allows you to see effects that you added to your video immediately, without the need to wait to render the video. If a video editor touts that it allows you to do something in real time, it means that you will be able to see the effect immediately.

rendering The process where an effect is applied to video. Think of it like developing a picture from a film camera; rendering is what applies an effect such as a wipe or fade to a piece of video.

time code Time code is the numerical address for a piece of video. Typically listed as hours : minutes : seconds : frames, each frame of your video essentially has its own time code to help you identify it.

transition A transition is what goes between two video clips in order to make moving between the two of them more visually appealing. Common transitions include dissolves and wipes.

wipe A wipe is a type of transition where one scene appears to be pushed of "wiped" off the screen by another.

Post-Production

Post - Production

Definition: ...the editing stage, where material is manipulated using software and transformed into a finished media product.


To achieve Level 3 or above you must comment and reflect on ‘media concepts’.

EISENSTEIN
Eisenstein believed that editing was: ‘the foundation of film art’
For Eisenstein, meaning in cinema lay not in the individual shot but only in the relationships among shots established by editing.
He created an editing style that he called "dialectical montage" that was abrupt and jagged and did not aim for smooth continuity.
The jaggedness of Eisenstein's editing can create a sense of emotional and physical violence , but he also aimed to use editing to suggest ideas, a style he termed "intellectual montage."
One of his films concludes with three shots of statues of stone lions edited to look like a single lion rising up and roaring, embodying the idea of the wrath of the people and the voice of the revolution.

Digital Technology- detailed analysis

Digital Technology - detailed analysis

Digital Technology - Critical Debate

What statement is being made by each critic about the use of digital technology? In your experience from AS – A2, do you agree or disagree with it?

With the most primitive means the artist creates something which the most ingenious and efficient technology will never be able to create. (Kasimir Malevich)

What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. (Steve Jobs)

The proper artistic response to digital technology is to embrace it as a new window on everything that's eternally human, and to use it with passion, wisdom, fearlessness and joy. (Ralph Lombreglia)