Pete Farser's Talk

On the second of October Pete Fraser, Head of OCR media study's, came in to give us a lecture on how to make a successful film opening. Within his talk he told us what a opening scene is, the difference between and short film and a trailer and some top tips on how to succeed. He also showed us past film opening from other students, each video was a different level. This allowed us to see the difference between each levels so we could see how to make our film openings better.

Pete Fraser's PowerPoint's

      

Top Tips

1. Take Stock - think about the task set and how it will be assessed, the equipment youll be using and the time frame.  
2. Blog - you should blog regularly to keep a record of everything you do. 
3. Work on Skills - this is so we you get your final piece you are prepared for what it could be and what have as many problems operating things such as the camera and editing software. 
4. Investigate - look at other film openings similar to the genre of the opening your doing. Also looking at openings that received good grades is helpful so you now what standard yours should be at. 
5. Brainstorm - in your groups you should all gather your ideas together a discuss each one going through the pros and cons and give constructive feedback to help develop the best idea. 
6. Planning - list what props, costumes ect. you will need so your not running around last minuet to find items. Also you should carry out a risk assessment so you don't get any unwanted injuries. 
7. The Shoot - make sure you are organised, have all the correct equipment and all the actors are all well rehearsed. This can be helped by creating a shooting schedule so its all in writing what you need for each day. 
8. Editing - remember to take screen grabs whilst your editing for evidence of it being done. 
9. Evaluation - analyse your final piece of work fully and answer the questions correctly and in full. 

Narrative

Claude Levi-Strauss

Claude Levi-Strauss came up with the idea of binary opposition. A binary opposition is a set of related terms/concepts that are opposites. Eg...

• Good V Evil 
• Woman V Man 
• Rich V Poor

Enigma Codes

Wne of the most commonly used narrative structures in the thriller genre is an enigma code, it acts as a intriguing way of enticing the audience to follow the narrative. As they progress through the film they are left to feel as if they are discovering things the thriller goes on, as well as building a sense of suspence and drama. 

The theory of enigma codes was created by Roland Barthes. He suggests a text portrays a mystery to draw an audience in, pose questions and ,because of this, become intrigued. for example a murder mystery will not reveal the murders identity until the end of the film which poses the question of "who is the murderer?".  

Tzvetan Todorov 

In his work on narrative theories, Todorov suggested that stories begin with equilibrium (where opposing forces are balanced). This status is then disrupted and becomes unbalanced. then comes the recognition of the disruption. Next there is a attempt to solve the issue by the characters. Finally equilibrium is reinstated and all the problems are solved. 

Institution

Most of the top grossing, most successful films are produced by one of the 'big six' filming company's. they are...

• Sony 
• Warner Brothers 
• 20th Century Fox 
• Paramount  
• Disney 
• Universal 

From the table below you can see the top films the big six have produced. also you can see the 'mini majors'. These are MGM and LIONSGATE.

Film Company Logo

I created my own film company logo. I came up with the idea quite quickly and checked to see if its was an original idea. it look me a while to find the correct fonts and choose the colours I wanted, but eventually I found ones that went well together and gave me the look I wanted. i made the logo in Adobe Fireworks.

Mnemonics

Describe 
In detail 
Setting 
Themes 
Icons 
Narrative 
Characters
Textual analysis - camera, editing, mise en scene and sound 

Mise En Scene 
Costume 
Lighting 
Actors 
Make-up
Props 
Setting 

Representations

Representation is the way in which people, events and ideas are presented to the audience.

Definitions

• Stereotypes - they are used because the audience will instantly understand them. they are a 'visual shortcut' and are often repeated so you think they are normal.
• Archetypes - this is the 'ultimate' stereotype.
• Countertype - a representation that challenges traditional stereotypes.  

Gatekeepers

Gatekeepers control what is presented to us and they decide what representation we will see. A gatekeeper is any person involved in a media production with the power to make a decision about something the audience are allowed to read, hear or see.

Moguls  

In the example of a newspaper editors will not be allowed to make there decisions there self. They will be controlled by a media mogul who would  most ;likely be the owner of the newspaper.

Media consumers are unaware of these decisions because the gatekeepers actions must be 'transparent' to the audience. They influence the way we perceive the news by the way they write.

The Male Gaze

Hollywood puts the audience in a masculine subject position with the woman on screen seen as a object of desire. Protagonists tend to be men. Mulvey suggests two modes of male gaze...

• Voyeuristic - woman as whores
• Fetishistic - woman as unreachable madonnas  

The Bechdal Test

1. Has to have at least two named women
2. They have to have a conversation with each other...
3. ...about something besides a man

Semiotics

What is Semiotics?

Semiotics is the study of signs. It also represents anything that stands for something else. For Example a swastika...

The swastika is the ancient Indian symbol for permanent spiritual Victory. it was also the badge for the 45th Infantry Division of the United States. However it is more commonly remembered because of it association with the Nazi party.

We read images to try and understand them and make sense of what they are to us:

• Denotation - what we see when we look at an image
• Connotation - what we understand from the image

Preferred and Optional Reading

Preferred = how the creator wants the audience to view the text.
Oppositional = where the intended meaning of the text is opposed by the reader.

My Juno

Story Board

Evaluation Questions 

Q1. You are editing your own footage, how did the filming go?
The filming went reasonable well. We managed to find good locations for our shots but it did take us a bit of time to find them. Also we had to improvise scenes such as the van scene where we had to wait for a van to drive past, because of this I was unable to get the correct camera angle.

Q2. Was your storyboard accurate?
My storyboard was very accurate and gave specific details of each scene, including camera angles and movements. This allowed me to easily film without the stress of wondering if I had got the scenes correct. My storyboard could have been improved by drawing in 3D and not using stick men. by doing this I would have made filming even easier.

Q3. What are the strengths and weaknesses in the group?
The strengths of the group were we worked well together which allowed us to film quickly and get the task done within an hour. Another strength would be Georgia was a good actor so we were not wasting to filming shots over and over. The only weakness of the group was my camera skills were a bit dodgy. Specifically during one shot I kept zooming out instead of in so this wasted a bit of time.

Q4. Did you get all the footage you needed?
Yes, we did get all the footage we needed for the film but we had to do some on a different day as we didn't have the correct props.

Q5. What technical skills, either camera or premiere, did you learn?
I learnt how to operate the camera but still need some practise as i was still pressing the wrong buttons on so e occasions. Also i learnt how to download footage off the camera onto the computer and where to find the footage.                                            

Film Pitch

White River

Our task was to come up with a film pitch after choosing a genre a random then present it to the class...

 

Mainstrean VS Independent Films

 

Genre Task

Analysis of Opening Scenes  

Harry Brown

The opening scene to Harry Brown shows a group of teenage boys in a dark underpass in inner city London smoking and being aggressive. The opening scene begins in underpass but cuts in to a park during the day as the scene progresses. The main themes of the scene are gang violence, murder and drug usage. the main icons used in the scene are the gun used to murder the mother in the park, the motor bike which is used in the moments leading up to the murder and afterwards.

Features of Mise En Scene

Mise En Scene

Mise en scene is a French term meaning what is in the scene. It is information in front of the camera for the audience.

Its made up of five elements...

• Setting and props
• Costume, hair and makeup
• Facial expressions and body language
• Lighting and colour
• Positioning of characters and objects

Camera

The filming is made up of three elements...

• Frame
• Angle
• Movement

Editing

You edit by using these four things...

• Transition
• Order of Narrative
• Pace
• SFX 

Sound

Sound in films fall in these three category's...

• Dialogue - what the characters are saying and how they say it
• Music - it can either be parallel (goes with the mood of the scene) or centripetal (goes against the mood of he scene)
• Diegetic / non diegetic sound - diegetic = normal background noise, non diegetic = added on when editing