“ You don’t take a photograph, you make it. - Ansel Adams
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Monday, 31 March 2014
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?
b) Have you created a hybrid piece?
c) Have you used intertextual references?
'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?
b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’?
c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’?
d) Did you make any rules of your own?
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?
b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were?
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were?
“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?
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were?
a) Have you stuck closely to genre conventions in your production work?
b) Have you created a hybrid piece?
c) Have you used intertextual references?
'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?
b) How far have you followed any set of ‘rules’?
c) To what extent did you break ‘rules’?
d) Did you make any rules of your own?
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?
b) Did you feel more secure knowing what the guidelines were?
c) Were you happier breaking the conventions once you knew what they were?
“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?
b) Would you have produced more creative work if you had not known what the guidelines were?
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Here is the link to all the AS blogs from AS
http://www.tumblr.com/blog/asmedia2013
You will need to look at these at home as we can't view Tumblr at school!
You will need to look at these at home as we can't view Tumblr at school!
Monday, 24 March 2014
Sergei Eisenstein and Editing Post Production Question
Sergei 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.
Homework: Answer the question below for next lesson using you're own critical reflections across AS and A2.
- Remember to discuss specific editing effects, the connotations of each editing effect and whether each was successful.
- Aim for 6 separate points in your answer and exapiln 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.
from http://g325criticalperspectives.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2011-02-07T02:06:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false
Wednesday, 19 March 2014
Tuesday, 18 March 2014
What you have done on Post Production so far
"There are two phases to a movie. First you shoot the movie, and then you make the movie." Keenen Ivory Wayans
quizlet on PP
voki
PowerPoint on PP
Prezi on Post Production
Another Prezi
A note from the exam board about what is Post Production
Post production is a more ambiguous term for some media areas and thus examiners will credit candidates’ ability to demonstrate their understanding of the term in relation to their own work through whichever approach the centre encourages.
For example, a centre may treat all manipulation of copy and images as post production in print. For film a centre may consider post production to include editing, sound and effects. The definitions of the term are at the discretion of candidates / centres, but candidates are encouraged to explain their use of the term in their answers in the examination to aid the examiner.
For example, a centre may treat all manipulation of copy and images as post production in print. For film a centre may consider post production to include editing, sound and effects. The definitions of the term are at the discretion of candidates / centres, but candidates are encouraged to explain their use of the term in their answers in the examination to aid the examiner.
Post Essay Plan
What is Post Production
Post-production
You should discuss some of the Photoshop effects that you used to manipulate photographs here but this topic really requires you to consider your trailer project.
You would need to discuss:
EDITING – techniques used; style; pace; transitions and how the editing helped communicate meaning to the audience.
SOUNDTRACK & SOUND EFFECTS – the choices made and the impact of these choices on audiences.
SPECIAL EFFECTS – discuss any special effects (fast-motion, slow-motion etc.) and any effects you used to distort/edit images. Again, the emphasis should be on the way these effects impact on audiences and communicate meaning.
An Essay Plan
My AS brief was to…..
As part of this I had to develop post-production skills using Adobe Photoshop to…..
I used a variety of tools including …………………to …………………….In particular I used…………… to…………… While I was generally satisfied with my final productions, I was a little disappointed with / because……..
In My A2 year, I was able to make considerable progress and build on some of my own perceived post-production weaknesses. I demonstrated new skills in my ability to use Photoshop to…..
My post-production skills were also developed beyond Photoshop in my A2 year. I made extensive use of Adobe Premiere Elements to …… The key skills that I developed included…., and I became particularly accomplished at. One of my most successful uses of the technology was in……As well as editing the video footage, I did a considerable amount of work recording and editing sound (give details) in Audacity. I imported this work into my project to add soundtrack music and sound effects.
Post Production Link - This is a link to another teachers blog and has very detailed advice about post production
Post-production
You should discuss some of the Photoshop effects that you used to manipulate photographs here but this topic really requires you to consider your trailer project.
You would need to discuss:
EDITING – techniques used; style; pace; transitions and how the editing helped communicate meaning to the audience.
SOUNDTRACK & SOUND EFFECTS – the choices made and the impact of these choices on audiences.
SPECIAL EFFECTS – discuss any special effects (fast-motion, slow-motion etc.) and any effects you used to distort/edit images. Again, the emphasis should be on the way these effects impact on audiences and communicate meaning.
An Essay Plan
My AS brief was to…..
As part of this I had to develop post-production skills using Adobe Photoshop to…..
I used a variety of tools including …………………to …………………….In particular I used…………… to…………… While I was generally satisfied with my final productions, I was a little disappointed with / because……..
In My A2 year, I was able to make considerable progress and build on some of my own perceived post-production weaknesses. I demonstrated new skills in my ability to use Photoshop to…..
My post-production skills were also developed beyond Photoshop in my A2 year. I made extensive use of Adobe Premiere Elements to …… The key skills that I developed included…., and I became particularly accomplished at. One of my most successful uses of the technology was in……As well as editing the video footage, I did a considerable amount of work recording and editing sound (give details) in Audacity. I imported this work into my project to add soundtrack music and sound effects.
Post Production Link - This is a link to another teachers blog and has very detailed advice about post production
Monday, 17 March 2014
Creativity Questions
- What do you understand by ‘creativity’ and to what extent have you been creative?
- How have you tried to facilitate and encourage your own creativity?
- Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity?
- How easy/difficult was it to be creative while still working to the brief?
- Did working within conventions stifle your creativity?
- To what extent did you need to work with others and ‘bounce ideas’ off other people to be truly creative?
- How much of your creativity was about trying to picture things in your mind’s eye?
- How much of your creativity was about trial and error?
- To what extent was a lack of confidence an issue in terms of your creativity?
- To what extent was a lack of technical competence/confidence an obstacle to your creativity?
Csikszentmihalyi
Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi pronounced CHEEK-sent-me-hi-ee is a Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States. He is noted for his work in the study of happiness and creativity. Csikszentmihalyi says the creative process normally takes five steps (Creativity, 1996, p.79):
Spontaneity takes practice Csikszentmihalyi says that it typically takes someone 10 years of acquiring technical knowledge by immersing themselves in a discipline before they create anything significant.
- Preparation - becoming immersed in problematic issues that are interesting and arouses curiosity.
- Incubation - ideas churn around below the threshold of consciousness.
- Insight - the "Aha!" moment when the puzzle starts to fall together.
- Evaluation - deciding if the insight is valuable and worth pursuing.
- Elaboration - translating the insight into its final work.
Spontaneity takes practice Csikszentmihalyi says that it typically takes someone 10 years of acquiring technical knowledge by immersing themselves in a discipline before they create anything significant.
Creativity Quotes
Creativity involves thinking or behaving imaginatively . The imaginative activity is purposeful – set against or defined by a meaningful objective. The processes must generate something original. Paul
Roberts (2006)
David Gauntlett has written extensively about creativity and the idea is that “making is connecting”. His main argument is that “through making things, and sharing them with others, we feel a greater connection with the world, and more engaged with being more active in the environment rather than sitting back and watching.” (2003)
Malcolm Gladwell makes a similar argument in his new book, Outliers – according to Gladwell, the magic number is 10,000 hours of practice.
http://twistedsifter.com/2012/03/15-famous-quotes-on-creativity/ 15 Quotes on Creativity
Roberts (2006)
David Gauntlett has written extensively about creativity and the idea is that “making is connecting”. His main argument is that “through making things, and sharing them with others, we feel a greater connection with the world, and more engaged with being more active in the environment rather than sitting back and watching.” (2003)
Malcolm Gladwell makes a similar argument in his new book, Outliers – according to Gladwell, the magic number is 10,000 hours of practice.
Creativity
“The making of the new and the rearranging of the old” (Bentley, 1997).
An Essay Plan
My AS brief was to…………
Creativity is ……………..
I was able to demonstrate my creativity in a number of ways…….
Ways in which I supported my own creativity included….
Obstacles to my creativity included
…..working within conventions
…..taking risks when marks were at stake
…..working in isolation (getting lost in my own ideas)
…. lack of technical competence
…..lack of confidence
I think my ability to be creative really progressed in Year 13. I found that with the second brief…..I was able to….. and…… I found ways of avoiding the obstacles that had undermined my creativity in Year 12 by…..
Essay Plan for question 1a
Ms+g324+q1 from staylorchs
Rather than take three paragraphs to write about one skill I'd suggest a skill per paragraph and write about three or four examples depending on time.
Rather than take three paragraphs to write about one skill I'd suggest a skill per paragraph and write about three or four examples depending on time.
Research and Planning questions to ask
Think about the types of research you carried out:
Primary – films, magazines, internet, questionnaires, audience feedback
Secondary – internet, textbooks, blogs for theories
Advantages/Disadvantages of your sources:
Cost of magazines etc.
Accessibility – easy to find?
Time consuming?
Reliability of sources?
Accuracy of sources?
Usefulness of sources?
How did you organise your research and planning? E.g. labels, blog etc.
What did you research?
How did drafting help you?
How did audience feedback improve your planning?
How organised were you?
What did you learn about working as part of a group or independently?
How did you present your research and planning? E.g. wordle, moodboard, flickr, scribd, slideshare etc.
Primary – films, magazines, internet, questionnaires, audience feedback
Secondary – internet, textbooks, blogs for theories
Advantages/Disadvantages of your sources:
Cost of magazines etc.
Accessibility – easy to find?
Time consuming?
Reliability of sources?
Accuracy of sources?
Usefulness of sources?
How did you organise your research and planning? E.g. labels, blog etc.
What did you research?
How did drafting help you?
How did audience feedback improve your planning?
How organised were you?
What did you learn about working as part of a group or independently?
How did you present your research and planning? E.g. wordle, moodboard, flickr, scribd, slideshare etc.
Planning and Research quotes
Failing to plan is planning to fail.
Alan Lakein - Writer on Time management
Planning and Research
Here are a couple of links to student examples for Research and Planning Essay. Please remember that this essay might be split and that you are asked to only talk about Research or Planning - not necessarily both.
Level 4 essay and Level 3 Essay
Level 4 essay and Level 3 Essay
In
this essay you will be required to evaluate as part of the specified write up
the outcomes of the research and planning process.
E.g. (T) The planning of my storyboard on post it notes and then creating an
animatic enabled me to think about the order and transition of my shots.
(Ex) For example there was a sequence in
my film trailer which required parrallel cutting between my protagonist and antagonist and back again.
(EAA) The sequence
appeared in my final product, although with some SPFX enhancement at post
production, I clearly felt the benefit of storyboarding with post its more so
than at AS where I had drawn on a static storyboard sheet which made it
difficult to move scenes around skills did indeed improve in this area across
the two years.
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
Media Language Essay plan
You may be asked to write about one of your production pieces in relation to the concept of Media Language. This could be seen as the trickiest concept to define as it is not immediately obvious from the name what you are being asked to discuss – you therefore need to be careful when reading the question to make sure you know what is expected of you. However it can also be seen as a broader category than the others, giving you the opportunity to write about a number of different elements and to discuss any of the other key concepts.
Media Language means the way that meaning is made, using the conventions of the particular medium and type of media product. It is about considering how media texts communicate. One way to look at it is in relation to written language: if writing uses words, nouns, adjectives, sentences, paragraphs, rhymes, rhythms and chapters to convey meaning, how does a media text do it? If a written text uses short sentences, adverbs and similes to convey a sense of danger, a film title sequence might use fast editing, signs such as shadows falling across a wall, carefully composed mise en scene to suggest imprisonment and a specific choice of font and transition for the titles to convey a sense of unease.
You could write about elements of semiotics, genre, narrative, design, structure, codes and conventions, time and space, spoken, written and visual language to name just a few examples.
Ferdinand Saussure’s Semiotics:
Signifier = the form in which the sign takes
Signified = the concept it represents
Ferdinand Saussure was interested in the relationship between the signifier and the signified and this is referred to as 'signification.’
Charles Peirce iconic, indexical and
symbolic signs
Icons resemble what they represent (photograph)
Symbols only represent something
by agreement (words written on a page)
Indexical
Signs indicate something by
association (smoke = fire)
Revise the following terms by writing one example of each from
your production:
signifier
signified
detonated meaning
connoted meaning
iconic sign
indexical sign symbolic sign
Media Language Practice exam question 1b
“Media texts can communicate to their audiences in various ways.” Discuss the ways in which Media Language has been used within one of your productions.
signifier
signified
detonated meaning
connoted meaning
iconic sign
indexical sign symbolic sign
Media Language Practice exam question 1b
“Media texts can communicate to their audiences in various ways.” Discuss the ways in which Media Language has been used within one of your productions.
Cover in your answer:
·
Ferdinand de Saussure - sign
signified and signifer
·
Charles Peirce - iconic,
indexical and symbolic signs
·
Roland Barthes - denotation,
connotation and myth
narrative
& structure linear, montage,design
codes and conventions of your genre
time and space - non continuity
visual language mise en scene, camera, sound, editing
Practise taking a semiotic approach by evaluating one of your productions.
Focus on: Signs and their intended meaning
How they interact with each other – would a sign (e.g. the police hat) be read differently if placed in a different context? So how are elements affected by one another?
Anchorage text – how does the font/size/position convey meaning?
Drawing conclusions – what is the overall effect?
Examples
What does the darkening sky signify? How does it affect our reading of the rest of the image?
White is used a great deal in the composition – overwhelmingly seen as a colour of innocence and purity and on first viewing it could seem that the film maker is to be reverse this myth by using this colour for the villain. However, the anchorage text suggests…
A terrace house is symbolic of normal everyday British home life– why is it used here? How do the other elements of the image affect our reading of it?
How are we invited to view this as an image of femininity, power, animosity? Consider all the elements of the image together and come to a conclusion. Nostalgic? Objectified? Empowered? Ironic?
Metz and de Saussure
Christian Metz was a French film theorist, best known for pioneering the application of Ferdinand de Saussure's theories of semiology to film.
p 176 Language of Signs Book
p 176 Language of Signs Book
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