Main Task - Sparking Up Ideas

"Main task: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes."

In class with Craig, Charlie and Mr Codling, we now are moving away from the preliminary task onto the main task.
Firstly, we decided to record our discussion on my camera, so we can play back what we have shared with each other the ideas of our main task. I have to upload this video in my own time, so my classmates will have access to it and they can edit the video of themselves taking part in the discussion for their blogs.
Here is my part in the filmed discussion (do turn up volume high):




My ideas haven't quite sparked up yet, but I will be inspired by other thriller/horror-genre films to create my own. I know what I definitely want in my main task:
*play on common fears/phobias -or concentrate on a less-known fear/phobia and create a new common phobia;
*have small amount of characters -create isolation;
*twist conventions of a thriller/horror -audience doesn't figure out storyline so early in the film, leaves suspense;

Definition of thriller:
"Thrillers are a genre of literature, film, and television programming that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements.
A genuine, standalone thriller is a film that provide thrills and keeps the audience cliff-hanging at the "edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax."

I will be watching films or segments of films that fits into thriller/horror genre, like:

Insidious (2010) - "A family looks to prevent evil spirits from trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further."

Scream (1996) - "A killer known as "ghost face" begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one." [Only watch first five minutes below]




Source Code (2011) - "An action thriller centered on a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train."

Preliminary Task - Evaluation and Voiceover

(Voiceover)

In my preliminary task, I have decided to start my video with my brother opening the door to reveal what’s on the other side (establishing shot) and him walking through it and end my video with him walking out of it towards the camera. I thought that this is a tidy way of ending the video as it ‘loops around’ to the same shot as the beginning again. By showing the 180-degree rule, two shot and shot/reverse shot (0:09 to 0:34), I placed them in different orders during editing so to capture different emotions and facial expressions from these different camera shots.

What I thought went well was that I have recorded more than what I need in case I may want those shots in the final video and that I have made sure that I had demonstrated match on action during the filming process. What was difficult was that I had to film at a time where the sun sets rather quickly, therefore I had a time limit and I cannot waste any time during my filming as this may interfere with my editing later on. This is because I want to demonstrate match on action effectively.

What I would do differently if I were to do this task again, would be to choose an earlier time during the day for my characters to meet therefore I would have natural light for longer and more time to work on the production. In my two shot, both of my characters wasn’t completely in the frame, therefore cuts out any critical facial expression from them. As I wasn’t able to move back any further due to a wall in my way, I would choose a different location so I am able to have both of my characters shown my two shot.

What I have learnt from the preliminary task is that every successful piece of film has these simple shots of 180-degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot which helps develop the characters on screen and build relationships between each other. I have also learnt that it can be quite difficult to get match on action correctly recorded as the height or an angle on the tripod can easily be changed and become noticeable therefore making the preliminary task seem amateur. What I have gained from this preliminary task is that now I know what to avoid in the main task and what to add in effectively.

Preliminary Task - Editing and Final Video

I have finally edited my preliminary video , pieced sections of clips together to create the desired effect and used 'match on action' as close as possible to make to look realistic.
It didn't take me long to edit due to my chosen software, which is Mac's iMovie '09 which is fairly easy to learn the editing tools on there and very simple to use.
The final video is only 37 seconds but that shows how often these shots and cuts are used in film.

Here is the final video:

May Chung's Preliminary Task from May Chung on Vimeo.

I will upload another copy of this video with my voice over to point out where I have used 180-degree shots, shot/reverse shot and match on action.

OCR Media Studies A Level Blog and Kett Creative Arts - Review

http://ocrmediastudies.weebly.com/index.html


This website has links to past media student's media work which I think is a very important resource. It has relevant link to this year's tasks which is very useful and shows that the site isn't at all dated.
This site shows both coursework and exam work from both ex-AS and A2 students. There are photographs or print screens of student's work. When the image is clicked, it takes us straight to the blog of the student where we could compare our work to theirs and gain inspiration.


This website also gives us links to other useful website for A Level media students.


http://kettcreativearts.blogspot.com/


This blog is created by Elaine Humpleby of Sprowston High School and it is connected with partnered blogs of media and photography students of GCSE years and A-Level years.
I find this a very useful resource , full of inspiration as it conjures up ideas that would make me want to do better for my own main task.
For example: looking at 'AS Media Studies Jessica White' blog , I firstly see her final main task which is a Film Noir style video.
The video started strongly with the background music setting the mood of the viewer , it gave an uneasy atmosphere instantly as the background sound was 'screechy' and 'crindgy'.
Then I eventually spotted some continuity errors which I then learn to look out for when I get onto producing and editing my main task.

Preliminary Task - Filming !

On the Sunday 2nd October, at around 6pm till 7pm, I have done my filming for my prelim' task.
As my siblings hadn't acted and been filmed before, they took ten minutes getting comfortable being on camera and laughed out their nervousness.

We had a couple of takes of the opening scene, where my little brother has to open the door and we see my older sister reading the newspaper. This is where my actors start to laugh as they found it a tad uncomfortable and nervous but they grew into their roles fast.

As this time of day the sun sets really fast , so I had to make sure I have everything I needed on tape in the correct order.
I have made sure that I have used 180-degree shots and shot/reverse shot when filming.
I then looked over the recorded material and I was happy with what I got for that day.

Theory Theory Theory !

Firstly, in the introductory lesson with Ms Brown, we had to summarise a favourite film of ours and mine was Scott Pilgrim vs the World.
This film is based on a graphic novel series by Brian Lee O'Malley and it is a geeky comedy with comic book elements. It is like a romantic comedy as the main character, Scott, played by Micheal Cera, has to defeat seven evil exes to win his girl of his dream's heart, Ramona, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

We then list the Key Concepts, which are:
*Language - especially visual, including dialogue;
*Institutions - people involved in advertising, sound, etc.
*Audience - the target audience of a certain media;
*Representation - stereotypes, meanings, etc.

We can remember these Key Concepts by remembering 'LIAR' !

We also did a stereotype exercise, where we were given a character and put it in a spider diagram. My character was 'baby' and I've listed out typical characteristics like:
-needy
-cute
-troublesome
-bald
-easily influenced
etc.

Finally, we finished this lesson by watching and analysing the first episode of The Body Farm.
The Body Farm is a British forensic crime drama about a group of forensic scientists solving crime. It is said to be a spin off from another TV series Waking The Dead.

My homework was to write down my initial thoughts of The Body Farm and to watch another British drama - I chose to watch an episode of Holby City.

Preliminary Exercise - Continuity Task (so far!)

'Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom s/he then exchanged a couple of line of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule'

Firstly, I have planned out my task on paper - noted down what I want to film.
This piece of film will set in my dining room at home, with natural lighting coming from the window and I will have my younger brother and older sister as my main characters. The main props that I will have my characters to use will be a school bag with a exercise book from school in it , a chair and a newspaper.

I have also created a storyboard of three pages long (four frames on each page), of what I want to film.
In the first frame, I'd have a close up on the brother's hand as he opens his bedroom door. This will be shot from his point of view. Here we'll have a sound of the door opening.

Within the second frame, we still see the shot from his point of view and we see the sister on the other side of the room reading a newspaper and she glances at him then back to her paper again.

In the third shot, we see from the sister's POV, reading the newspaper/ Then she hears the door opening.

The fourth frame, the sister glances at the brother briefly then back to her newspaper.

In the fifth frame, we see from the brother's POV walk towards the sister and then sits down on the chair opposite her.

The sixth frame, we see a 'two-shot' where we see both charaters on the side. The brother sits down and goes into his bag to get his exercise book out. He then starts looking through the book. The sound of paper rustling and bag zipping.

In the seventh frame, still in two-shot, the first piece of dialogue is spoken by the sister.
Sister: So, little brother, how was your day at school today?
[This shot will now change to the 180-degree rule shot, where the camera is angled at the siter as she speaks]

The eighth frame, we now go into the 180-degree rule and we see an angle of the brother as he replies: "Oh, nothing much, just the usual."

The ninth frame, we see from the brother's POV as we see the sister reply: "Ah, alright. So what have you got there?"

The tenth frame, the shot then goes to tow-shot and the brother says: "Just some English homework. Need to get it done by tomorrow. Oh, I forgotten my pen!"

In the eleventh frame, from the sister's POV, she sees the brother walk back to his room.

Finally, in the twelvth frame, we see the brother walk towards the camera into his bedroom and see the sister in the background continue reading her newspaper.