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Film making: questions and tips

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FRAMING

We study framing and composition using an article taken from this month's Media Magazine, Love Your Viewfinder: Framing Your Story by Sean Richardson
Key terms and concepts include:
Framing
viewfinder
rules of composition
horizontal and vertical lines: selecting the most important focus
leading lines in composition : lead the viewer into the frame and guide the eye
visual hierarchy
reading an image
creating particular meanings, associations, inferences
lines can evoke tone and feeling, e.g. curved lines may evoke warmth and sensuality
horizontal lines may signify equilibrium, staus quo, establishing a scene
vertical lines may challenge, confront, impose
dominant lines
diagonal lines are directional and draw the viewer in; give depth, perspective
symmetrical / formal composition: classical balance, giving equal weight to both halves of the frame
asymmetrical / unbalanced composition draws in viewer's eye
colour significance: red, orange, yellow tones are hot / warm; blue, green, violet are cool; green evokes nature
using location shooting such as woods, offices, tunnels
using close-ups such as tree bark
You are also introduced to Pete Fraser's blog for OCR students Pete's Media Blog HERE

PRELIMINARY

We devise, film and edit a short exercise in film making which OCR asks us to complete prior to our film opening. We watch examples of the exercise such as those undertaken by Claremont students last year and others like this one.
Here is another example. Here is another.
Here is the OCR Specification 
We are doing the video brief which includes the preliminary exercise as set out below.


PREP: Post an account of your filming and editing along with the completed prelim. State what you think you learned, using 'articulate reflection'. Support your account with screenshots.

 

CONSUMING PASSION

We screen the opening ten minutes of Consuming Passion: A Hundred Years of Mills and Boon (BBC4, 2008) available HERE in order to study how gender is represented, building on the skills practised last lesson.
PREP By Friday 26 September, complete the worksheets provided. Use the back of the worksheets if you need more space to write. Look at yesterday's model answer for guidance on how to express your points.
The drama links together three time periods in history in order to present the story behind Mills and Boon, the famous romantic fiction publishing house. The lives of three women unfold in each time period, connected by the central figure of X, the most prolific of Mills and Boon's authors.

1. 1908: Mary, wife of Charles Boon who is himself ironically blind to Mary's repeated attempts to inject passion into their relationship.
2. 1974: Janet, dowdy spinster typist and avid reader of romantic fiction who quits her job to write full time under the name Raquel Pretty
3. 2008 : Kirstie, university lecturer teaching a unit on modern romance using the output of Mills & Boon. When pursued by Jake, Kirstie is initially confused and repelled, but soon realises that he displays passion for her and for life that she can no longer find with her current partner. 

 
 

EXTRAS

Textual analysis of the opening scene of Ricky Gervais' Extras episode featuring Orlando Bloom. (Season 2, Episode 1 Orlando Bloom, 14 Sep. 2006). Tackle your analysis in the order of the scenes, starting with the opening scene and working your way through.

Answer the question below, with detailed reference to specific examples from the extract

only.

1   Discuss the ways in which the extract constructs representations of gender using the following:

  • Camera shots, angles, movement and composition

  • Editing

  • Sound 

  • Mise-en-scene [50 marks] 

To answer the examination question, you will do well if you use the structure PEE (point, evidence, explanation). For example:
P "A two-person mid shot of Orlando Bloom and Maggie shows Orlando leaning on the jury box rail. " (this names two technical codes, in this case, camerawork)
E "Mid shots let the audience see the expressions on the actors' faces; here, we see Orlando Bloom looking very smug and self-satisfied, whereas Maggie looks unimpressed as she is not smiling and trying to please, unlike the crowd of adoring autograph hunters of the previous frame who clustered around the superstar Orlando Bloom. The two-person composition draws attention to the contrasting body language of Bloom and Maggie; he is assertive and confident, intruding into her personal space, whereas she has slumped shoulders and is not trying to impress him."
E "The effect is to create comedy as Maggie does not conform to the stereotype of the female fan whilst Bloom vainly tries to impress her. She seems annoyed by his vanity and the way that the other women fawn over him. Bloom is constructed as a typical film superstar who is arrogant and over-confident, used to having the world at his feet."

 

BARTHES: RHETORIC OF THE IMAGE

THE RHETORIC OF THE IMAGE

The French semiotician Roland Barthes (1913 - 1980) termed the straightforward description of a text denotation and the added layers of associated meaning and values that society (people interpreting it) gives that text connotation.

• A word has a literal meaning (denotation) e.g. rose
• Beyond this, it may have a symbolic or cultural meaning (connotation) e.g. romance, true love
• Meaning includes both denotation and connotation

Barthes gives us the example of the advertisement for Panzani tinned and dried products as an example of how imagery can create a barrage of persuasive meanings through connotation. How does this text persuade the consumer that Panzani products are an essential ingredient in natural, wholesome, fresh and home-made Italian cooking?

Excerpt from Barthes 'The Rhetoric of the Image' (1977)

YOUR BLOGS

Checklist for your blogs:
Search engine, pages for evaluations 1-7 at the top; pages for OCR, blog tools and past papers; blog lists at the right.

In class today we cover how to change the blog post date and how to add images and hyperlinks. Trouble placing pages? Tackle this through Template Designer drag and drop.

RESEARCH: FILM OPENING OF NOWHERE BOY

In your end of year exam, Section A is the analysis of representation in television drama. An unseen clip will be screened four times.
You are expected to analyse and discuss the technical aspect of the language and conventions of moving image in the extract's representation of individuals, places, groups and events.

• camera shots, angles, movement, composition
• editing
• sound
• mise-en-scene

 You will be asked to discuss how these technical elements create specific representations of individuals, groups, events or places and help to articulate specific messages and values that have social significance. Particular areas of representation that may be chosen are:

•Gender

•Age

•Ethnicity

•Sexuality

•Class and status

•Physical ability/disability

We watch Nowhere Boy (directed by Sam Taylor Wood, 2009) and analyse the visual codes (camera angles, camera movement, shot types) and sound (dialogue and soundtrack).
We use technical codes (the language of moving image).

We note the exam mark scheme for a grade A response:

• use of terminology (8-10 marks)
• use of examples (16-20 marks)
• analysis, explanation, argument (16-20 marks)

We practise from the very start formulating responses that cover these three elements in the order given above. We note just how precise  and detailed our points must be: similar to PEE in your Englsh examination technique (point, evidence, explanation).

OCR GUIDES

PREP Learn the language of cinematography from OCR's presentations so that next lesson you can use media language to analyse representation in television drama and film. Go to the OCR media studies website  and study the three 'Guides to...'

DISTRIBUTION: LAUNCHING FILMS INFO

What distributors do: we watch the animation  On the FDA micro site www.launchingfilms.info

DISTRIBUTION: PRIDE

See the BBC news article HEREWe investigate how the film Pride is attracting and addressing audiences.
The film website

How are audiences involved in order to generate buzz prior to the film's release? For example:
A video soundbite from actor Andrew Scott urging audiences to book tickets 'as there is only one week left.'
'The real LGSM and stars of #PRIDE marched with a live band to Odeon Cinema, Camden on Tuesday 2nd September for the Premiere! Here are our highlights.'
What else?

DISTRIBUTION: WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY

On the Macs, create a folder with your name and a Word document entitled WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY
You have 15 minutes to research this new British film and make a note of your sources.

• Its genre? Source of your info?
• Target audience? Source?
• institutions spreading the word?
• what did you learn about it from the trailer?

PREP Write up your research. Keep it crisp. Use quotations and images. Give sources.

How does distribution work? We view this week's releases using www.launchingfilms.com from the Film Distributors Association. We watch the trailer for Pride
http://www.pridemovie.co.uk/trailer