Other key terms

* Audience positioning- Positioning the audience within the scene.

• Point-of-view shot: Putting audience in their point of view (the sense of being there)
• Over the-shoulder shot: Empathising with the character (feeling their feelings with out them actually being there)

* Protagonist- The one that leads the action, the main character in a certain scene, episode or series.

* Narrative arc- 

Is when a story is carried on over a number of episodes or even series.

For example- A woman gets pregnant and doesn't know who the father is and in several episode later or the next series you find out who the father is.

However as well as having narrative arcs in a t.v drama to create tension, closure in each episode is also demanded by the audience as it gives them a sense of satisfaction and makes them continue to watch the drama.

*Framing- Whats included in the frame, can shot importance and domination.

*Sequence- How shots go together, How they flow, also creates ellipsis

*Ellipsis- Time jumped

For example; doesn't show all the footsteps man takes

*Continuity- (Editing) Tricking the audience into thinking that all the shots are flowing and filmed one after the other, however they could have been filmed over the course of several days.

Some other key terms

Camera movements

* Pan- to turn a camera smoothly and slowly on its axis, moving horizontally across the action being filmed without moving the base on which it is mounted.

*Tilt- to move a camera up or down vertically from a fixed point.

*Zoom- a shot in which a zoom lens is used to make the object in focus appear to move closer or farther away while the camera itself stays still

*Reverse zoom- Is when the camera zooms out as the camera tracks in, which makes the background look like its falling away.

* Tracking shot- a camera shot filmed from a moving dolly, following the movement of somebody or something.

* Hand held- filmed with a camera that is carried by the operator rather than mounted on a support

Mise-en-scene

*Lighting

• Top light-  The light shines down on a person
• Up light- The light shines from the bottom, up on a person
• Key light- Light that is nessesary in a scene
• Natural light- Light in a scene, coming from outside (natural)

*Costumes

*Make-up

*Characters

*Set

*Props and objects

*Colouring


Sound terms

*Diegetic sound- sound from a recognisable source in a piece of film, e.g. dialogue from a character.

* Non-Diegetic- sound that is not coming from a recognisable source in a piece of film but has been added to the soundtrack, e.g. a voiceover or a piece of music.

*Sound bridge- Makes the scenes flow together well. e.g. Music gets dramatic at the end of one scene, audience prepares themselfs for something dramatic to happen.

*Sound effect- a recording or imitation of a sound used in a film.

Different shot types

Shots (Static)

*Aerial Shot -a shot taken from an extremely high angle, above the action. (also called bird’s-eye view)

*Crane shot- a film shot taken from a crane, creating a high angle

*Long shot- a camera shot that is taken from some distance away from the subject, showing e.g. the whole of a person’s body.

 

*Extreme close up- A shot that is very close to the persons face, often only showing part of their face, for example the eyes of one person.

*Establishing shot- an extended panning shot at the beginning of a filmed scene to set the mood, establish location, characters present etc.

*Wide shot- a camera shot that takes in a panoramic view of the set or an outside scene. (with a field of view of more than 60º)

*Close up- a shot which shows the whole of a person’s face, but no other part of their body.

*High angle shot- referring to a camera shot that is taken from above the action being filmed.

*Low angle shot-  referring to a camera shot taken from below the action being filmed.

* Medium shot- a camera shot that shows the upper half of a person to about the waist (a filmed view, midway between long shot and close-up)

*Over-the-shoulder shot- a camera shot taken from over the shoulder of a character whose back can be seen at the side of the frame.

*Point-of-view shot (POV shot)-  a scene that is filmed from the point of view that a character would see it from. Very effective in horror films where the character cannot see a lurking danger and the audience is waiting for them to see it, adding tension to the drama. 

*Crane shot- a film shot taken from a crane, creating a high angle. (also know as a high angle shot)

The art of film title design throughout cinema history

The title of a film is ery important to set the scene and to establish weather its a film production or a T.V production. In films today we look closely at the detail of the film including the short space of time between the moment the lights go off and the first scene of a film, the part that sets our expectations of a movie, that sequence that speaks to our creative side: the art of the film title. Therefore it is one of the most important things that directors/ editors and designers need to focus on. In film titles we see the link between the art of filmmaking and graphic design, and this produces a perfect titel for the genre/ storyline of the film.

Different types of films and there titles...

Silent Film- Words and lettering played an enormous role in films of the silent era, along with letter cards (or inter-titles), which provided context. These cards were the responsibility of the lettering artist, who collaborated with the scriptwriter and director to create narrative continuity so that audiences could follow what they were seeing. Distinct from these inter-titles was the film’s main title, a vehicle of particular concern to film producers because of the legal, copyright and marketing information this footage had to bear. Film titles and letter cards had to provide essential information to the viewer.

High budget silent film-



Here is the main title from D.W. Griffith’s “Intolerance” (1916).

White lettering on a black background is another characteristic of this era, because titles simply looked better this way when projected with live-action B&W film.

Examples of inter-titles...

Lower Budget silent film-

                                                               

As films grew more popular, the art of creating film titles became a very well pied job and the titles evolved.

During the 1920s and ’30s, European cinema was deeply influenced by modernism, and aspects of this visual sensibility were brought to the US by filmmakers who were fleeing the Nazis. Meanwhile, the studio systems operating in Europe and Hollywood also delighted in creating titles that featured vernacular graphic novelties. As much as possible, they liked to convey the tone of a movie through the “dressage” of its main title. Thus, blackletter fonts in the opening credits were used to evoke horror, ribbons and flowery lettering suggested love, and typography that would have been used on “Wanted” posters connoted a western flick.

Homework 1. Analysing a film poster

Queen Vic Fire 2/3 HQ!

Peggy has been keeping phil locked up like an 'animal' and her facial expressions and her tone voice shows that she thinks she can control him, but she has miss judged him and because she thought she always new best she is left in shock when phil drops the match and sets the pub on fire, phil has reversed the control as peggy is left helpless signifying her downfall. This forshadows everyones helplessness especially stacey and the babys at the end of the clip when they are also trapped like animals in the same room phil was.
The fire is an example of 'denote meaning' as it is explained by the characters and the audience dont have to think about what started it because we saw phil drop the match.
The way the camara scans the pub of the the happy people with music, then passes the fire and then goes carrys on to show the audience the people having a good time shows that the audience, peggy and phil are the only people who know whats going on, this gives the audience a change to make judgements about whats going to happen leaving the audience feeling tense about the situation.
Peggy shouting and nobody listening forshadows her own helplessness and everybody elses.
Everybody shouting has a simbolic meaning that undoutably, everyone is in danger. The crashing noises forshadows the whole pub crashingdown later on in the episode.
The close up camara angles of peoples faces and pennys agression signifies the fear and how out of control everone is feeling.

The background i have chosen signifies laughter through the use of the words "HA HA HA" and the bright colours. The way the letters are written is in a fun way, they're jagged and messy; not neat and straight showing that it is free.

The object in the picture is the woman. The woman signifies a very serious profile, expressing feels of sadness and hate, and not fun or happy. However her neat hair and bold eye make up use a more dull range of colours. Her lipstick is very bright showing a sense of danger and a more serious tone.

The background and the object are an example of juxtaposition as they are you opposite items placed together. The object, the woman's face signifies anger and danger, placing this on the funky background gives the effect of happiness overruling the misery behind the woman's image.

Both images signify strong feelings that everybody feels everyday, having these items placed together lets of the sense of mixed feelings and it is the audiences choice to choose which one over powers which just by looking at the juxtaposed images.

Key concepts (ms baird)

INSTITUTION e.g Newcorp, BBC and C4.
MEDIA LAUNGUAGE Key words associated with the media (terminology)

REPRESENTATION Who? How? Techniques.
AUDIENCE Types of audience, audience theories.
VALUES Whose values are being represented? Whos values are being aimed at?
IDEOLOGY School of thought, way of believing and thinking.
NARRATIVE The way the storys told.
GENRE Way of classifying a text by subject. e.g. comedy, romance, Hybrid genre, Rom/Com, Ski-Fi.

Analyse the way T.V dramas are established in the opening 5 minutes, identify how conventions are used?

We analysed the opening of 3 T.V dramas

Eastenders is most frequently shown out of all three i am analysing, it is shown on mondays, tuesdays, thursdays, fridays and an omnibus on sundays. The opening scene was of carol lying on the sofa, following the previous episode of when her son died; this establishing shot is set in a very dark room conotes an ominous atmosphere

When deciding on which TV dramas I was going to choose,I decided that I would do two TV shows that I watch on a regular basis, these were: East Enders and Waterloo road. I then decided I would do one that I was introduced to In a media lesson called Merlin, which I really enjoyed therefore I though I would do it, and at the same time learn more about it.

The establishing shot in eastenders was of Carol lying on her sofa following the previous episode of when her son died. The mise en scene is very specific in this scene as she is placed on an isolated sofa which connots her feeling of solitude and loneliness after her great loss. The scene is set in the living room with the curtains drawn, meaning the whole room is dark, this gives the audience the feeling, even before there is any dialogue and even if it was the first time you watched it that it is a sad atmosphere.

The second establishing shot is of Max's house, showing a family sitting down eating breakfast, this is a very common establishing shot. The first establishing shot and the second establishing shot are juxtaposed together and shows the audience two very different life styles, which leaves the audience open minded about what genre the episode is going to follow (happy, sad) and in this case it is  mixture of different genres.

The editing of this T.v drama is very precise, the shots are changed quickly and there is a range of different shot types.

Eastenders is a T.V drama meaning it is a lower budet than if it were a film, as films have higher budgets meaning they have a slower pace. Unlike films you always have to keep engaged in t.v drama as the pace is much quicker, for example Eastenders has a different plot almost every week so if you miss out on even one episode the plot has most likely already moved on with out you- meaning you loose understanding and feel like you need to catch up. This is also a good technique of keeping people involved in a T.V drama.

After looking at the editing we moved on to looking at the sound this involves: diagetic and non- diagetic, T.V dramas often only contain diagetic sounds such as the radio and the door bell ringing. I think the reason why T.V dramas have less non- diagetic sounds such as music to set the scene is because its lower budget and they dont have time to do as much editing as Films because a new T.V drama episode is made almost every week compaired with a film that could be filmed and edited over the course of years.

Institution and audiences

(Page 122-126 of textbook)

Convergence- This describes two phenomena:

First, technologies coming together, for example, a mobile phone you can use as a still and moving image camera, download and watch  moving images, it can be used as an MP3 player/ Ipod and record sounds and access the internet, meaning it is also a way of communicating with people.

Second, media industries are diversifying so they produce and distribute across several media, For example: a newspaper with an online version and audio podcasts.

Institutions- Means the people who have a role in the production of media texts. That covers alot of thisngs including:

Companies/organisations

Producers

Distributors

Marketing.

Editors

Directors

Producers

Scriptwriters

Screenwriters
And many more

Audiences- This is the main part of media, the reason for all of these things; newspapers, t.v dramas, films, internetsites and so on is to impress the audience and keep them hooked using with the use of cliff hangers. It is also very important to be precise with the focus on this section which is the relationship between audience and institution.

How spooks is established

In the episode of spooks that we watched the opening scene is of a funeral which sets a sad mood for the audience. The  non- diagetic music in the background emphasises the sadness of the episode and connotes the feeling of death. As the dialogue starts the tone slightly changes and the characters voices create the feel of regret.
The main establishing shot in this opening is of the church where the funeral takes place as it is a long shot the audience can get the feel of where the characters are and where the funeral is, the audience are also able to see what the weather is like, which in this episode is dull also connoting a sad mood. There are various other establishing shots such as close up of the characters faces which helps the audience get a feel of there moods there in and how they are feeling about the situation.
The director has uses fast changing shot types and quick editing meaning it is quite a fast moving episode which gets the audience involved quickly.