LC Media Foundation Portfolio: 2009

Wednesday, 30 December 2009

Key Representaions

Article all about the main aspects of representation as a key concept for studying media studies at A Level and above.

Key Representations Daniel Chandler

Film In The UK: A Briefing Paper

Great report from the UK's Film Council about the consumption and production of film in the UK. Very up to date report with lots of relevant info - use for research.

Film in the UK v3021 Aug09 UK Film Council Report

Tuesday, 29 December 2009

British Independent Film Awards

Created in 1998, The British Independent Film Awards set out to celebrate merit and achievement in independently funded British filmmaking, to honour new talent, and to promote British films and filmmaking to a wider public.

BIFA 2009 took place at The Brewery in Central London on Sunday 6th December 2009

You can visit the website HERE

Thursday, 10 December 2009

Monday, 7 December 2009

Title sequence functions - Courtesy of Mrs Hammond

Title sequences
Important because they:
• Make initial contact with audiences
• Signal to the audience what is to follow in terms of genre, themes, tone etc
• Raise expectations
• Prepare and position an audience putting them in the right frame of mind to approach a text
• May contain enigmas (one off dramas) which will later be resolved
Micro elements used in a title sequence:
• Editing – short fast-moving edits or long sequences? Transitions between shots?
• Soundtrack – establishes tone, indicates nature of text – iconic – interpellation (calls out to the audience preparing them for what’s to follow) – consider music, voice over and sound effects
• Details of the title of the drama/film, actors, production company, director, producer
• Camera work – consider shot/angles and their effect
• Mis e en scene – setting, costume, props, lighting

Saturday, 5 December 2009

Encoding Videos for Youtube Uploading (adapted from Media Monkey)

Attention all Students,

So you want to upload your vids? Firstly you have to do a process called 'encoding' this turns the digial video format into something that YouTube can understand; .MPG .MOV, or .AVI files are acceptable. However, the best quality videos are the following:

MPEG4 (Divx, Xvid) format
320x240 resolution
MP3 audio
30 Frames Per Second (FPS)

To do this open your video in iMovie,then follow these instructions:

File>Export
Select 'Expert Settings' from the 'Compress To' drop-down list
Click 'Share'
Select 'Export Movie to MPEG-4
Click 'Options'
Select: Video Format 'MPEG-4 improved'
Select: Image Size '320 x 240 QVGA'
Select: Frame Rate '30'
Click 'Audio' Tab
Select: Audio Format 'AAC-LC (Music)
Select: Data Rate '128 kbps'
Click 'OK'
Confirm where your encoded file will be saved to and the file name.
Click 'Save'

Once you have followed these instructions it can take a long time depending on the length and number of effects in your movie to encode. I suggest that you set an encode to start at the end of the school day. I can check on them before I go home, and if they are still going they will be done by the morning. When they are done either you or I can take them home and upload them to Youtube.

Wednesday, 2 December 2009

Inspiration-Colour and Visuals

Thanks to Mr Ford for this blog.

Inspiration-Colour and Visuals

Colour Lovers is a very interesting site that will help you with colour ideas. Have a look at the palettes on display and post some in your blog as inspiration for your own colour choices. It is really important that you make informed decisions about colour. don't just leave it to chance.

Creative Review is a brilliant websit site that will help you with your visual ideas. It is worth taking the time to explore it fully. As i showed you with the Guinness Surfer presentation, inspiration can come from unlikely sources.
Click on logos to go to websites (also see link list).

Monday, 30 November 2009

How (not?) to make a film

Pre production is one of the key elements of film making and one that is very difficult to find out about. Those of you studying Warp Films or Working Title will find the following very useful. Shynola are a production company who have made music videos for Coldplay, Radiohead, Beck etc as well as special effects for feature films like 'Hitchikers Guide'. They are currently in preproduction for a film they are attempting to make, using a novel as their inspiration. They have a blog tracking their progress so I emailed them and got the following response.

“Hi Mr Smith

sorry for this slow reply. We've been frantically trying to finish our script. Our deadline is this week. We've one (long) scene left to write and then we'll have our official first draft.

Thanks a lot for your interest. In terms of explaining how exactly we get our project off the ground, all I can say is - watch this space - as we haven't started yet. Normally all our work (commercial) comes to us, we do not seek it. We'll be given a script or a song, and they already have the airtime booked, dates and a budget. We are just film/video directors.

Our script however, is a completely different kettle of fish. We are living off the money in our company account while we write our script. We also bought the rights to the book ourselves. No-one, currently, has any stake in what we are doing, it is completely unsolicited. I'm not sure this is the orthodox approach, and seeing as we've been writing for well over two years, it is rather a gamble. However, it has been fun, a learning experience, and we've enjoyed complete artistic freedom.

Whether or not this has produced a script that anyone will give two hoots about will be revealed shortly. Our plan is to show our draft to friends in December, to get an outsider's perspective and also that of the layman. Hopefully any shortcomings of the script can be tweaked and fixed in January, at which point we will print our first draft 'proper' and mail it out to the short list of people we have in our rollerdex.

Firstly this will be our two production companies, here and in the US, who have affiliations with Ridley Scott's and Francis Ford Coppola's film production companies. We also know the main chap at Warp films, though it is very debateable that they could summon the required funds to make it. We also have a few contacts in America, and I imagine we will start to consider US agents to represent us in Hollywood. The film is set in London, and would hopefully remain so. So personally, I imagine that we'll end up getting money from France, say Canal+, somehow.

No idea where the money will come from though, or if it will at all. The blog, which is at the moment a warts and all scrapbook, will evolve into a production diary once things start to happen. We are trying to show, as transparently as possible, a truer side of filmmaking. Which sounds grand - but all I mean is: when I look at other director's blogs, they usually consist of poor digital photos taken on set, or meeting famous people at comic-con. I am sure it will prove hard not to be sucked into this, but as a fan I find these blogs very disappointing. I want to know how something is made, where the ideas come from and how they develop, and all the trials and tribulations. Outside of manipulating audience expectation and spoilers, I see no reason for secrecy.

Anyway, back to it. Hope this is of some interest, but as I say, keep an eye on the blog for forthcoming developments. And keep your fingers crossed for us.

best

Kenny”

Monday, 16 November 2009

An introduction to Institutions and Audiences

Brief and Intro to Audiences and Institutions

Useful websites for Audience and Institution.

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/distribution/distribution1.html

Explains background of film distribution

http://www.lightillusion.com/zippdf/dsn_guidelines.pdf

The influence of digital technology on Film.

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/10321

Funding for "This is England" and compares to no. of prints of blockbusters

Thursday, 5 November 2009

Representation Activities Thursday November 5th

Representation Areas OCR AS Media

View more presentations from Mr Smith.

What makes a great presentation - Steve Jobs CEO of Apple

Steve Jobs is co founder and CEO of Apple and Pixar and has recently written a book outlining key techniques in any successful presentation. The following is taken from Business Week magazine

Steve Jobs does not sell computers; he sells an experience. The same holds true for his presentations that are meant to inform, educate, and entertain. An Apple presentation has all the elements of a great theatrical production—a great script, heroes and villains, stage props, breathtaking visuals, and one moment that makes the price of admission well worth it. Here are the five elements of every Steve Jobs presentation. Incorporate these elements into your own presentations to sell your product or ideas the Steve Jobs way.

1. A headline. Steve Jobs positions every product with a headline that fits well within a 140-character Twitter post. For example, Jobs described the MacBook Air as "the world's thinnest notebook." That phrase appeared on his presentation slides, the Apple Web site, and Apple's press releases at the same time. What is the one thing you want people to know about your product? This headline must be consistent in all of your marketing and presentation material.

2. A villain. In every classic story, the hero fights the villain. In 1984, the villain, according to Apple, was IBM (IBM). Before Jobs introduced the famous 1984 television ad to the Apple sales team for the first time, he told a story of how IBM was bent on dominating the computer industry. "IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control: Apple." Today, the "villain" in Apple's narrative is played by Microsoft (MSFT). One can argue that the popular "I'm a Mac" television ads are hero/villain vignettes. This idea of conquering a shared enemy is a powerful motivator and turns customers into evangelists.

3. A simple slide. Apple products are easy to use because of the elimination of clutter. The same approach applies to the slides in a Steve Jobs presentation. They are strikingly simple, visual, and yes, devoid of bullet points. Pictures are dominant. When Jobs introduced the MacBook Air, no words could replace a photo of a hand pulling the notebook computer out of an interoffice manila envelope. Think about it this way—the average PowerPoint slide has 40 words. In some presentations, Steve Jobs has a total of seven words in 10 slides. And why are you cluttering up your slides with too many words?

4. A demo. Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain gets bored easily. Steve Jobs doesn't give you time to lose interest. Ten minutes into a presentation he's often demonstrating a new product or feature and having fun doing it. When he introduced the iPhone at Macworld 2007, Jobs demonstrated how Google Maps (GOOG) worked on the device. He pulled up a list of Starbucks (SBUX) stores in the local area and said, "Let's call one." When someone answered, Jobs said: "I'd like to order 4,000 lattes to go, please. No, just kidding."

5. A holy smokes moment. Every Steve Jobs presentation has one moment that neuroscientists call an "emotionally charged event." The emotionally charged event is the equivalent of a mental post-it note that tells the brain, Remember this! For example, at Macworld 2007, Jobs could have opened the presentation by telling the audience that Apple was unveiling a new mobile phone that also played music, games, and video. Instead he built up the drama. "Today, we are introducing three revolutionary products. The first one is a widescreen iPod with touch controls. The second is a revolutionary mobile phone. And the third is a breakthrough Internet communications device…an iPod, a phone, an Internet communicator…an iPod, a phone, are you getting it? These are not three devices. This is one device!" The audience erupted in cheers because it was so unexpected, and very entertaining. By the way, the holy smokes moment on Sept. 9 had nothing to do with a product. It was Steve Jobs himself appearing onstage for the first time after undergoing a liver transplant.

One more thing…sell dreams. Charismatic speakers like Steve Jobs are driven by a nearly messianic zeal to create new experiences. When he launched the iPod in 2001, Jobs said, "In our own small way we're going to make the world a better place." Where most people saw the iPod as a music player, Jobs recognized its potential as a tool to enrich people's lives. Cultivate a sense of mission. Passion, emotion, and enthusiasm are grossly underestimated ingredients in professional business communications, and yet, passion and emotion will motivate others. Steve Jobs once said that his goal was not to die the richest man in the cemetery. It was to go to bed at night thinking that he and his team had done something wonderful. Do something wonderful. Make your brand stand for something meaningful.

You can view more HERE