Saturday 22 January 2011

Seven Essential Evaluation Questions

Film Evaluation Questions and Guidance Notes
(As recommended by OCR chief Examiner)

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

You might remember when you looked at ‘Art of the title sequence’ website many of the film openings showed 9 key frames from the sequence. Well now it's your turn to do the same with nine of your frames.
You should go through the final version of the project and select nine distinct frames which you screen grab and drop into Photoshop in the same style as the website. You will be using these to write about how typical or not of opening sequences your particular design is, so choose them carefully.

Once you have the nine frames neatly in Photoshop, screen grab the whole thing and post to your blog, then write an analysis of how you have used such conventions.

The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:
The title of the film
Setting/location
Costumes and props
Camerawork and editing
Title font and style
Story and how the opening sets it up
Genre and how the opening suggests it
How characters are introduced
Special effects

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
Pick a key character from your opening. Take a screen grab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more characters from other films with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those characters and grab it as well. Drop the two into Photoshop, as a split screen. Export this split screen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume, role in film etc.

So for example if you have a lone cop type character, look for other lone cops to compare him with...

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your opening
You will need to script the voiceover, which deals with institutional issues to include:
Discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies
What does a production company do?
The idea of a distributor and who that might be and why.
Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours
Why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?
What your film is similar to 'institutionally' (name some films which would be released in a similar way)
You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to go back to the early posts on film companies and maybe do a bit more research

When you have scripted, record the voiceover using Adobe Premiere Pro on a new audio timeline, then export and embed on blog.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?

You should have an image of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite TV programme would be, etc.

Make sure you have taken a photo, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would watch your film.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5
How did you attract/address your audience?
You will use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your video:
These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Film Opening links to other similar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.
Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of music, similarities with other movies and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your Mac but there may be other things you want in the shot.

Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as youtube, flickr, blogger, Adobe Premiere Pro, photoshop,vimeo garageband, etc.





EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7
Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Concentrate on editing and camerawork.
Grab some frames from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, edit terms and techniques.
Make sure you mention the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot

Below are some examples of student blogs and approaches to the evaluation process. These should be used as examples only and NOT merely copied.





Candidates will evaluate their work electronically. The evaluation MUST contain audience feedback and candidates are expected to present their evaluation to the group. This should last no longer then 10 minutes for each student.

The date for your Presentation is Monday 17/01/11. Students who fail to make this presentation may be penalised on their marks for this part of the coursework.  

To help each other with the evaluation process you be critiquing each other’s films. We will do this via class discussion and by commenting on each other’s blogs


Friday 21 January 2011

Screen shots of Editing process: Main Task

Include on your blog screen shots of the editing time line, particularly sections of the timeline where you can demonstrate how you used the software creatively, i.e. fading the audio track out; lowering the opacity; adding an effect from the effects folder.

When you have collected a good range of screen grabs you should annotate them with explanation notes demonstrating what you have done and upload them to your blog.

Production Log of Filming days: Main Task

Once filming was completed you should have written up a production log of filming days. This is like a diary of what happened and whether everything went to plan and the changes you might have had to make.

Production Schedule: Main task

Your production schedule could be written in grid/table format. The schedule should include the following:

Filming times & dates
locations
Scenes shot (with details of what was achieved)

Asset Sheet: Main task

Include an asset list of everything you will need and use during the filming process.
This can be as obvious and key to the success of your filming as the camera and tape but should be detailed enough to include the smallest essential item too i.e. the clock in the scene.

Script: Main Task (if required)

Include on your blog a script of the dialogue used in the opening sequence.
This might only be necessary if sequence included some form of discussion between the actors.

Storyboard: Main task

On post-it notes draw out the key sequences. Include details of camera angles, shots and movement.
Additionally any dialogue or special effects you might use.

Thursday 20 January 2011

Main Task - Pitch

Prepare a pitch of 2 or 3 ideas for your main task, ensure that this is showing on your blog by Monday 08/11/2010


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


(all video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source).

Preliminary exercise:


Video
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 she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on actionshot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Matched cut. In a 'matched cut' a familiar relationship between the shots may make the change seem smooth:
Continuity of direction;
Completed action; *
A similar centre of attention in the frame;
A one-step change of shot size (e.g. long to medium);

You will create the following for your preliminary task:

·      Script
·      Storyboard
·      Shot-list
·      Production schedule  

A change of angle (conventionally at least 30 degrees).

*The cut is usually made on an action (for example, a person begins to turn towards a door in one shot; the next shot, taken from the doorway, catches him completing the turn). Because the viewer's eye is absorbed by the action he is unlikely to notice the movement of the cut itself. 

Continuity Edit: Example



Have a look at the continuity techniques used to get Mrs Brenner through the door and into the house.
How would you have actually filmed this sequence?

Title Sequence Remake - Planning

In pairs students decide on a film opening that they would like to make. Planning should include the following:
http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Storyboard (including counting the frames for each sequence, camera shots, position of the actors, CU, LS etc.
Shot-list
Asset sheet
Production Schedule
Script if necessary


Title Sequence Remake - Your Evaluation


Title Sequence Remake - Your Evaluation

Did you thoroughly comment on the following?

Filming

What I have learnt from the filming process

Working and organising film crew and directing cast (even if you didn’t do too much of this you will have still learnt from watching or being on the receiving end of the process)

Organising costume, getting changed, props, being in the public eye in costume.

Putting camera skills into practice. Knowing what camera angles you needed to include and when and being clear about what you trying to achieve.

Realising the importance of making a shot list and storyboard 

Appreciating the importance of time management – everything took longer then you thought. Understanding the importance of planning

The importance of acting skills to carry a convincing project and being professional.

The value of patience. Working with reliable people. 

Using sensitivity when selecting locations to get the best out of your actors. Being aware of weather conditions and the personal comfort/discomfort of your actors/crew.

Editing

What I have learnt from the Editing process:

  • Setting up a project
  • Importing and exporting footage
  • Cutting footage
  • Unlinking sound
  • Scaling and resizing clips (window; effects controls; motion control) in points and out points.
  • Adjusting framing and realising the importance of good camera work 
  • The importance of lip syncing.
  • Understanding the value of Pace.
  • Flipping film where necessary.
  • Speeding up or slowing down (right click speed/duration)
  • Titles and font styles used how difficult was this to match the original font. 


On your blog along side your evaluation and your uploaded film include still images (screen shots of your remake and the original video)



Analysis Film Openings:



Analysis Film Openings:

Watch 3 film openings and make notes regarding the style and construction of all three. Go on to write about one in detail, approximately 500 words.

Include the following:
First impression, the mood created, camera angles, sound, editing, mise-en-scene and characterisation.
Write on your blog and embed clip or include link and screen shots of the film openings. Comment on the font styles used.
You can find film opening to analyse on the following websites.

And/or YouTube


Film Language - Definition Sheet

Film Language


Name 
Definitions and related meaning

Camerawork shots, angles, movement and composition
establishing shot
A long shot, often the first in a sequence, which establishes the positions of elements relative to each other and identifies the setting.
Extreme close-up
From just above the eyebrows to just below the mouth, or even closer: used to emphasise facial expression or to make the subject appear threatening
Big close-up
Head only, used when expressions are important
close-up,
Head and shoulders, enabling you to easily see facial expressions, so you can see what characters are thinking and feeling
Medium close-up:
From chest to head. This is a combination of a MS & CU. It is mostly used when a little more intimacy than the MS is required, but not quite so much intimacy of the CU.
Medium shot/mid-shot,
: Shows the figure from approximately the waist to the head. In a mid shot, you can easily recognise an individual. Sometimes called the ‘everyman’ shot. Ideal shot for most dialogue scenes
Medium long
Shows one or more characters in their surroundings focussing on the character and their reactions rather than the scenery 
long shot
A shot in which a figure can be seen from head to toe.
A shot in which a large object (e.g. a complete human figure) fits easily within the frame.
wide shot
This is an establishing frame. It is used so that the audience can get a good idea of the surrounding environment. This shot will establish many things right away i.e. location, time scale.

Extreme wide shot

A shot in which figures appear small in the landscape. Often used at the beginning of a film or sequence as an ‘establishing shot’ to show where the action is taking place; also used to make a figure appear small or isolated.
two-shot,
A shot in which two actors appear within the frame.
aerial shot,
A camera shot filmed from an airplane, helicopter, blimp, balloon, kite or high building (higher than a crane).
subjective camera
A camera shot or film style that provides the audience with the specific vision or perspective of a character in the film (i.e. the technique of using POV).
point of view shot,
A shot which is understood to be seen from the point of view of a character within the scene.
over the shoulder shot
A shot in which we see a character over another’s shoulder, often used in interviews or dialogues
reaction shot
A close-up in which an actor or group is seen to respond to an event, often accomplished with a cutaway from the primary action to someone viewing the occurrence.
reverse angle
Two successive shots from equal and opposite angles, typically of characters during conversation.
bridging shot
A shot that connects one scene to another by showing a change in time or location. A bridging shot can also be used to connect two shots from the same scene by using a close-up, distant pan or different camera angle thus relating the shots via content.
high angle
The camera looks down, making the subject look vulnerable or insignificant.
low angle
The camera points upwards, usually making the subject or setting seem grand or threatening
Bird’s eye shot
Looks vertically down at the subject
Omnipresent; all-pervading.  
canted angle
Also know as a Dutch Tilt is a camera shot in which the camera angle is deliberately slanted on one side. This can be used for dramatic effect and helps to portray unease, disorientation, frantic or desparate action, intoxication, madness, etc.
pan
A movement in which the camera turns to right or left on a horizontal axis. 
Whip pan
A sudden, fast pan
 tilt
A movement by which the camera moves up or down while its support remains fixed.
track
A shot in which the camera is pushed horizontally along the ground on a dolly.
Dolly
A trolley on which the camera is pulled along the ground.
Following shot
A shot with framing that shifts to keep a moving figure onscreen. A following shot combines movement, like panning, tracking, tilting or craning, with the specific function of directing our attention to character or object as he/she/it moves inside the frame.
Arc shot

A shot in which a moving camera circles round the subject being photographed.
Racking shot

A shift in focus between planes at different distances from the camera within the same shot. 
crane
A shot in which the camera rises above the ground on a mobile support
passing shot
A shot producing a projected image that travels quickly across the screen, either by moving the subject past a stationary camera or by panning the camera past a stationary subject.
steadicam
This involves a cameraman harnessing a camera to their body using a specially engineered mechanical arm. This allows the camera to move at speed but remain smooth and is often used in action sequences to demonstrate velocity.
hand-held
This used to convey a sense of documentary realism, as in ‘The Blair Witch Project’ (1999). This can also be used to create immediacy and confusion, as in the opening scenes of ‘Saving Private Ryan’
zoom
The effect of rapid movement either towards or away from the subject being photographed, either by using a specialized zoom lens or by moving the camera on a boom, crane or dolly. Zoom effects can also be achieved and enhanced by the use of an optical printer.
Zido/zolly/jaws shot/ vertigo zoom/contra zoom/trombone shot
A technique in which the camera moves closer or further from the subject while simultaneously adjusting the zoom angle to keep the subject the same size in the frame.
The effect is quite emotional and is often used to convey sudden realisation, reaction to a dramatic event, etc.
framing
The size and position of objects relative to the edges of the screen; the arrangement of objects so that they fit within the actual boundaries of the film.
rule of thirds
A technique in camera framing where the frame is divided into imaginary sections to create reference points.
depth of field
This means how much of the shot seems to be in focus, in front of and behind the subject.
deep and shallow focus
Deep focus
Everything in the shot appears to be in focus, which means that we can be looking at action taking place in the foreground, middle ground and background.
Shallow focus
Isolates the subject from the background.
focus pulls

Similar to racking shot. The focus is adjusting and refocuses during a shot.





Some of the effects of these shots are listed below.
Enigma



Creates a sense of mystery. For example there may be a delay before the characters identity is revealed as the camera slowly tilts from the feet to the head. 

Intertextuality

Often related to post-modernism and its culture and criticism. The notion being that we now understand texts by their relationship or reference to another text, or that a text is successful principally because of its intertextual references, e.g the Simpsons. One of the effects on the audience of recognising intertextuality is that it flatters their ability to recognise references and feel superior, or to feel part of a group who share the same ‘joke’.

Post-modernism

A movement or phase in twentieth-century thought. The term is complex and difficult to define in simple terms. It is applied to all arts and at its most basic refers to the way new products can be constructed by making reference to already existing ones.










Editing – transitions of image and sound; continuity and non-continuity systems
Editing

How the individual shots are put together
Cutting
One image is suddenly replaced by another, without a visible transition.
sequence
A series of segments of a film narrative edited together and unified by a common setting, time, event or story-line.
Continuity editing
The majority of film sequences are edited so that time seems to flow, uninterrupted, from shot to shot.. The conventions through which the impression of an unbroken continuum of space and time is suggested, constructing a consistent storyline out of takes made at different times.

shot/reverse shot

Two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, typically in a conversation situation. Over-the-shoulder framings are common in shot/reverse shot editing. Shot/reverse shots are one of the most firmly established conventions in cinema, and they are usually linked through the equally persuasive eyeline matches.
eyeline match

The cut in which the first shot shows a person looking off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees.
graphic match

A visual rhyme between two successive shots.
action match

A cut between two shots of the same action from different positions, giving an impression of seamless simultaneity
jump cut

A rapid, jerky transition from one frame to the next, either disrupting the flow of time or movement within a scene or making an abrupt transition from one scene to another.
montage
Style of editing involving rapid cutting so that one image is juxtaposed with another or one scene quickly dissolves into the next. Angles, settings and framing are manipulated in a conspicuous way (violating coherent mise-en-scene) so as to convey a swift passage of time, to create some kind of visual or conceptual continuity, or to generate a distinctive rhythm. (See also dynamic cutting.)
Crosscutting
aka parallel editing
Swiftly cutting backwards and forwards between more than one scene.
Aspects of a story happening simultaneously with the primary performer’s situation, edited so that the projected image goes back and forth between the primary and secondary scenes (often leading up to a convergence of the two actions).
Overlapping edit

Cuts that repeat part or all of an action, thus expanding its viewing time and plot duration. It shows the same scene from different angles.
Cutaway

A sudden shift to another scene of action or different viewing angle; or a shot inserted between scenes to effect a transition (as a bridging shot).
Cross-dissolve

One image dissolves into another. This can be used to make a montage sequence - eg the title sequence - flow smoothly; it can also be used in continuity editing to show that we have moved forwards in time and/or space.
fade-in
An image gradually fades in
fade-out

An image gradually fades out. Fades to and from black usually mean that time has passed
Whip pan
An extremely fast movement of the camera from side to side, which briefly causes the image to blur into a set of indistinct horizontal streaks. Often an imperceptible cut will join two whip pans to create a trick transition between scenes.
Wipe

One image replaces another without dissolving, with the border between the images moving across or around the screen
Superimposition

The exposure of more than one image on the same film strip. Unlike a dissolve, a superimposition does signify a transition from one scene to another. The technique was often used to allow the same performer to appear simultaneously as two characters on the screen. To express a subjective or intoxicated vision.
long take
A shot that is allowed to continue for longer than usual without editing

pace
The tempo at which the storyline of a film unfolds, affected by various elements including action, the length of scenes, camera angles, colour levels, editing, lighting, composition and sound.
flashback
Narrative device in which the action is interrupted by scenes representing a character’s memory of events experienced before the time of the action.
flashforward
The opposite of flashback: future events (or events imagined by a character) are shown.



Sound
Diegetic sound
Sound within the world of the film.
Sound that we think is part of what’s going on the screen ­ horse’s hooves, the sound of thunder, and so on ­ even though many of these will have been added later by a ‘Foley artist’.
non-diegetic sound

Sound that we know is not part of what’s on screen, such as music (unless there's an orchestra in shot!) and voiceover.
synchronous sound

Sound that is matched temporally with the movements oc synchronization
A precise match between film image and sound. Also called sync.curring in the images

asynchronous sound

Film sound which is not synchronized with the screen image. See also nonsynchronous sound and synchronous sound.
sound effects

Any sound in a film other than dialogue, narration, or music.
sound motif

A recurrent thematic element in a film that is repeated in a significant way
sound bridge

This uses sound to link two scenes, by having the picture and the diegetic sound change at different points. Usually the sound from the second scene is heard before we start to see the picture from that scene.
Dialogue

Lip-synchronous speech between two or more characters in a film with the speaker usually, but not always, visible.
Voiceover

When a voice, often that of a character in the film, is heard while we see an image of a space and time in which that character is not actually speaking
mode of address/direct address

Where the character is speaking to the audience and looking straight into the camera.
sound mixing

sound mixing is a process during the post-production stage of a film or a television program by which a multitude of recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels
sound perspective
Sounds demonstrating through the quality and intensity of coming from different places
Soundtrack

The optical or magnetic strip at the edge of the film which carries the sound. Also, any length of film carrying only sound.
Score

Film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film, which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film
the term film score is frequently synonymous with film soundtrack,
incidental music

Incidental music is often "background" music, and adds atmosphere to the action
ambient sound

Here the sound is more important than notes. It is generally identifiable as being broadly atmospheric and environmental in nature.


the process through which the plot conveys or withholds story information. It can be more or less restricted to character knowledge and more or less deep in presenting chracters' mental perceptions and thoughts.

Dubbing
Adding an alternative sound track often foreign languages for world marketing
Mise-en-Scène

Production design

Location

Studio

set design

costume and make-up

Properties

Lighting

colour design