Film Language And Semiotics.

Film is a means of communication and any means of communication has a language. The language of film communicates in many ways, through costume, casting, dialogue, music, sets, editing, camerawork - a combination of signs specific to the techniques of film making, drawing on our own experiences and knowledge of the world.

Semiotics is the study of signs and their operation in codes. It is applicable to language itself and to any cultural phenomena, from film to fashion. In semiotic terminology, messages and meanings are coded or encoded in cultural products, to be decoded by audiences.

Ideologies are able to operate through discourse. Discourse theory requires us to grasp the fact that we do not merely use language as a neutral medium of exchange in which to conduct or reflect on our social life.
Our social life is the language in which we conduct it. Through discourse, the relations between groups and classes are constantly being re-negotiated.

ipod board - youtube clip(nappynoo22)

I found this video while researching 'camera lenses' its a great stop motion piece that may be a creative away of displaying the opening titles in our film opening.

To be honest this phone works better than mine at the moment.

Video Diary #1 - Storyboarding (resourced from michael roberson)

Film opening storyboard - first draft - sheet 1

This is the first storyboard draft of our film opening, "full time".
In this draft I have chosen a simple sketch format that can be changed easily; it can be seen that in this first sheet I have left some aspects of the edit open to later development.
In this case I have not made any finalisations regarding the opening credits as I am not in charge of title design.

I hope to upload the further 2 sheets in the new future...
If you have any suggestions or feedback, leave a comment or email me at www.06lockwoods@cherwell.oxon.sch.uk

Marking criteria for the evaluation.

Candidates will evaluate their work electronically. This MUST contain an element of audience feedback and may be either integrated with the presentation of the research and planning material or may be presented separately. Where candidates have worked in a group, the evaluation may be presented individually or collectively but the teacher must allocate a mark according the contribution/level of understanding demonstrated by the individual candidate. The questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:

TO BE INCLUDED BY STUDENTS: (1000 words)

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

• How did you attract/address your audience?

• What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

• Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Opening credits - order of titles (resourced from james turner)

(this extract has been taken from James Turners blog.

The Most Common Order of Opening Credits:
1. Name of the Studio - Name of the studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it.
2. Name of the Production Company - Name of the production company that actually made the film.
3. Director/Producer Production - Director's first credit.
4. Starring - Big name actors appering in the film.
5. Film Title - The name of the film.
6. Featuring - Featured actors.
7. Casting - Casting director.
8. Music/Original Score - Composer of music.
9. Production Design - Production designer.
10. Editor - Edited by.
11. Producer/Executive Producer - Producers, co-producers, executive producers. Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown.
12. Written by - Screenplay writers.
13. Director - Director. The Directors Guild of America permits a film to list only one director, even when it is known that two or more worked on it.

The items required for media construction.

-Holding shot steady (camera)
-framing shot (camera)
-varied shot distances (camera direction)
-appropriate material for task
-mise en scene (camera direction)
-edit meaning to viewer
-varied shot transitions (captions)
-use of sound with images
-using titles appropriately (titles or typography)
-contribution (where relevant)

Construction of film opening.

One of the key aspects in the making of any film is the direction or construction; which involves researching genre, audience and appropriate materiel planning the various camera angles and shots and finally editing those shots to best suit the chosen genre.

In the case of our film opening we have assigned roles to separate individuals and have taken a joint managing approach in order to each have an equal opinion on a final decision.
It was my personal responsibility to produce the story boarding help develop the concept in other words i developed the strong and with group feedback made decisions on the choice of camera angles and shots we would be using.
This was on my part the first stage of construction.