'Full time' Narrative

The conventional '3 Act Structure' that is used in film construction, has been specially adapted to fit our own film opening; it is difficult to use this structure in our film opening as we do not have a conventional climax.
However we structured our film opening sequentially and clear changes of pace are made between transitions of environment.

Our proposed film embodies multiple genres as we have chosen a blend of thriller/action with a hint of sport-related mystery in the narrative.
The thriller/action genre is one chosen by many groups for a number of reasons; first of all many groups find it to be an easy genre to film as it tends to focus more on the directorial and editing aspects of film production, for example: camera shots, angles, lighting, sound, video editing etc.
Resulting in less emphasis needing to be made on plot and story which is in my opinion the most time consuming aspect of the film making process.

preliminary task (Nov 2010) evaluation.

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In October 2011 I completed my preliminary task with my media group; we followed the mark scheme that was assigned and tried to incorporate the necessary camera shots, angles and the video manipulation and editing techniques that we were unfamiliar with.

This particular preliminary task - which was completed in November of last year - was similar to our groups in a number aspects.
Firstly the film is that of a 'thriller/action' genre that we - amoung many other media groups in the past - had chosen; consequently the camera shots and angles were limited by the popular choice of filming inside buildings or in confined and limiting space.
Secondly, and emphasing the genre further, the script of this prelim video was kept minimal and the audience were immediately placed in a situation of conflict and climaxing with a cliff hanger;
However this group was kean to show parts of the filming process through the use of bloopers and comical outtakes - this would never happen in a feature thriller as the filmakers are determined to never leave the genre they have chosen.

Finally the editing in this film was minimal and though this is sometimes a choice by the director to enphasise the sluggish/low budget genre of the film, in this case there was little consideration to advanced shot sequencing and the typography and choice of font was changed from the default setting; I know this because the font in our piece was the same.
In conclusion this prelim task was indentical to ours in parts but unlike ours there was very little if any at all consideration for emphasing genre through the use of props, costume and editing.

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?