The prelim task was a short film to show how well we could use editing and cutting techniques. We had had a few lessons towards learning about camera angles and the way films edit, how much time is spent between each edit and how easy they make it look.
We were put into groups of 3 and 4. My group was a 3 and consisted of me, Ellen and Katie. The first thing we had to do in a group was come up with an idea, after much debate we chose to do a mini action sequence about a hit man. There are two actors in our prelim, Alec and Katie. Alec played the hit man and Katie the person who is giving the contract out. Both characters remain nameless during the text.
After we completed the story board we showed it to Alec so he could get an idea of how we wanted it to turn out and how he had to act in it. Katie who took part in the creation of the story board already had an idea of how to act in it. This helped immensely because it allowed us to communicate better with the actors chosen and made shore we were on the same page when it came to the production of the text.
After we had shown everyone through the story board, we got a camera and tripod and looked for a location to film. We already had the college in mind when we were creating the story board, so we decided to go with the college hallway and a class room near that hallway. We were lucky with the location we chose because no lessons were taking part during the filming which meant we didn’t have to worry about people coming in and out of classes or the classes making any noise during filming.
Alec and Katie worked quickly and well together, we were able to quick successful shot as well as getting the feel right for the film. Our total filming time was around one hour, we were pleased with how long it took to film because it showed how well we could work together. In the film we had to show at some point someone walking through a door. This helped us learn what shot types worked best and helped us improve on our continuity.
After we had finished filming we uploaded the shots on to the college’s editing computers and used Adobe Premier Elements 4.0 to edit the text together. We had filmed several different types of shots some of which during editing we decided not to use because they didn’t feel right when watching the text.
Our prelim opens with an establishing shot of an unknown building, it then cuts to an extreme long shot of the hit man walking up towards a door and opening it. After this shot it cuts to an inside view of him opening the door, this is a medium shot. It shows our first piece of continuity editing and also a character walking through a door, which was the main aim of our prelim task. After this shot it cuts to a shot of the hetmans legs as he walks through the corridor. This shot is followed by an extreme long shot of the hit man walking down the corridor and into a second door. It cuts to a second medium shot as the hit man walks through the second door, this shot is also the point of view of the contract giver. We then cut to a two shot of both the characters this shot is also a medium shot. The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of the contract giver handing a note to the hit man were our first line of dialogue is said “ are you ready for this?”. We then cut to the reverse shot where the hit man picks up the note which reads “kill him!” and says “it’ll get done” which completes the two lines of dialogue needed for the prelim task. It then fades to black and the text ends. There are 9 shots used in total.
I am very pleased with the text we produced as a group.
Sunday 15 November 2009
Sunday 11 October 2009
Analyse a UKTV drama title sequence
Right, so im choosing EastEnders again, i have no idea why because I don't even like the program, hmm. Yes, so any ways a link to the titles is here. Apparently the titles have changed and these are the new all shiny ones that they paid someone millions of pounds to do, which to be honest is a bit of a rip off considering all its doing is zooming out, good for them.
The titles open with you being shown a blue rippled surface which you can safely assume is a river, with a slight mist over the top, maybe this symbolises that there is an air of mystery to the new titles and what is about to happen in the show, establishing the genre of it. then again maybe its pure coincidence. at around 8 seconds you can see the beginning curves in the river and what is quite clearly the millennium dome, so we have a location for where the program is set now. London, England if you didn't know. there is also a brief silence at the begging when the titles start to role, this creates quite an ominous effect in my opinion. the titles are the ever famous EastEnders ones(duh) and play throughout the sequence. The camera then rapidly zooms out whilst turning to the left finally stopping to at 23 seconds to establish which part of London the drama is set it, the east end believe it or not. at 24 seconds the EastEnders logo fades into the shot, revealing the name of the drama followed by the BBC logo the producers of the drama.
The title sequence on purpose i would presume, is rather serious in how it is shown which shows that this is a serious drama and not something aimed at children. The music played other the top of the sequence is again cheerful, er serious this is done in conjunction with the video to reinforce the series nature of the show.
The titles open with you being shown a blue rippled surface which you can safely assume is a river, with a slight mist over the top, maybe this symbolises that there is an air of mystery to the new titles and what is about to happen in the show, establishing the genre of it. then again maybe its pure coincidence. at around 8 seconds you can see the beginning curves in the river and what is quite clearly the millennium dome, so we have a location for where the program is set now. London, England if you didn't know. there is also a brief silence at the begging when the titles start to role, this creates quite an ominous effect in my opinion. the titles are the ever famous EastEnders ones(duh) and play throughout the sequence. The camera then rapidly zooms out whilst turning to the left finally stopping to at 23 seconds to establish which part of London the drama is set it, the east end believe it or not. at 24 seconds the EastEnders logo fades into the shot, revealing the name of the drama followed by the BBC logo the producers of the drama.
The title sequence on purpose i would presume, is rather serious in how it is shown which shows that this is a serious drama and not something aimed at children. The music played other the top of the sequence is again cheerful, er serious this is done in conjunction with the video to reinforce the series nature of the show.
Thursday 8 October 2009
What do you understand about the concept of televison drama?
The EastEnders website in my opinion is rather boring, well maybe boring's the wrong word here, more 'adult' so to speak. But then again EastEnders is a drama who's target audience would be young adults. this is shown throughout the website, a simple colour scheme of white and grey which again emphasis the professional 'adult' look, and clear easy to read text. The first the you see i suppose would be the EastEnders logo although this is of in the corner and rather small. The website also is unchaotic, is that even a word? Anyways its seperated under a tool bar, with links to the home page, videos, episodes, archives, characters and cast and many more that would make this list to long a laborious to read. There is a video embedded into the site with a short clip of EastEnders on, well it might be a full episode, i dont actually know because I didn't click play. Near the bottom of the web page is a scroll bar with different links to the latest news about the show, a gallery and "Rude Masood", a no doubt hilarious impressions clip. Right at the bottom of the page is a three sub sections? That deal with isuues raised within in the show such as bipolar disorder. The option to vote on who the "funniest" character, with the term funny used rather lightly i presume. and news about whats going on within and around the show such as "Nina inspiring budding writers". Inspired? EastEnders? hmm? Each to there own I guess. bellow that is the option to follow the show on Facebook, Stumbleupon, Reddit, Digg and Delicious, as well as the option to bookmark the page, oh though why you would, i wont know.
The Doctor Who website on the other hand, has more than two colours so its better in my book already. Red, dark red and yellow, nothing special to be honest but better than white and grey. the more vibrant colour scheme again would be to do with the target audience at which the show is aimed at, more teenagers although this show is popular amoung all generations i believe. Unlike the EastEnders website the Doctor Who logo is bigger and is actually in the middle of the screen, so it grabs yor attention straight away. Similar to the EastEnders website there is a toolbar along the top with links to the home page, a blog(whey?) episodes, characters and other stuff which again would get rather boring to type out as well as read. The second thing the 'grabs your attention' would be the new doctor who logo, which to be honest i rather like as its the Tardis made out the the letters DW. there's also a link which i would presume leads you to more information about the logo. Down the left hand of the website is a latest column which you can handily subscribe to via RRS feed. this has information such as the new doctor who logo, the September review, sarah janes return and the next special. as well as links to read more about them if you choose to do so. Down the right hand side of the website, is a dont miss section, which includes such wonders as dreamland exclusives, the sarah jane adventures(again?), games and a comic maker, which you wouldn't want to miss, yeah. in the middle of the page is a trailer maker which gives you the opportunity to make a trailer of Doctor Who. "Can you cut it?" a nice play on words.
In short, the EastEnders website is far more adult orientated than the Doctor Who one which is clearly aimed at the younger generation. This is shown via the colour schemes, texts and links used within each of the websites.
The Doctor Who website on the other hand, has more than two colours so its better in my book already. Red, dark red and yellow, nothing special to be honest but better than white and grey. the more vibrant colour scheme again would be to do with the target audience at which the show is aimed at, more teenagers although this show is popular amoung all generations i believe. Unlike the EastEnders website the Doctor Who logo is bigger and is actually in the middle of the screen, so it grabs yor attention straight away. Similar to the EastEnders website there is a toolbar along the top with links to the home page, a blog(whey?) episodes, characters and other stuff which again would get rather boring to type out as well as read. The second thing the 'grabs your attention' would be the new doctor who logo, which to be honest i rather like as its the Tardis made out the the letters DW. there's also a link which i would presume leads you to more information about the logo. Down the left hand of the website is a latest column which you can handily subscribe to via RRS feed. this has information such as the new doctor who logo, the September review, sarah janes return and the next special. as well as links to read more about them if you choose to do so. Down the right hand side of the website, is a dont miss section, which includes such wonders as dreamland exclusives, the sarah jane adventures(again?), games and a comic maker, which you wouldn't want to miss, yeah. in the middle of the page is a trailer maker which gives you the opportunity to make a trailer of Doctor Who. "Can you cut it?" a nice play on words.
In short, the EastEnders website is far more adult orientated than the Doctor Who one which is clearly aimed at the younger generation. This is shown via the colour schemes, texts and links used within each of the websites.
Thursday 24 September 2009
Analysing a UK TV drama extract
We were asked to analyse a UK TV drama and I chose EastEnders, we had comment on the shot types, transitions, camera movement and sound. I don't really watch EastEnders so I have no idea on the current plot, characters or scenes currently going on within the soap.
EastEnders like all TV programs starts with their opening credits. They use this as a master shot to show where it is located the audience can clearly see that it is set in London by various land marks such as the Millennium Dome and the Thames River. The camera turns 180 degrees while zooming out, whilst EastEnders fades into the middle of the screen in white lettering.
EastEnders is a typical British shop showing on the majority of the days of the week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. As it is shown nearly every day and is a soap it is very realistic and easy to relate back to real life problems, although they might be a bit over exaggerated in the name of entertainment. The most common things to happen in EastEnders are the most common things that happen in real life, such as relationships, arguments and work. The main stories in EastEnders focus around these. This also means a vast cast is needed to keep the show refreshing and entertaining and also a big set to allow for high levels of realism. In the particular episode, areas around the square where used such as the pub, the market, the shop, peoples houses and the park. In the majority of the scenes there where characters talking, they often used a fairly linear template of someone speaking, reaction shot, then into a two shot, to show both characters reactions. Practically all the scenes where shot at eye level because if they weren't it would detract from the realism of the soap.
Match on action also known as a matched cut I believe was used in all the scenes, this acts a visual bridge linking all the cuts together into one seamless scene. A standard cut was used most often as this is fast and simple and doesn't attract audience attention such as some other cuts, like a fade or a star wipe.
All the sound in EastEnders was diegetic, such as people talking, or background noise. no non-diegetic sound was added as this would detract from the realism of the soap, apart from the opening and ending credits.
EastEnders like all TV programs starts with their opening credits. They use this as a master shot to show where it is located the audience can clearly see that it is set in London by various land marks such as the Millennium Dome and the Thames River. The camera turns 180 degrees while zooming out, whilst EastEnders fades into the middle of the screen in white lettering.
EastEnders is a typical British shop showing on the majority of the days of the week - Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. As it is shown nearly every day and is a soap it is very realistic and easy to relate back to real life problems, although they might be a bit over exaggerated in the name of entertainment. The most common things to happen in EastEnders are the most common things that happen in real life, such as relationships, arguments and work. The main stories in EastEnders focus around these. This also means a vast cast is needed to keep the show refreshing and entertaining and also a big set to allow for high levels of realism. In the particular episode, areas around the square where used such as the pub, the market, the shop, peoples houses and the park. In the majority of the scenes there where characters talking, they often used a fairly linear template of someone speaking, reaction shot, then into a two shot, to show both characters reactions. Practically all the scenes where shot at eye level because if they weren't it would detract from the realism of the soap.
Match on action also known as a matched cut I believe was used in all the scenes, this acts a visual bridge linking all the cuts together into one seamless scene. A standard cut was used most often as this is fast and simple and doesn't attract audience attention such as some other cuts, like a fade or a star wipe.
All the sound in EastEnders was diegetic, such as people talking, or background noise. no non-diegetic sound was added as this would detract from the realism of the soap, apart from the opening and ending credits.
Sunday 13 September 2009
My use of the media..?
In media we were asked to complete a sheet entitled “My use of the media..?” it outlined the 6 most common types of media used in everyday life; "newspapers", "magazines", "radio", "television", "film" and "music", and how we use them in everyday.
I found that I used music, television and film the most where as; radio, newspaper and magazines used the least. This is probably due to the fact that I'm part of a younger generation and we as the 'younger generation' are exposed to television and music much more than radio, where as the 'older generation' it would have been the opposite. With maybe 2 television channels around 20-30 years ago compared today with a staggering 1200 plus. Music not on the radio is also far more easily accessed today than it ever was, its played in shops, planes, elevators - even public toilets. Another reason why they are used more than other media types is pirating, with more and more people downloading them illegally from file sharing websites such as Pirate bay.
The other two types of media, "newspapers" and "magazines" I feel are being phased out, as the internet and television expand newspapers and magazines are becoming less practical than they were say 20 years ago. Most newspapers are responding to this by publishing their newspapers online to draw in more as well as younger people into reading it. I only read magazines when I’m on a plane so that’s around 2-4 times a year. The television channels I mainly watch are; BBC, ITV, channel 4 and. Fx, Sky1, and Sky sports, as well as the movie channels. For films the genres I mainly watch are action, horror and comedies. The radio stations I listen to are mainly BBC radio 1 and 2 but only when in the car. I listen to for around 2-3 hours of music a day, I listen to most genres of music but mainly rock and house.
Overall I would say I’m an average teenager in regards to my media use, I watch more television than I read a newspaper, and listen to music more than the radio. This again would be most probably due to our generation growing up in and around these types of media.
I found that I used music, television and film the most where as; radio, newspaper and magazines used the least. This is probably due to the fact that I'm part of a younger generation and we as the 'younger generation' are exposed to television and music much more than radio, where as the 'older generation' it would have been the opposite. With maybe 2 television channels around 20-30 years ago compared today with a staggering 1200 plus. Music not on the radio is also far more easily accessed today than it ever was, its played in shops, planes, elevators - even public toilets. Another reason why they are used more than other media types is pirating, with more and more people downloading them illegally from file sharing websites such as Pirate bay.
The other two types of media, "newspapers" and "magazines" I feel are being phased out, as the internet and television expand newspapers and magazines are becoming less practical than they were say 20 years ago. Most newspapers are responding to this by publishing their newspapers online to draw in more as well as younger people into reading it. I only read magazines when I’m on a plane so that’s around 2-4 times a year. The television channels I mainly watch are; BBC, ITV, channel 4 and. Fx, Sky1, and Sky sports, as well as the movie channels. For films the genres I mainly watch are action, horror and comedies. The radio stations I listen to are mainly BBC radio 1 and 2 but only when in the car. I listen to for around 2-3 hours of music a day, I listen to most genres of music but mainly rock and house.
Overall I would say I’m an average teenager in regards to my media use, I watch more television than I read a newspaper, and listen to music more than the radio. This again would be most probably due to our generation growing up in and around these types of media.
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