Moving On : Take Two

Some deadlines are aspirational. We can but dream ...

Anyone who has missed the December 14 deadline needs to sort out all the gaps in their blog as a matter of URGENCY!

Apart from improving the mark you can be awarded for Research and Planning (out of 20!!) the content of posts you have been asked to complete will underpin your success in the Evaluation questions (another possible 20 marks!)

We can tweak the organisation, presentation and digital efficiency of the blogs later but the content needs to be sorted NOW.

By January 4

1. All posts published for the short film and the film poster.


2. Your survey of a range of film review pages in different magazines


3. A detailed deconstruction of a single review page which will influence your own design. Remember to scan in the page not the cover of the magazine!

CORRECT TERMINOLOGY AND DETAILED, RELEVANT AND FOCUSSED ANALYSIS PLEASE. You do not have to copy an existing page but you should show explicit awareness of other designs and make reference to them in your style sheet.

4. Your style sheet ready for presentation to the class. It can be a digital copy or hand drawn (to be scanned in later) but it should be fully realised, comprehensive and detailed.

5. You also need to read at least 3 film reviews during the holidays so you are ready to start work on the copy for your own film review next term.

Busy, busy, busy ...

Merry Christmas!

Moving On ...... Your Film Review Page

You should now have completed a second draft of your Film Poster which incorporates the annotations I made on the first draft. I will give you further written feedback on this provided you print the poster in colour and give me a copy. You will then have until February 8 2011 to do any final tweaking of the design.

Most of you could get level 4 for your design ... but won't unless you sort out your anchorage and layout/size issues. You need this feedback!


You also need to check and update your blog if necessary. All Research and Planning should be completed by December 14.



The research/planning and construction of the Film Review Page will follow the same format as for the poster. All the research should be completed this term and a significant part of the planning.

All you should need to do next term is write the text of your review in response to your completed film and insert it into the design you have already planned. We will deconstruct existing reviews and view films/draft text together in class in January.

Blog Post One : a survey/overview of at least 3 relevant magazine contexts for your Film Review Page, thinking carefully about issues of audience and coverage/content and evaluating the relative suitability of existing contexts for your film review page.

Blog Post Two : a detailed deconstruction of a specific and relevant Film Review Page, paying careful attention to design codes and conventions and how these might influence your creative choices.

Blog Post Three : a detailed plan of your page, (for the time being using a mock up font like dingbats for the review text) which comments on your intentions and links your creative choices to existing models.

Film Poster Construction

You should now be working on the final poster for your film.

There will be chances to modify your design and respond to feedback

but

You must print and hand in a proof copy of your completed poster by the end of the lesson

November 9 for me to mark/annotate.

Step One : complete the checklist given to you in class November 2. This requires you to finalise the concept underpinning your design and all the anchorage text. I will make a copy and return it.

Step Two : select the production shot(s) and fonts you will use for the poster. You will be able to use additional photos on your review page.
Do not lose/discard anything!

Step Three : construct the poster using Photoshop. To get a level 4 for construction you will need evidence of digital excellence in the manipulation of images and text and authentic/industry appropriate choices of layout and font and a clear awareness of your target audience and genre.

Step Four : save design as a pdf (preferably) and print.

Remember to track/ keep a record of your construction process and the decisions/changes you make along the way.
You will need these for your Evaluations and possibly in the exam.

Good Luck!

Evaluation

= 20marks

Is your blog building a secure evidence base to help you answer these questions?

Check in your planning book and see below

Marking Criteria for Research and Planning

Interim Evaluation of Blog

Research and Planning = 20 marks

Do you meet the marking criteria for

excellence?

Check in your planning booklet and see copy posted on the blog

You need to be

consistent, thorough, explicit, and creative

in response to every bullet point!

One embedded slideshow won't get you an A....

You won't get a good mark if your links don't open .....

All Film Poster Research and Planning to be complete for presentation in class

October 19

Film Poster Planning (4)

You can either do this as a follow up to your film poster pitch or include it in the presentation.

Either way you need to clearly identify
1.
The name of your film production company

This will appear on your poster and film credits. Design a logo if you like! It's essential if you are working as a group and helpful if you are working alone to create a brand identity for yourself. ('The Apprentice' may be daft but it's not entirely wrong from a strategic point of view - just choose a better name than Synergy or Apollo!)Your name will help you keep a clear focus on a meaningful industry context for your film and its ancillary products and make some sense of all those hats you are wearing. You will get marks for this kind of awareness and its impact on your creative choices in both the blog and the evaluation. Look at all those films on Youtube .. the ones up for competitions usually have production company names ...

2.
5 -10 planned (ie storyboarded) production shots you will take while filming.

The shots that are not used for the poster will be needed for the Film Review page. Professional designers curse film makers who do not plan ahead and take good production shots. You cannot go back later and sort this out and you will be very busy while filming. Don't assume you will remember to take production shots if they are not on your to do list! Of course you can seize the moment and take unplanned ones too...

Film Poster Pitch (3)

You will be wearing several hats if not heads this term ...


You are a whole production company in one (or two)!

Now you need to put on your publicity hat to think about how you might promote your film.


Create a visual pitch or draft for your film poster. At least one full mock up in Photoshop would be ideal - a real designer would try out several possibilities. You should use scanned sketches, planning photos or 'found images' which meet your compositional requirements and experiment with layout and fonts.
Of course you can also include a digital scrapbook with a variety of images/ trial fonts/colours/effects for the title and anchorage components. Try using a Powerpoint slideshow to indicate/animate the build up of different design layers and ideas

Your poster pitch should include all the elements of the checklist in order to answer the following.

• What is the visual/narrative heart of the film? What production shots will you need to plan to take if you are to convey this?
• How will you target your audience?
• What codes and conventions will you adopt or challenge?
• What font(s)/layout will you adopt?
• What sfx/colour saturation will you need?
• How can you achieve the look/design you want?
  
  Make sure you annotate your work and deconstruct the choices you are making. Be detailed and purposeful and persuasive. Present it any way you want which is clear, creative and demonstrates digital excellence!
  

DO NOT FORGET TO TRY OUT IDEAS ON YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE = PRIMARY RESEARCH

Film Poster Research (2)

Detailed Deconstruction : due Tuesday October 5

Use the checklist and the checklist headings (hard copy given out and Word doc stored in Media folder on P Drive) to analyse one poster much more fully in context of the research and planning you are doing for your film.

It should be a film poster which is significant for the development of your own ideas for a poster for your film, bearing in mind your anticipated genre, themes, mood, audience etc. You need to deconstruct it in detail, explicitly explaining/discussing how its use of codes and conventions relate to your choice of genre and target audience for your short film as presented in the pitch /synopsis you have completed. Really think about how your chosen poster was constructed. Imagine you had to re make it from scratch ... what would you have to do?! Include analysis of font(s) and layout.

Film Poster Research (1)

HWK 1 : An overview (due Tuesday 28 September)

Digital evidence (on blog/ in (annotated?) powerpoint slideshow) of
An introduction to the task
· the genre of your film
· its anticipated audience
· its potential screening opportunities
Secondary research
deconstruction of 3 contrasting film posters in relevant genre
Primary research
audience feedback : response to posters

Think visual, think interactive!

http://www.imdb.com/

http://www.impawards.com/

September 2010

These blogs need to be smokin'!

Whatever happened to all your lovely Mediatheque research?

Headline news

OCR will reward creative, lively, interactive blogs. They will mark down text heavy work which looks like a series of mini essays, written up retrospectively. They do expect serious evidence of engagement with weekly and sometimes daily posting, particularly when you actually start filming .....

You are prospective film makers with an opportunity to showcase your work and your creative identity. Make the most of it!

Check out the links to exempla blogs, particularly Sarah who was awarded a sound A grade. What does she do well? Is there anything she could improve?
What do you think of Oli's blog ( he worked as part of a group called 'Manflick' - I think tongue in cheek!). You can use his links to browse the group's work but I think his blog is the strongest of his group. This blog has an excellent 'brand identity' and the poster/film review page are particularly impressive (and planned/analysed in detail) . The blog itself is entertaining with very varied contents and really makes you want to see their film.
Some of the blog links do not open or display properly in school so you will need to look at home.

You should now be posting about the research you have done which is helping you plan your short film pitch for Ms Raison, including at least one detailed deconstruction of the conventions used in a film you have watched.

Did you know that sometimes a film poster is designed before a film is made to support a pitch for funding? This is real media practice. On Tuesdays we are going to start researching/blogging about poster design. You could design a pre production poster to accompany your pitch!

Mediatheque trip

You will have time to browse but I would like you to watch

Borderline : Alex Chandon (4 minutes)
Milk : Andrea Arnold (10 minutes)
Sundial : William Raban (1 minute)
Girls' Night Out : Joanna Quinn (6 minutes)
Project One : Yohan Forbes (5 Minutes)

Questions to blog

What expectations are created by the title in combination with the length?

What can you find out about the director and possible genre beforehand?

What other titles will you follow up from the list you were given? Why?

Thinking about your audience .....

• Get some feedback from your peers about which short films they are viewing and where/when they watch them.
• Which do they enjoy and why?
• Which film titles appeal to them on the Mediatheque list?
• Which films would you collect into a programme for a short film festival for your peers?
• How would you 'sell' or market it?

My next post will embed links to examples of real life opportunities for the exhibition of your short film (you will need to research this to design an authentic poster)

Keep checking and keep posting.

All of you now have individual feedback. Please read!
Please comment!

Welcome to A2!

Your blog is the place to record all the Research and Planning you undertake for your short film and its ancillary products (a film poster and a film review page). We suggest you work directly onto the blog as much as possible and also keep all paper records like shot lists carefully so they can be transcribed or scanned in later. It’s worth 10% of the whole A2 so please take it seriously!!
We will regularly post instructions and prompt questions here on the CSG Media A2 2010/11 blog so make sure you follow it by adding the URL to your individual blog and check in at least once a week. Please also check your individual blogs for comments.

At the moment you should be viewing (and recording URL links if possible)as many short films as possible, particularly examples which model the genre you are interested in constructing yourself.
You should post at least once a week
Your blogs should closely deconstruct the films you watch
· Which codes and conventions does the film use which indicate the genre?
· Which specific shots/editing techniques/uses of sound are memorable and

interesting and why?
· What impact is created by the mise en scene ?
· How is the film structured? (Think about beginnings, development of storyline,

endings )
· Which elements of the narrative do you recognise as archetypal or iconic

(eg Quest, Rags to Riches etc)

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/24367/11757852251documentary_script.pdf/documentary_script.pdf
· Which films have inspired you and why?

And then explore
· What would you like to achieve in your film?
· What are your preliminary ideas?
· What are the implications for your own planning (eg locations, lighting etc .. you need to

start a ‘How can I .........?’ list!)