Wednesday, 14 December 2011
AS Examination - G322
Here is a link to a very good explanation of how to tackle the TV Drama question. It's by the guy who used to be the chief examiner for OCR. There is also guidance on how to approach the Institutions and Audiences question.
Open it in Google Chrome, it works better that way.
Monday, 5 December 2011
Film-making tutorials from Film Riot
There are lots of film-making tutorials on Youtube but the ones made by these guys are very professional and fun to watch.
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Production software
http://download.cnet.com/Celtx/3000-13631_4-10850080.html
http://celtx.com/index.html
This software enables you to write scripts in the correct format, create storyboards etc. There are plenty of tutorials on Youtube such as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UviVPD_YRZg
http://celtx.com/index.html
This software enables you to write scripts in the correct format, create storyboards etc. There are plenty of tutorials on Youtube such as this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UviVPD_YRZg
Friday, 18 November 2011
How to answer Q1a in the final exam - A2
1. Approaching Question 1a
Past exam questions:
Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.
Describe the ways in which your production work was informed by research into real media texts and how your ability to use such research for production developed over time.
Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.
You will notice that each of these begins by asking you to 'describe' and then goes on to ask you to reflect in some way: "evaluate", "how you used" "how your skills developed". herein lies the key to this part of the exam! You only have half an hour for the question and you really need to make the most of that time by quickly moving from description (so the reader knows what you did) to analysis/evaluation/reflection, so he/she starts to understand what you learnt from it.
there are five possible areas which can come up
Digital technology
Research and Planning
Conventions of Real Media
Post-Production
Creativity.
If you look through those questions above, you will see that they all contain at least two of the five- creativity is mentioned (as 'creative decision making') in two of them alongside the main area (digital technology on one, research and planning skills in the other). In the third of those past questions , research is combined with conventions of real media. So as you can see, the question is likely to mix and match the five, so you HAVE to be able to think on your feet and answer the question that is there.
So, how do you get started preparing and revising this stuff? I would suggest that you begin by setting out, on cards or post-its, a list of answers to these questions:
What production activities have you done?
This should include both the main task and preliminary task from AS and the main and ancillaries at A2 plus any non-assessed activities you have done as practice, and additionally anything you have done outside the course which you might want to refer to, such as films made for other courses or skateboard videos made with your mates if you think you can make them relevant to your answer.
What digital technology have you used?
This should not be too hard- include hardware (cameras, phones for pictures/audio, computers and anything else you used) software (on your computer) and online programs, such as blogger, youtube etc
In what ways can the work you have done be described as creative?
This is a difficult question and one that does not have a correct answer as such, but ought to give you food for thought.
What different forms of research did you do?
Again you will need to include a variety of examples- institutional research (such as on how titles work in film openings), audience research (before you made your products and after you finished for feedback), research into conventions of media texts (layout, fonts, camera shots, soundtracks, everything!) and finally logistical research- recce shots of your locations, research into costume, actors, etc
What conventions of real media did you need to know about?
For this, it is worth making a list for each project you have worked on and categorising them by medium so that you don’t repeat yourself
What do you understand by ‘post-production’ in your work?
This one, I’ll answer for you- for the purpose of this exam, it is defined as everything after planning and shooting or live recording. In other words, the stage of your work where you manipulated your raw material on the computer, maybe using photoshop, a video editing program or desktop publishing.
For each of these lists, your next stage is to produce a set of examples- so that when you make the point in the exam, you can then back it up with a concrete example. You need to be able to talk about specific things you did in post-production and why they were significant, just as you need to do more than just say ‘I looked on youtube’ for conventions of real media, but actually name specific videos you looked at, what you gained from them and how they influenced your work.
This question will be very much about looking at your skills development over time, the process which brought about this progress, most if not all the projects you worked on from that list above, and about reflection on how how you as a media student have developed. Unusually, this is an exam which rewards you for talking about yourself and the work you have done!
Final tips: you need some practice- this is very hard to do without it! I’d have a crack at trying to write an essay on each of the areas, or at the very least doing a detailed plan with lots of examples. The fact that it is a 30 minute essay makes it very unusual, so you need to be able to tailor your writing to that length- a tough task!
Past exam questions:
Describe how you developed research and planning skills for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.
Describe the ways in which your production work was informed by research into real media texts and how your ability to use such research for production developed over time.
Describe how you developed your skills in the use of digital technology for media production and evaluate how these skills contributed to your creative decision making. Refer to a range of examples in your answer to show how these skills developed over time.
You will notice that each of these begins by asking you to 'describe' and then goes on to ask you to reflect in some way: "evaluate", "how you used" "how your skills developed". herein lies the key to this part of the exam! You only have half an hour for the question and you really need to make the most of that time by quickly moving from description (so the reader knows what you did) to analysis/evaluation/reflection, so he/she starts to understand what you learnt from it.
there are five possible areas which can come up
Digital technology
Research and Planning
Conventions of Real Media
Post-Production
Creativity.
If you look through those questions above, you will see that they all contain at least two of the five- creativity is mentioned (as 'creative decision making') in two of them alongside the main area (digital technology on one, research and planning skills in the other). In the third of those past questions , research is combined with conventions of real media. So as you can see, the question is likely to mix and match the five, so you HAVE to be able to think on your feet and answer the question that is there.
So, how do you get started preparing and revising this stuff? I would suggest that you begin by setting out, on cards or post-its, a list of answers to these questions:
What production activities have you done?
This should include both the main task and preliminary task from AS and the main and ancillaries at A2 plus any non-assessed activities you have done as practice, and additionally anything you have done outside the course which you might want to refer to, such as films made for other courses or skateboard videos made with your mates if you think you can make them relevant to your answer.
What digital technology have you used?
This should not be too hard- include hardware (cameras, phones for pictures/audio, computers and anything else you used) software (on your computer) and online programs, such as blogger, youtube etc
In what ways can the work you have done be described as creative?
This is a difficult question and one that does not have a correct answer as such, but ought to give you food for thought.
What different forms of research did you do?
Again you will need to include a variety of examples- institutional research (such as on how titles work in film openings), audience research (before you made your products and after you finished for feedback), research into conventions of media texts (layout, fonts, camera shots, soundtracks, everything!) and finally logistical research- recce shots of your locations, research into costume, actors, etc
What conventions of real media did you need to know about?
For this, it is worth making a list for each project you have worked on and categorising them by medium so that you don’t repeat yourself
What do you understand by ‘post-production’ in your work?
This one, I’ll answer for you- for the purpose of this exam, it is defined as everything after planning and shooting or live recording. In other words, the stage of your work where you manipulated your raw material on the computer, maybe using photoshop, a video editing program or desktop publishing.
For each of these lists, your next stage is to produce a set of examples- so that when you make the point in the exam, you can then back it up with a concrete example. You need to be able to talk about specific things you did in post-production and why they were significant, just as you need to do more than just say ‘I looked on youtube’ for conventions of real media, but actually name specific videos you looked at, what you gained from them and how they influenced your work.
This question will be very much about looking at your skills development over time, the process which brought about this progress, most if not all the projects you worked on from that list above, and about reflection on how how you as a media student have developed. Unusually, this is an exam which rewards you for talking about yourself and the work you have done!
Final tips: you need some practice- this is very hard to do without it! I’d have a crack at trying to write an essay on each of the areas, or at the very least doing a detailed plan with lots of examples. The fact that it is a 30 minute essay makes it very unusual, so you need to be able to tailor your writing to that length- a tough task!
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
Monday, 10 October 2011
AS and A2 OCR Media Studies ebooks
http://my.dynamic-learning.co.uk/Default.aspx?cid=15087
Go on to the above link and enter the relevant details for your book to gain access. You can read it online or click on the relevant book and 'export pages content pack' to have your own copy.
| Title | Student username | Student password |
| OCR Media Studies for AS Dynamic eBook | ocrmedas | student |
| OCR Media Studies for A2 Dynamic eBook | ocrmedstud2 | student |
Go on to the above link and enter the relevant details for your book to gain access. You can read it online or click on the relevant book and 'export pages content pack' to have your own copy.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
OCR Media Studies Community (AS & A2)
http://community.ocr.org.uk/community_data/docs?community_id=51
This site has many useful resources relating to:
G321 AS coursework
G322 AS exam
G324 A2 coursework
G325 A2 exam
This site has many useful resources relating to:
G321 AS coursework
G322 AS exam
G324 A2 coursework
G325 A2 exam
Print blog examples (A2)
http://www.alevelmediastudies09-11.blogspot.com/
http://www.weatherheadmedia.blogspot.com/
http://dhsmediasscragg.blogspot.com/
http://emmacostellomedia.wordpress.com/
http://lisaasmedia.wordpress.com/
http://amandadavidson1as.wordpress.com/
These are main tasks rather than ancillaries but they still give you ideas about how you might approach research, planning, construction and evaluation.
http://www.weatherheadmedia.blogspot.com/
http://dhsmediasscragg.blogspot.com/
http://emmacostellomedia.wordpress.com/
http://lisaasmedia.wordpress.com/
http://amandadavidson1as.wordpress.com/
These are main tasks rather than ancillaries but they still give you ideas about how you might approach research, planning, construction and evaluation.
Monday, 3 October 2011
Copyright free music (AS & A2)
http://copyrightfriendly.wikispaces.com/Copyright-friendly+music+and+sound
http://www.shockwave-sound.com/
http://audiojungle.net/
http://www.musicmediatracks.com/?gclid=CK6V-r7ZiJgCFUse3god7XQJCw
http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/free.html
http://freeplaymusic.com/
(free downloads) http://www.trackline.com/acatalog/Tracks.html
http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/documentary-general-production.html
http://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Music/Sound_Files/Samples_and_Loops/
www.freesound.org
(free music) http://www.mobygratis.com/film-music.html
Free Sound Effects from PartnersInRhyme.com:
(teacher needs to register for this one) http://www.ljudo.com/default.asp?lang=tEnglish&do=it
http://www.jamendo.com/en
http://derekaudette.ottawaarts.com/
http://www.acoustica.com/sounds.htm
http://www.alcljudprod.se/english/ljud.php
Many, many more sites are available just ‘Google’ ‘copyright free music audio download’ or ‘free audio editor software’
Friday, 30 September 2011
Foundation Portfolio (AS) assessment questions to help you with blog entries
Preliminary Task
· Does your film use continuity editing so that the sequence of events are clear and easily understood by the viewer?
· Have you followed the directions in the brief? (A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character. An exchange of dialogue occurs.)
· Have you used match-on-action?
· Can you explain what a match-on action involves?
· Have you used shot/reverse shot?
· Can you explain what shot/reverse shot involves?
· Did you observe the 180-degree rule?
· Can you explain the 180-degree rule?
· What role did you play in the making of the preliminary task? (e.g. filming, acting, editing, equipment organisation etc.)
· How would you assess your contribution to the group?
· What have you learned from the process of making your preliminary film?
Main task
Research
- Which existing films did you research?
- Why did you choose them?
- How did these films inform your planning?
- Did you analyse the films in terms of camerawork, mise-en-scene, editing and sound?
- Did you analyse the titles of the films?
- Did you consider the conventions of your three films?
- Did you research the role of a film distributor and production companies (institutions)?
- Did you find out which companies distributed your three influential films?
- Have you taken screenshots from the films to illustrate your analysis?
- Have you found out who distributed your films, researched those companies and found out what films they typically distribute?
- Did you use a focus group to give you feedback on your ideas and influential films?
- How did this help you?
- Did you consider the audience for each of your existing films and how they target their audience? (The films’ classifications may also be of use to you.)
- Have you used any other form of audience research, such as questionnaires and interviews?
Planning:
- Did you brainstorm your ideas?
- Did you create a pitch for your potential film?
- Have you stated your target audience and thought about how you will attract them? (A 'typical audience member' profile is a useful way of identifying audience clearly.)
- Have you drawn/photographed storyboards?
- Have you created a shot list?
- Have you created a shot schedule?
- Have you typed a script in the appropriate format?
- Have you planned your titles based on your textual analysis?
- Have you completed a location survey with photographs?
- Have you made an equipment list?
- Have you created a simple call sheet for your actors?
- Did you obtain permission to film in any public areas?
- Did you complete risk assessments for any potentially dangerous activities?
- Did you obtain parental consent for filming young children?
- What other logistical planning did you do? (e.g. budgets, equipment forms, travel etc.)
Construction:
- Are your shots steady? Did you use a tripod?
- Did you frame/compose your shots carefully?
- Have you used a variety of shot distances?
- Was the material you shot appropriate for the brief and the intended style/genre of your film?
- How did you pay attention to mise-en-scene? (e.g. lighting, objects, setting, costumes, performance etc.)
- How did you edit your film so that meaning is apparent to the viewer?
- Did you use any shot transitions other than standard cuts? If so, were they effective?
- Did you use any visual or audio effects? Were they successful?
- Were you happy with your use of sound (including dialogue) in your film?
- What music did you use and where did it come from?
- What titles did you use? How did you create them?
Evaluation:
- In what ways does your film use, develop or challenge the forms and conventions of existing films, such as the ones you were influenced by?
- How does your film represent particular social groups?
- What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
- Who would be the audience for your film?
- How did you attract/address your audience?
- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?
- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the main task?
- How did you create the electronic evaluation for your film?
Friday, 23 September 2011
A2 Advanced Portfolio - Evaluation questions
The four questions that must be addressed in the evaluation are:
- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
- How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (Use the information on synergy here http://howardschoolmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/synergy-a2-evaluations.html to help you answer this question.)
- What have you learned from your audience feedback?
- How did you use media technologies in the research and planning, construction and evaluation stages?
This advice by Pete Fraser (a former Chief Examiner) is also very valuable. You need to scroll down to the part about A2 evaluations:
http://petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/evaluation-for-ocr-coursework.html
When you are evaluating your print tasks, you should use the guidance in this section to help you:
http://howardschoolmedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Print
When you are evaluating your print tasks, you should use the guidance in this section to help you:
http://howardschoolmedia.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Print
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Foundation Portfolio (AS) Preliminary Task
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 action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
See an exemplar video from OCR here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtljKx31MJg
See an exemplar video from OCR here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtljKx31MJg
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
A useful blog relating to the magazine front cover (A2)
http://whedley.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/making-the-film-poster/
This isn't a perfect cover, but it gives you a few useful pointers.
This isn't a perfect cover, but it gives you a few useful pointers.
Monday, 4 July 2011
Analysing a film poster (A2)
http://asanda2filmstudies.blogspot.com/2007/12/analysing-film-posters.html
http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/bbustermovies/movies.php?pageID=posters
http://www.ehow.com/how_4914041_analyze-film-poster.html
http://www.mediaknowall.com/gcse/bbustermovies/movies.php?pageID=posters
http://www.ehow.com/how_4914041_analyze-film-poster.html
ü What is the genre of the poster? (What signifies the genre to you?)
ü What does the title of the film mean to you? (Does it connote anything? Is an enigma – a question – created by the title? Where is the title positioned?
ü What other text appears and where is it positioned?
ü What type of lettering is used? (font style, sizes, colours, effects, borders/shadows etc.)
ü What does the lettering style signify or represent?
ü What is the key image in the poster? What representation does this image give? What can you see in the foreground and background (give reasons for this).
ü Are there any secondary images? If so, what do they represent?
ü If there are characters in the poster, describe them (in detail) and what they represent.
ü If there are significant objects in the poster, describe them and what they represent.
ü Does the poster have a theme, idea, message or value that it is trying to communicate to you?
ü Is there a tagline? What is it and what does it represent?
ü Are the stars of the film identified? If so, how?
ü Is the director of the film identified? If so, how?
ü Can you identify the producers (studio) and/or distributors of the film?
ü Is the poster a teaser (advance) or the general release poster? How do you know?
ü What release information are we given?
ü Does the poster offer ways to find out more about the film?
ü Who do you think the poster is trying to appeal to?
ü In your view, how successful would your chosen poster be in appealing to its target audience?
Monday, 20 June 2011
Poster analysis (A2)
Poster Analysis – Advanced Production
ü What is the genre of the poster? (What signifies the genre to you?)
ü What does the title of the film mean to you? (Does it connote anything? Is an enigma – a question – created by the title? Where is the title positioned?
ü What other text appears and where is it positioned?
ü What type of lettering is used? (font style, sizes, colours, effects, borders/shadows etc.)
ü What does the lettering style signify or represent?
ü What is the key image in the poster? What representation does this image give? What can you see in the foreground and background (give reasons for this).
ü Are there any secondary images? If so, what do they represent?
ü If there are characters in the poster, describe them (in detail) and what they represent.
ü If there are significant objects in the poster, describe them and what they represent.
ü Does the poster have a theme, idea, message or value that it is trying to communicate to you?
ü Is there a tagline? What is it and what does it represent?
ü Are the stars of the film identified? If so, how?
ü Is the director of the film identified? If so, how?
ü Can you identify the producers (studio) and/or distributors of the film?
ü Is the poster a teaser (advance) or the general release poster? How do you know?
ü What release information are we given?
ü Does the poster offer ways to find out more about the film?
ü Who do you think the poster is trying to appeal to?
ü In your view, how successful the poster be in appealing to its target audience?
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Animatics
How do I create an animatic?
1. photograph (or draw) storyboard frames
(2.) if drawn, take individual photos of each frame (not needed if you took photos rather than drawn frames)
3. upload the photos to the computer
4. import the photos into the editing programme
5. drop each image onto the timeline and cut to the required length
6. put music or other sound on the audio timeline (you can also do a voiceover where you explain your ideas for the film and discuss camerawork, editing, mise-en-scene and sound)
7. add titles or effects/transitions as required
8. export and upload to youtube or vimeo
9. enter the link on the blog or upload the video directly
Here is an example of a drawn animatic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQGxV2Uds9U
1. photograph (or draw) storyboard frames
(2.) if drawn, take individual photos of each frame (not needed if you took photos rather than drawn frames)
3. upload the photos to the computer
4. import the photos into the editing programme
5. drop each image onto the timeline and cut to the required length
6. put music or other sound on the audio timeline (you can also do a voiceover where you explain your ideas for the film and discuss camerawork, editing, mise-en-scene and sound)
7. add titles or effects/transitions as required
8. export and upload to youtube or vimeo
9. enter the link on the blog or upload the video directly
Here is an example of a drawn animatic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQGxV2Uds9U
Friday, 10 June 2011
Advanced Production Self Assessment
You can use this to check your briefs and to guide you as to what you need to do for research and planning. You can also use it to help you think of things to write in your blog.
Media Studies - Advanced Portfolio
Self assessment
Name:
A short film in its entirety, lasting approximately five minutes, which may be live action or animated or a combination of both, together with two of the following three options:
· A poster for the film
· A radio trailer for the film
· A film magazine review page featuring the film.
A promotion package for a new film to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:
· A website homepage for the film
· A film magazine front cover, featuring the film
· A poster for the film
Research and Planning
1. What general research did you do into short films or trailers before you started your film?
2. Did you attend any workshops?
3. What were your three influential short films?
4. Did you carry out textual analysis for each of the three films?
5. What conventions did you identify?
6. What conventions did you decide to use, modify or subvert in your own film?
7. Who, or what, is the target audience for your film?
8. How did you research your target audience? (e.g. focus groups, questionnaires, interviews etc.)
9. What did you do to ensure that you had organised actors, locations, costumes and props?
10. Did you create storyboards? (If not, how did you plan your shots?)
11. Did you create a shotlist?
12. Did you log your shots as you took them?
13. Did you write a script?
14. What location scouting did you do? Did you take photographs?
15. How did you manage your time? (if your time management has not been good, give reasons for your problems and how you might improve.)
16. How much care have you taken with the presentation of your research and planning evidence?
17. What ICT skills have you shown in the presentation of your evidence?
18. How would you rate your communication skills in the planning and research stage: ‘minimal’, ‘basic’, ‘proficient’ or ‘good’? Explain your answer.
Construction
1. Are your shots steady? Did you use a tripod?
2. Have you framed your shots thoughtfully, including and excluding elements as appropriate?
3. Did you use a variety of shot distances?
4. Was the material you shot appropriate to the task?
5. What choices did you make in terms of mise-en-scene? (e.g. lighting, props, decor,
settings etc.)
6. Did you create sets/characters/props etc.? How was this achieved?
7. How did you edit your film so that meaning is apparent to the viewer?
8. What shot transitions did you use? Were they effective?
9. Did you use captions? Were they effective?
10. What sound effects did you use? How do they combine with the images?
11. What music did you use? Is it copyright free? How does it combine with the images?
Evaluation
1. How does your film construct a narrative?
2. How does your film represent people, places and behaviour?
3. In what ways does your film use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of existing films?
4. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?
5. What have you learned from audience feedback?
6. How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
7. How/where would your film be seen?
Trailer Addict
Trailer Addict is a great site for trailers. If you search 'teaser', you will be rewarded with lots of teasers that you can analyse for conventions.
http://www.traileraddict.com/
http://www.traileraddict.com/
In Defence of Media Studies
Next time you are told you are studying an easy subject, use some of these arguments...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/22/media-studies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/22/media-studies
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)