Production Pitch

BECK Production Pitch

Production Meeting 3

Date: 13th December
Present: Bethany Hutson, Katie Bannock, Camille Pierrart and Ellie Bunce (Me)
Focus: Begin to create production pitch (everyone get started on their individual tasks)
Action point: Finish production pitch

In our third production meeting we were told to make an production pitch by Mr Buckmaster for the following lesson to show to him and the class. The production pitch had to include, a synopsis/brief, mood board, locations, cast/characters, treatment, soundtrack and a storyboard. This was Mr Buckmaster's example for us: http://marlboroughmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/production-pitch.html 

We all had different tasks to do to create our production pitch. Bethany did the storyboard and treatment, Camille did the brief, Katie looked for a soundtrack and I did the mood board, locations, cast/characters and made the power point presentation.

Production Meeting 2

Date: 12th December 2012
Present: Bethany Hutson, Camille Pierrart, Katie Bannock, Ellie Bunce (me)
Focus: Brainstorm ideas, and discuss any sequences we had watched

In our second production meeting we started thinking about ideas for our opening sequences, here are some of them:

1. Two people (boy and girl) waking up 
2. Sister and brother on a dog walk, stranger watching them
3. Missing child (posters, then we see the child)
4. Home videos of a boy growing up, then we see him now 

We then voted on the idea we wanted for our opening sequence, here are the results:

1. Three votes
2. No votes
3. One vote
4. No votes

So we decided to do the two people waking up, we then discussed this idea and expanded on it thinking about them crossing in the street but not acknowledging one another to set up an enigma for the rest of the play. 

Production Meeting 1

Date: 6th December 2012
Present: Bethany Hutson, Camille Pierrart, Ellie Bunce (me) and Katie Bannock

In our first production meeting we looked at different genres and sub genres in films in order to help us come with ideas for our opening sequence. Below is a spider diagram of genres and sub-genres:

We eliminated genres we wanted to stay away from or didn't think were able to do such as:

• Fantasy
• Melodramas
• Crime
• Epics/historical
• Magical
• Science fiction
• Westerns

This was because we thought they would be hard to portray realistically and we wanted our opening sequence to be believable. We also thought it would be hard make these type of films with our low budget, experience and knowledge.

We also thought about genres we to consider for our opening sequence such as:

• Romance
• Horror 
• Crime
• Action
• Drama

Our action point was to look at opening sequences and bring some ideas for our next meeting.

Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we had to film someone opening and walking through a door and having a conversation. We had to include a reverse shot, shot the 180 degree rule and match on action.

This is Mr Buckmaster's example with the brief:  http://marlboroughmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Preliminary%20Task

Below is Bethany, Camille and my preliminary task along with our story board (made with post-it notes), shot list and script. Using these was a great help whilst making our preliminary, however, we had to cut some of the shots and the dialogue in them because they were too short. Doing the preliminary has helped me to see why it is so important to line up the camera exactly at the start so you don't get too much or too little head space (as you can see in some of our shots). It's also helped me understand why the duration and planning of each shot is so important.

How To Make A Video (notes)

Here are my note on how to make a video from a video from an Australian production crew we watched in class.

The roles of making a video:

• Executive producer
• Writer
• Producer
• Director
• Production manager
• Storyboard artist
• Camera operator
• Lighting director 
• Sound technician
• Actors
• Editor

The brief: is a written summary of the video, it sets limitation of process.

It covers the intention, purpose and target audience.

Pre-production: 

This is when the plans are put into place. It includes:

• Scripting
• Scene breakdown
• Storyboard
• Shot list
• Casting
• Locations
• and equipment hire

The stages are...

1. Script
2. Scene breakdown
3. Storyboard and shot list
4. Location

Shot list/ shooting schedule:

• Where
• Time needed
• Different camera angles
• When
• How long (duration)

Allow flexibility in this.

Production: (shooting)

In the production it is essential to manage time well.

The director works closely with the actors in this.

Continuity is essential in the production so someone needs to look out for small details.

Post-production:

• Shooting the project
• Times management initial
• Quality control (image, sound, performance)
• Finished production

Offline edit: rough cut

On line edit: final cut

• All elements are combined in editing
• Sound mix
• Sound mix of final edit

The three stages of making a video are:

1. Pre-production
2. Production
3. Post-production 

Analysing Opening Sequences

In class on Thursday 22nd and 29th November we analysed opening sequences from a variety of films for some of our product research. We focused on the key features of opening sequences, which are:

• Genre
• Narrative/ enigma
• Character
• Atmosphere
• Setting

One of the opening sequences we watched was 'Cape Fear' an American psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese. I focused of character in this, here are the notes I made:
I thought the main character was a middle aged man who I believe was a murderer from the waves which gradually turned red making them look like blood after we see him. I also felt the way in which he emerged from the waves made him look almost immortal. My other thought was that the waves, which started of fairly calm and got gradually faster depict the man's dysfunctional mind, this idea was also extended by titles which seem distorted.
The other character in the opening sequence was a young American girl who I believe was one of the man victims. She gives us an insight of the setting, it's in the summer, Cape Fear is a river and it's in America. She describes it as a magical place where people fear 'real life crashing in' her calm voice and description of Cape Fear is juxtaposed to the rest of the opening sequence.

Another opening sequence we watched was 'Hellboy II: The Golden Army' a 2008 American-German film directed by Guillermo del Toro. In this opening sequence I focused on genre. I guessed that it was an action adventure fantasy, this was from the war like music playing throughout and the clashing of metal which I thought sounded like swords clashing and an army. The red and fire I also thought foreshadowed hell and death and the Da Vinci code notes showed that they were on an adventure, searching for something. The fantasy came from the young boy at the start who had horns and looked like the devil.

 
'Se7en' was another opening sequence we watched in class. 'Se7en' is an American psychological thriller directed by David Fincher. Instead of focusing on one key feature in this I looked at them all, here are my notes...
Genre: Psychological thriller
Atmosphere: Dysfunctional and layering of distorted pictures with quick snaps in-between camera shots which I felt reflected the main characters head
Narrative/enigma: What's this man doing and why?
Setting: America (you can tell from dollar)
Character: Psychopath (dysfunctional mind), dirty fingers with plasters on (doesn't care about appearance), I thought the main character was a middle aged man from the fingers.

British Film Institution Visit

On Tuesday my class took a trip to London, South bank to visit the BFI (British Film Institution). We were given useful information from Pete Fraser, the Chief Examiner for the OCR Media Studies A level, and did Q&A with Simon Frame (Vsx Supervisor, Molinare Ltd.) and Joe Cornish (Writer-director of 'Attack the Block').

Throughout Pete gave us handy information to enhance our coursework, here are some of my notes:

Key features in opening sequences:

• Genre
• Narrative (enigma)
• Character
• Atmosphere
• Setting

We were told to start general, then more specific, then make research which was focused and relevant.

After that we watched different opening sequences which were all completely different looking at the titles and key features.

One of the openings was 'Napoleon Dynamite' (click here to watch) a film which I have never seen before, however, after watching the opening sequence and looking for the key features I could identify what it was about. The titles of the opening are part of the shots (on food, cards, books etc) which I thought was really clever as gives us an insight into what the film is about very subtly. The only character we see is Napoleon Dynamite on one of the cards so he is easily identified as the main character. The music in the opening sequence is 'jolly' and country like and portrays an American setting. The books, stationary, canteen like food we see represent it is set in a school. And judging by the opening we can see it is most likely to be a comedy.

This lead us to learn a little about titles:

• The directors name must be last
• They are often throughout the opening sequence rather than at the end
• 'Starring' is not using in film openings but in trailers

The Team GB cycling coach, Dave Brailsford, said "It's important to understand the 'aggregation of marginal gains" which also applies to our coursework (lots of small things add up to get better marks).

We were given a list of the six most common opening sequences to avoid doing:

1. Saw- victim in shed
2. Scream- hooded stalker
3. Se7en
4. Lock, stock- gangsters
5. Waking up
6. Flashbacks and flash forwards

and common problems in opening sequences:

• Making it look like a trailer or short film
• Not enough titles
• Poor sound of lighting
• Poorly directed actors
• Making it confusing or complicated
• and doing one of the most common openings badly!

The sequence should be up to two minutes, 20 marks is awarded for research and planning, 60 marks for construction and 20 marks for evaluation.

Pete's main advice was to:

• Plan
• Learn from others
• Avoid the obvious
• Pay attention to detail
• Vary our blogs

Step 1: Take stock

• Build skills
• Build research
• Build planning
• give yourself enough time to shoot and edit
• Keep evident throughout the whole process

Step 2: Set up a blog

Step 3: Build up skills

Step 4: Investigate

Step 5: Brainstorm ideas

• Pitches
• Mood board treatment
• Feedback
• Be realistic

Step 6: Planning (the more planning= the less problems)

• Experiment
• Examples of shots, costume, props etc
• Storyboard (post it notes) 
• Logistic planning

Step 7: The shoot 

• People, places, props, costumes
• Rehearsing, directing
• Equipment/ jobs on day
• Keeping a record of process

Step 8: Editing

• Everyone have a go
• Screen grabs
• Audio and titles
• Foley (the art of putting sound in sync with movement)
• Rough cut deadline and peer feedback

The big picture before the fine detail

Step 9: Evaluation

Film Riot- Preparation and Analysis of 'Tell'

On Mr Buckmaster's blog (http://marlboroughmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/how-to-plan-film.html) I watched Film Riots: How to Plan a Movie Shoot! - Script Breakdowns, Schedules and Budgets and How to Storyboard & Schedule Your Film. These two clips showed me all the preparation they went to before filming there short film 'Tell'. They also link in with the work we are doing in class at the moment (preparing our preliminary task) and will help us when we start to prepare for our opening sequence.
Although the short film only had a very small budget of £1000 with very few of the film crew trained, in the end the preparation really paid off. 'Tell' was a really good effective short film. I definitely thought the camera movement/shots and sound were the most effective in the film (the camera shots and movement were so good, constantly making the audience feeling uneasy and the sound also kept building up tension and creating suspense throughout using both diagetic and non-diagetic sounds). Overall it has made me realise just how important preparation is to create an effective and low budget production.

Filming A Scene Using My 'Bullitt' Storyboard

In class on Thursday we attempted to film the shots in the 'Bullitt' car chase scene using just my storyboard (see previous post). We didn't focus on sound in this, just trying to position the shots correctly. The video of Katie's, Alex's, Dionne's and my attempt is to above (we accidentally cut out the first shot). As we didn't have a car to use we improvised with two chairs, a table and a bin and filmed clips where we found it impossible to shoot.

The first shot in the video is a medium eye level shot of the back of the 'goodies' head, who is driving chasing the car ahead. In this shot we had to think about the rule of thirds and think about the positioning of the objects. To the right is a screen grab of attempt and what it should of looked like. As you can see the angle of this shot is wrong, it appears to be more of a high angle shot. We should of lowered the tripod to make the shot eye level. We also did not think about the duration of this shot (it should have last approximately 3 seconds).

The next shot was of two people in another car (the 'baddies') driving. It was hard to get the positioning of both characters right in this shot as our actors were different sizes to those in the actual scene which I storyboarded from. However I think this shot worked a lot better than the last (see picture to right). We remembered to think about the duration and angle of the shot.

The next shot was hard to film because I had found it hard to draw on the storyboard, so wasn't an accurate representation of the shot. We got the angle of the shot right however the size and the duration of the shot were a little out.

In the next shot we just filmed the actual 'Bullitt' car chase clip as we didn't have a car available.

We then filmed another clip of the 'goody' driving and chasing the car ahead. although this was a better attempt than the first shot, the angle and positioning of the shot is wrong again (the top of my head is one show). To correct this the camera must of been set up lower and checked that the positioning of my head was the same as my storyboard. However, the duration of the shot was correct.

After that we again filmed the actual clip from the scene again, as it was another clip of a car.

The second to last shot was another shot of me (the 'goody') chasing the car ahead, except the angle was slightly different. Although we showed this angle and the duration of the shot was close, we again got the positioning of the shot wrong (too much of my head is on show).


The last shot is again of me but from the side. I have far too much space behind my back in this shot and above my head in this shot. The angle and duration, however, were good.




Filming the 'Bullitt' car chase scene using just my storyboard made me realise how important and helpful storyboarding is to help you get the right and accurate shot. They also save a lot of time as you know exactly what you are doing when you start filming.

Storyboarding

Webb Smith, Disney credited animator, created the first storyboard in the 1930's which ever since then has played a massive part of filming. Storyboards are a sequence of illustrations which often have details of duration, shot size, angle and transition underneath. They represent and help pre-visualise the shots planned for a scene and are similar to cartoon strips. They are one of the most important things to do before filming to give a good idea of what each shot should look like, however, then can be alternated if certain shots do not work or look effective when filming. 

I have attempted to story board the first 28 seconds of the car chase scene from 'Bullitt' (click here to watch) directed by Peter Yates. (Below)

Second Attempt With A Camera

Above is my groups second attempt with using a camera. This attempt was much better than the first as we really focused on the advice Mr Buckmaster gave us such as setting the camera up perfectly before hand, meaning we did not have to move it much when filming. We also tried to remember head space for example on the shot when we paned we did two run throughs before filming to make sure my head was never cut off.

We started by panning a high-angle medium shot (up to 0.08) from the top of the stairs following me walking up them, we filmed this on the science block stairs as we new the lighting was good there as there's lots of natural light from all the windows. In this we really tried to make the panning smooth by keeping the camera on a tripod. We also started filming for five seconds before I started moving, and made sure we had the right amount of head space before we filmed.

The next shot was a birds eye view (0.09) of me sat on the floor, which we again filmed from the top of the stairs, this shot was a lot easier to film as we did not have to move the camera (but we did slightly by accident). To make the shot better we would have needed more leg space/less head space and we should of thought about the rule of thirds instead of making me centre of the shot.

The last shot we did was a reverse angle shot, we started with a close-up of me staring at something and then filmed the back of my head and Sam in the background as if I was staring at him. Sam stood by the window in the shot to hide his face, nearly making a silhouette, to create the illusion he was mysterious/ dangerous. In this shot we thought about the rule of three and Sam and I were never central.
Our last shot was a low-angle shot at 0.24, however, this was not very successful as we did not set up the camera very well so I cropped most of it out.

Our second attempt was much better, although we did less shots they were higher quality.

First Attempt With A Camera

The video above is my groups first attempt with a camera, we took turns to make different camera shots and movements. Our filming wasn't the best as we did not set up our camera very well before each shot so I have put ways to improve and what we did wrong after most of the shots.

We started with a panning long shot up to 0.05 seconds showing most of the field. The movement could of been a lot smother on this and we should have weighed up the ratio of trees in the shot in comparison to the ratio of grass.
We then moved to a medium long shot at 0.07 then a medium shot (two character shot) before filming we should have thought about our head space in both of these shots.
After that we went onto a medium close-up at 0.11, this shot was quite wonky, we ought to of checked this before filming.
We then moved onto a slight low angle close-up showing my face and surroundings at 0.14 and a big close-up at 0.17.
My group then attempted a reverse angle shot at 0.19, however, I thought it did not look very effective as the actress was not really looking at anything so we just filmed a blank space.
Our second to last shot was a another low-angle shot at 0.23, however because the light was behind our actress it was hard to see her face.
The last shot was a high angle shot at 0.25.

Once we had finished we watched everyone's back in class, Mr Buckmaster gave helpful feedback such as:
-Through out our shots we need to remember to keep the camera still (unless panning, tracking, crabbing etc.)
-We also need to position our camera exactly how we want to before we start filming and do a count down from five before filming
-We need to think a about lighting, if lighting behind the character is too strong then you wont be able to see their face
- The last tip he gave us was to think about head space before we start filming

Casino Royale Camera Shot Analysis

In today's lesson my group watched the beginning of Casino Royale- torture scene (click to watch up to 1 minute) and listed the main camera shots of the start of the scene and evaluated them. We were also told the very useful website Daily Motion.

The first main shot we noticed was a high angle medium close-up (at 0.02) which showed Bond on the floor, this made him look vulnerable as we see him in the eyes of Le Chiffre looking over him.

The next significant shot was at 0.08, this shot is a big close up of Bonds face which exaggerates his emotions (him looking scared and not at ease).

After that there is a reverse shot showing the door being closed and locked at 0.12 (which is what Bond is looking at worriedly) and then a close up back to James Bond at 0.17.

The forth main camera shot we spotted was a low angle shot of Le Chiffre (at 0.19), this shot shows that he has more power over Bond in the scene and makes him appear to have a higher status.

There is next a close up of the prop Le Chiffre is holding (at 0.23) a piece of rope to beat Bond, this shot exaggerates it and shows its significance in the scene.

The camera then goes on to a medium shot to show the setting and Le Chiffre walking around Bond, we see that James Bond is very helpless in this moment in the scene (this shot is at 0.33).

At 0.44 we see a medium close up of Bond and Le Chiffre talking to him over his shoulder, because of the lighting in this shot Bond is bright where as Le Chiffre is coming from the shadows and so has a shadow cast upon the sides of his face, extending the idea of Le Chiffre being the 'baddy'.

The last main shot was another close-up of the rope being swung by Le Chiffre (at 0.58) before hitting Bond, this builds up tension until he actually hit him.

Through out the scene the camera shots are slow, building the tension until Bond is tortured or we think he will tell Le Chiffre the information. The camera shots also follow the rules of third and most shots are not central.

Camera Shots/Angles

In this post I will be talking about the range of camera shot three different scenes/moments in three films.

'Soft' directed by Simon Ellis:
The first one I will be looking at is the start of 'Soft' directed by Simon Ellis (video to the right). The 14 minuet film starts with a clip from a camera phone filmed by the youths. The quality of this part is very poor to exaggerate that it's being filmed by the youths. This is also used a lot through out the short film to portray parts of the film through the youths perception. The camera then goes to a high shot angle showing the quiet suburb neighbourhood and the Dad parking and getting out his car. After this the camera changes to a medium close up of the stairs, it uses the rule of thirds in this shot by putting the stair banister in the middle as it isn't important. The shot shows the boy walking down the stairs, hearing his father come in then quickly go back up to show he is trying to avoid him. The camera then changes again to a medium shot showing that the father is in the kitchen making himself a drink.

'The Holiday'
I next noted the camera shots at the end of 'The Holiday', this is one of my favourite films so thought it would be really interesting to analyse (video to right watch from 6.35). The camera starts as a medium shot of the young girl (Olivia) running down the stairs, the camera moves with her showing the Christmas decorations on the stairs (this portrays that it's December). The camera then tracks out to show her Auntie Iris (played by Kate Winslet) spinning her around. After this the camera tracks slowly into their faces to show that they were happy and laughing, the camera then goes to a medium close-up again. This medium close-up shot stays until Iris stops spinning round her niece and kisses her. The camera then follows the two characters as they move into the other room with a medium long shot before changing again to a close-up of Iris smiling. The camera changes using a reverse angle shot to a medium long shot, showing Miles (played by Jack Black) joking around with Iris' other niece Sophie to show Iris is watching them. There is then another reverse shot back to Iris to show she is thinking about her relationship between her and Miles. After that there is then two more reverse shots of Miles looking at Iris and Iris looking at Miles these shots are both close-ups to depict their emotions. The next shot is another MS of Amanda (played by Cameron Diaz) walking into the lounge before there is another RA to show Iris, Miles, Olivia and Sophie all on the sofa before returning to the MS of Amanda and Graham (played by Jude Law) walking/dancing towards her. The shot stays there to show them both dancing and show there was a close relationship between them before another RA shot of the sofa. After that there is a CU of Graham smiling at them all (portraying a happy ending to satisfy the audience). The shots continue as MS and CU to show the relationships between all the characters and them all dancing before there is a MLS of the window which tracks out before showing the credits.

'The Lion King'
I next looked at Mufasa's death in 'The Lion King' because I knew this scene had good camera angles to show the status between both characters (clip to the right).
The shot first appears as a medium high angle shot of Mufasa holding onto the rock. The view represents how Scar sees him and portrays Mufasa as very vulnerable, there is then a reverse angle shot to show Mufasa looking at scar this a low angle shot to portray that Scar has all the power in this situation before returning the shot back to Mufasa as he slowly starts to fall. After that there's a low medium long shot to represent the relationship between the two brothers and both their status. The next shot is a close-up of Mufasa feet slipping of the rock and scratching it, this exaggerates the fact that he is falling. This quickly changes to another close-up of the rocks falling to exaggerate that he is falling even more.  The next three shots move very quickly, it starts as a  low angle close-up of Scar showing no emotion that Mufasa is falling however Scar then shows anger and moves forward, the next shot is a BCU of Scar holding onto Mufasa's paws, then there is a CU of Mufasa roaring. After that there is another MS to show Scar getting closer to kill his brother (building the pressure) and an extreme close up of Mufasa in horror before a big close up of Scar letting go of Mufasa (killing him). The next shot is a low angle shot showing Mufasa falling towards the audience then into the stampede. A quick CU of Simba is then shown to portray the horror on his face this then zooms out to a long shot, to depict how helpless he is.

Semiotics

In our third lesson with Mrs Griffiths we learnt about connotations and denotations. We started with an activity where we saw signs and then wrote the connotations we associated with them. This included a smiley face J which I associate with happiness and a pound sign £ which I link with money. There were also colours that we connoted in this activity. I believed connotations of green were natural and environmental however I also thought it was sometimes showed jealousy. For red I thought it depicted love and danger.

Important vocabulary we learnt:
Semiotics- Studies of signs
Connotations- a meaning attributable to an image beyond the obvious denotational level
Denotation- the first and simplest level of meaning an image

Observing Sound in The Orphanage- Regression Scene

On the 13th September my class watched the Regression Scene in The Orphanage (Scene to the right). We concentrated on the sound in this scene, listening to the soundtrack, sound effects, dialogue, diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Soundtrack (non-diegetic):-Starts with a violin portraying a mysterious environment however it then suddenly changed from painfully high (which makes the audience feel uncomfortable and not at ease) to lower quickly. This sudden change exaggerates the tension in the scene.

Sound Effects (non-diegetic):-Footsteps of the psychic walking (creaking floorboards) are put in the emphasise that the women is alone. They also give a spooky effect to her.
-Children talking and crying out for help get louder and quieter throughout the scene to depict when the women is near them and build up tension.
- Camera zooming in and out

Dialogue:- They gave the man a deeper voice to give him more presence (as if the audience is there with him)
- They also made the women's voice sound distant to make the audience see her a vulnerable and alone

Diegetic sounds:- Man writing the route she is taking with a pencil is emphasised
- Rich crisp sound of man turning the radio on
- Light flickering (this gets louder and faster)
- High pitch sound of radio/TV starting
- Man walking downstairs (Creaking steps- signifies how old the building is)

'The Orphanage' Opening Sequence

Last lesson we looked at the opening sequence of 'The Orphanage' a Spanish horror film by J.A Bayona, we focused on the sound, setting, genre, storyline and characters of this scene.

Characters:
The Lone Character (Laura)
-Young
-Female
-Innocent
-Costume is old fashioned (1940s/1950s)

Older Women (The Caretaker)
-Appears to be hiding her emotions
-Does not show face
-Seems mysterious

Setting/Location:
-Spanish countryside, 1940s/1950s.
-The summery outside setting was juxtaposed to the dark mysterious setting inside the orphanage portraying it as evil and not safe
-The garden was surrounded by trees and shadows making it feel closed off from the outside world
-In the garden there was a strange looking scarecrow foreshadowing the future

Sound:
At first there is diegetic sounds and sound effects of birds singing, insects and children playing to set the scene (a typical summers day in the country side). After this a non-diegetic cheerful high pitched piano comes in, however this slowly saddens as we see the caretaker answer the phone. This again changes when the caretaker walks down the steps and it becomes more mysterious and louder.

Genre:
Psychological horror film

Storyline:
A young girl (Laura) playing "Uno, Dos, Tres, Toca la Pared" [One, Two, Three, Knock on the Wall] with her friends, at first she appears to be alone, the camera is far away showing a wide shot and making her look vulnerable, the camera gets closer and shows a close up to Laura. It shows a silhouette of her friend reaching out to her from behind, however because the camera is so close the audience cannot see she is a child and it looks as if someone is trying to grab Laura. The children then chase one another in the field with Laura laughing and playing. The children run and play by a strange looking scarecrow which I believe foreshadows the Tomás' sack mask (which appears later on in the film).  We then see the older women (The caretaker of the orphanage) receiving a call, she confirms that Laura is going to be adopted, although she has not told Laura yet. She opens the doors to the garden/field and walks down the steps. She mumbles "Laura, you are going to miss your friends" to herself.

(See snap shots below)

Television theories

On 11th September we studied theories on TV from the 1920s till the 1990s (see picture at bottom).

 The first theory we looked at was The Hypodermic Needle Model this was a theory dated from the 1920s. It suggested people 'passively received the information transmitted via a media text, without any attempt on their part to process or challenge the data.' and did not take into account individual opinions assuming they were heterogeneous.
However this theory soon failed because the audiences are not all passive.

The next theory we studied was The Two Way Flow Theory (also known as the Limited Effects Paradigm). This theory was in the 1930s/ 1940s by Paul Lezerfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet and took into account peoples opinions. It all started when Paul, Bernard and Hazel decided to interview people who voted in the presidential election to see why they voted for certain people. This led them to believe we only filter information that we like and we have a choice in what we want to watch for example, if we like football we will filter the news we hear about games/scores where as if we don't like it we tend not to listen or process the information even though we are being told the same thing.

The third theory we learnt was from the 1970s by Blulmer and Katz The Uses and Gratification Theory. Blulmer and Katz came up with four reasons why people watch television: diversion (escaping reality), personal relationships (emotional support), personal identity (finding yourself in TV) and surveillance (to find out information). They believed the four uses would expand as media expands.

The last theory we found out about was The Reception Theory in the 1980s-1990s by Stuart Hall.He believed we could produce media for certain gender, class, age, ethnicity etc (this is known as preferred reading). He thought the audience received text by encoding and decoding.

See this link for more details:
 http://marlboroughmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/audience-theories.html

What is media?

In my first media lesson with Mrs Griffiths (10th September) we learnt what media is about. We started with writing a description of the media saying it refers to the different channels we use to communicate information in everyday life. We then discussed what is media and came up with a list of media we use this included TV, magazines, films, radio etc. After doing this we talked about what our favourite things were in each type of media for example my favourite TV show is ‘New Girl’ because I find it funny and my favourite pop song at the moment is ‘Little comets- Jennifer’ as it is a feel good song and puts me in a good mood. (See table below).

Starting AS Media Studies

Hello welcome to my Blog. This blog will be used to contribute to my AS Media Studies coursework. I will be posting links, pictures, videos etc. to help me on my journey of A-Level Media Studies.

 In my first media lesson of year 12 Mr Buckmaster gave me useful websites to look at including his blog www.marlboroughmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk, the Guardian newspaper www.guardian.co.uk, the OCR www.ocr.org.uk, the Art of the Title website www.artofthetitle.com which has many opening sequences and Pete Frazer's blog www.petesmediablog.blogspot.co.uk which I have looked at. However I found many of the information he posts very useful. 

I chose Media Studies as an A-Level because of my love of theatre and film. My sister is also currently in her second year of A-Level Media and really enjoys it; I have watched her process of making an opening sequence and found it really interesting. I am also taking Drama and Theatre Studies at A-Level after enjoying it significantly throughout my Marlborough education, so will be up for playing a role in our project and really enjoy directing. I also learnt a lot about lighting, sound, costumes and more whilst studying GCSE drama last year which I hope will help my Media Studies too.