Planning of a Past Exam Question

Exam Question: "Sometimes working within constraints produces the most interesting work" (Branston and Strafford) How have you used real media conventions to produce interesting or effective coursework productions?

I think that the quote is suggesting that although we have access to a wide variety of media to help us produce products, we are almost better off using basic applications that do not distract our attention from our original goal.

4 conventions that I used within my;

Advanced Portfolio

Matching the lyrics to visuals

Used the genre characteristics of acoustic soul type music.

Foundation Portfolio

I used a Thriller soundtrack

I created tension by using flashbacks

- I adhered to these conventions.
- They made my products a lot more convincing and created what I had expected
- They show my progression throughout the two years as I followed through the conventions to try and make a more effective product.
- The foundation portfolio introduced me to forms and conventions of genre and I managed to use my knowledge of genre characteristics to apply them to my music video.
- The foundation portfolio also gave me a better understanding of how to apply my conventions to my products.
- I decided to avoid using the more technical conventions and try to stick to the most common conventions. As this seemed to work for my thriller opening.
- I decided to take more risks when creating my advanced portfolio this was because I thought some of the conventions needed to be challenged.
- This made my products more effective as i was able to create what I wanted and was able to mould an existing convention to what I wanted.

Real Media Conventions and Examples

EXAMPLES:

Seven

• Shadows created an atmostphere
• Colourisation
• Soundtrack created tension
• There are unexpected twists and turns
• There was no face shown

The Kooks - She moves in her own way

• Matched lyrics to visuals
• used a variety of shots
• Voyerism was used
• Editing was matched to the music
• The gernre conventions were used
• They used a performance/narrative based music video
• They used a guitar to match the sound.

HOW DID I USE REAL MEDIA CONVENTIONS WITHIN MY PRODUCTS?

For my music video I followed these Music Video Conventions: from Andrew Goodwin

• Matching the lyrics to visuals
• Used the genre characteristics of acoustic soul type music.
• I also used voyeurism in a variety of shots.

I challenged these conventions:

• Instead of using lots of close ups I used many long and mid shots as this is what I thought was necessary for my genre.

I also used some of Pete Fraser's conventions these included:

• Matching my editing to suit the genre and pace of music.
• I also used the image of a guitar to emphasise the guitar part within my music.

To create my Thriller Openning also followed many conventions. These mainly came from Saul Bass. He said that a thriller opening should 'settle them down and create a sense of anticipation.. hit the ground running' (complexity within simplicity).

I used these conventions:

• I created a build up of tension
• I also created a atmosphere of anticipation, fear and confusion.
• I used a dark shadowy atmosphere for parts of my flashback scenes.
• I delayed showing the face of my significant character until right at the end.
• I used a thrilling soundtrack!
• I had a morally ambiguous character.
• I used flashbacks
• I had unexpected twists and turns

I didn't however use these conventions:

• I didn't have a hero(ine)
• I also didn't have a red herring
• I also didn't involve a murder within my opening.

Timed Essay in Class - Post Production

Exam Question: “The post-production process can be the most important part of the filming process”. How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?

Throughout my two years of media studies I have created two productions, one in my foundation portfolio and one in my advanced portfolio. My foundation portfolio involved creating an opening to a thriller film and my advanced portfolio also explored the making of films, by creating a music video for an unsigned artist.

Both of these productions have been enhanced by the help of digital technology. The imovie application enabled me to use many different editing effects throughout my productions. Therefore I feel that post production stage has been an important part of my productions.

My thriller opening included many editing effects, for example I used slow motion to create tension and anticipation within my protagonist’s thoughts and flashbacks. I found this to be very successful as the audience found it exciting and found that it made them feel tense. I also used slow motion within my advanced production, but here it was for a different reason. I used it in my music video as my music was slow and beautiful; also the footage had many interesting and picturesque shots within it. Therefore I wanted to showcase these shots and make them last longer and slow motion was definitely the best technique to use. I feel that this has shown my progression throughout my two years as I have used an editing effect to create two different effects. Eisenstein believed that editing and the post production stage was the ‘foundation of film art’ I believe this in a way as without the editing effects I would not have of been able to use the same effect to produce two different styles.

I also used colourisation within my productions, again for different reasons. In my thriller I used a black and white effect; this created a mysterious vibe towards my film. This effect worked in the sense that it created tension and anticipation as it supposed to within a thriller opening, but it kind of distorted the image of the shot. Therefore if I did it again I would possibly not use as much of the effect, so that I we could see a clearer image. Within my Music video I used colourisation in a different way, I used bright colours. I did this by using one of the applications within the imovie programme. This emphasised the beauty of the shots and they became more appealing to the eye. I also used a sepia effect within the video, and if I did it again I would possibly use just one type of colourisation as I feel that it would have more of an effect.

One of the main editing techniques used within my music video was creating the scrapbook effect. This would not have of been done without the post production stage of editing. This is because within my original planning I had thought about using Polaroid pictures within my video, I found this to be hard. But when using the editing programme imovie, I came across a scrapbook effect that illustrated my ideas brilliantly. Therefore I again believe Eisenstein’s theory of editing being the foundation of film art, as editing enabled me to be more creative than I was when originally planning on paper.

Within my thriller opening I used many fades. This was used to show my protagonist drifting in and out of his flashbacks; I feel that this worked as it clearly showed what was going on in the opening. But also if I did it again I would possibly use some cross dissolved as well, as after a while the fades did get a bit boring and predictable. This is what I didn’t want in my thriller opening. This does meet Eisenstein’s style of dialectical montage’ as it was very abrupt and jagged, and I did not want to aim for smooth continuity.

NOT FINISHED L

MARK

20/25  = A

EAA 9/10

EG 7/10 - Watch your timing, refer to specific parts of both productions as examples.

TERM 4/5

Exam Practice on Post Production

"The post-production process can be the most important part of the filming process". How important has the post-production stage been in your foundation and advanced portfolios and how have your skills developed over these two years?

Across the two productions I have created (a thriller opening at AS and a music video at A2) I feel that the post production stage has been significant because I would not have of been able to gather as many ideas as I would have of done on Paper. Also I think it inspired me to be more creative in my work.

Eisenstein believed that editing was "the foundation of film and art" and what I believe he is saying is that the editing stage is one of the most important and is needed to bring together ideas of art into film. This was true for me as it brought together my ideas that I had originally planned on paper and the editing stage brought them to life.

In this essay I will discuss my skills development using these ideas. In my Thriller Opening I used a slow motion shot to represent the tension and anticipation of the storyline. It was through the effects on imovie I was able to do this. I was able to adjust the speed of the frames to slow down the shots. This effect was also used when my protagonist was having flashbacks. This therefore made the audience think a lot more.
I also used slow motion shots within my Music Video, this was used to frequently represent my music and the lyrics of my song. I feel that the progression here is clear as I was particularly matching the lyrics to visuals, using conventions of a music video.

Eisenstein's belief that meaning is created through editing and becomes the 'foundation' of that film is evident here is clear as I was matching the visuals to music at the Post Production stage.
Eisenstein's belief that meaning is created through editing and becomes the 'foundation' of the film is also evident here as the slow motion matches the meaning of 'time' and this is clear to the audience.

• When writing in exam, use 3 examples for Thriller Opening and Music Video.

Evaluating Post Production Skills

	Editing effect used	Effect it created	Successful?
Thriller Opening	Slow Motion Colourisation Fade	Tension + Anticipation Black and White Mysterious Mystery	Yes Kind of... slightly distorted the image Could have of used dissolves?
Music Video	Slow Motion Colourisation Cross Dissolve	Suited the music Sepia + Bright colours Suited the music	Yes Could have of just used one colour scheme? Yes

Media Concepts

Post - Production


EISENSTEIN

• Eisenstein believed that editing was: ‘the foundation of film art’
• For Eisenstein, meaning in cinema lay not in the individual shot but only in the relationships among shots established by editing.
• He created an editing style that he called "dialectical montage" that was abrupt and jagged and did not aim for smooth continuity.
• The jaggedness of Eisenstein's editing can create a sense of emotional and physical violence , but he also aimed to use editing to suggest ideas, a style he termed "intellectual montage."
• One of his films concludes with three shots of statues of stone lions edited to look like a single lion rising up and roaring, embodying the idea of the wrath of the people and the voice of the revolution.

Essay Structures

For Post Production Questions

Intro do you agree with the quote? Did you feel you progressed in this area?
What did the post production process involve? (Give specific detailed examples)
Why you used these effects/transitions/editing to create meaning
How successful/important was it? What didn't work?

using... PEE

POINT – What editing tool / technique did you use? What did it suggest / connote / represent?
EVIDENCE – Specific evidence from your film (AS? A2?)
EXPLAIN – Have you progressed from AS to A2? How does this example show this progression? What did you experiment with? Take risks with? Were you more confident? Were you more adventurous?

Digital Technology Theories

With the most primitive means the artist creates something which the most ingenious and efficient technology will never be able to create. (Kasimir Malevich)


What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds. (Steve Jobs)


The proper artistic response to digital technology is to embrace it as a new window on everything that's eternally human, and to use it with passion, wisdom, fearlessness and joy. (Ralph Lombreglia)