Lauren's Media Studies

For our homework, we have been told to research BARB. Broadcasters Audience Research Board (BARB) measures television viewing for the whole of the UK delivering the data in facts and figures. Whilst looking at their website i have made some interesting discoveries. On one of my favourite channels - ITVbe, i have researched the top 10 programmes that month: I have also found the TV programmes that were most caught up on in October: As well as the UK favourite TV genre!

Grace and I, have finally finished our film ident. This took us a long time and we are glad we have finished this!

Here i interviewed someone of my target audience so i can see their personality and what i need to do to my film opening and make it interesting for them. I interviewed a 17 year old girl, who had similar opinions to me, Although are film opening will consist of alot of action - there will also be some romance, to interest the feminine audience.

On Sunday, Grace and I took a trip to london to do some location planning (& some cheaky shopping!)  We thought that we should film our film opening over our christmas break as our location - Covent Garden, had a lovely christmassy ambience to it. The sections of covent garden which we want to film in our generally quite quiet which we found out throughout the day as we kept walking past! Here are some pictures to show where we are filming:

Before filming, Grace and I have had to complete a risk assessment to make sure the set is safe for us and our actors.

Here is a timeline of Grace and I's title sequence.

Chick Flicks - Bridesmaids Bridesmaids is a classic chick flick, it is is based on competition between a bridesmaid and the maid of honour, over who is the best friend Romantic Comedy - Pretty Woman Pretty Women is based on a man in a legal but hurtful bushiness needs an escort for some social event's, so hires a beautiful prostitute he meets on the street (Julia Roberts). He takes her in, buys her new clothes and gives her a place to stay in an expensive penthouse and falls in love with her. Crime / Thriller - Oceans 11 This is a crime film, based on Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his eleven accomplices and how they plan to rob three Las Vegas clubs simultaneously.  Video Game Movies - Nerve Nerve is a recent video game movie featuring Emma Roberts and Dave Franco, about a high school senior finding herself immersed in a online game of truth or dare where her every move begins to be watched and manipulated by a online group of 'watchers'  ...

We will be using a variety of props, this includes:  Camera x2 Wallet Map Handbag Phone 

Here is a list of costumes that the different characters will be wearing: Isadora: Smart coat dressed with black jeans / skirt and scarf with minimal make-up Lizzie: Black jeans, trainers with a nice jacket. Lauryn: Leather jacket, gloves, scarf, black jeans and trainers Alice: Puffer Coat, Blue jeans and scarf Georgie: Puffer Coat, Blue Scarf, Black jeans, Trainers

Here is a list of the actors who we will be using throughout our film opening: Isadora - Protagonist, a glamourous young female. Lizzie - Lizzie will be a main character as she is the boss over Isadora, giving her instructions at the begginning. Lauryn - A lady who's bag is robbed. Alice - A lady who gets wallet stolen. Georgie - A lady who gets her camera taken.

Here I've made a mood board, containing the likes and dislikes of my typical target audience - teenagers. Here is a separate moodboard, containing the dislikes of my typical target audience:

This is our 9 shot analysis, from our chosen film - Focus.  Shot 1: This shot was a tracking shot leading to shot two. We liked this shot as it establishes who the characters are and how the director wants them to be presented to the audience. From the shot travelling up, it shows the contrast between both characters. Shot 2: This shot is continued from shot one as they walk into the main setting. The body language and facial expressions really show the protagonists feelings and again the contrast between calm and nervous. Shot 3: We really liked this close up shot but also the length of the shot while he is talking. Shot 4: Shot 4 is a shot reverse shot from the previous one. We especially liked this shot as it had a comical aspect as it contrasted to the length of the previous one. Shot 5: This shot is also a close up of the man replying to her. again with a comical element. Shot 6: This tracking shot as it sets up the beginning of the action, showing us the setting...

Heres a video we filmed and edited, for this years Children in Need assembelly. It is a lip sync battle, in which the teachers performed for a giggle. We left it abit late with filming, so it gave us a feel of how stressed we would be, if we left filming and editing our film opening this late.

Here is my treatment explaining the plot of my film opening, psycographics, demographics and other interesting bits! & a video of us presenting our treatment.

These are some important sounds which are relevant to my genre - romantic crime. 1. Gun shot sounds are typically found in crime films when there is a lot of action taking place. Crime films with gun violence are usually age certificated at 12A and over as it is not suitable for young children. 2. Throughout rom-coms, sounds of birds are typically used as they are peaceful and can be used to symbolise the happiness in the relationship and the love.   3. Commonly in rom-coms, the sound of fireworks is used, as love between two protagonists is shown. 4. In crime movies, the sound effect of screeching tyres is commonly used to represent a criminal trying to escape or a police officer racing after a criminal / trying to get to a destination.

An Indent is a moving image or logo to represent a brand, usually shown before a show / film The Purpose of indents: - Form of branding as the company will be showing their own logo, giving their brand a unique image - Give an announcement as to what company is representing the film / tv programme - Re-branding to keep the company / channel up to date. Here are two film company indents usually associated with the Romantic / Crime genre: From the Lionsgate, indent, you could reflect the genre of crime as it is uses the effect of vignette, which is quite dark and unsettling, leading to thoughts of mystery and unease. The Paramount indent, reflects the genre of Rom-com as it has a lovely view with a pretty font. This reflects rom-com as it helps the audience feel at ease with the film, and allows them to think that they are going into a happy film as there is nothing on the indent which could cause nervousness. For my Film opening, we will need to create a indent, whic...

Me and Grace have decided that the opening scene in Mr and Mrs Smith is too hard to use for ours, as it has too much dialogue for a title sequence. We have decided to recreate the pick-pocket scene in Focus as it shows elements of our genre, whilst being interesting, entertaining and not too hard to recreate!

Romantic Crime isn't a genre that has been around for a long period of time, so i have had to research the two genres separately. Genre: Romance  Romance is a genre which revolves around the two main characters being in love key themes include: tragic love, love at first sight, kissing, destructive and obsessive love.  the first romance film is said to be created in 1896, and is only 18 seconds long - this is the first movie which featured a romantic scene.  The tone can vary, whether it is happy or tragic. Romance films aim to evoke strong emotions throughout the audience.  Genre: Crime many of the first ideas of crime dramas, came from Chinese backgrounds the 1920s and 30s, are known as the golden age for crime fiction and dramas a typical plot in the golden age - a body is found, a detective is called and the police are not able to figure out what happened One of the most popular crime films is Shaw shank Redemption

The BBFC rate films before they are released in cinemas, depending on how suitable they are for an age range. There are: U - universal, films which are suitable for all age ranges PG - parental guidance, films which require parents permission or an adult in the room.  12A - you have to be 12 or older to see these films, unless you have an adult with you 15 -  you have to be 15 or over to see these films 18 -  you have to be 18 or older to watch these films For my film opening, i don't think the rating would be over a 12A as it will not be containing bad language or innapropriate scenes. It would only be a 12A as some concepts would be hard for anyone younger to understand

Over the past couple of weeks, me and grace have been thinking about our genre and the type of film opening we would like to do. There are not many movies which have our sub-genre (romantic-crime), so it is hard to find film openings that relate to our genre. I had a think about what our film opening could be about... and i thought about Kim Kardashians disaster with being robbed and held hostage for a couple of hours, i thought we could use the basis of that but the robber and actor actually fall in love, the only thing i was worried about with this idea was that it could come across as more of a trailer. Me and Grace also had the idea, that we could use the opening scene in Mr and Mrs Smith of Angelina and Brad having a discussion of marriage and show them both living their separate lives of spies, but yet still in love, We need to have a wider think about this and come up with a rough story that'll last 2 minutes, like Isadora and Lauren.

How is the future represented in the opening of the film 'Children of Men'? In a dystopian future world where everything seems to be falling apart except London, which “soldiers on”, Cuaron uses cinematographic style to place the audience directly into the filmic world of the characters. Ben Ogrodnik in ‘Senses of Cinema’ describes the camera work as “restless”. We see this in the opening as the handheld camera tracks the protagonist, Theo (Clive Owen) out of the coffee shop in a single long take, documentary-style. As the camera pans right to left from the doorway of the coffee shop, the viewer is given a clear sense of the mise-en-scene with the polluted London street. This unusual camerawork presents a self-conscious style of filmic storytelling, subverting the Classical Hollywood style, where the viewer is also a protagonist. As the camera circles Theo to reveal him pouring (presumably) alcohol into his coffee, people in 2027 seem to have lost hope due to infertility....

Here are the top 10 camera shots used in my genre: romantic crime.

Grace and I, recently just decided that we would change the genre of our film opening from a Romantic Comedy to a Romantic Crime, so i have decided to make a new mood board for it.

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck  Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck directed the film The Tourist. This movie revolves around crime, action and romance which fits perfectly with my genre - Romantic Crime. During the crime and the action parts of the film, the director used short, quick shots to show how fast time is moving, which i think would be appropriate to use in my film. Doug Liman Doug Liman directed the film, Mr and Mrs Smith in 2005 with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. This film although having a contiguenty error was filmed very cleverly as it was very action packed. Aswell as The Tourist, during Mr and Mrs Smith the action shots were filmed with wide, short and quick shots which really made the audience feel as if they were there. I can relate Doug's directing to my own film opening as i know i will need short shots during the action scenes and longer shots during the more romantic scenes.

The preliminary task was based on a person entering a room through a door, walking across the room, sitting down and exchanging brief conversation. I didn't find this task particularly hard as we were only using 3 camera techniques and the short exchange of conversation was easy to write. I used a video camera and placed it on a tripod so it would move easily around the room and i could alter the height. I used imovie for the first time to edit my task which was quite a challenge at first because i found it quite confusing but you learn as you go! I started planning this task by first researching the camera techniques i needed to include and how they would be used and then i created a storyboard outlining what the two people were going to do and say. I stuck to my plan as it was quite useful to prompt the actors and to know what angle i would be filming from. When Axil came in, he gave us some tips on how to make my preliminary task better, he said that you should film the dialog...

On Thursday we visited the Warner Brothers studio as part of a Media, ICT, Buiness and Art trip. A range of years went on the trip which was very informative. Firstly, we had a lesson which was an hour long, this informed us on the marketing side of films which was very interesting, as you understood which marketing techniques worked the most in persuading the public to go and see a movie and how some of the techniques they do, we dont realise as it is so minor but so effective. After the lesson, we spent a couple of hours touring the studio which was amazing, you found out so many facts about the Harry Potter movies and how everything was structred and made. Once you visit the studio, you actually realise how much time and effort goes into making a movie e.g. the costumes, hair, make-up, storyboards. Towards the end of the tour, there was sections showing the sketches and paintings of things throughout the movies, this was so interesting as you get to see how much time we...

Last Week, one of Mrs Williams friends Axil came into school to give us some tips on how to make our filming better. He is a professional cameraman so knows what he is doing in the filming world. He suggested that we should film everything in frame when doing a shot-reverse-shot so you can reverse it whilst editing. He also suggested that we should match angles more carefully, keeping the head sizes in the camera frame the same, so it doesn't look like its jumping around. While Axil was with us, we practised how to film a perfect preliminary task by keeping the camera frame the same and following the actors with the camera at a steady speed.

Heres a video put together by Grace and I, with photos and videos with gathered while touring the Harry Potter studios in Watford! Hope you enjoy x

There are two types of sound: Diegetic Sound is sound which exists in the world of film. It is the sound used when the characters are talking and the noises made by objects and the wilder surroundings in the movie as well and sound effects which helps the audience keep in tact with their emotions Non-diegetic Sound is what the characters inside the film can't hear. These are sounds which have been added to the film to create a reaction with the audience or give them information. This can be done by given access to a characters voice through a voice over or certain sound effects. Sound can be enhanced so we can hear sounds at different levels will be balanced so that the most important sounds will be carefully balanced so it enhanced the telling of a story and mood of a scene. We have also just learnt about Foley sound , which is sound that is not in real life, and is created at the editing process as it is put over the film to emphasise emotion. As well as this the ab-sen...

Mise en Scene describes the filmic reality created by filmmakers and translates 'what is placed in the frame' and everything put in the frame has been put there to help the audience feel emotive or help them understand the situation in the movie. Mise en Scene can be used by the furniture we see in the room, the subtle or dramatic make-up they are wearing, or the costumes the actors / actresses wear. Everything we see in film is constructed and nothing appears by chance in the filmic frame. Setting helps us understand where and when a film is set, and we have to convey when its set through a range of locations which gives the audience a impression of a paticular period in history. The Duchess This is a film with Keira Knightley set in the 18th century, she was portrayed as a wealthy wife to the king, and you could tell this from the extravagant clothing she was wearing and the lavish jewlerly she was wearing.  You could also see in the film, the contrast between the di...

Over the past couple of lessons we have been learning about cinematography which is camera work. I've learnt that different styles of filming have developed since the technology has increased and we are able to mirror the things we actually see onto the camera. I've also learnt that the camera man uses different types of shots because they have different impacts on the viewer (emotion) There is two key elements to cinematography: - Framing of a shot (what we can see on screen) e.g. close shots & longshot (landscape) - Movement of the camera e.g. tilting the camera and zooming. As well as this, i now know that filming can be hard as the cinematographer has to decide how to present a certain piece of action towards a viewer and look at things from the viewers perspective and show how it tells a story. I will use different movements of the camera in my film opening as i think it will make it more dramatic, especially as Grace and I have decided to switch to a romantic cri...

This is my final video which i filmed and edited for my preliminary task, as you can see i used a simple conversation which i knew would be easy for the actors to follow.

This is my storyboard which i used for my preliminary task. I found that by creating a storyboard this made the task slightly easier because you knew exactly which angles to film from and what you wanted your actors to do and say.

Today i completely finished filming and editing my preliminary task. I have managed to include all the shots i needed (Match-on-Action, shot-reverse-shot and 180-degree rule), next lesson i will be able to upload my preliminary task to blogger and I'm looking forward to seeing the end result!

180 degree rule two characters in the same scene should keep the same left/right relationship to one another. When the camera passes over a invisible line connecting the two characters it becomes a reverse shot, because the camera will be viewing things in reverse to what it should be. Match-on-Action This is where the editor cuts from one shot to another view which matches the first shots action Shot Reverse Shot This is a technique where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.

I created a mood board of romantic comedies: i created this mood board, so i could visualise the different types of rom-coms and see what you have to include in the rom-com genre. if i was to base my project on romance, i would definitely try to add a comical aspect, and would use the ambience and settings from different movies to influence my own. I will also probably do a mood board for another genre (possibly sci-fi/thriller) to see how different the genres are and to see which genre i prefer.

Freaky Friday is a comedy for the family which is about a mother and daughter who do not get along, they end up having a argument whilst out for dinner one night and happen to switch bodies for one day. They cant find a way to switch back so they have to adapt to each-others lifestyle until they can find a solution which also helps them begin to understand one another and form a better and stronger relationship. This is one of my all-time favourite films as it is so enjoyable for everyone in the family. Almost every scene contains a moment of laughter or a something that you can relate too which makes aspects of this film so relatable.

Hi, this is my first post for my Media Studies A-Level, i am working towards creating a film opening as my coursework. My summer homework will be to watch as many films as possible and putting my ideas and views on the different films on this blog, possibly for ideas for my own opening.