How movies teach manhood - video

http://www.ted.com/talks/colin_stokes_how_movies_teach_manhood.html?source=email#.UQa4RJAEjaZ.email

How stories work

Enough said

Your homework for 19/7/13

Your homework

You must start to create your own website.- This is where you will be recording all your progress throughout the year. – it’s your new blog!

 

Use

http://www.wix.com

or if you have another site you prefer. It is pretty straight forward, choose a type of website- I went with entertainment. But whatever you would prefer.

It has videos all the way through to support you making this.

The section headings should be as follows (the same as your blog)

·         Coursework

·         Exam

·         Research and planning

·         Evaluation

·         Construction

 

You should add all work you have done since after exam into the appropriate areas of your blog.

This needs to be done for my lesson the 19^th.

Any issues please let me know, before time so I can support you

Ms Steventon

Britney link that works

Hit me baby one more time

Photoshop skills

Find a photo you want to mess with. Any photo. Then, as you watch/read this, pause every time you learn about a new tool and use that tool on your photo. Don't just watch - apply!

http://lifehacker.com/5753459/learn-the-basics-of-photoshop-in-under-25-minutes



Now hone your skills and test yourself with these exercies:

http://distans.svefi.net/exercises/index.htm

How to boost creativity

http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/tp/how-to-boost-creativity.htm

Creativity - homework

How have you tried to facilitate and encourage your own creativity?

Did you experience limits/blocks on your own creativity?

How easy/difficult was it to be creative while still working to the brief?

Did working within conventions stifle your creativity?

To what extent did you need to work with others and ‘bounce ideas’ off other people to be truly creative?

How much of your creativity was about trial and error?

To what extent was a lack of confidence an issue in terms of your creativity?

To what extent was a lack of technical competence/confidence an obstacle to your creativity?

ASblogs

Jodies Blog

Charlies Blog

Chante

Nasmin

Nile

Brolin Zinga

Esther

Daniel

Nathan

Mica

Ava

George

Yusuf blog

Ella

Kayla

Nga

Reanne

Useful website to help you plan visually as a team

Pinterest.

Pinterest is a tool for collecting and
organising things you love.

you can add images, links to websites etc. It is like an online scrap book you can share. very cool, lots of up-an- coming filmakers are using this.

New technology in the news

Distribution: http://trueherostudio.com/producer-blog/how-new-technology-is-changing-the-film-industry

Exhibition: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2013/05/01/warner-instant-archive

Exhibition: http://gothamist.com/2013/04/30/1794_titles_will_disappear_from_net.php

Production: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/25/danny-boyle-3d-movies-phase

Production: http://trueherostudio.com/producer-blog/how-has-technology-influenced-film-industry

Distribution and Marketing: Revision

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/distribution/distribution1.html

A history - from the future

http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/

Tips on how to survive the exam on Section B

AS Level Media G322: Section B:

Institutions and Audiences

Tips on how to write a good answer for this part of the exam….



1. The three-step introduction

Place your three main points that answer the questions - and preferably a counterargument - in your introduction, then use them as a guide to the content of each paragraph.


2. Debate & weigh up both sides of the argument:

e.g. ‘However’, ‘having said this’, ‘an exception to this is the film……..released in……..’


3. Try to cover 3 case studies or more:

a. Thin Man Films (production)

b. Working Title (distribution)

c. Film4 (was all 3, now only exhibits films)

d. Cineworld/ Odeon vs. Electric Palace/ Curzon (exhibition)



4. You must mention a variety of different films to support your points/ ideas:

Your first film

Your second film

Other films too


5. Mention specific audiences and how they are targeted

-through age/ gender/ time era/ taste/ lifestyle/ location

-do British audiences prefer British films? Is this a misconception?

- where do they consume?

- how are your habits indicative of wider behaviour



6. Mention the threat and opportunities of Digital Cinema to all institutions:

a. Growth of internet

b. Downloading/ live streaming/ file sharing

c. Piracy

d. DVD sales

e. Cost/ inflation/ credit crunch

f. +ive: IMAX cinema/ digital reels



8. Engrain your essay with your own point of view and ideas.



Plan

Stay Calm

Good Luck!

Vertical and horizontal integration (Ownership)

Vertical & Horizontal Integration

Richard Gent | Tuesday July 19, 2011

Categories: Key Concepts, Institutions, Censorship & Regulation, Ownership, New Media, Integration, News, News Ownership

Vertical Integration

Commercial institutions try to combat the power of the BBC by becoming larger and creating vertical integration. This is where an institution has shares or owns each part of the production and distribution process. For example: Warner Bros Entertainment calls itself a fully integrated broad based entertainment company which owns film studios and the means to distribute the films as well as some of the cinemas in which they are shown. Warner Bros in itself is part of an even bigger conglomerate called Time Warner which is a huge media conglomerate institution which uses horizontal Integration to consolidate its power and profits.
BBC | Dragons’ Den Definition:

A situation when two firms in the same industry but at different stages of production come together.
This could be through the two businesses merging together or through one firm taking over another.
For example a baker could buy a wheat farm or a television studio may buy up a production company which produces some of its television programmes.

Horizontal Integration

Horizontal Integration is where an organisation develops by buying up competitors in the same section of the market e.g. one music publisher buys out other smaller music publishers.
BBC | Dragons’ Den Definition:

A situation when two firms in the same industry and at the same stage of production come together.
This could be through the two businesses merging together or through one firm taking over another.
For example two chocolate companies or two estate agents may decide to join together.

Time Warner describes itself:
Time Warner Inc. is a leading media and entertainment company, whose businesses include interactive services, cable systems, filmed entertainment, television networks and publishing.

‘Whether measured by quality, popularity or financial results, our divisions are at the top of their categories. AOL, Time Inc., Time Warner Cable, Home Box Office, New Line Cinema, Turner Broadcasting System and Warner Bros. Entertainment maintain unrivalled reputations for creativity and excellence as they keep people informed, entertained and connected.
Our enterprise is more than a collection of great brands that are owned under one roof. Time Warner’s businesses strive to gain competitive advantage from opportunities for constructive collaboration.’

There are issues that you can discuss such as whether the size of ownership affects the product, and how a very large institution may become too distant from its artists and audiences.
Some music artists, like George Michael, have taken their music company to court – is this to do with issues about institutions?
The rise of very large global institutions raises issue of ownership as decisions about the variety, quality and range of media products available to media audiences are controlled by a few large companies.

Useful Links

Link: Horizontal Integration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horizontal_integration
Link: Vertical Integration: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertical_integration
Link: eJumpCut on Media Empires: http://www.ejumpcut.org/currentissue/MeehanCorporate/index.html
Link: The News Corporation via http://www.pgsm.co.uk: The News Corporation [PDF]
Link: News Ownership: News Ownership on MediaEdu
Link: Free Online Research Papers on Media Globalisation and its Effects: Media Globalisation and its Effects
Link: The Media Industry: Structure, Strategy and Debates 2 by David Croteau and William Hoynes

Homework: representation of class

Discuss the representation of class in this extract:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdq0HYggnKk&playnext=1&list=PLAC15C50BB775177D&safe=active

Watch it just FOUR TIMES. No more. Make your notes, then give yourself 45 minutes.

Try to include ideas of binary opposition and characterisation.

Gender revision

Good little vid on sexualisation/exploitation in advertising:

http://www.upworthy.com/the-people-who-approved-these-ads-have-a-lot-of-explaining-to-do-6?c=ufb1

About time somebody did this:

http://bechdeltest.com/

 Brainwashed by beauty:
http://www.upworthy.com/dustin-hoffman-breaks-down-crying-explaining-something-that-every-woman-sadly-already-experienced-3?c=upw4

 

Past papers, answers, mark schemes!

Section A: Representation of...

Jan 13: Age
Jun 12: Disability
Jan 12: Sexuality
Jun 11: Status and class
Jan 11: Gender
June 10: Gender
Jan 10: Ethnicity (race)
June 09: Gender
Jan 09: Age

Section B:

Jan 13: Impact of media ownership on range of products
Jun 12: Convergence, synergy, and marketing
Jan 12: Digital distribution
June 11: Marketing, distribution, production.
Jan 11: Media ownserhip and production
June 10: Impact of digital technology on film industry.

Much more detailed links to past papers, answers and mark schemes here:
http://mediachs.edublogs.org/film-industry/as-exam-past-papers-answers/
 

Revising Section B

Work through every slide, making notes and following the links. Stay focused!
http://www.slideshare.net/robertclackmedia/media-as-institutions-and-audiences

3rd Evaluation Homework - Due 29th April

3rd and Final Evaluation Homework – Due 29th April

 Note: When answering your evaluation questions

• You must title the post with what evaluation question you are answering – examiners are not going to hunt around for your work.
• Keep the formats varied. THEY MUST NOT ALL BE ESSAYS!

(see previous evaluation homework for some resources to do this)

Question 1

1. What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

To answer this question think about

Consider your film what institution would be best to distribute your film.

• Research two similar films as yours and see who distributed them.
• What are the institutions and why were they most suitable for the films you chose?
• Explain how and why you would choose the same institution.

Question 2

2.      What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product? 

To answer this question think about

What tech have you used??

Explain each one how you used it why it was good/bad with examples.

• Digital SLR cameras
• Youtube
• Blogger
• Imovie
• Any extra- garage band, prezi, animation software, audacity.

Question 3

3.    Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?  

To answer this question think about

 

§  What skills did you use in your preliminary task?
§  What went wrong what went well
§  What have you done differently from your preliminary task.
§  What have you learned?

Use http://www.tubechop.com/ to place footage of your preliminary task next to your main task to compare.

Or use http://prezi.com/ to show the journey of your progress.

How to use lighting in videos.

This is a great series the guardian are doing on how to use lighting.
will help your projects and your evaulations!
episode 1

 

Monday's lesson

http://ncrafts.wordpress.com/unit-g325-section-b-global-media-and-media-in-the-online-age/lucy-boylett-netflix-and-vod/

Second Evaulation Homework - Due 26/4/13

This is your homework from Fridays lesson. 20/4/13

You need to answer these evaluation questions

1. Who would be the audience for your media product?

To do this consider who your audience is. Refer to any research you have done. Mention types of audience, mass, niche, 7 psychographics and groups.

2. How did you attract/address your audience?

To answer this you will have your annotated print screens of your films. You also should complete the qualitative audience research to support your answers. Remember this means using focus groups and screenings not questionnaires.

Do not forget to make sure your posts are engaging and not just written text.

 What the examiner said “In all cases, candidates should be encouraged to see the evaluation as a creative task and the potential of the format chosen should be exploited through the use of images, audio, video and links to online resources”

Some links to different resources to help you make your posts stand out and be more engaging.

• http://animoto.com/
• http://www.techsmith.com/
• https://vimeo.com/
• http://www.slideshare.net/
• http://www.artofthetitle.com/
• http://www.tubechop.com/
• http://www.scribd.com/
• http://www.flickr.com/
• http://www.xtranormal.com/

YOUR PASSWORDS

Apparently you can't remember your passwords for the media edusites website. This is terrifying, because this website should be part of your daily life. Sigh.

Pick any of these usernames (left) and passwords (right).

THEY GO ALL THE WAY UP TO THIRTY.

moss01	bourne01
moss02	bourne02
moss03	bourne03
moss04	bourne04
moss05	bourne05
moss06	bourne06
moss07	bourne07
moss08	bourne08
moss09	bourne09
moss10	bourne10
moss11	bourne11

Homework - the state of film

YOU MUST CREATE:

1 POSTER

WITH FIVE IMPORTANT BULLET POINTS THAT EVERYONE MUST LEARN

AND 2-3 RECENT EXAMPLES TO ILLUSTRATE YOUR POINTS.



Ella
Brolin
Topic: The effect of convergence British film industry
Link: What the BFI thinks



Charlie
Chante
Topic: The effect of convergence British film industry
Link: http://heworthmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/convergence-and-british-film-industry-i.html



Daniel
Ava
Topic: The effect of globalisation on the British film industry
 Search: globalisation British film / globalisation UK film effects

Mica
Nile
Topic: Horizontal and vertical integration and its effect on the British film industry
Link:    http://media.edusites.co.uk/article/vertical-horizontal-integration/

Nga
Nasmine
Topic: The effect of convergence on the American film industry
Google: converge US film industry


Kayla
Nathan
Topic: The effect of convergence on the American film industry
Google: converge US film industry

Yusuf
George
Topic: The effect of piracy on the UK film industry

Jodie
Reanne
Topic: The future of British film

Sound

The art of Foley

The making of Stanley Kubricks - 2001 a Space Odyssey

This is a very intresting documentry with James Cameron about the making of Stanley Kubricks 2001 a Space Odyssey.

See the trailer for 2001 a Space Odyssey

Theories: Section B revision

http://www.slideshare.net/mccabekat/media-studies-theory-for-as-and-a2

Synergy and convergence - examples

http://www.scribd.com/doc/14824216/Synergy-and-Cross-Media-Convergence

Brand new book about how to write a good story

If you're ever going to write a film... you'll need to read this.

What makes a great screenplay

EASTER - EVAULATION HOMEWORK!

YOUR EVALUATION. SEVEN QUESTIONS. SEVEN OPPORTUNITIES TO SHOW OFF.

Your seven evaluation questions can win you 20 marks overall. These are important.

Your homework: do first two questions. We’ll do the rest when you get back.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Question 2: How does your product represent particular social groups?

Over these two questions you need to show:

-          Excellent digital technology skills (SEXY BLOG, DIFFERENT MEDIA ON BLOG, USE OF VIDEO/IMAGES/POWERPOINT/SOUND FILES/VLOGS/PODCASTS ETC)

                                    (DON'T JUST WRITE YOUR ANSWERS!)

-          Excellent understanding of representation, forms and conventions (Section A stuff)

-          Excellent communication (being able to write well; clear and concise; media-smart terminology; no waffling; honest self-reflection)

HOW TO ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

This is where your research into similar film openings comes in. What made you decide to use that sound? That shot? That camera angle? The mis-en-scene? What do film openings do? What do story openings do? How does your opening conform to, or challenge, the genre? Where are you  borrowing from? Where are you being brave? What is your editing style?

Sometimes you’ll be following the basic rules: match on action, shot reverse shot, etc – and it’s ok to mention that, especially if it’s not that clear in your work! But those probably aren’t the shots that are the most interesting. Which shots really show that you’ve understood or challenged your genre?

Question 2: How does your product represent particular social groups?

Time and time again with Mr D, you’ve analysed the issues of representation in TV programs like Friday Night Lights, Diary of a Call Girl, The Wire and others. Race. Age. Location. Class.

Now it’s time to analyse YOUR opening in those terms. How are different social groups represented through camera, mis en scene, sound and editing?

It is vital that you:

1)      Engage with these questions very thoughtfully and honestly

2)      Find different ways of posting your response: powerpoint, vlog, podcast, and the occasional normal entry.

Here are a few exemplar blogs: (TO HELP YOU, NOT TO COPY)

• http://nicoletamou.wordpress.com/
• http://jdreade.weebly.com/
• http://rsimsonjrcsmediablog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/FP%3A%20Production
• http://mediastudiesringwoodfinnd.blogspot.co.uk/
• http://cmdiplomayasmin.blogspot.com/

really useful website for revision

http://mediachs.edublogs.org/

Section B - revision

http://www.slideshare.net/tessiemedia/ocr-media-g322-section-b-revision-guide-ppt

 

Blog Improvements - Homework!

This must be completed by the 27/3/13

1) The homework on researching differnt opening squences.

2) Adding tabs for your navigation links, see your email for help with this.

3) Completing the script for your film

4) Sent out survey monkey questionaires.

Distribution - videos

http://www.launchingfilms.tv/distribution.php

Tuesday - work

Below are some theories on creativity.

I would like you to read them very carefully, and begin to respond to each area in turn - linking what you read to your own work OVER THE PAST TWO YEARS. Example in red.

Do this in word - not on your blog.

CREATIVITY  - THEORY

Anthony Storr ‘creativity has been defined as the ability to bring something new into existence’.

With my documentary I have brought plenty of new things into existence, as per Anthony Storr's definition. Although we were documenting reality we were still creating new things: the titles, the sound, the adverts, and even the mis-en-scene.

For example...

’the making of the new and the rearranging of the old.’ (Bentley 1997)

Ken Robinson has identified some Creative Habits of mind

• Creativity - enquiring mind
• Flexibility - lateral thinking and connection making
• Willingness - to think the impossible
• Confidence - to try things out
• Ability - to handle uncertainty - perseverance in adversity
• Self-reflective awareness

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi wrote that the creative process normally takes five steps (Creativity, 1996, p.79):

o    Preparation - becoming immersed in problematic issues that are interesting and arouses curiosity.

o    Incubation - ideas churn around below the threshold of consciousness.

o    Insight - the "Aha!" moment when the puzzle starts to fall together.

o    Evaluation - deciding if the insight is valuable and worth pursuing.

o    Elaboration - translating the insight into its final work.

Spontaneity takes practice Csikszentmihalyi  says that it typically takes someone 10 years of acquiring technical knowledge by immersing themselves in a discipline before they create anything significant. Malcolm Gladwell makes a similar argument in his new book, Outliers – according to Gladwell, the magic number is 10,000 hours of practice.

Csikszentmihalyi : ‘Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.’

Csikszentmihalyi Divergent thinking involves fluency, or the ability to generate a great quantity of ideas; flexibility, or the ability to switch from one perspective to another; and originality in picking unusual associations of ideas. …Divergent thinking is not much use without the ability to tell a good idea from a bad one, and this selectivity involves convergent thinking.

David Gauntlett has written extensively about creativity and the idea that ‘making is

connecting’. His main argument is that ‘through making things, and

sharing them with others, we feel a greater connection with the world, and more engaged with being more active in the environment rather than sitting back and watching.’

Banaji, Burn & Buckingham have researched into the extent to which technology makes us more creative. They conclude that ‘creativity is not an inevitable consequence of using technology’.

George Steigler (an economist) : In innovation, you have to play a less safe game, if it's going to be interesting. It's not predictable that it'll go well."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Learning – pushing yourself, taking on challenges – creates a feeling he calls ‘flow’. Flow is a fancy name for being so engrossed, absorbed, rapt by something that time flies and you forget your worries.

Ken Robinson

‘Individual creativity is stimulated by the work, ideas and achievements of other people. We stand on the shoulders of others to see further.’ (11)

‘To promote creativity it is essential to understand the main elements and phases of the creative process including:

-          the importance of the medium;

-          the need to be in control of the medium;

-          the need to play and take risks; and

-          the need for critical judgment

‘Creativity is not only a matter of control; it’s about speculating, exploring new horizons and using imagination.’ (133)

‘As Carl Jung puts it, the creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect alone but by the play instinct. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.

Creative activity involves playing with ideas and trying out possibilities. But creative achievement does not always require freedom from constraints or a blank page. Great work often comes from working within formal constraints….The creative achievement and the aesthetic pleasure lie in using standard forms to achieve unique effects and original insights.’ (133)

‘Creativity is not only a process of generating ideas. It involves making judgments about them….creativity is not just a matter of being original, but of producing outcomes that are of value.’ (133)

‘creativity can be inhibited by trying to do too much too soon or at the same time.’ (136)

‘Our best ideas may come to us when we’re not thinking about them…As the writer E.M. Forster said, in the creative state we are taken out of ourselves. We let down a bucket into out subconscious and draw up something that is normally beyond our reach.’ (154)

‘Creativity is incremental. New ideas do not necessarily come from nowhere. They draw from the ideas and achievements of those that have gone before us or are working in different fields….conceiving new ideas is often promoted by knowledge of the achievements of others – by cultural literacy.’ (182)

‘Creativity often comes about by making unusual connections, seeing analogies, identifying relationships between ideas and processes that were previously not related.’ (188)

‘Creativity relies on the flow of ideas. This happens best in an atmosphere where risk is encouraged, playfulness with ideas is accepted and where failure is not punished but seen as part of the process of success.’ (190)