Possible Trip to the Cinema??

Is this the movie we've been waiting for??

Final Week of Work Before Xmas..

Whilst perusing the OCR website, found Pete's official OCR blog for the exam board:

http://getaheadocrmedia.blogspot.com/

Have added it as a useful link on the right hand side (as should you all, along with the Title Sequence site and Pete's own personal blog).

That poor ChrisAdamsChrisAdams, if you look at what's considered to be a Level 1 Video blog, is his!! Feel tad sorry for him now...

If you read the actual blog though, it's a fantastic working log of all the questions you/I ask so please make sure you've all had a thorough read of it by the time we get back after xmas.

Mac 3 - Have emailed Pete to ask about using the copyrighted track you wanted.. we await his reply!!

Great Idea for Mac 2!!

Here's the link for my latest idea for you lot:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9QYDmV3MU

I think it ties in with the original typewriting/letter writing idea we had when we had that brainstorming thingy in my office..

All you need is some fantastic writing (for a voiceover) and a bit of confidence..

We'll discuss on Friday and see what the rest of the class say.

Joely's group - am still working on yours... bear with me.

Hurtwood House Media Films..

Have a look at this school's website - especially the fees for being educated there: £11,000 PER TERM!!! That's £33,000 a year!! No WONDER they've got all the latest gear and gadgets..

Told you it was a public school... and they weren't adults - they were paid actors...

Updates from Course..

Like 'Pete' said, steal from everywhere...

and here're the links: Pete's blog and The Art of the Title Sequence

'Catch Me If You Can

I really liked watching this opening sequence, and I can see how it would benefit you lot seeing how graphics were put together - however, not sure if you can glean anything else from it as we've got nothing LIKE the software to produce something like this. Oh, well - nice to look at.

'Dawn of the Dead'

As discussed in class, I thought this was best for the layers of sounds (as most of your agreed with) - and the

Johnny Cash soundtrack coming in somewhat inappropriately (until you hear the lyrics talking about death riding in on a white horse) - again, not really useful as we can't use a song like that but in terms of a story being set up, brilliant and scary.

'Napolean Dynamite'

Thought this was VERY much up all of your streets, even though the genre's only really suited to Mac 3 & 4 groups.. easily doable, easily shootable and very creative. Love it.

Remember what I said on Friday - eventually, I want to see this kind of formatted set of printscreen shots for all of your films.. guess it'll be one of the last things you'll do, but it'd be great to see if you could pull one off for one of your other practice films you've made??

Nice bit of filming/editing from Heather.. now the official archivist of the class!!

Course is still on..

As far as I'm aware at 6:22am, school's still open so we're still going on the course in town..

As soon as I hear anything, will update but if not, see you all at 8:50am.

Media Trip/Course at BFI, Southbank

Course is on Thur 2nd Dec - I want everyone to meet at 8:50am (Mollie, I'm holding you responsible for getting Millie there on time...) under the covered walkway outside the hall.

We're getting the 9:30ish train from Enfield Town.

The course finishes at 3:30pm so we should be back at Enfield Town station at around 4:15pm.

There'll be you lot, myself and Mrs Routledge going - I have to get back for Y9 Parents Eve so I'll be leaving at around 2:30 - Mrs R'll be bringing you back.

Lunch IS NOT provided, so make sure you bring some - also, you can't record anything once inside the BFI, so no flips, phones etc to be used for recording.

Here's the website for where we're going: http://www.bfi.org.uk/

And well done to Lana and Mollie who paid their £5 today - all paid now - yay.

Harry Potter Trailer - Media'd!

Am so sorry Millie - stole your trailer - but had to, was weeping with laughter at this..

Wasted trip to CLC?!?

Apologies to the whole class - I had no idea it'd be that basic...

It's such an amazing suite of resources, with all the fab macs and stuff, but to try and get any sort of serious training arranged with the staff that work there is virtually impossible.

So sorry about that - will arrange for some Y13s to do a Garageband lesson - will be FAR more valuable..

Here's a very short archive vid for you all - sorry Nada - but you shouldn't've been texting!!

THE SNORRICAM!!!

Have been tinkering with this idea for a while now - but it's only ever been just that.. an idea..

Now, however, I think that some of you could really utilise the SNORRICAM!

As you can see, it's basically a camera attached to the protagonist of your shot - and I must admit, ever since I saw The Hangover, (the wake-up scene 1:29 to 1:38 - see URL below - they disabled the embed code), I've been intrigued as to how you could create this shot...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlrqaAjBwS4

And I really think we can make one, here at ECS!!! What do you think?? I mean, I can see a use for it in ALL of the groups..

Sure, it looks a bit complicated to build, but with your practice techniques, am confident you could knock up some kind of harness and attach the flip, no problem!!

Here's a brilliant example of how it could be used:

I'm not for one second suggesting we all start chopping wood up and measuring 'elbows' - but I'll bring in some gaffer tape tomorrow and see what you all think..

I also want you all to start thinking of ingenious ways to create a panning shot - as no one's really bothered with that so far - but with the use of toy cars, skateboards, shopping trolleys - and now you've all got the ever so mobile flip cameras.. think you could all have a go at enhancing your films somewhat...

There are LOADS of test films for flips, other cameras on Youtube.. far too many for me to put on here - do have a look, will be well worth it.

Dr Who 'Rose' Mock Paper

Well done to you all for having a go at the exam practice paper this morning.. was v proud of you all scribbling away - did think that I may have had a mutiny on my hands at the start, but no, you all produced some sort of response.

Message to:

Valentina, Lana, Mollie and Millie

YOU HAVEN'T PAID YOUR £5 OR BROUGHT YOUR SLIP BACK YET FOR THE BFI COURSE!!!

Please do so asap.. give it either to me or the office.

Se7en

Thank you again, as a group, for watching that film together so attentively..

I feel a cinema trip coming on - just got to wait for the right/scary film!!

And Joely, I've watched Se7en loads of times, but I've never thought that Mills is arrested at the end - in my naivety, always thought they were just giving him a lift home.

Always learning, see?

ECS Media Studies AS - Example questionnaire

This is the next bit of research that you need to have completed for your coursework/production. Obviously, in an ideal world and if we had 3 years to complete this project, then some kind of market research is the first thing you needed to have done.

However, we've got 6 months and you've only got the cameras for that 4 week window (that's finishing on Monday 15 Nov don't forget).

So, what you've got to do, as an INDIVIDUAL, not as a group, is a questionnaire.

This is to get a grasp of current audience demand, demographics, contemporary topics of films, that kind of thing. Above is an example questionnaire that you can tinker with, edit and then produce in order to get your own feedback.

It's up to you how you distribute your questionnaire - some people have done this via plain old hard copy, email, facebook, twitter.. whatever, it doesn't matter. What matters are the responses and how you then format them ONTO YOUR BLOG in order to justify certain decisions you've made as a group in your filming.

The examiner will need to see these research results on your blog so make sure it's clearly presented and labelled.

Mac 3 - Prelim Ex

Lady Ga Ga would be proud.. love the dramatic opening!

Exam Board Marking Criteria

Here's the info you ought to be constantly referring to when producing your film opening...

The 2nd page has all the info regarding the CONSTRUCTION side of things..

It would be worth putting this on to your own blog: click on menu then share to get the embed code.

G321 Marking Criteria

View more presentations from jfoster10.

Mac 2 - Prelim Exercise

Mac 4 - Prelim Exercise

Love the feet shot!!

Mac 1 - Preliminary Exercise

I think the BBC would be proud - and if ever they need two new Slaters..!



Reminder to all groups:

Mac 2 - Wed
Mac 4 - Thur
Mac 3 - Fri

meet me in media room at about 12ish and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOME KIND OF SCRIPT TO WORK FROM!!! Don't just show up going, 'what do we do?' - it doesn't have to be anything meaningful, just the people involved in acting out need to know what each other's going to say!!

Mac 3

Your flip vid from yesterday:

Friday's Lesson

Of those of you that I saw on Monday, I can't believe you've still not updated your blogs... get it done asap.

The rest of you, I'll sort your blogs this Monday. For this lesson, I'd really like all the groups to have practised/experimented with some shooting and uploaded it to imovie so you can have a play around with the software. If you're utterly unsure, ask Joely's group to show you their little film 'continuity walking' that they Flip'd and then uploaded. I want to see something similar from all the groups by Monday.

Here's an imovie 09 tutorial that shows you the basics of editing your film.

There are literally hundreds of tutorials like this on imovie so if you're after a particular effect, just search in Youtube.

Remember, your PROJECT is your actual film that you're making, and the EVENTS are simply every time you upload filming/clips. You can have as many events as you like - name them by the day and date you've filmed to keep it simple but you can only have the one project and you must NEVER rename anything once uploaded to imovie or clips won't match. I'll bring my macbook in on Monday and show you what I mean on the smartboard.

Of course you can call your project something else once you're done and want to upload it to Youtube but don't rename it whilst still in imovie.

Monday's lesson

Sorting out individual blogs.

I want to go through all your blogs one by one as I'm still getting asked for word verifications on some!!

Group Pitches from Friday..

Here're all your brilliant proposals - we all agreed on green-lighting everyone's projects, you've all got your equipment - have fun trying out your 'ankle shots'..

Just be aware that the cameras MUST BE GIVEN BACK ON MON 15 NOV - the A2 lot need them then. However, if you desperately need to do some reshooting, once you've started editing, and you realise you're missing a crucial shot, the A2 groups are handing them back in on Mon 17 Jan 11 and you can have them for a week at a time after that date.

Film Articles from Friday's Guardian

Here's a great article about the state of the British film industry:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/07/film-season-uk-film-council-xan-brooks


And another about the top 10 bright young things in British films:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/gallery/2010/oct/07/british-film-hot-10

Promised openings - feel like a criminal..

Can't quite believe have done this, but here you go..

Let The Right One In (squeal like a pig!) - just noticed, sorry, had to move my cat at 1:31..

The Hole

I need you in Friday's lesson!!!!

I believe that you're all invited to listen to Nick de Bois talk on Fri afternoon?

The problem is, I really really really REALLY need you in our lesson as I want to give the equipment out...

Therefore can you please attend our lesson instead of the talk??

When you read this, can you leave a comment on this post to say you know want you all in the lesson - also, can you pass this message on to people - but let me know in your comment who you've told..

Sent from my iPad

Questions you need to answer in your proposal..

Here you go:

1. Is your idea PRACTICALLY possible to film? (no speeding trains, sea battles etc)

2. Will it show off the strengths of EVERY member of your group?

3. Can it be storyboarded okay?

4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?

5. Can you get access/permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?

6. Would lighting/sound be an issue on location?

7. Are you going to include dialogue? If so, can you do it on location or will you need to add it later?

8. Who will be cast as your characters on screen? Are they reliable? Will continuity be an issue?

9. Have you thought about style of credits and soundtrack?

Following on from Today's lesson..

Here's the trailer for the film Mollie was talking about today - The Hole. I know I said don't ever watch trailers but the opening of the film isn't available - next best thing, I guess. Anyway, it's the credit right at the end - almost up to 1:45, where you actually see what she was talking about...

Also, excuse the crapness of the quality with this one, but here's Panic Room opening - ignore the guy's reflection in his own tv (idiot) and have a look at how the lettering completely fits in with the genre and main focus of the film..



Here's The Jar vid as well - have put all of last year's ECS vids on the link on the right - the vids from 2009 weren't uploaded to YouTube - will find them on DVD and show them next lesson.

GROUPS

If any of the rest of you have got yourselves into groups before Friday, then let me know here - post a comment.

Monday 27 Sept 2010

Use this website:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/sep/23/bass-opening-credits

• genres
• 180 degree rule
• book prelim ex
• groups

Work for Friday's Lesson (17th Sept)

1) First of all, get this link attached in your 'useful links' section (should be down the side of your blog):

camera shots, angles and movements

2) then read all the info on this site VERY carefully. It provides the basis of your production filming and you'll need to know it in detail before you even get near the cameras... may even give you all a little written test on it next Fri... hmm, in fact, think I will!

3) Next, embed this vid into your blog:



4) Watch it, again, VERY carefully, make notes, learn the specific names given to the angles, shots and techniques. There are actually loads of these types of vids on Youtube now so if you find any better, get them onto your blog.

5) Ensure the settings of your blog are complete - check with Heather and Millie how to STOP using 'word verification' when I need to comment on your blogs. And when you want to reply to any comment I make on your blogs (Andrea), you need to actually write it on MY blog - I'll then get it pushed to my phone and know it's there, rather than keep checking 16 blogs every night...

6) For those of you with Iphones or blackcurrants, if you've not already done so, you can set up your blog so that when someone does leave a comment, it'll notify you on your phone (if you have email pushed there) - go to design, settings, comments and scroll down to the bottom. For comment notification email, simply type in the email address you want the comments to go to and whenever anyone writes anything on your blog, you'll get it rather than have to keep checking... well worth it if you can do this!

7) Finally, once you've done all that and have learnt your specific angles and shot vocab, I want you to embed ANOTHER film opening, doesn't have to be your favourite, and to provide a shot by shot analysis of it. So you're not saying why you like it or anything - like you did with Se7en, you're simply casting a critical eye over the many different shots used.

This ppt (well worth embedding into your blogs as well) will help you get an idea of the depth of analysis you'll EVENTUALLY need to be using, but I don't expect it anywhere near as detailed as this yet - and if you can screen shot any bits of the film opening and then blog underneath the pic, even better.

Jaws Shot By Shot - Part 1

View more presentations from Rob McMinn.

To be clear, I DON'T want this done as a ppt, I want it 'mused about' as a post. Just embed the clip from Youtube then write about the shots.

I'll have my phone with me this weekend, so any comments, questions you write on my blog can be responded to pretty quickly - unless am stuck up some high ropes somewhere, trying to calm down a sobbing Year 8 kid.. then there may be a delay.

Good luck with all this, and a reminder about the netbooks - two were left in the common room yesterday.. not happy about that, so make sure yours are always returned to the charger in my room.

Monday's work will be posted when I've got a minute...

Opening credits to Se7en

Here is the opening credits to the very scary film that is Se7en.

Sorting out your blogs

By the end of today's lesson, I want you to:

1) have set up your blogs and provided me with the URL so I can add them to mine.

Charlotte was right - you can now change your templates once you've started blogging, but to be honest, you don't want to be spending all your time on how it looks - stick to simple, don't overdo it or it'll annoy you by xmas.

2) complete the 'About Me' section - try and be as creative as you can - changeable whenever you like so don't think you're judged by whatever you write now...

3) have really thought about which genre you're most interested in and posted your musings about this.

4) choose one opening of a film (either one from today's lesson or another one you've thought of) and post it onto your blog - whenever you include any film clip/photo etc, you must ALWAYS explain what it's doing there - don't ever forget that the Moderator will be reading every word of your blog next May...